Understanding Government, Pt. 3

Ronald Weinland

June 11, 2022

We’re going to continue today in Part 3 of the sermon series Understanding Government.

And even as we’re going through this I’ve been dumbfounded by how there’s a certain section coming out at the Feast that really ties in with what we’re going through now. Which to me is incredible. I’m not going to tell you what it is, but anyway it ties in incredibly well. It’s just you see how God is preparing us for things that are coming and there’s an order to sermons being given.

Just like between now and the Feast, I have no idea what’s going to be given but they’ll be a part of a building process because God is Creator, He is creating a family. He’s working in our lives to form and fashion us and we’re being transformed after His will, according to His will. So, that’s an awesome thing to be in His hands in that regard.

So, last week we had basically ended when we were discussing the breastplate of judgment that was being made for the high priest to wear, and those things that were being discussed then in Exodus covering some of that and how that it was to be made in a certain way with the stones on it of the tribes, with the twelve stones on it. Four rows of three, I believe it was, and then also the Urim and the Thummim that were on there.

And again, we don’t know exactly how that worked but basically a matter of them looking to God for judgment when they used that device, and God would show them, give them answers as to things they should do and the things even in battle where they used it at times, and so whenever they needed to go before God.

So, it’s a matter of something to grasp and comprehend of those things that are a matter of our High Priest and that go through our High Priest. Everything to God Almighty is about that which we have access to through our High Priest, as our Passover and our High Priest, and then that relationship that we’re able to have with God.

So, one of the big things to grasp in all this is that judgment comes from God, and if we want to know the right way of doing things, which is something that should be a part of our lives and a part of our thinking, it should be a matter of taking it to God through Christ. Because we pray to God Almighty through Christ, in his name. And so, these things have so much meaning.

I love the matter here when it says the breastplate of judgment, it brings out it’s not just a matter of being on his chest and wearing it here and it was tied up here on the apron type device that he wore and tied together here and then it would hang down, but it was a matter that it was upon his heart. So again, tremendous meaning in some of these kinds of things.

So, we’re going to pick it up here in John, this having to do with learning to judge righteous judgment, as we discussed last week, as it was told in Deuteronomy there when we went through those verses, that we’re not to have respect of persons, and when it came to judgment “You shall hear the small as well as the great.”

So, in other words, there is a matter here that we’re to look at people with a desire to be fair, to be in a matter of equality, in that respect, not giving favoritism to anyone because we like a certain individual in a certain way. There are things we have to do, and we have to make sure we’re doing it God’s way.

That takes us into John now, John 7, which is that which whenever we’re talking about judgment these verses are always read and discussed and covered as a whole because of what it’s saying.

John 7:21—Joshua answered and said to them, I have done one work, and you all wonder at it. Moses, therefore, gave you circumcision (not because it’s of Moses, but of the fathers). So, even in this they’re going back, he’s going back and talking about how that there was that which is a matter of something that they were doing as a matter of, I should say I guess, religiously. Sometimes people make physical things a part of their religion and their practice becomes more important than what it means. And this is a part of what Joshua was talking about.

And so, he tells them that “You are tied into going through physical things, the things that you felt were strictly a matter of what Moses had given,” but he said, “this was given long before that. It goes clear back to your fathers. So, you have this routine of what you’re following, you’re making a religion out of it, and that’s not what it’s all about.”

So, he said here, Moses, therefore, gave you circumcision (not because it’s of Moses, but of the fathers), and you on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. So, in other words it’s saying, “You’re following this strictly.” It’s kind of like the thing of tithing where there were those who were so far to the right and that they, doesn’t matter what it was, if it was a matter of seeds they’d count them out so meticulous it wasn’t… They didn’t want to make one little bitty mistake because that was their righteousness. It wasn’t about living righteously at all, it’s their righteousness. So, he’s giving the same kind of analogy here.

So he says, “On the Sabbath day you go ahead and circumcise a person,” because they have this thing being to the far right and that ultra-conservative and so they have to do things just so-so, exactly right, and they use this as a measurement then of them being righteous, and circumcision being one of them.

He says, If on the Sabbath day one can receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry because I made a man completely whole, well or healthy in other words, on the Sabbath day? So, he’s showing them their hypocrisy here and letting them know, “You’re mad at me because someone has been healed, someone has been taken care of here, and so this matter of working on the Sabbath, what is too much?” Well, they have their routines and certain things you can and can’t do. They’ll allow circumcision but something that doesn’t even take any physical work they become upset at. And obviously it goes much deeper than that because it wasn’t about the work, it was about that which made them look in the way they did. They didn’t have answers for it. They didn’t like what he was doing. They couldn’t do it.

So he says, Do not judge according to the appearance, in other words, by how you see things, by the way you see it, by the way you think it’s right or wrong, but judge righteous judgment. Well, that obviously has to come from God. Anything that’s righteous has to come from God. The right way, it’s a matter of that which comes from God.

And so, we have to strive to do that as well. And sometimes we don’t do that. As a matter of fact, I’ll just say it happens a lot in God’s Church, where it’s not a matter of trying to decide or live by then what is truly right because it’s right with God, we kind of have our own way of doing these things sometimes when it comes to relationships, when it comes to things that come up within the Church, a disagreement of some kind, whatever it might be.

Even people have disagreements with me. I heard of some more this morning. And you think, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” This just goes on and on and on. And by sometimes ministers in the Church. And if it happens with ministers in the Church I know it’s happening within the Church as well because they have ability through what they say to others, because of their conversation, if they’re talking to someone and someone’s listening to them… And this kind of came out in part of what was discussed this morning, that others know that they’re not totally happy or supportive of something.

Like getting a shot! I’m still going back to that. That’s amazing! Going back to something very physical that was done and showing that there is a unity in the Church that we’re to have and that there is government and order. And you either choose to live by that in how God works in our lives…

Because if we don’t grasp how God working in our lives by now we’ve got huge problems, we really do. If we don’t grasp that all the truths we’ve been given since the Apostasy, and the magnitude that they are, if we don’t understand how that’s possible and the only way that God does that we’re missing some things spiritually on a very great scale, we really are.

There is a way that God Almighty works. And when things are given like that that are even new and never even known, He does it through an apostle. We should understand that by now. That’s so basic! And that should scare the you-know-what out of someone to say something against God’s apostle or a decision that’s made like that. I sometimes don’t get it.

So, there’s judgment still going on in God’s Church. We’re being refined. We’re being tried. I fear that there are some who are giving up their crown because they just keep fighting against the truth, the truth in this case, that I’m God’s apostle, or the truths that have been given in the Church. And if individuals are doing that God’s not going to give them a crown to be a part of the 144,000.

