Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

When I got back from Nigeria in Ghana in March, we went out to Dallas to meet him and brought him home that night. We were locked down by the end of that week. So, you know, we decided it's either the best possible way to get to know a dog or an absolute nightmare. Being locked in the house with the new dog. But it was great! Amo was fantastic. The past six months, we've had a chance to really get to know him and let him get to know our family. Which has really enabled us to be able to form some pretty strong bonds in a very short period of time.

Amo is three years old.

Pardon me. He's three years old and he came from a wonderful household. They're dog people. They did a great job with basic training.

His mom was actually one of my former students from Staton back, it's hard to believe, 15 plus years ago.

And she was just over her head at that point in time with two, you might say, early teenage, you know, German shepherds and 18-month-old twins and a newborn on the way.

And she just realized she could not keep up with the exercise needs of him and his sister, Remington, so she was looking to re-home both of the dogs. She got ahold of me while I was in Africa and asked whether we knew anybody who was interested and sent photos. Now, I would love to tell you that it wasn't love at first sight, but as soon as I saw the photo, I knew we were getting the dog. So my kids had been bugging me for quite a while to get a dog. We kept saying, look, we're waiting for the right time. We're waiting for the right dog. Well, the right dog and the right opportunity had found us. He's been fantastic. He's a really good addition to the family, got a very friendly personality. He's a little dopey, so he's a little bit dopey. He's kind of that kind of dog, but very eager to please. He listens very well most of the time and is really great with the kids. One thing we learned early on, for those of you that have ever had shepherd breeds or collie breeds, he is very high energy. That is not to be unexpected. He has to get out and he has to run to burn off that extra charge that he's got each and every day. And thankfully, I'm so thankful, this is the first dog we've owned that actually plays fetch. The other dogs, you would throw it and they'd run and go get it and then just lay down and chew on it. That was one dog. The other dog would go and get it and run back to you and be like, come get it! Come get it! Come get it! And like, run in big sweeping circles.

This dog will actually bring it back to you because he wants it to be thrown again.

And so he'll come to you and he'll go to throw it. But one thing we noticed with ammo early on, and this is kind of the reason I mentioned this story, is that if you take that ball and you get ready to throw it and you hold it up here, his eyes are locked on that ball and absolutely nothing else. He will take and he will look at that ball and you can do this and he'll follow it. You can do this and he'll follow it. And he will sort of sit and he's so excited and he kind of whines and he kind of barks and he kind of does this, just ready for you to throw it. And you take and launch that thing and he's got it and it's back at your feet. I mean, he's chewing on it the whole way back, but it's back at your feet and ready to throw again in no time. With ammo, you hold that ball up and there is absolutely nothing that he wants more in that moment than that ball that is in your hand.

It does not matter how many other dogs. If he can be the dog park, he does not care. It is the ball and that is literally it. He doesn't care about people. He doesn't care about snacks, food, nothing. He wants that ball. In fact, if he's in the middle of doing something he shouldn't be doing, ammo ball, where's my ball? He's ready, absolutely ready. And he sits down, he kind of does that little wine bark, and those eyes bore into that ball. And he's just got an incredible tunnel vision.

In that moment for ammo, there is nothing else. There is nothing else. You know, in today's vernacular, we might refer to that phrase, kind of that singular focus or that tunnel vision, as a person having their eyes on the prize. We might say that that person has their eyes on the prize. And when we say that, what we really mean is that they are focused in on what it is that they want to achieve, and they aren't allowing themselves to be distracted by anything else that surrounds them. They are in, we might say, the zone. They are in the zone, man. They are focused on that thing and what it is. And really, all that's in their field of view is what they're striving for. For athletes, it might be that first place finish. For a person working up the corporate ladder, maybe it's that next promotion. Student working on finishing their studies. Could be finishing their program and getting that diploma. For any other number of individuals, it could be a number of other things. But in keeping their eyes on the prize, they don't get sidetracked by other pursuits. That phrase, eyes on the prize, for some of you that are older and have lived through the civil rights movement, you might recognize that phrase. Eyes on the prize came out of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. It's where the phrase comes from. It was a title of a folk song that was recorded by a number of people, one of which was Pete Seeger, and it became very influential to the movement. It kind of became a theme song, so to speak, to the civil rights movement of the early 19... or the late 1950s, early 1960s. The song's lyrics were taken from a gospel song called the Gospel Plow. It's also known as Hold On. It's also known as Keep Your Hand On The Plow. That's the title of the three variations, essentially, of the song. And the idea was, the concept behind it really was that for the civil rights movement to be successful, it would require those involved to keep their hand on the plow. To keep their eyes on the prize of civil rights and to not allow any of the things happening on the periphery, any of the arrests, any of the beatings, any of the assassinations that occurred to take their eyes off of that goal.

