Passover Pictures Reconciliation

I think I'm correct in saying, and you can tell me afterwards if I'm wrong, but I think everyone makes mistakes. I think everyone misses the mark, and we all sin. It's the human condition that we find ourselves in. We find ourselves making significant errors in our life, breach of conduct in our life, and we sin. And as we do those things, as we hurt other people, you and I, we desire for them to forgive us. Frankly, in God's Church, we expect them to forgive us. Now, that's the other guy. We're not going to talk about the other guy today. We're going to talk about us. On the other hand, what is my responsibility? What is your responsibility to help bring about a reconciliation? If I ask you right now in your mind to picture somebody that you need reconciling with, how many pictures would you have in your mind right now? Probably we all have a number of people, correct? I would think so. I don't think there's anybody who gets a free pass on this whole concept of our need for reconciliation. It's a process that requires cooperation from both sides. But again, when you and I have committed an infraction, when we have helped erode a relationship, again, I say, when we do this, hopefully we go about the task of helping to try to mend those fences. Now, today, in the material I want to cover with you today, I want to go through some steps that will help us in this process. If you're taking notes, the topic is very simple, very succinct. Passover, pictures, reconciliation. Passover, pictures, reconciliation. Thursday evening, Mr. McGuire will be with you here. I'll be over in Ann Arbor. Mr. Hobb will be over in Canada. But on Thursday evening, one of the things I say at the very beginning of the service is that Passover is an expression of our faith in the reconciling death of Jesus Christ. I'll also add that Passover is a time for renewing our commitment to allow Jesus Christ to relive His life through us. Now, let's combine those two thoughts, brethren. Let's understand that Jesus Christ is a reconciler. And let's appreciate the fact that if you and I are going to express our faith the way God wants us to express our faith, that we need to be committed to reconciling as well. Of course, I have to ask myself, you've got to ask yourself, how committed to reconciling with the various faces when I said, who do you need to reconcile with the various faces in your mind? How committed are we? How committed are you? How committed am I to reconciling with those individuals? Now, whenever I cover a subject like this, I always still need to go to Romans 12 and verse 18. Let's go over there. Romans 12 and verse 18.

Paul has some very wise words inspired by God. Romans 12 and 18. If it is possible, as much as depends on you or me, live peaceably with all men. Now, we have to take, each and every one of us has to take this to heart. The word if is used at the very onset of this verse. But it says, as much as depends on us. Now, the other guy, the other woman, the other person, may have no desire for reconciliation. The other person may even be dead, and it's impossible for us to reconcile. I don't know how many times over the years I've talked to various ones who've come to me, maybe they had been hurt as a child, or what have you, and the person who hurt them is dead, long dead. So it's impossible right now to reconcile to such a person. But we're told, as much as depends on us to live peaceably with all men. So, are we doing our part, are we fulfilling what Christ would have us do to be committed to the topic of reconciliation? Let's look at Colossians chapter 1.

Starting here in verse 18, Colossians 1 verse 18. And he, speaking about Christ, he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. For please the Father that in him, please God, that in Jesus Christ all the foolish should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him, where things on earth are things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Now, we read this verse, and I've read this verse many times as I've been your pastor, but here we see the fact that, you know, reconciliation is something that Christ has done for us through his shed blood. And notice here in the middle of verse 20, it says, what are things on earth, that certainly would include us, or things in heaven. Now, what things in heaven are going to be reconciled to God the Father and Jesus Christ? You ever thought about that? It's not the demons. It's not Satan. The righteous angels have no need of reconciliation. They are already there. So what is this talking about? Things in heaven. My thought, my speculation, if you will, is that what it's talking about here is we appreciate the fact that at the end of the book of Revelation it talks about how there's going to be new heavens and new earth. Because Satan has put his hand, his fingerprints, his horrible fingerprints all over everything in the universe. And because he's done that, the universe has to be cleaned. This earth will become one big ball of fire. That's what we call the lake of fire. It will be totally purified by fire. And so in that sense, the whole of the universe, all the things that exist here in heaven, are going to be reconciled. They're going to be made worthy for whatever purpose God has for these planets and various celestial bodies in the future. Verse 21. And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled. Brethren, have you done wicked works against somebody else? I know I've hurt other people. Have you hurt other people? I'm betting you have hurt other people. And yet we realize that just as we have hurt others, as you and I have sinned, we also appreciate the fact we have been reconciled. And God says to each and every one of us, okay, now I've forgiven you, I've reconciled you to myself through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Now you go and do the same. You go and do the same.

