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Transcript

Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you’re enjoying the day and being able to take in all that you can do today. I’m going to start today with a qualifier because it’s a little bit of a funny subject considering where we are prophetically. We heard Mr. Pack talk about the fact that you and I should keep preparing for the Feast of Tabernacles, even though we fully expect not to get there.

So, my job Is to help you prepare for the Feast of Tabernacles that we do not expect to get to, but we should be found so doing in all aspects of our lives. And that includes preparing because there’s a lot of things you do for the feast that you do before we even get there. As we come into the Holy Days, you can’t help but be excited about the Feast of Tabernacles. And as we’ve heard, it’s either going to be a feast where you go with scores or hundreds of people, or it’s going to be a feast where you’re helping run it with millions or billions of people.

Every year, as time goes on here in this world or in the world to come, you can guarantee how you feel about the Feast of Tabernacles will be how people in the kingdom feel about it. Even in the Kingdom of God, they’re going to be excited to go up to Jerusalem year by year. Because this is the time of year where God’s people come together in greater numbers. It’s fun to think about logistics. It’s a simple one. Who’s going to be running the restaurants when you go to the feast, if the whole world’s keeping the feast, or how do you feed everyone or housing, or you’re not going to leave a tip for housekeeping, are you?

Because they won’t be cleaning your house. They’ll be keeping the There’s a lot of logistical things that become a lot more complicated, but that’s for God and us as God beings to figure out. But you know, even today, there is a physical and a spiritual aspect to the Feast of Tabernacles. We have to be prepared spiritually and physically to be able to go. Just like in the spring, you have to be prepared spiritually.

When we keep Pentecost, we’re prepared spiritually. We study the subject. We get into the meaning of the day. All of the Holy Days are the same, but it’s interesting you do, by far, the most physical preparation for the Feast of Tabernacles. As you come into Passover, there are certain things we do, but you’re not planning, you’re not putting your bags together, you’re not thinking about various details. You go to Passover if you’re baptized. You keep the first day of unleavened bread.

You have to think, okay, I’ve got to get all the leaven out of my house. There’s a physical activity to that. But ultimately, it’s more about the day, the event, or the seven days where you’re taking bread or Pentecost, the Holy Day or Atonement or Trumpets. Any of those Holy Days, you tend to just arrive. It’s a much more spiritual-focused planning, especially Passover.

But you and I have been doing a lot of physical prep already for the feast, haven’t we? And I can only give you a smattering of the prep we do here at headquarters. We essentially start working on the feast about the day we get back from the feast. And in fact, we have sites booked years in advance because that’s just the way of hotels and whatnot. You have to book out in advance. But you’ve done a lot this year, too. I’ve done the same things.

You’ve registered. It’s been done for ages now. You’ve signed up for activities or planning to go, depending on what your site is. You’ve probably all looked and booked housing. It’s interesting. God has us preparing for something we don’t see ourselves getting to because that preparation, those going through motions year after year lays a remembrance in our minds when billions of people will be doing the same thing.

So, it doesn’t really matter if today we’re talking about your first feast or your fifty-first feast. The preparation should be very similar. The excitement should be very similar. The anticipation should be very similar. I guess, if it’s your first feast, you’re not really sure what to anticipate. I remember my first feast was exciting because people talk about it. If you’re in a congregation where this is going to be your first one, people are talking about it. They’re buzzing about it. They’re getting excited about it, and you’re kind of nervous.

You’re thinking, what is going to happen here? We’re going off to a facility, a hotel, a remote resort with a bunch of people for eight days. What’s going to happen? Well, to ensure that you’re ready for it, again, we have to prepare physically and spiritually. How do we prepare for the Feast of Tabernacles? Well, let’s start with the spiritual. It’s not going to be most of the focus of the message, but it is an important focus and thread throughout.

We have to get our spiritual house in order. It’s not quite the same as Passover, where you’re coming before, your sins are blotted out again, your slate is cleaned, you’re considering the sacrifice of Christ. It’s not the same in that aspect, but spiritually speaking, you’re going to get together with scores of brethren. That is wonderful, and that tests your character. How do you interact with other people? What spiritual baggage are you or I carrying that may affect our ability to interact with other of God’s people?

Are we holding on to offenses from years past? Do we have things in our mind that we think, “Well, this year, I’m not going to let so and so do. Are we saying, “No, I want to treat this in some ways like the Passover, where I’m trying to examine myself and figure out all the things that I need to clean in myself, so when I go to the feast, I go clean. I’ve analyzed who I am, my character, my christianity, my strengths, my weaknesses, and I’m prepared to interact with other people.”

Let’s go to the book of Psalms. Psalm one thirty-nine. Psalm one thirty-nine. Read a couple of verses here. Verse twenty-three is where we’ll start. Psalm one thirty-nine and verse twenty-three reads, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.” Twenty-four, “And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” We have to go before God this time of year, like we would in the spring, and examine ourselves.

Go before God, say, “God, where am I going to show my weaknesses?” Because your ability to clean yourself, to be able to have God show you the things that you need to work on, to be able to have an idea of where we could fall short, not only makes your feast better, but makes someone else feast better, because remember, we’re coming together. This is a love feast when people come together and share spiritual food, physical food, fellowship.

There is not a of year where anyone is around God’s people, around those who have his spirit, like the Feast of Tabernacles. You may do a combined service in the spring for the spring holidays, or you may do it for Pentecost or the different holidays. You may come together in a couple of congregations. It could be twenty, fifty, seventy people, but you go to the feast and you’re together with hundreds nonstop for eight days.

If you ever shared a room with a sibling, you know that being with someone you love for eight days will bring out the best and the worst in you and them. Our job is to ask God, “Help me, God, figure out what could make the feast more difficult for me or someone else.” It’s an important part of it, and it sometimes gets overlooked of how that examination should happen because we’re so busy thinking about all the physical things, and we should, because most of this message is going to help you remember those physical things that we should be planning for, but it would be a miss to not start with the spiritual side of it and what it means to actually go.

Because it tests your Christianity because remember, you and I are going to a location, in many cases around the world, a very nice Sukkot, very nice booth, temporary dwelling. If you look up some of the booths that were built in ancient Israel or even hundreds or thousands of years ago, don’t even look at what the Jews build today because they’re nice. They’re nice-looking sheds because they’ll set them up in their backyards. Those don’t even count.

