Exercising God’s Love, Pt. 9

Ronald Weinland

June 17, 2023

Today we’re going to conclude the series Exercising God’s Love, and this is Part 9.

It may be a little shorter sermon as I mentioned a moment ago, a little shorter than normal, but sometimes what I think is going to be short isn’t. So, this is going to finish this up and that’s the reason for it being a little shorter and because we’ve been reviewing some of the things that are here.

There is so much here that we’ve gone through in this particular series in the book of Jude and also in 1 John, and especially in Jude here because he gets even stronger in the kind of language that is used, and what we have come to see even more fully, it’s about the Church.

I can’t give it to everyone, but to understand that there are so many things that we have been learning that we haven’t understood in the past. We haven’t seen these things or understood them to be for the Church, as an example. So often we’re able to go through or look at scriptures and some of the things that are said, it seems so strong that we have tended to think that it’s about the world because it’s so strong in the language.

It’s like “This can’t be about the Church.” So, when people have read through these things in the past, in the ministry as well, that’s where we were, and we didn’t grasp and comprehend, no, this is about the Church. It’s very strong language and we need to understand it as strong language. God is being very direct with us, especially now at this time because this is when God is showing us these things. And that’s for a purpose as well – because of where we are.

The things we went through in 1 John, the things we went through in Jude, we have the opportunity to apply certain things to our life through understanding, through things that God is giving to us, and He’s giving us more of His spirit if we will use it, if we will put those things into practice in what we’re being told.

So, it’s, to me, an incredible door that God has been opening up for us to understand some of these things before His Son comes to this earth. Because there are things about the Church now that have to be addressed, that are being addressed because everyone who is going to be on the other side of this there has to be an example, there has to be those things that were set in their lives, that are genuine and true and right with God. That which isn’t will not be there. That’s putting it very succinctly.

So again, very strong language here, and candidly, against those (what’s being said), against those in the Church or in the environment of the Church, if you will, that have been (I’m using a term) “amongst” those in the Church but who have turned against Christ, who have turned against God. That history has always been around the Church because those things have always happened.

We understand, I think, in a deeper way than ever before that many have been called through time but very few chosen in the respect that the majority of people ever called have never come through it. They have gone by the wayside. They have turned against Christ. They have turned against God. What’s left then is that which God can work with, that which, most of it now during that time which will be in the 144,000, we are a little unique because there are going to be those who have the opportunity to continue on in the Church to live on into a new age. That’s an awesome thing in itself, to comprehend, to understand.

But the example has to be there and there can’t be that which goes through that isn’t dedicated to God, putting God first, living this way of life, that has God dwelling in them and Christ dwelling in them on the other side of this who didn’t live this before. It wouldn’t be right. That’s according to God’s judgment. Those are the things He’s revealing more and more.

We need to be aware of some of the strong language as we continue to go forward and as we go forward today because, again, it is incredibly strong, and we need to receive it that way from God – and what He’s doing within His Church, what He is showing the Church, and we have opportunities that are unique to us.

I don’t know if God’s going to fully give some of that, but this concerns some of the sermons I’m working on for the Feast. But we’ll see how much He gives to us, how much He will let us have. So, it’s an awesome thing to go through all this.

We have already covered what we are covering now in these sermons, so, if someone out there thinks, “Well, you’re going back and maybe got your notes got mixed up or something because we’re repeating some of the same scriptures again.” Yes. We. Are. We’re going through things in the book of Jude again to focus on certain things, and a part of that is because within one week’s time in planning some of these latter sermons here, the last two especially, there were things given that we didn’t know in the sermon before.

That’s just how quickly God is working with some of these things. And if we grasp why He has done that it’s because we get to a certain point, just like in this building process, you can’t go on to another row, if you will, of blocks or bricks or whatever, until you have the one below set. You can’t put them in the air. It doesn’t work that way. There has to be structure.

And so, once we receive that structure from God, He’s building things within us, molding and fashioning things within us, and the reality is we can’t receive everything all at one time. We can’t just be told something; God can’t just put it all in our minds and all of a sudden we know everything. If He did put knowledge into our minds we still wouldn’t know and grasp it because there are things we learn through time and experience.

That’s why we have to go through this process. It can’t just be put in the mind. God can’t put character, He can’t put His way, He can’t put His mind within us all at one time. It doesn’t work that way. If He was able to do that, if it worked that way, we wouldn’t have to go through everything we go through. Then we’d be robots. We wouldn’t have a mind of our own because that’s the only way it would work. I hope we understand those things.

I’m going to pick this up again in Jude :4. Again, these sermons are all leading, and all that we’ve been having this year is leading up to the Feast of Tabernacles. To me, that’s exciting when God shows us where we’re going, what’s ahead, and what the focus is to be. There is a specific focus.

I already had the opportunity now on this trip to have two sermons completed for the Feast. Still working, obviously, on more, but two complete. I’m tickled about that in this part of June to have those and know exactly where they’re going, know what has to be covered and why. But it has to do with what we’ve been covering this year, and it’s all being brought together in a stronger, more effective, more powerful way for the Feast. Again, because it’s a building process.

We can’t get to that until we get through everything before that that we’ve been nurtured with all year long and will be between now and the Feast.

So again, Jude :4—There are certain ones who have come in alongside us who were of old ordained to this condemnation. Now, we’ve had no concept in times past that it’s the majority. It’s been the majority within the Church from the beginning of time, or those who have been called, I should say. Even the Apostasy brought that out.

The Apostasy revealed something truly powerful. Not only the fact of the way Laodicea was but of attitudes and spirit that created Laodicea in the first place. It’s because of the weakness that had already taken place within the Church, which is the cause from the ministry, from the top on down after Herbert Armstrong died.

