More to Build Upon, Pt. 2

Ronald Weinland

July 1, 2023

Last Sabbath we began a series entitled More To Build Upon. Today, obviously, Part 2.

We’ve started a process where we are reviewing what’s been covered in the highlights of sermons that began on the first Sabbath of January, January the 7th this year all the way up until now, and just to mention here all this is in preparation for the Feast of Tabernacles, which to me is exciting and inspiring.

I want to read something that was stated in Part 1: “These sermons we have already covered and will cover may well prove to be some of the most important ever given at such a period of time/over such a period of time.” Because we’re talking about January on. There are different times we go through things where we might need a lot of things to focus upon throughout the year and it’s not necessarily geared toward anything specific. But this is and they all fit together, and that’s what’s important about this.

In going on and saying then “and the reason for that statement is that these sermons have very much to do with who will soon be sealed, those who will be chosen to live into the Millennium, and those who will not be chosen.”

Now, that’s some pretty sobering stuff when you look at it for what it’s saying, for what was stated, and that’s the way we should take it, that’s the way we should receive it, in a very sobering manner. To be moved, to be motivated, and to be inspired as well, to understand that God is molding and fashioning us.

I can’t help but think of construction when I think about how we’re molded and fashioned, and that’s kind of a meager type of analogy but it's the only way that we can kind of sometimes see certain things. But I think on a site where the finishing touches are being put on it, and that’s where we are, a lot of the finishing touches being put on what needs to be in place for the return of Joshua. And to me, that’s very inspiring, awesomely exciting.

It was further stated that “the journey of where God is now leading us in this year all began in that series of sermons that started at the beginning of this year continuing up to now, with the first one being entitled The Creation of God’s Family.”

Just the subject matter of some of these and the progression of what we’ve gone through to me I’ve done this for a long, long time. To see this in the manner that I do because of what has been given, to me is a very moving thing because that in itself says so much: The Creation of God’s Family. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what we’re preparing for.

To realize where it’s leading us, what we’re to see, especially what’s going to be given by the Feast or at the Feast – hopefully, it hasn’t been given by the Feast. Because I may slip here and there. It’s hard. But anyway, it’s very difficult to stay out of some of that stuff. But again, what an awesome thing that the very beginning of the year God has us begin with a specific focus, and each part that’s added to it just adds that much more of things He wants us to grasp, things He wants us to see in a way that’s magnified. And again, hard to express some of this.

Anyway, the last area of scripture we were focusing upon was in Romans 12 in the first couple of verses about the importance of humility, discussing some of those things. That was addressed, and that to achieve such a change of focus from our natural mind and carnal thinking being one of selfishness, of pride, to that of actually exercising a mind of humility, our very minds have to change.

What an awesome thing to grasp, to understand as God’s people because His desire is that we be in His Family. It is a part of the creation of His Family and to understand the importance of fighting against pride, fighting against haughtiness, of desiring to grasp hold of humility, and praying about those kinds of things in our life, because we grasp the importance of the mind having to change, says so much as to whether or not we’re going to be able to continue as a part of the creation of God’s Family.

Because the reality is so many stopped that process. That only comes by choice, our choices. God offers us the opportunity of a creation in the mind that’s spiritual. He wants us to be able to change self, to be a part of changing the very way we think. It’s a battle. It’s hard. It was never meant to be easy. It’s a continuing battle as long as we’re in the flesh. The ability to see those things and grasp those things and to recognize that we have to be on guard, that we have to be watchful because it’s a constant battle.

It reminds me of Gideon. It reminds me of the army that was to gather. It reminds me of when they went down to the water. It reminds me of those few who bent down, and they looked around as they brought water up to their mouth because they were on guard and watching for an enemy that could come over the hill at any moment in time. Because they knew they were out there.

We know what’s out there, and not just what’s out there but what’s in us. We have to be on guard. We have to be alert and have that kind of mind on a spiritual plane. There is no other way this creation can happen. It’s a process.

So, to understand those things as we do to the depth we do is an awesome, awesome blessing. It truly is.

So, let’s read those two verses again and then continue on. Romans 12:1—Therefore, I implore you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Choices. The majority of people have made the choice to cease doing that or never to have started the process in the first place. That in itself is (What other word can I use?), mind-boggling. How could such a thing be? But the majority have done that. The majority of those ever called have done that.

“That you present your bodies a living sacrifice.” Now, I hope that as we’ve gone through these sermons and as we went through them, and now as we go back through some of these again, and again, showing and stressing the importance of what we’ve been given this year because these are highly important as to where God is leading us—and to grasp some of these things of what it means. Because I don’t know that it’s been fully grasped to the depth it needs to be, and it certainly hasn’t been by those who have left, to not be able to grasp what it means “To present your body a living sacrifice.” It means you’ve got to be giving up something and it’s got to have some pain, if you will, associated with that, the mind of sacrifice. If something is sacrificed it means it’s not easy, in that respect, with the carnal mind that we have.

Sadly, a lot of the people in the time of Israel they sacrificed because it was a matter of pride. They would give things out of pride. They would throw things into that round container to make noise so everybody could hear how much they were throwing in, how generous they were. It’s all about self, “Look at me, what I’m doing! So, I’m going to give… So, what did – up the street, what’s he giving? He gave two oxen. I’ll give three.” Do you think those things don’t happen, haven’t happened in times past? They happened all the time because they’re carnal Israelites.

To be seen by others, what a horrible thing. God doesn’t want any of that because it’s stimulated by pride, selfishness. Could it have been stimulated by anything else? That’s all they were, pride-filled human beings, carnal. They didn’t have access to God’s spirit. They didn’t have the ability to have a mind that would change.

Did different ones respond in different ways and striving to serve God? Yeah, but seemingly few and far between. The only ones I can think of are those who were led by God’s spirit. So, they had God’s spirit working with them, David being the prime example.

“That you present your bodies a living sacrifice.” Something we want in a different way we’re willing to give up for the sake of someone else. That’s the kind of sacrifice that God desires. That means we’re fighting the right kind of fight. That means we’re seeing something inside us that has to change in our thinking.

…holy. What does that mean? Well, we’re set apart for holy use and purpose, but we have to respond to that as well crying out to God knowing we have to have His holy spirit to keep that up. So, just because we’re set aside for holy use and purpose, which the majority who have ever been called turned away from – set apart for holy use and purpose and then gave up the calling because they didn’t respond with the right choices themselves, crying out to God for His holy spirit to accomplish this change.

…acceptable unto God. I hope when we went through 1 John we recognize this in a deeper way, what God is looking for, what God desires, what truly is acceptable unto God, and what is not acceptable unto God. Because this is going to determine a lot of what I said in the first paragraph.