If anything is prefabbed, it does not count of what God thought you should do, but if you look at the ancient examples of it, it’s essentially a lean to. They would go to the Feast of Tabernacles and stay under a lean-to, which is basically like this, and you’re sleeping and doing stuff under and cooking. There’s a bunch of people together. I guess if you had money, your lean-to may have sides on it or your roof may be a little more thatched, so the water doesn’t get in, but we’re not doing that. Are we?

We’re staying in a lot nicer accommodations, but even staying in those accommodations make us remember we don’t get to stay there all the time. Eventually, we go back to our homes. They are still a temporary dwelling, which is supposed to point us back to our bodies being that temporary dwelling. That is the spiritual significance of the feast. It helps us remember, we’re human beings, we’re flesh and blood. We came off Atonement and said, wow, our physical bodies can get weak. But the feast helps us keep it front of mind that you and I only are temporary. We’re not yet eternal. We’re not yet immortal. We’re not yet God.

So, as we prepare spiritually, we need to continually remember that we’re looking at an experience to help us remember that we’re temporary. And as temporary physical human beings, we have physical human problems. That’s why we examine ourselves. So, we basically go there to the feast, ensuring that our tabernacle is as tidy, sturdy, and clean as possible, so you can be with others who have temporary tabernacles. Again, physical and spiritual. They overlap very, very much this time of year.

Let’s go to First Corinthians chapter fourteen, one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible. I tend to be a bit of a logistics person, so there’s a couple of scriptures in the Bible that really drive that point. We’re still setting up before we get into some of the physical elements. First Corinthians fourteen and verse forty, just read the one verse, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” What do you do and when do you do it?

Everything has to be done decently and organized. The feast is an amazing time to watch that. You can have people who don’t set up chairs. And I love it when I go to the feast, sometimes you think you are precision to the nth degree, and you see people with a string line running down the aisle. They’re lining all the chairs up. Because they take this very seriously. They want it to be done decently and organized and structured.

But even before that, there is an order to have things done decently. We have to prepare both the physical side of it as we register and get our rooms and the spiritual side of it. It happens in that order. You don’t leave for the feast before you pack your bag. Things have a particular order in which we do them. So much of the physical or spiritual side of it happens before, but you’ll see there are elements as we get into it as well once we get there.

So, let’s remember that balance and we’ll touch base throughout the message going back and forth between the physical and spiritual because most of the physical elements lead to a spiritually fulfilling feast. If we don’t handle the physical things, then we will not take away from the feast on the last great day as it finishes with the spiritual nourishment that it should have provided.

Okay. So, if something else that happens before the feast. You are going to experience, and this is a range, difficulties, troubles and maybe even pre-feast trials before you pack up your car, get in the airplane and head off to the feast. Difficulties, troubles or trials. Sometimes it’s easy as Christians, especially in the western world for us to think, oh, I’m having a pre-feast trial. They happen and there’s nothing wrong with saying that, but if you wanted to order that air mattress that you thought would be even more comfortable than sleeping on the hotel bed at the nice hotel, and Amazon can’t get it to you until after the feast, that’s not a pre-feast trial.

If the air conditioner in your house goes out or you get to the feast there; are things that are luxuries that we have, but I’m not going to take away from it. The fact that you can have them because brethren of God, Satan does not want you at the feast. Full stop does not want you there. He wants to stop you. He wants to put doubt in your mind and think, “You know what? I just can’t afford to get to the feast this year. I can’t. My job, my spouse. I’m taking care of someone.” He wants to put in you doubt, difficulties, and trials so you don’t go to the feast because he knows that The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the coming kingdom of God, and he doesn’t want it. So, he doesn’t want you to be there.

He doesn’t want you to picture it. He doesn’t want you to prepare for it. Go to first Peter chapter five. The greatest thing Satan can do this time of year is have you determine, “You know what? I just can’t make it. I’d like to. It’d be nice. But this, that, or the other thing,” because we can have tons of excuses as to why, you know, “We just can’t make it,” or “I’m going to have to do from home,” or “I think I need to be a shut-in, and I’ll qualify this a little bit more.

But first Peter chapter five and verse four of first Peter five, “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive the crown of glory that fades not away. Likewise, you younger, submit yourselves to the elder. Yes, all of you be subject one to another, be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time...” How do we do that? How do we humble ourselves? “...casting all your care upon him; because he cares for you.”

So cast our cares upon God because, verse eight, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he...” You or me. “...who he may devour.” He wants to stop us from going. And brethren of God around the world, you may think you can’t go to the feast. You may be new and think, “I’ve just started saving second tithe. I can’t do it.” You may already be in our system as, “Unable to attend and valid.”

But I want to throw a wrench in church administration. I want you to think about can you even go to some of the feast? See, I’m throwing a wrench because they have it all planned out. They know who’s going. So, if you get a bunch of emails and get all these change requests because suddenly now people are coming for the first or third or last day, that’s a wonderful problem I just created, so help me create it.

If you’ve saved some second tithe, you can come for the opening night, or you can come for the first day, or you come for the Sabbath in the middle of the feast, or the last great day because you’re a prospective member and you haven’t had a chance to be able to save second tithe yet. Or you have a situation that you can’t come to the feast because of health or pregnancy or you’re taking care; all the reasons it could be valid. But you think, “You know what? I probably can make it for the Sabbath. That’s only a few-hour drive.”

If you get with God’s people even for a short period of time, that’s an amazing chance to rejuvenate. Talk to your minister. Say, “Mr. So-and-so, you know what? I’m reconsidering. I think I can make it for the first day. I can’t for the rest of it. I don’t have enough money. I’m a new perspective member, and I haven’t had a chance to save, but I could get there for a day or I could make it for their dinner dance, or I can make it for the Sabbath.”

Because Satan wants to put doubt in your mind, so you don’t make it to any of it. And I admonish those who said they can’t attend or won’t attend. You don’t walk this way of life, and don’t obey God. If you choose not to attend The Feast...if you talk to your minister and it’s been approved, I’m not speaking to you. I already did about encouraging maybe a day or two. I’m speaking to those who said, “I’m not going to go.” You are disobeying God hands down.

