Pre-Check for Passover

Happy Sabbath! Fantastic special music here. Indeed, God is refined in us. We appreciate Emil putting his efforts into that. And as I've said many, many times to you here, I could do that. And I always try to, you know, qualify it in a million years.

You know, it might take a little while. You could do it probably in a million years, too. In fact, you might be able to do it a little faster than that. But anyway, it would take us a long time to be able to do that kind of thing.

But we appreciate, again, the work that he has done and others do with regard to special music for us. You know, I'm sure all of you are finally into 2015. It is amazing how fast this year is going. I was reflected on that. In fact, this past week of how fast 2015 is, we'll be at the feast in, what is it, six months, seven months, something like that.

And I was astounded by that, you know, when I was thinking about it. But, and I know that all of us always look forward to the Feast of Tabernacles, and we look forward to being able to see other places and see the brethren in different parts of the world. As you know, my wife and I travel from time to time to Hawaii. We go over to other parts of Africa and elsewhere, and we always enjoy seeing a different part of the scenery.

I have to think about how air travel has changed in the time that I've been in the ministry, just in the ministry. The first airplane ride I remember, a jet plane, at least, ride I ever took, was when I was at Ambassador College.

Up to that, the only high-speed projectile I ever wrote in was a bus, a Greyhound bus. But we flew, I flew up to New York with a friend of mine and stayed over a holiday during the, you know, during the college years. And I remember how it was. I mean, it was like a party on board of an airplane. Now, of course, things have changed quite a bit, haven't they? It's like they stack you in the plane. And all of us are familiar with the fact that now we have TSA pre-check. And by the way, they seem to be pre-checking me quite a lot.

And, you know, risking me. And one time, believe it or not, I had just gotten back from a meeting in Cincinnati for a festival meeting. And they thought I had been bomb-making, I guess, because I set the machine off. And so they, you know, made me come over and the priest, and they were, they had this, I guess, these electronic sniffers that sniff all over the bag. And, you know, that to make sure, I guess, I wasn't a bomb-maker. You know, I look like a bomb-maker. Look like a terrorist, I guess, to most people.

But for all we say about TSA pre-check, I've tried to think of it positively, you know, as much as I can. But, you know, TSA pre-check, how can we use that positively, you know, in the church? You know, often, by the way, when we go traveling, either my wife or I get the pre-check. I don't know if that happens to you or not. But, invariably, they divide us. I don't know, maybe they're wanting to separate me, because I'm a bomb-maker, you know, from my wife. I want a protector. But, we have determined that if one of the other got pre-checked, you know, that we would go together, you know.

So, if we're going to go down, we're going to go down together. And so, we go through the line together. Well, better than that, what does this have to do with the Passover season? You know, what does this have to do with you? Well, we know the Passover season is right ahead of us, and the Passover season is at the beginning of God's Holy Day season. And, as you look in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament, there was a lot of preparation that went into keeping the Passover. I don't need to take you back to Exodus chapter 12 over there, and show you that they had to find an unblimish lamb.

Imagine how hard that was to get a choice lamb for this. They had to kill the lamb. And, by the way, just dressing a lamb is not an easy proposition to do. I've done that. I've killed goats before, and I guess I don't mind telling you. I've killed hogs back in my old carnal days. Prior to the pre-bacon era of my life, of course, there was a time when, in our family, we weren't in.

Nobody was in the church, and frankly, right now, I'm the only one still in the church, at least to my brothers and sisters. But anyway, killing an animal and dressing it and putting it on the table is not an easy proposition. And there had to be preparation for it. There had to be, you know, they had to go through, and they make sure they had the right herbs. They had to have all of these things that God had instructed them to do.

And so, no doubt, they had to do a pre-check. You know, got the lamb, checked. Got the bitter herbs, checked. You know, everybody in one house, checked. You know, blood on the doorpost of the levels, checked. You know, that was very important, wasn't it, because the death angel passed over Egypt. Well, you know, in the New Testament, we are to pre-check in advance, too. We are to make some preparation, too. Let's go over here to 1 Corinthians 11.

1 Corinthians 11, over here. 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul, of course, talking about, again, the Passover here, the New Testament Passover, as we know it to be, but with the changes that Christ gave to it. But in chapter 11 here, and in verse 27, of course, we find that the Corinthians were not observing the Passover correctly, so there is a correct way and there is a wrong way to observe it. They were making it into a party, which, you know, was not the intent of the Passover. Some were eating too much and some were drinking too much, you know, on the Passover, and they were actually participating in a supper.