…that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. What else could you say? Reasonable. Sound. Just. Righteous. A must in our life. A right kind of service in response to God’s calling.

And do not be conformed to this world. A world that is bent on get, get, get, selfishness. That’s why I love the example Herbert Armstrong gave to world leaders and different ones. He didn’t open up his bible and start going through scriptures and candidly, a lot of people found fault with him for not doing that, for not quoting various scriptures, or whatever. Because it was like, “Well, you’re not giving them the gospel, the good news.” One of the best things he ever said, something that carnal minds could understand, “There are two ways of life that human beings can live, give or get.” They understood what that meant because he would talk about that a little bit then.

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed. Self has to change. It can’t stay the same way. And sadly, sometimes within the midst of the Body of Christ, within the midst of the Church, within the environment of God’s Church people come along and they don’t respond to being transformed. They still hold on to their own way, and more than that they want you to agree with it.

That’s what’s happened to the majority of the people. Too often people have agreed with someone who’s come along, “Oh yeah.” Then they latch on to the same thing.

It’s like I remember one time down in the south church there were some who got caught up in this helicopter thing. “Black helicopters!” What color would you prefer? So, if they saw something dark up in the sky it’s like they’d go ape and have all these conspiracy ideas and things that are going on and what government is doing. Anyway, I don’t even want to go into it.

Left the Church over it all, different ones. Different things that come along and others listen to that garbage, and after a while they begin to think, “Yeah.” Always on guard. Always on guard. Always alert. Always watchful for something coming along that does not agree with what we have been taught from the beginning. And if it doesn’t then we’re responsible—no one else—for the choices and decisions we make about what we hear and how we respond to it.

I’m sorry but I can’t help this. I think of what I’ve already mentioned about one evangelist who began to teach at Ambassador College about a 14/15th Passover and students were in awe of the individual, almost like a godlike way of looking up to him, of his intelligence and how smart he was and how great he was and his abilities and so forth, and swallowed this garbage of a 14/15th Passover, who became then, so many of them went out in the ministry and they held on to those ideas and those beliefs and then some went into various areas and they taught some of those things.

Now, every individual in the Church who listened to that stuff that came from any minister, all they had to do was go to the booklet that Herbert Armstrong wrote about Passover, the Holy Days [Pagan Holidays—or God’s Holy Days—Which?], whatever the name of it was. I don’t remember right now, but it was a contrast between the Holy Days and the holidays in the world and God’s Holy Days. Anyway, very clearly gives three specific scriptures in there about a 14th Passover. Settles it right then and there. No reason to go to anything else.

But we found ourselves after the Apostasy having to give a lot more reason and going into a lot more depth, which God blessed us with, to show beyond a shadow of a doubt the 14th, in the 14th only, and all this other stuff is absolute insanity and garbage. But only takes three scriptures to nail it down solid and tight.

So, everybody who listened to the ministers they themselves were responsible then—minister was too, more so, and is going to be held more accountable, but the individuals who followed that garbage same thing. We’re all accountable.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you are able to prove. So, to prove God’s way, to become more convicted of God’s way of life, there is a process that has to take place in the mind. This mind has to continually change. As we grow within the Church and things are revealed more and more with greater depth we have to change with that. And if we don’t change with it we go by the wayside. It's like Pentecost and what happened then back in the seventies, seventy-three and seventy-four.

…that you are able to prove what is that good… To know that it’s good, to know, “That’s good,” acceptable, it’s right, and the perfect will of God. That means if you come to see, and you agree with something is of the perfect will and you see the will of God in it that’s your thinking then. That’s your mind. That’s your choice now. That’s an awesome thing. Because that’s what it’s all about – our minds becoming in absolute agreement, oneness with God. And wherever we’re not that has to change by our choice because we’re wrong. But it can be proven in our lives, to see it, to love it.

Verse 3, going on, Through the grace given unto me, I say to everyone who is among you, not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think. The number one problem spiritually within God’s Church through time. Definitely through Philadelphia. I saw it, experienced it. Laodicea. PKG. Because this is what has to happen in a mind that begins to choose something different.

“Not to think of themselves,” their thoughts, their ideas that are different from what they’re being taught. Because as soon as that enters into the mind we begin to think ourselves more important than what we are, or that God has some special purpose for us – which gets a lot of people, has in the past, has up into even this year. Every year!

“Not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think.” It’s all about pride. “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”

…but to think soberly. That’s how we started out this sermon today, talking about it’s good to be sobered at times, to realize our weakness as human beings, to understand the dangers of selfishness, and that that’s our mind of and by itself. That’s why we cry out for God’s spirit, to fight against that selfishness, to help us to see it all the time whenever it pops up its ugly head so we can fight against it, so we can repent, think differently, agree with God, grow in character.

Every time you repent you’re agreeing with God, you’re growing in character. You’re saying, “You’re right, I’m wrong.” Smart to do that in life constantly.

…but to think soberly according as God has dealt to everyone the measure of faith. And you know what? God has given everyone He calls the ability to believe the truth. So, what is that measure of faith? Well, He’s dealt to everyone the ability to believe. He opens up our minds. He helps us to believe the Sabbath, the Holy Days. We see it. We see the picture from the very beginning. The importance of Passover, Unleavened Bread, coming out of sin, coming out of spiritual Egypt, changing, having God’s spirit, God’s law, and realizing we can’t do it on our own.

We can’t keep God’s way on our own. We have to have His spirit, so we cry out for God’s spirit to enable us, to help us.

Then all the way, Trumpets, Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day. Incredible! He lets us see those things. Others in your family can’t see it if they haven’t been called. Others of neighbors, people you work with, if you try to talk to them, which in the beginning too often we do that because it’s just we want to share the excitement. After a while, we learn it wasn’t a good idea.

“As God has dealt” which He has, “to everyone the measure of faith.” How we respond to it determines the faith. We’re given the ability to believe but to choose to live by it, that’s up to us. So, there is no excuse.

For as we have many members in one body, and all members do not have the same… It’s not “office,” which we went through and talked about. Because in the past that’s all we had, we understood to that point in time by design, by God’s design. Because people needed to learn some basic things about government, and they just couldn’t learn it.

…and all members do not have the same function. We don’t have the same purpose in our calling. That’s what it’s showing here. God is molding and fashioning different things in all of us. We’re not all going to be the same nail, whatever, the same stud in the wall. Whatever. We’re not all going to be the same piece. We can’t be! We need help throughout the structure to support it all. That’s what God is building, that which every piece does, upholds its part, works together. That’s what it’s about on a spiritual plane.

