He tells the numbers of the stars; He calls them all by their names. Great is our Lord and a great Power ; His understanding is infinite." So says Psalm 147:4-5 . When we begin to think about that statement (we'll come back to it a little bit later in the sermon), I think that all of us should take some time and begin to contemplate --even as the Psalmist of 147 and many others of the writers of the Bible did on occasion--and that was, the Great God that we worship.
Recently, I picked up a book in the Books a Million bookstore entitled, Understanding the Universe; it was written by two men, Raman Prinja and Richard Ignace. These two authors had some rather astounding things that they said regarding the universe in which you and I live. The quiet and the peaceful nights, when you look up into the heavens, are anything but quiet and peaceful according to these two writers. As a matter of fact, according to the authors, there are 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe.
In the sermonette, Mr. Luecke said that there are about a 100 billion people who have been living on earth for about the past 6,000 years. I do not know if those two figures have anything to do with each other or not, regardless, still, a lot of people and that's a lot of galaxies! One hundred billion galaxies, as these authors point out, in the observable universe. So, that is what we have been able to observe through our own earth-bound telescopes and also through the Hubble Telescope and we do not know yet what is out there completely. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains around 100 billion stars.
Now a star, of course, is like our sun. In addition to the stars or the suns in our Milky Way, there are planets, there are moons, there are asteroids, there are comets, there are other astral bodies, but at least 100 billion stars according to their figures. Each star is like our sun in that it has an extensive amount of energy that it's able to produce at any one particular time. It's a continual thermal energy, and x-rays and beta rays are continually being given off.
Our solar system, as you know, is comprised of several planets, and our sun. It has our moon; of course, there are the moons of Saturn and there's Mars and Uranus, there is Venus, and the other planets that are a part of our solar system. Our solar system is about halfway between the central bulge of our galaxy...we live in a spiral galaxy in which there are...it is a continually turning galaxy and it is like a flat piece of paper with a bulge in the middle of it. Now, our Milky Way is about halfway between the bulge and the outer edge of our particular galaxy, the Milky Way.
Our solar system is about 26,000 light years from the center of our galaxy. As you know, a light year is the speed of light and light travels at 186,000 miles per second. So the speed of light, of course, 186,000 miles per second, and you can multiply that out and how far that would be traveling in a year, is a long, long period of time.
The nearest galaxy to the Milky Way is the Andromeda Galaxy and it's two million light years from our own galaxy. Galaxies are known not only to exist individually, but they also form clusters and several galaxies are categorized as super clusters. Our galaxy is a rather ordinary galaxy in a rather small group or cluster of galaxies. For example, our local group, of which the Milky Way is a part, is composed of several dozen galaxies. The Virgo Cluster, which is nearby (relative term, like money in Washington , D.C. ), the nearby Virgo Cluster, 55 million light years away, is composed of around 2,500 galaxies.
The authors point out that, in our Milky Way, one new sun, one new star, is born every year. Now, other authors of material that I've collected through the years have indicated that, on an average, a galaxy will produce, all galaxies combined, galaxies on the ordinary, will produce about two new stars or new suns every year. I've done some figuring, and I checked my hand figures by some calculators upstairs in Mr. Kerry's office, doing some calculating then, based on the estimate of 100 billion galaxies at an average birthrate of two new stars per year, 200 billion stars are born annually. That's easy. There are 100 billion galaxies, two per year, that's 200 billion.
Now, let's do some averaging. If I had known what Mr. Luecke was going to do, maybe I could have had something up here, of how many new stars were going to be born this afternoon when we sat in this room. Let me give you the figures: per day - 547,900,000 stars are born; per hour - 22,800,000; per minute - 380,000 stars are born per minute.
Now remember what we said in Psalm 147 and verse 4 . God knows all the stars by name and whoever wrote that Psalm did not, I think, have access to the information that you and I have, because the number of names of stars, which God must remember, is like human beings being born and dying. It is an ongoing process. So, within the last 60 seconds, God has just had to name 380,000 new stars. That gives us an idea of the capacity of the mind of the very...let's say, how God is, what God is like.
I've titled the sermon this afternoon, "How Great Is Our God," "How Great Is Our God!"
I would like to go back to Job, chapter 38 and verse 31. There are so many authors in the Bible that pause and help us to reflect on the creation of God, of what it is that the One we worship has done. In Job, chapter 38 and verse 31, God challenged Job to do things which Job had to admit he could not do, and God led Job to admit that he genuinely could not comprehend all that God had done. But, God did enable Job to have a better relationship with Him, although Job could not even come close to what it was that God had created, and what God had done, and what God was doing.
He did say to Job, "Job, you're the kind of a man who I want to be a part of my family," and in Job 38 , verses 31 and 32, you've read this many times, and in this particular case, God points out to him, about some of the constellations that you and I can see. By the way, the human eye can see hardly any of the really known stars and planets that there are, even in our own solar system, I mean, in our particular galaxy, the Milky Way. We can see a very limited number with the human eye.
