Why are we here on this Day of Trumpets?

Have you ever asked the question, why am I here? Many times maybe you've gone to the refrigerator and you've gone to the refrigerator and said, why did I come to the refrigerator? And then you go back to where you were, and, oh, I know I was going to get the butter or whatever. Now, we do know why we are here for trumpets, but do we really know why? Do we really know why we are here? You know, we all go through pain. We all go through pain. This is a picture of the latest earthquake in Morocco, and we all go through pain. But some of us go through pain emotionally.

You know, some of us are in such huge trials in our lives that we may get to the point where we are in a fight. I'm in desperation. I'm in absolute desperation. The family is attacked. The children are being pulled by society.

Maybe some of our marriages are on the rocks. And we are like that lady, and our life emotionally is like that picture.

Why? And we say, yes, thy kingdom come. But the reason why is because there is a being, a spirit being, that is trying to destroy you and I. Brethren, this is not a physical war. This is a spiritual warfare.

And it started first with the leaders of the church, and then it caused division, and then to the next layer of leadership, and it caused more division.

And then even with some of us having to make a decision, do we go, yeah, or there, and there was even more division, as you know, and it was so hurtful. And now, yes, those attacks will continue, but now he's attacking our children.

That enemy, that adversary, is going after you, and you, and every one of us, and particularly our little ones.

And he cares less about how you feel.

He wants to destroy you and I.

But there is hope, brethren.

There is hope, because Christ is coming to rule.

What that means, brethren, is that the God of this world, as we read in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, which is Satan, God of a little G, the ruler of this world is going to be overthrown. Think about it. He's going to be overthrown. And when we read in Revelation 11, verse 15, it says, at the sound of the seventh angel, the kingdoms of this world, that means the nations of the world today, will become the nations of God. In other words, the kingdom of Satan will stop and will then be the kingdom of God.

And there will be a pivotal moment, a pivotal moment, which, as we heard, that sound, as we heard in the sermon, that shall come from heaven, which is a special sound from God. It's the trumpet of God.

That will sound. And at that moment, this world will not be ruled by Satan anymore, but it will be ruled by God. And it was read in 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 52, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. That's the seventh. We're talking here about seven prophetic trumpets of God, which are covered in the book of Revelation. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible and will be changed.

Brethren, that goes together with 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 16. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 16, says, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven. That is the moment Christ comes back, the seventh trumpet sounds, and it says, he'll come back with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. It will not be a human trumpet. And as we heard in the sermon, it will be frightening to the world.

And the dead in Christ will rise first. So we are talking about Christ's coming, the seventh trumpet, the change of the kingdoms of this world to be the kingdoms under God's rule and the resurrection. All these events are unleashed at the sound of this trumpet. And so this trumpet of God is the moment when Christ takes over the rulership from Satan. And you know what? He is angry now. He is furious now, and he's going to get even more. And he's attacked the leadership, then he's attacked the middle layer of leadership, he has attacked the brethren, and now he's attacking your children.

And you and I are thinking, what can we do?

We have to think, brethren, that it's not a physical war. It's a spiritual warfare that you and I watch. We need to watch ourselves, and we need to pray. We need to pray for one another. We need to pray for our children by name and use scripture, use the sword, which is the word of God, and pray for one another. A number of brethren here, as your children go to school, are being attacked by Satan. Oh yes, there are pawns, which is the society, and all the other things, but it's a spiritual warfare, brethren. And we need to be wise and close to God.

Because Christ is coming, and when Christ is coming at that trumpet, Satan will be deposed. And yes, there's a series of events that will take certain time until Satan finally is put in prison. But one of the first things that happened, as we read, is that the dead will be resurrected incorruptible. Brethren, what that means is the dead will be resurrected without sin.

Do you get it? Without sin. In other words, without leaven.

You see, as we read in Revelation 11, verse 18. In Revelation 11, verse 18.

There he talks about, following verse 15, the sounding of the seventh trumpet. And then in Revelation 11, verse 18, it says, the nations were furious. Well, because the leaders of the swole are inspired by Satan. And, but it's the time when God's wrath is come, and he's going to intervene the final punch of God's wrath. Yes, because God's wrath starts from the heavenly signs and the seven trumpets. But this is the final punch, which is symbolized by the seven lost plagues. And, but it is the time that we read that the dead will be judged. So some dead will be judged to be resurrected in the first resurrection, and some dead will be judged to remain sleeping for at least another thousand years. It's also the time that the servants of God are rewarded. And it's the time that those that destroy the earth will be destroyed.