So, it’s about function in the Greek language. It’s about a “task; purpose; role; place.” We’re all called for different reasons, being molded for different things. We don’t know what they are. It’s just wise to yield yourself to the process. Then when you get there you’ll be dumbfounded, excited, inspired in ways you can’t even begin to comprehend.

So we, being many, are one body in Christ. Everybody is supposed to be that, but the reality is that it’s not the way it’s been. …and every one members one of one another. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. There is that within the Body, it’s always been that way, but there’s always been that within the Body or around the Body. I don’t like to say in the Body because the reality it was, is, that at some point it never was or at some point didn’t become, wasn’t that anymore.

Awesome material; being reminded of some very, very basic things. But they’re exceedingly important because these things haven’t been lived by the majority of people who have been called since the time of Christ. We have that opportunity more than ever before, more than anyone else through time in many respects.

So, in the final part, Part 3 of that series in January, again, The Creation of God’s Family: “Selfish pride,” again, “is impossible to conquer by our own human ability.” You can’t just decide.

It’s not like reading. I remember when I first came into the Church, and some books are helpful on a physical plane – trying to think of the one – anyway, even the authors, I’ve forgotten some of the authors’ names now, which is fine with me because it was about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, basically. Some of those things are good in the sense of thinking about how the mind works and how society and how people work, especially in business.

So, going through and reading some of those things, it doesn’t take long, you realize, you know by God’s spirit you can only go so far with physical things and doing it on your own ability. And what is your motivation for it? A lot of those things were done because of businesses and because of things people were doing as far as business in the world and the like. But in the Church it has to be spiritual, and it has to be motivated by what’s right from God’s spirit.

Again here, to understand these changes we’re talking about and what has to take place in us. That’s why we have to cry out to God for His spirit. That’s decided by how deeply we are convicted of that. The more convicted you are of that, and you recognize the incredible dangers the more you’ll pray every day for God’s spirit, for His guidance in your life that day. What a way to live every day, to know that every day you need God’s spirit.

So, that’s why in that same series these verses were followed with examples of how this has been a battle that’s even been more clearly manifested within the ministry. That’s why we started in November/December talking about the meetings that were held down in Texas and built upon that then and started talking about some of that.

Like the matter of humility and that cat that was painting himself. (I still get a charge when I think of that picture, seeing that great big tiger that was there.) It says a lot we can look at ourselves and realize yes, that’s the way we are as human beings with human nature.

But yes, on another respect as far as God’s way of life we need to see what God is doing in us, what we’re offered. It’s greater than what we are. It’s greater than what we can grasp in our own minds. We don’t have to lift ourselves up with pride. We yield ourselves with God, He lifts us up. He will give us spirit life. He will give us minds with the capacity that make these look pretty bad.

So, we talked about the matter of the ministry. The reason for that is because when something happens within the ministry it’s more easily seen by more within the Church, hence that is the reason some of that is used as an example. So, if we can see some of those things and relate to some of those things on an individual plane in the sense of good and bad we can learn from it.

And so, that’s why different examples are given on a regular basis. That’s why I made that very comment from the very beginning that the example of what happened in Florida that time when I invited different – I was going to say “leading ministers,” about the only ministers. This is in the very beginning. – which were to be leading ministers in the Church and what took place. It was on a spiritual plane, and it wasn’t good.

And several (majority), went by the wayside in time because of what they did – because of what they did there. I know that with all my being because that’s where it was made manifest, what their spirit was. Now, I didn’t realize it fully at the time in all of them, but in seeing it and looking back and recognizing, yes, and started seeing certain warning signs even then, being cautious, being careful. It’s my job.

But to see where it finally ended up? Well, I can look back at that and say that’s where it began to be manifested. I couldn’t see it all yet but that’s where it started.

So, we can look at things like that and learn from it and realize that if we’re told something, to do something in a certain way we have to grasp the importance of that. We really do. In the small things and in the big things. It doesn’t matter, there should be a mindset in the way we think toward God’s Church.

So again, happening toward the very beginning of PKG and seeing what was taking place. And candidly, those battles have gone all the way up to pretty much present time. Thankfully, now they’re being leveled out in a very powerful way and it’s easy to see. That’s why at the beginning before the sermon I made comment from area to area to area I see something that is exciting to me. There’s a growth, there’s a maturity there that hasn’t been to the same level, and it’s very evident God’s spirit at work in people’s lives in a way to me is very refreshing because so much has been cleansed within the Church. The more it’s cleansed the stronger we are.

I hope we grasp that. It’s a beautiful thing. The closer we can be as God’s people to God, to Christ, within the Church toward one another, the way we see one another, the way we think about one another, it’s powerful. It’s what God wants, desires, demands before His Son returns. It has to be that way in a way that it hasn’t been with any other group since the Church began in 31 AD because of where we are and because of what must be in the Church when Christ returns. So, we are experiencing some incredible things to be able to live what we are living at the end of an age.

Then we went on from there. I was going to try to sing a little tune “Viva Las Vegas,” but I won’t. I knew the very first time I chose that as a location for people to come in within the ministry, there would be spin-off from it because it would help bring things to the surface. And it did over and over and over again. Why? Because it gives those with a wrong spirit the ammunition in their distorted minds to distort the purpose of all that’s being done, the why.

I don’t care where you are on this earth you can and should live God’s way of life right. You can’t go anywhere where there isn’t evil. So, people look there and say, “Oh, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. It’s really a bad place. It’s sin city.” Well, it doesn’t have to be sin in your life no matter where you are. It’s what you do in the mind, what you do out of your eyes, what you do out of the mind, and so forth that matters.

And sure enough, things happen. But you know what? Anything that brings sin to the surface and wrong things to the surface I welcome with all my being because as hard as it is and has been for several decades now to be a part of situations where individuals have to be addressed, and some oftentimes, sadly, removed from God’s Church. I don’t like it. I feel bad about it. I hurt inside. But I can’t make their choices and their decisions. But I always know that Body has been made better because of it every time. And if it be a big group, so be it. So be it.

I think of one big organization that wouldn’t address situations and people or even some Church areas because, well, it boiled down to one thing, money, income coming in.

Some individuals, more than one organization where situations, where people, things were done in a way that shouldn’t have been done. They should have been handled in a different way. They should have been corrected but weren’t because of status, because of how different ones looked up to them, or because of how it might affect the Church and what the Church was doing at that particular time. And you think, what a horrible thing to judge things from that basis. Yet those things have taken place over and over again.

