Feast of Tabernacles 2020: Characteristics of Kings

[Music] we're celebrating the coming kingdom of god during the feast of tabernacles and god has given us the gift of these annual festivals and it is a revelation to all of us and we are here in a millennial atmosphere so we're really enjoying it and particularly the fellowship with one another thinking of fellowshipping one another during the whole millennium we'll have big god's family we'll have time that won't be stressful we'll have time that will be uh time has been another dimension we'll be in two dimensions we'll be the dimension of god's spiritual kingdom and as spiritual leaders manifesting ourselves as teachers kings priests and judges human beings who have the kingdom of god the family of god the royal family of god spirit beings ruling over and serving physical human beings billions probably about four billion people as i mentioned in the sermon last sabbath so we are celebrating the first day of the seventh month we all observed was the feast of trumpets we know that that was the revelation 11 15 announcement that the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our lord and of his christ and at the end of his kingdom there is no end so we celebrated that announcement and that announcement ended man's 6 000 years of experimenting with all kinds of business science education religion entertainment that announcement begins the rulership of christ over everything but he must put all enemies under his feet which is a transition time and i gave that sermon on the weekly sabbath here we had 54 people and the title of the sermon i gave sabbath was millennial victories some of you said you wanted to see that sermon but it is a version of that sermon is available called establishing the kingdom and i'll tell you i'll just kind of demonstrate if you have if you have google or internet access i'll just do a little experiment here living church of god sermons establishing the kingdom but still listening i got it within three seconds uh during mr elliot's announcements but uh you'll get four or five listings okay here it comes first on the list sometimes it's a fourth or fifth on the list uh but it's first on the list here feast of tabernacles 2018 establishing the kingdom living church of god if you know the title of a sermon any sermon they're loaded up on youtube and you just say living church of god sermon and say the title establishing the kingdom and within three seconds you get the sermon on your cell phone it's amazing technology and what god's church has available to you is hundreds of sermons bible studies and telecasts and articles just just a treasure trove of truth that god has available for us so we're thankful for that well the eleventh revelation 11 15 announcement of course the resurrection takes place the marriage of the lamb takes place uh revelation 19 the wife has made herself ready revelation 19 verse 7 and then the day of atonement we have the tenth day of the seventh month satan and his demons are put away and the announcement of the second exodus takes place when the shofar horn blows on the tenth day of the seventh month the great second exodus and you can learn about that in the sermon i just mentioned accessing establishing the kingdom then on the 15th of the seventh month the feast of tabernacles begins and you probably saw the full moon last night beautiful beautiful evening the 1000 year of christ on earth let's turn to exodus the 23rd chapter i know that our holy offering messages always say deuteronomy 16 16 but exodus 23 is another option option for the holy day offerings in exodus 23. so let's turn to uh verse 14 three times you shall keep a feast to me in the year you shall keep the feast of unleavened bread you shall eat unleavened bread seven days as i commanded you at the time appointed in the month of abib for in it you came out of egypt none shall appear before me empty the same message of deuteronomy 16 16 men giving holy day offerings you can give exodus 23 verse 15. none shall obey before me empty-handed and the feast of harvest the firstfruits of your labors now the feast of in gathering so the feast of tabernacles has another name another title the feast of ingathering and we will be gathering billions of people into god's kingdom and teaching them a new way of life and then of course he tells us first of first fruits verse 19 of your land you shall bring into the house of the eternal your god and so forth so we look forward to those the third three pilgrimage uh ceremonies the three pilgrimage feasts they were called they went up during the spring the past of pentecost and in the feast of tabernacles they went up to jerusalem they were called the pilgrimage feasts in leviticus 23 verse 41 i won't turn there but he says you shall celebrate celebrate the feast of the lord for seven days in the seventh month and so we realize that we are here observing or the other translation we are celebrating and as we may have read in deuteronomy 16 and and verse 15 just before verse 16 you shall celebrate and surely rejoice so we are told to rejoice during the feast and i'm i am i don't know about you but i'm rejoicing during the feast uh even though i have to be wheeled around in a wheelchair but thankfully god has given us the wisdom the blessings and the understanding of the feast of tabernacles so one of the reasons we're here is to remember the very purpose of life that god has called us to be a part of his family stephen hawking is a famous astrophysicist and in his book a theory of everything he stated quote if we can find the answer to the purpose of this universe we will have achieved the ultimate in human reasoning and understand the mind of god that's from the theory of everything by stephen hawking page 136. i cover that in the telecast why the universe and our mysterious universe so stephen hawking is saying one is a brilliant individual if we can find the answer to the purpose of the universe we will have achieved the ultimate