Pre-Passover Preparation

The order from the head teacher was straight to the point and it was abrupt.

The classroom needs sweeping. Please go ahead, take a broom, and sweep it.

Young Booker T. Washington knew that this was his chance. He swept the room three times, not once, not twice, but three times. He went all along the side of the room with all the furniture that was there in the room. He dusted it several times. He inspected the floor closely.

He did a complete job. When the head teacher came back to evaluate his work, she took out a glove and she ran it along the edge of the furniture. And she looked at the floor, she looked in the corners, she looked everywhere. She used her handkerchief to rub things down. And she couldn't find one speck of dust in the room. She said quietly, I guess you will do to enter this institution. True story. Well, Booker T. Washington. And it was actually no less than the entrance examination into the college institution, which was the Hampton Institute in Virginia.

Later on, he would recall that that was probably the best I ever did at passing an examination. He never forgot that particular experience that he went through. Further, this is the time of year when God looks at those of us who have committed to him, who have entered into a covenant relationship with him at baptism. He looks at us and he says, I want you to focus on yourself. I want you to do a self-examination. In fact, Scripture instructs us to do this very thing. It's an amazing thing here. It's a time of additional scrutiny into our relationship with our Creator, into our relationship with our Heavenly Father and an older brother, who is also a Savior and a Passover. It's a time of year when men and women of God do their best to prepare to take the Passover observance. So here are some questions, brethren, as we begin to examine ourselves, to begin to examine our own spirit. Here are some questions to think about. Where are we? Where are we spiritually? Are we where we need to be? Are we where we want to be? Are there any areas of our life as we look at ourselves that we realize that we are actually compromising with what the Word of God clearly tells us that we should or should not do? Are we sure that we are living our lives in a way that is pleasing to God? You know, just what is our attitude and our outlook as God sees us? Not as necessarily, you know, we see ourselves because we don't always see ourselves the way that God sees us. Let's begin by going to 2 Corinthians chapter 2 in verse 13. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 in verse number 13. Are we determined to not let this Passover sneak up on us? Because we still have time, but the preparation time has a tendency to move by quickly, doesn't it, if we don't take advantage of it? But let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 13. We'll begin to take a look at one person in particular. Taking a look at one person in particular, basically our selves. Let's take a look here. 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5. It says, To examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith, test yourselves. And I think this is as good of a place to start as any in addressing the topic at hand. That right now is baptized members, which most of us here are. It says to examine ourselves. It says to test ourselves.

The title of the message today is Pre-Passover Self-Examination. Pre-Passover Self-Examination. And specifically, what I hope to accomplish in the message that God has prepared for us today is to understand how and why self-examination is very important prior to Passover and prior to the days of 11 bread. It's a human tendency, and I think most of us, if maybe not all of us have it, that we have a human tendency to examine others. To look and see, clearly, the faults in others. But God tells us, actually many places in Scripture, and also through His Son Jesus Christ, to start first right here. To start with ourselves. To have a humble approach when it comes to self-examination. Because it seems like it's a human tendency to look at others, but it is a godly tendency to have that humility to examine and to test ourselves in order for there to be a change. In order for there to be a significant change.

And yet, God tells us, even though few do it, God tells us, I want you to do it. I want my sons and daughters to do it. He instructs us to do it, as He's even talking about it here. So this Scripture here in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5, is one example of a Scripture where both the words examine and test are used in the same verse, the same Scripture, if you will. And there are other Scriptures as well that talk about that, and we'll talk about some of those in a moment. But in the New Testament, both of these words, as originally used in Greek, in essence, they mean and are translated in English pretty well to test, to discern, to examine, to scrutinize. And I think we know what some of these words mean. Scrutinize means we're looking pretty close at ourselves. And in this context, of course, they mean to examine ourselves, to test ourselves, to discipline ourselves, and to scrutinize ourselves. It says in this verse here, we are to be examining ourselves and based on the fruit in our lives, whether or not we are actually in the faith. Wow! We look at ourselves to see whether or not we are actually in the faith of God. So what does that mean? In the faith. Can we answer that question? We've raised it. Can we answer that? That's a good question. I think we can. Let's go to Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66. Go back to the Old Testament here for a moment.

We're going to pick it up here in Isaiah 66 and verse 2. It's always important as we go through the Scripture that we understand what we are reading and why does God state what He does?

