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Transcript

Well, good morning, brethren.

While you’re getting settled, I’m going to read an article to you. It will set up the topic of today’s sermon. Article is titled this, “How Many Hours Do Olympic Athletes Practice?” Okay, maybe you’ve wondered that before. Maybe you haven’t. I’m going to tell you anyway. Whether you have or haven’t wondered, I’m going to tell you how long Olympic athletes practice in order to become so good at their sport.

“It’s no secret that Olympic athletes are some of the hardest workers out there. People who go to the Olympics don’t just love the sport they’re competing in, they live it literally and often dedicate most of their life toward trying to reach their goal of winning an Olympic medal. That is definitely the case for those participating.” Now, this is a little bit old article for the 2018 Winter Games. But how many hours do Olympic athletes really practice before the big competition? The answer is a little more complicated than you might think. There isn’t a specific training schedule that every Olympic athlete follows. The amount of time spent practicing is different for everyone.

That makes sense. It varies based on the sport and athlete and the time of year and so forth, but of course, there’s an average as well. A 2008 article in Forbes says that it’s common for Olympic athletes to spend “Four to eight years training in a sport before making an Olympic team. They plan out their training schedules years in advance so that they can work towards and hit specific goals.” Again, though, the amount of practice depends on the athlete, USA gymnast, Simone Biles, has previously said that she trains for thirty-two hours a week with one day off. Gymnast Gabby Douglas said that she trains from 8:00 AM to noon, takes a break for lunch, then continues training until dinner.

Literally, it’s their lives. That’s what they do. Michael Phelps told CNN that he practices every single day in the pool for three to six hours doing separate exercises on dry land, four to five days a week. Cyclist Kristin Armstrong said that she rides twenty to twenty-five hours a week practicing for ten days before taking a break. Before the 2012 London Olympics, a study came out that said that some athletes had put in ten thousand hours of practice before the games. Well, it seems like all athletes do is train, it’s not true.

A study done by Case Western says Psychologist Brooke, so-and-so, and her team looked at the practice and resulting performance of nearly three thousand athletes in thirty-four separate studies, and what they found was surprising. Practice only accounted for eighteen percent of the performance. What else do athletes do to prepare for the Olympics? For one thing, they sleep, they get enough rest. It’s incredibly important for the athletes. Their body is needed, or they won’t be able to train at optimum level. They also have to stay on top of their diet, to eat right for training, and keep themselves hydrated. Then there’s the mental prep.

Literally, it’s an all-consuming thing to prepare for the Olympics. Whether they’re sleeping at night, eating during the day, training, everything that they’re doing is toward that one goal. They need to be in the right state of mind to stay on top of their game. All in all, it seems like Olympic athletes’ training is a pretty nonstop job. They seem to practice about the same amount of time. The rest of us go to full-time jobs, but really, when they’re training for the Olympics, their mind is on that goal all the time.

I think about you’ve seen these world’s strongest men, some of these giant people. Brian Shaw is one of the world’s strongest men, four times the World’s Strongest Man, and he weighs four hundred and forty-five pounds. At least at his peak, he did. He would eat... Part of his training... a lot of his training, aside from doing a lot of weightlifting and throwing heavy objects around, is eating twelve thousand calories a day. Now, you might think that the training is the hard part. No, no, no, the eating is the hard part. Eating that many calories every day is a task... is an almost insurmountable task. But that’s what he had to do in order to achieve the title World’s Strongest Man four times.

What does that have to do with the Feast of Tabernacles? Oh, wow, look. Look what’s down here still?

We’ll have to remove that after services. Okay. So after devoting so much time and energy to the Olympic training, these massive endeavors, what did they achieve? What did they get? What was their reward at the end? Brian Shaw, he’s a really nice guy, spent all his life focusing on this goal of becoming the World’s Strongest Man. What did he achieve in the end? He achieved a title. He achieved probably some medals, maybe trophies or something. He probably got a good bit of money from it. He certainly got some fame, and he got some press.

You could say that’s true for all athletes. And it doesn’t even need to be athletes. We could be talking about a great mathematician. What do they seek for in life? What’s the great reward of being one of the world’s greatest mathematicians? Maybe it’s to receive the Nobel Prize or something. That is the goal. They have a goal at the end, but it involves just trophies, titles, press, fame. That’s it, until the next World’s Strongest Man comes along, who takes the title, who beats the records. And then the person who worked their entire lives focusing on that one goal, basically lost it all at that moment.

The rewards in this life are very temporary. Turn over to Psalm forty-nine. People spend their entire lives devoted to achieving certain goals so that they can receive that reward, that great reward, of a gold medal, that great reward of being called the world’s smartest man, maybe. But what does God say about the rewards that we get in this life? Human beings, what’s on God’s mind regarding these rewards? Psalm forty-nine and verse sixteen, we’ll read. “Be not you afraid when one is made rich...” Okay. A lot of people seek riches, and that’s part of their reward. “...when the glory of his house is increased. For when he dies, he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him.”

We can’t take physical rewards into the grave with us. No medals, no titles, nothing. All the rewards in this life are temporary, physically speaking, of course. When you die, you can’t take those achievements to some afterlife because we know that when we die, we go into the grave and we’re waiting for the resurrection. So these rewards that people seek in life are temporary. Like the very booths that we dwell in here at the Feast, temporary dwellings. They’re not permanent. They don’t last forever. But I could ask the question, brethren, what about our rewards?

