Be Thankful to God

Ronald Weinland

September 9, 2023

This is the last weekly Sabbath sermon I’ll be giving before our observance of this year’s fall Holy Days. I’m not going to be doing Trumpets. I’m not going to be doing Atonement, so they’re prerecorded. Makes it nice. I just wanted to make sure that everyone received this sermon here before the Feast.

So, it’s appropriate that we focus on what we need to see after all the sermons that have been given this year leading up to the Holy Day season, and it’s amazing to me as I see some of these things coming together and what’s going on within the environment of the Church, what God continues to do, which fits in mightily in a very strong fashion with the sermons that are going to be given at the Feast this year.

I wanted to make a comment within the context of the sermon here before I go on, before I get into this, that there was one another announcement. The reason I’m holding off on this one here is because I want to make sure this is in the content of the sermon today, and that’s the time for services in the Netherlands, and in the U.S., and in Canada.

So, services in the U.S. and Europe will be at 9:30 every morning of the Feast of Tabernacles – Feast of Tabernacles, seven days – 2:30 in the afternoon on the first day. We have two services on the first day. So, every morning it’ll be 9:30 except the Last Great Day which will be 10:30. I hope we all got that. Everybody get it?

Now, back into the flow of the sermon.

So again, we are almost into the Holy Day season. Won’t be long we’ll be observing the Last Great Day and heading back home. That’s amazing to me how that process works, and it seems like it goes by so fast, time goes by fast. But one of the things as we’re focusing on this Holy Day season is something that we should carry with us and that has to do with the title of the sermon today which is Be Thankful to God.

We need to be of that particular mindset as we approach the Holy Day season this year. We need to be of that mindset throughout the Holy Days, this year the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day.

Being thankful to God will be reflected in how we act throughout this Holy Day season. Our conduct, our actions, our conversations, our prayers, our very thinking toward others and toward God above all, will be reflected as to the truth and the degree to which we’re genuinely focused on being thankful to God.

So, a lot said there, a mouthful.

Let’s turn over to Psalm 97:1. It’s a mindset. The more we treasure what God has given to us the more thankful we’ll be. And candidly, it goes along with much of the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles anyway, of what the Israelites were to do, and it has much to do with what we’re supposed to do as well. Not just during the Feast but all the time.

But if we focus on it more deeply during that period of time, hopefully, we’ll grow in it a little bit more, learn to practice it a little bit more even among ourselves within the Church. Because it is a mindset. It is a way of thinking.

Psalm 97:1—The Eternal reigns. Let the earth rejoice. What an awesome thing! We have a hope of what God is doing. We believe, we understand various things that have been taking place over six thousand years. We live by a specific hope of God’s Kingdom, of a city whose builder and maker is God. Awesome what God has given to us to see, to know, and to understand that the rest of the world doesn’t grasp.

We were talking before services here back in the back of the room there about some of the attitudes and things going on in the world around us right now and it seems like people are more apprehensive, more frustrated, more pent-up than ever before, and there is a spirit out there that is pushing its way and making things worse and worse.

The worse things get in the society and the world around us (and this is happening all over the world), the kinds of things we see taking place here, whether it be in government, society, schools, or anywhere you look, it is so sick and it’s getting so much sicker. This is affecting people as well.

But there is a spirit behind all this because the worse those things become and the more who delve into participating in being a part of that which is more evil as far as the changes that are taking place in the world around us the more power those beings have. Incredible to understand that but it’s a reality.

But what an awesome thing here to understand that God’s in control, everything is happening in His timeframe. Everything is happening in the way it’s supposed to. A lot of that has to do with our being molded and fashioned, this period of time, those who are in God’s Church being molded and fashioned, being prepared for things that we don’t yet understand and don’t yet know.

We don’t know specifically where God is molding and fashioning us for the Temple. We’ll know one day. But we go through the things we do for that purpose. Also, those who are going to live on into the millennial age as the Church and continue on and be that foundation that starts out, can’t grasp the magnitude of that and the blessings involved in that. They are mighty, they truly are. But we are going to be a Church that’s been cleansed.

Let the earth rejoice. Let the multitude of “the isles” or “the regions,” as the word is, be glad! The various regions of the world. You think of the G20 going on right now and the things that are taking place there, different regions of the world coming together and trying to work certain things out as far as nations are concerned with each other, and it’s a mess.

About the biggest thing that they could come up with that I saw so far (certain trade deals), but one was the wording about what’s going on in Ukraine. Basically, it’s “There is war in the Ukraine.”

It’s like… I shouldn’t, probably, get into this. But it reminds me of United when we first started having meetings and the ministers in different regions would get together and start talking about various things and one of the things they spent an entire day on was deciding certain words that would be that which would capture the essence of United, a single sentence. Like, this is what you have to sell. This is what represents a company. It’s like looking at different companies and they have these little catchphrases or whatever that represent them and it’s like going back and forth and discussing what words should be used and why.

It was like, “You’re wasting my time! There are mighty, horrifying things still taking place in brethren’s lives because of coming out of an apostasy, and this is the best we can come up with to serve and help God’s people? I can give you an entire list of things we need to be addressing that we’re not addressing!” Now, I didn’t say it exactly that way but what I did say didn’t go over anyway.

But you think, this world is so sick and it’s getting worse and worse. And candidly, some of those same things that happened on a spiritual plane within God’s Church since the Apostasy are things that are happening in the world spiritually – minds, thinking, ideas of people, the inability to do things right, the inability to have sound thinking, sound minds. It’s frustrating!

Clouds and darkness surround Him. So, I think of the period of time when it talked about Mount Sinai and so forth. But we’re blessed because we see. God has given us light. He’s given us the ability to see Him in ways that mankind has never been able to see Him. Not even within those who have been called. Because the farther we go along in this process or the farther through six thousand years people have come who have been worked with by God the more that God has given to them.

When Christ came far more was given to them. Four thousand years before that, these things weren’t even begun to be thought of as far as God’s people were concerned. And yet Christ began to show them and give instructions about spiritual things that were never seen nor understood. It was awesome. Then the Church began to grow in those things. Then the period of time we’re in now. Awesome!

And so, it really gets back to this thing of how thankful are we? Do we really see what we’ve been given? Because the greater the value in our minds of what we’ve been given the more thankful we’ll be. You can’t help that. If you really believe what you’ve been given is precious, is treasure, really treasure, the greatest wealth any human beings have ever been given, you can’t help but be thankful for it. Awesome!

