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Good morning, brethren. I had an introduction ready to go for this message today, and then I was opening my choir folder right before the choir performed a moment ago, and this drawing, this drawing, fell out. One of the younger people here, she drew this for me and gave it to me and it made me happy when I saw it, and I started to look at it a little bit, maybe to get the nerves out. It felt like it’s something different, but there’s a little...

It says, “Happy fall.” It’s a drawing here, and it’s in colored pencil, and there’s a little cat down here. I don’t think she knew that I’m a cat person. I like cats more than dogs, and I’m up here and you don’t have a microphone, so if you’re a dog person, cats are the best.

You can’t say anything about it. And then up in the tree here, it looks like there’s a bird and it’s a crow, and I like crows a lot. They make me happy. I like to watch YouTube videos of crows doing amazing things. They’re very smart birds, and they’re also mischievous. Speaking of cats and crows, there’s a YouTube video that I enjoy. I watch every once in a while. I think the title of it is, “Crows incite a cat fight,” and there’s these two cats in an alley, and the crow keeps going and snipping one of the cats on the tail, and the cat’s [meowing] getting all excited, then he goes to the other one and makes that one, and then the cats start to fight, and there’s tumbling around, and here’s the crow around them jumping for joy.

So, I really appreciate this, and it helped me out today. It helped me rejoice, which is what we’re here to do at the Feast, isn’t it? To rejoice. And we can all help each other do that. But I’ll start with a question, how much should we be rejoicing at the Feast? How much? The answer, more than you think. More than you think. We should be rejoicing much more than you think. Let’s turn to Philippians four. We start here. There’s two verses, one that we’ve heard already at the Feast, and then one that we hear often. It’s a memory verse. When you put them together, it’ll show us how much we should be rejoicing at the Feast. Philippians four.

One more crow story. There’s a lot of animal stories, isn’t there, this Feast? It’s a theme. One more crow story. In Japan, there’s crows. And they’ve... They’ve learned... Crows can do multi-step problem solving, and these crows have learned how to... They like to eat walnuts or shelled nut. I think it’s walnuts. And so in Japan, they’ve figured out that if they’ve dropped them in the road, the nuts, that the cars will drive over them and crack them open, and then they can eat the flesh. That’s just step one.

They’ve then figured out that if they drop them in the crosswalk, they’re safe to go out and get them. So, you’ll see these... There’s videos on YouTube again. They’re sitting at the end waiting for the light to change so they can go into the crosswalk and get their nuts.

Makes you happy. They’re smart birds. But Philippians four, four. So, this memory verse here, “Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice.” So, think of outside the Feast. We’re supposed to be rejoicing in the Lord always, and to emphasize, “Again I say, rejoice.” That’s all the time. And that’s outside of the Feast. Then inside the Feast, we’re supposed to do this, Deuteronomy sixteen. Turn over there.

So always, we’re always rejoicing. We’re always thinking of funny crows. Deuteronomy sixteen. Deuteronomy sixteen, and we’ll start in verse thirteen. We should be rejoicing more and more than we think. Verse thirteen, “You shall observe the Feast of tabernacles seven days, after you’ve gathered in all your corn and your wine.” So, harvest time was there. “And you shall rejoice in your Feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within your gates.” All of them, everyone, together, we’re supposed to rejoice.

So, the baseline is to rejoice, always outside of the Feast, and then inside, we’re supposed to rejoice. You’re going to see that God tells us to do this again and again and again. Over and over, we’re supposed to rejoice. It’s almost like a multiplier on rejoice always. What’s more than always? We should be challenging that and figuring out ways to be rejoicing even more at the Feast. Verse fifteen, “Seven days shall you keep a solemn Feast unto the Lord, in a place which He shall choose: because the Lord your God, shall bless you in all your increase, and in all the works of your hands, therefore you shall surely rejoice.”

So not just a suggestion. God’s emphatic. We should surely rejoice at the Feast. And it’s easy to do, isn’t it? We have so much more that we can spend on, and we’ll get to that in a moment. But it’s easy to rejoice at the Feast, but again, rejoice in the Lord always, outside the Feast. Inside the Feast, we’re supposed to rejoice, surely rejoice. How much more is that? Let’s start to expand our thinking on how much we should be rejoicing at the Feast.

So, let’s look at the many ways we can rejoice in the Lord, always at the Feast. First way, we can rejoice in the Lord when spending our second tithe. We can rejoice in the Lord when spending our second tithe. Deuteronomy twelve, over a few pages. Deuteronomy twelve in verse seven, talking about the Feast again. So, we already saw twice in the previous passage we were supposed to rejoice. Here’s twelve, seven, “And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to do, you and your households, wherein the Lord your God has blessed you.”

