Feast of Tabernacles 2025:

Good evening, everyone, and welcome to headquarters. I am excited to see this room as full as it is right now. Everyone’s stuffed tight. We left, you know, when COVID was happening, we had all the spaces between our seats. We found that we really liked it because you had space between you. I like we don’t have room to do it right now. So, this is a lot more fellowship.

I’d be remiss before I start tonight to say that, for lack of being Mr. Captain Obvious, we made it to the Feast. So you’re thinking, “Okay, Mr. Pack said if we make it to the Feast, there may be more for him to say.” So we made it to the Feast, and I can assure you that he does have more to say. So they’re having their Opening Night starting in about, I don’t know, about half an hour, they’re an hour behind us.

So, a couple of questions before we really get into the message. Partly because I’m incredibly excited to show off the campus. I’ve never actually had a Feast here before. I’m usually here for a day and out the door. So the first time I think in fifteen years that I’ve actually not traveled for the Feast. It’s no complaints from this side of the lectern. So I have a couple of questions. First, I want to see a show of hands tonight. Who in the room, this is your first Feast of Tabernacles? Raise your hand up. Get nice and high, nice and high. Okay, we’ve got what, two, four, six, about six. Okay, so about six of you, nice. So six of you, first Feast of Tabernacles. Another show of hands, among you, who is coming to headquarters for the first time?

Oh, I’m excited. I know where every single hole was dug, wall was painted. My wife was teasing me that, “No, you can’t give three-hour tours.” So we’ll do somewhere similar to that, but we’ll have some building tours and land tours, and various things you heard Mr. Giles reference in the beginning of the announcement. So there will be a lot to do this Feast, a lot to take advantage of, and a lot of different ways to serve, because this is not normal.

What you are doing, what you’re choosing to do tonight, is just simply not normal. We have the grocery store that you’ve heard me reference many times, Giant Eagle, in various sermons. And they’re right now and they’re shopping, not thinking anything of it. It is not a high day for them. They don’t think about the Feast of Tabernacles. It’s one of those Holy Days that people don’t even really associate, even with the Jews, or think about it. If you know anything about the Bible, you know the Jews keep that holy day of Sukkot, but most people have no clue what that is.

If you would have asked me that twenty-five years ago, I would have looked at you confused. But what you’re doing is not normal. This is simply not normal, to stop in the middle of what is a busy world. All of you have busy lives, things you’re doing. You traveled, you have jobs, and you walked away from it. You walked away from it and came here to stop your routine. You could have gone to work tomorrow. If you weren’t in God’s way, you wouldn’t obey him. You could have done all of those things that would have been perfectly normal for everyone around you, but you chose to do something different.

You chose to do something different. You decided to stop work, stop your emails, stop your appointments, stop all the daily pressures of life and work and job and all of those elements to come here. The Feast is a rare opportunity to do that because no other time of year do we stop for an entire eight days, if you take in the last great day as well. You never do that unless perhaps you on a vacation. So we’ve said that second tithe is God’s savings plan for his mandatory vacation. But if this is your first Feast, you’re probably feeling a little bit nervous because how is this going to work.

I don’t really know anything. I’ve saved up. But if you’ve been doing this for a while, you know this is not a vacation. What we do at the Feast is not put your feet up relax mode. No, no, it’s very different than that because we are trying to take advantage of those eight days. We just don’t want those eight days to come and go. My wife and I took a vacation several months back. We went up to Toronto for a few days and had a Sabbath over a weekend and literally put our feet up, although we walked everywhere, but relaxed. You’ll do some of that at the Feast, do some relaxing.

You’ll do a lot of walking. You’ll do a lot of getting around. But this isn’t a vacation. This isn’t that time of year when we just relax. No, the Feast is work. The Feast takes effort. Not just those who are running around behind the scenes, but for everyone here, we should all be putting in a lot of effort. We’ll talk about what and why and how as we continue, but a lot of effort should be put into the Feast. God tells us to come here and rejoice. You’ll hear messages during the Feast about rejoicing. God tells us to come here to learn to fear him, revere him. That’s nothing that ever happens on a vacation.

You can rejoice, but you don’t rejoice with a hundred and fifty, a hundred and eighty of your friends, typically on any vacation. Because rejoicing strengthens bonds. Joy strengthens bonds. You’ll have fun together. You’ll laugh together. You’ll joke together. You’ll break bread together. And all of us will get to know each other more. It is one of the reasons why I’m so excited about being in one location. I loved traveling, got to see many, many people in different parts of the country and around the US and Canada. But often it was a little bit walking by, shaking their hand, hello, we’re up in an airplane, and off we go.

Last couple of years, a little slower, but being here the entire time, I’m excited to get to know all of you and show off the campus and all the activities we have planned. But rejoicing brings us closer together. It also builds unity in us. And most importantly, it becomes very easy to rejoice with what the Feast of Tabernacles pictures. It is a time for personal and spiritual growth, unlike any other time of the year. I’ll let the cat out of the bag early on, if you have an effective Feast, if you work at this Feast, you will not leave how you came.

