Well Greeting, every one! We heard in the sermonette that we're back. What do we do once we get back? After the Feast, obviously we all have to go back into the world.
And I can remember forty plus years ago at my first Feast. I was a Lieutenant in the Air Force seeking to be discharged as a conscience objector once being called into the Church. About halfway through the Feast, this little knot in my stomach began to develop. And as we got toward the end of the Feast, it got a little bigger and a little bigger and a little bigger. And then on the Last Great Day, it was making itself felt because I knew I had to go back to an uncertain future that could mean jail if I had to disobey an order.
And so it was impressed on me very much that first Feast that when we leave and that last song and that last prayer is done, we're going back into the world. And it sometimes is a little scary for those who've lost jobs, for those who have to go back to an uncertain future where they are, and it's something that we all have to deal with. And so I thought it might be good to get the overview of what we're going through now as God's people as we come back into the world and as we begin to deal with the world that we've been separated from through eight wonderful days at the Feast.
So to get that perspective, we need to turn to Daniel chapter 7. This is going to be a fairly lengthy introduction to the subject of the sermon. Daniel chapter 7 and Daniel had a dream that is recorded in Daniel 7. It parallels the great image of Daniel 2 in prophecy—we won't go there, but let's focus on Daniel 7 a few verses. We will not cover the entire dream, but just to hit the high points. Let's look at verse 17. And it's talking about four beasts. Daniel 7 verse 17, it says:
Daniel 7:17. These great beasts, which are four, (KJV)
Daniel is interpreting the dream.
Daniel 7:17b. are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. (KJV)
Now we know that those four kings or four kingdoms came out of the ocean as described in verses 3 through 8. We won't go through that. And the first beast was a lion who we understand to be the Babylonian or the Chaldean Empire from basically the mid 600's to the mid 500's BC. The second beast that came out of the ocean was a bear. And that is symbolic of the Kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. They roughly ruled from the mid 500's to the mid 300's BC. And then the third beast was a leopard that had four heads. And we understand that to be Alexander the Great. And after his death, that kingdom was divided into four divisions and that kingdom began in 330 BC. But we want to focus on this fourth beast because we find that that beast is different than all the others and it is applicable to our situation today as God's people in the end days.
Look at verse 7:
Daniel 7:7. After this I [referring to Daniel] saw in the night visions, and [beheld] a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and [broke] in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was [different] from all the beasts that were before it; (KJV)
We're going to see how in just a minute.
Daniel 7:7b. and it had ten horns. (KJV)
We'll jump to verse 19:
Daniel 7:19. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was [different] from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, [broke] in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; (KJV)
Verse 23:
Daniel 7:23. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be [different] from all [the] kingdoms, and shall devour the [entire] earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. (KJV)
Now we understand—Mr. Armstrong taught for decades that this fourth beast is the Roman Empire. The Romans started as a republic and became an empire in 27 BC with the rise of Augustus as the Emperor and then continued on until their downfall in 476 AD.
Now look at verse 8, he said:
Daniel 7:8. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them [a] little horn [a little one], before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. (KJV)
We're going to see the great things were religious things.
Verse 20:
Daniel 7:20. And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other (KJV)
Meaning: the little horn which we just read about in verse 8.
Daniel 7:20b. which came up, and before whom three fell [three of the ten]; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that [spoke] very great things, whose look was more stout* than his fellows. (KJV)
*Stronger, tougher.
Verse 24:
Daniel 7:24. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another [this little horn] shall rise after them; and he shall be [different] from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. (KJV)
Now we understand, from what Mr. Armstrong revealed and what we've studied for years and years and years, that the ten horns represent the ten resurrections of the Roman Empire. And the little horn in verse 8 represents the counterfeit church, a religious system, with its head the Papacy. We understand that and that that religious system subdued three of the ten kings—the Vandals, the Heruli and the Ostrogoths—because the Pope never ruled those three kingdoms as he ruled the last seven. We understand that.
But let's look at this little horn just a minute. Let's jump to Revelation 17 and verse 1. You can keep your finger here in Daniel 7. Let's go to Revelation 17 and verse 1. I know this is a review and we're going to get to the point in just a minute. But look at Revelation 17 and verse 1 describing this little horn, this religious system.
Revelation 17:1. And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come [here]; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that [sits] upon many waters: (KJV)
Look at verse 15:
Revelation 17:15. And he [said] unto me, The waters which [you saw], where the whore [sits], are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. (KJV)
And so we understand that this whore is a perverted religious system that influences nations and peoples and tongues and has great influence in the world.
Now look at verse 2 of Revelation 17. Notice this!
Revelation 17:2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication [with this system], and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of [this intercourse between this religious system and the world]. (KJV)
And so this system acts in concert with political leaders, military leaders, business leaders, banking interests, and so on to promote an agenda, to promote a system.
Look at verse 5 of Revelation 17.
Revelation 17:5. And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (KJV)
And we understand that this latter day system is only a continuation of the Babylonian Mystery Religion.
Verse 6:
Revelation 17:6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, (KJV)
So this system now comes after God's people. This system has resulted in the deaths of who knows how many of God's people.
Revelation 17:6b. [drunk] with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus [Christ]: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. (KJV)
This counterfeit religious system for centuries has persecuted and killed God's people down through the ages. We don't know how many. But this system has come after God's people, persecuted God's people, killed God's people.
Now the reason this fourth beast is different is because this false religious system rides the last seven resurrections of this system. In other words, they are controls, influences, the last seven resurrections of this system. The first three were the Vandals, Heruli, and the Ostrogoths. The Papacy did not control them. The Papacy did not rule them, but the last seven the Papacy has.
Now let's go back, with this understanding, to Daniel chapter 7. This is all by way of introduction. We haven't got to the point yet. Daniel 7 we're going to read verses 21 and the beginning of verse 22. Now we're talking about God's people again.
