Becoming Unleavened

Let there be peace on earth. Certainly we long for that day. In fact, many of us have been a part of God's Church for many, many years, looking forward to that day in the future, wondering when is Christ going to return? When is He going to come back? When will all our hopes and dreams be fulfilled? Because haven't we given our lives to this truth, this way of life? How many other people have driven to Medicine Park from this community? Not many. You know, there's a lot more people out there than have chosen to be here today. So there is something somewhat unique, somewhat different about us and why we're here. And of course, it's not because we're so special, but it is because God's truth is special and God's calling is special.

And if God has chosen us, we are most grateful, aren't we? Very grateful, very blessed to be here. I've been thinking about what to talk about on this last holy day of Unleavened Bread. You know, this has been over 40-plus years for me personally to have kept these days, to observe these days.

I've given many sermons, many messages about the days of Unleavened Bread, about what these days picture, what they mean to us. And there's quite a few old-timers here. Some have been around longer than I have, for sure.

Not too much, but a little bit longer. And if it wasn't really important to us, would we still be here today? If this wasn't really important to you, would you be here today?

Would I be here today? Are we just going through the motions? Is that why we're here? Just because we're kind of on automatic pilot and this is what we do. We've been doing it for years. I hope that's not the case. I hope and I know I don't believe it is the case.

I know that we are thoughtful people. We consider why we do what we do. We consider days such as these. What do they picture? What do they mean? What lessons does God want us to learn from these holy days? I was a teenager when God really began to call me. My mother had gotten the plain truth since I was three years old, but I don't know that God was really pulling at me all that much until I was a teenager and had pretty much decided to go a different path, go a different direction.

This just seemed too far out for me, too fanatical. It just seemed, this is gonna take a lot of sacrifice to be a part of this outfit. I'm gonna have to give up things that I don't know that I want to give up. Looking back, I'm very, very glad that I made the choice to dedicate myself to God and His truth and His way of life and to the quest of becoming unleavened.

We've all been on this quest to become unleavened. It's not an easy battle, is it? It's very difficult to become unleavened. Jesus Christ is unleavened. He's the example that we read about in the Bible. He's the unleavened bread that comes down from heaven. I have not arrived. I'm not like Christ. I want to be. That's my goal. That's my vision. It's my dream to become like Him, to be perfect, to think in only ways that He thinks. None of us have arrived there. We all struggle with our thoughts. We struggle with temptations. And, of course, Satan the devil is always there to try to manipulate us, to lead us into leaven, to lead us into sin.

You know, leaven is symbolic of sin, as we know, and one of the attributes of leaven is that it puffs up. And Satan was puffed up. Lucifer was puffed up. He was critical toward the Father. He was critical toward the Word, the Logos, the spokesman. He was critical, no doubt. He wanted to, no doubt, do it his way. He wanted to do it better. He wanted to be like the Most High. He wanted to be above the Most High.

So he was lifted up in pride. He was lifted up in vanity and pride, puffed up with that sort of leaven. And that's something that you and I have to struggle against. Leaven. Pride. Are we all completely humble now? After 40-plus years, are we completely unleavened? We know better than that, don't we? In fact, we're shocked at times at how vain we can be, how puffed up we can be in our own pride and in our own vanity.

And it's an ugly thing, really. It's ugly to really look at yourself openly and honestly and consider just what makes you tick or why do you do the things that you do and why do you say the things that you say. I remember preaching last week about something that I struggled with for a while a few days ago. Basically, it had to do with being puffed up, too prideful to just take criticism without lashing back.

It had to do with my son, in exchange with my son. He came back from a trip and I made a comment that really was misunderstood and really wasn't the best comment. I could have said it differently. I could see why he took it the way he did, but then he jumped all over me. I lashed back. I basically told him, who are you to be telling me this or that? I said, you're doing the same thing to me that I was doing to that other person I was just talking about. I really wasn't doing the same thing that he thought I was doing.

Anyway, it is humbling to consider that it just takes a flash. You think you're moving in the right direction. You're getting more humble, more self-controlled, more disciplined, more faithful. Hopefully you are, but you still are susceptible. Satan is still there to get the best of us. Sin, as I mentioned in the first Holy Day, is something that easily besets us. It's shocking to me how easily sin can beset us. If you think about all the kinds of sin, the works of the flesh—let's go to Galatians 5 and consider the works of the flesh.