In the way that He does. Why did God inspire it this way? What's He trying to help us to see? Well, let's take a look at Isaiah 66 and verse 2. God says to Isaiah a prophet, He says, For all those things my hand has made, and all those things exist, says the Lord. But to this one I am going to look on Him who is a poor and of a contrite spirit. That ties in so much with what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, doesn't He? He says, To this man I will look. He doesn't say it that way, but He says, Blessed are those who are poor in spirit. That doesn't mean we're poor in God's Holy Spirit, but it's about a person that feels that they are approaching things in a humble way. That it's not an approach that, well, God's just good to have me on the team. I'm glad that He chose me because I belong on this team. It's more of an attitude of humility, where, you know what, I don't think I'm very much, but God, if You can use me, I'm here at Your disposal. Use me as You choose to.

So God says, On Him who is a poor and of a contrite spirit, but what I really wanted to focus on is the very last part of verse number two, and one who trembles at my word. So what I see when I read here is that a person in the faith is one that trembles at God's word.

He trembles at God's word, and that poses the next question, what's meant by trembling at God's word? Well, the Hebrew word that's used for trembling, it's charade. It's spelled C-H-A-R-E-D. C-H-A-R-E-D. And it means fearful.

Fearful. Reverential, like reverend. You know, call no man reverend, but you know, call God. That's an appropriate title for Him. You reverence someone, honor, respect, fearful. And it can also be translated afraid, and it can also be translated trembling.

So the question here is, do we fear God enough in our thoughts, in our words, in our actions? Do they reflect what God instructs us here as far as to fear and to tremble in? This is someone who God looks to. Do you, do I, in any way, compromise God's word and His instruction? And if we do, where? Where is it that that's taking place? So He wants us to begin to see a few things in our lives where we do fall short.

So now, this is definitely a time to take a look at our own lives. It's not that we don't do this throughout the rest of the year, because God says in other places we should, but this is the time of the year that leads up to the Passover and also to the days of 11 bread in particular, that we are instructed to do so before we partake of the Passover. We'll read about that just in a moment in 1 Corinthians 11. Perhaps another good question to ask is, do you go, do I go to God and ask Him to show us the wrongs? You know, there are some things that maybe we see in our own life that we know because of the fruit. It doesn't necessarily result in good fruit. We know it's not working. We know we're breaking some principle of God. We're breaking a commandment. We're breaking a law of God. But then, do we ask God to show us the things that we don't necessarily see?

The hidden things. Maybe others see it, but we don't see it. And of course, God sees it because He's all-knowing. Let's take a look at another interesting Scripture over in Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3 and verse number 40. Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 40.

You know, this period of examination that we're about to engage in, or maybe have been in already, isn't a physical examination. It's not an examination to determine a medical flaw or a cancer or anything like that. But this is an examination that has actually far greater consequences for you and for me. It has eternal consequences. It has spiritual consequences because it concerns our spiritual condition. And I think it's important, and I hope we trust and understand, that there are things that we recognize with clarity. Things that we do that we shouldn't do. Or things that we don't do that we should do. Because in a sense, it would be nice to know what some of those things are that we should be doing, that we're not, or that we're doing that we shouldn't.

So let's take a look at what God relates to us here in Lamentations. It's the book after Jeremiah. Jeremiah was the author of this book, as God inspired him. Lamentations 3 and verse number 40.

It says, Let us search out and examine our ways and turn back to the Lord. I'm going to give you a moment to think about what we just read, and maybe what stands out in your mind as you read this particular verse. It says, Again, let us search out and examine our ways and turn back to the Lord. You know, if we fail to search out and examine our ways, guess what? We may not recognize that we're actually getting farther away from God. Maybe farther away than what we realize. The indication here is that when we examine ourselves, we search out and examine our ways, we will find that there's a need to turn back to God in one capacity or another. We'll see something. When we examine our ways, what we find is that we have a certain distance between us and God that we need to get turned back to Him and get closer to Him again. That seems to be the indication here. I think maybe the bottom line is, if we're honest with ourself and take the time to truly analyze how we are doing according to the Scriptures, we'll find that there are areas time and again that there's some things yet that we have yet to learn. And then we turn back to our God. You know, the next verse says, Lift up your hearts and hands to God. It seems to be part of the process here of turning back to Him, is to lift up our hands and our hearts to God. So the heart seems to be evolving. We'll talk a little bit about the example of David a little bit later and how he examined himself. And he was a man after God's own heart and what it is that he did is a good example for us. But as we read through these two Scriptures here in Lamentations, and again, this was written by Jeremiah, prophet of God, and it was written in the context of a called-out people of God that were beginning to stray away from God. The children of Israel had begun not only to stray away from God, but also to stray away from a way of life, His way of life. And I think there are some parallels, and I think that's why God has all of these examples written for us. I think 1 Corinthians chapter 10 talks about all the things that happened to them were for our learning, for our examples. And so we see some parallels between some of the things that happened to them, the children of Israel under the Old Covenant, and of course, the Israel of God, the church, under the New Covenant, as we know we are referred to in Scripture. And so we see these parallels. And today, as we heard in the sermonette, we're living in a difficult time, in a difficult world, that is presently being ruled by a temporary ruler, that his age is eventually going to end. His age is going to end. This age of man, the age of Satan, is going to be a change. But we presently find ourselves living in this world. And we can't help, even though we're to be a light of the world, we can't help being influenced by the things that are going on and taking place around us. Just like the children of Israel were influenced by the nations that were around them. And yet God's prophet Jeremiah is urging his people then, in verse number 40 here, to search out their ways, their faults, and to amend them, or to change them.

