Get Ready for God's Feasts

Well, as Mr. Jones mentioned in his sermonette, it does seem like time has flown by.

I'm amazed it doesn't seem that long ago that we're reserving the spring holy days.

Then Pentecost, and now, as he said, in just a few days we will be keeping the Feast of Trumpets. I hope, like me, you're getting excited about that and looking forward to all the messages we're going to be hearing, turning our thoughts more towards God, getting our focus back where it needs to be, and just being filled and strengthened by God's Spirit and His Word, and of course all the wonderful fellowship we're going to be having. And so it won't be just in a few days. We'll be keeping the Feast, and then the remainder of God's Fall Feast as they come. Within three weeks' time, starting with Trumpets, and within three weeks' time, we'll be through those days. It happens very fast, and maybe there's significance to that, of course, with regards to the events yet prophesied to occur. And so our lives can be busy, can't they? Our lives can be so busy and so filled with work and chores and appointments and schoolwork and challenges and so many other things, things that are very important and things that are not so important, and time flies by. It really does. You know, my grandmother always said—I didn't believe her—she said, Kid, when you get older, time's going to go by more quickly. I said, No, I can't. You know, it's only 60 minutes and an hour, you know.

My grandma is very wise, just like a lot of you. It does seem to fly by. But aren't we glad, and aren't we thankful, that God at His wisdom, knowing exactly what we are like, He established His annual Feast so that we would be reminded every year of His plan of salvation. That we'd be reminded, we'd be forced to look up often enough that we would be able with His help to keep our focus on Him and His plan of salvation. We have a very wonderful God, a very kind Heavenly Father.

My purpose today is to help us prepare our hearts and minds for observing the fall Feast of God. The fall Feast of God. We need to draw attention to what's about to occur in these days ahead, and my intent is to help us be ready to get the most that we can from the fall Holy Days. The title of today's sermon is, Get Ready for God's Feast. Get ready for God's Feast.

Now, if you would turn back with me, please, let's go back to Leviticus 23. Leviticus 23. And let's rehearse. Let's read how God Himself established His Feast and Holy Days. Now, you probably have heard this said like I have on television, radios. People talk about the Jewish holidays. My head kind of shrinks down. It just makes me cringe.

Maybe my shoulders go up, actually. But it makes me cringe because we know that these are not Jewish holidays. These are times God has set as holy convocations. As we heard in the opening prayer, time commanded for us to come together. These are appointments God has set for His people to meet together with Him. We're together to gather together in worship of Him and to receive instruction in His Holy Days. Let's read a few verses here. Leviticus 23 verses 1 through 4. And it makes it very clear the source of this instruction. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, here's His script.

He was to tell them from God, The Feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feast. He declares ownership. These are my feast. Six days shall work be done. Notice how He immediately launches discussing His feast days with the weekly Sabbath. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

And then verse 4, These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. And so what follows then in the rest of Leviticus 23 is a listing and description of God's seven feasts. It begins, the very first feast is Passover. It's not a day unto itself, a holy day, but it is a feast. Passover, the days of 11 bread, Pentecost, and then the Feast of Trumpets. The last four days here are the fall feast days.

Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the eighth day. But it's interesting, he makes clear in the beginning part of Leviticus 23 that the Sabbath is also a holy convocation. It is also considered a feast day, and each day should be kept with a special regard towards God. And so from Passover through to the eighth day, God's people are to proclaim God's feast and gather as holy convocation in holy convocation to observe these days, these feasts, when and how God instructs, according to God's instruction.

God's feasts present an outline, as we heard in the sermon, an outline of God's plan of salvation for all humanity. It's not just for the people that follow God now or have followed Him in the past or in the future, but it's for all people. Salvation is for all people, all humanity.

Our lives and hope for salvation are intimately entwined in His plan. And so, yes, we do need to know and to understand His plan. We need to believe it. We need to believe it. And we need to live our lives accordingly, in willing submission, and I would add with courage and faith in God and with love towards God. This is part of our calling. This is very important that we do these things as God instructs. Now, as I think through the years, I've been thinking recently about God's plan of salvation, I'm just, I keep going back and it's just so amazing, and I can't quite wrap my mind around it, but as we all know that God's plan has been in existence and underway since before He created the universe.

