World Tomorrow: A Time of Healing
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World Tomorrow: a Time of Healing
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What will the world tomorrow be like when its rulers, its leaders, and its culture are all based on spiritual living principles of the Bible, of the Scriptures of God? The godly character that we are developing today such as love, joy, peace, patience, longsuffering, gentleness, kindness, goodness, these are the values that the world tomorrow will be founded upon. Discover four qualities we need to start developing now.
Transcript
[Roy Holladay] I was really struck by the sermonette today and the fact that so often people do not know anything about history from what's going on in our country and what God has done for our people.
Huns Morgenthau in his book Politics Among Nations describes the motivation that most rulers have. Basically it can be summarized in two words, power and wealth. They want the power, the authority, they want to rule over people, they want to be looked up to, they want the wealth, they want the money, they want the adulation, the influence that can be given to them. But when you look at that type of leadership, you ask yourself the question: Who motivates rulers to be that way? What's behind that attitude? What influences rulers to go in that direction?
If you're familiar with Galatians I, verse 4, it calls this present time this present evil world. This is not God's world today. Satan the devil has been given the opportunity to try out all of his forms of government. Mankind thinks that he's going his way but Satan the devil is the unseen influence behind it. The governments, the economic systems, the political systems that we see today are termed in the bible Babylon, called Babylon the Great. The word Babylon means confusion. When you look around the world and you see all of the governments, different types of governments that we have, economic systems, hundreds of religions. You see utter total confusion among individuals. You have to ask yourself, is God the author of confusion? The answer is obviously no, He is not. Did you ever stop to ask yourself why the Day of Atonement comes before the Feast of Tabernacles and the eighth day in the sequence of God's holy days? If you're going to fast, do you think normally you and I would fast before Passover or before the Days of Unleavened Bread? But the Day of Atonement shows who is the power behind the scene. Who is that unseen influence who is influencing the nation, the religion, the cultures, the way of life that you see in the world today? Well it is Satan the devil, the god of this world. He is the false god and in order for the world tomorrow to be established in the millennium to really take hold, he has to be removed from power, from authority and that has to be taken away from him and a new society has to be established. What we need is a new breed of leaders. We need leaders and rulers who truly are different, a different kind of ruler. But you can look at the whole history of mankind and the rulers that have been there and you begin to realize that is not the kind of rule that we need in the world tomorrow. Those of us sitting here right now and I include myself, I'm not sitting but standing, at least one of us is standing, perhaps we may be alive when Jesus Christ returns to this earth. We're in a unique position in that we may have the opportunity to bridge between two different worlds; this present evil world and the world tomorrow if we have the opportunity to be alive when Jesus Christ returns. We could be the generation that bridges the gap between the different systems, cultures, ways of government and approach and we will have lived in one world and be able to live in another.
You know, past generations of people who have lived as far as we know, know nothing about many of the modern conveniences, gadgets that we have, they've never seen an airplane, they've never seen rockets, they didn't see people going to the moon, computers, cell phones, TV's, radios, modern style of warfare, all of that would be something that would not be known to them. So how are these past generations, people who lived before the flood like Noah or Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, how are all of these individuals going to govern? All generations I think we will find, have been called and worked with by God. God almighty has worked with every generation to teach them the basic principles of ruler ship. Brethren, that's why we're here. We're here to learn how to be proper leaders, how to teach, how to guide, how to direct God's people when He calls them in the world tomorrow. What is it that all of us have in common, it doesn't matter what generation God called you in? If you were Able, you were Noah, you were Abraham, Moses, Daniel, a prophet, it doesn't matter that all of these individuals called by God have been fundamentally taught certain basic principles of governing, of ruler ship, of teaching. This is what we have in common.
Let me ask you, what kind of ruler will you be in the world tomorrow? Have you ever stopped to ask yourself that? What kind of ruler will you be? What kind of ruler will I be? One day Jesus Christ will say to those in the first resurrection, well done good and faithful servant.
I want you to notice in Luke 19: 17 He said to him: "Well done, good servant; because you have been faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities."