And then it says, and to turn back to the Lord. And that preposition, that little word, too, T-O, in the Hebrew implies not halfway, but all the way with the whole heart.

So without regular and consistent progress in developing the fruit of the Holy Spirit, our human nature can be influenced. We can be influenced to be led in a wrong direction.

So God has us take this course correction. He says, I want you to step up, and I want you to take personal responsibility where I expect you to. And so let's take a look at some of the personal responsibility he's given us. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians, this time chapter 11. Let's take a look at what he shares with us here. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we'll pick it up in verse number 27. 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

Pick it up here in verse number 27. It says, 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.

So Paul begins to relate to us that we are to avoid taking the Passover in an unworthy manner. Now many over the years haven't comprehended exactly what God was inspiring Paul to write here because they felt that they were not worthy of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

And since they weren't worthy, then they shouldn't partake of the Passover. There have been people over the years, and I know many of you have heard messages over the years, that's not necessarily what God is talking about. Because none of us are worthy. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So that's not what he's talking about. But what he's talking about here is in the manner in which we partake the Passover. Because none of us are worthy of Christ's sacrifice. Notice that we're not worthy. Verse number 28 as we go on. But let a man examine himself. And so again, God says his instruction is before we partake of this Passover, we need to look at ourselves. And we know when we look at ourselves and we compare ourselves with the standard of our older brother and of our father, we know we're not going to be found worthy in a sense. We're going to come up short, aren't we?

So God says, understand that let a man or a woman examine himself or herself, and then let them eat of the bread and drink of the cup. So we know when we examine ourselves, we're going to find out that we come up short. That we have some changes to make. And all the more then, we appreciate the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. Because we realize we're not worthy. So we examine ourselves, verse 28, and then let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. So, brethren, when it comes to the Passover service, all the baptized members around the world in the Church of God are going to partake of the bread. They're going to partake of the wine. And yet, before anyone drinks the wine or eats a piece of that broken bread, they will have examined themselves, as according it is to Scripture, prior and leading up to partaking of the Passover. So we are once again taking a look at ourselves. We'll hear messages every year about this prior to the Passover. And if we don't make certain that this takes place, according to what we just read in verse 29, we can be found guilty in the eyes of God of participating in an unworthy manner. So, brethren, a couple of things here. Verses 28 and 29. It's pretty clear, really, that God wants us to make sure we understand it. A couple of things we talk about here is that we are talking about what we are to do prior to partaking of the Passover. We're to examine ourselves. That's the first thing. And the second instructs us in the manner in which God expects us to take the Passover.

You know, the death of Jesus Christ was not taken lightly by the Father, nor was it even taken lightly by Jesus Christ Himself. Brethren, we can be certain that we should not take it lightly either. We are to discern the Lord's body. You know, if you look at verse 29 and maybe reverse it a little bit, you know, it talks about, for He who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to Himself, not to certain the Lord's body. You turn that around as that we should eat and drink in a worthy manner. And then we won't bring judgment upon ourselves, and we will discern the Lord's body, the sacrifice of someone for you and for me. Well, think about that. We'll discern that.

Now, looking back the last week or two, I suppose, what's been on our mind the last couple of weeks? Well, let's ask ourselves a few questions. What's been on our mind?

Has it been work?

Has it been on family? Has it been on illness?

Has it been on maybe some project that we've been working on? Has it been on world events? You know, we've been so plugged into the world news. Not that that's a bad thing because we want to be aware of what's going on, but we're so plugged in that, you know, that's how we spend all of our time. We've lost a little bit of the balance, the overall big picture.

