[Darris McNeely] Two weeks ago I was invited to speak at the men’s weekend that was held out here, at a camp not too far from Cincinnati, the “Man Up” weekend, and in that message I made a statement that I’d like to expand on today.  I said in that message that what we needed in the church was a revival - a revival that stretched across all ages, across all groups within the Church of God.  But a revival was needed, from my perspective, such as it is, to revive us, and to strengthen us and to help us be prepared for whatever God is going to use us for, and certainly, in the end of it all to be prepared, in that great day of God’s judgment, that we are going to very soon be celebrating, commemorating, as we observe the Feast of Trumpets, and the time of Christ’s return and our change to eternal life at that moment, through a resurrection.

I did say at that time, because I was speaking to a group of men, among who were many young men, and I see that several of those are here this morning, and others who were not – we have a new ABC class, and several of you who were in ABC are here this morning.  But I also said at that time, that my opinion that that revival was definitely going to have to begin and be sustained within the younger group of people within the church, both men and women, in their twenties and in their thirties - for the church to sustain itself, but also to thrive, into the next generation, beyond mine, and yours, for some of us here this morning.  Not that I’m ready to “hang it up – give it up”, but I recognize that the younger group are going to have to step up and experience something that, perhaps has not quite fully kicked in, in terms of an “after-burner”, commitment, emotion – whatever it might be, but that was going to have to happen - and I am confident that it will.    

But I wanted to talk a little bit more about that this morning – go a little bit deeper into it, because we’re coming up to the Fall Holy days, and for me, personally is a way for me to give the focus upon the real meaning that those days should impart to all of us, and to obtain the most from the observance of these festivals that God has ordained and placed before us at this time of year.
     
Turn back over to the Book of Habakkuk.  My emphasis for this particular message is out of this Book, one of the smaller, minor prophets…Chapter 3 of Habakkuk - a very short book that is very powerful and one in which I have been spending, admittedly, a great deal of time in, of late.  And out of which we read the taking and inspiration I feel for the personal appearance campaign that we’re going to be doing after the Feast of Tabernacles, in Texas, as we take a message to our audience in that part of the country, and beyond, as God gives us the ability.  But in this particular prophecy, there is a statement that is made that I think has an application for us as we can draw it into our life and into the work today. 

Beginning in Verse 1, it says:

Habakkuk 3:1  A prayer of Habakkuk …

Verse 2:  O Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid;

Now what had happened was, Habakkuk, just briefly, was an unusual prophet.  You know, prophets of God kind of get a bad rap at times… they’re presented as negative doomsayers.  Habakkuk was not one of those.  He was actually one of the most positive, joy-filled, of the prophets.  He begins his prophecy by taking the condition of the people to God.  He didn’t stand, necessarily, in the streets and point the finger at the people.  There were problems, there were social problems, there was injustice, there was violence, there was difficulty, but he took the problem of the people to God.  And he said, “God help us, heal us.”  God said, “Here’s what I’m going to do:  I’m going to send the Babylonians; I’m going to send the Chaldeans, and they’re going to punish you and your people because of your breaking of the covenant, and because of sin.”  And he couldn’t believe it, he said, okay, he finally had come down to a resignation – he couldn’t believe God would act that way.  But then, by the time he gets through this part of his prophecy, as it is recorded, he’s accepted that. 

But again, he’s a different prophet.  And I think that in that, there is a tone, there is a voice for all of us and for the United Church of God, if you will, to think about today as we look at our world, look at ourselves, look at the church, and strive to hear a message from God.  That perhaps, this prophet, Habakkuk, has a tone for us to strike that is still one that is of hope, mixed with joy.  He loved his people.  He was very much involved in their lives, and yet he grieved for them.  And instead of pointing the finger, as some of the prophets did, and in a right way, as God directed it, he just went to God in prayer and said, “God help us; heal us.  Help us get over the violence and the corruption, the injustice.” And God held out, kind of a strong statement, but also within that, as in God’s ultimate sovereignty, there was still justice.  God is a just God.

And so Habakkuk makes a comment here in a prayer, and he says:  “I heard your speech and I was afraid.”  Then he said this:  “Oh Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!  In the midst of the years make it known: in wrath remember mercy.” 