Job 38:31-32
Vs. 31 – Can you bind the sweet influences of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion?
Vs. 32 – Can you bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? Or can you guide Arcturus with his sons?
Arcturus are the 12 signs, they are the ones that, uh, the 12 signs of Mazzaroth, rather, the constellations that continually pass through the heavens, that you and I can see with the naked eye. There are ways of telling time. God put them there. He designed them and He placed them in the heavens so that we could tell time; so that we could tell months; so that we could know seasons; so that we could know when to worship Him. That's just one of the many uses of those particular orbs.
And what we today, I hope, can reflect upon, now I hope that we can, from this Feast of Tabernacles and this Last Great Day, I hope that we can go home encouraged; so that lapse of annual holy days between the Last Great Day and Passover can be a time of honoring God, of really worshipping God, of taking what we have learned here at this Feast, using this Feast as sort of a springboard to really become busy, and recognizing Who it is we worship and what it is that He is capable of doing in each one of us, and of what His desires for us truly are.
Let's go back to Colossians, chapter 1 and verse 16, because I think it's helpful for us to be reminded, who is it that created all things?
All things were created by God. All things seen and all things unseen. You and I know about the seen world, we can see certain of God's physical creation, but there, also, of course, was a spirit world that God created. Who was it that did all of that?
Colossians 1:16-17
Vs. 16 – For by Him... and the context is definitely Jesus Christ ...by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him... now note that as well ... and for Him .
Vs. 17 – And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist .
That's who the Head of this church is. Jesus Christ is the Head of His church. We are part of that church and it was Jesus Christ who created all things. Let's go to another scripture in Hebrews, chapter 1 and verse 2.
The spirit world and the physical world, both worlds, have the same Creator.
Hebrews 1:2
Vs. 2 - ...Has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things... And if you look in other translations, and your particular translation might have this properly rendered "the universe," because within the book of Hebrews there's several references there that He is to inherit, and we along with Him, the inheritance that He brings with Himself to give to us, that we also will, with Him, inherit all things, meaning the universe. ...heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds... So, this is the One who is the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
When we begin to think about what God has created, what Jesus Christ did, as far as His creation is concerned...I've just mentioned a little bit here about the heavens and the vastness of space.
What about the microscopic world? Here about three days ago, from Stockholm, Sweden, an announcement was made. The announcement had to do with three scientists: one American and two Israelis. They were given the Nobel Peace prize for chemistry. I would like to read to you what they received that particular prize for.
They discovered a key way that cells destroy unwanted proteins, starting with the chemical "kiss of death." Each human cell contains about 100,000 different proteins that carry out jobs like speeding up chemical reactions and acting as signals. So, in each human cell that is in your body there are 100,000 proteins in each human cell. These three scientists uncovered a process that starts when a doomed protein is grabbed by a particular molecule, marking it for destruction. Such proteins are then chopped to pieces. (And you thought there were other ways by which you lost weight.) Hey! What happens is you've got all these proteins, 100,000's to a cell, and there's a molecule that comes by and this molecule, by some kind of an incredible, not only molecular but chemical process, marks the protein that ought to be put to death. And then, as a result of that, it chops it to pieces.
So, you begin to think about how God, not only in the macroscopic world but also in the microscopic world, knows what He is doing. He takes care of what we might call for this afternoon's purpose, "the big picture." But you know what, brethren? He also takes care of the little picture, doesn't He? He is a God of greatness and He is a God of detail. He is a God who knows all things and I am glad that He is the Head of our church. I am so glad that God is God and nobody else is. I don't know of anybody else I'd rather be God than God. I don't know of anybody else that I'd rather be my Savior, than Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the One who made all of these things.
It really just, honestly, it just makes me wonder, how in the world can people think that all of these things just happened? How in the world did that protein ever know that there's going to be a molecule coming by sometime, and it was going to mark it, and then it was going to be all chopped up in pieces? Now, just how many millions of years do you think it happened or, first of all, where did all of that come from? Where did the first hydrogen atom, where did the first molecule, where did the first alpha ray, where did the first beta ray, where did all of that come from?
You get back to this point. You either believe in some kind of a mystic power or you believe in a Creator God. I'd rather believe in a Creator God, primarily because that's the truth. And you know what? It makes more sense, because He has purpose with everything He is doing. God has a spiritual "big picture" and God also has a spiritual microscopic picture for each one of us. He knows where we belong in His kingdom and He knows how to write on our heart the details, if He needs to, to putting like the mark on one of a 100,000 proteins in the cell.
If you can look at God and understand that He has a place for you in His kingdom and that not only does He have a place for you in that kingdom, but as He writes on your heart, His law, His mind, His character, He is making you, getting you ready by writing His character within you, so you can handle whatever it is that He wants you to do somewhere, at sometime, in the future.