Daniel 7:21. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, (KJV)
Sounds very familiar to Revelation 17.
Daniel 7:21b. and prevailed against them; (KJV)
God allowed this system to prevail against His people, to persecute them and to kill them.
Verse 22, it tells us this will last:
Daniel 7:22. Until the Ancient of days came, (KJV)
This is a prophecy. Now we know Christ has not come. So we know this system is after God's people. This system wants to kill God's people. This false religious system makes war with the saints and prevails against them and will prevail against them until the return of Jesus Christ.
Now we have to ask the question: Who is behind this system? Is this a device of man? Is this an invention of man or is there some spiritual force behind this system.
Let's go to 1 Peter 5 and verse 8 and see that we have an adversary and this adversary has an agenda. 1 Peter 5 and verse 8, we are told by the apostle Peter that we should behave in a certain way. 1 Peter 5 verse 8, he tells us—God tells us through him to:
1 Peter 5:8. Be sober, (KJV)
That means not frivolous, to be serious about our calling.
1 Peter 5:8b. [to] be vigilant; (KJV)
To be watchful! The reason we're to be sober and vigilant, he says:
1 Peter 5:8 cont. because your adversary (KJV)
That means your enemy.
1 Peter 5:8 cont. the devil, as a roaring lion [with teeth that will tear and will kill], [walks] about, seeking whom he may devour: (KJV)
So we have an adversary that wants to kill us, wants to destroy us, wants to lead us astray. And we're told in Revelation 12—we don't need to turn there—but we know in Revelation 12, and verse 10 tells us that Satan accuses the Brethren day and night—the accuser of the Brethren; in verse 13 that Satan, once he is cast down, goes to persecute the woman—the Church. We know even before he was cast down he was behind the system that persecutes and kills God's people.
So let's understand this false religious system that we read about in Daniel 7 and Revelation 17 is a false religious system not of man, but of Satan—our adversary! Satan is behind it.
Now let's look at the beginning of verse 25 Daniel 7
Daniel 7:25. And he shall speak great words against the most High [against God Almighty], (KJV)
This head of this system! Notice what it says:
Daniel 7:25b. and shall wear [down] the saints of the most High, (KJV)
That's Number One.
Daniel 7:25 cont. and [shall] think to change times (KJV)
Number Two.
Daniel 7:25 cont. and [shall think to change] laws: (KJV)
Number Three.
So this false system attempts to do three things to God's people:
To change God's Law,
To change times at which we worship God and come to God, and
To wear out the saints.
Now this false religious system penetrated God's Church at the end of the first century AD. It penetrated and worked its way into God's Church.
We won't turn there, but you can write it down—2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 7 where Paul is lamenting the mystery of iniquity is already at work. He knew something was going on. He knew that there was a system coming after God's people. It says, "It's already at work!" And we have to pay attention to it, we have to be aware of it, we have to watch out. And then the apostle Jude in several verses talks about "men creeping in unawares," not having God's spirit. He likens them to "clouds without water."
And we need to understand that even at that time that this false religious system began to creep into God's Church and began to lead many astray. So as Mr. Armstrong said, "It's like a curtain came down about 90 or 100 AD and then a hundred years later, the curtain rose. And lo and behold it was a different church," because this false system penetrated and actually took many away to the point that there was only a remnant at the 100's AD that was still faithful. Very small group of people remained faithful. The rest were perverted. The rest were led astray. And again, this false religious system has behind it a powerful spirit that is Satan that is our enemy. This is not a man. This is the Adversary.
Now jumping forward almost 2,000 years, this false religious system has penetrated the modern day Church just as it did the early Church. And it penetrated the modern day Church in the 1980's and the 1990's. Now what did it do? Remember? There were three things: changed laws. Remember changing laws? Well, the leaders of God's Church at that time, after Mr. Armstrong's death, what did they do? They pursued theology degrees from this false religious system. I mean, go think! What a concept! "We're going to go to Babylon the Great and we're going to get degrees in religion from Babylon the Great and then we're going to introduce those into God's Church." That's exactly what happened.
And so, over a period of months—years, we had the cross introduced. We had the nature of God changed. Oh, how we went through that! Lecture after lecture, sermon after sermon! We were told that the Sabbath was no longer a sign of God's people contrary to what the Bible says. We were told that the meaning of Atonement isn't what we thought. That Satan's not cast into a wilderness. That's Christ going into the wilderness. And it was just an abomination! Did away with the seven thousand year plan of God; did away with Church eras, the understanding that we had; did away with the understanding that the world is cut off, that this isn't their time right now; and were reintroduced to the Protestant and Catholic concept of that this is God's World, that this is God's Kingdom on earth. Did away with tithing until the income went down so far that it was reinstituted, if you recall; stating that keeping of the law is not necessary for salvation; ultimately, changed the Passover to Easter. Ultimately, changed the Sabbath to Sunday and here in the last year, ultimately changed the very name of God's Church and did away with the Worldwide Church of God and went to a very syrupy sounding name. So changing laws, of course! We've been through that.
What was the second that the system wanted to change? Change times. Well, changed the keeping of Passover to Easter. Changed the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week. If that isn't changing times, I don't know what is. And then, of course, since the 1970's and onward we've had this continual battle about the calendar. People wanting to observe a totally different calendar and you talk to those who feel that way. And there is the Heinz 57 variety of calendars to the point that down in Bend, Oregon—this was two-three years ago—they had to have a two week Feast of Tabernacles to keep everybody happy because the seven days was not consistent between all these different groups. So, we just up open up a two-week window and fit everybody in one way or another. And that's been an ongoing effort to change times by this being who is behind this false religious system.
