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sermonette: A Snapshot of the Millennium

Cody Ford
Given 17-Oct-26; Sermon #1897s; 17 minutes

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Title of this message is Snapshot of the Millennium. And I've had this topic on my mind for months and months. Then at the feast, seemingly every message spoke of it. And now I'm ready to share my findings with you because my concept of it was, was quite murky until I experienced the feast. My goal is to take it down to a relatable level and make some sense of things for the young folk, and Maybe people like me who up until a few days ago did not quite understand it clearly. So, now that we are back to the grind in the real world, Uh, I hope you'll find this encouraging. So, what is the millennium? Millennium simply means 1000 year period, and this is the period immediately following Christ's return. We're all hoping this occurs sooner rather than later. 5 years from now or possibly 50 or more, we just do not know. Only God the Father knows. Christ will return to crush the beast and the false prophet. He will then establish his kingdom here on Earth. It will be a time of peace, knowledge, and prosperity. But what will become of us? Those of us who are baptized into his family will be changed into spirit beings instantly. And those people who have long been dead. Who were baptized will be resurrected. You can write down I Corinthians 15:51 and 52 to see that in scripture. So once that takes place, what will we be required to do? We're, we are changed into spirit beings, then, then what? Well, we will be tasked with rebuilding and reworking a vastly different Earth. Satan will be locked away for 1000 years, unable to interfere in our lives. However, the Earth will be much different. Earthquakes, war, and destruction will have reshaped it. There'll be a very involved cleanup of the earth required. Please jot down Isaiah 61:4 to see that in scripture. And we will turn previously desolate land into something that mirrors the Garden of Eden that is shown in Ezekiel 36:33. Through verse 36. It'll be a time of peace with no place for violence. Isaiah 11:6 states, The wolf also should dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together. And a little child shall lead them. It doesn't look like hunting is allowed, so that's going to be a downside for some of us. God's kingdom will be based here. We will have his support. But we will have tasks. The new living translation says in John 5:17. My father is always working, and so am I. Work will not stop because we live in a peaceful era. So, What are our roles going to be? Immediately following Christ's return, there will be a few urgent matters to take care of. As many as a billion people will have survived the Great Tribulation, and widespread destruction will need to be cleared away in order to build places to live, farm, and raise livestock. The millennium will be primarily an agricultural society. Please check out Isaiah 65:21-22 to see that. From what I can tell, there'll be no electricity or modern conveniences. Not right away anyway, we will rely on our skills that we have learned all throughout our lives. What do you do for a living? I've been thinking about my profession and the professions of all the people I know in the church and spoke to at the feast. And we are a talented bunch. Electricians, plumbers, mechanics, carpenters, builders, designers, architects. Tech people, earth movers, ministers, organizers, counselors. Landscapers, bookkeepers, accountants, and Mothers There will be babies in the millennium and a need for that highly valuable skill. Men still will not know what to do even then. Athlete's roles an athlete's role could be in teamwork and that would be highly valued. Animal husbandry Gardening and agriculture. Maybe your gardening hobby is going to pay off big. Maybe you are just a cashier. That's a skill I do not have. What I'm trying to demonstrate is that God has put you exactly where he wants you. He's placed you there. Maybe you're well off, maybe you're struggling. There is a purpose for both in the millennium. There'll be a billion people that need to be governed and counseled and taught God's way. Not sure what financial system we will have, but the experiences you are currently going through are all for a reason. There'll be no shortage of problems to solve. The survivors will need a place to live. And we will need all of those trades to clean up a destroyed world. And create, as I've said already, an agricultural society. This is shown again in Amos 9, 13, and 14. Now all this will be hopefully easier for us with a spirit mind, but with a background and how it can be done as a human. We will use all of our earthly lessons learned to govern and teach the population of the earth that survived. Now, you do not automatically receive the gift of governing men in the world. You do have to earn it. Please jot down Revelation 2:25 and 26. We are baptized into the body of Christ. We will be first in the resurrection, and it's important to be positive about that. Don't ever take your foot off the gas. You are required to grow and hold fast to God's laws your entire life. That's why you're here. That's why you're called. That's why you were baptized. You have to earn it, but also believe that you will be there in the millennium. Don't lose faith and start to consider yourself not worthy. No Get back on track and succeed. No matter what job you have, God is teaching you. How are you applying what we learned at the feast? Now your life experience is extremely important. Your technical skills are as well. But it's our spiritual growth that's most important. Since the millennium appears to be an agricultural society, we all know that now, submitting to God, your neighbor, and loving and helping each other will be paramount. We are the weak of the world. That's why we were chosen. We submit to God. We will teach the survivors these skills. Now we will have a limitless IQ, but it will be rooted primarily in God's law. will be experts in his way. You may find yourself in charge of a, a small town or maybe even a large city. And maybe our roles will tie directly to our human skill sets. Combined with the mind of Christ, we will continually improve the lives of people and teach them how to serve God. All the while helping them to farm, rebuild, and succeed in this time of plenty. Your life is for a great purpose. God would not cause you to experience all of this for no reason. At no point in the Bible did