The song uplifted and inspired, and it motivated those involved to continue on, despite the adversity that they were experiencing. The basic lines of the song... and there's different riffs on it, and people have added lyrics and taken away lyrics and other things, but the basic lyrics of the song are as follows. Paul and Silas thought they was lost. Dungeon shook, and the chains came off.

Keep your eyes on the prize. Hold on. Freedom's name is mighty sweet, and soon we're gonna meet. Keep your eyes on the prize. Hold on. And it continues, and there's just a bunch of other lyrics that have been added and taken away, but the backbone of the song is in those two stanzas. A number of artists have covered it, have added to it, made it their own flavor, but in the early days of the Civil Rights Movement, this was essentially the core concept behind the song that was recorded, and it came from the example of Paul and Silas. Let's go ahead and turn to Acts 16 today as we take a look at the example of Paul and Silas. Title for the sermon today is, Keep Your Eyes on the Prize. Keep your eyes on the prize, and if you want to add to that, you can say, hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize. Hold on. Let's go to Acts 16. We'll take a look here at the account that is written here for us by Luke. Kind of interesting from the description in Acts 16. You've got Timothy going with him here on this second missionary journey as well. He's been traveling with Paul and Silas since Lystra. It seems like Luke joined him right around Troas, and then accompanied Paul, Silas, and Timothy on this missionary journey as they went out and about.

Once they had kind of landed in Philippi here, they had some initial successes. You can kind of follow along here as we get down to the passage we're headed for. We're going to head for Acts 16, verse 16. But they had some initial successes. They met with Lydia, the seller of purple, the seller of nice purple cloth, right? They met with Lydia on the Sabbath. God called her, called her family. Her and her family were baptized. They went and then stayed with Lydia for a time.

Acts 16, 16 kind of records the retelling of an event that occurred to the group as they traveled from where they were staying down to a place of prayer down by the Ganges River in Philippi. Acts 16, verse 16 says, now it happened as we went to prayer. So they were headed down to this location down by the river to pray. And one of the reasons they used rivers so frequently in that time or locations near rivers was so that the various ablutions and washings could have been done in many ways for some of those that were of the of the Jewish faith. So they were there along that bank and they would go down to pray in those areas. But it says now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with the spirit of divination met us who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and us, says Luke, and cried out, saying, these men are the servants of the Most High God who proclaim to us the way of salvation.

She's absolutely right, but the picture that we're getting painted here is of her following them around the city saying this over and over and over and over again.

And not only that, she's doing it for many days, it says. So Paul's got... they're going to do their job, they're going to do their work, they're going out to preach the gospel, and they've got somebody following along behind them going, here is the servants of the Most High God! They are here to... let me see how they exactly were to proclaim the way of salvation. And we see that she did this for many days. But Paul... I appreciate this about Paul because you can really see some humanity in him at times... greatly annoyed, turned, and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her! And he came out at that very hour. So Paul fed up, turns around, casts the spirit out. So what we see, though, is that this particular female slave was under the influence of the demonic spirit. That demonic spirit gave her the ability to tell the future, to provide people's fortunes, which was something specifically prohibited by Scripture. And it happened to bring a great deal of money to the owners of this woman. Woman finally managed to get on Paul's nerves. Paul says, all right, we're done here, and went ahead and cast the demon out. Verse 19, but when her master saw that their hope of profit was gone, all of a sudden now they're seeing the dollar signs that they are no longer getting from what this young lady provided. They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. They brought them to the magistrates and they said, these men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city, and they teach customs which are not lawful for us being Romans to receive or observe. So the men that seized Paul and Silas seized them by force. They grabbed them, they rough shod them, they manhandled them, and took them by force. Seized them. Not only that, it kind of appears that at this point, Timothy and Luke are not the targets. They seem to be out on the periphery of this, at least, and are not necessarily involved. But as the men take them to the magistrates, now they're adding on to their charges. Their Jews are adding customs that we can't possibly accept or practice. And at this point, verse 22, the rest of the mob jumps in. Then the multitude, those that were gathered at that point, rose up together against them. The magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them and threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely, having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks. There were two kinds of imprisonment during this particular time. You had prisons like the one that Paul and Silas found themselves in during this time at Philippi. And you had criminals that were sent, they were bound, they were put in stocks, they were chained, they were flogged. And then you had kind of the minimum security version of that, which was house imprisonment, which the Romans used for typically higher profile individuals. Paul experienced both of those things. Paul experienced true prisons, like we would recognize them as where you would be chained and flogged and treated very poorly. And he also experienced the prisons where he could have visitors, he could have things brought to him, he could have letters sent out and things brought in. But in this case, they are properly imprisoned.