So Jesus Christ's sacrifice makes it possible for us to be restored to a good relationship with God the Father. But it doesn't end there. Let's go to Matthew 5. Brethren, what I'm presenting to you today is a tremendous opportunity. That's an opportunity, and it is a tremendous challenge. It's a giant challenge for any of us who have been hurt by somebody else, that we, despite our hurt, despite our grievances, which may be very legitimate. I'm not saying that if you're hurting, that you're not hurting because of what maybe the other person did to you.

But let's listen to the words of Jesus Christ. And in my Bible here, these are all in red lettering. This is Matthew 5, verse 23.

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, now what is your gift? Back in Jesus Christ's day, it was an offering. They would bring a little animal or something like that.

Today, it's talking really about coming to church, worshipping God. That's what they were doing back then with their gift. Well, today we have Jesus Christ as our gift. Our salvation is a gift. But therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there, remember that your brother has something against you. You have done something. I have done something. Leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way.

First, be reconciled to your brother. And then come and offer your gift. In other words, Jesus Christ says, okay, you've got somebody that you need to reconcile with. I have reconciled with you with all of your sins, all of your faults, all of your failings. I've been able to... perfect, perfect, righteous God.

I've been able to reconcile with you. And now, are you going to be my son? Are you going to act like... Jesus Christ would say, are you going to act like my younger brother or younger sister? Now, this is a man-sized... this is a woman-sized challenge right here, because some of us have been very deeply hurt. I have over the years. You have, I'm sure, over the years. There's nobody in this room who hasn't been deeply hurt by somebody.

And the whole idea of reconciling with that somebody who's hurt us, it's hard to even think about it at times. You know, Jesus Christ, when He was on the cross, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. So, this year at PAM Silver, brethren, I want us to think very closely about this whole idea of reconciliation. We think about what Christ did for us, but what are we to do? We're Christians. We are to follow that legacy that He left us, that example He left in 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5.

It's a tremendous opportunity to show what you and I are made of spiritually. Are we made of the right stuff or not? Now, if we're not made of the right stuff, that doesn't mean we've got to stay where we're at. We'll get to that a little bit later in the sermon. 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 18. Now, all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ. We talked about that earlier there in Colossians. And has given us the ministry of reconciliation. This is what you and I have been given by God our Father and Jesus Christ our Elder Brother.

Remember the story in Scripture where the one guy was begging for forgiveness for the death that he owed, and the individual forgave him? And then that same individual who was just forgiven went to somebody else and started choking that person, paying me all that you owe me. Now, he should have been as forgiving to the one he was choking, realizing just a few minutes ago he had been forgiven. But he didn't do that. And so the idea is obviously God has forgiven us. We need to forgive and work with and reckon as much as we can. Again, there are times people simply don't want to hear the words coming out of your mouth or my mouth.

But as much as we can, whenever the opportunity is there. Mr. Armstrong used to say that one of the ways he would pray for his enemies is that he would pray not that they would fall off a cliff, not that they would get hit by some Mack truck, but that they would come to a knowledge of the truth and come to repentance. Because when that takes place, when you and I come to a knowledge of what we are, then hopefully God will shape us. Verse 18, Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Passover is a time that shows our commitment to live this beautiful way of life. Brethren, it's not just a life full of platitudes. It's a life of action, where we take the things that we see in the Bible and we put it to work. Anybody can spout platitudes. Anybody can give the company line.

