March 24^th, 2012, Sermon Transcript

By Lawrence A. Nowell

1.) “The stars in the sky mean nothing to you, New Moon Day means nothing to most of you. I don’t want to preach about it, how you broke God’s heart. If I preach just a little bit longer, if I preach won’t you listen to God’s heart, God’s heart?”

2.) This is The Obedient Church of God broadcasting around the world from the worldtomorrow.org and 1stcenturychristian.com so that we can warn the whole world. That’s why it is called “for the nations.”

3.) “We don’t want to preach about it how you broke God’s heart. If we preach to you a little bit longer, if we preach won’t you listen to God’s heart, God’s heart, God’s heart, God’s heart?”

4.) Bon Jour Paris, France, 6 p.m. suppertime in Paris; 9 a.m. on the West Coast; 12 noon on the East Coast. Breakfast time, suppertime, lunch time, the perfect time for our spiritual feeding today.

5.) “We don’t want to preach about it, how you broke God’s heart. If I preach to you just a little bit longer, if I preach, won’t you listen to God’s heart, God’s heart?”

6.) Yes, indeed, this is the only congregation in the world, the only church of God in the world that is broadcasting properly on the Sabbath Day in half of the world, because our brethren in Pakistan will be celebrating New Moon Day tomorrow when the shadow of the sun reaches them.

7.) And we are the only congregation out of all of the churches of God that is not breaking the Sabbath Day, the fourth commandment, the seventh-day, we’re not breaking it in half the world. Every other congregation in the Worldwide Church of God is meant to be the test commandment.

8.) But we don’t celebrate Mother-goddess Day, nor Sky Father’s Day, nor Ra-Osiris Turkey-god Day, which gave its life for its young.

9.) What we “do” celebrate today is Happy New Year for everyone, because today is the first day of the New Year, God’s New Year. God starts the year in the spring. Here the buds are out on the leaves already. They’re right on time with spring here. So welcome to The Obedient Church of God that is also budding with truth.

10.) We’ve got dynamite service for you today because we are combining New Moon Day with the regular service. So you might consider this a High Day today when a new moon day falls on a Sabbath Day, and that is very providential for some of the naysayers because now you get to hear what a new moon day service is like.

11.) A new moon day service encompasses what Father is like. It’s all about what Father is like and what Yeshua is like so you can develop relationships. So every new moon day, if it falls in the middle of the week, we still have the service and we teach what Father is like, what Yeshua is like, what their personalities are like, and why they do certain things.

12.) Today we are going to tell you why Lot’s wife was turned into a Pillar of Salt. Do you think you know the answer? Not just because she looked back. No. There’s more to it that has been revealed to The Obedient Church of God.

13.) But first we must enter the prayer because we always enter the Throne Room before we do the hymns. In only makes sense to present yourself to Father and sing hymns to him and praise. So please all bow your heads, close your eyes, stretch our your arms to the north heavens,

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14.) “Almighty magnificent most holy Father with holy Yeshua at your right hand side, the one who gave his life, but not only gave his life but was beaten so that he was unrecognizable as a human being. He was whipped badly twice with over 80 lashes.

15.) “Father, thank you for his fortitude for his sacrifice that he didn’t give up but he kept on. Thank you for his strength. Thank you for your strength in working out this great plan. Help us to fit in with your great plan and learn from today, and especially the listeners that don’t tune in on new moon day, help them to profit from this new moon day service.

16.) “So please inspire the speaking, and inspire the hearing, especially with a double measure today so people can understand what new moon is all about.

17.) “Now we draw closer to you this day and ask Yeshua to draw closer to us. So please inspire the tapes also, the video tapes so people can understand when they see the tapes.

18.) “Look after the brethren in Pakistan, a troubled area. Thank you for looking after them, and thank you for getting them through the winter, 200 of them with all the children. You know, we always mention that eight of them were murdered, burned alive out of their houses out of the 200 of them. Terrible. Terrible. So please protect them.

19.) “Father please protect us so we can give a clean broadcast here with all the technical difficulties we solved today. Running a little bit late, but got them all solved.

20.) “So Father we now turn this service over to your hands, and I ask you to guide all the material we’ve got so we pick the right file folders. And we ask it all in Yeshua’s holy righteous name, Yeshua ha Mashiach, our soon arriving king. Amen.”

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21.) Well, we called on the name of the Lord, and we called out the name of the Father to save us. We want to be saved and in order for us to be saved, we have got to fit into “His” family. We don’t want to fit into hell’s family. We want to fit in with God’s family.

22.) We don’t want to fit in with the hellions on this earth and all the hellions’ religions on this earth, and all the hellion offshoots of the churches of God that can’t even get the Sabbath Day right in half the world.

23.) We are now in the Throne Room. The first thing we want to do is to bring our praises to Father. We have a brand new set of hymns for you every month. We have a new set for the theme that we are working with.

24.) This month we are starting out with page 35, which is “In Distress I Cried Unto the Lord.” And it is in our beautiful 1934 hymnals, I hold it up for camera one, camera two, camera three. And in other hymnals it is page 94. We are on page 35 of the original hymnal so there will be a little more poignant, direct words. So we’re living in the end-times here, “In Distress I Cried Unto the Lord.”

25.) This is a serious thing messing with The Obedient Church of God, especially when we cry out to him and he does hear our prayers. I see it all around. Evidence again today on all the things that happen with both computers going down. Unbelievable. Well, we got them both back up, and we’re running full tilt boogey now and everything is just fine

26.) So please turn to page number 59. Everything is fine. Page 59, “To The Hills I’ll Lift My Eyes.” Page number 95 in other hymnals. Remember this is “the sacrifice of your lips.” We’re actually still giving sacrifices.

27.) We give a sacrifice in the morning when you wake up and you give a sacrifice, an evening sacrifice when you go to sleep. It is “the fruit of your lips.” So please give a good sacrifice. Yes, it’s the 123^rd Psalm. We are petitioning Father to keep us forevermore.

28.) And in that regard turn to page 61, which is page 96 in other hymnals, “Unless the Lord Shall Build the House.”