As a result of the orders of the crowd, the jailer places them not in the outer cells, where there's, you know, light and sunlight and whatever comes in the outside of the outside of the bars there. But no, he put them in the inner cells, in the darkened portion of the prison. And he fastened their feet into the stock so that they couldn't move around. Verse 25, but at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, put yourself in his shoes for a minute. Huge earthquake hits. You're in charge of these various prisoners. Supposing the prisoners had fled, he drew his sword and he prepared to kill himself, because he assumed that they had all left and that that was going to come down on his head. Paul called out with a loud voice, do yourself no harm, for we are all here. All of us are still here. None of us ran. We're all still here. You know, you take a look at this example, brethren, it is incredible. Honestly, it's incredible.

Put yourself in Paul and Silas' shoes for a moment. Mining your own business, walking down the street, get sideways with somebody. You're seized, taken against your own, you know, your own recognizance. You're beaten, thrown in prison. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute.

What are we seeing them doing? What's their response to all of this?

Are they moping? Are they complaining? No. They're praising God and they're singing hymns.

In fact, they're singing hymns so loud the other prisoners can hear them, because they're listening in. You know, they're hearing them as they're singing these things.

God springs Paul and Silas. He springs the rest of the prisoners with this massive earthquake.

Jailor again assumes that he's going to die as a result of this. Paul stops him. Verse 29 says, then he called for a light. He ran in, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, and he brought them out. And he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night. What did the jailer do? He washed their stripes. He cleaned their open wounds that had been gouged out of their back at a flogging. Immediately, he and all of his family were baptized. Now, when he brought them into the house, he set food before them. He made them dinner, essentially. And he rejoiced, having believed in God with all of his household. You know, Paul and Silas made quite the impression on the Philippian jailer, such that the man inquired about what it would take to be delivered, what it would take to be saved, what it would take to become like them, to have that level of faith and that level of trust, to be able to, in those circumstances, in challenging, difficult, just dark circumstances, to be able to keep their eyes on the prize and to hold on.

We see Paul taught the jailer and his family about Christ in many more words. He taught them significant amounts of things, and the jailer and his family were baptized.

Rejoicing brought Paul and Silas into his home, fed them, tended their wounds, cooked them a meal, and rejoiced in his newfound faith. You know, it's an incredible story to consider. It really is.

Paul and Silas sat in stocks, their feet in chains. Backs were laid open from the flogging they received. They were imprisoned in what was likely a filthy jail cell. I mean, I can't imagine jail cells at that time were particularly clean. You know, the... anyway, we won't get into the grisly details as to why they wouldn't be clean, but they weren't clean. They were bound in chains, and what was their attitude? Their attitude was at appraising God and singing hymns.

Brother and I don't know what my own response would be in circumstances like that. You know, I'd like to think that I'd have the wherewithal to be that positive, that focused in the face of trials and difficulties such as that, but you know, honestly, it's hard to know until you find yourself in those circumstances. Turns out trials, tests, fire, has a way of revealing ourselves to ourselves if we're willing to look.

But, brethren, I think it's important to consider that while Paul and Silas experienced some very challenging conditions and some very difficult conditions, that's not the worst that God's people have had it. Let's go over to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. We're going to take a look at the faith chapter here today as we build the concept we're going to be looking at. Hebrews 11. You know, we see a laundry list of individuals that exhibited great faith throughout the history of Scripture. Just incredible faith. Individuals who, while flawed, I mean, while flawed, human beings, still managed to exhibit incredible faith in difficult and challenging circumstances. Some of these individuals are giants of faith. You know, some of these individuals are giants of Scripture that we know by name, and there's others, individuals, that near the end of Hebrews 11, they're not mentioned by name. They're just lumped in with everybody else who experienced these things, these saints that lived at one point in time. Some people's stories we know, other people's we don't. Let's pick it up in Hebrews 11, and we'll grab it in verse 32. Hebrews 11 and verse 32 says, and what more shall I say, kind of referencing all that had already been said, for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness, out of weakness, were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Verse 35, we see some more references of specific miracles. Women received their dead, raised to life again. But then we see that things were challenging as well. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trials of mockings, scourgings, yes, of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Verse 38, of whom the world was not worthy.

Of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. He says in verse 39, and all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not yet receive the promise. God, having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. These individuals, brethren, were subjected to torture, to mockings, to scourgings, to chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were slain by the sword. They wandered the wilderness in animal skins, in animal hides, and they were persecuted by their own people. They were destitute, and they were afflicted, and they were tormented. And the world was not worthy of them. Wasn't worthy of them.

While their faith provided them an incredible testimony, their examples were recorded for us to see and to learn from. They have not yet received that promise. Despite everything that they've done, they've not yet received that promise. They died without receiving it.

