Glorify God, Pt. 2

Ronald Weinland

March 30, 2024

The sermon two weeks ago primarily served as an introduction to the series that we’re now in entitled Glorify God, and this is now Part 2.

We’re going to do a little review here. We’re going to go back and look at some of the things that were said two weeks ago, because sometimes I do that anyway from Sabbath to Sabbath, but especially now going back two weeks just to give our minds a jolt here a little bit.

It was stated that since 2005, God has been revealing Himself more fully to the Church, and I made comments about how difficult it is sometimes for us to grasp how important some of these things are. And candidly, some of this is far more important than what we can grasp and comprehend. As a whole, we don’t see our lives in that respect as being necessarily important. We live in a world where we just go through our routines, whatever it might be, whatever our background is, whatever our occupation is, whatever our trials and troubles are, and very average in that respect in the sense of the world is concerned.

Except for one major thing, God and Christ, that we have the blessing of them living and dwelling within us. God has called us out of this world to make changes and so our lives become far more important in that respect because of God, because of what God’s doing in us. But it’s hard for us to grasp those things oftentimes, to understand the importance of such things. That God Almighty has called you. God Almighty has called us.

We’re not big. We’re not large. We’re very small. And now, because of the Apostasy, we’re smaller than ever. We’re a remnant. And that takes on new meaning as well because we’ve gone through a lot within this period of time since the Apostasy. There have been so many people who have gone by the wayside. A lot of people went by the wayside just because of the Apostasy, but the battle wasn’t over with yet. And so, even since that time and people being awakened or partially awakened, being given opportunity to start that process, haven’t responded properly and have gone back to sleep or even worse.

So, we’re very blessed because of God living within us. And so, to understand some of this, how that God has been revealing Himself more fully starting, talking about here, 2005, that’s awesome! Because as I was mentioning earlier before we started recording this the first time (it’s tough to go back and forth on some of this).

So again here, incredible that we are able to go through some of these things and discuss how important it is of what God has given to us that the disciples had an understanding of some of the things we’re talking about but to the extent we have now, there are things that haven’t been known for six thousand years by anyone. Awesome to understand that!

And so, we’re going through some of this, again, as a reminder of what happened, what was said a couple of Sabbath’s ago.

So, we went to Truth #48 in that sermon that states:

48 (27) The Seven Thunders have been revealed and will happen precisely as foretold.

Then we skipped ahead to the Seventh Thunder which states:

7.) An accelerated revelation of God to man, in both the Church that was scattered and in the world.

So again here, it’s because of what God is doing. There is going to come that time, we’re not there yet, where God is going to begin revealing Himself, things that mankind will no longer… That’s an awesome thing, mankind can no longer deny God Almighty exists. When they see Christ and 144,000 return and they stop the war that’s taking place and do the things they’re going to accomplish on this earth, there will be no more denying that there is a God.

And those who don’t like what God says is right and true and should be lived, well, that’s another matter that will be dealt with at the beginning of the Millennium for maybe several years, but eventually, that will begin to level out as time goes on.

There will always be those who will have their own way of doing things, even after that, even after Christ is on the earth and the 144,000. And that boggles my mind to think that such a thing could happen, but it’s going to happen. Human beings are human beings and human beings want their own way and human beings do not like to be told what to do and how to do it.

But God has that right. We belong to God. God created us. God gave us life. And if we don’t like it then that’s our choice. And thankfully, for those who choose that way, their time will come to an end, and it’ll be an end forever. That’s a beautiful thing when you understand God because everything should be at one with God when it’s all said and done. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be unity. There wouldn’t be peace. There wouldn’t be the kind of Family that God is creating.

So again, that Seventh Thunder. So again, as far as the world is concerned those things haven’t really started yet, God’s revelation to mankind in a very powerful way, revealing Himself to mankind in an awesome way. But to the Church, after six thousand years of people being worked with and called and the last two thousand years as far as the Church is concerned, He’s revealing Himself more, of things that people have never known. Awesome!

So again, I think of the reminder here I want to give from that first sermon: “Within the first four thousand years,” again, “it wasn’t even given to people to even understand the relationship that God has purposed, has desired with mankind, to become known as their Father.” Their Father. Because this is about a family. It’s about God’s Family, and He is the Father of that Family. And we start the process within the Church anyway of being begotten and then to be able to grow and to understand, recognize what a Father, a true Father is in every respect – awesome – of His Family. It’s beautiful.

Yet that’s the kind of relationship that God wants us to grasp. He is our Father. But it’s on a spiritual plane. And even that we can’t comprehend and have in our life except in a spiritual way through spiritual understanding and spiritual growth on our part. Then we can begin to grasp and comprehend those things.

Because if we told this to other people or whatever, or even someone who is coming up to the point of being newly baptized, they’re not going to comprehend this really very well at the beginning. But you grow in that. It’s about a relationship and the way we look toward to God if you will.

So again, that’s why I found it so incredible that it wasn’t until the time of Moses – that’s why I repeated that or gave that in that sermon two weeks ago – to think that it wasn’t until that time after all the hundreds of years had gone by, after the flood, after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the children of Israel going into Egypt, and then finally God’s time to bring them out of Egypt and all the things He’s going to reveal on a spiritual plane in time that He’s going to do physically that we can grasp so much of that. Because that’s so much of what Exodus is about, it’s about them leaving Egypt.

It’s about that process that happened physically, the Passover that was given, and then to understand that on a spiritual plane in the analogies there, to come out of sin, to come out of Egypt. God wanted us to have those physical things that we could relate to, to teach us things of a far greater scale spiritual.

And so again, to understand that up to that point in time (as it was stated) that He had only revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob (and to others before that and after that up until this point) as El Shaddai, God Almighty. God Almighty. They didn’t know Him by Yahweh.

So, we can look at that and say, “That’s awesome!” That long and finally God chooses that time to also add in there that He is Yahweh, the Ever-living God, the Ever-existing Eternal God, if you will (what the word has to do with). And so, He revealed that as far as a name and a relationship they could have then with Yahweh. Incredible.

That’s why I find it so incredible too, and God… It just shows that you can’t see things until it’s God’s time to reveal it. We were blind until after the Apostasy, as a whole, within the Church, of grasping that Joshua the Christ was not Yahweh. They don’t fit. It doesn’t even come close in scripture to being something you can force in there.

But people have tried to force that in there and that kept us from grasping and comprehending and appreciating even more deeply what he did. He wasn’t a member of the God Family who decided to give up his power to become a human being! And then if he did that of himself then why should the other member of that God Family be called the Father? Doesn’t even make sense even with the analogies that were given there. But doesn’t matter, we couldn’t see it.