They're leaven. They are very leaven. Galatians chapter 5. If you've been guilty of any of these things, join the club because we're human. It is a struggle. It is a battle.

We go back to verse 19. First, it talks about walking in the Spirit and the importance of walking in the Spirit. Then it says in verse 19, now the works of the flesh are evident.

These things are obvious, which are adultery or sexual immorality, all types of sexual impurity, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness. We hear about that all the time in the news. Right now, it's the me too thing going on. It's sad that we live in a world where all of this abuse has happened and has been covered up. I think it's good. We're making some progress as a country, as a people, but we have a long way to go. It's because of the works of the flesh.

Idolatry is another one. In verse 20, God is to be our one true God, the only one that we bow down and serve. But we all know that we put things before God at times. We don't always make the best choices. We're not always as spiritually focused as we should be. We waste a lot of valuable time that could be spent in better ways, in more effective ways, in helping others, in serving others, in prayer, in Bible study, in fasting. If we're honest with ourselves, we realize that we do waste quite a bit of time. Maybe not everyone. Maybe there are some that are a lot more disciplined than others, and I'm sure that's the case. But even the most disciplined still struggle with the right priorities, using their time in the best way possible, the most effective way.

It's a struggle that we all have to be willing to engage in and try to get better at it.

Sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath. Anger is something that catches a lot of us. We get angry quickly. There's just an outburst that really oftentimes goes by very quickly, but we've said it. We've thought it, we've said it, we can't take it back. We can apologize for it. We can say we're sorry for it, but there is some damage that's done when we don't control ourselves.

And that's what I wish I had done in that little outburst with my son. I wish that I had just bit my tongue and then said something like, you know, you're right, I can see why you would have taken it that way. That's not exactly what I meant, but I should not have said it the way I did, admittedly. I could have handled that much better. That is a work of the flesh.

It is a work of the flesh. When we don't have control of ourselves, when we're not as disciplined as we should be, when we let pride enter in, when we become defensive, when we become selfish, those are all aspects of walking in the flesh. So there's contentions, there's jealousies, selfish ambitions. I mean, these things hit really, they hit close to home, don't they?

Murders. Of course, I don't think we have any serial killers here, except if you harbor hatred or resentment and you have a difficult time getting over it, then in a sense you're a serial killer.

Maybe you're killing the same person over and over and over again, but you're a serial killer. And so those are things that we need to repent of. We can do better, we can get a better grip and handle on our thoughts. Philippians 2.5 says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who when when he was reviled did not revile back. No, he did not respond in the same manner that he was being treated. He was being led to the slaughter, he was being crucified. And yet, you know, he didn't revile, he didn't show that lack of control, that discipline. And really, it does get down to love, because love covers a multitude of sins in a lot of different ways.

I mean, if you have love, you're not likely to do a lot of things that are sinful. You know, if love is motivating you, if love is guiding you, then you do bite your tongue and you don't don't lash back at people. You don't say things that that are hurtful, just to make you look a little bit better or to take some of the heat off of you. Things like drunkenness, revelries, and the like. So anything that's similar to all of these things, envy, jealousy, strife, all of this, as I told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom. So if we're practicing those things and we're not fighting against them and we're not asking God to forgive us and grant us repentance, then eventually we will be cast into the lake of fire because sin is something that has to be repented of. We have to be able to see our sins in order to repent of our sins. If we don't see the sinful behavior and the sinful nature that we have, then there's no way we can truly repent of it. I mean, God is gracious, God is merciful, and God does grant us repentance, but it is something that we have to continually be seeking and praying for and asking God to forgive us. If there are things that I haven't yet seen, please show me what it is I need to repent of. These are prayers that should be common in our lives because we do see through a glass darkly. We don't see ourselves nearly as well as we probably think we do. Even though we've been around a long time, we still have certain blinders on in certain areas of our lives. We're still guilty of sinful thoughts, sinful desires, sinful actions. We haven't yet put on the pure mind of our Savior Jesus Christ. It is continually something to pray for, to ask that God would help us think like Jesus Christ and react like Jesus Christ and become unleavened like Jesus Christ. Then it goes into the fruit of the Spirit.

