A Fast With Judgment

Ron Weinland

April 2, 2011

Today is a special Sabbath for God’s Church.  I’m going to be doing quite a bit of reading today as we get into this; you’ll understand why as we go along because of what the sermon is going to cover, but there are several things here in the introduction as well that I don’t want to miss. Again, a very special weekend, a very special Sabbath that we’re having today, because different ones have fasted already or are fasting into the Sabbath, or fasting from the Sabbath on into tomorrow.  This is a follow-up to the two day fast that we had a little over two years ago and I’m going to be talking about that in this particular series.  We’re going to have a two part series beginning today.

We are now entering a ‘Time’ of judgment, a ‘Time’ for the execution of judgment upon Israel.  It is a period that covers 40 weeks.  And this is covered in the new posting, so you might want to read that because this is a little bit different here as far as the order of things, how things are given when you begin to count ‘Time, Times, and a Half-a-time’.

We’re entering a very specific period of 40 weeks, and that shouldn’t go by us without being understood what that is about.  40, over and over again, the 280 days that we’ve gone into over and over again here is very much about judgment.  And so this period of time here that we’re getting ready to go into that starts tomorrow.  We’ve gone through four specific periods of time and tomorrow begins the 5th ‘Half-a-Time’, because everything is divided up, as we understand, into seven specific periods of ‘Half-a-Time’.  We’ve gone through four ‘Half-a-Times’, which is equivalent to the expression ‘Times’ in ‘Time, Times, and a Half-a-Time’.  And as I explained in that post, it’s not a sequence of order; it’s not a matter of order here as far as a sequence, ‘Time, Times, and a Half-a-Time’.  For us, for our understanding, for how God is revealing things to us, it’s about ‘Times’ that we’ve just passed, a period of a ‘Time’ that we’re getting ready to enter, and a period of ‘a Half-a-Time’ at the end.  And that’ll mean more to us as time goes forward.

So this sermon today is entitled A Fast With Judgment with this being Part 1.  Where we are now, where we have been, where we’re going as of this coming Passover is all so very powerful and revealing, inspiring, and monumental, it truly is, for God’s Church, for all of us, to experience, to live this.  We’ve just completed two important series of sermons that are constructed in such a way as to meticulously prepare us for the next few sermons that God has made ready for us.  It’s awesome when you see how God moulds us, fashions and prepares us from one period of time to another; and He’s doing that in a very meticulous way right now.

The first series was entitled ‘Pray for Judgment’, followed by ‘A Final Plea, With Judgment’, and now today this two part sermon series starting today, ‘A Fast With Judgment’.  So again, these sermons all tie in powerfully together, in a powerful way leading us to incredible events that are about to unfold before us.

Before we go on to this new sermon series I want to tell you what some of the subject matter will be of the sermon that will be given on the Sabbath of April 16th.  I’ve already told you about two that we’re going to have; this one here today and part 2 next Sabbath in Melbourne – this sermon series ‘A Fast With Judgment’.  But the one coming up on the 16th when Laura and I will be over in New Zealand for the Passover (I’m speaking of the Sabbath just before Passover); I’m going to tell you a little bit about that because you need to be planning for it, you need to know about it now, and then that sermon, obviously, to be given at that time to give greater meaning of what it’s all about and where we’re going.

Passover will be observed after sunset on the following day after the Sabbath, in other words after sundown on Sunday the 17th.  Before Passover begins everyone is to have a full meal, but everyone is to be finished with that meal before sundown as we’re going to observe Passover in a way that has never been observed by God’s Church nor observed in this manner in the past 6,000 years.  This is a one of a kind observance, just as the Israelites had a one of a kind observance when they were being prepared to leave Egypt.  Their observance was very physical – this is very spiritual - as we’re going to have a fast on Passover, from sundown to sundown; when that day begins to when it ends.  The only exception is for those who are baptized, as you’ll be partaking of the bread and the wine in the Passover service.  So when we get to that particular sermon more will be given on what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and so forth.

But again, an awesome time that we’re in and great meaning in what we’re getting ready to go into.  The greater purpose is our observance of this observance and more will be given in the sermon from New Zealand on that Sabbath before Passover.  This is just an announcement of that special Passover observance.

Someone was talking about how excited they were about this particular fast here and looking forward to what was going to be given about Passover – almost like it was a gift that’s going to be given – and the gift is another fast.   Fasting isn’t always easy, but I’ll tell you, they’re really awesome, especially when you go back and we look at some of the fasts, what God has led us through and what we’re going through now and where we’re going.  Tremendous power, tremendous meaning in what God is giving to us.

Let’s begin this new sermon series here today, ‘A Fast With Judgment’.

So often when I look back at sermons that God has inspired I’m in awe, truly in awe of how He and His Son lead us; the order, the process of revelation that He gives, the process of building on what has already been given.  It’s all incredible, it truly is, when you begin to look at it in that fashion, and that’s what we’re going to begin to do today.  So for this sermon, it’s good that we look back and see how God has been leading us and preparing us for this specific time that we’re now entering, this next period of a ‘Time’ in ‘Time, Times, and a Half-a-Time’, the next 40 weeks, a full ‘Time’ of judgment from God upon Israel.  And as I brought out in that post, it’s not just upon the scattered nations of Israel, it’s also very much about the church, the church that was scattered, because it’s about the physical modern day physical nations and it’s also about the church that was scattered after the apostasy.

Let’s turn over to 2nd Peter because we’re going to begin there before we actually start going through some of the previous sermons and look at this process whereby God has been leading us and preparing us for this specific time; and again, I’m going to be reading quite a bit once we get to some of those sermons and commenting as we go.  But to set the stage let’s begin here in 2nd Peter 1 because there’s something we need to focus upon as we consider all this.

2 Peter 1:1 – Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ; I can’t help it when I read through this and I think about some of this; I think about criticisms that were sent out or given at different times when I’d made comment in the beginning regarding how in the book it was written that I was a prophet, and some were questioning, “Why do you have to tell that? You shouldn’t have to tell that. You shouldn’t have to tell anyone you’re a prophet.”  Well, the fact is that that’s what God told His people to do, “You go tell them who you are; that I have sent you, that you are a prophet sent from Me.”  In many cases here, just like with Peter, he’s saying he is a servant.  He was the one that wrote this.  He’s basically saying, “I am a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.”  He shows the credentials, the authority that is there and where it comes from.  So it’s needful, and quite often in these books they begin this way.

So again, it says, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have obtained the same highly valued faith; that’s what it’s talking about here, the faith that God gives to us – valuable, along with us.  And so when people are brought into fellowship you begin to share the same thing.  It’s an awesome thing!  God gives you the ability to see things, to know things that we’re not able to prove to ourselves.  You can’t go find these things out.  People don’t find these things out in the world.  The great intellectuals of the world, they can’t figure out and understand the plan of God; God just puts it in your mind.  You read something or you hear something and you know its true – and that knowing that God gives by the power of His spirit is what God does.  And we make choices as to what we’re going to do with what God has given, but the ability to see it, the ability to believe it is something that God gives, a knowing that is there, and then we’re to act upon it.

