So here we are all together in this place on the Feast of Trumpets. We have prepared to celebrate this day as God has commanded. The Feast of Trumpets depicts a day when Christ will return to this earth and begin the process of fixing all that is broken in this world; to setup a government that will address all of the problems we now face. But we also know that Jesus Christ is going to come as a thief in the night when no one will expect Him. We know the words we want to hear when Christ returns, these are recorded in Matthew 25:21. Matthew 25:21 "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' Sometimes we can get stressed out when we think about how prepared we are for the kingdom of God. Have we grown enough, have we done all that we should to prepare? Each of us wants to be

ready for that day. When Jesus Christ returns we will be either ready or not. It reminds me of a show that I like to watch called restaurant impossible. Many of you have probably watched it before. A failing restaurant would apply to be on the show to get straightened out. Maybe the problem is the food is terrible, sometimes the service is bad or the leadership is in shambles. Other times it’s the cleanliness of the restaurant. I am always amazed when we are introduced to an establishment that has watched the show and should know that he will look how clean the place is and to check the food, the services, and the leadership. He will look at the books and how you are running the business. After watching a number of episodes, what things to look for and what things he is going to find wrong with the place. So why are people blind to the problems themselves?

They don’t see the dirt, they don’t see the bad service, they don’t see the dingy restaurant or if your restaurant is in violation of the health department on many levels. So I am always saying, how is it that they don’t know? One episode he asked the general manager how much they had in inventory and how much the meals cost to prepare. He wanted to know what their profit/losses were and he was told, “I don’t know”. Yet they asked for help and were offended when they were told they had no business running a restaurant. Why don’t we see ourselves the way others see us, or more importantly, the way God see’s us? There is a day of reckoning coming for each of us and we need to think about how we are going to fare on that day. When Jesus Christ returns our time of cramming for the big test is over. Feeling unprepared for the return of Jesus Christ can cause a great deal of anxiety.

Especially if we feel we’ve got a lot to accomplish before He returns which I think most of us do. Even if we have a number of years to prepare we know that our time on this earth can be cut short at any time. If that were to happen, would we ready to meet our maker? Or would we wish we had more time to prepare? Unprepared at school I can remember a time in High School when I would come into class and find out that there was a test that I forgot to study for. A sick feeling would overtake as I wished that I had a few hours to study. I would go over in my mind the wasted evening the night before and I wished I could have spent it studying. We don’t want to feel this way when we face Christ at the resurrection. These examples remind us of the feelings we can have at being unprepared. We don’t want to have these feelings as we think about being ready for Christ’s return.

The sermon title is: Preparing for the Kingdom We should think soberly about being prepared for the return of Jesus Christ. So I would like to talk about that anxiety and how should we prepare ourselves? To answer this I would like to go through some of the Kingdom parables to put us in the proper frame of mind. How did Christ want us know about preparing for the kingdom? So why should we be anxious about the coming Kingdom of God? We know that God does not want His people to live in fear; He wants us to live by faith. Even though we know this, it can be easy to let doubt enter in and consume us. So we have to ask ourselves, what do we have to be worried about? Turn to 2 Peter 3 We might worry how well we have grown 2 Peter 3:13-18 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; So we see that we should be: 1. Looking to the new heavens and new earth, 2. Be diligent to be found in peace, 3. And be spotless and blameless. (This doesn’t mean perfect) No problem, right? Well that’s just the preamble to what we are to do. Continuing onto to verse 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation --- as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. So we put God’s priorities first in our lives and walk according to His will. Then we realize that we don’t get the glory in life. It is not about us. So how do we put God’s priorities first? Let’s turn over to the book of Luke and read from some of the parables of the Kingdom. Luke 13:20-30 20 And again He said, "To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21 "It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened." Now usually we see the comparisons of leaven as bad; representing sin. But here Jesus is using the concept of the leaving taking a small amount of dough and turning it into a large amount of dough. So it’s going to start small and then grow very large.