But that's not what you and I are here to do. Verse 20, Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. And if we are truly God's children, then we're going to do everything we possibly can to reconcile to one another. And if we can't, let it not be said, it was because of a lack of our efforts. If it's the other guy's effort, the other woman's effort, well, that's one thing.

You can't force somebody else to work together with you. Earlier today in the morning church, I was a little more frank with them than I perhaps am going to be with you. You are a collection of individuals who've kind of come from here and there. Over in the morning church, they are a collection of people who've been together for 30 years or longer. And I guess as the pastor, I just got to the place where I said, you know, folks, in this room, we've got these individuals who won't talk to those individuals, we've got this person just wishing the other person would move.

We've got people taking vacations from other people, one person's on the right side of the room, other person's on the left side of the room. But we all come to church, we all got that Sabbath smile, where we got that Sabbath smile down pat, we're looking good.

We'll even wash feet! But then we'll talk behind people's back. Now, we don't have that as bad here in this congregation, but you've not been together for 30 years or 40 years. But, brethren, that should not be for any of us. And, hey, when I was talking to the folks there in Ann Arbor, I put myself there as well.

I'm not standing here today saying, you wretched black-hearted sinners, you know. As I stand here on my ivory tower and look down upon all of you, how dare you walk in services here? No, brethren, I'm one of you. I've got feet of clay. I've got attitudes that I've got to help me unbend from time to time. There are rascals in every congregation of every pastor that has given me a hard time.

And I've got to do my best to reconcile. So, we're all in one big boat here. I don't think anybody gets a free pass on this idea of reconciliation. Now, what I have for you today are six stages, six steps, that I feel if you and I put these to work, they can help us do the things that God the Father and Jesus Christ present to us as a challenge for a mature Christian.

As a mature Christian, we want to be reconcilers. We want to be just like our older brother, Jesus Christ. We want to be committed to live the kind of life he lived. So, step number one, really basic steps. Step number one, admit you've done wrong. Or admit I've done wrong. We've got to admit it. There's a confession that needs to be made. And we need to make it to ourselves, and then we make it to God. Here's what I've done. I've come to the realization I've seen the darkness of my sin, or I've seen the hurt of my error, what I may have done socially as a faux pas, whatever.

I see that I've hurt some folks, and I need to make confession to myself. I need to own what I've done. And our society, brother, and that's something that's really rare. And our society people want to say, well, you know, mama dropped me as a kid. Or maybe it was my third-grade, you know, Mrs. So-and-so, she hit me with a ruler back in the day, and it just warped my poor little personality. We want to blame society. We want to blame anybody but ourselves, and we can't be like that. God's called us to be different, to be pace-setters. Let's take a look at a situation over here that has tremendous consequences to it. Book of Joshua, chapter 7.

As you're turning there, I'll give you a little bit of the background. You have a, you know, God the Father told the, well, actually, the one we would call Jesus Christ told Israel that when they go into the various cities and towns that they're going to overthrow, to make the Promised Land their home, they're not to take anything that God tells them not to take of the people they're dispossessing. God's going to give them the land. He's going to give them the fortresses or whatever that have already been built. All they've got to do is have God move them out, and they're going to walk in and take over. But they can't take any of the treasure or the things God doesn't want them to take. Well, there's a gentleman here in chapter 7 of Joshua by the name of Achan who says, you know, it's right there. There's gold. There's silver. There's pretty dresses for my wife and my kids. And it's right there. I'm going to take it. Let's take a look here at Joshua, chapter 7. And, of course, when another part of the background is, as the children of Israel are about to attack one of the cities, the city by the name of A.I., they were going to attack this city, and it was a small town. It should have been no problem at all for a group of almost 3 million people, a lot of soldiers. But they said, well, you know, we don't need that many troops for a city that's small. And so they went in to take the city, and God gave them defeat. God did not give them victory because of the sin of Achan. Another thing to think about is a number of people died as a result of Achan's sin. Having understood all of that, let's take a look now at Joshua, chapter 7, starting in verse 24.

