All right. Thank you, Randy. And this morning, I want to speak to you on the subject of the pattern of God's command to assemble for his people to assemble together. In the Old Testament, we read Deuteronomy 16, and we could have read other passages, but the Lord commanded his people to assemble once a week on the Sabbath, and to assemble as the whole nation three times a year. But there are seven feasts, we're gonna talk about that. In the New Testament church, the Bible says, don't forsake the assembly yourself together as a matter of some. And we do that the first day of the week, which is the day that the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead. Now, our God is a God of order. You can see his order in creation. And God wants his people to live an orderly life. And he gave ordinances to the children of Israel on how they were to live, what they were to eat, how they were to dress, Everything. He gave them minute ordinances. They were condensed in the 10 commandments as we know, but he gave them not just the 10 commandments, but he gave them many, many commandments. And my wife the other day mentioned that today, Sunday is a special Jewish holiday. It's called Shavuot, but we know it as the Day of Pentecost. It comes 50 days after the Passover. It's the number of the day. Shavuot means weeks, seven weeks, seven Sabbaths. They were the number and the day after the seventh Sabbath was the day of Pentecost. Pentecost always happened on a Sunday. In fact, there were many, many of the Jewish holidays that always happened on a Sunday. And they were very special days. One commentator said, the word Shavuot means weeks in the Hebrew, marks the conclusion of counting the Omar. The Omar is the first basket of barley. It dates, is directly linked to that of the Passover. The Torah mandates the seven week counting of the Omar, beginning on the second day of the Passover, to be immediately followed by Shavuot. This counting of days and weeks is understood to express anticipation and the desire for giving of the Torah. On the Passover, the people of Israel were freed from their enslavement to the Pharaoh and on Shavuot, they made their pilgrimage to Mount Sinai where the Torah, the law was given and the nation was born. According to them, that's when the covenant was given and they give that as the birth date of the nation. And what's interesting is that if you ask 90% of theologians, if you ask them when the church was born, they will say on the day of Shavuot, St. Pentecost. They will say that the Holy Spirit was given, and that's when the church started. Now, there are others who believe otherwise, but I'm gonna tell you why I believe that is the case. Now, all of Israel's feasts and holy convocations or assemblies were based off of God's word, his creation and the history of Israel. Every week, they were to celebrate God's creation. You see the Jews, had a different calendar than we have. And if you notice up there, I put the cycling of the moon up on our screen. The Jews have what we call a lunar calendar. The first day of the month, every first day was a new moon. They would look for that crescent, and that crescent would disappear the next day, and that would be the first day of their calendar month. And their year was set at the Feast of Trumpets, where they would look meticulously for that first new moon, and they'd blow a trumpet throughout Israel, and that was the announcement that this was the beginning of their civil year. Now, every week the Jews would celebrate the seventh day as a Sabbath based on creation. And God told them how to set their calendar. He told them how to set the Sabbath. The Sabbath was to be start, what they would do is the new moon was a Sabbath. Seven days later was a Sabbath. Seven days after that was a Sabbath. The Sabbaths always fell on the same day of the week. You had the first, the eighth, the 15th, et cetera. You'd have to wonder when Sabbath was, because their lunar calendar dictated the Sabbaths. Now, not only that, not only did they have a Sabbath week, They had a Sabbath year. And every seven years was a sabbatical year. And I don't know if I have this. Let me see if I've got it here. Maybe it's this one, let me see. Number three, thank you. The seventh year The pattern of sevens. The seventh day was God's people celebrated the Sabbath. The seventh month was the new moon celebration of the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets was the seventh month. The Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, they were all built off patterns of seven. The seventh year was the Sabbath year. This is a time when God commanded that the land would rest. It was a Sabbath year. The year of Jubilee, that was the end of seven times seven years. The 50th year was a Sabbath year. All debts would be forgiven. Don't you wish we had that? You had a mortgage, your mortgage would be forgiven. You borrowed on a car, it'd be forgiven. Of course, we don't have that. And so that was the year of Jubilee. The 7,000th years, the Jews believe will be the millennial kingdom when God's kingdom would come to earth and the Messiah would show up. The seven-day feasts, twice a year, the Israels had a seven-day feast where all the men gathered in Jerusalem. Now the pattern of seven is very important. See, our God is a God of patterns. You find his finger work throughout creation. I mean, I don't know how anybody could deny God. In fact, we're going through the Psalms. And in the Psalms, I'm