We have a magnificent world in which we live. I know that there's a lot of crime, there's a lot of bad things, but there's also some good. Matter of fact, I appreciate the fact that God made us human. He made us with the five senses. We have touch, we have taste, we have smell, we have sight, and we have hearing. I appreciate God for doing that. We're not like an animal. We're not like a plant which cannot think, they cannot reason, they cannot hope, they cannot dream. God gave us a desire in our heart. He gave us a mind with which we can think.
We heard about that spirit in man and that God knows every spirit in man. Whatever there is, in any spirit in man, that has ever been or ever will be God knows what is there. He knows what each human is capable of accomplishing and He can take, with His magnificent pen and write on the human heart that which He knows will cause that human spirit to be eventually totally fulfilled and happy, not only for a 60-, 70-, 80-year human lifespan, but for eternity. God knows how to create a person to be happy forever . Can any of you do that? I don't know how to do that. But, you know what? I'm going to learn how to do it.
We start with Ten Commandments, we start with human flesh, and we start with our own families. We start by getting along together each year at the Feast. We start with some fairly simple things to fit into a magnificent picture. God, therefore, is the God of the "big picture" and God, therefore, is the God of the little picture as well. God's perfect way is accomplished in a very imperfect world.
The message of Isaiah...we're going to spend some time in Isaiah...let's go first to Isaiah, chapter 40. The message of Isaiah contains a strong encouragement for us. Sometimes, after the Feast of Tabernacles, people return home, get back into the ordinary routine of going to work, going to school, whatever that routine might be...sometimes we hit the doldrums, but there are plenty of passages in the Bible, if we will continue to study, will continue look into them, that can keep us going. We can set some goals and I'll talk about that here at the end of the sermon this afternoon.
But, the message of Isaiah is very clear and if you have ever studied this book, some of you have read in the Bible Reading Program, the book of Isaiah, a good commentary in there as well. But, what Isaiah very specifically points out and very definitively states, God dominates. God is pre-eminent. God does not lose, from great to small. He wins. From significant to barely known, God rules and God knows what is going on. God has created us to be on His side. I'm glad that He has. He's created a human being to be on His side.
Now, let's go to Isaiah, chapter 40, for a moment, verse 12.
Isaiah 40:12-15, 17, 19-22, 24-26
Vs. 12 – Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand... These men have written these words for you and for me to think about what they wrote, but then to use our own mind and to use, perhaps, information that you can get off arts and entertainment or the learning channel, there are some wonderful programs, you have to overlook evolution, I understand that. We do, we overlook evolution. We know that there is a Creator God, but what they have been able to find and what they're able to state, helps us to really understand the God who has done all things for you and for me. It really helps us to appreciate and know what kind of God we worship and the power that He has and the concern that He has for each human.
So, it says ...and meted heaven with a span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure? And weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Isaiah knew this about God and yet he only had a limited view of the heavens. He could only with his eyes see a small portion of what was really there.
You and I have access to a great deal more information. Some of the pictures that have been sent back by various satellites, by Hubble, of some of the exploding galaxies in different parts of the universe, it's a fantastic thing to imagine that here there are so many millions of galaxies, and oftentimes they don't operate just by themselves, because what they do is they collide, and they crash into each other. Every once in awhile, an astrophysicist will talk about how galaxies in some far-flung area or another are attacking or crashing into each other at hundreds of thousands of miles an hour. And, it will take them light years to finally complete the crash.
It is so expanding to the human mind for us, that Isaiah touches on it, but you know what brethren, every once in awhile, when you really get down...and there are some genuine problems which God's people face everyday: health problems, job problems, family problems, whatever they might be...this sermon, today, is not to have sort of a Pollyanna approach to everything. It will not eliminate the problems, but it certainly will give you a light at the end of the tunnel, that there is something that is happening in my life and these problems will not get the best of me, even if death is what I face. That's how God can help us to learn to think, of a much bigger picture of what it is that He is doing with our lives.
Vs. 13 – And so, the question here is asked by Isaiah... Who has directed the Spirit of the Eternal, or being His counselor has taught Him?
Vs. 14 – With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment? And taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding?
What I've talked about so far is only one aspect of God, of what through the power of the Holy Spirit He has created. Those vast creations in space and also the incredible order of things in the microscopic world, but what about knowledge, what about thought? How is it that you create a being who can think, who can have one's own individual thought, who can have one's own personality, who can develop and have the same character of God and yet have different personalities within the Body of Christ?
If anybody thinks that God is creating a bunch of yellow pencils, he has another think coming because, when you have the perfect character of God, your individual personality is preserved for eternity, and you'll always be an individual, under God with His help.
How do you do that? How do you re-create the character of God without making everybody be just the same? How do you do that? Well, I have no idea. I don't even know what I'm talking about. Hey, look! I'm just up here talking. Let's face it. Ministers get up here and every once in awhile we start talking about stuff we have no idea what it is that we're talking about. We really don't! We can't explain this. I still cannot explain the magnificence of how you can take two cells, a male cell and a female cell, and how those two cells can unite, and how the genes line up and the chromosomes line up, and a beautiful infant nine months later comes into this world with the spirit, with the capacity, to become a member of the family of God.
