HMR and UB

Good afternoon, everyone. What a great God we serve! Music was certainly beautiful. I certainly appreciate the wonderful lyrics and the beautiful sounds. Did you notice even that acapella section in the middle there? Wow! And they came right in with the piano, and it was beautiful. I really appreciate that. Thank you so much for all the effort that went into bringing us such beautiful music. And what a great opportunity to be here in Dallas. My wife, Kathy, and I are thrilled with the opportunity to be with you this afternoon and this morning as well. It's good to see old friends and catch up a little bit and meet new ones. So it is good to be together. What a blessing it is to have God's truth in His holy days and to be able to celebrate them and honor Him and worship Him together as family.

I bring greetings from Cincinnati and the home office. I pastor the Cincinnati East congregations, they call them. We actually have just two congregations in the east and one in the north. They still call it Cincinnati East. And at this time of the year, you have to be really careful what you call it, because I like to abbreviate things a little bit.

But I have to be careful because it almost sounds like Scentsy Yeast. And that would not be good at this time of the year to call it Scentsy Yeast. So we want to come out of that just a little bit. One of the things I know at the home office that certainly we are so blessed because we are together. We are unified. We are a people that are striving to please God and serve Him and serve His people as well. And certainly President Kubik emphasizes that. And I think we do have a sense of unity and really are a blessed people to be a part of God's church and the blessings that He pours out on us. In Cincinnati East, we are very blessed. We have quite a few people there. We celebrated the Passover just the other night with well over 200 people in Cincinnati. And so we were very blessed to be kind of expanding the walls there in Cincinnati. And so it certainly is a blessing to be together. There are many, many, many activities going on, especially at this time of the year. As you know, before the feast we had one of our Beyond Today Live seminars here in the Dallas area.

And we've continued those since the feast as well. We've had a number of them lately. We had a seminar in Indianapolis. Also had one in Nashville. Did another one in Columbus as well. And so those have been exciting experiences as people have responded and come to the various seminars. And it's always interesting to talk to the people that come. And we found that they're at all different places.

Some are brand new, just hearing some of the truth for the very first time. Others have quite a depth of understanding. In fact, I remember at one of the seminars, I think it was in Indianapolis, we got done with the seminar and it came off the stage. And I was talking to someone that had come. And I was talking to this lady. She said, you know, I'm here because my friend invited me. She said, she's really the freak when it comes to Beyond Today.

I kind of looked at her and I said, well, what do you mean? She binges on Beyond Today all the time and she is so excited about it. She had to tell me about it and drug me along with her today. And so I thought, okay, well, that's kind of interesting.

I said, well, how did you like it? She said, I thought I knew something, she said. But she said, I found out even though I have a master's degree, I don't know anything. And she held up the little notebook that we give out at the seminars and she said, just look at the notes that I took.

And she started flipping the pages and she said, I took 12 pages of notes on the things you talked about. And as she was flipping, I said, you've got better notes than I do.

I have to borrow your notes so I can give a better presentation. And so it is interesting hearing the different stories and seeing people respond to the truth. Some are instantaneous, they're on fire, they want to be a part of things. Others, it seems, are more like the sower and the seed. Some seem to take a little bit longer. They're in the process of growing and maturing and coming to a depth of understanding that hopefully at some point we'll lead them here, where there will be a part of us down the line.

So we certainly look forward to that. We'll continue doing these seminars as we go along. I believe the next one is coming up in Chicago and then the Milwaukee area in the early summer. So certainly appreciate your prayers for the success of those live seminars and that God would certainly move among those that He is calling and is working with. Of course, this is also another busy time at the Home Office because of our Ambassador Bible College.

We're drawing to the end of this school year. By the time we get back, we'll just have about three more weeks. So May 22nd is graduation day and this school year is coming to an end. So it's a little bit of a sad time, but also an exciting time for all the things that the students have been participating in and learning and serving and looking forward to the time that they come back to their local areas and can begin to serve in a much greater way as well.

