The Way of Peace – Pt. 2

Ron Weinland

August 7, 2010

We’re going to continue on today with The Way of Peace; this being Part 2.  It’s really a profound sermon that God is beginning to reveal to us as we continue forward here toward the Feast, as He’s going to be giving us new and deeper understanding than what we’ve had in times past in some of these areas and the meaning of things that have stared us right in the face that we haven’t fully understood.  And He lets us experience that excitement of what He’s giving to us and giving us a deeper understanding and giving us an ability to understand an importance of something that God has been working with for so very long now and wants us to understand what that message is.

So again, what we’re covering in this sermon should take on, as I mentioned, even a greater meaning to us at the Feast this year. I am excited!  ...and I hope you all understand that and are feeling the same thing and are receiving that; an excitement for the Feast this year.  I’ll read the latest posting to you in a moment that was put on the ronaldweinland.com site.  I’ll get to that in a moment but I do want to do a little bit of a summary from last week first.

Let’s turn over to Isaiah 9 and read again a couple of areas we covered last Sabbath because we began the sermon by looking at the prophesied title given to Jesus Christ and I do want to touch upon this for one other reason as well; and we also looked more closely at the name given to the city of Jerusalem.  Not an accident; not by coincidence – it was by design and God inspired and gave that.  So, again, we need to look at a couple of these scriptures again.

Isaiah 9:6 – this is the scripture concerning Jesus Christ, the prophesied title that was given to Him. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the Government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called... and so it starts this very long title here that’s being given, different meanings of the different words here and I’m going to give it in its (not going back and rehashing the sermon last Sabbath, but the...) proper translation as it should be; called Wonderful, in the sense of ‘awesome’.  It’s more than words can describe, the might, the purpose, the design that God has in His own Son that He’s given to us.  ...Counsellor, in other words, again, that word that means ‘one who guides, leads along the way’.  And then... Mighty God,  not ‘THE Mighty God’; it’s a title that means Mighty God, and again, Head Forever is the proper translation and I explained some of the things about ‘father’, how sometimes it’s used as ‘father’ or ‘the head’ in that respect.  We understand that He is the Head of the Church, God has given Him that position, that government, that responsibility; and this is about government very much so.  And so again here I want to make a caution, if we understand, in the sense of how I used ‘father’ last week, it is not to be a religious title for Jesus Christ.  I want to make sure that everyone fully understands that.  I didn’t stress that enough last Sabbath as I was going through that and it’s better in the sense of being translated from Hebrew as ‘the Head forever’ that God has established over His Family.

And then going on...Prince of Peace.  ‘Prince of Peace’; awesome, awesome title that God has given to Him.  And again here the word ‘prince’ meaning as ‘ruler, as leader’, and then of the word ‘shalom’ which we’re all familiar with: Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His Government and peace; so it’s stressing this again, this matter of peace, not the other titles as much, but stressing this importance on the matter of peace.  Of the increase of His Government and peace there shall be no end, in essence until it’s accomplished, until it’s fulfilled, until God has done what God is doing by giving us His Son.  ...upon the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to order it; to order what?  ‘It’ - Peace! It’s about the subject matter of peace.  So again, wanting to stress that again this Sabbath; what this is talking about ...and to establish it, PEACE!  That’s what it’s about!   ...to establish it/to order it, from God Almighty through His Son Jesus Christ to this earth.  And this, again, is going to mean a whole lot more to you by the time we get through the Feast this year and what God is giving to us.  ...and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.

And then it says... The zeal of the Eternal of hosts will perform this. This is what God Almighty is doing!  It’s His work that’s been going on so long!  What an awesome thing we’re getting so close to the fulfillment of a great portion of that very soon now in less than two years in a great resurrection that’s going to take place – something that God has looked forward to for a long, long time in ways that we can’t even begin to comprehend and He lets us experience it just a little bit with that anticipation and excitement that He has, and so He shares a little bit of that excitement with us because we can’t contain nor understand nor be able to receive fully the kind of excitement that God has for what He’s giving to us and for what His plan is fulfilling at this point in time.  He’s lived it for so long to bring this to this time!  We’ve only experienced a little measure, a little window of time with the knowledge we have and things about the end here and what’s getting ready to take place.  But this is God in so many ways that we can’t even begin to comprehend!  Awesome, truly awesome!

One more scripture I want to look at here that we looked at last Sabbath: Isaiah 65:17 – For behold I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, it won’t even come to heart, that’s what it means here; won’t come into mind, won’t come to heart, won’t be something to be held onto anymore – the past, that which is gone, nor come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: and God is letting us rejoice in what He’s creating.  It’s awesome, it’s powerful!  I think of the sermons coming up for the Feast and how it’s going to add to ‘The Mystery of the Ages’ and be more of a completion of that book that Mr. Armstrong began that God is giving to us now to add to, to clarify, to expound upon in a far deeper, in a far greater way that I hope dumbfounds you as much as it’s dumbfounding me – truly!

...behold I create Jerusalem; as we talked about, the name literally means by the interpretation spiritually of what God has given, ‘the way of peace’.  It’s not just to ‘teach peace’, it’s about the way.  There is a way that God has shown us of peace.  There is a way to have peace!  The world doesn’t know it!  That’s what He says about man... ‘they don’t KNOW the way of peace’.  6,000 years of government on this earth and NO ONE, NO GOVERNMENT has ever known the way of peace!  That’s why Mr. Armstrong was so well received by GOVERNMENTS around the earth!  It’s an incredible story of what God did; to give to Mr. Armstrong audience before so many world leaders who have such affection toward him, but they didn’t get the spiritual part of it.  They understood what he said about their people, about nations, and about how nations get along and don’t get along.  They understood things about a spirit power that’s in the world.  There were some who responded to that, they understand, some do because of their background, about a spirit world that exists.  They believe there is a Satan when so many in this world don’t even grasp or comprehend that, nor believe it – what the Bible says about it...but they understood him and they respected him because of the message.  But God gave that favour and God worked with them to that degree, not more, but to that degree to give them a certain amount of understanding and a certain amount of a response toward him.

And so it’s incredible when you go back and read some of the stories and read some of the history of things we’ve covered in times past of what was given to him and why; and he was always teaching this.  There is a way to peace and man doesn’t have it, and the ‘United Nations’ doesn’t have it.  It’s a joke!  And most people understand it’s a joke!  It’s a place of propaganda, it’s a place of politics, it’s a place of nations playing games.  And it’s not true, the statue that’s out there.  What a hypocritical, sick, perverted thing to do – to put a prophetic statue out there representing someone who is beating their weapons into ploughshares. That is something that GOD ALMIGHTY alone is going to give to man, that kind of peace to man.[1]   Awesome! Man can’t do it!  We can’t.  I get a little riled up when I start thinking about Iraq and Afghanistan and different places in the world – you can’t give people peace.  You can’t give nations peace.  And a lot of people die trying to give others ‘peace’.  Sad.  Sad waste of life!

So God says, I create the way of peace; God is doing that, a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, it’s not the city He’s rejoicing in!  He’s rejoicing in the way of peace that He is creating on this earth and giving to man because man has never experienced it.  Man has never had it!  Moments of it perhaps, when there’s been a lack of war or lack of aggression or whatever it might be, but it’s not real.  And I will rejoice in Jerusalem/the way of peace, and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.  Because that comes from... ‘voices of weeping’ and crying, sorrow and heartache come from the way that doesn’t yield to peace; in families, in homes, in business – it doesn’t matter what it is.

When is the last time you wept and cried because of things that have happened in your life?  See, being in the ministry I know of many people in God’s Church – even in THIS ENVIRONMENT of God’s Church who sometimes with OTHERS in God’s Church weep and cry because PEACE is so hard to attain!  ...because there is a way that produces it and sometimes we don’t YIELD ourselves TO THAT WAY!  God wants us to get the picture in a greater way just before His Kingdom comes – WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THERE IS A WAY THAT PRODUCES PEACE!  AND WE HAD BETTER BE LIVING IT MORE!!  ...toward each other.  That’s the message God is giving us.  It’s a SHAME if of all people we have God’s spirit and we’re not producing GREAT PEACE in the Body of Christ, in the Church of God.  That’s why there is no room for the way of war and fighting and arguing and words being spoken to one another in a cross way – jealousies, or envying – it’s perverted and SICK!  DO WE NOT GRASP THAT?  That’s what hurts the world and hurts relationships and DESTROYS family?  And WE are a Family!!