So there's a huge contrast between what we've just read and love. You know, hatred was one of the things that it mentioned. Hatred as opposed to love. We're to be joyful people too, not real critical people, negative people. That isn't reflecting the character of Jesus Christ. You don't see that in his behavior.

He wasn't that kind of person. He was a joyful person. He was grateful to his father, thankful for the life that he had and what he was doing. He knew he had a huge cross to bear, but he did it willingly. And he said, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done, father. So he was submitted and surrendered to his father's will, which is another obvious key that we too must learn what surrender means. To surrender, to give up unconditionally, to stop fighting back.

You know, Romans chapter 6, let's go to Romans chapter 6 and consider what the Apostle Paul wrote here about being slaves. Verse 15, he asks, what then shall we sin because we're not under law, but under grace? We all believe that we are under grace because we realize that we've all sinned, and the wages of sin is death. So we're staking our eternal lives on that, aren't we? That we are under grace. That we're not going to be held to the penalty of the law, which we all deserve.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. It's a gift of grace through Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty and died for us, our Passover lamb.

He says, certainly not. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one slave whom you obey?

There was a large percentage, I think about 25% of the people were slaves back at the time this was written under the Roman occupation. About 25% of the people were slaves. So they understood slavery. They understood that they had to do their masters bidding. So he says, you present yourselves slaves to obey. You are the one slaves whom you obey. Whether of sin, so he's saying that sin can be your master. Satan and sin wants to be your master. You can be a slave to sin.

So you're that one slaves whom you obey. Whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness. Of course, obedience to who? Obedience to God. You know, God is the one that we should be enslaved to. And I mean, that has a bad connotation in most of our minds because of how we look at slavery. But a truly wonderful master will would treat his slaves with the utmost love.

Even giving himself before them a true godly master after the mother or after the mold of the father and the son, because that's what they've done, right? For God so loved the world he gave his only son and greater love has no man than this to lay down his life. So our masters have proven themselves.

Our masters have shown that they care for us, that they would lay their lives down for us.

So we're going to either be a slave to sin. Sin, of course, is the transgression of God's law.

And we know that Satan was the first sinner. Satan was the one who first sinned against God as he was puffed up in his pride and his vanity and he had it in his head to take over the throne of God, his master. He became a slave to sin, to disobedience, to rebellion. And Satan is indicative of all of that. So we're either going to be his slave and therefore a slave to sin as he is the father of sin, or we are truly going to strive to become slaves of God and completely surrender our will to God's will. So we really should think about what that means, to truly surrender ourselves and to not get puffed up in our own pride, in our own vanity, toward God or toward our fellow man.

I mean, it'll go a long ways in our relationships if we realize who we are and that we're made in the image of God and therefore we're to live as God lives. We're to think as God thinks. We're to become like God. We're to become unleavened without sin, without spot, without wrinkle, without any such thing. So when we obey, it does lead to righteousness, which leads to eternal life.

And God wants to give us his kingdom. He wants to grant us eternal life.

So sometimes people think that God's on an ego trip. You know, I've heard people basically say that. You know, why does God want so much glory? I said, well, my wife and I were talking about this on the way here and I think it was me that said, well, if God was on such a glory trip, he would have killed us all by now. He would have got rid of us all because he wouldn't put up with us. You know, he wouldn't have that kind of patience if he wanted all the glory. You know, why put up with puny human beings when you've got all the power? You know, obviously it's not about power, though. The Holy Spirit is not the spirit of fear but of love. God is motivated out of love.

So he wants us to honor and respect him because it's good for us. You know, it's good for us to be thankful. We should be thankful to the one who gave us life and who sustains our life and maintains our life. We should be grateful to God and so we should give him honor and glory and show him respect. And, you know, he puts up with so much from disrespectful people that don't even believe in him. You know, that disdain him and mock him and it's a sad thing, you know, but God has allowed it in his plan so that he might blind a lot of people, that he might have mercy on them eventually. So God is very patient, very kind and compassionate to all of us. So when sin easily besets us, and that's just about all the time, isn't it? Sin pretty much easily besets us at every quarter, at every turn. I mean, obviously we have to be vigilant, just like you were vigilant, hopefully, this week and didn't eat any leaven. Now, there was one time when I was out with my son again. I'm not blaming my son, by the way, because I'm responsible for my own actions. Actually, I had gone... I'm actually playing basketball at my age. Can you believe it?