So it is an exciting time. Also, the time of the GCE coming up at the end of I believe it's next week. The General Conference of Elders will be taking place in Cincinnati once again. And so we'll be hosting all of the elders from all over not only the states, but also the world that will be coming in for the upcoming General Conference.

So it is a very, very busy time, but an exciting time with so many things going on and an opportunity to see how God works in so many different ways. Of course, God not only works through the Home Office. In fact, I think that is one thing that I'm personally excited about, is not that just the Home Office does the work. It's not just about Beyond Today. It's not just about booklets. It's not just about media.

It's not just about the web. But it's about all of us. It's about the body of Christ. It's about each and every one of us. If you were to come into the conference room at the Home Office, they've decorated the conference room with the center button. The center piece being the vision statement of the United Church of God. That vision statement showcases two sections of Scripture, one in Ephesians and one in Hebrews, where it talks about the body is composed of every joint and every ligament doing its part.

That brings and causes growth to the body. And that's all of us. All of us have such a vital part to play in the growth and the health of the body of Christ. And that's something I know we're all excited about because each one of us have been given a gift from God, even more than a gift, many gifts. And God expects us to put those gifts to use.

And I think the Holy Days emphasized that, that we are a part of a collective whole that each of us has a part to play in the growth of the body and the health of the Church. And so what a blessing it is to have God's truth, to have His calling, to understand what His plan and His purpose is, and to be able to live that purpose, to be able to put those principles into practice in our lives. And of course, that's part of what the Holy Days are about.

The reminder that we do have a Savior who died on our behalf so that we might live, and that He's brought us out of sin. And these days of Unleavened Bread point to that very fact that we're to come out of sin so that we can be living, breathing examples of what God's way of life is all about. What an opportunity. What a blessing that is. And so we are able to live that very blessing. And so we're reminded of that time right now, especially now as we're coming to the end of the days of Unleavened Bread.

Has it changed your life? Has this past week changed you personally?

Well, hopefully it has. Hopefully it's given us a little bit different perspective. Maybe one thing to think about is that oftentimes imagine if you were a baker at this time of the year. Do you think that might change your life a little bit if you had to figure out how to Deleven your bakery? That might be a little bit of a challenge, wouldn't it? Of course, I don't know if you know what you get if you put a gourmet chef and a can of coke together. What do you get? Baking soda. Baking soda. Of course, maybe you know why the baker had to work so hard. Do you know why the baker had to work so hard? Because he needed the dough. Yeah, that's pretty... Now wait a second. Do you know how difficult it is to come up with jokes that apply to Unleavened Bread? This is not an easy task. But there are quite a few of them, but the problem is they're all bad. They're all bad ones. You may have heard about the mother that was complaining about her daughter. She finally decided she must have some type of eating disorder. So she calls the doctor. She said, Doctor, I am so worried about my daughter. She has these strange eating habits.

The doctor said, well, what's she doing? The lady said, well, all she does is lay in bed all day long and eat yeast and car wax. The doctor said, well, let me get this straight. Your daughter lays in bed all day and all she does is eat yeast and car wax. The mother said, yeah, that's it. That's what she does. She said, should I be worried about her?

The doctor said, don't worry, because eventually she'll rise and shine.

Yeah, there are a few bed and living bread jokes out there. I'll try not to make you groan too much, but try to keep you awake at the same time. There's no doubt that this week we've probably thought a lot about food. It's kind of been on our mind a little bit. Maybe you've looked at the labels a little bit closer than you might normally. Perhaps you had second thoughts about going through the drive-in at the fast food place, or, no, I can't eat that, or I better not order that, or no croutons, or no breadsticks this time, or things like that.

