Feast of Tabernacles 2024:

Well, welcome to what’s probably the most challenging service of the entire Feast. Not the least of which because it’s the last message on the Last Great Day after days and days and days of receiving so much spiritual food.

What were you like? What were each of you like before you received the Holy Spirit? What kind of person were you before God gave you His Spirit? Were you as kind as you are now? Were you as patient in tough situations, perhaps the way that you are now? Were you as humble when someone did you wrong?

Were you as happy with your life before God gave you His spirit? Were you as knowledgeable about the Bible? Talked to some during the Feast and gaining God’s knowledge, additional knowledge about God was the thing that they selected. But before you had God’s spirit, were you as knowledgeable about the Bible? Were you as faithful? Were you as loving of a person? Rather than having the Holy Spirit, receiving God’s spirit completely changes you. It completely changes all of us.

Whether God’s spirit is in you or working with you, it completely changes you. Look at Peter, the Apostle Peter. He went from being paralyzed with fear when Christ was on trial. You remember he said that he would never deny Christ. He ended up denying him three times and cursing along the way as he did it. That same man later on went to preaching Christ and in public square on the day of Pentecost, he and the others that were with him were beaten, jailed, and he still preached Christ. The Holy Spirit changed him.

What about Paul? He went from being a stone-cold killer of Christians, dragging men, women, children from their homes, having them executed. The same man went from that, being a monster to being described as a nurse with children. I believe that’s in First Thessalonians. So from a monster killing Christians, to being a nurse and nursing and cherishing Christians as children, as well as being a prolific teacher, one of the most prolific teachers of the Scriptures to ever live. The Holy Spirit changed him.

The Holy Spirit, brethren, completely changes our demeanor, our character, our personality, our emotional state, our level of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. All those things change as a result of having God’s spirit. The changes usually start out small, incremental changes, things don’t happen big overnight, but over time, the changes increase and we become what Second Corinthians five, seventeen calls a new creature. “Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.” Again, all because the Holy Spirit changes us.

This is the things that I’ve been describing are just a summary of all the ways that the Holy Spirit has changed all of us. Now, imagine the entire world with the Holy Spirit. Imagine everyone on the planet, everyone alive, all people having God’s spirit. This is one of the many, many miracles that are represented by the Last Great Day. God will pour out His spirit on the entire world. They will get to experience what many of us have experienced over the last six months, the last year, two years, five years, ten years, maybe in some cases the last fifty years, depending on how long you’ve been in God’s way.

The entire world will get to experience what we’ve experienced over the last time that applies to you. Brethren, during this Last Great Day of the Feast, let’s take the time to better understand the monumental event of God pouring out His spirit on all flesh. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but it’s so much fun to think about the entire world with the Holy Spirit. Think about your boss with the Holy Spirit. Now my boss has the Holy Spirit, but everyone doesn’t have... they can’t say that.

Imagine your coworkers with God’s spirit, how much easier it would be to go to work every day? Imagine your in-laws with the Holy Spirit, depending on your relationship with your in-laws Godspeed the day. Imagine your spouse with the Holy Spirit. Perhaps your spouse is not in the Church but imagine having a spouse with the Holy Spirit and how much more connected you’ll be able to be. Maybe adult children with the Holy Spirit, what will that be like? Your neighbors all having God’s spirit, leading them, guiding them.

It would make for a completely, completely different experience. I’ll say this last one here. Think about everyone at this Feast site, everyone in this beautiful city, all having God’s spirit. What will that be like? Well, we would need a bigger hall. They’d have to knock out a few of these walls here. Maybe even have multiple services going on just because there’ll be so many people. The entire world will have access to the mind of God just like we do. Turn to Acts chapter two. Where does God talk about pouring out His spirit on all flesh?

Acts chapter two. We will pick it up in verse seventeen. Acts chapter two verse seventeen, “And it shall come to pass in the last days,” “brethren, we are certainly in the last days of God’s plan. “...says, God,” so this is God talking. “...I,” God talking, “...I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.” So, brethren, this is something that God said that we would do and it’s something that He said He would do in the last days. So this is something that is not too far off in the future.

Now, pour there means to pour forth or to gush out. So, I think about that picture, that word picture to gush out or pour forth. God plans to pour forth His spirit, it will gush out and cover all flesh. Wow. Wow. Now, before the last days, God gives His spirit differently. It’s more selective. God chooses who He’s going to selectively give His spirit to, so it’s a selection process. He chose the preachers of righteousness. So, we can look back, men who in the Old Testament displayed fruits of the spirit, who taught God’s way.

That was a result of them having God’s spirit working with them and as well as in them. God chose the patriarchs, in the Old Testament, David had God’s spirit. God was very selective. He chose the hundred and twenty on the day of Pentecost and the thousands that were subsequently baptized. He chose all of us, very selective. And God took us through a calling process. He pointed it. He pointed to us, selected us, no doubt, had a conversation with the elders, with Christ, and selected each of us and chose to give and offer us His Holy Spirit.

Now, brethren, not to deflate you or even deflate myself, we are not special in and of ourselves. We are not special just because of who we are. Turn to Second Corinthians chapter four. Second Corinthians Chapter four. What makes us special, what makes us stand out, what makes us different is because we have God’s spirit. Second Corinthians chapter four. We’ll pick it up in verse four. Second Corinthians four, four, “Cutting in on the thought here, “In whom the god of this world,” that’s Satan, “...has blinded the minds of them, which believe not,” why? “...lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine unto them.”

