Passover Preparation Part 1

There's a statement that we're likely quite familiar with, and it's one we possibly even used ourselves from time to time. There's various versions of it, we could say, but it generally goes like this. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. You'll notice my prop down front here. The grass closest to you, the brown grass, is what it looks like in my yard right now. It is February, after all. But again, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. It's a common expression that refers to the way we can sometimes compare ourselves among ourselves or among other people as we look out around us and we see the life that other people are living. We draw this comparison between what it is that I have and what it is that I think I see over there. We use this expression, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

If you just had what someone else had, things would be better. That's the concept that goes along with it. If you'd only had that job, and if you drove that car, and if you lived in that house or had that spouse, boy, life would certainly be better because I know what's happening in my life, we might say to ourselves. We look at somebody else, and again, the grass appears greener on the other side of the fence.

Well, you know, as we'll talk about in a bit, sometimes it is, frankly. Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, and we'll discuss that in a bit. But the fact is, oftentimes it is not, and is not always what it appears to be. This last year at the feast, we were an ocean side, our family, and we were staying in a condo a couple blocks off the ocean, and so we'd get out and walk down these sidewalks and back streets and kind of weave our way out to the beach.

And we always enjoyed looking at the landscape, at the trees, at the flowers, because that whole strip along the oceanfront is just gorgeous. You turn around and look the other way, and it's desert, you know, as you head out of town. But that's just been built up beautifully, and we admire people's yards, palm trees, and there was a particular yard that caught our eye one day as we were walking down to the beach.

And it was like, wow, look how green that lawn is! And we walked up to it, and I'm looking at it, and I go, is that real? And, you know, I had a landscape business for 22 years, and I'm standing there going, is that real? You know, you used to be able to spot astroturf pretty easily, but in this case, it was astroturf. But I had to bend down and touch it and feel it to even tell.

But sometimes the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, and sometimes it's astroturf. And sometimes people think they have to get there to find out for sure. My mind, I was thinking, all right, what illustration can we find in the Bible that have expressed this concept of grass being greener on the other side of the fence, but is it really? And we'll come to that in just a minute. But first, I want to start in Exodus 20. Exodus 20, verse 17. This is the tenth of the Ten Commandments. And I think it's one of maybe the most often overlooked commandments in some ways because of the culture that we live in today.

Exodus 20, verse 17. It says, You know, that guy's got a really nice $30,000 green John Deere tractor with all the implements. You know, the greatest ox in the neighborhood. And I'm riding around on a 1955 Massey Harris 33. And I think, wow, you know, you can look at the neighbor's ox and almost start to make comparisons. But it's actually cool is when your neighbor on the John Deere says, that's a cool tractor. Don't covet your neighbor's ox, nor his donkey, you know, the Ferrari in the garage, the Porsche in the driveway, you know, in ancient cultures around Israel, if you were riding around on a donkey, maybe you had some means.

You didn't have to walk everywhere. And you were a person of status. You know, the kings rode the donkeys. You weren't to accumulate horses and those things to yourself if you were a king. You know, don't covet those things, nor anything that is your neighbor's. And as I said, in our Western culture, oftentimes this can be a very overlooked commandment. It actually starts with overlooking the first commandment. And all these, as Stuart has spoken about before, spring forth from putting God first.

And as we overlook putting God first, you're going to overlook all these other things as well. And certainly it is what we've done as a culture, I believe. But again, I had to think about what story of the Bible would I pull out to say, well, the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence until you actually get there. Let's go to Genesis chapter 13. This is the story of Abraham's nephew Lot. Genesis chapter 13. Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Sometimes it's astroturf. Genesis chapter 13, beginning in verse 1, it says, Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had in Lot went with him to the south.

Abram was very rich in livestock and silver and gold, and he went on his journey from the south as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made before there at first.

And there Abraham called on the name of the Lord. Verse 5, Lot also went up with Abram. He had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.

And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abraham's, Abram's livestock, and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. The Canaanites and the Parazites were dwelling in the land. And so Abram said to Lot, please let there be no strife between you and me, between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brethren. He says we're family, and this really shouldn't be. So let's come up with a solution. He says, it's not the whole land before you. He says, please separate from me. If you take the left, I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and he saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

It was like the Garden of the Lord, you know, Eden, we might say. Just lush and beautiful. Like the land of Egypt as you go towards Zorar. Verse 11, then Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated from each other.

Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and he pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. So we have the narrative here, as we know it quite well, and Lot got a choice. And he looked out over all the landscape, and he looked around, and he saw that lush area, the green area, the plain of the Jordan, and he says, the grass is greener over there.

And I choose that spot. He took his flocks, his herds, his tents, and all that he had, and he went and settled in that area. Again, it's where the greenest grass was. It's where the water was, where things grew and flourished, and Lot thought, you know, my livestock can do well there, and I can increase and be abundant in that area. So was it really, though? Was the grass really greener, shall we say, on that side of the fence, in the ultimate sense? You know, it looked good to the naked eye. Verse 13, it says, and again, Genesis 13, verse 13, it says, So it may have looked good, but there were thorns as well, and there was evil, and there were things that were contentious in that region, things that would not be, frankly, conducive to a man of God.

What we're going to find is Abraham actually is the one that got the better deal. If we carry on in verse 14, it says, And again, like I said, a brahm actually had the better option here. We might think, well, looking around with the naked eye, would we choose it as the better option?

I mean, again, over the plains of the Jordan where Lot went, that was beautiful and lush and green and water and everything that your herds could want. But Abraham got the better option, again, not because of the actual characteristics of the territory, but because God was with him. And they had a relationship. And Abraham walked with God, and he was the friend of God. And because of that, the grass was greener under the trees, the terebinth trees of Mamre.

Brethren, that's where true contentment comes from. That's where the true green grass is to be found. It's not necessarily somewhere else. It's right here in our lives, in a relationship with God. Receiving the abundance and the blessing that comes from that relationship, even if at times you have to sacrifice in the physical sense. Walking with God and knowing God builds the green grass. And that's the source of contentment. That's where our contentment should come from, the deep and abiding relationship with God.

Now, as the story goes on, we know Lot runs into trouble in Sodom. He's even taken captive during the war. The kings like to come out in the spring and go to war with one another. And there's war, and Lot's carried away, and all his possessions carried out of Sodom. He's captured. The other leaders try to engage, and they're put down.

So the neighbor himself has to round up from his own resources and manpower an army to go after, to free Lot, and to restore him, and the others with him once again.

Genesis 19. Lot's troubles didn't end there.

Genesis 19. God sends a couple angels into Sodom to survey the scene. Consider what it is there is the find there. Genesis 19 and verse 1, it says, Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening. And Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom, and when Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face towards the ground. And he said, Here now, my lords, please turn into your servant's house, spend the night, wash your feet, then you may rise early and go on your way. But they said to him, No, we will spend the night in the open square. But he insisted strongly, so that they turned into him, and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked them unleavened bread, and a eight. This wasn't just Middle Eastern hospitality. Lot was concerned for their safety. He knew the risk of spending the night in the open square. Two strangers, two men coming into Sodom. And he's offering them protection in his home. Verse 4, it says, Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called the Lot, and they said to him, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them carnally. So Lot went out to them, threw the doorway, shut the door behind them. And he said, Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly. See, now I have two daughters who have not known a man. Please, let me bring them out to you, that you may do to them as you wish. Only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back. One of them said, This one comes to stay here, and keeps acting as a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them. So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.

You know, brethren, when you come to the point that you're offering your virgin daughters to a mob of men, trying to simply even protect people that came under your roof for the night, the grass is not greener under your own feet. It may look good from a distance. It may look like the place to be. You know, Sodom was probably the happening place. There were caravans in and out, trade, wealth. You know, Lot probably had a nice house on Main Street, right down from Starbucks. You know, this wasn't the land to dial up internet. This was, you know, this was premium. And yet, the grass was not green under his own two feet.

