Here in the Remnant Fellowship we have just wrapped up an AMAZING and memorable “Feast of Tabernacles.” What we experienced in just a few short days (a four-day weekend) left us with Truths, memories, and sweet fellowship…enough to make a LIFETIME of impact on all of us! Before the Festival weekend, we talked about tips for making our time together full of “nothing but JOY!” We can gladly report that this INDEED was the case. Saints traveled from all around the world, and we had LOTS of visitors who joined us for the first time and got to experience…first-hand…the genuine love and peace and happiness that permeates this body of Christians. Friday’s daytime activities were filled with outdoor fellowship, picnics, play time for the children, hayrides, and pony rides! And GOD gave us PERFECT weather for this blessed time. Then everyone got dressed up and came back to the Sanctuary for our first Assembly of the weekend…a Friday evening filled with PRAISES in SONG! GOD’S Spirit-leading was all over the event, as Gwen put together an awesome flow of songs that were accompanied by moving video and lighting effects. Everyone was encouraged and uplifted! Check out the lineup from the Friday evening kickoff…
- Another Chance – Matt Weaver with the Band
- Eternal Flame – Miley Barcus with the Band
- Harvest Moon – Julie Radebaugh, with Miley Barcus, Jolinda Chrisman, and Larissa Ottinger on background vocals, with the Band
- Falling For You – David Martin with the Band
- All in – Michael Shamblin with the Band
- Two Hands High – Michael Shamblin with the Band
- Then we showed a Preview Video and announced the upcoming performance of the HOSANNA Symphony – coming soon…the weekend of December 13th and 14th!
- Only GOD Must Reign Alone – The Remnant Choir
- Then we featured a Preview Video…announcing that Michael’s next Viewsical, “VOICES,” is coming soon as well! Praise GOD!
- Underground Religion – Durville Patton, Robert Williams, and Terry Hagans
- Test – Michael Shamblin, Robert Williams (Vcl), and the Band
- You Amaze Me – David Martin with the Band
- Mighty Warrior King – Michael Shamblin with the Band
- BRAND NEW SONG! – Die Young – Michael Shamblin with the Band
- Gwen wrapped up the evening with a perfect conclusion and focused comments for everyone to take through the rest of the weekend – Nothing buy JOY as we praise GOD and His Son Jesus Christ!
- Covenant Of Love – Michael Shamblin with the Band – NOTE that these lyrics were re-written by both Gwen and Michael…putting the focus on GOD’S amazing offer of a Covenant relationship with those who do His will!
- Give Him Praise – Michael Shamblin with the Band
Following the last song, we continued to praise GOD as we enjoyed fellowship together around the Building and Grounds. It was a beautiful weekend! On the Sabbath, several Saints were baptized…and their testimonies were incredibly moving. More fellowship continued at the Weigh Down Building in Franklin. Both the Connection Café and Angels Armoire were open, and the lunch, shopping, and fellowship time were a blast for everyone who came. As the afternoon progressed, it was time to prepare for our Formal Sabbath Assembly, the culmination of the Festival weekend we were celebrating. The Saints came with their branches to wave in worship to GOD, praises in song were lifted high, and we enjoyed the highest of the highlights of the weekend, which revolved around Gwen’s REVELATIONAL message on that Sabbath evening, September 21st. We learned…in detail…what the “tents” and “tabernacles” are about and why they are so symbolic of what our HEARTS are to be focused on. In fact, we’ll let her words speak for themselves. Read these quotes taken from her message…
QUOTES from GWEN SHAMBLIN’S SABBATH MESSAGE – FEAST of TABERNACLES
WORDS about the JOY at our FESTIVALS…
In Leviticus 23 it says, “On the first day you are to take choice fruits from the trees and palm fronds and leafy branches and poplars and rejoice before your Lord, your God, for seven days.” Now, we are to celebrate with branches high in the air. Over the centuries, this ordained week has been known as the “Blissful Festival” for God’s people, and it is ushered in with seven days of praise and dancing and hundreds of raised branches reaching to the sky, hailing the bounty of God. NOTHING BUT JOY commanded at these festivals! Notice that God cares about your attitude towards this week of celebration. Nothing but joy! How awesome is our God that He commands us to be joyful at our Feast!!! It is such a great idea.
WORDS about the FOCUS on TENTS…the FOCUS on our CHILDREN…and WHY GOD WANTED it that way…
By why the focus on the tents? What is that all about? Mainly two things that are tied together – the temporary nature of life and dependence on God. Tents – though more substantial than the booths the Jews build today, are still fragile, temporary dwellings. These tents were a shelter from the hot sun or the cold night, yet flimsy enough to be portable so one’s total dependency had to be on God. You could not live without His help and protection. We all live in different size houses but most houses today – meeting the codes of the city, are substantial in strength. In our durable houses today, children and adults can become overly secure and tend to trust in the structure and not God to get through the night, get through the days. Children are showered with so much false security in this world. Take note that in almost every festival, if you go back and read why God asked for them, it would say “so that your children will know, so the next generation will learn, so your descendants will know.” It is about children. The festivals were primarily to teach the next generation, pass all this down, because love of God and dependence on an invisible God are profound concepts are difficult to pass down in a world of unbelief, but when you gather everybody together and you see hundreds and hundreds of people saying the same thing… it gets through to the children.
WORDS about GOD being our TRUE SHELTER, SAFE DWELLING, and REFUGE…
Isaiah 4:2-6… Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and a shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and a hiding place from the storm and the rain.” So deep, symbolic, beautiful concepts – God over each of us individually is the shade; it is a refuge; it is a hiding place; it is a safe haven, a safe dwelling in the midst of enemies or in the day of trouble. God is needed for every hour of the day, a yearly reminder of how fragile and short this life is and that we cannot survive if it centers – not everything just on God. We have to focus on God and His TABERNACLE Tent…watching the miracles from God as He supplies the manna and the sandals that miraculously did not wear out.
WORDS about how KEEPING GOD’S COMMANDMENTS is our TRUE SHELTER, PROTECTION, and SAFE PLACE…
But there is also something more; there is protection of the heart. Fearing God and keeping His commandments is our shelter – there is no safer place than being in the middle of God’s will. We have just left the Days of Awe which taught us that repentance and doing God’s will are essential to maintain the presence of God in our hearts. Then the festival of tabernacles, the festival of tents—it is now the celebration of these tents – that God would even dwell in our hearts right here and that at one time this was a filthy and evil place, but now amazingly God dwells here – the celebration of God’s Word in our hearts.
What amazing and beautiful words! And there were SO MANY MORE from this message that moved and convicted everyone. Why are we so excited about these Festivals and this messages that GOD is pouring out through Gwen? Because they are words of LIFE. They are words of GUIDANCE in these troubled times. They give us HOPE and a RELATIONSHIP with GOD and a true COVENANT to live out and pass down to our CHILDREN. These words have ETERNAL impact! And we are grateful for them. After this powerful message, we praised GOD in song again, and the fellowship, singing, and dancing continued throughout the rest of the evening. Sunday morning provided opportunities for our Fellowship Groups to gather, meet, share testimonies, and pray together…and our final Assembly for the weekend featured praises and thanks to the many Saints who helped Gwen put the weekend’s events together. This was…truly…a NOTHING but JOY weekend…led by GOD’S Spirit! Praise GOD for His Feast of Tabernacles!