I think of something we should have been able to see at every Feast of Tabernacles and maybe didn’t feel good about it at times, which was the case, when individuals would get up and talk. They were the “Holy Day offering speaker,” if there is such a thing. But that was their job, to get up and talk about the Holy Day offerings. Especially if they happened to be in a time zone somewhere else and they already had offerings in from different areas. They would say, “So-and-so up in the Poconos had ‘such and such’ amount come in per person.” They’d tell you basically how many people were attending there, how many thousand were there, and what the per person amount was.

And it was like, “If you have… I know it’s gone around but if you have change in your pocket, if you have a few bills that you don’t really need today,” it’s like, “let’s try to match that. Let’s try to do better than that amount.” I’m not even going to give those amounts. And then, then if it was Hawaii by the last day of the Feast and they got Hawaii’s… Because who goes to Hawaii? Well, people who have the ability to fork out a little more money. So, they can afford to give a little bit more in the offering.

And to my knowledge, Hawaii was always winning out. What a discouraging place for the Ozarks or wherever we might have been. Because they had the jobs, and they had the ability to do it. It was like, they’re bringing in jealousies and envies and “I know that so-and-so went over there this year.” Anyway, I’m sorry.

But you think, what a horrible thing! To try to do what the world does, to pass around something… That’s why I’ve hated it. I’ve hated the thing of passing around a container. If you forgot the offering, the envelopes, what are you going to do when it comes by? You don’t even have an ability to fold it up to hide what you might have been embarrassed of, you know, because you don’t want anybody comparing it with anybody else.

But isn’t that amazing? Carnal human nature that gets involved in some of those kinds of things, and things that should never take place in God’s Church. But we can learn from those things and realize that’s not the way things should be done. Does that please God? Is that pleasing to God? It shouldn’t take too much of God’s spirit to realize something is wrong with that. That’s not really good.

So, God has blessed me with an attitude, I’ll just say, I don’t care if somebody is a billionaire and they’re just pumping all kinds of money. I don’t even know what to do with what we have, frankly. I really, honestly don’t. I want to be able to do what is right and best with it. Right now we’re starting to build up some advertising more and more and it’s really going well. It seems to be one of the better courses of action at this point. At some point like to be able to have some kind of a video-type thing. I don’t know. If a door doesn’t open up there? It may just be the advertising part. But anyway, we’ll see what happens. But we’ve been given it for a purpose, whatever that might be, to learn from some things there, but that’s for another day.

But I don’t care if someone is a billionaire, a millionaire, or whatever it might be. If there is sin involved you don’t belong in God’s Church if you won’t repent and change! And so, I have no qualms about addressing anything that comes up that isn’t in unity with the Church, with the Body of Christ. I really don’t. I don’t like doing it. I don’t like having that role, but I know it’s better for the Church.

That’s why I think from area to area to area I have not known to this level, to this degree the kind of excitement, the kind of unity, the kind of closeness that I can see is very evident now in a way in God’s Church that is above what it was just a year ago. Now, I find that as a minister exceedingly inspiring, I truly do. I see what God is doing in the Church all for a purpose, and it’s moving quite rapidly.

Those examples of what happened in Vegas and different ones that things came to the surface, and some quite quickly in some instances, went by the wayside. One who found fault for being brought in, that he was given first-class tickets because it was so far and because he had a physical thing with his body that warranted even more so that he should be there and not have to have suffering and the like that could cause some physical ailments even greater.

Then gets back home and starts talking about all this money that was used and the cost of tickets and the nice place we were in. And then what did he do? Took off with $10,000 from the Church and some gold on top of that that was being saved for that area in case of an emergency, in case of need. That’s what you call the pot calling the kettle black. (You ever heard that expression? Okay.)

Anyway, hypocrisy, lying, lying spirit, evil spirit. But it brings things out so it can be seen, “This is your spirit. This is your attitude, you liar, and you thief, that you rob God. Wow! You raise yourself up above God, above the truths you’ve been given? What truth do you have? What truths has God given to you to understand, to see?”

Because everyone has to think that when they leave. They see things that you don’t see. Sometimes they have the…I won’t say it…the audacity to even say that. So, sobering things, things to be sobered by.

So, in that sermon (trying to think of which sermon it was now), as we were going through it, talked about “Since PKG began a total of 194 had served in the ministry, and right at 20% gone by the wayside.” Mind-boggling. Given opportunities to learn some things in a unique way that are not learned in the same way. Because they had the opportunity of being prepared for something unique that they were being worked with in that manner, for wherever God’s putting us within the Body. We don’t argue with God of where we’re to be in the Body. “Well, I don’t like that. I’d like to be in that place.” “I’d rather be the door!” (No, sorry.) “Everybody sees the door. Everybody has to go through the door. It’s a lot better than being the stud in the wall and you’re never seen!”

“20%. 38 ministers disfellowshipped in PKG since we began.” I think, sobering, horrible, but good that they were gotten rid of, that it was manifested what their true spirit was. In most cases, it couldn’t have been manifested as well in a better way than the way God does it sometimes.

We’re to learn from that. The Church is to learn from that. We’re to learn from our past. We’re to learn from experiences. If you were a part of Worldwide during Philadelphia you’re to learn from the mistakes and errors of things that were done. So much of what I learned never to do was learned in this area right here before went to another area.

That’s what we’re to do, we’re to learn from things, that this isn’t of God, this doesn’t reflect God’s spirit, this doesn’t reflect the mind of God. They don’t function like that. We’re not taught those kinds of things. So, you’re to learn from those things. You’re to learn from people you’ve known, what they have done wrong, what they’ve said that was wrong so that you are sobered to realize you’re never, never, never to engage in some of the same things that they did, that you know what they did, you know how they acted, you know how they treated people.

You’re to learn from that you’re never to do those kinds of things. Because where does it lead? Away from God, out of the Church. So, we’re to be smarter and wiser because we’ve seen those things happen and we’re never, never, never to partake of them in the slightest. We’re to learn.

So, that’s why we go back through and talk about some of these things and recognize where pride leads people.

Then the next series—Awesome!—Place Your Trust in God. God wants us to know this very early on. That’s what we’re being shown. If God’s called you, opened up your mind, given you the ability to believe what is true, opened up that door of the way of life we’re to live, then He tells us over and over again put your trust in Him, not in someone else, not in mankind, and not in yourself. Be wary of self. Be on guard against self. Because so often our motivations are not what they should be as human beings. They stem, as a whole, from selfishness. Only by being close to God can they be stimulated by God’s spirit.

So again, that history of God’s Church, the majority called have not done this. They have not placed their trust in God.