So, the reality is things were manifested that were already there. I think of one evangelist that started teaching things in college that he had to have been cut off a long, long, long time ago. He was in amongst those of the Church. He was in the fellowship in the sense – not himself but he was in that environment of the Church, and he was teaching things to Ambassador College students about a 14/15th Passover.

Anyone that did anything like that is immediately —whether it be a minister or whether it be an individual telling someone else they believe in a 14/15th— they’re cut off right there. They do not have God’s spirit coming into their life anymore. God will not dwell in them because that is really, that’s exceedingly heinous, that kind of a thing, to turn against the Passover, to turn against everything that was given through God’s apostle, through Herbert Armstrong. Because he made those things clear in the things he wrote and the things he preached. It’s all in the fourteenth day and the meaning is in that day.

And yet this evangelist was one that so many in college looked up to because he could sit in the front row and listen to Herbert Armstrong preach while he was reading a book. So, their idea is he’s the example. “He’s sitting there, he can read this book while listening to Herbert Armstrong, and he can digest both. He is an amazing man.” No, he wasn’t. He was a thief. He was a liar. He was a murderer. He was all those things on a spiritual plane.

Because he hurt a lot of people. What he taught has hurt hundreds, thousands of people in God’s Church. He hurt hundreds of ministers because they picked up on it. They began to believe it. They in time, when they had their opportunity, began to teach some of those things.

So, we have learned a lot. It’s going to come out at the Feast even more so about what has taken place not only in this last six thousand years, but especially the last two thousand years in God’s own Church, in the environment of the Church. There is so much to learn from that.

We have the choice to become at one with God, to be of the same mind by our choice, by our agreement, because we agree that God is right and we are wrong and our ways are wrong, our thinking is wrong. That’s why we have to repent, as the Greek is in that word, “to learn to think differently. We can’t stay the way we are as human beings. A great change, a transformation in the mind itself has to take place, and that’s by choice. It’s not owed. It’s not automatic just because we give tithes, just because we give Holy Day offerings, just because we go to the Feast of Tabernacles, just because we go to Sabbath services – which some don’t do those things faithfully, haven’t in the past.

So, we need to be spoken to in strong language if we’re guilty of going against God, the word of God, the being of God, the very mind of God. We’re to learn God’s way and choose whether or not we are in agreement with that – make choices along the way, I should say.

Anyway, to me this is all fascinating, how God works with us as physical, carnal, selfish human beings. That’s awesome! It’s beautiful, it really is. Now, it’s not beautiful the response from human beings because too many have turned against God. But when individuals yield to that process and the mind begins to change that’s beautiful. Because God’s beautiful, God’s way is beautiful, His plan and purpose is beautiful.

…certain ones who have come alongside who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly ones. So, there have been a lot of ungodly people who have come up in the midst of the Church. Philadelphia, the Worldwide Church of God, you bet. That one evangelist that many of you already know whom I’m talking about, alone. There were others, other evangelists that came along and had some of their own ideas and began to teach things that were different.

Those things came out as well in the Apostasy. A lot was made manifest during that time, where their minds really were, what they truly believed. So, God made it manifest. Revealed it for those who could see it. Sadly, not all could see it.

…ungodly ones turning the grace of our God... What’s grace? It’s about God’s calling, it’s about His love, His desire to love us, to begin to show us His way of life, to offer us the opportunity to be forgiven of sin. That’s what grace is. The favor, the blessings of His life living and dwelling within us so He can live within us. All those things. The patience that God has with us. All those things are about grace.

It says they turned the grace of God for the purpose of participating in lewd behavior. So, in other words, they cut that off in life from themselves and from others, of how God is working with us, because they want something different.

So, it’s translated in different ways in different bibles, but lewd behavior, emphasizing the fact that this is sick, it’s bad, it’s evil, and that kind of word that is used there so often has to do with that which is misconduct sexually.

And so, why? Why? Is that what this is all about? No. Might in some cases because that’s happened a lot.

It’s about that which is on a spiritual plane. We have to see it for the ugliness it is when individuals commit spiritual adultery, spiritual fornication, not yielding to God, not loving what God has offered, but changing it somewhere along the way. 14/15th as an example. That’s worse than the incident that Phinehas had to deal with when the two came into the camp, when hundreds and thousands were beginning to die of a plague because of what they were doing, and he came in and rammed that javelin down through both of them at one moment in the tent.

Well, this is much, much worse. When individuals, especially when they have responsibility, like an evangelist, almost unthinkable that such a thing could happen and exist in the environment of God’s Church for so long. But God allowed it. Why? So we could learn these things. So we could learn more about what we’re going to learn at the Feast this year. So we can see it in a clear way, so that we can actually become more at one with God, in agreement with God that His way is absolutely right, it’s the best, it’s the only way and embrace that with all of our being.

Because you have to fight for it. It’s not just handed to us. Well, it is in a sense, on a silver platter – golden platter, if you will – but because we’re carnal and human beings we don’t do well with that sometimes because of our choices.

It goes on to say, and denying the only LORD God and our Lord Joshua the Christ. Denying them. Turning against them. The individual that started teaching 14/15th he turned. As soon as he opened his mouth and started saying what he did he turned against Christ, he turned against God. Horrible to teach something so horrible, so reckless, so disgusting.