Certainly seem to have been on our mind this whole week. Well, here's something to keep in mind that I'll try to come back to at the end of the sermon. It's a dollar amount. Keep this dollar amount in mind. $2,787. So keep that in mind, or maybe jot it down. $2,787. It has something to do with what we'll talk about this afternoon. In fact, it has something to do with the fastest-growing section of the food industry today. Do you know what the fastest-growing sector of the food industry today is? It's called HMRs. HMRs are the fastest-growing section of the food industry today.

Well, what's an HMR? It's a home meal replacement. HMR, Home Meal Replacement. Home meal replacements are all about making life easier. Home meal replacements started a long, long, long time ago. Back in 1879, the first HMR started. Do you know what it was?

It was started by the Heinz Company. The first HMR was a bottle of ketchup. It was a bottle of ketchup. And do you know how Heinz marketed that bottle of ketchup? Their advertising campaigns said something like this, For the blessed relief of mother and other women of the household. All that for a bottle of ketchup? What a deal, huh? Now, you fast forward a few years, and the HMRs really took off. You get to 1953, and a lady named Betty Cronin is contributed with starting a revolution when it came to HMRs.

The Swanson Company was overloaded with Thanksgiving turkey, and they didn't know what to do with it. Well, Betty came up with this idea that became known as TV dinners.

And with the invention of TV dinners, the advertising for the TV dinners were to take the burden off the baby boom offspring. And Mom was said to be, well, maybe I'm late, but with a TV dinner, at least dinner's not. And so you could get a turkey dinner. Imagine it's a turkey dinner. You could have sweet potatoes, peas, cornbread, and dressing, all for the whopping cost of 98 cents.

Imagine that. 98 cents. Well, that's where the HMRs started. Now, today it's booming. Now you could go to a Sam's Club, or you could go to a Costco, and you could buy a pre-made lasagna, or you could buy stir-fry, all ready to go, and all you've got to do is throw it in the oven or throw it in the pan, and bam! It is ready to go.

That's a whole meal replacement. And the business is booming. Now, for us, we've been focusing on food. Our world seems to focus on food and making life a little bit easier. Replacing the difficulty of cooking with the joy of not cooking. But what kind of food should we focus on? Especially as we come to the days of unleavened bread. What kind of replacement have we got in mind for our life? This week, God's given us to change our habits, to change our focus. Can we see the real food that God wants us to see for not just physical nourishment, but spiritual nourishment?

I don't think God just wants us to have an HMR, a whole meal replacement. But if we switch it up a little bit, I do think God wants us to have an HMR. For today's purposes, that would be a holistic mindset replacement. We've got to change our thinking entirely. We've got to replace it. We've got to get rid of that spiritual leavening. We've got to get rid of the sin in our life and start thinking a whole different way. We've got to recognize sin around us and keep it out of our lives.

And so we need an HMR. That replacement needs to be a mindset replacement. Not just a little bit, but a complete change of heart, a complete change of mind. In fact, that's what Christ had in mind so often as he taught. There's an interesting occurrence that took place. And in fact, it happened at this time of the year. You might not recognize the fact that it happened at this time of the year, but in actuality it did. If you turn over to John 6, it's a familiar story with the story of the feeding of the 5,000.

Now, a story that I think we're all familiar with, but oftentimes we forget that this actually took place just before the Passover.

And the lessons that Christ wants the people to understand, I think are significant. So when you look to John 6, verse 4, it points out that fact that the Passover, and of course here pointing to the Feast of the Jews, it says it was near. It was near. And of course what happens, Christ takes a couple of loaves, a couple of fishes, feeds 5,000 people.

And of course when they are fed, suddenly they recognize, wow, this is a great HMR. I didn't have to go home and cook my meal.

I could just have Christ whip up a couple of fish and feed all these people. And of course their reaction down in verse 14, John 6, this is truly the prophet who's come into the world.

And of course they want to grab him and make him king at that point because of this tremendous miracle that he did right before their eyes and you could say right before their mouths and their senses.

Yet Christ wasn't about to let that happen.