Sorry I’m getting a little worked up about this but we need to get worked up about it.  If you’re not worked up about it in yourself you’re not going to change! If you don’t see what God’s giving to you and desire with all of your being YOU won’t make the CHANGES YOU NEED TO MAKE IN YOUR LIFE IN ORDER TO ENSURE THAT EVERYTHING AROUND YOU IS A MATTER OF PEACE!!  You’ve got to fight for it!  ..because it’s a spiritual war, it truly is!

So I get worked up about it because it’s an exciting subject.  So many have died through time trying to give peace in this world and they can’t do it.  And One came along who didn’t deserve it [death], who lived a righteous life, and He did it for every one of us – He gave Himself totally so we could start having peace.  He was hung up on a stake, impaled on a stake, not on a cross; not that perverted, distorted, sick  idea that has come down through (in a false way) from a great church on this earth.  He wasn’t hung out like this {spread-eagle type arms to the sides}... He was impaled like this {hands together stretched above your head} and you can find pictures of it where they impaled Him on a stake, not on a cross, but up like this {hands together stretched above your head} because they put the nail through here and right down through the ankle area in the feet area.

I try to do this in area to area from time to time just to drive the point home, and for new people as well, so that you can understand how sick and perverted the idea of a cross is and how much Traditional Christianity has had such a distorted sick impact on this world; because it is sick.  The truth is beautiful.  The truth has great meaning to it. That’s why they came around to break the legs of individuals.  Because if you have your hands out like this you’re not going to suffocate; but if your hands are up like this {hands together stretched above your head} you try to breathe when all you’re hanging by is a nail right here and your legs have been broken, you’ll suffocate very soon.  That’s why they came around and broke the legs of the two beside Him; but when they came to Christ, it says He was already dead.  Because it shows in John[2] that a soldier had already come by earlier and rammed a spear into His side and out came water and blood and He died – He spilled His blood to the earth.  He became our Passover so we could have peace.

How much are you willing to suffer for others to give peace?  How much are you willing to take yourself to give peace to others?  How much of your life are you willing to give up so that someone else can have peace?  Are you willing to take the brunt end of things?  How far are you willing to go?  How long, how far are you willing to suffer, to humble yourself and to take whatever it is in order to have peace?

A lot of work is going into giving peace to this earth.  God has worked for 6,000 years to bring this about in 144,000 specific individuals during that period of time.  The Church has never been big; it’s always been small and the world just can’t comprehend that one.  They just don’t get it; because it was never God’s plan to madly send out people into the world to try to convert the world.  No such thing as ‘missionaries’ or being sent out to the world.  God isn’t madly trying to save the world.  If He were, He’s doing a pretty poor job of it; because He isn’t.  If God does something He’ll do it.  If that was His purpose He would have done it; but it’s not His purpose and this Feast will help to magnify that far more for us, to understand more deeply what God is doing and how God is doing it and why it had to be done this way and no other way.  It’s an awesome story – truly is!

So 144,000 are about to be resurrected in a very short time from now who are going to, it says, return, who are going to come with Jesus Christ as it says in Revelation 20 and they’re going to reign on the earth for a thousand years.  And you think, “How do religions deal with that?  It says it right there!  How do you square with that one?”  They’re not even sure He’s coming back.  They think that when they die, they’re heading up that way...or wherever that is.  No, Jesus Christ is coming here with 144,000.  What an awesome story!

Sorry, I’m getting a little sidetracked but I get worked up, and I hope you get worked up.  I hope you’re getting more motivated, more excited about what God is giving to us because I hurt when I see people sliding backward!  And I see people sliding backward in the Church.  And I think OF ALL TIMES this is not a time to slide backward, this is NOT A TIME TO LET UP!!  There is a being out there that’s on the warpath right now in a very big way – truly...and a lot of beings with Him.  They are not happy campers – truly... they are mightily stirred up.  This is not a time to let down spiritually.  You want to fight for what you have been given and what God has offered you; and to rejoice in the way of life that God has placed before us, a way of life that truly brings peace.

Isn’t that what everybody wants?  Isn’t that what everybody wants in every family in the world when they get up... shouldn’t they desire when they wake up in the morning that nice words are spoken to them and that they’re able to respond back; that their children speak well to them and they speak well to their children?  Doesn’t happen a whole lot, but hey, isn’t that what people want?  They don’t want confrontation and heartache and sorrow and all the things that go along because of sin and selfishness of human beings and the misery that sometimes exists in people’s lives.  And God has called us out of that...to be something different – to change, to change our lives, to change the way we talk to one another, the way we talk to our mates, the way we talk to our children, the way we talk to our parents, the way we talk to our boss on the job.  He is your boss!  And there are things that are so lost in this world.  There’s a way that produces peace.

So again, what God is giving us at the Feast this year is very much about how He, God Almighty, is bringing peace to the world through Jesus Christ.  So before we continue today by looking at this subject as it’s covered in the New Testament I want to read the new posting that I mentioned to you on the personal website www.ronaldweinland.com as I find the subject matter very uplifting and inspiring as we look forward to the next few weeks to observing the Feast of Tabernacles.  Some already know about it as I’d asked that an email be sent out to everyone letting them know that it is posted, to the elders, and they could start digesting it ahead of time here.  And I know that others spread it around quickly.  Things seem to spread quite quickly in the Church – that’s good... it’s good that good news spreads quickly in the Church.

This latest posting is entitled...

THE FEAST & NEW TRUTHS:

August 5, 2010

Over the past several months, this site has been valuable to the degree that it has kept the “Upcoming Trips” updated so that any in those areas who have wanted a closer relationship to the Church have been able to exercise that desire.

Some may feel that more posts should be written, but I count it as a great blessing that I have not had the need to write, since the world has not yet been thrust into great devastation and suffering which will begin once the Second Trumpet sounds. Only a few understand this current period of grace and mercy that God has granted this world, as He is holding back the sounding of that trumpet.

As I am starting to write this post, I think of the date today and its symbolic importance, since this is day 666 to the return of Jesus Christ on Pentecost of 2012. For me personally, this is now a countdown from evil and the evil one. The time of dwelling with evil in this world is nearing its end. For God’s Church, this year’s Feast of Tabernacles (now only a few weeks away) will be focusing on the end of evil and the beginning of real peace on this earth; something that mankind has never truly experienced. Yet that message of peace has been the gospel (God’s good news) given to mankind for the past 6,000 years, and now it is almost here.

Yes, God is revealing to this world (although it does not yet know it) that He is filled with infinite mercy and He loves His creation. Not only is God going to intervene and prevent mankind from annihilating himself on May 27th of 2012...

That’s why God intervenes on that specific day – because that is the day that if God didn’t intervene MANKIND WOULD ANNIHILATE himself.  Do we grasp that?  Do we GRASP what the potential of self-destruction by nuclear weapons around this world, many times over...and I’ll tell you right now,  because of the war that’s prophesied to come, the one side, whichever side it is, would not surrender and not want to lose – they would thrust everything they have at their enemy no matter what the consequences.  That’s how sick mankind is!  So again...

Not only is God going to intervene and prevent mankind from annihilating himself on May 27th of 2012, but He is holding back the traumatic suffering that will begin once that Second Trumpet sounds. This constraint on the sounding of the remaining trumpets is also being done in order to grant the “potential” for more people being saved. Ultimately, however, it is each individual’s choice to humble his or herself in order to be saved.

Worldwide devastation and massive suffering would already be here if it were not for God’s purpose to “manifest” the depths of His mercy and to grant His Church answers to their prayers to save more people.

The consequences of the normal sequence of events for this 21st Century world are being constrained by God. Due to the condition that man has brought to this world through the misuse of modern technology, the corruption of governments, and the Babylonian economic system that exists worldwide, the world would have already been thrust into traumatic tribulation if not for God’s intervention. With such selfish human nature, mankind is his own worst enemy.

Reminds me of a cartoon that my wife was talking about this morning at breakfast. I think it has three frames in it and this fella is praying to God in the first picture and he says, “Smite my enemy!”  And in the next caption you can tell he’s more fervent in his expression.  He says, “Smite my own worst enemy!”  And in the third picture there’s smoke going up and he’s sort of in charcoal, his clothes are burning and anyway... he got struck.  He’s his own worst enemy.   Something sometimes we don’t understand about ourselves as human beings because of our nature; we are all selfish by nature.  That’s a hard one sometimes for people to come to grips with.  Sometimes people just hate hearing that.  They can’t stand that that’s being taught as a religious truth; a truth from God, a truth out of the Bible – that our nature is selfish.  And it is!  It’s the beginning of great wisdom when people can receive that one and understand that that’s true.  It starts at a very young age; a child learns at a very young age.  Going on...