But for us now it’s like, “That’s so simple.” He had a beginning. Christ had a beginning. He was born of a woman. His Father was God Almighty. Awesome! Because God Almighty gave of His spirit essence, if you will, to His Son to be born within him. Things we can’t fully comprehend. How he was born as he was with a mind that was so incredible, to grasp and comprehend that which he heard. If there were scriptures, he knew them; he knew what it was about. At twelve years old he dumbfounded the scholars! They were in awe of what he had to say. How’s that possible? Well, the Word made flesh.

So, God has been revealing Himself through time. So, when we look at six thousand years God chooses when He will reveal certain things. It’s of His design and of His purpose. That’s awesome to comprehend and to experience.

And so, again, only known as El Shaddai up to the time of Moses. And then it was mentioned how that it wasn’t until Joshua the Christ came in that respect and God began to show, again, that greater purpose, as I’ve already mentioned, that He is our Father. That’s when it began.

Let’s go back there to John 20:11. Now, it’s used in other places but in this place here it’s more pointed and more powerful, if you will, because of what’s stated and because of what he was going through. He had died, he’d been put to death, and now resurrected.

And so, it says, John 20:11—Now, Mary stood outside the sepulcher crying, and as she cried she stooped down into the sepulcher. And she saw two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Joshua had lain. Then they said to her, Woman, why are you crying? She replied to them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. After she had said this, she turned herself back and saw Joshua standing, and did not know that it was Joshua.

Now, this is awesome here because not even grasping that they’re angelic beings. I mean, it wasn’t given to her to see that. And she saw two people there, in that respect, not hitting her fully what she was experiencing, and she was probably more in shock at the fact that Joshua wasn’t there. And then she has him standing there.

And he said to her, Woman, why are you crying? Whom do you seek? And she, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, Sir, if you have carried him from here, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. And Joshua replied, Mary! She turned herself and said to him, Rabboni! (which is to say, Teacher).

So, it’s like her eyes were opened up. She was able to know who it was, and Joshua then said to her, Do not touch me.

Now, we can read through stories like this, but this is an awesome thing that took place for many reasons. Because it’s from this that we learn various other things here about him being the Wave Sheaf and when it took place. Because that’s the reason he said this, “Do not touch me.” For a purpose because he was the Wave Sheaf and he hadn’t yet ascended to God and been received of God as the Wave Sheaf for all mankind.

So, he said, Do not touch me, for I have not ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren and say to them that I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. That’s powerful. Just nearly sends chills up and down your spine. “My Father and your Father; my God and your God.”

So again, not the first place where it mentions about Him being the Father here in the beginning of His teachings and so forth, but this is toward the end, obviously, and yet this is a very powerful area of scripture.

So again, this is the kind of relationship, the kind of fellowship that God desires to have on a spiritual plane with His people. And that means all those who are begotten of His spirit who have His spirit dwelling within them. Because, sadly, too often that disappears in people’s lives. Too often it begins to be quenched because of sin, because of disobedience to God. And what a horrible thing.

Given the greatest opportunity that there is in life to ever receive from God Almighty for the purpose we were created as human, to be able to be impregnated with God’s holy spirit, to be able to grow on a spiritual plane until we’re able to be born into His Family, His purpose. Awesome! And for us, once we begin that process not to grasp what we’re given, not to want it with all of our being, not to fight for it with all of our being to me is such a hideous, sick, horrifying thing as far as a choice is concerned that anyone could ever make.

And those kinds of things truly stir me up inside, especially when I see those kinds of things that are a danger to people in their lives because of not yielding more fully to God, of not fighting more fully the battles that are there in front of them, of perhaps going back and repeating some of the things, same things they’ve been repeating for ten, twenty, thirty, forty years.

And I’ll just say right here that this past Sabbath, this past week, I should say, I feel I’ve seen that even more fully than ever before and it bothers me to the core of my being. To think that within the scattered group that there may be too high of a percentage of people who are doing that. It's not just one or two.

And it’d be good for everyone to pause and consider where they stand with God Almighty in their relationship with Him and to make sure we’re not backsliding, and to make sure that… You know, this is a fight you have to fight all the time in your life. You have to fight for God’s way of life. You have to persevere. The whole name of “Israel” that we’re going to be named after in that respect, to be brought into the Israel of God, the nation of God, the people of God, to be Zion, to be Jerusalem, to be all of this, you’ve got to want it. You’ve got to desire it. You’ve got to fight for it with all of your being. And that fight never ends until you are there, or you die and then are there.

So, there’ll be a few that have that opportunity to be alive when Christ returns and they’re going to be changed just like that. Don’t know how many. Maybe just a handful to fulfill those verses. It doesn’t have to be a hundred or ten or twenty or a thousand. We don’t have a thousand. Very unlikely that there will ever be that many. We’ve had this closeness almost as it were with Gideon, in the sense of the example there of how many are willing to fight.

We may be there again. What, three hundred fifty down in Texas going to be there? I can’t remember how many in Australia, how many up in Canada, forty-some I think up there, and then the Netherlands. And you add all that up and you think wouldn’t that… Anyway, could well be that way.

Do you want to be a part that continues on? Do you want to be a part that fights and continues on? You have to fight for it! And all the ones about the 144,000 may not be decided. Well, it’s not decided yet but there could be different ones that are being worked with to see who yields properly because that could be there too, that certain ones have that opportunity to be molded and fashioned depending on what they're yielding to and what they’re fighting for. And then others can go on into a new age, a new world. But when you talk about a certain number, it’s going to be cut off at that.

I want to fight. And this is what you’re in here for and you want to fight, that’s great. That’s an awesome thing. Now, to go on into the Millennium and continue on, and grow until we’ve conquered and overcome, that’s great too. But we have an opportunity as a whole, so many of us, right now!

And just because you’ve been in the Church for a long time and before the Apostasy does not mean that you’re going to have part in that. I see too many even in that category who are slipping backward, not on fire! Like Laodicea! And I’m sick of Laodicea. I see what Laodicea did to the Church, this lackadaisical spirit and attitude, lukewarm. God spewed the Church out of His mouth because He said, “That’s not acceptable! I,” God Almighty said, “I will not accept that!” And He got rid of it, the entirety of the Church, to teach an awesome lesson, a major lesson to us.

Do you want this? You’ve got to be convicted. You’ve got to fight for it. You’ve got to want it with all your being. You’ve got to cry out to God for help to accomplish it day by day because you can’t do it on your own and you can’t do it by your own self-reasoning and just going through the motions. Too many in Laodicea went through some of the motions. That doesn’t cut it by any measure.

I was thinking today ten, twenty-five, forty percent? And sadly, within that percentage, whatever it is, because I know it exists out there, whatever it is there’ll be a large portion of that that will not be allowed to go into the Millennium. We are not playing games at the end of this age in God’s Church. This is a matter of life and death. What do we choose?