Revival – that’s one on those words we don’t use too often!  We don’t use revival too much.  I don’t know if any of you have ever been to a revival in a past life.  They have their purpose.  Habakkuk says, God, revive Your work – in the midst of the years.  I wonder if there’s not a message for us here today, in our use; a message of revival.  Maybe God is leading us, and can lead us if we allow Him to, to a point where we might be revived, in zeal, commitment, dedication, in courage, to God, to His word, to His church, to His purpose.  You know, the New Testament writers were led by God’s Spirit, in many different times and ways – whole Scriptures out of Isaiah, Habakkuk, and the Psalms, and put a whole new meaning to it.  Sometimes when I teach Acts, I point this out to the students, and I say, “Look, Paul says….quotes this Psalm, and he says this…he says ‘this is what it means.’”  And it didn’t mean that at all to his Jewish audience, to the Rabbis, to the Scribes, the Pharisees.  They’d read it for decades, centuries, generations, and they had their fixed traditional meaning.  And here’s this group of fishermen and men out of Galilee, and a renegade Rabbi who turned-coat on them named Saul, (Paul) and he’s twisting their Scriptures, and he’s telling them, it means that this man you hanged is the Messiah.  And it means this - and it means things that they never dreamed that it could have meant.  And they were led by God’s Spirit to say that, and to write that. 

I think that God continues to do that with His church, not in an irresponsible manner, but to draw meaning out of the Psalms, the Prophets…yes, even the New Testament, and say, this is what we need to do.  This is what we should engage with.  And I think that a revival is something for us to read God’s word and to consider in terms of ourselves.  Habakkuk saw what was really needed, and he asked God for help.  It was a very dark moment in the history of God’s people, the nation of Judah, at that particular time.  Literally their lives, their whole existence as a nation, hung in the balance – and they didn’t see it.  They thought that they could, that they were one nation under God…surely they had that written somewhere, maybe on the back of one of the sheckles, or on a plaque somewhere, or in a scroll that they felt they were chosen - unique.  God’s people…nothing could deter them.  Nothing would happen; they would always be there.  They had God’s promise.  And yet, the prophets saw that there were difficulties, and God said, “You know, I’m going to bring these Chaldeans, that you see, that you read about – the Babylonians…I’m going to bring them in.  And they’re going to deal with you.”

The Babylonians were the ISIS, terrorists of the day.  Coming out of the east, shaking their fists and saying, we’re coming – we’re coming, Israel - Judah…. we’re coming to a neighborhood near you.  And they turned out to be God’s instrument in that day of His wrath upon His people, and they were ultimately taken captive. They didn’t see that.  And yet, as Habakkuk taught - and there’s no indication from his prophecy that he stood in the streets like Jeremiah did, or appeared before a king like Isaiah did - some heard his message.  His contemporary’s, his peers, were people like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and also a very young man named Daniel.  They were all alive when Habakkuk wrote what he did, and somewhere along in the streets of Jerusalem you have to imagine that there were conversations on a Sabbath day, or in the dark of night as the sun set, as men and women would gather, and talk about what was being said in the streets, or what they picked up at the market that morning, somewhere in Jerusalem there were people that were talking about this Habakkuk – this man named Habakkuk, the prophet, and what he was saying - and wondering what it meant.  And as it does then, and will now, some people hear and listen.

I wonder if Daniel might not have heard about Habakkuk and remembered his message of hope, when he found himself in Babylon as a captive, and he was trying to figure it all out.  A remnant heard his message.  There’s always a remnant.  God has always preserved a remnant of His people throughout time, the story of Israel, the story of the church – He’s always preserved a remnant of people who will be faithful, dedicated, adhering to God’s law and His way, and understanding the true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  And I’m confident that there is such a group of people today, because I know that that is how God works.  And I think that I am talking to a part of that, and so I choose to talk to a few friends and brethren in a way that, will hopefully makes us think about something that is very important, and speaks perhaps to the moment of time in which we are in. 

Going on here in Habakkuk 3…he asked God to revive His work in the midst of the day, but then he launches off into a, really a very colorful description of God.  And it always begins with God, and it’s about God, and it always ends with God.  We can’t get away from that.  That is the dedication; that is the revival; that is the commitment that we need.  It is about God.  He says in Verse 3:

Verse 3:  God came from Teman, (the region just to the east, across the Jordan Valley, of where Jerusalem was)….the earth was full of His praise.  The Holy One came from Mount Paran.  His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. 