So these first two, changing laws and changing times, have already happened and will continue to happen. And we've experienced them first hand. And as a result of both of those—changing laws and changing times—many Brethren are not here and many Brethren, frankly, are not the same as they used to be. And that's sad. I mean they're not the same in a negative sense. We don't want to be the same always. We want to grow and overcome and in a positive sense be a different person, changing and overcoming. But many, frankly, are not the same in a negative sense and that is sad.
All of us here today, and those of you who get the DVD's and the CD's, we have not swallowed the first two. We have not swallowed the changing of times. We have not swallowed the changing of laws. But what about the third—Daniel 7 and verse 25, "wearing out of the saints"? And I'll just ask the question: Are you tired? I'm tired. I think everybody in this room is tired. I think after you took a survey of all of God's people all around the world, God's people are tired. And that tells us that this influence is working, has continued to work among God's people.
So, now we get to the subject of the sermon. The question is:
Am I or you allowing yourself to be worn out?
Are we allowing this system that Satan is behind to influence us through any number of ways to become worn out?
This is a life and death question for God's people that we need to address as we come back into the world after the Feast because we cannot allow this system to wear us out. We're going to see why in just a minute.
Now let's get into the body of the sermon. The First Point I'd like to ask is:
How are the saints worn out?
What's it's talking about wearing out?
What does the Bible mean when it says wear out?
If you look at that word wear out, it comes from one Hebrew word, Strong's #1080. And the interesting thing is this being worn out is applicable only in a mental sense. It does not apply, this Hebrew word does not apply to the physical. It applies mentally. That's very important to understand. It is used only in a mental sense. And it means to harass continually.
And I think God's people sometimes feel that way. That I am harassed continually. Everywhere I turn I am harassed.
It corresponds to Strong's #1086 which means to become old or to be spent. And after I turned sixty—I didn't understand the concept of becoming old or feeling spent because I didn't know what tired was until I got into my sixties! I thought I did, but I didn't. I didn't have a clue what being tired and to be spent where you just run out of gas. And I think anybody certainly in their sixties and beyond and I'm sure all of us even younger than that, there are times when you just run out of gas. You're just spent. And so, that is what this word means, but in a mental sense—to be mentally spent, to be mentally run out of gas, to be mentally harassed is what this means.
So how are the saints worn out? Let's look at several different ways. If you want to outline, this would be Point A under Number One.
People who are worn out become tired.
When you're worn out, you just get tired. You're spent. You're tired. As I said, you're out of gas.
Look at all the trouble and upset over the last fifteen years. It's been my experience that twenty-five—well, longer than that. I've been an elder—Trumpets was thirty-five years. And it's been my experience that in those early days that trials began to be concentrated around Passover time. And it just seemed like for the first ten or so years that I was an elder, the problems were heaped up around the time of Passover, approaching Passover.
Then it seemed like for the next decade or two, they seemed to concentrate more around the Feast of Tabernacles time. Not that there weren't any around Passover, but they seemed to be heaped up about the Feast of Tabernacles time, the Fall Holy Days.
But as Harold Lee pointed out at the Feast, he says—and we've talked about this—it seems like now the trials are like the waves of the sea. It's just one after another after another after another all year long. Over the last two or three years, certainly in our case, it seems like that they just keep coming , they keep coming and they keep coming. And I, as we deal with God people's, I think most would agree that it's just one after another after another. I mean the Halls are nodding and they've been through this one after another after another. And many other people have too. As the waves of the sea!
Well, when we become tired, what happens? Now think about this: The natural human tendency is when you get tired, you become crabby.
I can remember in the old Grandview Church, there was a young girl about eleven-years-old that we dearly love. And I didn't know it at the time but she didn't sleep that night, the night before. And so we were in the line getting food and she was in the line getting food. And I was already seated, and she was right behind me. And she was trying to get one of those donut holes, the round donut holes, you know up on a plate. And she'd stab it with her fork and couldn't pierce it. And one rolled off onto the floor, another couple went off on the table. And I was watching this happen, so I leaned over and I said to her, "Having a little trouble with our eye-hand coordination today?" which was the wrong thing to say! And I got this female glare as only females can do that. And this little eleven-year-old gave me this glare and she said, "Back off, Rick!" (Laughter!) And I just fell over laughing. She came up and apologized later and said that she didn't have much sleep and was just a little crabby and I said the wrong thing at the wrong time. You know how that goes. And she jumped on me a little bit. We had a good laugh afterwards. And she's in her late teens now, so if she was here, she would laugh too.
But we get a little crabby. Don't we, when we're tired?
When we're tired, it's hard to have patience. It's hard to put up with stuff. It's hard to walk the extra mile. It's hard to turn the cheek. It's hard to just let things play out. We lack patience when we get tired.
When we're tired, it's hard to focus on what needs to be done. When we're tired, it's harder to study. We're too tired. It's harder to prayer. Well, I'll fall asleep. It's harder to meditate. It's harder to fast.
It's harder to do what needs to be done when we get tired. I mean even physical things. It's hard to repair the car, repair the house, or get the gumption up to go out and do what needs to be done to prepare for winter and get the gutters clean and all of this. But even more importantly, it's hard to do the spiritual things.
And most importantly when we get tired, we become tired of fighting the flesh. It's easier to give into the flesh when we're tired. It's easier to give vent to our human nature. It is easier to follow the pulls of the flesh.
As Vince Lombardi said to the Green Bay Team when he was winning all of those championships, he said:
"Fatigue makes cowards of us all."
When we are tired we become cowardly. We don't step up and do what needs to be done. We want to go hide. We want to go to bed. We want to take the easy way out.
Those tired and worn out no longer make their religion their number one priority! That's really important. When we're tired, we don't make our religion, our religious beliefs our number one priority. Maybe we make them a priority, but not the priority. And we fall and we slip and we backslide.