And brethren, some of them died at the hands of incredibly evil human beings. And yet, they went to that death with the faith in the promise that was given, and they kept their eyes on the prize, and they held on. Now, this day that we're gathered here to commemorate today represents a linchpin in God's plan. You know, we as believers, if you look at where the plan of God is, we're somewhere in between the day of Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets in that plan. You know, it hasn't been fulfilled yet. And the meaning behind all of the days that follow after it hang on the meaning and the events of this day. It's the start of the promise which those believers for the past 6,000 years have been waiting for. The coming of Jesus Christ to this earth, and all that that ushers in. All the dominoes that fall then after that event occurs. The Feast of Trumpets, as Mr. Consella mentioned this morning, is described in Leviticus 23 as a memorial of the blowing of trumpets.

It's a day of shouting or blasting which commemorated the various uses of trumpets and shofars in ancient Israel and look forward to the trumpets to come. And we know that a lot of what the communication that was done at that time was done via ram's horn. We also know that there were silver trumpets that were created that were used to announce other things. So it looks to all of the memorial of the reasons why those things were blown, and not only that, looks forward to the trumpet blasts that are to come. We know trumpets were used in a variety of ways. They were used to send signals. They were used to relay communication to the people of Israel at that time in a camp of potentially 1.2 million people scattered through the desert in 12 different little sub-camps.

How do you organize everybody? How do you get everybody to assemble like they're supposed to? You know, the telephone tree doesn't work as you go from person to person to person to person. You would tell them, okay, we're assembling over here today, and it gets to somebody else, and it's a completely different message. We know that doesn't work, so how do you how do you take care of that? Well, they used trumpets. I have an example here. I'm going to be horrible at this. I'm not Lukansen.

Lukansen can actually play a trumpet. I cannot, but...

It's pretty loud. It could carry over a distance. Let me try that again.

That was better. That was definitely better.

Maybe I could have had a career in shofars. Shofars show good, right?

You knew I had to work that in there somewhere, right? But these trumpets were used in a lot of different ways. You know, they were used to commemorate various things. They were used to bring in the beginning of months. They were used to call assemblies. They were used to let people know when the Holy Days were going to be. It let people know of alarms to be able to call attention to the assembly, to call the camp to war. They were used for a variety of things. In fact, one of the things that was used when God descended on Mount Sinai to reveal his law, it was accompanied by the blaring of a trumpet. In ancient Israel, if you wanted the attention of the host of Israel, you blasted a trumpet blast. That is how you got their attention. And we can see, by the book of Revelation, when God desires to get the attention of the people of this world, as we come into the homestretch of prophetic events that are related to the return of Jesus Christ, these trumpet blasts will harold, rather, those events, building again and intensifying to that seventh trumpet blast and the return of Jesus Christ.

But prior to that seventh seal being opened and all of the intensification of these prophetic events, there are six seals that are opened that are not heralded by trumpet blasts.

Those seals are opened. These things come on like birth pangs. They become increasingly more challenging and difficult to bear as time goes on. These events are recorded in Revelation 6. If you'd like to turn over there, we won't read it for sake of time, but please feel free to follow along with me as we go through and we take a look at it. So we know that as a result of these things that we see in Revelation 6, that there would be military conflicts to come. We know that there will be nations that are conquered, nations that are subdued. We know that peace will be taken from the earth. Think about that. That's not just physical peace. It means a bringing on of an attitude of conflict. People at each other's throats about every little thing, every possible thing, because peace has been removed from the world. It doesn't just mean war. It means interpersonal relationships. It means friendships. It means a lot of different things.

That spirit of conflict would arise among mankind with mankind getting to the point where it is wars and it is conflict. We know there's going to be a scarcity of food. We know there's going to be famine. We know there will be disease outbreaks and war. We know that famine and wild animals will claim the lives of a quarter of the world population, again, before the trumpet blasts occur.

We know the believers will be martyred. In fact, such that those who died would figuratively cry out how long? That there would be a time, length of time between those that were martyred early on and those that were martyred later. Such that those that died would figuratively cry out how long, God, before you avenge our blood until you judge the inhabitants of this earth. And we see that God says He's waiting until a certain number is filled just as they had been. We know there's going to be incredible ominous signs in the heavens, great earthquakes, asteroids, meteors, mountains. Islands will be moved from their place. And brethren, that's just the first six seals.

That's the first six seals. The trumpets haven't even sounded yet.

When that seventh seal opens and that intensification occurs, these things come on more rapidly and more seriously, and they're accompanied by trumpet blasts. Imagine what this world is going to do. We've seen what they've done with the pandemic.

We've seen it with our own eyes. We're experiencing it right now.