Brethren, the world is being blocked. The world is being blinded. The world is specifically being kept away from very important knowledge. It is an active process that a very powerful being called here, the god of this world is being allowed to do. Satan is actively, he’s not passively. He’s actively, proactively blocking, blinding the minds of those in the world. Our family members, our coworkers, we were talking about earlier, our boss, our in-laws. They’re specifically being blocked and kept from the information that all of us have been permitted and allowed to see.

The world is blinded. They have a veil covering their eyes. We’ll talk more here in a moment about a veil. But if you know what a veil is, it’s something that covers your face and it blocks you from being able to see. So, the entire world has a veil over their eyes. And what I find fascinating about this verse, otherwise, they would see it. If the world was not actively being blocked, actively being blinded, they would see it. They would see the things that we see. They would understand why we keep the Sabbath. They would understand why we get dressed up.

They would understand the way we talk and the things that we do. It would be clear to them. They would see it. But they’re being actively kept from it. Turn to... We’ll stay here in Second Corinthians. Let’s go to chapter three. Second Corinthians Chapter three. And this, brethren, what we’ll read next should inspire us. Should get us excited. It’s the Last Great Day, as I said we’ve learned so much, so many things to be excited about. Here’s something else to be excited about.

Second Corinthians chapter three. We’ll pick it up in verse thirteen, “And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face,” if you know the story of Moses covered his face, he had a veil. “...that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.” So, the children of Israel were being blocked from seeing something. So, it was less that the veil was blocking Moses’ view. It was blocking their view of what was to come. We’ll keep reading, “But their minds were blinded for until this day remains the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ.”

Brethren, our eyes were covered. They were blocked. We couldn’t see. Now we can, but the world is in that same state. In many ways, it’s not their fault. As hostile as people can be, as hard as they can be on us, as difficult as they can make life on us, as just challenging as it can be, it’s not their fault. They’re being blocked. They can’t see it. A veil is covering their eyes. Isaiah twenty-five. Isaiah twenty-five. Just like Israel could not see Moses’s face, people today cannot see God’s plan. Their eyes are covered.

No matter how much we try to explain it to them, there’s nothing like seeing it for yourself. Isaiah twenty-five. But I said that there’s hope. Isaiah twenty-five verse seven. This is a picture of our future, picture of the Kingdom. Isaiah twenty-five, verse seven, “And he will destroy in this mountain, the face of the covering cast over all people.” So, there’s something cast over all the people, something covering all of the people. “...and the veil that is spread over all nations.” Brethren, eventually, the veil will be lifted over all the world.

Also known as God pouring out his spirit on all flesh. The entire world young people, the teachers that you have that don’t quite understand these holy days that you keep and why you go away for a week when the school year just started. The co-worker’s bosses that don’t understand, “Okay, what is this Feast that you go to? Do you eat lots of stuff when you’re there?” “Yes, we do.” We do. “Do you go to church every day or do you just, you go on to Florida, okay, you’re on the beach.”

“Well, we go to services in the morning and in the afternoons, we have free time.” “Wow, that’s a weird vacation.” But that won’t be so foreign to the world once the veil is lifted, once God’s Spirit is poured out on all flesh. Let’s go to John chapter seven. A very familiar verse. We heard it the other day from our pastor general, but it begins to really and continues to really describe what will occur. John chapter seven. The words of Christ when He walked the earth or sort of condensed down and squeezed into these four gospels.

I’m sure there were so many things that were never recorded. I believe the scriptures talk about if the books, if everything that Christ did, including the things He said if they were written down, there wouldn’t be enough books to contain it all. One of the fascinating things about that is that means that it makes the things He did say, the things that He did record that much more important and we want to make sure that we don’t miss it.

John chapter seven, pick it up in verse thirty-nine. John chapter seven verse thirty-nine.

Actually, it’s thirty-seven. John chapter seven verse thirty-seven, “In the last day, that great day of the Feast,” we understand the Feast is an eight-day Feast. This is the eighth day. Seven days preceded it. One, it’s one Feast. Amazing understanding there. “...Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on me, as the Scripture has said out of his belly, shall flow rivers of living water.” It’s an extraordinary description out of your belly, out of your innards, out of your torso is flowing rivers of living water.

It’s not like a squirt gun being facetious. It’s not a drip. It’s rivers of living water. People had to be astonished. What is this man speaking of? What is He saying? What is He talking about? The parenthetical here in verse thirty-nine, “But this, He spoke of the spirit which they, that believe on Him should receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” Christ is laying out the plan. Believe on me, the scripture says, out of your belly, out of you, out of your person out of yourself will flow rivers of living water.

The Last Great Day there, as Christ is speaking to, is obviously a reference. The Last Great Day of the Feast, rather, is obviously a reference to the Last Great Day. And the Last Great Day, brethren, represents a time where anyone, our families, our friends, they can all come and drink from the waters of the spirit. No more false religion, no more fake holidays. Everyone understanding scripture or learning along the way, just like all of us.