Clouds and darkness surround Him. Righteousness and judgment are the foundation or the established place of His throne. He’s giving us more understanding of those things and will through the Feast as well.

A fire goes before Him and burns up (consumes) His enemies all about. There is a plan in place of things that will be taken care of in time, and when it’s all said and done only those who are in unity and oneness and love God’s way, have chosen God’s way are going to be there. The rest will be consumed.

Verse 8—Zion has heard and is glad. That’s us! That’s what we’re a part of. “Zion has heard.” Yeah, we have the ability to hear what is true. God gives us the ability to hear things that others around us can’t hear. If somebody were to stumble across this on YouTube today (It’d be a stumble all right!) and start listening? Unless God’s calling and drawing them it’s just words. But to hear on a spiritual plane what God is giving, God has to give that. How blessed are we?

Zion has heard and is glad, and daughters of Judah rejoice, because of Your judgments, O Eternal. For You, Eternal, are high above all the earth; You are exalted far above all Elohim. That’s the way it should be, obviously. It’s the only way it can be.

You who love the Eternal, hate evil! It’s what it’s saying, “You who love the Eternal? Hate evil!” Wow! We’ve just gone through this about evil and now focusing on thankfulness, and God’s telling us to hate evil.

He preserves the lives of His saints, those who are called, set aside for holy use and purpose as a part of God’s family.

He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Eternal… So again, that’s something we’re supposed to do even more so throughout this Feast period. We have eight days to do it — Awesome! — and two special days to get ready for it, Trumpets, and Atonement.

Rejoice in the Eternal you righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of or as you think upon His holiness. So again, it’s something we’re supposed to think about, what God’s called us to, what He is blessing us to share in, how much we have been blessed above all people on earth through all time.

We have to learn to be thankful. It’s something that has to be learned. To have a mind that is thankful toward others perhaps, toward things that are given to them that they didn’t have before, to recognize the gifts of life that God gives to us. But we even have to do this on a physical plane in life. Sometimes, and in this world today, we live in a world where if we’re not careful we could become so selfish we don’t even think about the sacrifice of others and what others might do.

The reality is we should because if we do that then we’re putting value on things that we should be putting value on. Hopefully, that makes sense to you, to understand the value of things when people give to one another.

Colossians 3:12—Therefore, as the elect, the chosen ones if you will, of God, holy and loved, clothe yourself with mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind… So, it has to do with a way of thinking. We’re being told this is what we should adorn ourselves with, if you will, that which should be seen by others, that which we should strive to live, that which we should want others to see because it’s in us in spirit and in truth.

…meekness, you know, a teachable spirit, long patience; forbearing one another. I love these verses because the Greek in this has to do with a desire to—not tolerate as we consider the word “tolerate”—but to appreciate the differences of others, the differences of others. That we’re not all the same. We don’t have to be the same.

Yet our nature is one that as we judge so often we look at things that people do and we tend to judge them sometimes critically or harshly because they’re not doing it the way “I” would do it. That’s not allowing for differences. That’s not allowing people to be different because we have this standard that we have (or way of thinking) that they should be performing and living and doing things in their life not giving them freedom to live their own lives.

…forbearing one another and forgiving one another. That one that blows my mind sometimes, how it seems like it’s so difficult for people to forgive others. Why? Because we want to hold on to something. We’ve been wrong. We’ve been hurt by someone else, and we just don’t want to let go of that, that hurt or whatever it might be that we think is there or the justification of something we think we should have.

If anyone have a complaint, or in other words, it’s about “finding fault” is what the word means here, If you find fault against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you do also. I could give a whole sermon on that if we could just drink that in, what’s been said.

There is a complaint. Well, we shouldn’t be complaining. We shouldn’t be finding fault. So, in order to not do those things there’s a mindset we need to have and it’s definitely one so often that goes back to this thing of forgiving. Let others be the way they are. If there is not a sin there who are we to judge? Who are we to judge?

Now, above all things, it says, “be clothed with” but that’s maybe in the thought and the mindset here of the context, but not in the words there. Now, above all things, as it’s saying, love, and this is agape, love. That’s what we’re supposed to do. That’s how we’re to think toward others. That’s how we’re to treat others.

As we go into this Holy Day season that needs to be at the forefront of our mind because this has to do with the spirit of thankfulness, of what we’ve been given, and that we have the ability, the capacity, crying out to God to have that kind of a mind, to practice that, to be thankful for that. What an awesome thing!

What an awesome thing to be able to fight self and fight against drama, that which is not a matter of peace, that which stirs up hurt, pain, suffering, and contention, which I’ve mentioned before has happened at every Feast of Tabernacles with some in the Body. Sad and pathetic. Because it reveals something in one's spirit that isn’t right with God because it shouldn’t exist. That’s evil.

…which is… Because this is not to the world. This is about the Church because it goes on and expresses some things here that we should grasp. …which is the bond—that which binds together, literally in the Greek language—which is the bond of perfection. Love, God’s love. That’s what binds everything together in a right way as one family. …in perfection, or “completeness” as the word means.

Even let the peace of God rule your hearts. See, that’s a choice. We have to make those choices. You’re going to have to make those choices throughout the Feast this year in different situations and things that maybe don’t go exactly our way or whatever that sometimes stirs up a tad of drama. A tad of drama is bad, let alone a whole bunch of it, especially at the Feast of Tabernacles, above all things. We have eight days to be together as God’s people and the more we recognize the value of that and the opportunity of that the more thankful we’ll be toward one another and toward God.

…even let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body. That’s what we’ve been called to, to live that, to exercise that kind of mindset toward one another. Sometimes we can fool ourselves and think we love God, and we love Christ, and we love everything, but then we don’t love one another like we should. We don’t exercise that toward one another like we should. That shows we don’t grasp what it means to love God.

Let the peace of God rule your hearts, to the which you were called in one body, and be thankful. That sums it all up because that should be the product. That should be what comes from that if we do that, if we think that way.

So, do we grasp how blessed we are? I’ve asked this many a time. Because so much of it goes back to that, to really grasp what God has given to us, the wealth, the treasure, the blessings of a way of life that produce peace. It’s a beautiful thing. So, do we grasp how blessed we are, how awesome it is that we’ve been begotten into an incredible family?

We have a measure of God in us that we’ve been begotten with and He’s working to transform then this mind to be in complete unity and oneness with Him, to be that one Body indeed in spirit and in truth completely.