So, we’re supposed to rejoice in all that we have done over the last year, all the blessings that God has given us. So, whatever we put our hand to do throughout the year, then we get to enjoy that and rejoice at the Feast. It’s a little different. We heard earlier that bring in the corn and the wine. That’s what ancient Israel did. They did that in one harvest, and they saw altogether, all at once the abundance and the blessings of that harvest, and then they brought that to the Feast. It’s a little different for us, isn’t it? We, in a sense, harvest all the way throughout the year, and we keep that second tithe faithfully, and then we can use it at the Feast of Tabernacles, but it can help us to rejoice.

But while we’re spending it and enjoying meals and enjoying time with one another and go-karting or whatever you’re doing, you should remember that. Think of the blessings that God has given you. You have to put a little more mental effort. We have to put a little more mental effort into remembering that because the Feast is a little different, the keeping second tithe is a little different, where it was a harvest in the past, but now it’s a single monetary amount, but we should be rejoicing. Should make us happy.

Remember all that God has blessed you with. Think of those blessings as you’re spending it, enjoying those meals. It’s something to talk about, isn’t it? When we’re able to sit down together and have a meal. Talk about those blessings throughout the year. Maybe you’ve got a new job, and it’s a better job. Whatever it may be that you were able to have that blessing, share it with others. Share it with others as you’re enjoying that harvest, the second tithe harvest. And then look at verse twelve. “And you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, you and your sons and your daughters and your menservants and your maidservants and the Levite within your gates.”

Again, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. But at the Feast, rejoice in the Lord always. Surely rejoice. And over and over again, we’re supposed to be happy and be glad and jubilant. Verse seventeen here, talking about our second tithe. “You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your corn, or your wine, or of your oil,” so don’t do it, don’t eat it at home, “the firstlings of your herd or your flock, nor any of the vows which you have vowed, nor your freewill offerings, or heave offering in the hand.” So don’t do that at home. Rather, “But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place He shall choose.”

We should be eating them here together. There’s a reason for that. “Eat them before the Lord your God.” That word “Eat,” it reminds me of the first holy day that I kept. I came into the truth with a roommate, and we came into the truth together. He was baptized a little bit before me, and we were learning God’s way. We didn’t know. We were worldly Christians, and so we’ve heard there was a Feast day. I think it was Pentecost, but it was a Feast day and for someone who isn’t grown up in the church when you think of a Feast, you think of this long table like a smorgasbord and you’re eating a big turkey leg. It’s a Feast.

Big mugs with frothy drinks in them. That’s a Feast to you. So, we were eating, we made food, and we kept egging each other on, “It’s a Feast day, we got a Feast,” and by the end, we were just like, “Got to eat more,” but we felt terrible. I’ve since learned you can do it in moderation, but you think of a Feast, eat and God wants us to. He wants us to enjoy good things, to enjoy food together at the Feast. And it makes us happy. Doesn’t it? Good drink, wine or whatever your beverage of choice is it makes us happy and makes it easy to rejoice. God makes it easy to rejoice.

But notice that, eat before the Lord. In ancient Israel, there were certain offerings, there was meat offerings, and they would have sacrifices, and they would get some of that meat back for those offerings and then they would eat it in the temple area. Eat before the Lord literally, where we don’t have that here but sometimes, we’ll eat together altogether. But think of the Father and Jesus Christ being with you when you’re out at your meals. Consider, they’re enjoying the Feast too. They want to have a good time. They enjoy when we enjoy ourselves.

So, when you... Think about that from time to time. It can help you to keep your conversations in the right place and those sorts of things. Don’t always have to be talking about the Bible or anything like that but remember that they’re there. They’re rejoicing with you and that’s an inspiring thought. God is living in us through his spirit and He’s with us. And just that thought can help us to rejoice as we’re eating before the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy fourteen twenty-six. Let’s go over there. But notice this command over and over and over again. This keeps, should keep multiplying in our mind, rejoice in the Lord always on any given day but at the Feast rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. We just saw it three times in Deuteronomy twelve. God wants us to rejoice. Deuteronomy fourteen and twenty-six. “And you shall bestow that money for whatsoever your soul lusts after, for oxen, for sheep, or wine, or strong drink,” we’ve been talking about that, “or for whatsoever your soul desires: and you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.”