But it’s not just isolated to this tiny group, this tiny Church, hanging on, being faithful, being the group that Christ said, when I come back, will I find faith on the earth? No longer just this tiny group in the midst of and surrounded by chaos? No. Everyone all will be just like us. Revelation chapter twenty-two. Revelation Chapter twenty-two. Very end of the scriptures, very end of the Bible. I mean, what a way to end the scriptures? If we’re going to read here, what a way to end the Bible. Revelation twenty-two, seventeen. This is just a reiteration of what we just read in John seven. Revelation twenty-two, seventeen, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him that hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

This is the exact same reference, a reference to the Holy Spirit. A reference to the ability and the opportunity to drink from the waters of life. Think back to the tree of life. If Adam and Eve eaten from the right tree, I probably wouldn’t be standing here. It’d be a whole different story. Who knows what the world would look like, but God had a plan. God had a plan. Here, it talks about the Spirit and the bride. Brethren, that’s us, we’re the bride of Christ.

Now, we will have an opportunity, when this time that is speaking of, we’ll have an opportunity to provide the waters of life to everyone. Okay, it’s one thing to give someone a drink of water that is physically thirsty, especially if you’re just thirsty, and the satisfaction that you get from giving them a drink of water. Now, imagine the satisfaction of giving someone a drink from the waters of life, or now, things that were confusing before now make sense. The scriptures line up now.

You don’t have to take like it was at Thomas Jefferson. You don’t have to take the scissors and cut certain scriptures out. They all make sense now. And we can offer that. We can offer that drink, those waters of life, we can offer them freely. We can be a part of that. We get to do that. Very exciting. We keep seeing, brethren, this reference to water, and the Holy Spirit being tied to water. We’ve heard that. It’s a great analogy. First of all, water is needed for life in order to live.

A human being can go weeks, some have gone months without water, excuse me, without food. Depending on how much reserve you have, you can go a while, but it’s calculated that a person can only go about three days without water. So we’re talking weeks, maybe months without food, but only about three days without water. For some reason, a camel is coming to mind. Seven months, I think it was. That’s amazing. That’s amazing time that we heard earlier in the Feast.

But a human being can only go about three days without water. That’s a significant analogy. God is comparing His Holy Spirit to water, something that we all need to live and something that we can’t live long if we don’t have it. Water is also poured out. You think about something being poured, water is poured out. It’s very fluid and it fills a container. You pour something or you allow water from a faucet, for instance, to go inside a container. In this case, we are the container.

Go to First Corinthians Chapter three. First Corinthians chapter three. We are the container. First Corinthians chapter three, verse sixteen. First Corinthians three, sixteen, “Know you not that you,” ye, there is plural meaning all, you know, collective, “...that you,” all of us, “...are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” So, brethren, we are the container. We contain our bodies, contain God’s spirit. How important is it for us to take care of our bodies?

We’ll keep reading here. “If any man defile the temple of God,” any man defiles that temple that is holding God’s spirit, “...him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” Brethren, how important is it for us to take care of our bodies, to treat our bodies like the temples that they are, to make the proper health choices the best of our ability? We all have different means, different levels of resources, but God does care about how we take care of our bodies. It’s important.

God is not silent in that regard. But the main point is just understanding that we are the containers for God’s spirit. We, to varying levels, have God’s spirit as water inside of us. Water is also an abundant source. There’s lots of it. I stood in the ocean a couple of days ago, the earth has a lot of water. I just looked out, and I’ve been to the beach before, and I’m just always odd by how much water there is on this planet. I believe it’s, what, seventy-five percent water. It’s no coincidence, brethren, that God chose that as a comparison.

Remember, rivers of living water. A Holy Spirit, there’s an abundance of it. It’s not dry, it’s not parched, it’s not a desert. No, there is an abundance of water all over the planet, all available for people to drink from it. God’s spirit is an abundant resource. There’s plenty, plenty of it to go around. Human beings all need a source of water. We talked about, you can’t live without it. Most cities, most villages are built where? Near water because water is what helps us to sustain life.

It helps us to traverse, to get around and transportation, to cook with, to drink, to bathe ourselves. I don’t have to convince you, brethren, how important water is, but my point is to help make the connection and seeing the significance of God’s spirit, which will be poured out on all flesh to help us see the significance of why God chose to compare His spirit to water, not letting that be lost on us. Just like villages and cities are close to water, brethren, if we want to stay close to water, we have to stay close to God.

We have to stay close to the source of water. There’s villagers who walk many miles with those baskets on their heads. You’ve seen it on television. Maybe some of you have even experienced it depending on how old you are in your past. But going back and forth and getting that water, it’s a lot easier when you live next to the water. So staying close to God gives us the opportunity to have that access to the water that we need to live. What will it be like when the entire world has access to that water?

Everyone will have the exact same access that we do. The entire world and everyone that lives in it. When we think back, brethren, to how the Holy Spirit came to us, it gives us a fascinating thing to consider and to think about. What will it be like? What will it look like when God pours His spirit out on all flesh? What will that look like? Will it be similar to how we receive God’s spirit?

Think back to what it was like when you received God’s spirit, what was it like? Was there a rushing mighty wind? Did the room shake and quake? Did we have the little flames over our heads? Is that how God’s spirit came? Maybe the clouds parted, and rays of sun just beamed down on us and we were just awash in the rays of God. Probably felt like that, but did that actually happen? No, no, it was peaceful. It was a quiet experience, a peaceful experience.