Remember that being worn out takes time. It doesn't happen in a matter of minutes or hours or even days. We can be worn out over a period of years, over a decade or two. And remember, Satan is patient!
You know the study of the frog in the hot water. You put a frog—this was a psychological study that we studied in graduate school—you put a frog in a pan of water, a lukewarm pan of water and the frog will just sit there. And you gradually increase the temperature and increase the temperature and increase the temperature until that frog will just sit there and boil to death. Scientific study! If you increase the temperature slowly enough! Now if you add the heat too fast, the frog wakes up and says, "I gotta get out of here!" But if you do it slow enough, the frog will just sit there and be boiled to death.
And Satan understands that. If he ratchets up the changes just enough, just below our threshold of perception—just below the frog's threshold of perception of heat—then we'll just sit there and take it all in. And Satan is smart enough to understand that. And he will make changes very subtly, very slowly to the point that we just say, "Okay," because it's easy to do that when you're tired. It's easy to do it when you're tired.
Let's go to 2 Peter chapter 2. What a shame if we allow over the months and years and decades to get in this situation as Peter has a warning for us that we dare not let this happen. 2 Peter 2 beginning in verse 20. We'll read 20, 21, and 22. He says:
2 Peter 2:21. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, (KJV)
It would have been better that we not even be called!
2 Peter 2:21b. than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. (KJV)
What a shame!
I'm sorry, I'm in verse 21 not verse 20. Verse 22:
2 Peter 2:22. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; (NKJ)
Now I remember the first time I saw that. We had a little cocker spaniel and we'd had to for a while, a year or two. And the dog puked in the back yard. And then ran around and started licking it up again. And, boy, it just heaves your stomach. And it's very impressionable on a young kid when you see that the first time. But the dog just lapped it up, went right about its business again. And you thought, "Ewwwh!" Right now you kind of want to upchuck a little bit even thinking about it.
But that is a graphic representation of what God sees when He calls somebody, gives them this precious truth, give them His holy spirit, and then they turn around and puke it all up!
We puke up the world when we are called and are baptized. We get rid of it. We vomit it all up and then a number of years or decades later, we turned around and go right back into the world which is like licking up the vomit again, taking it back inside us again.
God has drawn this analogy to show us how He views that and how sickening it is! He talks about the sow that is washed and then jumping back into the mud pile and just rolling in the mud and the filth and the stench and the smell and loving it! And we've known people who have already done that. But those of us who have lasted the last fifteen years and all this that's gone on, what a shame it would be in these last days if we turned back to the vomit or we turn back to the feces and the mud and the mire! And as a result of this influence, of this being, and of this false religious system that permeates the entire world—I mean it permeates government, education, finance, everything, television, entertainment; it permeates everything—what a shame it would be after traveling this distance over this time to turn around and to lick up the vomit again.
Remember what Christ said in Luke chapter 9? He says, "No man looking back, or no woman looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62 paraphrased.) We should be running away from this system not going to it. And yet all of us have seen people go back to it over the last ten, fifteen years. And that is sad.
So Point A:
People who are worn out become tired—mentally tired.
And we become physically tired too.
Point B is that:
People who are worn out become disillusioned.
Remember the zeal we had when we first called? Remember the trust and the faith we had when we were first called? And yet, having seen what other people have done in the Church, ministers, members, leadership has done over the years, people who should know better have done over the years, somehow it's easy then for people to feel that God or the Church or the ministry has somehow let them down. They become disillusioned with God, disillusioned with the Church, disillusioned with the ministry.
And it's sad to say, you know of the hundred and forty thousand odd people that attended back in the late 80's and early 90's, if you count all the people that are still attending today, the Greater Church of God, there might be forty thousand. Well, what happened to the hundred thousand? Now, yes, some of them died. We understand that. But what happened to the hundred thousand? Where did they go? They became disillusioned—many of them! They became mentally tired—many of them!
And when people think negatively and there's negative information, they dwell on the negative information, it's easy for them to become disillusioned with the Church, with the ministry, with the Brethren, and with God. And that's where Satan wants us—to be disillusioned with God's body, the body of Christ, to become disillusioned with the true ministry, to become disillusioned with the Church as a whole.
Remember we're told in John chapter 8 and verse 44, "Satan is a liar and the father of it." Well, who is the author of negative thinking? Obviously it's Satan. We can go back to the Garden of Eden. What did Satan do with Adam and Eve? He made them disillusioned with God. Now think about that!
God created it. God built this beautiful garden. God was giving them every blessing and if Adam had done what he should do, Adam wouldn't have to work that hard. To get food, he would go pluck something off a vine or off a tree. And, yes, he had to dress and keep it, but not to the degree that people have to do today. And God would heal them of all of their diseases. God would not have allowed many of the diseases to occur because they breathed pure air, they ate pure food, they drank pure water.
God gave them all these blessings and yet, what did Satan do? He said, "God doesn't mean what He says. God isn't telling you the truth. You know God knows that, boy, you take this fruit over here that your eyes are going to be open and you're going to be like Him!" And so, they became disillusioned with God and they made the wrong choice.
And so, let's understand that becoming disillusioned then allows us, causes us to have a different view of God, a different view of the Church, a different view of the ministry. And we become disillusioned with all of those. And we begin to judge God and judge the Church and judge the ministry by the conduct of some of the people in the Church or in the ministry. And we cannot, cannot allow ourselves to judge God's Church by the conduct of some of the people in it. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to counsel people because they're upset over what somebody did or somebody said who was allegedly in the Church. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. Maybe the baptism took, maybe it didn't. I don't know. That's between them and God, but they would judge God and judge the Church and judge the Bible and judge the ministry by the conduct of a human being. And therefore, they became disillusioned. We cannot allow that to happen.
So, this First Point: How Are The Saints Worn Out?
They're worn out by becoming mentally tired and becoming disillusioned.
And we can't allow that to happen.