So God gives us the ability to believe the truth, to see the truth, and then of course we choose then to live by it, to live by this way of life which is what faith is all about.

…along with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; made possible because of the ability to be forgiven of sin and God and Jesus Christ dwelling within us.  We know the entire story, how this is accomplished; and so he’s reminding them of these basic things.  Grace and peace, so he’s saying ‘grace’; the favour, the mercy, the ability to be forgiven of sin – all the things that we receive from God, and peace; Peace!  Because peace comes when you live by God’s truth. When you start living by God’s way of life then you can begin to experience peace.  So often then in families, or in the fellowship of the Church, we begin to learn, or on the job, or in the community, the way you receive peace is how you live toward others.  Now they may not always appreciate it, and others may not appreciate it, but there’s a peace of mind you should have in knowing that you’re living God’s way of life; and so that’s what it’s talking about here.

Grace and peace be multiplied, it’s not something we just receive, it’s something we’re to grow in,  God’s desire for us is that it be multiplied in our lives, that we grow in it, that it become greater as we go along and as we go forward.  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  And I think of what we have gone through, as what we have learned through the knowledge, the grace, the mercy… the mercy that God has given us and the world over the past two years.  …according as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory, in other words, to have or to receive glory, and virtue, this word ‘virtue’ meaning ‘excellence’.

And so again, the desire that God has for us to grow, to grow in knowledge, to grow in wisdom, to grow in these qualities, these characteristics that God gives us the ability to become a part of us; whereby we’re given exceedingly great and valuable promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature.  That’s why we talk about agape at times and God’s love; that we don’t have this naturally, it’s not in human beings and you can’t work it up!  You can’t think about it and somehow it become a part of your life; it’s something that comes as a result of obedience to God, yielding to God’s spirit, crying out for help of God’s spirit to live in you, and then you begin to experience these things.  And so we’re able to partake of a divine nature; not ours, but God’s, the more we yield to it.  So again, of God’s very nature, through the power of the holy spirit is what it’s talking about here.

…having escaped the corruption that’s in the world through lust.  How do we escape it?  Through repentance, being able to be forgiven of sin.  That’s the process of coming out of Egypt that God does for us spiritually.  So these Days of Unleavened Bread that are coming up are very much about what we’re talking about here, the ability to leave Egypt spiritually for us, the ability to come out of sin is that which God gives and provides the means and so forth.

And because of this, we should give all diligence; so it’s not something that just comes by sitting back in our easy chair, it’s something we have to think about, meditate upon.  That’s what it means; it means to think about it, to pray about things, to study, to listen.  Today we’re very blessed that we can go back and listen to sermons again or take a PDF file and read through it and learn things that we missed the first time through and build upon those things that God has given to us.

And so God says to put all/to give all diligence, effort and work, to add to, in other words, ‘to build upon’ is what it means in the Greek, faith with virtue; so that ability to believe… you know, it’s not just about the ability to believe and something that God just wants to give us all knowledge without purpose. The ability to believe the truth – it’s for a purpose, to add excellence to our life.  That’s what this word ‘virtue’ means, an excellence that comes from God that’s not of us.

…and upon virtue/excellence with knowledge; even more knowledge then because the more we add to these things the more we see and grow.  …and upon knowledge with temperance; self control, moderation, soundness of mind, balance in a godly way and what God wants us to have.  …and upon temperance with patience; and upon patience with godliness; and upon godliness with brotherly kindness; and so there’s no end.  There’s a continual growing process here, building and repeating the cycle over and over again.  It’s the process of growth.  …and upon brotherly kindness with charity; this word here is ‘agape’, Godly love, for if these things are to be in you and abound, and the word ‘abound’ here in the Greek means ‘to grow’; if you’re to grow, that’s God’s desire for you, and to be in you, so that they make you that you’re neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  On the contrary, God desires that we have these things multiplied in our life.

Verse 9 – But he/she who is lacking these things is blind; so if we don’t have these things working in our life, if they’re not there we’re actually blind; we can’t see afar off.  God says we have to have these things working in our life.  We have to be growing.  That’s one thing that’s awesome about God’s spirit: God’s spirit demands growth.  If we yield ourselves to God and His spirit we’re going to grow, it’s automatic if we do that.  And if we don’t, well, God says we’re blind and we can’t see afar off and has forgotten that he/she was purged from his/her sins.  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence, again, so we’ve seen it a couple times here, give diligence, apply yourself; strive not to be like Laodicea was and becoming lukewarm and filled; on the contrary, always having this hunger and this desire to grow and to learn more.

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and your election sure; because you’re not there until you’re there!  It’s a continual fight, a continual battle through life to fight against human nature, our own human nature.  …give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you are doing these things you shall never fall.  What a blessing, because in looking back I’ve known of so many who have fallen through time – came through a time when the whole Church fell, the whole Church of God, tens of thousands of people fell spiritually, we all did.  And since that time I’ve seen so many more people fall.  This would be a large group of people in the world today if everyone who ever came since the apostasy stayed. For it is by this abundant means that it is provided/supplied unto you to enable you to enter into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Verse 12 – Therefore I will not be negligent to continually remind you about these things, although you know of them, the same thing today in what we’re doing.  Today we’re going back and review, bring back to memory, bring back to mind things we’ve covered in past sermons, because by doing so there are things we can learn about how God moulds and fashions us – and the awe of it, how God builds one thing upon another, meticulously so!  And candidly, I’m dumfounded by all this, especially right now because of where we are.  We don’t know fully where or how God leads us to where we’re going – just like the Israelites when they left Egypt, they came up to the Red Sea: well, what are you going to do?  Where are you going to go?  Mountains on one side, the Egyptians on the other side and coming at you, and water on the other – where are you going to go?

And that’s the way it is with us.  We depend upon God to lead, guide and direct us – and God does.  We don’t know every step of the way.  We don’t know what’s going to happen. Two weeks, three weeks, four weeks from now, when certain events are going to take place, what certain things are going to happen that are going to affect our lives dramatically so.  Now, we have an outline of it, and the closer we get to certain things God give us more of an outline, but if you want to go back two years ago and see where we were back then we had no idea what was going to happen in the next two plus years to where we are today.  We had no idea!  We had no idea the things that God was going to reveal to His Church.  Thought the 50th Truth was basically it and look what God has given to us, look what God has given to His people since that time in such a short time.  Incredible, it truly is!

That’s why Peter says over and over again regarding those things having to do with God’s plan, God’s purpose, what is happening in God’s Church, he says, I’m not going to be negligent to continually remind you of those things although you know of them.  So we might know of certain things, but we forget portions or we don’t see all of it, how it ties together and how God’s hand is in it and how God is working…therefore I will not be negligent to continually remind you of such things in order that you can become established, more deeply established, fully established in the present truth. Where we are now!

Two years ago we were at a certain place in time.  There were certain things we could see and understand but we didn’t know fully what God was going to… how He was going to lead us, where He was going to lead us, what He was going to give to us.  If somebody would have told me at that particular time that this is what you’re going to be doing in a short time, in a year from now, two years from now, in some cases I would have thought they were crazy.  And yet I think back and look at some of these things and I think, “How awesome when God gives it, and there’s a purpose, and it’s God’s will, and from God it’s clear.”  Just like when you were first called and all of a sudden you saw the Sabbath, you saw God’s plan, 7,100 years, and you were in awe of it!