We were baptized, the minister laid hands on us, prayed, and asked God to give us His spirit. And then it was over. You got out of the tub, you dried off, got dressed, and enjoyed the meal if it was on a Sabbath. But it was almost kind of like, “Oh, okay, that was underwhelming.” Many people like me, at one point, really confused about what it’s like when we receive God’s spirit. Let’s go to first Kings chapter nineteen. First Kings chapter nineteen. We’ve all heard the phrase a still small voice, but let’s take a look at the context in which that was spoken.

First Kings chapter nineteen. We’ll pick it up in verse nine. First Kings chapter nineteen verse nine, “And he came thither into a cave, and lodged there,” this is Elijah. “...And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and said unto him, ‘why are you here, Elijah?’ Elijah said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, God of Hosts for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slaying your prophets with the sword. Even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away.”

Brethren, sometimes it feels like we’re the only ones in our immediate circle, in our immediate group serving God. That can be a very, very, very lonely experience. When you feel like it’s just you, you know that it’s not just you. You know there’s, brethren, around praying for you, you know there’s a church that you’re a part of, people who are pulling for you, praying for you. But sometimes in that moment, you could just feel like you’re all alone. “It’s just me. Where is everyone?

Those who go back to Worldwide, where is everyone? Where are they? I’m just doing what I said I would do when I committed and got baptized.” Here we see Elijah saying, “I’m all alone.” And worse, they’re trying to kill me.” God said, “Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord, and behold, the Lord passed by in a great strong wind rent the mountains.” So now there’s an earthquake. These mountains are being ripped apart and broken pieces. “The rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.

And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.” Wow. There’s a lot going on. “And after the fire, a still small voice.” Note the contrast. You have this earthquake, boom. Rocks are falling. Fires from everywhere. Probably was like a volcano. On the one hand, you have this tremendous force. Something that would be fear-inducing, this tremendous level of power, but that same being who caused that is capable of speaking in a still small voice.

God is capable of significant power. His voice can be very loud. Let’s go to Exodus chapter nineteen. Exodus chapter nineteen. God is capable of being very loud, including His voice. Exodus chapter nineteen verse seventeen. Exodus nineteen verse seventeen, “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the neither part of the mountain,” they’re short of standing off from the mountain. “...and mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quakes greatly.” This is a volcano being described.

That’s the only thing I can relate this to. So they’re standing near a mountain that is erupting. A volcanic eruption. “And when the voice of the trumpet sounded and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mount, and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount and Moses went up.” The children of Israel are getting their introduction to God. And what an introduction. Boom, lava, quaking, shaking.

Chapter twenty verse eighteen. Chapter twenty of Exodus verse eighteen, “And the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings,” forgot about that. There’s a volcano with thunders and lightnings. “...and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off.” They’re like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” They put some distance between themselves and that mountain. “And they said unto Moses, speak you with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”

Brethren, God can bring tremendous great power and authority, and noise through His spirit. He’s capable of doing that. When introducing Himself to Israel for His reasons and reasons that makes sense, He wanted them to understand who He was, and how powerful He was, and what He was capable of, and what He is capable of. That same God is capable of making all that noise, bringing all that obvious power through His spirit. But instead, He chooses to speak to us in a still small voice.

That voice, you’re about to make a decision and maybe do something that’s not in your best interest. That voice that says, “And I wouldn’t do that.” Don’t do that. Remember what happened last time you did that, how that went? That didn’t go so well. Why don’t you try this instead? You’re stuck in the middle of a trial, a situation. You don’t know what to do. People are coming at you. They’re demanding answers from you. They want you to make a decision that’s going to go against God’s way of life. And that’s still small voice will say, “You know what? Why don’t you try this? Why don’t you say this? Why don’t you say that?”

But, brethren, in that situation, that is the same level of power that God is exhibiting. It’s just not lava and earthquakes, and rocks going every which way, and thunders, and lightnings. God’s spirit is gentle. It’s quiet, it’s controlled. It’s not overbearing and loud. I wish I had known that before coming into God’s Church. I wish I had known that. I didn’t know this. I thought that receiving God’s spirit before being taught better, I thought it required an outward sign. There has to be some sign that you just receive the spirit of God.

For us in the Pentecostal Church, yelling, screaming, running around, rolling on the floor, you couldn’t imagine me doing that, could you? This is not to let myself off the hook. I just never quite felt comfortable doing that. I just went along with it. But we thought that that’s what it took to show that you received God’s spirit, that you receive power. You’re going to roll around, and you’re going to scream, and you’re going to yell, and you’re going to holler about it. It’s power, right? No, it’s ignorance. It’s ignorance.

But it’s the veil, brethren. It’s the veil. It’s not their fault. It’s not their fault. Their eyes were covered. They’re sincere. They’re looking, many of them are sincere. It says power. So I’m going to run around. I’m going to act like I’ve lost my mind. But outward signs, brethren, some will look at the Old Testament and the New Testament, and they saw the Church was being birthed. There were outward signs that happened then, and for many reasons, it’s its own message, but a lot of it was to show in that case that God’s spirit was given to prove what was happening.

