SABBATH

God's Gift to Us

Sermon: Take Heed and Remember the Less Fortunate

#1298B

Given 05-Dec-15; 46 minutes

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description: Amos's prophecy to ancient Israel castigates the leaders for their shabby treatment to the poor and destitute in society. America's leaders today allow or create situations in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, leading to record numbers of our citizenry succumbing to homelessness, poverty, and drug addiction. Like ancient Israel, modern Israel (including America) takes advantage of the poor, using the illegal immigration tidal wave for profit and political power. When a nation loses its morals, people feel free to take advantage of one another, especially the poor. God hates governments which take advantage of the poor, a segment of the population people find easy to take advantage of because they are trusting, helpless, and dependent. In God's Church, we also have poor, meek, and handicapped individuals. We are mandated to love the brethren, treating them as we would a blood relative. All of us could improve our sensitivity to people's needs, especially when we have the financial means at the Feast of Tabernacles, sharing our time, treasure, and compassion for those less fortunate than ourselves. We do not have to be wealthy to be hospitable, but we should not be stingy or cheap when we have the means to serve one another. We have a mandate from Almighty God to let brotherly love continue through our hospitality and generosity.


transcript:

Today, I would like to take a look at what Amos had to say to the nation of Israel. The prophet Amos prophesies in the most pagan, idolatrous city in Israel. The high priest, Amaziah, and the people who live there were completely hostile to God's prophets, God's laws, and God's way of life. Amos’ prophecies were given in Bethel where the Golden Calves were. Amaziah, the high priest of Bethel, accused Amos before King Jeroboam II saying, “Amos has conspired against you, in the midst of the house of Israel where we worship.” And he went on to say, “The land is not able to bear all his words.” Amos said, “Jeroboam II would be led away captive out of their land.” Amos was then driven out of Israel.

He then went back to Judah and dwelt in the city of Tekoa where he continued to prophesy. Amos prophesied against the Philistines, the people of Tyre, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Kingdom of Judah, and the Kingdom of Israel.

Amos’ prophesies refer to the times of the kings Shalmaneser of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, King Sennacherib of Assyria, and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He prophesied for quite a while. It was not a short time.

I want you to think about our country today, and the times that we are living in as I go through what he prophesied about.

Amos tells the Israelites of their sins against the poor; how effeminate they had become, characterized by softness, delicateness, weakness, and lack of vigor; their insatiable greed for riches and their desires to gain and hoard wealth. Does this sound like America today?

Today, in our country, the rich get richer; the poor grow in number every day. Today in America, 51% of the population now receives help from the government in one form or another. A lot of our young people are plain lazy, and really have no desire to work and find a job. But that is not all their fault. A lot of us as parents and grandparents have spoiled our children and our grandchildren by giving them everything, taking away their desire to work. We give them cellphones; we buy them cars; and we then buy their auto insurance; we pay for their college tuition; we buy their clothes; and for the first time in our history, our kids live with us until they are about 25 years old; some live at home longer than that!

Amos prophesies how effeminate the people had become. I have seen that with our young kids, a couple of Noah’s (my grandson’s) friends. He is 10 and plays Little League baseball. And one of his friends has played first base with him for a couple of years, is named John; kind of tall and skinny, good looking young man. But this kid, when their teacher asks for the girls to raise their hands, he raises his too; he lines up with the girls, and kind of acts like a girl, and he stopped playing baseball. (We all have an idea of what is going on with the transgender thing.)

There is another young man who lives down the street, that used to come over and swim with Noah and Sophia, and ride bikes with them, and he also played Little League. But last year he did not play. I did not see him one time last summer riding his bike, or swimming in the pool with Noah. And so I asked him, “What happened to your buddy down the street? How come he doesn’t play ball anymore?” Noah replied, “He doesn’t want to play ball anymore. He doesn’t come out of the house much anymore. All he does is play video games now.” He is a bit older than Noah at 11 or 12. This is what is going on in America. This is what makes our children effeminate.

Now, J.B. (my son) has a boss with a son in his twenties, and this fellow never comes out of his room. All he does is play video games too. We have another friend that complains about his son continually—again in his twenties—playing video games constantly. When this behavior is allowed, it makes people lazy, soft, and effeminate, just like Amos said. They do not get out, and they do not do things, or learn how to do things. If everything is provided for you, you lose drive; you have no wants or incentives; you lose interest. Why work and better yourself if everything is provided to you, while you live inside a cellphone?

