Warm hellos once again friends, brethren, fellow laborers, spiritual family, and scattered children of God from here on the Gulf Coast of lower Alabama. My wife and I pray and hope this finds you doing well, and that again your week has been blessed.

We’re back home and were blessed on this trip to spend time with our daughter, son in law, and grandchildren for several days. We were also able to visit my mother and scattered brethren in Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota.

It’s good to be back home, but the time always seems to pass too quickly.

I wanted to mention that this weekly Friday evening letter not only goes out in English to scattered brethren we serve in the U.S. and Canada but also in Spanish to small congregations and brethren worldwide. As God blesses us, we continue to respond and communicate regularly with more and more who are hungry for the truth and wish to remain connected to His Body, the church of God.

In a short few weeks many of us will be traveling to a festival site or other location that is a significant distance away from our homes to observe His Feast of Tabernacles. My wife and I look forward to being with many of you in Orange Beach, Alabama again this year.

Each year we examine the instructions that directed the Israelites to “dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths” (Leviticus 23:42). These booths (or huts) were made from branches as described in V.40. The huts (transliterated sukkah from the Hebrew) were obviously very temporary in nature. This instruction was directed to the native born Israelites in particular.

I’d also like you to notice where it says “You shall dwell in booths for seven days” is a commandment found in the Bible, specifically in verses 34 to 42. Six times in 9 consecutive short verses it is quite clear when it says “7 days”. Over the years I’ve heard most of the arguments where some claim one only needs to attend one Holy Day or just the Holy Days and work the rest as to not lose their job. It simply doesn’t say or even imply that.

We also observe that God provided for non-Israelites to observe the Passover if their males were circumcised. Then they were in a way considered as part of the congregation. (Exodus 12:43-48) “One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you” (Exodus 12:49).

Getting back to the instructions in Leviticus, we notice the follow up to the instructions we read in Leviticus 23:42. ”That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 23:43)

It was the Lord who freed them and led them out of Egypt by signs and wonders. It was not Moses as some attempt to teach. And they also did not do this on their own! God allowed them to be tested and humbled. I can only imagine how that must have felt each day. He led them on the way and yet exposed them to tests and trials (the Red Sea crossing, going without water, encountering the bitter waters of Marah, etc.) as they traveled. They transported some kind of portable tent or enclosure to live in as they made their way along the journey to the Promised Land. Notice the overview that Moses gives of their journeys and experiences just before that generation crosses the Jordan into the land of Canaan.

“And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)

God wanted to impress the lesson on them (and on you and me) that if they wanted to partake of the promised future blessings, then they needed to humble themselves, demonstrate obedience, and move along the journey in faith in God’s direction. Proverbs 3:5-6 is a good reminder. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” They needed to accept His will at all times.

This lesson of faith was learned by those listed in the “Faith Chapter”. Notice the overview of those persons of faith. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13)

So, you and I both dwell in temporary dwellings during the Feast of Tabernacles and also daily while we live in these earthly fleshly bodies.  So many try at all costs to hold on to this physical body, forgetting that the spiritual is where our focus should be. We must stay focused on the future and that future dwelling, “a better, that is, a heavenly country” and trust in God’s promise that He has “prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:16) We journey on and forward, not giving up, and enduring to the end (Matthew 10:22, 24:13), realizing this life is indeed very temporary.

I hope as we count the days up to the Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day that we will study, dig deeply, and seek the spiritual significance of what our Lord desires of us to see and understand.

Again, use these days well my friends…for indeed these times remind us we are one day closer to the return of our Lord and Master and the King of Kings. Observing the upcoming Feast of Tabernacles (one of the Feasts of the Lord) will also remind us of this on a daily basis for those 7 days.

Arms up friends! Our sincere prayers and thoughts are with you daily. Thanks in advance for your heartfelt prayers for us.