Every year when I go to camp, I am the counselor of the oldest Preteen Boys dorm and we have a lot of fun. On top of the activities and Christian living classes, I take time each evening after lights out to discuss the bible and other spiritual topics. The darkness allows each of the boys to open up and discuss topics that they usually don’t talk about. This year we introduced the subject of group prayer and gave them opportunities to pray allowed before bed if they are willing. Helping them to grow spiritually reminded me of the passage about little children and how we are supposed to be. Luke 18:15-17 15 Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to Him and said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 17 "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." Now this passage is talking about very young children, like we often bless after the feast each year but what hit me is that here, at this age of the boys in my dorm, they have a foot in both worlds. They see things as a child with the innocence and wonder, and they also see the world through older eyes. If we are to become like little children, then I figured that they should be able to understand the kingdom of God in a unique way.

They way God intended. So I decided, instead of having a darkened study by flashlight, I would have a full on discussion about the Kingdom of God. I wanted them to hear the whole plan of God in one sitting to see if they could grasp the whole plan of God. The Title of the Sermon today is: Of such is the Kingdom Because if we are to become like little children, and my dorm was able to understand the plan, then we should not only understand the whole plan of God, but be able to explain it to a child. Now the subject of the Kingdom of God requires knowledge of God’s Holy Day Plan and so I asked them the night before about the Holy Days and what they meant. We play a game where candy plays a prominent role in helping to motivate participation and let me tell you it works. I had all 7 sets of eyes, as well as those from the assistant counselors to always be willing to give an answer for the hope that we have in winning candy for giving the right answer. We went through a lot of candy that first night getting through all of the Holy days and what they meant. I told them that when I was their age in the church I had only been going to church for a couple of years and so I would ask my parents each and every time I took time off of school for another Holy Day, “O.K. now, what’s this one about again???” I would try to remember year after year but each year I would start over with, “now, what’s this one about again?”

After that first night I told them I would give them the whole plan of God the next night so they could see how all the Holy days fit into the plan. You know, I had never done this before. I had never tried to explain the whole plan of God in one sitting before. I have studied and preached about the different aspects over the years but I never tried to put it into one neat package. Brethren, we have been called into a body with incredible knowledge about the soon coming Kingdom of God. We are presenting seminars on the Kingdom of God to bring His plan to the whole world and we get to be a part of that process. It is truly inspiring to be a part of that. This is also something most of us have not been a part of in our lifetime. I came into the church in the mid 70’s and I remember hearing stories about the baptism campaigns that were sent out in the 1950s and 60s. We might just see days like that again God willing. Turn over to Acts 9 Now before God Called Saul and changed his name to Paul, Saul was seeking those he could persecute. Acts 9:1-2 NKJ Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Here, we see those that understood and were true disciples were called “Of the Way”. Decades ago many in the church referred to those in the body with the words “the truth”. They would ask “When did you come into the truth”. There was a great appreciation about the unique opportunity we have to understand the Kingdom of God. We cannot let ourselves take this understanding for granted. Do you realize that we understand the meaning of Life? We understand the nature of the Universe. We understand the plan of God to offer salvation to all people, not just those that have a relationship with God now. Luke 3:5-6 5 Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' " So I want to take the remainder of the service to discuss the plan of God in one package. Now we won’t take much time going through the individual meanings of each of the Holy days as we will assume we all have the basics. But if you have questions then you can talk with Brandon Corbet here from my dorm as he is very bright. I could tell that his parents spend time with him with the bible. Usually, when someone in the church tells someone of their religious beliefs, they might take one of a couple of approaches. I hear a number of familiar phrases, like, “we keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days.”

Sometimes the focus is on following the church of the first century or not keeping the worldly holidays. While each of these do a good job at framing our beliefs for someone so they can get a sense of us; how well does it convey the plan of God that we study, believe, and teach? The question that is in the mind of the truly curious is “Why do we believe a certain way.” Well I have been taking this approach in recent years telling them that God has a plan for all mankind that involves fixing all of the problems on this earth. If they are interested past this, then the details of our beliefs are easier to place in their rightful place. The Plan of God Turn with me to Genesis 1:31 and lets pick up the story from the 7th day of creation week. Genesis 1:31 - 2:3 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. NKJ Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. I would like to bring out 4 points here.