So how do we prepare ourselves for the kingdom? One of the Parables that come to mind when we talk about being ready for the Return of Jesus Christ is the Parable of the Bridegroom. This is a very familiar passage so I will read it in the NLT to get a slightly different perspective on it. Matthew 25:1-13 NLT "The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 The five who were foolish took no oil for their lamps, 4 but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. 5 When the bridegroom was delayed, they all lay down and slept. 6 At midnight they were roused by the shout, 'Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and welcome him!' 7 "All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. 8 Then the five foolish ones asked the others, 'Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.' 9 But the others replied, 'We don't have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.' 10 "But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. 11 Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, 'Sir, open the door for us!' 12 But he called back, 'I don't know you!' The Oil in the lamps represents the Holy Spirit that should live in all of us. The reason Jesus says I don’t know you is because it is through the Holy Spirit that He lives in us. If we allow the Holy Spirit to fade in us then so will our relationship with Jesus Christ, Another thing to note here is that all of them fell asleep. Being wise only afforded them extra oil, but it did not keep them awake when the bridegroom was delayed. So we read the admonition to all of us here in verse 13. 13 "So stay awake and be prepared, because you do not know the day or hour of my return. So as you can see there is plenty to be mindful of and this can cause us stress as we think about how we are doing as we wait for His return.

Continuing on to verse 14 " For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 "And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. So we see this analogy of Christ Leaving for a long time. 19 "After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. Since the first two servants multiplied what they were given, the Lord said the same thing to both of them. , 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' The last servant neither built on what he was given or even found a way to earn interest on it. In other words, he buried it and did not let it grow in any way. It did not help him or anyone else and it was if he never wanted it. 28 'Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 29 'For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 'And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' So you see this theme developing here in these Kingdom Parables. They often start with “The kingdom is like”, and then they end with, “weeping and gnashing of teeth”. The other theme here is the fact we don’t know when the Master will return. We see the theme of being ready because we don’t know when He is coming. In the New Testament, Christ's second coming is often likened to the coming of a thief. It is funny when you think about it because we think of Him as far away when He is living within us. We should be mindful of the fact that He is not far away when we read these parables. 2 Peter 3:10 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, And in the letters to the churches, Christ is warning His people to prepare for His return.

Revelation 3:3 (NKJ) "Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. Revelation 3:3 (NIV) But if you do not wake up Later, in Revelation 16 we see this warning again. Revelation 16:15 15 "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame." Revelation 16:15 (NIV) " Blessed is he who stays awake So we see this concept over and over of staying awake, staying alert and watching. This term watch is an important one not to overlook. The term "watch" refers to one of four – 3 hour periods) during the night. The Ancient world divided the night into 4 time periods “each called a watch” going from 6:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M., 9:00 P.M. to 12:00 midnight, 12:00 midnight to 3:00 A.M., and 3:00 A.M. to 6:00 A.M. If you were given the job to fulfill one of these watches you would be expected to stay awake and look for intruders. But even if you did doze a little you might still wake up to thwart would-be thieves because the words "Broken into" is translated from a Greek word that means "to dig through."

In those days, thieves broke into homes by digging through mud walls or tile roofs. I am going to read from Luke 12 about this concept of keeping watch, a thief, and being ready. Reading from the New Jerusalem bible: Luke 12:35-40 New Jerusalem Bible 'See that you have your belts done up and your lamps lit. 36 Be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. In truth I tell you, he will do up his belt, sit them down at table and wait on them. 38 It may be in the second watch that he comes, or in the third, but blessed are those servants if he finds them ready. 39 You may be quite sure of this, that if the householder had known at what time the burglar would come, he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house. 40 You too must stand ready, because the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.' So think about this when we think how long we usually stay up at night. Most people go to bed by 11 pm (2nd watch), but on special occasions you might stay up after midnight. I have been with friends talking to 2 or 3 Am and lost track of time. Is waiting for the return of Christ as important to us? Turn over to Matthew 24 and we will read a parallel account of this concept. It offers some additional pieces of the puzzle we want to make sure we understand.

Matthew 24:42-51 "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 "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.” 44 "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 45 " Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46 "Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47 "Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48 "But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' 49 "and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 "the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51 "and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. What is being talked about here? First of all it is about looking after the people of the God. Serving them. The next section is about not giving into our baser instincts. Putting ourselves first, our needs before others, and living it up. Letting anger rule your life which in turn abuses everyone else. We have been going through this home buying experience and I have been trying to not let the stress get to me. The loan was supposed to close the end of July.

