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TGT - Moving Our Way Forward - By Norbert Bohnert - November 2, 2024 Moving Forward: Endurance and Faith in Challenging Times In this powerful message by Norbert Bohnert, the concepts of spiritual endurance and faith are explored in depth, offering guidance for moving forward in challenging times.
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TGT - Moving Our Way Forward - By Norbert Bohnert - November 2, 2024 Moving Forward: Endurance and Faith in Challenging Times In this powerful message by Norbert Bohnert, the concepts of spiritual endurance and faith are explored in depth, offering guidance for moving forward in challenging times.
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The speaker reflects on the recent Feast of Tabernacles and contemplates the way forward. They discuss the two spiritual principles of remembering and forgetting, and how they relate to endurance. They emphasize the importance of staying, enduring, and abiding in the word of God. They warn against the eroding effect of sin and emphasize the need to separate ourselves from worldly influences. Greetings, everyone. Happy Sabbath to you all. I guess those down under are already into the evening, so. Well, brethren, I was contemplating what should I speak about right after the feast, and I thought, hmm, I'll speak about moving forward from this point on. As we come off another Feast of Tabernacles, I'm going to ask you this question. Where are we going from here? What is our way forward from here? We are looking down the road for what is in front of us in that period of time that is ahead of us still to come. There's two spiritual principles that Scripture provides us with at a superficial glance. They seem to work against each other, and I'm going to try and elaborate today on these two spiritual principles, bringing those two spiritual principles into the concept of moving the way forward. The two principles, in the simplest forms, are remembering and forgetting. Now, when you hear that, you may think right away, why? They might work against each other. We are not to forget what we are supposed to remember, but there are some things that we are to remember, and there are some things that we actually are to forget. I will clarify this a little further as I go along. Clearly, to begin with, there is some definition required here, but as we move on from one holy day cycle to the next, and start preparing for the next, we realize that Passover will be here before we can even turn around twice. That's how time moves on, and we need to have some depth and some substance for this time ahead. We all came off a terrific feast to some degree or another, some uplifted very much by it, and I think everyone I've spoken to commented on how wonderful feast it was. I know at our local site there, we had 78 strong members that were totally rejoicing and enjoying the feast to the utmost. But brethren, again, now we are back from that feast, and we cannot just operate on that single burst of energy that arrives at keeping the feast each year. For this time we are now in, this post-feast time, we must build some very solid endurance. And I'm going to speak about remembering and forgetting into building of that endurance that we all need. Now when Christ was asked about the time of the end and the time of his coming, he gave them some specific things to look forward to. And then he ended up saying, He who endures to the end, the same shall be saved. That kind of endurance has some powerful spiritual anchors, brethren. At the heart of endurance is the concept of abiding, something that continues for a long time. Now when we look at endurance, it contains a couple of levels. And at the feast, one level was covered. That is the endurance under the suffering, the endurance under difficult times, under hardships, that we understand of the thousand year period that many people will go through. And we will be there assisting Christ as king and priest, teaching these people after enduring the hardships and the difficult times that led up to that point. I'm not going to belabor this point and rehearse this all again, but I'm speaking of endurance in terms of continuing on for a long time. One of the definitions or meanings of endurance is to stay. So Christ basically says, He who continues for a long time, up to the end, shall be saved. Let's begin by turning to 1 Peter 1 verse 23. 1 Peter 1 verse 23. For you have been forgotten again, not from corruptible seed, but from incorruptible seed by the living Word of God, which remains forever. We are introduced to this concept, brethren, with this verse. It's probably considered maybe a lower level of endurance here by Peter. This is not the endurance under hardship or sufferings that he's referring to. We are talking about the receiving of God's Holy Spirit through the conversion and repentance. That word remains as we find here to be translated also to mean endure or the word abide, which you can read also in the New James version of the Bible. Verses 24 to 25. For all flesh is like grass, and all the glory of man is like the flower of the field. The grass has withered, and its flower has fallen away. But the word of the Lord endures forever, and this is the message that was preached to you through the gospel. So the word of the Lord endures forever, and that is the goal that we should also have in our daily lives moving forward. The word menno in the Greek is the word used for abide and for endure. It simply means to stay or to abide, as we read here in the scriptures. Can we not say they are similar meanings, the same thing? When we put hupo in the Greek in front of menno, then we get the element of difficulty that is introduced to enduring in 1 Peter 2 verse 19. 