In fact, in this scenario, he goes on to a significant section of Scripture because the next day he's on the other side of the sea. People can't figure out, well, how in the world did he get over there?

And when we get down to verse 22, oftentimes this is referred to as the bread of life discourse.

The bread of life discourse, sometimes the scholars will refer to this section of Scripture as.

If you look down to verse 22, here we are the following day after the feeding of the 5,000.

And in verse 25, they found him on the other side of the sea and they said, Rabbi, when did you come here?

It's like, well, just yesterday you were over there. Now you're over here.

You see, they didn't realize what had happened. The disciples had taken the boat across. Christ had met them on the water.

Pretty amazing circumstance, miraculous.

And yet, as they find Christ on the other side of the sea, he says to them in verse 26, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but instead because you got an HMR, because you got a little meal replacement, because you ate the loaves and you were filled. You liked the free lunch.

Christ says to them. But he says, you know, there's a greater lesson.

Verse 27, he tells them, So God says very clearly, inspiring Christ to tell them, it's not just about deliving your homes. It's not just about looking at the labels this week.

He says the kind of food that we should strive after is that spiritual food that never dies.

That spiritual feeding, not of loaves and fishes, but a spiritual diet that will lead to eternal life.

And it's the kind of food, not a physical food, but a spiritual food that Jesus Christ provides.

In fact, Christ says in verse 29, This spiritual food is connected to faith, to belief, to having that wholehearted trust and confidence in our Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ. And so it starts with faith in Him.

Of course, then the people say, well, what else are you going to show us?

What other kinds of signs are you going to show us that we might have faith?

You see, that's what they ask in verse 30. What sign will you perform then that we may see and believe?

You mean the loaves and fishes weren't enough? You mean just miraculously being on the other side of the sea is not enough?

No, it wasn't enough for the people. They missed it. Their focus was just on a whole meal replacement.

It wasn't on the bread of life. And so Jesus tries to refocus their mindset. Verse 35, Jesus says to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.

Of course, that wasn't the answer they wanted. They wanted the free meal. So what happens? Verse 41, they complain. They wind about it.

Come on, give us our free meal. Don't tell us that kind of stuff. And so the crowd murmurs against Jesus Christ. They complained. It kind of hearkens back to what they did with Moses when Moses gave them manna.

That wasn't good enough either. They wanted more. And so they didn't want to hear about Christ being a holistic mind replacement.

They just wanted a free meal. And yet Christ points out such an invaluable truth here.

In fact, the truth that as God's people we should deeply understand. As God's people, we recognize this.

Even before the Passover, when God opened our minds to His truth and He called us, and we recognized and answered that call, and we came to baptism.

We began to eat from the bread of life.

And we recognized that it was only through Jesus Christ, only through our Savior.

We entered those waters of baptism and we said, yes.

Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior? And we said, yes, He is the bread of life. Is He your Lord, your Master, your High Priest? We said, yes. And we recognized He is the bread of life.

We don't ever want to have to hunger and thirst again. And we proclaimed our faith, our belief in Him.

And that awesome calling that we received through God the Father.

And so we began that mindset replacement. We recognized what He said here in verse 47 in chapter 6.

He said, I am the bread of life. And we said, yes, we believe. And we found in Him there is everlasting life.

And so we recognized something so much beyond just a lamb's blood spread on the door, something much more than just a few loaves and fishes, something much more than just manna, something much more than just putting out yeast and baking soda out of our homes this week.

We recognize this bread is not about flour and water, but it's about the flesh and the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ.

And that's what Christ focuses on here. This time, the bread that Christ focused that crowd's attention on was not loaves and fishes.

In fact, He pointed to a whole new exodus, a whole change of life.

And He reminded them that it was only through Jesus Christ the true bread of life that we have any hope of eternal life, that we can have any confidence that we can be a part of the family of God forever.

In fact, this was so upsetting for most of the people. They couldn't handle it. And they went away.