And that's quite a long time, and He foresaw what we needed. We learned this. Let's turn back in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 17 through 21. In 1 Peter chapter 1, 17 through 21, here Peter was inspired to address Christ's role, His part in God's plan of salvation.

And here in 1 Peter 1, 17 through 21, we read, and if you, Peter writes, if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, reminding us that we are being judged now and all people will be judged in time, God who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. Well, what stay is He talking about? What stay where? Well, this physical existence of ours. We need to be judging what we do, evaluating our relationship with God and with one another throughout our lives as we follow God. And He adds, Peter adds, verse 18, we do that knowing, do this knowing that you are not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, from your human fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. And so this Christ role and the plan of salvation was foreordained before the foundation of the world. Now, if you look back there in verse 20, the word world, the Hebrew word, excuse me, the Greek word there is cosmos, but it's spelled with a K, not like the English word, it's k-o-s-m-o-s, cosmos. And yes, it does mean universe, all things, everything, before anything was created. And so before God created anything, He had set His plan for the salvation of humanity. In the Word who had come to earth as Jesus Christ and who was God and through whom God created all things, He is key to God's plan. He's central to every one of these feasts of God that we are commanded to observe. Now, how extremely thankful then and irreverent we should be toward God the Father and His Son, especially we need to be contemplating that during these feasts, since before the foundation of the cosmos.

We need to think on that. We need to think on that perhaps whenever we happen to look up at the stars or think on that first night of the Feast of Tabernacles. And the first night of the Feast of Tabernacles, if the weather is good, look out your window, walk out when it's dark out, look at the full moon and see the stars behind there. And just think, this is all set in plan. This has been organized in appointed times made by God. You know, as old as the stars are, and NASA now tells us that the universe itself, in their estimate, is about 13.8 billion years old, the universe. Well, God's plan of salvation would be even older than that since before time began. It's truly amazing. Truly amazing, and I say this because part of our being prepared for the Feast is to recognize what God has done and to consider just how awesome His plan is and how long He's been looking forward to His plan being fulfilled. Now, in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 6 through 8, let's turn there, please. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 6 through 8, you know, King David also had looked at the stars and been amazed at all the heavens and at the earth, God's creation, and He had written in Psalm number 8 His amazement, God's magnificence and authority and His creative beauty, all that He did. And here, the writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 2, 6 through 8, makes reference to what King David wrote. Verse 6, but one testified in a certain place, that was David again in Psalm 8. One testified in a certain place, saying, What is man? What is man that you are mindful of him, or the Son of man that you take care of him? Why would you bestow such wonderful things upon us? You have made him a little lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet. Now, that word, all things, is the Greek word, pos, p-a-s, and it means everything. Everything. It's synonymous with universe, everything. You have put all things under, all things in subjection under his feet. And then the writer of Hebrews continues, for in that he put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put under him. But now, right now in this time and place, we do not yet see all things put under him. So again, all things means the universe. And what we understand is that humanity's destiny, ultimately, is to serve under God in ruling over the universe. Now, you may have heard a lot of speculation about what that means. I think it's safer just to stick with what Scripture says, and we'll see how it turns out. We do our part, and we'll see what exactly this means in the future. And so God has called you and me now to understand to be part of his magnificent and truly awesome plan of salvation. And God's feasts and holy days come and go in their ordained order year after year, and we must take care never to regard them or to treat them as unimportant or insignificant occasions. And I repeat that. We must take care never to regard the feasts or holy days or to treat them as unimportant or insignificant occasions. That would be an offense to God. God's festivals and holy days give us a long-term perspective, one that we cannot have on our own. They help to tell us where humanity has been and where it's going. And of course, they also tell us where we have been. We've been in bondage to sin and death, and where we need to go, we need to be moving onward forward to salvation, to eternal life.

Yes, we need to keep praying, thy kingdom come. And so we ought to think about these things and be ready spiritually to observe the upcoming fall feasts in both attitude and approach. And that's what I want to address now. What should be our attitude towards God's feast?