You won’t go home knowing the same people or having the same connections or any of those things. You will leave this Feast of Tabernacles knowing many more people. It’s nice that the size of our Feast sites. I went to a Feast in Worldwide, a couple of them when I was younger and not in God’s way at all, but my mom took me along because I was a minor and I had no choice. And I remember walking in, it was Niagara Falls. You’ve probably heard me tell this story before. I’m walking into Niagara Falls on the American side, and it was the big convention center.

I think there’s eight thousand or so, eight, ten thousand people in that convention center. And I walk into it, and I remember looking around thinking, “Wow. My mother is in a big cult.” And I had no idea there were sites around the world. But if you have eight thousand or ten thousand people, you can’t get to know everyone. You can’t shake everyone’s hand, learn everyone’s name. Well, at our size, you’re able to do that, so it’s a blessing. So if we approach this Feast with purpose and work, we will not leave the same way we came. So let’s discover how the Feast can be both a meaningful rejoicing period and also meaningful for our growth.

Let’s open our Bibles. We’re going to review a little bit about why we’re here. Go to Leviticus twenty-three. Start with some basics. All the sermon men are having a heart attack right now, since I’m covering all the verses that they want to cover in their messages. I get to have fun too, I’m the first speaker. Leviticus twenty-three and verse thirty-three. We’ll start in verse thirty-three. And it reads, “And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, speaking unto the children of Israel, saying, the fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be a Feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.”

“And on the first day, it’ll be a holy convocation.” We start tonight, as our tradition is, with an opening night message, an opening night service. Those serve all work in. “Seven days, you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And on the eighth day, it shall be a holy convocation unto you, and you shall be made an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And it’s a solemn assembly.” We’ll have an offering taken up tomorrow on the high day service in the morning. “And you shall do no servile work therein.” “These are the Feasts of the Lord, which you shall claim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire.”

If you go back in context, it reviews the other holy days, atonement, and trumpets, and so forth. Verse thirty-eight, “Besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your free will offerings, which you give to the Lord.” “Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month…” that’s where we are tonight, we’ve entered in, sun has gone down, we are now officially into the next day as God measures it. “On the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath.”

Haven’t we learned so much about the seven versus eight days, and how the last great day has such a connection and meaning that we never understood in years past? “And it shall take it upon you on the first day, the boroughs of goodly trees, and the branches of palm trees, and the boroughs of thick trees, and the willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, seven days.” We’re to rejoice. That’s not an optional thing. We can’t come to the Feasts and be down. If we’re down-- you may have had a flat tire, or run into car issues, whatever it was getting here, you’re here.

We can’t let anything that happened to us before we got here, let us stop from obeying that command. That’s a command. God says you have to rejoice. That means it starts with put a smile on our faces. We smile, that makes you feel better, you’re around God’s people. I was going to make you all smile, but you’re all pretty much smiling, so that you don’t even need to. “And you shall keep the Feast unto your Lord…” verse forty-one. “…seven days in the year, a Feast in seven days in the year. Should be a statute forever in your generations, and you shall celebrate it in the seventh month,” as we still keep it today.

“You shall dwell in booths seven days.” We are spoiled rotten, aren’t we? Booths, sticks, you heard Mr. Pack explain recently what those were in more detail than I think we’ve ever looked into, how they’re attached together. I don’t care how bad your hotel is, it is not a booth. Those would be breezy, wouldn’t they? And Ohio, this time of year, they’d be a little chilly too. “You shall celebrate it seven months… verse forty-two… and you shall dwell in booths seven days. All that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths that your generation may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”

We’re to rejoice because we are picturing a time, both looking back to ancient Israel when they were taken out of Egypt, and forward when the kingdom of God will be in place around this entire world. We know that Egypt pictures sin. When Israel was taken out of that sinful nation, made to their own nation, they were supposed to be the model. The world was supposed to be able to look at Israel and say, “Oh, that’s how I should live. Their God blesses them because of their obedience. I want to live that way of life.” That’s not how it worked out, is it?

Over and over and over again, Israel fell. And God, in his wisdom, knew that he’d have to have a way to help them. They just simply couldn’t change because they had that stony heart. You and I came out of this world and we picture what that’s like. Every single day of our lives, not just seven days, but that’s why the Feast is a seven-day festival, eight days counting the Last Great Day because it’s about the process of coming out of sin, of leaving Egypt behind us.

Just like we do in the spring with the Days of Unleavened Bread. We put that sin behind us and come out of the world and picture what the world gets to experience in a very, very short period from now. It also makes us remember that things are temporary. The older you get, I am getting closer to being able to say that. I can’t really say that yet. I don’t turn fifty for another month and a half. Yes, you’re all… see, the hoary heads in the room are like, “Yes, I remember fifty.”