Imagine what happens when billions begin to die. Brethren, we ain't seen nothing yet.

We have not seen anything yet. What is coming is so much worse.

And you know what's interesting? I think, you know, as the events of this first six seals and these trumpet blasts begin to open, those that accompany the seventh, the world's going to start to notice that something's going on. In fact, I don't know how many of you have conversations with individuals that are outside of church brethren semi-regularly, but people outside are already realizing something's going on. As they're looking at things and going, okay, what's next? Or, you know, kind of making the joke about who had Godzilla as your October bingo card. You know, all these just random things that just keep coming at us, one after another, after another. They've already noticed something is happening. We saw a thread. We're on Nextdoor Neighbors. I don't know how many of you are on that site where you can kind of keep track of your your neighbors. It's basically a place for your neighbors to complain online about whatever your doing at your house rather than look over the fence and go, could you stop that? So anyway, we're on there. And there was a thread recently about the fires, and somebody was just saying, wow, it's just one thing after another, after another, after another this year. And they said, I sure hope and pray that it stops soon. And about three comments down, somebody says, you might want to read the book of Revelations. People are seeing this! They know! They know!

They know what's going on. They see this. 2020 has felt abnormal, brethren. It's felt abnormal.

I don't know about you guys. You know, we've had years where a lot of different things have affected our world from a natural standpoint. We had catastrophic wildfires. We've had disasters. We've had other things. We have social issues. We've had all these things have happened. But just one after another, after another, after another, after another. I want to, I want to, I want to give you an example, okay? I'm going to list off to you the things that have happened in the last nine months.

January of this year, wildfires of unparalleled proportions burned a significant portion of the continent of Australia. Many of you may have remembered the pictures. About a day or so later, Qassem Soleimani was killed in a targeted drone strike. In retaliation, Iran fired a dozen missiles or more at U.S. military bases in Iraq. And in the process and in confusion, inadvertently shot down a passenger airliner with an anti-aircraft missile, killing 176 on board. The U.S. was nearly drawn into a war with Iran. Prince Harry and his wife officially decided to no longer be part of the royal family, stepping back from that role and all that comes with it. Who announced the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in China? And Britain left the European Union. Folks, that was just January.

In the ensuing months, the COVID-19 virus began to circulate outside of China, causing lockdowns all around the world. A second wave you may have heard is beginning in Europe. That's going to be interesting to see how that goes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its largest single-point drop in history. The Summer Olympics were canceled, postponed to 2021. There's only three other times where that's happened. World War I and twice during World War II. Hundreds of billions of locusts descended on East Africa and Southern Asia, threatening the food supply for tens of billions of people. Civil unrest related to racial conditions occurred after the death of George Floyd with rioting and violence that has not been seen since the summer of 1968. West Coast of the United States, vast tracts of South America, and significant portions of South Central Africa have caught fire and are burning out of control. Then last night, Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, setting up an incredibly contentious Supreme Court appointment two months before one of the most contentious presidential elections in recent history. Guys, it's only been nine months in 2020. That's it. We're only, it's only September. And the sheer amount of things, and this isn't all of them, but the sheer amount of things that have happened, both in all of these spheres, natural world, politics, social, all these things, just one after another after another. And I'm sure certain of it that we'll see more as we face the close of this year and on into 2021. You know, everybody keeps thinking that somehow December 31st of 2020 is gonna end it. Nope, sorry, it's gonna keep going into 2021. But brethren, it's reached a point where the people of the world around us, they notice it too.

They notice the frequency and the intensity of these events. They notice this time of heightened stress. And they're asking, what comes next? What's next? But it's been interesting to observe, as we look at these things, by and large, all of these challenges haven't led to a repentance. As a whole, they haven't caught the attention of the world in that way.

People notice them, they see them. It's enough for them to kind of recognize that they're happening, but not enough for them to recognize what's going on and turn to God, to examine their hearts and see where their hearts lie in opposition to God. No, they're focused on the events themselves. They're focused on the events themselves.

So if they're Paul and Silas, they're staring at the chains. They're reaching around and feeling the edges of the stripes that have been cut into their skin. They're looking at that filthy condition of the cell around them. They're not praising God and singing hymns in the midst of it. Their focus has shifted. Their eyes have come off the prize. Brethren, are our eyes on the prize? Are our eyes on the prize? You know, are we able to look at the incredible promises of God of what He's promised will come? And are we able to maintain our focus in spite of everything that's going on and everything that is still yet to come?

You know, this year has been challenging in so many different ways. For some of our brethren, this will be one of the first years where they have not kept a single one of the Holy Days in person. We were out for Passover. We were out for Days of Unleavened Bread. We were out for, you know, Pentecost. And for some of our brethren, they're going to be out for Feast of Trumpets and Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles in the eighth day too.