1 Peter 2 verse 19. 2 verse 19. Because this is acceptable for the sake of conscience toward God, anyone who endures sorrows, suffering unjustly. So enduring grief that is hupo menno is patient endurance brethren. So that is the more intense version of endurance. But we need to focus on both. Yes, there are very many difficulties in this world, and we all know that, and we've experienced some of those difficulties, and we understand that, and we've covered that many times, and just come off the feast, the ultimate of knowing what God's plan has in store for mankind and for us in the future. But we need to have this concept of just the ability to stay and enduring, and trained in our minds brethren. It's so important. It reminds me so much and reinforces the thought when I look back at my past in the church of God, and some of them were particularly good times. I had many good friends that were very close to me. But I asked the question, where are they now? Where are those friends, those beloved brethren at that time? Where are they now? In most cases, I don't know. They just left. They did not stay with the truth. They did not endure brethren. That is one of the points I'm driving home about in giving this message. It's just not the word of God that endures, as we read here in Peter, but it is what it does as it abides in an incorruptible form. Spinning off what Peter said, but incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. It is what it does. Let's turn to John 6 verse 63. John 6 verse 63. It is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. Remarkably similar thoughts to Peter's, who is expressing it quite differently, where he talks about the grass that withers and there is no lasting value. The word of God abides and endures in that sense. Life in the flesh is only life in a spiritual sense if it conforms to the words spoken by Christ. Those words spoken by Christ must abide within us. The words of God, they must stay within us brethren. They must endure, they must have mental in that sense within us. First John 1.1. First John 1.1. Read this many times. First John 1.1. That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our own eyes, that which we observed for ourselves and our own hands handled concerning the word of life. The word of life. The word is to abide. The word of God is here. The word of life. It is referring to Jesus Christ very clearly. Verses 2 and 3. And the life was manifested, and we have seen, and we are bearing witness, and are reporting to the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. Verse 3. That which we have seen and have heard, we are reporting to you in order that you may also have fellowship with us. For the fellowship, indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ. So the word abide is to have true fellowship with the Father and the Son. Sin is a major factor also in endurance, in the ability to endure. When Christ addressed enduring to the end, He did so in the context of lawlessness abounding. He made it noticeably clear that the love of many shall grow cold. Lawlessness will abound. And He went straight on to say that he that endures unto the end, the same shall be saved. The environmental setting for our endurance, or the need to endure, is one of lawlessness. We do not need to draw pictures. We all understand that. That is the environmental setting that we live in, brethren. Endurance is stacked up against the eroding effect of sin. What does sin do? Sin erodes. So fellowship with the Father and the Son stands against sinful conduct. It allows for the word of God to say, and there will be much pressure mounted upon us as we live in this world, as we go on in this coming year, the time ahead, as I say, for us to compromise. And for us to be involved in a little lawlessness as this society becomes much, much more accepting of the things that are lawless, we will all be facing these things. Verse 6. If we proclaim that we have fellowship with Him, but we are walking in the darkness, we are lying to ourselves, and we are not practicing the truth. Verse 7. However, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His own Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Verse 9. If we confess our own sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So we see, the environmental pollution, brethren, will weaken our desires and ability to endure. And we must separate ourselves from that environment, that pollution, that sin, of course, is what I am referring to here. Let us continue and stay with John's reasoning, and come down to chapter 2, verse 15. First John, chapter 2, verse 15. First John 2, verse 15. Do not love the world nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. We are to abide, brethren, that incorruptible form that Peter spoke of. We are to abide and have the word of God, the word of Christ within us. The closer we are to this world, the less we will be able to endure. I am going to further elaborate on a point here, in a moment, with where does this endurance come from. Verse 17. And the world and its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God abides forever. Notice, but the one who does the will of God abides forever. We must stay solid, and we have to do that, brethren, we need that. We will need it individually, but also collectively, I would guess, but I am thinking more individually here, as we have left the feast again, and not in a, won't be able to again fellowship with many others. So let's look at this from a personal, individual perspective. 