Sukkot Series Week 3： Sukkoth Builds Grit

In one paragraph

Week three of Tribe's Sukkot series, preached by Pastor Brian, focused on why this feast matters enough that scripture says even the enemies of Jerusalem will observe it during Jesus' earthly reign. The sermon introduced the idea that Sukkot, as a feast that follows the threshing and the pressing, is designed to build grit, defined as passion and perseverance toward a goal despite significant...

Read together

1. Zechariah 14:6 nations including former enemies will come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Sukkot during Jesus' earthly reign
2. Zechariah 14:17 any nation that refuses to celebrate Sukkot will receive no rain
3. Zechariah 14:1-2 the day of the Lord coming, Jerusalem's possessions plundered, nations gathered to fight, city taken and people taken captive
4. Deuteronomy 16:13-15 command to celebrate the feast of shelters for seven days after harvest, including all people, with complete joy
5. Ezekiel 20:35-38 God will bring Israel into the wilderness of the nations and judge them face to face, purging rebels
6. Jeremiah 31:2 those who survive the sword will find favor in the wilderness and God will come to give rest to Israel
7. Revelation 12:6 the woman fled into the wilderness where God prepared a place to care for her for 1,260 days
8. Revelation 12:14 the woman given two wings like an eagle to fly to a place in the wilderness, protected from the dragon
9. Matthew 24:15-21 warning about the abomination of desolation, those in Judea fleeing to the hills, and the coming great tribulation
10. Luke 21:20-24 Jerusalem surrounded by armies, those in Judea fleeing, days of God's vengeance, Jerusalem trampled by Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles ends
11. Daniel 11:32 people who know their God will be strong and resist the antichrist figure
12. John 16:33 Jesus said hard things happen in this life
13. Acts 2 Peter quoting Joel at Pentecost, connecting Old Testament prophecy to a contemporary event

What was said

• Read Zechariah 14 and Deuteronomy 16:13-15 on your own this week and note what you see about the feast of Sukkot and the return of Jesus.
• Build or set up a simple outdoor shelter, even just an awning or a spot in the backyard, and spend some time in it away from your phone during the week of October 9 as a small, practical act of dwelling in discomfort.
• Pray specifically for Israel each day during Sukkot week, remembering that God has not forgotten her and that hard days lie ahead for her people.
• Pick up a copy of Night by Elie Wiesel or When Jesus Returns by David Pawson and begin reading it slowly this week to build a deeper understanding of what Brian has been teaching.
• When something uncomfortable or hard comes up this week, pause and treat it as a deliberate opportunity to build grit rather than something to avoid.

Talk about it

1. Brian described the feast of Sukkot as God's feast rather than a Jewish feast, saying the Israelites were simply 'the first ones that showed up at the party.' What does it change for you, if anything, to think of it that way?
2. Brian read Zechariah 14 and noted that even the enemies of Jerusalem will come to celebrate Sukkot during Jesus' earthly reign, with consequences for any nation that refuses. What is your honest reaction to that picture of Jesus as king?
3. Brian asked two diagnostic questions: how much are you seeing the return of Jesus in your own Bible reading, and how much does the Maranatha message resonate with you even if you can't ground it in scripture yet. Where did you land on each of those, and what is the gap between them telling you?
4. Grit was defined as passion and perseverance toward a goal despite significant obstacles, having less to do with talent and more to do with relentless determination. Brian said grit is built by repeatedly confronting and overcoming challenges, not something anyone is born with. Where in your life right now is there an opportunity to lean into that kind of development rather than avoid it?
5. Brian closed by saying the feast of Sukkot is meant to help us rehearse the days ahead, remember Israel, and build grit. Of those three, which feels most foreign to how you have thought about a church observance before, and why?