he do something for no reason. He's very efficient with his lessons. You may experience something and learn from it. And then so do 50 other people that observe it. Some of us have experienced loss, trials, financial difficulties. Some of us have experienced pleasant things, births, weddings. Anniversaries and the like. All of this will be put to good use in the millennium. The surviving population is going to be scared. Confused, frail, terrified. But we will be there to comfort them, and we will be credible doing so as we have already lived through things like this in life already. Now you might be asking yourself, How can I rebuild a city? Counsel the terrified survivors, teach them God's way, all the while being an administrator over people and things that I know nothing about. How can I provide clean water? Manage agriculture, design and build structures and provide power to them. Shouldn't God choose an experienced architect and builder that can accomplish this? Well, I want to ride John Reitenbaugh's coattails for a minute here. I was talking to a couple at the feast about my sermonette topic, and they said, 00, you gotta check out John's sermon from 2019 October 18th titled Preparing to Rule. So I checked it out and quickly realized this was a lot better than what I was thinking. So, I'm just going to quote a few parts here. Now John is explaining why we in the church are more qualified to be kings and priests in the millennium. Rather than a very skilled architect or city planner. Bear with me, it's quite a long quote. So John goes on to say here, So whether you have ever thought of it in this regard or not, you are preparing now to assist them, not with technology. Maybe that'll come down the road, but because you are learning how to live your life generously and giving. Cooperating, sharing, humbly submitting to one another, loving and serving your neighbor. Always looking for ways to defend those who are not always looking for a way to defend themselves, promote themselves, looking for power, or protecting our image. You may feel your life is small and inconspicuous. You do not make much money. You're renting a small apartment. Maybe you do not even own a car. You might even have physical handicaps, be old and feel your educational level is to be of no help to anyone. You are finding that none of these things are helping you learn to tackle the complex administrative, organizational, and personal problems that occur when thousands of people live in close proximity to each other. Those things are indeed challenging. But understand this Your situation in the church right now is preparing you to do the very things that I mentioned. Do you know why? Because the world's problems are much less complex than they seem to be on the surface. Because the nature of the problems are not understood by the overwhelming majority of people from top to bottom of society. Let me ask you a few simple questions. Do they get God? Do they have a relationship with Him? Are they trying to imitate him? Are they trying to be obedient to him? Do they worship him? Am I being plain enough? That is where the problem lies, and that is why you are here in this room right now. You are learning to rule as God would rule, as Jesus Christ would rule, not the way the world does things and not on the basis of their technology either, because that is not where the problem is. God is going right to the heart of the problem, and the problem is human nature. Self-centeredness. Those people are plenty smart enough to do the job better than we could, but their lives are going in an entirely different direction and they are headed for chaos and death. God has saved mankind, a portion of it in His church. For the very person to rule under him his way and to deal with people his way. Educating them on what is right and good. And being patient with them. Just as he is patient with you and me, just as he has been kind to you and me, just as he has been supplying to you and me what we need for our growth and understanding. End quote. Appreciate your patience there. We will know God's law front and back. However, Should we need assistance from him. We can talk to him directly. We've been training our whole lives to speak with him. That's exactly what prayer is. We're in the routine of speaking with him daily, fortifying our relationship with him. Now, right now, it's a little bit of a one-sided conversation. But in the millennium it will be a back and forth conversation with our elder brother. And we will also be able to see and speak to him face to face. This is shown in I John 3:2. Now, John Reitenbaugh goes on to ask, wouldn't architects, engineers, earth movers, water treatment managers be better to rule and rebuild? In a sense they would, but they do not know God. We are learning to emulate God right now, and the problems the survivors in the millennium will face are not so complex that we can't solve them with our former life experience. End quote. Now we are going to have many opportunities to use our memories that Richard talked about at the feast. When Christ returns, the immediate problems will be fear, sorrow, depression, thirst, hunger, anger, and confusion. You do not need an architect or an engineer for that. We'll have a full dose of God's spirit, and we can easily handle those issues. Along with the logistical ones like food and water. Cleaning up the debris and beginning to farm in the first year as far as I can tell. Now there, there may be a place for technology in the millennium. If there is, it will be done differently than how it currently is. We will not allow anything that can hurt people like chemicals in our water or Wi Fi or anything like that. It'll be done God's way. We will be kings and priests in the millennium watching over our people. Now, should someone in your flock go in the wrong direction, we will be there immediately to redirect them. Isaiah 30:21 says, Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying this is the way. Walk in it whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left. So as you return to life after the feast, try and look at it. With a different mindset. Realize that every obstacle you face is an opportunity to learn and grow. There is a lot of gravity to this since you will Since you will likely be putting those skills to work in the millennium. Now, I will read Revelation 2:25 and 26, which I asked you to jot down earlier. Verse 25 But hold fast to what you have until I come, and he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.