1 John 3 verses 4 to 6. Everyone who practices sin is also practicing lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. And you know that he appeared in order that he might take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Everyone who dwells in him does not practice sin. Anyone who practices sin has not seen him, nor has known him. That does not mean that you never, ever make mistakes, brethren. It does not mean that we never sin. But brethren, the desire has to be there, consistently not wanting to sin. And if we are going to endure, we need that desire. We need that desire. That's the only way that we can begin to endure to where we want to be. Verse 7. Little children do not allow you, anyone to deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God appeared that he might destroy the works of the devil. Verse 9. Everyone who has been begotten by God does not practice sin, because his seed of begettal is dwelling within him. And he is not able to practice sin, because he has been begotten by God. Brethren, having the Holy Spirit, that incorruptible form within the mind, abiding through the Word of God, which endures forever, and it is a relationship. It's a relationship condition that he is talking about here. Being in a relationship. First John 5. First John 5. Got quite a few scriptures here I'm going to be going through. First John 5. Verses 10 to 12. The one who believes in the Son of God has a witness in himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has witnessed concerning his son. And this is the witness, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has eternal life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have eternal life. That is to abide. That is the word abide, and it is to be continually within us. Christ's Word must abide within us, brethren. It must endure within us, or just simply said, it must stay with us. Endurance revolves relations. It is relational. It concerns the way two things are connected. The self must be connected to something outside of the self, in the sense that we have just read from Peter of the Holy Spirit. The self must be connected. It cannot do this on its own. John 14. Verse 23. John 14. Verse 23. John 14. And Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him. So brethren, very plainly set out. Let's go back to verse 15. If you love me, keep the commandments, namely my commandments. Verse 21. The one who has my commandments and is keeping them, that is the one who loves me, and the one who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, what has happened that you are about to manifest yourself to us and not to the world? And Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him. Verse 24. The one who does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. Very familiar verses we read yearly. So with this, brethren, we clearly need a strengthening aspect of these words abiding within us. The Father and the Son in a remarkably close personal relationship. We know that. You see, the word of God provides a moral worldview. These words that we are talking about here, having Christ and the Father making their home in us, affecting our thoughts and the way we look and see things, that gives us that strength and that endurance that we must all possess. The word of God provides that moral worldview. Godly morality is a filter to us to see the world around us, that world that John talked about. If you love the world, you cannot have the love of the Father within us. It strengthens our fellowship with God. We draw from that fellowship aspect of God's character that allows us to last, to stay, and to endure. When you get down to it, this aspect of endurance comes from God. That is the source, brethren. That aspect of endurance comes from God. It is not something that we have a natural ability to create within ourselves. It is something that God gives us. Psalms 102 verse 8. Psalms 102 verse 8. Psalms 102 verse 8. All the day my enemies revile me, in their rage against me, they make a curse of me. All right, pardon me, that's wrong. Verse 18, that should read. Pardon me. This shall be written for the generation to come, and the people who shall be created shall praise the Lord. Thinking from that point to a future, forward point, when those at the forward point in time will need to connect back. Verse 19. For he has looked down from the height of a sanctuary, from heaven the Lord beheld the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to set free those who are appointed to death, that men may declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem. When the people and the kingdoms have gathered together to serve the Lord, he weakened my strength in the way, he shortened my days. I said, oh my God, take me not away in the midst of my days, your years endure throughout all generations. Of old you have laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They shall perish, but you shall endure. Yea, all of them shall become old like a garment, like a vesture. You shall change them, and they shall be changed. You will endure. Obviously, God being who and what he is, what he has set in place, will endure, and we need to connect to that endurance, brother. Verse 27. But you remain the same, and your years shall have no end. That is the connection, that is the fellowship aspect, the abiding aspect that we need, and as I mentioned earlier, it is all relational. Verse 28. The children of your servants shall continue, and their seed shall and their seed shall be established before you. So we draw endurance from God, if Christ abides within us, and that's what we must all strive to do. Psalms 111. Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart in the Council of the Upright and in the congregation. First, dear, the works of the Lord are great, sought out by all people, and I thank you for them. I thank you for the work of the Lord. I thank you for the work of the Lord and in the congregation. First, dear, the works of the Lord are great, sought out by all those who have pleasure in him. His work is glory and majesty, and his righteousness endures forever. His righteousness endures forever. A quality of God, his righteousness endures forever, and that, brethren, is our goal. That is what we are trying to tap into with the abiding aspect, the staying aspect in the fellowship relationship that we have personally with God. Psalms 117. Psalms 117 verse 2. For this, for his merciful kindness is great toward us, the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. So, brethren, there is a connection that is why the fellowship aspect is so important. That is why as we go from on from the feast, it is just not a high that we have been there experiencing, being there at another feast, and being with everybody for that period of time. It must continue on. It must be a solid endurance that goes forward day in, day out, month in, month out, as we go on into the next year. What aspect, brethren, what aspect of the world going back to John's expression will Satan be able to get you involved in in the time ahead? That is a valid question that we can ask ourselves. What aspect of the world through circumstances will we get involved with? We should not be sitting down and planning this by no means, but we must realize and comprehend that Satan is a bastard master player here. What aspect in our life will Satan be able to drag us back into the world, which is going to cut down our resistance, and of course, with that, our inability to endure? To endure. Remember, the source of endurance comes from God, and I will make that a little clearer as we go on. These are permanent Godly qualities that we insulate and introduce into our thinking. Through the Holy Spirit, we set our will and that Spirit reinforces that will. The endurance we need is not from ourselves, is not from the self. Let's go to Psalms 111 verse 4. Psalms 111 verse 4. He has made a memorial for his wonderful works. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. And we know that. God sets many things in order in the past with the intent that his people remember what he has set in place, remembering what God actually has done. Verse 5. He has given food to those who fear him. He will always be mindful of his covenant. He has declared to his people the power of his works and giving them the inheritance of the nations. The work of his hands are truth and justice. All his precepts are sure. There's a powerful aspect, brethren, of remembering for God's people, and a lot of what God has set apart for us, we find in the Old Testament. He had many prophets, and he used those prophets to set the words in place for us to draw from today, as well as in the past. And brethren, that is what we need to remember. The Hebrew word zakar, to remember, it means to think about, to meditate about, to pay attention to, and to remember. We all talk about the pace of life that we are living in. We all talk about how busy we all are. Over and over we hear this concept. And it is a true concept. But you have many times the excuse that I'm just so busy, I did not get to this, I did not get to that. What we need to do, brethren, is put the time aside, meditate, and purposely stop what we are doing, and think. Think, what are we here for? Think, where are we going? Think of what the future lies ahead, and meditate on these things. And think of what we are yet to improve on, and think, brethren, how will I endure? Many times we are faced with difficulties, that we are up against the wall, and we have one, God the Father, who is there for us at all times to go to. We need to get that endurance that we need from God the Father, and through Jesus Christ. That is the crux of being able to endure. We are setting our minds to pay attention to something, and we must not forget to remember. In the word, zakar, from the Hebrew, there is the implication that in the thinking about, the meditating upon, the paying attention to, there is appropriate action that has to follow from all that. So, we must also remember, brethren, to in fact take action. In fact, take action. Remembering is a way to keep to God's truth alive in the present, a way not to forget the works of God, and to pass something on. Now, clearly from what I have spoken, and read here, another generation, we need to take action to instruct our children, and we need that to have our children also connect. Let's turn to Isaiah 46. Beginning verse 8. Remember this and show yourselves, men, bring it again to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me. First then, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things which were not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. We are to remember, brethren, there are many, many things for us that God has done that we need to remember. There are things given in the Old Testament that are not repeated in the New Testament, and it is a given that they also are to be done. They are part of God's law. Some people say that because it is not emphasized in the New Testament, it does not apply, and we don't have to do them. Well, if you remember, you go back to the source, and that source is God, and that source is God, and you see what God's intent actually is and was. Isaiah 42, verse 23, who among you will hear this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? So, brethren here, who will listen and hear for that time to come? Go back and draw from the past and bring it forward. God has a long recorded history of his interface with man, and we know that God does not change. And you can go back to God's interface with man to a time in the past, and know that is the way he will interface with man in the present and on into the future. There is much to be learned from the former things of old. Deuteronomy 32, verse 7. Deuteronomy, you can see I'm all over the place, but there's a lot of scriptures that I want to get to. Deuteronomy 32, verse 7. Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your Father, and he will show you your elders, and they will tell you. Remember, what are the days of old? Remember the days of old? Psalms 44, verse 1. Psalms 44, verse 1. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us the work which you did in their days, in the days of old. So, we can clearly see God is consistent. He is always consistent. The way he operates with his people in the past is a lesson for us today. It is a faith builder, brethren, for us to review. It all comes back to us. What are we doing as our part? Are we being consistent? Is it something that we hold on to, something that we count on? We look many times at the days of old and see what God did, and that also can bring us to the point that we have confidence of what he will do again. In the future. Remember, Paul understood that clearly when we get into 1 Corinthians 10. For our learning, let's turn to 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11. Now, all these things happen to them as examples. Examples. And we're written for our admonition of whom the ends of the ages are coming. So, brethren, emphasizing again, we must remember. Remember. We must go back and look at some of the things of the past. As we abide with God, as we grow with God, the Holy Spirit will help us to remember that of the past. As we abide with God, the Holy Spirit will give us a purpose. And much of that is to remember what we have learned from the past. We go back now, you have the incorruptible, you have the Holy Spirit with you, and you can go back and you can look at some of the physical things that happened that happened and get the spiritual application from them. And you can learn things that the Israelites, unfortunately, did not have the ability to learn and to know. And all of those things are powerful lessons for us, brethren. To rehearse those, to remember them in our path, in our journey, that path of enduring to the end. Romans 14, not Romans, John, pardon me. John 14, beginning verse 25. I have spoken these things to you while I'm yet present with you. Something we've read every year. But when the Comforter comes, even the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in my name, that one shall teach you all things and shall bring to your remembrance everything that I have told you. So, that remembering, brethren, is so critical in our Christian conversion, in our Christian walk with God. Of course, you can go into Acts 2 and 3 and you can clearly see where once the Holy Spirit was given, they perceived all kinds of things. And the Holy Spirit will bring to our remembrance the things that were said. The reason why they were said, the purpose for what purpose was, and the intent of all of those things. John 12, verse 16. John 12, verse 16. And his disciples did not understand these things at the beginning, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done these things to him. They remembered, they were able to remember with the Holy Spirit, the Word of God binding in that relationship. The light went on, the lessons were learned, they were able to see the things that they could not see before. Remembering past actions, brethren, should serve to increase faith, to see what God has done, and to see how faithful he was. It is so critical of what God did, what he said he would do, that he should increase our faith because we know that God will do it again. He is consistent. He will do it personally for each one of us if we do our part. Matthew 16, 8-9. Matthew 16. And when Jesus knew this, he said to them, O you of little faith, why are you reasoning among yourselves that it is because you did not bring bread? Do you still not understand? Do you not remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? Christ said to the disciples, they were making of every physical issue out of a spiritual lesson that he was trying to get out of them, that he was trying to get across to them. That is not the issue, brethren. The issue is, do not us remember that lesson, that spiritual lesson that we saw in our own eyes and participated in. Now, we get to this point, and many of us have forgotten that lesson. You are not remembering this, drawing from that, and bringing it forward. But there are times, and there are things that we should remember. The present circumstances should be assessed in the light of God's past actions, in what he has done in the past. So, what must we do? We must assess our present situation and have faith and confidence, because we know he will do what he said he would do. 1 Peter 3, verse 1 and 2. Likewise, you wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands so that even if any are not obedient to the word, through the behavior of the wives, they may be gained without a word, having witnessed your chaste behavior carried out with reverence. You should be mindful of the words which were spoken by the holy prophets, because many of those words have application for us today, brethren. And we can lean on very, very heavily and know that they are all solid. Solid words bring solid thoughts, and they are right thoughts. We know that we are faced with lots of scoffers, brethren. That they will come in the last days, and there is us that have to hang on. Are we listening to some of these scoffers? There's many out there, and