29.) If it is not in the Bible, you don’t follow it. And if it is in the Bible, you do follow it. Unless the Lord shall build the house, the weary builders toil in vain. All sing out.

30.) “We are the shafts in warrior’s hands, and happy they whose quivers bear full store or arrows such as these. We are free from fear, and boldly face the enemies of the Bible. We boldly face those who say certain parts of the Bible should not be followed or don’t apply, 127^th Psalm. That’s what we sang.

31.) We boldly face the enemies, and the blessing he commands. The blessing he commands, and we are like shafts in warriors’ hands. And God is a warrior. Yeshua is a warrior. He knows how to fight, and, indeed, he will fight. How would you like to take on 200 million? He's going to take on them all. If that’s not a fighter, I don’t know who is.

32.) The most that I fought at one time was seven at once. And, ironically, it was in front of a church. It was actually in front of a church my grandfather built. So I felt a strange confidence right in front of the church steps, and this group wanted to really trash me, because I was different than they were.

33.) As a child I was different in a good sense. Different in that I played the lead in “The Boy Who Had the Silver Ax.” I played Elijah’s part in Grade six in a school play that was before a thousand people.

34.) I had a lot of enemies of people that just wanted to put me down. They just wanted to bend my fingers back and make me say, “Uncle.” But I never did. I never did. I never gave in ever. I never ever gave in. I never will. So we boldly face our enemies.

35.) We boldly face our enemies all our life since we were little. And we’ve shown ourselves approved by God. That’s important. You’ve got to do that too. We’ve got to worship God in truth, “in spirit and truth.” In John 4:24 he specified the exact way he was to be worshipped. And that is on new moon day, Ezekiel 46:3. You can’t scratch that out of your Bible, whether you like it or not, you can’t.

36.) And you can’t say it doesn’t have as much power as the Pentateuch, because every word of scripture is God-breathed. And you, little you can’t decide more importance to regard the Pentateuch and not regard other parts of the Bible. Little you can’t do that. You can’t just have any kind of worship for Father. You’ve got to have exactly what is in the Bible.

37.) And many people want to do what they think is best, what seems right to them. And they are warned not not to do that, Proverbs 14:12. Don’t do what seems right to you. Only do what’s in the Bible, every jot and tittle, without one exception, without one deletion. Or, you are in danger of hell fire.

38.) Now I’m going to tell you about God. I guess I’ll move the announcements later. And so I don’t forget I want to tell you about Lot’s wife. Most people think she was turned into a pillar of stone because she looked back. That is not the reason. That is not the reason. This applies to show what the Father is like and why Father does certain things. And why you should have a fear of Father. There are reasons why she was turned into a Pillar of Salt.

39.) Basically, I’ll lay the story out for you here that God, God himself had seen Sodom and Gomorrah. He had visited Sodom and Gomorrah and he had no doubt that those two cities had reached the point of no return. These cities were unredeemable. Therefore, they were condemned to total annihilation.

40.) The warnings to Lot and his wife and his daughters were undeniable. It was clear: escape for your life, your very life. Look not behind thee. Let’s read it right, the way it is in Genesis 19:17. It says, “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed,” Genesis19:17.

41.) Unfortunately, for Lot’s wife she dared to disregard the angel’s warning, and she became a pillar of salt. That’s in verse 26.

42.) Well, everybody likes to think you know, that God is so merciful that he’ll just let you go on trampling the Bible and trampling Ezekiel 46:3.

43.) But what if God had shown mercy to Lot’s wife and allowed her to go on without punishing her? Well, certainly, yes, sure, that would have focused on God’s patience and mercy. And it definitely prevented scoffers from insinuating that God is not always love.

44.) Well, let’s examine it, Lot’s wife. Was Lot’s wife simply committing a small act, a tiny act of disobedience? Was she, perhaps, simply looking back because she was distraught over her children, about her friends, everything that was left behind about to be destroyed, her house, all the things that were in the house?

45.) Well, unless Christ had brought meaning to these events, it might have some perplexing . Now Yeshua was there; God was there. They beheld the events as they happened. The angel was there and he pulled them out by the hand, by the arm dragged them out. And because God was there, he was fully aware of Lot’s wife’s ------.

46.) So, therefore, in the New Testament, God warns Christians in the end times to remember, remember, to remember Lot’s wife, Luke 17:32. You are commanded in the New Testament to remember Lot’s wife. Why?

47.) Why should Christians remember Lot’s wife? There’re not a bunch of homosexuals. Christians are not homosexuals in the churches. So why should Christians remember Sodom and Gomorrah, and especially, the exact words, Remember Lot’s wife at the time of Christ’s return? Because this is in the New Testament. Answer. The world will be saturated with evil, actually, saturated with evil all around.

48.) Christians are warned to come out of the world, and not be part of it. Not be part of it. God won’t you know, I spoke of Revelation, Come out of her my people; do not partake of her sins---Turkey Day, Mother-goddess Day, Sky Father’s Day, moving the Sabbath Day to the sixth-day. All the churches of God are doing that in half the world. The Pope’s moving the Sabbath to the first day.

49.) To be partakers of her sins means of the horrendous destruction that will befall sinful men at the end-times. Now. The warning is explicit, Come out of sin and desire not to return to it. You are not to desire to return to it. You are not supposed to love the world or you are an enemy of God, James 4:4.

50.) You love Turkey Day? You are an enemy of God. You love Sky Father’s day and your kids call you up and you say, “Thank you for calling me,” you are an enemy of God. You should hang up on your kids. You told them ahead of time, “Don’t call me on Father’s Day.”

51.) On Mother-goddess Day your mother calls you. “How come you didn’t give me any flowers on Mother’s Day?” You hang up on her. You tell her, “Look, I told you not to call me on Mother-goddess Day. I have nothing to do with Mother-goddess Day. You know I have nothing to do with Mother-goddess Day. Quit harassing me on Mother- goddess Day. Don’t you ever call me on Mother-goddess Day. I have no part of it.”

52.) “Come out of her my people.”

53.) You don’t turn around and say, “Thank you for calling me,” and make some flimsy excuse that you are on the defensive. That you have to take a defensive posture to determine to defend yourself, to determine why you haven’t sent her flowers on Mother’s Day. Now you are on the defense. No.