Amos said the Israelites would sell the poor for a pair of shoes. Amos also criticized and strongly disapproved of their going to Bethel where the Golden Calves were, and to Dan which also had Golden Calves. Amos is prophesizing against Judah, Israel, and a number of Gentile nations that had dealings with both of them in this book.

Now I would like to just focus on Israel and how that nation treated the rich, the poor, the meek, and the handicapped or afflicted.

Please turn to Amos 2.

Amos 2:6-8 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals. They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, and pervert the way of the humble. A man and his father go in to the same girl, to defile My holy name. They lie down on clothes taken in pledge, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.”

What was going on at this time in Israel was that their judges were merciless and corrupt. Does this kind of sound like our Supreme Court the past few years? Their judges took bribes to condemn the righteous. Judges even took articles of clothing such as a pair of shoes. They condemned the poor man and delivered him into the hands of his adversary. They were generally unmerciful to the poor. The “pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor” meant that they oppressed the poor and showed them neither justice, nor mercy. They “turn aside the way of the meek” means that they were very oppressive to the weak and afflicted.

The Israelites worshipped idols. And in this worship, young women prostituted themselves publicly. And a father and his son would have sexual relations with the same woman.

These were the things that were going on in Israel at that time.

God said to Israel in verse 9 (my paraphrase), “Think about all the things that I have done for you, and this is how you act toward Me? I freed you from slavery in Egypt; I destroyed the Amorites for you; I miraculously sustained you in the wilderness for 40 years; I drove out the Canaanites for you and gave you their land. I raised up a prophet for you (like Amos) to deliver My divine will to you. Have you been thankful for all that I have done for you? No! You have not. You worship golden calves, and you take advantage of the righteous, the poor, the meek, and the handicapped or afflicted.”

This goes on every day in America because of their lack of morals and character, especially by our leadership.

I know a number of people that are just plain tight-fisted, even within the church. God hates tightness. These will go to lunch or dinner with you—if you pay. They will come to your house for dinner and bring nothing. But, if they have you over to their house for dinner. . . that will not happen until pigs fly.

God hates people that take advantage of the situation; especially He hates people who take advantage of the righteous, the poor, the meek, and the handicapped. Turn to Amos 2 again.

Amos 2:13 “Behold, I am weighed down by you, as a cart full of sheaves is weighed down.”

God is telling them, and us, that because of how we treat the righteous, the poor, the meek, and the handicapped, He will weigh down our place just like a cart full of sheaves is weighed down. God says He will bring over you the wheel of destruction, and it shall grind your place, your city, and your temple like a wheel of a cart loaded with sheaves pressed down the ground its wheels roll over. He will bring a foreign enemy or army that will roll right over you.

You think that cannot happen?

Our army rolled over the fifth largest army in the world, Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army in the latest Gulf War like they almost did not exist.

Amos tells us, and ancient Israel, that God will do nothing without warning His people, though. So, let us get a look at that. Turn to Amos 3.

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

God is telling us two things: He will show His servants the things to come so they can warn the people. And the other is so that the people (you and I) can repent and avoid the evil to come by walking closely with God, and by being in good favor with Him.

Drop down to verse 10:

Amos 3:10 ‘For they do not know to do right,’ says the LORD, ‘who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.’

Brethren, we do not have this excuse our government might have. In talking about palaces, here, he is talking about governments. We are well taught by our ministers. We are also warned every week about things work, and why they are the way they are through the weekly commentary. Do you remember being warned about what was coming on the economy back in 2007? We were warned. And if you took advantage of that, you could have made a lot of money! You could have bought silver for $7 an ounce. And you could have sold it for $50 at it is height.

Turn to Amos 4.

Amos 4:6-7 “Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places: yet you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD. “I also withheld the rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, and withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, and where it did not rain the part withered.”

God is saying that because of the way you treat the righteous, the poor, the meek, and the handicapped, you will not need any toothpaste, because you will not get them dirty eating food because of a lack of rain. No rain, no crops; you do not need toothpaste.

He says He sent too much rain to one place, while not enough in another. He is talking about crop failure.