What a horrible shame if someone still out there at this point in time, God has given them mercy and help to continue on to this point in time, and they’re still fighting and not conquering and seeing themselves like they need to. Just because you’ve been in the Church for twenty, thirty, forty years does not mean you’re going to be a part of the 144,000! But God’s offered those opportunities to those individuals.

Before the Apostasy, anyone that came out of Philadelphia, even Laodicea in that respect, lived through the Apostasy, been holding on to the trunk of the tree, the truth, wow. And you still don’t grasp God’s government? Don’t understand the very thing we’re covering in this sermon series? Don’t make judgment right in a right way? You do it your way because it’s the way you see it, because you think something?

Just like a stupid shot that’s physical! What is this? It’s like make-up again! I’ll travel anywhere to be with God’s people if it’s required that I have a shot! I don’t care what it is! God will take care of that. If I’m obedient to God and doing what God says in order to serve His people I’m not going to worry about that in the slightest. It could end up, if time were to go on, twenty, thirty, forty—I’m not going to live that long anyway—that something horrible is going to develop out of it, which is what people sometimes think?

It’s obvious that there are some things we’ve had in the past, children have had that isn’t good, isn’t the best. But then we don’t look at the other side of it. Even though mankind is in this transition of learning some of these things and how to deal with various things doesn’t mean they understand everything, but it’s sure a whole lot better sometimes than the alternative. It’s a whole lot better than polio and how that was stopped, as a whole. Horrible things that people have had in their lives.

Just the other day now they’ve come up with a—they’re so excited about, and I don’t know if you’ve all seen it or not, for prostrate [rectal] cancer. A hundred percent…a hundred percent cure, healing of those who were in the test. Which is phenomenal! Now, it wasn’t a giant test, it was small, but still, a hundred percent. And what really shocked them was that it totally disappeared! They were hoping that it would just be smaller, because a lot of times their desire is to make something smaller so they can go then and operate and be more successful. Totally gone. It’s not even in the body.

Now, that’s awesome that mankind has been in a transition of time of learning and growing. And sometimes we don’t look at the other side of this, of how many more will die in certain things if we weren’t going through some of this. And God’s going to give more in time, but He’s given us the ability to have some of these things and we benefit from it.

But sometimes people get involved in conspiracy theories. And yes, there are things that sometimes are a spin-off that can hurt people and have hurt young people, and they get older, and it hurts them as they’re older. And I don’t doubt one iota that there are some problems with that. But if you look at the numbers of people that it’s saved, as far as their lives, to me it’s a no-brainer.

So, and still none of that matters because, candidly, when God’s apostle says for the sake of the Church, for the unity of the Church…because you know what, it hasn’t been given to anybody else in God’s Church the responsibility to make a decision for the Church! Christ doesn’t come down and tell me what to do. But he does in here. But I don’t have that benefit of him, of sitting with him and him telling me certain things to be done. Herbert Armstrong didn’t have that. It’s a matter of learning how God works in our life and seeing the fruit of that and what’s produced by it and knowing where it comes from. And that’s pretty simple.

So yes, I’m sorry, but I get a little worked up discussing this because I see certain people, when you do what you do to God. It’s just like someone in service in the ministry, they serve, they’re serving in the Church or in Church areas or in certain regions, and in large part, you know what, they answer to me. If we really get the picture they all answer to God, but in an orderly fashion.

And so, we still have these struggles going on in God’s Church after all this time, little things going on and people having their own way, their own desire to go their own way. Some who won’t listen to the order of government either.

I really can’t tolerate and allow these things to continue. If someone does that in the ministry, I don’t care who you are, you’re done. I hope that everyone can take this warning now and look at yourselves. I don’t care who you are, look at yourselves and make sure you’re in unity and harmony with God’s government, because I as a part of administering that on earth, I don’t hesitate one iota. This is not going to hurt the Body. If it means removal from a position, fine, so be it. I don’t have a problem with that at all if I have to do it. I don’t want to if it means suspension or being disfellowshipped, if I have to do it (and that’s extreme).

And no one does that, by the way, unless I say it can be done. I want to make that clear from now on as well. I thought I had in the past but no suspension, no disfellowshipment unless I give approval for it in God’s Church. That kind of started one time down in Florida where a minister disfellowshipped someone over something really stupid, over something that was really wrong. He shouldn’t have done it. Well, he didn’t last very long anyway, didn’t last a minister, didn’t last in the Church. But God brought up certain things about them. He used it to manifest certain things about the individual and so they were gone.

And the individual that he did that to is still with us to this day, one of our children. My wife and I have many children in the Church. They’re just like our children. It’s just the way it is. It’s that kind of a bond on a spiritual plane.

So again, the beginning of this sermon today I’m giving warning, I’m giving admonition, I’m trying to give encouragement that we walk right before God. Because there is no excuse. Because… Oh boy, that’s the Feast sermon. This is going to be hard because things about judgment here and government are in some things we’re going to cover at the Feast that are awesome. And they’ll be inspiring to the Church. And I’m thankful to see it, to be a part of what’s taking place. And I hope we all are as time goes on, as we see what God is doing in our lives. And we should always be that way anyway.

But I really want everyone to look at themselves and to make certain, especially since Covid and the shots and what happened in the Church, that you’ve repented of your stinking, rotten attitudes if you fought against that because you had your way of doing things and you didn’t hear. You know, as soon as you hear something coming across these lips and out from this tongue and this mouth, better be tuned in, because this is how you’re able to hear what God has for us.

That’s just what I’m saying. It’s that bold. It’s not a matter of pride and lifting myself up, I know who I am! I’m a piece of you-know-what. That’s what I feel like. This morning, talking to God about that, just being honest with Him. Of myself, I’m a piece of crap, okay?

I’m not a burned-out hulk. Mr. Armstrong would use that, “a burned out…” I could see this when he gave the example. He’s this rusted out… Sometimes you’d be travelling along a highway, some perhaps, and you see this little ravine and there’s this hulk of a car, just rust. And that’s what came into my mind when he would describe. Because that’s what He was describing. He says, “That’s what I am, useless.” It’s down there rusting. It’s useless.

The only thing that we have is what God has transformed. And that’s of God. That’s in unity and oneness, the mind of God. But as myself and my mind and my being, I don’t want any part of that being a part of what God is creating. I hope you understand what I’m saying. We have carnal human nature and we’re to see how ugly it is.

And it’s like that floater if it floats. Sometimes they don’t float, sometimes they sink. But it is what it is, and it doesn’t smell good, doesn’t look good. Don’t like being around it. And I don’t like being… I don’t like some of the things that come out of our being as human beings. We just, the human mind is not a good thing. That’s why I love the mind of God. That’s what we’re to embrace.

So, I hate to see anyone give up their crown at this point in time after all that we’ve been through. Some who gave up their crown back in 2008 through 2013, through that period of time, and I think, can that still go on? How long? What if it’s just one or two people? And out of a 144,000? But I know, I hope you understand, I know that everything is going according to God’s plan anyway. These things are for us to learn from.