So, think of all those blessings and what God has given you, kind of the work of your hands over the year when you splurge on that fuse kick for yourself, or maybe it’s that twenty-eight-day dry-aged ribeye. That’s my favorite example, but they don’t tell you the price usually before you buy that one.

So, if you’re going to splurge on it but enjoy it and think of all the blessings that God’s given you. It can be whatever you want.

It can be I often like to do my feet shopping on my bed. I’ll pull out a laptop or a smartphone, and I’ll just be relaxed and if I want to look for something rather than going to the store. My wife can do that. She sometimes wants me to come along, and I politely decline, but whatever your soul lusts after, rejoice when you’re spending it, think of this command. Don’t forget. Don’t make it just physical. There’s a reason why God has said save ten percent of your income and then come to the Feast and spend it here so it can help us to rejoice. But it shouldn’t just be for ourselves. Realize all the times that it said that we should be rejoicing with others as well.

Let’s go to Deuteronomy twenty-six. One more. But did you ever notice all of these times that God told us to rejoice at the Feast? Deuteronomy twenty-six. So that second tithe isn’t just for ourselves and for our family, it’s for others too. Twenty-six in verse eleven. “And you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given unto you, and unto your house, and unto the Levite, and the stranger among you.” We saw earlier... We keep seeing that list. Earlier, it mentioned the fatherless and the widow as well. They’re supposed to be rejoicing off of what God has blessed us with too.

Brethren, God has given us enough that everyone here can have maximum rejoicing, but we need to share. God commands us to share it with one another. Look for one another who has a little bit less. That’s the fatherless and the widow, et cetera. Those who are maybe a little older and a fixed income but look for them, help them to rejoice too. I know maybe there’s someone who’s newer, who didn’t keep second tithe all year long and you notice they don’t have the best dress shoes. You can take them out. Get them dress shoes. Or if it’s a gal, you can help them out maybe you can help pick out a dress. Help them see the way that we dress in the church and help them find their style within the guidelines that we have.

But give to those who have less. Give to those who have less. That’s what our second tithe’s for. It’s for whatever our soul lusts after, but our soul shall also lust after helping others rejoice in the Feast as well. It’s a wonderful command that God’s given us. It’s a wonderful command. Make sure we share with one another. Leviticus twenty-three. Still looking at rejoicing in the Lord when spending our second tithe. Leviticus twenty-three in verse forty. “And you shall take you on the first day boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice,” there it is again, “before the Lord your God, seven days.”

We spend some of our second tithe on hotel rooms, don’t we? But we should rejoice in those. Those are our temporary dwellings. We don’t construct them, but we’re supposed to rejoice in them. Isn’t it nice to not have to do all of the housework? Who appreciates that? Not having to clean up everything. We’re nice to our maids. We don’t leave our rooms a pigsty but that’s nice. Rejoice in that. Rejoice that you don’t have those extra duties though you could spend more time rejoicing and spending time with one another, and it frees us up to do that. God has provided for us through our second tithe to be able to have those temporary dwellings and it should make us happy.

Enjoy it, savor it, meditate on it, think of all of the things that we get to have and enjoy here at the Feast. So that’s one way to rejoice in the Lord always at the Feast. Here’s another. We should rejoice always in our salvation. Psalm nine. Psalm nine. We should rejoice in our salvation, and we’ll start in verse one. The Psalm of David. “I will praise you, oh Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth your marvelous works. I’ll be glad and rejoice.” We think about what God’s done for us and what He will do for us, we should be glad and rejoice. That’s what happens when we meditate on it. Right. We’re going to make sure we spend time doing that.

“When my enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.” Verse four, “For you have maintained my right and my cause; you sate in the throne of judging right.” Skip down to verse thirteen. God’s salvation. Verse thirteen, “Have mercy upon me, oh Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, you have lifted me up from the gates of death: That I may show forth your praise in the gates. Of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in your salvation.” When we think of God’s salvation for us that we get to become part of his family and become God, that should make us rejoice but we have to make sure we stop and think about it, but we should rejoice in that salvation.

Let’s turn to Romans one. Think of the big picture. So, we talked about spending our second tithe and rejoicing, but the big picture can help us rejoice too. Romans one. Verse sixteen helps us know what that salvation is here. Romans one, sixteen, “For I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Jew first, and the Greek. But the gospel is the power of God onto salvation.” We have God’s spirit. So those who are baptized, those who are PMs, prospective members, or teens, you have God’s spirit working with you. But it is the power of God onto salvation. That we can very soon be eternal, and the problems of this world will go away. Anything that we’re going through.