What I wouldn’t give for fifty. And then if you’re in your teens, you’re like, “Wow, he’s almost fifty?” No, but as you get older, you appreciate how this world is temporary. Our lives are temporary because we are striving for something so much bigger, so much more important. Let’s go to Deuteronomy chapter fourteen. I’ll start in verse twenty-two of Deuteronomy fourteen. Twenty-two reads, “You shall truly tithe all the increase of your seed that the field brings in forth year by year.”

“And you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place which he shall choose to place his name there.” What place could God have more placed his name than the headquarters of his church? That’s why it’s special to be here. This may be your assigned site, or you may have traveled and transferred in here. You get to be at a place God put his name, so does everyone else in the world at their sites. But your site is the headquarters of his church. That makes your experience unique.

Continuing on, “The tithe of your corn…” still in verse twenty-three “…and of your wine and of your oil, the firstlings of your herds and flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.” The other main reason we’re at the Feast, we’re to rejoice and to fear God. Verse twenty-four, “If the way be too long for you and you’re not able to carry it…” all the stuff. I’m sure we’re thankful that all the things that we have to carry with us to the Feast are our luggage, not our flocks and herds and oil and wine and corn. Again, aren’t we spoiled?

Can you imagine going to the Feast like that? Your cart behind you. No. Let’s hear it for air conditioning. Verse twenty-five, if you’re not able to do it, choose the place-- excuse me, end of verse twenty-four still, “Where the place be too far from you, which the Lord your God shall choose to set his name there. When the Lord your God has blessed you, then you shall turn it into money.” Saving second tithe “…and bind it up in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God should choose.” Then jumping down to the next verse in verse twenty-six. “And you shall bestow that money for whatsoever your soul lusts after.”

Of course, within God’s law. But that second tithe you saved is meant for you to do the things that you want to do. Experience the things that you may not normally do. “Whatsoever your soul lusts after.” That’s a pretty strong statement. God, he’s not really hyperbolic in a lot of his statements in the Bible unless he’s really putting force behind it. So he says, “Whatsoever your soul lusts after for oxen, meat or sheep.” So that’s your steaks, oxen, and sheep. And you live in this modern age, that can be your beef, and the chicken, and the turkey, and salmon.

You could go down the list of different meats and food we can enjoy. Or for wine. Or for strong drink, wine. If you know me, I like whiskey. I’m a rye drinker. So the Feast is a time, I haven’t had a chance to do it yet, but I will go up to the Acme store in Fairlawn and go look behind the case that you can’t walk up to and you have to point and figure out which of those that I want to enjoy this Feast. “Or for whatsoever your soul desires.” Says it twice. “And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and then you shall rejoice.” Because of course you will.

You’re doing the things that you want to do. Whatsoever your soul lusts after. Oh, brethren, we have such activities planned for this Feast. I don’t care if you’re a senior, you heard that. We have every age bracket planned. So if you’re a senior, we’ve got you covered. If you’re a single, we got you covered. If you’re a teenager, we got you covered. If you’re not yet a teenager, we got you covered. And then there’s the mix it all together with family day and dinner dance, and tours. There’ll be something to do. There’s plenty to do.

But find those things that you want to do. Whatsoever your soul lusts after. It’s command. So we’re to eat good food, drink good drink, and do whatever our soul desires. That means demands. So your soul is demand… your life, you are demanding to do things. And that’s obeying God. But it’s also about doing it with other people too. That’s why this room is stuffed full. That’s why God brings us together. Because you could keep. There are folks, last I saw there were a good fifteen people on the live stream that are shut-ins. And your heart goes out to those folks that I can wave to them.

We’ll have something set up here. So I’ll side here. But we’ll actually set up a microphone and we’ll zoom in from the cameras in the back. So once we have that set up starting tomorrow, you can be able to say something to the folks in the live stream. You can’t see them, but they can see you. And knowing a couple that are watching in myself, it means a lot when people think about you. And we were able to do that for all the sites in the US. So it’s a special time. It’s for everyone to come together. So your heart goes out to those who can’t be here.

So take advantage of the time you have because you’re able to. And sign the cards and make sure they know that we care. But that’s all wonderful, isn’t it? Whatever our soul lusts after, we can be together. We can have fun, if you will, rejoice. It’s very simple. But the Feast itself is about something so much bigger. God makes it incredibly pleasurable because that makes the Feast that much fun. It makes you get excited. Every year, you hear Feast fever. I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited for a Feast as I have been this year. Because of being here.

It’s neat to be able to… again, you’ll hear me say this over and over to show off the campus and see what God’s people have done. What God has inspired us to be able to do. To be that example in a world that’s growing darker and darker. But the act of being here is not as important as what the Feast pictures. Think about the different Holy Days. Go back in your mind as you play them through. Passover with Christ’s sacrifice. Days of Unleavened Bread. Again, coming out of Egypt. Coming out of sin. Very similar. Repeat. Pentecost. You and I want to be those first fruits, don’t we?

