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Transcript

Good afternoon, everyone. Wow. If you haven’t sung in choir before, you don’t know how hard of a song that is. There’s a key change. The other parts are not doing the harmonies. Beautifully done. Really well done, especially with a small choir, there’s a ton of work to do. So, I have to follow that. Sermonette was a perfect setup today, and it couldn’t have been more fitting for what we’re going to look at this afternoon.

So, you and I have been doing this for eight days, and here we are now on the last message, on the last service, on the Last Great Day. It’ll be more positive as we go along, but it’s a little bittersweet, isn’t it? Our time together at the Feast is coming to a close. All of the people we met, the friendships, the experiences, the fellowship, the serving, the ability to step away from the distractions of our lives, everything that is... Would and has allowed us to not focus on the world around us, but instead focus on each other, God’s truth, our learning.

We’ve rejoiced. We’ve learned. We would all say we’ve grown both spiritually, and physically. We worked. At the outset of the Feast, I said, “We need to work. We need to work hard to be able to do all that we should do, to be able to make it to where we are right now and get to the end.” But like I said many times before, the Feast was not for you and I. It is just a preview for you and I, that we should be able to do all that we can do, not just for now, but looking ahead into the future, so you and I can teach the things that we right now are picturing.

We’re picturing so many things, and we’ve experienced so many things, but the world is going to be able to do those things. That should get us excited. All the joy, excitement, everything that you and I got to have, we’re really doing for the world. I know some of you hoped, one of them... Well, all of us did, that we hoped the kingdom would have kicked off right at the start of the Feast, or at the Last Great Day.

You want to know something funny? A version of this message I’ve been giving since 2019. Okay, it’s been a few years. So, some permutations, but it’s very close to the same message. Because in 2019, we thought Christ was going to return during the Feast, or Last Great Day, or wherever we were. I have to put my mind back. And I thought, “You know what? No, we need to look up now that we’ve gotten to the end of the Feast, and move ourselves forward.”.

2019. I don’t say that to be discouraging. I say that to have us go back in our minds and think about all the things we have learned since 2019. That’s before COVID. There was a world before COVID. Look around in the room today with you. We’ve had three baptisms. How many people has God called since I first gave this sermon? There are people sitting next to you that weren’t here in 2019.

I dare say, all of us who were here, could look at our spiritual condition and character, and say we’ve grown a lot for the last five years. But if God gives us more time, I don’t care if it’s seconds, minutes, days, months, or inconceivably years. He’s done so for a reason. We don’t want this world to go on. I said in my Behind The Work message, what I’m excited about is not reaching tens and scores of thousands, it’s reaching hundreds of billions of people.

That’s what the Last Great Day pictures. And today, we shouldn’t be sad, or disappointed. We should be excited. We should be a little melancholy. Sure. Your friends, your family, people you’re around you don’t get to see again, potentially for another year into the kingdom. But as the Feast comes to a close in the Last Great Day, I’m going to challenge you, because I’m sorry to bait and switch you like this when there’s no time left.

Guess what? We just started the work. What you started eight days ago was important. It was work. We needed it. We needed to work hard. But what you started eight days ago, was really just the beginning. And really, this was the easy part, because we could focus for eight days. When you get home, you’re going to be running into all your normal challenges, the daily routines that you’ll have to struggle with. You’ll be back to work. Life will be bombarding you.

But brethren, we have to keep working. We have to keep going. We have to take the momentum that these days have built in us, and use it to push us forward to the kingdom of God. So, how will you and I do that? How will we carry the lessons of the Feast forward? What are we going to take home with us? And I can imagine all of us are different. Everyone in this room is different in how they will think back to the Feast.

There’ll be some shared memories, of course, but what you got out of the Feast of Tabernacles will be one to five different major things. If I start to talk about events, you’ll have one pop in your head immediately, or a picture pop in your head of a specific event. I know I’ll do the same thing. I say, events, and I haven’t danced in a very long time. And the fact that I wanted to get my little seven-year-old dancing, I had to go out there and do it myself. And I’ll let Mr. Toro determine what I proved.

But I’ll remember it. There will be those moments for you too that you will remember the things that happened. So, how do we ensure we keep growing? How do we ensure we keep enduring, and holding fast, and being able to take in the truth that God continues to bless us with, and keep going forward? How do we endure?

So, once again, I’ll say it. The Feast is almost over. Almost. We still have an evening together. But now the real work continues. How can you and I take all this work that we’ve done, and get to the location where we want to be? We didn’t want to get to the Last Great Day. We want to get to a different place. So, how do we take all of the work that we’ve done at the Feast of Tabernacles, and get to the place we want to be? And that’s the kingdom of God.

There’s some steps you can take to ensure you get there. Let’s go to Leviticus twenty-three. We’ve read this so many times, but let’s read it one more time. I’m going to set it up a little bit before we get into really the meat of the message. Leviticus twenty-three. And we’ll read verse thirty-nine. Verse thirty-nine of Leviticus twenty-three. It reads, “In the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a Feast unto the Lord seven days, and on the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath.” We’ve done that.

That was a command of God that we said, “Yes, God, we obey you. And we came to this location, and other locations around the world and said, ‘Yes, we will do that.’” We will gather together, and have high days on either end. We’re in the Last Great Day, the eighth day now. And we had a huge advantage over every single other location in the world. We were on God’s headquarters campus.

In the opening night message, I talked about focusing on the blessings, the plan of God, what we got to experience. And now after eight days of obeying that command, we have to take stock of what we’ve learned, what we have experienced, what we’ve gone through. We should reflect on the joys that command has brought us, the new friendships, the deeper connections, lessons.

You may have some tests and trials. We even had a pretty dramatic healing at the Feast. There were so many things that you and I have learned over eight days, and you will not be able to unpack that knowledge until you get home. And as was said in the earlier message, you have a lot of Bible study material, but not just Bible study material from sermons, a lot of meditation material to think about.

Don’t lose the pictures. I remember a couple recently was just getting married here at headquarters, and they were standing in the receiving line. We were congratulating them. And I told them, “Take a lot of mental pictures, because the day is going to go so fast. The next thing you will know, you’ll be getting in a car, and driving off on your honeymoon. So, stop, tell each other over and over again, ‘This is a mental picture. Let’s capture it.’”