Christians, we all spend lifetimes enduring trial after trial for God’s purpose. You could say that we’re like those Olympians. We’re like those great mathematicians who spend our lives focused on a great goal, but our reward is very different. We could ask is our reward temporary like their rewards. Turn over to First Corinthians chapter fifteen. First Corinthians chapter fifteen. I’ll just read one verse here. Paul said in First Corinthians fifteen and verse nineteen, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”

In other words, if our reward is just the same physical rewards that all mankind has, the token trinkets, the gold medals, the titles, the money that people will be throwing in the streets later on because it’s worthless and useless, doesn’t help them, if our reward in this life is that, it’s temporary, then we, brethren, are of all men most miserable because we live the hardest kind of life. We live a life of trial, after trial, after trial, serving God, but getting no physical reward for it in this life. We’re not being blessed by the world around us. We’re not getting titles, money, gold medals, for being Christians in this life. We are not.

Our reward is out ahead. We have to see our reward in the future, in the distance. That’s why Paul said, “If we get nothing after this life, if we get nothing for the lives that we have to live, the suffering that we have to endure as Christians, we are truly, of all men, most miserable.” But that’s not the case. Let’s turn over to Second John chapter one, excuse me, Revelation twenty-two. Revelation twenty-two. Revelation twenty-two and verse twelve we’re reading.

Revelation twenty-two, twelve. We can pick it up in verse eleven, verse nine. “And he said unto me, See you do it not. For I am your fellow servant, of your brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God. And he said unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; he that is filthy let him be filthy still; he that’s righteous, righteous still; and he that is holy let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly: and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Every person at a point, saints, primarily, is what this is talking about, saints will be rewarded at a point.

Our reward isn’t until then. Our ultimate reward isn’t until then. We can be blessed in this life. We can receive many blessings in certain smaller rewards in that regard. We’re rewarded and blessed every single time that we serve other people. It’s more blessed to give than to receive, but our true reward in its fullest sense comes later. God is going to give it to us at the end of our lives, at His return. And our works in this life will not be in vain. Our pursuit that Paul talked about, we would be of all men most miserable. We’re not of all men most miserable because we have that reward out ahead. That’s why we’re not miserable. If we didn’t have that reward, we’d be miserable. That’s what Paul says.

So let’s turn over to Second John chapter one. A few pages back. Second John chapter one, and there’s only one chapter, so. Second John, and we will read one verse. Verse eight says this. “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.” That’s our goal, brethren, is the full reward that John talked about. Yes, we are like Olympians. We have to spend our whole lives, whether we’re sleeping, whether we’re eating, whether we’re in communication with people in the world, brethren in the church, fellowshipping, whatever we’re doing in our jobs, we are full-time Christians.

We spend actually more time being Christians than the Olympians train for the Olympics. We don’t ever get a day off, even the Sabbath. We’re always Christians. We’re always at work. We’re always doing our work, and God is going to reward us for that. And He says, not just to reward us, He’s going to give us our full reward. So while we’ve heard many or all of the points that we’re going to discuss today, we’re going to go over our reward. We’re going to cover the great reward that you and I get, that we’re striving for. It’s a much more powerful and permanent reward than what the world gets.

We’re not looking for gold medals. We’re not looking for press. We’re not looking for fame. We’re looking for something and many things far greater than that. And brethren, we’ve probably heard a lot of what I’m going to talk about today in various messages, but I would venture… I guess we’ve never heard them all put together in such a way where your minds will be blown by the end of this. Putting this message… I actually couldn’t wait to give this message because it’s so… going through these verses, it got me so excited for every one of you. And in the very near future, we could all receive these very things we’re going to discuss today.

And we’re going to start small. We’re just going to start small with talking about how you can… let’s turn over to Revelation chapter fourteen... how we’re the only people… this is… we’re starting small, mind you. We’re the only people for the entire, out of all humanity that’s ever lived, who get to be in the one hundred and forty-four thousand. Okay, that’s a small point. Turn over to Revelation chapter fourteen, and let’s just begin reading. “And I looked, and, lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.” A hundred and forty-four thousand saints.

Now, there have been estimates of a hundred billion people that have lived on earth, but who knows with all the people, with all the babies who have died in the womb, with all of the abortions that you’ve seen around the world? You know, in today’s society, a lot more births actually occur, are able to come through, partly because of the advancements in medical technology. It helps. With C-sections and things of this nature, they can protect and save certain babies that they didn’t used to be able to save. So we see the birth rate, the number of babies who are able to come to birth today are higher in that regard, but people aren’t wanting to have children as much these days, which is just the nature of the end of the age.

But a hundred and forty-four thousand. Think about that number, and how minuscule it is in comparison to a hundred billion. It’s tiny. It’s absolutely tiny. But yet, brethren, we are training for that number, to be part of that number, one in those one hundred and forty-four thousand, for the rest of eternity. “And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders. And no man could learn that song except for the hundred and forty-four thousand which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women…”

These are the things that they did in their lives in order to be part of the a hundred and forty-four thousand. “…they weren’t defiled with women, they’re virgins. These are they which follow the lamb whithersoever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God.” We get to be in the one hundred and forty-four thousand firstfruits for all eternity. Never will anyone supplant us from being in the top one hundred and forty-four thousand.