And that's an important question I hope you write down. What should be our attitude towards God's feast? And a second question I hope you also write down. What should be our approach when keeping them? Or what should be our approach to keeping them? The correct answers to these two questions are critical for us to understand and critical for us to practice. Now, you and I could come up with our own answers, but a much better place to go for the answers to these questions is to scripture and to find what God's answers to these questions are. We find God's answers to these questions in the book of Isaiah. So I'd like for you to turn with me, please. We're going to read first in Isaiah 55, Isaiah 55, verse 6 through 11.

Isaiah 55, verse 6 through 11. Here, God through Isaiah makes clear the attitude we must have towards God in His ways. Of course, the attitude we should have towards God in His ways is not just limited to the feast, but all the time, any time. Here's what we read, Isaiah 55, verse 6. These are God's instructions. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. We should have this attitude that if we could visualize the attitude, it's as if we should be leaning forward, leaning outward and upward towards God. We're trying to seek Him. We're leaning towards Him. Verse 7, let the wicked forsake His way. We're going to start seeing a contrast between God's way and man's way. Let the wicked forsake His way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let Him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on Him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. And so, I think we can readily see that the meaning conveyed here is this attitude of repentance, this desire to be right with God, to listen to God. And then continuing, verse 8, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways, nor your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. We need to trust God and pay attention and do as He says. Let's also read Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66, verse 1 through 2, kind of reinforce the the omnipotence, the authority of God. Our right attitude toward God is made especially clear in these verses. Isaiah 66, 1 through 2, Thus says the Lord, heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool.

Where is the house that you will build me, and where is the place of my rest? For all those things my hand has made, remember, He's made all things, and all those things exist, say the Lord. But on this one will I look, on Him who is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. Trembles at my word. And so God Himself instructs that our attitude towards God and His ways must be that of sincere and profound reverence. This includes, as we've read, made very clear repentant, being a repentant in attitude, striving always to turn away from self-will and rebellion against God. Isaiah 66 here reminds us, instructs us, we need to be truly humble, thankful. One of my favorite words in trying to remember my approach to God is, I must be teachable. We all must be teachable. We must be willing to do as God instructs, and then actually doing what God says. Just being willing to do what God says is never enough. We must actually strive to do it. And so our attitude must be to admit to, excuse me, Tom, our attitude must be to submit to God's instruction about how to worship Him during His feast. That's part of it. And also, as we read earlier, how to worship Him on His weekly Sabbath. Now, for the second question, how does God want us to approach and keep His feast?

Again, let's turn to Isaiah. Isaiah 58, verse 13 through 14, God gives us clear direction here. Isaiah 58, 13 through 14, with how we're to keep the weekly Sabbath and with what we remember, as we read in Leviticus 23, verse 3, the weekly Sabbath is also a holy convocation. It isn't a holy time, an appointment with God. So God's instruction here in Isaiah 58 tells us how to approach and keep His Sabbath also gives us correct instruction about how to keep His feast and other holy days, how to approach it. So let's look. Isaiah 58, verse 13 through 14.

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, you think of a foot being where it doesn't belong, maybe trampling on God's day, doing our thing and not approaching God in the right way, stomping around. That's not the approach. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him not doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasure nor speaking your own words.

You do these. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord. And then God says, I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. It's Israel, of course, in the mouth of the Lord has spoken. The idea of ride on the high hills of the earth, which should remind us of those places, high places of authority, giving us leadership roles to help rule in His kingdom. It would point us towards that, suggest that, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob, the rich abundance, especially the rich spiritual abundance promised to those who faithfully follow God in Christ. And so we will receive joy and blessings when we keep God's Sabbath, His feast, and holy days with the right attitude and approach. And we must keep God's holy appointments with reverence then, to fear the Lord, keep His commandments, or to do it as the delight and not as an inconvenience to us. We must not treat God's feast like just any other day, we're to put aside our daily work, our daily interest, including putting aside our pleasures and even our own words. We get a little guidance here that we should really be trying to talk about things that are of importance to God, to our focus on the kingdom and seeking it first. We can do away with talking about the busyness of the world, at least surely for the Sabbath, and leave that behind us as we worship God. We are also then approached to be that we should be joining with others in worshiping God and learning from the words of His Scriptures. Now these are important principles to consider as we get ready to observe the fall feast. These are foundational principles. We need to keep God's feast then with a joyful, contrite, and reverent attitude in a similar approach. We must stay focused on God and do what pleases Him.