many times they want to undermine our confidence. Brethren, many of us have been in the world, have been in the church of God for many years, and have experienced many different things. Many terrible things have taken place. And if we look back, for those that go way back, to the history of the worldwide church of God, worldwide church of God, which was the beginning for many of us, we can say and look back, remember what happened, and that we realize there was a purpose for everything that happened. And we saw the demise of the church. But brethren, for many of us, that was our beginning. That is where we started. That was the source that God opened our minds, even though the organization and corruption crept in. Mr. Armstrong had many faults, many faults, but it was through God. It was through God, and only God, that we were introduced to his word, God's word, through a man. Whether we'd like to believe that or not, it was God that called us. And he used, at that time, Mr. Armstrong, for so many brethren, to bring them to know God. That was their beginning. And that is what has brought many of us here today, where we are. We have experienced a lot. We have weathered the storms. We have been patient. We have shown that endurance, that patient endurance, in fighting these battles that we have had, the church wars that are taking place, it is up to us to strengthen and to continue on that endurance path. So with this little sidebar, there are things, brethren, that we should remember. Our beginning to know God in his overall plan is something that we can remember. The history of the church is an important part of what and who we are. We need to be able to modify that and to get a balanced approach towards our history. There's nothing wrong to remember these things in an appropriate manner. The attribute of forgetting is a little bit more delicate. And probably some of us are more adept at forgetting than we are about remembering, given our ages. But this is more personal to our spiritual condition, that ability to forget. Philippians 3 verse 13. Philippians 3 verse 13. Brethren, I do not count myself as having attained, but this one thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forth to the things that are ahead. Verse 14. I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. There are two aspects to this that we can consider. First, behind as in our lives before being called. When it says here about forgetting those things which are behind, it means our lives prior to us being called. In Luke 9, 62, we read a very powerful principle. Let's turn there. Luke 9, verse 62. And Jesus said to them, to him, no one who sets his hand to the plow and looks back at the things behind is fit for the kingdom of God. When you think of it, brethren, an amazing thing happened when the church began to change and establish teaching and establish different doctrines. You know, and you have your own experiences that you can relate to from people who have known in the past, that when many, many of those people went back to the religion that they came out of, and as the church began to change more doctrine into more protestant style in many cases, many reacted negatively by going back to the religion that they came out of. They had not forgotten those things that were behind them. They were still alive in their minds and it rekindled and unfortunately off they went. It's a sad situation, brethren, but it truly happened many times. Secondly, behind, as we mentioned, in the things repented of. We know the old man was crucified at baptism. We were buried with him through baptism unto death, and we are alive from the dead so that we can reach forward, brethren, and all those concepts we can read and find in Romans, the sixth chapter. If we do not forget those things that are behind the sins, the difficulties that we have repented of and overcame, it is likely that we will carry around some guilt like a ball and chain. What does that guilt do? Guilt eats away at our spiritual health. It drags us down into depression and anxiety many times. It gives us an extremely negative frame of mind, and we just cannot get rid of that guilt. Have we personally experienced that, brethren? Have we personally witnessed it out there in our path? I'm sure many of us have. So, brethren, forget those things, brethren, which are behind us. If we sin, admit our sins, as we read from 1 John. Admit your sins. Leave it there and go on with your lives. Go forward. Press forward. That is something that takes effort, brethren. It takes effort. I appreciate that fact, but it is what Paul had more in mind here. Forgetting those things which are behind us. He was thinking about his previous life and also about leaving his sin behind as well. Let's turn to Hebrews. Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 32. 10 verse 32. But remember the earlier days when, after you were enlightened, you endured much conflict in your selfless. On the one part, you were made a public spectacle by both insults and severe trials, and on the other part, you became companions of those who were enduring the same things. For you not only showed compassion to me in my bonds, but also gladly endured the plunder of your possessions, knowing within yourselves that you have a greater and more enduring possession in the heavens. Verse 35. For this very reason, do not cast away your confidence, which is bringing a great reward. For you need to have endurance, brethren, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive that promise. For it is but a short time, until he who is coming will come and will not delay. Now it is written, the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul does not delight in