So again here, “certain ones,” “the ungodly ones.” And sadly, there have been so many. So many! We’ve had far more in PKG who have been ungodly ones than those who have been able to stay. And thank God for all of you who have stayed. You’ve had to fight. You have an opportunity – if you’ve had opportunities to grow in character and do things, God is there, loves you, embraces you, in that respect, on a spiritual plane, if we can just grasp that, what it means to fight for and to hold on to this way of life.

Because the majority before you haven’t. The majority have come along, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people who have come along and gone – ungodly ones, denying Joshua, denying God. Denying their spirit to live within them is what it’s about. Because when we think we have the answers, which every one of them who has gone, they had the answers, they no longer needed to be taught by an evangelist, or by an apostle. It didn’t matter. They already had their minds made up of what was right and wrong. In some areas, they found fault in things and so they knew a better way. They forgot how God works. What a horrible thing.

I’m barely getting started here and I was going to be faster. Sometimes that happens.

So, we’ve been focusing on these terms, “these,” “those,” referring back to this verse 4 when it talks about “the ungodly ones,” “those who deny,” “certain ones,” as it used there in the language.

Jude :8. This needs to be drilled into our thinking so we can grasp the magnitude of how bad evil is, of how bad these kinds of things are, so that we don’t want to have even the slightest smidgeon of any of this kind of thing in our life. We want to be cleansed. We want to be clean. We want to be right, right with God because we’re in agreement with God.

Jude :8—Likewise also, these dreaming to defile… That’s how it’s translated, “dreaming to defile.” In other words, they’re imagining in their minds ways that they can change something. They have a different way, they have a different teaching, something that they “see” that others in the Church can’t see.

It’s like that evangelist. He saw something in his mind and thought of different ways, dreaming, teaching students. What a great way to get this message out, that one day they can go out and they can have this “enlightenment” in their minds that they might be free to teach what he’s teaching. Sick. I hope we can see how sick that is.

…likewise, also these dreaming to defile set aside authority and speak against what is holy to honor. This is solely about God’s government, the Church, the structure of the Church. So, that evangelist, exceedingly guilty of this because of what he did in speaking against Herbert Armstrong. That’s what he was doing, speaking against what he taught. Because he was teaching something different.

So, last Sabbath we went through the story of Balaam and the account of how God moved Moses to exact vengeance. It’s not about vengeance as much as it is about judgment, but it’s because of the people and because of Israel that vengeance is His. It’s a matter of justice. It’s a matter of judgment that comes from God of how to deal with such things. Because God is not a vengeful God. He’s a just God, righteous.

We get these concepts of human beings and how human beings are and that’s in error, but we use those terms.

So he, again here, this vengeance, as it was, or this judgment against Midian before the Israelites would finally go into the promised land, and so, this example of God executing judgment on Midian because of what Balaam had done is one of the three examples used then in Jude :11, and they’re atrocious. They’re sick. They suffered a lot. People suffered a lot because of what these individuals did. They’re contrasted with “those against,” “those,” “the ungodly ones,” “certain ones,” those terms that are used throughout Jude, who have turned against the fellowship of God’s Church, who have turned against God and Christ. There is a sharp contrast there then made.

So, I want to read that again. Jude :11—Woe to them! For they have gone… “Them?” “They?” Again, always back in context here, “those ungodly ones” in the environment of the Church! We’ve had so many! …have gone the way of Cain.

It’s about murder. It’s about spiritual murder. He did something physical, and we look at that and think, “Cain and Abel. First one to commit murder.” What a sick, sick thing it began so early, so early on out of jealousy and the things that were in his mind, something he wanted, and he didn’t receive. And so, he’s a murderer.

It’s the same spirit of people who come alongside and do the things they do. They have a spirit of murder. That individual who taught 14/15, murderer spiritually, truly. It’s far worse to have murder on a spiritual plane than on a physical plane. Because someone can be resurrected on a physical plane, but if you ruin and are guilty of something happening on a spiritual plane where a person has gone so far that they become set in evil, they’re gone forever. Someone physically, Abel, he’s going to be resurrected.

Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain—not his brother’s keeper at all, not caring about his brother at all, just about himself. That’s human nature. He didn’t love genuinely at all. He’s a liar, murderer, all the other things you can put on here, had a murderous spirit.

…and have run greedily after the error of Balaam for reward. That example that’s there and all the tens of thousands… Well, I guess it was twenty-some thousand that ended up having to die because of that, but the minds that were ruined in the sense of things that they thought.

…and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. Disputing against the truth. That’s basically what he’s known for and how that hurt so many people when individuals began to chirp, chirp, chirp about something they believe, some conspiracy theory, whatever it might be that takes people away from soundness of mind and from the truth. Because the individuals know the Church doesn’t teach it. So, they go around kind of secretly.

I’ve been in this environment where if I come by I know certain individuals are discussing something because the conversation changes and the guilty looks and so forth, and the desire to get away. It’s there. Because I already know this is what they’re doing. It’s just that God hasn’t brought it to the surface yet to deal with it totally. So, those things are done in His time. What a horrible thing.

These are as a rocky ledge. We talked about that being like a reef, the rocky ledge that can destroy a ship. Something like this that might seem insignificant isn’t so insignificant. Then those examples are given that we can become shipwrecked by how we live, by what we do.

But anyway, it says here, These are a rocky ledge in your – it’s not “feasts,” the word is not even there, in your love (agape). In other words then, “within the fellowship of your love.” So, 1 John is all about God’s love and how to love one another, and that if we don’t love in the way John was instructing we’re missing the mark, we’re not growing spiritually like we should. We’ll come back to some of those things later on.

But again, this is what we’re to reflect in our lives. Not just a brotherly love, not just philia, which was unique in Worldwide. We have to go way beyond that. We have to have God’s love in us and that kind of mind toward one another.

