Each year on this Holy Day we gather to remember and to proclaim the return of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. He will return, physically, for the whole world to see at the last trumpet blast that will end the great tribulation that will come upon this world at the end of this age. On that day, Jesus will resurrect those saints that died in the faith and for those saints that are still alive, He will change them in an instant to spirit and the saints will never die but live and reign with Him forever. I hope you long for that day when all of the pain and suffering that this world has endured for so many millennia will finally make way for hope, healing and peace. What dreams and aspirations do you have for that day?

Certainly we all want to be among those that are made spirit. But can you literally see yourself there? Does your faith tell you that this is your destiny? Or is there some measure of worry or doubt that creeps in and says to you that you are not preparing the way you should and if you don’t get busy, then this future may be someone else’s future. Guilt has a way of taking hold of us when we realize how we have allowed human nature to have its way with us. When we look back and say to ourselves, “ I should have resisted more. I should have stood up and faced that challenge and not remained silent. I should have done more. One of the reasons we commemorate the Festivals of God each year is to remember what we have learned, remember what we have committed to, and to resolve to continue down that path. But Satan tries to take us down his path.

Satan temps with desire and he temps with weakness. Because of this we see paths that fool us into thinking that happiness is at the end of that road. But time and time again, all of his paths lead to destruction. Its not that there are no happy people in this world; Satan could not fool the whole world if there is not some lottery winner somewhere. Even though the odds of winning are worse than getting struck by lightning people still believe they will win at some time. I have noticed that more than ever, people just don’t want to conform. They want to set their own path. And this is just fine with Satan because any road someone chooses is better for him than choosing to God’s path. Jesus understood this even when He was 12 years old.

Remember when He was mistakenly left behind after the Holy Days and His parents came frantically looking for him. They found him teaching in the temple: Luke 2:48-49 48 So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously." 49 And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" That is the title for today’s sermon: Being about our Father’s business After just finishing a series where we focused on growth I want to ask a question as it relates to this day.

I want you to project your mind forward to that day when Jesus Christ’s returns. The dead are being raised all around you and at that moment there is no more time to prepare for this day. When that moment arrives; will you have overcome this world? What if you had not? At that moment there will be no more time to get ready. There will be no time to overcome, will you be ready? I recently had to go to some technical training where at the end I would be presented with an exam to become certified in Apple’s Latest Operating System. I was given a book to study that was over 800 pages and a study guide. Three other fellows from work had already attended and reported back that this was one of the more difficult exams they had taken and I took this to heart because collectively they had many certifications between them. To pass this exam I would need to receive a 75%.

There would be 80 questions and some of the questions were worth a number of points so potentially I could only miss a few questions and not pass the exam. The other pressure I had was that those three from work had done fairly well will only a week to prepare for the training with the test immediately following the class. One of them got over 90% and told the three of us that we should do even better because we had most of the summer to prepare where they only had a week. Of course, each of them were well versed in the topic and two of them had previously received extensive training and previously worked for Apple doing support while I had almost no exposure to Apple Computers. So I expected studying this would be difficult. So I started to study while those at work that had passed began to taunt us while we were preparing.

They would say “Wow, if you don’t ace the test with all of this time you should be ashamed”. Now I had two advantages one of which the other two that were taking the exam with me would not have. First of all we had time to prepare. The exam was roughly 2 months away. We would attend 3 days of intense training and on the fourth day the exam was scheduled. The Second advantage I had was that since the fourth day for my group landed on a Sabbath, I asked for, and was granted an extra week until the next available test day the following Friday. This mean that I got the most ribbing of the three of us. There was a lot on the line and I would be so ashamed if I could not pass this test. We each had to manage the time that we had. For me, that was the busiest 8 weeks that I can ever remember. Looking back I can see so many parallels with my spiritual life.

Each of us have the opportunity to prepare for the return of Christ but do we make the most of our time? The Feast of Trumpets represents that time that Jesus will return but that does not mean He will return on the Feast of Trumpets. Mark 13:32 32 " But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. And just a few verses earlier He tells them: Mark 13:18 18 "And pray that your flight may not be in winter. We don’t know how much time we have left to prepare for His return. We are just expected to always be about our Father’s business. This doesn’t mean that we cannot have personal interests. Its that God expects that our priorities would put His ways about our ways and to live by His way of life and reflect Him each and every day. No matter how much time we have left.

Deadlines When I was preparing for my exam I had a deadline and I knew that date. We have a deadline too, its just that we don’t know when it is. How scary is that? The Etymology of the word deadline is very poignant here. It is believed to be first used during the civil war. The prisoners were given a dead line to indicate what would happen to them if they crossed over. One foot across that line and it would be assumed you were escaping and you would be shot. Half a century later it was applied to the newspaper business to refer to the time that stories for the paper had to be submitted to make the print run for a given day. It is here that we think of deadline referring to a time limit to get something done. Today, we mainly focus on the time constraint of a deadline although there is the idea that when the time there is a penalty for failure to abide. We use deadlines in our lives as motivators.

Students often put off studying until the last minute and then they learn a new term “All-nighter”. Deadlines motivate us because people are procrastinators at heart. One thing we all need to realize is that God the father has established a deadline for His people to overcome this world. For most people that is at the end of their natural lives. For some though, that time will be at the return of His Son to bring His Kingdom and rule this world. The only problem with these deadlines are we don’t know when either of these events will happen. Will we be alive when Christ returns or will we live to see that day? We may have decades left or our lives could end at any time. We have to live our lives with the thought that our deadline is just around the corner and make the most of today. The only way we can be assured of plenty of time to overcome this world is if we use every moment of our existence for that purpose. Plenty of time?