Yes, I think it’s fitting that as long as I am in this tabernacle/body that I stir you up by causing you to remember such things knowing that shortly I must put off this tabernacle/life of this body, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me.  It goes on, doesn’t it?  God shows us certain things.  He showed Peter. He told Peter that certain things were going to happen to him, he’s going to die and the way he’s going to die…and Peter believed it.  It is what it is.  So time goes on and things are very similar in that fashion.

So let’s go back now and be reminded of some of the sermons that led up to this time, because it’s awesome, it truly is.  The first sermon that we’re going to be reminded of first was entitled ‘1260 Days’.  It was given on December 13, 2008 just before the day that Laura and I officially before God began our specific commission as God’s two witnesses.  As a reminder, here is some of what was given in that particular sermon…and this is some of the introduction and other contents:

For those of us in God’s Church [so this is going back in time to that introduction] this day has been a little longer in coming.  Here we are again, but this time with the understanding of the 50th Truth that God has given us concerning the return of Jesus Christ on the Day of Pentecost of 2012.

This sermon today is simply entitled - 1260 Days.  ...at sundown on this Sabbath day we begin the count, the 1260 day count; and that certainly cannot be in every time zone around the world, but it is sundown Jerusalem time.

The last time I spoke on this subject it was rather unnerving.  I gave a sermon in Jerusalem entitled, ‘It has Begun – 1260 Days’.

Hmm...learned a little humility there; learned some things from God in that process there, a beginning process.  Everyone had to do the same - especially if you’d shared some of this information with friends and relatives, things that were written on the website and so forth.  But you know, if God has a purpose, if there’s a reason in how He reveals things, so be it; and you humble yourself and you go forward because the truth is the truth.

So I’m referring back to a time when we thought the job had begun, but God used that for us to search deeper, to understand, to learn what had happened and why things didn’t happen in the way that we thought they were going to, and He led us to an understanding of when Jesus Christ was to return; not on the Feast of Trumpets, but on the Feast of Pentecost.

Today I would like to start with what I started at the beginning of that sermon.  Let’s begin...

So this is going back in time now, back before this, when we first thought things were beginning then.

...this past Wednesday, the 16th, [speaking of April 16th of that year] I woke up in the city of Eilat, Israel, and that morning and that day I was agitated, anxious inside.  I did not know what the 17th would bring because it had already been written and I knew it.

In other words prophecies, things that were to begin in time and things we’d always believed about a ‘great tribulation’ and how it was going to begin; just like we, as a whole, had thought about the return of Jesus Christ.

In the sermon of the 29th of March I spoke about this First Trumpet and read what was written in ‘2008 – God’s Final Witness’ on page 118 – [and here is that portion];

The actual event will not be disclosed until it is time for it to happen.  As with all the Seals of Revelation, many of the specifics of each of the Seven Trumpets will not be revealed until it is time for the actual event to take place.

...this time I am not agitated, nor am I anxious, as I was the first go round.

...[Thankfully] God has given us all time to grow and be made stronger as we face and enter what is in front of us.  We are so much better equipped as a Church ...individually, on the website with the information offered, (and) with the elders and with the job (that’s) before them, and all the leadership of the Church.

A lot happened in that length of time before December after the 50th Truth was given; and it was a great trial upon a lot of people in God’s Church.  There were a lot of people who came very, very close to losing everything, truly, at that time; and so it tried us to the core of our being in many cases.

...Today Laura and I are back in Jerusalem.  As I mentioned back in April, I believe there is importance to us being here at the beginning of our job and at the end...   ...perhaps, and [even] hopefully so, we will not need to come back here until that time.

...Last Sunday the Harrell’s and us departed at the airport in Brussels, Belgium.  They were going to Atlanta, and rather than making the trip back to the U.S. and then back this way again at the end of the week, Laura and I went from Brussels to Cairo, Egypt.  Then on Thursday evening we flew from Cairo (up) to Israel.

...All of this is important as it has (really) sharpened my understanding, conviction, and commitment for the job ahead with far greater determination than I had before.

And so as I look back and think about some of these things, perhaps because of experiencing them, but still talking about them in sermons, I am truly in awe and dumbfounded at what God gave at that particular time, because God moulds and fashions us to take each step ahead, to continue to move forward and how we’re able to do that.  And I think of what God gave at this time – very important things that I’m going to continue to cover here – but again, a reminder to all of us.

...I have been blessed with a perspective and a vision that I did not have to the same degree before (we went to Egypt).  This means that God has given me more of a measured, objective assessment of the job in front of us concerning the purpose and comparative importance of all the elements involved in the coming events and why it must be so for the Church, for my wife and me as God’s [two] end-time witnesses and prophets, and for Satan and his demons... and why things must be exactly as God has determined for this world and for all the people in it.

Sometimes in God’s Church it’s hard for us to grasp, on a continuing basis, the big picture of everything!  The big picture of all that’s taking place and what God is working with.  God is always and very powerfully so working with His people, with the Church, moulding and fashioning first and foremost.  And as we get closer and closer to the end there are things that God moulds and fashions in preparation for this end, and a big part of that, as we’ve covered in the Feast at different points in time, especially this past year, is about Satan and those angelic beings that followed him, that chose to follow him and became demons.  And those battles that have continued on through time have been very much involved in what’s happening at this end-time; and so I learned a great deal by going through all of this, about some of those things, and God revealed more things about that and led us up to greater understanding as time went on – about what was taking place, what was transpiring and why.

Going on, next part covered here....

There are going to be many surprises (as we go) ahead of us.... things that cannot yet be given….

Because it wasn’t time yet.  Things to take place in God’s Church, things in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ, things in preparation for a world that God is establishing, things to prepare for and things to be taken care of that started clear back at the very beginning with Adam and Eve – things that needed to be addressed and brought out ahead of time, things about leaving Egypt, being freed from Egypt, that which is in the mind in human beings and that has existed for 6,000 years because there are things that have been passed down from generation to generation, things that Satan has helped to perpetuate and stir up in the lives of everyone on earth in the past 6,000 years to one degree one way or another.

Reading from the posting again…

There are going to be many surprises (as we go) ahead of us.... things that cannot yet be given, but will be given in their proper time.  You must always remember (when I make comments like this) that there is spiritual warfare that will continue on until the end....  I say surprises because amidst of the evil that will befall this earth due to man’s inhumanity to man, and the evil (that) Satan and the demons will do, there will be many good things that God will do with those whom He is calling into the new Millennial age of His Church, and even deliverance within the scattered nations of Israel may be greater....

I had no idea when I said that what was going to follow in the sermons we’re going to talk about here.  I had no idea!  Until you go back sometimes and you realize where God’s leading the Church, and you go back and you look and you think, “Dumbfounding that God was telling us things He was preparing us for, not knowing what they were, not knowing what this meant.”  I didn’t know what this meant!  Incredible!