God has already told us what He wants us to choose. He desires with all of His being that we choose Him, that we want Him. But it’s not an automatic thing just because we go through the motions. It’s not owed to us. Nothing is owed to us. It’s by God’s great mercy and by His grace, and if we want it we fight for it and God will bless us and help us to grow. But if we’re not seeking that with all of our being and seeking to glorify God with all of our being we’re just not going to be there.

And I hate that. Sometimes… I think of this area, it doesn’t matter where we go hardly within the church, certain areas, and we generally think of different ones we visited with, we’ve been with, certain ones that came up to… I think of an area we were in one time here, that couldn’t help but think of some people that had us over to their own home and visiting with them. And they saw. They saw certain things that they should have made choices on. They could see it. But they just wouldn’t do it.

So, there are all stages. And then there are those who come into fellowship. Couldn’t keep at the fight. Wouldn’t keep at the fight for whatever reason. You know if people start becoming weak then other things can enter in. There’s a being out there that will throw things at you when you’re weak, that you’ll believe almost anything.

You’ll believe almost anything. You’ll believe the world is flat! You’ll believe that these little jet fumes going across the sky, that governments are trying to poison us. Why would they do that? That’s going to mess up their taxation process. They want people working. They want the money coming in. They’re not out there trying to kill us.

I mean, how insane do some things become? All kinds of crazy things that have been through the church ever since I can remember. They’ve speeded up as we got closer and closer to Laodicea. They started becoming stronger at certain times. And then toward the end of Laodicea until we had the Apostasy. And they’re still out there…still out there. And no one is a match for that if they become spiritually weak and God’s not in them as He should be.

But we think we can learn what we need to learn on our own or be with another group or whatever it is that goes through the mind sometimes that people do, or go out here and do whatever it is you wanted to do for a while, mix yourself in with the world a little bit more, and then in time you can repent of that and come back. Anyway.

I’m sorry in one part but in another part, I’m not, because we have to understand how serious this is and some who are in the process of going to sleep right now, some who are lukewarm right now need to understand they’ve got to be hot. You’ve got to be more on fire! Got to quit playing games with God because God doesn’t play those games.

1 John 1:1—That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, of the Word of life. It’s pretty powerful what it’s saying here because it’s talking about some physical things and some spiritual things, but all of it leading into that which is spiritual. So, when God calls us, when He opens our minds and we begin to grasp and comprehend various things, things that we hear, and we know it’s true.

Now, back then they didn’t have videos, they didn’t have recordings, they didn’t have printed material that they could go and study and read. And some people today, in today’s world and within the church that have felt that they could go into all this material and study it on their own and learn what they needed to learn and not be fed Sabbath by Sabbath but do it on their own, amazing!

So again here, talking about here “that our hands have handled, of the Word of life.” Well, again, the Word of life, that which comes from God. And we learn how to handle it. We learn how to live by it. We learn how to use it. We learn how to apply it and live the way God wants us to live.

For the life was manifested. And so, they’re speaking of Christ in this part here. …and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. So, they were very unique in that respect, of having spent time with Christ, and they saw him, they heard him, they were able to believe what he had to say, they were given that capacity, though not understand it fully until the Day of Pentecost after he’d been resurrected. Anyway, it goes on and on here in that process of how we grow.

That which we have seen and heard we declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us. So, in other words, they were given truth and so they were teaching that to others, and those whom God had called, they could hear it, they could understand what was being said.

And so again, just by hearing. We have so much more! But just to hear it and to know something is true, what an awesome thing. That’s why I used to hate certain things that people get caught up in in thinking “Well, you can go prove things to yourself.” Well, we misinterpreted some of those scriptures in times past, misused some of those in times past.

You know, you can only grasp and understand what God gives you to grasp and understand that’s true, and through that relationship you have with God you’re able to hear, you’re able to know it’s true. But you can start losing those things as well. It should be so simple, but it’s not unless we’re close to God.

So, “That which we have seen and heard,” it says, “we declare unto you.” So, it’s passed along. “…and also, that you also may have fellowship with us.” So, that’s what it’s about. It’s about the Church and the teachings that have gone out and people being drawn into the Church, and then that fellowship that’s able to grow wherever we might be and able to share God’s way of life with one another.

We’re very unique in the sense that we can talk about things that we know, whatever that present truth is at any particular time, and we have these things that we share. We’re unique because in that we believe the same thing.

And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Joshua the Christ. So, it’s a fellowship that we’re able to have, a relationship. That’s what it’s about, it’s about a relationship that we can have with God and with Christ. But it doesn’t just happen. You’ve got to work at it. You’ve got to want it. You’ve got to build on it.

Galatians 4:1. Kind of breaking into the thought of some of this, what’s being covered in Galatians, but it says, Now I say the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he is lord of all. So, it’s talking here about an inheritance and someone who is the heir that is young and showing that until they’re of a certain age, in this respect of what he’s saying, at this point in time is no different from a servant in the sense they don’t have anything yet. They’re not over… They don’t have the power over it yet.

…but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. And so, there is in part here that analogy of things we’re to learn about our lives, about how there are things we have to make choices about, of what we’re instructed in and what we’re told until we finally come to a point where we’re able to inherit. Because that’s what this is about. We’re not there yet.

Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elemental ways of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law. When it says, “under the law,” it’s not a matter that the law didn’t exist. The law has always existed. God’s law is God’s law. God’s way of life is God’s way of life though people are ignorant of it.

But nevertheless, Paul talks about this in Romans extensively, “set in sin,” and “law existed.” But this is going through and talking about in context here about the penalty of law. That’s what Christ came to save us from, in that respect, to redeem us from, is that we not have to pay the penalty ourselves. Because if we aren’t able to have sin taken care of how can that…? Well, the only way it’s paid for is through Christ as our Passover. There is no other way for it to be paid for. And so, that’s what it’s talking about here.

…to redeem those who were under the law. In other words, the penalty of the law, which is death. That’s the penalty of the law. So, unless it’s paid for we always have that over us. That’s why it’s so important for us when we sin to repent quickly.

Now, because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father! So, it’s talking here about a relationship that we’re able to have because of God’s spirit. What an awesome thing! How can you explain such things except to live them and to begin to experience them and to become more convicted of them, of this relationship that we’re able to have with God Almighty of things we experience in life through His way of life, and truly begin to look to Him as our Father.

Therefore, you are no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir… So, even here taking us beyond that because it shows here we have the impregnation of God’s spirit. We are heirs, indeed, but on a spiritual plane, in an awesome way. We haven’t received that inheritance yet but it’s what we’re working toward.

…but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. So, we’re brought into that unique relationship to be an heir. No one else in the world is except to those whom God has called and those that have His spirit dwelling in them.

So again here, so many scriptures along these lines about God being our Father and what this means to us, “Abba; Father.” To be able to say such things. To know in your mind that when you’re praying you’re praying to God Almighty and He hears you, He wants to hear you, He desires that you pray to Him, that you look to Him to receive the strength and help you need day by day.