And so I'd like for us to consider what might be some pitfalls. What might be some pitfalls in attitudes and behaviors that we need to be aware of, we need to watch out for, and to avoid? What might be some pitfalls in attitudes or behaviors we need to avoid? And let's consider these possibilities. I'm going to address some of the pitfalls we might fall into as we consider how we're going to observe each of the four fall feasts.

The Feast of Trumpets, as we said earlier, begins this Monday evening at sunset. Feast of Trumpets teaches us that Jesus Christ will visibly return to earth at the end of the age. He's bringing a new age. And Mr. Jones mentioned Matthew 24, and I'd like for us to turn there too. Matthew 24, he actually read from there, he didn't just mention it. Matthew 24, verse 21 through 22, the Feast of Trumpets. Christ is going to return at a terrible time. It's part of what we are told to remember, to be aware of, when we observe the Feast of Trumpets.

Christ returned at a terrible time when humanity, under Satan's influences, is about to annihilate itself. It's about to annihilate itself. That's what will happen. Matthew 24, verse 21. Jesus Christ spoke this prophecy, For then there will be a great tribulation, such has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened.

And that's a very hopeful prophecy. We can count on that. And then we understand at that time, he will resurrect at his return. The saints will be resurrected. Those who are no longer living, and others who are still alive at Christ's return, will be instantly changed. Those who are alive, they'll be instantly changed to immortal spirit beings. Verse 31, we read this earlier, and he will send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, all across this planet.

And I try to imagine that. I try to visualize that, and I ask God to help me. What a joyous time for God's firstfruits, including us, that will be. When in the twinkling of an eye, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, 52, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

And so this feast commemorates the blowing of the trumpets that will proceed his return, and Christ will return with the blowing of the seventh trumpet, as we're told in Revelation 11, 15. We're going to hear a lot more about this in a few days. Now, the Feast of Trumpets, of course, stirs up a range of responses, I'm sure, from fear and alarm to great jubilation. As we observe trumpets, we should also express profound reverence to our Heavenly Father, because Jesus Christ is returning.

He will establish his kingdom, and we will be resurrected to eternal life to serve in the kingdom as kings and priests. But what will be our attitude and approach on this first fall feast of God? In a few days. On that day, what will our attitude and approach be? Here's some possible pitfalls. Will we treat God's holy time, the trumpets merely like a day off from work? Will we treat it more or less as a fourth day off of the Labor Day weekend?

You know, trumpets begins right as Labor Day, Federal holidays ending. We got one more day off from school or work, some of us, Labor Day. We need to be careful that as sun sets on our Labor Day weekend, that we shift gears. Let's put it that way. Will we be focused on other things rather than on God, such as work left undone? That's hard for us.

You work hard all week and shift to keeping Sabbath midweek. It can be a challenge. Will we be focused on other things rather on God, such as work left undone, chores to do, classes we're missing, problems to solve? Another pitfall could be this on trumpets, where we spend most of the holy day overdulging and sleep and eating, but maybe without giving more time to prayer and Bible reading. It's a wonderful day to spend a little more time with God, building our relationship with Him, spending a little more time in good, godly fellowship with one another.

Now, if we watch ourselves and do what God says and make better choices, we can avoid these pitfalls and have a joyful, reverent, and spiritually enriching feast of trumpets.

But then comes the day of atonement. Atonement points to the removal of sin's cause. This day pictures our high priest Jesus Christ making atonement for the sins of all mankind. As we can read, let's turn here, Hebrews 10, 19-20, Christ has made atonement for the sins of all mankind. That allows us, in all humanity, the opportunity to be reconciled to God. And, as you read here in Hebrews, to enter the holiest of all, to actually come before our Father. Hebrews 10, 19-20, we read Hebrews 10, 19-20, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us through the veil that is His flesh. And so that day we need to give thoughtful and somber thought and appreciation to what God and Christ have done in our doing. On this day we're reminded that Christ is essential as our high priest and as our eternal sacrifice for sin, not just ours but for all humanity.

