Partakers of the Divine Nature

A few short years ago, I came to a conclusion after a period of reading and thinking about things and our faith. And I came to a conclusion that, and here is what it is, that I believe that there is one piece of unfinished business that our period, our phase, of the Church of God has to accomplish. And to me, it came to be this. And it is a more detailed focus and explanation for all of us on how to achieve a life that is led by the Spirit, whereby we put on the divine nature of God. Where we put more focus on that in all aspects of our worship. And there's probably no better time to begin with a focus or a center on that focus than during the Passover Unleavened Bread season that leads up to the day of Pentecost. Because, as we know, the count toward Pentecost begins during the days of Unleavened Bread, so there's a connection between Passover Unleavened Bread and Pentecost, even though they're separated by a little more than seven weeks from that period. But because of what works and what we know occurred historically and the meaning of these days, the nature of God's Spirit being led by the divine nature and actually putting that on is front and center on this. In 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 4, the Apostle Peter writes that we are to be partakers of the divine nature, partakers of that nature. And through the essence of the Spirit of God, that's made possible as we prepare in our lives for the future role that Scripture defines for us, of living and reigning with Christ for an eternity in the everlasting kingdom of God. That is front and center in our lives at this time. So understanding this life, this new life, that it begins really with what we do during the Passover and Unleavened Bread period. Let's focus on that for a few minutes here this morning and begin to think about it. It's a huge subject. We have talked about it. We have certainly is a part of our belief. But by my way of thinking, and I've been in the church, I'm a child of the church for all these years, more than 50 years, but I won't tell you how many more than that, but been around for a few years. We know these things. We know why we do what we do, but there's more to always learn. The life that we're talking about is what Mr. Opichka was talking to and speaking to in his message as sermonette, and that it is the life of Christ. And that life begins with the very life that Christ gave through his death, the death of the crucifixion, which we remembered on the Passover evening as we entered into this period. You know, there's a scripture, I think it's only told in Matthew's account, but I do know there in Matthew chapter 27 verse 54, the very moment that Christ died, and the events of the earthquake, the ripping of the veil of the temple that took place, and the darkening of the day at mid-afternoon on that day Christ died, led the centurion who was in charge of the detail that was there to oversee the crucifixion of Christ and the other thieves there. He made the statement as he saw all this happen, these phenomena of the natural phenomenon, and then Christ dying, and he looked up and he said, truly, this was the Son of God. Truly, this was the Son of God. That was a profound statement made by that Roman centurion for this reason. A Roman centurion, and in fact the entire Roman world, despised crucifixion and one who had to die by crucifixion. The Romans did not invent that manner of death. They say that the Persians did, and the Greeks kind of brought it to another level, but the Romans perfected the excruciating method of crucifixion of a criminal. And that was the death by which Jesus of Nazareth underwent to become our Passover.

And for a Roman centurion who did not want to die that way, who despised anyone of that level in the society who did die by that excruciating form of death, to look up and to say, truly, this was the Son of God was a profound statement because there was something about the Roman culture, the Roman honor system, how a Roman died was more important than how a Roman lived. How a Roman died was more important than how he lived. To die by natural causes in your bed, that's fine. To die even at your own hand if you were given that honor if you were a condemned criminal, and they allowed you to take your own life with a sword or some other drinking poison or some other method like that, that was more honorable for a Roman than to die by crucifixion, certainly by execution or at the hands of a mob. How they died was more important than how they lived, and that this centurion looked at the very moment of Christ's death by crucifixion and said, this truly was the Son of God, spoke volumes that are not in the Scripture. Sometimes I think those are the parts of the volumes that John alludes to at the end of his Gospel when he says many more things could be written, certainly about the life of Christ, but as you have to understand, the culture of the period to understand a lot of the things that we do read about on this point, how the Roman culture looked at death tells us something because Jesus underwent this form of death dishonorable to a Roman but honorable to God because of what it meant, because of what it led to. Christ died the death of the cross, as we are told, that we might have life, that we might live, and that we might have it more abundantly. By Christ's death, our life can really begin, and we can begin to experience it at a different level. His death makes our life, even our life today, as well as life eternal, but as well, our life today is made possible by the death of Jesus Christ. He did say in John 10.10 that I have come, that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly, that we might have life and more abundant life. And we've wondered about that abundant life, and we've lived our lives, and when we take them on the whole by a godly measure, we can say that it has been an abundant life filled with meaning, spiritual purpose, and to the degree of the success that we've had in whatever other fields and areas that we have, marriage, family, occupation, just experiencing life and appreciating it all.