54.) You are on the offence. “Don’t you dare call me on Mother-goddess Day. I’m a Christian, I don’t follow these pagan practices.”

55.) Partaking means partaking of the world’s ways. And the warning is explicit, “Come out of the world’s ways.” And don’t desire Mother-goddess Day, don’t desire Sky Father’s Day, don’t desire Turkey Day, Turkey-god Day. “He who loves the world is an enemy of God,” James 4:4.

56.) Let me tell you about Lot’s wife. Now back on to Lot’s wife. Not heeding any special command brings upon oneself terrible consequences like Lot’s wife. So watch out, if you are not heeding new moon day, which is today, you can bring terrible consequences upon yourself like Lot’s wife. Why?

57.) It’s so important. Christ warned us in the New Testament, Remember Lot’s wife.

To remember Lot’s wife. Now here is the answer. Lot’s wife was not simply looking back at Sodom out of curiosity. (1.) Not out of curiosity; (2.) Not because she was distraught; (3.) Not that she did not want to leave Sodom and its ways. That’s pretty serious.

58.) Lot’s wife did not want to leave Sodom and its ways. Her carnal mind had grown accustomed to the pleasures that Sodom had to offer: Sky Father’s Day, Mother-goddess Day, Turkey-god Day. She had become part of it and she wasn’t ready to leave the world’s ways behind. She wouldn’t leave the world’s ways behind.

59.) How much had Sodom affected Lot’s wife? Well, she lived among the degenerates, and some of her associates were also degenerates, but she put up with them. The New Testament tells us that while in Sodom, Lot was vexed with the wicked. I I Peter 2:7, “…just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.”

60.) But there is no mention that his wife felt the same way. There is no mention of that. Now it’s meaningful that Lot, I’ll read the description of Lot’s anguish over the sins. And also addresses God’s attitude towards two different kinds of people, the righteous and the unrighteous. And if you are disobeying God’s Bible, disobeying Ezekiel 46:1-3, you are unrighteous.

61.) God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and reserve the unrighteous to the day of judgment to be punished, I I Peter 2:9.

62.) Now Lot’s wife was punished. God is consistent throughout time. He warns the unjust. Now Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt because Lot’s wife was beyond redemption! Lot’s wife was beyond redemption!

63.) Here’s the gestalt. If God had not punished Lot’s wife, a piece of Sodom would have remained intact, a piece of Sodom would have remained alive. A being infected with sin would have remained alive. A being infected with sin would not have been dealt with properly. Rebellion would have gone on unpunished.

64.) This would have served to further encourage Lot’s wife to maintain her sinful ways, and to disregard God’s commands and warnings. God’s word would have been of little worth, and his patience with arrogant sinners would not have been emphasized.

65.) Now let’s get that gestalt. If God had not punished Lot’s wife, a piece of Sodom would have remained alive. A being, a person infected with sin, would not have been dealt with. God deals with sin. Rebellion would have gone on unpunished. This would have served to encourage, further encourage, Lot’s wife to maintain her sinful ways, and disregard God’s commands and warnings.

66.) Get this. God’s word would have been of little worth. He tells everyone not to turn back, and they turn back, and he forgives them? Yet his word, his word is of little worth; Ezekiel 46:1-3 is of little worth.

67.) Remember it was Satan who said, “Did God really say that?” That was Satan’s first trick with Eve, “Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat of the two trees? Did God really say that? Did he say that? Did he say that?

68.) You don’t have to worry about that. Don’t worry about Ezekiel 46:1-3, the new moon day. Aw, don’t worry about that. That’s nothin’. Just follow the five books of the Bible. You’ll be fine. Wrong!!

69.) Now Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt because God’s word would have been of little worth. He told everyone not to turn around, not to look back. And if God had not punished Lot’s wife, a piece of Sodom would have remained alive, being infected with sin that would not have been dealt with.

70.) Side Bar: I don’t think Lot’s wife was such a great mother either. Because she raised two daughters and the two daughters ended up having sex with their father. So Lot’s wife wasn’t that great a mother because she didn’t inculcate into her daughters the proper character.

71.) Back on topic with Lot’s wife so that you understand. It wasn’t just because she turned back, she was of, she was representative of being saturated with sin. She was disobedient, she would not obey every jot and tittle, she was an example of rebellion. She was an example of rebellion, and God will not tolerate rebellion. Therefore, New Testament, remember Lot’s wife. Remember Lot’s wife.

72.) Is it a little thing to turn around and look back? No, it’s not a little thing. It is a little thing to scratch Ezekiel 46:1-3 out of your Bible and not observe new moon day? No it’s not. It is an act of moral degeneracy and rebellion that the New Testament tells us not to emulate.

73.) “Remember Lot’s wife,” an act of rebellion. She turned around in defiance of God’s instructions. The Bible is replete with God’s instructions from Genesis to Revelation. Every jot and tittle you find in there, you follow. So Lot’s wife was beyond redemption. There was no hope for her. There was no hope for her; she was beyond redemption.

74.) And if God would have forgiven her after she turned around, that would have encouraged her to maintain sinful ways and rebellion to disregard God’s commands and warnings. So she disregarded God’s commands and warnings, because her mind was not right. Her head was not right.

75.) She was a representative of a society that was saturated with sin. It was also an example of moral degeneracy and rebellion that we should not emulate. We, instead, should follow every jot and tittle of God’s word. So we should read it, we should read it, I I Peter 2:7 to see how important it is. It isn’t just a simple act that isn’t deserving of importance, or else Yeshua would not have said, Remember Lot’s wife.

76.) Remember I I Peter 3:14, I I Peter 3:14, “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look

for such things, be diligent that ye may be found by him…without spot, and blameless.”

Reads. Reads pretty plain.

77.) I Peter 4:17, “For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God:” and it begin with you and I first, it will begin with you and I first.

78.) Verse 18, “ And if the righteous are barely, barely saved,” what will happen to those who refuse to obey Ezekiel 46:1-3? If the righteous who obey Ezekiel 46:1-3 are barely saved, what will happen to those who don’t obey Ezekiel 46:1-3? new moon day.