Or has our mind been focused to a large part lately on what is expected of you and me as we approach the Passover and the days of 11 bread?

How much time have we allotted to that? Or, if we haven't, how much time will we allot between now and the Passover? How much time will we allot? For prayer, talking to God as we examine ourselves and as we prepare for the Passover.

Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 11, verse 28. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 28. Because really, now is the time for us as individuals to seriously assess how much we value Jesus Christ's sacrifice by considering what we are doing in our lives. 1 Corinthians 11, I guess we're here. We're told here, instructed here, that with an individual responsibility, but let a man examine himself. And then, so let him eat of the bread and drink the cup. Let's go over, really meant to go over to 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10, just a page or two over.

This book of 1 Corinthians was written kind of in a unique time because these things were really on Paul's mind because this was written just prior to Passover in the days of 11 bread. When this epistle was delivered to the Corinthians church, it was prior to the Spring Holy Days and prior to Passover. So a lot of these things were on Paul's mind. Well, let's see what it says here in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 12.

It says, Therefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.

Why did Paul write that? Why did Paul write that to the church? Why would he give such a warning like that? Well, wasn't it because he wanted them to realize that as long as they were human, there was always a danger of a false sense of security?

Or maybe even an arrogance. I know the truth. I understand it. And in a sense, I stand pretty strong.

And I think he wanted them to realize the possibility of going backwards. I think that's why it's here.

I've got a question for all of us, including myself. How do we begin a process of self-examination? If that is something that God instructs us in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 28, that this is something we're supposed to do before we partake of the Passover, how do we begin that process of self-examination and of testing? Self-testing.

Well, I would suggest this process starts and begins with sincere conversation with God.

A sincere and heartfelt conversation with God, in a sense, talking to God. Prayer, in a sense. And, you know, we talk about prayer a lot. And we really can't overstate that, whether it be the message that I'm giving, or really any message that somebody here might give on any topic, of how prayer, in a sense, is an essential element to a lot of different things that we discuss. But I think the truth of the matter is that's important. It's an important aspect here.

You know, I think at this time of the year, God wants us to enter in to maybe to ratchet that up just a little bit more, to turn it up a notch as we begin to talk to Him about me, about you, in a sense. We talk about ourselves to God.

I think it has to be not only sincere, and I think it has to not only be heartfelt, but I think it also has to be specific. Say, okay, God, help me to see something I haven't seen before. You know, be specific in asking God what it is that we need to do to become the man or the woman of God that He wants us to be. I think this is necessary for effective self-examination. I don't think we'll move forward without a meaningful conversation with God as part of the process of self-examination, apart from asking Him and then listening to what He has to tell you and me. When we examine ourselves, we must examine ourselves also in all areas of our life, our daily life, our married life, our family life, our church family life, you know, how that's going among the brothers and sisters of the family of God, and even, of course, with our relationship with God, the Father in which Jesus Christ. And as you examine yourself, ask God to show you in His Word where you need to change in order to turn back to Him as we read about in Lamentations. To search. You know, we talk about the days of 11 bread. We search out the sin. We heard that about this, that in the sermon that we've got to put that out. And so it's a searching part of the process as we search and examine our own ways and then turn to a different direction. Sometimes we don't see things the way God sees them in ourselves. Sometimes we don't see ourselves, not only the way that God sees us, but sometimes we don't see ourselves the way a spouse sees us. Sometimes a spouse can help us. I've talked about this in the past that maybe we need to turn to our spouse for those of us that are married and say, what do you think I need to change in my life? Because maybe I have sinned against you. And so, you know, be easy on me, okay? But I'm going to ask you for two or three things, because sometimes that's about all we can handle. If it gets beyond that, we start to get overwhelmed and then we freeze up, don't we? That can happen. Well, there's just, okay, this is, you gave me 10 things here. I don't even know where to start. And that can happen. And so, in fact, in the process of our life, I remember one time my wife was talking to somebody and she put down three things that she felt she needed to change in her life. And then somebody else came up to her and said, you know, Mrs. Shriver, you need to change in this area. And she thought, wow, that wasn't even on my top 10. You know? And maybe that needed to be added, you know, and she would be able to answer that better than I. But maybe that needed to be added. But she was already working pretty hard on two or three things. And sometimes that's about all we can do. But sometimes a friend, a close friend can help. A spouse can help us to see ourselves in ways that we don't see ourselves. And then, of course, God can help us. You know? And we want to ask Him in mercy because that can be overwhelming, too. I think that David, I can't remember exactly where this is in Scripture, but he said, God, correct me, but in Your mercy, lest I just be consumed. He wanted to see His shortcomings, and we'll talk about that a little bit later. But he said, God, please, in Your mercy, lest I just cease to exist.