So that leads us to the Second Point:
What can we do to avoid this—to avoid being, as Daniel 7 says, worn out?
How can we avoid that? Let's understand the first thing we need to do is we need—Point A, if you like to outline:
We need to return to making our religion our number one priority.
If we've gotten away from that, shame on us! We need to make our religion our number one priority in all that we do. It can't be a priority. It has to be the priority. It comes before anything! It comes before jobs. It comes before houses. It comes before even our families. If we make our religion our number one priority, then we will take care of our family. It's not an either/or situation. Please understand. But if we make God—if we focus on God, then, everything will fall into place. If we focus on something else, it starts falling apart very, very quickly.
Remember when we first came into the Church? Our religion consumed us! It's what we thought about. It's what we prayed about. It's what we studied. It's what we talked about. And we can't get away from that. We should get back to our roots in that sense. We need to make sure we're putting God first in everything that we do. That's Point A. We need to return to our roots in a sense. We should go back to our first love. The Church in Ephesus was told that. "You've left your first love." We shouldn't make that mistake.
Point B:
We need to renew our zeal.
Because when you're tired, zeal goes out the window. When you're tired, you just kind of like this blob laying on the couch and you don't want to move. You don't want to think. You don't want to do anything.
And yet, when we came into the Church, we were filled with zeal—zeal for God, zeal for His Word, zeal for the Brethren. We are returning from a Feast where I think there was a re-injection of Feast fever, if you want to call it that, of zeal of being at the Feast.
My experience of being down in Panama City is that we had six different groups come together. Six different groups! Independent groups coming together and guess what? Everybody cooperated. Everybody got along. There were no agendas. There were no people striving for the preeminence. There were no people fighting for control. There was no gossip. There was no underlying current of dissatisfaction and problems. Everybody got along, and as I say, "What a concept!" God's people come together with His holy spirit and everybody gets along and peace breaks out—that's the way it should be!
And so, in that sense, there was a kind of a renewal—at least for Dorothy and me I know—of a zeal that had been lacking in the last two or three years because there was a godly atmosphere, because there was an atmosphere of peace and tranquility among God's people. So let's understand we need to renew our zeal.
You know the root word for zeal, you know what it means? It means to have warmth, to have warmth.
Let's go to Revelation chapter 3. God talks about this with regard to the end time Church. Revelation chapter 3, we're going to read verses 15 and then verse 19 about the Laodicean Church. One of the characteristics of the Laodicean Church is the zeal is gone. We don't want to be there. Revelation 3 verse 15:
Revelation 3:15. I know [your] works, that [you are] neither cold nor hot: [He said,] I [wish you were one or the other]. (KJV)
"I wish you were hot or I wish you were cold."
And if you study this and study the area of Laodicea, there were hot springs there and there were cold springs there.
And the hot springs—if you've ever been to a hot spring or sat in a hot tub, it has its benefits. Really hot water and you're tired and muscles ache, you can sit in a hot tub or sit in a hot springs with the minerals and all. It's rejuvenated. And it just relaxes you and rests you. You can recuperate and recover. Cold springs are the same thing. If it's a hot day, the last thing you want on a hot day is lukewarm water. Or if you have a beer, the last thing you want is lukewarm beer. I know the British view that differently than we do, but the last thing an American wants is lukewarm beer. And you want to spit it out. I like my beer just right before freezing.
And what Christ is saying here is that "I wish you were one or the other because both have their benefits, but if you're lukewarm, you're not good for anything." If you lack zeal, you lack enthusiasm.
Verse 19:
Revelation 3:19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, (KJV)
And do what?
Revelation 3:19b. repent. (KJV)
Repent of our sins. Repent of our faults. Repent of our shortcomings. God is calling us to be ready to be the Bride of Christ, to remold and reshape ourselves through God's spirit so that we can be like Christ so that when He comes and wants to marry us, He recognizes who we are because we're like Him. We have His mind. We have His spirit. We have His zeal. We have His enthusiasm. We need to repent of anything that does not make us like Jesus Christ. And this whole religious system that influences the world and the world's religions and the world's politics and the world's government would have us be anything but like Jesus Christ.
It is a radical idea today in the Church, in the greater Church of God, for people to seek correction. Back in the early days, I can remember going to the minister quite often and saying, "What do I need to do? What do I need to change? How can I overcome? What do you see in me that's not the way it should be?" But today, it's been my experience in the last several years anyway, among a certain group of people that they can't be wrong. Whatever they believe is right. They see no need to change. They see no need to overcome because they already have it. They're right. They're right in God's eyes and everybody else is wrong.
I was talking to a guy that had a problem with this person, this person, this person, this person, and this person.
And I went to him to talk and I said, "We've got a situation here."
And he said, "Well, this person's wrong and this person's wrong and this person's wrong, and this person's wrong and this person's wrong."
And I came back and I said, "Do you mean to tell me now that you've had trouble with all of these five people and they are all wrong and you are right?" I said, "What's the common denominator in all of these five instances of trouble?"
And he kind of thought and didn't know what to say.
And I said, "It's you! You are the common denominator in all of these issues that have been going on." And it just wouldn't sink in. No admission that maybe he could be part of the problem. And I said, "Could you in the wildest stretch of your imagination, be part of the problem?" And it was like talking to a stone.
"No. This person has a problem. That person has a problem. That person has a problem. And they're all wrong. And I am right."
What an attitude when we're called, as we just read, to repent! Be zealous and repent! As the man said, "Hold onto your lug nuts, Momma, it's time for an overhaul!" And maybe we need to have an overhaul. We need to look at ourselves and change. Maybe we need to have a re-evaluation of ourselves so we can see ourselves as God and Christ sees us.
So Point B is:
We need to renew our zeal!
Point C is:
We need to simplify our life!