Today I need to bring you up to date by going over a bit (little) of the sharpening of this perspective (that) God has given me by telling you a little bit about our trip to Egypt.  First, it’s important to discuss the vast difference between Egypt and Israel... the scattered nations....  Blessings, not because of how great the people are, but because God has simply blessed certain nations at the end for a purpose....

This is, again, a very important time of year because when you talk about Egypt, when you talk about the beginning of a great kingdom that was on this earth for such a long time, long before a period of time that they were spoken of in prophecy, before things were given to Daniel, such as the statue that was built, constructed, and the great kingdoms of the earth and so forth.  This period of time had already passed, wasn’t being discussed in all of that, and yet had a profound impact on the world to come because of the profound impact that Satan had upon it.  Amazing what took place and what went out to the world from Egypt.  Great, incredible that God uses it in a symbolic way of sin, of that which Satan has given to mankind, of that which man has to fight against and come out of, a nation, of thinking, a mindset.

...The Egyptians are a people steeped in history – of days long gone by. [Talked about] the Nile, the Pharaoh’s, the pyramids.... In so many ways she (Egypt) is indicative of all nations on earth.... people filled with pride and who/whom they believe (that) they are.

The way people think about their nation; exists around the earth.  Travel from one place to another and the flags that people wave, the way they think about their place where they live, their home, their area, their region, the pride that goes along with that; sometimes then looking down upon others around them - man’s mind toward mankind.

...and while in Egypt a powerful truth was magnified [in other words] for me, of Satan’s deception and influence upon mankind through the history of the Pharaoh’s and their false religious beliefs.... things... that could only have come from Satan... and not the imaginations of men.

And it’s carried through history because Satan is the author of so many of these things, obviously the religions and the thought in the mind and the things that he began to work with so long ago.  And this has been a very powerful asset and tool that God revealed in a very powerful way, especially as we were going through the Museum there in Cairo and had a tour guide that was going through there (a bunch of people get into a tour area), and they start talking about some of the things of history.  Dumbfounding when you begin to see Satan and what he has done and what he did to people and the beliefs that they had for so long.  Incredible!  And you begin to see a greater picture for all of mankind in things that God is doing with that being at the end.

...These experiences Laura and I have shared are so very important to the vision and right perspective we must have for the job (that’s) in front of us.  I had no idea the value of this trip and simply saw it as an opportunity for additional learning concerning past history and a keener Biblical appreciation of the past that involved this particular region of the world...

But God used it in a very powerful way to prepare us for sermons that were to come; some very powerful ones that were given this past year at the Feast of Tabernacles concerning that being and what’s going to happen to him.

...but it was so much more.... ...led by God and blessed by God for what lies ahead.

Going on in that same sermon....

Toward the end of the trip we had already visited all the important areas around Cairo and did not have time to go to any other regions, so I had some extra time to catch up on some things, one of those concerned some editing and writing I wanted to do for some things to be added to the website, especially the Church website.

...I have mentioned this because one item that I edited had to do with one subject that was being added to the website...along with many others that were being added that were going to be edited.  It concerned one of the two witnesses and it also showed me a need that I had to perform something that I did not do back in April while in Jerusalem.  I would like to read you that edited portion that will be added to the ‘Topics’ section.

Women – as Elders

A little over two years ago and look where that led us.  Look  where that which had to take place at the end-time, and God opening that door, began to give us understanding of something that needed to be, that God wanted to have addressed in a greater way with more revelation – not just one person, but many to follow.  Incredible!

Women – as Elders

Based on the practice [principle] of the New Testament Church and the teachings of the apostle Paul, the Church of God-PKG has not ordained women as elders (ministers) in the past (1 Corinthians 14:34 and 1 Timothy 2:12).

However, one woman has been chosen by God to be a prophet in this end-time, as well as one of His two witnesses as explained in the topic, "Witnesses - 2."

When it comes to government in God's Church, she will be over all ministers in the final 1260 days before Christ's return (except those final 3 1/2 days). The only exception to this is that she will not be over the other end-time prophet who is God's spokesman and physical pastor of His Church.

At that time I didn’t know something else that God was going to reveal, that He gave me understanding of…that I was an apostle, and became convicted of that.  Things that, candidly, in times past I’ve refused, rejected, said it would never happen, wrote in the first book that Mr. Armstrong was the last apostle.  I believed that with all my being, just as much as I did that Jesus Christ was going to return on Trumpets.  But you know, through time you look back, you read Mr. Armstrong’s writings, you read my writings – there are things that change.  There are things that God reveals in His plan and purpose and it’s in God’s hands to do so, and we follow God; doesn’t change who we are, doesn’t change the jobs that God has given one iota!

I think of people who found fault with Mr. Armstrong concerning Pentecost and other things that took place through time and they lack understanding: God’s in control.  It’s God’s timing and God’s purpose when He does and as Mr. Armstrong so often did (which I thought was awesome), all through his time he said that when God shows an error to His Church one of the things that shows it’s His Church – is that we follow God, we’ll change, we’ll repent.  And that’s a powerful thing to understand.  God’s Church will change; follow wherever God’s leading us at any moment in time.

So when we came to a time where God gave us understanding that Jesus Christ is going to return on Pentecost, not on Trumpets, things changed, timing changed.  People can say, “Well, how can you be a minister?  How can you be a prophet?”  Doesn’t change a thing!  It’s in God’s control, God’s hands, and God’s responsible, God’s in control.  In time people will understand.

Reading more of what was written here....

...in accordance with this there has been an ordination in God’s Church today.  It is that of an ordination to a prophet that I did just before services.  It did come as a bit of a shock to my wife, but it is where God has placed her.  ...after sunset here in Jerusalem our job together begins as the final 1260 days begins.

Incredible! Doing it by faith, going where we’re going by faith, following God, having things revealed to us that we don’t fully understand, not understanding things about the ‘great tribulation’ yet that God has yet to reveal, or had yet to reveal.

In that sermon we went over some verses in Psalms that also had much to do with where we are now entering into a very special fast for this weekend.  As we have humbled ourselves before God, desiring as we always do in a fast...  What do you do in a fast?  Desire to draw closer to God.  That’s what a fast is about.  First of all, it’s about our relationship with God.  It’s about us desiring to draw closer to God, to become more fully at one with God, to repent of sin, to be able to ask God to help cleanse us and to focus more upon the things we need to change and grow in – in relationships especially because this is where we’re tried the most sometimes.  It’s in our relationships that so often we can see to the degree that we’re yielding our self to God, truly.  How we treat each other, how we talk to each other, things we say and so forth.  This is where they’re so often revealed!

It isn’t about the amount of knowledge we have, the amount of prophecy we comprehend and so forth.  Corinthians talks about (the love chapter), it’s about charity, it’s about how we love each other that counts – that we speak with ‘tongues of angels’ God says.  ‘And though we have all knowledge, all prophecy...’ and so forth, what good does it do if we don’t live this way of life toward other people?  And so that’s what it boils down to – how we live toward one another.