79.) The point of all this is that you have got to remember Lot’s wife. Let’s go to Luke 17:32 Now we know what it means to remember Lot’s wife. Yeshua put it into the New Testament in “Luke 17:32, Remember Lot’s wife.”

80.) And you want to know that anytime you break a jot and tittle in God’s Bible, no matter how small, that is an act of rebellion. And Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt because she was beyond redemption. She would not follow. She would rather have her own interpretation, rather have her own way. That’s how serious it is.

81.) So what should you do? If you are bringing Ezekiel 46:1-3. What can you do? I humbly say, Cry out to Father, Save me, save me, save me from my sins, and then repent. So remember Lot’s wife, an open act of rebellion.

82.) I’m glad that I got that completed. We didn’t run out of time as we usually do.

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83.) Now we’re going to leave time for telling you about Father’s character. But we’ve got a baptism coming up, and we’ve got to give you more information for the new listeners out there on baptism. This is very important.

84.) Remember, there are three ways God works with you. “Called.” First he calls you throughout your life. He tells you more and more about himself, and shows you more

85.)

and more about himself, opens more and more of your understanding throughout your life. That’s being “called.”

86.) Then if the church decides to baptize you, then you are “chosen.” That’s right. The church has that authority on who to choose and who not to choose.

87.) And then, you have to be “faithful.”

88.) So there are three events that take place, there are actually three groups. There are a lot of people “called.” There are a lot of people “called.” Few are “chosen.” And even fewer stay on the narrow road. So watch out for the people in the congregations that are not on the narrow road.

89.) Now why do you want to be baptized? Answer. The main answer, there are many, but the main one is so you can have the gift of the Holy Spirit, which gives understanding.

90.) I don’t have to sort you out. Father has already sorted you out by the spirit of truth. And those who will not receive the spirit of truth, get lost! Literally, get lost. Go check out of The Obedient Church of God for one. And they get lost literally, lost forever

91.) So I don’t have to sort you out. Yahveh has already sorted you out. So at baptism, you need another helper. For the new listeners out there, you need another helper. John 14:16.

92.) So at your baptism, there are two parts to it. One, where you are immersed down into the water, and you are washed clean, a type of Yeshua’s blood, and you come out of the water totally cleansed, totally cleansed.

93.) But then there’s a second part. You have to have hands laid upon you in order for you to get the Holy Spirit. John 14, verse 16, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you…” And it’s “the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive…”

94.) So that’s what the helper is. The helper will give you the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because they don’t have the ability. Because they don’t have the Holy Spirit or they’ve quenched the Holy Spirit, and gone with their own ideas.

95.) See, you with having the Holy Spirit, will be the chosen ones by Father, because Father initially called you, and then the church, in this case The Obedient Church of God, saw that you were obeying and that your heart was right and that your heart wasn’t in rebellion like Lot’s wife’s was, or like anyone else might be, whether male or female with their own ideas. And that you wanted to follow every jot and tittle of God’s word. Therefore, you are chosen.

96.) Now what if the disciples hadn’t followed every jot and tittle. Remember when the disciples were fishing, and Father, Yeshua said, “Cast your net on the other side of the boat.” What possible difference could it make to cast ?

97.) I’ve done a lot of fishing, a lot of fishing, and I’ve never had to put my line over the other side of the boat to make a difference to catch the fish. If the fish is within ten feet, he’ll find you if he is interested in eating.

98.) You can put your line on the other side of the boat, and the fish won’t bite if he isn’t interested in biting. Perhaps the temperature of the water is too warm, or the depth, anyway, we’re not getting into all that about fishing. Long story short here.

99.) They were obedient. They cast their net on the other side of the boat, and then they were blessed because they couldn’t even hold all the fish that were caught. They were obedient to every jot.

100.) They didn’t say, Oh well, we’ll just push the boat over with the oar six feet so we don’t have to lift the net. Too much trouble to lift the net, let’s just push the boat over 6-10 feet, that’s easy to do. Just take the oar paddle and push it over ten feet. They were obedient. And then they got blessings they couldn’t hold.

101.) This is one of the things when you get baptized, you are going to have to respond using the Holy Spirit, and quench not the Holy Spirit. You can do your own research and look up “quench not the Holy Spirit,” because I’ve got to get on baptism, what it’s all about.

102.) First of all, it’s a marriage agreement. When you get baptized, you are making a covenant, a marriage agreement. Very important. It isn’t just a simple act of getting wet, and it’s not the simple act of getting the Holy Spirit, which you better not quench. And you quench it by being disobedient. It’s also a marriage agreement.

103.) Let’s go to Ephesians. There is a certain individual who is coming to the Holy Hill for Passover, we have to give them time to inculcate these truths. So we know that Passover is going to be on April 6^th, so that is like 14 days roughly.

104.) If we go to Ephesians 5:23, so let us see what Ephesians 5 verse 23-24 have to say. Very important for the new listeners out there. “For the husband is head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject to Christ…”

105.) So you have got to be subject to the teachings of The Obedient Church of God because we are the only congregation in the world that is following every jot and tittle of the Bible. And don’t you dare argue with that, because

106.) Every other congregation is moving the Sabbath to the sixth-day. We’ve got all these Karaite Jews that are doing the same thing, and moving to the sixth-day in half the world.

107.) You’ve got no other church of God that is defining all of the teachings, we’ve got twelve points of them, including no Mother-goddess Day, No Sky Father’s Day, no Turkey-god Day. We’ve got twelve points that no one else in the world that is teaching these twelve points. Could it be any clearer than that?

108.) We’ll make it really clear. Turn it into crystal clear levity. Let’s see how clear this is. It’s a marriage agreement. It’s a marriage agreement. And this is a great mystery. In the mystery, verse 32(of Ephesians 5), “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” A great mystery. Yeshua said so.

109.) So, therefore, the church is subject to Yeshua and you are subject to the church or you won’t be here. It’s that simple. Okay, we’ll give you time to repent. That’s what

happened to Lot’s wife, because her attitude was wrong. She was beyond redemption. So don’t bother if your attitude is wrong.