It needed to happen and be shown immediately. That power needed to be shown immediately, and God’s spirit in the right amount and in a certain amount will show outward signs and outward power. It was done that way and as the Church was being formed for that reason, there was not the time to be able to wait many years to be able to show that God’s spirit was being poured out as was being prophesied. So it needed to happen more immediately. But that’s not how God is displaying and giving out His spirit today. So how do we know? How do we really know?

I’m still in my mind thinking of what will it look like when God pours out His spirit on all flesh. And the best way for me to think about that is to think about what it was like when God poured out His spirit on our flesh. So how do we know we received God’s spirit? Acts chapter two. If it’s not, certainly, not running around, and yelling, and screaming, but how do we know that we know that we know that we receive God’s spirit? Acts chapter two. The answer may surprise you in its simplicity. Acts chapter two, how do we know whether we’ve received God’s spirit? Acts chapter two, we’ll pick it up in verse thirty-eight. Acts chapter two verse thirty-eight. “Then Peter said unto them,” this is him preaching. Remember, he’s a different Peter now. He’s not afraid to admit being with Christ. In this case, he’s actually preaching Christ in public.

“...Peter said unto them, ‘Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” How do we know whether we’ve received God’s spirit? Repent and be baptized and you shall. It’s a promise, brethren. It’s a promise. Receiving God’s spirit in many ways is an act of faith. It’s an act of faith. I actually think that’s a little more challenging than seeing the rocks and shaking and lava spitting, or rays coming down on you, having some sort of confirmation in that way.

No, it is an act of faith. Okay. Did I sincerely repent? Was I baptized? Am I in God’s Church where a minister is authorized to lay hands on me and receive God’s spirit? Well, brethren, it’s a promise. God cannot lie. If we did those things, we have to believe that we’ve received God’s spirit immediately. We have to believe that. It’s an act of faith. And if we believe that, we begin to see how God’s spirit changes us over time. We begin to see the changes that come over time. Second Corinthians chapter one. Second Corinthians chapter one.

There’s a reason that it takes time. We have to be patient. We have to go through the process. It’s not an overnight thing. It’s not a snap your fingers, you’re a God being. It doesn’t happen that way. God does it a certain way, and He does it by design. Second Corinthians chapter one verse twenty-two. Second Corinthians chapter one verse twenty-two. And we starting twenty-one, “Now, He, which establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, is God who has also sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” An earnest is a security or a deposit. Think about a security deposit.

You make a security deposit on a home, or a security deposit on a car, or something that costs a lot of money. You put down a small amount toward that large payment. God gives us an earnest, a small amount of His spirit to begin with, and then He begins to work with us through that small amount of His spirit. And through Him working with us, He grows it, and that deposit gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

If we allow it to. If we stay close to the source, it gets bigger and bigger and it grows. But God starts out with just an earnest of the spirit. That’s in large part why the mountains and everything don’t quake and shake because we just have a tiny, tiny amount of God’s spirit dwelling in us. Something that we can begin to work with. Changes don’t happen overnight. This spirit that God gives us, this small amount, this Holy Spirit is not some third member of the Trinity.

It’s not this third wheel sort of hanging out over here, and the Father and Christ are over here. The Holy Spirit is not the third part of a Trinity. That is a grave insult to God to believe that way. Blame it on the veil. People don’t know any better. Many millions, actually billions believe that the Holy Spirit is simply the third member of this Trinity, the Holy Trinity. The Bible says no such thing. Turn to First John chapter five. I chuckled because actually, the Bible does say such a thing.

You’ll understand what I mean in a moment. Don’t cut the mic. The Bible does talk about a Trinity. First John chapter five. Regrettably, it does. First John chapter five, verse seven. “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one, and there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, which these three agree in one.” It was hard for me to read most of that because it’s crossed out in my Bible.

I go here because some, especially if you’re newer to the Church, you may not know that a part of that verse every... If you look in verse seven, you know, it says for there are three that bear record that that’s fine, but from in all the way through Earth in verse eight, all of that was added, and was never in the original manuscript. You’ve studied it, I have, and that was added later. The way the verse should read is, the two verses, “For there are three that bear record the Spirit and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one.”

So technically, the Bible does talk about a Trinity, but it’s false. As wonderful as the King James version of the Bible is, it’s the version of the Bible that we all use, even it is not perfect. It was put together by men who assumed they knew God’s plan and decided to add it, but if you do your research, many of you probably have gone through AC, maybe you’ve known prior, but if you do your research, that part that I skipped there or that I called out was not a part of the original manuscript.

God has a Spirit. Actually, he is a Spirit. John chapter four. John chapter four, verse twenty-four. “God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” God is Spirit. He has a Spirit. Man also has a spirit. It’s called the spirit in man. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter twelve. Man also has a spirit. All of you have a spirit. Ecclesiastes chapter twelve verse seven. Ecclesiastes chapter twelve verse seven. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was,” he’s talking about death when we all die. “...then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

Many confuse that and say, “All men go to heaven.” That’s not what it says. Man has a spirit that returns to the Father, to the God who gave it. God gave every man and woman a spirit in the womb. That’s why abortion is murder. God gave every man and woman of spirit in the womb. Mr. Armstrong compared it to a recording that records all of our experiences, all the things we went through in our lives. When we die, that recording goes back to God.