And so again, we have been fasting to draw closer to God; and we have other petitions in that that we’ll talk more about on the Sabbath before Passover. Awesome where we are, what we’ve been doing, what we’re seeking to do and the fast that we’ve entered into; to humble our self before God, to draw closer to God, to cry out to God.  This is a part of what it talked about in Peter about ‘diligence’; diligence that we apply to this way of life, wanting God to live in us, crying out to God to live in us more, to grow more, to become more at one with Him.

So again, desiring to draw closer to God, repent of sins, and become more fully at one with God so that we can see more fully His will.  And that’s a process.  The closer you draw to God the more we can grasp His will, the more He gives us the ability to see what His will is, and then more fully yield to His will, seeking to do it.

So again, this fast also has much to do with God revealing His will to us concerning where we are.  We’ve been talking about that, becoming more at one with God.  See, what Moses did wasn’t easy.  What Moses did, as time went on, with the things of the plagues and with the death of all the things of Egypt that began to take place there, and then the firstborn...all the things that took place; it wasn’t an easy thing to do but it was the right thing to do before God.  He was in agreement with the purpose and the will of God, in this particular case to free Israel from Egypt, and that shouldn’t miss us in any fashion or form as to where we’re going and what God is doing with His Church and with this world.  It’s where we are in time.  God is delivering the world from 6,000 years of captivity, being held captive to sin, removing the one who stirred all this up, removing the one who has been behind everything to push mankind into sin, to keep sin constantly before us, twist and distort our minds, to influence people to have ideas of things about religions, the confusion that’s in the world.

Sometimes when I write a new posting I think about people who read it, like the one that’s on there now. I understand why they don’t believe I’m a prophet, who would in this world the way the world is, unless God humbles them, unless God brings them to a time that they’re wanting answers and He finally gives them something in the mind (which is the power of His spirit to begin to see something) they can’t accept such a thing!  There are so many weird religions in the world!  There are so many different ideas out there!  And so when someone comes along and says they’re a prophet of God they think, “They’ve got something wrong with them!”  That’s what people think!  “There’s something seriously wrong with these people!”  Sometimes they are family members - and they worry; they genuinely worry about their loved ones and what they’re doing because they can’t comprehend something like this.  Satan’s done a number!

We were talking about that last night.  Prophet?  What kind of a reputation does that have? Not something I really like to banter around too much.  Somebody asks me what I do, I don’t even necessarily tell them at times that I’m a minister.  Sometimes I do.  It depends on why they’re asking, if it’s just a matter of casual conversation, or whatever, but I have to judge that too and ask God for help to know when to say it and when not to.  Generally I might tell them that but I don’t go on and tell them I’m a prophet.  God will bring people to that!  I’ve done it in the book, that’s my job.  I had to do that, which I really didn’t want to do that either.  These images and thoughts that people have in their mind.

We see and understand very powerfully that God has to give this to people.  God has to place this in the minds of people to begin to see, to begin to want answers, to begin to understand, “Yeah, these things are true!  Maybe there is a prophet on the earth!”  Incredible what’s going to take place and what we’re living through.  But we can understand where people are coming from. That’s why we have to be careful what we share, that we don’t share too much, that you don’t share some things.  You definitely don’t tell them your private prayers and your prayer life (as we were also talking about last night); there are some things you just don’t tell people.  If you told them about some of the things you’ve been told to pray for and asked to pray for they might look for a straight jacket for you.  They’d begin to think you’re evil.  But some of these same ‘nice’ people in the world, some of the ‘christian’ people in the world... you ask them, “What about Moses?  Should he have been put in a straight jacket?  Should he have been hated by people?  Do you not understand?  Do you not respect what he did in life?  Do you not grasp that what he did came from God, was inspired by God, moved by God?”  They don’t think that way.  They just can’t put it together; that’s why they have to have God’s help and God’s spirit to be able to see these things – just like you did.  When the time was right, when it was there, you could see, you could understand.  And God’s working with thousands, tens of thousands, millions today preparing them for a specific moment in time, just as He created the universe, very meticulously did it all, has the power to do it. It’s hard for us to comprehend!

So again, this fast also has much to do with God revealing His will to us concerning where we are and what is to follow; so that we be of a spirit, a mind to receive what God has for us next.  To receive the things that God gives to us as we continue to go forward, to help us to be better prepared to do what is ahead of us as well, that we might be more fully at one with Him, praying more fully at one with Him concerning His will.  Because that outline of prayer, ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your will be done...’  Have to know what His will is.  To know how to pray according to His will?  The desire, the purpose is that we agree with His will, that we are a part of His will, that we are at one with Him, that we’re striving to live that on this earth!

And so again, this sermon today is entitled ‘A Fast With Judgment’.  Incredible!

Let’s review some of the verses in Psalms that we covered in that particular sermon that day before the 1260 days began to put the entire story flow together that brings us to now.

Psalm 106:1 - Praise the Eternal. Give thanks unto the Eternal; hopefully we do that when we fast, that we’re able to focus more fully on what God has placed before us, what He has made of our lives, the character, the mind that is being moulded and fashioned within us; for He is good: for His mercy endures forever. His mercy!  His mercy is at the forefront!  God wants us to grasp mercy.  When it comes to judgment, God wants us to understand mercy, because that’s the most important part, truly, of judgment – that it must be mixed with mercy in a very powerful way - Not of vengeance, not of anything that comes from human nature, not of selfishness, but mercy.

Who can utter the mighty acts of the Eternal? Who can show forth His praise?  As we grow we come to appreciate and understand things about God, we come to understand and see things, why He does things the way He does.  We learn from that, we learn how to deal with one another, how to work with one another, how to love one another.

Blessed are they who keep judgment, interesting what this word means in the Hebrew.  It means ‘to observe, guard’, it’s the word for ‘watchful’, to keep watch of judgment, to be spiritually alert to judgment.  How we judge matters at home, in our family, on the job, in our relationships; and so much of how we do that is going to involve mercy.  Blessed are they who keep judgment, and he who does righteousness at all times. Remember me, O Eternal, with the favour that You offer Your people: Yes, visit me with Your salvation; and God has!  We have been blessed, so blessed!  Very few in 6,000 years have tasted what we have tasted of.  Candidly, very few who are going to be a part of the 144,000...well, actually when it comes right down to it they haven’t tasted of what you have tasted of.  They were not given what you’ve been given.  Abraham didn’t have what we have.  Abraham didn’t have what God gave when Jesus Christ came to this earth, that He gave to the disciples and the things that were written in the New Testament.  Abraham didn’t have that!  Moses didn’t have that!  All through time you look at different ones!  Peter and Paul didn’t have what God gave to Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong wrote a book, ‘Mystery of the Ages’, that put things together in way that had not been understood to that degree, to that level, to that plane spiritually before that. And then we’ve grown beyond that now, what God has given to us.  And it just continues on like that through time.  We are so blessed!  And it’s truly difficult for us to even grasp that, or to appreciate it to the level we really should; and we should seek to do that, to appreciate that before God, to remind ourselves, to be reminded of these things and to thank God more fully, more deeply with greater conviction.