Because without Him we can’t do this, we can’t live this. We can’t live what He’s given us to live. And so, we have to grasp those things as a part of that relationship.

Romans 8:13—For if you live after the flesh you will die; but if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. So, again here, we’re approaching Passover season, we’re approaching Unleavened Bread, and we know the process. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to go through this and understand how it works in our life, that we can come out of sin, that we have the blessing of being forgiven of our sin, that we can mortify, put to death the deeds of our carnal human nature, to fight against selfishness, to fight against…

Because that’s one of the greatest battles you’ll ever have, fighting against your own selfishness, which is a matter of pride, “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,” and those things that are so human in that respect that have to be conquered.

“For if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.” Because God’s given us that spirit whereby we can grow and conquer and overcome.

For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. So, what does that mean, “led by the spirit of God?” Well, God’s spirit is always there for His people. He wants to give it. Once we’re called that’s His greatest desire toward us, is to give us help. But He requires that we seek it. He requires that we cry out for it. He requires that we want it. He requires that we fight for it, that we love Him, we love His way of life, and we want to fight for it, we want this. We don’t just expect this, we want it. We have chosen that, willing to fight for it whatever it takes. That’s the process we have to go through.

“For as many are led by the spirit of God.” That means we have to choose to follow. God is there. His desire of His spirit is to give it to us, to give us of His holy spirit to help us to conquer and overcome, but it’s up to us to follow.

And that’s when I think about being lukewarm and people going back into some of that, being lukewarm, and think, where is that? Where is that desire? God’s there ready to give us of His spirit, but if we’re not crying out for it, if we’re not living in the way we should be living, if we’re quenching the power of God’s spirit what are we doing?

For if you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption—so, that’s what we’ve received—whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit. So, that spirit essence in us, and then God gives us the impregnation of His spirit. It’s a powerful thing but it has to be nourished. It has to grow. And that’s up to us. That’s not up to God. God just makes it available. Says, “Do you want it?”

Now, if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. So, we have to have the ability to see that. And God gives us the ability to see that, what He’s offered us, to be joint heirs with Christ, to inherit all things along with Christ. Now, I don’t fully comprehend that; no one fully can, what that means. But I believe it. “To inherit all things along with Christ.” That’s what God is offering us.

If indeed… So, it says, if indeed… So, it’s up to us. If indeed we suffer with him, that we also may be glorified together. So, there is a glory that God wants to give to us but first, we have to understand what it means to learn to glorify God. We truly do. And that’s up to us to receive of His holy spirit day by day because we’re crying out for it day by day because we know we need it, we know we can’t change, we can’t produce fruit, we can’t do anything on our own.

And so, if we’re negligent in those areas where we need to grow and conquer and overcome?

Now, if children, then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him. So again, he set the example, suffered to the point of death, beaten beyond recognition. I can’t comprehend that either, to go through that. That’s why he prayed as he did that last night. That’s why it was so real in his mind.

Because, you see, we don’t have the ability to see things to the degree, to the level he did. But the things that were written about him that he was going to go through, that are written especially in Isaiah, he knew up here so much so that he felt it, he knew it. And because of that, what he was getting ready to go through, when he perspired, and blood was mixed with that perspiration because of knowing what he was getting ready to go through.

Now, none of us have ever fought against, if you will, sin, going the wrong way, doing the wrong things to this level, to this degree. Because if we could really see it to the level it was? Because if we don’t fight we’re going to end up dying. If we don’t desire this and fight for it and persevere in this way of life with God what are we? It’s not just going to be handed to us. We’ve got to fight for it. We’ve got to want it.

So, it’s truly difficult for us to grasp all that God has given to us but we’re to strive to understand it. That’s what sermons are about. That’s what Holy Day sermons are about. The things that God gives us Sabbath by Sabbath, Holy Day to Holy Day, that information that we’re given, we’re to think about what is said, what is stated, and pray about it.

Because whatever is given to us is what we need to see at that moment in time. Whatever it is that’s being given to us is what God wants us to receive up here. And so, we have to think about it, and we have to pray about it because it applies to us. What do we do with what we’ve been given? Are there any changes to be made? Are there any things that affect our prayers and what we’re praying for because of what we’ve heard?

So, once again, there is a great glory that God has placed before us, that He’s going to give to us, that He wants to give to us, but as was stated earlier, to receive that we have to learn how to glorify God first in our lives through our lives.

Let’s turn over to Romans 15:5—Now, the God of patience… Just that one alone. If we can think about that, He’s so patient with us. I marvel how patient He is with me, how patient He is with each one of us as human beings. Because our nature really stinks. I hate, I loathe the way of the human mind, the battle that we have to fight. But that’s what we have to grasp. And if we see those things then the more we hate them, the more we can fight against them and reject them and embrace God and embrace God’s way.

So, His design so that we will hate and loathe that nature, our own selfish, human nature. Because the more we’re able to see “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” if we can just grasp… If we could grasp pride more, wow, what a blessing, so we can fight it more.

Now the God of patience and consolation or as the word means, “encouragement.” And I love the other way this is used as well in the Greek language. It means, it has the expression of meaning “being called to one’s side.” Encouragement. Being called, and if it’s being called to God’s side, that we have that available to us, that God desires to give us help. But we have to want it and we have to cry out for it. Awesome!

Now the God of patience and consolation grants you to be like-minded one toward another according to Joshua the Christ. So, he’s just flat saying here that this is God’s way, to be like-minded, of the same truth, of not going off base, not going off course, holding on to whatever present truth, if you will, that God has given to us, to be at one, to be in unity. Because unity is what it’s all about, being at-one with God. And He’s given us things to test us, to try us as well at times to see what we’ll do in order to be in unity and oneness.

So again here, “that you be like-minded one toward another.” So, even that because this is about a family. It’s about a relationship that we’re able to have with one another. There’s a right way that we’re to think about one another. There is a right way we’re to treat one another. And that’s up to us to live that. And when we live that, we’re glorifying God. When we don’t live it we bring shame to the name Church of God.

Verse 6—So that you might with one mind and one mouth glorify God. That’s why when something isn’t being spoken, being said that’s in unity and harmony with what’s being taught and you know that it’s wrong you should have the ability to go to your brother alone and say, “Now, wait a minute. Make sure I heard this right. Is this what you said? Because that’s not what we’re teaching.”

It doesn’t mean we go with somebody to try to hurt them or try to tear them down or try to be better than what they are. But if there is something off base in something that someone is saying that they don’t agree with?

It’s hard for me not to jump ahead to some sermons because there are some things that were said recently by someone who left that others knew of and if they would have just said something to that individual.