saying, let's just look at the way God designed music. You could see God's fingerprint in everything. In the way he made music, the way he made light, the way he made Everything, the atoms, you know, the electrons, neutrons, protons, the patterns of three are throughout the universe, throughout creation. God's fingerprint is in everything. And it's an amazing thing. Now, we do not have a lunar calendar. We have what we call a Gregorian calendar. Our calendar is based off of the rotation of the earth around the sun. So when the earth goes completely around the sun and comes back to the same point, that is a year. And they try to make it 365 days, but it doesn't come out exactly like that. It's 365.2 something or whatever. Now, The God's calendar is a lunar calendar. He gave that calendar so the children of Israel would know when their feasts would be. They didn't have to guess. They knew it, it was set in stone. They knew every time there was gonna be the feast of Passover, it was gonna be a certain day. It was always the same day. Whenever there was a Sabbath, it was always the same day. The Feast of Tabernacles, always the same week, beginning the 15th day of the seventh month, which was a Sabbath. Always, you don't have to wonder, you don't have to worry. God had Israel based their calendar off the lunar calendar. So the Sabbath would always start the month. The feast days would always happen when they were supposed to. This way the nation would never have to wonder from one year to the other when the holidays would fall. The first day of the month was always a Sabbath day. All right, then it went to the evening of the 14th to the 15th was the Sabbath rest. And so on and so forth. This is how the biblical Sabbath was figured. This is how God wanted his people to worship. When Rome took over the world, and the Jewish nation was destroyed in 70 AD, the whole world pretty much was converted over to a lunar calendar. We are living in the times of the Gentiles. Therefore, those who say we have to worship only on the seventh day Sabbath are in a bit of a pickle. Because God not only gave the seventh day, but he told you when the seventh day would be. You can't pick one without the other. In other words, you can't keep the Sabbath without having a lunar calendar. Now God's not caught by surprise. He knew this was gonna happen. This is why this is called the times of the Gentiles. And when the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled, then we're gonna go back to a lunar calendar when Israel will receive their Messiah. When Jesus comes back, all the Old Testament feasts and everything else, all that is gonna start all over again. And the millennium is going to be a Jewish, look it, the world power in the millennium will be the Jews. They will determine everything. They will be the center of all. Now, not only, but the Sabbath, let's look at Deuteronomy chapter five and verse 13. Deuteronomy five and verse 13. The Sabbath celebrates two things. All right, I want you to note. The Sabbath celebrates two things. Deuteronomy 5, verse 13. First of all, the Sabbath celebrates creation. The seventh day God rested. Look at Deuteronomy 5, 13. Six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is what? The Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no work, Thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, thy maidservant, thine ox, thine ass, or any of thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates, that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well. So it celebrates two things. Number one, creation. And number two, it celebrates their deliverance from Egypt. Look at verse 15. And remember that thou was what? A servant in the land of Egypt. And the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and a stretched out arm. I want you to note that it was the 14th day of the first month, religious month of the Jewish calendar, that Israel celebrated the Passover. And they left Egypt the next day. And the Sabbath is celebrated from even to this day, the Jews celebrate the Sabbath from evening to evening. So that the 14th day, they would have celebrated the Sabbath to the next day, and then they got kicked out of Egypt. And that is the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Because they didn't take leavened bread because they didn't have time to bake bread. So it celebrates two things. Number one, creation. And number two, the redemption of God's people out of Egypt. The Sabbath is a unique day of worship for the Jews. Now, first of all, you don't have a lunar calendar, you don't have a Sabbath. Could you imagine, you say, I'm going to keep the Sabbath. But you look at the lunar calendar and This week, the lunar calendar, the seventh day is on a Tuesday, and next week, it's on a Wednesday, and the week after that, it's on a Thursday or whatever. And then you go to your boss, and now I need, this month, I need Tuesday, next week, I need all these days off because I'm commanded to worship God on the Sabbath. You say, well, no, no, no, all you have to do is do it on Saturday. Well, Saturday is just like any other day of the week. It's not the Sabbath of creation. It's not the Sabbath God told his people to keep. He said, the new moon determines the Sabbath. The Feast of Trumpets. Everything's determined by the moon. Everything's determined by that moon. Now, you say, well, it doesn't matter as long as we keep the pattern. Well, since the pattern is all over the place, why don't we