Be Alert

The title of today's sermon is The Alert. The Alert. But hopefully this will be encouraging, not scary. Because when we look at what's going on, the spirit in the world is changing. The attitude in the world is changing. We can see it. Those of us who have gray hair remember the world was not always this violent, and it's getting increasingly more violent. There's a stubbornness and an unwillingness to yield in the Ukraine. The Ukraine produces so much food that it produces food and supplies food for Europe. And Russia wants it. And now they're taking it. And the West is resisting but not trying to get them to stop, but they won't stop. I don't want to comment too much on the Palestinian situation. Hamas does not seem to want peace at all. They want the destruction of Israel. If you've ever heard President Bill Clinton—I know that's a blast from the past. Bill Clinton was many years ago, decades ago, but he tried to make a deal with Hamas, with then Yasser Arafat. And he offered an amazing deal that the current Israeli Prime Minister would never accept. But the then Israeli Prime Minister did accept, which was giving them land in the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip, and part of Jerusalem itself to go to a Palestinian state. And Yasser Arafat backed out of the deal. Land is not what they want, so I don't want to comment too much. The people are definitely suffering. But it is both inflicted by Israel and a self-inflicted suffering. So enough said. But the point is, it's just becoming so violent. Israel attacked—is it Qatar? I don't know how you pronounce it. Qatar. It's pronounced in the back of the throat in Arabic, so it doesn't matter how you pronounce it, you're going to get it wrong. The Arab world's many Arab countries have gotten together and promised to retaliate against Israel. That is their way. I can see that ramping up very, very soon.

We've had the shooting of Charlie Kirk. We had the murder of that poor Ukrainian woman on the train. Not to mention the school shootings that are increasing. I mean, it used to be shocking. Another school shooting, and then a couple years later, another. Now it's just coming so much more rapidly, and we're living in an increasingly violent world. So what do we do? Well, we watch. Jesus said to watch, so everybody starts watching, and we start predicting when Jesus will return. And that's not what we're supposed to watch. The Feast of Trumpets pictures the day of the Lord, a time when God steps in and puts a fierce stop to the world's evils. An end to man's wicked rule on this earth. And in Matthew 25, in verse 13, Jesus said, watch therefore, and know you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. A lot of people read that and think, well, I need to watch so that I will know when the Son of Man is coming. That is not the reason for the warning. Is Jesus telling Christians, living in many centuries between his first and second coming, that they're supposed to constantly analyze world events in a never-ending search for the sign of his imminent return? If so, why does he say this later? Let's turn to with me, if you will, to Acts chapter 1 in verse 7. Acts chapter 1 and verse 7. Is it for you to watch the signs to know when Jesus will return?

Telling you today, that's a distraction from what you're supposed to watch. Acts chapter 1 verse 7. It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority. That's not going to change. I don't care how smart you think you are. I'm sure you're a lot smarter than me. That's irrelevant. You're not smarter than the Father. And that's the point.

He explicitly says that the time of his arrival is not ours to know.

You could literally walk off the stage now, and the point is proven, but I'm going to give you more. I'll give you more details. Jesus is actually talking about something quite different than watching world events. However, I'm going to tie world events into this, because watching what's going on in world events does prompt us to watch what we're supposed to be watching. What is the Christian response when we see the elevated violence that we have seen in the world? Let's break it down to you and me. What are we supposed to do when we see almost a civil war in the United States over ideology? So much so that our current president was shot at once, actually shot once, during the campaign, and then they stopped another attempt before it, you know, they actually shot at him on a golf course like a week later.

And then Charlie Kirk was violently killed. And it is this war going on in the United States over ideology, no longer a war of words. The cancel culture has gotten out of control.

When we see those things, what are you and I supposed to do? What are we supposed to think? What are those signs of the times supposed to remind us to watch?