You’re saying, “I don’t want to live this way of life. I don’t believe you God this is a commanded assembly. I don’t care that nations are going to be punished when they don’t go up to The Feast. You’re walking a dangerous path, a dangerous path. Don’t let Satan take you there, because if you’re walking that path, you’re on your way out of the church. That’s where you’re going. So, stop him from doing it. Stop Satan from trying to pull you away from God’s way of life, because the feast, it’s a time for spiritual renewal and joy and get excited and pull everyone back together.

Go to Nehemiah, read a longer passage here, Nehemiah chapter eight. Nehemiah chapter eight. Let me turn there. Start in verse one, at the beginning of the chapter. Nehemiah eight, “And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spoke unto Ezra the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel, commanded to read it.”

Verse 2, “And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month,” trumpets. So just put ourselves in context on the calendar. So, the first day of the seventh month, they started listening to the book of the law as Ezra read it on what would be the day of trumpets. Jumping down, we’ll go down to verse ten.

In verse ten, he says, “And then he said unto them, go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared...” Important part of the way we live our lives. Think about the folks who are missed. Think about the folks who are shut-ins, who can’t attend the feast, would love to attend, but can’t. It’s why it’s so important. We’re so excited to be able to have the live stream available at particular feast sites so shut-ins can do it.

If we had time, if time went on, I would work my tail off, excuse the expression, to make that happen around the world where it was able to do it. But that’s important because we have to think about the people whom nothing is prepared. Not because they didn’t, because they just don’t have it. Continuing there, “...for this day is holy unto the Lord: neither be sorry; for joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Continuing on verse eleven, “So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be you grieved. And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they understood the words that were declared unto them.” So, they were hearing what was being preached, what was being spoken out of the law. They were learning how to live God’s way of life. It’s what we do every day, brethren.

But for Israel, this was now, this was a change, and they were learning how to live, what to do. And continuing here, “...and the words declared unto them, great mirth, and they understood the words declared unto them.” Verse thirteen, “And on the second day were they gathered together the chiefs of the fathers of the people, the priests, and the Levites, and Ezra the Scribe, even to understand the words of the law.” On the second day, not the second day of the seventh month, the second day of the Feast of Tabernacles, because it will continue.

“And they found written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month.” They were learning that, wait a second, we need to keep Trumpets, and we skipped some sections about Atonement, and we need to keep Atonement, and we need to keep this thing that where we dwell in booths. You can just imagine, Ezra reading to the congregation saying, we need to set up temporary dwellings, booths, lean-tos, if you will, and dwell in them for the feast of the seventh month.

Even back then, we, what do you and I say today? Because it’s funny, trumpets is a feast. The Sabbath day is a feast. Every holy day is a feast, except for Atonement. But when I look at you, I don’t care if it’s January, July, or October. If I look at you, anyone in the congregation, anywhere in the world, and I say, “Where are you going for the feast?” You don’t have a doubt in your mind what feast I’m talking about. As you get closer, are you excited about the feast?

I could ask you on the day before Passover and say, do you have any plans for the feast? When there’s three feasts and a Sabbath in there right in front of you. You’re going to be thinking, “Oh, you mean the Feast of Tabernacles? But wait, we haven’t had Passover yet.” That’s where your mind will go. And even here in Nehemiah, simply refer to the feast of the seventh month.

Continuing on here. I’ll jump down here. I’m going to pick up. So that’s verse fourteen. Verse fifteen, “And they would publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Go forth onto the mountain, fetch olive branches, and pine trees, and myrtle branches, and palm thicks, and branches of thick trees, and make booths, as it is written. So the people went forth, and brought them, and made for themselves booths, and every one of the roof of their house.”

It’s interesting. Where could you go? It was kind of short notice. So, “...on the roof of their house, of their courts, and the courts of the house of God, and the streets of the water gate and the streets of the gate of Ephraim, and all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths.” So, remember, they just came out of captivity. This is new for them. This is bringing them back to where they had been, that they had lost.

“...and sat under the booth, for since the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, unto that day, had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness. “Also, day by day from the first day until the last day, he read in the book...” which is required to do. You hear messages at the feast every single day, “...and they kept the feast seven days. And on the eighth day, was a solemn assembly according to this manner.”

The seven days of the feast and the last great day. And there was great mass, great gladness because the Feast of Tabernacles in all of us should create amazing joy. To be able to experience it, be able to come together with people, to be able to indulge in things we normally wouldn’t be able to do. I’m not getting into the meaning of the feast or the command. That’s not what we’re preparing for today. We have various articles if you want to dig into this, and this should be part of your spiritual preparation.

Go to the Holy Day booklet and read about the Feast of Tabernacles. Look at the articles we prepare in the pillar for the Feast of Tabernacles. There’s a lot of material we provide. Today, I’m getting into the practical elements of what we actually should be doing, especially the physical side of it. And really, we’re just getting started. But again, on this overall point, Satan doesn’t want you to have those things, so expect difficulties.

We have a saying in our house, and you’ve said it before and it’s not well received as our child gets a little bit older, but we still make them do it. If something goes wrong, I look at him and I say, “Ethan, what do we say?” And he looks up, knowing he has to say it, “Oh, well.” “And then what do we do?” He looks up at me again, knowing he has to say it, “We roll with it.” So, we have to say, “Oh, well,” and “Roll with it,” because difficulties happen.

And God wants to see how we handle ourselves in those difficulties because that’s when our character’s tested. Our character’s not tested when everything’s going well. If you’re enjoying wine with brethren at the feast and having a great time, your character is not being tested. If the waiter bumps into you and spills the wine all over your only white shirt that you have, your character is being tested. We don’t get tested when it’s hard. So, expect things to not go as smoothly as you like up to the level of trials. I’ve talked to some people who are having pre feast trials. But again, remember who is behind that.

Go to Ephesians six. Ephesians chapter six. We’ll start in verse ten, reminding what we’re fighting against. Verse ten of Ephesians six reads, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” He’s, our enemy. He wants us to not walk and live this way of life. Verse twelve, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness.”

Or that means in the Greek, wicked spirits in high places. “Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God.” Be prepared spiritually that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand.” Understand those trials will come. You will get a flat tire. You will have something go wrong. Things happen. Oh, well, we roll with it. Because ultimately, that’s keeping coals of fire on Satan, isn’t it? When the things he does to make it difficult for you to obey God, if you roll with those things and think, you know what? I’m going to be God. I can handle that. That is how we defeat the devil.