With such selfish human nature, mankind is his own worst enemy.

God moved His Church to observe a two-day fast (Jan. 31, 2009) shortly after the Seventh Seal had been opened and the First Trumpet had sounded. It would be good once more to read part of what was posted nearly a year and a half ago concerning that fast.

FROM AN EARLIER POST (March 6, 2009):

Bold bracketed “[ ]” text indicates added comments:

“This “holding back” is in large part due to the result of God answering the prayers of His people who set aside a time of fasting, similar to that of Esther, whose results are remembered to this day in what is called the Feast of Purim.

On January 31 [2009], the Church of God entered a prolonged fast (a fast that lasts beyond the normal one day), and God’s people petitioned God, humbling themselves in the process, seeking that God would humble more people, and thereby deliver many more than He initially revealed would be saved [by a normal sequence of end-time events due to what man has brought this world to at this stage after 6,000 years]. This is all the result of God’s will and His purpose that is being worked out for this world, and although God has granted to offer mercy to more people in this end-time by bringing more to humility [more can be brought to humility through such a process as being explained in this post], the choice of repentance is still in the hands of those whom God humbles and grants mercy. It is sad that there will be many who will still refuse God’s mercy and His offer to save them physically through this final end-time.

The petitions that went up before God were not for the purpose that the destructive power be lessened (as this cannot be changed), but that the period of time of the actual physical suffering from it will be lessened [the actual duration condensed], and that through this very process more people will potentially be able to be saved (who can indeed live on into the millennial period that is rapidly approaching). This not only includes the possibility of many more people of different nations being saved, but it also includes an offer of saving many more who were part of the scattering in the Church after the apostasy in 1994 (who otherwise would not have been given such opportunity and blessing).”

CONTINUING PRESENT POST:

Yes, that two-day fast was for the people of this world. It was a petition requesting that more would have the potential of being saved than would otherwise be the case if things happened in their natural, normal progression. Through this fast, God revealed His desire to grant great mercy to all mankind by lessening the time for actual suffering that begins once the Second Trumpet sounds. Once the world begins to become aware of this, the potential for more being saved will become a reality.

2010 Feast of Tabernacles & New Truth:

God’s Church is blessed this year to be able to observe God’s eight day Feast in twelve sponsored locations, with six being international and the remainder being in the U.S.

This year’s Feast is going to be one of the most exciting and fulfilling spiritual Feasts that God has ever inspired! God will establish four additional doctrinal truths that will be given at this Feast. Two of these truths have been referred to only in passing (in the very slightest of terms), but they have not been focused upon and have not yet been taught and established as doctrine in the Church.

God gave the 50th Truth which led us to understanding the correct timing for the return of Jesus Christ. In Worldwide, we had come to believe that Jesus Christ would return on a Feast of Trumpets, however, with the revelation of this truth we came to understand that Christ would return on Pentecost—specifically, Pentecost of 2012.

At the time that this truth was being revealed, I believed that this was the final truth God would give us. That was partially true. It was the last truth to be given during the Laodicean Era (the last era of God’s Church). Shortly after this truth was given, we came to understand that God’s work for the Firstfruits was complete once the 144,000 were sealed by the Feast of Trumpets in 2008 (Sept. 30th).

It was on this day that the eras of God’s Church ended, with the final Laodicean Era coming to an end. On this day, the work of God for the past 6,000 years concerning the preparation and complete sealing of the 144,000 who would be resurrected when Jesus Christ returns had ended. Those who had died in the faith and those still alive (who would make up that count of the 144,000) were fully sealed by that date.

Anyone being called of God and becoming a part of the Church from that date forward would not be part of that resurrection, but would live on into a new age, as the Church of God would continue on into that new Millennium.

A new era began on Trumpets of 2008, although a short one, which would continue up to the day of Christ’s return as King of kings. It was the beginning of the final countdown of the 1335 days prophesied in Daniel 12.

In this new era of the countdown to Christ’s return, God has continued revealing new truth to His Church. God’s true Church has never stagnated since the apostasy in December 1994, but has continued to grow in truth that God has revealed. All others have stagnated and only carry a resemblance of the Church before the apostasy.

To date, three additional truths have been given in this new era and four more will be given during the Feast of Tabernacles. This will bring the total number of new truths revealed to God’s Church since the apostasy to a number that should have deeply significant meaning to all who know the history of the last three Church Eras. After the Feast, God will have given a total of 36 new truths to His Church since the apostasy. How incredible is that? Who could have known that such a thing would come to pass?

And many are asking, “What’s the 36 about?”  We have been blessed in an awesome way spiritually, and that should be quite obvious to everyone.  God gave 18 during Philadelphia.  He’s given us twice the number by the time the Feast of Tabernacles is over this year – 36.  That’s the importance of it.  It’s as if, or similar to, a double portion of His spirit – not being better, but He’s just blessed us with more for a purpose, by design because of where we are and His desire for this world, and His desire for what’s going to have to take place at this end-time.  And that’s powerful!  It’s awesome!  Finishing this last sentence...

Yes, this year’s Feast of Tabernacles will prove to be one of the most exciting and fulfilling spiritual Feasts that God has ever inspired!

We live in awesome times, we truly do.  Hope you see that; hope you’re excited by that; hope you’re inspired by that because I am excited by that, moved by that.  And God’s offering that to us more and more, that we be moved and excited by what He’s doing and how He’s going about it.

Let’s continue with the sermon by looking at this subject of peace as it’s covered in the New Testament.  Let’s begin by looking in Luke 1.  We are going to follow-up on the scriptures we looked at in the very beginning of the sermon series and some that we read today as well concerning Isaiah 9 and when it talks to us about a Son being born and the government of God being upon His shoulders and the different names there that are given, the Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God and so forth...and Prince of Peace; and that God’s going to give peace, and He’s going to be the one that does it and gives it to mankind.  And so this scripture here follows up on that in the New Testament then.

Luke 1:68 - Blessed be the LORD God of Israel; for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; He had to be a descendant of David.  The Messiah was prophesied to be a descendant of David, of King David.  It says He’s to return to take back that throne that God said would exist until His Messiah came, until the Christ, meaning Christ.  They’re the same meaning – one’s Hebrew, one’s Greek.  It means the same thing; the Anointed One to become King.  It’s an awesome thing to understand as we’ve read in times past.  Just like the ‘Stone of Scone’ that’s up in Scotland and all the kings and so forth and that rock that was carried, that was called ‘Jacob’s Pillar Stone’ that we’ve gone through and read recently; that stone has travelled with the Israelites – Judah especially... And how God preserved that line when Satan had tried to destroy it through another nation and turn those things around so that it couldn’t happen.  He’s always tried to thwart.  Awesome!  And yet God preserved everything and kept a kingly line intact, and to this day they are reigning over Great Britain, the same throne and the same peoples that are descendant of King David and they don’t even acknowledge it.  Incredible!  And yet there are those in Great Britain and societies who know and understand those truths and they’re not a part of God’s Church; but they know that’s true, they know that’s a part of history.

Verse 70 - As He has spoken by the mouth of His prophets, which have been since the world began: that promise – ‘a horn of salvation’; One whom He would raise up to save mankind, to give man peace.

Verse 76 - And You, Child, shall be called the prophet of the Highest: for You shall go before the face of the LORD to prepare/to make ready His ways; To give knowledge of salvation to His people by/through the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring, in other words as the rising of the sun, from on high has visited us, when God visits us and gives us His Son.  Because that’s what happens when you’re called – we’re given to Christ... To give light to them who sit in darkness; this world is in darkness and doesn’t even know it.  Spiritually, concerning God’s purpose of why they exist, of why they’re on this earth... they have no knowledge!  That’s why it’s so awesome what God gave to Mr. Armstrong when He showed him that God’s plan is that we become a part of GOD’S FAMILY! And that’s blasphemous to some people.  That’s why we exist!  God’s creation of mankind is so that we can enter Elohim, become a part of the God Family – greater than the angelic realm, greater than the angels!  Incredible truth that God gave to him that shows the purpose of why we exist, of why we’re on this earth.  That’s an awesome thing to understand what God is doing in our lives.