This is the first time, at least in recent memory, that that has occurred. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful we have the webcast, and I hope that those that are joined in with us today are able to get it through and the signal's coming through well. But we're so thankful for the technology that we do have, but this is unprecedented. This is unprecedented. But brethren, in the challenge of all that is going on, are we as Christians keeping our eye on the prize?

Let's go to Matthew 24. Matthew 24. We see during this particular section of Scripture, this Olivet prophecy, that Peter, Paul, and John ask Christ privately what the conditions are going to be and what the signs of His coming will be.

He recounts to them an explanation of the things that were revealed to John in Matthew... or Matthew! Revealed to John in Revelation 8, kind of with the opening of the seals, and it basically parallels those things. If you were to put the two of them together and read across, you'll see them. But it talks of rumors of wars and a time of great trouble, and it talks of war and of nation, rising against nation of famines and of earthquakes. And he says in verse 8 of Matthew 24, verse 8 of Matthew 24, he says, if I can find it... ah, glasses. Oh, there we go. All these things, he says, are the beginning of sorrows.

All these things are the beginning of sorrows. And that word, sorrows, is referencing birth pangs. It's referencing contractions, that it is the beginning of the contractions that will lead to the birth. Those of you who have birthed a human child, you know that they start out generally small. And I say small as a man. They're probably horrible. But it seemed, from my observation, generally small. As time gone on, however, there is no question of how horrible and how painful it is. I remember.

I was there for all three. I remember. I wasn't, thankfully, having to take it on. But my wife is a trooper. But those birth pangs, they increase in intensity and frequency and pain as time goes on. Brethren, what we're experiencing now and what we'll experience through the first few openings of those seals are the beginning of sorrows.

The beginning of those birth pangs. The first few little contractions.

We're not even remotely dilated yet.

So when we take a look at this particular scenario, Christ tells His disciples there are going to be persecutions. There's going to be false prophets. There's going to be false teachers.

There's going to be an increase in lawlessness and a loss of love that the love of many would wax cold. And He says it will be a great tribulation, such that has never been experienced before. And thankfully, it will never be experienced like this again. Verse 27, let's go ahead and pick it up in Matthew 24 verse 27. He says, For as lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. And the word eagles there can be translated vultures as well.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heavens will be shaken.

Folks, I walked outside of my house about a week and a half ago, and the sky was red, and it looked like the end of days. As I drove to Sublimity to go check on a member, it looked more and more like the end of days, the closer I got to those fires. I can't imagine what it looked like 20 miles in. I can't, because in Sublimity, I'll be honest, it scared me. And I was 25 miles away from the fires. It looked like the end of days. And here we see that these things are going to happen in heaven. These things are going to happen. The stars are going to fall. The moon won't give its light. The powers of heaven will be shaken. Says verse 30, then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Brethren, this is the moment that this day symbolizes.

This is the moment. These events of this seventh seal begin. There's devastation, there's death, there's destruction, but at the end, Christ returns. The Elector gathered. Those that are alive and remain will be changed. Those who have died in Christ will be resurrected at the sound of the trumpet, as it talks about in 1 Corinthians 15, 51 and 52, and 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 16.

This is the moment that those mentioned in Hebrews 11, those who were tortured and died, have been waiting for, for so long. This is that moment. Christ goes on to talk using parables here to describe different signs that people can use to recognize the times. He talks about how, you know, as a fig tree's branch becomes tender and puts on leaves, that summer is near. Says, as you see these signs, you can know that the fulfillment of the promise is near. Verse 36 says, but of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only, but as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them away, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. It'll be quick. It'll be fast. It'll be sudden. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken, and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore, he says, verse 42, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming, but know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. It'll come suddenly. It'll come unexpectedly.

You know signs are going to occur. We're going to see them coming. We're going to realize the time is getting close, but the exact timing is unknown. He says in verse 42, watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. And he draws an analogy, and it's a great analogy. He says if the master of the house knew the exact time the thief was going to arrive, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. You know, makes sense. Rarely do you have burglars that provide a service or a courtesy of scheduling their burglaries. You're like, oh, I'm so sorry. I have a 12 o'clock on Thursday. The Joneses. What about 2.30 on Sunday? You know, no, it doesn't work. It's not how it operates. It's crazy. But the thief will come at a time when you least expect it, and it catches you by surprise, which is why you have to have a regular watch.

You have to have a watch. Not watch, but somebody who's paying attention to this person coming. Christ says, I will come at an hour you don't expect. He says, be ready. Be ready. Verse 45, kind of contrasts two different servants here. Two different servants who will take this information and do different things with it. Verse 45, who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food and do season. Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. Verse 48, but that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming. And he begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and to drink with the drunkards. Says the master of that servant will come on a day when he's not looking for him and in an hour that he's not aware of. And he'll cut him into an appoint him as portion with the hypocrites. He says there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So we see a contrast between faithful servant, one who was wise, whose master made him ruler over the household, who when the master came, you know, surprised him, you know, popped around the corner like, I'm back!