He does, Jesus, in another context, chide the Pharisees for not being able to discern the times in which they live. So he did tell us to watch world news. He did tell us to pay attention to the violence in the world and all the things that are going on. When they say, peace, peace, and there's no peace, and we won't get into that, but we are supposed to watch those things. Yes, but that's not what Jesus means when he says to watch. It's far more personal when he uses that word watch. He makes it clear in Luke 21 and verse 36. Luke 21 verse 36, he says, watch, same word, therefore and pray always, that you, you personally, may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and stand before the Son of Man. Watch whether or not you are worthy to stand before the Son of Man. What do these things prompt us to be alert about? Your Christian qualifications.

As it says in Colossians, don't be disqualified. Jesus tells his disciples to be alert, watchful, that their own attitudes, their behavior, and their character is always godly, that we must always be spiritually prepared for his coming.

Whether or not you're good with prophecy, whether or not you're going to know when Jesus Christ is going to return, because I've got a hint for you, we just read it in Acts chapter 1, you're not going to know. He comes as a thief in the night. You're not going to know.

We must always be spiritually prepared for his coming. Why? Because we won't know, no matter how carefully we observe the world events, neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming, will we know. His point is always be ready inside, personally.

When you see something like the assassination of the young Charlie Kirk, you feel sickened, and you feel like personally mourning a loss, most likely. But then does that prompt you to say, we're getting close, am I ready? Do I yield myself to God's spirit? Do I still resist God? Do I still give into temptation? Do I still do whatever I want to do?

That is what the signs of the times are supposed to make us think, to watch our spiritual condition. The main words used in the New Testament for watch are phalu-keh, or phala-keh, which is the divisions of the nights and days in guard's duty, or gregorio, and it's gregorio that we were reading, and it means to stay awake or alert. But stay awake or alert to what? So many people I have seen in the church be alert to the king in the north versus the king of the south. Who's the beast power going to be? Will the false prophet come from a particular church, or will the false prophet come from a conglomeration of different churches? And all of these things that distract from your personal alertness, their definition of the word gregorio is to watch metaphorically to give strict attention to. So Jesus isn't just saying, take a soft gander. If you have a little bit of time, pay a little attention to your spiritual condition. He's saying, pay strict and close attention to your readiness. Your readiness. Take heed, according to Thayer, through remission and less through remission and indolence. Some destructive calamity suddenly overtake you, spiritually speaking. A closer examination of the Greek word gregorio, which is translated into the English watch, makes this even clearer. Its primary meaning is to keep awake. In other words, if you've drifted off in your obedience to God, like we heard, let's just take the sermonette and appointments. Have you drifted off with the appointments set by God before any of us in this room were born? The appointments in Leviticus 23, the weekly Sabbath, the Holy Days, you know, is the Feast of Tabernacles a vacation we've heard for the past three years from our former president. Feast of Tabernacles is not a vacation. It's fun. We're rejoicing. We're having a great time. But don't skip services so you can go to Disneyland or World or whatever it might be. Dollywood. I've heard that's really good. I need to go there someday. You were to pay close attention to, am I doing what God said to do?

Am I controlling my alcohol?

Am I being kind to others, giving preference to other people? The tough things in Christianity. Am I standing up for God, even at personal costs?

These are the questions we are to strictly be alert, not sort of pay attention once in a while. The things we see in the world are to make us wake up to ourselves. Keep awake. Spiritually alert. Vigilant. We get that from Vine's expository, by the way. Under the heading of wake, Vine describes the meaning of that vigilance and expectancy as contrasted with laxity and indifference. And laxity and indifference is warned in Revelation chapter 3 of the end-time church.

They think they're rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing, and they become lax.

And you know what? With COVID that hit us, and this cancel culture, and not being able to say, this is right and this is wrong, because it might offend somebody else.

We have become lax.

I'm not talking about San Antonio and Austin only. I'm talking about the greater church of God.

We have become less self-reflective.

Jesus uses this word, Gregorio, in the sense of emphasizing the importance of staying spiritually awake and alert as always being ready to enter the kingdom of God regardless of when he returns. So, in other words, our attitude should be, would I be ready to enter the kingdom of God if I died tomorrow?