Now I want you to notice the key that's emphasized in this verse, certain things just leap out at you: #1 Faithful, it's those who are faithful and remain faithful, endure to the end, not just enjoying and hanging on, but who are growing, who are overcoming, who are developing, who will be in the Kingdom of God and once we're there, God will give us authority, we will be given authority, some over ten cities, some over five, two or three or a hundred. This as I just said to this generation, but it applies to all generations, everyone who comes up in that first resurrection. As I said, this will include Able, Enoch, Abraham, all of the prophets, the church down to the last two thousand years. What will the world tomorrow be like when its rulers, its leaders, its culture are all based upon spiritual living principles of the bible, of the scriptures, of God? The godly character that we are developing today such as love, joy, peace, patience, longsuffering, gentleness, kindness, goodness, these are the values that the world tomorrow will be founded upon. These are the foundations that things will be built upon. Every one who will be in the Kingdom of God will be taught these basic principles. Now I'd like to cover some of these with you because there are some fundamental principles that if we learn to govern according to these, we will truly be a different breed of rulers, a different kind of ruler.
Number one is the fundamental principle that God has established is that we will be servants of the people. A leader in the world tomorrow must learn to be a servant of the people. That service will be based upon what we call today Christ Centered Service, not self service, not human service, but godly service. We will serve people. Let's notice in Matthew 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying: Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?....Don't we all want to be in God's kingdom? So who's going to be the greatest?.....2 And Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said....3 "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted (converted and change) and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven......4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
So if you and I are going to be in God's kingdom, we're going to be given the opportunity to serve, it must be based upon humility. Humility is the basis of service. It has to be the base that our service is built upon to love others, to always do what is best for them, not to rule out of pride, our of vanity, out of selfishness, out of greed, out of your own personal life, but because you're there as a servant of the people. This is how God measures greatness. Greatness is not measured by how many cars you have, how big your house is, how much money you make, but how much you serve other people.
Turn over to Matthew 20:25. But Jesus called them to Himself and said: "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. ....That's how rulers rule today, they lord it over people, they take advantage of people.....26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. 28 Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Leaders today are in office for power and for the money, for fame and adulation of the people.The praise, the authority goes to their head. They think they're great. Once a person is in office, you see this too often with politicians, they don't want to give it up. They're in that office, they'll do anything to get back in office, to be re-elected to their office. They think they're great, they think they're something but in God's eyes they're tiny, they're small, they're minuscule. God says all nations before Him are a drop in the bucket and anyone who walks around in the vanity and the ego of his own mind is not great in God's eyes. God wants us to be servants, to be motivated by humility to serve other people. Think of the rulers down thru the ages. Before the flood, society was based upon the way of Cain, the way that Cain lived, a violent taking, he killed his brother. After the flood, along came Nimrod and Babylon has carried on from that point down to today. Then we had Alexander the Great, the emphasis on Great. Then the Caesars, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Assad, today, you've got all of these individuals who are considered "Great" rulers. Yet most of them were or are despots, most of them ruled out of their own vanity. Just because a leader doesn't kill, knowing the people doesn't mean he's a good leader either. Now there are those who kill millions of people. Even so called pious men have taken nations to the brink of collapse because they lack the basic skills in knowing how to rule and they rent legacies and frustrations and corruption because their abilities were never vetted to character. In the world tomorrow our ability to rule must be vetted to character, to the character of God, so that we will rule from that motivation. Do you realize that God is the greatest servant in the whole universe? We don't normally think of God as a servant, but He is. He serves every human being. He has the opportunity to help everyone. You're here today, not because you're so smart, but because God opened your mind. He called you, He enthused your mind with understanding and God is working with all of us. He serves us, He helps us. We have needs. We go to God, we pray, we plead with Him. He grants us, He answers prayer.
Let's notice in Psalms 10, verse 14. Here's a psalm that describes God and what He does for us. But You have seen it, for You observe trouble and grief, to repay it by Your hand.....Showing how God will intervene on the behalf of His people......The helpless commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless....Notice God looks down and especially those who are fatherless, widows, the needy, the poor, those who don't have anyone to stand up for them. He is a helper of the fatherless....15 Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man; seek out his wickedness until You find none.....16 The Lord is King forever and ever; the nations have perished out of His land.....17 Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear......18 To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of earth may oppress no more.