Verse 4:  His brightness was like the light;

So here’s this colorful image of God that Habakkuk has here that he’s sketching out…His brightness was like the light; and there was power and He had rays flashing from His hand.  I think the original King James has it that there were horns flashing from his hand – rays, bolts of white lightning…this was not a passive image of God – God just taking a stroll through a garden path. This is an image of God striding over the land, over the nations – a giant of an image, and lightning bolts flashing from His hand.  And there it says:  His power was hidden.

Verse 5:  Before Him went pestilence, and fever followed at His feet.   

It was a time of judgment.  The imagery here, the wording is very similar to other prophetic statements that we’ll read in Revelation about the judgment of God.  But then in Verse 6 it says:

Verse 6:  He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations.  And the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills bowed.  His ways are everlasting.   

He stood…it’s almost like He paused, and He measured the earth.  Revelation 10 talks about a measuring of the temple – a measuring of the temple.  Here He measures…God measures the earth, and it’s almost like He looks around, and the nations are startled…there’s upset.   He looks and He watches and He observes, as God does. 

I wonder sometimes as I’ve read through this, and continued to try to understand to discern the times in which we live, are we not at a moment of a pause in our present world history, in the conditions of our world today.  Could it not be that God is standing and taking the measure of the earth in all the nations, not just America, but all nations at this moment in time, because of so many things that are taking place?  It’s always good to take a measurement and a snapshot at any given moment in our world.  I’m continually struck by how events in the Middle East are shaping many parts of our world today, and have been for the last, really many, many years, but in more recent years and especially with what is taking place in the last twelve months alone. Iran is being given the keys to a nuclear weapon by the leadership of this nation and other western nations, and a decision, a treaty that is likely very well going to pass, that is stunning – unbelievable. 

And what is even more stunning is the acquiescence of others, who look at it, and even just two years ago would never have thought that it could happen or be done, and yet will go along, will say, well maybe it is the best chance for peace in that region; while others say that it is nothing but appeasement.  And that will bring about untold issues yet to be dealt with.  Well the little nation of Syria has been ripped apart, parts of it have been taken over by the Islamic State, and beyond that, refugees have been coming out of that region – of not only Syria, but Afghanistan, and out of Libya, and other Arab states in North Africa, and of all things, in recent weeks flooding into Europe; of all places – refugees going, fleeing to Europe.  It wasn’t that long ago people were fleeing Europe.  And now it is seen as their best hope, and they are fleeing into Europe.  Germany just this year has seen 800,000 Arab/ Muslin refugees come into that region.  It is going to transform that nation.

Just this week we were treated to the scenes of refugees blockading the train station in Budapest, Hungary, and then starting to walk toward Austria – looking for a better life.  Austria – one of the most…was going to use a word here that we don’t use!  Austria doesn’t like foreigners.  I’ll just put it that way – they don’t like those who are not Austrians.  If you’re a group of Arabs, Muslim, going to Austria looking for refuge, it’s a completely upside-down situation.  And many of those will wind up in Germany as well, and it’s creating a moment of crisis for Europe to have to deal with on top of other crisis that they haven’t been able to deal with, and sometimes I look at this, I look at even the areas that they are coming out of, and I read the prophecies in Daniel, of a power coming out of that Arab region into the Middle East, and because there’s a push that takes place, and I’m thinking, now Europe is already being impacted to the breaking point by political, social events out of that part of the world, and it’s pushing them into a different mode and way of thinking beyond what they are used to doing.  And when Europe gets pushed to do things that are not comfortable for them, bad things can happen, historically. 

And so I read these things and I take them very, very seriously.  And we read about even Russian troops on the ground in Syria, in a “peace-making” mode…it’s astounding how the world is being shaped right now by that.  And it is something to truly understand, if you’re going to look at what is taking place among the nations right now.  And wonder, where is God in this, and what is God doing and how is He doing it?  Well, to understand the answer to that question, it requires an understanding of what the Bible says about the nations, in prophecy and in history, and how we understand that in our application today.