That's our attitude. That's Gregorio.

In other words, don't be indifferent to your own spiritual growth, your obedience. Wake up!

What's our spiritual poppy? Prayer and Bible study.

Overcoming temptations that so easily ensnare us. The apostles used this word, Gregorio, in the same manner. Peter writes in 1 Peter 5, in verse 8. I won't take time for, I'm sorry, to your note takers. It's going to be a terrible sermon for note takers, so I'm going too quickly. 1 Peter 5, in verse 8, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. That word, be vigilant. Gregorio, same word Jesus used. Be vigilant. Stay alert.

Notice how Jesus contrasts watching the sleeping, watching with sleeping. He says in Mark 13, Mark 13, verse 35 and 36, Mark 13, verse 35, watch. Remain spiritually awake and vigilant. Watch, therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming. Again, he tells you, you don't know when he's coming.

That is not your focal point. When you focus on something that's not your focal point, you're not focusing on the right thing, because a human being can only focus on one thing.

There's something in the human eye called a fovea. How many of you know what the fovea is? Of course, the doctors do. Yeah. It's a little dip in your retina at the very back of your eye. It's a little indentation. It's very tiny. And the fovea is the only area of focus in the human eye. Everything else is out of focus, and it's your peripheral vision. And the size of your fovea, if you take your hands and put them together and put two thumbs up, that's about the size of your focus. And that is the only thing your eye can focus on at one time. It's a good analogy for our spiritual site. Everything else is out of focus. So what a human eye does, like to read, for example, or to, like, say, read a billboard, is you focus on the most dramatic thing that catches your eye. Where does your eye go next? Everything that's out of focus is giving you clues on where you should look next in your eye. So you actually look at a billboard when you're driving down the road, one little piece of that billboard at a time. And your eye moves across that billboard and focuses on different things. And that's why sometimes, if a billboard isn't properly, you know, if they don't know what they're doing and they try to put too much information on it, you're going to drive past that billboard before you can read what's on the billboard. How many times have you driven by... I don't need a show of hands, but how many times have we driven by a billboard and not been able to read everything on the billboard? And I think, wow, I didn't think I was that slow of a reader. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the fact your eye can only focus on one little thing at a time. So, if you're focused on world news and prophecy and what's going on in politics and Trump and all the opposition to Trump, Fox News, Fox News, Fox News, and you're not focused on, am I keeping my appointments with God? Am I overcoming temptation? Am I treating my brother with kindness? Am I overcoming the old me inside?

And you're focusing on the wrong thing.

And you're going to drive right past that proverbial billboard and not see what's written on it. On the night before he was crucified, Jesus and his disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane.

And here he contrasts falling asleep with his disciples for the need to stay fully awake and alert so that they can pray for strength and not be tempted. Because he knew what was about to happen. They weren't so sure. But his focus was on point. Matthew 26 verse 38, he said, then he said to them, my soul is exceedingly starful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me. Brethren, I suggest he's still inviting us to do that.

After he went back, more times to pray, it says in verse 40, he came to the disciples and found them asleep. Okay, they messed up. They didn't watch. They relaxed a little bit. They got a little sleepy. And they nodded off. I've been there. I've done that. I've been on the phone with my brother who likes to talk and fallen asleep and woken back up. He was still talking.

Have you ever nodded off? What did Jesus do when they nodded off? Oh, he called fire down from heaven, didn't he? No, he didn't do that extreme. But he didn't say, oh, it's okay. You young pups were just tired. No, it was somewhere in the middle, wasn't it? He was restrained. He was reserved. But he was serious.

Verse 40, he came to the disciples and found them asleep. And Peter said, what? Could you not watch? Remain awake. With me one hour? Watch. In other words, wake up and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. Notice he didn't condemn them, but he did prod them. And that's what he's doing when he says, watch. He's not condemning you. He's encouraging you. But he's doing it in a serious way.

