Never underestimate the power and influence of mothers. Yah'shua (Jesus) once said: "'Who is my mother...?' Pointing to his talmidim (disciples), He said, 'Here [is] my mother...For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my...mother'" (Matt 12:48-50, NIV).

A true mother, like a true brother (for in His original statement the Saviour also referenced brothers), does the will of Yahweh, the Heavenly Father. Many years ago a certain English lady named Mary Booth made it her daily habit to kneel beside the cribs of her sleeping children and to prayerfully whisper to them, "Darling, you are not here in this world for yourself. You have been sent for others. The world is waiting for you." Did you know that all the Booth children developed a remarkable talent with which to serve the world? And did you know that one of them, William, became a Methodist preacher and founded the Salvation Army in 1865 that to this very day is one of the largest distributors of humanitarian aid?

We are not here in this world for ourselves. Yah'shua (Jesus) did not come into this world for Himself either. He came into this world for all of humanity; and by His willingness to go to the cross on our behalf, blazed a trail to heaven and provided immortality for every man and woman willing to follow Him. We are all called to be trail-blazers for others by creating with our lives paths along which others may walk along to Christ and beyond, and mothers play no less a central rôle in this than the men that they birth and nurture by their prayers and example. And if you carefully analyse the Scriptures to see what the rôle of the Ruach haQodesh or Holy Spirit is, it soon becomes plain that that is to be a spiritual Mother too.

Elohim (God) incarnated as a man and dedicated His life to serving His Heavenly Father, Yahweh-Elohim, as His plenipotentiary or representative to accomplish His purpose to bring us all to salvation and eternal life. He dedicated His life totally to that. His job and career as a carpenter, at least until He was called full-time into the ministry, was incidental to that task. It was not the main thing. Even marriage is secondary to that task. And for some, like Jeremiah, there was no time for either career or marriage, as he was born in a time of great danger and upheaval for his country and was required at the spiritual battle front full-time as a navi (prophet).

Though I could have, and would have loved to, make this a sermon about mothers, we are gathered here today for another purpose, for today is the fifth annual moed or festival of Messianic Israel to which all mothers, fathers, sons and daughters who love and are obedient to Yahweh are called. So let me first do the formality of saying to you all, Chag sameach Yom Teruah - a blessed Day of Trumpets/Shouting - and also, because it is the first day of the seventh month of the biblical Creation Calendar, Chag Sameach Rosh Chodesh - a blessed New Moon Day! But not only that, but because this is also a High Sabbath, may I wish you Shabbat Shalom as well! This is the only chag or feast day which is three-in-one like the Elohimhead or Godhead itself.

To remind you, Yom Teruah is the first of the autumn/fall festivals that await fulfilment with the return and second coming of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). The blowing of the shofarim or 'trumpets' (as they are called in most English translations), shouting and the coronation of King Messiah takes place on this day. It is also known as Yom haZikkaron which means the 'Day of Remembrance' as it is a memorial to the Name of the Most High, Yahweh-Elohim (Lev.23:24), reminding us that Yahweh remembers us always and that we are under obligation to remember Him too. Importantly for the last generation, Yom Teruah depicts the post-tribulation regathering of believers at the sound of the trumpet (1 Thess.4:16-18) and is the great day of the Second Coming. Yah'shua (Jesus) will be installed as King and ruler over a Theocratic world government based in the New Jerusalem. But before this can happen, the final Yom Teruah must be preceeded by Chevlai shel Maschiach - the Birth Pangs of the Messiah, the seven year tribulation period. This is the day that believers have been anticipating for generations which some of you here, or your children, will be witnesses to!

Remember that this is a three-fold festival: it is also Rosh Chodesh which is the Day of the Father and it is also Shabbat or Sabbath which is the Day of the Ruach or Mother. That is not unimportant to note. The chief rôle of fathers and mothers is to prepare their children to serve Yahweh by serving humanity in bringing them the Besorah (Gospel, Good News) of salvation whether their vocation be that of ministers, homemakers, teachers, bakers, plumbers, farmers, or whatever it is each soul is called by Yahweh to do in this life. They are called to lead by example, provide for, and cover, their children, and point them to that part of the Way to which they too have been called. And at some point, parents must say adieu or 'farewell, until we meet again', as Mrs.Booth did in leaving behind the founder of the Salvation Army which became the instrument of saving hundreds of thousands of souls in the poorest parts of not only London and England but in the whole world. A few weeks ago I saw some members of the Salvation Army in the market at Nysäter doing what they are famous for: singing Gospel songs and preaching the word of salvation.