I'm still feeling some of the aches and pains, but we had a basketball... I had a basketball game. Matt came with me, got some good laughs, you know? And afterwards, we went to watch the championship game. The championship game, the NCAA championship between whoever it was. I mean, University of Michigan and Villanova, that's right, yeah. Villanova and the University of Michigan.

And I forgot all about the days of my leaven breath, completely. I mean, it didn't even cross my mind until after I'd eaten the meal. And then I thought, wait a minute, what did I eat? I had to backtrack. French fries? Yeah, they're okay. Fish. Fish should be okay.

Only this fish did have some kind of a coating.

I'm still not sure whether it had leaven in it or not. It could have easily had leaven, I suppose. I'm hoping it didn't. It seemed really hard and flat. It did not seem puffed up or soft at all, so I'm hoping that it really wasn't. But really, I forgot anyway, so it doesn't really matter. I mean, I wasn't being vigilant. I forgot. Isn't it easy, even during the days of a leavened bread, if you get out in the world? You know, if I stay home and all I've got in my house is on leavened bread, and I'm... you know, it's so much safer. But when you venture outside your home and other things start to occupy your mind and you start dwelling on other things, it's so easy to just eat something that's leavened. It easily besets you.

I mean, you know, I've told the story about zipping into a gas station during the days of a leavened bread. Hardly ever buy ice cream sandwiches. But this particular time, I bought an ice cream sandwich. I mean, I was in and out of there eating the sandwich, tossed it out the window. I think I littered for the first time in my life. Because I was appalled that I had eaten part of that ice cream sandwich. It easily besought me. And sin is like that. It will be set us quickly. We do have to be on guard, and we have to take it seriously, too. It has to mean something to us. Because if we sin and we take it lightly, then we're in greater danger.

Because then we get in a habit of taking it lightly. So whatever sin easily besets you, you should make a goal to step up your efforts this year to root it out of your life. If it's anger, then really work harder on it and stop being such an angry person.

Get better control of yourself. If it's lack of control, then work on that.

If you lose control with your children, or your wife, or your husband, or anyone, then take note of it and realize that God wants us to look at every aspect of our life. He wants us to examine our entire lives, look at every part of our life, and put the leaven out.

Where we're wrong, we should change. We should have an attitude of wanting to change whatever it is that is wrong about us. These are so valuable. This idea of leaven and unleavened.

I don't know that we think much about it during the rest of the year, but we sure concentrate on it for a week. It does have an impact in our lives. I found myself thinking, I'd better not carry this sandwich all over the house.

Maybe I should be careful, or not just take it places that I might forget about it, or leave it somewhere. Once in a while, I'll think of that. I try to isolate where most of my leaven is, so it's easier to get rid of. I don't make a mistake. Forget about it.

There are so many lessons to be learned. This morning, I sat down and was just thinking about some of the main lessons that I've learned through the days of Unleavened Bread. One of the biggest things is the days of Unleavened Bread end, but the countdown has already begun.

It's already begun. It started last Sabbath, during the days of Unleavened Bread.

It ends today, so the countdown started last week toward Pentecost. Pentecost is about God's Spirit, the giving of God's Holy Spirit. I've got to thinking, we're to become unleavened. In a sense, unleavened is like God's Spirit. God's Spirit is unleavened. God's Spirit is holy. It's Holy Spirit.

It's perfect. It's righteous. It sanctifies us. I think Mr. Burke talked about being sanctified. We're sanctified by God's Spirit. We're set apart by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is something that we should stir up within us. And we are to walk in the Spirit. So as we continue the countdown to Pentecost, let's remember that we were to come out of Unleavened Bread and walk in the Spirit.

We're not to walk in the flesh. That's symbolic of leavening. Walking in the flesh, eating leaven.

That's, you know, those two things are equal in a sense. They essentially mean the same thing.

When you're leavened, you're sinning, you're walking in the flesh.

Now we're to walk in the Spirit. We're to walk in newness of life. The countdown has begun, so it behooves us to consider staying Unleavened. Not that we can't eat any leaven.

We can go out and have the cheeseburger that was mentioned earlier. Mr. Doden mentioned that. That's okay, because it's just a symbolism. But more importantly, from a spiritual standpoint, we should strive to be spiritually Unleavened. Walking in the Spirit, not in the flesh. When we began the sermon, we talked about the works of the flesh and whatever it is that easily besets you, whether it's anger or gossip or lust or whatever it is, double your efforts as you move toward Pentecost. Learn to walk more godly in a godly manner. Walk in the Spirit.