And Paul distinctly says it was not. It is not the Lord's Supper that we gather to eat. We're gathering to eat the Passover. But in verse 27, just to, again, give you a filler before what he says here, in verse 27 of 1 Corinthians 11, it says, And therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

Guilty. Like in a court of law, if we observe something in an improper way or we break the law, we're guilty. And here, again, if someone does not observe the Passover in a correct way, in a right way, in an unworthy way, some would say it in irreverent way without having the proper respect and reverence for God. Then we are sending. We're making a very egregious error if we do that. But in verse quarter 8, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Eat of the bread, symbolizing the body of Christ when broken, symbolizing the stripes that Christ bore, and eat of the wine or drink of the wine, symbolizing the blood of Jesus Christ. And so it's important for us to observe the Passover and to convince the Holy Day sees it in a reverent manner, in a reverent way. Albert Barnes says this on his notes on the Bible under the caption, But let a man examine himself. He says, Let him search and see if he has the proper qualifications.

Obviously, somebody who takes the Passover must be baptized in a proper way, in a right way. If he has knowledge to discern the Lord's body, and he quotes 1 Corinthians 11, 29, If he has true repentance for his sins, true faith in the Lord Jesus, and a sincere desire to live the life of a Christian, and to be like the Son of God, and to be saved by the merits of his blood, let him examine himself and see whether he has the right feelings of a communicant and can approach the table in a proper manner. And so, it's important for us, again, to look at these things and to be aware, because we don't want the body and the blood of Christ to be on our heads if we do it in an irreverent manner. But how do we do a Passover pre-check? Well, you're checking it off. How do you do a Passover pre-check? Well, there has to be some sort of method to it if we are really adequately preparing, doesn't there? It's not willy-nilly, it's not, you know, here and sort of darting from one place to another, but we thought about it, we meditated on it. But how do we do that? You know, it's like when I used to, you know, take lessons to fly before I was grounded, and you have to go through a pre-check when you're going to pilot a plane to make sure that thing's going to stay in the air when you get up there. And, you know, there's actually a checklist that you have to go through to make sure, you know, your elevators are working, your ailerons, you know, everything's adjusted the way it's supposed to be, and you're ready to take off. You know, of course, safety is the biggest key, you know, that you want to make sure you're going to be safe when you're up there, especially if you're new like I was, you know, and well, you'd want that no matter how many hours of experience you may have flying. I guess Harrison Ford could tell us a little bit about this because if it had not been for the fact that he had experience and he was safety conscious, he'd probably be dead now. And we'd be doing, you know, memorials to Harrison Ford like old John Denver, you know. But, you know, God wants us to pre-check prior to observing the Passover. You know, a meal song about the refiner's fire. Brethren, God is refining us. He's refining our character. He's molding us. He is shaping us, and He wants to see what impact, in fact, that refining process is having upon us. And you and I ought to be able to tell the difference. I remember when I was baptized. I didn't give very much thought, by the way, to a lot of these things that we talk about, you know, prior to the Passover. My mind was not, quite frankly, organized enough to even do it. But as we mature more spiritually speaking, as we grow, we should be able to become more I hate to use the word, but professional, as we prepare for the Passover. So let's go through a checklist, brethren, of what you and I can do to pre-check for the Passover. So we can, in the right manner, begin this festival season that we're going to start in just a few short weeks. Number one, brethren, what is your attitude? What is your attitude?

I remember when I was pastoring in Alabama many years ago, I was giving a lot of sermons about attitude. And he was a friend of mine. He wasn't a friend of mine, by the way, initially. He wasn't even baptized initially. But I kept talking about attitude, and I guess so much that he came up to me, he had a bad attitude. He said, why are you always talking about attitude?

Well, you know, he hit the nail on the head, because he didn't have the right attitude. Later, he was baptized, and he did become a very good friend of mine. We used to spend a lot of time together, back in those days, at the Denny's, drinking coffee together. He was an insurance guy, and he would treat me the lunch, and he would put it on his bill for doing business. We talk about insurance about two minutes, and that qualified to pay my lunch. But we had a lot of fun doing that. But, brother, your attitude affects everything you do. Everything.

And unless that attitude is right, you know, nothing else can be right, frankly. Because unless the attitude is right, everything else that comes along is going to be colored to you in some way, form, or fashion. You know, we can be pretty proud, can't we? And we can feel we're above correction. Nobody's going to correct me. No one is going to tell me what to do.

That's exactly the kind of person that afterwards goes out and joins the army. You know, by the way.