Trumpets symbolizes the arrival of the kingdom. Then it’s kicking off, really, into the next phase. Atonement, Satan’s put away. We just see that in our rear-view mirror last Sabbath. And then the Feast pictures a time when the whole world is under the kingdom of God. You’re in a bubble. Even more so than people in Florida or Grand Junction, or Rogers. Or any of our sites around the world. You’re in a bubble here. You can walk anywhere you want. You can experience; you’re not worried about other people around. You’re surrounded by God’s people. Your interactions with the world are going to essentially be at your hotel.

And there’s enough of you. You’ll probably run into each other at the hotels. Gas stations and restaurants. When you’re here, you hit that gate out front and come inside. You’re inside what is as close as you’ll get to a millennial setting anywhere in the world. And, of course, if we make it to the eighth day, pictures God opening his spirit to the entire world. But at a certain point, things change in that plan of God. The earlier parts of it, the spring especially, up to Pentecost, is for us. It’s about us. Ultimately, the world as well. But after you reach a certain point, you pass a threshold.

It’s no longer about you and I. The Feast and the last great day is about them. We’re just picturing what they get to do. For lack of a better term, we’re play-acting. We’re pretending like it’s the kingdom of God for eight days. The Feast pictures a time for them. Let’s go to Isaiah chapter two. Isaiah chapter two. Let’s start at the beginning of the book. Book of Isaiah. Verse one reads, “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” I’ll let you finish turning there. Here’s some pages still. Isaiah two and verse two.

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” This is one of those verses that started the prophecy series. Because how is that mountain in the last days? It was one of the things that started us down this discovery of so much truth and knowledge. But it doesn’t make the verse any less potent. Because in the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be built.

That means everyone will have an opportunity to be able to obey. To be converted, receive God’s spirit, and live under the government of God. Look at the world around us. We’re twenty days out from an American election, and it is one of those situations you think, “Wow, I am glad we don’t vote.” You kind of look at one side and you think, “No.” You look at the other side of the aisle and you think, “No.” And you step back as a Christian and think, “Whew, I don’t have to choose God.” You’re going to have a hard time figuring out which is the basis of those folks.

So that’s up to you. I’m staying out of your mix. But God says that’s up to him. And I’m glad we don’t have to deal with it because it’s chaos. Gone are the days of your Abraham Lincolns or George Washington. No, that’s not that time anymore. And even then wasn’t the kingdom of God. We’ve just continued to go further and further and further. And we are ready for them to know what we know. Because they’re trying. People you meet them all the time in your work and your job.

There are people that you meet you think, “Wow, they’re going to be easy to work with in the kingdom.” Everyone knows some of those kind of people. And you also know the opposite. But you get people who are sincere. But as Mr. Armstrong may be sincere, but they’re sincerely wrong. But they’ll be easy to work with because they want to fix things, but can’t. You can’t fix man’s problems. They’re impossible to solve.

We need the mountain of the Lord’s house, the government of God, to be established on top of all the mountains, as it says in verse two. Above the hills. So everyone can flow up to that mountain. Verse three of that same chapter. Isaiah three, “And many people shall go and say, come you, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we’ll walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

“And he shall judge among the nations, and he shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” You won’t even have war. They won’t even learn war anymore. You and I will be teaching that. Again, the Feast is not for us. The Feast is for those outside. We get to teach them. So we come to the Feast to learn to be more effective teachers.

As we become more effective Christians, we become more effective teachers. I never thought I would ever stand on this side of the lectern. I was the IT guy. I loved it. I still get to do it. I still get to play with technology. But I never thought I’d be on this side of the lectern. But I listened and I learned. And at a certain point, God gave me the opportunity to teach. You’re going to get the same opportunity. It’s just a question of, will it be this side of the kingdom or the other side? That’s what we’re training to do. To teach all of those people.

Even the ones that may be more difficult to get along with now. Why we do this thing that’s just simply not normal? And come together on a Wednesday night, at the end of summer, beginning of fall, to have someone talk to you for an hour. And then do it again tomorrow for two services. And then do it again the next day. And they’ll understand why at some point. We’re picturing this for them. Brethren, that should be inspiring. Young or old, healthy, more frail, you will be a teacher in the kingdom of God. You will be a priest teaching mankind how to live the way of life.

That is full of the blessings, the abundance. All of the things that you know. You know why you’re here. You know why you’ve felt this journey and walked this path for five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years. You know the struggles as we’ve learned to understand more of the Bible. You know. They don’t. Not yet. But you will teach them. That’s why the Feast isn’t a vacation. We don’t come here to put our feet up. We come here to be better teachers. More effective teachers. That’s how you know you left the Feast in a different way than you came.

You’re a better teacher. Because we know the verses. Someone comes to you and has a question. You have to be ready to answer meekness and fear, as it says in Peter. But you have to be ready. And over the next eight days, we’re going to get ready. We’re going to prepare with whatever time God gives us to take advantage of. We will become better teachers. Because we’re looking forward to that time. They don’t fight. There won’t be war. We’ll be able to show them the way to live. Go to Isaiah eleven over a few chapters.