When we receive a new body, that recording comes back and joins with that new body. It’s a great analogy. Our spirit, brethren, is who we are. The Holy Spirit is who God is. We’re made in God’s image. First Corinthians chapter two. The Holy Spirit is God’s mind. We heard that earlier. The Holy Spirit is God’s mind. We have a mind, God has a mind. We have a spirit, God has a spirit. First Corinthians chapter two. To me, some of the most fascinating verses are what we’re about to read. Personally, fascinating to me, maybe to you as well. This description of God’s Spirit and what it’s capable of.

First Corinthians chapter two. We’ll read several verses here. First Corinthians chapter two. Actually, let’s go with the last verse we’ll come to. It’s verse sixteen. I said that the Holy Spirit was God’s mind. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ.” Now let’s start in verse ten. Verse ten, First Corinthians two, ten. “But God has revealed them unto us by His spirit.” He’s talking about the things that we’re going to eventually experience.

“God has revealed them unto us by His spirit, for the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” I’m just picturing the spirit, God’s spirit, searching, illuminating, communicating the deep things of God. I mean, it’s God, but imagine the deep things of God. “For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in Him.” The most intimate thing about us, brethren, is our minds. It knows us better than anyone, any other human being. “Even so, the things of God knows no man but the Spirit of God.”

So, men do not know the things of God. Save them being revealed by the Spirit of God. The deep things of God. We have absolutely no chance of knowing the things of God unless the Spirit of God, His mind reveals those things to our mind. To our minds, to our spirit. “Now we have received, verse twelve. “...not the spirit of the world,” the world has a spirit, “...but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God.”

Brethren, the abundance of knowledge that we have. Do we know everything? No, we don’t. But boy do we know a lot. We know the meaning of life. We understand why this world is broken. We understand that God is doing something and working out an amazing plan. We understand that family is important. A father, a mother, and children, married, together as a family. We know that there are certain decisions and things that are evil and wicked, pornography, that’s bad. Unclean foods, things that are not healthy for us.

Just the abundance of knowledge, birthdays, Christmas, we know just throwing out things because we know so much. The deep things of God, we know them because of His spirit. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, so we don’t learn these things from men teaching it. You know, the theologians of this world are trying their best and they’re botching it significantly. But which the Holy Spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Brethren, this is like on another plane, another level.

This is on a whole another level, what we’re talking about. People could walk in this room right now and what is he talking about? But we get it. We understand it. Why? Because the Spirit of God is teaching us. It’s showing us. It explains it here. “But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God back to the veil.” When your eyes are covered, when you can’t see, we’re in a natural state. “The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness onto Him.”

How many times have people... maybe even that’s a quote of what they said, but how many times have people looked at us and said, “That is foolish what you’re doing. That’s just foolish. You give ten percent of your income to some church? That’s foolish. Inflation? Are you kidding me? That’s foolish. You go spend eight days and you spend half of it in a service? That’s foolish. You don’t do what you want to do on Saturdays.

From sunset-to-sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, you actually stop making your own decisions and doing things your way and you start to do things God’s way, that’s foolish.” But that’s the natural man talking. That’s the man whose eyes are covered. The veil, he can’t see. He’s blind. She’s blind. They can’t see it. Neither can we know them because they are spiritually discerned. Brethren, the things that we’re speaking about, the things that we’ve experienced over the last eight days, experienced all throughout the year, those things are spiritually discerned.

It is through God’s spirit that we understand those things. That’s how it makes sense to all of us. They’re spiritually discerned. “But He that is spiritual judges all things, yet He himself is judged of no man.” Ultimately, brethren, we are accountable to God, not any man. Don’t fool yourself. You’re not accountable to a man. You’re accountable to God. God works through men, but you’re accountable to God. I am accountable to God. “For who has known,” where we started here, “...who has known the mind of the Lord that He may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ.”

God’s spirit, brethren, is working with our spirit.

They’re working together. It’s a partnership. God is shaping us and molding us through His spirit working with our spirit. And the two are working in collaboration. If we yield ourselves properly, then it will allow God’s spirit to lead us and to guide us. That is what the entire world will experience once God pours out His spirit on all flesh. A world in which the mind of God is working with minds all over the world. You’ve probably heard this phrase, and this is where it gets exciting.

You’ve probably all heard the phrase, we’re not yellow pencils in a box. Right? You’ve heard that. And the point of that analogy is even as Christians, thinking about the entire world, of course, we’re not all exactly the same. We’re not that, you know, you get the box of pencils, you open them up and they’re all yellow and they all have the flat top and they all have the perfectly clean eraser and they’re just yellow pencils in a box. You don’t know which one is which, they all look the same.

We are not yellow pencils in a box. Each of us, all of you, myself, we’re all unique. We all have different talents and abilities, interests, personalities. We’re all different. How exciting is it, and we see it today in a tiny portion in God’s Church. God’s spirit working with each of us allows each of us to bring something different to the Church. Each of us to bring something special. We’re not all the same. Christ’s Church is described as a body. That body has different parts.

Those parts all function in a different way, but they function collectively to move God forward and the plan of God forward. We’re all different. When God pours out His spirit on all flesh, imagine what it will be like. The artists of this world having God’s spirit. The amazing talent that people have that is currently being used for the God of this world will be used by the God of the universe. Imagine the scientists, the brilliant scientists in the world today having God’s spirit and what they can bring.