Then there was verse 12. It was revealed even more fully, with a better, if you will, more proper translation. Verse 12—These, again, are as a rocky ledge (like a reef) in your fellowship of love, when they come together with you, acting like shepherds. To me, it’s an awesome thing when it says it this way because it’s like the ministry and they’re there to help, they’re there to serve and to teach. And so, someone else has something they want to teach you that you don’t understand or that you don’t know, “acting like shepherds.” In other words, they’re liars. They’re not shepherds.

…without fear. To do some of the things people have done is without fear. They don’t think of the consequence. They don’t grasp the consequences of what’s revealed in Jude or John or throughout scripture.

A cloud without water. What good is that? What’s a cloud without water? Well, doesn’t really fit, does it?

…carried about with the winds; trees without fruit in the fall, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Nothing there. Nothing. Absolutely nothing valuable, useful there. That’s the message. So many have gone that way.

…raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. Can’t see themselves.

…wandering stars to whom is reserved—this is pretty powerful—the blackness of darkness forever. What does that mean? Too often people read through this and they think of the angelic realm and them and forever. What does that mean? Well, forever for them, there is no forever. Only by God’s mercy will some be there forever, or evermore, life everlasting. But a lot of the angelic realm that obviously we know about and Satan, they’re going to come to an end. That punishment, that judgment is going to be awaiting them. Then all memory blackened out, never to be remembered again. In time all gone. It’s about judgment.

“Reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” Now, this is pretty strong language. Because if you think about the Church, “These are a rocky ledge,” God has the power to reserve a time for them as well. It’s not guaranteed that just because people are resurrected, even in a scattered Church, in the Great White Throne, that they’re going to be in God’s Kingdom. Choices, choices, choices, history repeat itself, human nature is human nature, and sometimes people don’t want to change. Choices.

So, we have choices. What an awesome thing as long as we have choices, choose to do right, choose to draw closer to God, choose to hear what we hear and hold on to it with all of our being, treasure it…

Verse 14—Also prophesying about these was the seventh from Adam, Enoch, who said, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all. So, those who are going to be a part of 144,000 there’s a lot about judgment involved in their lives that is going to come out more and more as time goes along, what this means. And it’s, again, an awesome part of God’s plan.

…and to convict, which is a word that means “to rebuke” or “expose,” and expose all who are ungodly among them. So, what maybe wasn’t known in Worldwide or wasn’t known in some of the scattered groups or whatever, God is going to expose in a very strong and powerful way in a resurrection.

…among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way. Like the audacity, without fear. Just thinking about it I think, how can that be? Someone who sat at Herbert Armstrong’s feet in the first classes of Ambassador College, then becomes in time an evangelist, stands up before what God gave Herbert Armstrong to raise up in three college campuses, and at one college campus, this evangelist then thinks that he can start to teach something that he knew wasn’t in agreement—He knew it. He was a smart man. And it was against what Herbert Armstrong taught, what God gave through Herbert Armstrong to teach the Church. Wow! That really is (What other word?) mind-boggling. Hard to imagine but it happened. The audacity!

…and of all their hard (harsh) things that they said or did which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him, against God.

Jude :16—These are murmurers. They’re grumblers. They’re not happy with, they’re not satisfied with what—if they could only grasp it—with what God is giving them. They want something different. That kind of a mind is exceedingly dangerous. That kind of thinking has no part in God’s Kingdom. God will not be a part of that.

So, they have the opportunity or the choice whenever it’s before them – some maybe never again, might be before them, but they’re already set they don’t agree. Can that ever be changed then? Well, that’s the danger of something like this.

It’s an expression of being discontent, being unhappy about something, and just not content with what they’re being given. You know, we should be the most content people with what God feeds us Sabbath by Sabbath, Holy Day to Holy Day if we can grasp it on a spiritual plane. The only way we can is to cry out to God for help of His holy spirit within us so that we do hear, so that we do grasp it, so that we can embrace him and love what He has – to love God, to love His word.

To me, that’s an awesome thing, to think the truth you see… The Holy Days themselves, how can you help but say, “I love them.” And because of that, we know we love God. Because it’s God, it’s the mind of God; He gave them. The beauty of them, what they picture, the organization, the length of time to fulfill it, and God’s there all the way. Beautiful, awesome, exciting, and we’re blessed to be a part of that, to share in that excitement.

If we can’t have that kind of fullness of life and we think we have to bring something else along that’s new… And sadly, this still happens. It’s happened this year already, different ones that think they have something different that I don’t get, I don’t understand yet, I don’t see. Like one person told me (I think they liked me – pretty sure they did), and it’s like, “You’ll see it in time.” Because they’re so convicted they’re so right. And no, I won’t see what they see. I see what they’re saying, but I don’t agree with that at all. I agree with God.

…complainers. Finding fault. I just think of people and what they’ve done, complaining, and murmuring and griping and complaining. We used to, I used to think about a long time ago, early on in the Church, thinking about the Israelites, “Man, some hard-hearted, hard-headed people. You know, they just get across on the other side and they’ve just had an entire sea, walls of water on both sides—this isn’t normal—can’t you be impressed by that and realize there’s an incredible power there? You walk along and then here come the Egyptians and all of a sudden they get bogged down, the mud is there all of a sudden, the chariot wheels won’t turn in it and the entire army gets destroyed? Man! Why on a physical plane can’t someone see that and think, ‘This is incredible. We’ve been delivered! We’re on the other side and they’ve been destroyed!’”