If it be those who quit around 2013 finally or were put out in 2013 (a better way of putting it), and made manifest and clear to God’s Church, gave up their crown, well, we learn from that. It took us a while but that’s how God teaches us and teaches me in those things, basically, first and foremost so that I can give it to you when it’s God’s time. And He showed us, revealed to us it’s about the 144,000, and once that’s done we’ll all know it because it’s going to start out there.

When this country experiences what it does with computers, electricity, and various things just not working because of EMP attacks, plus other things that will happen as well on land, we’re going to know the 144,000 have been sealed. What an awesome thing! We’re going to know that it isn’t very long and Christ is going to stand on the earth again. And it could be soon. It could really be soon, soon, soon. So, we have to keep our eyes open. We know he’s going to return on a Pentecost. I’d love it to be next Pentecost. Impossible? No. It’s going to be on some Pentecost.

And the way things are going in this world, we’re about to go down the toilet in this country. And it’s going to be tough. The handwriting is so much worse than 2008 it’s not even funny. But people are not being shaken by it to the same degree as they were then until it hits a little harder. Because sometimes a belief and a trust that we’re going to get through it carries you a little bit farther. But it can’t go too much in the sense of carrying us farther.

So you just watch things and watch them discuss things that are taking place now and the incredible inflation that’s going on out here, and that’s, in some ways, it’s some of the least of our problems. It’s horrible, prices are horrible, but things are in a lot worse shape out there economically and they smooth other everything. And sooner or later it’s going to hit. When? And it’s going to be hard on us. It’s going to be hard on everybody. We experience with the world what the world is going to experience. And it’s going to be tough going through those things when they happen, not just the physical things that are behind it.

So, everything is moving forward very, very, very fast. You’ve got an individual who thinks he is a great, great leader in the world. This morning hearing about some of that you think, “You’ve got to be kidding!” I think, what was it today, references to Peter the Great. You think, wow, what kind of a mind…? I knew a mind like that. I wasn’t alive then during WWII, a mind of someone who basically had lost it in that sense, of who he thought he was to do and conquer the world. And to think that someone else now is part of that process and those kinds of minds that are going to increase in the world as we go forward here. It’s happening.

There are demonic powers out there and God says, “Go ahead. Now is the time.” Some of that’s already started. What’s happening in Ukraine? God’s told them to go ahead and do it, demonic beings who are behind it. God doesn’t do it, but He lets them loose to do what they like to do for a purpose.

That doesn’t have a whole lot to do with the sermon here right now, but in the sense, but it’s a matter of being sobered, of seeking to do things God’s way. And I guess I just fought this for so long and I know even physically I’m getting close to the end. Okay? I don’t have a whole lot of time. I don’t know how much. I mean, God can make me, have me live to ninety-some years old. I hope He doesn’t do that. I really, really do.

I don’t want to live that long. I don’t want to be up in my upper eighties. I’ll just be real candid with you. I don’t want to have to live that long in this body. Selfish? Yeah, probably. But at some point here we all die. And it’s my great desire that this all gets taken care of soon so that the Church doesn’t have to go through those things because I’m not sure it would survive it. And that’s saying a lot.

So, prayerfully, we’re getting really, really close. Prayerfully, things we see in the world happening around us are going to keep accelerating and happening faster and faster.

And no matter how long gone through things in the Church I still marvel that we have people to this day who still resist God’s government, who sometimes don’t even respect or acknowledge it. That’s sad. That’s pathetic. To have different individuals who do not respect God’s government and treat individuals with the respect because they recognize this is of God and if I don’t respect them…? Do you know what that’s saying toward God?

Do we think that somehow we have this relationship with God and we know all these things that we have and we understand certain things, and we have our ways of doing certain things within the Church and whatever, and we don’t like the way someone else is handling something, whoever they might be, whatever they’re ordained to. And if they don’t respect the individuals who have been given the responsibility and the office I think you don’t even… You’re so lacking in understanding.

Well, I hope I don’t just come across as rattling right now, because I kind of feel like I’m rattling a little bit. But I am so tired of people fighting against God’s Church, fighting against God’s government because they don’t understand they’re fighting against God. It’s so simple. It really is. It’s so simple. I hope people can repent and I hope people have repented of some of those wrong attitudes and wrong ways that they’ve thought toward others and so forth. Especially if they’re a woman that’s ordained.

And I guess I get a little more concerned when one is my daughter and a prophet in God’s Church. Now, I will stand behind, I stand behind, I will support, I would do anything with anyone within God’s government, all who are yielding to it. But if someone isn’t along the way they’re not honoring God.

So I get riled up just because of the fact of government. And I know this is probably uncomfortable for some and probably by the time my own daughter hears about it next week, she’s going to be uncomfortable when she hears it. But she has a job and a responsibility in serving the Church, and we have individuals who don’t respect her. I know they don’t. I see the fruit of it. I hear the spin-off of some of it. I can see it when I’m visiting. Think, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Doesn’t matter who it is we better understand God’s government and the order that’s there.

So anyway, we’re to judge righteous judgment. So, we have to look to God. It’s a matter of always looking to God. And so, the Israelites were being trained and taught how to look to God. “Use the breastplate, go to God, go to the high priest, let’s get the answer. We want to do the right thing.” Don’t just go off and do it on your own and your own way, the way you think it’s right.

And candidly, I don’t care whether people agree with me or not, because there is going to be government in the Church. That means if someone doesn’t yield to it they’ll be dealt with by it. That’s simple. And I don’t hesitate to administer it when it has to be administered. I don’t like to; I don’t have to.

Psalm 25:8—Good and upright is the Eternal, therefore He teaches sinners in the way. So what does that mean? Well, it’s beautiful because if we’re doing wrong and if God’s teaching us… Who is God teaching? He’s teaching us. Through time it’s not a matter of people in the world and so forth, this is about those with whom God works. It’s about… Because God can’t work with anyone unless they’re looking to Him or being drawn by Him.

And so, “God is upright, good and upright, therefore He teaches sinners.” But that means individuals have to be listening. Because He doesn’t force sinners. He draws us to Himself, we’re able to be blessed to come into a point where we make a decision we want to be baptized, and then we can be impregnated with God’s spirit by hands being laid upon us and we start this process of growth. And then hopefully we are able to be taught.

And I’m just going to give you some of these examples because they’re alive and they’re working to this day right now because they’re still being talked about out there. This thing of a Covid shot. Blows my mind! Now, I’ve had people be very honest with me and tell me that they had a struggle with it in the beginning. And that’s fine. But you know, so much of God’s way is that way. He shows us something and at first it’s like whatever reason it doesn’t seem right or that just…that’s too much or whatever it might be, and then we work through it. And it’s not a matter whether it’s a day or a week or a month, it might take a little bit of time, but fine.

