Leviticus 23:1-2 ¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts.

What is a convocation? This is the Hebrew Word miqra (mikraw) number 4744 from the Strongs Concordance. The definition from the Strongs Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary is: Something called out, i.e. a public meeting (the act, the persons, or the place) also a rehearsal: assembly, calling, convocation, reading.

We are to proclaim these Feast days of God in Leviticus 23 as Holy Convocations or Holy Assemblies. We are to be holding them as public meetings as readings and rehearsals of things to come. Notice God starts with the Sabbath Day.

Leviticus 23:3 ³"'Six days shall work be done: but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.

God commands us to rest, but he also commands a Holy Convocation or a Holy Assembly. If you stay at home on the Sabbath and rest, you are only keeping a part of this commandment. We should be meeting each Sabbath and we should be reading from God's word and fellowshipping with his people. And that's why we are here today. And that's why we encourage those who are staying at home on the Sabbath and not meeting as God commands to start doing so. Christians need to follow what God teaches us to do through his Holy Scriptures.

Leviticus 23:33-36 ³³Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴"Speak to the children of Israel, and say, 'On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tents for seven days to Yahweh. ³⁵On the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no regular work. ³⁶Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no regular work.

We know that the Messiah replaces the sacrifices and we are still required as Christians to keep these days. Notice that the First and Last days of the Feast of Tabernacles are to be Holy Convocations. You can not stay home and properly keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

Leviticus 23:3 ³⁷"'These are the appointed feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering, and a meal offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its own day; ³⁸besides the Sabbaths of Yahweh, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to Yahweh. ³⁹"'So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days: on the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. ⁴⁰You shall take on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God seven days. ⁴¹You shall keep it a feast to Yahweh seven days in the year: it is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall keep it in the seventh month. ⁴²You shall dwell in booths seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in booths, ⁴³that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.'" ⁴⁴Moses declared to the children of Israel the appointed feasts of Yahweh.

We are supposed to be dwelling in temporary dwellings, not our homes, for the Feast of Tabernacles.

Deuteronomy 12:1-32 ¹These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth. ²You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree: ³and you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods; and you shall destroy their name out of that place. ⁴You shall not do so to Yahweh your God. ⁵But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation you shall seek, and there you shall come; ⁶and there you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock: ⁷and there you shall eat before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you. ⁸You shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever is right in his own eyes; ⁹for you haven't yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Yahweh your God gives you. ¹⁰But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety; ¹¹then it shall happen that to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Yahweh. ¹²You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your male servants, and your female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you. ¹³Take heed to yourself that you don't offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; ¹⁴but in the place which Yahweh shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. ¹⁵Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart. ¹⁶Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth as water. ¹⁷You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand; ¹⁸but you shall eat them before Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates: and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God in all that you put your hand to. ¹⁹Take heed to yourself that you don't forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land. ²⁰When Yahweh your God shall enlarge your border, as he has promised you, and you shall say, "I want to eat meat," because your soul desires to eat meat; you may eat meat, after all the desire of your soul. ²¹If the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to put his name there, is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which Yahweh has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul. ²²Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so you shall eat of it: the unclean and the clean may eat of it alike. ²³ Only be sure that you don't eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. ²⁴You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth as water. ²⁵You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh. ²⁶Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which Yahweh shall choose: ²⁷and you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of Yahweh your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your God; and you shall eat the flesh. ²⁸Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God. ²⁹When Yahweh your God shall cut off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land; ³⁰take heed to yourself that you not be ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise." ³¹You shall not do so to Yahweh your God: for every abomination to Yahweh, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods. ³²Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

We are not supposed to be consuming our 2nd tithe in the gates of our own home.