So, get our spiritual house in order. We have to make sure we’ve got our minds sharpened, knowing that there will be trials, there will be things happening. And once we get all of that elements, we study the feast, we understand what it’s about, we know why we do it, we understand the command, we do that spiritual preparation, and then at a certain point, we’ve got to do physical preparation. Bags don’t pack themselves, do they? Unless you’re married, then they pack themselves. Oh, no they don’t. But we have to do stuff.

We have to organize our travel, lodging. You have to pack. In our household, we’re advanced packers. I don’t say that because we’re good packers. I said we’re advanced packers, just meaning we do it in advance. We have a tool that we use, Microsoft to Do. So every time we have a trip, we plug everything into To Do, my wife manages it, and I’ve got my list, Ethan’s got his list, my wife has her list, and we keep adding things to it, and then every time we make a trip, this could be a vacation, it could be a trip, whatever, but the feast, we uncheck all the things that we had previously checked off, so they come back to the surface, you don’t have to remember them.

We start in that, weeks and weeks, we had already started packing, and now we’re going to be here at headquarters, so we’re now unpacking the things that we started packing, which is slightly ironic. But we do it well in advance because the last thing you want to do is be scrambling and be stressed out, because “Oh, I just put everything off. I put it-- no.” God knows where your heart is. You can walk and chew gum at the same time. You can prepare for the feast and expect Christ to return.

We should be expecting Christ to return if it’s December or July. You don’t stop paying your utility bill because we know Christ is going to return because God expects us to do, to be a steward over the things He’s given us. So, if that means organizing, and getting things in advance, my wife usually would drive to the feast, and I would fly to meet up with them. So, we’re packing a car and we’re getting things in advance, or they’re planning things, and gifts, and all that doesn’t happen at the last minute.

Proper planning reduces stress. It reduces the thing that we were just talking about, the difficulties and trials that can come if we don’t plan in advance, think things through. Let’s go to Proverbs, chapter twenty-one. Like anything, we have to find balance. Proverbs twenty-one, just read one verse, verse five, “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of everyone that is hasty only to want...” So, if we are diligent in our planning, then we only tend only toward plenteousness.

We’re ready. Things are handled. You’ve thought things through. We have a wedding coming up this Sunday, and they have learned a lot goes into the wedding. I was talking with them, and there’s a lot of planning that happens. If they would have tried to do everything at the last minute, it wouldn’t have worked. But there’s a lot of planning that goes into an event like that. There’s a lot of planning that goes into the feast. There’s a lot of planning that goes into having you ready to get in a car or a plane and go to your respective feast site.

But as the verse continues, “...but every one that is hasty,” as in not being diligent, that’s only to want. Oh, I forgot that. Oh, if I would’ve, oh, now I’ve got to go buy another belt because I didn’t think about the belt that I should have brought to the feast, or, oh, I only brought one tie. And then that wine got spilled on me and I’ve got to go to Walmart and find another tie. No, the diligent plan, think it through. Remove the unnecessary stress that would come from leaving things to the last minute.

Because when you plan it, think it through, you know what that gives you more time, right? Even up to the last minute, it gives you more time to be ready spiritually, to think about the spiritual side of it. If we’re racing around with all the physical, and there will be a lot of that, we leave no time for the spiritual. The feast, it’s an interesting time of year. You are running around so much right before. It’s the most likely time of year when pray and study tend to wane.

That’s dangerous because you’re going to somewhere else where pray and study can wane. The feast can cause that. We’ll talk more about that later, making time for it. But the more we think through, plan, and get out in advance, those critical elements of who we are won’t go wanting. So, make a checklist, organize, do some research on the internet. I love our digital checklist, and it’s shared between my wife and I. I add things, she adds things.

And I’m comfortable because before we started doing this, you have a checklist or you look something up on the internet and you go through and kind of have an idea, but you always left. I don’t care if it’s the feast or a vacation or whatever it is. You always left the house as you put the bags in your car and thinking like, did I remember everything? Did I turn the iron off or did I shut the water off or did I pack the... if you have a list, especially if you can bring it back all the time, you don’t worry about those things. You have them. So, make a list. Make sure nothing is left behind. Make sure you remove the stress that can come with collecting a family and going across a country to a location.

Let’s go to Luke fourteen. Luke chapter fourteen. We’re going to loosely fit this verse in. Verse twenty-seven, passage here, Luke fourteen twenty-seven. “And whoso does not bear his cross and come after me, can’t be my disciple.” We have to obey God. We have to be able to take whatever you and I have, our weaknesses and our strengths and follow Christ. Verse twenty-eight. “For which of you, intending to build a tower...”

Or let’s paraphrase, for which of you intending to get in an airplane with your family of three, with all the luggage and suitcases, snacks, treats, and various things that you need to make sure everyone survives, that trip across country, “...sits not down first and counts the cost and whether he have sufficient to fulfill it.” Brethren, God expects us to plan. And you have to do planning in every aspect of your life every single day, not just for the Feast of Tabernacles.

You’ve got children, you know that. It’s especially true with younger children around because they’re, or even older, they’re thinking about college, your kids are, whatever grade they’re in, their activities, their stuff, we have to plan as Christians. God expects us to be good stewards over what we have. If we don’t, we’re being like the one who wanted to build the tower and didn’t think it through.

So organize your travel, lodging, packing in advance, remove any of that last-minute stress that’s simply not necessary. Another thing we need to make sure we have a handle on, well in advance before we get to the Feast, budget your second tithe effectively and carefully. Budget your second tithe effectively and carefully. Go to Deuteronomy fourteen. This was funny. When I was single and had a job and first-- especially my first Feast because it’s still back in Toronto making really good money and my second tithe was plenteous.

And I did not plan it, didn’t think it through, and had excess to give at the end of the Feast, and yeah, had a great time. Then I moved to headquarters and as everyone here does, takes a big pay cut when you come here so the second tithe was less plenteous and the second year was still pretty okay. Didn’t have to worry too much. And then over time, you got married. Then I was ordained and different amounts of second tie with allotments. And one first Feast, my wife and I after marriage, we realized, “Oh, we cut that really close.” So then from that point forward, it was, “Okay, what’s our Feast budget? What is the plan? What are we purchasing to take to the Feast? What sort of things do we want to purchase at the Feast?”