Isaiah chapter eleven. Pick it up at verse one. Isaiah eleven, one. “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse.” Verse one. “And a branch shall grow out of his roots. And 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.” Verse 3. “And shall make of him quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.” When we fear God, he inspires us to know answers. When we’re afraid that our creator will not be there for us if we don’t obey him.

If we have fear that we think, “Okay, what do I do?” No, no. We look at God and say, “I fear you, God, because you can destroy me.” The kindness and severity of God. “But I fear you, God, because you made the universe. I fear you because I want to learn to be like you.” And when we do that, he makes us of, as it says in verse 3, “Of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove of the hearing of his ears.” We’re talking about Elijah in this case. But it will be all of us as God beings.

“But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and he’ll reprove with equity the meek of the earth, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And the righteousness shall be a girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.” In verse 6, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb…” starting to build the picture of what the kingdom looks like “…and the leopard shall lie with the kid. And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.”

It gives you goosebumps when you try to visualize it and think about what that’s like. A little child. I have a little child. Imagine just leading a lion or a wolf. “And the cow and the bear shall feed, and their young one shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of an asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy. Not even hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

That’s everywhere. Water is an amazing thing. After building a campus for, twenty thirteen is we moved in, but we were building before that. There’s one major thing. If you are in construction, you know this. If you do civil engineering, especially, you really know this. There is one concern above all other concerns that you have when you’re doing any sort of construction of any kind, especially of the scope and scale on campus. The question you have to know, always, if you don’t know this question, eventually, whatever you build is going to be destroyed, where does the water go?

Where is the water going? Because water gets everywhere. It gets through any nook and cranny, and hole, and poorly dug area, or gap in a foundation. Where does the water go? Because it gets everywhere. So when God says as the water covers the sea. every nook and cranny, and everywhere, God’s truth will be. Every corner of the earth. Every jungle, every desert that will be blossoming like a rose, His knowledge will be there. His truth will be there.

And you’ll see it on the campus. You get little windows into it. Behind our house the other day-- I think you heard Mr. Pack reference. A couple of cats on campus that we have. And my wife is feeding them while they’re away. And that didn’t take very long for us now to be the ones they want to come over and talk to. Food is a powerful drug for a cat. But just wandering around the neighborhood. And the other day I was looking out my back window, and there was, I think it was Kona, just walking up the boardwalk toward our house. And she jumped a little bit or moved sideways. I wasn’t quite sure what it was. I think she was startled herself. But then, just kept walking like it was no big deal. And I realized what startled her. There were three or four deer just having a breakfast meal. Just in the woods behind our house; not thinking anything of it.

You’ll see them around the campus. We have turkeys, and deer, and foxes, and chipmunks, and squirrels. And you just go down the list of animals that you just run into. If you come and do a night tour, especially if it’s dusk, you will probably see some deer out west. It’s pretty much after services when we go on our night drive. We kind of have a tradition where we’ll drive the campus when we finish services on Sabbath. And often we’ll see five, ten, fifteen deer just enjoying a nice leisurely stroll because they know nothing’s going to happen here. They’ve been here long enough to know nothing’s going to happen here. But it’s a picture. You get to experience a part of that picture. Let’s go to Joel. Book of Joel. A few books over.

Chapter two. Joel chapter two. Verse twenty-seven. Joel two twenty-seven. Verse twenty-seven reads, “And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and none else. And my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.”

Some of these verses you read now, and you see things like, “And it shall come to pass afterward when he pours out his spirit.” We had no idea what we were reading for decades. But there had to be something before the afterwards when he pulled out his spirit... before he poured out his spirit. But I digress. Verse 30, “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. And the sun shall be turned to darkness, the moon into blood, before that great and terrible day of the Lord.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered.” Whosoever. “For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.” Whosoever. God opens it to everyone to receive his spirit. To have his heart or her heart changed. That’s not the case again today. You are unique. I’m unique. We’re part of a tiny group. A hundred and forty-four thousand over the last six thousand years kind of sounds big. When you think, okay, a hundred and forty-four thousand, that’s a bunch of football stadiums.

That seems like a lot of people. But if there have been a hundred billion people who have been alive since the garden, that’s a tiny percentage. And it’s not really that many at all, if you think about the size and scope of what’s going to happen. Not just when earth for the first thousand years. But when we start going beyond to the stars. Other planets and the scope. You will always be. I will always be or we’re striving to be part of that first hundred and forty-four thousand. There’s only one first. There’s only a small group of firsts that get to go first.

For us to be able to be alive today and see the kingdom of God arrive. Not only do you get to be one of the hundred and forty-four thousand. You get to be one of the hundred and forty-four thousand that sees the arrival of the kingdom of God. That should make the hair on the back of your neck stand up and think, “God, why did you call me? I’m just a piece of flesh. Why do I get to do it now?” And we know, as we’ve learned since before the foundation of the world, he saw you in these chairs in his mind.