Turns out he was doing his job, you know, that undercover boss moment, right?

But the other, who grew weary of waiting for his master to return, grew tired, grew weary, began to beat, mistreat his fellow servants to eat and to drink with the drunkards. That servant didn't keep his eyes on the prize. He shifted his focus, he lost sight of the promised return of his master, and instead of allowing, you know, instead of kind of, I don't know, keeping up the standards that he's required to keep up, he jumped right in with the rest of the world, drinking and getting drunk and mistreating other people. Brother, I don't think it's a coincidence that Matthew 25 falls right on the heels of Matthew 24. I think Matthew 25 and Matthew 24 are connected in a very intimate way.

We're commanded to watch, we're commanded to pay attention, we're commanded to be vigilant. The Greek word is Gregorao, commanded to see the events that are coming, to be able to discern the times, but in the same breath Christ said, but you're not going to know the time, so be ready.

You're not going to know the time, so be ready. Greek word for ready is hedi-oimos, means to be ready or to be prepared, so because we don't know the exact hour of the fulfillment of this day, we must be prepared for it at any time, at any time, which is the connection between Matthew 24 and Matthew 25. Let's read Matthew 25 in verse 1. It says, then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps, and while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. So once again we see Christ providing a parallel description here between two different groups of people. He characterizes them as those that are wise and those that are foolish. Those are his words, not mine. The foolish had their lamps with them, they had no oil. So they had their lamps, they had wicks, but they had no oil. The wise had the lamps, they had the wicks, and they had the oil. Now these lamps that they're talking about, these are like little clay lamps. You can actually see they're they found a lot of these in archaeological digs. Tons of them. Tons of little first century lamps, and they're just a little clay pot, basically, with a little nozzle that you put olive oil in and jam a wick down in the end of it, and it's like a little itty bitty. They're about this big. They're not huge, but it provides light for wherever you're going to end up going. So as night came, we see both groups fell asleep. Both groups fell asleep. They slumbered. The difference being the wise virgins went to sleep with their preparations made.

The foolish virgins were not ready for what was to come. Verse 6, he says, At midnight a cry was heard, Behold, the bridegroom is coming, Go out to meet him. All those virgins arose, and they trimmed their lamps.

Now in Jewish marriage custom, it's kind of interesting. We've talked about this before. Once the groom has betrothed the bride, the groom goes to his father's home, and he adds on to the father's home, or adds a structure on the family property, so that he can return, collect his bride, and go back to his family property. And so they're betrothed. You know, he's off fixing the house and getting it ready to go. And then, kind of like we have elaborate engagement proposals here in the United States, the goal would be to come back to surprise the bride. And they would think of elaborate ways to do that. In this case, it was at midnight that the bridegroom returned. Verse 6, again, at midnight a cry was heard, behold the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him, and all those virgins arose, and they trimmed their lamps. So the call went out. The bridegroom had been spotted. He's here, he's coming, go out to meet him now. Everyone awoke, they began to trim their lamps. Verse 8, the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil! Our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying no, lest there not enough for us and you, but go instead to those who sell and buy for yourselves. So the wise said, no, if I share with you, there's not going to be enough for any of us.

So no, you need to go and buy for yourself. Foolish virgins at that point in time realized they had a big problem. A very big problem, because one, it's midnight. How are you going to find somebody to sell you oil at midnight? But two, it wouldn't have even mattered, because they would have been able to get back in time to get in, as we see as the passage continues. But what we see is that those foolish virgins hadn't prepared. They weren't ready. They hadn't been vigilant.

Maybe they thought they had time. Maybe they thought they were just too focused or or too busy with things, but they hadn't done their part. Wise virgins say, no, you need to go, and you need to take care of yourself. Verse 10, while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut.

Afterward, the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open up to us, Lord, open up.

But he answered, and he said assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.

While they were gone, the doors were closed. They were shut out from the wedding. They arrived at the door. They banged on it to be let in, but were told that they weren't coming in.

Those who were ready, however, went right in with their Lord. The conclusion of the parable is given in verse 13. It says, watch therefore, for you do not know the day or the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. And again, that Greek word is gregoreo, which means to be alert, to be awake, to be vigilant, to be ready, to be prepared, so that when it comes, and when it's a surprise, all it takes is rolling out of bed, putting your flip flops on and heading out the door, so that the spiritual preparations are in place. It's not talking about physical preparations.