Carrying on, verse 10, says, But the men reached out, their hands pulled Lot into the house with them, shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary, trying to find the door. Then the men said to Lot, Have you anyone else here, sons-in-laws, your sons, daughters, whomever you have in the city, take them out of this place. For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. Verse 14 says, So Lot went out, spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and he said, Get up and out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. You know, this is a pretty good place. Sure, it has its problems, but, you know, you gotta be kidding us. Verse 15 says, When the morning dawn, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife, your two daughters, who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city. And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, in the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. Verse 23, The sun had risen upon the earth, when Lot entered Zohar. Verse 24, Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. We're talking total destruction from God. Earlier, if you read through some of the earlier accounts in Genesis, that region was actually dotted with tar pits, with asphalt pits. You get fire and brimstone coming down from the heavens, out of the sky, and it's igniting the tar and the asphalt pits on the ground as well, and it's consuming everything. Total destruction. Now, it's interesting, again, verse 24, says, The Lord Yahweh rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from Yahweh, out of the heavens. And just as an interesting side note, I'll give you a scripture. You can go research it later, if you like. That's Amos chapter 4 verse 11. Amos 4 verse 11, it ties back into verse 24 here. And in Amos 4 verse 11, Yahweh is speaking. And he states, I overthrew some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. So it's just an interesting parallel. I encourage you to check it out as you have time. Yahweh says that God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 24 says, The Lord rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord, out of the heavens. Verse 25, So he overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the city, and what grew on the ground. You know, that green lushness that was there was just evaporated, destroyed, consumed. Verse 26, But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And there he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain. And he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up, like the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham. And he sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt. And so, this really is a very sad story. Lot looked over the landscape, and he said, The grass is greener over there. And he went there, thought he would gain probably his fortune, his way. And he was prosperous for a time, but in the end, he lost all that he had, essentially. His daughters came out with him, but he lost his wife, he lost his finances, he lost his livestock. Again, all consumed with the destruction of that place.

Again, the story in Genesis reminds us that just because the grass looks greener elsewhere, it doesn't mean that it's all that it seems to be. It doesn't mean that it's all it seems to be.

Brethren, do we ever yearn for greener grass? Do we ever look under our own two feet and then look somewhere else and yearn for the greener grass? Like I said in this display, the grass closest to you, that shriveled up, dried up brown grass, that's my front yard at home right now. But do we ever yearn for what looks like to be the greenest grass around us? Do you ever want to hop the fence? You know, run down the neighborhood to the neighbor's lawn? Let me see if this guy works. He worked last night.

Are you this guy? Grass is greener somewhere else. Or are you willing to be content with and work with what God has provided us today? Again, are you seeking to scale the fence, get to where the grass is greener? Are you willing to work with and to develop what God has provided for us today? Title for the message, I know this is kind of a ways in to give it to you, but here's the title for the message.

Tend to your own grass. Tend to your own grass. I'm going to start a series. This is Passover Preparation Part 1. Tend to your own grass. The point of my message is this. Don't spend your time looking around you, looking at your neighbor down the street, looking at your fellow brethren, looking around at everyone else's grass and thinking how you can get there. But rather, put your energies into what God has given you to develop it, to green it up, to grow the grass under your own two feet.

I read a quote a while back that, for me, actually became the inspiration for this sermon. A friend of mine posted it on Facebook. There was no author attributed to it, so I can't give them due credit. But the quote said this. If the grass looks greener on the other side, stop staring, stop comparing, stop complaining, and start watering the grass that you are standing on. Pretty simple and straightforward. If the grass looks greener on the other side, stop staring, stop comparing, stop complaining, and start watering the grass that you are standing on. It's an important biblical principle. If the grass looks greener over there, brethren, the solution is not to go chase after that.

It's not to hop the fence like our friend here. The solution is to get busy, get busy improving your own surroundings, work on yourself, intend your own grass. To give it time and focus, it will grow. I want to share with you an excerpt from an article. This is from Psychology Today Online. It was posted on July 27, 2011. The author is Jennifer Kunst, Ph.D. And the title is Myth Buster. The grass is not always greener on the other side. There's an old joke that goes something like this. Neurotics are those who build castles in the sky.

Psychotics are those who move into them. And psychoanalysts are those who charge them rent. He says, just like all good jokes, there's a strange kind of truth to it. The joke reflects the idea that many troubles of the mind involve turning away from reality and being preoccupied with the search for another life, a different life, or perhaps even a better life someplace else. Psychoanalysts have the job and job security because they have an understanding that the only way to find mental health is to turn toward the life that you have and to deal with it.

Don't go looking elsewhere at what they have that you wish you could have and how do I get there? She says, no. Turn to the life that you have and deal with it. Psychoanalysts Melanie Klein called this human task, quote, the acceptance of reality. She says she viewed it as a cornerstone of mental health, contentment, inner security, and peace of mind.

And she is in pretty good company as this philosophy can be found throughout the ages. Troubles in life come when we believe the myth that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. She says we're taken over by envy, believing that other people have all the good stuff, and then feeling depressed, anxious, and persecuted by the belief that we have so little. In that condition, we're taken over by greed, wanting more and more, and feeling that we cannot ever be enough.