That’s not because we’re so great, we’re just so wonderful that we could make ourselves part of that a hundred… No, God called us. It’s not because of us. It’s because God called us. “No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him.” God the Father is the one that calls us out of the world. When I came into the truth, I wasn’t seeking for truth. I wasn’t looking. It was like an anvil came out of the sky. All of a sudden my brother and I came across the truth and our eyes just went bug-eyed, wide open. What? Been lied to my entire life.

But brethren, the people who are not being called in this world don’t see that. They don’t see simple things that you and I can plainly read in the Bible that no man is ascended into heaven. We don’t go to heaven when we die. They can’t understand that because they’re just not being called yet. They’re just not being called into the hundred and forty-four thousand. They’re going to be called into the God family, don’t worry. They’ll have their opportunity. But brethren, you and I are in something very special, very unique. It’s an amazing thing to consider. And again, this is just the first of many, many points.

Let’s turn over to First Thessalonians four. What are you and I going to receive? First Thessalonians chapter four, pick it up around verse fourteen, maybe thirteen. “But I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,” the brethren who’ve died in ages past, “that you sorrow not...” Don’t sorrow for them. They’re done. Their place is settled. Think of it that way. It’s wonderful. “...even as others which have no hope.” We do have hope. That’s why we don’t need to sorrow. We, of course, mourn for a period when people die. We never want to see people die. Frankly, death is just a horrible, horrible thing that will be swallowed up in victory later on.

But let’s just keep reading in verse fourteen. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” This is part of your reward. If we die in the faith or if we’re alive unto that time when God is going to bring this to happen, we get to see God coming with all the saints. Let’s keep reading. “For this we say unto you that by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep.

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them,” all of them, God and all the saints, “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we be with the Lord forever. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.”

I’m comforting you with these words right now because this is your reward. We at a point get to meet the Father, and we’re the first to meet the Father. We’re the first for all mankind to meet the Father. It means to encounter the Father. Could you imagine encountering the Father with all the saints and so shall we ever be with the Lord? The one-hundred and forty-four thousand meet God in the air and are with Him for eternity.

In Revelation twenty-two, you can turn over there, it says here in Revelation twenty-two verses one to four. Not only do we get to meet the Father, we get to see Him as He is. It says here in Revelation twenty-two, one. “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, there was the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month.” We don’t see trees like this, are you kidding me? This tree that produces fruit every single month, different tree, different fruits. “And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

“And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see His face and His name shall be in their foreheads.” Brethren, what we get just to be in this one hundred and forty-four thousand, the first to be in God’s family, the first to see God, the first to watch Him come down, it’s an amazing thing. But again, we are just getting warmed up.

Let’s turn over to Revelation chapter two, a few chapters back. Let’s see a number of things that each of the church eras were told they’re going to be given, part of their reward. And it all is qualified by to him that overcomes, to him that overcomes, to him that overcomes. To him that trains their entire life for the Olympics, you’re going to get a gold medal at the Olympics. Well, to him that overcomes in Christianity.

Revelation two in verse seven says, “To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” There’s no trees like that today. Verse eleven. “To him that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death.” Verse seventeen. “To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving he that receives it.” God is going to give us these things. He’s going to give us a white stone that has a new name on it that we’ll all receive.

And again, in verse twenty-six. Revelation two, twenty-six. “And he that overcomes and keeps my works to the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with the rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I’ll give him the morning star.” We’ll come back and talk more about that point in a certain way in a while.

Chapter three and verse five. “He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment. And I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” Stunning. Verse twelve. “To him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.” We’re going to be a permanent fixture in new Jerusalem, “And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God. And I will write upon him my new name.”

We get God’s name, we get Christ’s name, and we get a new name. And verse twenty-one. “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne.” Brethren, we just saw there we’re going to get... one of them talked about how we’re going to get new Jerusalem. Which one was that again? Hold on one second. Yes, to Philadelphia, verse twelve. Three, twelve. “To him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he’ll go no more out. And I’ll write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven.”

Turn over to Revelation twenty-one. So much in some ways, these are the little things. These are, like, great, we get a new name, we get to have God the Father’s name written on us, and Christ’s name written on us permanently. We’re going to have access to new Jerusalem. Brethren, these are, like, little, tiny things that we get for eternal life. This is truly you almost have no idea where this is going to be going. It’s so amazing what God has in store for us.

Turn over to Revelation twenty-one, and verse ten. We get to be part of this new Jerusalem and see it, and go in it, and dwell with the Father there for eternity. Verse ten, “And he came to me and he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” New Jerusalem. “And had a wall, great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates, twelve angels, and names written thereon, which were the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.”

Our names are written in there. “On the east, three gates, on the north three gates, the south, three gates, on the west, three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof and the wall thereof, and the city lies four square. And the length is as large as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs,” fifteen hundred miles on one side. “And the length and the breadth were both fifteen hundred miles.

“And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper, the city was of pure gold,” like a pure glass, “like clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.” If we think it’s special to have a ring, maybe a woman is having a beautiful ring with a gem on it or diamond, how special is it that an entire city is built out of these gems? “The foundations of the wall were garnished with all manner of precious stones. “The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth an emerald.