1. The creation was perfect when God finished with it. 2. Next, God Rested (Now God does not get tired – so this is significant) tb;v' shabath {shaw-bath'} Meaning: 1) to cease, desist, rest. (2) to keep or observe the Sabbath Origin: a primitive root of the word Sabbath; Usage: AV - cease 47, rest 11, celebrate 1, 71 places In Leviticus 23 we see this word used as it refers to how we observe the Day of Atonement. Leviticus 23:32 32 It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate {shaw-bath'} your Sabbath 3. God Blessed the Seventh Day %rB barak {baw-rak'} Meaning: 1) to bless, kneel 2) be adored 3) to cause to kneel 4) to praise, salute, Origin: a primitive root; TWOT - 285; v Some Usages: AV - bless 302, salute 5, praised 2, kneel down 2, congratulate 1 4. God Sanctified this day vd;q' qadash {kaw-dash'} Meaning: 1) to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate 2) to be honoured, be treated as sacred 3) to observe as holy, keep sacred So clearly this day had much more meaning than just resting because of fatigue. Now it is important to understand that God made man perfect but gave him free moral agency, not because God hoped he would choose right every time, but so mankind can learn.

In Rev. 13:8 we read about a time after the Great tribulation about those that live into the Kingdom. Revelation 13:8 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. When God Created this world perfect he knew that man could be deceived and that the Deceiver of all the world would succeed, for a time. The plan of God is for Man to learn. What is man supposed to learn? First of all the world was made perfect before it was corrupted and that someday it will be perfect again. Next is that Man cannot find peace without God. And that man will not live that peace without being reconciled to God. He has revealed the way to peace in the pages of our bible. Now, when you’ve explained your faith to others, you have probably told someone that you keep the Sabbath and the Holy days. The Sabbath is Key here because it helps to explain and frame all the other Holy days. We are given a week to frame our lives. Even today with all the corruption that has taken place, we still have this one week that defines all our lives. We are given 6 days to go about our regular business. But the 7th is set apart for a special purpose. Rest, Reflection, worship, and drawing close to God and his People. Likewise the Plan of God gives man plenty of time to try to figure out happiness, peace and prosperity. All the while, God is there giving the blueprint to success.

Man chooses time and again to ignore that blueprint and unless those days are shortened, there would be no flesh saved alive as it tells us in Matthew 24:22. As man is unable to understand this on his own, we know that God will mercifully step in before man destroys himself. Then there is a time after the return of Christ that is special; that is set apart; a time that is celebrated each year as we wait for it. It is God’s time to bring His Government to this earth to show the world the way to peace. This is the process that we have come to understand. That God is fixing, what rebellion has broken from the Garden of Eden. It’s a process of reconciliation. We can read about this process in Hebrews 4: Hebrews 4 uses the word rest 8 times as it describes the sojourn of God’s people toward grace. NKJ Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. We see this time ahead of those saved is referred to as rest. We see here this rest is a Type of Sabbath, in that it refers to a time that is separated and set apart from all other time.

Hebrews 4:2-9 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, [they did not have the Holy Spirit] not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,' " although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"; 5 and again in this place: "They shall not enter My rest." 6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after such a long time, as it has been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. sabbatismo,j sabbatismos {sab-bat-is-mos'} (Bauer-Danker Lexicon) “…a special period of rest for God’s people modeled after the traditional Sabbath.” (Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament) “Just as God rested on the seventh day of creation from all his works, so also will believers find the eternal Sabbath rest on the day of the completion of salvation in God's "place of rest"” So in the beginning of world was a Sabbath rest.