Stop taking your life so lackadaisical. Oh, it's the same thing week after week, year after year.

What am I going to buy for groceries this week and this and that and the other thing? And we don't really spend enough time on our spiritual walk, on our spiritual maturity, on our self-examination. Yes, we're to do that throughout the year, not just to Passover time, by the way, just FYI. It's our focus. It's what we're supposed to watch. We'll often watch read and be ready and think watching world events. And spiritual laxness is what Jesus and the apostles were warning us of. Notice he said, lest you enter into temptation, falling into your own desires in your head. When things get scary, we naturally seek comfort. We look for our desires to comfort us, and sin is nearby. When we get bored, what happens when we get bored? We naturally seek comfort, and sin is nearby. When we get stressed, or too busy, or overwhelmed, what happens? We naturally seek comfort. So we look to our desires, and our comfort, and sin is nearby. You get the point? Jesus is saying, don't let your desire for comfort put you to sleep. He said in verse 41, pray unless you fall into temptation. That's what he's talking about when he says, watch. It's your temptations that pull you away from being ready for his coming. Not your lack of knowledge of today's news events. Are you supposed to watch the news? Yes. Why watch the news? To help you stay alert? To watch? Are you overcoming your temptations? Some people think watching the news is to figure out when Jesus Christ is going to return. You're not going to know that. You are not going to figure that out. Why do I say that so dogmatically? Because Jesus did. But what you can know is whether or not you are falling asleep on the job. Most people's interest in prophecy is usually focused on the time. Time. When Jesus Christ will come and destroy the system, the Bible refers to the Babylon the Great. And it's all about time.

Watching the clock tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. His return is going to be awesome. Yes. I'm looking forward to that time, too. When His return will end the era of Satan's domination over world affairs. And Jesus is going to usher in a new era of peace and righteousness under a government run by Himself when He establishes His Father's kingdom. That time proceeding that we're supposed to watch for will not be pleasant.

So please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying don't watch world news because it doesn't matter. I'm saying watch world news because it's supposed to remind you to stay spiritually awake. I'm simply trying to shift our focus on why we're supposed to pay attention to the signs of the times. I'm not saying don't pay attention to the signs of the times. I hope that's clear. Jesus explains in Matthew 24, the Olivet prophecy, Matthew 24, when you understand that, you have the framework for all other prophecies. It's like the outline of the future that you can put all of the major prophets, minor prophets, Daniel and Revelation, all into Matthew 24. And Jesus says in Matthew 24 verse 21, For then there will be a great tribulation, such as not been since the beginning of the world, until this time no, nor ever shall be. Should you watch for that? Oh, yes. Yes, you should. Why?

So you will be ready. The desire for Christ to return and the intense interest in those events that will precede his return make prophecies relating to this period of time the most talked about prophecies in the Bible, in and out of the church.

Luke chapter 21, a parallel to Matthew 24 verse 20.