in human reasoning and understand the mind of god that's through revelation not through human reasoning and as i said in the telecast what is the purpose of the universe one way of stating it as i said on that telecast as we prepare for the future the universe exists as the environment for humans to learn about the creator of the universe and to prepare for their awesome destiny when you look at the universe revelation 1 of romans 1 verse 20 tells you that they are without excuse that god has revealed even his eternal godhead the very family of god the very creation of god and so you might turn to uh well we'll wait on that you'll realize the very purpose that god has called us turn to exodus the 19th chapter exodus 19 and again we find what our calling is as we keep the feast of tabernacles our calling is to teach as kings priests and judges during the millennium billions of people that's why the government is so needed but what is the very purpose of the universe what is the very purpose of life god has revealed that to us and we're we're so thankful for that so in exodus the 19th chapter exodus 19 starting with verse 5 now therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people for all the earth is mine now that was given to the physical nation of of israel but that same message applies to spiritual israel and you may not have thought of yourself as being a special treasure you might check my sermon on true treasures that we god calls us his treasure and even in malachi he mentions that we are special as well he said therefore you shall indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people for all the earth is mine as i mentioned the weekly sabbath there just a couple days ago that god rules supreme he says in psalm 24 the earth is the lord's and the inhabitants thereof he owns all the beasts and cattle we haven't sang that in the hymn already uh this morning so he said all the earth is mine well not just only the earth but of course the universe is his and you shall be to me a kingdom a priest and a holy nation so that was their calling to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation they failed in that calling that for a while under solomon it was more of a let's say a sample of the kingdom of god where god's commandments and statutes and judgments were being held and under david of course the regular worship services were done according to god's laws and and according to the statutes and judgments into the levitical priesthood it was done beautifully and so there have been times when yes israel did act as an example and as a light to the world and we are spiritual israel we've replaced physical israel as that example and god calls us his treasure and we're thankful for that but we have a calling to become kings priests and judges he said i won't turn there but first corinthians 6 and verse 2 do you not know that you will judge the world so the corinthians were having a problem judging them among themselves and of course god said back in first corinthians 11 31 if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged but not only are we going to be kings and priests but we're going to be judges and he said do you not know that we will judge the world and in first peter 2 verse 9 probably will be read a couple of times during the feast he calls us a royal priesthood so we are a royal priesthood that means kings and priests and priests of course are teachers they're going to teach the law of god the way of love the way of god and if we heard the offertory that we are saviors we're liberators as well we're going to liberate the world from oppression and we've given them the way of freedom the way of true life jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free in john 8 and verse 32 so we are called now as kings and priests and we are as dr meredith who would say we are kings and priests in training and so the title of the sermon today is the characteristic of kings we are in training to be kings priests and judges but i'll emphasize in the sermon the characteristic of kings well maybe some of the women who have problems they not think of themselves as kings well think of yourself as a queen queen elizabeth observed her sapphire jubilee that was february 6 2017. two years ago she celebrated her 65th anniversary as a reigning queen of england and uh just of course 65 now she's up to about 67 years as the reigning monarch of great britain or what was great now not so great britain but just two days ago october 12th was my 65th high school reunion and i missed that i was president of the class and co-captain of the football team but i told them that i was unable to attend the um high school reunion my 65th high school reunion because i was going to be speaking to a group in cathedral city california so i told them that god would bless their hype my high school reunion back in meridian connecticut but october 12th last sabbath was also the 50th anniversary wedding of an anniversary of mr mrs gerald weston so if you get to see them you can congratulate them on their 50th wedding anniversary so god has called us to be kings and priests and so today we thank god for that calling but we have to prepare of course and have that vision mr brian pometer in the sermon at last sabbath uh gave a sermon called using vision to invest in the kingdom and so we have to have vision and of course the feast of tabernacles gives us that vision of tomorrow's world the apostle peter also had a vision of the coming kingdom my turn there to matthew the 17th chapter matthew 17. so the first characteristic of a godly king is that godly kings in training have vision godly kings in training have vision characteristic number one and here the apostle peter had a real vision and of course james peter and john as he says here he was going to show them the kingdom of come chapter 16 of matthew verse 28 assuredly i say to you there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the son of man coming into his kingdom so we want