Do you see this starting in America right now? Maybe it is. I know the breadbasket of America—California—has been suffering severe drought now for about 5 years. Oregon is in a drought, and the northwest is in a drought. It is raining today, but I do not know if it is starting or not.

Turn to Amos 5. Here God is telling them how He hates how they are treating one another. In this case, He is talking about the poor:

Amos 5:11 “Therefore, because you tread down the poor, and take grain taxes from him, though you have built houses of hewn stone, yet you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine from them.”

So you tread the poor under your feet; they form the road on which you walk; and yet it was by you oppressing them and impoverishing them that you gained all your wealth and riches. You take his bread for doing him “justice.”

This is going on every day in America. The borders are wide open because the party in power at present wants and needs these peoples’ votes. The rich and powerful want cheap labor. They do not want to pay benefits or retirement; all they want is the monetary profit right now, today. They do not look to the future.

But what happens to this country in the future will affect us all, rich and poor.

This is only one small area of injustice that goes on in America. In Oregon City where I live, there is a large homeless community that is down the hill behind the carwash. A lot of them have jobs, but they do not make enough to pay rent. So, they live in tents. Some of this is their own fault, being divorced and paying child support. Some are on drugs. Some are alcoholics. But they have problems, and do not have enough money to rent an apartment. They send their kids to school. You can see them getting on and off the school buses. When I was a kid, I never saw a homeless community. I never saw people on the corner like I see every day in Portland begging for money. I never saw that back in the 1950s.

Turn to Amos 7.

Amos 7:10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.”

This idolatrous priest was a liar. There is no truth in the message he sent to the king. Amos was warning the king and people. He was not conspiring against them.

Amos 7:11 “For thus Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive from their own land.’”

Amos makes the statement from God because of how the Israelites treated the righteous. Remember that most of the nation had become calf worshippers. They took advantage of the poor. They mistreated the meek. They took advantage of the afflicted and handicapped.

Amos 7:12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, Go, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread, and there prophesy.”

Amaziah is two-faced here. He pretends to be kind to Amos. He tells him, “Amos! Go back to Judah and prophesy there and be safe,” even though he just accused him of high treason against Jeroboam the king.

This is what happens when a nation loses its morals and starts taking advantage of its people. And then the people start taking advantage of one another, especially the poor. They charged him of teaching false doctrine against the government, inciting insurrection among the people, when he was doing no more than warning them.

Amos 7:13 “But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the royal residence.”

Amaziah is telling Amos, “You must not speak against idolatry here, because that was the king’s religion. And he who speaks against the king’s religion must be an enemy of the state.” Do we not see that going on in America? If you speak against the government today, you are an enemy of the state.

Turn to Amos 8:

Amos 8:4-5 Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, and make the poor of the land fail, saying: “When will the New Moon be past, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, and falsifying the scales by deceit?”

The Israelites kept the Sabbath because of custom at that time. What about the greater churches of God? Do they keep them only because of custom? I do not know.

Israel did not do it because it was the fourth commandment. They kept it grudgingly. They acted like they were saints and very religious, but they could not wait for the Sabbath to be over so they could take advantage of the righteous, the poor, the meek, and the handicapped or afflicted by giving short measure while taking full price; or buying with a heavy weight on the scale and then selling with a light weight on the scale.

Amos 8:6 “That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—even sell the bad wheat?”

What they were doing was that they would hire the poor, and just pay them enough from other creditors so they could keep them working for them. It was kind of like working someone for less hours instead of 40, so that you do not have to pay any benefits; in other words, taking advantage of them. Selling bad and damaged wheat and flour to poor people as being good, knowing that the people could not afford to prosecute them.

Turn to Amos 9.

Amos 9:8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says the LORD.

Because of all Israel’s sins, especially of how they treated one another, taking advantage of the righteous, the poor, the meek, and afflicted, they were given into the hands of the Assyrians. That is what their sins were.

Amos 9:9 “For surely I will command, and will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.”

Their punishment was that God dispersed them over the face of the whole earth, yet not one would be lost as they were mixed among the nations. God said He would not utterly destroy the house of Jacob.