At the beginning of that series we reviewed the song, the psalm, if you will, or the hymn that was entitled, I Will Praise You, O Eternal. So many Psalms, so awesome what they have to say. But again, “I will praise You, O Eternal. I will show forth Your great works.” Now, that’s saying a lot. For that to be in spirit and in truth it means there is work to be done, it means that it’s either true or it isn’t. Do we praise God? Do we thank God for what we’ve been given? Do we praise Him for the things we see, the things we know, for being part of a calling that others in the world haven’t been given, that we are the first of humanity to be given the ability to see what we see? Do we recognize the true value of what God has placed in front of us?

“I will praise You, O Eternal, I will show forth…” Okay, let’s see it. “I will show forth Your great works.” How do you do that? By yielding yourself to God’s spirit, to the change in your mind and your thinking, in your life, so that we live the way that He told us to live. To embrace that with all of our being, that’s how we show forth His great works.

Because this is changing, because we’re in unity with Him so that the things we do that reflect Him we do in the world and the world is to see we’re different. “You’re different. You’re treating me differently on the job than most people treat me.” It can endear you to people in a unique way if you live what is right. If you have the ability of telling someone, “You know what, I said something yesterday that I shouldn’t have said, and I’m sorry.” How many people on the job site ever tell you that? It’s a little thing but it’s important because that reflects where we are.

And you do that over and over again in the things you do. You don’t compromise with the Sabbath; there are people who see these things. A lot of times they don’t like it because you’re not there when they have to be there at times when they get called in on a Saturday or whatever it might be. But there are some who have enough common sense as a human being to recognize, “I admire that. They’re not lying. They’re not fudging on their beliefs.” Because I’ve known too many people, in their beliefs, they fudge here and there. They don’t do what they say they’re supposed to be.

Like so many “good” Baptists who drink. Not supposed to drink alcohol. But the southern Baptists are evidently better at that than the northern Baptists (so I’ve heard). The northern tend to do more of that but the southern are a little stricter about it if you’re around them. But you find out when they’re on their own a little bit is okay. They don’t agree with what they teach so there is hypocrisy in religion, obviously. There shouldn’t be with us. But too often there has been.

“O You Most High God, Eternal; I will sing praise to Your Name!” It’s from inside. It doesn’t have to be a tune. Doesn’t have to be a melody. But when it is, that’s great too, when certain things come to our mind and it’s just there.

“But my foes will turn and stumble.” Do we believe those things? “My foes will turn and stumble?” If we put our trust in God we should understand and know those things, that the whole thing, in that respect, that God has placed upon His own Son is to have full government control of all things until everything is brought under his feet, and thereby being under God’s feet, finally, once and for all. Including Satan and the demonic world. Including all mankind, which brings us to the end of the Last Great Day.

So, we know that there is a timing for God, and we recognize then because of that that we must have a patience about us and how we think and realize and have, in that respect, some empathy, in that respect, some understanding, in that respect, toward others in the world because they haven’t been given the ability we have. We hope that in time they will receive what God offers them. We hope. We should desire that for mankind, but knowing full well that maybe the majority won’t. You have no control of that. They do. Each person has choice. We’re the only ones that have control of self. We don’t have control of that out there.

Family, into the future, you have no control of choices they’re going to make. It may hurt like mad, some things that come to pass in time because of choices that people make. This has happened over and over again within God’s Church. It hurts. But it’s their choice no matter how much it hurts.

“My foes will turn and stumble.” Who are our foes? Too often it’s been within the Church. They’ve been the most dangerous. Those who come along with some other way, some other ideas. Because we can spot something in the world. That’s why we should have known a long time ago, but didn’t, we weren’t there yet, the pope was never going to be the man of sin, the son of perdition.

Reading through those scriptures it should have been plain, but it wasn’t at that point because God hadn’t given it to us yet, that that individual, whoever it might be, had to have been in the Church, in the environment of the Church. So, that was something that was hard to understand a long time ago, how in the world could someone who teaches what they teach, and we know it’s so wrong, how could they deceive any of God’s people? Well?

“But my foes will turn and stumble; at Your presence, they will fall.” That’s the finality of the story, “at Your presence.” If people don’t repent, if they don’t change, they will fall.

“The Eternal judges rightly.” What a beautiful thing to know and to understand, to be in agreement with. “And forever He will rule!” It’s not because it has to be ruled anymore in the sense of government. It’s just the way His Family will be, of the same mind. What an incredible thing to understand when you’re in agreement with God, when you’re at one with God and everything about His way.

I think it was last Sabbath when I mentioned there’s not going to be a thing of Ten Commandments because some of those, obviously, are for physical human beings. Well, actually, they all are. You understand what I’m saying.

But it just makes it clear – it’s like, “No law, no Ten Commandments in the future when we’re all in the God Family?” Yep, that’s right. Because we’re all of the same mind. We’re in agreement with God’s way of life, we live it, it’s us. Beautiful.

“The Eternal lives forever; He destroys all wicked,” (all who are wicked). “He removes their name forever.” What an incredible thing to understand that it’s kind of like what happens in life. People die, there are cemeteries, there are names on them. After a time nobody knows anything about them. Don’t remember.

Well, going into the future as members of God’s Family, and that life being so vibrant, awesome in itself that which is of the past and understanding why it’s in the past and why it was understandable that it was what was for the best, all those other things they leave. There’s no purpose of it ever being in the mind again, no purpose of remembering Satan and the demonic world and what they did, their names. You think enough time can pass and you won’t think about those things? “Even their memory dies.”

“But He judges all with fairness.” Take that to the bank, us and all, fairness, what’s right, what’s just.

“He will rule with equity.” What an awesome thing if that were in the world today. It doesn’t take long to see where the world is so far from that. The court systems of the world, the inadequacies of it. With God’s spirit we can see how horrible they really are. Because man can’t only not govern himself, he can’t judge himself justly, rightly, even by their own laws. I don’t care what country you’re in.

“All who know His Name will trust Him.” So, all who really know God. It’s not just knowing His name, knowing God. That’s what we do, we trust Him. We place our trust in Him. Where else would you want it? What else do we look for?

“He will not forsake His own. To the LORD who dwells in Zion, Sing to Him and praise His Name! Tell His deeds among the nations (the peoples)!” Well, we’re going to have those opportunities in massive ways.

“Tell of all His glorious works!” Now, you have the opportunity of doing something unique, whether in that resurrection that’s coming or whether living on into the Millennial period, to be a part of, to me, one of the most awesome periods of all of humanity at the very end, when everything throughout history peaks and comes to a point where mankind is not going to be allowed to rule himself any longer.