“The fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, and the eighth beryl. The ninth topaz, tenth, chrysoprase, and the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.” We’ll be able to... One of the rewards is, we’ll be able to pronounce that word in the kingdom. No problem, brethren. Absolutely no problem. And the twelve gates. “The twelve gates were of twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.” How large of an oyster, brethren? “And the street of the city was pure gold as it was transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”

This is our reward. God is bringing that to you. You and I will dwell in that. We’re going to be with God in there forever. But brethren, this is just we’re talking about... In the grand scheme of things, we’re talking about a city. It’s a city. Still a small fraction, tiny little fraction of our reward is to be part of new Jerusalem. Go over to Hebrews chapter eleven. The end of Hebrews eleven, we’ll read verse thirteen. This is coming toward the end of the faith chapter, listing all these wonderful, these great people, who have lived righteous lives of faith.

And it culminates with verse thirteen. It says these all, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and so forth. “These all died in the faith, not having received the promises,” they didn’t get their rewards yet, ‘but having seen them afar off, they were persuaded of them...” Brethren, are we persuaded of these very rewards that Abraham, Sarah, Noah, and all the patriarchs, all the great Bible figures, were persuaded of? Are we persuaded of them too? “…they embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” because they did not get their reward in this life.

They weren’t looking for a gold medal at the Olympics. They were looking for new Jerusalem. They were looking for that white stone. They may not have even known that. Revelation wasn’t written by them. Maybe God had told them about it but didn’t record it. But brethren, they were persuaded of the reward that we get because they’re going to get the very same reward. You know, one of the next point as the family of God, one of the great rewards we get is to be part of the family of God.

Turn over to Psalm eighty-two. Psalm eighty-two. It, sort of, goes hand in hand with the last point, but Psalm eighty-two, and verse six says this, “I have said, You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.” You know, the world doesn’t understand this. The Jews didn’t understand in the New Testament, but you are gods. Our goal, our reward is to not just have eternal life, not just to live forever. The people in the world understand that or believe that. They think that you go to heaven when you die. That’s their reward, but we, brethren, get something far more powerful. We get to become God. We get to be part of the God family. A lot of people in this life don’t have families.

You know, God doesn’t call people into the church who are from the great backgrounds of Rockefellers, or this side of the other people, the Gates. He doesn’t call a lot of people who are of great note in this world. He calls the First Corinthians group that says the weak, the base, the foolish, the things that are not, the things that are despised. We’re not the high and mighty people of earth, but yet, it is God who said that you are going to be God. He, maybe, called us out of broken families. A lot of us might have broken families. Maybe we didn’t grow up with two parents. One left, or they got divorced. Or, we had trouble in the family. Maybe people died in the family. Siblings died. Broken families.

All kinds of issues can come inside families, Strife and contention. Families in this life are not necessarily all good. God wants them to be good though. He wants you and I to enter into His family so that we can experience what a good, proper, true family is all about. Nearly one in four of all US children have only one parent. It’s a sad thing. Only one in four children have two parents. Forty to fifty percent of marriages end in divorce. You don’t think the world is looking for a time when maybe they could get a proper family, a good shot at a proper family?

If we enter God’s family, we’ll show them how to build a proper family. Sixty to seventy percent of second marriages end in divorce. So about fifty percent of first marriages end in divorce. And then if you do get divorced, the next time you get married, almost two-thirds of the time, those people get divorced. Marriage is broken in this world. Families are broken in this world. Families are not even being encouraged these days. Satan hates the family, brethren, but there will come a time when all mankind will have opportunity to join the most perfect family. Again, this is part of our reward.

So let’s go on to the next point, what you will look like. What you will look like. We don’t need to take a lot of time going through this one because we all have read Ezekiel one. Why don’t you just go ahead and write these verses down in your Bible or in your notes? We’ve covered a lot of this recently. Mr. Pack has covered a lot of it recently. We shine. We’re in glory. The size that we have. I mean, we’re spirit beings, brethren. We can be any size we want. But write down in your notes, Ezekiel chapter one. You could just read that whole chapter, particularly towards the end, it shows what God looks like. After describing these beautiful cherubim, the wheels, everything that’s going on there in that picture.

You can write down Revelation one, verses twelve to twenty. Go take time to inspire yourselves at what you will look like in the future. And brethren, John four and verse twenty-four, we don’t need to turn there because all it says is that God is a Spirit. So one of the great rewards that we have is we get to be not just given God’s Holy Spirit, but we become the Holy Spirit. We are made of God’s spirit. It gives us the ability to do all the things that God does. We’re going to shine, we’re going to gleam in resplendence. We’re going to receive thrones in crowns.

But brethren, in some ways, these things, the what we’ll look like, are not a big deal. What do I mean by that? It’s not a big deal what we look like. It’s better than what we look like now. We’re just grateful for that, but... Didn’t intend it to be funny but I’m glad it was. It is true. It’s true. But you know why these things aren’t as big of a deal? Because they’re just personal. They don’t benefit other people. It doesn’t benefit other people necessarily to shine. It doesn’t benefit other people to necessarily know that we have... We’re going to have two hands like God. We’re going to have two eyes like God. We’re going to be made of spirit like God.

These are wonderful things and they need to be laid out. But the great purpose that God has given us, the greatest rewards involve us being able to go out and help everybody else. That’s the greatest reward, and we’ll get to all that. Thrones, crowns, white raiment, gleaming resplendence, white hair. Many of us are already there. I’m not there, but I’m just losing everything on top altogether. So at least you have white hair if you have white hair, okay? What’s more important though, brethren, is what we will do.