We should be able to say that there has been an abundance in our life, but even in remembering his death and his resurrection, we know that that death opens the door to life and to an abundant life now with the help of the Spirit, God's Spirit that is within us. In Romans chapter 6 and verse 5, beginning, let's turn over and read just a few verses here that does remind us of what this season does tell us, what began with our own baptism in Romans chapter 6 and verse 5.

Paul writes, if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection.

So they worked together, his death, and then three days and three nights later, his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. And as we have observed these seven days of Unleavened Bread, we have focused on that. We have pictured the putting of sin out of our lives by the leaven being removed. And as we have eaten the Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth and all of its full fullness of meaning there, we have focused upon that Unleavened Life of Jesus Christ within us. Verse 7, for he who has died has been freed from sin. We've been freed from its penalty. And to the degree we begin to remove sin from our life and overcome sin, master the passions of this life, then we are free from the penalty, from the baggage that comes with sin. We all know that sin can carry a great deal of baggage that can impact a life, can impact sometimes generations until at times certain things are turned around within generational dynamics. But we're freed from certainly the spiritual penalty. And to the degree we take in the unleavened life of Jesus Christ, then we are able to remove ourselves from the impact of sin in our own lives. Verse 8, again, Paul turns and puts it in another way. If we died now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. His resurrection is that resurrection to eternal life that he experienced. But as we were buried with Him in baptism, we then are resurrected with Him to a new life and we live with Him. And again, that's part of what we focus on and what we have to take with us every day of our life. And this is what really is that life that we are called to live. This is, if you will, that resurrected life of the Son of God within us through the divine essence of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the very nature of God that is put within us, that divine nature that Peter talks about, that we are to take on and to put on. And it is an art, if you will. It's not necessarily, I guess it is a science to the degree that Scripture shows us what we must do, we must repent, we must turn from a life of sin, we must be baptized, and with the laying on of hands we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So there's a logic to that analysis and we know we're shown what to do. But then taking that nature into our life through a lifetime of living righteously, sometimes it's more of an art than it is a science, because we can't always just plot it out. Wouldn't it be so easy as gathering up a few crumbs, leavened bread, yeast, baking soda, and everything else, and putting it out, if it were that easy?

But as we know, it's not. It's not. We have ourselves, we have our own nature to deal with, and yet we have the means, the tools, at our disposal to live that life, to live a different life, to live with Him. Because as we receive that Spirit, that divine nature, that essence of eternity, if we can call it that, it becomes a part of us. And a new life does begin from that point, that will be transformed in this world and ultimately transformed it to a Spirit body at the resurrection for sharing of that glory for eternity. So let's pause and consider for a few minutes this life, and the life that we live today in the flesh, against the life that we are to live as a Spirit-led child of God. One who is a first fruit to God and to the Lamb, as Revelation 14 4 tells us, because that is the life that we are to consider at this time of year. It's a life as to whether or not Christ is in us. In 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5, we read the Scripture as we usually do, before we take the Passover to prepare ourselves to begin to orient our heart, our mind toward the sacrifice of Christ and thinking about that. In 2 Corinthians 13 5 is a key Scripture that we look to. And let's look at what the examination, as it is, is to actually come up with, in order to conclude. Verse 5, where Paul writes, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? That's the test. That's the examination. Is Christ in us? Is that divine nature, that life of the Son of God in us? That's what we consider. And we all come to the various conclusions that we do.

And however you prepare, however I prepare, should bring us to the night of the Passover service to where we have thought about our life, thought about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, what that does mean. And we have our Scriptures, we may have our routine that we go through. For years, I would had a little file of various notes and past articles from copies of church literature that I would review, my wife would review, and scriptures that we all go through as well. And through the years, I've lost some of those articles. I don't know, the moves have kind of caused some of them to just disappear. And the file has shrunk a little bit more. So I turn to the Bible and read it a little bit more to prepare. And to think about what it is that I need to know about my life in this examination as to how much of the life of Christ is within us, because that is what it is. He says, otherwise, unless indeed you are disqualified. So what qualifies us to, if you will, to use Paul's term here, to come to the Passover, is that life of Christ within us. And we examine how much of it comes through in our life, in our own life, that very life of God. Christ's death and his shed blood is the key to the new life chance, the new opportunity that we have today in the here and the now. And that's really where we should focus and think about, because as Christ said, I've come to think we would have life and an abundant life. There is a measure of joy. There is a measure of peace that God's spirit is to bring into our lives, so that we do live a godly life in today's world. A world that is cut off from the fullness of the knowledge of the tree of life, a world that does feed off of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which presents the paradox of our modern world and the world that we navigate. A world that experiences the fruits of the tree of good and evil.