that vision we want to visualize what the kingdom is like and peter had this james and john had that vision after six days chapter 17 verse 1. jesus took peter james and john his brother led them up to a high mountain by themselves and he was transfigured before them his face shone like the sun his clothes became as white as light and behold moses and elijah appeared to them talking with them and peter answered and said to jesus lord it is good for us to be here if you wish let us make here three tabernacles one for you one for moses and one for elijah and of course later on he said as they came down from the mountain verse 9 tell the vision to no one until the son of man has risen from the dead so this was a vision but what was the vision of the kingdom of god is showing a portion of that vision of christ glorified and two major rulers in the kingdom moses and elijah so where will they be in the hierarchy of the kingdom of god well we'll talk about that in a later and of course the two witnesses revelation 11 are a type of moses and elijah they make the water become blood call down fire from heaven cause drought they've performed the same miracles as moses and elijah and this is all very well accepted among the biblical scholars that the two witnesses are a type of moses and elijah and so we look forward to the kingdom of god and i'm sure that some of you have thought about talking to various patriarchs and the luminaries of the bible maybe you'd like to talk to king david and ask him cajun or or joseph from the son of jacob you want to ask him how he performed in egypt and how they saved the wheat for those seven years or saved all the save the world as we heard the sermon hat we sent you to save the world so we thank god for the vision that he's giving us but who else will be in the kingdom as we visualize the kingdom turn to romans the fourth chapter moses elite and elijah are shown as being in the kingdom turn to romans the 4th chapter who else is going to be in the kingdom you have romans the 4th chapter and verse 13 talking about abraham romans 4 13 for the promise that he would be what heir of the world was not to abraham or to his seed through the law but through the righteousness of faith for those who are of the law heirs faith is made void in the promise of no effect because the law brings about wrath but where there is no law there is no transgression therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace or god's favor so that the promise might be sure to all the seed not only to those who are of the law but those who are of the faith of abraham who was the father of us all well he's a we use the term father of the faithful that term exhibit does not exactly appear in the bible but he is the father of us all in the example of faith abraham was a type of god the father in sacrifices against son isaac in genesis the 22nd chapter so who is going to be right at the top of god's kingdom under god the father and jesus christ mr armstrong had that whole booklet the wonderful world tomorrow what it would be like abraham is heir of the world so under jesus christ would be abraham isaac and jacob and then who would be under them well you have moses and elijah that were shown as the top rulers in god's kingdom what will be their you know moses of course was over the rulership of and governance of three to four million people not just three to four million people three to four million hard-headed people and he had to learn government and so it appears as mr armstrong would say in that booklet that that moses would be over all the world governments and who would be under him king david of course we've read that in the last sabbath and ezekiel 37 that david will be king over all the nation of israel and judah and israel become one nation and david their king will be over them and so we have the rulership over the nations of israel and who are going to be over the tribes of israel well jesus said in matthew 29 matthew 19 verses 20 through 30 that the disciples would be over 12 thrones ruling the tribes of israel so you just wonder who's going to be ruling over manasseh or who's going to be ruling over ephraim or who's going to be ruling over issachar or zebulon be very interesting in the kingdom but david will be over those 12 apostles ruling over 12 physical tribes of israel so you have the root the government section under moses with david over the israelite teams who would be over the gentile kingdoms well most likely daniel himself was in the governments of gentile kingdoms and he was actually the ruler the second ruler or third ruler in babylon he actually ruled a gentile empire so abraham i'm sorry daniels had that responsibility and you think who would be with him well who was apostle to the gentiles well the apostle paul these are that you know you can think about what are these responsibilities in the kingdom we have to visualize the kingdom and how wonderful it will be what about elijah elijah would be over the educational uh aspects and religious aspects there were three schools of the prophets that elijah established we made that comparison to ambassador college in its three campuses years ago but it was a bethel jericho and gilgal i believe were the three cities that had the schools of the prophets and there were marriage students in those schools of the prophets so it appears that maybe elijah certainly be over if the religious aspect when he had the battle with the prophets of baal he said you know who is god who is the lord and so he elijah was one who turned the hearts of the people to the true god of creation and that's part of our responsibility we're witnessing the true god to all of the nations as god opens the doors for us to do that so elijah was in charge would be in charge of the religious and educational aspects and then we can all speculate well who's going to be under elijah in the educational aspects well maybe mr armstrong would think about being part of the educational institutions for tomorrow's