Of course, down in verse 66, He even asked the 12. He asked the 12, verse 67, Do you also want to go away?

But Simon Peter recognized the bread of life. He said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

We've also come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Peter began to recognize that. He began to recognize what we know, that Jesus Christ is our daily bread.

He is that life-giving presence in our life.

It is amazing that Christ identified Himself with something that is pretty common. It's pretty ordinary.

Most of us have no problem with accessibility to physical bread.

But Christ points out He's our spiritual bread. He is our spiritual food. He is our constant source of nourishment.

He's where we can find that daily, everyday, sustaining, nourishing food.

In fact, He reminds us here, it's not only eternal life and eternal sustenance, but He says it's supposed to be a daily kind of thing.

It takes an everyday kind of nourishment. That's what it takes, and that's what Christ pointed to.

And so we are to feed on Him. Feed on His Word.

And so Christ points out it's not just getting by, it's not just surviving. Maybe some of us feel that way.

We had to survive matzohs for a week. That can be the bread of affliction. That can be a little bit challenging.

But Christ says, when it comes to spirituality, it's so much more. It's more than just getting by. It's more than just existing.

It's more than just surviving. This gift that Christ offers is eternal life.

It is a full-fledged promise of being a divine member of God's family forever.

What an awesome calling. What an awesome blessing that God has given us.

So no wonder Christ reminded us, man doesn't live by bread alone. Not a physical thing, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

That's Matthew 4.4. He reminds us of that very fact.

And so unleavened bread, especially as we come to the end, it's a reminder for us. Are we really feeding on Christ? Are we feeding being nourished by His every word?

A while ago, I ran across an interesting survey that asked Christians about their reading habits.

Now, this wasn't just Church of God. This was anybody that claimed to be a Christian. They polled Christians about their reading habits. This was done by LifeWay publishers a while back.

That's some interesting results. They found that 37% of Christians that they polled had read the book, The Life of Pi.

I waited for the movie and didn't read the book. It was okay. They also found that 22% of Christians that they polled had read The Hunger Games.

They found 18% had read The Game of Thrones. 14% of Christians polled had read The Hobbit.

That's all well and good. I don't recommend any of that.

But the interesting part was when they asked them about the Word of God.

What percentage of Christians polled read the Bible once a month?

Now you would think most Bible-believing Christians would read the Bible at least once a month, right?

What percentage of Christians do you think they found read the Bible once a month?

Only 22%. 22% once a month. How many Christians that they polled said they rarely or never read the Bible?

That's how you claim to be a Christian and not read the Bible.

But you know they found that 18% of those that claim to be Christians said they never read the Bible.

And they also found that less than 10% of those who claim to be Christians read the Bible through from cover to cover.

Now I would hope that we are far, far from those statistics.

But it certainly is a stark reminder. We are called to feed on the Word of God.

It's supposed to be a daily bread, intimate, close, personal, comfortable relationship that we have with our God.

And we know our God speaks to us and shares that closeness, shares that intimacy with us through His Word.

And it should be a daily bread kind of a thing.

And when we read God's Word and we feed on it, it fires a desire, I think, in all of us to want to dig deeper, to want to know more, to seek out God.

He seems to lead us even closer and even more personal as we feed on Him.

And it seems the closer we are with God, the closer we want to be.

And so God blesses us in that way. And I believe He gives us an ability to sense His presence in our life.

And when we connect that with what Christ said, we see it's really a special reservation for that meal, isn't it?

A special reservation reserved for those who eat of Him and His Word daily.

You see, because it's more than just a meal, it's a way of life.

It's a way of life. And it's a way of life that brings a whole different way of looking at life, a whole different mindset, a whole different way of thinking, a whole different way of acting.

The way the world looks at it is it's not normal.

The world are like the crowds that surrounded Christ. They didn't get it. They didn't understand it.