To give light to them who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death...That’s what’s existed for the past 6,000 years.  Man doesn’t know exactly what’s going to happen afterwards so they make something up.  If you’re bad you’re going down to this little place and you’re going to be tormented for all eternity because that’s what God’s like – He likes to see people suffer who sin.  He doesn’t just want to see them suffer; He wants to see them suffer for ALL eternity! ...and you think, “What a SICK God that would be!  What a PERVERTED MIND that is! ...and it is a perverted thought because it comes from a perverted mind. That doctrine, that teaching comes from a perverted, sick being – Satan!  ...and a lie that he’s foisted upon the religions of this world.  There are many religions who believe such things.  And you think, “What a sick concept!”  It’s because he hates God!  He hates the way of God!  He hates the way of peace!  He loathes it!  He loathes everything about God’s way, he truly does.  It has been that way for so, so long and so God’s delivering to us, giving us a way of peace; to be freed, to be brought out of darkness, to no longer having this death hang over us and not knowing what it’s all about.

I marvel at how ignorant the world is and yet we’re all ignorant until God calls us.  We’re no better!  It’s just because God has given us something that the world doesn’t grasp; but yet, it’s right here in this book.  But man can’t see it!  God has to give it because it’s spiritual!  It’s spiritual!  And so God has to open it up to the mind.  He has to actually communicate to your mind and open it up.  Just like a key, and open up your mind and begin to speak to your mind, to your spirit, the spirit that He gave to all human beings (not the holy spirit) with His holy spirit so that we can begin to understand.

That’s why I mention so often to never forget when and how you were called.  When all of a sudden you understand the Sabbath, that it’s reflective of 7,000 years of the history of mankind; to have the ability to have more as far as life is concerned, a continuation of life.  And then after 7,000 years it’s cut off and then we know we can have another hundred years.  Why?  So that all who are dead can be resurrected again.  That blows people’s minds – they don’t understand what the Bible says so clearly.  Instead, they think that when ‘so and so’ dies they wonder... “He lived pretty bad and I don’t know if he had his deathbed repentance because boy, if you have that deathbed repentance then you can be saved all of a sudden...”  You can live like you want, you can live like an absolute idiot in perversion and sickness all your life but as long as you have someone standing over your bed and sprinkling some water and doing the sign of a cross and giving you this deathbed repentance (whatever it is), last rites... that somehow you’re going to end up ‘up there’ drifting around in the clouds looking upon the face of God.  Because God wants that for all eternity.  Isn’t that stupid?  I’m sorry, but it’s really stupid!  ...but that’s what Satan would like man to believe.  That isn’t what God has planned into eternity in His Family.

What a shame that man doesn’t understand he’s to become something greater than what we currently are.  Thank God that we’re going to come to a time when we’re no longer selfish.  But as long as we’re in a physical body we will always have selfishness in it.  You can’t help it.  You’re going to love the Feast of Tabernacles!

Verse 76 - And You, Child, shall be called the prophet of the Highest: and You shall go before the face of the LORD to prepare/to make ready His ways; To give knowledge of salvation to His people through the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring/as the rising of the sun from on high has visited us, To give light to them who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into/in the way of peace.   Same as ‘Jerusalem’; it’s what it means; it’s what God’s purpose is – ‘to guide our feet’.  There is a way that produces peace and God’s Family will have peace. And we of all people must begin to learn it even more so in our life, to exercise what we need to exercise to promote, to produce peace.  What a beautiful thing when people speak properly to one another without jealousy, without envy, without threat, of feeling threatened.  What is it sometimes we feel when we feel threatened?  ...when we feel someone else is getting ahead of us, or somebody else is doing something, or that someone else is not just faithful to me, or loyal to me.  What a sick mind we have as human beings that we want to control how people react to us and if they don’t react a certain way then we feel a certain way toward them and we treat them in a certain manner.  Sad!  Sick!  Distorted minds that God is offering to heal.  That’s what Isaiah... ‘Cast you up, cast you up, prepare the way’[3] ... ‘Peace, peace to him that is afar off and to him that is near...’[4]   ‘I create peace...’[5] that’s what God talks about.  He’s the one that can produce it in our lives to where there’s no jealousies, no envying, no ill will, no bad feelings toward others... because you see, how you feel toward someone determines what you say.

How you feel towards people determines how you judge them, how you think of them, how you talk about them, and on and on it goes.  It goes back to your mind and what you think and the need for the healing in your mind!  And we have to see the need for God’s healing in our mind!  We truly do... and we’ve got to want that with all of our being so that we’re not the CAUSE of a SICK PERVERTED BEING that’s out there, of SATAN!  That’s HIS MIND and the more you hate that kind of a mind and that kind of thinking the more you’ll embrace the mind of God, the way of God.  Truly!  You’ve got to loathe what that being has done!  I hope we do!

Incredible what God has given to us if we’d just grab a hold of it: a way that produces peace.  That’s what all of His laws about, that’s what love is about... it’s all about peace and how to have it.

Let’s continue on...Romans 3 – some very powerful scriptures; some things that Paul called what it was, he didn’t beat around the bush, he spoke absolute truth about the way we are.  Romans 3:10 - As it is written, there is none righteous, not righteous before God... no, not one: There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God.  That’s an awesome statement!  And yet there are so many in the world who think they seek after God.  They talk about, “Just give your heart to the Lord.  Are you saved?  Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Saviour?”  All these sweet platitudes.  They have no idea what they’re talking about and they use these sweet platitudes.  And they’re not seeking after God; because when you start telling them what God says you should be doing, what God says we should be doing – hence the Sabbath, that you should be observing the 7th Day Sabbath, people get upset.  They don’t like that!  When you tell them that Easter is wrong, that Christmas is wrong, do they know where it came from? They get upset.  “Well, yeah, that happened back then but we use it in a different way today, this mass of Christ.”  That should tell where it came from but people won’t think about it.  The ‘mass’ of Christ.  They’re all Catholic.  Anybody who accepts Christmas... accepts the Catholic authority over them.  You know what?  That’s what the Catholics say.  That’s basically what they say.  “Unwittingly so, they’re still accepting our authority.”  ...because they’re accepting their doctrines.  That’s where it came from.

Trinity - came from the Catholics.  Going to heaven/going to hell – came from the Catholics.  On and on it goes.  So Protestant churches got upset with the Catholics because they didn’t  like that form of government and some of the other things they were doing and so like so many organizations and so many churches throughout time – they go off and start their own; because they don’t like the way they’re doing it.  It’s never ended!  Man’s still the same!

Verse 11 - There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way, even when God gave them opportunity to know certain ways of His.  The Israelites going back in time before... He took them out of Egypt; gave them the 10 Commandments, showed them how to live, what produces peace and God says, they’ve all gone out of the way that God gave to them.  That’s the way of human nature...except for the few through time whom God was drawing and working with and giving His holy spirit to to mould and fashion for a purpose to rule and reign with Jesus Christ – 144,000 over a period of 6,000 years whom God has called and worked with.

They have all gone out of the way; they have all together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. Now that’s speaking, obviously, everyone except Jesus Christ... but all human beings have been this way.  Everyone without exception!

Their throat is an open sepulchre/open grave; with their tongues they have used deceit; and the poison of asps is under their lips:  Now who in the world really thinks that’s the way they are?  Who is willing to acknowledge that’s the way they are?  And so they might as well call Paul a liar.  “Paul, you’re a liar!”  That’s what they’re saying because they won’t accept the truth that God is giving through Paul...that not a person out here is righteous.  No one is seeking after God!  God has to drag us sometimes...that’s what one of the words for ‘call’ means, ‘to drag’.  Sometimes we have to be dragged a little ways because we don’t like it!  We don’t just automatically embrace the way of God and the Sabbath and the annual Holy Days and tithing and then on and on it goes...about changes you have to make in your life, about changes you have to make in how you talk to people in the language you use!  Some people aren’t willing to do that!  They aren’t willing to make those changes because they like to do that, they like to USE bad words!   They like to be able to CURSE in public; they like to be able to CURSE in front of their friends because it makes them feel BIG.  They feel important!

It’s like putting a cigarette to your mouth.  You know that’s how it starts oftentimes – so you can be accepted by more people!  “I’m cool!  I’m big! I have matured! I’ve arrived!”  ...and then they get hooked on it and they can’t get rid of it.  Doesn’t take long!  On and on it goes.  It’s the way the world is. Sad!  Who is willing to acknowledge what they really are, what their mind is like?  It’s a toughie!  And Paul calls it what it is though...very powerful.