As long as a person is striving to do what’s right and looking at it and asking God for help and seeking to change and repent then as they’re able to see it. But if we’re going to insist on holding our own way and carry attitude with it and we do it for the wrong reasons, that’s not what God wants. God doesn’t want people to serve Him for the wrong reasons. It’s like, “Okay, I’m going to get it because I want to be at the Feast. But that’s what he said I had to do,” and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So, it’s about ourselves. We have to decide whether we’re going to repent. So, God desires that people…

So, it says, “Therefore He teaches sinners in the way.” He teaches us what’s wrong. And so, sometimes we get it quickly, sometimes it might take a little while. But the way is God’s way. And that’s how you can find out and know what sin is. Because if you’re being shown what is right then through that process God is going to show when people are wrong. So, sinners are shown the way.

The humble He guides in judgment. If somebody is lifted up in pride and they’re haughty and they’re resisting God, God can’t work with that mind. And so, something has to happen. And what happens is they begin to be cut off from God’s spirit. But if we are humble and we realize “I need help, that’s why I go before… That’s why I pray. That’s why I go before God and ask for help in judgment, in doing things right, to think right, to be of His mind, to be in agreement with Him and to show me where I’m not and where I’m not.”

That should be our lives, what we do day by day. “I want You. I have chosen You from the beginning. From the moment I was baptized and before that I made a choice and I am not my own to do whatever I want to do, whatever You want me to do.” Anything else doesn’t fit. Anything else is contrary to that. And we have to fight against what’s contrary to that, so we all have battles.

So, we have to be of a humble spirit. But sometimes people… I’ll tell you, just thinking about one individual right now. And I’ll tell you what, if they don’t get their act together? Sad. They’ve been around for a long, long, long, long, long time in God’s Church, but this is it. There is only so much mercy and patience, and God’s giving that to me. There is only so much mercy and patience you can give.

After a time someone is responsible for their continual wrong attitude and spirit that they’re not seeking to change themselves, think they have the answers to just about everything. They can’t be taught. Won’t be humble. Won’t humble themselves to God’s government. Doesn’t treat God’s government with respect. Am I supposed to allow that to go on? To take place in God’s Church and other people in the Church see it? That’s really sickening.

I think of how people, how some evangelists treated Herbert Armstrong. I think about the entire Church could see it. Everybody at headquarters could see it but didn’t talk about it. What do you do when you have an auditorium that’s supposed to be packed with people at a Bible study and not one evangelist is there? Not one! Not one evangelist. They live right there. They have jobs right there in Pasadena! And where are they? “I had a tough week. Had a tough day.” Well, you know what, I just want to get out the Kleenex and just feel so sorry for them.

No, I want to kick them in the butt and get them down there, make them sit on the front row, and say, “You idiot! You’re so stupid in what you’re doing! You’re so haughty and proud! You think you have the answers, and you don’t have to listen to God’s apostle when he gets up there on the stage? And he’s having a tough time just getting up there, and he’s to teach us, and we feel like we know too much, that we don’t have to be there?” And not only that, so maybe they were tired, maybe they did have tough time, but they have a job to do! They’re evangelists and they’re to set the example for others in the Church! What does it say to the Church if the evangelists aren’t there listening to God’s apostle?

And you know what it did? It hurts brethren. What is the value then of what’s being told to me if they’re not here? And we have to travel so far to get here, we have to fight the traffic? Maybe once in a while to miss one isn’t so bad. The evangelists aren’t here, and they live right here in headquarters area.” You see what I’m saying? What kind of an example then? Because people look to that. They look to the example of the ministry.

And if someone in the ministry is not setting a right example and they’ve got an attitude and everybody knows they have an attitude, and they don’t want to take a shot… You know, that really irritates the you-know-what out of me just talking about it again right now, that people in the congregation, you who I’m talking to today, and anyone else who fits in that category, and especially if you’re holding a job of responsibility to honor God? And other people in the congregation know your attitude! And they know you were in disagreement and probably still are!

Sometimes this job is tough. I’ll just tell you right now. But I will do what I have to do no matter what. And I don’t think anyone would want it any other way, see, within the Church. Because it’s about the health and wellbeing of God’s Church and God’s people.

Just read a scripture that will be in the sermon in the Feast. I’m not going to go into it. But you’ve got to stand and defend them. All of us, each other, stand and defend one another. You know what other brethren should have done when they saw that attitude of that individual? Go up to them and tell them, “You know what? Your attitude stinks. I know you’re ordained but your attitude really stinks because you’re not supporting God’s apostle. You’ve got a wrong attitude, a wrong spirit, and everybody else sees it here. Everybody else knows what you’re doing and how you think, and that you’re doing it begrudgingly when you do it.” Whew!

That’s what we’re supposed to be. We’re God’s people and I’m not the only one that is to stand up and defend God’s people. We’re to defend one another. And sometimes I give jobs to different individuals, and I fear sometimes they don’t fully follow through with it. (Sermon is taking a bit of a twist today in case you haven’t noticed.)

And I know sometimes individuals think, well… I get it on both sides. “Didn’t do it soon enough. You didn’t talk to so and so soon enough. You didn’t… You didn’t deal with this quick enough.” That happened earlier on in PKG and there were some who felt that way. And then sometimes when I do certain things it’s like, “Well, that’s too hard. That’s…” And see, if someone has a responsibility to go on and pass that long within the Church because that’s their job, and so I tell individuals “This is what I want you to do in this case. This is what I want you to tell that individual,” you know what? You better tell them exactly what you were told. Not add to it and don’t take from it. That’s how it has to be done, it really is.

And so, sometimes individuals think, “Well, that might be a little too hard and being too hard on that one individual, because I mean, after all, look what they did.” Hope you can see yourself, different ones out there that I’m talking to today, because it’s not just one. It doesn’t matter who you are, you better be repentant because God’s judging you.

We’re almost at the end of being judged as a Body, who will be a part of the 144,000. You see, it doesn’t mean that there are just going to be certain ones. There are different ones that have been given opportunity and it’s not fully decided yet. Being worked with. Some may be close in it and some others whatever. God judges.

Psalm 25:10—All the paths of the Eternal are mercy and truth. It’s a beautiful scripture. “All the paths,” means what we’re to follow, the ways, the path, the road, whatever. This is what they’re about because this is God. This is what God is about, mercy and truth. He’s exceedingly merciful with us. And that’s what grace is all about as well, to understand that if God’s merciful to me I better learn to be merciful toward others. Because I saw in God’s Church through times of Philadelphia, and we had to learn but some ministers never learned it, and through Laodicea, people that were just hard on others. Required a standard for certain ones, looked down upon and had this standard that they couldn’t even attain to. And they didn’t even see themselves.