Good and evil. Lots of good, lots of evil. And to the degree we tap into that which is good, or at least experience that, even on the physical level, can measure our success. But it's a paradox of this life. So much of the beauty of life that we can experience in this world, in this realm, while indeed there's also a great deal of evil and suffering that we see or we will read about, or we will observe vicariously, and unfortunately from time to time, we'll touch our lives in various ways.

We're not totally immune from that, but again it is that life that we are to take in that allows us to begin to deal with that and to deal with it in a righteous way. Because as a Christian, we live a life with the hope, the expectation of a world to come, a world that will be transformed, a world that will be restored according to the scriptures.

While we deal with corruption of the present age, corruption that is brought on by sin, that does lead to death, and again, evil and good, and we have to deal with that. But we must live a life that is full, experiencing the potential that God places within us by His Spirit, by that Spirit life.

And that really begins with what happened with the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Let's turn back to Romans chapter 5 and look at a few verses back here that speak to some of the elements of that. Again, if we're to take on the be partakers of the divine nature, to let the the life of the resurrected Christ be within us, live within us, manifest the fruits of that Spirit, we do need to know the elements that are there. And Paul marvelously and majestically covers it here in the kind of the core of the book of Romans as he marches through several chapters here in chapters 4 and 5, 6, 7, and 8, where he unveils this marvelous plan of salvation that incorporates so many of the elements that we do focus on at this time of justification, of faith, of repentance, of baptism, and of the Holy Spirit and the law of God.

But in verse 1 of chapter 5, he says, therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So the justification, that is, by being made right with God, which is really what the word means, so if you justify your left margin on your word processing program, you bring everything even on that left side, usually an inch in from the edge of the page, it's justified left.

We're justified before God through faith. And as a result, then we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. Through that justification and that faith in that sacrifice, we stand in this grace of a relationship with God.

I've always liked to explain it as a kind of like standing under a grace is kind of like an umbrella under which we stand. It shades us from the sun, that protects us from the rain, that is kind of an umbrella of protection. Just it's a workable analogy, not always the best, but it gives us something to deal with. We stand under that. That's the grace. We stand in that grace in our relationship with God. And we don't, we need never worry that it will be taken away from us, that God will just suddenly fold it up and throw it away or remove us from that that protection that His grace does give to us spiritually in this life.

We stand in this grace through this faith that we have. And Paul says we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not our own glory, but in the glory of God.

In verse 6 he says, you see it just the right time. When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were still in our sins, He died. And most people wouldn't die for a righteous person, he said earlier. Which again goes go back to the way the Romans looked at life and death, the way the Roman felt it was more important how you died than how you lived. It's the exact opposite of how God works with us, because it is important how we do live. It is important to God how we live. It's important how Christ lived.

And he went through the most excruciating, despised form of death to the Roman world of His time that we might live. And He did it while we were still in our sins. And He did it once for all ages, which is another room of examination, thinking about that, what that means, because Christ did ascend to the Father after His resurrection, was accepted, came back and then interacted with His disciples on that morning after His resurrection.

But He was accepted by the Father. In a sacrifice by His own blood, He entered into the Holy Place, once for all. An eternal offering, an eternal sacrifice that is always there for all human beings, all sinned past, present, future. Within God's realm, there is no distinction there. And we then have that applied to us. In verse 9, since we have been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him, through that salvation that is made possible? For if while we were enemies, God's enemies, verse 10, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life? We're reconciled through His death, but we are saved through His life. That He was resurrected is so critical to the story that the tomb was found empty. We are saved by that life and salvation is made possible for us. Not only is this so, He goes on to say, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. One of the more profound thoughts is to realize the importance of Christ, or the Word. Let's go back a little bit and get our terms right. The Word becoming flesh, which is what John 1 tells us. The Word became flesh. The Word was God, was with God. And the Word became flesh. And that eternal Spirit was joined in the womb of a woman named Mary. He was joined to flesh, which is what happened. The technical term is the incarnation.