That's, brethren, why we are young. Because the spiritual war finally will come the moment that God, through Christ, is going to intervene and depose Satan from being the ruler of the society. That's why we are young. And this, obviously, is a sequence of events that first starts with a sign from God. You see, the Jews always look for a sign. So, yes! So the day of trumpets foreshadows all these seven trumpets, not just the lost, foreshadows these seven trumpets which occur after the heavenly signs, which you can read that in Revelation chapter 6 at the end of chapter 6. And then it will follow the day of the Lord, which is for one year. So the Great Tribulation, which lasts for three and a half years, but the intensity is reduced in the last year. And at last year, there is the heavenly signs. And in that last year is the Day of the Lord.

That Day of the Lord consists of seven trumpets. The first four, you can read that in Revelation, starting in Revelation 8.

And the first four are discussed in Revelation 8, the basic great punishments to the earth. And then in Revelation 9, it covers the fifth trumpet, which is the story of the locusts, which represents when the beast power will attack the powers of the north and east. In other words, where Europe changed to a dictatorship will attack nations like China and Russia and Korea and others that will join. That will be a punishment for five months. And as you read, during that period, those brethren that we sealed at the end of the heavenly signs, we can read that in Revelation 9, verse 4, those that have the seal of God will not suffer. They will be protected. And then after those five months, so this is during this one-year period after these five months, then there'll be a counter-attack by the nations of the north and east with an army of 200 million in which a third of mankind will die. And so a fourth of mankind would have died during the Great Tribulation and events around that and the Four Horsemen. And now an additional third of what's left, which basically means if you compute that, it means half of mankind will have died by this time. Half of all the people living by this time will be dead.

Satan is angry, brethren, and a lot of worse things are still to come. But there is hope. And then we get to the seventh trumpet, because that is the hope. It's when Christ has to return to save humanity. And young people remember that God promises you can escape. Please, young people, remember God promises you can escape if you watch and pray. So young people, please don't go to the world. Please!

This is serious stuff. It's going to come suddenly. Suddenly. We have to be close to God, and we've got to be praying. And you will escape. You will be protected. So when Christ returns to rule the world, as we read in Revelation 11 verse 15, that is the first resurrection, as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 16. That is the culmination of God's wrath. That is the completion. That is the final stroke of God's wrath, as you can read in Revelation 15 verse 2. And then we have the seven lost plagues, which are poured. After Christ's return, after the first resurrection, they are poured in just a few days between Revelation 15 and 16.

During those seven lost plagues, during that short period, the nations will gather at Armageddon to fight returning Christ. You see that in Revelation 16. And then finally, Christ destroys those who destroy the earth, as we read in Revelation 19, 11 through 21. Brethren, I'm just giving you a big picture for you to understand a big picture. You can study all these details after church and go home and do your homework.

And those that will be with Christ at that time are those that are cold, chosen, and faithful. Brethren, you being in the church, you are cold and chosen. Many are cold. Oh, we preach the gospel to many people. Many are being cold. You answer that phone call. Think about it. It's God is calling. Ring, ring, ring, ring. Put your name there. George, or whatever your name is. And are you responding to that call? Young people, God is calling you. Are you responding to that call? Or are you going to go off the world?

It's a spiritual war. You and I can pull our hair out to think what else can we do. And brethren, after the feast, I want to call a meeting with the parents of teenagers to have a brainstorm to see what else we can do to help in the Christian fellowship at services to be a building to everybody, and particularly to our young teens and preteens, because Satan is attacking them. But the war is spiritual. The war starts at home.

Are we watching ourselves? Are we doing at home? Yes, we in the church will try and help. But the war is spiritual. We've got to watch how we conduct ourselves and pray, because it's a spiritual warfare. We're not fighting against flesh and blood, but we have to be faithful till the end. We have to be faithful till the end. It's he who overcomes. Turn with me to Revelation and just look these few points here. Revelation 2, verse 7, says, him that overcomes all gifts to eat from the tree of life. In other words, he'll have eternal life. Verse 11, he says, he who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. He will not have the fire of the second death. He will live eternally. Look at verse 17. He who overcomes, I'll give some of the Eden manna to heat. That is the real manna that's the bread of life. That's God's holy spirit through Christ.

