1. Jon Wright 16th Oct 2005 Sukkot and Celebrations:The Church Harvest Festival

2. Why Celebrate Sukkot?Lev 23:41-42 • 41 Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths • 41 每年七月間，要向耶和華守這節七日。這為你們世世代代永遠的定例。 42 你們要住在棚裡七日；凡以色列家的人都要住在棚裡，

3. History: God had just delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. • At this time the Israelites were in the desert • They were reliant and God for all their needs • This included having drinking water: Exodus 15:22-25 • Also food (manna from heaven): Exodus 16. The manna lasted one day only except the day before Sabbath when it lasted two.

4. God still provides today. • 1 Cor 6:19-20 - He provides our physical bodies • Matt 6:11; John 6:33-35 - He provides His Word which feeds us • 1 Cor 12:7-11 - He provides spiritual gifts for the body of the Church (Jew or Otherwise) • Psalm 91:11-12 - He provides Angels to guard over us • Phil 4:19 - He provides the right thing @ the right time @ the right place ‘My God will meet all your needs’ - Jehovah-Jireh cares.

5. Sukkot is a harvest festival. • The manna was a type of harvest • God provided all the food the Israelites needed in the desert - The Lord Is Our Provider • However it was enough only for today - there was no storing for tomorrow unless it was the Sabbath • The festival is about thanking God for His provision not for the provision itself! • We need to celebrate our harvest with the Lord - this can be our income, our gifting, our time, gifts

6. Give God The Glory • Give God the glory (x3) • And He will give you, and He will give you • And He will give you, the victory • Satan the blood of Jesus is against you (x3) • So let us give God, so let us give God, • So let us give God, all of his praise

7. The Israelites wandered for 40 years in the wilderness • The trip from Egypt to the promised land should only have taken a few months • Spies were sent into the promised land, • 10 spies said they could not take it - the current inhabitants were too big/strong, • Only 2 spies said LETS GO! (Num 13) • The Israelites complained and said they’d be better off with the Egyptians (Num 14)

8. God is the God of 2nd chances • The Israelites lacked faith that God would deliver them the promised land, even tho they had seen miracles (parting of red sea, food/water etc) • God wanted to wipe them out for their contempt (Num 14:10-12) • Moses interceded for them (Num 14:13-19) • God forgave them & let them live - but refused them entry into the promised land (Num 20:6-12) but allowed their descendents to occupy the land + the two positive spies.

9. We can get stuck in our own version of 40yrs of wilderness • God left the Israelites in the wilderness for 40yrs so that a new generation would take the promised land • For some foreigners Taiwan is like their wilderness • We can not be saved without being transformed, our time of being changed can feel like we are stuck in a small booth when we’d rather be in a house

10. Real change can take time • No good praying ‘God change my circumstances’ • Need to pray ‘Lord here I am use me’ (Hebrews 10:5-9) • Many things will try to stop you from changing • And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him. 2 Cor 3:18 (The Message) • God is more concerned about how strong we grow and not how fast we grow

11. The Life Cycle Of A Butterfly

12. Bird Food!

13. Summary: Harvest Festival + Remembering 40ys of wilderness • A time to give thanks to God for all His provision, • A time to remember that God let the Israelites stay 40yrs & die in the wilderness so the next believing generation could enter the promised land • God wants our availability not our ability • Our personal time of change may feel like we are in the wilderness • Change is needed otherwise we may end up bird food!

14. Summary: Hold Onto Jer 29:11 • "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” • 耶和華說：我知道我向你們所懷的意念是賜平安的意念，不是降災禍的意念，要叫你們末後有指望。