My own mother felt strongly that her own son should have the finest private education that money could buy and as soon as I was born I was enrolled in the school my father and his brother attended even though my parents did not have the financial means to send me there. At the back of my father's mind was the tragedy that befell his own family when his own father went bankrupt when the value of shares in the tin martket collapsed, him to take my father and his brother out of school prematurely. So as soon as she was able, my mother got a job in a company called Harrison & Crossfield in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and together my parents began saving up for the considerable fees that would be required. And though I admit I at first loathed boarding school, once my parents relocated to England from Malaysia, I began to settle in better and to really enjoy my education. Indeed, I developped a passion for learning and even went the extra mile, on my own initiative, to take extra examinations to augment all the other subjects I was studying. That passion developped into a determination to get into the finest University in England, even though I was told I was not talented enough, and so I went up to Oxford to become a Biochemist. And I have never stopped learning, first as a scientist, then an historian, and finally as a theologian and pastor. All of this I attribute, at ground level, to my mother, bless her heart. I am here, in large part, because of her sacrifice. But more than even that, I am here because of the Sacrifice of the Son of Elohim (God) and urge you, and everyone else who will listen, to trust Him and follow Him. To my children in particular, that will, Yah willing, be my greatest legacy.

And though the Salvation Army has dwindled in numbers and fiery enthusiasm over the years, it is still here, thanks to Mrs.Booth's encouraging words which, though they were unintelligible to her infants in the crib, were nevertheless wrapped in a spirit of love which their little hearts did evidently receive, even if only subconsciously. And we are here today, knowing what we do, impassioned with an incomparible love, because of the love and sacrifice of our Creator and His Only Begotten Son who embraced His call to serve us on earth as one of us - as a mortal human being - in order to fully identify with us, as it is written in the Book of Hebrews:

"For we do not have a Cohen Gadol (High Priest) who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace (undeserved living-kindness) to help us in our time of need" (Heb.4:15-16, NIV).

Each year we re-enact the Plan of Salvation by means of the Seven Annual Festivals which Yah'shua (Jesus) pioneered by cutting His way through the undergrowth and jungle of human sin. Each sacred moed or appointment reminds us of each of the seven steps that we too must take for a complete redemption, the spiritual path we must walk. The festivals, then, are not only a time we are commanded to meet with Elohim (God) but an instruction manual for life.

I said that at some point parents must say adieu or farewell to their children just as Yah'shua (Jesus) did to His first talmidim (disciples) when He ascended into Heaven. But, He said, He would not leave them alone but send them the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) to be their invisible Companion, Helper, Advocate and Comforter:

"I tell you the truth, it is profitable for you that I go, for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you, but when I go, I will send the Comforter to you" (Jn.16:7, HRV; also Is.66:13; Jn.14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7: 1 Jn.2:1).

He also said He would be back one day, and that day is called Yom Teruah when shofars (trumpets) are sounded and voices shout jubilantly, "He's baaaack!" like He said He would be. And He's coming back to judge the wicked and vindicate the righteous, bringing with Him all the righteous, saved dead to receive immortal, resurrected bodies who will join the righteous who are still alive on the earth at His appearing who are themselves transformed in the blink of an eye. In one moment of rapture we will greet our Saviour and Conquering Hero in the sky as He returns in triumph to recreate the lost Paradise on earth once again.