Look at verse 26.

He says, he who overcomes and keeps my words to the end, to him I'll give power over the nations. He will rule the nations instead of this evil demonic system that we have. It doesn't help who you vote for. This is Satan's world.

Please do not get involved in the politics of this world. We do not believe in the leaders of this world. We believe in a kingdom and we wait for our king.

Then we read in Revelation 3 verse 5, he who overcomes shall be clothed with white garments. In other words, there will be no more sin. That person will be sinless forever, will be uncorruptible. And then verse 12 says, he who overcomes, I'll make him a pillar in the temple of my God. He will be a strong pillar, an example, to the society in God's temple, in God's city. And in verse 21, him who overcomes, I'll grant him to sit with me in my throne. We'll sit with Christ, governing and teaching society in the world tomorrow and beyond. You see, brethren, now we are begotten of God. Now we are the first fruits of the Spirit, as we read in Romans 8, 23. We have the first fruits of the Spirit. In other words, we have been called and chosen. Chosen means that we have answered that call and we have repented, we made a commitment, we've been baptized by those that are doing so by Christ's authority, in other words, in Christ's name. And you, after baptism, upon the laying on of hands, you have received the Holy Spirit. You have the first fruits of the Holy Spirit, which begets you as a child of God. Yes, in the world tomorrow and in the second resurrection, everybody will have access. Everybody will be called and will have access to the Tree of Life, to God's Holy Spirit. But today, only a few lack the salt of the earth. It's only a few grains. We today are the first fruits of the Spirit. At the seventh trumpet, you and I will be resurrected incorruptible. In other words, without sin. And therefore then we shall be like him. We shall be born again. Look at John chapter 3. John chapter 3.

John chapter 3. We know the story about Nicodemus here, that he came to Christ. And then Christ gave him an answer in verse 3, saying, Most surely I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless you are born again as a spirit being, we're not yet born again. We are begotten of God's Holy Spirit. Yes, we are the children of God, but we're not yet born again. We are begotten. There's a difference. It's like a baby in a mother's womb is begotten, but he's not yet born. He's already living in a mother's womb, but he's not yet born.

And unless we're born again, we cannot see, we cannot be part of the kingdom of God. Flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God. We've got to be spirit beings, changed to immortality, incorruptible. Look at verse 5 and 6 of John 3. Most surely I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. We've got to be born of water and the spirit. We've got to be baptized and receive God's Holy Spirit, and then we've got to be born of the spirit, not just begotten. And that which is born of the flesh is flesh. You and I have been born of the flesh. The first birth. We're not yet born again. The second birth.

That which is born of the spirit is spirit. You and I are not yet spirit. Take a little knife and try and make a little cut on your finger, and you'll soon know that you are flesh. You're not spirit. When you stab your toe on the corner of the kitchen table or on the corner of your bed, you know that you're still flesh. And then you read in verse 8, he says, the wind blows when it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So it is everyone who's born of the spirit. He's making it very clear that born of the spirit is a spirit being. There's no questions about. Now, if you don't fully understand that explanation yet, we in the church have an excellent document on our website and the resources and the study papers that explain that in great detail. It's a wonderful, very explicit paper. So, beloved, as we read in 1 John 3, verse 2, now we are the children of God. In other words, now we are begotten of God. And yet has not been revealed what we shall be. We shall be spirit beings. We're still flesh and blood. But when he is revealed, that is when Christ comes, when he's revealed, we shall be like Christ's ease of the same kind, spirit kind, spirit essence. For we shall see him as he is. You and I today, we cannot see him as he is, but then we will be able to. And so, again, we are now begotten of God. We have, or we are, the first fruits of the spirit.

It is important and we understand that clearly we have received God's Holy Spirit. We are the first fruits of the spirit, but we're not yet born again. At the seventh trumpet, when Christ is revealed, we shall be like him, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. That is different. Just because the word first fruits is the same word, it's two different things. We are today the first fruits of the spirit. We're not yet born again. We're not yet the spiritual first fruits to God and to the Lamb. There is a difference between first fruits of the spirit and actually becoming like Christ is, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. You see, the first fruits of the spirit are flesh and blood.