Let’s turn over to Luke chapter nineteen. Luke chapter nineteen. This is the parable of the pounds. All very familiar. What will you do? as a reward… You know, a lot of people think that their reward is to just... My reward is to go sit and lounge on the beach or something. My reward is to just, after having gained all this money in this life, to sit and look at my trophy case or something, look at all the beautiful trophies that I’ve accumulated.

Our reward is different. Our reward involves going out and actually doing something. We get the opportunity to serve more. We serve a lot in this life so that we can get the opportunity to serve not just a few people in the church or the few people that we come in contact with in life. We get the opportunity to serve all mankind, all of our families, all of the people that have allowed for our existence. Your parents, your grandparents, all of your ancestors, we get to help them all. That is amazing. That is a great reward. But let’s see what it is. Let’s start small.

Luke nineteen verse fifteen. So after God says, verse twelve, there’s “a nobleman that came to a far country to receive a kingdom to return. He called his ten servants and he delivered them ten pounds. And he said to them, occupy till I come. But the citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying, we won’t have this man reign over us. And it came to pass,” in verse fifteen, “that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.

“Then came the first saying, Lord, your pound has gained you ten pounds. And he said unto them, Well, you good servant; because you have been faithful in a very little, have you authority over ten cities.” Were given cities. “And the second came saying, Lord, your pound has gained you five. And he said likewise to him, Be you also over five cities.” And then there was the person who was slothful and didn’t grow his pound and his pound was taken from him. But brethren, the point here is to understand we are going to be over cities. That’s just the beginning of what will be over. Just the beginning. Turn over to Isaiah chapter nine. We get to be part of God’s government is the broader point here.

Governments of man rule over cities, states, provinces, nations. Those governments are the very thing that determine the fate of that nation. Let’s look quickly at God’s government. How does God’s government impact the world? Isaiah chapter nine and verse seven. “Of the increase of God’s government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

There’s going to come a moment when God’s government is going to come to earth, and when it comes, you and I will enter into that government as part of the a hundred and forty-four thousand. Just like a president will assume office and all of a sudden he’s given massive power. If he’s the president of the United States, he becomes the most powerful human being on earth because America is the most powerful nation on earth at this time. But the problem with this world’s governments is that they have ineffective laws, they have ineffective execution of those laws, they have ineffective justice. Everything with regard to the world’s governments is broken. There’s corruption left and right.

And brethren, when you see all of those problems at the top in a government that is supposedly over the nations that it leads, those problems trickle down. We see a lot of inflation today because of government problems, government shutdowns. All kinds of problems are happening in just America, never mind the entire world. A lot of the world economy is based on the dollar. If the dollar starts to break down and fold, the world economy does. So brethren, problems in government today deeply affect all of the people under those governments.

If you come to America, which is theoretically, it has the Constitution, which is maybe the most remarkable document ever produced by mankind, that Constitution is the foundation of the US government. That’s what allows the US government to be what it is to this day. And the US government is made of three branches. It’s made of the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. Three branches, and they’re each given authority. Legislative branch creates laws. They write the laws. The executive branch executes the laws, and the judicial branch interprets the laws. They’re the lawyers, the judges, and so forth. But despite the Constitution being maybe the most powerful document ever created in human history, aside from the Bible in terms of man’s governments, of course, I mean, it has allowed America to become the foremost authority and most prosperous nation in the world.

But even that government, let’s take the best of all the governments in the world, even that government has so many problems you and I are feeling it to this very day. It’s like we can feel it in our bones all the problems in this government. Doesn’t matter if we’re Republican or Democrats in office.

That doesn’t matter. The stock market is going to go up and tank. We’re going to have all kinds of problems like we’ve had in the past. If with... who knows when God would send up a plague through like he did with the COVID and all that, chaos ensues. And the governments of this world don’t know how to fix all these problems. How do you fix all the homelessness? How do you fix all of the illegal immigrants who are in the nation today? How do you fix all of that? It’s impossible to fix.

They may have their policies to try and address this, that, and the other thing. But in the end, there’s so many problems with the government, that’s why we see so many issues today. But have you ever considered this? That God’s government, when it replaces the governments of men, it doesn’t need a legislative branch. Have you ever thought of that? The legislative branch is done.

This is the legislative branch. The law of God is already given to us. We know God’s laws. We don’t need to create laws in the kingdom. So here’s what we’re going to be doing in the kingdom. We’re going to be executing the laws and we’re going to be rendering judgments in times when there’s uncertainty. You know what that’s called? Kings and priests.

God has given us the ability in the kingdom to solve all of mankind’s problems by being kings and priests. We’re in the executive branch and we’re in the judicial branch, both because, brethren, a lot of the flaws in society come from the laws. The laws that are created, laws are... there’s loopholes upon loopholes in the laws of man today. But that’s all done away with because God has His laws laid out clearly in the Bible. We don’t need to worry about how are we going to handle taxes in the kingdom.