world that taught the way of true education to recapture true values true values based on the word of god which many of the educational systems of this world do not understand and don't observe so we have a vision of tomorrow's world we'll turn to luke the 19th chapter luke 19. so what a wonderful government god is going to bring upon earth that is the solution to all the world's problems is the government of god the family of god mr armstrong used to say well the kingdom of god is number one the government of god and secondarily the family of god then he said well it could also be number one the kingdom of god is the family of god and secondarily the government of god so that's the solution to the world's problems luke the 19th chapter what else is going to happen in the kingdom luke 19 starting with verse 11. now as they heard these things he spoke another parable because it was near jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of god would appear immediately therefore he said a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return and then he called the ten of his servants and delivered to them 10 miners and said to them do business till i come and notice the reward of the those who were given the miners verse 16 then came the first saying master your mind has earned 10 miners and he sent him well done good servant because you were faithful in very little and this is encouraging to me because you are faithful in very little have authority over ten cities so that's where we are as part of our responsibilities and growing in the grace and knowledge of christ to have the gift of discipline it's a sermon i recently gave and will be sent out i hope in the next month or two i hope you'll listen to that sermon the gift of discipline it has to do with overcoming the apostle paul said he disciplined his body and keep it under subjection lest after he has preached he would become a castaway but we all have to be overcomers we have to fight the good fight of faith we have to discipline ourselves and have the gift the spiritual gift of self-control and the days of unleavened bread teach us that lesson that we have to put out the leaven of malice and wickedness and grow in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth replacing human nature with god's divine nature and so god will help us to do that if we are faithful over very little and so he said have authority over 10 cities so some people are going to be over 10 cities you think of well maybe i'm a woman i don't know if i'll be over 10 cities well you think i already got queen elizabeth you had an indira some of the world leaders that were women indira gandhi of india even today angela merkel in germany you had over israel maya golda maier prime minister of israel mr armstrong met met personally and so women can really be [Music] leaders and be servants in their leadership and god knows what you're going to be doing but as you're thinking about kings and priests the characteristics you're going to be a royal priesthood a holy nation we're going to be kings priests and judges with god but godly kings and training have vision number one number two godly kings care for their subjects turn to james the fifth chapter godly kings care for their subjects james 5 and verse 16. danish 5 16. you know this one confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed we are brothers and sisters in christ we pray for one another i have a prayer list that's about 150 names on it and i look at it occasionally but i probably in my own mind pray for the same hundred people just without a list without a written list just in my mind i just keep praying for these people every night and every day the apostle paul prayed for at the end of romans the 16th chapter he says i make mention of you in my prayers mention didn't spend a lot of time but he mentions about 35 names just in the last chapter of the book of romans he he must been praying for them by name he understood that so we pray for one another that you may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man of males much and then it shows well elijah was a man with a nature like ours he had same human nature he fled in timidity and fear when jezebel said he was going to she was going to capture him and yet he was very courageous on the other hand in the battle of the prophets of baal and the prayer prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit so james is showing us that we are just as human as elijah or elijah is just as human as we are and god answered his prayers dramatically and god can answer your prayers dramatically we pray for one another we care for one another so priests are also teachers and we are going to be teaching our subjects when we care for them as well whatever responsibilities we may have but we know that we're all teachers and we during the feast by the way you're going to hear some of these scriptures repeated two or three times and and someone say oh mr ames you took my sermon no i didn't take your servant i just read the same scriptures you're going to read two or three times over again so um that it's the same scriptures that we all share with one another but turn to isaiah the 30th chapter because this is going to be read probably one or two more times during the feast isaiah the 30th chapter and isaiah 30. the tea is kind of layered to see and it's been up here for quite a while but uh if someone wants me to get a warm warm cup of tea that might be nice anyway uh on isaiah 30 you're all familiar with this every feast we read that verse 19. isaiah 30 verse 19 for the people shall dwell in zion at jerusalem you shall weep no more he will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry when he hears he will answer you and though the lord gives you the bread of adversity in the water of affliction yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore but your eyes shall see your teachers we will be the teachers one of the jobs of a priest is to teach and teach god's way of life