What today represents, therefore, is exceeingly good news for everyone who loves Him, who loves emet (truth) and righteousness. For all the rest, today will be exceedingly bad news, as it is today - on this the first day of the seventh biblical month, which in the Gregorian system is Monday, 26 September 2022...bad news for the wicked because notice is being served them that the day of Penultimate Judgment - the last big Global Judgment before the Final Judgment - is but a few days' away on 5 October at Yom haKippurim, better known as Yom Kippur! And it surely cannot have escaped your notice that the world, even as I speak to you, is teetering on the edge of a precipice that could so easily trigger a Third World War fought with nuclear weapons to mutual self-destruction. What's even more scary, is that on one of the two oppositing sides, a senile old man with dementia - the President of the United States - has his finger on the nuclear button.

However, as I have said many times, Yahweh has promised that the world will not be utterly destroyed. Yah'shua (Jesus) said 2,000 years ago that there would continue to be "wars and rumors of wars" (Mark 13:7, NIV) as well as "revolutions" (Lk.21:9). But He also said:

"Do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains" (Mark 13:7-8, NIV).

We here are called to serve, and be served, in this great endeavour, by first listening to the heart of Elohim (God), and then preaching the message of salvation and deliverance when our own hearts are set on fire by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). If you believe but your heart is not yet set ablaze, then ask Yahweh on your knees to so set it on fire - that is then your firsty priority as a believer, because the only preaching, teaching and witnessing that molds the lives of people is great, and that can only happen when a soul is filled with passionate concern and love for both the lost (to save them) and the found (to disciple them by faithfully teaching them the Torah, the lifestyle of the Redeemed).

Now Yom Teruah, for which we are gathered today, cannot be properly celebrated with lukewarm, sleepy hearts, for lukewarmness and sleepiness are as great a danger to our wellbeing as the active pursuit of sinning. So "as the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of Yahweh" (Prov.21:1, NRSV), so too must His born-again, Torah-obedient people become such instruments of a much needed revival. If your heart is on fire for Yahweh, I guarantee that "He [will] turn it wherever He will", using it like an aircraft carrier being turned into the wind of the Ruach (Spirit) to launch you, and the words He forms in your mind and on your lips, into the world where I guarntee some ears and hearts will be ready to listen and respond with simcha (joy) and praise. Just don't "love sleep, or else you will come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread" (Prov.20:13, NRSV). Wake up! Now is the time to arise from your slumber - from your waiting - to proclaim the Good News as never before! What we need, as we sing in one of our hymns, is a new Salvation Army - a Torah-obedient Salvation Army - which knows and loves Messiah and is willing to go to the poor in spirit, like our captain of old, and bring them home to Zion, declaring:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt.5:3, NIV).

While the wicked of the Babylonian system - the warmongers, the rapacious and greedy, the sadistic devils and their wards - "sow injustice in the world" and "will reap calamity" in the hours ahead (Prov.22:8, NRSV), so the righteous - "[the blessed] who are generous" and "share their bread with the poor" (Prov.22:9, NRSV) - are summonsed by shofar- and twin-silver trumpet-blasts, and shouting to the battle lines and to link arms with those already assembled. This is the battle-line - the front, if you will - and now is the time for elements of the "great multitude" (Rev.7:9) and others of the "elect" (2 Tim.2:10) to join the remnant of the "144,000" who have been standing alone these long years, and to together break through the Enemy lines and push forwards into new, uncharted territory. For thus it must be fulfilled:

"I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:

'Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our Elohim (God),
for true and just are His mishpatim (judgments).
He has condemned the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his avadim (servants)'" (Rev.19:1-2, NIV).

Messianic Israel - with every man and woman in it - has his Yom Teruah appointment with Yahweh today. Either you are the King's men and are aroused, arise and kit up for action, or you remain asleep until the enemy breaks down your unguarded door and awakens you the violent way. The alert are always prepared, waiting for their Master's return:

"Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps (torches) and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps (torches) and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps (torches). But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps (torches). And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps (torches) are going out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Master, Master, open to us!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming" (Matt.25:1-13, NKJV).