I don't know. You know what, to me galaxies are boring, human life is exciting. That's where the excitement really is. No, I'll show you that, as we go through the sermon. But, does that mean we should not think about the great creation of God and just thank God, that "I know Father in heaven that You and Jesus Christ have a purpose not only for us right here on earth, but there is a purpose for us eternally, there is some reason for all of that out there"?
Vs. 14 – Then in verse 14 ...did He take counsel... verse 15.
Vs 15 – Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket... and when you compare what Isaiah did comprehend about the vastness of space that he could comprehend, you could really understand how Isaiah said all the power of the nations is nothing. When you look at the stars in space, when you look at the heavens above, you can realize that one little nation on earth is absolutely nothing to God. It is insignificant ...and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, He takes up the isles as a very little thing. And that's not just some statement; that is literal because, really, all the nations put together are nothing to God. Absolutely nothing, as far as compared with what He has done.
Vs. 17 – All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing and vanity . In other words, they're just something that's going to pass very quickly.
So, we have here in chapter 40, and the scriptures that we have read so far, how it is that God has made things. Let's continue now, let's look down at verse 18. God only is to be worshipped . I hope that, every year that we come to the Feast of Tabernacles, we can at least be given a boost and worship God with a more powerful spirit and zeal than we have in past years.
To me, I look forward to the Feast because it ought to give and can give, and hopefully has given to each of us, a zeal, a renewed zeal, that regardless of what we have been through in the past 12 months, what do we do at the end of the Feast? I know what I do. What I do at the end of the Last Great Day is very simple. I start looking forward to the Passover, because I live for the plan of God. That's how I think.
It used to be that I thought according to a different kind of a calendar, but you know what, you can change the way you think about life. If you want to, you can change how it is that you gauge your life, but you don't gauge your life from January, let's say, to December, you gauge your life from one annual holy day season to the next holy day season. And what you do between the Last Great Day and Passover is to appreciate what you've been given through the other holy days, especially fall holy days, and then you prepare yourself to go before Jesus Christ and gather together with His people at Passover and say, "Thank you, God, for still being there for me." "Thank You that You have never left me."
Let's continue.
Vs. 19 – The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains. These are the false idols of men.
Vs. 20 – He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. And here, all these different false idols that have been worshipped, and Isaiah is challenging even the common sense of such a thing. Why would you choose something like that, a tree that has been cut and died, or something over which you have placed gold or other precious metal that cannot be moved, when you can have a living God who is a live Being, who can do things for you because He is a living God? And Isaiah just says why would you do that?
Vs. 21 – Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Vs. 22 – It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in. God is not limited to light years of travel. He travels, probably, at the speed of thought. For those of you who are older and you don't think quite as quickly as you used to, maybe you can look forward to the time...I'm glad that sometimes, I'm glad that my thoughts don't travel even as the speed of light, and I'm glad that some things I think don't come out even in words...but how would you like to travel at the speed of thought?
Well, some of us, based on our age and all, sometimes we could think a thought and we're halfway somewhere and we get out there and we wonder where were we going in the first place? But, at least you can think your way back to where you started at the speed of thought! In other words, you get back as quickly as you left so, at least if you get lost somewhere, you can always find your way back.
But, here's the mind of God, then, let's continue, verse 24.
Vs. 24 – Yea, they shall not be planted, they shall not be sown... talking about false idols ...yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth, He shall also blow upon, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. They will not last .
Vs. 25 – To whom then will you liken Me, or shall I be equal? Says the Holy One .
Vs. 26 – Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might for that He is stronger in power, not one fails .
And, once again, the reference here in Isaiah 40:26 is that He brings out the host of heaven, the stars, and He calls them all by name, but He is not limited and even as we have been here this afternoon, He's had to put up a few more names in His hat, has He not?
You know, there is sort of a life cycle to the universe because just as much as there are stars being born there are also stars that are dying. So, even as stars die, that doesn't mean necessarily that God forgot their name, and it takes millions of years for a star to come to full fruition, and then millions of years in order for it to eventually die out.
So, how easy is it for Him to remember the names of every human being? You know, when you wonder about how can He remember all the names of these people who have lived and died? How does He remember that? Well, I'll ask you a question. What do you remember? Don't you remember things you really want to remember? What's the most important thing to God? Do you think that God is all concerned about the Andromeda and all the other galaxies that are out there?
They've got so many names now for galaxy clusters and the power and all that emanates from them. Human beings can't keep up with them and, of course, they can only see one-half of them anyway, and those folks down in New Zealand and Australia and Africa and all those in the Southern Hemisphere, I guess they have to take care of everything down there. We've got enough to take care of up here. I hope they're taking care of what's down there because, you know what, there's just as much up there as there is down here, and there's just as much out there as there is that way! As a matter of fact, I think there's plenty for everybody. And you know what? If there is enough for everybody, God will just make a little bit more.