Not so. A little bit later because Costco is not open, they can’t go in and get the things they want, they can’t have the same things, what they think they should have. They’re supposed to be in a land flowing with milk and honey. This should happen right here. Where is Costco?! (Anyway. I’m sorry.)

But it’s the grumbling and complaining. Then against Moses, against Aaron, against God. And I used to think, “They are some pretty tough cookies,” until the Church and in the ministry and seeing things that have happened over and over and over again. They didn’t have God’s spirit, but we do. Those who have been baptized, the impregnation of God’s spirit have no excuse, absolutely no excuse. So, to murmur and grumble and complain, it’s far worse than what those Israelites did.

…walking after their own lusts. That’s the problem. We want things our way, what we desire, how we think it should be, what we really want to see taught.

…and their mouth speaking great swelling words. Because to even open the mouth to do some of these things, they are great swelling words because their heads are swollen and they think they’re so great, grandiose as the word is, pretentious.

…giving or expressing admiration to others, like in false flattery, fits into this, expressing an interest in something when you really don’t have an interest in it. You’re just trying to receive favor from someone and there are different tools that carnal human nature can use to try to do that. That’s what it’s talking about here, getting for self. Well, it goes on to say, for the sake of profit, self-profit, what we can get out of it.

Verse 17—But beloved, remember the words that were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Joshua the Christ: how that they told you there would be mockers (scoffers), often making fun of individuals, teachings, or of those who teach and what has been taught as being stupid or foolish.

Which, again, happened here recently where this individual feels that people in the Church just aren’t too bright, because they’ve been trying to tell them some of these things and they’re not listening to them. And it’s like, “Because you’re not listening to me they’re just…” the word “stupid” wasn’t used but that was what was communicated in essence by the thought, that they’re just… maybe the word “ignorant” might have been used. I’m not really sure, and I wish I’d have remembered some of that, that they don’t see what they see in the news or whatever and so they want to share the same things.

…mockers in the last time who would walk after their own ungodly lust. These—these, over and over again, the ungodly ones, certain ones—these are those who separate themselves. That’s what happens, separate themselves, first of all, from God. Just like that evangelist. The first time he opened his mouth and said something about a fourteenth [14/15th] and gave it credibility he was cut off, separated himself right away. He stayed around the Church for decades but wasn’t in it.

…separating themselves apart or from the body, from fellowship, from true fellowship. Because the only way we can have true fellowship with one another on a spiritual plane and receive the fullness of that, the enjoyment of that, and to really be able to have the kind of love that God wants us to have toward one another, that comes from God, it comes from God’s spirit. We can’t do it on our own and it has to be genuine and true with God first and foremost.

As it says here, “sensual,” carnal, in other words. That’s how they’re operating. …not having the spirit. There’ve been so many. All of us have been around long enough we should have our own experience of individuals we’ve known who have been exactly like this. They’ve been there to learn. God doesn’t just take them away immediately when something pops up. He lets them continue because we’re to learn from these things. There’s a lot there, there really is. I can’t give it. It’s with God.

So again, everyone who ceases to exercise God’s love in their life has come to the point in life where they have simply become set in sin. It’s not easy but it comes with time. People can become set in sin. That means they won’t repent. What a horrible thing to come to that point, turn against the very reason Christ was our Passover.

This is how individuals end up separating themselves from God and no longer have God’s spirit working within them. Because sin has to be repented of quickly and then we can continue on the road.

John 15. There is one area of teaching that Christ gave on Passover night that many in God’s Church have never heeded or feared, and/or even grasped the importance of what is being said there. Without this kind of a context it’s difficult to see some of those things sometimes. So, what he said and what we’re going to read was not taken as being unequivocal, absolute, incontrovertible, if you will, and certain to come to pass.

That’s what we have to see in things we’re told. There are certain things that are absolute and here is the example. John 15:1—I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away. Now, doesn’t have to happen immediately. It can be quite a while. Just like in the example I’ve been using about the evangelist there for decades.

…and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bring forth more fruit. So, we have to go through things where there are things that have to be cut out of our life in order so that we can bear more fruit, and that’s by our own choice, that that’s what we want, we want to grow, we want for God to correct us, we desire correction. Correction is a way of life for human beings. And so, we’re blessed to be able to be corrected about things and that happens when God reveals greater truth to us or more truth to us, and then we can see where we were wrong and we have the choice then to repent and become more at one with God, in agreement with God (if that’s our choice).

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me. That’s always a choice, to abide in God. It’s not just a matter of going through certain motions of things, it’s a matter of how we live our life day by day. We cry out to God for help, for His spirit; we know we need it, we know we can’t think the way we need to think, we can’t act the way we want to be without God’s help.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself. And yet so many, everyone who has gone by the wayside, all these individuals being spoken of by Jude, they felt they had fruit, fruit that others needed to see.

As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. The choice. We’re here today because you’ve been making right choices. That’s the prayer. That’s the hope. Because I understand that possibly even by the Feast there will be someone out there listening today that won’t be with us at the Feast. Possibility? Well, last Feast said that and there have been quite a number of individuals who just aren’t with us anymore.

I hate that, but you can’t make others think the way you do. You can’t give this way of life and your desires to others. You can strive to set the right example, you can strive to be a right light, and that’s the primary thing in that respect as to what we live. But you can’t put in someone else’s mind that which they have to do themselves by their own choice. People can tell you year by year they choose to leave or go by the wayside or do something different or come to that point where they’ve chosen something different, where they’re cut off from God’s spirit, and then it’s just a formality to say, “You’re disfellowshipped.”