to teach god's law and the kingdom of god the educational system of god will be spirit beings teaching ruling over physical human beings but we will be able to manifest ourselves physically the same way jesus did after his resurrection and remember he had gone to the throne of god in heaven came back to the sea of galilee with his disciples and it says he ate fish when he came back with them at the sea of galilee he manifested himself as a physical human being with his disciples after he'd been resurrected from the dead so we will be able to manifest ourselves as physical human beings of course without blood we will have no blood at that time we'll be able to manifest ourselves but the students will see their teachers your ears shall hear a word behind you saying this is the way walk in it whenever you turn to the right hand or when you turn to the left so we look forward to that time that we caring for those whom we rule are going to teach them the very way of life mr gene hilgenberg was a professor at crowder college in neosho missouri for many years a professor in agriculture he wrote an article on living church news some years ago 12 traits of great teachers that's the living church news november december 2011. 12 traits of great teachers all of us need to be and become great teachers you don't need to write them down but i'll just mention number one love to teach said in matthew 10 8 freely you have received freely give now you don't want to teach people who don't want to be taught that is in today's milieu today's way of life you don't want to try to cram your religion down someone else's throat as they say but you need to learn to give what you know and to help others love to teach number two are good communicators now we in an editorial service i'm director of an editorial uh department an editorial director we have to make sure that our language our english our communication is is correct is accurate as the best we can uh we have uh proof readers that go over all of our our magazines tomorrow's world living church news the booklets and and even the co-worker letters and member letters that are sent out we review everything we still make mistakes and sometimes uh church bulletins in the in the world make mistakes we make mistakes but not very not as many as this but here's some illustration of some church church bulletin bloopers if you're going to be a good communicator you need to learn not to do it this way this is one of the church bulletins bloopers at the evening service tonight the sermon topic will be what is hell come early and listen to our choir practice so you don't want to communicate that way another church bulletin blooper the pastor will preach the farewell message after which the choir will sing break forth into joy irving benson and jesse carter were married on october 24th in the church so ends of friendship that began in their school days [Music] charlene mason saying i will not pass this way again giving obvious pleasure to the congregation mr elliot mentioned that we're going to have an even evening of hospitality the church will host an evening of fine dining superb entertainment and gracious hostility for those of you who have children and don't know it we have a nursery downstairs but just a couple more ladies don't forget the rummage sale it's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house don't forget your husbands oh one last one low self-esteem support group will meet thursday at 7 to 8 30 p.m please use the back door so good teachers are good communicators you you don't communicate the way that these church bulletin bloopers communicate mr hilgenberg goes on number three as a teacher quality must be admirable that is high moral standards four use positive reinforcement that is your you're encouraging five are fair and just six are leaders seven are committed eight have understanding nine have compassion and caring number ten have confidence great teachers are confident that they know how to teach and in what they are teaching number 11 are prepared number 12 are professional that's by gene hodberg gene hilgenberg's article 12 treats uh traits of great teachers so we saw in isaiah the 30th chapter that god's people will see their teachers and hear a word saying this is the way walk in it we're going to have a new educational system for tomorrow's world and peop people will respect their teachers and parents or some of you already have homeschooling you're already teaching your children and it'll be a new way of of teaching that is based on the word of god based on the reality of god as a creator and the lawgiver and the great educator christ is the great teacher god the father is the great educator so as teachers what else will we do we will also intercede for others that's what a priest does remember when the plague brought out at the the time when the the people lusted after the quail and so forth and the plague had gone out and moses told aaron take a sensor and go between the plague and the people and the plague was stopped and of course he tells us in first timothy the second chapter to pray for kings for magistrates for those who are in authority to give intercessions and prayers that we may lead a life of peace and orderlness and peace and honesty so we are supposed to be praying as intercessors even now that's what a priest did interceded for others and aaron did that and of course moses himself interceded for the nation of israel god said moses stay aside and i'll make of you a great nation with these people that you have brought out of egypt and moses said lord you are the ones that brought these people out of egypt not me and what will the nation say that you brought them out to the desert to die here's this rebellious people and yet moses interceded for them so we need to intercede for others and i know it's not unpopular don't think about praying for president trump praying for queen elizabeth praying for um angela merkel in germany praying for leaders that we may lead