Well, brethren, you’ve taken a lot of those mental pictures, so don’t lose them. Reflect back on them, and then all of that means for your understanding of God’s plan, and all that it means today on the Last Great Day when the whole world gets to know and experience, and have those mental pictures, if you will, that you got to enjoy over eight days. Let’s go to Deuteronomy sixteen. Because we obeyed. It always starts with obedience. Because we obeyed.

Deuteronomy chapter fourteen. And we’ll just read one verse again. We’ve read it a few times. I think I read it in the opening night. Deuteronomy fourteen and verse twenty-six. Verse twenty-six of Deuteronomy fourteen, “And you shall bestow the money for whatsoever your soul lusts after.” Whatsoever your soul lusts. Someone at lunch said, “Well, I really want to enjoy some of the fat on the side of this beef.” And I said, “You’ve got to obey God.”

“For oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever your soul desires. And you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.” You could easily say, “This is our household.” And we did a lot of things together. Every single age group got to experience something specific for them. Never mind the events that brought everyone in the room together.

I’ve never been at a site where we had that high of attendance for family day. It was a mission of mine. You all chipped in, and made it happen. But we obeyed God. We came to the Feast. We got to experience whatsoever our soul lusts after. So, that should generate something in us. And this is the first point. All of those elements should generate one thing in us. Many more, but one that I’m going to draw out. Gratitude. Gratitude. That’s something the world doesn’t have a lot of.

People don’t often say, “Please”, and, “Thank you.” Some people do. We live in a smaller town, you see it more. The closer you get to a bigger city, the less you do. But gratitude helps us re-center who we are, because it makes us appreciate not just the big things in life, but the little things. The little “thank yous.” The blessings we had. I’ve talked to several people who talked about their little blessings that they had, where they could find their keys, or they make this... They made a small prayer that something else pops up in their mind, and they ask God’s assistance in it, and it’s answered.

And everyone in the world around them, except for the folks I see in front of me, would say it’s just a coincidence. No, we understand that God blesses us with little things. Again, this is the God of both universes, and neutrinos, and atoms, and all the subatomic particles. It’s the God that does both. He cares about the big and the little things. And it’s important that we do too. However, gratitude is just the first step.

Gratitude helps us build faith, because we’re grateful for the faith that builds us. “Oh, God’s in our lives. We have gratitude. God, you’ve blessed me, which means you’re listening to me,” which means I have connection to a being who can take the entire universe, roll it up in a scroll, and roll it right back out again, and it’ll be completely different, yet still work with the precision that the current universe does. That’s a being who’s got a handle on things.

So, when we feel those things in our lives, we know, “Okay, God, I know you have that power, but will you focus on me?” And when you get those little blessings, doors opened, doesn’t matter what it is, take stock of them, because it also builds your faith. You’re grateful, and it builds your faith. But that’s not enough to make it to the Feast next year. See, time went on to that point. It’s not enough.

Gratitude is not enough. It’s a starting point, because we have to be thankful. We have to show gratitude, but gratitude is very much connected to this other item, and that’s contentment. Contentment. Gratitude and contentment, they come together, because when we’re grateful and we’re contented, it leads to something else. Not the next point, but those two together start to build something in us, and it builds in us growth, because you have gratitude, contentment, faith, remember that’s building in this process, and we start to grow, because we reach a certain point where we’re happy where God has put us, because you think, “Okay, God, you put me where you would have me be.”

And when we accept where we are is where we should be in the body of Christ, and various aspects of our lives, that gives Him a chance to push us, doesn’t it? Sometimes I wish gratitude would apply personally, or contentment, I mean, would apply personally, because then you could put your feet up, but that’s not how it works as a Christian. Once we’re content with our situation, God, then, His next step in the process is to push us, and develop us, and teach us, and try us.

When the Feast started, I reminded all of us that we’re not here on a vacation. It was a time for us to grow spiritually, and serve one another, again, for us to work. And, frankly, I’m sure you’re all a little tired. I’m a little tired. Tomorrow, I’m scheduled to be in the office, but I’m going to come into the office whenever my body decides to wake up from the alarm clockless sleep that I will be in. If you are on staff here, you can come into the office, you can come into the office anytime your body wakes you up tomorrow, because you’re a little tired, which is fine.

That’s what you want. If you work hard, you’re tired. If you exercise and work hard... I’m a runner. I’ve probably said this a million times. I’ve not done it for a while now with the Feast, but there’s a feeling you get when you push yourself, push your body hard. Your body feels an exhaustion. You sleep well, various things come from it, but that’s a good tired. That’s a good tired, and what you’re experiencing this afternoon, I said you will be a little drowsy. I know you are. You have a belly full of food. That’s a good tired.

So, this is the Monday morning quarterbacking that happens in your head, though. You’ve got to control. Did you take full opportunity of the Feast? So, you’re going to say, “Yes”, some of you may say, “No”, but you know what you can’t change what you didn’t do, and what’s in your past. So, as you go back home and you think, “Okay, I was told I had to work. I knew this wasn’t a vacation. I did a lot of things, but there were some areas where I didn’t push myself as much as I thought I should have.” Great. You’ve recognized it. Go do it when you get home.

God has given us more time, which means there’s more time to change those things, to grow and develop. Go to Philippians chapter four. I love simple verses in the Bible that aren’t complex to understand, but just read smoothly. Philippians chapter four. Christ is simple. There is simplicity in Christ, and the simple subjects, frankly, are the ones that get us to the point where we’re ready to be in the kingdom. How we get there, the timing of the kingdom, all of those are above my pay grade. So, that means it’s above all of our pay gigs, except for an apostle.

But the things that are not above our pay grade, are the simple things, are the things that get us... Get our character ready for the kingdom. Philippians chapter four and verse eleven, and this is an important part of that character. Verse eleven of Philippians chapter four, “Not that I speak in respect of want,” Paul’s saying here, “for I have learned in whatsoever state I am wherewith to be content.” You cannot get more wide scope than saying, “Whatsoever state I am.”

And think about the things that Paul went through, shipwrecks, and being imprisoned, and beaten, and tortured, and all things. So, if he applied this, doesn’t he mean? It’s Paul, he didn’t lie, it’s in the Bible, it’s true. He said, he could look at all of those instances, and while in those experiences, it’s probably not easy, and say, “You know what? I’m content. God, if you would have me do this thing, then I should be content, because you allowed it.”