Meals, budgets, plans, all of that should be thought through. And the more little mouths you feed, the more difficult that can be or the more you want to do for other people has to be planned or poof, it’ll disappear. You’re probably already there. Deuteronomy fourteen verse twenty-two. “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your seed that the field brings in forth year by year,” we just heard this from Mr. Pack. “...and you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place where He shall choose to place His name there.

The tithe of the corn and the tithe of the wine and of your oil and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks that you may learn to fear the Lord always.” Your God always. It’s one of the purposes of the Feast, is to fear God. We saw and talked about joy mirth. That’s another purpose. “And if the way be too long for you so that you are not able to carry it, or if the place be too far from you which the Lord your God shall choose to set His name when the Lord your God has blessed you, then you shall turn it into money…”

We don’t have... some do, some are farmers, but we don’t often are thinking about, “Okay, I’ve got to bring a tenth of my wine, my corn, my oil. Oh, okay, I’m going to bring my firstlings of the herd and I’m going to the Feast with my livestock.” We don’t think in that way in this day and age. No, we do, but it says in verse twenty-five we turn it into money or have the money and bind it up in your hand “and you shall go to the place where the Lord your God shall choose.”

Verse twenty-six, “And you shall bestow that money for whatsoever your soul lust after,” whatsoever, of course within God’s law, “...for oxen or for sheep or for wine or for strong drink, or for whatsoever your soul desires. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and you shall rejoice you and your household.” That’s the command. We’re supposed to do the things that we would normally do, what your soul lusts after, and experience what is a picture of the kingdom of God. And you know what nice things require? Nice money. It goes fast. I like rye, rye whiskey.

If I could pick a drink and I’m commanded to get a bottle of rye whiskey at the Feast because it says strong drink, and I would be disobeying God if I didn’t decide to purchase something. Often take it back with me but still, I can choose to get a nice bottle of rye or I could go out and get this seventeen fifty-two oak age bottle for three thousand dollars and then we wouldn’t eat for the rest of the Feast. So would my soul maybe a little bit lust after? Yes, but I also know I have a budget.

And so do you, there are things you can and can’t do with the Feast. You may think, you know what? I want to rent a car this Feast. I’ve never had a X-type of car. I’m going to go find a Lamborghini and I’m going to rent it at the Feast. And I found out it’s only eleven hundred dollars a day. So my Feast budget will be blown in a day and five minutes. No, you wouldn’t do that. But if we don’t have a budget of what we can spend, then it’s easy to make a mistake and come up short day six, day seven.

And suddenly now, you’re panicking of, “Okay, I’m not going out to eat tonight. Oh, I hope someone invites me out because I just blew through all my Feast money and it’s day five of the Feast and I’m kind of hungry. If we don’t plan, that can easily happen very easily because everyone’s the same. You come into the Feast and you’re excited. And if you have a budget, this is great. If you don’t have a budget, this is dangerous. You come into the Feast, you’re excited, you see everyone, “Everyone, let’s go out for dinner. I’ll pay for the whole thing.”

And then people start showing up and your group of four is now twelve and you’re like, “Oh, I said I was going to pay for the whole thing and there’s twelve people.” And you open the menu and that’s a ninety-dollar steak. I’m going to an extreme, but everyone goes to the Feast so excited. Our wallets are open. We feel like we’re flush with cash and we want to serve and help. And that’s great if you plan to do that. If you didn’t, and now it’s day four and again you’re hungry, that’s not proper planning. So start at the top and work your way down in your planning. So you’ve got a Feast budget, you’ve probably already taken things off of it. So you plan all your second tithe, you see what it looks like, you’ve sent in your one percent of your tithe, which helps other people be able to keep the Feast. And so you’re looking at that remaining nine percent of your income and you say lodging, subtract. Vehicle, travel, hotel, planes, all that, subtract.

Okay, so those are two huge chunks. Now that big, big number at the top suddenly is not quite as big. And work your way down. Come up with a daily allotment of food. You may choose to eat breakfast in your hotel, that’s what we do. Eventually, eating out is just too much of the Feast, I just want a salad. But if you do breakfast in your room or lunch in your room or most lunches in your room, you end up saving money. But you should put that on paper.

You think, “Okay, we will have to do an overnight oats.” So we have a rough idea, “Okay, how much that’s going to cost?” So remove that from our Feast budget. And then we think about activities. Paid for, done, removed from the Feast budget. So eventually, that number starts to whittle down and you’re looking now and think, okay, this is now my discretionary spending. These are the things I can do for fun. And that number is not nearly as big as what you thought it was before we started removing all those main items.

And do these practices. I don’t care if you don’t know how to use Excel. Pull a piece of paper out, write your numbers down, pull out a calculator, and make the calculation. Because what you’re trying to narrow it down to is how much money do I have per day beyond the basic expenses. And also, are there things you want to buy for the Feast? Did you want to get a new suit? A new dress? Did you have certain activities in mind that you really wanted to do and know the cost of them?

And maybe you had to book the tickets in advance. Take those items out of your budget. So when you get to the Feast, you see a number. Let’s say it’s eight hundred dollars. Keep it easy. Eight days. Then you know, okay, I’ve taken all my expenses out and I have eight hundred dollars left over. That means I have one hundred dollars of discretionary spending per day. And then I know if I spent a hundred and twenty because I did something fun and took brethren or did something with them, I should do eighty the next day to keep myself on track.

You have to plan it just like you’re planning your household budget, which all of us should be doing. And avoid things that are wasteful or overindulging. God says whatever your soul lusts after. But our souls can be, especially in this Western world, we get a lot, we expect a lot. So be careful about overspending. Remember, some of that discretionary spending, you may think, you know what? I do want to take the tab for that lunch or that dinner.

And if you want to pay for things for brethren, it doesn’t have to be the dinner, especially if you don’t have as much budget. Take brethren out for coffee. Say, “No, no, get a bagel, get a coffee, let me take care of it.” You get the same fellowship and joy from spending five or ten dollars, or can you get a coffee and a bagel for five dollars anywhere, probably fifteen, that you would if you spent fifty on a dinner or take them for lunch. Or if you don’t have the money to do either, go for a walk.