Point C is:
We need to simplify our life!
We're all drawn in different directions. And I know some of God's people are holding down two or three jobs in the climate today—the economic climate. They're holding down two or three jobs. I know some of them are taking care of their elderly parents, which they never anticipated. When you're young and you start off, you don't think of someday having to take care of the needs of your elderly parents. And yet some do. We also know that many grandparents today in God's Church are taking care of their grandchildren or their children. Their children are living with them when they should be out on their own. Or their grandchildren are living with them when they should be with their parents, but this isn't the case.
And so, this is a complication in life. Multiple jobs, taking care of elderly parents, taking care of children and grandchildren, getting children through school, all of the outside activities of school children, and all the demands on children's time, parents' time, all they do is compete with putting God first. And this is Satan's society. Satan wants the society so complicated so that we're pulled in so many directions that God is crowded out. At the end of the day, you look back: little or no prayer, little or no study, little or no meditation. You look back over a year and maybe fasting on the Day of Atonement at the end of the year. That's exactly what Satan wants.
And I remember Mr. Armstrong saying in the mid to late 1970's, he had a big article. I think it was titled Simplify Your Life. And he said, "We need to in many cases reduce our standard of living to get by on less, to reduce the complications in our life. Turn off the television. Get rid of the cable. Get rid of the satellite dish. Get rid of all of this stuff and simplify your life and get back to the basics." And I'm not advocating putting a bullet through your television set. I don't mean that at all. But I'm saying that we need to simplify our lives. And what Satan does is complicate them to the extent that God gets pushed out. And at the end of the day we look at we can make all kinds excuses of why we didn't pray, why we didn't study, why we didn't call the widow, why we haven't fasted. We make all these excuses because we have allowed this system to influence us to the degree that religion is not our number one priority. We need to simply our lives.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 12. I'll read this out of the New King James. It flows better and I think a little more accurate. 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 12, Paul tells the Corinthian Church, he says:
2 Corinthians 1:12. For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world (NKJ)
How did he conduct himself?
2 Corinthians 1:12b. in simplicity and godly sincerity, (NKJ)
No agendas. No complications.
We're also told about the simplicity of Jesus Christ. God's way of life is simple. Our way of life should be simple. If it's too complicated, there's a problem.
He said:
2 Corinthians 1:12b. we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, (NKJ)
Fleshly wisdom says that the guy that wins in this life is the guy that dies with the most toys, the most possessions, the biggest home, the nicest car, the best clothes. That's what fleshly wisdom says. God is just the opposite. We need to eliminate non-essentials in our life.
Dorothy and I have found that the simplest things give us the most pleasure, the most reward. We watched the sunrise this morning and Dorothy was marveling at the sunrise, saw this gold orb coming up. We're looking at the clouds. A lot of the Brethren here locally are wondering in amazement, but Dorothy watched the sunrise. We've been doing that a lot lately together. And you see this beautiful sunrise and you think, "What's the price of that? And what a gift God gives us every morning! And especially if you have a nice cup of coffee in your hand and you're watching." That costs nothing really—as the commercial says, "Priceless!"
It is priceless because we find that this the simple things in life, the most enjoyable things in life, don't depend on how much money you make, don't depend on what part of the country or the town you live in, or what your status is in the world. God gives us so many wonderful things. We need to return to the essentials. And when you watch a sunrise or a sunset, you can't help but focus on God and see the gift that God gives us every day in His creation and His bounty that He gives us. But what Satan wants to do is to get us so busy and life so complicated that we don't get back to the basics. The religious life gets crowded out.
So the Third Point C is:
We need to simplify our lives.
The Fourth One, Point D:
How do we avoid being worn out?
We need to realize, as was pointed out in the sermonette, that God wants us to make it!
I had a disagreement with a minister a while back because of a viewpoint about God. That some people view God as this harsh God that has this axe pulled back. And He's looking down at His people and He's waiting for us to screw up. And then the axe comes down and something gets chopped off or there's pain and suffering where God is just waiting to disqualify us. God is just waiting for us to make a mistake and then kicks us to the curb. And we have to be somehow absolutely perfect in order to be in the Kingdom of God.
And this is obviously not God's nature! And sometimes we forget that. Sometimes we go back and think of a harsh cruel God particularly if you grew up in a fire and brimstone Protestant Church or even the Catholic Church where God's wrath was exaggerated, God's anger was played upon—fire coming out of His nostrils just waiting to consume you. And this is not God's nature. This is not what the Bible says.
Let's go to Luke 12 and verse 32. We need to have a re-orientation. We need to have an overhaul of our mind if we think that God gets great pleasure or perverse pleasure in seeing us suffer. He understands, as we do with our children, sometimes punishment is necessary. Sometimes we learn best through a little bit of pain, but the end result is for us to be in the Kingdom of God. Christ said:
Luke 12:32. Fear not, little flock; (KJV)
In Luke 12 and verse 32:
Luke 12:32b. for it is your Father's [What?] good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (KJV)
It's a gift! We don't earn it. We don't have to be perfect! But we have to have the heart that wants to please God and wants to be like Jesus Christ and then He will give us the gift no matter of our screw-ups, of our faults, of our sins.
Look at 1 Timothy 2 and verse 4. 1 Timothy 2 and verse 4, we sometimes forget this Scripture when we look at God, when we look into the Bible and we come before God in prayers or fasting or meditation. 1 Timothy 2 and verse 4 refers to God:
1 Timothy 2:4. Who will have all men to be saved [and women], (KJV)
All to be saved! That is His joy. That is His goal. That is His desire.
1 Timothy 2:4. and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (KJV)
This was talked about on the Last Great Day. What a joy that will be when the entire history of mankind, those who have lived during the six thousand years are resurrected, when they come into the knowledge of the truth and each one has their day to be saved! And God wants each one saved! We need to realize that God wants us to make it!