So, we’ve been called into an incredible family, yet we have some over this past year that have not been thankful. Far, far from it. They have not been thankful for one another within the Body, sometimes even critical, very critical toward others in the Body and they’ve treated God’s Family with contempt, harsh, unloving judgment. That does not come from God, and if individuals continue in such a thing there comes a time when God will no longer tolerate it.

I’ll tell you what, because of all the sermons that have been given this year and working up to the ones about evil, even more so we should be so moved, so thankful that we have God’s help, the power of His holy spirit to change more and more, that we have the kind of Family we do. I know as a whole that exists within the Church in a greater way than I’ve ever seen it in God’s Church since I’ve been in the Church. That’s awesome.

But there has always been that element that resists, that hurts. It’s like the example of “a little leavening leavens the whole lump.” We have to be on guard. Have to be watchful. Just a little bit can hurt the Body. I’ll say it’s good when a portion that cannot come to repentance, will not come to repentance, will not change in certain areas of their life are cut off, because it makes the Body more complete, more whole, if you will, better, healthier spiritually.

It’s a hard thing to go through but it’s an awesome thing that takes place that God does. We’re living through a time right now where I’m very moved by what I see in the sermons being given all year long building up to this point in time. Because we know where we are. The closer we get to Christ’s coming the more we’re to be at one with God. Truly. The more we’re to be crying out to God and being on guard spiritually, and the more that God’s actually cleaning up the Body.

There are things happening, that have been happening in the last year that are rather mind-boggling, and we either believe those things, and throughout the entire Body or we don’t, but the reality is that there are situations being judged and we’re getting down to the wire. Just because of what’s been happening I am moved by it because it’s like a Thunder. It’s powerful. It’s strong.

The events of the Trumpets haven’t begun but these things are so loud right now to me, and I hope the Church sees that too and hears that as well, of what’s taking place, that we’re so blessed to be a part of what God is offering us. That which is not and is not thankful toward one another is being gotten rid of, and sometimes turned over to a spirit world to accomplish it.

Because sometimes if we don’t understand some of the things that take place – because I’ve made comment over and over again – that either one way or another in time, in essence, it’s revealed to the Church, to me, because I’m the only one that makes the decision that’s about someone’s disfellowshipment.

When that takes place certain things have already happened, sometimes over a long period of time that we don’t necessarily know about in individual’s lives. But no one lies to God. No one gets by and right now… For two thousand years people have lied to God in the church and have gotten by with it – not “gotten by” but please understand what I’m saying in context here – that has continued on within the church. It’s never been gotten rid of. Can we imagine that?

Seven eras we looked at. Every one of them had problems of people who left, of people who turned against what they were shown. Mind-boggling. But now we’re in a cleansing phase that is unlike any other period of time because we’re at the end. This cleansing phase has to take place. Either things will be brought to the surface one way or another or God will bring it about to be seen in ways that aren’t pleasant.

No one has anything to fear in that if we love God, if we’re convicted of this way of life, if we’re convicted of the truths that have been given to us, if this is our choice. But if games are being played and sin is being played with out there, we’re at a point where time is about over with in that area. Which brings me to something I want to read.

I’ve said it every year, and the closer we get toward the end the more refined, the more cleansed the Body has become. But it has really ramped up this year bringing certain things to the surface that have been hidden in large part. This has gone on every year…every year since 31 A.D. Sad. Really sad.

So, I’m going to go ahead and share with the Church something that happened this past week. Someone who decided they wanted to take time off from fellowship with God’s people. So, I’m going to read it as it is.

The individual says, “Please, sometimes you can separate yourself from those you love to more adequately address certain challenges in your life.” Bull. Bull. Bull. Bull. Bull. Separate yourself from people you love? Do you love them? Then why would you want to separate yourselves? What is it that’s more important? Is there a greater love for something else?

Went on to say, “This is one of those moments. I intend to be away from church for a period of twelve months, the time I believe I need to adequately address these challenges that I am facing right now. It is more of a personal nature, and it’s heavy. I will spare you the details. It’s a lot of drama.” Blows my mind, because, you see, this doesn’t come from God. This is not a product of God’s spirit, but I can tell you what it’s a product of. A spirit world and a spirit being. They would love nothing more than to be able to attack God’s people. But God is in control of that, who He allows individuals.

That’s what people should be sobered by. For, if there are any others out there that are messing around with sin you’ve cut yourself off from God. Who do you have on your side that’s greater than that power? Who is there to help you? What about that scripture we read, “Greater is He that’s in us than He that’s in the world.” Do you know what it means when you’re given over to that world, when you’re cut off from God and God allows that world to come at you? It’s what’s happened here.

“Like a prodigal son, I’ll be back. I want to believe that God our Father will still in mercy lead me back to the Church.” That makes me do a slow boil. Bit of a burn inside because God already gave the greatest gift that a human being could be given, the impregnation of His holy spirit, something the angelic realm was never given, something that only those who are going to have an opportunity to become Elohim are given! To receive the impregnation of God’s holy spirit!

Do we grasp what we’ve been given? Do we treasure it? Do we fight for it? Are we willing to fight whatever it takes to cry out to God for help to continue on, to fight the fights that are in front of us, to be spiritually on guard, to ask for His holy spirit every day of our life because we need it?

Went on to say at this point, “I can only count on His mercy.” What scriptures, what verses, what is there in the Bible, what is there that has ever been taught in the Church of God that says this is a possibility?

I want to read you a couple of things I gave in response. “It’s a very strange approach that you have used to separate yourself from God’s Church. Your reasoning is unsound,” because it isn’t of God. (That’s my addition right now.) “…and misguided in everything you explained. The lack or complete absence of God’s spirit,” I’ll just say, complete absence, “of God’s spirit is evident. You haven’t simply separated yourself from God’s Church, you’ve chosen to separate yourself from God and from His Son, Joshua. You have done so by clearly stating that you plan over the following year to refuse God’s weekly Sabbaths,” because of the ability, in essence, of being together with God’s people week by week.

Granted, there are some people who are so remote and so scattered they don’t have that opportunity, but there are those who do, and to refuse that…to refuse to be with God’s people where people have ability, “You have done so by clearly stating that you plan over the following year to refuse God’s weekly Sabbath and Holy Days, as well as Passover.” Not a small thing is it?

“God is indeed merciful, but when you choose to conscientiously disobey God’s commandments and no longer put God first in your life you have simply chosen to exercise evil toward God, His Son, and His Church. After all the sermons given on the subject of evil, why would one be so very foolish to now choose to become an antichrist?”