…unless it abides in the vine; neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in them, bears much fruit. That’s an awesome thing to understand. If we are truly in God and in Christ and they are in us, you’re going to bear fruit in your life, you’re going to grow. It’s an absolute thing. God’s spirit can’t go out, live in our lives without producing. It’s how it works. The mind is being transformed. There are things going on within us in our thinking. We’re learning Sabbath by Sabbath, Holy Day to Holy Day.

So, those things that we’re able to put into action in our life because of what we hear, like 1st John, and hopefully, we are thinking about some of those things and being more on guard (maybe is a better way of saying it), being more alert to times when we’re not living that and then repenting and asking God for the help to love with His love toward others and thinking right, cleaning up our minds. There’s continual growth then.

God’s spirit will produce growth. But if God’s spirit isn’t there an individual becomes stagnant, they begin relying on their own abilities of thinking and reasoning. As time goes along they just get farther and farther away from the trunk of the tree, begin to lose things, lose their mind. Because if we lose our mind, the mind that God has given to us to be in us, you’re losing your mind. We’ve been given a precious thing to have the mind of God dwell in us. What a horrible thing to lose.

…for without me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, they are cast out as a branch and withered. That’s a promise. That is absolute. That doesn’t change, and this is far greater than what I believe we have really ever comprehended in that respect that God is showing us more and more.

…it’s withered and they gather them and throw them in the fire. Why that analogy? What is that about? It’s about the Last Great Day. It’s about the end on the Last Great Day if a person doesn’t repent. And sadly, sadly that’s going to be the case into the billions.

…and they are burned. It’s an end, just an end. God means what He says. There is no other way. And it’s perfect. It’s a perfect way to deal with matters.

Next in Jude, come to verse 20 which we covered in an earlier series. Jude :20—But you, beloved, building up yourselves in holy faith. So, we’re a part of the construction. We’re a part of the molding and fashioning. We have to yield ourselves to the process and be a part of this building thing that’s taking place by what we do, by how we respond to what God gives to us.

It says, “building up yourselves in holy faith,” in other words, sanctified, set apart. God will give us His spirit to accomplish this. It’s accomplished, that which is holy, sanctified is by God’s spirit, and then faith to live by what He’s given us to believe so that we’re all at one, so that we’re doing things for unity, for oneness.

…praying in the holy spirit. Always, always, always. So, it’s a matter of something that has to be spiritual, genuine, and true before God. We’re going before God on a regular basis repenting, continuing to repent, continuing to ask for help of His holy spirit living within us. We want that, we desire that, we love Him, we love His word, His way of life, and we tell Him that.

…praying in the holy spirit, keep (watch over, guard) yourselves in the love of God. Now, how do you do that? Well, a lot of it, the first, some of the first steps are when you know you’re not doing it. Because it’s in your mind, because you’re praying about it you know when you haven’t loved someone the way God says to love. When you’ve raised your voice, when you’ve said something and it’s wrong, wrong judgment, someone’s been put in a bad light, whatever it might be, we, as a whole with God’s spirit, can know when this hasn’t been lived.

The reality is we’re not perfect. The reality is we all have sin because we all have carnal, selfish human nature, and we do things sometimes out of impatience. When is the last time you did something out of impatience? I don’t have to go very far back. I don’t know about you. Because that’s the way we are. We like everything smooth all around us. Not just smooth, but our way. And if it’s not smooth, our way, something is wrong with someone.

Hopefully, we can laugh at our own human nature because that’s your nature. It’s my nature. It’s your nature. That’s where conflict comes from. That’s where unhappiness comes from. What made us unhappy? When is someone unhappy? What causes unhappiness? What causes us not to be content? What causes us whatever it might be that isn’t peace and joy and fullness of life? Because the reality is, I don’t have that all the time. I wish I did all the time, but I know I’m not going to have that until I’m changed because I’ve got something going on inside me. Selfish human nature. Carnal human nature. We all do, and we have to fight that.

So, we have to be on guard, watching it, alert to know “This is the way I am as a human being. By nature I am selfish.” By nature you’re selfish. You have to acknowledge that before God. You have to be able to see it, where you are and where you aren’t, and admit it then before God and then cry out to God for help of His holy spirit. None of us are perfect by any measure. We have a battle on our hands and it’s there in the mirror every morning when you get up. It’s the way it is. I hope we can have a little levity there. Serious, yes, we should take it seriously, but God’s merciful.

…looking for to receive the mercy of our Lord Joshua the Christ unto (toward) eternal life. So, we desire to be in God’s Family. That’s what that’s about. We desire that. We desire to do the things that are right. We desire to correct the things that can be corrected through the power of God’s spirit. We want to do better. We want to be able to experience God’s spirit in our minds and our thinking toward others and toward anything we might plan and do in life.

Verse 22—Even on some show mercy, making a distinction. So, it’s an admonition here now amongst the fellowship, amongst ourselves, that there are times we have to decide. How do we do that? Well, there are ways we have to judge, and we have to do those things. And when to show mercy? Well, we should always be merciful.

“Even on some show mercy, making a distinction.” But this is about “the others,” “the ungodly,” individuals who maybe have turned in a wrong direction, maybe momentarily, maybe you haven’t yet repented about a matter.

“And be merciful.” Give people an opportunity to change or to address something in their life and not to be so harsh and cruel and difficult in judging people. Be merciful.

“Making a distinction.” That there are times to do that in life, to be able to evaluate things the right way, God’s way.

…yet others save with fear. Sometimes just by the fact that being able to express how bad something really is and the consequences of it, to stir up fear. Because I’ve known of individuals because they’ve been shaken a little bit, a lot, to realize how close they’ve come to something that they finally, it hit them, the fear of what they’re doing and where they’re going if they don’t change something. So, there have been people who have been able to turn around and be with us to this day.