The amazing cooks and people who can prepare meals, all having God’s spirit. They could put their culinary skills to use and cut out the pork. There’s so many delicious meals that you can have without pork, contrary to popular belief. No scallops, no shrimp, leave that stuff to clean up the bottom of the ocean where it belongs. But imagine the farmers, the amazing farmers, people who know how to manipulate the ground and the soil and to work with it and to be patient with it. Currently, in the world, imagine them having the Spirit of God leading them. The being who created the farmer are being who calls himself a farmer, working in the minds of people. Think about the teachers, the teachers who have skill and have a love for teaching, and they want to show students and show little children and even adults and teach them many things.

Imagine those minds, people with that passion, having God’s spirit leading them. Wow. Wow. Parents all over the world having God’s spirit. We heard earlier about the tap-tap that comes from God’s mind. That’s in His book. Tap-tap, that’s in the book. That’s an act of love. That’s an act of compassion. But parents all over the world, instead of being confused and letting kids do whatever they want, thinking that they’re loving them, no, they will have God’s spirit and understand, “No, you have to discipline a child if you love them.”

You can’t just let them go and figure it out on their own. Everyone will be guided and obedient to God’s mind. The world, brethren, will be a completely, completely different place. Turn to John fifteen. John chapter fifteen. I am sure God cannot wait to do this. He’s being extremely patient. I’m sure He cannot wait to see a world that I just described, and I only just described a part of it. God loves everyone. He’s a father. All human beings are His children.

Some simply have a veil over their eyes. They just can’t see it yet. John fifteen verse twenty-six. John fifteen verse twenty-six. “But when the comforter is come...” the message about the Holy Spirit has to have something about the comforter. “But when the comforter has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth, which shall proceed from the Father, it shall testify of me.” The Holy Spirit, brethren, is a comforter. Verse twenty-seven, “And you shall bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.”

The Holy Spirit there comes from the Father, which is no surprise because it’s His mind. It’s His mind to give. The Holy Spirit comes from the Father, and it’s tied to truth, John sixteen. John sixteen, one chapter over. John sixteen, verse seven. “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away, the comforter,” see, again, “...will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send it unto you. When it has come, it will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.”

Verse thirteen, “Howbeit, when It, the spirit of truth has come, It will guide you into all truth. For It shall not speak of Himself or Itself, but whatsoever It shall hear that shall It speak, and It will show you things to come.” We were taught in the ministry when preaching and explaining this, lest the world be confused and thinking that we are Trinitarians to refer to the Spirit of God as It instead of He, as it’s written here, that’s why I’m changing it to It. You’ve probably heard it during Passover service, read that way.

“But the Father,” in fourteen, that He is the Father. “...shall glorify me for He, still referring to the Father shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you.” Brethren, this comforter is tied to the truth. The truth is comforting. The truth is comforting. Think about a comforter on a bed. I don’t want to reduce the truth to a comforter on a bed, but I’m making a point. Think about a comforter on a bed. It’s cozy. You lie under it. You feel warm. You’re not shivering and cold. It’s very comforting. You rest under a comforter.

It’s a great analogy. You rest under a comforter. You can fall asleep. You feel relaxed. The truth is that way, the truth keeps us warm, we can rest under the truth. We can wrap ourselves up in the truth. We’re not out in the cold world of deception with no way to turn, nowhere to go. The Holy Spirit, brethren, is a comforter. It brings comfort. Personally, I was so uncomfortable with religion and the things of this world before God removed the veil from my eyes. Perhaps you can all say the same.

I was very uncomfortable. I would go on Sundays, I would show up. I tried to have a good attitude. I just was never truly, especially as time went on, I just was not comfortable. They were saying things one week and then another week saying something different, and it’s like, “Wait a minute, last time you said that, but what about that?” I was just uncomfortable. The things of the Bible just didn’t make sense to me. Even independent of the churches.

I would read the Bible and I just wasn’t comfortable. “I don’t get this, I don’t understand this. I’m not comfortable with this. I’m uneasy with it.” Okay, everyone’s celebrating Christmas, but I’m not seeing it in the Bible. I’m uncomfortable with that. The fourth commandment, keep the Sabbath, seventh day. On Saturdays, I was doing whatever I wanted to do. Oh, I was uncomfortable with that. I was also uncomfortable, and I share these things, so obviously, I’m human.

I have a background with similar to all of you though they’re different. We share a lot of the same. I was uncomfortable with many parts of my life. I wasn’t fully comfortable as a husband. It was fine, everything is fine in the marriage. Everything was great on the surface, but I wasn’t really comfortable. “Am I doing this right?” Wasn’t fully comfortable being a dad. Am I teaching my kids the things that are going to work? Or am I just kind of looking out in the world and sort of figuring it out?

I was uncomfortable with some of the conduct and the way that the things that I did at work. And some of the times I would participate in something that maybe was taking advantage of someone else. I was not really comfortable with that, but I had to make money. I had to make a buck. Don’t worry, I didn’t rob any banks or anything like that. But I just wasn’t really just fully comfortable with it all. Something just wasn’t quite right, and I wouldn’t... so a lot of it, I didn’t even really realize. I didn’t fully realize it until I received the comforter.