He had the gratitude of being delivered over and over again, so he knew that God wouldn’t let him go too far, as it is later in Philippians, which we’ll read in a moment. But the Feast allowed us to focus on God’s purpose in our lives, to experience wonderful things, but be content. We had the gratitude and the contentment, those two come together in a very specific way. You can’t actually be content, unless you’re grateful.

Because if you’re not grateful for anything, you’re not paying attention, and appreciating that things happened outside your ability to do. Because we’re not grateful often for something we do. If I build a doghouse, I don’t think, “Wow, I am grateful for myself for building that doghouse.” No, gratefulness comes from when things are received from the outside, by God, by others. So, we need that to focus and say, “Okay, yes, thank you.”

But then we’re content with the things that we have. Those two work together. But again, it’s not enough. Gratefulness and contentment is not enough. So, you’re still in Philippians. Go back a few verses to verse seven. I alluded to this. Verse seven, Philippians four, “And the peace of God, which passes all understanding.” There’s some verses in the Bible, this is not related to what I’m saying, I’m just doing a side.

“The peace of God, which passes all understanding.” Think about what that’s saying. There is a peace of God, feeling God’s peace, that we can’t understand. All understanding. So, to be in the God family, which we’re striving to be, there is a level of peace that we’re, I could say, we’re feeling peace. And we’re on the campus, we’re isolated from the world, we’re here together.

I’m sure all of us throughout the Feast have felt a level of peace that you don’t normally experience. But there’s a peace of God, when we have God’s character, we become God, that we currently can’t understand. But continuing on, which passes all understanding, “Shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Finally, brethren, it comes to a conclusion in Philippians. Finally, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,” this is where our mind should be.

This brings us to contentment. “Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, things that are lovely, of good report, if there be any virtue, any praise, think on these things.” Throughout the Feast of Tabernacles, you’ve explored new friendships, you’ve probably gone beyond your comfortable groups and reached out to others. You’ve served one another, you’ve had joy. Brethren, think on those things, because they are inside the scope of what Philippians four said. There are things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report, that are virtuous.

Think on those things, because when you do, you will not only build your gratitude, you’ll also build your contentment, because you can only fill a cup so much before it starts spilling over. If we’re content with what we have, we are that full cup. You can’t put anything more into it. But yet, somehow, when we are content, God says, “I can raise the sides of the cup a little bit more. I can pour a little bit more in, I can add more to it, because I’m God,” but it requires us to do so. We have to do all those things.

If you do those things, verse nine, “which you have both learned and received and heard, and seen in me, and the God of peace shall be with you.” That is contentment, when you feel peace. True contentment helps us focus on what matters, because we’re not striving and looking for the next thing. We’re not keeping up with the Joneses, if you will. But we can’t be complacent either. We have to work on ourselves. Contentment is a funny two-edged sword, or a two-sided coin.

We’re to be content with what we have, but we’re not to be content with who we are. We need to be patient with who we are, but we can’t be content with who we are. That means we’re always growing and developing, and building and working. But even if it’s gratitude and contentment, it’s not enough. It’s not enough. We need more. I’ve given this formula before. Again, I’ve given this sermon, or similar to it many times.

If you like math, who in the room likes math? There’s a few of you. I knew that would be the answer. Most people... I’ve told this story, I’m going to tell it again. But I live in a household where God perfectly balanced my wife and I. I enjoy numbers and math, science, and she enjoys chemistry. So, we have a little bit of an overlap there in the science. And she enjoys languages and words. When I hear... For me, names are difficult. Visually, I’m very good. I’ll remember where I saw you, what Feasts I had seen you at, what your backdrop was, but the name tags are a lifesaver. And I don’t even hide it anymore, because I’ve admitted that I’m not good with names in front of everyone, so I can’t hide it. Whereas she can remember someone’s obscure name that she met years ago, and it’s just in her head. And she’s good with words and knowledge.

But before she gets a big head, she hears numbers as big number, little number. And I’ll say, “Did you... Wasn’t that amazing? It was seven million four hundred and thirty-two thousand three and an eighty, people that,” da-da-da. She goes, “Oh, yes, that was a big number.” So, yes, big number, little number. So, I’m going to do a little math. That was completely not related to my message at all. But if you take gratitude, and you add it to contentment, put parentheses around it. So, you’ve got a BEDMAS, as we said in Canada, or HEDMAS... I don’t know what you do in America. But brackets, exponents, division, multiplication, addition, subtraction, order of operations. It’s been a few years. We called it BEDMAS. But you... I think you call it parentheses in America. So, PEDMAS versus BEDMAS.

Yours sounds more like an insect. Ours sounds like sleeping. But you do what’s in the brackets first, and then you multiply it by something, and this will get you the kingdom of God. So, if we’re... If we have contentment, we add it to gratitude, and then we multiply it by this one other thing, you will make it to the kingdom of God, guaranteed flat out. That one thing’s a simple word. You’ve heard it many times. It’s endurance. It’s endurance.

Because time has an ability to just keep ticking on. We can hope, and hope, and expect, and see everything that we see, and fully believe that time can’t, but sometimes it does. Ultimately, Christ is going to cut it short, and we’re going to be at a point where we have to stand before Him. But He leaves it blurry enough, doesn’t it? It’s a funny spot where Mr. Pack left us at the Feast. He didn’t give you a day.

There’s no date in front of you right now. I’m sure we’ll learn more. But Christ will cut this short, but until that happens, we have to keep enduring. And endurance is easy at the Feast. It’s not really endurance. We heard earlier, it wouldn’t be fun if we could do a fourteen-day Feast. Some of us may feel like we’d be dead by that point, but our clothes would not fit. That’s for sure. But it’s not hard to endure at the Feast, because you’re around God’s people. This is kingdom-like settings.

You could walk anywhere on this campus, and the only person you’re going to see is another human being who has God’s spirit in them, or working with them. Nowhere on earth is that even possible, even at other Feast sites. That’s unique here. It’s not hard to endure here. Simple. But the challenge is keeping that momentum moving forward, because you’re going to go home. You’re going to get into your daily routine. You’re going back to work. You’re going back to school.