...the poison of asps is under their lips.  It’s the way we are!  Quick to hurt!  Quick to say something nasty!  Quick to hurt someone!  ...to judge and misjudge someone, not cautious in it, not fearful in it, but quick; and God condemns that over and over and over again!  ...but we do it.  Our human nature! Even in the Church we do it!  Maybe less than the world, but we still do it because it’s a refining process. Because we have to learn through the process to love God, to love HIS way, the way of peace and what produces it and to hate, to loathe the way of a sick perverted being that tried to destroy this entire planet!  ...but God prevented him from destroying it all.  He tried!  He had a lot of power until God took that power away from Him.  He had a lot of power to destroy in a very powerful way.

God created the heavens and the earth; it talks about that – the angels rejoiced and all of a sudden this being came along in time and he tried to destroy this whole planet and every bit of life on it ceased. And then you come to Genesis 1 and it shows that God had to remould and refashion.  He had to re-separate the firmament - it was already here! He had to separate it so the sun could come through - it was already there!  He had to set the earth back on its proper orbit - because it was already here!  And all those things He did in those seven days that the world is totally dumb about, ignorant of it and they don’t understand.  And so religions get all upset and they try to say the world has only been here for 6,000 years because that’s what the Bible says and they don’t understand; no, it’s been here millions of years because that’s what the Bible says, maybe billions, we just don’t know.  Because that wasn’t the original creation; it was when God moulded and fashioned it to bring about a purpose for His Family, to put mankind on the earth finally.  Amazing!

Verse 14 – Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:  that’s the way we are as human beings.  Then we come into the Church and we begin to learn that’s not the right way to live.  I shouldn’t use wrong language; I shouldn’t use wrong language around others in God’s Church.  So you learn that quite quickly in God’s Church.  I remember as soon as God opened my mind my language stopped.  The way I spoke stopped!  Every other second or third or fourth word in the way I grew up and the environment I was in – it stopped!  Foul-mouthed!  It stopped.  Feared!  Fear came into me.  And thank God He gave me that help and ability to see what I was doing and the help to change overnight.   Hopefully we do change overnight.  There are some things that are so sick and so atrocious they should never happen again in our life – never!  And the more atrocious they are to us, the less likely they will happen again...whatever our past has been, whatever our life has been like.  There are just words we don’t use in God’s Church.

Their feet; swift to shed blood: ‘innocent blood’ some speak of.  ...swift to shed blood.  See, God uses that in a way, (and without going through all the scriptures; we don’t have time for that, it’d be another sermon...)but it’s an expression that’s used in the Bible just to show that when someone tears down someone else, that when someone hurts someone else, when someone fails to love someone else – God calls it murder. And that’s what it means to ‘shed blood’.  See, we don’t think we’d ever shed anyone’s blood.  Oh, some go to war and they shed some blood... oh, that’s okay in war.  Bull!  But you see that’s the way man thinks; that that’s okay.  No, that’s not okay, it’s wrong, you destroy, you pervert, you hurt your mind in such a horrible way - truly.

And so here the same thing is true with people not understanding the law of God and not understanding the spirit of God and of what God says is the way of peace: that anything that opposes that in relationships with others...if it’s not loving someone else, if it’s failing to love then God calls it murder.  If we fail to do something we know we should be doing to help someone else, to encourage someone else, to speak right toward someone else, to judge someone in a situation properly; God says you’re shedding blood just like a murderer because it’s the same spirit.  And sometimes it’s hard for us to understand that.  That’s why as we’re going through this sermon series there is a way of peace and there is the way of Satan...and we do one or the other in our lives.  Which one do you want to do?  It’s just that simple.  It’s just that easy.

It’s the same as Mr. Armstrong explaining the way of ‘give and get’; there’s a give way...and you know the world leaders?  They understood that when he talked to them.  And there’s the get way.  And he explained to them the way of man is the way of get; and they agreed with him!  “Yeah it is; it’s the way man is.”  They understand because they know what politics is like.  They’re not stupid, they got the message.

Hopefully it means more to us in the Church when we come to understand there’s God’s way and there’s Satan’s way – which one are we living? Which one are we yielding ourselves to?  Which one are we fighting for?  Which one are we learning to abhor and hate more and more?  Which one are we running away from?  ...and which one are we running toward?  And sometimes I see people beginning to let down, sliding backwards and I see them going back the other direction again.  Full steam ahead!  And I hurt inside; I ache inside because I can’t give this to anyone!  I can tell you about it, I can teach it, I can show you the way, I can talk about the way, but everyone has to choose to receive it and to what degree they’re going to receive it.

It goes on to say; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: we need to see it that clearly!  Destruction and misery in THEIR ways, because it isn’t God’s! And the way of peace they have not known: God blesses us when He calls us out of the world so that we can begin to know the way of peace, so that we can begin to embrace it and understand there are laws that produce it, and there are ways that destroy it.  One or the other – one or the other!

And why is this?  Verse 18 – Because there is no fear of God before their eyes. How much do we have a right and healthy fear to sin?  How much do we fear not embracing God and God’s way?  How much?

Romans 8:4 – breaking into the flow here...that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, There’s a righteousness of God’s law that He desires to be fulfilled in our lives by how we’re living!  ...who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.  Because to walk after the flesh, the way of the flesh is to walk toward that of a being, his ways.  That’s what it is.  But we hopefully and prayerfully, not just in words and not just by going through Sabbath to Sabbath and going through the motions, but by day by day and how we think and how we pray and how we think towards others...but after the spirit.  ‘After the spirit’, the way of God which requires His help, which requires His spirit in your life because you can’t do it on your own.  On your own, your nature is selfish.  My nature by itself, apart from God, is selfish.  That’s what Paul explains very powerfully so in this chapter.  Your nature, by itself apart from God, what it naturally gravitates to is selfishness.  And so we have to seek God, we have to ask for help, we have to have a desire in us and pray and cry out to God for help to live His way, to walk in His way, to yield ourselves to His spirit living within us, to yield ourselves to the process and to desire it with all of our being in all of our relationships and how we think.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; and I see people minding too much the things of the flesh – too much the way of the world!  This world should make us want to puke!  ...should want to make us vomit!  Clearly!  You know puke stinks!  Just to make it real clear!  Got out of the car here in Orlando down in a parking garage the other day and I couldn’t get out of that garage fast enough.  I almost thought about getting in the car and parking someplace else it stunk so bad.  And I knew the smell...it was puke.  Do things that are bad smell that way to you?  Are they that repulsive to where you want to run away from it and get away from it and not breathe in its air and not let any of it hurt you or contaminate you?  That’s what we have to feel like and desire; to get away from the smell, the stench!  You just feel like it’s going to be in your clothes, gets in your lungs... it’s bad.  Call it what it is!  For they that are after the flesh; we should want to get away so far from this world.  It’s hard for me not to get into some other things here.

I think about how we live our lives, about things we do, about what we want to... God tells us to live in moderation.  There are things we do that some who consider themselves religious don’t do at all because, “That’d be a sin!”  Whereas we do understand, no, God says there’s moderation.  I think of drinking wine or having a mixed drink or something of that nature, or a beer.  Nothing wrong with that!  But God says we’re to do things in moderation.  We’re not to become drunken.  That’s why we’ve given, especially at times as we approach the Feast of Tabernacles, that we’re to be a light and an example to others and to one another; and to not overdo something.

There are some people who can have a thimbleful of wine and that’s it.  There are some people’s who’s metabolism...there are some people who are affected differently.  What moderation is to you might be something different to someone else. I think about saying you might have been an old wine-bibber in times past. You might be able to down four glasses of wine and nothing bother you at all.  Don’t do it, even if you can, for the sake of others around you.  There’s moderation and we’ve talked about that in times past.

There’s moderation in dress, how we dress.  We don’t want to dress like the world and yet sometimes people will want to dress like the world.  I think of some of the styles for women.  I feel sorry for some, some of the styles today are to ‘hang out’, the dress that comes way down to expose, to show something that’s to be of a private thing between a husband and a wife when time is right in life.  But the world doesn’t respect that!  And so some want to participate in that, they think that’s the way they have to be. You really need to think it through.  What does that really mean?  What are you thinking?  What is in your mind?  Are we just that dumb that we don’t get it?