Verse 5 - That I may see the good of Your chosen, and that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation; I think about where we are, the things we get to see, the good of Your chosen, the ones that God is going to call, those that are chosen now, those who have opportunity now to continue on – that what we share together with each other as we go forward, the Family that we are together and the Family that God’s going to bring in to make us far greater!  And I think of the Family that we’re going to have added to us very shortly - May 27, 2012 - can’t even comprehend it!

...and that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, and that I may rejoice/glory with Your inheritance. It’s what it’s talking about!  It’s talking about what’s coming; looking forward to these times and here we are – we live it!  We’re living it!  People talked about it, they wanted to know.  We can’t grasp that.  Daniel wanted to know: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, King David, even Mr. Armstrong.

Verse 6 - We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

And so we look at our own lives and we have to be honest before God and understand we still have sin; but thank God we can be forgiven of it if we continue to fight it and ask God for help to conquer it and to be forgiven of it whenever it pops up; because it pops up!

Verse 7 - Our fathers did not understand His wonders in Egypt; and they did not remember the multitude of His mercies; it’s hard to grasp sometimes.  The world is totally ignorant of God’s mercies, and sometimes in God’s Church it’s hard for us to grasp, the magnitude of God’s mercy and what He wants us to glean from that.  Going on...but provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless He saved them for His name's sake, that He might make His mighty power to be known.  And God is getting ready to do that again, except now, in a very powerful way we get to share in this as we go forward.

Verse 9 - He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up: so He led them through the depths, and through the wilderness. And He saved them from the hand of him who hated Him, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.  And all these things have symbolism in them.  Egypt, Satan... Satan who doesn’t want you to become a part of the Church.  Satan fights against these things.  Satan who wants to take you away.  Satan who wants to deceive.  These things that Satan strives to do.  That’s why it’s so, so awesomely important to stay so close to God.  That’s why fasts are so important like this, because our hope and our strength is, ‘Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.’ Truly!

Verse 11 - And the waters covered their enemies: and there was not one of them left. Then they believed His words; and they sang His praise.  That’s chapter 15 of Exodus but by the end of that chapter they were already murmuring.  Doesn’t take too long – murmuring!  But for a little while you go through the Red Sea and you believe, for a little while.  We hold onto some things for a little while.  That’s why it’s good for us, even with God’s spirit, to go back and review and see and be dumbfounded by how God leads us.

Verse 13 – But they soon forgot His works; and they would not wait for His counsel: But instead they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.  We have that kind of nature, even with God’s spirit, and we have to fight against it.

Now, the next sermon that was given on December 20, 2008, the first to fall within the 1260 days, was entitled, ‘God’s Witness is Ending – Part 1’.  We’re going to review some of the highlights of that sermon.

This year of 2008 on the Roman Calendar is nearly over... ...it is appropriate for a final witness to mankind about mankind that God has used man’s primary end-time calendar and the complete year of 2008 to serve as a final witness of 6,000 years of human history.

....that is why God inspired the writing of the book entitled ‘2008 – God’s Final Witness’.

...little did we know, little did I know the incredible significance of that title, let alone what is written in the book....

...we’re going to finish this year – at least the next two sermons – with a new series entitled, ‘God’s Witness Is Ending – Part 1’.  We are now down to the time when God will reveal whether this is His work or not, whether He inspired this book with such a title or not, whether Laura and I are God’s two end-time witnesses or not.   ...It would be good to preface what we are going into today by reminding everyone that we thought we were at this point nearly 8 months ago in mid-April.  You need to have a clear view of the big picture in all this.

...It was God’s purpose that we go through what we have [what we have gone through in other words] over the past 8 months...

...it has been a great lesson for us.

Because it was about us!  It was about a continual moulding and fashioning that God was doing in our life.  And what value do we place upon those things that try and test us, that refine us, that help us to grow?  Because you see, after we went through that I saw a great surge forward in growth and maturity in God’s Church; that’s what I saw.  Because I saw people having to humble themselves in a very great way before God, as we do when we go through such things.  And in a proper response toward God, God can then give us more!  And that’s what He did!  We became more at one with God!  We learned to wait on God; we learned to look to God more in our lives.  I believe that with all my being, that the Church learned mighty lessons going through that period of time.  It wasn’t easy, and growth doesn’t come easily.

It was God’s purpose that we go through what we have over the last/past 8 months...

...it has been a great lesson for us but it is greater than that because this entire past year has been a final great witness of mankind and his attitude toward God....

...God has given one year, the year of 2008 as a time that sums up the past 6,000 years...

...it is [about] God’s true witness to mankind and (God’s) true witness of man’s pride filled attitude toward God in response to what God has told him.

...can we grasp the magnitude of God’s final witness that He has given over the past year?

Hopefully now that we’re at the end of the year we can begin to see it more clearly....

Reading from ‘God’s Witness is Ending – Pt. 2’

...as we discussed last week [in the previous sermon], the book title, ‘2008 – God’s Final Witness’ is indeed very significant as the entire year of 2008 is a final witness about mankind to mankind.  This entire year has been a final great witness of mankind and his attitude toward God.

It was pointed out to me a couple of times within this past week about what is written in the last page of the book. Let me read it to you....

When this book is published at the end of the summer of 2006, (with distribution in full swing in the fall), there will be a maximum time of two years remaining before the world will be plunged into the worst time of all human history.

...That time has begun with the beginning of a....  ...global economic meltdown and with the First Trumpet being blown.

By the fall of 2008, the United States will have collapsed as a world power, or it will have begun its collapse and no longer exist as an independent nation within six months after that time.  There is a marginal, six-month window of time that God has not yet revealed concerning this specific moment in time.  This will be revealed some time soon after the distribution of this book begins.

And the ‘some time soon’ [making comment at that time] is what God revealed in the 50th Truth.

The six-month window had been addressed in times past, that God had not yet revealed that it was somewhere between six to nine months... so even going back in time it turned out to be eight months...and then there was that we didn’t even understand.

So when it has all been laid out, everything has been affected by the change of eight months that we now understand as a matter of a change in the return of Jesus Christ not being on Trumpets but on Pentecost.

And that is Pentecost of 2012.

Let me now add to this concerning the statement ‘By the fall of 2008 the United States will have collapsed as a world power, or it will have begun its collapse and no longer exist as an independent nation within six months after that time.’  And now add to this time:  we did not know what would follow in the next few sermons that would lead up to God revealing His great mercy, extending time for mercy, because the process of the complete collapse would proceed forward.

What I’m talking about in this part here is what was then covered in the next few sermons about what God was leading us in and what we didn’t even grasp at that particular time is what has extended things even farther in time, because of something that God wanted us to understand and grasp about the period of ‘Times’ in ‘Time, Times, and a Half-a-Time’.

In this sermon God revealed to us the importance of some of the expression in the destruction of the ‘green trees and grass’, and the statement was made:

The First Trumpet is all about the beginning of judgment....for the final end-time...and it is about where it will lead.

So again, certain things here about the First Trumpet; it was at that time there that we discussed some of those things and brought them out in that particular sermon there.  It was very rapid in what God was giving us, a very quick order of things that were taking place, because we didn’t know when things would begin, how things would happen, how they would transpire and what God was doing.  We didn’t know yet what ‘Time, Times, and a Half-a-Time’ was really all about.  We still didn’t know, at that particular time, until later on, how it was to be counted, about the 280 days and what God had chosen to do and what God was doing through that period.