You’re going to run in with that coworker that just never seems to let you down. They just keep driving at you. They’re hard to work with, or the person in school, or this, or whatever trial, test, or stress you go through. The distractions of our lives will come back with full force. That’s just the nature of it. Endurance means taking all the work that you applied at the Feast and keep using it. Keep using it, taking advantage of it, remembering it, meditating on it.

Think, “Okay, I remember when I was at the Feast.” Because you know what you’re going to do? You’re going to go back, and we should. We should all be coming off the sermonette, we should all look at a glass half full. But it shouldn’t even be that simple. If you have a glass, it should always be something full. So, depending on your trial that you’re experiencing in life, or what you’re going through at the Feast, your glass may be ninety-eight percent full. It could feel like a hundred percent. There were probably moments during the Feast, your glass felt hundred percent full.

It’s not hard to endure when our glass is that full, or seventy-five percent or eighty percent full. That’s easy to be positive and excited, to be smiling. But when you leave the Feast, it won’t stay there. That said, when it gets down to sixty percent, will you still be smiling? When it gets down to fifty percent, my glass is half full, will you still be smiling? When it’s forty percent, will you think, “Well, it’s forty percent full, could be worse.”

What about when it’s ten percent full? Because you either can look at that as, “My glass is ninety percent empty,” or, “It’s still got ten percent in there. I’m ten percent full.” And the more we meditate about what we experienced over the last eight days, the more we keep those pictures in our mind, the joy, the rejoicing, the experiences, the fellowship, the friendships, the bonding. The more we keep those at the forefront of our mind, don’t let the picture fade. Because when we do it, then you’re still smiling when it’s ten percent full.

Because you know there are other people that are saying, “Oh, well, we’re rolling with it.” Can’t believe how many people came up to me and said that they haven’t got that out of their mind. And it’ll happen. Things will be ten percent. Let’s go to Matthew chapter twenty-four, Matthew twenty-four. Let’s set up some verses on endurance before we look at a little bit what we have to endure, and then also how to really finish this strong right up to the kingdom of God.

So, Matthew twenty-four and verse thirteen. Verse thirteen reads, “But he that shall endure unto the end.” We can’t do five minutes before the end, or a day or a week or a month, nor do we have to endure past the end. “But he that shall endure unto the end,” right up to the end, “the same shall be saved.” The same will receive salvation. The same will be born into the family of God. This God who’s outside of space and time, who has peace that’s beyond understanding, who created the universe, we get to be that if we endure to the end.

It’s the hardest single thing a Christian has to do, because we will suffer trials, and time could go on, and things happen, and we want to be married, or the grass is greener here, or whatever the circumstances are. But as a Christian, we just have to keep going, because you’re going to fall down. I fall down. We make mistakes. We all do. We’re human. We all sin. Anyone who thinks otherwise are kidding themselves. But God says, “Okay, no. Endurance is getting back up on your feet.”

I remember, I’ll tell a story, I kind of use it, and we haven’t used it in a while, but my son was reading a bunch of little books on cars and whatnot, and he’s very mechanically oriented, and several of you have gotten him little mechanical vehicles that will be utilized for quite some time, but always liked vehicles. So, I remember the first time he was... I think it was on his tricycle at the time, and he just wiped out, because all little boys do, and that’s life, all little girls do too. Everyone wipes out in life.

I remember saying to him, “Okay, buddy, Ethan, get back up on your wheels. Get back up on your wheels. That’s what you have to do.” When we fall down, brethren, we’ve got to get back up on our wheels. Ride the tricycle, get back up, keep pedaling. When we fall, when we’re running the race, and we skin our knees, we’ve got to get back up, dust them off, keep running. That’s endurance, right up to the end, right up to the end.

Because remember, the multiplier on us happening, and making it to the kingdom is the endurance. The other two help and fortify it. Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians five. We’ll start in verse thirteen of Ephesians five. Chapter five, Ephesians five, and verse thirteen reads, “But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever does make manifest is light.” God shows things through light. “Wherefore he said, ‘Awake you that sleep, rise from the ground and Christ shall give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.’” And how do you walk as wise? Redeeming the time.

Whatever time we’re given, again, minutes, days, months, or years, we have to take advantage of that, which means to redeem the time, we have to treat... Imagine if God gave us a year. We can’t imagine that, but even if we knew it, if we found out Mr. Pack gave us a sermon tomorrow, or what he said, the second, or whenever the next message is, and he said, “It’s going to be a year, brethren.” We can’t act like it’s a year. We have to act like it’s five minutes away. We have to take advantage of every single minute God gives us, because it allows more people to come into this way of life.

It allows us to grow. It allows us to do the work, which is why we’re called in this age. Oh, brethren, am I excited about a little bit of time? To the fact that we have baptisms all around the world, that we’ve had people we’ve invited to Church during the Feast. Ministers, they didn’t stop. When the Church Inquiries came in, they made the phone calls, and we invited people. Those are folks who could be part of that hundred and forty-four thousand, but we have to take advantage of every minute God gives us. We have to redeem the time because the days are evil, the world around us.

“Wherefore, be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is,” which you’ve learned more and more about in the last eight days. To know how God affects our lives is to know His will, to know what He wants. What He doesn’t want us to do is God’s will. Go to Hebrews eleven. And we’re still just focusing on endurance in a general way. We don’t have to endure like other generations have. We could have aches and pains. I know some of you have health things you just struggle with. It’s hard.

And you want desperately to have the kingdom here, because you feel it, or you have family members who are sick. You desperately want the kingdom here. Verse thirty-two of Hebrews eleven. And that’s good to desperately want the kingdom. We all should desperately want it. If you’re struggling, or you have trials in your life, you’re going to desperately want it more than someone who has it going easily. So, you have an advantage because of the desires there, but that desire can be hope deferred, if we make it past the point. So, take that advantage and use it.

Have your desire be spread to those around you, because you have that advantage. And often, you’ve got more years in life too. So, you have a better understanding of what the will of God is. Verse thirty-two of Hebrews eleven reads, “And what shall I say more? For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae, David, and Samuel, and other prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.”

Jump down to verse thirty-six. “And others that had trials of cruel mocking and scourging, yes, moreover of bonds and imprisonments.” People had to endure a lot of things through a lot of generations as Christians. “They were stoned. They were sawn asunder, tempted, slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.” No matter how hard our trials are, are they this? In many cases, these are Old Testament... In all of these cases, these are Old Testament prophets. They were mostly alone.