And that's all they do, is tell you what to do there. You know, when to get up, when to go to bed, when to go to the bathroom, even how to go to the bathroom. You know, they tell you about everything. They don't want to get into, you know, the lower forms of humor here. But, you know, we can feel proud and above correction. But, you know, God has a way of taking us down a notch. He has a way. I know it happened to me. And, of course, not just once, but it's happened many, many times through the years. But, you know, God has a way of allowing you to get kicked in the stomach. I'm not saying He does it. But, you know, there's always somebody willing to do that for you. That's one thing I have noticed. God doesn't really have to do it Himself. I mean, there is a being who's so much against us, He's willing to do it at any moment in time. But, God can bring you down a notch. Very quickly, Psalm 51. Let's go over to Psalm 51. Here's an occasion over here. And then you have to look at the life of David, King David. Now, in the South, they talk about when somebody is really at the top of their game, they're walking in high cotton. Well, you know, David was walking in pretty high cotton.

Everything was going this way in about every way that you can imagine. One thing he had done, he had obeyed God. He had walked in God's way, except on one occasion. And that's when it began to toboggan down. But he had become so adept at being able to sort of rise above it. And by the way, he even gave God credit for that. That God allowed him to survive his enemies, and he was able to rise above it. You know the story again, how he committed sin with Bathsheba. He took a walk out on the veranda that changed his life. He saw a beautiful woman, and then that he allowed it to begin to marouvenate in his mind. And you know what happened to it? He eventually committed adultery. He had a child. You know, he in fact lost the child. He also had Bathsheba's husband killed, and his problems just seemed like they'd been mounted and now they're mounted. But he still, I guess, thought he was going to work around this somehow. But, you know, God kicked him in the stomach, or allowed him to be kicked in the stomach.

And God knocked the wind out of him. And he got way down low. But Psalm 51 and verse 16 down here, David came to this. He came to this. He said, for you do not, God, desire sacrifice, or else I would give it. You will not delight in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken spirit. A broken or cut-right heart. These, oh God, you will not despise.

So David came to realize, look, you know, I may be the king. I may have a lot of money, and I could throw sacrifices at God all day long.

There's some people who are so wealthy, brother, and they could, you know, if it was a matter of money, they could buy their way into the kingdom. But it isn't a matter of money. It's a matter of cut-right spirit. Is someone having a, you know, broken and cut-right heart before God, and humble before God. The word broken, by the way, here is from the Hebrew word Shabbar, which means burst. It's like the ego's burst of the, the ego has been crushed. The vanity. And the word spirit here in the Hebrew is Ruach, which means wind or breath.

Wind or breath. And so David had the Ruach knocked out of him.

He had the wind knocked out of him. And he was in agony before God, because, you know, he knew he did not have God's favor as he had once had. Brethren, the greatest sacrifice that anybody in this room can give to God is a surrendered attitude. Have you given up?

Have you put down your arms? Have you settled? And have you surrendered to God? That's what God is after, brethren. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your master, your Lord? And, you know, it actually means, as in fact Emil's song was talking about, that we want God's will. Because our will hadn't been working very well. Our way has not been going very well.

Over in Isaiah 66 and verse 2, I won't turn there, but you might want to write it down. There, God says to this man, I will look. Someone who has contrite of spirit and trembles at my word.

See, David was successful because his predecessor Saul did not tremble at the word of God. Remember the case in 1st Samuel 15 about agag and the animals that they kept? The God said, I want you to wipe them out.

And Saul thought he knew better than God.

And in fact, when Samuel came, Saul says to Samuel, we've obeyed the voice of the Lord.

And Samuel said, well, if that's true, Saul, then what's this? I hear sheep. You know, he thought he was doing the right thing. The difference between David and Saul is when David became king, God told him to do something, he did it. That was the difference. And you know what, brethren? That qualified David to be a man after God's own heart right there. He began to be a man after God's own heart.

How about you, brethren, and how about me?

Over in the book of Micah, in verse 6 and 8, it's a short verse. You don't need to turn there, but write it in your notes if you're taking notes. It says, what does the Lord require of you? What does the eternal require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? To walk humbly with your God?

Again, brethren, no amount of knowledge, no amount of wealth in this world, as is important, brethren, is walking humbly with God.

You know, sometimes I think we look at the carnal world out here, we think God doesn't expect the world out there to be humble. Well, how many of us remember the story about, you know, those who were so boastful and proud that God brought down that we're not in God's Church?