a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty is what the apostle paul taught us in 1st timothy 2 give prayers and intercessions for magistrates and those who are in authority and we thank god because there are those attacks there was a yom kippur attack in eastern germany in hall germany and a synagogue and then of course his the attacks and terrorist attacks around the world we need to pray for god's protection and his safety and pray for solid government of law and order so that we can lead peaceable lives so we intercede for others and remember of course the classic intercession i won't turn there but in genesis the 18th chapter where abraham interceded for the nation the city of sodom and he negotiated with god with the one who became jesus christ the eternal the one that was there in the old testament if there are 10 there are 50 people will you not save the righteous with the unjust and abraham negotiated with the lord and got them down to 10. yes if there are there are 10 people i will save sodom i won't intervene of course his nephew lot and his family was there and god sent the two angels to get his family out of there but of course what did lot's wife look back and that's a classic lesson for all of us don't look back don't yearn for the the physical and the carnal ways of this world but look forward to the coming kingdom of god so abraham was an intercessor thank you kind sir thank you very much that's not laodicean it's very good so so pray you and what does it say in genesis i'm sorry matthew the fifth chapter pray for your enemies how many of you when's the last time you prayed for an enemy you know christ prayed for us when we were enemies father forgive them for they know now what they do and he ever lives to make intercession for us hebrews 7 verse 25 what an awesome great high priest we have and so we are going to be priests who intercede and teach the second godly characteristic is godly kings care for their subjects number three godly kings exercise godly judgment i already mentioned first corinthians 6 and verse 2 that know you not you shall judge the world we had sermon number 762 judges in training and sermon number 832 righteous judgment by dr meredith who was a must play sermon on judgment let's turn to uh first corinthians 11 chapter even though i referred to this i think it's good if we read it in our own bible as we prepare to have godly judgment and learn godly judgment we're in training become kings priests and judges and all the kings had to judge of course as solomon when he prayed for not riches but prayed for wise judgment to rule his people and god gave him that wise judgment first corinthians 11 and verse 31 is the context of course the days of unleavened bread and one i hope you have marked in your bible first corinthians 11 verse 31 for if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged and so you know it's it's the kind of individual who who blames everyone else except himself oh well the policeman stopped me for going 90 miles an hour and you know in a 55 mile on his own oh that policeman he shouldn't have done that no he's judging the policeman rather than judging himself you need to judge yourself and say that's why we examine ourselves for the days of unleavened bread and the passover and the jews supposedly are doing that from the feast of trumpets to the 10 days of awe until the day of atonement of judging themselves examining themselves for those 10 days and so we need to always make sure that we are judging righteous judgment and judging ourselves as a part of our training godly kings exercise godly judgment and of course what are those judgments based upon the ten commandments first corinthians uh you know psalm 119 verse 97 all thy uh how love i lied law it is my meditation all the day king david said psalm 111 verse 10. the beginning of the fear of the lord is the beginning of of wisdom no god a good understanding have all they who do his commandments that psalm 1 11 verse 10 the basis for good judgment is god's 10 commandments and so we need to again meditate on god's law and matthew 7 verse 1 judge not that you be not judge for by what measure you judge you shall be judged so whenever you point a finger you know you have to be careful you got three fingers pointing it back at you and one up at god you got to be careful when you're trying to help someone we are to help someone and matthew 18 15 tells you to help your brother if he's offended you but we have to be careful in how we do that and understand that we do not condemn others we say judge not and basically the meaning is in the moffat condemn not that you be not condemned we need to continue to evaluate what is right and what is wrong and understand yes we look at world news we look at the actions of governments the actions of statesmen the action of of scientists of a businessman and we need to make sure that we are not judging because we don't have all the facts but at the same time as something blatantly is transgressing god's law as he says some of those things are in abominations we make a righteous judgment because that's what god says we understand the laws of god so we need to have that wisdom that begins with the fear of the lord you know i won't turn there but you know memorization verses of proverbs 1 7 and proverbs 9 10. proverbs 1 7 the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge proverbs 9 10 the fear of the lord is a beginning of wisdom and as we read the scriptures in leviticus 23 and deuteronomy 16 that we're to learn the fear of the eternal during the feast of tabernacles and that fear is in awe and it's accepting the reality the greatest reality that god controls and rules the universe the lord reigns and we have even the hymn that we sing the lord reigns i believe it's along that line so god rules everything you know he's allowed satan to do the ruler of this world and he had god and still intervenes in certain circumstances in all world history as we see from the whole history of