And you think, what a horrible thing. If God’s been merciful to you, you should learn to be merciful to others where you can. Matter of fact, you should strive to do that first. I’d far rather give mercy to people and give time to individuals than to be hard. But then there comes a time sometimes when that runs out, and then we’re at a time now, like I’ve mentioned over and over again, those two individuals in Toledo when I was going to resign from Worldwide and told them that as soon as I do this people in the congregation are going to be looking to you as elders as to what you do. Time runs out. And it ran out, and it ran out for them. And I told them that and they didn’t do what was right. The congregation did look to them, but they made the wrong choice. They supported an Apostasy. Incredible!

“All the paths of the Eternal are mercy and truth.” And sometimes you have to look a little bit deeper into some things. Some things don’t require the execution of judgment quickly. We don’t have to act quickly sometimes to execute judgment with one another, within the ministry, whatever it might be in the execution of judgment. Sometimes we can be too hard in that regard. And could be a parent with a child and just because it was inconvenient or whatever there is punishment that’s there. And sometimes there are things to learn in the process there and that’s where mercy comes in and how you might be able to administer it and how you can be more merciful in the process.

And this is something we have to learn through time. It doesn’t happen immediately but we’re to strive to learn it. And that’s God’s way, mercy and truth. He wants that. He wants us to think that way, to be that way. Especially in human beings because we’re a mess. We’re all a mess as human beings because of human nature and our past of things that have happened that made us what we are. We carry this baggage around and we’re to strive to conquer and overcome various things, but God is incredibly merciful to us, and He gives us time in those things. Should we do any less to one another within God’s Church? And who of us is perfect? Who of us has attained that we can sit on a throne and judge? So, we have to be very careful.

“And truth.” I love that because God’s given us incredible truth in the end of this age that just keeps coming at us and keeps coming at us and building to a crescendo just before His Son returns.

All the paths of the Eternal are mercy and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. So, those are choices we have to make as we grow, of various things that God gives us, even in the administration of the Church. That’s a part of what it is. We can look back and say, “Well, that’s not in the Old Testament.” Well, you’re right, Covid wasn’t back in the Old Testament, shots weren’t back in the Old Testament. “Hmm. Got a point there. Not a good one. A little short-sighted.”

“His covenant and His testimonies.” For us that’s everything that God gives us in the Church as to how we’re to live. And it’s on a spiritual plane. We’re to understand the spirit of it, not just to do things physically. And I’m using it as an example because it’s an awesome example. It’s something very, very physical, but the Covid shot was not about anything physical for God’s Church. It was about love. It was about unity, which God wants in our lives. It was about love towards one another and love toward others and striving to live that way in our actions, a willingness to sacrifice even if it had hurt, even if it hurts. Even if this [upper arm] swells up and stays that way for the rest of my life. Some got some pretty bad hard spots on their arms. It’s like, well, is it worth it for the right reasons for God’s people?

Who is the man or the woman who fears the Eternal? So, if we have a right kind of fear in our lives and that fear should be a part of our thinking, to do something other than what God has given us charge of how to live, of how to think, of how to talk, of how to act, of how to support, of how to be in unity, we really should fear to go against God.

That’s why it blows my mind that some don’t fear how they talk to people who are ordained, because it’s not about them, it’s about God. And I don’t mean to embarrass anyone, but just like for one who just got ordained, some did not talk to her in a right way, did not show the proper respect, did not grasp and comprehend that God is going to give to her in her mind the things she needs. And if she doesn’t have full answers, you know what? She knows where to go, and it’s not to any of you out there. Unless you’re over that area. I’m talking to congregations.

And so, that’s the way it should be from area to area to area to area, to region to region to region, that we understand God’s government. If we don’t understand it just by looing at it physically – apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, elders. “Huh, it’s pretty simple. I think I grasp what that means.” Doesn’t take a genius to grasp all that. And there should be order and respect through that whole process. That’s a no brainer.

And some of you don’t have it and you better change and you better repent, and you better start being respectful to God’s government. Because if you’re not God’s going to deal with you. And you know how? Through me. And we’re at a point in time, just like with those two elders, time has run out. There is no more time for some of this kind of stupidity and foolishness and stubbornness in God’s Church.

Who is the one who fears the Eternal? Him/her shall He teach in the way He chooses. It’s not the way you choose. It’s not up to you to decide certain things in your life when God says it’s to be done a certain way. I understand things about government. God has given that to me for a purpose as an apostle. I don’t apologize for any of this. I don’t care what people think about that, if they don’t like it and don’t agree with it. It is what it is. I’m speaking the truth and we need to respond to that accordingly.

Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. We should understand even if it’s a simple matter of something really small, of less importance than a shot, whatever is bound on earth—and I hope we should grasp that—is bound in heaven. How is something bound on earth? If something is bound on earth as a matter of government in God’s Church He’s given that authority, He truly has.

This is still last Sabbath’s sermon, I mean, last Sabbath’s notes. And I’m tickled pink about that part of it because I know I have another sermon already finished that I can give next Sabbath. So, I’m always glad when I’m way out ahead. I’m tickled that Feast sermons are already coming together. Working on number three right now and I know where some of the rest are going to go. It’s all coming together. And I appreciate everyone praying about that and so forth, and God’s working in a timely manner anyway but it’s going to be exciting, it really is, truly is, what God gives to us.

I probably haven’t been as excited to giving something, well, since 2005, as excited. Just trying to throw out as many carrots as I can.

Psalm 37:27—Depart from evil. And you know, that’s what I’m preaching today, depart from evil. There are some things that they’re just a matter that they’re evil. And you may not feel that talking to someone in a certain way or shrugging someone off on what they say because you’re not in full agreement with it… You know, I think about how God addresses those who pull back the shoulder. It’s like pulling back the shoulder, “What does she know?!” Knows a lot more than you do. They’re there for a purpose. They’re there for a reason. They’re there because they’ve been tried and tested. Sad we don’t see those things. Sad we can’t see what is spiritual or grasp it. By this time in God’s Church if you’ve been in Philadelphia, Laodicea, and PKG you have no excuses whatsoever.

Psalm 37:27—Depart from evil and do good; and dwell evermore. I love that because that’s the process. We have to make the choice to repent, to get away from what’s wrong, to get away from evil. And you know what? We have to be able to see it in ourselves. And if we’re too proud to look at ourselves because we don’t think we make mistakes like that or that our attitude doesn’t suck then we’re not going to be able to see to depart from evil. We’re just going to wallow in it, “Oh, I love this evil!” Swimming in the old…

When I see that I see these great big arms going around. They cover them over with domes now, as a whole, but they’re outside the city and all this stuff has come in and it’s accumulated. And they have this great big arm turning around just mixing it up. And the smell just wafts up into the air, just about chokes you. I’m talking about stuff that gets flushed down the toilet and gets gathered together in this great big place and they have these places where these arms kind of go around and mix things up and eventually dissipate. I don’t know what they do with it. I really don’t want to know, but it’s not a pleasant thing.