Also, the Day of Atonement points to the time when Satan will be bound for a thousand years. We see that in Revelation 20, verse 1 through 2. Revelation 20, verse 1 through 2. John, in vision, reporting what he saw. Revelation 20, verse 1, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

We look forward to that. And of course, by fasting on this day, on the Day of Atonement, the intent is to draw closer to God and humility and to better picture the reconciliation of mankind to God. But what will be our attitude on Atonement? It is a day of fasting, where we choose to fast because we want to, or begrudgingly because we have to.

Do you recognize the difference between the two? Because we want to or because we have to? Of course, we want to. And what will be our approach to keeping this feast day?

Now, if you're wondering where I'm getting some of these pitfalls for, in all fairness, I should tell you. I've lived a little. I've made some wise decisions, and I've made not so good decisions, and sometimes I just haven't thought at all. And I've also seen other people do things and not do things. That's where this is coming from. And so how will we approach keeping this feast day at Atonement? Will we rush into it without having prepared ourselves physically for fasting? Will we have failed to cut back our caffeine, for example, and then suffer so miserably with nausea and migraines, perhaps, withdrawal, that our fasting will be pitiful? You know, we'll be humbled. But will we be in the best condition so that the Day of Atonement, that fast, will be as spiritually beneficial for us as it should be, as God wants it to be? And since we won't need extra time, that time to prepare food and to eat that day, you ever notice how much more time we have in Atonement? What are you going to do with that time?

Will we use it for extra prayer and Bible study? Will we use it for godly fellowship? You know, I'll say it. Some of the best fellowship we've had in this building occurs after the Atonement service. We don't have to worry about putting snacks out or cleaning up. We roll up the door. We sit back there. I've been there hours after Atonement service. Just fellowshiping, enjoying ourselves. There's a lesson there for us. Will we spend a Day of Atonement that extra time? Will we spend it in grateful reflection upon God's mercy? Will we use that time to try hard to think of a world to come without Satan's influence, both in little ways and big ways? We need to do that on Atonement. Sadly, well, let me just say I hope none of us will do this. This is a pitfall. If we just laze around, sleep most of that feast day away, and then mainly count the minutes until sunset when the fast is over. I know. Like I said, I've lived a little. If we prepare ourselves to do what God says and choose to be diligent in worshipping God, we can avoid these pitfalls and have a joyful, reverent, and spiritually enriching Day of Atonement. Next comes the Feast of Tabernacles.

This feast teaches us that when Jesus Christ returns, a new society will be established with Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Wards. Christ, assisted by the resurrected Saints, will set up His government on earth for 1,000 years. Rule under His laws will spread from Jerusalem through the whole world to usher in an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity.

Dr. Ward said this the other night in his Bible study, and I concur one of my favorite scriptures about the feast and the millennium is Isaiah 2, verse 3 through 4. Let's turn there and read that together. It's a scripture to turn to when we think about the coming Kingdom of God in this millennial time. Isaiah 2, verse 3 through 4 gives us a vision of what life will be like then when the age of Satan is done and the age of God has come. Isaiah 2, verse 3, Many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. I feel like singing this part. One of my favorite hymns. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And nations shall not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war any more. And understandably so, this feast I'm willing to think that this may be our most favorite feast of them all.

We love to fulfill God's command for this feast, don't we? We love it. Now, that command is given to Leviticus 2340, but let's read it as it also appears in Deuteronomy 16. Deuteronomy 16, verse 14 through 15. Deuteronomy 16, verse 14 through 15. We love this command. Deuteronomy 16, verse 14, and you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, and the Levite, and not just people in your household. It's supposed to be for everybody and for the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates. We're supposed to reach out and bring in everybody as we celebrate this feast. Make it joyful for everybody in ways that are possible. Verse 15, seven days you shall keep a sacred feast, the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands so that you surely rejoice. Let's also read Deuteronomy 14, verse 26, perhaps a page before this in your Bible. You know, God so wants His people to revere Him and to rejoice before Him and abundantly so that we're to put aside a tithe of our increase each year to spend so we can practice being really generous and have fun and rejoice with others at God's feast.