The fresh fruits of the spirit still have leaven. You know the story of Pentecost, when the two wave loaves are waved with leaven, baked with leaven. We're still going through that baking process with our trials and difficulties, and we still have leaven. But we have to remain faithful till the end. We are now called and chosen, but we have to prove that we are faithful till the end. At the resurrection, we will be immortal, incorruptible, without sin, and then we'll become the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. There is a difference. The difference is that we have to overcome till the end. We have to prove faithful till the end, till Christ comes.

And this is an important point that quite often people don't understand, which is Christ's role now, that He is ascended to the Father, as it's described on the wave sheaf. He is ascended to be accepted in our behalf as our high priest.

And now He has a function to perform, because you and I are saved by His life. And He is our high priest as a job that is fulfilling. The job is described in 1 Peter 1 verse 2. And let's turn to 1 Peter 1 verse 2. 1 Peter 1 verse 2. 1 Peter 1 verse 2 says, elect. We are the chosen. We are the elect. In other words, we have God's Holy Spirit. According to the full knowledge of God, God decided to call some people before long time.

That was part of His plan. And we are receiving God's Holy Spirit in sanctification of the Spirit. Sanctification means God's Spirit pricks your mind, pricks your conscience, and says, and put your name there. I'm going to put mine. George, don't say this. Don't say it this way. Don't think that. Change. And when I recognize that our God and I obey even in that point, that's why we have the sanctification of the Spirit. We are begotten of God. We've got the Holy Spirit in us. God's Holy Spirit is pricking our conscience to change for obedience. Then when we realize we slipped up, you and I, on your knees, and on my knees, our knees, we go to God and ask for forgiveness.

And He sprinkles the blood of Christ to forgive us. And this, after the blood was applied at baptism. So this is the sprinkling of blood that is ongoing. And this is mentioned in the section of Leviticus 16 about the role of the high priest, because it talks about the two goats, but then it also talks about Christ now becomes the high priest.

And the high priest now is in heaven. And then it says, in Leviticus 16, let's read that very quickly, Leviticus 16, Leviticus 16, verse 19, it says, He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with His finger seven times to cleanse it. This is the role of the high priest. Now our high priest is Christ. Christ is in heaven where there is no man. As he reads at the beginning of verse 17, verse 17 says, there should be no man in the tabernacle of meeting.

There is no man in heaven now. And Christ as our high priest, when you and I pray and go to Him through the sanctification of the Spirit, and we pray and ask God for forgiveness, we now, as having the first fruits of the Spirit, He sprinkles us. He says, yeah, seven times. That means completely, completely to cleanse us. Our sins are forgiven at that moment. And as we read then in verse 20, when He has made an end of doing that, then He'll come to earth, and then He'll handle Satan as we can see that.

And that's when Christ comes back. But Christ's role today is to work with us when we repent through the sanctification of the Spirit, and we approach His throne to ask to be forgiven. And that is tithed beautifully, brethren, with Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14. So let's go to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14, because in Hebrews chapter 10 talks about that God gave Christ a body. In other words, the Word received a body.

We read that in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 5, where it says, a body you've prepared for me. And now Christ gave that body up as an offering. And then in verse 14 it says, for by one offering, Christ made one offering, His body, one. He, Christ, through that one offering, has done everything that is necessary to perfect us, giving His blood, symbolizing our forgiving of our sins at baptism.

And then after we baptized, if we still struggle with certain things through the sanctification of the Spirit, He sprinkles us completely. In other words, for one sacrifice, He is doing the perfection forever for us. And us are those who are being sanctified, who are being sanctified. We are in the process of sanctification, the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. We are going through that process.

So, brethren, therefore, continuing in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, you and I today, today, when you get on your knees, spiritually speaking, you can enter boldly through the blood of Jesus. God's throne, through the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way. What is the new and living way? It's through Christ's blood. Before, only the high priest could go there once a year on the Day of Atonement. Today, you and I can go any moment. That's a new and living way.

Which he, Christ, consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh. That veil that separated the sanctuary from the Holy of Holies, spiritually speaking, you can go through it because of Christ's offering of his body, of his flesh. Verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of trust of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, which symbolizes Christ's sacrifice. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope. Brethren, this is a hope.