As only God's people, you and I, know, because this is part of the truth that we are given, Israel has been restored even though they do not know who they are. The Israelites do not know who they are today but you and I do. The people in America, Canada, Britain, France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Australia, South Africa, and Ireland, do not have a clue of their heritage. That is why the Israelites are called the lost ten tribes of Israel. They have been restored because of God's mercy and justice because of His promise to Abraham, but they do not have a clue of who they are.

The book of Amos talks about God's displeasure with how brother treated brother. Remember the Israelites were related, and yet they still treat each other that way. They all had one father, Abraham. Yet they cheated, took advantage of, and stole from one another. Even for a pair of sandals. They took advantage of the righteous.

Do you know what a righteous person is? It is a very moral person; a person who observes God's laws; a genuinely good person; a person with character to do what is right no matter what; a person who is virtuous. A person with these traits is much easier to take advantage of than someone that will lie, cheat, steal, and break the law; where nothing matters except making money and getting ahead. The righteous person is easy to take advantage of.

Also the poor are easy targets for the rich and powerful. Poor people have little or no money. They have no goods or means of support. A lot of the poor are dependent upon charity or public support. The poor cannot fight back. They cannot afford a lawyer. They are at the mercy of others.

The meek are also easy targets. They are very patient; very docile; they are overly submissive and compliant. God has much to say about that.

Turn to Psalm 37.

Psalm 37:11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

Now turn to Psalm 76.

Psalm 76:9 When God arose to judgment, to deliver all the oppressed of the earth. Selah.

You can see how easy it would be to take advantage of this group: a submissive, compliant, and trusting people.

Then the last group is the handicapped or afflicted. These are already at a disadvantage because of their handicap. It makes success much more difficult in everything they do. Afflicted means handicapped with pain or distress; being knocked down a peg or two; being humbled. Again, this group of people is very easy to get the best of, because they are already handicapped. They are taken advantage of all the time.

So, we see in the book of Amos that God hates governments, nations, peoples, or organizations that take advantage of the righteous, the poor, the meek, or the handicapped and afflicted. The nations of Israel suffered greatly for their sins against members of their own family because they were all related; and they knew it. They knew they were related because they said it over and over again, we are Abraham’s seed. We all came from the same father.

You and I would want no part in what happened to the Israelites at the hands of the Assyrians. What does all of this have to do with you and me today? We as God's church have all these four groups of people within it: the righteous, which we should strive to be a part of; the poor; the meek; and the handicapped or afflicted. These are all found within God's church.

Turn to Mark 12.

Mark 12:33 “And to love Him [God] with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

How we treat one another is very important to God. Turn to Galatians 5.

Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this” You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

You can go through the Bible and he speaks about this over and over again. You and I cannot keep the other commandments without keeping this one. That is how important loving one another is to God.

Do you love your blood family? Of course you do. We all do. But do you love the brethren? All of them? We should. We are all part of the Family of God through baptism, just as God says in Ephesians 3.

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

The whole family of humanity, brethren. You and I are already considered part of the Family of God. So then, the question is: Do we treat one another like family? Do we love one another like family? Do we prefer one another to the world?

Now, there were some things that were brought to my attention this year at the Feast that I would like all of us to think about. Before we continue, I do not want anyone to be offended by what I am going to say. Do not think I am trying to correct any of us or point the finger at any of us. In fact, it is just the opposite. I think we do a good job with this subject.

I know some of you are very generous, and you do a lot for the brethren. But no matter how good of a job we do, we could always do better.

The things that came to my attention this year at the Feast were unacceptable to me. So, I know they will probably be unacceptable to you as well. I will only mention a few of them.

The first thing that came to my attention happened on the third or fourth day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Debbie and I had lunch, and we went to the grocery store. And after that I went up the one of the brethren’s’ rooms. And when I went in, I asked if they had had lunch yet. They replied that they were just about to have their lunch. And I asked what it was going to be. This person was going to have a cold bowl of oatmeal left over from breakfast that they saved back in their fridge. They had no means to go out and had no transportation.

To me this was unacceptable at the Feast. The Feast represents Christ's rule on earth for 1,000 years, a time of plenty for all, and the world will be set right; a time of no wars; no disease; all mankind will treat each other correctly with love and outgoing concern no matter the color, race or tribe, because the knowledge of God and His laws and His way of life will be reign supreme.