just worship on Sunday? Now let me tell you why we worship on Sunday. We worship on Sunday because in the book of Acts, let's look at Acts 20 in verse seven. In Acts 20 in verse seven, it says here, Acts 20 in verse seven, See there? All right. It says here in verse seven, upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread. In other words, when? Meaning, that's when they did it. When did they break bread? Why did they break bread the first day of the week? Cause that's when Jesus was resurrected. Why would he do it any other time? He wasn't resurrected on the Sabbath. He was resurrected the first day of the week. Why? Because that was the first fruits. That was the feast of first fruits. And Jesus is the first fruits. Paul preached because he put in Peter Carty's dentures all night. and continued his speech till midnight. All right, let's look at 1 Corinthians 16 and verse two. 1 Corinthians 16 and verse two. After I'm done this message, you say he put on Brother Bissell's dentures. All right, 1 Corinthians 16 and verse two. Upon what? Upon the first day of the week, Let every one of you lay upon him in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. What did they do the first day of the week? When do you take the offerings? At church. So when you get together, break bread, and you take your offering, collect, what is needed for the saints at Jerusalem and for that which is needed, which I've commanded you to do. Now, why did Paul say this is because in the Gentile world, you cannot force Gentiles to follow a Jewish calendar. They were under the laws of Rome. The laws of Israel only work if you're living in the laws of Israel. Now I say this to say, what we need to learn about God's holy convocations is that we need not obey the letter of the law, but the spirit of law. We should not ask what day of the week we should worship. We should ask why we should set the time to worship. We should not ask whether it be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday first. We should ask, why do we gather together? What is the reason we're gathering together? What are we celebrating? What are we remembering? Because Hebrews 10 and verse 24 says, let us consider one another to provoke to love and good works, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as a matter of some is, but exhorting one another so much the more as you see the day approaching. We need not ask about the letter of the law, we need to ask about the spirit of law. Why did God command his people to assemble? You see. Now, first of all, the great day of assembly for God's people in the Old Testament was creation. Why? because that was such a great truth. And not only that, for his people, the Exodus, why? Because that's when God redeemed his people out of Egypt, and that's when he freed his people from bondage. So what greater thing to celebrate every week? God is our creator, and he freed us from bondage, amen? But we Gentiles, we're not free from bondage of Egypt. But let me tell you what we were freed from. Turn to 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 6. Let me tell you something that's more important than the physical creation. Because you see all this? My Bible says everything's gonna be burnt. All this creation that we love so much is gonna burn, burn. He's gonna wrap it up like a scroll, it's temporary. But let me talk to you about a creation that will never burn, that will live on for eternity. In 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 6, for God who commanded the light to shine in darkness, had shined in our hearts to give the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Did you see that? to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You know what? Here's what it's saying. You are a new creature. You're a new creation. God created something new in you when you got born again, and that will never die. It'll never burn. It's never gonna be destroyed. This planet's gonna be destroyed. The son's gonna, he's gonna wrap it up like a scroll, but you will live on. What he creates in your heart by way of his Holy Spirit will live on forever and ever. And it is the most important creation. And you know when the Holy Spirit of God was given? This day on the day of Pentecost. God breathed life into a group of people called his church. And let me tell you, that's a more important thing to celebrate than the creation that he's gonna burn up. If it was so great a thing, why is he gonna burn it up? No, and by the way, he delivered us from the bondage of sin and Satan's kingdom, and that is a bigger deliverance than Egypt, amen? Cause Satan had a greater hold on us than Pharaoh had on the children of Israel. Do you know the Sabbath? It says in Exodus 31, 16, it says the Sabbath was a sign of the covenant. It said this is a sign of the old covenant. The Sabbath is a sign of the old covenant. I may ask you, what is a sign of the new covenant? The resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit is a sign of the new covenant. The night Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and break it. He says, a new covenant I make with my people. A new covenant that makes the old one go away. But the reason for the old covenant didn't go away, The pattern didn't go away. Why he gave the feast didn't go away. We need to learn the why and don't worry about all the little details because they have changed, you see. All right, let's look at 1 Corinthians 12 verse 13. Now I had a phone call from a guy