However God does it, I have absolutely no idea that he could nudge and bump and put genetics together in such a way that you and I are called when we are called. That’s the God we serve. That’s why it’s easy in some cases to fear him. That he could look before the foundation of the world and, in a way, see you in chairs today. He’s outside of space and time, so technically, he could. That’s really hard for us to conceive. But you got to be one of those people. He puts you in your spot. He wants you to be in this way of life.

The only way that you lose that position as one of the hundred and forty-four thousand. The only way is if you or I choose to walk away. What we’re saying, if we walk away from God’s way of life, God’s church, his truth. What we’re saying is, God, you were wrong. I know you say in your word that you’ve planned this since before the foundation of the world. But you were wrong. I’m not the one you’re called. I’m human, figured it out. No, it’s only our decision to walk away from this way of life, to be removed from the hundred and forty-four thousand.

Let’s go to the New Testament. Let’s go to Jonah first. So book of Jonah. Book of Jonah, chapter seven. Jonah, chapter seven. Oh, no, sorry. Let’s go to John. My mistake. My abbreviations are really effective. J-O-H. John? Jonah? Let’s go to John because there is no Jonah, chapter seven. So if you found that... the extended version of Jonah. It was back when he went back into the belly of the fish. John chapter seven in verse one. John seven, verse one. “After these things, Jesus walked into Galilee. For he would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him.”

“Now that the Jews’ Feast of tabernacles was at hand, his brethren therefore said unto him, depart hence and go into Judea, that the disciples may see the work that you do. For there is no man that does anything in secret, and he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him. And Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready.” Jump down to verse thirty-three. Verse thirty-three.

“Then said Jesus unto them, yet a little while, while I am with you, and then I can go unto him that sent me. You shall seek me, and you shall not find me. And where I am, there you cannot come.” Back to the Father. “Then said the Jews among themselves, whether will he go that we cannot find him? Where will he go? Will he go to the dispersed among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles?” How is that going to work? We can track him down, they’re thinking.

“What manner of saying is this that he said, you shall seek me and not find me, and where I am, there you cannot come.” Verse thirty-seven, “In the last day, and that great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” Remember the last great day pictures that time when God’s spirit is opened up to the entire world. Verse thirty-eight. “He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

God’s spirit, as it’s used in us, in the example of the New Testament, when God’s spirit was used to heal the woman, he felt his spirit leave him. So when we use that spirit, we lose it. That’s why we have to ask for it every single day. We want God to continue to replenish and fill and give us more. Help us become even more sensitive. It’s something I always pray when I ask for God’s spirit. I ask him for one, give me more of your spirit, replenish it. But Father, also make me more sensitive to it.

Make me realize when I get that nudge, because I could ask for a show of hands, but you’d all raise your hand. Those times when you’ve made a mistake and you were nudged inside your mind-- some people would call it a conscience-- but what I would say is God’s spirit nudging you. I don’t care if you’re baptized or not. God’s spirit works with you if you’re not yet baptized. And then after you think, “I knew that, shouldn’t have done that. If I was just more receptive, more sensitive to God’s spirit.” But that is why you are here. Long wrote about having a Feast of rejoicing and growth.

You and I have eight days that we get to be together. How easy is it to rejoice when we look at the time when all can have God’s spirit? There is no war. Children can play with animals. No one’s hurt. There are no more tears. That makes it easy to rejoice. The Feast gives us a chance to grow both spiritually and physically. I don’t even say that as a joke, although by the end of the Feast, you will have grown physically, too. So this is my early Feast suit. And I have Feast suits that I have saved for later in the Feast. But you’ll grow physically. If there’s something God’s people they do well, we eat. We eat good, and share bread and break bread together.

So as you’re here, do things you normally wouldn’t do. That’s easier said than done. Most of us want to do the things we’re used to doing. Or you may have a couple of ideas in your mind. Like, “I’d like to do this.” That’s great. Do that. Whatsoever your soul lusts after. You’re commanded to do that thing. But when someone asks you to go do something, and it may be something you’re not used to doing or something you may not be even interested in doing, stretch yourself. Go do things you would normally not do.

Get out of your comfort zone. Remember, you’re learning, I’m learning. We’re training to be teachers. If we have some teachers in the room, you know that the things that you experience with others, especially students, make you a more effective teacher because you, “Oh, I’ve got to approach this in a different way.” Your experiences make you a more effective teacher because you have to see things in different perspectives. So by doing the things that we wouldn’t normally be doing, we’re going to see things in a different perspective.

If you go with someone and they’re doing something they love to do, you may be indifferent to it, and you get to see their joy from what they’re doing. Or you may find, wow, that was more fun than I thought it would be. So do also things that are joyful to Feast. Because God wants us to rejoice, right? So find activities that bring you joy. That could be whatever it is for you, for me. We all have the different things that we love to do. I love good food, and I love showing off the campus. So I have it built in this year. This is a perfect Feast for me.