And at the end of God’s plan He will have a Sabbath rest that will begin the process of uniting God with His people once again. The Sabbath is a weekly rest. It is a weekly feast day. It is a weekly focus on God and our relationship with Him. But as a feast day it is a day to celebrate the awesome plan that is being worked out on earth. That is the short version of the Plan of God. But what about the Holy Days? The Holy days, in detail, lay out that plan with specifics and keep us on track year after year. The Holy Days Each of the Holy Days tell a different part of this story. Let’s quickly review them. Passover We start the year with Passover. It is the story of deliverance. To the Christian world it is deliverance from our sins that had previously condemned us to eternal death. It also represents the process we start at Baptism. Just as the Death Angel passed over God’s people in the Old Testament, Christ’s sacrifice pays the penalty of our sins and opens the door to eternal life. Each year we review the awesome sacrifice He made for us and re-affirm our commitment to promise we made at baptism. Days of Unleavened Bread Next we have Days of Unleavened Bread.

We remove the leavened bread from our lives and replace it with unleavened bread that represents the body of Christ. These days remind us that salvation is much more than simple acceptance of the gift from God. That God expects that we, in turn, try to live the life that Christ lived. To realize the sin in our lives brings unhappiness, pain and death. These days also show us how hard it is to break away from the bonds of human nature and the pulls of the flesh. It has us rehearse, year after year, the process of replacing the sin in our lives with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Simply accepting the gift of eternal life without a complete change of heart would be to follow after the angels that were given life, but did not have a heart to follow God. Pentecost 7 weeks later we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. Pentecost teaches us a number of important aspects of God’s plan. First of all, we cannot change our heart on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to allow Christ to live in us and be at one with Christ and God. God used the Day of Pentecost, after the death of Jesus Christ, to give the Holy Spirit to His church. Ephesians 3:14-19 4 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The other major aspect of Pentecost is that God will raise up a people as a first fruit of a later harvest and that, as those called out ones, we can participate in that process of reigning with Christ when He returns to help him bring salvation to the world. Through the summer we grow and ready ourselves for the spiritual harvest yet to come until we come to the fall festival days that picture this process. Feast of Trumpets The first of the Fall Festival days is the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets picture the end of Satan’s rule on this earth. No longer will we have to work things out on our own and feel the sting of Satan’s system that works against God’s rule of love and compassion. It pictures the time when Christ returns to this earth at the last trumpet blast to become King of kings and Lord of lords. He will bring this kingdom to the earth, not with the olive branch of peace, but with the sword of war, to put down the governments of this world. Revelation 10:7 7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.

Revelation 11:15 15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" Revelation 19:11-16 11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. We are made spirit at the return of Christ and become the bride of Christ. Revelation 19:7-8 7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Day of Atonement The Day of Atonement is solemn day of fasting mean to bring us close to God. It also represents the putting of Satan away for a thousand years. NKJ Revelation 20:1-2 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. The Feast of Tabernacles This feast represents the 1000 year reign of Christ and his bride, the first fruits, to bring the Government of God to a tribulation torn world. He will heal the sick, heal will mend the broken hearted. He will establish peace for a thousand years. The world will finally get to know their God and know real peace. They will have prosperity. But there is a reason why this period is a defined period of time. Since Adam, most of humanity has turned its back on God. They have chosen option B in life. These thousand years is meant to offer God’s plan (option A) that will lead to real peace and happiness. Christ will fix in one thousand years, what man has wrecked for 6 thousand years. And in doing so there will be a lesson to all of where is true happiness found. NKJ Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.

Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Last Great Day The next day after the Feast of Tabernacles is a day that represents the true meaning of life. When all of mankind, from Adam forward, will be given a chance to not only know God, but to see the lessons of the previous 7 thousand years of history. They will see how things are for the first time. They will be given the opportunity denied them in their lives to choose God’s way of life. Revelation 20:11-13 11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Some may choose to reject God. For them, the end will come, not in everlasting torment as some have been frightened with over the years.

They will cease to exist be remembered no more Revelation 20:15 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. But I believe the vast majority of creation will choose life, happiness, and peace and will experience rest. NKJ Revelation 21:1-3 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. God the Father, at last, will dwell on this earth with His creation, the reconciliation complete. This is why we have hope. This is why we keep these days, year after year. Not because we believe that physically keeping these days earns us anything. We are not earning our way into salvation. We are simply participating in the process where God is rescuing creation from total destruction. We keep them out of Love and respect, and because the assist us in our own journey. It is the truth passed down through the ages that we read about in our bibles, the good news of the Kingdom of God. It is the Way that we walk as we follow our Lord and savior. It is the plan of God.