that was inquiring about Brian McDonald. He wanted to see what the church that Brian came out of believed. So he calls me, and the first thing he asked me, he says, how old is your church? I said, well, our church goes back to 1880, and we're a pretty old church. And he goes, no, no, no, no, not your church, but how old is the church? When did the church start? I said, well, in Acts chapter two, the day of Pentecost. Then he goes, like a wise guy, he goes, well, then was Abraham part of the church? I said, no, Abraham is the father of faith. And he's also the father of the nation Israel. The covenant was given to Israel. Now I'm going through, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He says, and he kept going on and on and on, and this and that, nitpicking about this. And I sensed he had a bad spirit. I sense we didn't have a kindred spirit. Now I wanna show you something. Look at 1 Corinthians 12, 13. 1 Corinthians 12, 13. It says, by one spirit, we're all baptized into what? You all there? What is that body, folks? That's a church. Why did God have to wait till Jesus died on the cross and was buried and rose again to give the Holy Spirit to everybody? It was only given to select few in the Old Testament and it could be taken. You remember Saul had it for a little short time and it was taken. And you remember David prayed in the Psalms, remove not thy Holy Spirit from me. But you know, my Bible says in the New Testament, you're sealed, you're sealed in the Holy Spirit. This is how you become part of church. You're sealed with the Holy Spirit, whether you be Jews or Gentiles. Now listen, in the old covenant, to be part of the covenant people of God, you had to become a Jew. You had to become a proselyte. You had to be circumcised. You had to become under the old covenant. to be one of the covenant people. That's what Ruth said. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. And where you die, I will die. Now, according to this, we're all baptized into this body by one spirit. 1 Corinthians 12, 27, ye are what? The body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12, 27. You're the body of Christ and members of in particular. What's this talking about, folks? Just talking about the church. Amen? And we all agree. In verse 28, for God had said some in what? Israel? Abraham? Church. Apostles, secondarily prophets, thirds. So he gives the gifts, the gift, those who are gifted or the gifts to the church, gifted men. Now the Jews believe that the old covenant was given to them on the day of Pentecost. The terms of the covenant were given in the law. When those terms were broken, time and time again, God punished his people. According to the New Testament, what makes you part of the church is that you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God was given on the day of Pentecost. And that spirit was transmitted by the preaching of the gospel of the apostles. The true church looks back to Pentecost. Look at Acts 1 6. Acts 1 6. Acts 1 6. Says this, when therefore they were come together, they asked, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? You know, Peter and the apostles, they didn't understand this thing called the church. It took Paul the apostle to be saved in his great wisdom, spiritual insight, to understand this mystery called the church. He called it a mystery. They didn't understand it. You know what they were looking for? Jesus. to reestablish the throne of David, set the kingdom up. That's all they wanted. In fact, when Peter went to see Cornelius, he was the head of an Italian band. I don't know if he played polkas or what, but he was the head of an Italian band. And when he got saved, Peter went, oops, Now what do I do? I got this Italian that got saved. I didn't think Italians could get saved. You know what God was showing them? That Jew, Gentile, no matter what race, color, no matter who you are, you can get saved. Amen? Even if you're not part of the chosen race, the Italian band. Even if you're not a Jew, you can get saved. Isn't that wonderful? And he said, it is not for you to know the times or seasons, which the Father put in his own power. But look at verse eight. But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in Judea, Samaria, and the outermost parts of the earth. You know what he said? Terry, wait. They said, Lord, what do we do? What do we do? He said, wait, wait. You know, I had a guy one time who wanted to go out soul winning with me. He wanted to go out knocking on doors. And you know what I said to him? I said, who wants what you have? Who wants what you have? You know, the thing is, you got to have something to give it. If you don't have it, how could you give it? The guy had a bad spirit. And I didn't want him representing our church. And we say, it doesn't matter, just as long as the gospel is preached. Yeah, I'm glad the gospel was preached. Let them hand out a tract, that's okay. But the thing is when people need to see that you've got something, amen? That you have the Holy Spirit of God. And he said, you wait. He said, you will be witnesses after you get the Holy Spirit. Then you shall be witnesses of me. Because in Acts 1.8, he says, then you will receive power of the Holy Ghost. When it comes upon you, you shall be witnesses. Why did he say, wait? He said, wait, because he can't share something you don't have. Now the law was given as a sign of the old covenant on Mount Sinai. What is the sign of the new covenant? Turn to Hebrews chapter eight and verse six. I got your turn on a lot, don't I? Hebrews chapter eight and verse six. And if you need it, if you're using a pew Bible, 1593 in your pew Bible. All right, Hebrews eight and verse six says this. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry? How much also he is a mediator, Jesus is a mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if the first covenant, that's the old covenant, Mount Sinai, had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he said, behold, the days comes that the Lord, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Now, what was the sign of the old covenant? The law, Mount Sinai. Not, now what's the sign of the new covenant? Verse nine, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt because they continued not my covenant. I regarded them not, said the Lord. But what is the sign of the new covenant? For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, said the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind. and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying no to the Lord, for all shall know him from the least to the greatest. What's the sign of the new covenant? The Holy Spirit of God that gives us understanding of his will, conversion, by way of the Holy Spirit. You become a new creature in Jesus Christ when you receive his spirit. If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he's none of his. Now, we're in what's called the church age, time of the Gentiles. God has let us become part of his covenant people through Christ. We've been adopted into the family of God. We're his children because we received his Holy Spirit. God has put his law in our hearts and minds. So now what does the law teach us? It teaches us we need to get together. We need to assemble together. Let me tell you, it's not how much of the Bible you know, it's who you know. It's not how many verses you know, it's what spirit you have. I would rather fellowship with somebody that only knows a few things about the Bible, but it's got a great spirit, than with somebody who is a Bible scholar and is a Pharisee. Amen? Nitpick about this, nitpick about that, nitpick about this. And that guy that called me on the phone was a Pharisee. You know what I said to him? I said, I know you're asking me some questions. Let me ask you a few questions. And when I started asking him questions, he hung up on me. You know what the Pharisees did when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath? They criticized him. You know what the Pharisees did when Jesus was eating, plucking corn with his disciples, eating grain? They criticized him. You're baking bread on the Sabbath. I mean, boy, they went after him for this, that, nitpicked about this. They couldn't see, they swallowed him. They choked on a gnat and swallowed a camel. They should have said to themselves, praise God, look what this guy's doing, he's healing people, he's raising the dead, he's giving eyes to the blind. Who could do that but somebody who's a prophet of God? But instead, they started nitpicking about the Sabbath. Let me tell you, it's not how much of the Bible you know, it's who you know. You see, when Jesus healed the Sabbath, the children of the old covenant criticized him, accused him of breaking the Sabbath. They didn't understand the spirit of law. He said, go and read in your Bibles what it says, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. When Jesus told the man that was healed to take up your bed and walk, the Pharisees were right there to say, why are you taking up your bed and walking? You're violating the Sabbath. And he said, the man who healed me told me take up my bed and walk. And they said, who is he? He said, I don't know who he is. And then Jesus found them somewhere and he said, watch, be careful, lest the worst thing come upon you than being crippled all your life. And he found out it was Jesus who healed him. And instead of being grateful to Jesus, he went back like a Judas Iscariot and turned him into the Pharisees. And a worse thing came upon him than being crippled. He became a Pharisee. He became twice the child of a devil. What is the worst thing that can happen to you than to be crippled, sick, blind, impotent? The worst thing that can happen to you is that you get a bad spirit, that you get the spirit of a Pharisee, that you become a religiously lost person. And that man who called me on the phone had a bad spirit. You could tell when you have a kindred spirit with God's people, amen? So by your love, all men shall know you're my disciples. Not by how many verses you could nitpick about. Bible says, if any man teach otherwise, consent not to wholesome words. And the doctrine was according to godliness, he's proud, knowing nothing, doting about questions and strives the words. And that's what people do. Dote about this, dote about that, nitpick about this, nitpick about that. I'm not saying doctrine's not important, it's very important. But you could tell when people have, the most important doctrine is that you obey Jesus Christ and you love him. He says, if you love me, what? Now, right now, God's working with a group of people called his church. We need to keep the spirit of law. Now my question is, what's this whole thing about convocations and assembling ourselves together? The Jews feasts and Sabbaths were based off a lunar calendar. The truth is you need to understand that we can't keep those Sabbaths the way they did. So therefore there's gotta be a reason for