And then we look at, come home to America…we look at our American culture.  And events are taking place so rapidly in American culture today, that we don’t know how to react to it, and when people do react to it, they’re in the wrong.  Case in point:  Just across the river this week, a clerk in court would not issue a same- sex marriage certificate to a couple coming in…said, “I’m not going to do that.  I’m an elected official.”  Judge said, “You’re going to jail.”  So she goes to jail… (I assume she’s still there…I didn’t check that part of the news this morning.)  And it’s become a cause…everybody’s been talking about it.  And she has her beliefs, and she took her stand based on her belief on Biblical values and Biblical teaching, and she has been willing to go to jail.  Now, you can get real cute and clever about that and say, well, she should just uphold the law.  But that can be a line of argument today – she’s elected to observe the law, she should just observe the law.

Okay, as I was saying this week, when it comes to you, what will you do?  When it comes to you, what will you do?  I could say, yes, she is an elected official – they can’t fire her.  And if she holds to her values, the Kentucky Legislature I suppose, the way it works, will have to impeach her, which will mean the Kentucky Congressmen and Senators will have to go public with how they stand on such a situation.  Think about that for a moment.  They can’t hide either, now.  So you begin to see the ramifications of a decision made by the Supreme Court two months ago, and how that is rippling through.

And as I said, social change is happening so fast in our country that someone elected to uphold a set of laws they thought were still in existence doesn’t realize that it’s changed.  And they are honestly taking a stand based on conviction, but at what point do we obey God rather than man?  Social change is taking place so quickly, that again people haven’t had the time to process it all.  These are some of the things that are really taking place, and it’s not something I think we can just pass an evaluation on, and a comment on, and say, well, she should just uphold the law or resign.  There are bigger issues at stake here.  None of us have had to probably do that right now.  Doesn’t matter what, she’s a sincere person, her faith, and it would differ from yours and mine, but that doesn’t make her conviction any less sincere.  And I think someone like that has a point for all of us to consider.  Even more so when I see people who are beheaded, call themselves Christians, and because they will not accept Islam, have their heads lopped off.  It’s not their place to evaluate their form of Christianity…this person’s lost their life, for their belief. 

And those things are matters for which we all should think about, and understand in terms of our world today…we don’t realize at times just how insulated we are, by God’s grace and by God’s blessing.  We are insulated from a lot of this.  The refugees…we have a different type of refugee problem, of coming across our Southern border, and that’s getting a lot of press and in the news, and among the candidates, but we’re still able, because of our vast resources and size, to remain rather insulated.  All the more for you and I as we have a window on the Bible and God and what He’s doing in our world, to be motivated to a revival of God’s word within us, and a dedication to what God has given us, so that God can do whatever He’s going to do, with us, and among us.  There are changes that are taking place that on time can bring this nation to its knees.  And while that may not be the case on this Labor Day weekend, as we say goodbye, have a leadership weekend of fellow members coming in here from other parts of the country, and make our own plans to keep the Feast of Tabernacles in the chosen place that has been appointed for us, and we’re looking forward to.

As we do that, let’s consider where we are.  In Ephesians, Chapter 5…let’s be glad for the moment that God has given to us, and in some ways, we must understand, brethren, that it is a moment.  I joke about my age…you joke about your age, I’ll take care of mine!  I know some of you have a number of years on me.  I turned 64 this summer, or last month, and I went around singing, just so my wife would know, the Beatles song from the sixties:  “Will you still feed me, will you still need me, when I’m 64!”  I’m glad that some of you laughed - you know that song!  That’s been my theme song…when I’m 64.  And…I don’t feel 64, fortunately!   And I know some of you don’t feel 80…you might look 80, but you don’t feel it.  But life is a season…life is a very short season.  I get kind of, a little bit weepy-eyed as September comes around because of the change of the end of summer, as I said, and we’re looking for the Feast, and Fall’s coming on, and when I was a kid, you know, summer was over and school was starting…you carry that into the theme of life, and you know, you get into the autumn of your years, and then, by God’s grace, the winter of your years.