But here we are doing the backstroke in it. Do we see ourselves? Can we see ourselves? Evil is evil and it stinks, and it’s like that stuff on a spiritual plane.

“And do good.” And by that process, “and dwell evermore.” Become a part of God’s Family. We’re given that opportunity. I think of the thousands for 2,000 years who have rejected that opportunity. If they could just see it, what it means on a spiritual plane, to spit on Christ’s sacrifice, it should turn one’s stomach. But thousands have done it.

…and dwell forevermore. For the Eternal loves judgment. What does that mean? The ability to judge. When we learn how to judge, to be in unity and agreement with Him. He judges. And when we learn to judge because of that same mind and we’re in agreement and we judge the same way, it’s a beautiful thing. And too often we judge our own way, the way we see things. “I think that’s being too hard,” or, “I don’t think that’s being hard enough,” or whatever. There’s a balance in there and it’s judgment. God wants us to learn what it is. Not to be too hard, not to be too soft, to do it because it’s right and it’s merciful.

The Eternal loves judgment and will not forsake His saints. Those set aside for holy use and purpose, those given His holy spirit. That’s who the saints are. Us. Given God’s spirit to be in us and He loves the judgment, when we’re learning judgment, how to judge matters, to judge them righteously. It says, they are preserved forever.

But the sowing of the wicked shall be cut off. There comes a time when basically it’s no more, not going to be allowed anymore or whatever it might be. The righteous shall inherit the earth, in other words, those who believe God and live by faith, shall inherit the earth and dwell therein forever.

The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom. Again, some of these are so simple but they’re not well understood sometimes. “The mouth of the righteous.” Well, what determines whether what comes out of our mouth is righteous, how we live is righteous. It’s show’s some unity of mind with God. It’s a oneness with God and agreement with God. And it says, “the mouth of the righteous,” because we’re striving to live by God’s way not our own way, not trying to hold on to our own ideas. You know, sometimes maybe trying to hold on to something of the past that’s already been adjusted and corrected or tweaked, made better, we see it more clearly now than ever before and that gives us better judgment in matters.

God is going to give us things at this Feast this year to have better judgment in matters. And the more judgment, righteous judgment there is the more unity and oneness with the mind of God there is the more beautiful it is, God’s way of life.

“The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom.” I love that because we should know what wisdom is. When you read through Proverbs and you read about wisdom, it’s about God, it’s about the mind of God. It’s the spirit of God, the mind, the being of God, the logos, the word of God. It’s the same thing, just expressed in different ways. The mind of God. To me, there is nothing greater than coming into unity and oneness with the mind of God, the being of God, to be in agreement with God.

Not to do it because God says it, just for the sake of doing it because God said it. We learn, we begin to learn the way, just like with tithing or Holy Day offerings or obedience to other laws of God and we begin by wanting to choose obedience because we begin a process of understanding that things require obedience even if we don’t understand it. But in time we’re to understand it.

Just like government, one of the most misunderstood things ever in God’s Church, in that respect. And to that’s coming into agreement with God if we grasp what this process is all about.

The law of God… Well, let me back up here. The righteous shall inherit the earth and dwell therein forever. The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, is able to speak things of God because they have grown in the mind of God because the mind of God is in here now. To do it for the right reasons. Not just because it’s commanded now but to do it because you’re in agreement, that’s the goal. And you agree with God. When your mind has been transformed to where it’s in you and you agree. You’re not just doing it now because God commanded it, you’re doing it…

That’s why in time, basically, there is no commandments. I hope we grasp that. There is no codified law like that, it is who we are. It is the way we think. It is what we live because we have the mind of God, we’re in agreement with God. What a beautiful thing to grasp and understand.

The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue speaks judgment. That’s what comes out. Because when it says it this way it’s a matter it agrees with God. It’s righteous.

The law of his God is in his heart. So I think of that breastplate, judgment, it’s in the heart. It’s who we are. It’s what we want. We desire that. What else would we want?

None of his steps shall slide. You’re not going to slip, not going to slide, you’re not going to fall down. You’re going to be sure. And it’s a beautiful thing when you’re sure and you know, when you know it’s of God. It’s not based on the way you think it is or the way you thought it was or the way you thought it was in the past and you haven’t changed yet or you’re holding on to certain things and so forth.

I could think of different things that have been given, truths to us, some of them about women, as an example. And the two truths, great truths that God has given to us, it’s taken time for people to learn through that process and some are still struggling with it. Some still don’t get it. But I’ve seen changes in some that I love. It’s beautiful. Because I’ve seen the change where they’re starting to think differently in that regard. Women aren’t down there and men up here. “Women are down… And it’s just like…” And a person wouldn’t even have to think about it when they’re that way because they already know. They don’t have to think about it, it’s just the way they treat them. “They’re just not the same. They’re not like me.” Well, that’s a scary thought, those thoughts. “It’s like you better get a lightning rod up here somewhere [top of head] because…” Anyway, sorry.

You know, it’s bad enough when someone doesn’t respect a woman, but it’s so many times worse when you don’t respect their position in government. Because that’s directly against God even more so. It is in the other part, but you don’t see it. But when it gets up there to where the ordination is so high that you ought to grasp it, that’s scary stuff.

Psalm 89:14—Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of Your throne. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. “The habitation,” meaning “a fixed or established place,” “Foundation of Your throne.”

Mercy and truth… Isn’t it amazing how these pop up? Mercy and truth shall go before Your face. That is a powerful sermon right there if we grasp what’s being said, truly.

Psalm 119. Going to spend more time here looking through a progressive revelation of God revealing the importance of how to judge according to His judgment. Because that’s what everything has to be based upon. It’s the Israelites, the breastplate and going to God to look for the judgment to be in unity with what God says, to do the way God says. Not our way. We should be afraid to do things our way, we really should be.

And we should be alert to that kind of thinking, to be able to distinguish between our way, the way we think, and God’s. That’s the tough part sometimes because that’s a spiritual state and depends on the spiritual relationship with God and how we’re thinking and to the degree God’s pouring out His spirit upon us or whether it’s being quenched. That’s another story. And all this, again, a matter of learning, coming to better understand God’s government, how He governs.

Psalm 119:1—Blessed are those undefiled, the word means “whole or complete; perfected” in the way. So again, it’s a process. …who walk in the law of the Eternal! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! So again, over, and over, and over again these things are there, matters of judgment, how we judge and how we’re striving to live God’s way of life and be faithful for the way He’s placed before us.