Or just simply sit down in the lobby and fellowship. You don’t have to have money to be able to serve. But if you’re going to do it with money, make sure you plan what you can and can’t have. Proverbs twenty-two. Proverbs chapter twenty-two. This will first seem like a funny verse, but verse seven, Proverbs twenty-two. “The rich rules over the poor,” so if you’re thinking, I’m going to the Feast with a lot of money, I’m going to rule. No, it’s not. “...and the borrower is a servant to the lender.”

Because often it’s the rich who rule over the poor because the poor have to borrow. “He that sows iniquity shall reap vanity, and the rot of his anger shall fail. He that has a bountiful eye,” so you, because you planned, you thought through, you budgeted, and have everything, you’ve taken care of your expenses, your family. You’ve made with like, “You know what? I want to get gifts for the little kids.” I’ve planned all of these details and I know what my discretionary spending budget is. “...If I have a bountiful eye toward others of God’s people, you and I shall be blessed for He gives of his bread to the poor.” Is it not a slang term for money? “That guy’s got bread.” I’ve not heard that in a very long time. There’s probably young people thinking “What is He talking about?” But no. You help those people who don’t have. You give your bread, your money, your support, your fellowship to those without.

Remember, there are some that haven’t planned as we saw in the account in Nehemiah, not because there were poor planners, because they just didn’t have anything to be able to give the wine, the corn, the oil. So avoid debt at the Feast because that will ultimately what you’ll find yourself doing if you don’t plan. You’ll think, “Okay, I’ve got to eat. I better pull out my credit card.” And then you will leave the Feast with debt. You should not. You should not. Okay, another item here. Maintain good health and physical well-being before and during the Feast of Tabernacles.

When we get busy, it tends to be the time when we say, “You know what? Let’s just order pizza,” or “Let’s get takeout,” or the food quality in the household tends to drop because you’re busy. There’s a lot of people doing things. They have to get everything done. We’re packing in this and that. And that’s fair. And yes, can that happen? I tell my wife when she wants me to cook, I have a plan every single time. There are four or five restaurants that I’m more than happy to drive to and pick up dinner and I’ll take it home and put it on a plate and say dinner is served. That is the quality of my cooking.

But do that too often, both budget-wise and also health-wise, it will deteriorate. You know, we’ve got to take care of our bodies. Go to First Corinthians six. First Corinthians Chapter six. God expects. Remember, these are temporary dwellings we were responsible for. If you’re trying to stay warm with your tabernacle, your booth, you don’t run your oxen into it. I damaged it a bit slight and the rain comes and comes in through it because we didn’t take care of it. These are the temporary booths, our bodies, that we have to take care of.

Verse nineteen of First Corinthians six. “What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?” We’re not even our own booths. Verse twenty. “For you are bought with a price, therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” How much better do we take care of other people’s things than we take care of our own? It tends to happen. If you borrow someone’s lawnmower, you think, “Okay, I’m going to be very careful with it.

It’s not my lawnmower. I want to make sure I return it to them just like they received it or better, I’ll clean it.” It’s a kind of a policy or an approach we’ve had for decades in God’s church to leave something better than when it arrived. I remember up in Michigan we painted a room where we were meeting and that’s what we do. It’s God’s people and it’s why often hotels bend over backward to have us back because we’re not like normal customers.

But it’s not something that we own and we take good care of it because we should but sometimes, we don’t apply the same thing to our bodies when our bodies are not something we own. It is the storage vessel of the Spirit of God. God owns it so we have to take care of it and that means finding the moderation because the Feast will be a struggle in moderation. We’re commanded to strong drink and wine and oxen and those desserts and all the things that make it fun, physical things, but at the same time, we know our body is the temple that holds the Holy Spirit.

And if we overindulge, we fall off the moderation on the other side. So we have to indulge. That’s a command, whatsoever your soul lusts after, but we have to not overindulge finding the right middle of the road, the right moderation. Because if you get sick at the Feast, there’s a long list of things that you will not have. And sometimes it happens. You could be doing everything right, and you could just simply catch your toe on the side of a piece of furniture and break it during the Feast as I did a couple of years ago. That was not because I had too many desserts. It’s just life. Things happen. Time and chance. Oh well, and you roll with it. But start the Feast and rev up to your desserts. Start the Feast and rev up to the more indulgent aspects, especially diet. Make sure you’re getting out there and walking and exercising. And space out your food.

I love dessert when that dessert is like a heart attack. And usually, it’s overly decadent chocolate. If you take chocolate, peanut butter, banana, and probably something else I’m forgetting, and put those things together, pretty much no matter what, it’s wonderful. If you can take all of those things and infuse them in some sort of dish that is like heated with a brownie or something, an ice cream, oh yes, that’s just beautiful. But if I say, you know what? The amount of calories in that is equal to what it would be as if I just had a normal dinner.

So for the Feast, my heart lusts after that brownie cake, lava, peanut butter thing. Well, give me two days into the Feast and I’m going to be, my throat. And then once that happens, you do what you should do. If you’re sick, you don’t come downstairs to the meeting hall. Talk to the minister or the coordinator there. Make sure you have it approved. But you don’t come downstairs and get everyone else sick. You miss out. That’s what happens. You miss out. You miss out from the spiritual food. You miss out from the fellowship.

You miss out from the activities. You miss out from so many aspects. You’re not going to dinner with people because you’re sick. You miss out on so much of the Feast. Take your vitamins. Take the things that keep you healthy. And then space out the lust after things. Enjoy a big steak. But don’t eat the T-bone steak every single night. It doesn’t just have to be a dessert. Anything your body is not used to eating throws your body for a curveball. And the older you get, the bigger the curveball.

So don’t allow your excitement to hit you early. We have a policy in our house. We don’t always follow it because sometimes you get in a restaurant and you think, “Okay, I’ve got to try the dessert.” We wait a few days into the Feast before we try any desserts. We bring healthy desserts with us often. But we wait until we get into the Feast a bit before we say, you know what? I want that chocolate lava cake. And, please, put that extra scoop of ice cream on it. But at least I know I’m calculating based on my time.

So if I’m having my immune system knocked down from this lava cake, the time it’s going to take for an illness to incubate is probably about forty-eight hours. So it’s going to be day five before it kicks in. And if I get to day five and I’m not sick yet, well, I can have another one on day five. Because now this whole thing is going to play itself out again, and I’m going to be the Last Great Day before I’m sick. I say that a little tongue-in-cheek.