Turn to chapter thirteen, Romans thirteen. Should be thinking big at the Feast, and that’ll help us to rejoice in our salvation. Thirteen, eleven, “And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to wake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed.” How true is that brethren? Think of everything we’ve been learning in the Bible and about God’s plan, our salvation is nearer now than it ever has been. For those of you who have been in the churches chronologically, it’s nearer. But we see that in world events. We see all of that around us, and when we see it, it’s bad things in the world, but it should give us joy, and should makes us rejoice because that salvation, the full culmination of it, will be happening very, very soon, very, very soon.

Let’s turn to Psalm twenty. I had a very hard time, brethren, I’ll take you behind the scenes here for this message of cutting out the scriptures. There’s so many throughout the Bible about rejoicing and how to rejoice and how to get excited and have that jubilance at the Feast and throughout our lives. So have this just be a springboard so you can find all of those places. But we’re going to look at Psalm twenty in verse five.

Verse five, “We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God, we will set up our banners: the Lord fulfills all petitions.” Another way to say that at the end is that God fulfills all of our prayers. He’ll answer them. But you think of the imagery here. So, they set up banners that say that, and it’s a future time it’s describing, but think of a big banner that God will answer all our prayers and fulfill all our petitions, things we ask of him. So, think in this room, imagine it. Think of there being banners along the wall, big strips of cloth saying, “The Lord fulfills all petitions. He answers all of our prayers.” He does, doesn’t He?

And that should give us joy. So, when you come in this room every day, think of that, think of that. Let’s go to Psalm thirty-five verse one. Psalm thirty-five, one, “Plead my cause, oh Lord, with them that strive against me: fight against them, that fight against me. Take hold of your shield and buckler.” We’ve been hearing about this recently, haven’t we? But think of God having these things, a shield and buckler. “Stand up for my help. Draw out also your spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: and say unto my soul, I am your salvation.”

There’s a prayer we can have to help us rejoice at the Feast. Have you ever prayed anything like that? Ask God to help us when we’re in the thick of a trial or something bad’s happening, before that, we can pray to him and say, when that’s happening, God, remind me through your spirit that you are my salvation. You’ll deliver me, but also help me remember your salvation. Ultimately that will be part of the God family. And then we’ll look at verse nine here, “And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in his salvation.” Once again. This is throughout the Bible over and over again.

Let’s turn to Habakkuk chapter three. We should be thinking about who and what God is, what He’s able to do, and that should help us to think about our salvation. We’ll be able to do many of the things that are described here because we’ll be in his family. It’s one of the ways to rejoice at the Feast. Habakkuk three, one, we’ll start in verse two. It’s a song of the prophet here. “Oh Lord, I have heard your speech, and I was afraid: Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years, make known.” We’ve been hearing these verses a lot, but notice his attitude as terrible things are described, and he’s seeing them in vision.

Verse five, “Before God went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld and drove us under the nations,” something that’ll happen in the future, “everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.” Verse eight, “Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? the anger against the rivers? was his wrath against the sea, that you did ride upon the horses and chariots of salvation? Your bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even your word. You did clever the earth with rivers.”

Your bow was made naked. That means God pulled... Maybe He had it from behind him and he pulled it out. You’ve seen that in movies where they have the bow back here. It’s made naked. He’s prepared to use it. Verse twelve, “You did march through the land in indignation, you did thresh the heathen in anger.” All of these awesome things he’s describing. And here’s how the prophet felt. Habakkuk verse sixteen, “When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered my bones, and I trembled in myself.”

They’re terrible things. He was seeing God meeting out punishment. But we see terrible things in the world, don’t we? And we’re yearned for the kingdom. And we should have the same attitude that he did. Look at what his attitude was after he saw these things and he trembled in himself, and his rottenness entered his bones. He didn’t feel good. But this is his attitude after all of that. Verse eighteen, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, and I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Having joy in that salvation.

Isaiah twenty-five. When we think about our eternal life, salvation, and our part in it, it should bring us joy. Make that a big part of what your conversations you have with one another. Make that a big part of what you meditate on, what you study. We hear it all the times in sermons, don’t we? And that should bring us joy, bring us joy. Here’s an example. Twenty-five, one. “Oh Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things; counsels of old and faithfulness and true.” In verse four, “For you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is in storm against the wall.”