He can do that. But, He is most interested, not in all the immense power of all the galaxies combined, what He is interested in is one human life at a time and that He is able to do. Just as much as He created a physical system in which a molecule could mark one of the 100,000 proteins in a human cell, He can also focus directly on your every need. He also knows how to lead you in a way so that He can write more of His character, of His quality, on your heart. That's what He's really interested in.
Galaxies are boring. The heavens are boring compared to the human spirit with which God has chosen to work. This is what Isaiah continually comes back to. He says, as David said...let's go to Psalm, chapter 8. David wrote here, as he also contemplated, to me, what the Biblical writers do for us is to give us an example of sometimes we ought to get our minds off the earth and look up into the heavens and contemplate what it is that God has done out there, and who it is that we worship, and then it's overwhelming as David says here, Psalm 8, verse 1.
Psalm 8:1-5
Vs. 1 – Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who has set Your glory above the heavens. Now, Romans, chapter 1 is an interesting chapter because, in it, it says that you can even prove there is a Godhead. You can see the Godhead by those things which He has made. You can come to understand the majesty of God and, yet, the glory of God is not anything compared, how can you compare the glory of God, even with the glory of the heavens and all that He has created, whether the huge expanse of space or the incredible world that is microscopic? His glory is much greater than all of that. His substance is much greater than all of that. Now, let's read what David said.
Vs. 2 – Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings have You ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You might still the enemy and the avenger.
Vs. 3 – When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
Vs. 4 – What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?
Vs. 5 – For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor.
Why? Because God has given to David, here, and David understood this, that God has given to His people, even now, His very power. Anybody who thinks that you can do enough to earn the power of God, you cannot be righteous enough to earn the Holy Spirit.
It is a gift.
The same power by which Jesus Christ created the heavens and created the earth, is the same power that He gave you at your baptism. That is an awesome power that you and I have. It is only a beginning, an earnest, a down payment, but He has entrusted you with the same power by which He has created the 100 billion galaxies-plus, and each galaxy being composed of millions, hundreds of millions, of stars and solar systems themselves. That's the same power you have been given at baptism. That's what God has entrusted to you and me. You can't earn that. There's nothing you can do to earn it. It is a free gift from God that you and I have.
What a wonderful God we have! I mean, what could you ask of Him? What else could you ask? He has given us that power by which He created all of these things, and He has given us that power for a very specific reason.
Let's go to I Corinthians, chapter 15. God has designed you and me for a much greater part of His plan. I Corinthians, chapter 15 and verse 39. We read here what Paul understood, the spiritual aspect.
I Corinthians 15:39-48
Vs. 39 – All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
Vs. 40 – There are celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
Vs. 41 – There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. In other words, there is a different brightness, that's what Paul is talking about.
Vs. 42 – So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.
Vs. 43 – It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
Vs. 44 – It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And that body is what you and I will have when Jesus Christ returns. We will be composed of spirit. We will be composed of spirit! And, it goes on and says:
Vs. 45 – And so it is written, 'The first man Adam was made a living soul.' The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. One who knows no death.
Vs. 46 – Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.
Vs. 47 – The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second Man is the Lord from heaven .
Vs. 48 – As is the earthy, such are also those of the earth... In other words, we are physical; we have flesh and blood just like Adam. ...and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. In the resurrection and the change, we'll become...you and I have been created, to be changed, from mortal to immortal, that is the design for you and for me.
The only way that you can really serve God in the Millennium and after, when there is a New Heaven and a New Earth, you have to have a spirit body because the physical body simply could not do it. So, what God is doing is, through God's Holy Spirit, our human existence with all of its pains and its sorrows and its setbacks is made worthwhile because our spiritual lives remain steadfast in the faith. And so what it is that you and I do spiritually guarantees that God is doing something greater for you and me.
Let's look in Malachi 3 and verse 16. I think this is a great scripture to refer to during the year of what it is that God is doing with your life because, every once in awhile, I'll come to a few problems here in a moment, you get burdened with your problems and if you do not focus on that which God has done or with that which God is doing, human problems and the difficulties of human life burden us down and cause us to lose a true focus.
Remember this, then, I think, during the year between now and next spring when we'll keep the Passover together.
Malachi 3:16-18
Vs. 16 – Then they that feared the Eternal spoke often one to another... And, by the way, what is it that you talk about with each other? I hope that it's good and encouraging things. I hope that when you hear sermons on the weekly Sabbath that you talk about the sermon and you talk about how it meant something to you and what it could do, what you need to do about how it made you get stirred up and you need to do a little bit more here, I want to do a little bit more there...And the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Eternal and that thought upon His name. This is what you and I ought to be doing. We should be thinking upon God, of what He has done, of what He is doing, and upon His Great Name.