So the Ten Commandments obviously are important. We should consider the Ten Commandments. Walking in the Spirit of each and every one of God's commandments. I mean, if you haven't been thinking about the commandments at all this week, I mean, you probably missed something because that's all about obedience.

The Ten Commandments. These are commands that God gives us. To become Unleavened, we have to be obedient. So we should be keeping the commandments not just in the letter, but in the Spirit. So we look at each one of the commandments, and we try to apply those commandments both in the letter and in the Spirit.

And so I often times pray about God's commandments. I pray that God will help me keep them.

Not just in the letter, but in the Spirit. That helps me personally to do better. You know, if I'm continually thinking about God's commandments and praying about them, and praying that God would help me be more righteous and become more unleavened in how I live my life, then obviously that helps me stay on the right track.

So as I mentioned earlier, we're going to obey someone. We're either going to obey Satan the Devil, who's the father of sin, and we're going to be going generally down that path, or we're going to choose to obey and serve God, and we're going to be going down that path toward the kingdom of God. That's the path we've been on for a long time. We must not become weary in well-doing. That's part of the issue, too. It is important that you brought yourself to church today, that you came, even though it might have been easy not to.

And some people when they're older, especially, it wears them out, and they can have a more enjoyable Sabbath, perhaps, if they don't come, because they can focus on things. But when you're well enough, and when you're healthy enough, then you should obviously try to be here. Because it does speak to your commitment to God and his way of life, being willing to sacrifice, to make things happen, and to do what's right and pleasing. And also, we grow closer to each other. You know, we're all in this together, so it is important that we have friends. You know, I thought back when I first started, I went to Findlay, Ohio.

There's no church there now. There's no church in Findlay, Ohio that I'm aware of. Certainly not a united Church of God. And I don't know if there's any Church of God group in Findlay, Ohio any longer. There's a smaller group in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was much larger back then. And you know, I went to Ambassador College. No Ambassador College anymore. I mean, a lot of things have changed over the years. I went to Big Sandy. I went to Pasadena. Both those things are gone. You know, just been a lot of upheaval in God's Church.

But there's a nucleus and there's a core. As I look around here, I've seen a lot of your faces for a lot of years. You know, some of you are fairly new to this congregation. But a lot of you have been around for a long time and you continue faithfully coming to church. Some of you I baptized. Some of you are still sticking with the program and doing that which is pleasing and right and good. And that's gratifying to see that because God doesn't seem to be calling a lot of people right now out of this world.

You know, some he called a long time ago and some are still staying faithfully with God's truth and God's way of life. And you expect to see them. You know they'll be here because that's who they are. That's what they do. They made this commitment a long time ago and it's the most important commitment they've ever made. And so they continually are here, faithfully here. But there's been a lot of upheaval and a lot of change over the years. And any of us that look back, I've been in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I mean, there's been a lot of changes in all those groups. It's nice to have the continuity that I've had with Oklahoma for 20 plus years. I think that's helpful to see that there are a lot of people who are truly dedicated to God. I was telling my wife that I have to believe that God is pleased when He sees many people continuing in the faith, sticking with the faith, making this a priority, making this important. Obviously, we believe in God. We believe in Christ.

We believe in the plan of salvation. We believe that coming here on a Friday is worthwhile. It's important. So I have to believe that that's important to God because when I read the Bible, you know, there aren't a lot of names in there of faithful people. And when you look at the thousands of years the Bible covers from Adam and Eve to Jesus Christ and the apostles, there aren't a lot of faithful people that you read about 40-50 years later.

They're still keeping God's commandments. So I believe God is going to come back to a faithful few.

Will He find faith on the earth? Yes, I think He will find faith on the earth. It's not going to be easy for those who are living at the return of Christ because they would have seen an awful lot.

How many of us will go through those end-time events? We don't know. We can't know. Paul thought he was going to go through those last end-time events. Of course, he was martyred and he gave his life, but we really don't know. So we have to just stay faithful until either Christ returns or we die in the faith. These days of Unleavened Bread are important days. They should not be taken lightly. They are days that mean an awful lot. They are important days.

Obviously, being thankful for our calling, realizing that many are called, but few are chosen.