But here’s what God wants to do for everyone. Imagine the whole world doing this. We’re here at the Feast, keeping it with one another as one but the whole world will do this soon. Verse six. “And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all the people a Feast of fat things, a Feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” The whole earth will be doing that soon. Think of that, everyone, all mankind will come up and be keeping the Feast together. Doesn’t that make you happy, make you rejoice? It should. Make that real. Really think about it. The whole world will be doing what we’re doing here. Verse eight, “He will swallow up death and victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears off all faces.” That’s the God we serve. Think of wiping away tears. We’ve heard a lot about God’s size and how big He is and how awesome and terrible He can be. Terrible in the awesome sense, but He also can dial himself down and wipe away tears. Just think of a tissue, it’s wiping away tears. He can do both of those things and that’s the God we serve. It’s a tender moment. You can think of that. Once that sinks in, puts a smile on your face, doesn’t it? Makes you rejoice. Meditate on these things brethren.

Verse nine. Isaiah twenty-five nine. “And it shall be in that day, lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him. We’ll be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” When we feel happy and feel good, what does that make us want to do? What’s another way we can rejoice in the Feast? You already did it today. The choir just did it earlier. You can rejoice in song. We can rejoice in the Lord always through song. Psalm ninety-eight. Rejoice through song.

Psalm ninety-eight and verse one. “O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he has done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, has gotten him victory.” You can probably think of the hymn in our hymn book. We sing that, don’t we? Don’t let those words pass you by when they come out of your mouth. Meditate on them. We sing more hymns than anything else at the Feast as far as just numerically. We sing a lot of them, don’t we? Think about what you’re singing. Don’t just get into singing mode and like, “I know this one. Good to go, kerchunk.” Slow down, meditate on it.

Verse two, “The Lord has made known his salvation: his righteousness has openly showed in the sight of the heathen. He has remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of God.” You can just read this and think about it, it makes you happy, but when we sing it, rejoice, rejoice. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, rejoice, and sing praise.” When we sing together, brethren... We’re going to do one less hymn today, but then throughout the rest of the Feast and forever after, make sure you’re thinking about what you’re singing about.

One day soon, all the earth will be singing together. Everyone will be keeping the Feast. Imagine that. Imagine everyone on earth, everyone who’s ever lived singing together.

Let that sink in. Just imagine it. Think, make, paint the picture in your mind. The sound will be awesome. I keep mentioning YouTube videos, but there’s a YouTube video of the hallelujah chorus in China. I forget the amount of people, but I think it’s at least ten thousand singing Handel’s hallelujah chorus. I think it’s like ten thousand people as only China can do. It’s amazing what they’re able to accomplish that people.

But go seek that out. See if you can find it. But it’s ten thousand. It’s an awesome sound, but that’s just ten thousand. Millions singing together, billions singing together, all the earth together makes the hymns we sing a little more important, doesn’t it? A little more important. Let’s blow away the song little later and throughout the Feast as we rejoice together in song.

Psalm thirty-three. One last here. Psalm thirty-three. One last verse for this point. Psalm thirty-three and verse one punctuates the importance of us singing together. “Rejoice in the Lord, oh you righteous,” that’s us, “for praise is comely for the upright.” It befits us, it suits us, and we should be sharing that with one another and singing before God. “Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with sultry and the instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with loud noise.” We should rejoice in the Lord as we praise him.

Time for one more. One more way we can rejoice. There’s many more, brethren. Think about them, find out more. We can rejoice in God’s deliverance. Rejoice in God’s deliverance. Leviticus twenty-three and verse forty-one. We’ve heard this throughout the Feast, but we’re going to look at it in a little different way. We should rejoice in God’s deliverance.

“You shall keep a Feast,” verse forty-one, “unto the Lord’s seven days.” Verse forty-two, “And you shall dwell in booths seven days: all the Israelites born shall dwell in booths: that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

God delivered Israel from Egypt. What was their attitude when that happened? Psalm sixty-six. If you need a pick-me-up at any time, notice how much we’re spending in Psalms here. If you need a pick-me-up, need a little rejoice pick-me-up during the Feast, this is the place to come. This is the place to come. Psalm sixty-six verse one fits back from the previous point about songs. Psalm sixty-six, one, “Make a joyful noise unto God, all you lands: Sing forth the honor of his name: make his praise glorious.”

We’ll look at verse six here. This was Israel’s attitude as God brought them out and delivered them. “He turned the sea into a dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.” After they went through and saw all of those awesome things, they rejoiced. We can... That’s the God we serve. That’s our father. He’s opened up the sea and then Israel was able to go through and they rejoiced. We can rejoice in the knowledge that He has our back. He’s working with us. Think of all the times that you’ve been delivered. Times that you’ve been able to... You’re delivered from hard trials and whatever it may be. Share those with one another and you should rejoice. We should be helping each other to rejoice over and over and over and over throughout the Feast.