The spiritual preparations are in place. Now, I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, so do not put your hands up. How many of you have allowed your spiritual focus to slip over the past nine months with the events of 2020? How many have allowed ourselves to shift our focus more on the news, more on the issues surrounding COVID or politics or civil unrest? Maybe our feelings or our thoughts on these things, and momentarily, taking our eyes off the prize?

I'll be vulnerable, and I'll admit it. I have. I have. I have allowed these things to, at times, pull my focus and my attention away from what I know that attention needs to be on. I've fallen into the trap of following the events and not keeping my eyes focused on that prize. Spending more time focusing on the things that are happening around me that, by the way, I cannot in any way, shape, or form control. And yet not focusing on the things that I actually have direct control over. My own spiritual vigilance, my own attitude, and my own preparation.

I've also been guilty of focusing on my frustrations with the perceived chains, so to speak, around my hands and feet today in particular. Not gonna lie, there was a great degree of frustration earlier. And as a result of that, it becomes more challenging when we're in that state and when we're in that frustration. It becomes more challenging for us to sing hymns, to praise God, and to be thankful. And brethren, it ought not be so.

We cannot afford to allow the incredible meaning of these fall Holy Days that we're about to partake in, and we are partaking in today, to be lost on us, or to somehow go through the motions this year, because we're so focused on the circumstances that we're experiencing, that we lose sight and miss out on the meaning of the days that we're here to keep. You know, the events that these days picture from the Feast of Trumpets, the return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection, the transformation of the saints, you know, the return of all of man's failed government experiments, all the failed experiments in human governance to God, and the establishment of a government of true justice, of true equality, of godly righteousness. That's incredible. That's what this day pictures.

Then we move to the Day of Atonement. We see the putting away of Satan, our adversary, the putting away of Satan for the entirety of the time of the millennium. And ultimately, we know for good, but the thousand years of peace and prosperity that are going to come from him being put away, and from God's way being taught and lived on this world. Brethren, it'll be the first time in human history since the Garden of Eden that all of mankind will live in peace. That's incredible. That is absolutely incredible. Finally, the eighth day, the focus of the shifting of this temporary nature of this world to the eternal permanence, kind of that shifting of even the temporary dwellings in which we dwell, shifting to this eternal permanence of spirit in the kingdom of God. These days are replete with meaning. They're just chock full of meaning. And brethren, we cannot allow the circumstances of this life and the issues and the challenges that we have experienced this year to steal the joy off of our tongues. We can't. To wipe the smiles off our faces. You know? Can't see it, but I promise you I'm smiling behind it most of the time, if I can figure out how to put it back on. There we go.

We cannot allow that joy to be erased. We can't allow these things and these experiences and these challenges and these frustrations to prevent us from rejoicing before our God in full recognition that He is and what these days represent is the solution to the problems that we face. Mankind can't fix it. Government, uh-uh, can't fix it. Stand in a longer line, pay more money.

There's nothing that we can say. There's nothing that we can do that changes the heart of man.

Only God can do that. Only God can do that. And brethren, that's the beauty of the gospel message of Jesus Christ. He does and He will.

The events of this day, pictures, are going to happen. Jesus Christ is coming. Brethren, your husband is coming.

The question is, will the bride be ready?

Will she have oil in her lamp? Will she be spiritually ready to hop out of that bed and just trim the wick and go out to meet Him? Or will the circumstances around what we experience distract and prevent us from doing the things that we need to be doing to spiritually prepare?

At the end of the day, paying attention to the events, noticing that things are getting closer, means absolutely nothing if we're not spiritually ready to go out and meet Him.

Knowing that it's coming doesn't mean anything. If we're not spiritually ready to go out and meet Him.

You know, as I throw the ball with my dog, Amo, I'm amazed at the tunnel vision that he has relating to what he wants. In those moments, prior to the release of that ball, I have his absolute and undivided attention. He knows what he wants. He wants nothing else. He doesn't care about any dogs, doesn't care about any people, he doesn't care about food, snacks. The only thing he wants is that ball. Do we have that kind of focus when it comes to the Kingdom of God and when it comes to the ultimate fulfillment of these fall holy days? Because, brethren, between now and then, we're going to experience some very dark times. Wish I could tell you otherwise, but we're going to experience some very dark times. There are going to be times of incredible sorrow, incredible distress, and as those birth pangs continue and they intensify, we as believers, just like Paul and Silas, will find ourselves in a very difficult place.

And when we're in that place, where will our focus be? Will our focus be on the chains that are on our hands and on our feet? On the stripes that are dug into our backs? Maybe the death sentence that we're just waiting to have carried out? Or will we look those things square in the eye and sing praises and thanks to our God until our final breath anyway?

Brethren, please keep your eyes on the prize and hold on.