Then Joshua and all the Israel with him took Achan, the son of Zephra. Well, let's go back a little bit earlier. Let's go back to verse 16. So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and a tribe of Judah was taken. Now, understand something here, the way God is working. Joshua doesn't know who the guilty party is. He's got a nation here of almost three million people. He's got to find one guy. How are you going to do this? Well, you're going to bring all the tribes together, and let's take it one step at a time. Where does a guilty man live? What tribe does he live in?

The tribe of Judah was taken. That's still a lot of people. Verse 17, he brought the clan of Judah, and it took the family of Zareids, and he brought the family of the Zareids, man by man, and Nagdi was taken. So they're narrowing it down from a tribe to various families and clans, and then we get down to the individual. Verse 18, then he brought the household of man by man, and Achan was taken. Now, Joshua said to Achan, my son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord your God of Israel, and make confession to him. You need to admit what you've done. Make confession to him, and tell me now what you've done, and do not hide it from me. Brethren, justice demanded that this man confess what he did. And Achan answered Joshua, saying, indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did. And he talked about all the things that he took that he shouldn't have taken. Now we go to verse 24. Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan, the son of Zera, the silver, these are some of the things he took, the silver, the garments, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, they brought them to the valley of Aachor. And Joshua said, why do you trouble us? The Lord will trouble you this day. So all Israel stoned him with stones. You're probably thinking, hey, confession, that may not be so good. This guy confessed, and it was the end of him. Well, brethren, there are some principles here that we want to appreciate. And one of the principles is God wanted that confession. Another principle we have to appreciate here is that our God is a God of justice. People died as a result of this individual's sin. And as a result, Achan had to pay the price for that. But we have to admit, God wants us to admit, he wants us to acknowledge, he wants us to understand where we've done wrong, where we've sinned. Because we can't repent of something unless we consciously say, well, this is what I've done. Now, back on January 31st of this year, I gave a sermon entitled, Do Your Apologies Hurt or Heal? In that sermon, I talked about pseudo-apologies, apologies that don't work. I gave a number of examples of those, and I gave eight steps on building proper apologies. Back on to go and revisit that. Do your apologies hurt or heal? Well, we have to admit what we've done. We have to own what we've done. Step number one. Step number two. We have to express sincere regret for what we've done.

Let's turn over to the book of Daniel, Daniel chapter 9. As you know, as we've covered in times past, the book of Ezekiel talks about how Daniel was one of the three most righteous men who ever lived. But even though he was one of the three most righteous men who ever lived, that didn't mean he was sinless. He had issues. He had faults. He had failings. He needed to have Jesus Christ die for him in the future, in his case, in the future.

But I want you to notice something here. Daniel chapter 9, verse 1. In the first year of Darius, the son of Azerreras, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king in the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, Daniel understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seven years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I sent my face toward the Lord God and make requests by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. Notice carefully, brethren, he is making requests.

When you and I go before God, we don't demand forgiveness. Now, Christ died for every one of us. That's true. But we don't demand from God to Father that we be forgiven. It's not our right. It's a gift. And we request the gift. I set my face toward the Lord God and make requests by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. Obviously, he is in earnest here.

And I praise the Lord by God and made confession. Notice, and made confession and said, O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps the covenant and mercy with those who love him, those who keep his commandments. We have sinned and committed iniquity. We have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and your judgments. I'm not going to read any further. You can go away to verse 7 with this. But basically, Daniel is saying, you know, we as a group of people have not fully honored you like we should. And notice, he doesn't separate himself, even though he's a very righteous man.

He's trying to live by all of God's commandments. He was protected in the lions, then, all those wonderful things. He realizes that he's not been perfect either. So he also makes confession. That, yes, I have gotten my part to play. He's saying, I'm expressing my regret, my sincere regret, over my part in this. And I have had a part in weakening my nation because I've not been the person all the way I could be.