Was there even a room of this many people that they could account as someone that could help them, that were like them? No, no, they were mostly alone. Continuing, verse thirty-eight, “Of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having attained a good report through faith, received not the promise.” They died. “God, having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” They without us, or us without them.

So, there’s going to be a time when you and I are made perfect. They died. They lived their whole lives, difficult in many cases lives, and died thousands of years ago. We know we’re at a point in time, that’s not the case. If time goes on for a little while longer, could some here around the world finish their course? Of course. They’re sealed and ready to go. But it’s those of us who are on this side of the grass that have to keep pushing, no matter what we’re in. We haven’t been in front of the mouths of lions, or scourged.

Use their example when the situation seems bad, when the trials are difficult. It doesn’t take away from the difficulty of a trial. But when we put it in context of what people have gone through, it makes it a lot easier to look at that glass, and say, “You know what? three point two-one percent, small number, of that glass is full. And I’m fine with that, God. I’m content with that. I know you won’t let my glass,” give the analogy to the extreme here, “you won’t let that glass go empty. But you may let it get pretty low. And then we’re given a chance at the Feast, the Days of Unleavened Bread or Passover to recharge and refill.”

They waited to the death, brethren. They endured to death. Tell yourself, when you leave the Feast, “I don’t care what happens this year, I will endure to the next Feast.” I’m not even saying enduring till death. Tell yourself, “I will endure to the next Feast.” If you’re feeling zealous, say death. Because that’s ultimately what we have to do. We have to endure right up to death. They trusted in promises that God made that they will only see later.

And for those who go first, and for those who go first, we even get to, as a small number, experience some of the things before they get to experience it, even though they went through the things that they went through. We’re a special group. We’re a unique group of human beings. Count yourself as part of that group. They get to experience something. So, tell yourself, put it in your mind, write it in your notebook for prayer “I will endure until the next Feast of Tabernacles.” It’s always better to shoot your goal out further than what we’ll get to. Because if God cuts us short before then, as we expect Him to do, that’s just bonus.

Go to Psalm nine, the ninth psalm. We have to endure because we serve a God who endures. Psalm nine. Start in verse five of Psalm nine. Verse five reads, “You have rebuked the heathen, and you have destroyed the wicked. You have put out their name forever and ever. O you enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end, and you have destroyed cities, and their memorial is perished with them. But the Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, and shall administer judgment to the people in uprightness. But the Lord shall endure forever.

You may in your head be thinking, “Well, sure, that’s easy. He’s God.” But imagine in your lifetime, your experiences, you all can account things that have happened. The older you are, the more stories you’ll have of things that you wish wouldn’t have happened to you, or other people around you. But let’s focus on the other people around you. You’ve watched people experience things that break your heart, especially when they’re close to you. Imagine if you had to do that for six thousand years.

That’s what God has had to do, Christ. And then He had to watch his son come down, and be treated the way that He was treated by the people He created and not strike back. So, it may seem to be easy to endure as God, because you’re God, but you have to watch your little children over and over again make the mistakes that make their lives more difficult.

We’re still in Psalms, so let’s jump over to hundred and four. Hundred and fourth Psalm. Just read one more. This is what makes it a little bit easier for us. Psalm hundred and four and verse thirty-one. Verse thirty-one reads, “The glory of the Lord endures forever, and the Lord shall rejoice in His works.” The glory of the Lord endures forever. You could read other verses that talk about God’s mercy enduring forever. Because all the characteristics of God would endure forever when God says He will do so.

It’s hard. If you had to watch... If you have children, you understand it’s different. I... Before I had a child, there were people that I loved and cared about and I was close to. But when it’s a child, it changes. You can’t explain it until you’ve experienced it. You can appreciate it if you have siblings. It can be close, or very close parents, but it’s different when it’s your offspring. So, that’s what God’s been dealing with. He’s had a hundred billion of his offspring, if you will, making mistakes, to doing things. If you watch children do the wrong thing as they grow up, make wrong decisions, that’s hard. I have a brother who’s made some interesting decisions in life. He’s my brother, and I try and help and support him and he’s had a hard life. But how he affects me, even though we’re fairly close, how he affects my mother is much more deep. Just like how it would affect you with your children.

But, again, God has done this for six thousand years. Imagine flooding the world, knowing it was going to kill his children, but knowing that He could ultimately bring them back. There is that comfort in it. Okay, let’s go to Matthew. Let’s spend some time in the New Testament, Matthew chapter ten.

Matthew chapter ten, and we’ll start in verse sixteen of Matthew ten. Nothing’s changed. We didn’t switch to the New Testament, and the purpose of Christians, or prophets, or those who served God in the Old Testament suddenly shifted. No, it’s been the same standard for the last six thousand years. Matthew chapter ten and verse sixteen, behold, “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. So, therefore be as wise as serpents, but as harmless as doves.”

Jumping down to verse twenty-one, “And the brother shall deliver up brother unto death, and the father of the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.” That’s right in front of us. Verse twenty-two, “And you shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.” I dare say, we haven’t gotten to that point, right? There may be people who hate you because of what you believe. There probably are.

I know there are people who hate me, because of what I teach, and what I believe. But he, as the verse continues, that endures to the end shall be saved. Just because the circumstances change, God’s purpose, or what He expects of us hasn’t. We have to get through things that are difficult. So, we continue on here. Something else that we’re going to need to endure. It’s in more general sense, the Bible’s full of endurance.

But brethren, because this is what breaks down endurance more than anything else, you and I have to endure setbacks and disappointments. Because there’s going to be both. Again, you’re at the Feast, glass is full. It’s not hard to endure at the Feast. It’s only when the glass starts to become more empty for us to keep our positive attitude, to keep our right approach, to be able to say, “No, I’m going to keep going.” Because even at the Feast, everything didn’t go perfectly, did it? You had this happen, or that happen.

I was more excited about doing the tours than anything else, probably at the Feast, but bar none. Probably, noticeable since I wouldn’t stop talking about it. And those of you who went know, knew how much fun I had. So, the first day of the tour, I’m ready to get everyone in vehicles and doing everything, and none of the electric vehicles worked. So, did that feel like a trial at the time? Yes, it did. And I had to eat my own medicine and say, “Oh, well, and roll with it,” and come up with a good solution. So we gathered every single workman and work vehicle we had from here to Cleveland, and made sure that we had people in vehicles. And we did the tour the next day with fully charged and working electric vehicles.