The reason why this attitude undermines mental health is that it leads us to turn away from the main task of life. She says this is, in her opinion, the main task of life, which is to make the most of what we have. I think that's an important principle, and I would add in with what God has given us. But again, the important principle in life is to make the most of what we have.

She says by denying the goodness of our very own lives, we believe that we have nothing good to work with, or the capacity to work with it. We lose focus. We lose self-confidence, and we even lose hope. Psychoanalysts spend a lot of time trying to help their patients reorient themselves to dealing with the life that they have. Again, it's not, it's better over there if I can just get from here to there. It's, this is where you are. Where do we go from here?

Psychoanalysts spend a lot of time trying to help their patients reorient themselves to dealing with the life that they have. At first, this can be very deflating. They can feel deflated. And we must bust the myth that we can have someone else's life, someone else's castle, someone else's lawn. She says, no, we only have our own. But that's the pivotal spot. If we can accept that reality for what it is, we have a chance to develop it, to improve it, and to grow it.

Robert Folgham, the author of the classic book, All I Really Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten, put it this way. He said, quote, the grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. He says, no, not at all. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you, and tend the grass wherever you go. End quote. You know, grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. Again, it is greenest where it's watered. And I thought that article, rather than to be insightful, and frankly, to be in agreement with God's Word. The fact that we're to look inside ourselves and to seek to grow ourselves, to be what it is God would have us to be. God's not called us to chase after things that are not ours, or to covet things which are someone else's, either by right or simply hard work. He simply called us to come to Him where we are, but then to grow according to the help, the love, the spirit that He gives us. I said earlier that Abraham had the better option than Lot. Again, why was that? You know, Lot went where the grass looked the greenest, right? But Abraham had the better option, and that's because he trusted God. 1 Timothy 6, verse 6, states, Godliness with contentment is great gain.

That's something that gets forgotten in our culture so often. Godliness with contentment is great gain.

Let's go to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13, verse 5 and 6.

Hebrews 13, verse 5 and 6 says, Let your conduct be without covetousness. Again, the concept of looking over at what someone else has, there's nothing wrong with aspiring to better yourself and improve yourself. Alright, we can do that with hard work. The problem comes when you look at what somebody else has or seems to have, and somehow feel like, you know, you've been ripped off. That's owed to you and not them, and you become jealous and you become to yearn after it after a way that is inappropriate. And simply, Hebrews 12, 5 says, Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. And notice why, in what brings that contentment. For he himself has said, So the conduct that we have needs to be based, frankly, on the relationship we have with God. And it needs to bring an inner contentment. Knowing that we love God, He loves us, He guides and directs our life, and He's building a relationship with us. Contentment doesn't only mean that we make do with what we've been given.

Because sometimes, I think in our mind, we think that's about the end of contentment. This is all I have, and I guess I'll just make do. But that's not all that contentment means. It also means to make the best use of, the most use of, what you've been given. Because this person may be given as much as this person, but their grasp might be a lot greener than this grasp. Because it depends what have they done without which they've been given. And contentment often means to make the best use of what we do have.

Are you and I doing that, brethren? Do we look at what God has provided, and are we satisfied with it? Are we willing to take what He's given us and start from that point and grow it? Based on our relationship with Him. Because it can be so easy to ask God for something additional to what we have. You know, God, give me more, and I'll do wonderful things. But the point is, sometimes God's just looking for us to do something with what it is He's already given us. What are we doing with what God has given us? We won't turn there, but in Matthew 25, you can go and study it later, is the parable of the man who received one talent. And out of fear, He buried it in the ground. He says, I was afraid, and I buried it. Now, somebody else was given five, and He turned it into ten. Somebody else was given two, and He turned it into four, out of hard work and investment and production. But the one who was afraid buried it, and he didn't increase. In fact, he didn't do anything with that which he was given. And what did the Master say? Well, the Master looked at him and called him a wicked and a lazy servant. And he took away from that man the one talent that he'd buried in the ground, and he gave it to somebody else who would actually take it and be productive. And by implication, the point was, now that man, because he did not use what God gave him, he was out of the kingdom.

And indeed, for you and I, the lesson, the warning, is what are we doing with what God has given us? Are we growing it? Are we using our talents well? Are we just looking next door and saying, I want what they have? You know, that guy has ten talents. Well, he started with five, and he doubled it. You had one, and you didn't do anything. God says that is a wicked and lazy servant. So are we making the most of what God has given us to work with? Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, and legitimately so. You can go over there, you can check it out, and it's real. Why is it greener?