And those are rich experiences, rich times, and every season that we live should be savored, experienced, lived to its fullest, enjoyed in the hope of God’s calling and blessing and through a relationship we have with God, and every one of us should be extremely thankful.   And I pinch myself for the life that I have…wakeup…do I really have this?  Yes, I do – thank you God, I say!  And I hope you do as well.  And give thanks for another day and another week and another opportunity to serve Him, to love Him, to teach about Him and to do His will and His work in my little small part of this life. 

Which is why, in Ephesians, Chapter 5, is Paul pulled a quote that is talking about out of the Book of Isaiah, in the midst of an admonition to us all to walk in light, beginning in Verse 8:

Verse 8:  For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light. 

Verse 9:  (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),

Verse 10:  finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

We were once in darkness; God’s called us out of that into the light of His word, His way and His truth.  And we walk in that - just as Habakkuk did.  Just as any of the other men or ladies of the Old Testament, or the New Testament period…recognizing that their eyes had indeed been opened by divine calling from God.  Not by their righteousness, but because of His grace and His goodness.  And we find out and we do what is acceptable to God.  In Verse 11, he said:

Verse 11:  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 

Verse 12:  For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 

Verse 13:  But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.

God’s way, God’s truth is light, and it has opened our minds and our hearts to understand the real purpose of life.  The true, genuine story of what life is all about.  God has written, brethren, a narrative, a story, and it’s in this Book from the pages of Genesis all the way to Revelation…it is His story of Himself, of His Son and of their genuine offer of eternal life for mankind,  and how it can be accomplished.  And He’s put us within this story.  This is our narrative; this is our life.  This is what we have fallen into.  And it is light and it is an understanding.  And it is what guides and drives our lives.  Therefore, as what he says in Verse 14:

Verse 14:  “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”  

Are we still slumbering in any way, in any part of our life?  Are we a bit groggy in terms of whom we are, what God has called us to - where we should be? What we should be doing.  We should be… a major point of any revival is to really discover, or rediscover, God.  To live an honest life, an original life rooted in Scripture…rooted in the entire Bible, the word of God, where it lives within us, no matter who we are and how old we are.  Paul says to wake, arise from the dead; Christ will give you the light. 

Paul said out of Isaiah, and he injects the element of Jesus Christ into it as the One who gives us the light and the understanding, the help and the strength, the ability to live a gifted, original, honest life before God.  In I John, Chapter 2, John who also in many ways wrote about love and light, in his view in his story of Jesus’ life, in I John, Chapter 2…and let’s just read Verse 14…he says:

I John 2:14  I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.  I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. 

Verse 12:   He writes to the little children…which can certainly mean all who are young in the faith…whose sins are forgiven for His name’s sake.

He kind of repeats himself as he talks about our spiritual life here at this point, and he kind of captures all the age groups.  And he says: I’ve written to you…and the ultimate message I think is what he says at the end of Verse 14…he says, you’re strong, and the word of God abides in you.  Ask yourself this:  Is God’s word living in you?  Or are you living in the word of God, is another way to put it.  Do we live in that word, enough to where it is living within us then, and guiding our lives, and shaping and molding our lives?  Are we laboring in the word of God?

An initiative that the Council of Elders put forward this year is a need for the ministry, and for the church, and one of these initiatives that is being carried out, to inspire a deeper labor within the word:  Of study, of searching it out, to the point where it does live within us.  And it’s a quote from one of Paul’s statements to Timothy, to labor in the word.  We all should be laboringin the word of God as we seek to discover Him, and have a closer walk with Him.  And if we do that, we will be strong in faith, and confidence, and hope, and joy, of the life that God has called us to live, because that word lives in us! And we live within that word.  It will take us going deep into God’s word, with a passion, finding the courage to change – having a love for that.  Spending the time just reading it…studying it to the depth that we might need at a particular time, to a crisis, or a challenge that might come to our faith. 

We are beginning a new year of Ambassador Bible College…we’ve just completed our first week, and it’s always…the students learn a lot.  But I think each one of the faculty comes away after every year of teaching, and going through our individual duties of teaching, ourselves are energized for having gone through that section of the Bible, whether it’s the Pentateuch, or the Gospels, or the epistles of Paul.  When we go through it again, and being able to teach it, it energizes us.  I know it helps students who have dedicated and committed a year of their life to do this.