The next sermon to follow was on the Sabbath of January 3, 2009 and it was entitled ‘Fasting for Humility’.  I had forgotten that we fasted that soon after all this began, and that particular sermon there was entitled ‘Fasting for Humility’.  That was given before the two-day fast.  So here it is, the first Sabbath of January and we had entered into a fast that I’d totally forgotten about, cause all I can remember now was the two-day fast going back, because that stood out in my mind.  But here was a fast preparing us for things that were still happening and still going into.

In this particular sermon called ‘Fasting for Humility’ an important statement was made toward the very beginning of that sermon; here it is....

This fast and how we respond to the message of this sermon can be ever so important to much of what happens over the remaining 177 Sabbaths before Jesus Christ returns.

Just from that fast; preparing our minds and helping us to draw closer to God, and a desire (as I mentioned earlier why we’re fasting now), a desire to accept God’s will, a desire to humble ourselves before God; that we look to God to lead and guide and direct us, that we do it humbly so.  Not with pride and haughtiness!  Not with our minds made up that we already know what God should be doing, or that we’re interpreting things written in the book in our own way.  Let God reveal it! Let God in His time reveal it!

I’ll just say something now.  I wasn’t going to talk about this, but I think about a statement that was made about the United States not having a President.  It’s gaining momentum in the United States that we don’t have a legal President. Powerful!  Trump (some of you have heard the name), wealthy guy in the United States who’s talking about running for President is asking, “Just get this over with!  Show us a birth certificate!  Why don’t you show a birth certificate?”  And then it’s picked up on FOX News, begins to be discussed there where it’s been taboo to talk about this in the past.  And as one judge said, I believe on the Supreme Court, that basically if they were to address this it would destroy everything as far as the constitution, as far as how the government is set up because it’s too far into it.  Incredible!

So sometimes we have to wait on God.  Sometimes we have to wait for things to come to pass.  I remember something said a long time ago that I’m truly dumbfounded about still to this day, because it was said a long time ago; that what was destroyed in New York City would never be rebuilt before the return of Jesus Christ.  Bigger buildings than that have been built since that time, but because people can’t get along, and because of politics and because of other things, God’s not going to allow it and so it hasn’t happened.  It’s not going to take place.  If you know what I’m talking about: the seven towers that came down.  Can’t even get it built, can’t get it occupied, it’s not going to happen.

So we have to wait on God to reveal.  Just like the Bible.  Certain things that are written there sometimes and we think we understand.  We thought we understood what ‘great tribulation’ was.  We have some in this room that go back before the apostasy and we were taught, we believed, we had certain concepts about ‘great tribulation’ and when it began on the final 1260 days.  That’s why I was uneasy when all this began.  I was agitated inside.  That’s why I made those comments; because of what we believed so strongly so, of how it was to begin.  And then when it didn’t happen as was expected – shakes you.  You have to think about it – why?  Ask God.  You have to go before God and say, “Why?  What’s going on?”  And God used it to open up another door of understanding.  “No, it’s farther. Jesus Christ isn’t coming back on Trumpets; He’s coming back on Pentecost.”  ...and all the other things God gives to us.

And so if we are not presumptuous, if we are not self-willed, if we are of a humble spirit, God continues to lead us.  We have to swallow our own pride if there’s pride involved; because there really shouldn’t be any whatsoever because it’s not about us being right.  It’s about God being right!

We’re going to go through some sermons a little bit later where it talks about some of this, that when some things began to happen, even at this period of time in December what some people went through because they shared it with relatives and others.  And when things didn’t start out in a certain way it was like it was too hard.  It was like, “Well, I’ve told so many people, I’ve told different ones already and it makes me look bad...”  Why?  And so we learn, if we’ll yield ourselves to it, humility before God, because that’s what God treasures in us, a spirit of meekness and humility.  Because with that He can give us more, with that He moulds and fashions us.  The other is pride and God cannot work with pride.  That’s what we have to repent of.  That’s what these Days of Unleavened Bread that are coming upon us are all about – pride.  Sin puffs up.  It’s pride!  Being lifted up!

I can’t stand it when people have their head high in the air.  Don’t have to look too far to see an individual like that; but when I see that I loathe that spirit and that attitude of mind.  It’s evil.  It’s not good. Pride is ugly before God and people will do horrible things when they’re filled with pride.  We have 6,000 years of proof of that.

So going on talking about that particular statement again...  So things were added.  So again, in this sermon God revealed to us the importance of some of the expression of the destruction of the green grass and so forth.

As I was saying earlier, from the introduction of the sermon ‘Fasting for Humility’ it says....

Today is the third Sabbath since the First Trumpet of the Seventh Seal was blown.  Today is the first Sabbath of a new year of the Roman calendar.  Today we’re humbling ourselves before God; we are fasting.

...It is indeed so appropriate that we’re fasting and humbling ourselves before God.... because we acknowledge we are in the wilderness.  ...We are wandering through a desert as far as the world is concerned....

Truly – things were not happening as we thought they would start out, and that tries people.

God has taken us out of Egypt but we have not reached the Promised Land.  We are unique because we know how long it is.... before we can see God’s Kingdom coming to this earth, but nevertheless we’re wandering.

...We do not know where to turn or when to turn.  We do not know when to move forward and when to stand still....

The point being is God has to tell us, and He does Sabbath by Sabbath by Sabbath.  He meticulously leads and guides and directs us.  That’s why we’re going back and looking at all this that started then, to see how it projects so awesomely forward to today.

...so we humble ourselves before God and we know He will lead us in all these things.

...We have more fully learned not to trust in ourselves in judging how God leads us.

....We have learned more fully not to be offended in God’s way of directing our steps....

In other words, like the change in Feast observance for 2008 as an example that was brought out then.

Not to be embarrassed due to pride because of the way God leads us....

In other words, the timing, again of the revelation of the 50th Truth.

And God has been humbling us so we can more clearly see the need to follow Him in greater conviction of unity and oneness.

So again, as it was brought out there, we cannot afford to be in disagreement or be judgmental of His guidance; because that’s what we’re tested in sometimes.  It’s a matter of how God leads, guides and directs us.

So today we are fasting, [referring to back then], we are seeking to humble ourselves before God and seek more fully His forgiveness, which means we accept more fully the depth of our sins and our guilt for how we, each of us individually, have let down.

Awesome! So true!  Then we had ‘Fasting for Humility – Part 2’, that was January 10th.  Then finally we projected forward to January 31st entitled ‘A Great Fast’.  So in that particular sermon there, reading from it....

So what is the purpose of our prayers, petitions, and fasting before God?  It is in like manner as Elijah prayed, that God would bring many more to receive a special calling from Him...that many more be brought to repentance and acceptance of the truth through the timing, repetition and power from unleashing far mightier Thunders...and as well, the Trumpets ....that are before us... ....and all these now ready to be delivered in great awe and might.

So again, it was a matter of where we were in time, of humbling ourselves before God and what we petitioned God for; for 2 days of fasting.  Going on here....

Think about those Thunders and pray about them...