Verse 26, Deuteronomy 14, and you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires, for oxen and sheep. If you want a good steak, go get it. If you want a lamb chop, go for it. For wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires, you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

So again, we love to fulfill God's commands for observing the Feast of Tabernacles. We love to be able to travel to various feast sites in this country and abroad. We love to stay in temporary housing. We love experiencing different sights and sounds. We absolutely love rejoicing before God and fellowshiping with our many brethren and new family members. We're just meeting. We're able to do that seven days and worship God and also to receive instruction from His Scriptures, from His ministry, and fellowship, and eat and drink of the good things before God.

Am I helping to get you excited yet? I'm feeling it.

But during the joyful Feast of Tabernacles, will we be ready to keep this feast of God with the right attitude and approach as we should? Pitfalls? There are some. Will we keep up our daily prayers? We pray every day? Will we keep reading the Bible every day of the feast? We should. Now, I'm not suggesting you need to stay holed up in your motel room and isolate and just praying and reading. No, we're to get out. We're to get out and have fun and joy. See God's beautiful creation, fellowship, and rejoice. But we'll feel more joyful if we maintain that close relationship with God by talking to Him and hearing His response as we read His Scriptures.

Will we plan to do our very best to attend every service each day of the feast? Or will we choose to skip a service or two to do something more pleasing that we'd rather do instead? It could be a pitfall. I think it would be. Will we be generous to share the good things God has blessed us with? Or will we be rather miserly and keep those good things primarily to ourselves? I'll probably talk more about this on the sermon I give you on the 18th before we leave for the feast. But if you want a good feast, tabernacles, share, give, serve, do something, get outside yourself, and I promise you, God promises you actually, you will rejoice before Him when you live like He wants us to live and like He is. Another pitfall. Will we treat this week, the seven days of Easter tabernacles this holy time, will we treat it as a vacation interrupted by church services?

Will we treat it as a vacation interrupted by church services?

Now, I sincerely hope that we would not do that. That, my friends, would be a very terrible mistake. That would be bad. That would not be good for us. You know, God has given us so much, and He plans to give us even more just as this feast especially anticipates. Yes, He wants us to rejoice, and rightly so before Him, along with our brethren. And so if we prepare now, plan ahead now, get ourselves ready to do what God says, then we can avoid these pitfalls in having more joyful, reverent, and spiritually rich feasts tabernacles. And immediately after tabernacles comes the last of God's fall feasts, the eighth day. The eighth day teaches us that Jesus Christ will complete His harvest of humanity by raising from the dead and extending salvation to all human beings who have died in the past and have never been given a full opportunity for salvation. If you turn with me, again back to Revelation 20, verse 11 through 13. Revelation 20, verse 11 through 13, we read of that that future time this day points to Revelation 20, verse 11 through 13.

John again writing what he saw. Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades, the grave delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. And the death and Hades were cast in the lake of fire. And this is the second death, and anyone not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. And so at that time, all humanity will have had the opportunity to understand and to accept salvation. It is a choice.

Will we be ready to keep the eighth day with the right attitude and approach?

This is such a powerful day of remembrance, a very moving day for many of us, of course, remembrance of loved ones and the anticipation of joy to come. But will we choose to attend services that day? Or will we instead take time for one more excursion, one more thing to do before we leave, something we'd rather do? Will if there are both two services that day, will we attend both services on that holy day? Or will we unnecessarily, without a compelling reason, skip services and abbreviate our observance? Now, I say that, I said unnecessarily without compelling reason. I've lived a little too, and there are sometimes three events just seem to force us to make the choice we need to go back early. But I think we all understand, and our desire should be, to do all we can to observe this entire day in worship of God, in reverence towards God, so that we would not need to abbreviate our observance.

And so, to have an attituden right approach, I would say, will we be asking God to bless us with employers and teachers and others who will make allowances for us, so that we might observe this holy day reverently, as we truly should desire to do. And again, if we are diligent, we can avoid these pitfalls and once again have that joyful, reverent, and spiritually enriching eighth day. Now, now, today, is the time to get ready to observe God's upcoming feast, and to help us have that attituden approach, I want to give you just a few things, starting right now, today, that you can do to be ready with attitude and approach.