You know what’s fascinating? We don’t really know what the problem is yet, but to me it’s inspiring. So, the next day we had the electric vehicles, and we filled them. So, everyone was in them. It was... I felt like a tour guide, because I was driving while talking to microphone. I had a nice person behind me holding it, to the point where her hand got tired, got numb, but it was good teamwork. It was great to see.

So, we’re driving around, driving around. We did the campus tour. It took us about an hour. And then when we came back, dropped everyone off, and went to go drive the vehicle home. My wife drove the vehicle. She’s a good driver, so don’t... This is not a testament to her driving, but drove one of the, we called them the gym carts, those blue little electric vehicles, home. I was borrowing it from Mr. Denee. It’s his cart. It’s been an interesting Feast. I bumped into it with a car. And so I wasn’t trying to hide the fact that I told him right away, but maybe this is God saying, “No, we’re going to get rid of it, so don’t worry about it.”

So, it went through this entire tour an hour. And then as she’s by herself, so not even loaded with people in the vehicle, or a weight load on it, she’s driving up the road, just driving it home, and it starts to have a burning smell. So, that’s one of two things. It could have been maybe the parking brake, but it doesn’t really work with the parking brake. So, that’s probably not that. Or it could be just the electric engine failing. It went an hour with no issue, no smell, loaded with people, but then had a burning smell enough that it stank like electrical burning. So, I coasted it back down to the shop and said, “Mr. Denee you can sort that out when you get back.” But God blessed us and allowed us to experience that.

And then, I look back and think, “If it would have worked perfectly the first time, would I have been as appreciative of the blessing He gave me the second time?” So, when you have a setback, that setback may be God saying, “No, I’m going to bring you a little bit lower for, I’m going to bless you soon. Don’t forget when you got brought low, because the blessing, the answered prayer, where I deliver you, may take you so much higher, and even higher still if you remember when you were brought low.” So, in my mind, I look at myself and say, “I was being tested. God tested me.” However, my attitude when those vehicles stop, besides a little, “Aargh, stupid electric vehicles?” Would I say, “No, what’s the solution? We’re going to roll with this. We’re going to fix it. We’re going to solve the problem.”

And then the next day when we did it again, God said, “Well done, you did what you should do.” Now, this is what could have happened in the middle of your tour if I would have left those charged, because it could have failed, because we went longer. We went longer than what it took from to do the tour, and drive it home. God’s going to find blessings in your life. You’re going to have setbacks, but setbacks are just the precursor to a blessing. That’s what they are, because, remember, God will not take you beyond what you can handle. When He puts it in his word, it’s a promise, brethren. It’s a promise to you and I, He will not go beyond it.

It will feel like it sometimes. Oh, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes you’re thinking, “God, I cannot go any further.” That’s when we have to step out in faith and think, “Okay, He said He won’t take it too far. He thinks I can go further. Please end this, because I don’t, not sure I can,” but He lets it go. And when you go through that, when you and I endure through those tests and those setbacks, and He opens the door, He delivers us, He blesses us from being down here to being here, is a time to rejoice, and strengthens us in ways that we couldn’t even imagine, if it was just easy. You don’t build faith when it’s easy. You could feel great, and easy is great, but it doesn’t build your spiritual muscles like it does when we go down to the low, and He delivers us. We’re tested and He delivers us. Because you and I have to endure setbacks and disappointments.

Let’s go back to Obadiah. Book of Obadiah. I could tell you where it is, but it’d be more fun to let you just keep looking around for it. It’s after Amos, if that helps. Obadiah, chapter one and verse one, Obadiah one, one. So, before Jonah, after Amos, Obadiah one, one, “Thus said the Lord God concerning Edom, we had heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen. Arise you and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made you small among the heathen. You are greatly despised.”

So, God made Israel look bad among the heathen. Why? Verse three, “The pride of your heart has deceived you. You that dwell in the clefts of the rocks, whose habitation is high, have said in your heart, who shall bring me down to the ground?” Setbacks are a part of the Christian walk, aren’t they? It’s what we have to do. Verse four, “Though you exalt yourself as an eagle, as though you set your nest among the stars, hence I will bring you down,” says the Lord.

God says He’s going to bring us down. God can abase us. He can’t humble us. We have to choose to do that. But He can abase us. So, if we get ourselves too big, we start thinking, “Wow, I’ve arrived, I’m the man, I’m the woman, I’m this, that, or the other.” God wants you in His family. So, He will do everything that He can do to get your attention. And sometimes that includes abasing. Sometimes that includes bringing you, or I down.

But even if we’re not full of pride at our heart, as Israel was here, He will allow things to happen. He’ll still try us. He’ll still test us. He’ll still put us through things. But let’s look at the New Testament, Matthew twenty-three, because we can look at the same thing, but with a solution this time. Matthew twenty-three. I was hard on you with Obadiah. This is an easier one to find. Matthew Twenty-three. And we’ll read verse eight, Matthew twenty-three, eight. “But be not you called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all you are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be you called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” There’s a lot of great people in the room right now. There was a lot of serving that happened at this Feast. I’m just reading the Bible, so that’s... you’ve been serving. God considers that great. “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased...” So if people try to push themselves to be at the front, if they want to be the one’s intention, if people serve to be seen, that’s not serving. But if people do things to be seen, God says, “...whoever shall exalt himself shall be abased.” God knows our heart. He sees right through it. You have to serve in sincerity. Continuing on here, “...shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself...” We have to humble ourselves. Only we can do it. God can abase us. “...he that humbles himself shall be exalted.”

You can do things that you don’t think you possibly can achieve. One thousand percent I’ve watched that over and over in God’s way of life, and throughout being at headquarters and time in the Church and the ministry. People can do so much more than what they think they can do. The problem are the people who think they can do so much more before it’s God’s time to determine where they should be in the body. But those that are humble... oh, I have stories that I could embarrass him, but I won’t because he’s not here. If he was in the room, I would tell stories of this man, but he didn’t want to be a minister.