Well, it’s ten percent. Easy. How easy is it for us to execute that law in the kingdom? Well, are you paying ten percent or are you not paying ten percent? Are you saving second tithe, or are you not saving second tithe? Simple. Where’s the... but you, I mean, filling out your taxes every year, it’s like these documents and it’s just so complicated. If you own businesses or anything, it gets infinitely more complicated. All of that’s just done. We get to be kings and priests in a simplified government and teach God’s ways.

That’s powerful. That’s what’s exciting. And brethren, turn over to Proverbs twenty-nine. This is exactly why Mr. Armstrong said government is everything. Mr. Pack says government is everything. Why? Because if the government is corrupt at the top, it’s all going to trickle down to the general population underneath them. It’s all going to be difficult for them.

But if it’s a perfect government, including a perfect God beings in that government, executing perfect judgment, then it will be a wonderful society below that government. Proverbs chapter twenty-nine and verse two, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.” The people rejoice, but brethren, in today’s society, “but when the wicked bear rule, the people mourn.”

And that’s what we have to bear through in this life until we get to supplant them. We get to stand in their spots ruling the nations, not just ruling cities. That’s just part of it. Ruling the nations. That is our awesome potential. Now, this next series of points is we’re going to be getting unlimited power. This is more of like a meditative exercise. So if you want, feel free to write some of these things down.

You could like write individual single words to describe what we’re going to go through. But some ways you might be better off to just sit and listen. Brethren, the power that we’re going to receive is simply staggering. And I want to lay it out to you by showing you that the power that God has. We’re going to be receiving the same power God has to create the earth and all that we see in it.

Think about the complexities of just creating the earth. All the trees, all the plants, the vegetation, all the animals, the bugs. The vast intricate ecosystems that the plants require the bugs to pollinate them. The bugs need the plants’ pollen in order to create honey and other things. God created that.

It took a mind that was able to think through how it’s all interconnected, how there’s male and female trees, male and female plants to be able to pollinate one another, what? God gave us not just these things for beauty, but He gave it to us so that He could show us His mind. Look how complex God’s mind is. It’s not a simple mind. It’s very intricate, very complex.

Just like the ecosystem that we see and how there’s different types of environments. There’s deserts, there’s seas, there’s the poles where it’s frozen on top and bottom of the earth. There’s rainforests. There’s mountains. God has created tectonic plates to be it so that the earth shifts. What? He built all of that using His mind. Now, because you are going to be part of God’s family, you will have that very same mind, you’ll have the capabilities that God had to create all the things that you see today. Let that stagger you for a minute.

He created weather patterns, ocean currents, volcanic and seismic activity, and so much more. Okay? That’s just the first point. We’re going to have the same power God had to create angels. Not necessarily saying we will create angels, but maybe we will. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen. All I’m saying is we’re going to have the same power God has, and God created angels.

He created caribou. He created all manner of heavenly beings. If you go back on your own time and read Ezekiel one, look at the things that God created, those spirit beings in Ezekiel one. Fascinating. But turn over to Job chapter twenty-six. Look at this, brethren, the mind of God. Unbelievable. Job twenty-six. We’ll read in verse, we’ll pick it up in verse five.

Job twenty-six and verse five. Okay. These are powerful things that God has done. “Dead things are formed from under the waters and the inhabitants thereof. Hell is naked before God, and destruction has no covering. He stretches out the north, over the empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.”

Now, we as human beings, look at that and say, “Well, the North isn’t really an object, Father.” He did. He’s able to take North like it’s some kind of a stretchy object and pull it over the universe. What? Okay, that’s the mind that you’re going to have. You’re going to be able to think unlike a human being when we’re God. God can stretch the North over the empty place and hang the Earth on nothing, suspend it in the middle of space.

“He binds up the waters to His thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under Him.” Clouds, fascinating. They hold tons and tons and tons and tons of water, but yet they don’t fall to the ground. Now, I know there’s scientific explanations to that, but I’m pretty simple, that’s hard to understand for me. Okay. All right. Maybe it’s hard for any of us to understand too. Maybe there’s some really scientifically oriented people out there who can understand it and pressure and so forth. God does that. God thought of that.

Let’s say we can understand the science behind clouds. God thought to do that. How do you even think to do that? That’s amazing. “He holds back the face of His throne and spreads His cloud upon it. He has compassed the waters with bounds until the day and night come to an end. The pillars of Heaven tremble and are astonished at His reproof. He divides the sea with His power. By His understanding, He smites the proud. By His Spirit, He has garnished the heavens…” He’s made bright the heavens, that’s what that means. “His hand has formed the crooked serpent.” He created Satan. He’s able to create beings, spirit beings, and physical beings.

But, brethren, verse fourteen, “Lo, these are parts of His ways.” It’s just a little bit, oh, this is just a little fraction of what God can do, little tidbits of what God is able to do, “…but how little a portion is heard of Him?” These are just the little glimpses God has given us into what His mind is able to do. That’s the same mind that you’ll have, “…but the thunder of His power, who can understand?”

Okay. We’re going to have the same power God had to create mankind, the human brain, the most complex organism ever created. Eyes, ears, senses, how did God create all these things? How did He think to create all of these things? But He did, and you’ll have that capability too. Every organ and how it all works together, how God can create a baby in a womb from two cells that join. And those cells multiply and bones begin to form, organs begin to form. And all of a sudden you have a tiny little baby this big, and it keeps growing and growing and growing until the baby comes out and keeps growing and growing and growing until they’re an adult.