...yet others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. So, what an incredible blessing that God allows for that kind of thing. He doesn’t come in and just knock us over the head and He gives us time and He shows us what we need to see. Sometimes we get caught in a fire and if God doesn’t help us to be pulled out of it we won’t have a chance. But God’s merciful and patient and gives us these things.

…hating even the garment spotted by or defiled by the flesh. Now unto Him who is able to keep (to guard, to watch) you from falling. So again, that comes from God. We have to be alert, strive to be alert, want to be alert, on guard spiritually. But God is the one if we grasp it who gives us those opportunity to see those things because this is how He works with us.

He wants us to succeed. He wants us to be able to repent. He wants us to be able to hear everything that’s given every Sabbath and every Holy Day. But we don’t. We can’t. We hear a certain amount, we see a certain amount to a certain level, and the more we’re growing the more we’re going to grasp and see and put into life. But sometimes if there is sin we’re going to hear words, we’re going to hear a story and we’re going to see it on a physical plane and not really grasp it’s just on a physical plane. What can you do about that?

…keep you from falling, and to present you faultless. You know, think the power of God Almighty, if we just yield ourselves to the process and strive to do it His way.

…before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior (Deliverer) be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. So, a lot of reasons to love Almighty God, to embrace Almighty God, to love His way of life, to be thankful that He is God and not some of the ideas of things that people have in the world about God.

Let’s turn over to 1 John 3. In this series we’ve covered, again, 1st John and Jude quite thoroughly. There is so much that’s contained here in all these areas we’ve been going through. That’s why we’ve even gone through Jude as thoroughly as we have again. Awesome that God would do that because He wants us to see more deeply into what He’s showing us and what He’s preparing us to see even at the Feast.

So, even though we’ve gone through some of these things, again, there is much that hasn’t fully come to us yet. That’s what amazes me. Sometimes we go through something, and we think, “Now I get it,” and then within the week we didn’t see it all. We thought maybe we did. Even as I prepare sermons and then all of a sudden, like in this series here, God has shown some more, given some more things. Maybe you think everything was given the first time around. It wasn’t.

1 John 3. There is so much more that God gives us on a spiritual plane as we continue to grow, as we continue to build. So, what we’ve covered in this series boils down to coming to see and to live more deeply than ever what’s stated here. Because so much of that is what this is all about. That’s why Jude existed. That’s why the message of Jude existed. Because this wasn’t being lived in the Church the way it should have been, to the fullness it should have been.

1 John 3:14—We know that we have passed from death unto life... What an incredible thing to have that kind of confidence, a boldness before God, a peace, just a peace of mind. Not to be tormented. You know when there’s sin all we have to do is repent of it genuinely before God. That means to fight it then. If you don’t fight it, to change it, to conquer it then we’re not really being genuine before God. God doesn’t come down and take something away from us, we have to be in the battle. We have to want it ourselves. We have to fight for it.

…because we love the brethren. In the manner that is being shown here. The reality is this hasn’t been done real well in the Church over two thousand years. It really hasn’t.

…because we love the brethren.

Whoever does not love, again, in this manner that John brought out throughout the verses there, their brother abides in death. Now, if that only can sink into our beings, into our minds the deepest of anything we have learned this year then we’re receiving something pretty powerful. What can I say more? It’s a spiritual thing. We either see it and we see it to the depth of where we are, of how important this really is, of what God is telling us we must live better, more of between now and the time Joshua returns, and not to fool ourselves. That if we’re not doing it this way, the way that John has pointed out in scripture, the way that sermon series went through and discussed this, and if we’re not living this way we abide in death and we will not be there when Joshua returns. Because God’s going to cleanse that within the Body. It’s either true or it isn’t true.

So, more is being expected, if we can grasp that right now, than ever before. We have the ability to do it with God’s spirit by putting into practice what we’re hearing more than ever. Because we’re not just going to stroll on into, from here until then, and just kind of keep going through the motion of various things without change in how we think, without change in how we think about one another within the Church, within the Body. That has to grow. That’s what God is telling us.

Whoever, and we know the word isn’t “hates,” but it’s loves less by the comparison, again, of what the instruction is of what John is writing about. Whoever, again, loves less in this manner by comparison… What he’s saying is, it says is a murderer. How strong do you think those words are? How much stronger can something be? Seriously!

How much stronger can something be said about how we’re expected to live our lives in our thinking toward one another within the Church? Because if we don’t love one another and get rid of the wrong thinking we have toward one another we’re screwed up. We really have no excuse at this point within PKG if you will, with all that God has been revealing to us that we’re to be growing in, to have been growing in all this period of time.

So again, verse 15 is profound in one respect as to how strong it really is because it’s another one of those scriptures like John 15 that is absolute, unequivocal. How much stronger can that be said, “Whoever loves less their brother,” in the manner of comparison that John is writing, that’s the context, “is a murderer.” Whew! Wow! That’s powerful. That’s strong. Only we can know our own hearts, our own minds, and our own thinking toward one another in the Body.

Do we want everyone to succeed? Do we want everyone to conquer and overcome? Do we want to uphold and esteem one another in our thinking, in our minds?

…and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in them. So, the bottom line of what’s being said is we either have God’s spirit or we don’t. We’re either in the Body of Christ or we’re not and we’re on the outskirts. But if we see some things, we can repent. It’s like the fire thing. It’s like the matter of fear. If we can grasp this and fear gives us a bit of a kick in the pants, this is something to fear. If we want God’s way of life then we should fear not loving in the manner that we’ve been told. And if we have wrong thinking and wrong thoughts that are toward someone else?