Romans 6 Starting here in verse 19. Romans 6 and 19. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Romans 6 and 19. For just as you presented yourselves members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

What fruit did you have, then, in these things, which you are now ashamed? Notice. He says in which you are now ashamed. When you and I hurt somebody, now they may have hurt us, they may have hurt us grievously. I'm not trying to deny any of that. You may have a legitimate grievance, but when you and I, when we do the same thing back, when we've got our part to play, God says, we should be ashamed of ourselves.

Maybe they poked us and prodded us in different ways. Maybe they pushed all of our buttons, which they should not have done. But they didn't force us to do what we did. They didn't force us to say the things we said. They didn't force us to do the things we did. We chose to do those things. So, number two is that we need to express sincere regret after we've owned the error or the sin we've committed. Step number three. We want to demonstrate that we're going to make amends for past wrongs.

We want to demonstrate that we're going to make amends for past wrongs. Again, we don't just live by platitudes. We don't just live by clever sounding phrases. We don't just live because we've got a good tongue. We're articulate. We say things that just sound really good. Let's say, as an example, Days of Unleavened Bread. Somebody here in the Detroit Church wants to borrow your vacuum cleaner. They want to vac their home and get rid of all that love. You give them their vacuum cleaner. You give them your Kirby, whatever it is, your Hoover.

Fine working order. And then you get it back. It's hardly in one piece. And you're looking at this thing. It's a sorry looking thing. It won't run. It won't do anything. It won't clean your carpets. Now, if they say to you, you know, I'm sorry that I ruined your nice new vacuum. If they say that, but don't do anything to help right the wrong, you're still going to have some bent feelings, aren't you? I know I would. Now, if they say to you, well, you know, I ruined your machine here, and I'll tell you what, go get it fixed, give me the repair bill.

Or, you know, look at that machine of yours. Man, that thing is so old. I'll just go buy you a new one. What kind do you want? I'll go buy you a new one. Now, if somebody does that, they're willing to make amends for what they did, then you have a different frame of mind toward them, don't you?

You think, well, you know, this person is really sincere. They are wanting to, you know, as John the Baptist said, they are wanting to bring fruit of repentance. Well, that makes a big difference versus somebody who just, you know, shovels your, takes a shovel full of parts that once was your vacuum cleaner and puts it on your porch when you're not at home, you know, drives off, you know.

Let's look at Exodus 22. And here we've got, you know, this is Old Testament stuff, but there's a wonderful principles here. I don't think there's a single farmer in the room here today. But we've got some principles here that teach us something. If you're a farmer in Detroit, I'd like to meet you. Exodus 22, verse 1.

So what you have here is the concept of restitution. You want to restore not just one for one. You want to go over and above. That's a godly principle. Verse 2.

Now, we don't have those laws today, do we? Most of this country, if somebody's breaking into your house at night, and especially here in Michigan, you shoot that person, or, you know, maybe your next-door neighbor or somebody breaking into their house. I'm sure you don't have a gun. But your next-door neighbor, you know, he's got all sorts of guns, all sorts of weapons, and somebody breaks into their house, and boom! You kill that person. You can be sued by that person's family. All sorts of consequences. You know, it's interesting, recently I was watching this miniseries on TV about the life of Robert Durst. I don't know if any of you have heard of that, gentlemen, or not. He's accused of having killed a number of people, gotten away with it. His family is one of the top five propertyholders in Manhattan. Very, very wealthy people. In one case, when he was in Texas, and I'll get to a point here, but in one case in Texas, he said he accidentally killed somebody. And then, of course, after he accidentally killed somebody, he took a bow saw and dismembered this person and put him in bags and threw him in the lake. I don't know how that's an accident for doing all those sorts of things. But it was in Texas, and the laws in Texas state, somebody walks into your house, they're not invited? Hey, it's open season. You do to them whatever you want to do to them. Well, that's not the law here in Michigan. Now here, in verse 2, somebody comes in at night, there's bloodshed, there's no guilt for the homeowner. But verse 3 is different. If this is done during the day, there shall be blood, guilt for bloodshed. Apparently the idea here is, you know, at night you're probably in bed, there's no one to come help you. But in the daylight, perhaps there can be an extra neighbor that can help you with the thief or whatever. And so, just don't feel like you can just go around killing everybody. But notice the end of verse 3. The thief should make full restitution if he has nothing that he shall be sold for his theft.