I remember some... and he loved to serve, humble attitude, it’s a fine minister now, but he didn’t want to be a minister, so we tricked him. First, we made him a deacon, started giving him minister work, not realizing it, at some point, we said, “Guess what? You’ve been acting as a minister. We just need to lay hands on now.” And he realized what had happened after we told him, and he said, “You’re right, I was wrong.” But he was humble. He didn’t come in and say, “Look at me. I could be the minister.” I’ve said it myself, “I’m the IT guy.” That’s what I thought I could do in the work. I thought for years that’s what I could do, and my skill in IT meant I would never stand where I’m standing today.

I was fine with that. I loved what I got to do. I got to be in the work of God. But God said, good attitude, so I’m going to use you more. And then when He decides to use you or me or whoever we are, when an opportunity of service comes up, we’re left with a decision, aren’t we? You can say yes, or you can say no. And missed opportunities may or may not come again. So if you’re humble, God can exalt you. If He gives you an opportunity to serve in a greater way, no matter what that is, it doesn’t even have to be an office of God. It could be a host. It could be a pillar in a congregation. It could be organizing an event that your minister asks you to do. You can be exalted, but you have to say yes to that exaltation.

John fifteen. John chapter fifteen. Read a couple of verses here. Verse one of John fifteen. Verse one reads, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit He takes away...” We have the fruit trees you saw on campus out west. When they have little buds that are fruit-bearing buds, they’re depending on the tree. Your peaches or apples, you cut them on or off, new growth and old growth. If you know how to do that, you can look at that and know if that branch is going to bear fruit. And if it doesn’t, it gets cut off. It gets pruned. Continuing, “...and every branch that bears fruit,” so it’s productive, “He purges it...” He prunes it.

It’s an amazing thing of God’s creation. If I could go back to a peach tree, because that’s the one that’s fresh in my mind, or at least it’s the one I’m most knowledgeable about. If you prune back a peach tree, you don’t prune back the stuff that doesn’t grow. The stuff that doesn’t grow, you cut it out, but it doesn’t come growing back and amazing. But if you take branches that produced fruit and you cut them back, they’ll grow four, five, six feet in a year because they’re vigorous and trying to grow. And they could be three feet long, you cut them back, next year they’re six. That’s how it works as a Christian. God is going to cut you and I back. Those moments don’t feel good.

If I was that branch, I’d be like, “Oh, no, look, he’s coming with pruners,” because at the time... I guess if a branch could talk, that’s what they would sound like. But when they got cut, they would be thinking, because now this branch not only can speak, it could also think, “Oh, what happened? Now I’m only this little nub.” Well, the next year, when it grows to be six foot, whatever, five, then it’s showing the fruit of that, never mind the fruit that comes off of that branch.

God has to keep pruning you and I. He has to cut off the dead wood, and He even has to prune the areas where we have fruit. So even the areas where you have skill, and I have skill, where He’s given us talents, it’s not going to always work out. We’re going to fail in areas that we have talents in. Intentionally, God is doing that to you. So when it happens, you think, “No, but this is an area where I get to serve, and I’m very good at this, and I can work at it.”

And God’s going to say, “Nope, I’m going to make you mess up. I’m going to have you fall short. I’m going to prune you because I know you can go here and you’re just trying to get here.” You say, “I can get here. I can get here.” No, God said, “No, I’m going to cut you back because I can see how far you could grow.” But without that pruning, we never know it. We never know it. So we have to endure setbacks and disappointments because that’s the Christian walk.

You and I also have to endure time and holding fast. They’re one and the same, really. They’re connected together, time and holding fast, because holding to something inherently means it’s over a period of time. At any snapshot in time, you could be there. We talk about the present truth. So that’s a snapshot in time. But over time, we have to hold fast the faithful word as we have been taught. There is a present truth as we continue to grow and develop. That present truth is what we are being taught. And I could take a side tangent and just power through the list of things that you and I understand now that we did not understand seven years ago, or even when I gave this first message five years ago.

All the understanding that comes to us because of God having wings, the role of father, so many things that we hold fast with. We just pictured a time when the entire world is going to experience the Kingdom of God. God’s government will be over the entire planet. You and I will be ruling the planet, nations, teaching them to learn the things that you and I have learned. They won’t go through a prophetic series to learn the truth of God, because truth will be perfect, because we see clearly when perfect comes, when Christ comes.

But we’re now on the Last Great Day, which reminds us there’s still work to do. We are only a few hours, about two and a half hours, a little under that, from sunset. Then the Last Great Day is over, and we’re enjoying ourselves. By the time we all leave today from our cocktail hour, because every single one of you wants to be a cocktail hour, last chance to strong-arm you, it’ll be dark. Last great day will be over. And then we’ve got to go home and take what we’ve learned and hold fast with whatever time God gives us.

Revelation chapter three. Revelation chapter three and verse seven. We’ll start. Verse seven of Revelation three. “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things says He that is holy, He that is true, He that has the key of David, He that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens. I know your works.” Brethren, there’s no accident I turned here because of what we just focused on over the last eight days, our working, working together, striving, growing, and developing. God says, “I know your works.” He saw what you did, what you strived, and helped, and served, and assisted, and built, and organized. He saw all of that.

And then He says, as we go home on the Last Great Day, with plans that the work has to be able to have more people fill the empty seats, He says, “I have set before you an open door, no man can shut it: for you have a little strength...” We’re just people. We just have a little dunamis. Little dunamis is not too bad to have. That’s what the Greek word is. “...and you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of my patience...” Or, you could say, because you have patiently kept my word.

We have lived the life that God would have us live in the time He would have us live it. None of us would say we want the Kingdom of God one split second before God the Father does. That’s an obvious statement, but sometimes we find ourselves getting ahead of what God the Father wants, don’t we? We kept the word of His patience. God will show when He will return, Christ will show when He’s going to return, and we can work and strive and find and dig. And God can reveal things through Mr. Pack in ways that it’s incredible the knowledge he has given us by putting on this process, this journey to figure out, try to determine when Christ is going to return.

No, he put us on that journey, not only to be on the edge of our seats, to be ready and striving for it, but he needed to completely restore all the truths that were not there, that you and I have now. “...you have kept the word of my patience,” verse ten continues, “I will also keep you from the hour of temptation,” we get to go first, “which shall come upon the whole earth, to try them which dwell upon the face of the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown.” Not my crown, not your crown, any of our crowns. We can’t do. We have to hold fast the word.