These do know iniquity who walk in His ways. So, a no brainer. So, if we’re walking in God’s ways and not our own. And that’s not an easy thing. We might think that’s easy but that’s just not easy. And it’s a matter of thinking about our own thoughts and trying to understand our own motives for the things we do. Is it motivated because of judgment that agrees with God and we want to do what is pleasing to God or are we motivated because “It’s the way I think it should be done, the way I see it is.”

Sometimes when people are that way we’re so sure “it’s the way I see. It is!” That means there is no other way so God’s not even in the picture, potentially in the picture in that because “What I see is right.” And sometimes people think that’s of God. That’s a tough mind to work with. But God does. He works with us. He’s patient with us. And in time we’re able to come to see some of those things in ourselves and repent.

Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him. And that’s the giant key right there. Do we seek Him? Do we really in our prayers go before God and seek Him in matters of judgment, and not be so quick to think we already know the answer? Do we always know the answer? Do we always go by our own opinion and act on it then? Because that’s being kind of flighty, it’s being out there if we think we can act immediately because “This is the way I see it,” and we’re not praying about some of those. Even little things, and especially when they have to do with relationships. Because you don’t want to be offensive, you want to be right, you want to act right toward others. Wow.

Verse 4—You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently. So, even the smallest of things having to do with God’s way of life, the precepts in this case on a spiritual plane it’s talking about there is the law and then there are other things given. There are things given within the Church.

And sometimes we don’t grasp that all these are a part of the entire process, the law and how it’s broken down even within guidance and direction that’s given within the Church, where we are in the present truth at any particular time, and on and on it goes, certain judgments that are given. “Do this,” “Don’t do that,” based upon things having to do with God because that’s where the judgement comes from. And if things are adjusted or changed God will give that, He’ll show us, but we have to be in unity.

Oh, that my ways are directed to keep Your statutes! So again, a matter of seeking God, crying out to God.

So, You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently. Oh, that my ways are directed to keep Your statutes! That should be our heart, our mind. We want God’s way; we don’t want our way. Shouldn’t want your way in various things that pop up within the Church. I don’t care what they might be.

We have different things now; it seems to be happening in a lot of different areas because people are meeting in homes. I feel a need to address some of those things because it gets to a point where…another area just came up here this week that I’m starting to deal with. And everybody in the Church needs to understand, you know, if there is one house where people are meeting, please understand it’s tough on them. You’ve got to be respectful to them, someone who’s hosting a service at their home, if it’s only one home in an area where people can meet. And to realize you don’t want to overstay on the Sabbath, you don’t want to come too early on the Sabbath. “What’s for breakfast this morning?” (I’m sorry.) “What’s for dinner?”

There’s a balance in things like this. So, like, maybe people rotate, and people do in some cases here in different areas and we have to be careful how we do some of these things. You know, when we rent a place you know how long we’re there? Generally it’s for a four-hour rental. And so, maybe an hour before services you can come and visit and then maybe an hour afterwards. But man, if it’s in a house it could be for four or five hours or six! Is that the way it’s supposed to be every Sabbath? No. No. No. No. No. There’s balance and soundness in these things.

There are things we’re to do as individuals. There are things we need to do as families. And on and on it goes. And those are things you have to search out in your own lives as to what is the balance, what is what is best for the Body.

Is it hurting others because it’s expecting certain ones…? Sometimes certain individuals just get in a certain… I can see it happening, where all of a sudden there is just one house people are going to all the time. And that’s fine if that’s the way it works out and everybody is happy with that. But sometimes that can be a burden on the person with the house.

If you’re the one with the home and everybody is coming over there, there is a lot of working going into keeping something to a point here and getting ready and getting it all set up. And week, after week, after week and hopefully everyone is helping to clean everything up afterwards. And if they’re not, that makes it kind of tough. If you’ve got kids over here and kids over there, is it just the parents that is to clean all that up? Yeah.

We’re all responsible for what we do and what we have, but it shouldn’t be just the person that’s hosting something.

I’m just throwing something out there. This happens in area after area after area. Okay? And we need to be alert to it so that we love one another and are caring toward one another.

Something came up last Sabbath when I was talking about playing of cards. In the beginning of some of that that blew some people’s minds. There are probably some in some areas right now thinking, “What are they doing in the United States?!” I hope they’re not doing that in down under and wherever, over there, and up above. Course, you all get the same sermons we do here every Sabbath, you Canadians up there.

But we need to think about some of these kinds of things and here some blew some people’s minds that playing cards on the Sabbath? Just doesn’t seem right. And so have to work with people because there’s a matter of balance and soundness of judgment, something that wouldn’t have been done twenty years ago, that some would have looked down upon. They would have gasped, “Cards?!” Some kind of a game or that children can play, go run around outside, play volleyball. Some children want to shoot a ball back and forth. Football I draw the line with, okay? There are some things we can go too far in some things on the Sabbath day.

So, there are certain activities where people can be closer together that doesn’t take a lot of energy, in that respect. Now, you can get too hard at a volleyball game too, pretty powerful [spike], “Got you!” So, again, have to be careful here. But young children? Children are children. Adults are adults. And sometimes our activities are different, and we have to learn how to do that. For a child to do something like that, fine, let… Matter of fact, it’s good. Let them run it off. “Go! Run it off!” We get older and we don’t have that same kind of energy.

And so anyway, it’s great to see children be able to have fun. There have been times in God’s Church in times past when people haven’t been able to have fun because their parents didn’t think they could have fun on the Sabbath day. They’re children. They have to sit there in their chair with their hands crossed, whatever it might be, not say a word. How long? I don’t know. That’s tough.

Now, at Sabbath services, in time we begin to work with children and teach them certain things for two hours, so basically, we have a kind of a guideline that if it’s in school, if they’re in school and they can sit in school for four, six, seven hours, they can probably do it in services for… Well, we don’t even go two hours as a whole. So very rarely we’d go two hours, but an hour and a half maybe, they can do that. They can be taught how to do that, no problem. But what about the rest of the Sabbath? Can they not run and play and play certain kinds of games that maybe are even a little loud because they are children?

Now, if we’re adults at a table we need to conduct ourselves a little bit differently on the Sabbath. Not to play spoons, if you know what that is. It gets really loud. Some of those games get really loud. So there would be certain things there that just wouldn’t be as conducive for adults on the Sabbath. And so, you learn balance.

To be visiting and playing some cards or whatever, a little smack here and there, you know, fun between people? It’s an opportunity. You’re visiting. You know, I mentioned this a while back, that if I’m just talking about one thing or whatever, go up to someone and… I have to work at that. Everybody does, I think. Maybe some don’t. Matter of fact, I know some don’t.

