The so-called Christian world is deceived and confused regarding God’s gift (that of eternal life which is offered independent of works), and our reward, which is dependent on works. It is important how we live based on what we know — how well we perform.

Our reward has to do with rulership. We will be able to beautify life — to guide and to help others to live a peaceful and happy life, in accordance with God’s way. Ruling others means, helping them to live God’s way of life. We must develop the desire to do so today.

In times of trials, we must look beyond the present and focus on the future, as to how we can serve others on a great scale.

The really good news for each of us is that the struggle to keep sin out of our lives will have an end. In the Biblical account of Abraham and his descendants, we find both good and bad examples of those who sought to answer God’s calling. The lesson is one that transcends mere physical blessings of this life. The true promised land is the Kingdom of God–the end of our struggle and our final victory over sin.

A battle is going on — at least, it should be going on — in the mind of every converted Christian. It is very important to realize that our human carnal mind was hostile toward God before our conversion, largely due to Satan’s influence. Even after conversion, Satan will try to continue to bombard us with his evil thoughts. We must therefore refuse to permit evil thoughts to settle in our minds and our hearts. Instead, we must replace them with right thoughts. God’s Word, Faith and the Understanding that God knows every thought that we might think, can help us to win the battle of our minds.

God has called us to be involved in the fulfillment of His great purpose. We must be sure we understand that purpose and what we are to do to have a part in it.

How important are God’s Truths? How important is His Law, His Statutes, His Judgments? How important are the days He has established as Holy? The Scriptures tell us that our “eternal lives” depend on how we relate to these Truths!

The importance of self examination going into the days of unleavened bread to see how we are doing when compared to an employees performance review done annually by ones employer.

While the Church of God celebrates Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, the world, including Orthodox Christianity, celebrates Easter — that is, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and, in some countries, Easter Monday. Why do they do it, and why don’t we? Does it make any difference? This sermon will show that it makes a world of a difference. It is so important that we can safely say that it is a matter of life and death. It is a matter of accepting or rejecting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. It is a matter of receiving forgiveness of sins, or of still living in sin, being cut off from God. If we believe in the Good Friday crucifixion and the Easter Sunday resurrection, we are rejecting the only sign that Christ gave to the people of His time that He was the Messiah — namely, that He would be for three days and three nights dead in the grave, and that He would afterwards raise from the dead.

The commonly held definition of the word “saint” as generally used in both secular and religious settings is different than that of the Bible. The Bible reveals that “saints” is a designation to the company of God’s people and applies to ALL believers–that is, to all who live holy lives based on God’s calling and selection. As used in the Bible, the term saint or saints conveys righteousness or goodness as illustrated by godly and holy character along with consecration (being set apart by God as His own). Furthermore, along with the remarkable opportunity to be called at this time, Christians, who the Bible also describes as saints, bear a great responsibility and accountability to God.

Today, let us examine Biblical principles showing us HOW to keep God’s weekly and annual Holy Days. They are Feast days, to be kept holy. Our inward and outward appearance, especially while we are attending services, should reflect the holiness of those feast days. We should realize that God the Father, Jesus Christ and the holy angels are watching us, and that we are appearing before the God and Creator of the universe — a great King of splendor, beauty and quality. We are to dress up and we are to pay attention to what is being taught. We also need to prepare for the commanded eight-day-attendance of the Feast of Tabernacles, by carefully setting aside our Second Tithe for this purpose.

A cycling super star who confronted, and beat cancer in the 1990’s made a simple but very profound and incisive statement that “Pain is Temporary but Quitting Lasts Forever”. This truly sums up the way of life that we’ve been called to. We can, and we all do get temporarily discouraged at times but we are not alone in this and the Christian way of life is a calling and a full time career – and if we permanently forsake it then we have, in effect, quit forever.