And yet Christ calls us to a different normal, a new normal, a new diet, a new mindset, a new heart.

That's not after the everyday, common, regular, ordinary kind of way of thinking.

We've been called to a new set of thinking, a new set of standards, a new guidelines, a new set of values.

And so God has blessed us with that opportunity to understand what His purpose is so that we can trust Him for our strength, we can trust Him for our nourishment.

And He can give us that new way of thinking. And what a powerful presence that is!

Unleavened bread reminds us of the power that God has given us. He's given us the power of His Holy Spirit so we can actually overcome sin in our lives.

God has blessed us with that. And that goes beyond anything that we can accomplish on our own.

And so what a different way of understanding, what a different way of sensing the presence of God.

And I think in many ways, God has called us to sense His presence that much more thoroughly in our life.

You see, Christ tried to point to that very thing. He tried to point to His presence, His daily bread presence in the lives of His people.

And you know, this time of the year, I think, does focus on that.

Just after the crucifixion, it focuses on that presence of God in our lives.

If you turn over to the book of Luke, Luke 24, verse 13, here's another interesting occurrence that took place during the days of Unleavened Bread.

In fact, immediately after the resurrection.

Luke 24, verse 13, records for us a circumstance of two of the disciples walking to Emma's.

The resurrection had just taken place at the end of the Sabbath that evening before.

Notice what happens. Luke 24, 13.

It says, So imagine this. They're walking along the road.

Suddenly there's another guy there.

But verse 16 gives us some extra information.

So it says, So imagine this. They're walking along the road.

Suddenly there's another guy there.

But verse 16 gives us some extra information.

It says, They didn't understand the presence of Christ.

It doesn't say why. It doesn't say who's doing the restraining.

Maybe their own eyes were restrained. Maybe they didn't permit themselves to see.

Maybe God did this. We're not really told.

But for whatever reason, they didn't recognize Christ right after the resurrection.

Verse 17, Christ says to them, What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?

So they're walking... Wait a second. These guys are walking the wrong way.

What should the disciples have been doing after the resurrection?

Why are they walking away from Jerusalem?

They're going the wrong direction.

Why aren't they proclaiming this fantastic fact of the resurrection?

Here they were talking about it. In fact, it's pretty amazing. Here they are dejected.

They're downcast. Verse 18, The one that was named Cleopas answered and said to him, Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem and haven't known the things which happened here in these days?

Christ kind of eggs them on a little bit. He says, What things?

So they said the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all the people.

How the chief priests and the rulers delivered him, condemned him to death and crucified him.

Verse 21, But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel.

They kind of saw the big picture. They saw the redemption of Israel.

But did they see their own redemption, their personal relationship with God, their personal forgiveness and redemption?

It seems they missed it.

They said, Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.

Now, they're not clueless. Verse 22, Yes, certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early astonished us.

When they didn't find his body, they came saying that they'd also seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.

But they didn't recognize his presence.

They knew these things. Christ had preached these things to them.

They understood these things.

But they didn't recognize his appearance.

Verse 24, Certain of those who were with us went to the tomb, founded just as the women had said.

But him, they didn't see.

So here's two of the disciples. They're going the wrong direction.

They're not proclaiming the fact of the resurrection.

They're dejected. They're without hope.

Seems like they're dead in the water.

And yet, Christ tries to help them to see his presence.

Verse 25, He said to them, O foolish ones, slow of heart to believe, in all things the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things, and then to have entered his glory?

And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets he expounded to them, all the Scriptures concerning himself.

So they rehearse all these amazing prophecies that point to Jesus Christ, and his suffering, and his resurrection.

Verse 28, They drew near the village where they were going. Christ indicated he would have gone farther.

But, verse 29, they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it's toward the evening, the days far spent.

So he went in to stay with them.

Goes in to stay. Verse 30, He came to pass, as he sat at the table with them, He took bread, and he blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.

Verse 31, Then their eyes were opened, and they knew him.