There are many examples of that, you know, through the Bible. Herod was one of them, remember, that God brought him down in a very powerful way, as a matter of fact. There's a number of cases where God brought them down. In fact, the King of Tyre as a physical king over there in Isaiah 14, or Ezekiel 28 there. In fact, the King of Tyre, God says as a physical king, God said, I'm going to bring you down, and I'm going to lay you before the nations. It was symbolic, of course, of Satan, as we understand, but there was a physical king there. So God does that with the world as well as He does it with us as well, to bring us down, to make us humble. So, brethren, what is your attitude? What is your attitude? Can you listen? Can you be corrected? I mean, by God's word? Or, brother, would He say something to you that goes against your grain, and maybe your grain is going the wrong way?

Well, Jesus Himself, brethren, had such an attitude. He said of Himself He could do nothing. And, in fact, He said in John 15, I am the vine. I'm the true vine. And apart from Me, apart from Him, which is the true vine, Jesus Christ, we can do nothing.

We can accomplish a solitary thing. So, brethren, number one thing to check off in this checklist, brethren, is what is your attitude?

Has God conquered you? Are you surrendered to Jesus Christ?

Have you given up on your way and surrendered to God's way and His will?

Another checklist, a very big checklist, brethren, item that really we need to look at in our own personal lives is, do you see your nature, your carnal nature? Now, I don't care whether you have God's Spirit or not.

If you have God's Spirit in you, and it's working, and it's very much alive within you, you know, obviously you have a perception that others cannot have.

But even those that do not have God's Spirit, and maybe it's with them, you know, as it was with the disciples, you know, those people, if they can see that, can begin to overcome. They can begin to change. So, do you see your carnal nature? I'm not going to Jeremiah 17, verse 9, but let's quote what it says over here. This is, the heart is deceitful above all things.

That old human heart is so deceitful.

In fact, you know, if you don't believe that, ask yourself sometimes how you end up doing things that you don't want to do, and really begin to break it down and analyze it. If you did something that you know you should not do. You know, it's like if you were a terrible situation with diabetes, and you ate a big slice of chocolate cake, or you broke into the freezer and you got a whole container of ice cream, and you knew if you ate all that ice cream, you're going to be in the hospital. I know the people, by the way, that ended up in the hospital who did that.

Just from a carnal perspective, how do you get there?

Sometimes people, when they get to that point, by the way, they've made themselves all kinds of promises. I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm out. When the doctor says, you got, you got diabetes. You got pre-diabetes, or whatever it is you may have. Well, I can knock this thing out. But again, analyze yourself. How it happened?

The big mistake you had is you put the chocolate cake in the refrigerator. That's what you did.

And you're crawling on your hands and knees as you head to the refrigerator at night, about midnight, when everybody's in bed and nobody will notice that you're eating the chocolate cake.

But again, what causes this? I'm being a bit humorous with that. But what causes this to do the carnal things that we do? What causes to do those things that are wicked?

But it says, your heart, the heart is deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. You know, the chocolate cake is the least of all worries, isn't it? But then, I like the way Jeremiah puts it, who can know it? In the world, maybe he could put it another way. Who really cares in the world?

Who can know it? I think the only answer that you can give to what Jeremiah says, that question, who can know it, is only if God is working in your life, only if you're called, can you really know it? And again, it applies to people, whether they're, you know, have God's Spirit or not, and whether they're seeking God.

If one is seeking God, we can know it. We can be aware of it. And you're hearing what I'm saying right now. You know, if we have ears to listen and to hear. One of the greatest revelations to me, brethren, when I started reading the Bible was Romans 8 verse 7, where it says, that carnal mind is enmity against God. In other words, it hates God, is not subject to the law of God, and Paul says, and neither indeed can be.

For all the good that sometimes people think that they are, Paul's saying, no, the nature we have is carnal, very carnal. Now, I don't mean that somebody carnal doesn't can't do some good things. There's a lot of people in the world that are carnal as carnal can be, and they do good things. But they are yet carnal. They are yet carnal. Because they, while they might do good things, a lot of times will not even lay a finger to obey God. Let's go to Ephesians 4. Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 and verse 22. Here Paul tells us, he was telling the brethren at Ephesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust. You know, you let that old man run away with with a carnal mind unchecked by the Spirit of God, and it gets more and more corrupt. But he says, but be renewed in the Spirit of your mind that you put on the new man, you put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Put on the new man. So, brethren, are we putting off that old carnal nature? Are we putting off getting rid of that corrupt old man and changing to a new man? You know, another name that Paul used for the old man was the body of death. And Paul felt like he was, you know, it's like he had an old man strapped to his back, an old dead corpse on his back, and he was holing around. And, you know, pretty soon it gets pretty heavy, all of that old dead man on the back, doesn't it?