those feasts. And I have to pick this up tonight. I'm just going to really quickly tell you this. Of all those feasts, there are seven of them. There are seven feasts. And they were... Let's see if I have my overhead here, if I can find it. Okay. These were the seven feasts. The Passover, the 14th day of Nisan. The feast of unleavened bread, seven days following the Passover. The seven days that followed, they ate unleavened bread. The feast of the first fruits, that was within the same week. So if you went to Jerusalem during that week, you could, bam, three feasts you'd celebrate. Boy, God knew gas prices were high. So they get three feasts in one week, amen? So you go there, you get three for one. You love a bargain, right? Then 50 days later was the Feast of Pentecost. That's when Israel commemorated the fact that the giving of the law was on Mount Sinai. They looked at that as the birthday of the nation. We look at as the birthday of the church and the giving of the Holy Spirit. The Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets set the lunar calendar for the whole year. They were to look meticulously for any sign of that crescent moon. And when they saw it, and they realized that there was a new moon, they blow a trumpet, and that became like set in stone for the whole year. That month established all the other months. That was very important. By the way, the blowing of the trumpet on the new moon, the Bible teaches that one day the trump of God shall sound and the dead in Christ shall rise and it will start something new. It's the beginning of the kingdom of God coming down to earth. It's the beginning of a new civil, what should I say, administration. They say, Congress, get out of here. Senate, goodbye. President, whoever you are, get out of here. You're making a big mess of things. Jesus is gonna come and straighten it all out, amen? At the trump. Then there was a day of atonement. The day of atonement is the most important feast of the Jewish calendar. You know why? Because it's when God cleanses them of their sin they believed, but yet bulls and goats can't cleanse anybody from sin. The Day of Atonement will really be the day that the children of Israel, after the seven-year tribulation period, will be reconciled to Jesus Christ and receive him as their Messiah. And their sins will be forgiven, amen? That's the Day of Atonement. These are all prophetic, by the way. The Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles was a seven-day feast. It was on the seventh month, the 15th day of the month. Always seventh month, 15th day of the month was a Sabbath day, as we already said. It was to be celebrated seven days. It is the only feast that will be perpetuated in the eternal millennial kingdom. There is something very special about that feast. It is appropriate for Jews and Gentiles alike. It is something God's gonna command all the Gentiles to celebrate. Everybody. And we call our Revival Week, we call it Tabernacle Meetings. Because every year we have a meeting the seventh month of our Gregorian calendar. It's not a lunar calendar. That'd be a mess if we tried to do it. The seventh month, and it was to take place starting the 15th day at the seventh month. So we make sure that that 15th day was in the week of our revival meetings. And our tabernacle meetings are the most important meetings of our whole church calendar. And that's coming up in July. And what is the purpose of that? Remember, there were three meetings that the Jews were required to attend. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, which you get three for one. The Feast of Pentecost, which was the birthday of the church or Israel and church. And the Feast of Tabernacles. These were commanded. But for the Gentiles, there was only one that they were going to be commanded to come to. And that was the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, what's the pattern? The pattern is this, God expects you to assemble yourself every week, meticulously to remember, you know, the importance of your new covenant. We celebrate the new covenant, first day of the week, Jesus was resurrected, we break bread, we do all that first day of the week. Every week, we do that. But now in the book of Acts, the church assembled every day. Did you know that? And you know, Paul said, one man esteems this day, another man esteems that day. I have no problem with people or churches or somebody wants to assemble the seventh day or Saturday. In fact, I have no problem if they assemble Friday. I have no problem if they assemble Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That's the way the early church did it. Now we Baptists, because we're not all that spiritual, we decided we're gonna get together, you know, twice on Sunday, Sunday school, Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and once midweek, you know, we're not that spiritual. So we figured we're not gonna get together every day, but we'll get at least together in the midweek and on Sunday twice. But now for those of you that come out of dead Protestantism and formalism and Catholicism, I know that's strange to you, but we Baptists, that's what we decided to do. And I know that's foreign to your thinking. I'm working with you, I'm trying to help you. But anyway, but the Feast of Tabernacles, we're gonna keep the pattern. we should keep a week long meeting. You know why? It gives you an intensive time in the Word of God. There are many purposes for that week long meeting. First