As a matter of fact, that's a great Bible study. If you have a Bollinger's Bible, a Companion Bible, look in the back there at one of the appendices at the names of God. Some of you have probably done that. I've heard good sermons out of that. Gives good sermonette material too, by the way. El Shaddai, El Eloah, they are different names of God. Yahweh Raphaka, God our Healer, various names of God that show the various characteristics of God.
Think about what God...hey look, sometimes if you don't know what you're doing, think about God, He always knows what He's doing. You ever been to the point where you just realize, you know what, I've lost control here? I think I'm going to think about, for awhile anyway, I'm going to think about what God has done. You know what will happen? Sometimes when you begin to think about God and what He has done, you're able to see more clearly what you have to do. But, if you only think about what you have to do, you don't give any room for God, and if you think that way, it's not a good way to think. Every once in awhile you get emotional, you get mental, you get so tortured by the pressures and the difficulties of life, that it's like you can't sleep.
As a matter of fact, and this happens to people in God's church and it's a very real thing, the death of a mate, maybe you've been married to someone 50, 60 years. You have the death of a mate. It is so burdensome, it is so difficult for some people to get through and over that. And that is a real problem. That is something that you just can't say to somebody, "Well, you ought to get over it." No, you don't get over things like that very easily. Not when your life has been dedicated to another human. It is a difficult thing and God knows it but if, during that time, you thank God that there is a purpose for that human life, that that human life is going to be brought back, of that individual, your mate, a loved one; whoever it might have been was not converted, and we heard some good examples from Mr. Foster this morning.
I mean, I was sitting there, and as he was mentioning somebody, I was thinking of somebody else. Did you do that? I did. He mentioned somebody, a couple of young people in the church who died prior to baptism and all, and I got to thinking about some that I knew who died: a college student who was electrocuted down in Big Sandy, while I was a student. I never will forget that day. I don't think he was baptized. And people in my family. But, every once in awhile, you've got to stop and give the God we worship some room with which He can work and help you in whatever grief it is that you have.
A number of years ago, in reflecting on what Mr. Foster said, he did a really nice job this morning on covering the meaning of the day, just really good. But, every year, I think back because my wife and I had a son. We had two deaths before we had our two sons that are currently living. One was a fetal death at seven months. He only lived 36 hours and I always, on this day, I think back of our little boy, Richard Neil; that was his name, the son we never knew. But, I remember the last moments I had with him and, on this day, I reflect back on that and thank God, with God's help, nobody else is going to be his dad in the Great White Throne Judgment. I'm going to be his dad.
He is an incentive for me to straighten my life out, to keep my life straight, and I ask God every day, "God, I cannot really get through this day unless You are my strength." And you do that over and over and over, throughout the year, do you not? All of us do that. Just the way we learn to think. It works. It is not a chicken way out of life. It is the real life, because without God nobody is anything . Nobody is anything .
Human beings try to be the big shots and yet what do they depend on? The big shots who think they need nothing and nobody, upon what do they depend? The next beat of their heart, the next flash of their eye, they need for God's laws to remain consistent, they always need something. God has provided all these things even for those who are agnostic, even for those who are atheistic. And they keep on thinking that they don't need God. Yes, they do.
But, here's what God has for you and for me.
Vs. 17 – 'They shall be Mine,' says the Eternal of hosts, 'In that day when I make up My jewels .'
Vs. 18 – 'And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him .'
God is in the process of creating a jewel of a family and you are part of what it is that God is doing.
With those things in mind, let's turn to the final portion, back over to Romans, chapter 8 and verse 31. Paul contemplated, I think, often about who and what was God, the God that he worshipped. Paul deeply appreciated what God had done for him because he knew himself. He was a man who gave license, gave approval, to having God's people taken out and put to death. He was a servant of Satan and he had to admit that. He did admit that and became one of God's great servants as a result. If there is a human instrument that God has ever used, that could write Romans 8:31, it was the Apostle Paul.
Romans 8:31
Vs. 31 – What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us ?
Have you ever thought back about the various victories that God has given you in your life? You can read of various victories that God gave the House of Israel. We read, and oftentimes we are inspired by, what God did for Joshua, for Gideon, for Deborah, for Samson, for David, for Esther, for all the different victories that God has given to those people who we read about. But, I think it's very helpful for you to think about the victories that God has given to you because there are people in this room who, with the help of God, have been able to conquer some of the most hideous kinds of problems and difficulties that people have had.
Let's put it this way. If God has helped you to overcome these four things, at least in part, it is worthy of you to thank God for the victory that He has given you so far: vanity, jealousy, lust, and greed. Did God ever help you to come to a point when you know that you really have a problem, whether it be vanity, jealousy, lust, or greed? Every human being has a portion of it. Everybody has to fight it, one way, or the other. You cannot read Romans 6, verse 7 and 8, without realizing that Paul, even after he had been converted for a number of years did not struggle with the human nature which he had. And yet, Paul also knew that God had helped him to see the problems, the difficulties, and he knew this, and I hope you know this about God as well, God is not afraid of a good fight. He isn't! You know of anything that He'd be afraid of?