And theologians have a lot of other things that have to go along with that, but it's really not complicated. The eternal Spirit became flesh. It was joined to flesh. And Jesus of Nazareth was born. And He lived that life, that perfect life, and then He died. Then He was resurrected to glory, back to the glory that He had with the Father. But that then opens the path for you and I to follow the same way. Because had that not happened, we would not have the hope. The Word had to become flesh and dwell among us. And that's another profound thought in understanding the very nature of God, the plan of God. But what happened at that point, where in a sense time began for the Logos, the Word, as He entered the realm of time, the realm of the flesh, and lived that life for us, that we then can receive the same Spirit, divine nature, and have then that hope of reconciliation and eternal life. Paul goes on here in verse 15, The gift is not like the trespass, for if many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many? In the meantime, in the other verses, he talked about the contrast between Adam and Christ's sacrifice, sin coming in through Adam, many dying by that trespass, but by this one act of God's grace and gift, the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, overflows to the many. And that grace is available to us by that very open, loving act of God to dwell among men in the life that he did and to die for us. Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man's sin. The judgment followed one's sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if by the trespass of the one man death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ? The grace, the gift of righteousness, in which we stand, made possible through the life of Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. That one righteous act of the Son of God resulted in life for all. God has a whole different view of death, the death of his son, than the Roman world or any other culture, any other world that that has been. That makes it possible for us to have the hope of eternal life. For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man, the many will be made righteous. So here in these verses in Romans 5, Paul speaks to grace, righteousness, justification, and redemption. All of these are aspects of our life today. A life that is in the grace of God and by the grace of God and the hope of salvation by the grace of God. Life in God and life before God, what he calls an abundant life. And that is made possible for us because Christ became, or the word became flesh and lived that righteous physical life, led by the Spirit. He lived an unleavened life without sin, without spot.

And that is the life that can live within us as we are partakers of that divine nature and is the means by which we have the ability to live a changed life, a transformed life, as more of that life of Christ is within us. And that is the key to the salvation story. As I said, that the eternal Spirit joined a flesh, living in a perfect unleavened life and then dying for sin.

That's the key to the salvation story. But it's not the end because the tomb was empty when they came. They found that after three days and three nights. And because Christ was resurrected, the eternal Spirit returned to glory. The path then was open for all mankind to share that glory. And that's, again, wrapped up in the meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread and the Passover experience and what we are a part of and that very path that we can follow. Paul Wright wrote more about that over in the second chapter of Philippians. Beautiful passage, Philippians chapter 2. If we want to ask the question as we look at our lives and where we are today on this last day of Unleavened Bread, with all that you have experienced, learned about yourself, about God during this season, and I hope that it has been spiritually profitable for you as we have focused on the spiritual meaning and allowed God to show us what He wants to show us. I think we've all learned so long ago to pray that God should teach us what you want us to learn, what we're mature enough to learn this year, where we may not have been last year or three years ago. As we examine ourselves and look at our life and see the positive and see a few other wrinkles, perhaps, maybe this was the year you saw a wrinkle that you didn't see before, or you didn't want to see before. And God, in His grace, allowed you to see it.

That's the path. That's the path that we follow following Christ's lead in this whole matter. In Philippians 2, beginning in verse 5, I'll read from the New Living Translation here.

He said, you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.

Instead, He gave up His divine privileges. He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. He became flesh, as John puts it. When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. That's how God looks at how one lives their lives and how He looked at His own Son, going through the ignominious death of crucifixion. He exalted Him and His name above all others, that every tongue would declare that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Verse 12, Paul then concludes this passage, Dear friends, You always followed my instructions when I was with you, and now, after I am away, is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear, for God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. Again, what did we read back in 2 Corinthians 13.5? Examine yourselves whether Christ is in you. Paul says, God is working in us, giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. It is a power.

It is the beginning of our eternal life, if you will, because it is the eternal Spirit that God joins to our spirit, that baptism and the laying on of hands, where we receive that. We are then to take on the divine nature and to allow that to shape and mold that within our lives. We begin by having the humility that Christ had in our life. Obviously, that's a pretty important step. If the word stepped down from that, and then, as Mr. Pitska was reading in his opening message from Christ's Prayer, where he said, restore to me the glory that I had with you from the beginning. He went back to that glory, that we might share that glory and have the hope of that. But it is that power that does work within us today, helping us to lead a transformed life. And so, I ask, what have we learned this year? 2019, as we've kept the Days of Unleavened Bread, as we prepared to take the Passover service, what have we learned? What did we see? What wrinkles did God finally take the oil of a layoff, the spiritual oil of a layoff, in our own hearts and minds and allow us to... Oh, that's what's underneath all of that.