Let's go to Matthew chapter 28. This is something that we read, but do we really believe it? Do we really apply it in our life? Matthew 28 and we'll begin in verse 18. Do we really believe these Scriptures? We either do or we don't. We either apply them or we don't. Matthew 28 verse 18:
Matthew 28:18. And Jesus came and [spoke] unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (KJV)
Do we believe that? Do we believe that Christ has all power? And that if we are like Him and have His mind, we will have the power to overcome this adversary that's behind this system.
Verse 19:
Matthew 28:19. Go [you] therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy [spirit]: (KJV)
Verse 20:
Matthew 28:20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: (KJV)
And then this is the promise. Do we believe this?
Matthew 28:20b. I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (KJV)
No matter how bad it looks. No matter what happens to the economy. No matter what happens with epidemics—you know this flu epidemic that's going around. No matter what happens! It's a promise that God will be with us through cancer, through loss of loved ones, through loss of friends in the Church, loss of our limbs, our mobility, whatever! "I am with you always. Even right to the very end, I'll be with you."
And then a final Scripture about God wants us to make it is 1 John 4 and verse 4. This system that Satan is behind, this fourth beast in the ten resurrections of this beast, one that we're going to see come on the scene in greater power than we've ever seen before, we have to realize that the power behind us is greater than the power behind it. 1 John 4 and verse 4, he says:
I John 4:4. [You] are of God, little children, (KJV)
And we have to understand that God is our Father. Those of you who have been fathers and who are fathers, you know how much you love your kids. You know how much that you would sacrifice for your children. And God is inspiring John to say, "Little children," because we are. I don't care if we're ninety-years-old. We're still little kids to God.
And I remember we went to visit our son Britt and he's thirty-nine years old. And I remember walking in on him once here a few years ago. He was in his thirties. And he was laying on his side asleep in his bed and he was all kind of cuddled up. And here he's in his thirties and yet to me, he's like a little kid. He's like he was when he was six or five or four. You know kind of the same basic position with covers all around. He just cuddled up. And, as a parent, I don't care how old your kids are they're still your kids. And you love them and you will give your life for them.
Now what God is saying is we're His little kids, even though we're in our nineties or eighties or seventies. And He is saying we're like little kids and all we have to do is stick our arm up in the air. I’m drawing an analogy here. But you know little kids. You see parents walking down, the little kid brings his arm up, touches mom or dad's hand, the hands get clasped together and they start walking down the sidewalk together arm-in-arm, hand-in-hand. And what God is saying to us is we're like little kids. All He wants us to do is to stick our hand up in His. He's grab our hand and He's going to lead us the right way. He's not going to allow us to go into a ditch. He's not going to allow us to get off the path, if we put our hand in His and follow Him.
So He's says
I John 4:4. [You] are of God, little children, and [you] have overcome them [this system]: because greater is he [That should be a capital H.] that is in you, than he [referring to Satan] that is in the world. (KJV)
And Satan is behind all of this. We cannot be worn out, if we allow the God of all power to help us. Are we going to allow God's power to come into us? Are we going to allow God's power to infuse us, or are we going to go seek the world? What will it be?
We have to understand that we have our part to play, but it's all based on the power of God. And if we yield to the power of God, rather than this system, then we cannot fail.
Now one Final Point, Third Point; we have to ask the question:
Why did God allow all of this to happen?
Why did He allow this to happen? Why did He allow the system to arise? Why is He allowing Satan to inspire it? Why did He allow the infiltration in the early first century Church? Why did He allow the infiltration in the Church after Mr. Armstrong's death? And why is He allowing it right now? Why has He either caused or allowed this false system to change times, to change laws, and to attempt to wear out the saints? Why does He allow that to happen?
Well, we know that He does so because are in a time of judgment. We are in a time of being watched, of being judged; because God wants to find out just what we're going to do. How are we going to handle these attempts to wear us out? Are we going to cave in? Are we going to yield to the world; yield to being mentally tired; yield to being disillusioned? Are we going to do that? Or are we going to get tired and then quit?
As Vince Lombardi says, "Fatigue makes cowards of all of us." And those of you who've played athletics in the fourth quarter of a football game and it's close and you're just tired and maybe the guy across the line is just beating you up. And are you just going to fall down and stick your nose in the mud or are you going to not? Are you going to strive with all your might? At the end of the day when you're really tired, are you going to quit? Or are you not going to quit?
Are we going to be disillusioned and go back whence we came? Or are we going to renew our zeal and enthusiasm? God watches us.
Look at 1 Peter 4 and we'll read verses 17 and 18, very familiar Scripture. We've used it used before, but this is the reality. God is testing us to see what we're going to do. Where are we going to place ourselves?
1 Peter 4:17. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: (KJV)
Now this was true when Peter spoke it a couple of thousand years ago. It's more true today.
1 Peter 4:17b. and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of [those] that [don't] obey the gospel of [Christ]? (KJV)
That have gone back into the world, that have gone back to the vomit!
Verse 18:
1 Peter 4:18. And if the righteous scarcely be saved, (KJV)
That's a scary Scripture!
1 Peter 4:18. If the righteous [by the skin of our teeth are barely saved], where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (KJV)
So we have to strive, with the help of God, with the help of God's spirit to be righteous, righteous in every way. As Christ said, "You need to pay attention," when He was talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees, "You need to pay attention to the weightier matters of the Law and yet not leave the little things undone." They paid attention to the little things, made mountains out of molehills, and they forgot the weightier matters of the Law. And as the time gets closer to the end, we have to focus on the weightier matters of the Law. We can't, as Christ drew the analogy, strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. We can't do that.