A year ago this month we had a report here in Clermont County – this guy works for the State Department, came and talked to the students about world affairs, and we hope we can get him back, maybe for this class, if we find him in town, and can arrange for him to come talk to this class.  But when he found out the nature of what ABC is, he was truly and genuinely pleased that a group of students would take a year out of their life to come to this place…he didn’t know it existed before he walked in the building that day.  And he just lived down here on the other side of Walmart, up the hill.  But he found what ABC is about, and he was truly pleased to see a group of young people who would take a year out of their life to come and to study, just the Bible.  It’s always refreshing when someone comes in that doesn’t know us, outside of our fellowship, finds out about us, and has a complement like that to say, because it does help us to keep it in perspective.  And yeah, it is a good thing!  It’s a right thing to do.  And it was right for any who has ever come to it, and any who will come to it to do, as opportunity, timing in life, finances etc. will allow for that.  Because it is a labor in the word and approached properly, makes one stronger, because God’s word lives within us, to that degree. So it’s a tremendous opportunity.  I sometimes said, I don’t know how they do it, studying through it…I wonder if I could.  I’ve come to think, I wish I could sit through every class – have the time to do that, but I don’t.  Maybe if I retire!  When I get 65, or 75, if I could come and just take all the classes, and just be a student!  There would be things to learn – there always is. 

Discover God!  Look at your commitment to the church.  The Church of God is where Christ is preparing His bride.  What is the Church?  It is many things.  It’s the body of Christ, the spiritual body.  It is the Church of God, Paul says, residing in a particular spot, wherever it might be.  It is a spiritual organization, or organist, humanly organized in various ways at times, and yet it is ultimately, the church is a group of people called by God, who have been attached, and baptized into the body of Jesus Christ.  It is also the bride that Christ is preparing.  And with all that takes place within the church, as you and I come and go through the doors, here, wherever we may be, we’ve got to recognize that the church is a dynamic, active, vibrant caldron.  Do you know what a caldron is?  A caldron is a hot place…it boils, to make something - to cook something and to make something.  But the church is a caldron at times…it’s vibrant, it’s active, it’s dynamic - it’s never dull!  It is never dull, whether it’s the activity schedule of this particular congregation, the one in California, or you know, its overall history.

It’s not something… that you cannot approach the church passively, which is why sometimes when people reach out and kind of touch the church, kind of…what is this all about, what I was reading about?  Where do you meet?  I’d like to come…and they might come, and then they back off – it’s not for them, for any number of valid reasons.  And then they will stay, and if you stay, your life will be changed, because it’s a caldron.  It is a place of dynamic activity…you can’t just hang out in the church!  There’s too much going on spiritually.  It is the body of Christ.  God is at work in His church.  And if you’re part of the body of Christ, He’s going to work with you. 

We just finished the Seven Churches Bible Study this week, that we’ve been going through, we’re coming down to that one called Laodicea.  And if there is one church that perhaps describes the church at the end of the age, the condition of the church is Laodicea. But when you look at all of them together, you see dynamic activity that is being described by Christ as He looked at those seven churches, in Asia Minor.  There are things “popping & hopping” in those congregations.  They were not passive places of activity.  To have been a part of the church, at any point in time, is to be a part of something that is dynamic.  You see that from the description in the messages to the church in Revelation, Chapters 2 and 3. 

And so, our dedication and commitment to the church and to its work is also part of our revival of a discovery of God.  The Feast of Trumpets is very near now.  In about ten days we’re going to be observing the Feast of Trumpets.  Let a trumpet sound in your life, and wake you up.  Treat it as an alarm, as a warning, which is what it is.  Every time, and through the sermons on that Festival here, will describe what trumpets are as a symbol…it’s called a war, a time of alarm, signal of warning.  It’s a wake-up call – that’s what the trumpet is in Scripture.  The Feast of Trumpets is just that.  At some point in your life and in mine, we heard a trumpet – we heard a very clarion clear call, to action. And we responded in a way that said, “Yes, Lord, take me.”  Kind of like little Samuel when he heard the voice of God, and he responded to it.  We came toward that calling, that voice of God, we heard it and it was trumpet, and that trumpet has been sounding in our life every day since.