of all, it was an intensive time of study of the Word of God. It was a time of sacrifice. You realize that those people had to take off work for a whole week. They weren't like you or I, we could drive to a church. They traveled there, they took off a whole week. They had to take off work. They had to save up. It cost them money to do that. They had to believe that God would bless them for obeying God. Now, all these things are the spirit of the law. And though the days may change and we're not under a lunar calendar, the purpose, the purpose for why God gave that command is still appropriate for us today. And that is, we need to get together. We need to spend a time a week. And then we try to do this. You know that the Bible says, when you come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast, have a good time. Have a good time. So we try to have food. We try to have music. We try to have a good time. We try to have fun. There's nothing wrong with that. because you want to enjoy yourself. In fact, one place the Lord says, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, bring it. And that doesn't sound too good. That doesn't sound so spiritual, does it? Well, the Lord knew we're not very spiritual people. So he just said, have a good time. I want you there. Whatever it takes. Buying pizza. You know, barbecue chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers. Whatever it takes, get people there. Because I want them to enjoy themselves in the house of God. Now I say all that, I got a lot more to say, I'll pick it up tonight. There's a pattern, there's a pattern. You ought to assemble yourself every week to church. And you ought to make special effort to come to these meetings. Why? Because you know what God said to the Gentiles when they didn't do it? He said, there'll be no rain. I'll bring a drought. He said, you neglect that one week and I'm gonna bring a drought. And you know what the drought is? You know, God has a blessing. Rain is a picture of blessing. I mean, maybe we don't think so because we've got so much of it this last month, but it is a blessing. You know, some of you know, you have gardens. You ever notice you water your garden and all this, but all of a sudden God brings rain and that does more for your garden than all your watering. You ever notice that? How God's rain does better? I don't know what it is. It's just better. And you know, when God brings a blessing, it's just better, amen? So I'm gonna challenge you to look at your calendar and look when that week comes and rearrange your schedule to come out to as many meetings as you can. You know, those people of Israel, they had to take their vacation. Their vacations were determined by the feast days. Think about it. Two of the weeks were one week long. The other one, and you talk about travel, they'd have to travel two or three days there and two or three days back. Even if they lived as close as Carbondale years ago by horse and buggy, it took a whole day to get even to this area. You know, it was quite a job to travel back then. They had a play in that. They had to work it out. It was a sacrifice. But it was worth it. But you know what they did? They stopped doing it. They neglected their feasts. And you know what God did? God chastened them. God punished them. And he disbanded them. And they were spread out all over the world because they rejected God's covenant. Now think about the covenant we have. Is it not a better covenant? Isn't it a greater truth that we celebrate? Now what's going to happen to us if we neglect so great a salvation? Think about it. My challenge to you is be faithful. Give your heart to the Lord if you're here and you're not sure of being part of that new covenant people. Because the reception of Jesus Christ is to receive his spirit. He says, you shall receive power after Holy Ghost is given to you. And then if you are one of his children, make sure you be obedient to his command to assemble yourself together. Let's stand in closing prayer. We've said a mouthful. We've gone through much history. We've gone through many verses. We've talked about the Covenant. We've talked about the Old Covenant. We talked about the New Covenant. We talked about the sign of the Old Covenant. We talked about the sign of the New Covenant. We talked about the difference between the Covenant of Mount Sinai and the Covenant of the New Testament on the Cross of Calvary and the Day of Resurrection. Now, Lord, if there's anybody within the hearing of my voice that has never received your gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, I pray they cry out to you and say, Lord, come into my heart. I need that new life. And Lord, I believe your word that you who spoke and said, let there be light, can shine light into the heart of any individual who calls on you. You said whoever receives you will not be rejected. Jesus gave the invitation, whosoever will, let him come and drink of the water of life. And I pray that you'd accompany the words that I share with the truth of your spirit, convict men of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and bring them to your feet. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Turn to 694. 6-9-4. 6-9-4. The Lord gave his life for you that you might have eternal life. We're into heavy teaching here this morning. But remember, the gospel is very simple. Whosoever will can come. He gave his life for you. What you need to do is accept what he did for you. Let's sing it together.