Look at Proverbs 24 and verse 10. This is something that we need to apply to ourselves because we have an adversary and these days that we're in are full of adversity—economic adversity, yes; health adversity, yes; old age adversity, yes. But what are we going to do? Proverbs 24 and verse 10, it says
Proverbs 24:10. If thou faint in the day of adversity, (KJV)
Guess what?
Proverbs 24:10b. [your] strength is small. (KJV)
Proverbs 24:10. If thou faint in the day of adversity, [your] strength is small. (KJV)
And humanly speaking, our strength is small. If we rely on ourselves, yes, we don't have any strength and we're going to fail. But, as we just read, He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. And if we rely on and tap into God's spirit and that ultimate power, we will prevail. Our strength will be great.
God is allowing us, as I said before to file ourselves where we will in this giant file cabinet. And maybe there's a file marked Worldly or a file marked Weak or a file marked Quitter. Are we going to file ourselves in those files? Or maybe there's a file marked Zealous or Dedicated or Focused on God. Are we going to put ourselves in those files? You see, it's our choice. We choose.
So let's close with one final Scripture—excuse me, let's closes this point with one final Scripture in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 3. Why did God allow this to happen? 2 Timothy 2 and verse 3, we are told:
2 Timothy 2:3. [You] therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (KJV)
We have to endure the difficulties. And life today is not easy. It is hard. The world is a hard place. Satan makes it so. We need to endure hardness.
The Greek word for endure hardness—we translated two English words as one Greek word—and it means to suffer evil or to suffer hardships or to suffer troubles.
So we need to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And we know that Christ says in Mark 13 that "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved." So we endure, as we heard in the Feast. Endurance is a key. And we cannot allow ourselves to become tired and worn out and then misdirected.
So let's close with these thoughts. God has allowed these attempts to wear us out so that we can be tried and tested. We are being tested. There's no question about it. I think anybody with a brain, anybody with any amount of God's spirit knows that the Church right now is being tried and tested in ways that maybe Churches down through the centuries have not been tried in a different way because this is a different society.
And let's understand that these trials and testings have come upon us to see whether we're going to start a spiritual slide down into the abyss, a spiritual slide that ultimately results in the lake of fire or have these trials and testings become a second conversion for us? Is it a second conversion where we turn it around; we become zealous, we become enthusiastic, we become stronger spiritually? Is it a second conversion in that way, a spiritual second wind, if you will?
We can't allow Satan and this system to wear us out. We can't allow Satan and this system to cause us to be cynical. And there's lots of cynics out there. We cannot allow this system by Satan to put God second in our lives. We can't allow that to happen. We cannot allow this system to cause us to slowly drift away from the Church ever so slowly month by month, year by year just kind of drift away. And the Church and God becomes kind of an important thing but not the important thing. We cannot allow this system to cause us to disrespect the Church and the Brethren in it or the good shepherds in the Church or especially to disrespect God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Let's understand that.
What we need to do is let this knowledge that we have of God's Word and God's plan and to understand what Daniel 7 is talking about and Revelation is talking about, we need to allow that to energize us in this fight to overcome being worn out.
Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 3, two more Scriptures. 1 Peter chapter 3, we're going to begin in verse 11 and read through verse 13. Let's understand what Peter is telling us here. It says:
1 Peter 3:11. Let him eschew evil, (KJV)
That means to flee evil and to get away from evil.
1 Peter 3:11b. [Run away from evil], [and] do good; let him seek peace, and [pursue] it. (KJV)
And in the Pacific Church of God one of our mandates, one of the things that we seek is peace and tranquility and quietness among God's people. Our name implies that. And Peter is saying that we should seek peace; we should pursue peace.
Verse 12, why should we do that? Because:
1 Peter 3:12. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, (KJV)
He's watching to see what we're doing. He's watching to see what we think and how we conduct ourselves.
1 Peter 3:12b. and his ears are open unto their prayers: (KJV)
God hears the righteous. All of those on the Sabbath Update who suffer and suffer and suffer, God doesn't shut His ears to them. God doesn't shut His ears to your cries individually.
He says:
1 Peter 3:12 cont. but the face of the Lord is against [those] that do evil. (KJV)
Verse 13:
1 Peter 3:13. And who is he that will harm you, if [you] be followers of that which is good? (KJV)
That is a promise. I don't care how bleak it looks. I don't care if our life's on the line. I don't care what kind of threats are made against us. If we follow that which is good, Christ said, "I will never leave you; I will never forsake you; I will be with you always."
So I remember going back from that First Feast with a knot in my stomach going back into the world and it was a matter of a few weeks later my second application was approved. Just a couple of months after the Feast I was gone. I was a so-called "free man" at that point.
Because God answers and God hears our cries even as we might have a knot going back into the world as maybe some of you do today. But let's understand that God hears our cries, God hears our prayers, and God looks with favor upon the righteous.
Now let's close with one final Scripture to see how it all ends. That's back in Daniel chapter 7. There is a system that is trying to wear out the saints. There is this system that has changed times and laws and that's not going to end. That's going to keep going on and on. But let's see how it ends for those who endure. Daniel 7 verse 27:
Daniel 7:27. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, (KJV)
What a blessing!
Daniel 7:27b. whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, (KJV)
Well, if it's an everlasting kingdom being given to the saints of the Most High, the saints must, therefore, be everlasting also!
Daniel 7:27 cont. and all dominions shall serve and obey him. (KJV)
What a day! And we have that to look forward to!
Look at verse 18:
Daniel 7:18. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. (KJV)
That is a promise.
So let's understand the reality of this system that wants to wear us out. Let's be aware of it. Don't be like the frog in the hot water. Be aware of it. And let's call upon the most powerful Being, the most powerful Spirit that has ever existed, that ever will exist—the power of God, the power of Christ. Call upon that power to give us the energy and the zeal and the enthusiasm we need to endure to the end so that we will never be worn out.
Transcribed by kb February 24, 2010.
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