110.) I I Corinthians 11:2, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

111.) So The Obedient Church of God is not not not messing around. We are not messing around. We are preparing you as a chaste virgin for you to be presented to Christ. We are humbly present you to Christ. And that’s what the job of the church is. That’s what it says.

112.) That’s what Paul’s boasting says, “I have betrothed you to one husband, Yeshua, that I, Paul, may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” So don’t you dare start messing around with jots and tittles and taking things out of Ezekiel 46:1-3, new moon day, because you are betrothed to Yeshua and that is how Yeshua lives. He opens the gates for you on new moon day.

113.) He comes into with Shekinah glory in the presence of the Temple on new moon day and on the Sabbath days, so that’s why he opens the gates for you on new moon day. That’s why the east gates were opened.

114.) Back on with your covenant, your agreement. You go, get way back to square one, go to Exodus 19, so that you can see the pattern for your baptism, what it is all about from day one.

115.) Exodus 19, verse 5, “Now therefore, if” if, if “you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people; for all the earth is mine.”

116.) Now for the new listeners out there, verse 6, “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” You are going to be taught by The Obedient Church of God through Yeshua’s Bible to be a priest, so you can manage the cities of this world.

117.) That’s how important your baptism is. It’s a very, very important, important function. It’s not just for you, it’s for Father for you to be a priest. How’s that for a rediscovered truth? That you baptism

118.) Bear Note: When I say “Bear Note,” put it in your Bear Note notebook. Verse 6 of Exodus 19, “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests,” if you indeed obey his voice and keep his covenant. You will be a special treasure.

119.) What does Exodus 24: 7 say? There is type and antitype. “Then he took the book of the covenant, and read in the hearing of the people. They said, All that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient.”

120.) Therefore, when you get baptized, you are making a vow, a vow that you are going to be obedient as instructed by The Obedient Church of God. There is no other congregation on the face of this earth that is more obedient. There is just plain isn’t. You can’t argue with that.

121.) It’s a fact that is demonstrated by the points of doctrine that we follow every jot and tittle of and no one else does. And yes, God used Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong in 1934. And then God used, after Mr. Armstrong’s death in 1986, and then one year of mourning for the fallen leader, and then in 1987, he used Triumph Prophetic Ministries for 21 years.

122.) Then Dankenbring of Triumph Prophetic Ministries refused to follow rediscovered truth, and God started The Obedient Church of God. And that’s how the scenario works. And we are the only ones following that lineage way back to Herbert Armstrong to William F. Dankenbring, and now Lawrence A. Nowell.

123.) We are the ones who are obedient to every jot and tittle. If it’s not in the Bible, we don’t do it. And if it’s in the Bible, we do do it. And no one else can say that.

124.) Now you are going to be under a new covenant. Just so no one throws you any curved balls, Jeremiah 31:32, you are going to be under a new covenant.

125.) Your law, once you’re baptized, and once you have had hands laid upon you, your law, God’s law, is going to be put into your heart. The Holy Spirit is going to be upon you and give you the power and strength to obey, and power to understand.

126.) And it says here in verse 33, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days I will put the law in their mind and will write it on their hearts.” Now we are the forerunners of that covenant, because we as priests, will be teaching the whole house of Israel in the world tomorrow.

127.) Now you can see that you are also part of the new covenant as a forerunner of having the laws written in your mind, and in your heart. You can’t argue with it. Jeremiah 31:33, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

128.) I told you before in the last couple of sermons that your heart has a brain. That’s right. Your heart is made up of 65% neurons. Your heart is made up of, 65% of its tissue is neurons, just like your brain.

129.) And your heart secretes chemicals in the blood to the whole body, and messages transit to the brain, and the brain argues with the heart, and the brain’s logical component, and the heart with it 65% neurons is the feeling part of wanting to obey.

130.) So with the Holy Spirit you have got to learn to obey because those laws are written on your heart, and that means that if there is an argument,

131.) Bear Note: If there is an argument with your heart and your mind, you better let your heart win.

132.) One of my keys has always let my heart win, so I’ve always leaned, leaned,

leaning and I’m doing it to stage left, which on TV will be right to you in reverse image. The point of this is leaning to the correct way all the time with your heart.

133.) If you are unclear or unsure of something, what harm is it to celebrate new moon day, especially if it is in the Bible? What harm does it do? There’s a lot of harm to you, if you don’t celebrate it. Then you are a rebellious brat.

134.) Back on topic here. That covenant has been confirmed by Christ, confirmed in the New Testament. And if we go into Hebrews and part of the agreement in Hebrews 9:19 and along that area.

135.) Hebrews 9:19-20, “For when Moses had spoken it, every precept to all the people according to the law, the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, sprinkled both itself and the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God had commanded you.”

136.) Verse 22-23, “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Therefore, it was necessary that a copy of the things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”

137.) Verse 24-25, “For Christ is not entered the holy places made with hands, which are the copies of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God. Not that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place every year with blood of another.”

138.) Verse 26, “He would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world, but now once at the end of the age, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

139.) So we are applying Christ’s blood to you in terms of your baptism, and your accepting it, so that he will bear the sins of many, verse 28. I’ll fast forward this, verse 28, “He will bear the sins of many.”

140.) When you get baptized, all your sins are taken away. You are made pure. But you haven’t the Holy Spirit until hands are laid upon you, if we ask Father to fill you with His Spirit, and it is up to Father to do that. So we don’t fill you with the Spirit, we petition Father to instill you with His Spirit.

141.) Now there are differences in administration. I humbly say that out of all the people that I’ve known in the Worldwide Church of God, 95% weren’t living right deliberately, deliberately not living right. It’s amazing, but God still worked with them. Now they’ll be able to come up in another resurrection.

142.) They can’t come up in the First Resurrection because they haven’t learned how to obey, so how can they possibly teach others to obey if they themselves don’t obey? They’ll be like the hypocrites, the Pharisees, “washed walls.”

143.) We need baptism for salvation for the new listeners out there. And in, let’s go to Romans 5. Take a little time with this because it is so important for the ones getting baptized. Please turn to Romans 5.