I'm glad, by the way, we don't live to be a thousand years old for that reason. It's a long battle fighting this human nature, this carnality that we have. And Paul goes on to thank God for Jesus Christ. It made it possibly be freed from this corrupt carnal nature, this body of death, as he called it. And, you know, when you will be finally free, brethren, of the body of death is the moment that you're changed from this physical flesh into spirit. You're not going to be battling with this carnal mind up until Jesus Christ comes at the sound of the last trumpet, and we're changed at the sound of that great trumpet. So we've got a battle ahead of us every day of our lives. So just settle into that, that reality. It's an ongoing battle. You know, there'll never get to the thinking somehow, you know, I'm all right.

That's what David did, and God almost took his spirit from him.

And talk about a crash. He almost, you know, crashed. I don't think probably David ever neglected doing his pre-check after that. Number three, brethren, in this checklist.

Do you realize, do we know, I know we, again, I'm preaching to the choir, we live in Satan's world. This is Satan's world.

Let's go over to 2 Corinthians 4 over here, verse 3. We don't turn to this verse that much anymore, because, you know, we're all, many of us, old hands at this.

But 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3, you know, sometimes the song we sing, that people sing, this is our Father's world, not quite yet, you know, but we know it shall be. But in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3, it's just in Paul's epistle here to the Corinthians and verse 3 and 2 Corinthians 4, it says, yeah, I think in the King James, the God of the world, and so the God of this world is Satan.

The world is in a lost condition right now, or maybe we might say it's in the state of being lost, it's not lost altogether because we know Christ has given an opportunity for all to be saved, all to have a chance, all to have an opportunity.

And in this world that we live in, that is Satan's world, is the devil's world, brethren. Satan thrives under the guise of Christianity. You know, far from him, you know, diminishing in this world, he increases in Christianity, in fact, more and more because there is so much deception in the world. Over in chapter 11, chapter 11 over here, Notice here what it says about, again, Satan's world, and no wonder for Satan himself has transformed himself into an angel of light.

Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transformed themselves and the ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. And so the world, brethren, or the ministers of the world, even in Christianity, reflect, you know, their father, who is of, you know, this world and in ruling this world, and that's Satan the devil. But Satan appears to be an angel of light.

And in the future, false prophets are going to come on the scene. He is going to sow and be the kind of person that will be approachable, that will be praised in the world, that everyone will accept him, the beast as well.

But boy, they are going to be surprised what happens when the tribulation starts. They're going to be very surprised what's going to happen. It's like a lot of people, you know, they hold their hopes in the political systems of this world, but always those hopes are dashed.

It seems like that, you know, particularly politicians make all kinds of promises, but that's about all they're good for, making promises. Because, frankly, it is not within their power to be able to do most of the things they say they're going to do.

But God wants us, brethren, to realize we live in Satan's world. And Paul admonished the brethren in Romans, he admonished them to not be conformed to the world, but be transformed. He said, by the renewing of your mind, don't be like the world. Don't be caught up in this world and in this society. Because if we think we can play both ends against the middle, brethren, it's going to be like sitting on a picket fence. For us, it won't work.

We're only going to set ourselves up for more trouble, more problems. Satan is going to attack us in different ways. And he has, by the way. He's attacked the Bay Area churches and it's been going on pretty heavy for several years now. And I believe he will continue to attack. He's attacked us with sickness in the area and problems, trials that people have had, severe trials that some have had. And I implore you, brethren, to pray for those who are sick.

Pray for those like Dodie Hoops that has the lung cancer problem. And this horrible cancer that she has. Pray for her that God will intervene. That God will hear and by his stripes that she will be healed.

Pray for Teresa Orth, who has, you know, some problems with her back. She has difficulties with it. Such that, in fact, sometimes she goes into spasms. But pray for her. You know, pray for Dan Cupp, who's going through his problems with, you know, the cancer.

Pray for Rick.

And pray for Shirley and pray for others that are sick as well, within the church. Rather than the church of God goes through, goes forward on its knees and we need to be praying for each other. Praying for those that are having trials. People have problems, like Mrs. Hickson, as it was mentioned, in the announcements to be praying about those kinds of things. Small things, you know, for God to handle, to intervene. There's nothing he cannot do.

But, brethren, it's like a meal song. We're being refined. But we need to pray for each other.