And then now I know what it’s like to be comfortable and then I can better see how uncomfortable I was, if that makes sense. Sometimes you don’t know until you come in out of the cold how cold it was. You can follow that. But imagine the whole world with the comforter of truth. Isaiah eleven. Isaiah eleven. The entire world under the comforter of truth. Isaiah eleven verse nine. Isaiah eleven verse nine. “Picture of the Kingdom. “And they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my Holy mountain.

For the earth shall be full,” remember the container earlier. “...full of the knowledge of the Lord,” that’s truth, brethren, “...full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” The world will be covered in water. In this case, the Holy Spirit that’s poured out on all flesh. Lies will be drowned out. Remember the flood and the water cover the entire earth. Just had a little arc sort of bobbing along. Christmas, Halloween, Easter, all washed away.

All those people at the old churches that I attended, their minds will be changed. They will see things differently. They’ll see why my wife and I left. They’ll understand. Their eyes will be open. The scales will fall off their eyes. That veil will be lifted. That’s exciting. That’s exciting. And even more exciting, brethren, is the power that people will have access to. Acts chapter one. Acts chapter one. “The power that people will have access to. Comfort is exciting, but power is exciting as well. Acts chapter one. Acts chapter one, verse eight. Just one verse here. Acts chapter one, verse eight. “But you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Brethren, power is dunamis. You’ve heard that. It’s actual power. It’s not metaphorical, it’s not allegorical. It’s actual power. Power over what? Leap tall buildings in a single bound. More powerful than a train, faster than a speeding bullet, maybe. That’s later. That’s later. But power over what?

James chapter one. James chapter one, verse twelve. James chapter one, verse twelve. “Blessed is the man that endures temptation.” Brethren, if you’ve ever been tempted, we all have. You’ve ever been tempted, that word, endures, jumps off the page. “Blessed is the man and woman that endures temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life,” if we endure that temptation, if we make it through, we receive the crown of life. “...which the Lord has promised them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts He any man,” we heard that. We heard that earlier.

“...but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and is enticed. And when that lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.” The power that we have through God’s spirit is the power to endure the temptation. And if we fall and we send the power to get back up again and ask God for forgiveness and give us another shot at it. Not once, not twice, three, four, five six, seven, however long it takes, but the power to continue to stay after it, to stay on it, to do the best that we can to not sin.

Sin is the transgression of God’s law. It takes power to overcome that. Turn to Romans chapter twelve. Romans chapter twelve. It takes power, brethren, to overcome. Romans chapter twelve, verse twenty-one. Romans twelve, twenty-one. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Overcome evil with good. It sounds like the plot to a movie. Overcome evil with good. First John chapter two. First John chapter two. Who are we overcoming? It says there, to overcome evil. Let’s be more specific.

First John chapter two. First John chapter two, verse thirteen. First John chapter two, verse thirteen. “I write unto you, fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men because you have overcome the wicked one.” Drop down in Verse fourteen. “I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one.” Brethren, it takes power to overcome Satan.

Satan is a powerful being. One of the most powerful beings in existence. It takes power to overcome Satan. It takes power to overcome evil with good and not the other way around. It takes power to do that. That’s the power that comes through God’s spirit and the power that the world will get to experience. The entire world, keeping God’s law. The entire world, keeping the Ten Commandments, worshipping God, putting Him first and only destroying all the idols, seeing them for the junk that they are, not daring to take God’s name in vain.

Assembling on the Sabbath, stopping what they want to do, and doing the things of God. Children and adults, honoring their parents. Parents being honorable. It goes both ways. Cities, free of murder and hatred, which Christ said was a form of murder. Husbands and wives not cheating on each other. No need for locks on your homes and your cars for fear that someone’s going to break in and take what’s yours and take it for themselves.

People saying what they mean, and meaning what they say, meaning no more lies. And not coveting something that does not belong to them. Brethren, the entire world, having the Spirit of God poured out on them, covering them, gushing out. Rivers of living water flowing from every human being on the face of the planet. That is amazing. That is an amazing picture. Everything will change. Romans eight, as we wrap up here. Romans eight. Romans chapter eight. Pick it up in verse twelve.

Romans chapter eight, verse twelve. Imagine this to the entire world. Romans eight, twelve. “Therefore, brethren...’’ and soon brethren, all those in the world would become brethren, our brethren. “Therefore, brethren, we are not debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if we live after the flesh, you shall die; but if through the spirit, if we through the spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, we shall live.” Definition of a Christian coming up. Here we go. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

God wants many, many billions and eventually, trillions of sons and daughters. He’s a father. That’s what He wants. That’s what He will have. He will pour out His spirit on all flesh. His family will explode in size. The whole world will have the chance to look like and be God. To go through the same journey that all of us have been going through over these last many years. The entire world will have the opportunity to go through the exact same things that we all get to experience. Once God pours out His spirit, all flesh on that day will experience love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.

All the fruits of God manifesting themselves in every human being on the face of the planet. Brethren, what a wonderful thing to think about on the Last Great Day. What a great day? It will be the world, a world filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. Once God pours out His spirit on all flesh, all flesh, all flesh, not just a select few here, one here, one here, one here, one here but all flesh. Once God pours out His spirit on everyone, every human being, it will usher in a whole new world. Godspeed the Last Great Day.