If you have to fight something and I don't mean go out and punch the guy who cut you off in traffic, come into services this afternoon, maybe you got his license plate, you already have a friend in the police office, you already know where he lives, and you're going to go over there this evening, and you're going to walk right up to the front door, and you're going to punch him right in the nose, and think, you know what, you cut me off today and I can punch you and repent later. No, you don't do that, do you? Hopefully, hopefully, you don't!
Although a few years ago I know of a couple of fellows, bachelors that lived with each other, and one got mad at the other, and finally the one just got so mad he did hit the other man. And the minister went and talked with him and said, "Why did you hit him?" "Cuz I knew I could and I'd repent later." So, that is not, that is not the way we ought to think, is it? No, but we're given to certain human inclinations, but we can learn to think as God thinks.
Vs. 31 – But, if God is for you... Do you have an alcohol problem? Do you have a drug problem? Do you have a lust problem? Do you have a tobacco problem? Are there problems in your life with which you are struggling? There is a God who can help you with them. And, you know what this, about God? Sometimes you'll know, that all of your problems will not all disappear, this you will know though , God will never forsake you as long as you are in there trying , you are giving it your best, because we're not going to be perfect human beings when Jesus Christ returns. We're not. It is the righteousness of God in us that you and I depend upon that allows us to be reconciled to God and be a part of His family. It is what God does for us that makes us right in His eyes. And knowing that, with God on our side to help us to overcome, and life is a matter of overcoming.
Let me read a few things here that I jotted down. Tobacco addiction, I mentioned that. Uncontrollable temper. Not telling the truth. From idle gossip, to the points of actually hating or resenting individuals. Pride and arrogance. Family problems. Husband-wife difficulties. Parent-child problems. Sibling-sibling problems. Employer-employee problems. Fighting of heresies. Not being as zealous as we ought to be for God's Work. Being a slave to an employer, to a job, and not being willing to stand up.
People in here have been helped by God in every one of these in one way or another. Many of you in here have had to leave jobs to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Every victory...I think it's helpful for you to have those things that you can reflect upon that you know God has helped you with and God gave you the victory in.
Years ago, I guess I learned that from a friend of mine, who is also a minister, that you can read about these examples in the Bible which are inspiring. You know what also is inspiring is to see somebody in the congregation really be helped and come through a problem and succeed, because others have been praying for one another, and that's another thing that you and I know is that prayers of brethren, fasting of people who are concerned for you and your welfare, that also is how God works in us to make us successful.
Have you ever had somebody that you shared a problem with? This problem, you shared it with this individual, and so, this individual said to you, "Well, first of all, it's confidential, keep it between us, but I want you to know this." "I'm going to pray about it and I'm also going to fast for you because I know it's a difficult thing that you're facing."
I know of an individual who was going through cancer therapy. Well, this individual had been through cancer therapy and the individual who had been through cancer therapy knew exactly what was going to happen while that person was seated in the chair receiving chemotherapy or radiation, whichever of the treatments was going on.
So, this person said, "You let me know when you're going to be in the doctor's office and when you're going to be receiving that treatment, and while you're sitting there and while that is happening and while these things are going through your mind, I want you to know that I am going to be praying for you."
That's great to know that there are people like that in this church, because there are people like that in this church. That is also how the God of the universe works to help us to achieve the victories that you and I need in life.
Sometimes we just need victory over discouragement, despondency. Sometimes there are things that weigh us down and the problems are so heavy that we know without God's help, and sometimes God wants to help you through another member of His church, maybe going to the minister and his wife and saying, "Would you pray with me about something?" I know and I'm sure that every other minister, and maybe you've done this yourself in your own lives, if they have a person a long way off and it sounds like they're desperate , and so what do you do? Well, how does God do things? God takes care of things right then.
But, I pray for people over the phone. I said, "Well, listen I can't get there but if you want me to, I'll pray right now for you." So I pray a prayer over the phone, so that they can hear it. Well, that's, I think, what God would want to do. Jesus didn't have a telephone, but I have an idea that He would use one. I do think, however, if that came to Him and He was driving down the road, He would drive off on the side of the road, He would park, and He would pray a prayer on His cell phone parked, not driving . I just thought I'd throw that in for free! So that you don't think, wow, that preacher up there in Hagerstown said we could pray for 'ya and you tell the officer that! I think you'd have a difficult time convincing him, oh, it might have been true, but still difficult.
But, I do think that we need to reflect on that God is creating a family in an imperfect world and in a world in which all our problems will not be removed. There is one unmovable force and that is God working with us. That is a constant and He knows your needs down to the one protein of 100,000 in each cell, if I can use that as a comparison.