Let’s go to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight, verse twenty-two. Romans eight, twenty-two. Verse twenty-two reads, “For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.” Even the creation wants the Kingdom of God. How much? Yes, of course, you’re striving for it. The planet wants it. So maybe I wasn’t so wrong with that peach branch. It wants the Kingdom of God. The planet needs it.

Jump down to verse twenty-five. “But if we hope for that, we see not,” we hope for the Kingdom of God, we hope for the city of far off, we hope for that period just in front of us, ‘then do we with patience wait for it.” We have to wait for it either way. But God says, no, do it with patience, content patience. We have to keep going no matter how long the wait is. We can be content, we can be grateful, but without that multiplier, if you will, of endurance, it’s pointless. We just have to keep waiting.

Finally, Brethren, we have to endure. But let’s rejoice as we come to the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, the end of the Last Great Day. Let’s rejoice during and through the work we have after the Feast, because it doesn’t stop here. As I said before, it doesn’t stop here. You and I have been working for eight days to grow and develop and change who we are, become more like Christ, put on character, but it doesn’t stop here. We have to keep working individually, collectively, through the work of God, through the First Commission. And then we have to maintain that momentum.

When you get home, remember the people next to you. I know it’s always at the end of the Feast, it’s the exchanging phone numbers or emails or your WhatsApp or your social, whatever it is. Maintain those connections, because people are going to go back to different parts of the world, and it’s all over the world in this room. You built friendships, you built new relationships. Take it home and continue those. Don’t let them die, because we have to build each other up. We have to keep provoking each other to good works, especially when we see the day approaching, which it is. Build each other up.

It’s easy to do when you’re right across from each other, or you’re sharing a hotel, you’re going down to the lobby, and everyone’s there. No, now it gets harder. Remember, the work gets harder. We’ll do the same thing here. We’ll create tools if time goes on that allow you to stay more connected. We have plans to take Team Hub and make it into something that allows Brethren to be even more connected, to do more. There are so many aspects of the work that I love working. I thank my parents for putting a work ethic in me. So we’ll do our part here, but all the things I said in the Behind The Work message, you have to do. We need those prayers. We need that support.

Go back to your local congregations with a new zeal to serve in ways you may not have served before. A new way to bring some of the order and decency that you saw at the Feast, and bring that to your local congregation. Talk to your minister, and say, “How can I help and serve? I realize now, being at the Feast, seeing what I’ve seen, I could do more.” God can use you in ways you didn’t expect. Study and reflect on the topics, the messages you’ve heard. Use them as study topics in the weeks to come. They will keep you spiritually refreshed, because we’re picturing a time when the whole world gets to be spiritually refreshed.

Some of these simple Feast verses. Go to Isaiah two. Applies to the Last Great Day, too. Because remember, this is the day when God’s Spirit will be poured out on all of mankind. Isaiah chapter two, verse two. Isaiah two, two. Verse two reads, “And it shall come to pass in the last days...” I love reading this verse because I know you’ve heard Mr. Pack say it, and I remember from years ago, this is what started the process. This is what started that journey down the path that have given us incredible amounts of truth and amazing knowledge. Being able to understand the plan of God, the scope of God, the what of God, who God actually is, how He manifests Himself, His size and scope.

Continuing here. “...in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” The entire world will be looking at that mountain, that government of God, and flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come you, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways...” The world is not saying that now. No one’s saying over across the street, “You know what? I wish we could just go up to The Restored Church of God. It’s right here.”

There are thousands of people who come into that grocery store every day. No one’s saying, “You know what? If we could just go up the street here, we could learn about the truth of God. We could learn about the house of the God of Jacob.” No one’s doing it. But they will. But they will. “And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

Verse four. “And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many nations...” correction, He’ll still prune. A rebuke is a strong pruning. You have correction, exhortation, rebuking. It’s a form of pruning. So it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s to get people’s attention. You don’t want it. But He “...shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they even learn war any more.” That’s why you’re here. That’s why you learned what you learned for now eight days.

That’s why you worked hard to do and be part of everything, to absorb, experience, and dig into everything that you have done at the Feast of Tabernacles and today on the Last Great Day. That’s why these eight days are so crucial, because you are going to teach these people. You are going to teach them. That’s what God sees you can do. If we are humble, God says, “I will make you the greatest teacher the world has ever seen.” We get to do it as God. Perfect judgment, perfect wisdom, perfect peace, but we can’t stop when the sun goes down tonight.

We can’t allow all of the spiritual refreshing that we’ve experienced, understanding, the inspiration, the friendship, the kinship, the brotherly love, fade. We’re tired. We’re certainly tired. We certainly had fun. We’ve had so many adventures and fellowship and time together. It’s okay to be sad to leave. I’m really happy we heard, “Go ye therefore into the world,” earlier in the service, not as the very last hymn, because that gets me every single time. So it’s okay to feel that emotion of seeing your friends, your family, go their separate ways. But we live in a world that’s shrunk, so they don’t have to go too far.

Remember, in Matthew it said, let’s turn over there, last verse, Matthew chapter twenty-four. You know it by heart, but it’s good to read it. Matthew twenty-four and verse thirteen. We read it once, we’ll do it again as we start to come to a close. Matthew twenty-four and verse thirteen. Verse thirteen reads, “But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.” Brethren, endurance, contentment, gratitude is critical for you and I to make it into the Kingdom of God. So press through trials, setbacks, distractions. Use what’s been equipped in your arsenal, in your toolbox throughout the Feast of Tabernacles.

Remember that we’re picturing a time when the whole world gets to experience what we have, but the kingdom is not here yet. We have to wait, we have to work, we have to endure. Ask yourself again, what will you take with you from the Feast? Will we continue? How will we continue serving, growing, enduring, until Christ returns? Ensure that everything that you’ve gained at the Feast of Tabernacles, everything you’ve gained over these eight days, is not something that is lost.

But now, the real work begins. When you go home to your daily routines, your life, you have to maintain that momentum. You have to maintain your excitement. We’ll do our part to tell you about what the work does to help to know what you’re a part of. But I said at the introduction of this message, the Feast is almost over and now the real work begins. Brethren of God, I know how hard you worked at this Feast, so let’s keep working until you and I see Jesus Christ and enter into the Kingdom of God.