I believed I had plenty of time before the deadline which was my exam but it was up to me to prepare. I brought some equipment home to study with and I read a number of nights each week. My thinking was that I had plenty of time if I made use of all that I had. But it was also one of the busiest summers of my life to go on top of it. When I started out I rationalized that I would forget if I started too early and then I would have to read this 800 page book again so I put off reading it for almost a month. Then one day, one of the guys came in with his book and a book mark almost half way through the book and I realized I had procrastinated. Then I got busy and started reading and taking notes and really trying to learn the material. I quickly realized that with my slower reading speed and difficulty and remembering dry facts I no longer had the time I would need to really learn the material like when I started. Again, this is like our spiritual life. We may start off strong or we procrastinate and then get busy. But after a while we rationalize away the course of study we had and settle into what we convince ourselves is a practical approach.

Jesus was not a procrastinator If you could have followed Jesus around like the disciples you would have seen the way He was driven to do His Father’s Business. Turn over to John chapter 9 John 9:1-6 NKJ Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." 6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. So picture this. They are just walking along and ask Jesus why this man is blind. They are making conversation. But Jesus uses this opportunity to teach them that work is all around them. We don’t always see the work that is before us.

We sometimes focus on the work that we have accomplished and use that as a reason why we can put off future projects. Back to the books The last two to three weeks before I left for training I had about 10 of the 29 chapters left to read. Two weeks should have been enough time for me to read them after work but I didn’t have that kind of time. During those first 20 days of August I went to Preteen Camp, I went camping with my family, and camping for the Men’s weekend. In fact, although the training started August 20th, I had only 4 days in August when I could study after work. Needless to say, I only got half of those 10 chapters read. I was not as prepared as I had planned to be and now I went to training behind. The day after the two other guys took their test I found out they passed but just barely. I was not going to have an easy time at that test. I had 5 days to cram before the exam and I knew there was no time to procrastinate. This is how life is sometimes.

We think we are doing OK but then something life happens and then we have to make the best of it. We tell ourselves that we will work out our salvation with fear and trembling but then life happens and time goes by. A lot of time. This is why we must continually come to the throne of Grace. God is longsuffering toward us If you have been in the church of God for any length of time you can probably relate to the phrase the Lord delay’s his return. Each of us has hoped for His return long before now. I was a young teenager in the church believing there was a chance that I would not reach an age to get married or have children. Now my children are well past that time and still we wait. But this feeling of delay did not originate with our generation. Peter addressed this in his time. He not only reassured his readers but he encouraged them as he talked about the delay that they perceived as well. In second Peter 3 he talks about scoffers that claimed that Christ was not going to return because many thought it would happen in their lifetimes. But Peter changed to focus to not delay, but time to prepare.

2 Peter 3:9 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Our time is now When I studied that information for the exam I put in many hours but the bottom line was always going to be, did I learn the technology or did I just prepare for the final exam? The purpose for the training was to prepare us for new technology. The Certification was proof that we learned the material. But if we got the certification but never learned the product then we still fail. It’s like our mission here on earth. If you remember the old TV program Mission Impossible. Every episode would start out the same way. The leader of a US espionage agency called the Impossible Mission Force was called on to risk all for the county. If they succeed good but if not, then the Government would disavow all knowledge of them. Every time the leader would be told, “This mission, if you choose to accept it”.

Turn over to Matthew 16. Here Jesus Lays out the mission for His Disciples. Matthew 16:24-27 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. We have a choice to follow Jesus Christ. We have a choice to accept this mission. The thing is, we can’t have it both ways. We can’t accept the mission and then not carry it out. We have always been good about doing what is required

• We assemble together because it is commanded.

• We keep God’s Sabbaths

• Each year we fast and throw out the leaven

• We don’t each what is unclean Doing the Hard work set before us But is that all there is? We know that the answer is certainly not.

• What is not listed here is the transforming of our character to model Jesus Christ.

• What is missing here is our surrender to God and to become a slave of our Lord to be an instrument of His work.

• What is missing here is to overcome this world and to put first in our lives the way of God and last in our lives is our human nature because what we want most of all is God’s way of life.

God’s way of life is not easy for carnal people. We continually war against our human weaknesses because we understand that God’s way is the only path that brings peace and happiness. Test Day When I finally took the exam it was as hard as I thought it would be. I was so glad I had the extra week to prepare and it did pay off. But even with that preparation I found myself answering questions by eliminating the wrong answers rather than choosing the right ones. I wasn’t sure what the right answer was about half the time. I eliminated as may wrong answers as I could and then took my best guess with what was left. When I finished I knew that I had done the best that I could with the preparation I did but I had no idea of the grade. I felt I passed but maybe just barely.

When I hit submit I was surprised to see the score 91.25%. This was the exact high score of one in the first group who did the most taunting of the three of us. The exact score. It meant I could not brag even if I wanted to (which I did not) and nether could he. For me I was simply relieved that I had risen to the challenge and overcome this trial. While it was difficult I was glad to have gotten through it and it gave me confidence that I could tackle more challenges ahead. But it was also a reminder that time is precious and if we don’t make use of it then it will pass away and we will be caught unaware. Encouragement for God’s people before the day of the Lord As we continue on in this life we must prepare ourselves for the return of Christ and the coming of God’s Kingdom. But we should not be discouraged because the road ahead is difficult. Paul gave some really encouraging words in his first epistle of Thessalonians in Chapter 5. Lets conclude this message with the encouraging words of the Apostle Paul.

1 Thessalonians 5:1 - 28 NKJ But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. 12 And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. 15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. 23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. 25 Brethren, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. So let us be about our Father’s business.