Well, it's because somebody is there tending to the grass under their own two feet. Sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence.

As I mentioned, I was self-employed for 22 years in landscape business before stepping into the pastoral ministry. And so from time to time, I did step onto the grass. And I can tell you the reason the grass is sometimes greener on the other side of the fence is because there's somebody there caring for it, tending it, and growing it. It takes time and it takes effort. So just think about this for a minute. Somebody is tending the grass. What does that mean? In a physical sense. If you think about your neighbor's lawn, it looks so much better than yours, maybe.

What does that mean? It doesn't mean somebody's watering it, somebody's mowing it, somebody's out there fertilizing it, hopefully with organic fertilizer. Somebody's dealing with the weeds. Somebody's aerating it. They're doing things to stimulate growth. You know, a green, vibrant, thick, weed-free lawn doesn't just pop up on its own. It takes effort. And it takes somebody there tending that lawn. Many years in business, I saw many beautiful landscapes. And I saw times where there were people who put in all this effort.

Every time you drove by, you know, that neighbor was out there tending his lawn, weeding the flower beds, and it was beautiful. And one day the house went on the market for sale. And somebody came along and they bought that house. But the new person didn't tend the lawn. They didn't love it like the old person did, right? So what happens? You can ride that residual effect for a little while, but give it a season.

You start to see a little stress. Give it two or three seasons. You see brown patches. You see weeds. There's compacted soil. There's fungus. There's all these things now. The beautiful landscape has changed. And what really changed? The ground was same. The potential was the same. But those that cared for it, their investment, changed.

Other side of the coin, I've seen people who have bought places with a disaster of a lawn. It was a dirt patch, a weed patch. And they put in the time and effort, and within a season it was having a dramatic turnaround. Within two to three seasons it was beautiful, and you would never know it was the same lawn as when they first arrived. And so my point is this. The grass is sometimes greener on the other side of the fence, and legitimately so.

But that's because somebody is putting the effort and the time into making it so. And for you and I, we might really want that grass on the other side of the fence. And someday the neighbor might put the house up for sale, and they say, you know, that place is for sale. I'm moving there. I want that grass. I knew somebody that did that once.

They lived here, and the house immediately next door came up for sale. And they bought that place, and they moved from here to here, and the house was about an even swap over, but what they really loved was a lawn, the landscape. It had trees, it had flower beds, it had all this beautiful grass. It was gorgeous. But they weren't the type to really tend the lawn, and within two to three years that really began to decline quickly.

So the point is, you might look next door and say, I want what they have over there, but just remember, you might be like our friend here climbing the fence. But just remember, you always have to take you with you. And if you're not someone who tends the grass pretty quick, you're going to look out the window, and you're going to see a neighbor with better grass than you have, and it just might be the house you moved out of.

Because these things require our attention. If you're not the kind of person who tends their own grass, the grass is always going to be greener on the other side of the fence. Sometimes it's greener in someone else's job, in their marriage, in their house, in their family, whatever it might be. But it may be legitimately so.

The job could come through in education, right? That was invested in hard work over the years. The marriage, through date nights, living godly principles, applying themselves to that relationship. Same for the family. The green grass of finances may be the result of someone's wise financial decisions, year after year after year. You know, not going upside down with a $30,000 loan and a $15,000 car. Just roll it into the next and into the next. It's easy to look next door and think the grass is greener. Sometimes it is. But the point is, we must get busy tending the grass under our own two feet as well.

So what's the solution for you and me? As God's people, if we look around and the grass is greener someplace else, you know, it's the solution to hop the fence? No, it's not. The solution is to tend the grass under your own two feet. If the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, stop staring. Stop complaining. Stop comparing and start watering the grass that you're standing on.

There is potential for us all. Again, this begins with our relationship with God. Right? He's the true source of our growth. If we want to go from dead, shriveled brown grass to life and vitality and growth, it begins with a right and proper relationship with God. 1 Kings 2, verse 1 and 2.

1 Kings 2, verse 1 and 2. You might be wondering, is that real? It is real.

It's about $110 a square foot this time of year, but it is real. 1 Kings 2, verse 1 and 2. It says, David's saying, you know, you're going to be king, and you're going to stand before God and before these people. Now, go prove yourself a man. And how's he going to do that? Verse 3, Again, the greener grass, at least in Solomon's kingship, would come from maintaining a relationship with God. We know he deviated from that. At some point, he allowed compromise to enter in, but David's saying, if you truly want your kingship to thrive and prosper and grow, this is the basis by which it will happen, this direct and personal relationship with God. Psalm 23, verse 1 through 3. Psalm 23, 1 through 3. This is how we come to the green grass.