We’ve heard that just recently again.  Because you see, what happened here was that we didn’t grasp fully yet what God was placing in front of us and it was the matter of mercy that He wanted to show.  We did not understand the period of 280 days that followed and the matter of mercy that God was showing. We did not understand then even when that was given, that the matter of mercy and because of this fast, of what God was giving, that there would be a period of time called ‘Times’ that would be filled with mercy.  Yes, Thunders would continue, but not to the degree they would have otherwise happened at this time.  And so God led us to this particular two-day fast.

Think about those Thunders and pray about them... that they might be unleashed with greater power and awe upon others in order to bring about repentance and belief of the truth.

Before we focus on some of those Thunders that we need to be praying about I want to read some of what was written in the fourth chapter of the book just before the Thunders are revealed. [‘2008 – God’s Final Witness’ – pg 85]

God wanted the Seven Thunders to remain sealed until this very time as well.

God did all this as a part of a process through which He would reveal who one of His end-time witnesses was, the one through whom He would fully reveal all that John had written in the Book of Revelation concerning the end-time.

This is where we find ourselves right now in prophecy.  We are now responding to God’s purpose and will by entering this fast, faithfully and spiritually so.... for it is through all this that the work of two witnesses will have even greater power to help bring many more to repentance and acceptance of the truth; but all through a mighty process of being humbled before God.

I go back and read some of these things of where God was leading us. It was already God’s will.... You know, if you follow God you don’t do your will.  And some don’t understand that.  Some don’t understand what I wrote in the book about the Fifth Thunder because I make the comment that God gave me the choice to choose, to write certain things; and so He did. But the point of all of it was, that I brought out in sermons in the past, was that it wasn’t a matter of my will, it was a matter of something that God had already given that was a matter of His will and I’m in agreement with His will!

Look at Elijah and what he did.  Go back and look through time at things that different ones did through time – they weren’t self-willed!  They were led by God’s spirit!  God had a plan.  God has worked things out through time.  The fast of Esther, which we covered just before this particular sermon was given.  We went through a couple of sermons on the book of Esther, talking about what they did.  Dumbfounding!  They didn’t do everything by their own free will, they truly didn’t.  The idea of a three-day fast?  All these things, God led them by His spirit, just as He did with Moses. Now, people have a choice as to follow or not.  They have choices to make.  But you know what?  When God has a purpose and we love God and we want to be a part with what God is doing and we’re motivated by whatever it is we were motivated by, and as they were motivated by certain things...  Certain things that were said, that Mordecai said, even to Esther that pricked her heart because God was in it, because God was working with her and with Mordecai to do His will.

There’s a lot to learn by that, truly is, of going through the Bible and understanding that when there is a matter of self-will, if it’s a matter of self-will, separate and void of what God is doing, what good comes of it?  God has allowed some people to do certain things through time, but He’s always had to intervene to bring things full circle around to accomplish certain feats and certain things that had to take place.

Twelve tribes; you think that was an accident?  Some of that because of certain things that happened – God still brought twelve tribes out of it, and other lessons to be contained in it.  Couldn’t be six, couldn’t be four, couldn’t be three, because God had a plan!  And people were blessed to be a part of it.

Because sometimes if we’re not careful people can begin to think, “Well, where’s my choice in this then?  ...if it’s a matter of God’s will.”  Well, we have a choice as to whether we want to be a part of that or not.  Do you want to be a part of what God has planned for you?  Do I want to be a part of what God has planned for me from the beginning?  ...of a part in a 144,000?  You better believe it! There’s nothing greater than to be a part of what God constructs and a part of what God builds.  And so He blesses us to share in what He’s building, and we can resist it and choose to do something else - which, there are people who have done that – so be it, and they’ll not be a part and they’ll not live into eternity.

We belong to a very merciful, loving God and He knows what will make us the most fulfilled, the most excited in life by what we share in.  You don’t know.  God knows!  We don’t understand our own minds.  God has to show us our own mind, help us to understand how we think and why we think the way we do, and why we think different than He does, and then to make choices and changes if we want to yield our self to be at one with Him.  It’s an awesome thing, it truly is.  And even within the Church we’re only scratching the surface in understanding of all of that, truly; of what it means to be a part of God’s will, how blessed we are.  How blessed we are to make the choices and decisions we do that we want God, we want what He has placed before us, we want to yield ourselves for what His plans are, and the building and the construction of what He is building and making.

So again, choices all along the way, but God knows what’s best and that’s a matter of faith, that’s a matter of trust, that’s a matter of confidence to understand things about God so far beyond our puny little minds, our puny little selfishness.  We are selfish by nature!  We think, so often, that we know what is best for us.  We have, sometimes, certain desires of things we want to have that maybe isn’t what God says is good for us – and sometimes He backs off and lets us have what we want to have and we learn through the process and we mature and we grow because God has great mercy.

We have been so blessed to go through this process of sermons like this.  But please understand where we are in time and what took place back then, that God led us into a timing of understanding about mercy with things that followed.  We’re going to talk about some other sermons next Sabbath.  But again, things about timing, things about mercy, that God gave us two years of it; two whole years of mercy on this world.  Why?  To reveal things about Himself; and as we have come into being in agreement with God’s will in this, we are, as Moses was before Egypt, lifted up – because God says He is the One who is going to be glorified and esteemed in all these things.  And that’s what’s happening right now in the Church.  Because we’re a part of this God is going to use this powerfully so.  And I’ve tried to say this over and over again, but I don’t believe that we really grasp the depth of what it means that we fasted for two days and what God gave to this world, because it was His will!  It was His will that we participated in that in the beginning of 2009 because it was His will that He reveal the matter of mercy.

And now where we were back then is where we’re taking off now – if you understand - things that have already begun, the things that started in January, the things that I wrote about in this last posting.  It’s been dumbfounding, the Thunders that began to be louder in January, the things that happened up here in Queensland, the Brisbane area, but dumbfounding things that began to happen, and all the things that have happened since then.  And as I was going through that thinking about some of the things that have happened, I forgot... because it helped me to be inspired to write about...maybe by this time you’ve already forgotten about Christchurch and what happened there.  Because the quake in Japan was so great and because of what’s been going on there, I’d forgotten in my thinking about what happened in Christchurch – which in the scheme of things wasn’t that great, but it was still great for that part of the world, it was important to them and maybe some over here, I don’t know.  But in that area of the world, it shook people up over there, and since then things have gotten bigger and bigger.

The things going on in the Middle East – dumbfounding!  We are on a brink of time; of things where we thought we were two years ago.  God didn’t begin them because He was extending mercy and wanted us to grasp the importance of mercy and judgment.  That’s why the period of time that’s following right now of 40 weeks is so important to comprehend, about God’s judgment.  The sermons we’ve had that have led up to this week, to our fast and to the fast we’re getting ready to go into on Passover – very powerful indeed!  Because now we’re at that time that we thought we were two years ago.

But we have learned, and I hope you have learned in a very powerful way, things about God’s mercy.  It’s not about us!  It’s not about whether we’re right or wrong!  It’s about God, truly!  Think about those things; meditate upon those things.

~~~end

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