It doesn’t just sound once a day on the Holy days.  It really, truly, sounds in the life of a Christian, every day – to stir us, to wake us, to keep us from slumbering, going asleep at the switch; to help us to know who we are, what we should be doing, to know God, what He’s doing, and to see God in our life, and to respond to that in the small ways, the little voices…the little voice that God sometimes will nudge us in a direction, to do something good, to take the right action, to back away from the bad action…that’s God working with us.  That trumpet is sounding every day in our lives, and at some point in our life, it is going to sound as we hear it described in I Corinthians, Chapter 15, where Paul writes:
 
I Corinthians 15:50 Brethren, this I say, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.    

Verse 51:  Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed –

Verse 52:  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

That’s the moment we all yearn and hope for, and wait for.  And every day we should think about our destiny as children of God, because when this trumpet does sound, we will be changed, and we will be made immortal, in God’s family.  But until that day, it sounds every other day for us in different ways, and in different notes and different tones for what we might be able to hear, and appreciate at that particular point in our life, calling us to action.  Calling us to make conscious decisions about the kingdom of God in our life, because that’s what this life is for us.  It is a preparation for that life and world to come, when Christ returns and makes the nations of this earth His nations – His kingdom.

And so, that’s what we will begin to talk about as we get into the Feast of Trumpets, and Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day and the messages that are all wrapped up in that at this particular time of the year, which is an appropriate time for all of us to begin to think about a revival…about God reviving His work in the midst of these years, as we begin to approach Him.  To ask ourselves, and consider in our lives, just how much the word of God is moving within us; how close we are to God and living an original, honest life that is deeply rooted in the conviction of the Scriptures, and its work with us.  Because that’s all that is going to ultimately survive this flesh, and get us to this particular moment.

When you really think about that, it’s much clarified; it really is very much clarified.  The only thing that’s going to survive at the moment that big trumpet sounds, and a change is made, are the decisions that we have made for the kingdom of God, today, and every day of our life. God gives us those seasons and those moments and those experiences of this life, as we breathe this mortal air, to consider and to think about that.  As this season of the summer ends, I personally think about all that we’ve been through in the recent months, where I began this season of the Summer, the late Spring, and mark it this year at the funeral of a very dear friend, that we had to go and bury – a dear friend who died in the faith, before her time.  And to be sobered by that type of a visit.  And I came through that this season, to this point, and still think about that.  And there are things that you think about, that mean very important significant things to you that can serve to be a motivator – a point of revival; a point of dedication in your life to discover God, and to jettison the things that might keep us from getting to this particular time.

That’s what I leave you with, to think about, as we prepare for the coming Holy Days.  And one last thought - back in Exodus, Chapter 19.  Israel, the children of Israel stood before the mountain of God…it’s the mountain of God, because that’s where He was.  And they were about to make a covenant with God, and receive the ten commandments…Exodus, Chapter 19.  And this mountain was kind of “going off”, like a big Roman candle, and God makes a comment, and it’s a direction to Moses here in Verse 13 – He’s told them to “set bounds around the mountain…Verse 12:  ‘Whoever touches the mountain, He says, shall surely be put to death.

Exodus 19:13  ‘Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.’ 

So, they were told to stay away from that mountain…but:  “When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain.”  

When they heard this trumpet, they were then to go to the mountain where God was.  And then, stop at a respectful distance, but as you know the story that goes on, they received the Ten Commandments, and they entered into a covenant relationship with God.  They began that with the sound of the trumpet, and they approached the mountain where God was.

There’s a Scripture… Isaiah, Chapter 2:

Isaiah 2:2  Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. 

Verse 3:  Many people shall come and say, “Come, and 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.”  For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 

As we prepare to keep God’s festivals this fall, we’re preparing ourselves to go up to the mountain.  It begins with the sound of the trumpet, the call of the trumpet, just like it did for Israel as they were at the foot of Mount Sinai.  And they came near to God, to hear what He had to say to them. We go up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, and all the Festivals, but those that are right in front of us right now.  Let’s prepare our hearts to go up to the mountain of God, and to come before Him, and to be taught, to be instructed, and to hear His voice, and to be revived - and to allow Him to do His work even greater within us, in the midst of these years, by His grace, and by His love.