or they call it salvation history when you look at the old testament and even looking at a modern history of how god has intervened in world affairs dr meredith had a booklet by that title how god intervenes in world affairs we finally change that title to fulfill prophecy so we need to have wisdom we need to have judgment as we learn to exercise godly judgment i enjoy poetry and one of my favorite poets is edgar guest and his uh has a poem titled wisdom this is wisdom maids and men knowing what to say and when speech is common thought is rare wise men choose their words with care artists with the master touch never use one phrase too much jesus preaching on the mount made his every sentence count lincoln's get a gettysburg address needs not one word more or less this is wisdom maids and men knowing what to say and when i hope i hope you pray to set a guard in your mouth i don't have that reference but it's in the psalm lord set a guard at my mouth you know you want to make sure and i pray even when i pray about giving a sermon what not to say tell me what to say but help me what not to say and so it takes wisdom and discretion and there's one more scripture on this section on godly kings exercising godly judgment turn to exodus the 18th chapter exodus 18 this is the context of moses judging the people exodus the 18th chapter and verse 21 exodus 18 and verse 21. so remember jethro moses father-in-law gave saw moses spending all his time uh counseling all of the people and jethro gave him wise government about having captains of thousands hundreds fifties and tens in fact that was 1972 in big sandy texas at the feast of tabernacles we had 15 000 people in front of you how many of you actually been to a feast of tabernacles in big sandy texas let me see your hands are good only about uh 20.3 percent of you so you missed out quite a bit but there was a piney woods there was a campgrounds and then les mccullough who was directly chancellor established another campground across the other side of lake loma in that year 1972 we had 15 000 people attend the feast in big sandy nine thousand were camping on the grounds and dale schurter my friend was uh coordinating the campgrounds and he'd set captains of thousands captains of hundreds captains of fifties captains of tens and it worked out fine a lot of human nature and there's a lot of problems but the governmental structure helped out and that's what the wisdom of jethro telling moses this is how you operate a government now you need to have this wisdom but what were the qualifications of those who were chosen to be leaders verse 21 of exodus 18 whatever you shall select from all the people able men such as fear god you know dr meredith would often say that those many of the evangelists headquarters that left and apostatized never were conquered by god didn't have the fear of god and yet all of us here understand that the fear of god is that greatest reality of all of knowing that he's the creator the lawgiver the life-giver the sustainer the designer the one who fulfills prophecy the one who answers prayers the one who intervenes in our lives and that christ is our active living loving savior and great high priest the savior of the world we have that reality and so we have that awesome respect and awe of who and what god is you shall select from all people able men able yes you're learning such as fear god men of truth yes men and women of truth you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free and you shall obey the truth and not we rejoice in the truth as it says in first corinthians the 13th chapter as well hating covetousness and placing such over them and to be rulers to be rulers of thousands rulers of hundreds rulers of fifties and rulers of tens and let them judge the people at all times and then the matter that was more serious would be brought to to moses so number three godly kings exercise godly judgment number four godly kings grow in godly character go to second peter 3 18 the memorization verse you really don't need to turn to it but i might as well do it anyway second peter 3 and verse 18. but grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ to him be the glory both now and forever the contemporary english version has it let the wonderful kindness and the understanding that come from our lord and savior jesus christ help you to keep on growing praise jesus now and forever so the days of unleavened bread teach us the way of overcoming in fact that's a sermon number 812 812 the way of overcoming so we need to seek god's righteousness we need to choose god's righteousness and that's a matter of choice so we grow in godly character by the hundreds and maybe sometimes thousands of choices we make every day i forget what sermon was i gave i might have been on meditation the sermon on meditation there's very estimates of how many decisions we make a day anywhere from twenty thousand to uh i'm five thousand to twenty thousand decisions a day and so that's some of the research that's been done so what kind of choices do we make deuteronomy 30 verse 19 you know the very essence of character development essence is the very way of choosing the decisions that we make are we choosing under the umbrella of god's commandments and judgments deuteronomy 30 and verse 19. deuteronomy 30 then verse 19. i call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that i set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that both you and descendants may live that you may love the eternal your god that you may obey his voice and you may cling to him for he is your life and the length of your days that you may dwell in the land which the eternal swore unto your fathers to abraham isaac and jacob to give them so god tells us to choose life we are free moral agents and that's what the world doesn't understand in terms of the problems of this world mr armstrong defined character in the mystery ages of the book on page 69 the supreme creative accomplishment so god has created the