Deuteronomy 16:1-22 ¹Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you forth out of Egypt by night. ²You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. ³You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction; for you came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that you may remember the day when you came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. ⁴No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning. ⁵You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you; ⁶but at the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came forth out of Egypt. ⁷You shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose: and you shall turn in the morning, and go to your tents. ⁸Six days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Yahweh your God; you shall do no work. ⁹You shall count for yourselves seven weeks: from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to number seven weeks. ¹⁰You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give, according as Yahweh your God blesses you: ¹¹and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the foreigner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are in the midst of you, in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. ¹²You shall remember that you were a bondservant in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes. ¹³You shall keep the feast of tents seven days, after that you have gathered in from your threshing floor and from your winepress: ¹⁴and you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite, and the foreigner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates. ¹⁵You shall keep a feast to Yahweh your God seven days in the place which Yahweh shall choose; because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your increase, and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful. ¹⁶ Three times in a year shall all your males appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he shall choose: in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tents; and they shall not appear before Yahweh empty: ¹⁷every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you. ¹⁸You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. ¹⁹You shall not wrest justice: you shall not respect persons; neither shall you take a bribe; for a bribe does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. ²⁰You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live, and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you. ²¹You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Yahweh your God, which you shall make for yourselves. ²²Neither shall you set yourself up a pillar; which Yahweh your God hates.

We as Christians need to leave our homes and be attending the Feast of Tabernacles in a place where God puts his name. Sadly, many in the Churches of God have abbandoned this precious truth they once had. I have two sisters who used to keep the Feast of Tabernacles every year, but they have stopped. I have another sister who continues to hold fast to this truth and I am so thankful for her example. I have a niece and nephew from one of my sisters that used to keep the feast that wanted to come to the Feast one year, because they wanted to see what it was like. I can remember days gone by when these two children were at the Feast with their parents, but they have forgotten what it is like. That really tears me up.

Nehemiah 8:1-18 ¹All the people gathered themselves together as one man into the broad place that was before the water gate; and they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which Yahweh had commanded to Israel. ²Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. ³He read therein before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. ⁴Ezra the scribe stood on a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchijah, and Hashum, and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. ⁵Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: ⁶and Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God. All the people answered, "Amen, Amen," with the lifting up of their hands. They bowed their heads, and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground. ⁷Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stayed in their place. ⁸They read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading. ⁹Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, "This day is holy to Yahweh your God. Don't mourn, nor weep." For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. ¹⁰Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Don't be grieved; for the joy of Yahweh is your strength." ¹¹So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, "Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be grieved." ¹²All the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. ¹³On the second day were gathered together the heads of fathers' households of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, even to give attention to the words of the law. ¹⁴They found written in the law, how that Yahweh had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month; ¹⁵ and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, "Go out to the mountain, and get olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written." ¹⁶So the people went out, and brought them, and made themselves booths, everyone on the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the broad place of the water gate, and in the broad place of the gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷All the assembly of those who had come again out of the captivity made booths, and lived in the booths; for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the children of Israel had not done so. There was very great gladness. ¹⁸Also day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. They kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.

Brethren, look at what Ezra did. He read from scriptures about the Holy Days to encourage the people to keep them. That's what I hope to do today, just read from God's word and encourage his people to keep it. And in the instance we just read the people responded and kept the Feast of Tabernacles. What an inspiration. Brethren, how bad do we want to be disciples of the Messiah?

Luke 9:1-62 ⁵⁷As they went on the way, a certain man said to him, "I want to follow you wherever you go, Lord." ⁵⁸Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." ⁵⁹He said to another, "Follow me!" But he said, "Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father." ⁶⁰But Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but you go and announce the Kingdom of God." ⁶¹Another also said, "I want to follow you, Lord, but first allow me to say good-bye to those who are at my house." ⁶²But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God."

This is not a quote from me, these are quotes from your savior. "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and announce the Kingdom of God. No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God."

Matthew 10:34-42 ³⁴"Don't think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn't come to send peace, but a sword. ³⁵For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶A man's foes will be those of his own household. ³⁷He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn't worthy of me. ³⁸He who doesn't take his cross and follow after me, isn't worthy of me. ³⁹He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. ⁴⁰He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. ⁴¹He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. ⁴² Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you he will in no way lose his reward."