144.) Remember you are the slaves to the one deemed to obey, either sin leading to death or obedience leading to righteousness. So once you were slaves to sin, Romans 6:17, yet you obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

145.) It says, “But God be thanked,” in verse 17 that you obeyed from the heart, not because you had to, but you obeyed from the heart the doctrine you were delivered. Very, very, very important. Very important that you obeyed from the heart.

146.) Now back on Romans 5, verse 1, we’ll see how this all fits together, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

147.) Verse 2, “Through whom also we access by faith into his grace in which we stand and rejoice.” Now I’ve got to explain to you first what grace is. Grace is a limited period of time for you to repent in, a limited period of time for you to repent it. So this won’t go on forever.

148.) You can quench the Spirit. And the Bible tells you to look it up and you can search it, “Quench not the Spirit,” to quench not the Spirit.

149.) Once you are baptized, you are , a trouble in terms of your contract. You break that contract, you don’t get another opportunity to keep breaking the contract. This is it. So be very serious that you are going to follow every jot and tittle of the Bible before you make that vow and before you are baptized.

150.) Look into every action that you take, and if you are taking action, you’ve also got to pursue righteousness, I I Timothy 2:22. “Pursue righteousness”, I I Timothy 2:22. Now that means that you’ve got to chase after righteousness, that means chase after every jot and tittle of the Bible. You don’t start ignoring jots and tittles in the Bible.

151.) You have to pursue righteousness. And you’ve got to live it. You’ve got to live it. That’s what pursuing righteousness means. That you’ve got to live it.

And not just be talking about it. You’ve got to be living it. You’ve got to get all the tenants of the Bible into your life so that you can be living it, and not just being an idle hearer and not living new moon day.

152.) People want to go to all the trouble of having Turkey-god Day, but they refuse to have new moon day. Unbelievable. And we do a Kiddush every new moon day. So last night I did the Kiddush that had the bread and wine in honor of Yeshua’s sacrifice.

153.) And in The Obedient Church of God, just so you know, we will have an assembly three times a year, including Pentecost, including the Feast of Tabernacles.

154.) When we are all together we can wash each other’s feet. How can you fulfill “wash each other’s feet” when you are never together to do it? And when you are together to do it, you don’t do it.

155.) So we will have the Passover Service on the first night of The Feast of Tabernacles. I’ve always wondered why Friday night was such an empty night, nothing going on and first night of Feast of Tabernacles.

156.) You should be washing each other’s feet, because you just arrived. You just got off the road. They are all dirty off the road, and why shouldn’t you wash each other’s feet now that you have arrived at your destination? Fits in beautifully.

157.) It sets the tone of the fellowship of the Feast of Tabernacles. And, indeed, sets the tone the night before of Pentecost before the Holy Spirit is given, the “tongues of fire” that appeared on the disciples.

158.) By the way those “tongues of fire” actually spoke. Plasma fire can talk. There are actually plasma speakers, not getting into all the technology of it. But those flames were the flames that were speaking in the different tongues of languages. Flames of fire can speak. How do you like that one?

159.) Back on topic here. This is so important for you to understand the baptism and how it’s commanded. Remember, you are going to be under grace. And you are saved by grace through faith, but grace doesn’t abolish the law. Grace does not abolish the law.

160.) You go right to the back of the book, Revelation 12, verse 17, and you will find it written that you are keeping the commandments of God, because Satan is making a war with the people who keep the commandments of God. Therefore, obviously you are keeping the commandments of God.

161.) There’s more on grace, but we’ve got to get some time in here on what Father is really like. Just remember, grace is a limited time period to repent in, and there is more law, not less law, more law. Now you can’t even think of coveting your neighbor’s property. Now you can’t even think of murder. Now you can’t even think of breaking the Sabbath Day, let alone moving it to the six-day in half the world.

162.) Therefore, in the Old Testament if you took God’s name in vain and said it out loud, that was punishable by death. Now you can’t even think of taking God’s name in vain. Be angry. You can be angry, but don’t sin. Point. There’s more law, not less law.

163.) Yes, the children that are totally disobedient, totally out of control, the council of the elders of the community will get together and stone the children.

Yes, stone them.

164.) And stoning the children if they are disobedient brats that have created havoc throughout the whole city, shooting each other, and the gangland shooting get so ridiculous where they will shoot, one child will shoot another child or shoot an adult just to pass initiation. Those children would have to be stoned to death.

165.) They are totally unrepentant. Just like Lot’s wife was salted to death. Stoning is better than putting you in an electric chair and having your head catch fire. It’s a lot more humane than an electric chair. An stoning knocks you out cold, unconscious before you are stoned to death. So it’s a very humane way. It’s a very humane way.

166.) God’s laws are good, and should be observed. Now we’ve got to make time for more of God’s ways, so that you aren’t just ignorant of God and what he is like. In a nut shell we can’t worship God as we choose, even if you are sincere.

167.) God has specified how he is to be worshipped in the Bible and one of those ways is on new moon day.

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168.) Now let us get into Father’s character and our relationship with Father which is so important on New Moon Day so that you can know what Father is like.

169.) Now Father loves you. If you have ever been in a one-way love relationship, how painful that is, to be in a one-way love relationship. So Father is your provider, he’s your protector, and 3. Father has a love for you.

170.) He has an agape and a phileo love towards his children. Look those two up on the internet. And his children, his children’s love reflect what they live, and what they learn from their Father. And Father will bring joy to your life. That’s one of the things Father does. He does bring joy to your life.

171.) There are beautiful butterflies on the hill yesterday. One that I had never seen before looked like a giant leaf. I took some pictures of them, and I’ll show you the pictures one of these times when I’m on camera.

172.) There’s this unusual butterfly that’s huge, like a 6 inch wing span that looks just like a leaf, green. Not just green, but actually looks like a leaf, and it’s huge.

173.) Back on topic here. Father has made the creation for you, and provided you with everything you need as a loving, caring Father. And you are supposed to learn about his character, so you can develop a relationship with him.

174.) Now Father, we opened the service with “How you Broke God’s Heart,” because Father had to adopt other children. Father had to adopt other children. How would you feel if you had to adopt other children because your own children left you? Disowned you? Rejected you? Abandoned you? Took off on you? Your children rejected you, Hosea 2:13.