him. Verse 39. But we are not of those who draw back unto destruction. Rather, we are of faith unto the saving of the soul. Brethren, this is not a time for us to draw back. It is more than ever a time to move forward. He who is coming will come in his time, and God's master plan will be fulfilled to its totality. Let us get our eyes totally focused on that principle which was expounded upon clearly in the Feast of Tabernacles, the last great day. The master plan that God has set forth for all mankind. Now more than ever, brethren, it is a time to move forward. It is a time to move towards that awesome goal that we look forward to. It is sitting there in front of us. Let us forget those things which drag us back. That ball of chain, and the ball and chain of guilt that we may have. Let us get back past that point and move forward, not looking back. 2 Peter 2 verse 20 2 Peter 2 verse 20 2 Peter 2 verse 20 For if after escaping the moral defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in them and are overcome, the final end is worse than the beginning. Remembering and forgetting strengthens our endurance, brethren. They play into endurance in the ability to stay, to be solid, to be focused, and to be locked in over a period of time. This coming year, and I must mean that time that is in front of us all, brethren, we will undoubtedly require some effort on our part, and that is a spiritual effort that I am speaking of. I do not think and assuredly say that we are not going to have a year where we can just sit back on our laurels and drift through the year. We are very much into serious times, and we must now, more than ever, buckle down and put some honest effort and create action. Individually, first of all, very important, individually, but I also am speaking as a group. God is looking down upon us. God is counting on us. Individually, brethren, is where we must begin. Not assessing someone else, but taking aside the time and look at our lives personally, and with that, move together in harmony for one common purpose. And make that extra effort to endure and to strengthen our spiritual lives on a personal basis, and with that, we can contribute to it also on a group basis. The Apostle Peter tells us to gird up the loins of our mind. It's an interesting expression, gird up the loins. It is surprising how many times that reference is actually found in the scriptures. It is important, brethren, gird up the loins of our minds. Make note of that, of our mind. When God finally stepped in to deal with, when I stepped in to deal with Job, as we heard about at the feast, he said, gird up your loins like a man. It means to get ready, prepare yourself to take action. Today we can maybe say, let us man up, in a modern vernacular. Let us man up. Be ready to take some action. Very important. Remember, we mentioned it early out of Isaiah, remember this and show yourselves men. We need to be prepared to stand up, and we need to be ready to take action. And that is no one's responsibility but ourselves. Paul said in very similar words that we have read previously, to reach forward, to press towards the goal. We all are striving for that goal. To reach it is to stretch out. It has an application of intensity. It takes work. It takes action. To stretch ourselves, push ourselves, and to stretch it with intensity. To press forward means to pursue with vigor and action. Action is what is required on our part. Action is so critical, we cannot just sit back and let God work things out. He will do that any case. But for us personally brethren, we must reach out, and we must act. Of course the world is deteriorating around us, and we must be strengthened in mind, or we will slide out with that world. It's a powerful force out there, and it's all affected by what is happening around us. And it's not a force that we can withstand with our own human strength. So we must abide with God the Father in Jesus Christ. If we want to survive, if we want to be there at the end, we need to endure to the end. 1 Peter 5 verse 8 1 Peter 5 verse 8 Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary the devil is prowling about as a roaring lion seeking anyone he may devour. Brethren, it's real out there. We live in a nasty world. We must get closer, and closer, and closer to God. We are getting closer to the time of Christ returning. Satan is going to get very agitated. Brethren, let us take this to heart. We need to be sober. We need to be vigilant. Verse 9 Whom resists steadfast in faith, knowing that the same afflictions are being fulfilled among your brethren who are in the world. Now may God, God of all grace, who has called us unto his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, himself perfect you, establish, strengthen, and settle you. The way forward, brethren, is an ever closer walk with God. Stay firm with God. Use the resources that we have. We have a gift. We have a glorious gift of the Holy Spirit. Let us use that gift that God has granted us. We know it is a power. It is a force. It can take the words of old and bring them to life today in full power and meaning for us in our everyday lives. And we require the Holy Spirit to do that for us. Remembering should be a part of our lives, brethren. Forgetting should be a part of our lives. And when we put the two things together, as Paul wrote to Timothy, If we endure, we shall reign with him. So brethren, in closing, we have a task ahead of us. We must be strong. We must continue in the faith. We must continue in the truth and in righteousness. And we must endure. We must endure to the end. And God will help us get there. Let us be patient. Let us have that patient endurance we need. And let us continue to move forward.