When you don’t have to worry in schools about what’s going to be taught to your children and have the fears of things out there that are so, so, so perverted and sick, of what they’re doing, the people that are striving to take control. They are far worse than the times of Sodom and Gomorrah, truly. (Anyway, just thinking probably get kicked off YouTube for that.) But anyway.

“Tell His deeds among the nations! Tell of all His glorious works! He avenges all His people.” So, in time, only God’s way continues on and there is justice and justice meted out.

“He will not forget their cry.” God’s going to make all things right. What an awesome thing. The more we see in this world the more we see and hear of things in the news it’s astounding sometimes to think how far out people are becoming in their thoughts and their thinking and what they’re doing. It’s like, how is this even possible? Then it kind of makes you cringe to think (and you don’t want to say it), “Can things get worse?” Because yes, they can. They just get worse and worse and it’s like where will it stop? Well, it stops with Christ’s return. Godspeed that day. But that depends upon us and the Body and our readiness.

“To the LORD who dwells in Zion, sing to Him and praise His Name!” Beautiful song.

Another area of scripture, Psalm 25:1. Again, all these things preparing us, hopefully gleaning more each time we go through it. We repeat things every Holy Day. Every year things are repeated about the Holy Days and about their purpose and their meaning. We’re being blessed to repeat certain things that are already given in sermons to help us prepare for things that are going to be given this fall.

Psalm 25:1—Unto You, O Eternal, do I lift my life. That’s such a beautiful thing in life when we’re able to do that. “It’s Yours. Everything I seek, want, desire, it’s Yours. Whatever.”

O, my God, I trust in You. Do not let me be ashamed; do not let my enemies triumph over me. Then we know the answer to that. They can’t. They won’t. Because God has shown us a way and we keep going that way there is nothing but success and beauty and being in God’s Family. That’s where it leads.

Yes, let none who wait on You, wait upon, look to. God’s intervention. God’s people through time have done that. “They’re looking for a city whose builder and maker is God.” Wasn’t that a beautiful expression? Didn’t understand it all, didn’t see it anywhere close to what has been grasped by the Church since Revelation was written and things that are going to come that even then people couldn’t grasp, not understand because it wasn’t time.

But from Herbert Armstrong on, more and more has been given because of where we are in time and these things about to come to fruition, so God just continues to give more, to prepare everything. Looking to the time God intervenes, puts a stop to all the evil and filth and destructive minds, destructiveness of human beings. Nothing but wars, evil, evil upon evil upon evil, and we’re getting a boatload of it now.

It's just like looking for some of these Feast site areas. There are places I wouldn’t even consider having God’s people go to. Anywhere pretty much on the west coast, not going to happen. Pretty much anywhere up in the northeast is not going to happen just because of what’s there now and how bad they’ve become.

What was it on the news this morning, I read, heard a blurb? They’re locking up Hagen Daas, I think it was Hagen Daas because people are coming in with containers filled with dry ice and they’re taking it out and putting it in their containers and running away. And then, evidently, reselling it, you know, selling it. Think, okay, stoop that low to do that with my Hagen Daas? I love Hagen Daas. But I have to push away from it because… Anyway.

So, you think, how crazy are people becoming? They’re talking about how hard it was to get dental floss. One guy went down, I think it was to get dental floss, and he had to wait, I think he said, it took three people to open the case, to get the case opened up for him to where he could get his dental floss just up the street there in New York. Craziness, absolute craziness the evil that’s taking place in this world. Rampant.

Verse 4—Show me Your ways, O Eternal. Teach me Your paths. Our constant prayer. Our constant desire. Because that shows a desire to be at one with God. We want to be taught constantly. That’s why we pray for blessings on the Sabbath, that we be able to receive what God gives to us, that in, whatever is in the sermons that we have that which we need. That’s how God works.

Lead me in Your truth and teach me. O, even that, by saying something that, to have a prayer like that, “Lead me in Your truth,” would pretty easily seem to indicate, wouldn’t it, if it’s not taught that we wouldn’t go in some other direction. Because if we’re looking to God to lead us and we know how He leads us in His truth, how He teaches us, then to have some other ideas that are different, to teach different, different things, we would reject because we would recognize them as this is not what the Church teaches. Some things are so simple and then they’re not for some people.

Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation. On You do I wait all the day. Remember, O Eternal, Your tender mercies, and Your loving kindnesses, for they have ever been of old. Well, we know we need God to be merciful to us. We know what we are. We know what’s inside of us. But we continue to repent and change and then we know that when we do it’s gone, it’s forgiven.

Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. According to Your mercy remember me, For Your goodness’ sake. So, even there thinking about the Church and thinking about the name we carry, The Church of God, you’d think that for sure we’d want to set the right example, be the right light in the world, be a right example to other people and be more on guard. We all have work to do in that. I do. We all do. Whenever we’re in this world. Because it’s not too hard in this world to get caught up in things that are not good.

I have to watch myself when I’m walking in a mall or something and I have five people coming at me, and they can barely make it from one wall to another and it’s like they’re going to walk through me. They don’t see me. I don’t exist. I’m invisible, and if I don’t move and do something they’re going to run right through me, right over me. So, I have to watch this. There have been a few times when I’ve had some carnality come out and I brace myself like in football. It reminds me of football.

I remember two young kids one time in Vancouver. We were walking along that path, and I think there were three boys walking along there and I think maybe one was pushing a bike, and they’re all taking up the entire sidewalk. I was not going to get off the sidewalk for them and I kept walking toward them. Finally, they got over. And one of them, I don’t know if he turned around or if he just made the comment, something to the effect, it’s like he admired it. He said, like, “He didn’t give way. Everybody else we’ve gone into they get out of the way.”

So, I have to watch self. Now, I won’t go beyond that. We all have to fight our own individual battles. It depends in our own minds whether we’ve gone too far with that or whether it might have been okay. I don’t know. Sometimes you have to decide that yourself. And if you’ve done wrong you have to repent. Are you really teaching a lesson? Is this the right way? Pow! But it’s that carnality. It’s something you really want to do. I won’t tell anymore on myself.

So, what is your battle? What do you have to fight at different times? People? It’s easy in this world. You see things.

I think of how something like the rainbow has been destroyed. It’s been destroyed. The beauty of God’s promise, it’s been destroyed in this age. I cannot stand those colors together anywhere. The stores are filled with them! Any store you go into as a whole, oh, it’s a rainbow, but in so many different shapes. It’s in a heart. It’s in a doll. It’s in a dress. Give me a break, you know. Look out, here they come.

I remember when they started pushing. They push. They push hard, their ideas and their beliefs. They’re doing it in schools. They’re trying to take over various areas and various thinking, and basically, have acknowledged that “We’re after your kids. We’re after your children.” You think, “You are sick!” And who stands up to them and says, “This is sick!”? And if you dare you may not be on the air.