There aren't many who are chosen. I talked about that God doesn't seem to be calling that many now. Through the ages, many have been called, but few have been chosen because they haven't stayed faithful. They haven't remained faithful to God's truth. So being called is important. Being chosen and faithful is, in some ways, much more important.

Being chosen and faithful and enduring to the end, for only those who endure to the end, are going to be saved. So is it important that you're continuing on? Very important.

It's very important that you have not become so weary and well-doing.

There are times when I get a little tired of everything. Everything that is expected, everything that is supposed to be done, it's easy to get a little tired. It's okay to be a little tired. I think all of us are getting tired, or as we get older, we're getting tired, or in some respects. But we must not become weary in doing well and in keeping the faith and staying faithful and true. Because that will ensure that we'll have eternal life if we endure to the end and we continue to fight the good fight. And we don't give up. And we have faith that God is who he says he is, that Jesus Christ is who the Bible says he is, and that God's plan is being worked out step by step. There are many faithful examples in the Bible. Certainly Noah, Moses, Joshua, Caleb.

We should take some encouragement from those men and women who were faithful throughout their lives, who stayed faithful, died faithfully, died in the faith, will be in the first resurrection with the rest who are striving to be unleavened. Those of us who are truly striving to be unleavened will be in the first resurrection if we've been baptized, obviously, and God has given us His Spirit, and we continue to stir up the Spirit of God within us and learn to walk in the Spirit, then we're going to be in God's Kingdom. We're going to be there for eternity. To me, that was the bottom line as I was thinking through everything this morning.

It's really all about learning to walk in the Spirit, and learning to walk in the Spirit, being sanctified by the Spirit of God that dwells in us, walking in the Spirit, becoming more like Christ, more like the Father who are composed of Spirit, being like them, reflecting in our own lives, their lives.

Christ is to live in us. We are to be unleavened.

So, in my mind, it gets down to the contrast of walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit. Yes, we're in the flesh. We're physical, and we're getting older, and we're going to die because we don't live forever in the flesh.

But, as we are in the flesh, we need to learn to walk in the Spirit. The Spirit transcends the flesh.

We can go to some amazing heights if we allow God's Spirit to transcend our flesh. Life can stay exciting. Life can stay interesting. We can be fulfilled by God's Spirit that dwells in us.

So, I would encourage you, for the next 43 or so days—I haven't set down and figured exactly here— but the countdown to Pentecost has begun. We've walked enough in the flesh. We've walked enough in the flesh. Let's try to really walk in the Spirit.

Let's think about it more than we normally do. Life gets hectic, and life crowds in, and oftentimes a day goes by, and we haven't really been thinking all that spiritually.

We've been thinking more about what has to be done today and the physical things that need to be done without bringing the Spirit in. We can go through our day physically, but we should bring the Spirit in throughout the day and always be mindful of that.

So, I think for sure that we will continue to learn lessons by keeping the Days of Eleven breath.

We'll learn to be more vigilant. Maybe we won't be so forgetful.

I was forgetful during the Days of Eleven breath.

There were times when I forgot what these days are all about, and I let other things take precedence and allow my thinking to go somewhere. It shouldn't have gone. I mean, I should have... It was okay. I wasn't in a bad place. It's just the days should have always been there. They should have been there so that they guided my every choice. They didn't guide my choice, but I decided what to eat. I wasn't even thinking about unleavened bread or leavened bread. And if I dodged a bullet, I was lucky or I was blessed. God was gracious.

Maybe I didn't eat any leaven, but I very likely did.

That being said, I know that spiritually... I mean, did I send this week?

Yeah, I mentioned that I let my mind go somewhere. It shouldn't have gone.

I became angry and not so self-disciplined. That was more important than the eating of the leavening.

If I would have eaten leaven and not done the other, then I would have had a great week.

I had a pretty good week anyway, but it would have been a better week. I suppose I could have eaten leaven every day and forgot about it. But if I didn't sin at all, of course, I don't think that's likely. If you're that forgetful and you're not focused any better than that.

I mean, every morning I was eating unleavened bread and I was putting unleavened bread in, symbolic of putting Christ in. I was reading my Bible every morning, praying.

You know, that's typically what I do in the morning. But by evening, at least once, it had slipped. It had gone by. So let's learn as much as we can from these days.