God’s Church, as a whole, has had the ability to fully drink in the sermons this past year, to fully drink in all the things that are said about evil, about all that’s existed within the Church eras, seven Church eras that had antichrists in them. Well, let’s just say, when you look at the whole, the majority became antichrist of those who were called. Of those who (Astounding!) received the impregnation of God’s spirit and then became antichrist?

I hope we latched on to what was said in an earlier sermon. That is one of the greatest evils of all time. To do something of that magnitude, it’s worse than what Lucifer did. Do we grasp that? I feel the majority do by every means – hopefully, the vast majority. And hopefully, there is not much more of this coming because I don’t like it. But it’s necessary. It’s necessary.

If individuals prefer sin in their life, prefer other things in their life, love something else more than putting God first and loving the Body, the Church, what God has given to us, they’ve gone.

So, I’m giving this as a sobering thing to help people to understand. How do you even find words to describe such things? But to understand the majority of people through two thousand years have done this? But God’s showing us now and He’s going to give us more at the Feast how horrible such a thing is. Very few to this point in time have been given the impregnation of God’s holy spirit, to be begotten of Almighty God. To not treasure that with all of our being, to not be thankful with all of our being blows the mind, really.

Now, we’re going through all this, this experience, this experience itself over the last several years, I’d say especially since 2012 and on, for a purpose, and much of it is what we built up to now and for this Feast. God is molding and fashioning something unique within us, within the Body at this time, that others haven’t had to experience. No era has had to experience going through this kind of cleansing. Regardless of the size, it’s immaterial.

But this is profound. From the Apostasy on to see what we have experienced, what we know of, what we have witnessed in so many cases, I hope we grasp – and if we don’t we’re being told – it’s because of what God is blessing to be molded and fashioned in our mind that is precious to Him, that has to do with future things we’ll be doing and be a part of as far as our thinking and our ability to do certain things as a part of Elohim, especially in the next one thousand, one hundred years or the period of time of those who live in the Millennium and then, of course, died during that period of time but are resurrected at the end.

“So why would one be so very foolish to now choose to become an antichrist? People don’t just decide they can turn away from God once they have been begotten of His holy spirit. One does not take a year off from obeying God’s most basic commandments. One cannot take time off from obedience and expect that God will simply wink His eye and not pass out some serious judgment about such a choice.” That’s what we’re building up to for the Feast. Timely? By purpose, by design?

“A prodigal son does not conscientiously choose to become one. I am rather dumbfounded that you have so deluded yourself to believe such nonsense.” I’m not going to read other parts of this that I wrote.

Going on down here a little bit farther: “Deciding that you will separate yourself from God for a year is more akin to committing spiritual suicide. You have already cut yourself off from God and His spirit through what you have written. Instead of repenting quickly, choosing to be cut off for an entire year will only move you that much farther from being able to repent. That should scare you to the core of your being.”

And I basically told him, “It’s not going to happen. There are certain things that are not forgotten.” Just as when king David did various things and he told his son to take care of certain matters, certain things were to be taken care of. There are some things that have to be taken care of for a purpose and by design.

Then got back this response. “I understood that doing this will cut me off and keep me in the desert…” No person with God’s holy spirit functioning actively within them could ever say such a thing. “To be in the desert; to be totally cut off from God.” Where does that come from?

“…away from God for twelve months. With what I have learned in church I don’t expect it easy out there. It sounds familiar to me. It’s one of the so many difficult choices I’ve had to make in my life. Knowing how the Church functions I was prepared to be disfellowshipped in order to go through what I must go through. Sometimes…” Look how far the mind can go. This is some scary stuff because this isn’t a sound mind. This isn’t from someone with God’s spirit any longer by any measure. This is someone else with a different spirit working in their mind.

And I say that to individuals who are still messing around with sin out there. You are not going to get by with it much longer. You either repent with all of your being… Because this is where we are, this is what I’ve been crying out for so long now in the last few years, that this is what we’re coming to. You come to a point where this is it, and if we continue to play with certain sin in life knowing that we should repent, that means you flee from it, that means you get away from it, that means you turn away from it and you don’t think that you can have that and this. How long will God allow someone to go by like that?

Well, sometimes for a long time throughout the past two thousand years, but now is not the case because God is doing something different. He’s cleansing the entire Body in a way that it’s never been cleansed because of where we are in time.

So, he said, “Sometimes you need to die completely to grow, to come back to life much stronger. I have that hope.” Well, I know who gave that hope. One being and one being along, okay? And that’s from God. The knowledge of that is from God. This came from Satan.

“Being in the Church is the best thing that’s happened to me. I learned a lot and appreciate you all.” My wife and I thought of the exact same thing when we heard that. It reminds me of all those ministers, “Well, Herbert Armstrong, he was… I learned a lot of things from him.” Wouldn’t acknowledge he was an apostle. Wouldn’t acknowledge that everything that was true that they learned came through him. So, no wonder we had an apostasy. Incredible, what we’ve experienced.

“By God’s grace, I’ll be back to be evaluated if I can join the Church again. Love you all!” he said. Nope, that’s a lie.

Anyway, what a sad, sad, sad part of life, for something like this to happen. But it’s happened through time; it’s happened ever since I’ve been in God’s Church, since 1969. Seen people go by the wayside, see people give up, see people turn to something else and not value, not treasure the fact that they’ve been impregnated with God’s holy spirit. Impregnated! That should be so simple to see the value of that, the treasure of that, how awesome that is. Anyway.

So, I hope we’re sobered in one part, saddened in another in many ways, because it’s sad that such things can happen, that such choices can be made. But to understand, too, that to have a healthy Body, that’s what we should all want, to have a strong, healthy spiritual Body that’s at one, that’s at unity and oneness with God where there is peace, where there is that spirit and that desire within it that fills our lives, that we be thankful indeed, powerfully so, mightily so.

Psalm 100. It says “A Psalm of Praise,” which is the mindset of being thankful. Because that’s what it’s about. They’re tied together in that respect. To praise God is to be thankful to God.

Psalm 100:1—Make a joyful noise unto the Eternal, all you lands! Serve the Eternal with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. So, it’s not a matter of that which is vocally coming out of us. It’s about a spirit. It’s about an attitude. It’s about a mind of praise and thankfulness to God that can come out not just in words in a song but in how we think and how we live.