So there's coming a time when oppression will cease, when God will be the helper of the needy at that time. You know the Holy Spirit today is referred to in what terms? Well the Comforter, but it's also our Helper. The Holy Spirit is given to us to help us. To help us to overcome, to help us to have the mind of God, to help us to grow spiritually, to help us in every way. God established marriage as a vehicle to teach this lesson. God created Eve and one of the reasons He did was that she might be a helper. Adam needed help. Ladies, we need help. We need help all the time. Now you women can learn that lesson very quickly. You're in a position where the husband is responsible, he's supposed to be the leader in the family and you are there to help him. But we collectively are the fiancee bride of Jesus Christ. We have the opportunity to learn to be helpers today. The church will marry Jesus Christ. Do you know Christ is seeking the same thing that Adam did? Adam looked around and guess what? He saw monkeys and apes and dogs and cats and frogs and chickens but he didn't see anybody that was comparable to him, nobody else looked like him. Nobody was on his level. So what did God do? God came along, took some flesh from the ribs, made Eve. She was the only one that was not made directly out of the dust of the ground. This is why Adam said, she is bone of my bone. She's flesh from my flesh and they were to become one flesh, to cling together. God is looking for a bride for His Son who will be comparable to Him, who can be a helper to Him. When He looks around right now, there's no one yet in that position. That will take place in the resurrection and in the resurrection we will be made immortal, given eternal life, given a spirit body and we will then be comparable to Christ. Figurely speaking He will marry that bride. We will be one of His kind, kind reproduces after kind and God is creating a family. We're His sons and daughters, we will become a part of that bride and we will have the opportunity to assist Jesus Christ, our husband throughout the millennium, the white throne judgment, for all eternity in carrying out His plan and His duty. So all ruler ship must be based then upon service, on helping others, on giving to others. You see as spirit being, we won't all at once become as spirit beings say huh, I'm a spirit being, I don't need to be humble anymore. No, as a spirit being, you must exemplify humility. At the beginning of the millennium, stop and think, the nations will need help to be resettled. Bridges and roads will have been destroyed, warfare running rampant, atomic bombs, army scourging the earth.
Let's go over to Isaiah 11. We'll find one of the jobs that God will give to us at that time is the help for these people and to help bring them back and to resettle them according to where they should be. The Jews will come back to Judea, all Israelites initially, but then eventually they'll go back to the U.K., go back to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, wherever the nations of Israel have been scattered. But here in Verse 11: It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea.....12: He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.....13: Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. And then it goes on to talk about how God will gather them and the wealth of the Gentiles will be gathered also. 15: The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; with His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River and strike it in the seven streams and make men cross over dryshod.....16: There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who will be left from Assyria, as it was for Israel in the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.
We will help Christ initially to begin to regather millions of people, to resettle them. Right now in the Mid East there are millions of people who are unsettled. They have to live in tent city because of warfare going on. Think about the whole earth being displaced at that time. Whole nations have gone into captivity and they're going to have to be brought back. The bible talks about how in the future, Jesus Christ will take one person at a time, like picking up a lamb in His arms and carry them and guide them and we will go seek these people out and we will direct them. That's something that we will spend a little bit more time on as we go on in the sermon. What kind of help will people need? They will need to be healed, they'll need food, shelter and clothing. They'll need houses to dwell in, spiritual knowledge and understanding. Think about every thing that goes on in society today and that's going to have to be replicated the right things. At that time our motivation will be, we're out here to serve you. Think of all the rulers today. Stop and think about it, the President, his Cabinet, everyone in the Federal Government, the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Supreme Court, every Mayor, every Governor in this country. Why does every one of them in office and his vowed purpose would be there to serve the people. What a difference that would make. As we know, that's not the motive that we see today. O.K. that's the first principle of ruler ship.
Secondly we will be leaders or rulers who will comfort people, we will encourage people, we will strengthen people. Carry right on from Isaiah, chapter 11.