You know, when Jesus Christ talked about some things not going out by prayer and fasting, maybe he meant more than just one of the disciples laying their hands on somebody. Maybe he meant more than that. In other words, maybe he meant more of God's people praying about it and fasting about it. In other words, not just one of the disciples praying and fasting. Obviously, you know, Christ was able to do those things. And I'm sure the apostles could have, as well. They probably didn't pass a lot, did they? Probably didn't pray that much, either. I would imagine if they prayed at all. But we don't know, again, what they did or what they did not do.

But we live in Satan's world, brethren, and Satan's attacking us. And God uses those trials we go through to refine us those and to help build character in us. Number four!

Brethren, are you, are we, growing spiritually in God's Word?

Over in 1 Peter chapter 1, or chapter 2, I should say, 1 Peter chapter 2, and verses 1 and 2, over here.

Are we growing spiritually?

In this checklist, again, it's good to evaluate where are we as God's people? 1 Peter 2, verse 1 and 2. It says, Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, again, look at your life. Do you have people you have grudges against? Mr. Warren talked about forgiveness, a willingness to forgive other people, putting things behind us. Do you have malice toward other people, feelings that you have? All deceit, hypocrisy, in other words, not living, you know, two ways of life, envy. You're not envying other people. And all evil speaking. You govern what you say and what comes out of your mouth. But it says, As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, you want the word of God that you may grow thereby.

I'm glad we're doing the Bible reading program, and people can read the Bible every single year.

I guess, you know, it's like the evolutionists say, given enough time, anything is possible. Maybe you and I may be able to memorize the Bible. Pretty soon, if we keep reading, I know you probably think there's no hope, you know, of memorizing it. But the main thing is, if we don't put it in, it can't come out, can it?

It's like the old IBM, you know, we want to make sure we put it in there. And not by the way, the garbage in, garbage out thing. We want to get rid of the garbage, but let's put the good stuff in there. And maybe when we need it, the good stuff, the word of God, then God will bring it to the fore of our minds. But the word of God has to be in our minds, brethren, if we're ever going to grow. And as we're growing, brethren, are we, again, sort of keeping stock of that growth? Now, as we're growing, brethren, that growth process means that we're knocking out the old man, and we're putting in the new man. It's like going in and gutting a room and rebuilding it. It's like, how many of you have ever gutted a room and rebuilt it from top to bottom? Just look around here. Just a few of you. It doesn't make you feel good when you finish it. You finish refurbishing that room at whatever it might be. I know my wife and I have been in demolition processes. By the way, I'm very good at tearing things up. She is, too. We did our kitchen to save some money. We found out that in order to get somebody in to come take our old countertops out and to clean them up, it cost $14 or $1500. Anyway, I told her I said, we'll do that. First she said, no, you can't do that.

What do you mean I can't do that? Sure, I can. She thinks because I was sick a couple years ago that I can't do anything anymore. But anyway, one morning I got up and she was down there beaten on that countertop, trying to start tearing up. Pretty soon, I was beaten on it. We were both beaten on that thing. We finally got it all cleaned out. It took a while.

Those of you who came up for the Deacons and Elders meeting, you saw our new kitchen, what we put in. We put in the backsplash and all of that, you know, as well. I don't know what this has to do with what I was talking about, but oh, I know what it had to do with it. It had to do with gutting the old man and putting the new man in, right? That's what I meant. And we are to tear out that old man and put in the new man. And it's akin to that, really, of tearing something up and making it new and making it beautiful. And it is indeed beautiful to God and to God the Father and Jesus Christ. So better than that, let's make sure that we are drinking in of God's Word and we're growing by that Word as God's people, passing out the old leaven of our lives and bringing in, you know, the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Peter commanded the early church to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And we are to do the same, brethren, today. We can't be double-minded. We have to know what we're doing, what we're trying to accomplish in our desire to change our lives.

I think that's where people make a big mistake, is they're double-minded. They haven't really made their mind up what they want to do.

Go up in Brentwood every morning, particularly on the weekends, and the mornings I wake up and I hear this buzzing airplane, you know, and it sounds like he's doing loop-do-loops up there. I've never seen him. By the way, he must be particularly high. I guess he's got one of these these vintage kind of airplanes. And all I gotta say is he must really be dedicated to it, because I've been hearing that the last 12 years. It's been going on that long. But he's dedicated to it. At least he's not double-minded about what he wants to do on Saturday morning. People do get dedicated to those kind of things, don't they, that are physical. But can we be single-minded in the desire to change ourselves and overcome, spiritually speaking? Number five in this checklist is, do you see your calling?

Why you were called?

You know, Paul wrote the Corinthian church, and he says, for you see your calling. You know, I've quoted that verse probably if I've quoted it one time. I've quoted it a thousand times. Well, through the years. And I have to think that when Paul said, for you see your calling to the Corinthian brethren, he knew that most of them probably didn't. And through the years, brethren, I have come to believe that the majority of the church of God doesn't see the calling.