God thought to do that. God wanted to do that. It’s the same mind we’ll have, the same power God had to cast Satan to Earth before the recreation and then again into the Lake of Fire after the Millennium. The same power God has to grab two corners of the universe and pull them together like He’s folding up a sweater and then put it in the drawer, and bring out another sweater, and unveiling a whole new heavens and new earth. That simple, but just like that, God can fold up the heavens, is what it says in Hebrews one.

The same power God has through His Holy Spirit to hold every atom and molecule in the universe together. Go over to Colossians chapter one. In fact, I’ll just read it to you. You don’t need to turn there, I’ll just read it to you. But write it in your notes. Colossians chapter one and verse sixteen says this, “For by God, by Christ, all things were created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers. All things are created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist…” are held together. God’s Spirit holds the universe together.

I don’t know if you knew this, but ninety-six percent of the universe is composed out of dark stuff, let’s just put it that way, dark stuff. Like the Dark Ages, people didn’t know a lot of what happened in the Dark Ages, because that’s why they call it the Dark Ages. The dark energy and dark matter out there comprises ninety-six percent of the universe. It’s energy and matter that scientists don’t know what it is or how to explain it.

Well, brethren, you and I, we can call ourselves scientists today, huh? God has held everything together by His Spirit. By His Spirit, we understand what that dark energy is. People don’t want to admit it in the world, but that’s what it is. God’s Spirit holds everything together. We’re going to have the same power God had to resurrect people from the dead, heal broken bones and sicknesses, and remove tears from off all faces and the same power God had to manipulate time. Think about when Joshua, with the long day, stretched an entire twenty-four hours longer. There’s so much to consider with regard to God’s power and that He’s actually outside of space and time. This is fascinating. Turn over to Second Corinthians chapter twelve. We will be outside of space and time. Second Corinthians twelve.

I’m not telling all of you anything that you haven’t heard before. It’s just, have we heard them all together? Have we been inspired by all of these things, understanding the great reward, the full reward that we’re going to get? We may have understood pieces of it, but we may have never considered them all together. Second Corinthians chapter twelve and verse one, “It is not expedient for me, doubtless, to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago,” speaking of himself, Paul, “whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell, God knows. Such a one was caught up to the third heaven.” Okay?

Paul found himself in a vision. He doesn’t know if it was a vision or if he was in real life actually in the third heaven, but he was in the third heaven. Understand, the first heaven is the Earth’s atmosphere. Mr. Pack talked about that a little bit more in his recent message. The second heaven is space, so the third heaven is outside of space, outside of the universe. God looks at the universe like a little child would look at a sandbox or something, sitting in a sandbox. “Okay, I’m going to take my scoop here of sand and kind of put it over here,” but that’s the whole sandbox, it’s just the universe. He’s outside of the universe. We’re going to be outside of the universe. We’re outside of space and time. Grasp that.

Isaiah fifty-seven and verse fifteen, “For thus says the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy.” Now, God is a God that dwells in eternity like we dwell in houses. Eternity isn’t a thing, but to God, it is because He created time. You have to pull back and realize we’re talking about a being who looks at time as though it’s just nothing, but He can manipulate it however He wants. He looks at space and He thinks I can manipulate that however I want. I can swap it out whenever I want. I can hold the moon. I can hold the sun in place. I can turn back time.

Brethren, when we’re God beings, will we be able to do the same thing? We’re going to be outside of space and time. Will we be able to time travel? Will we be able to freeze time in our minds or in reality? Could we see what it was like when it was just the Father in Christ for eternity in history? What was it like when it was just the Father in Christ before He created the universe, angels, everything? Could we see, could we go back in time and see Lucifer and all the angels as God created them before they fell? Wouldn’t that be something to go see what Lucifer was like prior to his fall and all the third of the angels who were still angels at that time before they fell? Could we watch the evolution of nations and empires throughout history play out like a VHS tape on fast forward? You know the sound?

Then the squiggles on the... everyone is moving real fast on the screen. Could we watch the history of mankind like that? Wouldn’t that be something? Could we see the universe as a tiny speck? Could we become so big in our thinking, spirit being so we just see the universe as a tiny speck like God does, or see deep inside the electrons of an atom? Whether we pull way out or zoom way in, God created every single one of these things. We’re going to have that ability too. Don’t forget that this is your reward.

Brethren, as we’re coming to a close here, everything we will receive is eternal, everything. We’re going to receive eternal joy. You don’t need to turn there, but you could write down in your notes, this verse comes to mind. Psalm sixteen eleven, “In your presence are pleasures forevermore, joy for the rest of eternity.” We don’t experience fullness of joy like that now in the same sense. There are days when we’re frustrated, angry, maybe we’re sad. There are days when these other emotions can take over, but God says we’re going to have pleasures forevermore. That’s part of our reward is the joy God will give us.

How about the peace that we see in Isaiah nine and verse seven? We already read it earlier, of the increase of God’s government and peace. There will be no end. God’s peace is going to reign because God’s government is over the world. When you have a perfect government led by perfect God beings, all of us included and that government keeps expanding for the rest of eternity, peace will ensue. No more war, no more hunger, no more thirst, none of those things, all the problems you see in today’s society, economic problems, everything goes away. Peace.

Brethren, we’ll be filled with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Eternal wisdom, eternal knowledge, and eternal understanding. Let’s turn over to Job chapter thirty-seven.