Don't raise your hands, but have you ever sat down and actually written a few goals out? On paper. You know, putting the thoughts to paper and then writing them out. You know, there's an old saying, and maybe you've heard it. Well, before I get to the old saying, I want to complete a different thought. Not only writing the goals down, but then writing some specific plans on how to accomplish those goals. Writing them down in a piece of paper. The old saying I wanted to talk about was, a goal without a plan is just a wish.

I don't know if you've ever heard about that. You know, a goal without a plan is just a wish. There's a similar statement that a goal without a plan is just a dream. It doesn't really go too far. If it's just something that's kind of floating around in the thought stage, it often doesn't go as far. You know, without writing our goals down and writing down a plan in order to accomplish that, sometimes the rocket doesn't get too far off of the launch pad.

This is something that I did for the first time at the Fall Festival in Sri Lanka. I've never done this before, but it was like the opening night of the feast. And of course, everyone has high expectations. They're hoping to have their best feast ever, and some of those things. And I said, you know what?

I said, I like you. And you know, I suggested, I encouraged and then command, but I said, I really suggest that you write down a few of your goals of what you hope to accomplish at this feast. And then take it further. And I had them take it further. You know, I waited for a while, had them write down two or three different goals of something that they wanted to try to do or accomplish at this feast.

And I said, now I said, put down some action plans, three action plans on each goal as to how you're going to accomplish that goal. Give you an example. One goal was to meet more people at the feast. They have a chance to spread themselves around, you know, to meet more people at the feast. And that's a good goal. And then so I asked, and maybe you can be thinking in your mind, too, if you had that goal, what specific action plans would help you to achieve that goal?

You know, some thoughts that came to mind. In fact, when my wife and I did this, because we did this, too, at the feast in Sri Lanka, we had our own goals and we had our own action plans. And we actually, of the three goals, we actually, one of them, we had the same goal. So that kind of made it a little bit easier. We're working together on this. But then she had some other goals that I didn't have. And I had some goals that she didn't have. And so not that her goals were better or worse than mine, or mine were better or worse than hers, but these are just some of the things that she was working on.

But getting back to the example of a goal to meet more people at the feast. It's a good goal, isn't it? But what action plans, you know, might be needed in order to accomplish that goal? Well, here were some thoughts and ideas. Number one, invite a different person or couple to each different meal at the feast. Invite a different person or a couple or a family to each different meal at the feast.

And so that way, you know, then you're thinking about, okay, well, we got somebody today, but who we got for tomorrow? Hey, let's ask somebody at church today for tomorrow breakfast. And if we can also get the appointment done for lunch, that would be great, too. And so that was one thing. Another thought was a specific action plan was to maybe join the choir.

You get a chance to get to know some people in the choir as you're rehearsing, you're working together. Another one was to invite an action plan would be we're going to schedule some people to come over to our room. We're going to start filling in on our calendar. We're going to ask people, can you come over, you know, next Tuesday and try to fill up our calendar so we can get to get to know them.

Another one was I'm going to volunteer to assist on family day. You know, they need some help, and there's some people that you know that they need to work together in a certain project, and so I'm going to get involved with that.

So specific things to do to accomplish the goal. Another one had a goal, well, I want to read the Bible more during the feast because sometimes I just get so busy, I don't read the scriptures as much as I feel I should.

So you can maybe be thinking in your own mind, okay, you write that down, and then, well, then what action plan would we do? And so this particular person said, well, I'm going to set the alarm clock, you know, 45 minutes sooner than what I normally would wake up, and I'm going to have some quiet time to be able to read the Bible and to have God's Word begin to pour into my mind as we feast at the Fall Festival.

You know, for those of you, I don't know how many of you have ever built a house? You had a goal, you know, anyone here build a house? Can have a new construction? Okay, nobody here. But what I hear from those that have done it, okay, is that it's only a dream until it's a goal, but it's only a dream until you put the plan on paper in a blueprint. And once you have that on paper in a blueprint, you are halfway home. You're halfway to reality. You've got it written down. It's amazing how that works. My brother and having a goal to build a house is only a dream until it's been put on paper. And as you and I examine ourselves this year, I'm going to suggest I'm not going to direct, but I'm going to suggest that you write down two or three areas of your life that you feel, or God has revealed to you, that you need to change, that you need to grow in. And this is the time. At this season, at this time frame of the Passover season, this is a logical time to do this very thing. When we're in the time frame of self-examination, there are different specific objectives that we could make a list of.