175.) Yet, Father still loved us. And that is how much he loved us, and how much love he has in his character. And he, Father, adopted other children. He adopted other children in order that he could teach them, that he, Father could have a love relationship because that’s what he wants. He wants a love relationship.

176.) Now in the Garden of Eden he actually fellowshipped with Adam and Eve. So Father wants to fellowship with you, the same as he fellowshipped with Adam and Eve. He wants a relationship with you.

177.) Adam and Eve talked to God in the garden, and thought with God. That’s how God started out the relationship with man as a friend, walking with man right in the garden.

178.) God so loved the world that he gave his only son. How much more love can you have than that? So now you’ve got to have the son into your life, Christ Jesus into your life in order to have a relationship with Father.

179.) And you’ve got to have your heart, because Father is pouring out his own heart, he’s pouring out his whole heart to adopted children. And he gave his son for you. And Father is doing more than his best, he’s doing more than his best.

180.) He is loving you with unconditional love in terms of all you’ve got to do is keep doing your best, and not being a disobedient brat. Hence, therefore, you grow spiritually, you follow when you hear his voice.

181.) And then we’ve got people being baptized, we have to keep going back to your part on this theme. Now you’ve got a friend with Father. That’s very important for you to know, that Yeshua is your friend, your advocate, and that you’ve got a heart-felt friend in Father.

182.) So if you’ve got trouble in your life, you’ve got to remember that with Yeshua and Father you’ve got a friend, and they are there 24 hours a day for you. What other friend you’ve got that’s there 24 hours a day for you?

183.) It doesn’t get any better than that folks. So that’s the type of Father he is. He is there for you 24 hours a day. Could that be any clearer? That there is no one else. And you know the song we have on our internet sight, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

184.) And his eyes are upon you. His eye is on the sparrow; his eyes are upon you counting the number of hairs on your head because he is so interested in you.

And you know you’ll never walk alone because he wants to be your friend.

185.) He has given his whole life, this whole universe. This whole universe isn’t around just for his own hobby. He, Father, loves you so much he created this whole universe for you.

186.) Now Father exposes his heart, and he makes the first move, and he hopes, he hopes that you will respond. And some of you have responded to The Obedient Church of God teaching, which applies to every jot and tittle.

187.) Now we’ve got unbroken love from Father, unbroken love from Father.

This is important. We see all through the book of Hosea unbroken love from a broken heart. God’s heart was exposed to someone who passionately pursues love of you with a broken heart.

188.) If you go to chapter 2 of Hosea, verse 11, you will see that she was a disobedient brat. She is a disobedient brat and she forgot Father, but he still has a plan for such disobedient children.

189.) By the way children who get stoned to death for their disobedience of shooting other children and shooting their parents, and shooting their adults, shooting people just for initiations, that they are going to come up in the second resurrection. So don’t worry about them. God’s got a plan for them. God’s got a plan for them.

190.) Now we see that Father from day one told Ephraim what shall I do to you? or Judah what shall I do to you? Your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew, it goes away, Hosea 6:4.

191.) So you’re dealing, men are dealing treacherously with God’s covenant, Hosea 6:7. And Father still loves you. Verse 11 says, “…when I returned the captivity of my people.”

192.) Verse 1 of chapter 7 of Hosea says, “When I would have healed Israel…” Father would have healed Israel if Israel would have allowed him, but Israel wouldn’t allow Father.

193.) When you are baptized, you have to allow Father. You have to allow Father to heal you. Allow Father to heal you.

194.) Now we want you to know Father’s heart, if you read Hosea 8-11, the turmoil of Father’s heart. The turmoil Father has to go through.

195.) And yet he’s still got a plan for you. Father loves you since you were a child. It goes way back, way back. So when you get baptized, you have a fresh start.

196.) Here’s how you can see Father’s heart in Verse 8 of Chapter 11(of Hosea).

“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?...My heart turns within me. My sympathy is stirred.”

197.) So this is Father’s emotions. My, God’s heart churns within side God, his heart is churning. God’s sympathy is stirred. That is what God is like. His sympathy is stirred, stirred-up. His sympathy is active. And his heart is hurt for you. It’s hurting for you. His heart churn, churns within him.

198.) So we’ve got to realize that Father wants to have you and your love. And you want to be doing your best. And the only way you can do your best is through The Obedient Church of God.

199.) I wasn’t going to tell you this story, but I might as well tell you this story now. There was a man who was in the country and had to walk to a creek to get water. He had to walk to a creek to get water. So he had to carry this giant pot with him to get water from the creek.

200.) One day he noticed a crack in the pot as he was carrying the water from the creek. By the next month the crack grew bigger and bigger and bigger. Finally, the pot that he was carrying said to the man, “You have to replace me. I’m a crack-pot, and I’m losing half of your water. I’m losing half of your water.”

201.) Well, the man said to the pot, “God forbid, Yes, you are a cracked-pot, but look at all the flowers you are watering along the walk way, along the path. As you spill your water, the flowers are being watered. The flowers are growing. There are more people out there seeing the beauty of the creation because the beauty of the creation is expanding.

202.) “Yes, you are a cracked-pot, but I am not going to replace you.”

203.) Here’s the point: God uses cracked-pots. In fact, God had bought up all of the cracked-pots with the thirty pieces of silver. Remember the “potter’s field?” The priests didn’t know what to do with the thirty pieces of silver that Judas had thrown down. So they bought a “potter’s field” with the silver. What was in the potter’s field? Answer. All of the cracked pots. You and I are the “cracked-pots.”

204.) You and I are the “potter’s field” that Yeshua had bought up with his life, with the thirty pieces of silver and the rabbis had bought up a field of cracked-pots , the “potter’s field.” So now you know the significance of the potter’s field.

Now you know the significance of the cracked-pots.

205.) If you are going for baptism, it’s not because you are perfect, but because you wish to become perfect. It is not of your righteousness, but God’s because you have never been perfect before. And you have got to be forgiven all your past sins. So even if you become perfect,

206.) Bear Note: Even if you were to become perfect, that still would not pay for your past sins, and you would be dead. Like Rover, you’d be dead, dead, dead for your past sins.