Know that the Eternal, speaking of Yahweh, He is God/He is Elohim. He has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people. What a horrible thing that human beings given life by God Almighty don’t want God in our lives. The world, as a whole, wants God in their image, how they think God should be, how they think the religious actions and customs should be. Not because God has told them to specifically be and do a certain way and them responding to that because they reverence, because they believe Almighty God and what He says is absolute.

“He has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people.” So, whether human life by itself, we can go out and do whatever we want, but we’re God’s creation. When we’re given the truth to be able to see various things we should respond to that even more, obviously, when we’re begotten of God’s spirit, drawn into the Church.

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving. So, not talking about literal gates, some kind of gate. It’s talking about what we have access to, to God Almighty, and to do so with thanksgiving. So, I hope our prayers (in a passing here), hope our prayers are filled with a lot of thanksgiving to God. Because it shows then what we really treasure. It tells God what we truly treasure as we thank Him for various things that He has given to us in life.

“Enter into His gates.” When you come into His presence, that’s what we should be doing.

…and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name. It’s like saying, “Acknowledge Him with honor and great respect with worship.” That’s something that’s a result of treasuring what He’s given. The more that’s true in our life the more this will be the product.

For the Eternal is good; His mercy is everlasting. Not the kind of mercy this individual talked about, but it’s mercy for that which is genuine and true, that desires to be humbled before God, that desires to be of a meek spirit, that wants to be taught and instructed by God in order to learn what is true and right and to hold fast then that which is or has been given as true and right to them or to us.

“For the Eternal is good; His mercy is everlasting.” So, as long as there is repentance of sin, yes, incredible mercy, but God gave us the greatest mercy when He began to draw us, giving us the opportunity to come to repentance, giving us the opportunity to come to baptism. That was the greatest mercy of all time when He did that because that was the beginning of a process that would then be guaranteed from then on if we respond God’s way.

Because once baptized you come up out of that water and you get impregnated with God’s holy spirit in the very mind. And then from then on, yes, we have to repent in life, but the greatest was shown in the beginning because of all that sin that was forgiven. From then on as we see sin, as He reveals sin to us we’re to repent, yes, and that’s an ongoing process that never ends as long as we’re in this human body.

But to go back to sin? God should continue to be merciful? We can take a hiatus, take a little vacation? What does that mean? Away from God’s people? Away from the Holy Days? Away from the Sabbath? Away from the Church? All it shows is there is something else that’s loved more. That should be scary.

His mercy is everlasting, and His truth to all generations.

There’s an Old Testament example that’s far more about our mind and spirit toward God on a spiritual plane when it comes to expressing thanks to Him and thought it’d be good to go through some of this starting in 1 Chronicles 16.

So, here the ark is being brought. They’ve been separated from it for a long time. It starts here in 1 Chronicles 16:1—So, they brought the ark of God and set it in the midst of the tent David had pitched for it. And they offered burnt sacrifices. So, when you go through something like this you think of something they did on a physical plane, and it was so very physical. What we do is on a spiritual plane; it’s alive. They had to go through routines and ceremonies and stuff. We’re able to do it on a spiritual plane. To come before God’s presence anytime we desire? Only the high priest could do that once a year when you talk about the tabernacle and the ark that was there and that last third of the tabernacle.

But here they’re rejoicing because now the ark had been brought back for them and it says they offered burnt sacrifices. That’s what we’re supposed to do on a spiritual plane all the time, offer ourselves, sacrifice. Loving others is a matter of sacrifice. It’s the opposite of selfishness. God’s kind of love is the opposite of selfishness. We can have a selfish love, which we all have as human beings, but to have God’s love there’s sacrifice because it’s about what we give up in order to do something or have something far greater and far more meaningful.

That’s why if we really understood this in spirit and in truth to its deepest we would never, never, never mistreat anyone, think wrong of anyone in God’s Church. Just wouldn’t exist.

And they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. We’re supposed to be peacemakers. The opposite of drama. To practice the ways that draw people closer together, not that which pushes people farther away. You have to work at that. It doesn’t come natural. It doesn’t come easy. It takes work. With God’s spirit, we can all do it. Beautiful!

…and peace offerings before God. Then when David had made an end of offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Eternal. Then he dealt to everyone in/of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, and a good piece of meat, and a flagon of wine. So, in other words, this was a festive occasion, and they had the bread, they had the meat because of the sacrifices there, the offerings that they were able to participate in, and the wine to go with it.

So, they could only feast in a physical way before the ark of God, and we can do so spiritually. What an awesome thing! Do we recognize the ability we have to feast spiritually anytime, all the time, especially during the Feast season?

Verse 4—So, he appointed of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Eternal, and to remember as the word is, and to thank and praise the Eternal God of Israel. So, there are things we’re to remember. Never forget about how God works with us, how He’s called us, the things He’s given to us. Again, this goes back to the more we see and the more we grasp of that the more thankful we are for everything we’re given. Well, what an awesome thing, the more we can rejoice before God then. Reveals how much we treasure what He’s given.

Then on down to verse 7—Then on that day had David given at the beginning to give thanks to the Eternal by the hand of Asaph and his brethren. Give thanks unto the Eternal! Call upon His name. Make known His deeds among the people! So, things we’re to remember, things we’re to hold fast in our relationship toward God.

Sing unto Him, sing praise unto Him. Speak of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name. Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Eternal! So again, it’s what we can accomplish. It’s what we can do on a spiritual plane if these things are true in our life. If we truly are seeking the Eternal we rejoice. That’s the product. We’re going to rejoice. If we’re seeking God, that shows we want God, we desire God, we’re wanting to be on guard spiritually, we’re crying out to God, we’re seeking God.

That’s what we do when we seek God; we’re seeking God in our life every day of our life. I need His spirit every day. I need Him to dwell in me every day. I want Him to dwell in me every day. I want to dwell in them, God the Father and Joshua. This should be the focal point of our thinking. As we see those things and that product in our life and the growth in our life and the experiences we’ve had since we’ve been called, we’re so rich. We’ve been given so much, incredible treasure, regardless of what we have to go through and suffer in this physical life. Because we can’t compare any of the suffering with anything that God has placed before us and given to us.

Now, we know those things by knowledge but to know them because we live them because it’s in our mind, well, that’s the beautiful part.