Sometimes that can be brutal. That can be kind of brutal to come to certain understandings. And finally, God gets through to us, through whatever circumstances of your life, my life, that, you know, when I look back, if you take just the year from last Passover to this Passover, I can list a number of different trials and situations that my wife, Debbie, and I have been through, and we've had some unique life experiences in the past 12 months. And some of you no doubt have as well. That taught us a lot about faith, reliance on God, and how God does work. And it's usually not the way we want it to work, because God is working on a different timetable at different angles, and he sees so many different dimensions about us and our life that we don't see. And his timing is always perfect. His manner of dealing with us and working with us as a loving father, as a potter working with this lump of clay, is always with the deftness of a skillful touch of a master potter, to know when to lift the lip, to create the handle, to create the rim, or the shape of what he is doing with us, as he shapes us in our human flesh. He knows it. And it can sometimes be rather painful, brutal, as I've come to call it, to see what he wants us to see. But we have to admit that. We have to see it.

In Colossians chapter 3, always been a favorite passage for me to look at during this time of year, connected to this. I think we all have certain passages, probably through the years, that we connect with for Passover, maybe for Pentecost, Trumpets and Feast of Tabernacles, and the fall days that kind of speak to us and bring us through thoughts. Colossians 3 is one of those for me that begins with, again, this very theme in verse 1. If you were raised with Christ, and we were, we were raised with Christ through baptism, coming up out of that watery grave, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, setting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you died. We died in the waters of baptism. We were buried with Him in that baptism. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ and God. Then verse 4, when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. I think the way that the J.B. Phillips translation puts it, verse 4, is very clear. It is this, that when Christ who is the secret center of our life appears, we shall be in glory with Him. The secret center of our life, that's what it is. That is the reality of where we are. That's how we live that transformed life today, because Christ's life is within us. And we've examined that, and we've come to a firm conclusion and conviction. Yes, He is there. We just may not have always been showing it as much. We need not be beating ourselves up and coming to a negative approach as we go through the process, come to the Passover, go through the Days of Unleavened Bread. It's all very positive if we are led by God's Spirit, but that center of our life, which is Christ, then when it's revealed ultimately in the fullness, then we will appear with Him in glory. And so Paul goes on, beginning in verse 5, to point out the things that we are to put to death in our life on this earth, of fornication, of uncleanness, of passion, and evil desire and covetousness. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. God is a God of judgment, and we are under that judgment now. We have recognized that, but we have received that justification, and we stand in that grace. Verse 8, but now you yourselves are to put off all of these things. And then it goes through a list of anger, of wrath, of malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Quite a list. Quite a list that can apply to one degree or the other, with any of us, of the flesh works that may come out of our heart. He says, put those things off. Don't lie to one another, since you've put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man. There's that transformed life that we are to put on. Renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him, where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian slave, nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, and longing, suffering. These are the things that we put on. These are the unleavened spiritual qualities that come through the Spirit of God that help to transform our life, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Forgiveness is always one of the hardest things to do. Forgiving ourselves may be even harder at times, and that may be part of the examination that sometimes we have to come to, that we forgive ourselves.

And we allow the recognition that God has forgiven us. Finally, we need to move on from whatever it might be in our life in the past and to recognize that. Verse 14, above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you also were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

It's quite a shopping list here of the things that we are to put off and the things that we are to put on. So, which of these spiritual qualities do you want to take on, or do you need to take on in your life? Write out your list. Make a list if you haven't. Think about that. We are now moving toward Pentecost. In a few weeks, we will come to that time of the picturing of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the first fruits of God's plan of salvation. As I said, at the beginning, it's intimately tied with the holy, the Passover and Unleavened Bread experience, because that's where we begin the count. And that's where the wave sheaf offering was given, and that's where Christ fulfilled that and was accepted by the Father.

And so, from this point, we should begin to move toward the transforming power of God's Spirit within us, as we take on that divine nature, to come to that point where we do learn to live more with a divine nature in us, being led by the Spirit of God. As I said at the beginning, I think that that is a piece of unfinished business that we in the Church, in the ministry, and throughout the body of the Church, need to focus on in this period of our time and of our experience in the Church of God, in our lifetime, of which we've all been apart. And it is to be able to achieve and to know that we have come to be leading a life led by the Spirit of God, where the divine nature is being taken on more and more in our lives. And we teach each other, we help each other, to do so, to learn how to do that, and to walk in that path to glory that is our hope through the life of the resurrected Jesus Christ within us. There is much to think about. There are many pathways and rooms to explore within this, and I encourage you to do that, to begin to dress yourself each day with that divine nature. Peter says that we are to be clothed with humility, and another part of his is epistle. Well, we put on that divine nature one piece at a time, one aspect at a time, just as we dress ourselves one piece of clothing at a time each day in our life. We put on humility, we put on kindness, we put on what we need of the nature of God through the Spirit of God that is within us. Let's be about that. Let's be taking on that divine nature, and let's be living the unleavened life of the Son of God within us each day.