One, we need to give more time to reading our Bibles right now.

I'd encourage us, as we give more time to reading our Bibles, to focus on reading our reading and thoughts upon Christ's return, those prophecies. Do more reading in Scripture about the establishment of God's kingdom on earth.

So, give more time to reading our Bibles. Number two, ask God for the help of His Holy Spirit. Flesh is weak. We want to do what's right. We can only do much better if we ask God for His help. Ask God to help us better know and understand the depth of His mercy and the grandeur of His plan of salvation. Ask for the help of His Spirit that we would really seep in, and we'd have those aha moments that maybe we haven't had before. Ask Him to help with His Spirit, to help us be truly grateful, no matter what challenges we may face right now or challenges we may face during these feast days. Yes, some of us may get sick. I hope not. I'm praying none of us will. But no matter what, with God's help and His Spirit, we can even have a great feast despite not feeling so well or not being in a circumstance we'd prefer. And let's ask God for the help of His Spirit that we'd have a teachable heart and the strength to keep His feast His way, that fortitude, that character and inner fortitude to do the feast as He would have us do it. A third thing I'd encourage us to do to be ready is to read the church literature. For decades, the Church of God has been publishing really wonderful, helpful literature, and it's deeply rooted in Scripture. It's not, I wouldn't say it's fluffy. It's deeply rooted in Scripture. It's solid. It's meat. And it's excellent supplemental reading to go along with Scripture as we read the Bible. I'd recommend that you read and refresh your knowledge, understanding of Bible prophecies. Go back and read some of those booklets maybe you haven't read for a while. Maybe watch some of the Beyond Today programs or dailies if that would help you get a deeper understanding of these days of God's plan of salvation. And also in doing your preparation work now, I think you will find, I think we will find if we do that, that we'll be able to get even more out of the many messages we're going to be hearing over these next few weeks as we have regular Sabbath day Sabbaths to observe and God's feast and holy days. In the fourth point, we should be doing along with all these we should have been doing, but we definitely need to be focusing on it now. But this fourth point, turn down the noise of the world's distractions.

Turn down the noise of the world's distractions. I don't know if you still talk this way. It's how I talk about it. We often refer to going to the Feast of Tabernacles as coming out of the world for a week or so. Do you still think of it that way? Coming out of the world for a week or so. That's great. I say, while I wait for the feast, while I wait for the feast to start coming out of the world, and that's why I say even now, let's be turning down the noise of the world's distractions. Even now, we could be giving less of our time and attention to all the junk out there. Even now, we've been giving less time to worldly entertainment, whatever that might be for you. Even now, we can turn down the noise of the repetitive news programs. Have you noticed you can watch a news program early in the morning? You turn it back on, the same channel on, 9 o'clock at night? It's the same thing. Thank you. It's the same thing. And yet, we can watch it. And I speak from experience. I just get more agitated and more angry sometimes. Yes, we need to pay attention to world events. Don't get me wrong, but maybe we don't need to focus so much on it as we're trying to prepare our hearts and minds for God's feast. Along with that, I would say, turn down the noise, discouraging gossip fest. That's what they are on TV. They call themselves news programs. It's actually a gossip fest. We want to prepare for Godly feast. Let's turn down the rumor mills of the world. Instead, give more time, thought, energies to reflecting on God and his plan of salvation. More time to drawing nearer to him. More time to doing acts of kindness, encouragement, and help for all people, but especially for our brethren, for one another.

So these are a few things I wanted to share with you today.

Time has flown by, and here we are. Trumpets begins Monday evening at sunset, the start of God's Fall Festival season. So I encourage this as we're finalizing our many plans and lists in preparation for keeping God's feast. Let's not fail to prepare what's most important to God. Let's plan not to fail to prepare what's most important to God. Let's be preparing our hearts and our minds to observe God's feast with a reverent attitude and approach that will glorify God and so ensure that these fall feasts will be the best feast, plural, ever. The time is now. Let's get ready for God's feast.