But do the things that bring you joy, things that excite you, that make you think about all of the aspects of what it means to live this way of life. Or even if it’s not even related to Christianity, find things that make you joyful at the Feast. So with the ten minutes or so I have left, I’m going to list out a whole bunch of things that you can potentially do at the Feast. You’re going to have your own ideas. Come up with ideas. Write them down. Share them with each other. Over a meal, because you will have meals. We have a meal tomorrow together. So some things to grow at the Feast, how to grow.

Number one, this one’s easy and it’s fun. Serve each other. Serve each other. That’s not just here. It’s easy to do here. If you’re an usher or set up or helping in this department or in housekeeping, whatever department you’re helping at the Feast, that’s easy service. Because you’re assigned to it. It’s service. You get credit for it. But find other ways to serve each other. Pick different people. Don’t pick the same group of people that you would go out with. Go out with people you want to go out with. Yes, do that for sure. That’s whatsoever you’re so lust after.

But on other activities, find people that you wouldn’t normally pick. Look around the room. See people like, I don’t know that person. You know what? We’re going to go out to go for a walk or we’re going to get a coffee. It doesn’t matter what it is. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to do it. But find different people. Pick different groups. If you’re young, sit with someone who’s older. If you’re older, have fun with someone who’s younger. Male, female, age, race, background, find people who are from different groups than you’re in, demographics. Because what will happen, you will have interesting conversations because they have experiences you don’t and vice versa, and you will get to know someone.

This is the only place on earth that you could have the diversity of God’s church. You don’t have the view that I have up here, be able to look around the room, and every race, color, just male, female, light, dark, that’s God’s church. And that’s also the opportunity for us to be able to learn about other people because everyone’s lives are different. What you go through, what you experience are different. The story that always comes to mind was when I sat down with a man years ago, Mr. Thuvinen, and we started talking trains, and that started a conversation of trains that went on for years.

So go outside your comfort zone. Talk with people that you may not want to talk with. Feel it because you’re shy or you’re uncomfortable. Push yourself to get outside that comfort zone and talk to different people. Okay, before services, there’s some other ways to serve here. Go for a morning coffee. Coffee is cheap. If you can get it even cheaper, go to Starbucks right here in Giant Eagle. Some people like it. I’m not a fan. It’s burnt coffee in my opinion, but I also drink instant coffee, so am I really the one to judge? But ask people out for coffee. You can have a group. It’s a relatively inexpensive way to be able to enjoy some time with people. Have some people over at your hotel or go out to a restaurant with someone. Go for a walk. This is all stuff you can do before services.

There’s so many places to walk on this campus. There are all sorts of paths. There’s young or old. I don’t care what it is, but everywhere you can go on campus, there’s somewhere that has paved roads. You have places that have gravel roads. You have places that are a little bit more treacherous depending on what you’re able to do and get around. Even if you’re in a wheelchair, you can Grand Garden. There’s a path that’s accessible for you to get down to the Grand Garden without the stairs. We designed this campus to be very accessible, so go for walks. At services, help each other. Strengthen each other. If you see someone who has a need, you open a door. Help someone carry a bag.

Look for those opportunities to be able to jump in and serve each other because it becomes addictive, and this is the thing about service. I challenge all of you to outdo each other. Just one-up each other on your fellowshipping and on your service. Someone does something nice for you, do something nicer to someone else. Show them that you can out-service them. Clean up after yourselves. Clean up after others. Ask to help clean up. Help to organize. Go above and beyond. You go to the washroom, you notice there’s water, it’s not your sink, wipe off that sink.

After services, dinners again. Go out for a meal. Go for walks. Have people over. Explore the area. That’s one of the things that we haven’t really started looking at. We haven’t had time, but there’s things that I would do in Ohio that I don’t think I’ve ever done because when you live somewhere, you never do the things that people do when they come here as tourists or for the Feast. I remember I’ve now been up the CN Tower twice. Both of those times were about five to 10 years or five to twenty years after I had left Toronto. I never went up it when I was in Toronto.

It was just a landmark. You never think to do certain things. So if you’re from here, find something that you wouldn’t do. If you’re not from here, explore. There’s some neat stuff. If you like parks, Cuyahoga Valley is one of the prettiest places you’re ever going to go. There are just some spots there that are just gorgeous. You have a great lake just to the north of us. It’s not a far trip up to Cleveland, an hour, twenty minutes over to Akron. Again, take advantage of any service opportunity that comes up at events. You may see a need.

Or find someone running the event, or find Mr. Giles or myself and say, “I’d like to help out in a different way.” Well, that’s great. Hold the door. Help that person get something. But if you’re scoping, you’re probably going to find opportunities show themselves. And because you’re on an area that’s about as close to the millennium and the kingdom that you’ll ever be, explore the campus. We’ll have maps that are probably, if not already out on the information table, we’ll have them out tomorrow, that have maps of where you can go and how you can get there. Walking paths and car paths, and driving. And doing it at night, this is the most beautiful place on earth. And somehow, no matter when God has the Feast, he manages to make it look like fall.