Seek the Eternal and His strength. It’s just what I mentioned. “Seek the Eternal and His strength.” We need Him. We need His help. Seek His face, or presence, if you will, continually! That’s what it’s about, to seek His face, to seek His presence. That means we’re praying. We pray day by day. We’re looking to God. We’re seeking God. We’re seeking His life to be in us and thankful for that – and especially with all the knowledge we’ve been given of how few have ever had such opportunity.

Seek the Eternal and His strength. Seek His presence continually. Remember His marvelous works which He has done. Again, I think of the building of the booths at the Feast of Tabernacles. The Israelites were to think back, remember the things that God had done in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt, to make it possible to have what they have then and they’re to think back and remember those things.

Well, this is a good time of the year to take count, to look back. What have we suffered? And if we really see it for what it is, even within the suffering, we’ve seen blessings if we recognize it’s a part of a process of something we have to go through to change. This way of life is not meant to be easy. It’s through the sufferings of things that push us to the point oftentimes of evaluating and judging various things. With God’s help and God’s spirit to come to the right choices, right decisions, and there’s growth there, there’s that which is produced in us which we didn’t have before.

I’ve often mentioned—I mean it with all my being—everything that I’ve ever had to suffer that’s been hard. I remember being here as an associate and I suffered. I had to cry out to God at different times about various things going through because of the administration that I lived under and had to have a balancing act as it were to deal with things that I knew were not right, were not just.

And how do you do that? You cry out to God a lot. You look to God. But if I hadn’t of gone through those things and learned the things that I did I wouldn’t be the minister I am today. I probably wouldn’t, obviously, be here today if I hadn’t of gone through those things. So, I thank God that I went through that hard time.

I remember a period of time I went through in fasting because I was crying out to God with all my being to be delivered from that. Incredible. From a minister in God’s Church supposedly and the oppression on God’s people. Well, I look back and I think of the things I learned and I’m so thankful to God.

Being over there in that little town that I didn’t like to drive through at first. Didn’t even want to think about the name of that mound of dirt. Terra Haute, the meaning, the earth, high ground. Well, in one way I took, how can I say it, thanks for that, gratitude for that. I was on high ground, and I knew it. It wasn’t easy, but man, I wouldn’t give up any of those things I’ve ever gone through in life. And you shouldn’t either. I don’t care what it is you’ve ever suffered. Whether it be health issues, job issues, various kinds of oppression that come from family, those are the things that make us, that shape us. Those are the things that cause us to think more deeply, to challenge us where we have to cry out to God to make sure our thinking is right, and we grow through that. That’s the process whereby we grow, it’s through the experiences.

And we need a year off from going through trials? We need a year off? I can’t find the words for it, I’m sorry. The words I would say I don’t want to say right now.

But the Body is being cleansed brethren, and in so many ways, I’ll be candid with you, that encourages me a lot because I see that we’re so close. Don’t even have to see the Thunders that are out there because of the Church; it cries out where we are. Because of the experiences, because this is the most important thing to God. Of anything on this earth right now, it’s the Body, it’s the Church. Above anything else that’s being molded and fashioned to come to the end of this age, this is the most important to God. We are the most important to God, and if we grasp that and recognize that we’re blessed, truly.

Then to see that, to stand back and see what’s taking place, well, cries out to me volumes, powerfully so, and I hope it does to us as well by discussing this and sharing that with you. That we are getting extremely close, brethren, and this is not a time to monkey around, to play around with sin, to wallow in any kind of sin. But it’s a time to run with all of our being toward God and be thankful for it.

Okay, verse 34, dropping down a little farther. Oh, give thanks unto the Eternal, who is good! For His mercy is forever. So say, Save us, O God of our salvation; gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen. Now, if we see what that’s saying to us spiritually? Because there are so many things written in scripture, in the Old Testament especially, that have been written for the Church. They’re about that which is on a spiritual plane.

Just something as simple as the building of the temple – yes, it was all physical, but everything about it was for a later time, of something we are to see once we come into God’s Church and given spirit to understand those things. We see them on a different plane that’s awesome.

So, this is to be seen that way. “So say, Save us…” Do you cry out like that to God? “Save us!” I don’t know if it was this morning or last night, asking God, “Save us!” This world needs saving more than it’s ever needed saving. I’m not going to take time today to go through the news. Sometimes I almost feel bad about going over certain news articles because I almost feel—and I shouldn’t feel this way—that it may be boring to some. Think, well, that’s horrible that it would be boring to some. But I know in some cases it probably is. But especially if we keep abreast of the news, like, “I read that. I know…” Some of its kind of repetitive because it’s happening so much.

I was going through, and I actually did gather a bunch of old news things here that’s just this past week and I just left out tons of stuff about people talking about nuclear weapons, nuclear war. It’s being bantered around so much it’s like people are becoming numb to the use of the terms. And then, finally, when it happens it’s going to be like, “Why didn’t we see this?” And yet we in the Church are to see this, what’s coming, and I know we believe it and understand it, but these are Thunders. There are so many Thunders out there going on right now.

It’s not that certain things haven’t existed in times past, because they have, bad weather, changing weather, as I mentioned, I think, last Sabbath. But we live in a unique time where these things are being amped up. And is man a part of it, a lot of it? Obviously! We’re destroying this earth! So much of what we’re suffering through is the repercussions of a lot of that. The insanity, the foolishness, the unsoundness of mind of people is because of the sins and how great that’s become.

You know, people don’t want to even hear the term God in conversations in the world as a whole. Different countries let alone this one here. The only way some of that keeps alive is because of some people willing to use the term. It’s because of the south. Sometimes because of one TV station, that’s about to drive me nuts at times because it’s like they’ve turned into this cheerleader for one particular church anyway, the big one. Some of the rhetoric, I can’t hardly stand. It’s this fake, pious stuff that we loathe because we see the lie that’s in it.

Thunders. Thunders. Thunders. Thunders.

I, candidly, will go to say that I wouldn’t be shocked if something happened on Trumpets. Now, I hope that doesn’t interfere necessarily with going over to Europe because we’re leaving the next day. That’s the plan. But you never know. We’re in that kind of a world right now where we don’t know. It could be that close.

The reason I worry about… Well, don’t worry but have it as a thought and a concern is because it has a lot of meaning if something were to begin. So, I don’t know because God hasn’t revealed that, which is a good thing at this point. It’s going to be bad enough when we have to face it when it does happen. But we need to be prepared the best we can for any and everything at any time. That’s the world we live in.