vast universe but what is his greatest creation ephesians 2 verses 8 and 10 for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus unto good works which god has before ordained that we should walk in them the word workmanship in ephesians 2 verses 8 and 10 is poema and it can be translated masterpiece or work of art you and i are god's work of art but we have to cooperate because the gift of faith the gift of grace or god's favor is a gift but we have our part in it so mr armstrong writes god assigns angels responsibilities but god created within them minds with power to think to reason to make choices and decisions but there was one super important quality that even god's creative powers could not create instantly by fiat the same perfect holy righteous character inherent in both god and the word this kind of character must be developed by the choice and the intent of the one in whom it comes to exist so are we making the right choices every day that's why we pray to god will lead us by his spirit as it says in where is that for as many as are led by his spirit are the sons of the children of god i think that's in romans 8 14. as many are led by the spirit of god our god's children so pray i hope you do pray that you can be led by god's spirit every day and god brings to my mind some things like i've forgotten that i need to say oh what what do i need to do today and i've forgotten something god brings it to my mind god ask god to lead you by your spirit by his spirit and of course that means the fruits of god's spirit galatians 5 and verse 22 but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace longsuffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such there is no law so we need to be radiating the fruits of god hold god's holy spirit and develop godly character so let's go and grow in godly character who do you know in god's church that had godly character well i think mr herbert armstrong and his wife were a good example of that dr meredith is one of the saints i have deborah lincoln strange's uh executive secretary for dr douglas renew and she and i try to keep track of the death deaths of elders and their wives and i'll read the listings starting with may 18 2017. we call them the saints the list of the saints on may 18 2017 dr roderick c meredith died age 86 as presiding evangelist june 30 2017 mal jennings age 72 area pastor of perth australia august 1st 2017 ron mcgowan age 79 from houston september 8 2018 roy monger age 91 from knoxville september 10 2017 terrence's grave age 82 and he was in the seattle tacoma area october 22 2017. job jean-pierre age 72 our only elder in in haiti october 29 2017 gary ulrich age 85 i think he's in canada october 29 2017 alvina dellinger age 79 wife of local elder george delliger june 7 2018 mickey mayu age 64. july 24 2018 jerry clevenger age 70 at statesville north carolina august 4th 2018 donna wolfley age 77 wife of associate pastor irvin wolfley february 1st 2019 surely apartheid age 83 widow of evangelist d bar pardon may 7 2019 rod king age 69 in october 2019 george delano delaney from winchester virginia so these are saints of god and they were examples of faith so number four we need to grow in godly character and these men and women have shown their proven character as it tells us in hebrews 11 13 which i think we read either today or last sabbath these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off were assured of them embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth number five number four godly kings grow in godly character and are faithful to the end number five godly kings know their mission and we know the seven-fold mission that dr meredith outlined for us and jesus gave us the great commission in matthew 28 verses 19 and 20. in verse 18 he says all power in heaven and earth is given unto me therefore preach the word gospel to the world and make disciples of all nations and teach them whatsoever i have taught you and lo i am with you even to the end of the age in mark 16 15 go into all the world and preach the gospel unto every creature so we know our mission is to go to all the world and preach the gospel and hopefully that we have that same passion the passion to witness to the world because it tells us in matthew 24 14 that this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world unto all the nations as a witness and then the end will come so let's have the same attitude that jesus did is preparing for the characteristics of kings to know our mission as jesus said in matthew and john 4 34 my food is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work let's turn to philippians the third chapter philippians 3 and closing philippians 3 so god has called us a king's priests and judges we've talked about five characteristics of kings we need to grow in those characteristics as it says in philippians 3 and verse 12. philippians 3 verse 12 not that i have already attained or am already perfected but i press on that i may lay hold of that for which christ has also laid hold of me verse 14 i press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of god in christ jesus therefore let us as many as our mature have this mind and if anything would you think otherwise god will reveal even this to you we need the same have the mind of christ and he says in philippians 4 4 rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice so brethren god has called us to develop the qualities of kings and priests and judges number one godly kings are in training have vision number two godly kings care for their subjects number three godly kings exercise godly judgment number 4 godly kings grow in godly character and number 5 godly kings know their mission take time to pray take time to review your notes take time to serve and thank god for his awesome gifts including the annual festivals so let's fulfill our glorious calling and grow in the character of godly kings you

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Published: Mon Oct 05 2020