I think of the Feast when people are together at a swimming pool.  Women; why do you want to wear something skimpy, to reveal everything that’s supposed to be, in time, between you and your husband?  Moderation!  It would be so hard for them to conceive of wearing a single piece bathing suit.  We happened to go through a store yesterday, walking through it (no plug here – Tommy Bahamas)...but I was pleased to see on the wall... I didn’t see any two pieces!  I saw only one piece bathing suits.  I hope it’s a fad!  That’s what I was thinking!  I hope this is starting to become a style all of a sudden!  And people don’t know what they do to each other – young people and so forth – they have no concept.  And why would anyone want to do that?  But people think they have to do it, young people think they have to do it, sometimes older people think they have to do it and I think... “Man, you’re really missing the mark – what’s wrong with you?  What are you thinking?”

At this year’s Feast of Tabernacles I’m telling everyone it better be a one piece or just don’t go!  I’m tired of hearing of people exposing their bodies to others and not having any care and concern. Let’s just make it one piece and strive to be very moderate – ultra moderate  if that’s in your mind.  You may feel like you’re 70 years old wearing it; I don’t care!  Feel like people who are 70 wearing one!  Moderation.  Do you love your neighbour?  Do you care?  ...and on and on it goes – truly.  Moderation – that’s what God says we’re to live.

Verse 5 – for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; if it consumes your life you will be weak spiritually.  If you’re more consumed with things like that in your life you’re growing weaker spiritually. You’re going to being letting up spiritually in your life.

I’m hearing from different areas.  I’m not talking about any one area.  I’m talking about a lot of different areas right now – something that deeply concerns me.  You know there was a time when we were far more scattered, but now we have the blessing of having more fellowships.  And I’m kind of appalled that some aren’t using every opportunity they have while they can to be together in fellowship if they’re able to be together in fellowship.  Is it easier staying at home and listening on your computer instead of driving a half an hour or an hour or an hour and a half to be together in fellowship with God’s people?  Don’t we get the picture?  How blessed are you to be that close, to be able to have that opportunity?

I remember when I was first called and the closest Sabbath service was three hours away.  There was no hesitation, and there has never been since.  I don’t care the distance.  I’m going to fight for it!  Not saying I’m better, or I’m good; I’m just saying that’s something we should strive to do because it’s right before God.  You should hunger after what God has to offer.  And so if you have that opportunity, it’s not just the sermon you’re hearing – there is much to be learned in the fellowship, there is much we rob ourselves of if we don’t involve ourselves in the Family.  God has called together the Family.  It’s His Family!  And sometimes we don’t like others that God has called, whom God has called, or we can’t get along with them as well, or whatever it is.  I don’t know what it is.  What a shame!  And you’re not doing what God has given you to do – offering you to become a Family, a spiritual Family.  And you’ve got to work at it and you’ve got to fight for it and you’ve got to do the things that make for peace.

Now please, something just hit me here; there are some situations where you can’t.  I understand.  You know when you can’t, you can’t.  If it’s something physical in your life – I understand that.  But when you have the ability, those of you who are younger, those of you who have the ability and mobility.  If you’re barely making your meals each day and being able to pay for food – I understand that. And if that’s the reason, then it’s between you and God and you’re right in your mind before God because you know.  But if you have the ability and you don’t use it – then shame on you!  And I’ll just tell you right now you’re hurting yourself awesomely so, spiritually so, and that’s not good.

I’m dumbfounded!  Less than two years to the return of Jesus Christ!  The world thinks you’re nuts!  I don’t care!  We know!  And if you know then how are you living?  That should stir us even more.

Verse 6 – For to be carnally minded is death; if you mind the things of the flesh, if you become more involved in those and concerned about those things and it’s not about the spiritual then we are in deep trouble!  Such a person is in deep, deep, Deep, DEEP, DEEP doo-doo, spiritually!  Just calling it what it is!  God says through Paul, For to be carnally minded is death.  Maybe that doesn’t get through to us?!  I don’t know.  ...but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  It comes from God.  To be right toward one another, to think right toward one another, to judge right toward one another, to speak right toward one another...God has to give you help because we all have battles, we all have our human nature.  There are things that are going to come across our path from time to time where we’ve got to battle it.  Someone says something that just kind of rubs us the wrong way... get a hold of your self.  If they’re wrong, hopefully they’ll repent of it, hopefully they’ll come to see how stupid they were for the sarcastic or loose remark or whatever it is they gave.  But how it affects you is in your power, in your control as to whether you sin or not, as to whether you yield to the way of peace.  There is a way of peace.  There is that which produces peace and it’s one that requires being spiritually minded - truly does.

So peace isn’t something that’s just going to happen.  It doesn’t just happen.   6,000 years of history ought to show that – it just doesn’t happen!  God’s peace, the kind of peace that God is offering us is something you must fight for.  You have to work for it.  You have to put effort into it.  You have to seek control, putting self into subjection – truly.  So again, it doesn’t just happen for people.  It doesn’t happen for people in this world and it doesn’t happen for people in the Church.  You must want it; you must desire it with your being and willing to work for it to change your ways in order to fuel it.  It requires repentance – change.

James 3:13 - Who is a wise man and endued/skilled with knowledge among you? Well, if we knew the whole story of that one, the answer to that one there, we’d be a lot wiser.   But wisdom is an understanding we need help – truly.  Because if we think we have it... he who thinks he has it is in for a big fall.

Who is wised and endued/skilled with knowledge among you? Let him show out of good conversation/conduct his works; so it is something to strive for. It is something to seek to have indeed with all of our being; and it is an admonition here.  It’s poorly phrased in how it’s saying it here, but this is how we should be living and this is how we should strive to work toward it.  It says, let him show out of his, it says conversation here, but so often things do come out of our conversation; but it’s more sweeping than that – it has to do with conduct because there’s conduct that doesn’t always include conversation, speech.  ...to show out of his conduct his works with meekness, now that’s wisdom.  A teachable spirit.  You know why it uses the word ‘meekness’?  The word that means ‘a teachable spirit’?  Because you don’t always have the answer.  We think we do.  We think we understand a situation.  We see a situation and we judge it.  We see something that happens between two people or with one person, or whatever it might be; it’s so easy to judge a situation.  Are we willing to learn?

There was some discussion going on and when it comes down to understanding some of these thing about other people, how to get along with other people, how different things happen sometimes...  So much of our lives can be enriched when you come to understand what makes a person tick, why they are the way they are, what have they gone through to make them what they are?  How much are we willing to learn about someone else, to understand someone else’s background, what their battles are, what’s made them the way they are.  See, because not everybody’s the way you are...thank God.  I’m glad everyone’s not the way I am.  I get sick and tired of seeing myself. I’m looking forward to a new life, a new body – soon.   ...to shed this, just like Paul talked about.  I am sick of human nature – my human nature. Glad I’m almost through the battle, getting real close.

So we go through different things; but so often your relationship with others is enhanced the more you come to understand why they are the way they are, why they think the way they do – because we’re all a product of our past life. Things have moulded and fashioned us into the way we are and if we will be a little patient with one another and take time to get to know one another, so often our judgements would change dramatically toward each other.  We wouldn’t be as hard and judgemental.  We’d be more patient, we’d be kinder.  There’s so many attributes that make for peace, that we’d be enriched by – truly.

And so again, a part of why this is being said in this way  ...show out of his conduct his works with meekness of wisdom. But IF...IF you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, this isn’t something in the world!  This is being spoken to the Church; this is being spoken to people who have Gods spirit!  What makes us different from the world is God’s spirit; and to the degree we yield to it in our lives and how much we’re growing and how much we’re conquering and overcoming.  But we’re still physical and we still have human nature, just a giant truckload of it – we truly do.

And so it says, but if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and do not lie against the truth. Don’t lie, God says, against the truth; because that’s a lie if we have envy in our hearts, jealousy toward someone else in our hearts, strife in our heart.  If you’re worked up about somebody else...  you know there are things we can see that we don’t like people doing; we hope that they’re able to conquer and overcome it, especially within the environment of the Church.  But to have strife in our heart toward them that affects the way we think toward them and our attitude toward them?  No, that shouldn’t be there!  To be able to deal with the situation...  it’s just like with your children, you don’t have strife in your heart toward your children.  You don’t like the behaviour sometimes, but you treat them in a specific way.  You may have to correct them... yes, you do that often!  That’s the way it is in life!  But not strife.  So can we use that in the same way toward one another in understanding when it comes to that spirit in our heart of how we deal with situations and with people?  Family?  Close family?