Doesn’t mean he would have changed – because I doubt if he would have. But if they’d just spoken up at least it would have helped them spiritually to stand for what is right. And then if they weren’t able to fully do that themselves to at least let the ministry know what was going on so that… If you want to help someone to be on the right course?

Because if someone is speaking things that aren’t in agreement with the Church, if someone doesn’t believe specific truths that are given and they vocalize that, should we just be silent and say, “Well, they’re having a tough time and maybe they won’t make it, maybe they will.” I don’t know what could go through a mind at that time. It’s like we don’t care. If someone doesn’t agree?

I don’t think anybody is ever going to come up to me and tell me about something they disagree with without knowing what I’m going to say. Because I’m going to set it straight, the record, what we teach, what we believe.

But again, how we do it, what we do, how something is said to us, why wouldn’t someone go to the ministry and say, “Hey, I don’t know fully how to handle this, but you need to be aware of this I feel, and I feel I’ve got a responsibility here.” And it’s not a matter of “tattle tailing,” “being a snitch,” whatever.

Those kinds of things that people have, their minds sometimes just make me puke, sick, to think how that we won’t say something for a love of a brother or someone else because… And that’s not really the true reason but sometimes those things come out that people want to justify it in their own mind, whatever.

Do we love our brother? If we do, then, and we feel that we’re not adequate in handling something, I know the ministry is able to deal with this and able to help them if there is help that can be received at this point. And it’s true. If they will listen.

Because the reality is if they won’t listen to the ministry it’s over with for them, they’re out. They’re gone. They’ve already gone too far. But if there is a chance, the book of James has some things to say about that, that we should have that kind of care and concern. John says it as well.

…so that you might with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Joshua the Christ. In other words, we’re united, we’re in agreement with God.

Therefore, receive one another. To accept one another, receive. That’s what it means “to receive one another.” We accept one another. We all have differences. There probably isn’t an organization on earth where people are so different than in God’s Church. And He’s done that on purpose. So many different backgrounds and different things because it puts us all to the test then.

How do we judge? How do we think when it’s a matter of God and doing it God’s way? Do we love the way God says and tells us we’re to love? And to look at this then and ask “Well, why not? What’s wrong in my thinking if I’m not thinking right toward someone else?” So much to be learned in that.

Therefore, receive one another as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. What Christ did was to God’s glory. It glorified God. It revealed how we’re to live, how people are to live, how we’re to love, to love to the point that we’re willing to sacrifice self, self’s desires, self’s wants, whatever it might be, the way we think in order to learn to love right, in order to think right toward someone else, whatever that requires, whatever sacrifice that might be.

So, even “as Christ has received us.” God called us, He receives us. I’m thankful for that. And then we’re to follow that same example because this shows God’s purpose in what God is doing and the unity and oneness there, the love that is there, that whomever God calls, if we could always see that…

That’s why I think of Passover coming up. If we could really see God in it all the time and we think about one another, if we start finding fault in others and speaking certain things or even amongst one another about someone else, wow, that is so hideous. Because we all belong to God and God tells us very explicitly that there are certain things that go on in life, that if we do it to one of His, He’s the judge, not us.

Now, sometimes we’re in a position where we’re to judge certain things that happen and make decisions accordingly. But as a whole, we don’t. We do if someone says something that’s wrong. You have a responsibility to love them, to say, “Well, now, did I hear that right? Because I know that’s not what’s being taught in the Church right now.” Anyway, whatever.

Now I say that Joshua the Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm/establish the promises made unto the fathers. Incredible here, that which changes our life, circumcision of the heart and what takes place there by God’s spirit working within us. And again here, “for the truth of God.” Again, these things about truth just pop up over and over and over again. And God gives us truth to live by.

So again, how we live really determines the degree to which we glorify God. That’s what it’s all about. How we live determines the degree to which we are glorifying God. Truly.

Matthew 5. Let’s turn over there. We’ve got a lot to build upon because this is just the beginning of the series. There are things we’re just setting aside or setting, if you will, in place in order to build upon even more so as we go along here.

But in Matthew 5:1 here it says, Now seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain, to the hillside basically is what it is. “Elevated ground” is all it means. When I think of a mountain I think of the Rocky Mountains so this is a hillside, if you will.

He went up into the hillside, and when he was sat his disciples came unto him. Then he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. So, it’s talking about the world? It’s talking about the Church. No one has the ability to live these kinds of things that are being spoken of by Christ except that they have God’s spirit in them, except that God’s spirit is coming into their lives, the impregnation of God’s spirit, and then that God’s spirit is coming into their life.

And so, it’s showing the importance here of this attitude of mind of being poor in spirit, not being lifted up, not being haughty and proud. But it has to do with the spirit of humility if you will. And so, if an individual is able to hold on to that as a part of everything he’s going to address here, that it fits into this whole story here of what God’s called us to, of what we’re to inherit, of what we’re to become a part of. “Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Verse 4—Blessed are those who lament, for they shall be comforted. About what? Well, about the things that God says that we should feel inside for one another, for others, for the world.

I hate to see this world get worse! It’s horrible to see what technology is doing to young minds. It’s horrible to see how people are going backward as they are.

I was talking to Jeremy here the other day and he was talking about things out there that magnitude that today young people as a whole they get their information as a whole off the things like TikTok and whatever. They don’t get it off of, necessarily… Even there, if you go to searches and so forth for certain information to learn and to become educated, even there nowadays things are becoming horrible with things like Google and the garbage that’s out there as well.

It's frustrating. And then you think minds that spend so much time that their lives and their minds are being molded to think of mankind in a certain way, to think of knowledge in a certain way to where they’re really being dumbed down. They really are! And we’re dumb enough as it is.

Sad to say, our school systems suck! We’re behind other nations. Have been for a long time anyway, but because of the system that’s enforced and the way and what’s being pushed, especially what’s being pushed now, it just gets farther and farther away from things… I mean, why worry about math? Why worry about learning basics? Why learn about multiplication? Why learn how to spell? It’ll tell you when you’re spelling it wrong, maybe. And they’re creating new words anyway so it could become a new word if you misspell it, and maybe it’s a better way to say it or do it or I don’t know. But the world has just gone nuts.

And people aren’t getting sharper. Young people aren’t being given opportunities to really learn so that when they become adults they’re going to be incredibly productive. It’s going backwards as far as I’m concerned, in so many areas. Their minds are being so messed up. How do you take care of that? How do you heal that? Well, there’s one great way, and it…

That’s why we yearn for it, hurt inside, if you will, and lament for what’s happening because it hurts us. We hate to see it. And we want to see God’s Kingdom come just in that area alone, if you will, for young people, so they don’t have to have this battle when they begin to be given the opportunity to learn God’s way of life, of conquering so much of the garbage that they’ve already been taught and have to get it out of their being, out of their minds and learn how to think right.