So again, the whole concept here is one of amending past wrongs and restitution. Luke chapter 19.

Luke chapter 19.

Luke chapter 19 verse 1. A story about Zacchaeus here. You probably read this when you were a tyke in Bible study or vacation church Bible school or whatever you went to as a kid. I went to a lot of those over the years. Chapter 19 verse 1. Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector. And he was rich. Why was he rich? Because they were known for taking their share, their cut, of the taxes. And he sought to see who Jesus was but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed into a sycamore tree to see him, see Christ, for he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, said to him, Zacchaeus, may Case come down for it today, and must stay at your house. So he made haste, came down, and received him joyfully. But when they saw it, when the people around saw it, they all complained, saying, he has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner. Dirty cheat.

Verse 8, then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Lord, look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anybody by false accusation, I restore fourfold. So here's a man who is looking for to repent. Here's a man who is looking to change things.

He wants to right past wrongs. And, brethren, if we want to be people who are like Jesus Christ and have a mindset of reconciliation, then irregardless of what people have done to us, it is our responsibility as Christians. Not to be a doormat, not to be a punching bag, but where appropriate, to work with other people, like Paul said in the book of Romans, as much as lies within us to live a piece of other people and to try the reconciliation process.

So step number three is demonstrate you're willing to make amends for past wrongs. Step number four, again, I've got six of these. Step number four, demonstrate your plan to do things differently in the future. It's not just do things, you know, try to amend what you've done in the past, but you don't want, you want to have a better and a brighter future, you and I, as reconcilers. In this particular step, we assure the agreed party or parties that we have learned some lessons. We're going to move forward in a much different way.

We're going to conduct ourselves. We're not going to talk like we once talked or act like we once acted. Let's take a look at a principle here over in Hebrews, chapter four. Eric went through this for the sermon at the... I want to go back here. Chapter four of Hebrews, verse 15, Hebrews 4, 15. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Verse 16. Now let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time with need. As Christians, there is help available to us. We may have a real man-size or woman-size challenge before us.

We want to commit ourselves to be reconciled like Christ was, but we don't have the strength to do it because it's so difficult. Well, there is help for us. We need to boldly go to the throne of grace, to obtain the mercy, to find that grace to help in the time of need. And if we're going to do things differently in the future, we need God's help.

Just as many times people need the help of others when they're trying to overcome. Earlier today, over in Ann Arbor, I was making mention about my ministry over the years, and over the years, especially going back to the worldwide days. I remember this one in a church area where we had the two churches. Between the two churches, we had close to 600 people.

And back in those days, typical ministers hourly, you leave the house maybe at 10 o'clock at night, you got home at 10 in the evening or at midnight. It was always a 12-hour day. Brandon, when Brandon was born here in the Detroit area, he was 18 months old before he left. I remember all sorts of things about Brandon. Danielle was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. And I don't remember too many things about poor little Danielle because, bless her heart, I was gone all the time.

Now, thankfully, those kinds of things have changed. But the point is, we put in an awful lot of hours, heavy workload, pastoring 600 people. And I remember this one man continually giving me a phone call, Mr. D, I need help. I really need help. I'm not a good husband to my wife. I'm not a good father to my children. The man was on drugs. Please, please come see me.

And so I get in my car, I drive one hour out to where this guy was, and I lost track of the number of people I met. And the number of times I would drive out there, meet him at the restaurant, but he wasn't at the restaurant. Why? Because maybe when he was on drugs, he thought he could remember or write it down, but he didn't. And I got stood up time after time after time. That happened with people who were on drugs, we had in the church, people who were alcoholics. Mr. D, what should I do? My husband, he's on the floor, he's drunk, he's passed out, there's vomit everywhere.