Verse 15 - This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. Shows the mind, shows the thinking – there is God’s way and there is Satan’s way...and what do we want?  What do we fight for?  What do we seek?  What do we cry out to God for help to live, to exercise?  And if we do, peace will be produced in our life – not necessarily someone else’s until they embrace the same thing.  And so you’re patient with them, you work with them – maybe even have to correct; but you do it righteously, not out of envy, not out of jealousy, not out of strife, not out of anger, not out of bitterness, not out of wrong judgement.

For where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.  So those are things we should strive to loathe and to hate in this world.  That we understand that spirit and that mind and that’s what we don’t want to be in us.  We want to get rid of it.

Verse 17 – But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, ‘pure’, in other words, ‘free from sin, holy’.  That takes God’s help.  We’re not that way. We have to have God’s help to be of such a mind.  ...then peaceable, ‘peaceable’ - there’s a way that produces peace, obedience to God’s way, to God’s laws.  It produces peace.  Do we exercise that striving to be peaceable toward one another?

...gentle, the word means ‘yielding’; and what does that mean?  Your will... your will.  What is your will?  Well, it gets in the way so often.  The way I see it, the way I want it done, the way I want it handled, the way I... I, I, I.

... and easy to be intreated, literally ‘ready to obey’.  Ready to obey, what a beautiful thing! We’re ready to obey, we want to obey, we’re ready to do the way God says to do it.

...full of mercy; ‘full of mercy’, its far better to err on the side of mercy than to sin by doing these other things.  God has shown me a lot about the importance of mercy in the last few years.  It’s far better to embrace that and be that way than to slip and to hurt someone else in a wrong way.

...full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, that can test you.  ...without partiality, to be able to judge and to remove partiality from your judgement.  That’ll put you to the test.  Seek to do this.  It’s a tall order and you can’t do it without God’s help.  God has to give you the help; but as He’s giving you the help you know whether partiality is there or not in your judgement – you will know with God’s spirit whether you’re fighting against His spirit or yielding to His spirit.  You will know if you truly look at it faithfully and righteously so in prayer.  So again, having to do with how we judge.

.. and without hypocrisy. ‘Without hypocrisy’; in other word, no double standard, no pretence.  The word means ‘to be genuine’; no pretence, but we’re genuine.  We’re asking God’s help to be genuine.

And the fruit of righteousness, beautiful verse... the fruit of righteousness, the fruit that’s produced is sown in peace; what a beautiful way of expressing this.  It’s sown in peace just like planning something, just like the work that goes out here in working the ground and toiling and the effort that goes out here in turning the soil; and the labour that goes into that... that a farmer will put into his field in order to grow a crop; and then planting the seed and taking care of it, all that goes into raising and having a crop.  And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace in/of them who make peace.  It is work, it doesn’t come natural – it takes real effort; and so much of that effort has to do with how we deal with this, how we deal with ourselves in the way we are.

Let’s go on to Ephesians 4. Over and over and over again this message of Jerusalem, the way of peace throughout the Bible – Old and New Testament, over and over again in prophecies, over and over again in scriptures here spoken of by the apostles.  Powerful, powerful message again and again and again that God wants us to embrace, to grasp, to understand with all of our being – He truly does.

Ephesians 4:1 - I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, appeal to you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, what a great desire!  What a beautiful way of expressing something that Paul is telling them, the Ephesians here.  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, I am God’s!  Are you God’s?  Do you see yourself in this way that you are His and you’re thankful for the blessing and the opportunity and ever how He uses you in life to serve a greater purpose?  I don’t mean use in the sense of a bad way.  God’s way is good!  God’s way is exciting and inspiring, His plan and His purpose and what He’s doing!  Do we want to yield ourselves?  The words that are used here are powerful.  That’s what it’s talking about here – totally His!  Mankind is enslaved to the world and he doesn’t even know it.

That’s why the example of coming out of Egypt, of God bringing us out of Egypt and out of slavery is so beautiful.  Man is enslaved because of sin, a slave to sin, a slave to selfishness, a slave to a sick, perverted, disgusting being out here until God begins to free him, until God begins to call him and free him from that.  And then we choose – we choose in a sense, to use such a strong term, to be enslaved to God’s way.  I want that!  ...because we see the riches of it, the beauty of it.  Not in a negative way, but a positive way, an inspiring way because you want it and you don’t want anything else!  In other words, bringing yourself into subjection to God’s way of life because you see that it is right.

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, appeal to you that you walk worthily of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness, an attitude of mind.  Not giving the reflection of or ‘air’ of being better than others.  That has no place in God’s Church ever, ever, ever, ever.  If you look at any person in God’s Church ever and you think you’re better, you have just sinned a huge sin and you’ve got some great repentance to do before God.  He does not look kindly upon that kind of spirit and attitude against one of His children.  Who do we think we are ever in life if you think that you’re better than someone else?  We’re not.  We’re a Family.  God has given us different things in the Family to do, to accomplish, to perform.  No one is better than anyone else – ever, ever, ever!  And so this thing of ‘airs’, of giving a reflection or an ‘air’ of being better than someone else, or being important because you think you’re important or want others to see you as being important in life, whatever it is.  Sometimes we get lifted up by the stupidest things!  It doesn’t matter how much someone doesn’t have!

Sometimes the pride in this world sometimes just stymies me.  Everybody has pride out there and some who have the very least in life, you’d think surely they could see that.  No, they can’t because everybody has pride.  Everybody has pride – from the least to the greatest.  Everybody!  And pride fits with this one being and his way and we’ve got to hate it.  I hate pride!  I loathe pride!  And the farther we get away from it the more humble we’ll be before God – truly – in all of our thinking.

...with all lowliness and meekness, again, this teachable spirit, willing to learn – even from others, from their ideas, their thoughts.  Do we stop and think?  Do we listen?  Doesn’t mean you have to agree all the time; and sometimes you’ll find something that’s wrong, but that doesn’t mean you have to correct it either.  We listen to one another; we give people an opportunity to grow.  Sometimes people bounce things off and they learn from that process.  Sometimes there’s a time to intervene and say no, that’s not right, that is really wrong – that’s really off base, we don’t teach that in God’s Church.  And then either it stops and someone says, “Oh, I’m sorry, I misunderstood,” or whatever.  Sometimes you have a responsibility in that part too, but you have to judge that and ask God for help to judge it, when to speak and how to speak.  But when something goes off base, or whatever, you have a responsibility in a kind gentle loving way; not in a condemning, harsh, or superior way.  All these things we have to take into mind in order to have true peace.

...with longsuffering, how long are we willing to suffer?  Sometimes not very long; we get irritated, we get upset, we all have this in our life.  That’s the way we are as human beings. How long are we willing to suffer?  ... or do we get caught up in something?  ...allow ourselves to be caught up in something?

...forbearing one another in love; I love that part of the verse, forbearing one another in God’s love; that’s what it’s about; the word has to do with ‘tolerating’ but not in a negative sense as we talk about ‘tolerating someone’ – that has a very negative connotation as a whole in the English language; but basically it means ‘to allow for the differences’ (in the Greek); to allow for the difference; ‘Viva la différence!’  Thank God for the differences in His Family.  We can learn from that.  It makes life rich and exciting.  I love hearing how God has called different ones into the Church, how He’s opened your mind, how He’s brought you to the truth and what’s taking place in your life as you grow, as you conquer, as you overcome...seeing the growth in people’s lives from visit to visit in different areas.  It’s exciting, it’s inspiring, it motivates us, it keeps us even more keenly focused seeing people overcome their fears and their anxieties and their weaknesses and whatever it is they might be struggling with.

...with longsuffering, forbearing one another, in other words, allowing for the differences in others including the way they think.  Not everybody thinks the way you do – thank God!  I’m glad everybody doesn’t think the way I do; conversations would be pretty bad.   Get dull real fast as far as I’m concerned.  Do we see those things?

Endeavouring, which means ‘to put a lot of effort into it’, a lot of hard work... Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit , that’s what God desires to see in His Church, in His people – a desire for that – a desire to work toward unity in the Church – a desire that no matter what our situation is...  Maybe you are tired from the whole week before, like I was this week.  It was one of the hardest weeks I’ve had in a long time!  I’ve been bombarded this week!  There is a war going on out here and I have seen it in a great way this week!  So much so that Thursday night when I went to bed (I never do this), I went to bed at 6:30 and I didn’t wake up until it was around 7:00 – 12½ hours of sleep.  I don’t do that!  I sleep maybe 6-7 hours.  I was exhausted!  I was out of it physically! Okay? ...but I want to be here!