So some have to work at that, and others don’t. So, we all have different abilities and inabilities. But to be together as God’s people on the Sabbath, that’s the goal. It’s a beautiful thing to have some other kind of game, you know, that is not loud and doesn’t last forever is fine. Chess game on the Sabbath? It’s fine. You’re sitting there talking back and forth and visiting because you’re at ease now and you’re able to do that. So, we’re all going to start learning chess. (Just kidding.)

But we have to learn balance in God’s Church. So, sometimes when people have heard some of that and if they came out of Worldwide and hear some of these things, it’s like “Gasp.” Now, you don’t play cards for five, six, seven, eight hours. Give me a break. There’s a balance. And that’s judgment. That’s what we’re talking about, how to judge things. To do something for an hour or two like that, fine. Corn hole? I don’t have a problem with that on the Sabbath. It’s not loud and ruckus and making a big noise. And people can even a little smack here and there. It’s fun. It draws people closer together. You can have fun with each other. People aren’t taking it overly serious.

Some kind of sports you can kind of get attitudes and things. You don’t want to be involved in things like that on the Sabbath.

So, I don’t have to go through those things and explain everything. We should learn balance. Balance is a beautiful thing, truly is. And that’s a matter of judgment – what to do, what not to do, how long to do it, when is it too much, how do I serve, how do I give, what do I…? So again, it’s how we think. And you have to work through those things.

I could have a whole book here and just be going through it. This is… No, you shouldn’t play that game. Yeah, you can play that one. No, you should not play that game. No, that’s too loud and that’s too much energy on the Sabbath. What would be the value of that? How do we learn how to judge?

Just like I said about, you know, four hours, six hours playing cards. That’s a little nuts. That’s getting a little out there. Is that all we do on the Sabbath day? Do we not have other things we can do on the Sabbath day? And so on and on it goes.

And having a meal every Sabbath. One area, that just popped up recently. Having a meal every Sabbath? No, you shouldn’t have a meal every Sabbath. We don’t do that at Sabbath services in Cincinnati, as an example, in that respect. Once in a while we have a potluck or something. But to have a meal every Sabbath as God’s people, as a congregation? That gets hard. It gets difficult. Maybe you think it doesn’t, but it does on some. Maybe everybody is not the same. You’ve got to be considerate and thinking of others.

So, do you have to have hors d'oeuvres every Sabbath? No. There was a time when people got into arguments, “Who is in charge of the cookies?” They had battles in Detroit when we first got started. And they got in attitudes towards each other because some thought that they ought to be in charge of the cookies, and some thought, no, it should be passed around. (Well, I’m all for that, pass around the cookies.) Balance. Judgment.

So, to do something once in a while is fine, but to do it every Sabbath, to add to certain things, and sometimes you maybe adding a burden to somebody else’s life and being inconsiderate just because you like doing a certain thing. And it’s all a matter of judgment again, balance, judgment. And that’s something you seek all your life, and you’ll grow in throughout your life.

That’s why we don’t have a giant book telling you all the do’s and don’ts and how long or… About the only thing we’ve done in that regard is, like, a drink. Generally have the rule of thumb of two drinks at a meal or whatever it might be type of thing in a short evening. And then, “Well, what about he had three?” There are times I’ve had three. They’ve been smaller amounts.

So people get into the amounts. How much wine can you have? How much is a drink? Hmm. So, you may have two ounces and you go and drink another two ounces a little bit later and someone sees you. “I saw them pour up a third drink! Wow! Scary.” And so they end up having six ounces. That’s barely a drink. Barely my drink. I guess, what size of glass do you carry? (No, I’m kidding.)

So again, there is balance in these things. But I’ve known people that get all twitterpated about this and start judging someone. “You had a drink. Are you going to drive home right away?” Wisdom. Balance. Who made you the judge? Are you the alcohol judge here? Are you the drinking judge?

Now, if somebody has done something wrong you have to, maybe have to address it. I hope you understand what I’m saying. That sometimes people in God’s Church sometimes have been so judgmental about various things. And you have to be careful of that. Who is the judge? And what are you judging? It better be this all the time – self – and not so quick to be judging everybody else. There is where the majority of problems come in, because we’re judging other people, what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, or whatever. And so we don’t have to write reams of books of every little detail. Everybody is different.

Even the metabolism of alcohol, going back to that, some people can’t take a little bit without a problem. Some could drink more but don’t do it because of examples sake. Because our metabolisms are different in how they work. Should be extremely careful before you drive. How long does it take for something to dissipate out of the body? All those things are a part of it. At a meal, how long are you there eating a meal before you go get in a vehicle? The last thing you want to do is to be encumbered in any fashion or form in your thinking, alertness, or speed of reaction, whatever it might be.

Wisdom, soundness, balance – judgment, judgment, judgment, judgment. All a part of understanding government. They’re guidelines given and we have to learn how to judge according to what God gives to us, each one of us.

Verse 4 again, You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently. Oh that my ways are directed to keep Your statutes. Then I would not be ashamed, when I am… this word is not “respect” here. …when I am looking unto or focused upon all Your commandments. That’s what the word is about. We’re not going to be ashamed when we’re really focused on God’s way and striving to make judgment according to that.

Are we always going to be perfect in that, no, but that’s how you grow. That’s how you become more balanced in thinking, having more soundness of mind. You know, soundness of mind, you look in the world today and you look at things that are taking place in politics and government and you think, such chaos, unsoundness of mind. And I think of the blessing God gives to us in the Church to grow in soundness of mind. And so much of that has to do with balance, the ability to judge. And our judgments are to be based on God’s way of doing things.

Then I will not be ashamed, when I am looking to or focused upon all Your commandments. I will praise You with uprightness of heart. It’s praising God, thanking God for what He’s given to us, the ability to judge, the ability to have a sound mind and to think right. When I will have learned Your righteous judgments.

So again, so much having to do with God’s government has to do with the ability to make sound judgment, the ability to judge things in our life, things that we’ve just discussed throughout the sermon here about our Sabbath, how we observe our Sabbath, how we work with children, whatever it might be. Just in one area, a little bit here we discussed some of these things. And we’re to learn how to judge in these matters in our life in family, within the Church, within the world, and on and on it goes.

And it’s not something that can just be given to you in written form, and you live your life by that. You’re given certain guidelines, precepts, principles that are given, and then you strive to judge according to those things your life. Self. Because this is what has to change and grow.

Nobody has put us in charge of transforming someone else’s mind and judging their minds, in that respect. Now, there is judgment involve when it comes to sin and being involved in certain situations and when to say something. That’s a totally different subject.

I’m talking about things that we so often do as God’s people when we take a disliking to something, the way someone has done something, and people make drama out of it. And you think, “Give me a break!” There are a lot more important things in this world than getting worked up over other people and how they do things or don’t do things.

What are you doing? How are you living? How are you acting? How are you thinking? Do you understand how God’s government is to work in your mind and in your being?