How, then, shall we remain the King's men and women? What do we need to do? I'd like to suggest at least eight things we need to be doing on a daily basis until they become habitual so that we truly become the sons and daughters of Yom Teruah:

• 1. Repent of your sins;
• 2. Embrace the holiness of the Torah way in Christ - obey the mitzvot (commandments);
• 3. Be willing to sacrifice for King and Kingdom;
• 4. Be little concerned about possessions;
• 5. Fear no man's displeasure;
• 6. Hope for no man's preferment;
• 7. Plead with impennitent sinners; and
• 8. Love people!

• 9. Get your own testimony (don't imitate someone else's) and find your own style of witnessing by being who you are and specifically what you have become in Christ.

Yesterday we talked about the absolute necessity of being convicted about the Bible's authenticity and source of infallible divine truth. But as you use it in your witnessing, remember this: it is the product of Elohim (God) and man in intimate connection and fierce allegiance. It was not dictated word by word and syllable by syllable from heaven, nor was it the invention of the imaginings of men seeking to make a profit out of religion. When you open your mouth to witness or preach, there must likewise be an intimate connection between you and Yahweh, seasoned throughout with the biblical testimony of others, so that your mouth and heart produce the same truths but with your unique character intact and married to His, as of a wife to her husband. As a talmid (disciple) it is good (and necessary) to walk in the footsteps of others under their tutelage, the great men and women of Christ; but when you are out witnessing on your own, your mentors are either far away or in heaven - while you are thus fathering and mothering converts, it must be your unique Christ-transformed character, blended and led by the pure mind, heart and spirit of Yah'shua (Jesus), that synthesises the fiery words of your message of salvation. It has to have your personal stamp or imprimatur on it. You are not dispassionately reciting what someone else has said. You are involved. You are in the narrative itself which is why your character-stamp matters.

We are none of us Paul's, Peter's, Charles Wesley's, Billy Graham's or Leonard Ravenhill's, and our hearers are not the same as theirs, even though the foundational needs are the same in every generation. Whether you have a mind as keen as a razor's edge or, in the words of a famous Irish evangelist Billy Nicholson, you 'don't have enough brains to form a nucleus for a headache', so long as you are single-mindedly on fire with love for Christ, Yahweh will effect a synthesis between you and Him and give you the words of power to speak to whomsoever is in need of saving and mentoring. And so long, as the English evangelist Richard Baxter said, as you 'preach as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men', then you will win souls. But first you must die to self and to the world. That is why I said you must fear no man's displeasure and hope for no man's preferment.

Why am I saying this to you today of all days? Because the short period between Yom Teruah and Yom haKippurim (the Day of Atonements and of Judgment) is the last opportunity for the stubbornly resistant to repent and make their peace with their Heavenly Father through the merits of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). You could say - and indeed I am saying it today - that the last prophetic days or years between this Penultimate Judgment and the Final Judgment are such a time for mighty witnessing, as the world falls apart and in its smoke sinful men and women begin to see apparitions of their own fallen condition and start to feel their desperate need for deliverance. Whatever false light may have sustained them temporarily will fail them in such a time as what is traditionally called the Season of Teshuvah or Repentance. Yahweh has deliberately placed Yom Teruah and Yom haKippurim in the autumn (fall) season when the leaves fall off the trees in much the same way as our own efforts to maintain a life apart from Elohim (God), with the dreadful anticipation of a winter cut off entirely from Him, fall away from our own souls.

Now we of the 20th and 21st centuries have become somewhat desensitised to the brutality of winter because of the wealth produced by the industrial revolution that has led to so many creature comforts like centrally-heated homes, running hot water, motor cars, and the like, which we now take for granted. This coming winter will give the formerly rich West a taste of what life in winter was like for our ancestors who had to cut and haul their own wood just to keep warm and cook their food. Such deprivation, as the 'word' would see it from their vantage point of their own comfortable homes filled with every modern convenience, borders on abuse, to their way of thinking, when such, though decidedly unpleasant and challenging, did at least make them men and women of 'sterner stuff' who took nothing for granted and understood that nothing but hard work would enable them to survive. We need something of that mentality back for the dark age we are entering so that we will neither be self-entitled nor unappreciative of small mercies that opulence tends to breed.

