M.Kasperson Personal Notes: Split Sermon “Extending the Feast Year Round” 10/20/18

Good Morning

We just got back from the feast. Some of us having had the best feast yet!

"It was a wonderful experience. We have become a big family doing things together and the Spirit of God is ever-present." Gracious Mpilangwe, Feast coordinator from Blantyre, Malawi,

Last week we all discussed our feast experiences and we shared as a family and now we asked the question, “How do we extend the feelings of family, the knowledge, the learning, and growth from the feast into this upcoming year?”

When we are at the feast t’s truly a family event and we can see how it impacts our lives. Let’s take a look at our own families for just a moment.  We all have biological relatives and families that we are part of and as a result, there are events that we must participate in sharing to keep our family relationship alive.

Here are some of the family events excluding worldly holidays: Marriages, first car, first home, childbirth, college, graduations, vacations and family get-togethers, retirement and funerals.  With the extended Kasperson family we seem to only get together for Funerals. It seemed kind of strange that we would pack our life information into that sad moment. 

You know, every time you get together with your relatives. You really can see the history and beliefs that you all share and there’s always some kind of story that comes from the meeting. Hypothetically, little Susie drives her tricycle into grandma’s garden ruining grandma’s flowers and the stories all start with remember the time when….Poor Susie, this will be remembered for years to come.

We also have stories too. At the feast in Ocean City, Maryland a few years back, I remember the time when a former Pastor of the Connecticut area took out the entire Connecticut congregation for dinner to a very high class restaurant. Boy, did we eat well, and the conversation was very loving.

I’m sure you have stories from your feast. This year we really enjoyed the photographs that we were receiving during the feast from our members at different feast sites. It was tremendous to see the excitement and see the engagement that everybody had with God’s Word and God’s people at God’s family gathering.

There are key elements common to the family structure at God’s Feast just as you would see it in your personal family get-togethers.

1. Your family and you are connected by blood and it’s your duty to support and attend the important family events.

2. You have to set aside Time – Prioritized above your normal routine.

3. You have to set aside Money – Prioritized above your normal expenditures.

4. You share unity in values and spirit with them, which leads to actionable love.

5. There is happiness and fulfillment.

These lead to fulfilling and purposeful relationships, willing to sacrifice for them because you see the benefits.  For some of us, family events are mandatory and being in the church we avoid the worldly holidays that they participate in but do attend some other events. It is required that we are there. We are expected to discuss changes in our lives since the last time we were together.

So when we get together for the Feast isn’t it the same?  Don’t we share stories with people that we met from previous Feasts? Don’t we learn new things about our feast family?  Don’t the same five elements that make up a family relationship also apply to our Feast family?

We are all connected by blood. The blood of Jesus Christ. We have to set aside time every week. We have to set aside money, our tithes, and we show unity in values and spirit.  We find love, happiness and fulfillment with our Feast family.

Those are the connections that make the Feast like a family to us. God calls His family together for the Feast. It’s a Holy Convocation and He tells us to save our money to celebrate and enjoy the Feast, to grow in knowledge and to praise him during the Feast. We share this with our Feast family.

Today I want to talk about how we can share with our congregations our Feast family values!

When we are at the Feast we are in a childlike spirit looking to share with our parent, God the Father and our brother, Jesus Christ and grow that sharing with each other.

Here is some input from the Ministerial Report from the Home Office.  (Mark 10:14-15)"Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it".

Little children are faithful and dependent on their parents. They are teachable and humble. They naturally return parental love to their mothers and fathers. As people mature physically, these characteristics often wane. Jesus underscored these important values inherent in young children and declares emphatically that they are vital for entry into the Kingdom of God.

Here are 3 Feast insights that will help extend our Feast through the year

The first insight: is that it is God’s family “get-together” and we can be part of it every week at His Sabbath .

He is summoning his family together to be with Him and just as you and I have family get-togethers, you have to be there to experience it. You get the most from sharing God's Truth among all his family in the hope of the millennial life. We all will share this experience that will lead to the millennium with Jesus Christ at the helm.

At the feast you feel the excitement with others. Your understanding grows, your commitment deepens, it is our family going forward and we are practicing being together and we are going to rule with Jesus Christ in the Kingdom. We can do all these things every Sabbath in our local spiritual family.

Mark 3:35 35 For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

Matt 12:46-50 Jesus’ Mother and Brothers Send for Him

46 While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”

48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

We have to see now that our new family is our Feast Family with the Father and that our congregation is part of that Family sharing the same values.

Eph 3:14-15 14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father [a]of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

We are Part of God’s larger family.

The second insight: We must dare to be different from the world.

We are NOT Called out of this world to be just a good member of this society in this world. We are NOT called to be just a lukewarm Christian who believes in some of the truth and doesn’t build a true relationship with his or her God, we are “ALL IN” Christians, demonstrating the mindset of Jesus Christ and God the Father every day of our lives. We listen to the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit. We squelch the calls of this world and our human nature and act on the word of truth. As such, we put our lives on His path throughout the year and we reap both some pain and the benefits of doing so. But we approach it all with faith that our Father leads us.

This also means that we must keep the Sabbath holy. It’s our time together with our Father and His Son. We also need to tithe both the first and second tithe and let God change our lives through it in faith. Also realizing that tithes must be kept in order to make next year’s feast the best ever!

WE are to overcome the world, be separate from it, not to be a successful gear in the machinery of the materialistic and ungodly world.

2Cor 6:17-1817 Therefore      

“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
18 “I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.”

We grow separate with the Feast and Sabbath experience and develop a spiritual mindset where we start to see the world through God’s eyes, our Father and His Son Jesus.

Being Separate - His hope in us purifies us

1John 3:1-3The Command to Love

3 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of [a]God! Therefore the world does not know [b]us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Our hope is in being a member of God’s family, being like our elder brother and King, Jesus Christ.

Psalms 16:11 You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

1Peter 1:22-25 The Enduring Word

22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth [a]through the Spirit in [b]sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of [c]corruptible seed but [d]incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides [e]forever, 24 because

“All flesh is as grass,
And all [f]the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
25 But the [g]word of the Lord endures forever.”

Now this is the Word which by the gospel was preached to you.

With, our Feast or Sabbath Family we focus on the Word of Truth and our Family will endure forever. That’s our core value.

Rom 8:14 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

1John 1:77 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Being separate from this world and overcoming its pull, letting God our Father lead US

Rev 3:21 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

Rom 8:14 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Rev 21:7 7 He who overcomes [a]shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

In overcoming we are the family of God.

The third insight:  Teach others God’s ways through your example. Share your life with others. Build your Feast understandings and grow their understanding and your understanding too with other members of your Feast family, your church family on the Sabbath. Share the truth with your children and coach your children to follow God’s way.

Our understanding of the government and Ruler that is to come to this Earth needs to be shared.

Dan 7:13-27 “I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed

This was written thousands of years ago and will come to fruition soon! This is the heart of Christ’s message to this broken world and all of creation is waiting for it.

Rom 8:22-23 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

God has a 7,000 year plan to save all mankind. We have been called to play a major role in it and the Feast practices this new Kingdom. Are we preparing to for it as God is?

We have to take our Father seriously and prepare ourselves and others for the coming changes and the hope of the Kingdom and salvation.

Rom 8:18-19 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

1Cor 2:99 But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”