Psalm 23, verse 1 through 3. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The point is, if God is tending you and keeping you and guiding you as he is your shepherd, you will not suffer need in anything. You know, we may want out of covetousness, but we've discussed that doesn't belong in this relationship. Verse 2, he makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Again, that's where the green pastures are found, and it's not astroturf. The green pastures come by allowing God to be our guide, our shepherd, and to lead us in a relationship that's based in righteousness, where he is our God, and we submit, and we follow him, just as Abraham did, just as David did. We're quickly now coming up on the Passover season. I'll be gone for a month. I'll come back, and it'll be right around the corner. So this is the time of self-examination, and it's the time for asking ourselves the hard questions about what we need to do in our life to stimulate the spiritual growth that God desires to see in us. It's the time to consider the incredible calling that we have from God and the potential he's laid before us, and it's the time to get out and water the grass, to tend to grass, to keep it. When I was running my business, I would go out, I would send a spring letter to all my customers, usually late February, and I'd say, March is coming, and it's a good time for me to come out and do an evaluation of your landscape and see what it is we need to get this jump started for the upcoming season. And the same is true spiritually for us as we come up to the Passover. Springtime is the time to evaluate our life, to do a checkup on us, see what it is we need to stimulate ourselves onto growth in the way that God would have us. 1 Corinthians 11, 28, Paul says, let each man examine himself, and so let us eat of the bread and drink of the cup. In 1 Corinthians 11, 28, as we approach a Passover this year, brethren, ask God to help you understand how to be the person He has called you to be, how to use the talents that He has given you to use, whether it's five or two or one. Don't just bury it. Ask Him to show you how to use it to His glory. Ask God to show you how you can grow the greener grass right here, right at home, right in your own front yard, in your marriage, in your families, among your coworkers, and even right here in the congregation. Ask God to help us see how to grow that grass here. Passover is a time for perspective on our personal self and our need for spiritual growth, and we need to look at our motivations. We need to look inside. Again, examine yourself, not your neighbor, not the person down the street. Don't look at their grass. Look at your grass and tend the grass in your own front yard. Does the grass look greener in someone else's yard, in their marriage, in their job? Does the grass look greener in someone else's church? Then, brethren, I'd say, let's roll up our sleeves and get busy tending the grass right here.

Stop comparing. Stop complaining. And let's water and tend the grass under our own two feet. I appreciate the Kennewick congregation. I'm right here, live today, so I'll praise you guys for a minute. I walked in the door and received focus scripture today. I printed it out and walked in the door, received from, I think it was Mason who handed this to me today, songbook and focus scripture. I appreciate the fact that we have a group of people here that have come up to me lately and said, we'd like to liven things up a little and have more life to our congregation. That's important.

Matt put together a sign-up list for those who wanted to work in rotation on setup and sound crew and webcast, and half the congregation volunteered. Now there's rotations, there's shifts. Not everybody's on the same month and you can relieve each other. There's plans being made for generating special music from here because we're webcasting from here so often. There's congregational activities that have been planned, and there's more things to come. And I'll just say, what a blessing it is that we just want to look around and let's grow the grass under our own two feet. Bring life and vitality by God's Spirit among the congregation right here. It's a blessing. Life in the congregation is important because ultimately it's God who calls someone, but He calls someone and He brings them to the congregation. So this needs to be a place where now they can grow. They can experience what it means to be part of God's people in relationship with Him. And so as we're alike to the world, actually people should look at the Church of God and say the grass is greener over there because it truly is. Because we've developed it, we've grown it in relationship with God and one another. To make our spiritual home right here the green pastures and the still waters that God would lead others to is indeed a part of our calling. Part of the responsibility He's laid before us. And, brethren, it's something we should consider as we walk up to the Passover this year. It's not just individual, it's collective. The blessings of the green pastures are a blessing to us all. By God's grace, we've received the calling, the Spirit, and the ability to do these things. To grow the green grass right here in our own front yard. Let's not bury that talent, brethren. Let's stimulate it and provoke it in one another. Let's serve one another with the abilities God has given us. Godliness with contentment is great gain. So let us be content with what God has given us right here. Let us make the most and the best use of what God has given us right here. And, brethren, let us grow the grass under our own two feet.