Without wavering, don't doubt, don't fear, don't go back to the world. Young people, please don't follow the world. Oh, it's gonna be appealing, but this is spiritual war. Satan wants to wipe you out. Oh, it looks so cute, and it's got such nice things, and whatever is so nice. Be careful! That's what happened at the time of Moses. There's nothing new! What happened at the time of Moses? Well, Moses went up and says, what shall we do? Nothing is happening. Well, let's rise up and play! There's nothing new under heaven. Maybe the technology is different, but the deception of Satan is the same. There is hope, brethren. There is hope. Christ is coming to rule. That's your hope. That's my hope. When the present role of the high priest is ended, his wife has made a self ready. You and I have been cleansed, and hopefully you and I are amongst those that are ready, because some will not be ready, and it will not be there.

So just because you have God's Holy Spirit is no guarantee unless you are faithful till the end.

See, having God's Holy Spirit is called and chosen, but those who are with Christ are called, chosen, and faithful till the end. We have to use the sanctification of the Spirit now for obedience and the sprinkling of Christ's blood to be ready. Are you going to be amongst those counted with the wife?

Or are you going to be pulled by the world and get away? And look at Luke 21, verse 36. Watch, therefore, and pray. Brethren, it is a spiritual war, and if you read in two verses before, in verse 34, it says, watch yourselves. So it's basically watch ourselves. How are we behaving at home? How are we behaving when no person sees you? Because God sees you. And so pray, because the spiritual warfare, pray. It's not saying, oh well, then I hope I'll just decide to go to the place of safety. No! It's pray that you may be accounted worthy by God to escape. There will be an escape. God is faithful. He's not lying. You can escape. And not only escape, of what all that's going to happen, but to stand. To stand.

To be in front of Christ at the resurrection, to be raised up and be with Him in the clouds, to stand with Him.

And so, don't be deceived. It is good. That's why I went through this quick synopsis of events. So you don't deceive by things that are going to come, because many false prophets will come up, and many say, well, Christ is here. Well, follow this church, because we got Christ here, or God is there. We got to stand firm.

Up to the lost trumpet. Up to Christ's second coming, which symbolizes the day of trumpets.

So what? Why are we keeping the day of trumpets? So what? So we can wake up and be ready. Then we may be able to stand, in other words, be saved.

In Revelation, it says, I think it's a typo, I think it's Revelation 8. Revelation 8, for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

The whole creation is waiting for the moment that you and I will be changed to spirit beings.

Even angelic realm is kind of waiting eagerly for that. And we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, this is the scripture I quoted to you earlier, we now have the first fruits of the spirit.

We ourselves grown within ourselves eagerly waiting. We're still waiting. We're not yet redeemed. We do not yet have a new body. We're waiting for that seventh trumpet when we will be changed to spirit beings, when we will really become the first fruits to God. Today, we're only the first fruits of the spirit. And if we don't use that, we're going to miss the boat.

So, what must I do? Micah, chapter 6, verse 8, says, What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? That's it. That's it. Do we love justice? Do we do what's right? Do we obey God's commandments? Do we do what's right? Are we merciful to our brothers and sisters? Or are we judgmental? Are we critical? Oh, the children can't do this. We want to do things like I did today.

Ask young people, ask young people to read a scripture before services.

We've got to include our children as part of us. They've got to feel part. We've got to talk about things that we can improve for the fellowship so that our teenagers are part of us. I'm not changing the holiness of services. I'm making sure that our children feel that this is God's church. It's their church.

The convocation is still holy. We're not changing the holiness of the worship to God.

We understand what we do is not enough because it depends on what you do at home, because the warfare is spiritual. It's against demons. We're going to be praying on our knees for that.

But let us do our part by being merciful and kind to one another instead of being critical. And then walk humbly, faithfully, humbly, being faithful and humble till the end with God. And there's nothing different than what Christ told the Pharisees, that you have overlooked the weightier matters of the law, which is just as mercy and faith. It's exactly the same thing. That is what God requires of us today to be ready.

And then you'll send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, that seventh trumpet, that Christ's coming and he will gather you and I, God willing. If we are ready, you'll gather us together. That's why we are here, keeping the day of trumpets to remind us. And this should give you great joy, brethren. It should fill you up with God's Holy Spirit and say, this is exciting stuff. My question is, are you ready to rule and serve under your Creator, executing justice, being merciful and faithfully walking humbly before God? A beautiful scripture right at the end of 2nd Peter, it says, brethren, there's all things of prophecy. Remember that it all will be destroyed. The key point is, what is our behavior in holy conduct and godliness? What's our behavior in justice, mercy and faith? Brethren, therefore, we've got to grow in the grace of God and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's what we've got to do. Come now, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. That's why we are here.