And I offer as evidence of what I'm saying here, is looking at what has happened in the history of the church.

At one time in the church, there were 150,000 people.

Now, where are they today?

Why don't we have people standing, by the way, in the back over here, and through the back over and why don't we have an auxiliary group next door, listening, you know, on, you know, a closed circuit or something. Why don't we have that? Why don't we have churches all over, you know, this Bay Area here is because most never see their calling. That's why.

And they don't hang. They don't endure to the end. And that's a key. Those that endure the end, the same Christ said, are the ones who are going to be saved.

So most of all of those that have ever been called, are going to be saved. And, in fact, in our time, haven't seen their calling.

I remember Mr. Herbert Armstrong saying many, many times, there are two reasons that God has called you and me. He kept saying this, you know, through the years. Number one, do you remember what they were, brother? Number one, they're trying to be teachers.

Trying to be teachers. And number two, what was the number two? Anybody know? To help get the work done. To help get the work done. In a way, it's quite simple when you break it down that way, isn't it?

To train to be teachers and help get the work done. Our lives, brethren, as we're doing those two things, we're learning to be teachers, we're listening, we're applying, we're drinking up God's Word, we're being educated spiritually speaking. And we know to take on responsibility, mostly in the kingdom, but there's much responsibility we must take on now as God's people as well. And we have to help get this work done just as the disciples, when they were sent out two by two to go to preach the gospel, always have a different role to play within the church of God. And as we do these things, these two things, as we train to be teachers and as we do the work of God, God will bless us all along the way. So again, brethren, do you really see your calling? Do you know what it is?

When you ask yourself, again, why did God call me? What do you come to? What are the reasons you come to? Why did God call me? Well, the answer is, for you to be a teacher, and so you can help get the work done. You know, God hasn't called me to be a prophet and called me to be an apostle.

He's not called me to be an oracle. That's what people go to. You know, I don't have any messianic complex.

I've told a number of people through the years, by the way, even when we had troubles in the church. Don't ask me to raise some church up, you know, separate out here and have a little church in the vale. Don't ask me to do that. I won't do that. I simply won't do that. But I will be a part of a worldwide effort to preach the gospel to the world, and the true gospel to the world, the gospel of the kingdom of God. So, brethren, do you see your calling? Number six, number six, in this checklist, do you appreciate what Jesus Christ did for you? Not the person sitting next to you, by the way, but do you appreciate what Jesus Christ did for you?

You know, when Paul wrote the Corinthian church, he had to write them because, as I said earlier, they were not observing the Passover correctly. They were, you know, bringing alcohol there. They were bringing, of course, the drink, not like the little symbol for wheat, for think of, you know, at the Passover that are the emblems, and having a little piece of bread and, you know, 11 bread to symbolize the body of Christ, but they were having a big meal and a big party. Some people were eating, and while others were going hungry, and some were even getting drunk, believe it or not. This is how the early church began. Quite a wild beginning. It's almost like the Wild West, wasn't it, compared to what we would think today. Let's go back over here to 1 Corinthians 11.

In verse 20 over here, 1 Corinthians 11.

In verse 20, he says, Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. You know, I always find it quite interesting that in the church of the world, you know, what they call the New Testament Passover? They call it the Lord's Supper.

Now, read that again, brethren. Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of the others, and one is hungry, and another is drunk. And Paul says, What? Do you not have houses to eat in and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say? You shall praise you in this? I do not praise you. So, he wasn't very proud of what they were doing. Now, in verse 28, though, to segue into this, he says, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. In other words, we're partaking of emblems here, as he clearly showed in previous verses. And it says, For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. And he said, For this reason many are weak, and sick among you, and many sleep. And so we have to, again, make sure, brethren, that we as God's people have the right priorities and that we are focusing on the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and what He did for us. Remember, Jesus Christ gave His life for us, brethren. He was beaten. Most people would have died from what He experienced, even from the beating of the cat of nine tails. But He bore the stake up the hill to Gogatha, and He gave His life. Over in Isaiah 53, in verses 2 through 6, over there, it talks about how He bore our pain. He bore our sickness. And it says, you know, it was because of us that He was chastened.

So be aware, brethren, when He was strapped to that post before He was beaten with the cat of nine tails, you should have been there. I should have been there.

I should have been there to receive every lick. And you should have been there, too.

But He experienced it all for us, and for two reasons. Number one, you could be healed spiritually. And number two, that by His stripes you could be healed physically.