But if we approach our health at the Feast like we should be doing throughout the year, just taking up a notch, if you will, with some of the nicer things we get to enjoy, we’ll go through the entire Feast and feel great. What you should feel like at the end of the Feast is not sick, except you’re sick of fancy food. You’re sick of... oh, okay, I don’t want another steak. Can I just have a salad? If you feel like that at the end and your suits are tight, great. You just don’t want to be sick.

So make sure you get the rest. Make sure you get the nutrition that you need. All of those aspects are crucial and important to be able to have a great Feast. And that includes the time leading up to it. So plan that just like you’d plan your budget. Think through the details. Plan your restaurants and what you’re going to eat. Know you’re going to have snacks. You know you’re going to have things you wouldn’t normally have and have your body be ready for.

And if you have a family, we always do this when we travel. It’s probably good no matter what. Make sure you have the things you need if you get sick because the last thing you want to do is be running around for this herb or that tea or that cough syrup. It doesn’t hurt to be prepared. That’s not saying I’m going to the Feast and I’m going to get sick. So you know what? I’m going to bring all the stuff because I’m on a mission to get sick and I’m going to have it. No, you’re being prepared. So if it happens, which we all experienced with COVID years ago, the cough syrup and whatnot wouldn’t help. But I remember just two three years ago, the Feast and Flagstaff. I remember Mr. Jackson was coordinating at the time there, and we were getting later in the Feast and COVID was going around the Feast, and people were just dropping off like flies. So every day there’d be five or six people gone, and I remember looking and saying we just need to make it to the Last Great Day.

But if people are prepared, we couldn’t do anything about that, and we don’t really see that as much anymore. But if you have whatever things you do to get over illnesses more quickly if you have your elder barrier, you have all those things that people use, be prepared for it. Because then if it happens you may be able to get yourself back on your feet faster, because sometimes you just get sick. You can be taking care of yourself and it happens you get exposed.

So have the things to help you get back on your feet quickly, so you don’t miss out on the fellowship and the food, spiritual, all the things that come with being there in the room each and every day. So maintain good health, physical well-being, leading up to and then, of course, through the Feast of Tabernacles. And next, this is again part of the planning because you’ll plan your activities, set aside time for Bible study and prayer. And this could be relatively simple at the Feast. Your Bible study and prayer could be very, very simple.

If you review your notes from the previous day, that’s good Bible study. You’re drilling it into your mind. If you just have a chance to sit and read the Bible for a bit, that’s good Bible study. You’re not going to have probably similar Bible study to what you’d have if you were home. If you’ve got your books, or your computer, or all your details that you have around. I know I have e-Sword and this then I do when I do Bible study, I usually have a couple monitors that I’m okay I’ve got e-Sword here, and that’s just how I do study.

So you’re not going to have the same resources, so keep it simple but keep your nose in the book. You’re going to hear a sermon. Take those notes, next day go through review them, and then pray. It doesn’t matter if you do that to start your day or end your day, make sure we find time to do it. Psalm one hundred and nineteen. Because ultimately, the Feast is not about the physical. Christianity is ultimately not about the physical. Well, start in verse fourteen so the beginning of Psalm one hundred and nineteen.

It’s about the spiritual, it’s about what it pictures, us improving and growing in character, and being ready for the Kingdom of God. Psalm one hundred and nineteen and verse fourteen. “I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate in your precepts,” I’ll think about them, I’ll meditate, “...and I have respect unto your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes, I will not forget your word.” Brethren, if we don’t study during the Feast, we are saying we do not want to listen to God.

And it doesn’t have to be deep corrective, but no, it’s not. You’re not going to have exhortative and intense Bible study. That’s it’s going to be dokimos, Bible study. It’ll change you as a... no, that’s not what... no. Keep your nose in the book. Review the notes from the day before. Think about where you’re going to go. Read the proverbs. Your Bible study can be simple during the Feast. You have to overthink it, but it’s important that we think about it because we have to meditate in our words. Otherwise, we will forget God’s word.

And then the Feast becomes a physical activity, not a spiritual one. Because all of our physical activities have a spiritual component, that we’re going to be fellowship, and we’re going to be with God’s people. We’re going to be around others. We’re going to be a light to the world. But you and I won’t be thinking on those elements if we aren’t thinking spiritually. And it becomes too physical of a Feast which is what happened in the past.

You go back to the worldwide church of God, they were obviously thinking about it as a physical Feast because most of them just got up and walked away from truth. It wasn’t about the word. They forgot the word. May it not be the same for us. Let’s go to the New Testament. Second Timothy. Another familiar verse but just a punch the point in verse fourteen. Second Timothy chapter two fourteen, I think. I don’t think I gave you the chapter. Let you turn there. Second Timothy chapter two and verse fourteen. “Of these things, put them in remembrance. It’s my job charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.” That’s a chance thing we can do with the Feast. We can get into debates and arguments or thoughts. We have to work on our ourselves, but verse fifteen, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs to not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” I could turn over where it says, “We should be instant in prayer.”

So we have to study and we have to pray during the Feast, but again, don’t overthink it. It doesn’t have to be, it’s not the same as when you’re home, but it’s easy to not do it because, “Oh, I got this activity, or I have that activity. I’m going to go do this.” No, no, take some time even if it’s before bed, it’s when you wake up in the morning, whatever it is, remember that the Feast of Tabernacles pictures the world, getting the Kingdom of God with hundreds and millions of God beings.

Ultimately, everything we do has a spiritual implication to it. So find time for focused Bible study and prayer. Other points we continue along here. Keep a mindset of joy and excitement during the Feast of Tabernacles. A lot of these points tie together, if we don’t keep our health up, it’s hard to be joyful. It’s hard to stay excited when you don’t feel well. And then also as same on this element, remember the Feast pictures, the coming Kingdom of God. So the joy we feel should partly be attached to seeing people you’ve not seen before.

You’re excited to fellowship together, have meals, all thing, but the joy that should be the foundation, the base of why we’re joyful is because we are picturing the Kingdom of God. We are at the festival. The Feast picturing the world being able to do what we do. That should be where our excitement and joy comes from. Let’s go to Zechariah fourteen. There’s a lot of reasons to be excited and joyful. Also, we saw earlier about fearing God too, but this is ultimately it. This is the excitement. This is the joy.