I looked last year, the opening night was in the middle of September, a little bit later, somewhere earlier. But we’re weeks after that. And now it’s suddenly turning into fall outside. And it’s really only been the last week. But explore it. Find the paths. Find the areas to walk. Go find your favorite spot to look, to think, to meditate. I will tell you mine. I think I’ve said this before, but I have a couple of spots on campus that I absolutely love, and they change. One has never changed. I haven’t been out in that direction in a while. And the trees make it even harder because they’re getting bigger. But if you go out to the lake down here on the lower campus, go to the far side of the lake just past the Weeping Willow and look back this direction. You have the building, and the trees, and the campus, and the lights. To me, it’s one of those iconic pictures that I never lose in my mind. But there are so many other places.

Mirror Lake in the evening to see the lights on that water and the trees. You can go down to the Grand Garden. Some of the walks through the valley it’s like you’re in the middle of a fairy tale when you walk through that valley with the big, tall trees. There’s so many places to explore. And the way you do it with service is drag someone along with you, or two or three or four. Find your favorite places. Another way to make this Feast one of growth: attend every activity that you can. I can’t go to the seniors’ activity for a few more years, so I can’t attend that one. And I can’t attend the singles’ activity because I’m not single. And I can’t attend the teen activity. You know where that’s going.

I will attend the kids’ activity because I’m still a kid at heart, so I can swim. But dinner dance, family day. We have a goal internally that we’re trying to do. We want every single one of you to be at family day. If you didn’t sign up, you need to find the registration table. You need to talk with folks. We want everyone. Dinner dance is different. It could be expensive. You have concerns about cost. Come see me. Come see Mr. Giles if you’re concerned about cost. But we want everyone to be at family day. Because it’s not just the day for families. This is the family for family day. We want you all there. We want to grow, to develop. And we can’t do that alone. So find those activities. Sign up for them. Be there. If you can’t afford it, come see me or Mr. Giles. Or if you can afford an extra, to give extra to help those who can’t, do that. But be at the activities.

Mrs. Vigneault told me she has a hundred percent attendance success for people signing up for events. So I kind of challenged her to make sure she keeps the hundred percent. So if you don’t sign up, she’ll find you. But we actually have more events than any other site in the world. Our luncheons and whatnot, but we also have our tours and things to go. And there will be a sign-up for that. My hope is I see so many names on a tour list that suddenly now I have to break this into multiple days. Because I don’t care how many times I have to tour. I’m the one doing them. So if you get to sign up, sign up for them. For Family Day, we’ll have carriage rides with the horse, and we’ll have a land tour. There are just so many activities that we want all of you to be part of. Brethren have been generous.

It is amazing every year how much people will give bonus for their activity sign-ups that allow us to make sure everyone attends, everywhere in the world. And when you go to the events, don’t sit with the same people every time. Find people you don’t know. At first you’re going to feel a little uncomfortable because you’re now going sitting with someone you don’t know. It will take you about five minutes, if that, to suddenly have a conversation that you think, “Wow, I got to do this more often.” So sit with people that you wouldn’t normally sit with, or you don’t know. And last but definitely not least, find the time to make sure you keep the physical-spiritual balance. Still pray, still study. It’s different at the Feast, yes. It’s not in the same way you’re able to focus in, but you need to maintain... I need to maintain that time that we stay close with God, because remember, the physical is fun. It draws us out, it helps us be better teachers, it grows us, but the spiritual is why we’re here. Easy way to study at the Feast, if you’re not thinking about it, review the previous day’s sermons.

I guarantee that will eat up a half an hour of Bible study. And then just review them, and you’ve got your study in. You’re keeping yourself, myself, all of us, close to God. So how will you know, besides you leave the Feast different than when you came? How will you know? If we get to the last great day, if we’re having our cocktail hour at the end of that last service on the last great day, you’re going to feel some very different feelings. Spiritually, you should feel refreshed, energized, charged. You’ll have heard scores of minutes and hours of messages. You’ll hear truth, you’ll be spiritually fed. You will be so full of spiritual food that it’ll be unlike any other time.

Physically, you’re going to be fatter. I’m sorry, just wanted to make sure it was clear. It’s going to happen. But physically, you’re going to be tired because you don’t go this hard for eight days. You’ll be ready... At the end of the Feast, it’s always the same. I love good food, but at the end of the Feast, in my mind, I’m thinking, “I can’t wait to just have a salad.” And as someone who likes meat, by the end of the Feast you’re ready for normal food. And again, yeah, your pants will fit a little tighter. But you’ll also be sad because if you worked really hard at this Feast... If I work really hard, the people I get to look around from up here and see all the faces, I’ll know you all better, so I won’t want you to go. It’ll make you pray harder for the kingdom of God, because you want all of those people that you’ve built more of a relationship with to be back again. Those people, who aren’t here, to be here.

That’s what will happen at the end of the Feast. So for the next eight days, take every opportunity that’s possible to grow. Have a great Feast and take advantage of all that it has to offer. Find ways to do stuff you normally wouldn’t do. Find areas to grow and serve, but most importantly, have the best, most profitable, most joyful, and most inspiring Feast ever.