Let’s turn to turn to James one. This is going to be a quick one, brethren, but think of all that we’ve been talking about and how awesome God is and how He delivers us. We should rejoice in trials. We should rejoice in trials and hardships. All that context of everything we’ve been talking about, God delivers us. He fulfills all petitions. Those banners we see on the sides of the room here in our mind. When we see this, it makes a lot more sense, doesn’t it? James one in verse two. This is rejoice always in trials even at the Feast. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Have joy. Whatever’s going on in our lives that starts to creep up and the world starts spinning and it’s like, “That’s the only thing that’s happening, and I can’t think about anything else and everything’s crumbling.” Am I the only one who’s experienced that? You know what it’s like. Remember everything we’ve talked about, the bigness of God, what He wants to do for us, that all of earth will be able to enjoy what we enjoy very, very soon, very, very soon.

That will help to cut through. You’ll count it joy rather than it being awful and just the world spinning and seems to be crumbling. You can cut through that by thinking of these different verses, calling them to mind. We serve an awesome God, don’t we? Let’s turn to Second Chronicles as we start to wrap up here. Second Chronicles. This is where Solomon was dedicating the temple, and all of Israel was there too. The temple was finished, and it was right around Feast time, right around Feast time.

Second Chronicles six and verse one, and he had a prayer that he gave. “Then Solomon said,” Second Chronicles six, one, Solomon said, “the Lord has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. But I have built a house of habitation for you, a place for dwelling forever. The king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood. And he said, Bless the Lord, be the Lord God of Israel, who is with his hands fulfilled that which he has spoken with his mouth to my father David, saying...”

We’ll skip down to verse forty. So, here’s the prayer, and he’s praying about this and what David had done. He had started putting together the materials for the temple in verse forty.

This is in this prayer that Solomon was giving around Feast time. “Now, my God, I beseech you, your eyes be open, let your ears be attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place.” This is something that we can pray too, brethren.

“Now, therefore arise, O Lord God, into your resting place, and you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O Lord, be clothed with salvation, let the saints rejoice in goodness.” They’re talking about priests. We’re going to be kings and priests, aren’t we? So, we can pray for one another. Let’s make that a prayer that we may be clothed with salvation, that all of us will be.

Pray for one another. Be specific. But also, let your saints rejoice in goodness. That’s easy here at the Feast but pray for one another that we may all rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always, but rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice in the Lord always at the Feasts. So, let’s pray for one another, that we can continue. We’re partway through the Feast, the rest of it and we’ll finish strong.

Second Chronicles seven, one. “Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled this house.” It is an awesome picture here of what’s happening. Verse five, “And Solomon offered a sacrifice, twenty-two thousand oxen,” twenty-two, and thousands and thousands of sheep. So, the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.”

Almost certainly, that was that Israel got to enjoy in that as well. That was those sacrifices. And they had song, like, just like us. Verse six, “And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also, the instruments of music of the Lord, that which David the king had made and praised to the Lord, because his mercy endures forever.” The sound of trumpets were there.

Verse eight, “At the same time, kept the Feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering of Hamath to the river of Egypt. And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly,” last great day, “and they kept a dedication for the Feast seven days.” But here’s how... Here’s what they took home with them after all of that. We are doing the same brethren. We’re keeping the Feast, and it’s wonderful. We may not have twenty-two thousand sheep, but it’s okay.

Here’s an attitude that we should take home, we rejoice in the Lord always. Notice, verse ten, “At the twenty-third day of the seventh month,” it’s after the last great day, “he sent the people away into their tents,” the Feast ended, here’s what they took home with them, “a glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the Lord had showed unto David, and Solomon, and to his people.” So, let’s rejoice always in the Feast. And when it’s all said and done, we’ll be a glad and merry heart for the goodness that is the Lord.

Let’s turn to Philippians three as we finish here. We’ve read it before, but we’ll go there one more time. Philippians three, one. Let this sink in how important it is at the Feast of Tabernacles. Philippians three, one. “Finally, brethren...” And we’ll end on this. “Finally, brethren, rejoice in the Lord. The same thing I write to you indeed, it is not grievous, but to you it is safe.” And I’ll skip over to four, four. Have this come home with a greater weight than ever before, “Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice.” Brethren let’s surely rejoice before the Lord God at this Feast and keep on rejoicing always when we return home.