He said, let him clean himself up. He put himself in that mess, you let him take himself out of that mess. Just like Aiken. Aiken had to face the music for his actions. We don't want to be enablers.

But we do, but there is help. The one area where I was at, the one individual who really was trying, really was trying. I went to AA meetings, not because I was alcoholic. I hardly drank. But I went to the AA meetings so I would know how to work with people who needed that kind of help. And help is available. We can have gambling issues, we can have substance abuse issues, we can have anger issues. We have people now, at least now, they're finally stating it, people who are sex addicts. They're addicted to sex, whatever way they can get it. And brethren, whatever we have in society, we've got in the church. Make no mistake about that. But help is available. The 12-step program, those are wonderful programs. There's a lot of good that comes from those things. Now we want to combine that with help from the church. Whenever I'm counseling with anybody, I always say, hey look, feel free. If you want a professional counselor, I've been doing this for over 30 years, but if you want somebody who's got a degree, something on their wallet says they are professional, fine. I'll work as your friend, I'll work as your pastor, and let the others do their professional thing, but get the help. Get the help. So point number four, step number four, demonstrate your plan to do things differently. If that means you're going to get help, then you go get the help.

Now, after those first four steps, step five, we ask for forgiveness. We don't do that first. There's an awful lot of things that need to be done to set the stage before we even think of asking for forgiveness and asking to, you know, trying to do the reconciliation thing. We've got to admit our part of the problem, number one, as I said. Number two, we've got to express sincere regret for what we have done. Number three, we've got to try to make amends for what we've done in the past to hurt that individual. Number four, we've got to show them that we've got a plan in mind for the future. I'm going to AA. I'm doing this. I'm doing that.

And then number five, we ask for forgiveness. A lot of ground work has to be done before we do step number five, asking for forgiveness. Luke chapter 15 verse 21.

Some people call this the parable of the prodigal son. I tend to... perspective is everything. It's how you want to look at this. I tend to want to look at this and call this the parable of the merciful father. Why always view the world as the glass half empty? And notice, here's a young man who finally came to his senses. He realizes life was a wreck. And he swallowed his pride, his human pride. He came back to his father. And notice what he says here in verse 21. Luke chapter 15 verse 21. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son. You know, he was sorry for what he had done to his father, what he had done to his brother, what he had done to the family name, what he had done to the community. But notice what the father does. Verse 22. Because here's a real reconciler. But the father said to his servants, Bring out the best robe and put it on him. You know, he was eating with the pigs, who knows what this poor kid smelled like. Bring out the best robe, wash this guy, put him on the best robe, shows he's a part of this household. Put a ring on his hand, which was symbolic. You know, you can have like a king's signet ring or a ring of state. You know, back in the day, they would melt the wax on a piece of parchment or something and then run their fist into it with that ring, showing it was an official item from that household. Put that ring on his hand, it shows he's my family. Sandals on his feet. In the scriptures, sandals on people's feet represented ownership of property. Bring the fatted calf, kill it, and let us eat and be married. For my son, who is dead, is alive again. He was lost as found, and they began to make merry. You know, other examples talk about how they brought the whole town, whole village. The father wanted the son not only to be reconciled to himself, but the whole village. Now, that's a reconciler. But the son had to ask for forgiveness. Not demanded. It wasn't his right, just as salvation is a gift of God. Salvation is not our right. It was our right that no one had to repent. You can be an Adolf Hitler and say, salvation, God is my right. I'm going to kill every Jew I can find.