Isaiah 12:1 And in that day you will say: "O Lord, we will praise You; though You were angry with me.....talking about how the nations of Israel were going into captivity because of their sins, God was angry.....Your anger is turned away and you will comfort me.....God is going to comfort the people.....
2. Behold, God is my salvation and I will trust and not be afraid; For YAH, the Lord is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation. 3. Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation......I was struck by Pamela, the beautiful psalm that she sang, it ties in directly with this, drawing water from the wells of salvation that God's spirit will be there. Just like growing up on the farm which I did, you go out and you let the bucket down and you bring this cold bucket of water and you drink out of it. Well at that time, people will be drawing water of salvation. 4. And in that day you will say: Praise the Lord, call upon His name; declare His deeds among the peoples, make mention that His name is exalted. 5. Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things; this is known in all the earth.
6. Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!"
At that time God will be great, He will comfort the people. He will start with Judah and Israel and then eventually His government will extend and spread to all nations.
Notice Isaiah 61 Here are our marching orders. This is what we are going to assist Jesus Christ in doing. With the bride we're there, that they make comparable to Him, we are helpers and it says:
1. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted......I don't know if you've ever seen anybody's been brokenhearted. I have, I've talked to a lot of people who have been brokenhearted. You loose a mate, you loose a child, you have a child stillborn, you loose a child in an accident, any of these type of things and it breaks your heart, it tears you up emotionally, you're distraught, you don't know what to do. You begin to think, well this isn't fair, this isn't right. Think of the millions of people who have gone through warfare, families destroyed, disrupted, been thrown in prison, in concentration camps. Notice what He goes on to say here.....He will heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound......Can you imagine at that time going as the soldiers did in the second world war, opening the gates of the slave labor camp and say come out, go tell those people you are free, you don't have to fear anymore. God is on the earth, we're His children, we're here to help you, we're here to serve you and we will have to convince and show them and lead them and guide them in the right way and then He goes on to say.......2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn......God will comfort everyone who are mourning at that time....3. To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."...... They will be planted, they will grow, prosper, they will produce fruit and God will be with them.
So we will be there, this will be one of our duties, to comfort people and help them. How do you comfort somebody who has lost a loved one? Many times one of the hardest, most difficult things is to go and try to comfort somebody. What should I say? How can I say something? You don't know what to say. Many times you don't have to say anything, it's just a matter of being there. I'm here and I want to help you, what can I do? We love you and you just give them comfort.
You know in II Corinthians 1:3 describes God, the very nature of God, what He is like. It says:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.....God is the one who comforts us, who comforts us, notice how it works.....4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble.....So we go through trials, we go through tests and God comforts us. How does He do that? He does it through His word, He give us comfort and encouragement through His word. He gives us hope through the scriptures. God gives us His spirit and that spirit is there to strengthen us, to help us. God will many times send a comforter, someone who will come along and comfort us. So one of the reasons why we do go through trials and tests that we have to experience what it's like to be a human being. It's so that we can turn around and comfort others. There will be somebody in the family of God who will have experienced almost everything that a human being will have experienced at that time, who will be able to come up and say, I can help and will be there to be able to help them.
Isaiah 35:3 Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.....4 Say to those who are faintl-hearted, be strong, do not fear! Behold your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.....5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.....That's physical and spiritual......6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb sing. for waters shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert......Now notice Verse 10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and they will come to Zion.....How? All downcast, pitiful, woe is me. No.....They will come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.... God will be there,
they will be overjoyed. God will be in the midst of them and comfort them. The days of mourning will cease.
Let's read one other scripture here: Isaiah 60:20 "Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended......The days of mourning for human beings, with all of the suffering and everything that they have to go through now will end.....21 Also your people shall all be righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified......22 A little one shall become a thousand and a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time." That time is coming very shortly. We live in the end time and God is going to come and the days of mourning, the days of sorrow are going to end. The days of happiness and blessing will be there. So you and I are learning now to be comforters.
Thirdly, another quality we must have; we need to be leaders who are fair and just in judgment. Today in politics we have what's called cronyism, favoritism, favorite friends, contributors, special interest groups. You give money to those who are your friends, you give power, you give position, you give opportunities. But at that time in the millennium everyone will be treated the same. Everyone will be treated fairly. Let's notice what it says about Christ and how He will rule.
Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it.....How?.... with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever......Once Christ sets His foot on the earth, He will begin to rule with proper judgment and justice and it will go on forever. That's how God's government will be administrated in the Kingdom of God. From that time forward even forever...... The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this......God will have a zeal to see that this is carried out.
Notice Isaiah 11:2 This describes Christ growing up but notice how He will judge and how He will rule......The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord......What if all of our rulers today had God's Spirit, fear God, had Godly knowledge, Godly wisdom, Godly understanding, what a different world it would be. But at that time it will be different.......3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord......One of the reasons why we come to the Feast is to learn to fear God so you'll find that his delight is in the fear of God......And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears.....Too often people look and they see and they think aha, I know what's going on here and they judge by what they see or what they've heard somebody has told them perhaps. At that time, you know God can look at the heart, He can look at the mind, He can see the motive, He can see the attitude, He can see the approach and guess what? We will have those abilities likewise. You know somebody comes up and tries to con us. I did such and such, let me tell you why and they're trying to con us and we say listen, I know what your motive was and you can see the heart. Have you ever asked yourself why did so many people at one time leave. We used to have feast sites where we had ten thousand. I used to coordinate St. Pete and when I was there it was up to twelve thousand. They had up to fourteen thousand at that feast site. Where are they today? What happened? What didn't take place in them? I think with too many of them, intellectually they agreed, but in their heart they did not agree. You see God's word has to be written in your heart, not just your mind, it's got to be up here. You've got to agree with it intellectually, yes, but if sometimes if you agree with an argument, somebody can come along and maybe you can't counter their argument. But if God's law, as we find its under the new covenant and this is happening, is written in our minds and in our hearts. It doesn't matter if you don't have this book. We love God's word. But if we didn't have a bible, do you know which day is the Sabbath? Do you know how to treat your wife? Do you know how to rear your children? Do you know how to love your neighbor? Do you know how to act towards others? Well, sure you do because it's written in your heart and your mind. We will be able to judge and not just see the sight or the hearing of the ears. Judgment will be based upon righteousness. Notice verse 4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth and He shall strike the earth; and He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.......5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist......So faithfulness and righteousness He will judge. You and I need to be learning to judge based upon what is right, on the word of God, the law of God, the principles of God so that we judge righteously.
Have you ever asked yourself the question, why is David going to be king over all Israel? Maybe you thought oh, I wanted to be king over Israel. Sorry, it's already been promised. Let's notice in II Samuel
8:15 we get a clue, that's why David will be king over all Israel......So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered judgment and justice to all his people.....Same thing, judgment and justice to all of his people.
God is handpicking individuals today, He's selecting individuals who exercise certain key positions in His kingdom like David over Israel, the apostles over the twelve tribes, rulers over cities. Responsibilities will be based on what you do with what you have. You don't have to look around at somebody else and say well they've got so much more ability, talent and skills than I do, they'll have a much higher position. No, it's what you do with what you have and if you don't have as much as somebody else, it's what you do with it that God measures this by and He will reward us according to that. With this approach of having judgment and justice based on righteousness and right values, peace will flourish. What will society be like when all rulers of all nations seek peace, not war? What influence will this have on society? There will be no more manufacturing of war, no money spent on war, no men going off to fight, no families being split up. We will strive for peace. The problems today the bible says the way of peace they don't know. Mankind does not know the way to peace because it's only according to the way God says it should be done and we humans are not capable. So there's coming a time when there will be no more violence. All violence will cease. Hatred among nations will cease. Isaiah 60 in verse 14 thru 16 you might just jot down, shows that the hatred between the nations like the Jews and the Arabs will cease. Can you imagine a time when the Jews come up to the Arabs and the Arabs come up to the Jews and they hug one another's neck and they say I am so sorry, I wish we had not treated you in this way, please forgive me and there are tears in their eyes, we should live with one another and that they strive to live together. You know that's what God is going to have to remove. The spirit of this world has to be removed and not able to influence the minds of mankind because Satan is a vein of violence, he's a liar, he was a murderer from the beginning the bible says.