We ought to hurt inside, what we see going on in the world, things that are taking place. That’s why I’m so thankful that God is really bringing to light that every phase of government is so messed up, so corrupt, so vile, so backward. It’s not God’s way, it’s not God’s government. The way governments treat each other, the things that are taking place that are leading into another war, it’s because of the insanity that’s out there and the insane minds, the insane thinking.

Sometimes it’s hard to find any kind of reasoning out there where anybody, where individuals make sense. Think… I hurt inside because of that. And you think, if this were to go on and on how long does it have to go because it’s just going to get so much worse as we go along?

That’s what it’s talking about. Do we lament? Do we hurt for when we see other people suffering in God’s Church and the things that they’re going through? Or the things in the world? If we have God’s spirit we will. If we’re utilizing God’s spirit in the right way and recognize that this is a part of something we should consider in our thinking, to be able to have this kind of mentality where we want God’s way of life to be on the earth soon because we see the suffering and we’re hurt by it, we’re really hurt by it inside?

…for they shall be comforted. Those who lament. It’s coming, the comfort.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Again, the only ones who can inherit have to be, as we read earlier, called to be God’s children, having that blessing in their life, God’s spirit in their life to inherit all things in time with Christ. And so, it’s about those who have the capacity, the ability because of God’s spirit living and dwelling within them. And so, this meekness, a mind that’s of a teachable spirit, to learn, to be willing to learn. Sometimes the hardest way to learn sometimes even within the environment of the Church is when we think we’re right and what’s being told to us is wrong, or something else in the past was wrong.

No, if anyone is wrong, it’s whoever it is that thinks that. Hasn’t always been that way in God’s Church but I’ll guarantee it is. And I think if it’d been small at the time when Herbert Armstrong was teaching and leading and guiding it, the Church, if he’d had the blessing of what we have now, of technology like we have now and ability to teach the world and teach people in the world and only one message was going out and it wasn’t corrupted by ministers who began to teach their own thing in different areas we’d have been a different Church.

But God had a purpose for things happening in the way they were in order for us to learn lessons from it. Because that’s how we learn, through experience. We learn certain things don’t work, never will work. A large Church on this earth.

I don’t care if you take ministers into a college and they stay there for ten or twelve years and they go through class after class after class, it’s not the answer. They’re still human beings. At some point, their human nature is going to come in and they’re going to do what they do and lead to what it led to, the Apostasy.

Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now, that is something we really need to stir up in our lives, to hunger and thirst after righteousness, after God’s way of living, after what God gives to us, after His truth, after His way of life, His word. That sometimes we begin to think we know it all, we have it all up here.

And yet there are things in all the truths we’ve been given that we don’t grasp. We’re not mature in all those areas. Sometimes we think we know them all because they’re in a little nutshell there and we feel like we have a… But there is so much in there that has to be built upon sermon by sermon by sermon through time added to things that we’ve been given through time, added to the things that were written in the Old Testament, added to the things that were given in the New Testament, added to things that God has given us since the New Testament. Things that were given to Herbert Armstrong, things that have been given during PKG that are above and beyond. Because it never stops. God continues to give more through time.

And some don’t grasp that. Sad.

“Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst.” Because if we don’t hunger and thirst for God’s way of life we’re not going to fight for it, we’re not going to grow like we should.

…for they shall be filled. What does that mean? Well, if you don’t hunger and thirst after what is right before God, striving to receive what is from God, we’re not going to be filled.

So, so often this very thing, these things we’ve gone through here are reflected in one's prayer life. Hungering and thirsting can be revealed by fasting because we want God, we recognize that there are those times we need to do those things. Now, fasting is something we all choose independently, but it hadn’t better be just the Day of Atonement. If it is we’re missing the mark, we’re not hungering and thirsting as we should.

And same thing with prayer life. If prayer life is spread out to where we’re not addressing God – and it doesn’t have to be something that goes on for long, long periods. There was a time when people would try to spend a long period of time in their closet—you know what I’m saying—by themselves praying to God. And it was like, the more you did that, the more you prayed, the closer you were to God. Well, that’s a physical thing. That’s not even real. It’s about something that’s in here, something that’s shared with God that can be short or long or in between.

We see Christ, what he did on his last day on earth, now that’s the extreme. He didn’t do that every day. He didn’t go through that process every day of his life. But he did then because that was the most important time of his life, to go through that trial that he was getting ready to go through, and he knew it. And so, he was crying out to God all the more because of what he was getting ready to go through and what he was getting ready to experience. He wanted more help. He knew where it came from. From his Father.

Sometimes then the more we go through various things in life and are fighting certain battles the more we need to spend in time with God, crying out to God. And the more difficult, the more we recognize that need because of something that is being experienced… And even there it doesn’t have to be something like that to where we fast as well. Because fasting is a double whammy. It’s prayer and going without for purpose, by design the way God gave it, so we can learn from that and humble ourselves before Him and have that show in our physical life. But it’s more than that, it’s in our spirit. We’re doing it for a purpose.

Matthew 5:7—Blessed are the merciful—merciful—for they shall obtain mercy. We should all want that one because we all need mercy from God, we truly do. But if we won’t be merciful to others why should God be merciful to us? Why should He give us mercy if we’re hard and set sometimes in opposition toward others in how we’re judging and how we think about them? There’s no place for that in God’s Church in that respect.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” So again, this is about how we treat others. And if we don’t do it this way, if we’re not this way we fail to glorify God. Because all these things glorify God. All these things that we’ve been talking about here, lamenting glorifies God. Shows we get the picture. Shows we understand. Shows we appreciate deeply in our being that His Kingdom is about to come, and we desire that so much so that people can be saved out of what they’re going through.

Blessed are the pure in heart. Means being basically clean of sin. That’s what it’s about. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. So, if we’re clean of sin, awesome when you understand what that means. Pure in heart. How are we cleansed of sin? Because we repent before God constantly, continually of the things in our lives that we know we need to conquer and overcome and we’re asking for help. That’s the way we’re able to. And we live what God has given to us and because we do that in a manner because we believe God then He attributes that to us for righteousness. That’s what it’s about.

I’m just going to read a quick verse here to you. Revelation 19:8—Now to her… And this is about the 144,000. Now to her, it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. So, it’s about what we go through in life and looking to God to cleanse us of sin, indeed, to look to our Passover. And because we believe that we want to be forgiven of sin and we strive to obey in all areas of our life because otherwise…

That’s why we’re repenting of sin. But because of those things, not because we’re righteous but God will account that to us, attribute that to us for righteousness. That’s an awesome thing. Because we’re far from that. Every one of us is far from being righteous. God just grants that to us— Awesome! —and helps us to continue to grow spiritually. We grow, we are able to produce more fruit as time continues on. Beautiful.

Matthew 5:9—Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. I’ve been crying out a lot about this in the past two years, about being peacemakers. There should never be friction in God’s Church amongst God’s people. Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, period.