207.) So God loved us enough that he adopted us as his children, even though we are a bunch of cracked-pots, and that we are all broken in some way. And that proves you are one on Father’s because you are a cracked-pot, and that you will heal, and that he will set up right, and that was the price of his son, his son paid. His son’s life bought up all of the cracked-pots.

208.) So Father has embarked upon a plan of taking among all of the cracked-pots and putting them back together, and giving you a sense of worth. And knowing that Father went to all this effort for you, you will know that you are valuable to him.

209.) And only a select few, only a few enter in there now. There are few that enter his kingdom now. Very few. Broad is the way, narrow is the path. Few that find it.

210.) If you desire a greater relationship, a closer relationship and friendship with Father, God’s greatest desire is that he sees you as a special gift, that you are his special treasure, and he longs to have a closer relationship with you.

211.) More than anything he wants to have an intimate love relationship with you. Even friendship with you. He wants to spend time with you, even on new moon day. Now, ironically, the Sabbath is new moon day. We are discussing Father’s characteristics.

212.) We started out these services in saying that Father was not mean in turning Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt because she was totally unrepentant. She couldn’t be restored. The only kindest thing Father could do was to put her out of her misery.

213.) Back on to ending the service, a good ending here is that with the sacrifice of God’s son that is applied at baptism, is that you can be one of his, his special treasure that he has been calling you all of his life. More than anything he wants to have an intimate relationship with you as you follow him.

214.) He has created this whole world, this whole universe, this whole universe in order for you to have a relationship with him. If he wanted an automaton or a robot, he could easily made you a robot, made you into a robot.

215.) But he has gone to all this trouble so he can develop an intimate love and devotion and for you to grow in his love and devotion and to have an abundant life and to have a powerful relationship with Father. So you are the special treasure. You’ve got to show yourself approved by God. You’ve got to show yourself approved by God.

216.) We want you to know The Obedient Church of God loves Father and Yeshua more than anything else in the world. And we will travel any distance, go up any hill, go up any mountain in order to have a relationship with Yeshua and Father. And we don’t let anything stand in that way, no man, no friend, no human being.

217.) And we count ourselves dead to sin, but alive to righteousness, Romans 6:11. That’s supposed to be your orientation to count yourself dead to sin, but alive to righteousness.

218.) Now regarding baptism, Jesus had his priorities right.

219.) Bear Note: Did you know Jesus walked over thirty miles in order to be baptized by John? Jesus walked over thirty miles in order to be baptized by John.

220.) Now there is a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Once you are baptized, hands are laid on you giving the Holy Spirit, hands laid on your head. What had happened with Jesus, He was led by the Spirit, and his whole life had changed.

221.) So remember, when you get baptized, your life will start changing for the better, little by little, little by little as you end your old way of life. You now understand more, your knowledge will be increasing little by little, little by little, every day and every way until you become the full measure of Christ.

222.) And you’ve got to trust in God’s faithfulness that he will never leave and he will never forsake you. And he will fill you up with oil. He will fill you up with oil.

Oil is the doctrines of God so you can teach others the correct ways.

223.) Remember that narrow gate. Enter through the narrow gate. That’s Matthew 7:13-14. “Small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few found it.” Only a few found it.

224.) Now God’s way appears to be harder at the beginning, but as you live that way for a year, you’ll find it becomes second-nature to you. As you live the feast, going to the feast three times a year, you’ll find it becomes second nature to you.

225.) And you’ll find you aren’t anything like the world. You don’t want to be anything like the world. You realize that you are a new creation, totally different from the world.

226.) So you are choosing God’s way, and by choosing God’s way, you are worshipping only him, and only his practices. Only God’s practices. Now we want all of the success for you, all of the new, all of the people that are getting baptized

and we are going to promise you that we will fill you up with oil.

227.) We will fill you up with oil as a metaphor so you can be one of the faithful virgins whose light does not flicker out.

228.) Once you are baptized, you can’t have your light flickering out. That’s happened to so many that I’ve seen in The Obedient Church of God associates. When push comes to shove, they want their own way. They don’t want the Bible’s way. So they are going to let their light flicker out because they don’t want to walk every jot of Father’s way.

229.) Now it’s going to get rougher in the world. Things are going to get rougher in the world, tougher in the world.

* * *

230.) Now maybe I should tell you something about what’s going to happen. Now I put this on to the end because we had to turn our new moon day service into partially on baptism because that was what was necessary for people to be preparing for the next two weeks before they are baptized on April 6^th.

231.) So let’s give you something of what is going on in the world so that you can understand what is going on in the world.

232.) You are hearing on the news right now of this terrible, terrible atrocity:

21 men, women, and children, “WHOLE FAMILIES” deliberately gunned down by an American soldier who went house to house. He went from one house to another killing the children, killing everyone in the houses. The body count was 17 in American newspapers, and 21 in Arabian papers.

233.) Why? Is it an accident? Is it the act of a lone individual?

Answer. No. There are accounts that there were many soldiers with him. But let me give you the gestalt so you can understand what is going on in the world.

234.) This part of the plan of the “shadow government” to foment hatred between the Arab nations and the Anglo-Saxon white nations in order to bring in the New World Order. They want to foment a war between the Arabs and America in order to bring in the New World Order.

235.) So let me give you the facts: 16-17-21 killed this time. What else happened recently?

All the Korans that were in the Army Base were burned. They burned the Korans. They know better than that. They did it deliberately to foment the hatred so they could get World War I I I started. What else did they do?

236.) They bombed a wedding party a year or so ago, killing the bride and the bridegroom and killing 90 guests of the wedding.

237.) What else did they do?

They showed pictures of the soldiers urinating on the dead fallen soldiers of the other side.

238.) Folks, they are deliberately, deliberately doing this in order to bring in the King of the South and to get all the Arabs to rise up. They know exactly what they are doing.

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239.) The closing hymn is “Blessed and Happy is the Man,” on page 115.

240.) The closing prayer is by Lawrence A. Nowell