That’s why it’s so easy to be joyful to God because of what He’s doing in you and I, and ultimately, to all mankind. For all mankind. Zechariah fourteen and verse sixteen. “And it shall come to pass,” verse sixteen, “...that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.” That’s why we’re doing it. That’s why we’re picturing it today because at a point, the Feast won’t matter to you and I in the same way we’ll be administering the Feast.

I have such an amazing job that I get to do this today. And not just in the sermon, but in general, what we get to do as ministers, because we get to administer the Feast for you. We get to picture what the joy God is going to give all of us when we get to administer for billions of people. I love going home from the Feast and brethren, you have no idea, and I don’t say this as a criticism, I say this as an excitement for those who work so hard in the background. You have no idea how all the things that went into making the Feast look like it just happened smoothly.

Don’t feel bad about that. That’s our job, that’s our excitement to be able to do it. And it brings me such joy, but there are scores of meetings and things and everything happening in the background to ensure it looks like we just pulled this off, like we’re good. Well, we know. We know it takes teamwork, and many of you have elements helping those various departments go smoothly. So it’s not just the ministry, a lot of hands are involved in the Feast.

It’s just some of us could be able to get to stand back a little higher and see all of the teams working together. And it’s just such a joy to watch God’s people work together to make things happen decently and in order. But it’s easy to find joy at the Feast. But remember, the foundation of it should be the fact the whole world’s going to keep thinking about why you fear God. You have this being who can usher in the change of mankind, who can swap out the universe, who can do all the things like convert human beings, change us, make us more like Christ, become Godlike, and ultimately become God. Any being who can do that, oh, we should fear. Both fear and awe, but then also find joy because God isn’t just working with you and I. He ultimately wants his family to grow forever, nonstop. Some people, they have children. You think, “Okay, I want one child or three children or, oh, I want to have seven children.” Or whatever. God says, “No, I want an infinite number of children. I want it to grow forever.” That’s easy to be joyful and to fear a God who thinks like that.

Okay, another one here. “Prepare for the Feast.” We touched on this just now, but we’ll expand a little bit more. “Prepare to serve and help others during the Feast.” Again, “Prepare to serve and help others during the Feast.” There is no other time throughout the year even close where we have opportunity to serve and help others. Many of you have signed up to various teams, and you did that in advance. If you get to the Feast site and you think, “You know what? I could help more.”

See the coordinator and say, “I wasn’t sure about signing up for A, B, C, team and usher or setup or flowers.” Or whatever it is, and you get to the Feast site and you think, “Actually, no, I’m pretty organized. Things are on top. I wish I could help.” Go see the coordinator or the assistant and say, “I didn’t sign up for anything. I didn’t think I could, but is there any team I could help on?” And I can almost guarantee he’s going to say, “Sure, go see so and so.” He could use an extra hand or she can use an extra hand. But prepare for it. Think about that in advance.

Go to Hebrews ten. Hebrews chapter ten and verse twenty-four. Hebrews ten and verse twenty-four reads, “Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.” It’s a fun verse because what we think about provoke is very different than provoking people to love and good works.

Prod people at the Feast. Provoke them. You see someone alone, make sure they’re not alone. There should never be people that are stuck alone at the Feast. If ten percent of us are on the search for those who are left out or alone, there won’t be anyone.

If a hundred percent of us are doing it, you can guarantee there will not be anyone. And once someone has experienced someone going out of their way to help or serve them, that automatically makes that person, that is the provoking, it makes the person who received that help, that service, to want to do the same. When someone is kind to you, you want to pay it back, don’t you? That’s how people are built. We want to return what it is. And it may not be to the person who helped you, but return it to someone else.

Show that kindness. Show that compassion. Provoke other people to those good works and to love because this is what it’s about. If it wasn’t about coming together, God could have said, “Okay.” And the Bible could have been written in such a way in the twenty-first century, the Feast of Tabernacles will be a virtual event. There’ll be messages. We can post them on the internet and everyone can have their spiritual food and go have nice meals with your family or whatever you want to do.

No, God pulls everyone together because that’s an element of being a Christian. It’s about other people. It’s about, as Mr. Armstrong would say, “The give way of life versus the get.” You can’t give by yourself. You need people together, scores or hundreds together to be able to give and to give and to give. That is character building that’s making us like God. And to be able to be part of the team that implements what the Feast pictures to the entire world. We have to be willing. We have to desire to go out there and make a difference.

Finally, let’s go to Matthew chapter twenty. As we start to wrap up. Matthew chapter twenty. Start in verse twenty-five. This is the focus we should have at the Feast. This is how we should be looking at helping and serving. Matthew twenty in verse twenty-five says, “But Jesus called them to them and said, ‘You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they are great exercise authority over them.’ But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister,” or let him be your aid or your helper. Ultimately, as a minister, we see these verses, we teach these verses. The other ministers say that the way you’re effective as a minister is to be people’s helpers, to build them, to aid them on the way to the kingdom of God.

But it applies to all of us, not just the ministers, so “let him be your minister.” “And whosoever,” verse twenty-seven, “...will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” It means slave. “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered to, God, came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Ultimately, the ultimate service and sacrifice.

If we have an attitude of service at the Feast, if we have an attitude to be able to readily contribute, or we see a need, or you’re in a room and something’s going wrong and they need help, you’re willing to jump in, you don’t turn an eye, you dive in, that’s having the attitude that Christ expects us to, and God expects us to, to be able to be part of his family. So as the opportunities come or find them, serve other of God’s people. Help them, strengthen them, fortify them.

Brethren, we don’t expect to get to the Feast. Everything I said to you today, you can apply tomorrow before Christ returns. Everything we talked about today can be applied in our lives with each and every day that we have to be diligent servants of God, to be wise stewards. So focus on what we should be focusing on. Get your spiritual house in order. Focus on all the physical elements we talked about today to be ready for the Feast of Tabernacles and then expect God to cut it short.

That’s how we have to live our lives no matter how much time we’re given. So look forward to the Feast, prepare for the Feast, and then expect the size of the Feast sites to be a lot larger than what we’re planning right now.