Every year—I’ve mentioned this last Sabbath, I believe it was—every year at the Feast of Tabernacles there’s conflict in some of the Church areas. Probably all. But some that I have to get involved in one way or another, either talking to some in the ministry about dealing with certain matters and so forth and what to pass along. You know what? Those things should never, never, never occur to where people get mad at each other at the Feast. It’s the exact opposite of what John is about. It’s about being a murderer. Who wants to be a murderer? Worse than Cain! Cain didn’t have God’s holy spirit. We do.

We have access to the help to think differently about one another. God will help us to do that. What a shame if we don’t. I hope we are seeing the greater seriousness of what this series has been all about, exercising God’s love. We have to decide to exercise it and it’s by a relationship with God. It’s on a spiritual plane.

It’s not something you wake up in the morning and say, “Today I’m going to exercise God’s love.” Doesn’t work that way. That’s on your own. But you pray to God about “I want help to live Your love towards others. I’ve had this concern about an individual. I’ve had this that I’ve been holding against someone else, thinking about someone else, and I know it’s not good, it’s not right, it’s not healthy, holding on to a grudge…” whatever it might be.

Some of these things have happened at the Feast, sometimes they’re the most petty, picky, fault-finding. And you think, how can that be at a Feast of Tabernacles where God’s command right up front is “Rejoice?” How can we rejoice if we have it out for another person in God’s Church, if we’re at a point where we’re at a stage of dispute, anger, frustration?

I don’t know how to get that across that such a thing should never, never, never exist in the Church. What’s so bad? What has made your life so difficult at such an environment as the Feast of Tabernacles to get into a skirmish, into a dispute with someone else because something didn’t go exactly your way? Where is the sacrifice? Where is the mind to participate in that kind of stupidity? That boggles my mind.

…abides in death, is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in them. Now, that is strong language. We can’t just ignore it. We can’t somehow think that doesn’t apply to us. It applies to everyone. We have to think about these things to make sure that we don’t participate in anything in a wrong way in our thinking toward another brother in the Church.

Hereby we perceive or we can perceive, in other words, God will give us the ability, love. Some of the things they’ve translated it into aren’t here. It’s love, God’s love, agape. We can actually grasp it. That’s what we’re being told. Because it’s on a spiritual plane. That’s a high standard. That’s a high plane. That’s why some of these things can’t exist and have agape in it because God’s love is the height of it all, the perfection of it all.

Hereby we can perceive love because he laid down his life… How often have we looked at this or scriptures similar to it throughout this series? …because he laid down his life for us, speaking of Christ, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

So, where is the sacrifice when somebody wants to hold on to something, a dispute, an argument over some petty thing that gets so blown out of shape it’s like this is the biggest thing of the day or of the week and it’s got to be corrected, they’ve got to be corrected because they’re so wrong.

I really don’t have much patience for that kind of stupidity. Where we are now spiritually in the Church that kind of thing should never happen. If something like that happens this year at the Feast you’d be smart just not to tell me about it. You’d be smart to go and repent before God and ask God for forgiveness of your rotten spirit and attitude, to bring such a thing into His Feast of Tabernacles because it’s wrong, it’s sin to do something like that.

Both parties, if both parties are skirmishing with each other and upset with each other they’re both wrong! Sometimes it takes two to tango. Sometimes it’s only one! Sometimes it’s only one that stirs up the pot and they’ve been done so wrong. “They said something to me,” stirring up the po, and they’re full of sin. They don’t realize it. Get cut off. What a horrible thing at the Feast of Tabernacles to get cut off from God’s spirit. Well, that’s the time to go repent.

I hope you understand what I’m saying. Such things should never exist. We should be able to laugh about it a little bit, to realize that little puny things in life, we’re carnal, they mean nothing. They’re frivolous things, are by that by definition, they’re frivolous, they’re meaningless. What’s important is God. What’s important is peace. What’s important is becoming a part of God’s Family. What is important is love toward one another. What is important is that we’re willing to sacrifice to accomplish that.

Who sacrifices when they insist on having their own way? That the ministry should do something or that some kind of correction should be meted out for something that somebody did that was frivolous in the first place. It’s like give me a break! Well, especially at the Feast. I appreciate it. (I’m kidding.)

Think about how merciful and how patient God is with us, but He’s brought us to a point where, candidly, this Feast of Tabernacles should be the best we’ve ever had. If we live what He’s given to us on a spiritual plane this should be the best, truly, Feast of Tabernacles ever because of how we think toward each other, how much we love one another, how much we’re willing to deal with ourselves and correcting ourselves and sacrificing in order to love others. Because that’s what it’s about.

Anyway, what we’ve covered in this series is one of the final testing areas for the Church in this age. Hope you heard that. Because what we live and what we do with what we’ve been given is how we’re being judged. And we can do more. That’s what God is showing us. I’m grateful for that because I have things I’ve been working on because of this. The reality is every one of us needs to be working on certain things in our life in order to love more God’s people, one another, and how we go about it.

One of the greatest areas in all this is the need that we come to more fully embrace that we are a family in God’s Church and must treat one another as God’s Family. Because that gives you a different perspective when you see that each person belongs to God. And how you think about them is truly in spirit how you’re thinking toward God’s law and God’s ways; it has a direct effect then on your thinking toward God Almighty.

Now that, that’s the sermon in a nutshell if we can receive it.

So that we must treat one another as God’s Family, seeing one another in the Body of Christ, treating each other—again, hope this sticks—as belonging to God, not to us.