Then we come to the fourth quality. This is the last one I'll talk about here today. Probably, not probably, this is the most important. Rulers who are motivated by love, rulers who are motivated have love. To serve out of godly love, who comfort out of godly love. Not out of power, not out of wealth, not out of the money, not out of vanity and pride and ego. What will society be like when every activity in relationship is based upon love. I remember back in I John 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. I want you to notice how that's worded. It doesn't say God loves, it says God is love, that is what He is. Sometimes you can look at a person and you say, he is a violent person or he is a vain individual. But God is love, that's His very nature. All of His activities flow from love, He will always do what is best for people. Out of God flows His grace, out of God flows His mercy, out of God flows His forgiveness, His goodness, His kindness, all of that flows from love. Love is the basis of it. God has a heart of love and He is genuinely concerned for people, for the future member of God's family. God loves everyone and He's going to offer salvation to everyone. God is described in the bible as the God of love, comfort, this is the part of God's character you and I have to be developing and emulating and so as a member of God's family, the basis of everything we will do must flow out of that.
Let me ask you a question. I asked this to start with. Why kind of a ruler will you be in the world tomorrow? Is there a way to gauge how you will rule, how you will govern, how you will serve and teach at that time? I think yes there is. How do you rule today? How do you deal with your mate today? Does your wife say I am so glad he's my husband or you can have him, I don't want him? Which way is it? Or vice versa. Are you glad that your wife is you wife? I thank God every day that He gave me Norma as my wife. A guy could not have had a better wife than the one He gave me. She's been such a blessing to me. I hope that all of us feel that way. How do we treat our friends? How is their marriage getting along? Are we learning to rule today properly and govern according to God's principles? So often I see families, I see how we treat our children, not according to this word. We deal with them but we're not dealing with them according to the principles of the bible and the scriptures. We need to apply God's law. Do we serve in the church according to our capacities and our talents? Often age may limit us, but are you afraid and keep up with the work of the church? With Don Wards permission I'll mention a couple of members from his area. I used to pastor these sexes congregation.
We had a number of widows there I felt set a wonderful example and they were faithful, wholly committed to supporting the church. One of them died here recently, Alva Pyle. She goes back forever, I believe she was 99 years old. Here she is in her 90's and she learned how to use a computer. She sends messages to everybody all over the world. I got messages from her all the time, encouraging people, strengthening people, reaching out to people. Prior to knowing the computer, she would write and she would send these out. There's another widow, one of the last ones there now, Faith Carlwile who used to be at Ambassador College. Anytime you visit her she's sitting in her easy chair, she's got book shelves on both sides with bible helps and bible recorders, she's got sermons, she sits there and studies and prays and listens every day. If you say something wrong, you'd better look out. She will catch it. She knows her scriptures and she stays focused on God and what the church is all about. Are we learning God's way? Are we comforting others? Do we encourage others? Do we strengthen others? Are we growing in love? Are we striving to bring peace between us and someone else or is there resentment and bitterness and hatred there? We are being trained right now for positions of ruler ship in the world tomorrow. We're being trained for responsibility of serving all of those in the millennium. You know what we're also doing? We are being trained to train trainees because in the millennium, all those people who are going to be trained the same way. They're going to trained on how to rule and then when the eighth day comes along, when salvation is offered to all the billions of people who come up, those who were trained in the millennium will assist us and help us and we will then offer salvation to all mankind. So we are preparing the assistance for the eighth day in the White Throne Judgment. We will train the trainees who will become trainers at that time.
Brethren, God has given us this Feast of Tabernacles. It is a blessing from God. It is His gift to us. We are becoming comparable and a helper to Jesus Christ. I want you to notice one last scripture in
Revelation 22, verse 14. This summarizes what we will be doing at that time..... Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter the gates into the city. Verse 17: The spirit and the bride say: "Come!" let him who hears say," Come!" let him who thirst come. And whoever desires, let him take of the water of life freely.
We are blessed beyond measure today to be able to help Jesus Christ and the Father extend salvation to all mankind.