Are we supposed to put God's word above our families? That's what the Messiah clearly taught. Do we believe him?

Matthew 22:1-8 ¹Jesus answered and spoke again in parables to them, saying, ²"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son, ³and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come. ⁴Again he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage feast!"' ⁵But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise, ⁶and the rest grabbed his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them. ⁷When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. ⁸"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited weren't worthy.

Brethren, I don't want to be one of those that God has invited to the Wedding Feast and found to be not worthy and I don't think you do either. If we are unwilling to follow the example of our Messiah, then God will find someone else who is.

Matthew 22:9-10 ⁹Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the marriage feast.' ¹⁰Those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. The wedding was filled with guests.

John 7:1-53 ¹After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn't walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. ²Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand. ³His brothers therefore said to him, "Depart from here, and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do. ⁴For no one does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world." ⁵For even his brothers didn't believe in him. ⁶Jesus therefore said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. ⁷The world can't hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. ⁸You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled." ⁹Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. ¹⁰ But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. ¹¹The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, "Where is he?" ¹²There was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others said, "Not so, but he leads the multitude astray." ¹³ Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. ¹⁴But when it was now the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. ¹⁵The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How does this man know letters, having never been educated?" ¹⁶Jesus therefore answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. ¹⁷If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself. ¹⁸He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. ¹⁹Didn't Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?" ²⁰The multitude answered, "You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?" ²¹Jesus answered them, "I did one work, and you all marvel because of it. ²²Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. ²³If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? ²⁴Don't judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment." ²⁵Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, "Isn't this he whom they seek to kill? ²⁶Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Christ? ²⁷However we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from." ²⁸Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, "You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don't know. ²⁹I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me." ³⁰They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. ³¹But of the multitude, many believed in him. They said, "When the Christ comes, he won't do more signs than those which this man has done, will he?" ³²The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. ³³Then Jesus said, "I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me. ³⁴You will seek me, and won't find me; and where I am, you can't come." ³⁵The Jews therefore said among themselves, "Where will this man go that we won't find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? ³⁶What is this word that he said, 'You will seek me, and won't find me; and where I am, you can't come'?" ³⁷Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! ³⁸He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water." ³⁹But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn't yet glorified.

The Messiah did not stay home for the Feast of Tabernacles and we as Christians should not be staying home for the Feast of Tabernacles. We as Christians are firstfruits who will be resurrected at the return of the Messiah and help teach the world to follow God's ways.

Zechariah 14:1-21 ¹⁶It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, and to keep the feast of tents. ¹⁷It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn't go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain. ¹⁸If the family of Egypt doesn't go up, and doesn't come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tents. ¹⁹This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tents.

The Feast of Tabernacles points to the Future and we as firstfruits of the Messiah should be able to see that and yearn for that. Imagine you are at the Feast of Tabernacles in the Milleniah and some of the people come up to you, knowing you are a Firstfruit and ask you, "What was it like keeping the Feast of Tabernacles in your day?" Are you going to look at them with a blank stare and say, "Well, I don't really know myself, because I stayed home." Can't you just hear them saying, "What, stayed home?! If we stay home now, we get no rain and the plague. We didn't know about it before, but you did. How could you have just stayed home when you understood about the Feast of Tabernacles?"

I'm not up here trying to put anyone down for what they did in the past. The past is over and you can't change it. God wants us as his children to look to the Future and that's what we as Christians should focus on. Let's determine today, while we have time to prepare that we are going to make every effort to attend the Feast of Tabernacles. Let's start today setting aside our 2nd tithe so we will have the means to get us to the Feast. Let's start today looking for where God is placing his name where we can attend and rejoice before our Maker. Brethren, don't let another year go by where you miss the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles is not a burden or a curse. The Feast of Tabernacles is one of the greatest blessings God has given to his people, for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.