There was a table that used to be in the Holy Place in Jerusalem. Josephus, I think it was, describes this table. I have oftentimes thought of the beauty of this table, but around the legs which were covered in gold, there was also some gold leaf that, the quality of gold was so pure and so fine, that people actually could beat it and there were little leaves, I think it might have been pomegranates, or something like that, that they had that they wove around the legs of the table. That gold was so delicate that when they would open the door to go into the Holy Place those leaves would shake as if they were alive. I have sometimes thought that is how God writes His law on our hearts, down to the very finest detail. There is nothing about God that He does not want to give to you. In the finest detail and the finest quality. There is nothing that He wants to withhold from any of us.
Let's go to Psalm 139 and verse 13. I mentioned a moment ago, I had an occasion to run into some friends at lunch and when I knew these individuals, the three of them anyway that I knew, were single and now married, four children, and boy, they have four beautiful children! You know, it's a great thing to come to the Feast and, although you're a little bit older, you can look at some people and some young people and you can thank God that they stayed with the truth. You have no idea what that does to people that have been in the church for a few years, especially some who, maybe, have known you as their pastor or known you as their friend in the local church area; what a joy it is, for young people who have grown up in the church to be faithful to God.
To have been born in the church, so to speak, and some young people have actually been baptized twice. Their moms were pregnant with them when their mom was baptized. We used to have a show of hands in Big Sandy, Texas. I used to wonder, how many of you have already been baptized? Out of a class of about 300, sometimes you'd have eight or ten. Their mom was baptized when they were expecting that particular child and, you think, boy, that's wonderful! Maybe you don't get...maybe that's mushy...I don't care if it's mushy. I think that's great!
I think that life is wonderful and I...you read here what is written in Psalm 139. Once again, David, very emotional individual, Psalm 139 and verse 13, where he says:
Psalm 139:13-14, 16-17
Vs. 13 – For you have possessed my reins; you have covered me in my mother's womb. He is showing God as a tender lover of his life, prior to his birth even.
Vs. 14 – I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows right well . I know that You, God, are worthy of praise. You are worthy of honor. I am fearfully and wonderfully made . You are the great God and You are the One who has given me life, You give me your attention, You give me hope, You give me Your guidance, You give me Your direction.
Continuing in Psalm 139 and verse 16.
Vs. 16 – Your eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect. And in Your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them .
Vs. 17 – How precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! How many thoughts do you think God has ever had toward you? Have you even thought of that? How many thoughts do you think God has had toward you, as a human?
Okay, parents, how many thoughts have you had towards your children? I'm going to show my speculative weakness. I think that women have done more thinking for their children than we have, men. They cheated. They had to think about that child because they were the one who is carrying that child. So, ladies, how often did you think of the child before the child was born? Many times, did you not? You were concerned about that child, were you not? You were concerned about what you ate. You were concerned about the health of that child. You prayed to God that the child would be born healthy in every way.
The man, obviously, was concerned, but as Mr. Armstrong used to say, and I think he was really right in this, as well. It seems as though God gave many of His qualities to the man and He gave many of His qualities to the woman, but the closest thing that God's love can be compared with is a mother's love. I believe that. I've seen what women will do for their children. They'll just be heartbroken and they just keep going and what, men, do we want to do when our sons are nasty? Let's don't go there! Let's don't go there. Because what does a man want to do? Son, you do that one more time.... No. I'm just imitating some one of you. That's not me that's coming out! I'm just...what you would do...see? This is not me!
But a woman, honestly, she has a kind of love that is a marvel and when we come down to it, let's look in Hebrews, chapter 12 and verse 22, we come to a point where we can focus our minds on what it is on which God has focused His mind. Because God is very clearly focused and when He comes back to earth, when Jesus Christ comes to earth, He is going to be clearly focused on a place. That place is Mount Zion; that is the place where He intends to return. That is also a place which is a type of the Church of God , Mount Zion, or as it is referred to oftentimes in Isaiah and in other places like in Micah, the Mountain of the Lord.
We are, currently, the spiritual Mountain of the Lord. We are the spiritual Mount Zion. All the prophecies, on what place on earth do they focus their prophetic intent? They focus it on Jerusalem. Specifically on Mount Zion. The last chapters from Ezekiel 40 to the end of the book, they focus on the temple that is going to be built there, but now there is a spiritual Zion. There is a spiritual Mountain of the Lord and it is called the Church of God. And for all that God has created and for all that God could be thinking about, He is intent on focusing on His people.
Hebrews 12:22-23
Vs. 22 – But you are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Vs. 23 – to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.
That is what Jesus Christ has focused His mind, His heart, and His life upon now, and that is: God the Father has called us into the church. It is now Jesus Christ's personal responsibility to bring us to completion. That's what He is doing. And folks, if He can create a 100 billion galaxies, each one of which is composed of millions and billions of stars and of planets and of asteroids, and if He knows us, not only does He know every hair on our head, but I presume that if God wanted to He could call every molecule by name. Isn't it nice to know, what He considers worthwhile?
Thank God for the God who called us to His church, who wants us in His family !