“Save us!” You can cry that; you can pray that more heartfelt than ever before, and within the Church and the world, that we can pray more, “Your Kingdom come.” We want it with all of our being knowing full well it’s going to come in God’s time. But that means we’re fighting and we’re going to keep fighting, moving toward that.

Save us, O God of our salvation; gather us together. Amen to that one! 144,000, looking forward to that big time. …gather us together, deliver us from the heathen. I think of all the sickness in this world and the injustice. Governments have gotten so disgusting in what they’re doing toward each other. It’s gotten so bad if there was some place to go I would consider it. But every place is bad. The world has gone crazy.

…and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to Your holy name. So, it’s always looking to God, always keeping our eyes fastened on what God has shown us and revealed to us in thanking Him the entire time, that we see what we see, that we know what we know. Because this is going to catch the world so off guard.

Just like this thing with BRICS. You might as well start throwing them, hit some people on the head. Maybe it’ll knock some sense into somebody’s head. Maybe a brick will hit somebody in the forehead and say, “Oh, that hurts!” you know, because they’re playing stupid out there. And yet there are those that are going to try to put this thing down even within Western governments. Because it’s the end of control. It’s the end of supremacy, if you will, supremacy. It truly is.

One article that was written here recently was about Saudi Arabia. There was a time right at fifty years ago when there were certain agreements made with Saudi Arabia that because of oil, the dollar, petrodollar, trade, all this stuff began. Now Saudi Arabia is moving the other direction. This isn’t a small thing, it’s gigantic, and they’re kind of taking their oil with them, the control. They don’t have to worry about the U.S. anymore. That’s what they’re trying to get away from.

So, all these nations now that want to join BRICS and be together with BRICS… And you think, do you think government is going to sit back and just watch that be taken over? It means a downfall of a global economy. That’s where we’re headed. We’re so close to that right now it’s not even funny. What’s taking place out there, and there are certain people screaming their heads off and nobody is listening.

And so, all these things working together, all the Thunders. I hope we can see that. They’re all working together to one giant crescendo, and that’s the first event of the First Trumpet. That’s exactly where they’re headed. We’re so close to those things taking place they’re deafening right now.

Bless the Eternal God of Israel forever and ever! Then the people said, Amen! and praised the Eternal. Well, anyway, haven’t even got to page three yet.

Let’s turn over to 2 Chronicles 29. It’s amazing the things that are there that we can live on a spiritual plane, that we understand spiritually in a relationship with God that they just went through the motions of physical things. And I think, how blessed are we? Do we grasp the wealth of the treasure that God has handed to us?

We’re going to look at an example now of when the nation of Judah had gone back and forth in their relationship with God, their history going back and forth, back and forth, things of idolatry and so forth until finally they were sent into captivity. But anyway, we’re coming up on the story about when king Hezekiah is seeking to put things back on track and cleansing the temple. So, this is the story we’re jumping into, this particular king, and going back to the cleansing of the temple and those who serve in it.

This brings us into 2 Chronicles 29:1, jumping into the story. This is something that was covered back at the Feast in 2010. I think, man, look where we are now. Incredible!

2 Chronicles 29:1—Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. He did right in the sight of the Eternal, according to all that David, his forefather had done. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Eternal and repaired them.

Now, the reason we’re going through this story is because how could it escape us what’s happened to the Church, what happened in the Apostasy, and what you have to do after that with the kind of massive destruction that took place? This is the kind of story we’re reading that happened physically here that we can understand on a spiritual plane. And how blessed are we that we’re able to do that?

In the first year of the reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Eternal and repaired them. If you were looking at something spiritual, what would that mean to you, to look at all the destruction that was there and certain portions of it you begin to work on, to make better? Doors to the house of God, the way into the house? I think of the process the Church has gone through since the Apostasy and it fits hand in glove.

He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together in the East Street, and said to them, Hear me, you Levites! Now sanctify yourselves and sanctify the house of the Eternal God of your fathers. That’s what was to take place and took time. Took a lot of time.

After the Apostasy, after the destruction of the Temple, as it was, every stone, not one stone left upon another, and the rebuilding that began. Incredible, the process of something we have witnessed and experienced that the knowledge of wealth that we have because of it is beyond our grasp. But we can try to grasp it because God is giving us portions of it to see and has for a long time. But we continue to build upon that.

And so, this is what was to take place in the beginning because God works in a specific way. If the ministry doesn’t work to sanctify themselves to be able to serve God then how is the Body going to profit? That’s the reality of it. That’s what had to take place after the Apostasy.

So, I think of some of the things that took place, if you will, up in the Toledo area, Detroit area, and some down here, and I think of all the ministers had to go through because there were those who weren’t sanctifying themselves, still the battles going on.

And thankfully, as we continued on, some, because it was within the Body, began to sanctify themselves more thoroughly, more completely. God’s Church is blessed because of that, of the things that were experienced.

For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the sight of the Eternal our God. We can look back and we see so much now. I just mentioned a moment ago of that which happened in this area that I had to pray about, that I had to go through.

“They have trespassed and done evil.” Sometimes people didn’t realize how much evil there really was. People who sat there and listened to 14/15th being preached sometimes in a very cunning crafty kind of way, which that one evangelist did. You had to be pretty sharp to catch some of the things he said, otherwise it was easy to be pulled into it and not really catch everything.

…and done evil in the eyes of the Eternal our God and have forsaken Him. That’s what happens when people turn to something else. To forsake God? Within the Church, people who forsook God, ministers, brethren, and especially those who have been brought into PKG who have been around for a long time? A long time!

I don’t like seeing people that I have sat side by side with, talked to, visited with, eaten with, in other words, spent time with outside of services and so forth, and developed friendships and relationships, and then to see giving up that life? You can’t do this; you can’t give it to people; you can’t change them. They have to make the choice.

Don’t they love that relationship as much? No. That’s why they leave and go do something else, become separated from the Body. Is there going to be more? I’ve already stated, it’ll be right up to the coming of Christ. And you might find that hard to believe but it’s the truth, and God’s going to allow that for some.

And you think, to be known for that? To be known for that, to carry that as your reputation? To carry that as your reputation, for what you’re known for? Had to take a year off? What an incredible thing to be known for. Yes, there will be death and there will be life, but it’ll be later on, the Great White Throne. But to be known for the one who wanted to take a year off just right at the very end? How did that go for you? Phew.