That was one thing.

Another thing was who did they eat breakfast with? They said they could not eat with anybody since all the tables were just about full. So I went back up to my room, and ate by myself. This was another single person at the Feast.

Of course, we are all different. Some of us can go up to somebody’s table and ask, “Hey, may I sit with you and have breakfast?” I can do that. And if told me, “Hey, beat it. This is a private conversation,” it would not offend me. I would go and sit with somebody else. But a lot of us cannot go up and ask to sit with somebody else. This is something we should keep in mind, especially at the Feast. We are only together once a year.

Another person told me that during the Feast (there are 16 lunches and dinners) they only went out to lunch and dinner three times during the Feast. This person had plenty to eat, and had enough money, but did not have a car. There was no way to leave the hotel. They had to eat what was there.

Another thing was some of our young mothers with kids ate in their room, and brought food from home, because they were a little tight financially, because they did not have a lot of second tithe. Again, these are things that you and I and all of us should think about.

We have widows at the Feast who are all alone. We have men, young and old, who are all alone. We have young women and single moms that are all alone. We all need to make sure that these people are taken care of too. They should feel included.

We have people who have come from foreign countries to be with us. We should go out of our way to get to know them and to take them to lunch or dinner. Most of these people have travelled thousands of miles and spent large portions of their second tithe just getting here. And they want to be with us. One of our people told me later after the Feast that it took them 48 hours to get home from the Feast. But that is how bad they wanted to be there with us.

Can you imagine 48 hours just getting home? We should all make sure that we go out of our way for these people.

Do you ever think about our newlyweds? These guys are just getting started out in life. Do you remember how broke you were when you were first married? They saved their second tithe, but they are starting out. They probably do not get paid much. You get paid more as life goes on.

When Debbie and I were first called, we did not make a lot of money, and we did not have a lot of second tithe. These people would really appreciate a lunch or dinner at the Feast.

When we take one another to dinner, it is not necessary to always take them to some expensive place. That is quite nice, but not necessary.

I want to share a story with you about an older woman who became a very good friend of mine, and my family. The Ritenbaughs, the Stites, the Reids, and Barbara Keegan all knew her. And maybe a few more of you do too. In fact, Debbie and I met Barbara Keegan at her house 7 or 8 years before we started attending with Church of the Great God. This woman’s name is Ruth Hancock. My kids called her grandma. That is how good a friend she had become.

Now, Ruth was very prim and proper. Whenever we went to her home to visit, she always offered us a cup of tea, served in a china cup, and poured it from a beautiful china teapot. As you drank it, you felt the need to stick your pinkie out, because she was just that prim and proper.

Ruth lived in a nice home with nice furnishings. Ruth dressed very nicely and wore gloves and a nice hat to church. Now Debbie and I were in our twenties. We went to the Feast that year in Tucson. We had our second tithe, but we were tight. So, we had to watch our pennies. We invited Ruth to lunch, and we took her to Shakey’s Pizza Parlor for a bunch of lunch. All the pizza, chicken, mojos, and coleslaw you could eat for $3.95 per person.

When we walked in, Ruth saw that you sat down at picnic tables. Ruth had never been to Shakey’s before. And she saw all these kids running around in there. People were talking loud; people drinking beer; and Ruth looked at Debbie and said, “Oh my. . .”

We got our food, and Ruth sat down. We got Ruth’s food, and at Shakey’s they only have forks and spoons. They do not have knives. So, Ruth was sitting there looking at her food—chicken and pizza—and I could see that she did not know what to do. And we asked her what was wrong. She said, “How am I going to eat this? I can’t cut the pizza, and can’t cut the chicken, because I don’t have a knife.” Well, J.B. picked up a piece of pizza and showed her how to do it, eating it with his hands. Well, Ruth said again, “Oh my. . .” And she picked up a piece of pizza and shuffled from hand to hand, to hand, and pretty soon she started giggling. That was the first time we really spent time with Ruth. She became a very good friend of ours.

And then there was another couple of older folks that we would have never ever met, because we went to Tucson where there was 8 or 10 or 12 thousand people [in attendance]. And this old couple went out to dinner with us one night. For some reason they loved my two kids, Michelle and J.B. (Our daughter, Nicki was not born yet.) For the next 10 years (we went to Tucson 10 years straight because we did not have a lot of second tithe), the Suttlemeier’s went there. For the next 10 years, the first day of the Feast, they would always ask to take the kids to Farrell’s ice cream parlor.