We will all be grateful for the hard work we put into preparing for winter last summer while others were out flinging their money on wonton pleasures, laying up nothing for the cold season, because they trusted - as they have always trusted - that the government will take care of them when the worst comes to the worst. But that is not the purpose of government - it was never designed to be our nanny, but a protector against the depredations of thieves and violent men. Here we are, then, resisting the temptation to use electricity that is now unaffordable - a reason we are wearing our winter togs - so that we might see through the winter without icicles growing on the ends of our noses...or worse. The country folks know what I am talking about - it's the city folks who are in for a rude awakening.

The spiritual life is no different. That is why we have been given the divine moedim, appointments or festivals, so that we can not only maintain our initial salvation but flourish in it no matter what the Enemy, who never relents, throws at us. (Yesterday were talking about the obstacles he places in our path). Have you noticed that there are festivals for the spring, summer and autumn (fall) but none for the winter? It is men who have invented winter festivals like Christmas and Hanukkah that Yahweh never ordained, (a) because they are pagan, and (b) because they break the tavnith or pattern of spiritual preparedness and sanctification. As we have seasonal winter with the weather, so we have spiritual winters too at which time we must sustain ourselves on the spiritual provision we took the time, in obedience to the Father's loving mitzvot (commandments), to avail ourselves of in the three other seasons of Ruach (Spirit)-generated abundance.

But such winters, as I have been trying to intimate already today, are not for us to hide away in our hermitages but the time for witnessing to those who did not prepare and who are now suffering in the awful realisation of the darkness in their own lives which might otherwise have been filled with the Light of the Gospel of good cheer in Christ which we proclaim. 'Winter' is for increased evangelism, not just at this time of year, of course, since I am speaking metaphorically about the ages of darkness such as the one we are now being plunged into. Our lights are all there is to give hope to the world lost in sin. Winters, such as the one we are entering into now, are not times for idleness but for the most activity of all. For we, who are saved, are immune to its deprivations. And if the current war spreads beyond the Ukraine to embrace the whole world, as it is in very real danger of doing, we will find our preparedness a hundred times more relevant because I guarantee that the authorities have only fully prepared for themselves.

As the heavens thunder with the sound of trumpets and shouting at Yom Teruah, so too must we go our and thunder the Truth of Elohim (God) with our voices. This is evangelism season and I would encourage every one of you to seek the face of Yahweh to ask Him how He wants you to be His witness. I myself am taking a month, or longer, off our study of the Book of Revelation (at what I believe to be a highly important and significant juncture, between the fourth and the remaining shofars), so that I can be focussed on evangelism. Congregations that do not evangelise stagnate and die, not that that should be our motivation for evangelising.

We got a taste of how governments tried to prevent assembling for worship and evangelism by their lockdowns which devastated some denominations who have lost vast numbers of their people. That's good and bad. It's good because it separated out those who were only camp followers, bad because conformist pastors were spiritually strangled. One church in California, Calvinist no less, refused to be bullied and stood its ground, to its great credit, and has remained inact and vibrant for its trouble. But the Episcopalian Church of America, which I have been following online for some time now, has been decimated and has not recovered. Life is in movement, and evangelism is the movement of the Body of Christ. So I am not 'hiding away' this winter, and though one avenue of witnessing has been closed down to me, I am quite sure others will open.

It is written:

"Every davar Elohim (word of God) is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him" (Prov.30:5, NIV).

"Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Ruach (Spirit), which is the Davar Elohim (Word of God). And pray in the Ruach (Spirit) on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones, believers)" (Eph.6:17-18, NIV).

"...the Davar Elohim (Word of God) is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from Elohim's (God's) sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Heb.4:12-13, NIV).

As Yahweh's sword is unsheathed in judgment at this time, let us unsheathe ours for the salvation of souls. Let our repentance in this Teshuvah season of repentance, that is penetrated by the shouting of the voices of malakim (angels) and the blowing of silver twin-trumpets at Yom Teruah, also be used to announce Christ's return and His desire to visit every soul and transform it into a new, living creature fit for glory and exaltation, is my prayer in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.

Acknowledgements

[1] Leonard Ravenhill, Sodom Had No Bible (Offspring Publishers, USA: 1971, 2012)