If we’re obeying God we’re seeking to do things the way God says. There’s a way that produces peace. Selfishness does not produce peace. All differences, all skirmishes, all anger, all resentment, all clashes result as a matter of absolute selfishness on the part of those who participate. Every time without exception. If we could just see that and grasp that to its fullest being we’d be able to see ourselves more clearly and we would run away from such things and try to see what’s wrong in self.

But it’s so easy to find fault in somebody else. That’s why people get in clashes and disagreements and arguments. Because each party thinks they’re right. Those who engage in that as a whole, they believe they’re right and won’t try to produce any kind of peace or work things out in such a way that it’s discussed or whatever it might be. Just anger, resentment, whatever else pops up as a result of some of these things.

So, these are some of the things that fire me up. If we don’t know how to be peacemakers. Of all people, we should know how to be a peacemaker. Something you have to work for. And when we are, glorifies God. You know why? Because God’s doing it. Because you’re looking to God and the power that enables you to accomplish it. Because you can’t do it on your own. You recognize that the source of being able to do all these things, poor in spirit the way God says to be poor in spirit, to be of a true humble spirit, it requires God’s spirit. You can’t do it on your own. You can’t wake up in the morning and decide “I’m going to be humble today.” I’ve seen people in the world too often…

You know, protestant world, that kind of humility is just… Well, you know what it does. And if we bring it into God’s Church sometimes it’s… I feel the same way, still, “Oh man, I hope you get through that one,” because that, really, it’s not good, it’s not healthy.

So, we can look at each one of these, poor in spirit—pride is such an ugly thing—to lament, meek, hunger and thirst after righteousness, all these things. To hunger and thirst after righteousness, you can’t do it on your own. You’re going to fall flat on your face if you try to do it on your own. You have to cry out to God and say, “Father, help me to be on fire. Help me to have that thirst and that hunger. Please, help me to have that stirred up in my life and practice the things that You show me.” And as we learn how to apply those things in our life that we can practice and understand that there are certain things that will bring about a result of hungering and thirsting more so and it’ll help to nourish that, and we’ll grow in those things.

But again, those are… If you’re lacking in any of these things you cry out for help, that this is a part I need to work on, this is a part I need to repent of, this is a part I need more of God’s help. And that’s why you go before God and pray. Because you know you need help. If you don’t know you need help you’re out there in Laodicean land somewhere.

To be able to be merciful, you constantly need God’s spirit in you. Because if it starts to pop up in your mind, in your thinking, or in your words, that you’re not being merciful toward someone else it’s something to go and repent of immediately and again, cry out to God for help to be merciful, to be of a right mind, to be of right thinking toward someone else if you’re having a battle toward someone else.

Don’t ask what’s wrong with them because you already have your mind made up about that sometimes. Ask what’s wrong with you, “What’s wrong with me, God?”

Peacemaker? Same thing.

So, I’m just going to go through several scriptures here that talk about some of this, things we’ve heard over and over again. But this adds a little bit of punch to it.

Romans 8:6—For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. It comes from God. That kind of life and that kind of peace come from God. And so, we have to fight against and we’re to put to death the mind, the carnal mind, if you will.

Romans 14:19—Let us, therefore, follow after the things that make for peace. Do we or don’t we? Do we follow? That means there are things we have to do. If we’re led by God’s spirit means we’re following what God has shown us we’re supposed to do in order to produce this in our life.

“Follow after the things which make for peace.” It’s produced. It doesn’t just happen. It’s a product of God’s spirit. It’s a product, it’s a fruit of God’s spirit. And these are the things that glorify God because it requires God’s help in it to do these things.

So, Let us, therefore, follow after the things that make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. To help build up. That’s what it means, to edify another, help build up another because we’re being encouraging because of what we’re doing and how we’re living toward them.

Galatians 5:22—But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy… So again, these are things that require God’s spirit. To have this kind of love, to have these things that are given to us in scripture here like this you can’t just live them on your own. You can’t do them. Because these, if we understand them according to God’s way and what God says they’re about, they require certain actions in our life and certain ways of thinking in our life. And to be able to have that right means we need help from God, God’s spirit to do these.

So, “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy,” the kind of joy that God says we can have that’s right with Him, that’s a product of living right, of glorifying God because we’re living His way of life, seeking to live His way of life, crying out to Him for help to live His way of life.

…peace, longsuffering, what it means. Because so much of this is just about relationships. It’s about how we think toward each other.

…gentleness, goodness. We can think we have goodness, or we have gentleness. Well, not to the measure God wants because God wants it to be the kind that’s filled with His spirit, the kind that can help change the way we think and work toward others. It has to grow. It can’t stay the same way it is because basically it’s based on selfishness. …faith, meekness, temperance.

So again, if we don’t produce these fruits we’re not glorifying God as we should. We have to ask for help to live this, to do this day by day.

One more here. You can turn there if you want, it’s going to be a little longer here. James 3:13—Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Well, the whole point of the question is, is that we need help. If there is wisdom there it comes from God. Let him show out of, it says “conversation” in most translations but it’s about “conduct.” Conversation can be one of those but it’s about conduct.

Show out of their good conduct their works with meekness of wisdom. So again, that which comes from God that produces change in our lives, we’re not to be lifted up by that. It comes from God. And if we’re able to do those things we just thank God and cry out more for His help to accomplish this kind of thinking toward others.

But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts? That’s why I marvel at every Feast we’ve had these kinds of things happen. And I think, strife? …and at the Feast of Tabernacles?! It shouldn’t be named amongst us once ever, but it happens. That’s why I cry out about it as much as I do. And then if we can learn from that it should never happen within any area within the Church ever!

Let them show out of their good conduct their works with meekness and wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts do not glory, don’t be lifted up by it, and do not lie against the truth. God, the things He’s inspired to be recorded, that we can look at like this and read. Amazing! Awesome! Powerful! Calls it what it is, “Do not glory.” Don’t be lifted up in your way – because you’re not doing what you should be doing, in other words. “And do not lie against the truth.” Because God’s way of life tells us how we’re to live, how we can glorify Him, the fruit that should be produced in our life, and how we think toward one another.

This wisdom does not descend from above but is earthly, sensual, and devilish. It’s the mind… It’s selfish. It’s of the mind of Satan. That’s why we’re made this way, so we can learn how ugly that is.

For where envying and strife is… Which I’d sum it up in another word that I use a lot, drama. Because envying and strife is drama. And today the world is almost taught that they, it’s like, you kind of have to live in drama. It’s almost like people have to have it in their life. It’s like, if I don’t have drama in my life I’m missing out on something. That’s how sick we are as human beings. Things on TV and so forth it’s like people want to watch more drama on TV. There are some things out there that blow my mind that they’re even out there. And yet sometimes then in people’s lives if they don’t have some drama it’s like, “What can I talk about if I don’t have drama, if I can’t share some drama with you?”