Luke 21 verse 20, But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you know desolation is near. This first happened in 70 AD. The Romans destroyed the temple in much of the city at that time, and Jerusalem is once again going to be surrounded by armies. The thing that happened in 70 AD was a prototype. And we know that for sure, and I'll show you that in just a second. But what happened in 70 AD was the devastation of Jerusalem. And it began a specific time. Actually, it didn't begin a specific time. Nebuchadnezzar began a specific time. We'll get to that. The location of... Let's just move down. Speaking of that same time, we're going to go through Luke 21 a little bit later, but I'm going to take a side trip out of Luke 21. We're going to go to Zechariah. Just a little side trip from Luke 21, then we're going to come back to Luke 21. So let's go to Zechariah 14. Zechariah 14 verse 1. We're going to just read about this time period when Jerusalem will be surrounded. And we're going to see from Zechariah that what happened in 70 AD was not the fulfillment of this prophecy. It was a prototype. Here's the fulfillment. Zechariah 14 verse 1. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and the spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all nations to battle against Jerusalem. We can read this in the book of Revelation. We're not going to. The city shall be taken, the houses rifled, the women ravished, half the city will go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then, see this didn't happen in 70 AD. In 70 AD, the entire city was surrounded, and whoever was in didn't get out. In this particular case, half the city gets out. It's a different event. Verse 3. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle. And in that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley. Half the mountain shall move towards the north, half shall move to the south. Then you shall flee through my mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach the Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Aziah, the king of Judah. We know this is going to happen in the future at the time of Christ's return, because the Mount of Olives did not split in two in 70 AD. Okay? So, half the city did not get out in 70 AD, and the Mount of Olives did not split in two in 70 AD. And that is going to happen. Continuing on, verse 5. Last part of verse 5. Thus the Lord my God will come, and all the saints with you, describing the return of Jesus Christ, and it shall come to pass in that day that there shall be no light. The lights will diminish. It shall be one day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time it shall happen that it will be light. And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half towards the eastern sea and half towards the western sea. In both the summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth, and in that day the Lord is one, and his name is one. So we took a side trip there just to look at and notice that this has yet to be fulfilled. Now let's go back to Luke 21. Still speaking of that same time period of Christ's return, Luke 21 and verse 21. Let those in Judea flee to the mountains and let those who are in the midst of her depart. So there is going to be a remnant that God saves this time.

And let not those who are in the country enter her, for these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days, for there will be great distress in the land and the wrath upon the people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword and let away captive into the nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. The Gentile domination of Jerusalem and the area called Palestine, particularly the land given to ancient Israel and Judah as an inheritance, is very important in biblical prophecy.

And understanding that time period of the Gentiles and knowing what that time period is is very important. And I don't have a lot of time to go through it, so let me just sum it up. I'm gonna skip down on my notes a little bit for time's sake. So the time of the Gentiles began when Gentiles started to dominate Jerusalem in particular. And that didn't happen. Jerusalem is connected precisely with King David. Jerusalem was not the capital of Israel until King David came into power. That's why Jerusalem is so important. Because of King David, not just because of the city. Because King David is the forerunner or the forefather of Jesus Christ.

And Jesus Christ is the whole point of prophecy. So the fact that Jerusalem is even mentioned means King David's city, which means Jesus Christ. I know that's a quick summation of it. But Jerusalem wasn't the capital city of ancient Israel until David became king. And it was established as the capital city of Jerusalem. And then they split into two kingdoms. But Jerusalem still was maintained as the capital city by Judah and the sons of King David all the way until 586 BC, I believe, when a king named Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon conquered Jerusalem, conquered David's city.

And the time of the Gentiles began. And you might think, well, the Jews now control Jerusalem, not without serious harassment from the Gentiles. They're still under major pressure from the Gentiles to this very day. And there is no son of David on the throne. That hasn't happened yet. So we are still in the time of the Gentiles. It's not complete. There are two books of prophecy that deal with the time of the Gentiles. So you know, you have in the Old Testament, you have the major prophets and you have the minor prophets. The vast majority of them do not deal with the Gentiles. The vast majority of those prophecies deal with Israel and their sins specifically, and how God is going to form them as a new nation.

He divorces them, He's bringing them back, and they're going to become a new, pure nation from which all the world will be gathered together. That's what those prophecies are about. But Daniel and Revelation are different. Daniel and Revelation are about the political system called Babylon the Great. Daniel starts it with Nebuchadnezzar's dream of that statue, you know, and how the mountain, the big rock comes and crushes the statue and crushes Babylon the Great.

The entire book of Daniel is that way, and the book of Revelation is always that way about that as well, with the beast and the false prophet and the great tribulation. Those two prophecies are about the time of the Gentiles. Let's go to Revelation 16 and verse 14. That was a super quick summation of the difference between all the other prophecies and what and Daniel and the book of Revelation.

Revelation 16 and verse 14. For they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and the whole world to gather to them to battle in the great day of God Almighty. Behold, I am coming as a thief.