That God could intervene for us. And be aware of this, brethren, that He wasn't just a sacrifice. He was a willing sacrifice. He didn't have to. He didn't have to come, and He didn't have to experience the deplorable things that He went through, brethren. But He did it for us. He loved us. He wanted to give us a chance. If He had not done this, if Jesus Christ had not done that, which He did, frankly, I think man would have been blotted out a long time ago. Every one of us would be gone. Or we would have never been.

I'm not sure we'd even have made it 6,000 years. Probably in a white... You know, if Babel had not taken place, we'd been wiped out probably over a thousand years ago, or 2,000 years ago, for that matter. So do you appreciate the sacrifice of Christ and what Christ did for us? Let's go to Romans 5. Romans 5 over here.

Why did Jesus Christ have to shed His blood for you and me anyway?

Sometimes people ask that question of me, why did He have to do that? What was so important about His blood being shed? Well, in Leviticus 1711, it says, it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

And so through the blood of Jesus Christ, that atonement was made for us. And so that's the law of God, that is through blood, that a soul is atoned.

And Jesus Christ gave His blood because He was more valuable than all human beings ever born or existed. Every human ever existing, Jesus's blood was more important than everybody's blood. And so He gave His life willingly for that reason, so we'd have a chance.

And He's qualified Himself to be our high priest. He's called one of them, find Himself to be the head of the church. He's qualified Himself to, you know, be our Savior. He is our Savior.

But again, He didn't have to do it. He did it for us willingly. Romans 5 over here, Romans 5 and verse 8.

But it says, but God demonstrates His own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, you know, before you and I were ever born, Christ died for us. It is amazing. It is remarkable that somebody died 2,000 years ago. We're talking about here today.

We're discussing what He did. It's though it happened yesterday.

Much more than, have you now been justified by His blood? We shall be saved from wrath through Him. Or if we know we're enemies, we'll reconcile the God through the death of His Son. In other words, it was now possible to be reconciled to the Father in heaven. As a result of what Jesus Christ experienced, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. We know Jesus was resurrected, and He didn't remain in the tomb, but He was resurrected as we shall be. And John says that when we see Him, we will see Him as He is because we're going to be like Him.

Christ gave His blood for us, brethren. Again, in this checklist, do you really appreciate what Jesus Christ did for you? And number seven, as a result of Christ's sacrifice, as a result, brethren, of your seeing, your calling, as a result of you realizing what this life is about. You're living in Satan's world, and you're fighting the battles that are in this world that Satan throws at us. As a result of your seeing your carnal nature, that you've got to be on your guard, that you're not letting down that guard. As a result of your attitude, brethren, is do you have a servant's attitude yourself, like your Lord and your Savior? Do you have a servant's attitude?

When Christ and the apostles gathered for the first New Testament Passover, remember Jesus rose and He wrapped a towel around His waist, and He poured water in the basin, and He began to do something that usually was done by the lowest servant of the house. It must have been shocking for the disciples to see this of Jesus, and He washed all of the disciples' feet, including Judas, the one who betrayed Him. Of course, we'll read this in John 13, you know, when we partake of the Passover. But then, after He had washed all of their feet, remember Peter actually resisted it. But he relinquished that resistance and allowed Christ to wash His feet. But after He rose, He says, do you know what I've done?

I ask you, brethren, do you and I know what Jesus did that day for us? He said, you call me Lord, you call me Master, and this is true. This is true. I am your Lord, I am your Master. And if I've done this for you, and I've set you an example that you should do as I've done for you, you should follow me. Because the servant is not greater than this Master.

So, brethren, do we have a foot washing attitude and a willingness to serve others? Do we have a pitch in attitude? Do we have an outgoing attitude?

We certainly should not have a get attitude, should we? We should be here to offer, and then elsewhere to help offer those things that we can do to serve in any way that we can.

So, brethren, the Passover is going to be here very soon, and it's time for us to begin to pre-check these things, pre-check our life. I thought about, you know, again, I'm not a great fan of PSA, by the way, but I've tried to be positive about it as much as I can. And I thought, what does PSA mean? What would that acronym mean? And I put it this way, true salvation or servitude or servanthood achieved. True salvation or servanthood achieved. So, let's make sure we're pre-checking a lot of these things, and let's do a good pre-check for ourselves before we commence yet another year of God's wonderful Holy Day season that will culminate, of course, with the Feast of Tabernacles and other things that we're able to do at that time of the work year. But let's focus on this and do an adequate pre-check to make sure, again, we're right before God when we partake of the Passover.