Verse 7 – Don’t remember my sins from our youth. What a blessing we can repent, be forgiven, and for God’s sake, goodness sake, as it says here, because we carry the name, the Church.

Verse 8—Good and upright, sometimes just translated as “righteous,” Good and righteous is the Eternal. Everything about God is right. Is there any doubt? Isn’t that what we want to embrace? Every thought, every thinking, every bit of that mind, that being, that we want it in us?

Therefore, will He teaches sinners in the way. The meek will He guide in judgment. So, we have to have that spirit, a teachable spirit. I am appalled by the number of people who have gone by the wayside who just in some cases never even had a meek spirit since I knew them, have known them, or at some point began to change where that began to go by the wayside and began to be manifest they really don’t have a meek, teachable spirit.

So, it doesn’t matter how much is said on the Sabbath, it’s not being received because it’s being filtered through this giant filter in the mind, and certain things are going through but very little because they’re filtering it out and it’s just like it’s going right through.

Won’t go any farther.

Psalm 18:1—I will love You, O Eternal, my strength. What an awesome thing to say. What a beautiful thing to feel. What an incredible thing that we can have inside of us, to be able to say that in spirit and in truth, “I will love You, O Eternal, my strength, my life.”

The Eternal is my rock. “Selah,” here in Hebrew corresponds with the Greek word “Petra.” What an incredible thing for a time we’d never grasped that, that Petra wasn’t the place we were supposed to go to in Jordan. We had all these pictures of this beautiful sandstone type (I guess that’s what it was) on the sides there and the colors and then the inside there where they carved out certain housing, if you will, or buildings and made the structure on the outside so it still looked like a structure. Anyway, beautiful.

How were we ever going to get 144,000 in there? It was never thought out very well, because they wouldn’t fit. And so, when they started building hotels close by it was like, “Ah, that’s the answer. They’re building hotels getting ready for us!” But we could only see on a physical plane. We can laugh at some of that now but back then it’s what we believed.

I remember this. I’ve told it but I’ll tell it again. You can do that when you get older. This one individual, an engineer, worked with petrochemical companies there in the Houston area, and a good friend there in Houston. Anyway, we did a lot of things together, worked with The Plain Truth program when getting all The Plain Truths throughout the Houston area when they used to put them on stands and the like.

And anyway, one time he showed me his drawings and pictures because he’s already engineered a lot of these septic systems for getting rid of all the waste. Because if you have 144,000 people you’ve got something to deal with. You can’t just go out and dig a hole because there is not that much space there in that area. If you do, we’re all going to be falling in at some point because it takes a long time to get hardened and have a decent surface, so what are you going to do with all that?

So, he had it all figured out. Had to hand it to him. I got excited about it, thought, “That’s awesome!” Because you know what? I believed in Petra at that time. That’s where we’re going. “We better start thinking about some of this and get some smarts up here because God’s not just going to do everything and flush the toilet for us, you know. How He’s going to get us over there, I don’t know.” But we didn’t know. We just believed what we understood with the present truth.

Now to see what we see, you think, what an awesome thing to be freed from what we didn’t grasp, that wasn’t sound and wasn’t really that good, and really, wasn’t really very well thought out. But that’s how young we were in the Church in the sense of maturity.

God is our Petra. Awesome. Our Rock. That’s where our protection is. Don’t have to be taken somewhere to have protection from God. Think of all kinds of examples. I think of Daniel there with the few lions. How would you like that one? Tossed in a lion’s den and they’re hungry. They hadn’t been fed. You know they’re looking for lunch, something to gnaw on, and you look pretty good. God protected him. Awesome.

Different stories, things that have taken place. Three that were willing to go into a furnace. Seven times hotter, it says, than anything that had ever been before. Now, I don’t know how you do that. You have to pump a lot of air from the bottom or something to get something to be that hot, to make a furnace that hot. It has to have oxygen going into it in a very massive way, and they go in there and they walk around, come back out, not even the smell of anything burnt on them. Wow.

You would think that would have converted everybody on the spot. “He’s God! They are God’s people.” Anyway, didn’t always go that way. But human beings.

God is our Petra. He’s our strength. He is our Rock, something you can rely on, place your trust in with all your being; not worry. And if it happens, you die, you’ve done what was right, you’re in God’s hands. He took care of you. Now, you have to understand God’s purpose and God’s plan to the Last Great Day to understand all this—we truly do—and be in agreement with it, that God knows where every one of us will prosper the most and do the best, whatever it might be.

…my fortress, my deliverer; My God, and my strength, in whom I will trust. So many haven’t. So many haven’t. My buckler and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. A lot said there.

I will call upon the Eternal. That’s what we do. That’s how you respond. When there is a need, you call upon God and then you trust God. Your life is in His hands. He called you. He loves you. The next series, I think it is.

…who is worthy to be praised. So will I be saved from my enemies.

Verse 4—For the sorrows of death surrounded me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. How many times have you experienced that one? Not like so many through time, have you? A lot of people have experienced this through time. I think of the early Church – matter of fact, a lot of the Church – because of that big, nasty church and the people that were out to kill them, governments.

People that were out to kill them because of their beliefs. If you believed in a Passover and you wouldn’t accept Easter? If you wouldn’t keep Sunday and you kept Sabbath? They’re out to take your life. They’re looking for you. We haven’t had to live like that. We’ve been very blessed to live in this particular age. We really have. We’re kind of soft. We’re soft in comparison to some of them. You have to be convicted of these things with all your being when you’re living through something like this.

We’re going to live through something like that. That’s the reality of it. At a time when you’re going to place your trust in God, you’re going to look to God to give you whatever help, strength, whatever it is you need to go through whatever is ahead. That’s just a reality of life.

“The floods of ungodly men made me afraid.” There going to be some fear? Absolutely. We wouldn’t be human if there isn’t going to be this measure of fear that’s going to strike us from time to time. We live in a fearful world, we truly do.

The sorrows of the grave surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress, I called upon the Eternal and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even unto His ears. So, example after example after example throughout the Bible, and that’s what we’re to remember, God is there. He loves His people. He’ll take care of His people His way. Trust in Him.

Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because… King James says, “because of His wrath,” “because He was angry.” Well, too often, again, I don’t like these because it reflects something that is carnal. In human beings, in our minds when we think of anger, that it’s uncontrolled anger and people get angry at things and they’re not in control of themselves.