So here's Christ, taking the role of, instead of being a guest as he would have been, taking the role of the host, breaking the bread, passing it out to them.

And in that breaking of bread, their eyes were suddenly opened. And they recognized Christ as the one who walked with them, as the companion that came with them, and among them, and preached to them. In fact, it's interesting, the word companion comes from a base word that means with bread.

Christ came with bread, and He wanted to replace their mindset. And the reality of that moment shifted from walking on the road, sitting at a meal, to the moment of the Passover, when Christ broke bread and ate.

And suddenly the resurrection became a reality. And in that bread, they finally saw. Their perception changed, their insight, their awareness, their understanding, their discernment became totally different at that point.

During the days of Unleavened Bread, they had a mind shift. And what a reminder for us.

How are we walking? What will we do? What will our actions be? What will our path take us as we go beyond the days of Unleavened Bread? Will our eyes be opened?

Let me think about it for a moment. How many times on our walk through life do we not see Jesus right there with us?

Is it possible that we fail to recognize Jesus Christ when He's right here? He's right among us? Do we fail to recognize Him when He comes right up and is in our very presence? And is right there in our life? In fact, when you think about it, it's never an issue of His presence, is it? I mean, does Christ just kind of come and go in our life? Sure, I hope not.

I believe it's never an issue of His presence, but it becomes an issue of our awareness of His presence. I think in Unleavened Bread points us to that. We are to be always conscience of the fact that Christ is with us. And not just with us, but because of the resurrection and because of our conversion. He is in us. He is in us. And so no wonder the disciples... Look at verse 32. They said to one another, Didn't our heart burn within us when He talked with us on the road and when He opened the Scriptures to us? What a reminder that within us we should have this burning desire because we have an amazing companion, a friend, a Savior, a high priest, a soon-coming King, a Lord, a Master, who is always ever present with us.

And what a great reminder He spoke with them on the road. He wasn't off in heaven somewhere, but He was right there with Him. And of course, He tells us, He told the disciples, I am with you, low even to the end of the age. Now imagine, they had to ask for that presence. They had to seek that presence because as they walked along, Christ said, well, I could keep going here.

But what was their reaction? It says they constrained Him. They urged Him to stay. They desired His presence. And if they hadn't constrained Him, if they hadn't desired that presence, if they hadn't urged Christ to stay and be a part of their life, He would have went on. Their lives would have been unchanged. They would have continued down that path of discouragement. But they constrained Him. And in a way, we must seek that presence as well.

Always. Always. And in fact, as the story goes down, it is interesting how He opens their minds to amazing things. He looked down to verse 44. He said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.

And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. And so for us coming forward through the days of Unleavened Bread, we can continue to have our understanding opened. We can continue to take in the Word of life. We can continue to eat of that spiritual bread. And we have to ask for it and pray for it and seek that spiritual mindset replacement as we pray for an open heart and an open mind and petition God to continue to give us that bread of sincerity and truth.

And in fact, I think special blessings await. If we skip over to John 20, verse 26, we see in another appearance of Christ, another appearance, this appearance specifically to Thomas. And in fact, this appearance occurs on a special day.

John 20, verse 26, it tells us, after eight days, this special appearance occurred. Well, after eight days of what? Well, it seems to point back to the first day of Unleavened Bread. So here we are on the last day of Unleavened Bread, it seems, when Christ appears to Thomas.

And he tells him to reach his finger in here in verse 27, put his hand there into his side. He tells him, don't be unbelieving, but believing. And of course, Thomas did believe. He says, my Lord and my God. Then verse 29, Christ said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. I think Christ is thinking of us. We haven't seen, and yet we believe.

We believe. It's interesting how the bread of life has to do with opening up our sight, recognizing Christ. For Thomas, yes, seeing was believing. And for us, it's not seeing a physical manifestation of Jesus Christ. For us, it's seeing ourselves as we are. For us, it's seeing the need to change our lives. For us, it's seeing the need to be instruments in God's hands.