For our Fathers have trespassed and done evil in the sight of the Eternal our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation, the dwelling place of the Eternal, and turned their backs. So, we’ve had a pretty good dose of this kind of guidance and direction and instruction over this past year. Quite a bit. Leading all the way up to the sermons about evil, the things we’re going to cover at the Feast, topping it all off, bringing it all together. Because God is driving a point home and teaching us things that we need to learn.

Those who are faithful, those who are fighting for this way of life have the blessing to have more grown, fashioned, molded in the mind for God’s purpose later on. That’s an awesome blessing.

But it doesn’t mean we get there easily. It’s a battle. It’s a battle all the way. In the midst of some who aren’t genuine and true but are lying along the way, theyre not going to be there. How many times I’ve said it?

They have also shut up the doors of the porch and put out the lamps. That’s spiritual! When people shut the doors, their entrance into God, before God, to be truthful and honest to God? “Yes, he was a great teacher, and he was God’s apostle!” To pray that way? That’s awesome. God will bless that.

But the others, they’re going to be infamous for the hideous choices they made. They’re going to be known. What an incredible thing during the Great White Throne to have so many of those resurrected, that that’s where they’re going to have to be to face up to what they did. To turn against God, to do the things they did, that shut up the way into God’s Kingdom to God’s Church through their preaching and what they taught. Incredible!

They have also shut up the doors of the porch and put out or quenched the lamps. When God’s spirit isn’t there anymore, the oil isn’t there anymore. That’s what it’s talking about.

…and have not burned incense. It’s talking about their own lives, people who turn against God. Here there are people who turned against God and what they did, and those who did evil, as it says here in the previous verses here. That’s exactly what happened during the Apostasy and on into the period afterward that’s continued on up to now, the things that have happened in the environment of the Church that are still there.

“And have not burned incense.” It reflects there’s not been a relationship with God, that sweet-smelling incense that goes up before God because we’re doing what we do because we know we need help. We cry out to God for His holy spirit to live and dwell within us. We’re convicted of that and so we pray to God every day.

…and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings. So, where is the sacrifice? Where is the sacrifice? Instead, we see selfishness. We’re going to go do something else that’s more important for a year. That’s the difference. Night and day.

…nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. Therefore, the wrath of the Eternal was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has delivered them into trouble, into astonishment. That’s what happens. People turn from God especially when they’ve been begotten of God. It’s not a pretty thing. It’s not a pleasant thing.

…delivered them into trouble, to astonishment, and to derision, can’t think right, their minds, their thinking is not sound, and even have help then of that which is worse. …as you see with your eyes.

So, look at how our fathers have fallen by the sword. We’re to remember. We’re to remember what we have witnessed or what you’ve had knowledge of since that time. But you have knowledge of those things that happened and why you’re in the Church now – you know it’s because of the Apostasy and what happened afterward and how blessed you are to have been called at some point afterward if you weren’t a part of that period of time.

Those are great blessings to have witnessed such things. They’re awesome blessings to have been able to witness such horrible things, they really are, because they have molded and fashioned things within us by experience that couldn’t otherwise be there, that are unique, candidly, to us in a magnified way.

The Church over two thousand years never had to experience that. Never experienced that. But those who did there is that which is good within it, the product of what God is producing, what God is molding and creating is what it’s all about. Beautiful!

…and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Eternal God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us. My sons, don’t be negligent now, for the Eternal has chosen you to stand before Him.

So, how blessed are we that God has chosen us to stand before Him? That means to stand for His way of life, to stand for what’s true, for what’s right, to stand against evil, to stand against that which is not true in the world around us, whatever that might be.

…for the Eternal has chosen you to stand before Him. That, really, I don’t have words to express how awesome, how mind-boggling, how incredible, how beautiful, how mighty such an expression is, that we carry this in a way that’s in spirit and truth as a part of God’s plan.

…to serve Him, and that you should minister unto Him and burn incense. Those prayers that go up before God which have to do because we see this, we know this, of gratitude, of thankfulness.

Dropping on down, verse 15—Then they gather their brethren and sanctify themselves. That’s what we all have choices to do, to sanctify ourselves, to make sure we are right with God, before God.

…and came according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the Eternal, to cleanse the house of the Eternal. That’s where we are spiritually because of Christ’s coming, because of God’s Kingdom about to be established.

So, the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Eternal to cleanse it and brought out all the uncleanness (filthiness) that they found in the temple of the Eternal into the court of the house of the Eternal. So, the Levites took it out to carry it out abroad to the Brook Kidron. Now they began in the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month, they came to the porch of the Eternal. So, they sanctified the house of the Eternal in eight days, and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end to it.

Then they went to Hezekiah the king and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Eternal, and the altar of burnt offerings with all the vessels thereof, and the showbread table and all the vessels of it. Moreover, all of the vessels which king Ahaz in his reign had cast away in his transgression have we prepared and sanctified; and behold, they are before the altar of the Eternal.

So, we’re all a part of this. That’s what it’s talking about. We all have part.

Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the rulers of the city and went to the house of the Eternal. Then they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven he goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. Then he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer on the altar of the Eternal.

So, the story goes on, the kind of offerings, the numerous offerings that were made. So, we’ll skip over some of that.

Verse 33 then, The consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. But the priests were too few so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings; therefore, their brethren the Levites helped them until the work was completed.

Now we’re going to go back up because we skipped over some here, that I did on purpose. We’re going to go back up to verse 30 and notice the importance of part of their sacrifice in the worship of God.

2 Chronicles 29:30—Moreover, Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Eternal with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped. Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now you have consecrated yourselves unto the Eternal come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings. Always a part of this process. Always a part.

So, the sacrifice, the willing giving to God, but with that from us thanks because of what we see, because of what we have opportunity in in standing before God, if you will, to have such blessing in our life.

So again here, this “thank offerings” is a word translated as “thankful, giving thanks and the praise,” so that’s what it’s talking about, into the house of the Eternal. So, that’s what God desires, that we see. Because this has so much to do with loving Him. That we see what He’s given to us, and we treasure it, we value it above everything else, above everything else in life, to where something like what I read earlier would be so foreign to us that it almost makes us aghast to hear such things.

Verse 31, the second part here, The congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, also as many as were of a free heart… From here. That’s why we do what we do by our choice. …burnt offerings.

And the number of the burnt offerings which the congregation brought was seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Eternal.

So, we read things of this, of the excitement, of the joy, of the fullness when certain things have been accomplished, and that’s what we look forward to when this has all been accomplished. We’re getting so close, and you have to keep fighting until it’s complete.

Have a great Feast!

1. Chapter 1