And so every year we would go to Farrell’s ice cream parlor, and they would tell my kids, “You can have anything you want,” and I would tell my kids, “ Oh no you can’t,” and they would say, “But they were paying for it,” and I would say, “You still can’t have anything they want.”

They served all kinds of sundaes there, including one called “The Pig Trough.” One year I let both kids have one. This was 18 scoops of ice cream, with every kind of topping on it, two people have to bring it to your table; they carry it all through the place, sounding horns and whistles, making a big commotion; and then they call your name, and announce to everyone that so and so is going to make a pig of themselves and eat a pig trough.

But we became good friends with this older couple, that we would have never met, or have anything to do with, because they went to a different church (attended a different church area). But because we went out to dinner together one year, every year at the Feast we would go out and have ice cream with them.

Has anyone in this group gone out for lunch or dinner with every other person in this church? If you are like me, and you have not, then you and I have something to work on.

We cannot learn to love one another like Ruth, or the Suttlemeiers unless we sit and spend time with each other. And the only time we get together is at the Feast. You never know what one meal will bring. In the case of Ruth and the Suttlemeiers, we became very good friends after one piece of pizza, or one ice cream sundae.

If you would all invite one more person out to lunch or dinner at the Feast every time you go out, from the widows, older single men, young single men, single women, single moms, and newlyweds, we would make the Feast much better for all of us. You do not know what will turn out from it.

There are five things that the end time church must be aware of and overcome. You will find them listed in Hebrews 13:1-5. The first one is the one I am talking about in this sermon. It is so important to us as firstfruits that God listed it first out of the five. That is how important it is.

Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly love continue.

It must continue in the church. And the reason he says “continue” is because we are scattered all over the place. The church has been broken up. The Amplified Bible says, “Let love for your fellow believers continue, and let it be a fixed practice with you. Never let it fail.”

This is extremely important to God.

Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so some have unwittingly entertained angels.

The Amplified says, “Do not forget or neglect, or refuse to extend hospitality to strangers, being friendly, cordial, and gracious, sharing the comforts of your home, and doing your part generously [not being a penny-pincher]. For through it, some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Brethren we cannot be cheap. We need to do our part when it comes to the people of God.

Hebrews 13:3 Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.

In the Amplified, it says, “Remember those who are in prison, as if you were their fellow prisoners; and those who are ill-treated since you also are liable to bodily sufferings.”

You need to remember and think about what a lot of God's people go through every single day, and the trials that they suffer. We have people in all these four groups. A lot of them have a hard time every day of their life. We need to remember them.

Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

The Amplified states, “Let marriage be held in honor, esteemed worthy, precious; that is of great price and especially dear in all things, and let the marriage bed be kept undishonored, undefiled; for God will judge and punish the unchastised and the guilty of sexual vice, and the adulteress.”

We as God's people cannot get caught up in what is going on in this country. Shacking up with one another; adultery is rampant; and divorce is rampant in this country right now. That is why God says it here, in these scriptures for the end time church, because He knew what would be going on at this time.

Do you realize that back when I first came into the church, hardly anybody got divorced? And now it is rampant within the church.

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

The Amplified says, “Let your character or your morals be free from the love of money, greed, lust, and the craving for only possessions; be satisfied with your present circumstances, and what you have, for God Himself has said, ‘I will not in any way fail you, nor give you up, nor leave you without support. I will not in any degree leave you helpless, or forsake you or let you down.’”

This is quite a promise, brethren, from God. But we must do our part, because God will do His.

We need to keep these five points in Hebrews 13 at the front of our minds as the end of this present age nears. We need to really take heed to the first point, “Let brotherly love continue.” One of the best places to show this is at the Feast of Tabernacles, because that is when we are all together. We can really put this one to practice there.

One last verse as I bring this sermon to a close. Turn to I John 4.

I John 4:21 And this commandment have we from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

The Amplified states, “And this commandment, this charge, this order, this injunction we have from Him that he who loves God shall love his fellow believers or brethren also.”

There is no better place to do this than at the Feast of Tabernacles.

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