There can be those things that can stir people in their thinking and their mind to be so highly displeased with the evil that’s there. But to be out of control to where you don’t have control of the power? If God didn’t have control of His power, well, this earth wouldn’t even be here. So, He’s not of that kind of a mind as a human being. It’s about judgment. It’s about righteousness. It’s about the execution of judgment. He executed judgment.

So, our minds are to become more at one with God, to become transformed to the point of thinking more like God. That’s the goal. That’s what we should want. That’s what we should desire with all of our being, that we really think like God, we’re in agreement with God.

What are you not in agreement with that comes from God? And if you agree with those things than it helps us in the battling of things that are inside of us, “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Because we want to place God first, because we want to agree and we know He’s right, we’re wrong, our nature is wrong, it has to be changed.

Psalm 31:1—In You, O Eternal, do I put my trust. Do not let me be ashamed. Deliver me in Your righteousness. Over and over again it’s talking about the mind of God, the thinking of God, how He is, and what’s just and what’s true.

Bow down Your ear to me. It’s always looking to God. It’s about praying and asking God to hear our petitions and where we’re not thinking right to help us in our thinking, so we are at one with Him, so we are in agreement with Him, so that we are of the same mind. That gives peace, comfort.

Be my strong rock, in other words, “rock wall as a fortress,” for a house of defense to save me. I think of a “house of defense to save me,” we are in the house, if we grasp it, of God, the Church of God. There we have a safety that if we grasp is so incredible, so awesome, so beyond words.

You are my rock, “selah,” again, and my fortress, therefore, for Your name’s sake, lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the trap they have laid in secret for me, for You are my strength. So, there are things out there constantly that there is a being that would like to see us trip up. There is a being that would like to see us turn against God. He never gives up. He constantly bombards, and his little cohorts constantly bombard to the best they can.

Into Your hand, I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Eternal of truth. Over and over again things about truth that just pop up, and judgment that pops up. God’s righteousness in scripture over and over and over again, and that’s what we trust in. What greater comfort can we have? What greater peace of mind could we have?

We’ll just read one more here, Isaiah 57:13—When you cry, let your companies deliver you. So, if one does not place their trust in God this is the kind of thing that’s taking place here. God is showing that everyone who’s placed their trust somewhere else they’re going to receive payment for it. In other words, they’re going to pay for it. When they’ve been given the ability to see there is something different, they can place their trust in God, especially for the Church then, for people who have been given that ability.

God’s saying, wherever you place your trust. I think of all the people who have left, of recent and a long time ago, and everything in between, who have gone by the wayside, where did they place their trust? Their own thinking. Their own reasoning. It’s astounding the mind can go so far once it’s known the truth.

That’s what really boggled my mind in some respects. It shows how ugly the human mind can become even when it’s been given the greatest of treasures ever given to mankind. There has never been anyone through time who’s seen as much as God’s people have during this period of time. Truly. It began to become far richer and far greater during the time of Herbert Armstrong, began to be diminished during the time of Tkach, and then God began to bless during the time of PKG. All the truths to understand, to have comfort there.

Just to know that there was an apostasy and why and how, and to learn from that. What do people do when they go away that have left PKG? What do you think? What do you believe? Was there one or wasn’t there one, an apostasy? Were we all asleep? Was the Church all asleep or not? What are the dangers in those kinds of things? Is Joshua Christ’s name or not? Is there just one who is the Almighty Eternal God who has existed forever and forever? Or was there somebody else who became known as “Jesus”?

What goes on the minds of people to think they can move away from what they were given as true and they’ve agreed with it, and think they have something better, something different that they see that we don’t see, you don’t see? Yet everyone in PKG that’s ever made decisions, that’s what they’ve had. Didn’t think it through well. Kind of like Petra. But they’ve had ability to think it through and are judged accordingly.

When you cry, let your companies deliver you. Whatever you trusted in, whatever you think was so great, see how that works out. That’s what God is saying.

But the wind shall carry them all away. If it doesn’t come from God, it’s like the wind. It’s here and gone, the dust, it all settles out. Still dust.

Vanity shall take them away. It’s empty, emptiness, has no meaning, has no purpose.

But whoever puts, in other words, places their trust in Me shall possess the land. Is it talking about physical land? We know it’s not. We understand what the promised land is about. We understand the promises that were given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the promises that were given to David, and on and on it goes, were about the time that’s coming, about God’s Kingdom, about God’s Family.

…and shall inherit—this says it all—My holy mountain. Inherit. Everybody together. No arguing, no thinking, “I should have had more. I deserve a bigger piece.” What do you do when you’re given everything? How do you argue over that? “Well, it’s got to be divided some way, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it kind of have to be divided up like when Israel went in the promised land, and they had these certain areas that belonged to the different tribes? Don’t we have a certain piece we get?”

Like, “I want that part of the galaxy. I don’t like that one. That one, that looks pretty good though.” Insanity. We get it all together. It is more than what we can handle. More than what you can handle. How do you handle more than what you can handle? No need for lust, desire. God just says it’s everything, inherit all things. He means what He says. It’s so vast, so great, greater than our minds can even begin to comprehend. Those things mean nothing in the sense of human thought and thinking and vanity and desire to have more.

When people fight over inheritances and they want more and the bickering that goes back and forth and lack of trust and, “Well, I got cheated on that,” all the things that go on. You think it’s going to be in God’s Family when individuals get resurrected? David upset because Abraham was given more or vice versa. “No, you’re all given the same thing.” “Oh.” No carnal minds.

I’m looking forward to that with so much of my being, no carnal selfish thinking anymore. What word can you use to describe that? I don’t have one. It’s beyond my ability.

…shall inherit My holy mountain. And shall say, Cast you up! Cast you up! Prepare the way. I love this because it’s like going west and all of a sudden there’s actually a place where they’re going to start making a road. I think of some of the old places where I grew up in Kansas where you can see where they put down railroad tracks, and even wagon trains, there’d be these little ruts that are there. Still there. In some of the places where they build up for railroads, they’re still there, the mounds. The tracks are gone. The wood is gone, but those mounds are still there. And talking about to build up, to build up. That’s what it means when it says, “Cast you up! Cast you up!” You’re making something so everybody can go on this path.

Prepare the way. Take up the stumbling block. Mankind’s own ways, our own ways; that’s our big stumbling block, human nature. Finally, one day it’s not going to be that; it’s going to be all at one with God. And with spirit life, you can have that.

Take up the stumbling block out of the way of My people, God says. Something to embrace. Something to hold on to. Beautiful.

All these sermons we’re going through and reviewing, and hopefully getting several into one each Sabbath until we’re through with this and get caught up, all preparing for the Feast of Tabernacles. Beautiful.

1. Chapter 1