Seeing the need to change our lives and obey. Seeing the need to eat of that bread of life continually, so that we can have that holistic mindset replacement. And of course, if we're not experiencing that presence of Christ in our lives as our companion, that's a good reminder. We've got to seek that, strive after it, because that's our part.

Christ wants to be there. He is our faithful companion on the road of our everyday life. And He wants to walk with us on our everyday journey. He wants to, like those disciples, turn that sadness and dejection into joy. Change that emptiness into a vital purpose in our lives. And change that ineffectiveness to true spiritual growth with the ultimate opportunity to be a part of the Kingdom of God forever. So I believe Unleavened Bread propels us not to forget about watching out what we eat, but to continue to watch what we eat, but in a spiritual way.

Watch what we swallow. Watch what we ingest. Watch what we consume. Look out for the things that we absorb. Because instead of the ways of this world and its attitudes and its perspective, our focus is changed so that we are consuming and absorbing and taking in the mind of Christ. So that we can truly have the kind of fellowship that we talked about on the Passover. So we can commune together with Christ and with the Father. We abide with Him. We fellowship with Him. We share with Him.

That's what our life should be focusing on. Because this world wants to steal our time. It wants to steal our life. It wants to steal our focus. There's such a frenetic pace out here that it wants to throw us off course. And this hectic lifestyle that we live oftentimes forces us not to watch what we eat. Both physically and spiritually. We dash from one event to the next. Sometimes we even skip a meal.

But that should be a reminder. We cannot skip a meal with our God. We can't do that. We can't dash away from His presence. We can't go on not recognizing His very presence in our life.

And we can have the boldness to ask Him and seek Him. And He promises we will find Him. In fact, there's such an encouraging scripture that's found in Hebrews 10. It kind of summarizes it all up. Hebrews 10, verse 19. In Hebrews 10, verse 19, it helps us to continue to keep that focus that God's given us through the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Hebrews 10, verse 19, we're told, Brethren, have boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. In other words, we can come into the very presence of our Almighty God by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And He says, Be bold! Don't shy away from it. Seek it. Go after it. And we can do this, verse 20, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us through the veil. That is His flesh. And so we can live with a holistic mindset replacement, a new and living way which He set apart for us. And we can do that because we have, verse 21, such an awesome high priest over the house of God.

So, verse 22, don't miss His presence. Don't ignore His presence. Don't take that presence for granted. But instead, verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. And certainly we recognize that and recommitted and rededicated ourselves at the Passover, that amazing blessing of baptism and that recommitment that we promised before God. And we accepted that sacrifice all over again. And so we reiterated that promise. Verse 23, so then, let's go on. Let's hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For He who is promised is faithful. And let's consider one another. And so collectively, together, we have a part to play in recognizing our amazing calling. Let's consider, verse 24, one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. The Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread do propel us to see life in a different way. To recognize the fact that we do need an HMR. We need to continue to have a complete holistic mindset replacement. Oh yeah, the $2,787. That is the average amount every man, woman, and child in America spends every year on food away from home. Almost $3,000 per person per year is the average that we, as Americans, spend on food away from home. Now that would be fast food, fancy restaurants, any food, not groceries, but food that we eat away from home. You think the HMR business has become big? Boy, it is absolutely huge! But I think it poses a question for us. Maybe it's an Unleavened Bread kind of a question. Spiritually speaking, will it be fast food, junk food, food away from home, or will it be good food? Food at home where our heart and our mind is found. Food that partakes of the bread of life because it certainly is time for replacement. And that goal is to partake of that real bread of life so that we can grow and continue to that goal of the measure and the stature of the fullness of Christ. What an awesome blessing that we have received that we can understand these truths and we can seek that HMR, that holistic mindset replacement, that is only made possible by our eye-opening, life-changing bread of life.