So point number five, or step number five, ask for forgiveness. And lastly, step number six, bear sustained good fruit. Bear sustained good fruit. Those people who you and I have aggrieved, they need assurance. That can only be done by, and I've seen this in examples where there have been all sorts of grievous harms, particularly husbands might do to their wives, wives might do to their husbands, grievous harms done to the marriage. People say, well, what can we do about that? How can I ever look at that person the same way again? Well, sometimes you just simply have to keep on doing the good works and hope that God will heal that individual. Matthew chapter 7, you want to show a pattern of good fruits. You want to show a pattern of fruits of repentance. Matthew 7, verse 16. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree that bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits, you will know them. So, brother, we need sustained good fruit. Going back to the example I gave earlier, it didn't help at all when I was in the middle of nowhere wanting to see somebody giving my time, where I could have given my time someplace else, where the guy stood me up time and time and time again. I wanted to see some fruit for good works. You know the bottom line, unfortunately, in that particular case? That person never did come around. Never did. It got to the place where the wife said, Mr. D, we will meet you. I will bring him to this location. Then it got to the place where he would just balk at the wife taking him anyplace. He really didn't want the help. He really didn't want to produce any kind of good fruit. He was content to make his family a wreck. We don't want to do that, brethren. We're Christians. We've been given a very high calling. This Thursday evening, you and I are going to get a symbol in a room, and we're going to renew our dedication to God the Father and Jesus Christ. We're going to renew the fact that Jesus Christ died for us. We're reconciled to God because of his sacrifice, and because of that, we want to be reconcilers, too. We want to be committed to being a reconciler. Tough thing to do. Tough, especially. The harder you've been hurt, the worse that you've been hurt, the more times you have been just totally pulverized, the harder that is. But God doesn't say, well, if you've really been hurt really bad, you don't have to do this. No? No, it's for all of us. We all have to do what God asks us to do. John 15, last verse for the sermon today. John 15.

Verse 16. John 15.16. You did not choose me. Think about this, brethren. Think about the beauty and the power of this. You did not choose me, but I chose you. God knew your background. He knew how you had been hurt. You know, the forces that were to work in your life where you would get hurt even in the future. And yet God chose you, chose me, said, with my help, you can make it. But I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain good, solid fruit. That whatever you ask the Father of my name, He may give you.

So it's our task, you and I as Christians, to produce visible, tangible evidence that we truly are Christians. That we truly are Christians.

Now, this takes time. I'm not saying that, you know, there's somebody in the room today that you have issues with, that, you know, you're going to go out for dinner tonight or tomorrow, and everything is going to be just great. These kind of things take time. God allows for that. God knows that we are just flesh. God knows that, you know, these things are difficult for us. But God expects movement. You know, the movement may be glacier-like, but as long as you're making some kind of movement, positive, forward progression, God is happy with it. Now, God knows, let's not kid ourselves, God knows how much and how quickly you and I can move forward. And He knows how much and how fast we are moving forward. So let's not kid ourselves in the fact that, you know, I'll just do it by these little tiny baby steps, when, in fact, you and I have the power, the wherewithal, with God's help to take larger steps. But that's between us and God, isn't it? So today, Brent, let me do a quick review here for you. The topic here was Passover Pictures Reconciliation. It gave you six different steps. Step number one, admit and acknowledge, own the fact that you have done wrong to somebody. Regardless of what they've done to you. Number two, express sincere regret and remorse for what you or I have done. Step number three, demonstrate we're willing to make amends for what we've done in the past. Step number four, demonstrate you're planning to do things differently in the future. Step number five, after you've done those first four steps, which are very difficult, you've laid the groundwork. Then step number five, then we ask for forgiveness. And then, number six, we bear sustained good fruit. We show the people that we're trying to reconcile with that we really are sincere and we mean it. Brethren, forgiveness is a hallmark of the Church of God. It's a hallmark of our family. It's something that we need from our Heavenly Father. Thursday evening, you and I are going to be thinking about our sins, that where we need to be forgiven, we need to have reconciliation with our Father. But let's remember what Jesus Christ said, that we need to leave our gift at the altar and make sure we're doing our level best to be reconciled to other people. Forgiveness must be sought. Forgiveness must be given. And only then, only then, can reconciliation be fully realized.