Here we are in September and not only are we waiting, they send us some paperwork and want us to change a shared well agreement with a neighbor that has nothing to gain by going through this experience. They may even require some changes to the well that is on his property. This we were informed day before yesterday. The stress of the whole thing began to get to me and it started to show. As I was praying today it came to mind that trials aren’t just about endurance but sometimes, requires change. I thought about it and realized that I need to be mature enough to look at this through God’s eyes. The difficulties are nothing for God, but for me they can seem like too much. But I know that I have grown enough to handle this pressure and to give the problem to God and praise him whether or not we get the house. I also told God I was listening for what He wanted to tell me in my life and not simply “God, get me out of this”. By that evening I was able to talk to my neighbor and he will gladly help us get over this hurdle because he wants us as neighbors. So we clearly see as we go through each of these Kingdom Parables we see some themes here. Be ready, don’t grow weary, and be about our Father’s business or there will be weeping or gnashing of teeth. Turning over to Matthew 8 and see these words plainly talking about those who will be in the Kingdom and who will not. After witnessing the great faith of the centurion he said the following of his own people Israel.

Matthew 8:10-12 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 11 "And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 "But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Luke cannot put it any plainer when he records in chapter 13 and verse 28 Luke 13:28 28 "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. As we discussed on Pentecost on the subject of the unpardonable sin, we see that the only way to really know God is to have the Holy Spirit in us allowing Christ to live in us. To reject that Holy Spirit means rejecting Him and not allowing Him to live in us. Christ is the door to salvation and if we reject a relationship with him then we have no part in the Kingdom. We cannot have it both ways, we cannot love God and reject a relationship with Him at the same time.

This relationship requires us to grow and put Christ’s mind in us and to change our thinking. If we refuse, we reject the Holy Spirit in our lives. So it seems as though we have plenty to worry about? But does God want us to worry? Sometimes the road ahead looks impossible. But God loves the impossible because that is when all credit leaves us and goes to where it belongs. Story about a fighter pilot talking about living with danger There is a History channel program called Dogfights about fighter pilots and their exploits. One episode talked about the German equivalent of the Kamikaze program. Instead of crashing the planes into a ship the Germans would crash their fighters into the Allied bombers. The German pilots were given a 10% chance at survival. As a German pilot recounts a briefing about a very dangerous mission, he is told that most of them would not be coming back. He looks at the others in the room and thinks poor guys because he knows it won’t be him. Show after show the pilots they interviewed had the same story. If you have fear it would kill you.

To learn a lesson from the fighter pilot we need to focus on the positive outcome for us and not assume we will fail. We need to remember that we are not to fear but be of good cheer because it is the fathers will to give us the kingdom. God did not call us to fail but to succeed. We should look soberly at the lessons but we need to remember that God is on our sides and is helping us to succeed. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. If you aren’t feeling the support you need from other brethren, ask yourself if you are offering support to others. The best way to get support is to give it in abundance and God will make sure we are looked after. Believe it or not, that is how God works. We always want God to give us our needs first, but that is not how he wired the universe.

So let’s look at the hope filled meaning of Trumpets Hold your place in 1 Thessalonians and turn to Romans 8 Romans 8:16-25 For His Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. 17 And since we are his children, we will share his treasures-- for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. 18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. We know in our hearts that we are God’s Children but think of the day when He reveals that fact to the world. What a wonderful day that will be. 21 All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it. Its like working at a summer job and being told toward the end of the summer by your boss that since you have done such a good job you are going to get a big bonus at the end of the month. We have been given it in advance but we have not yet received it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently. Lets go back to 1 Thessalonians and read from chapter 4 when these things will come about as this day of Trumpets picture.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 According to the Lord's own Word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words. For our final scripture today turn over the 1 Peter 2. You sometimes may feel as I have that I don’t always feel like such a prize to God. I am not special. Others are fare better than I. I am not worthy of such a calling. But God sees things that we cannot see. He sees value in each of us.

1 Peter 2:4-5 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. • Jesus is looking forward to spending eternity with us because we are precious to Him. • We have value to Him. • The people we have been called to be are truly worthy to accept the Kingdom on that day we hear “Well done, good and faithful servants."