Why does that matter? Because you will not know when the thief is coming. You will not know when Jesus Christ returns. That's not what we're watching for. For the Lord is the one who watches. And what do you do when you watch?

And keep his garments lest he walk naked and see the shame. Watching is so you cannot know when the thief is coming when Jesus Christ returns. Watching is to know you have your clothes on. What clothes? Why do you watch to see if you have your clothes on? What do garments represent in the book of Revelation? Turn to chapter 19 in verse 8. Revelation 19 and verse 8. Prophecy explains itself. And to her it was granted to be a raid and fine linen. Clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. In chapter 16, we're supposed to watch that we have our linens on, our garments on. Is it the timing of Jesus' return that we're to pay attention to?

Yes, we're supposed to watch prophecy, watch world events, watch the news. But the result of paying attention to all of that is to be vigilant to watch your internal spiritual condition. Maybe you think, no, we need the timing of prophecy. Read this with me, please. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

Notice what we're to watch. Again, 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 1.

Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. You don't need to know the times and the seasons, because you already know that. So what do you need to know? He wasn't saying, don't pay attention to the signs and the seasons. He says you already know that. You already can see what's going on. You can see the world is starting to spiral out of control. You can see, we don't know how long we have, but we know it's going the wrong direction, the right direction, depending on how you look at that.

Verse 2. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. Oh, it's going to come suddenly. For when they say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness. So that day should not overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of the light. Light is representative of moral purity, by the way. You are sons of moral purity. And sons of the day, we are not of the night or darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep. As others do, let us watch and be sober. He's saying, be serious. Take your Christian walk seriously. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk, get drunk at night. Hey, that's immorality. This is what he's talking about when being morally pure. Verse 8, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of the timing of Jesus Christ's return. No. Putting on the breastplate of faith and love. Loyalty to Jesus Christ and love.

And the helmet of the hope of salvation. The hope of salvation. Knowing that no matter what happens to you, you're going to be in the kingdom of God. God's got you in His hands. He will never leave you, never forsake you. You have the hope of salvation. You're fine. The world is a mess. You're fine.

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, now that one means alive or dead. Remember, the apostles used to call death sleep. So whether we are alive or dead, when Jesus Christ returns, we will live together with Him. That is so encouraging. Will you live to see the return of Jesus Christ? The answer is absolutely yes.

Now, I don't know that you're going to live all the way up until His return, but when He returns, you'll be resurrected if you died before those who are still alive are caught up in 1 Thessalonians 4. Will you live to see it? Yes! You'll be there! God's got this. You're in good hands. So don't fall asleep. Don't let stress and discouragement and trials make you lax in your love for God and love for your fellow man. Strive to grow. No, life can be very discouraging. But if we become lax and don't watch and stay vigilant and feel like we're lacking something, what if you feel like falling down on the job or falling asleep, ready to give up? How can you hold on? Faith. Faith will get you through. What do I mean? James 1, verse 5. What if you are falling down and what if you are asleep? What do you do? James 1, verse 5. If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives liberally and without reproach. In other words, he's going to give you a lot, and he's not going to give you punishment as some kind of a counterbalance to it. He's just going to give it to you liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting. Don't doubt your creator God. Don't doubt that he's got you in his hands. Don't doubt that he loves you, and he will grant you repentance if you need it, encouragement if you need it, strength to carry on if you need it. Don't give up. Don't fall asleep. Go to God. Ask in faith with no doubting. He who doubts is like the wave of the seed, driven and tossed by the wind. That's enough of that. So don't hold on to your pursuits in this life. Don't let temptation get the better of you. There's nothing more important in this life than your personal spiritual growth. What's getting in your way? What's holding? Is it fear? Are you afraid? Is it ambition to accomplish as much as you can accomplish in this life so you don't have time to study the Word of God? What's getting in your way? Set it aside. Go to the feasts. Keep God's commandments. Keep the Sabbath. And watch your spiritual condition. Let nothing come between you and God's promise for eternal life. Stay alert. Watch.