I’ll just say first and foremost that I’m not one who just really likes to listen to drama, repetition, or repeated drama of something that’s happened that’s nothing but drama. I’m not a fan. I don’t even want to hear it. I’ve got enough things to battle and deal with in my life without adding more or listening to it or watching it on TV. Now, there are things we see on TV, and we realize how the world is, but I’m saying, there are things that some of the time are nothing but drama, drama, drama, and it’s like people really enjoy that.

This wisdom doesn’t descend from above, it’s earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife (drama) is there is confusion and every evil work. Its why things don’t go well. You know, what an amazing thing, if people could just get rid of, begin working on getting rid of drama out of their lives you know where that leads to? Peace. Joy. The reason there isn’t joy and peace and some of these other things we’ve been talking about is because of the drama. Because the drama has to be put to a stop. It has to come to an end. And to realize how lacking in value that is and how hurtful that is. As it says here it just produces confusion.

That’s why we have so much drama in this country. In the world today it’s been amped up many times over. We live in a world right now that is filled with spirit life, because the more people turn to things that are weird and strange and unsound the more those beings are able to work in them through them or at them, if you will, and they respond. That’s what’s going on out here in a very… That’s really being stirred up out there.

In some ways, I hope you don’t have to even see some of it and to realize where it’s from. But it’s out there very powerful right now because the world has given itself to that and it’s working overtime. See, they don’t sleep. They just broadcast and push and push and try to pervert and distort and it’s getting really, really bad.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure. So, what comes from God, it’s clean, it’s pure. That’s what it means. It’s pure. It’s clean. It’s good.

…then peaceable. If God’s spirit is there there’s going to be peace. But when His spirit is lacking there’s going to be drama. The more that God is lacking the more drama there is going to be.

…gentle, willing to yield. See, that’s about self, when self is so convicted that it’s right. And it has to do with relationships so often.

…full of mercy. Boy, we really need that. “Full of mercy.” Such a good thing to embrace and cry out for more, that we be able to have that kind of mind toward others, being merciful.

…and good fruits. These are all good fruits to have in our life. But they come from God. Because we’re talking about things on a spiritual plane that are molded and fashioned by God’s spirit, that are produced as a result of God’s spirit. And they don’t just happen in our lives because we go to Sabbath services or go to the Holy Days or send in first tithes.

…without partiality. What an awesome thing if that could always be said true about everything we do. “Without partiality.” So much evil in this world because that doesn’t exist in the world. And it’s getting worse.

…without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of those who make peace. And to do that requires God’s spirit. To make peace? To be a peacemaker?

That’s why I love the name “Jerusalem.” Awesome. It’s about peace.

So again, these are the things that to the level that they’re in us is to the level we’re glorifying God. The less these things are in us the less we’re able to glorify God. Because the things that glorify God are of God in us. What an awesome thing to understand, that God gives us the ability to have things live and dwell in us, come into us through the power of His spirit that enables us to grow in and produce fruit on a spiritual plane that glorify God.

Because if we just receive something from God and nothing changes that doesn’t glorify God. But if we grow and if we change that’s what glorifies God, that His spirit works to produce something because we desire it, we want it, and… Anyway.

So, we’ve been covering things in Matthew 5 that drive home the point of how we live really determines the degree, again, to which we glorify God.

Matthew 5:10 here again, going on. I want to finish some of this. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. So, the only ones that can experience this are God’s people, those who have God’s spirit. If you’re persecuted for righteousness' sake, because you’re living what is right, and others take it out on you. Fire you because you won’t come in Friday night. Fire you or whatever because of the Holy Days or something of that nature. Or take it out on you because they don’t like some of the things you believe.

These things happen all the time out there to varying degrees and you have to be careful how you handle some of those things. Again, looking to God for help to deal with them in the best way possible and that He help you through them.

Blessed are you when you are highly criticized, in other words, “reviled, persecuted,” and have all manner of evil spoken against you for my sake. That’s hard. That’s hard to go through. Those things are hard to experience in life. But we are to experience the very things that God has dealt with for six thousand years, the very things that Christ had to deal with in his life. Incredible!

You know, if people are going to find fault they’re going to find fault. He drank some wine. “He’s a wine bibber.” He keeps company with the wrong kind of people. Think, “Such snobs.” There are so many snobs in this world that sometimes it’s hard to deal with sometimes. People’s noses are so high up in the air that it’s like there’s a hook in there. But we have to deal with those things and deal with it and realize that they’re captive, they’re in bondage. And you hope that they’re able to conquer some of that when they’re called because it’s going to be tough.

Blessed are you when you are highly criticized (reviled, persecuted), and have all manner spoken against you falsely for my sake. In other words, again, a willingness to endure such things actually glorifies God. Because to go through it, to be one of God’s people glorifies God. Think about it.

Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for in the same manner they persecuted the prophets which were before you.

Verse 13—You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has lost its taste how can it be salty again? I can’t help but just be dumbfounded by the sermons that were given at the Feast this year, of what God has given to us in the sense of that which is even more profound in the sense of responsibility we all have.

Because too often in the past some of those things haven’t been received as we really needed to in that regard, to realize that when someone turns against God and becomes antiChrist, that’s such a horrifying thing. It’s just the damage that’s been done, to be able to come back from that it’s very difficult. Whether it can even be done in so many cases. Some can, but again, depends upon the depth of their repentance and whether they’ve gone too far with certain things. And it’s all in God’s judgment.

But here is that thing again. If the saltiness… Like the salt here; if it’s gone, it’s gone. If it’s gone it’s gone. If it’s not salty anymore, it’s no good.

You are the light of the world. See, we don’t think that way. We’re the light of the world? A small group? As small as we are? And yet that’s what God says about His people? Shows how important this is to God and what God attributes to us being His children.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither does anyone light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick so that it gives light to all who are in the house. Well, today, sadly, people don’t really want the light. But it’s what we are. It’s what we’re supposed to be. That’s how we have to live our lives. We have to be the light. We have to be that which is seen on earth. Primarily, by God Almighty.

It gives purpose and meaning to everything that is going forward and why. It continues on. It’s not about how great and how big it is, it’s about what God is doing. It really boils down to God and what God is doing. And to be a part of that, to be a part of that light, what an awesome thing. And so, that’s basically what it’s talking about here. Let your light so shine.

So, we have the ability to have light in us, but that light comes from God, and you have to cry out for it.

Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. So, sometimes we just don’t grasp one day in the time of their calling there are going to be those who glorify God because of what you lived…if you lived it right. If you don’t live it right why should that be in the equation? And sadly, in so many cases, that’s why so many have gone by the wayside through time – because they didn’t continue on as that light and they’ll not be recognized by light in the future. But for those who come through it, the light of the world.

1. Chapter 1