Job chapter thirty-seven. Let’s read in verse fourteen. “Hearken unto this, Job.” God speaking. “Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.” Remember, at this point, as God’s giving us all knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.

Verse fifteen. We’ll have this understanding; we’ll have this wisdom and knowledge. “Do you know when God disposed them? The works of God, and caused the light, His cloud to shine? Do you know the balancings of the clouds and the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge?” God is perfect in knowledge. “How your garments are warm when He quiets the earth by the South wind?” God is able to do so many things through His knowledge, His wisdom, and His understanding. “Have you with Him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass, teach us what we shall say unto Him, for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.”

Go over to chapter thirty-eight and verse four. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding who has laid the measures thereof, if you know or who has stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened, and who laid the cornerstone thereof? When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy, who shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth as if it had issued out of the womb? And when I made the cloud a garment thereof in thick darkness, a swaddling band for it.”

God made clouds to be like a swaddling blanket for a baby. Truly, He looks at the earth like a mother looks at a baby. That’s how big God is. We serve a great God, the Almighty God, the high God. He’s able to look at these things that we see as massive now and just think of them as though they’re nothing and broke up for it. “My decreed place and set bars and doors.”

Verse eleven. He said, “Here unto shall you come, but no further, and here shall your proud waves be stayed? Have you commanded the morning since your days and caused the day spring to know its place that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? It has turned as clay to the seal, and they stand as a garment and from the wicked, their light is withholden and the high arm shall be broken. Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or have you walked in the search of the depth? How deep the earth is, how deep the sea is? That there are springs that come up in the sea? Have the gates of death been opened unto you or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?” God is bigger than all of these things. He created all of them. And again, brethren, this is the very mind that you and I will have.

And let’s turn over to Psalm one-oh-three. As we come to a close here. Just a couple more verses. Psalm one-oh-three, verse twelve. Brethren, we’re going to be eternally righteous and sinless. Psalm one-oh-three, twelve says this. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Now, note that God doesn’t say from the north and south. As far as the north is from the south, your transgressions are removed. God says that they’re removed as far as the east is from the west.

If you start on the North Pole and you begin to travel south on the globe, you’ll eventually hit the South Pole, correct? At which point, if you continue to travel in that same direction, you’ll no longer be going south, you’ll be going north. Back up to the North Pole. There is a fixed distance between the north and the south. If you’re traveling, say you’re starting in New York City and you begin to travel east around the world, at what point do you ever begin to start traveling west? Never. You’ll always go east. That’s why God says, as far as the east is from the west, it’s infinite.

There is no point on the globe where if you’re traveling east, you will now all of a sudden hit west. Nope. If you’re traveling west, you’re going to be going west for eternity. It’s not the north to the south. It’s the east to the west, because God says His removal of our sins is eternal and definite. Period. End of story.

He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west. No more will we be fighting the poles of the flesh. No more will we have the law of sin lodged in our minds that Paul talked about, fighting the spirit of God in us. No more would he be tempted by the devil and persuaded by his evil tactics: Self, Satan and society. Brethren, this is maybe the greatest of all things I could tell you.

Isaiah chapter forty-five. The greatest point I can give you today is in Isaiah forty-five, excuse me, and verse one. This is the greatest reward, brethren, “Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right-hand I have held to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gates.” That’s not our greatest reward, “…it’s not to loose the loins of kings.” We’ll probably be doing that, too, but that won’t be one of our great rewards.

“And the gates shall not be shut. I will go before you and make you crooked places straight.” God speaking. “I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron. And I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places that you may know that I, the Lord, which call you by your name, am the God of Israel.” There are things God has, probably already created, or maybe they’re yet to be created, I don’t know, that He calls treasures, that He calls riches that are secret and hidden, that mankind hasn’t ever considered before.

God’s going to give those to us also. That’s why back in, where was it? God said that He only-- Job, I believe it was, He’s only shown us parts of His ways, parts of our reward. Who knows, brethren, what treasures God has in store for us that we can’t even yet grasp? Hidden treasures, secret riches in secret places. Where does He store them? I don’t know. Has He already created them? I don’t know. I know what I do know, brethren, is like an Olympian, I want to be there to see it. I want to be there to get the gold medal, except for something far greater than the gold medal. I want you to be there. We should all want each other to receive that amazing reward.

One final verse of Hebrews chapter two.

Hebrews two and verse six. “But one in a certain place testified saying, what is man that you are mindful of him...” What is man? We’re just these little pieces of clay on this tiny little ball called earth. “...or the Son of Man that you visit Him? You made Him a little lower than the angels. You crowned Him with glory and honor and did set Him over the works of your hands.” God put dominion, give us dominion over the things that He has. “You have put all things, everything, in subjection under His feet. For in that He put in subjection under Him, He left all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is put under Him. But now we see not yet all things under Him.”

Brethren, our awesome potential is to receive all things. Everything. So when we put all these verses and principles together about our reward, we realize more than ever how wonderful God’s promise of eternal life is. It’s so much more than just being spirit and living eternally. We all knew we were going to be spirit and live eternally. We’d shine, we’d do all these things. We knew that. But with this amazing knowledge of our full reward in mind, let’s go out and remember to keep the remainder of the Feast as well as possible with as much joy as possible. Enjoy, brethren.