See, sometimes if we’re not careful, we can begin to use this excuse, “I had a bad week.  I’m sooo tired!  I’m going to miss Sabbath services today, it’s so much easier just to stay here at home and resting on the Sabbath... because I can rest on the Sabbath day because it says to rest and I feel good about that so I’m going to stay home this Sabbath and listen to the sermon because I am so tired and I deserve this today.  I’m glad for the 7th Day that I can rest...”  If that’s your idea of rest you’re missing the mark, you’re missing what God says.  You’ve got to fight!  You’ve got to want to be together with others of God’s people...who may have had a whole lot worse week than you ever dreamed of having... had greater trials and hardships and spiritual wars than what you ever dreamed of having... that want to be together with God’s people.  Is that what you want?  To be together with God’s people?  Because I know some people out there in too many places who are not working Sabbath by Sabbath by Sabbath to be together with God’s people when that is WHERE THEY OUGHT TO BE!  ...with God’s people... and SHAME ON THEM for NOT DOING IT!

And some of you sitting on your duffs today back in your nice easy chair when you should be together in Sabbath services because you can drive there and you have the ability to drive there, you have the finances – WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?  Where’s your mind? Don’t you know the war that’s going on out here and what you’re yielding yourself to?  Where is your hunger and thirst to be together with God’s people; and if that’s not there you are in DEEP SPIRITUAL TROUBLE!  If that isn’t a hunger we have – what’s in us?  To hunger to be together with God’s people and fellowship with them when you have the ability? I’m just telling you you’re spiritually so far off the mark that you may have already put yourself out of God’s Church! ...and you don’t understand that because you’re too weak to get the message and that’s why I’m making it stronger like I am.  I don’t like doing this, but I do it because my desire is to stir you up, to motivate you, to help you to be shocked into reality.  If I can, like Paul said, if I can say this in this way to cause someone to repent and change then... I don’t like doing this but I do it because if it’ll help someone to get jarred and get shocked into reality then it’s been worth it.  I feel for people at this late date. And think of where we are.

See, everything is fully vested that we have but a short time to go!  I believe that with all my being!  And everyone else in the world... I don’t really care; they can say, “You are stark raving mad...” and that’s fine.  One day, I understand they’re going to come to see that they were wrong, because this isn’t about everybody else in the world – it’s about what I choose to do and how I go about it...as it is for you and what you live by.  Are you holding back?  Are you fully vested, to use an expression, in where we are?  Because some of you aren’t!  Some of you still aren’t there and I hurt for you, I pray about you... because you’re not fully vested, you’re not fully convicted, you’re not fully believing, you’re not fully yielding yourself.  Why?  Well, maybe because you’re not applying yourself to peace, because maybe you’re not applying yourself spiritually like you should be.  Perhaps you’re letting down.  What kind of prayer life do you have?  How often do you pray to your God?  How much do you cry out inside to God?

Like the other day, I was just telling God, “I need help!  I need help!  Help me!”  Do you have prayers like that where you pour yourself out to God because you believe it with all of your being, “I need help!”  We better, because we need help!  I need it; you need it, and you’ve got to pour yourself out to God.  That’s why you do those things; because you know you need the help.  And without it you’re going to backslide.  Ministers out here are backsliding in some cases.  Some of you ministers... you need your rump kicked – spiritually – because you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.  You’re backsliding!  I don’t know where, I don’t know why; but spiritually that’s what I see.  You see, God has given me the perception of things that are spiritual, not always the reasons and the answers, but there are things that God has given to me as His servant in a very powerful way to discern, to see, to know, to understand.  And there are things that I know and see and understand in people’s lives that they don’t even begin to grasp and comprehend...just because that’s a reality; because of what He’s given me for the job to do.  Not because I’m special!  Not because I have special ability...because God has given it to me for a purpose and reason.

So who are you?  Are you vested?  Are you pouring yourself into this?  Do you believe it with all your being?  And if you don’t, where are you holding back and where are you letting down?  We have a job to do out here – all of us; and we’re down to the wire.  Do you have that sense of urgency?

I remember one of the greatest things that I always admired and respected in Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong was that God gave Him a sense of urgency throughout his 50+ years of being in the ministry; because it was always, “We are to prepare and to be ready for the end of this age.  We have got to throw ourselves into this.  There’s a job to be done and we have but a short time to do it!”  That was his spirit.  And because of that spirit he stirred me up often – because of God’s spirit, because of the words that came from God through him and came to me and came out to others and it stirred us up!  And we were stirred up by what we heard because there’s that sense of urgency.  And I think he had that back in the 40’s, he had that back in the 50’s, he had that back in the 60’s, he had that back in the 70’s, then he had it in the 80’s and he came back more powerfully than ever before in the early 80’s until the day he died in January of ’86.  Sense of urgency!

And I think of where we are in time.  Less than two years to go and what is wrong with us if we don’t have a sense of urgency to the nth degree mathematically spiritually?  It should be there!  And I think about what God is giving us at the Feast.  I’M EXCITED!! Can you tell?  I’M EXCITED BY THE MESSAGES THAT ARE GOING TO BE THERE!  I’M EXCITED THAT GOD IS GIVING TO ME...  I saw the excitement in Mr. Armstrong when he came into the refresher program after He’d written ‘Mystery of the Ages’; my wife and I sitting there at the refreshing program in Pasadena.  They brought all the ministers in from all the world over a period of time; within about a year and a half; it took that amount of time to revolve through the whole process of getting all the ministers around the world there at headquarters to be able to be brought up to date.  And Mr. Armstrong came in there about that book, and his excitement was so strong that he had FINISHED THIS BOOK.  For over 50 YEARS God had worked with him to bring together a story in such a POWERFUL WAY to make it CLEAR to even those who didn’t know the truth.  So if somebody just wanted to read a story about what God is doing, they’re going to be able to understand something about God’s plan if they’ll just have a BIT of an open mind of the POSSIBILITIES - even without God’s spirit, that makes it clearer than it’s EVER BEEN MADE CLEAR TO MANKIND before that; and he was excited by that!  And you could genuinely see the excitement he had.  I AM EXCITED because I see what God is giving at this Feast of Tabernacles to be ADDED to the ‘Mystery of the Ages’ to make it more complete and more exciting to us!  ...to make the story clearer to people WHO DON’T EVEN KNOW THE TRUTH AND DON’T EVEN HAVE GOD’S SPIRIT WORKING WITH THEM!  ...that’ll help them to learn.

How much more when they begin to be brought to repentance and God’s spirit begins to draw them?  We live in awesome times!  And I hope you’re inspired and stirred up like I’m becoming inspired and stirred up.  And why is that?  Because God has a great job to do here and it’s going to become more and more exciting and more and more inspiring and more and more uplifting as we go forward.  When we begin to see the fruit of what God has prepared us for you can’t even begin to imagine it.  I’ve told you about it but you can’t fathom it.  It’s beyond comprehension!  But what an awesome thing that you will have the opportunity to experience it.  Some of you have no concept of what God has given you the opportunity for and what’s coming in a very short time from now.

One of these days this world is going to be thrust forward in such a powerful way it’s going to make people’s heads shake and spin. Leaders all over the world are going to begin to change.  Things are going to accelerate very rapidly when that day comes.  See, I know that.  I know it.  I can’t give that to anybody.  And it depends on your relationship with God to the degree you know it and you’re vested in it as well.

It just hit me – I may have two more sermons.  I know I have one more.  I’m even more excited because this gives me more time.  I’m serious.  I’ll tell you what, I am so excited when I see the potential of a longer series because right now striving to get these Feast sermons done and the desire to begin to write about some of these things and not having the time to do it... I hope God’s giving it to me here.  So, anyway, I appreciate your prayers on that; that these sermons go into series.

We’ll end today in this verse area.  Verse 3 - Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. That’s work!  It’s exciting work, but we’ve got to do it.  ...keeping the unity of the spirit, in the Church, in the Body, with one another.  To love each other, to love whom God has called.  You’re God’s children!  If you look around the room, different areas out here as you’re listening today... look around the room.  Everyone that’s received God’s spirit... God’s begotten children.  What do you think of them?  How much time do you want to be with them?  Or are you looking forward to getting back to work on Monday? Sick if you do, that’s all I can say!

There is one Body, and one spirit, one way, one peace, one truth.  Man doesn’t like that, but it’s true.  There is one Body, and one spirit even as you are called in one hope of your calling.

~~~end

1. Isaiah 2:4

2. John 19:34

3. Isaiah 57:14

4. Isaiah 57:19

5. Isaiah 65:17

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