I've done this this year. I've written down three things. Areas that I know that I need to change. Areas that God or my wife has revealed to me that I need to grow in. I'm writing it down on paper, and I've already written down some specific things, action plans, that I'm going to have to do, because that's really what it comes down to, isn't it, is action, that I'm going to have to do in order to accomplish the goal. And when Passover comes around next year, and we go through this self-examination process, again, I'm going to take a look at this list and see how well I've done, or how well I haven't done. And maybe it needs to stay on the list a little bit longer. I want to give you a few examples of a few things. This isn't a complete list. This is just a starting place. Just an example of things that you could possibly put on your list to assess your progress and spiritual growth and maturity. Nothing I'm going to give here is anything that really should be new to most of us, but a few solid principles here that I think that are essential for us to gauge, in a sense, how we're doing in the area of spiritual maturity. A few questions to ask. Number one, is my discussion with God daily expanding? Is my discussion with God daily expanding? And what do I mean by that? Well, in other words, you know, we go to God and we talk to Him. We talk to Him. And sometimes we thank Him for this and for that, or we ask Him for this and for that. And I guess I'm wondering, are we basically asking for the same things? Over and over and over again, day in and day out? Or is that expanding? Are we growing in our ability to communicate with God? These are just a few general things here. Second, when I read and study the Bible, am I gaining understanding continually? When I read and study the Bible, am I gaining understanding continually? I think this is a little bit self-explanatory. And again, as I said earlier, the more we study the Scriptures, then the more that God opens up our minds, then we begin to see what He would have us to do. And we begin to see why does He say it? And why does He say it in that way? And what does He expect of me? I think the more we read, the more we'll see. And then the more we have the ability to apply some of these things in our lives. The third one, a question maybe to ask. And some of these may fit us, and some of them maybe don't. But when I talk with my spouse, or anyone else for that matter, how much do I think before I speak?

And what is the tone of my voice? When I speak to my spouse, or for anyone for that matter, how much do I think before I speak? And what is the tone of my voice? Is it better than in the past, in a sense? You know, perhaps some of us are better this and by nature than others, but the truth of the matter is, when God's Spirit is actually guiding us and leading our lives, and we're responding to it, we stop and think about things before we just bolt out with something.

And I'm just giving these examples of things to think about as we speak about our attitude and our frame of mind, and how we're responding to the Word of God. A fourth one.

Am I quick or slower than I used to be on accusing others? Am I quick or a lot slower than I used to be on accusing others? Now, I can tell you, and this was touched on also in the sermon, and we live in a society here where there's a lot of finger pointing going on, a political environment that's going on, and was also touching the fact that a lot of people are quick to blame others, find fault in others, and very, very slow to look at themselves. And that should tell us, since that's the culture that we are living in, that we definitely need God's help in looking at ourselves, because we're surrounded by a culture that takes very little responsibility for themselves. Brethren, don't kid ourselves, and I shouldn't kid myself, that is all around us. We are living in that culture. And God, of course, as He often does, tilts the world upside down and says, you know what, I really want you to focus on you.

Now, I can take care of the rest. You do your part. I want you to focus on you.

Some of the saddest stories we've seen in the news, whether it be in politics or relationships, have to do with accusations and finger pointing all over the place. But that should tell us we need a lot of help with God's Holy Spirit. That we don't do that. Because that's the influence that we're surrounded in and impacted by. And apart from His help, we're going to be caught up in that.

A fifth one. Am I more interested in what God says or what I or someone else feels? Am I more interested in what God says or what I or someone else feels?

You know, am I willing to compromise with God's Word when He says not to do something?

You know, that's the key here, in a way. So many people in life, and that includes us, we do not actively respond to God's Holy Spirit.

We can make decisions on how we feel about something.

You know, if we don't focus on God's Word, we can make a decision on how something looks or feels, instead of what God actually says. I'll tell you, when we make decisions based on how things look or how things feel, wow, outside of God's Word, the fruit isn't going to be good.

You know, this is what God says. This is what God says we should do. Yeah, but no buts.

No buts. It's really that black and white in that sense.

A sixth question made me ask, how much have my thoughts improved since last year? How much have my thoughts improved since last year? Now, I know that probably sounds pretty general when we talk about that. And it is. But I want you to think about it in the light of the various areas and aspects of life.

You know, again, we heard in the sermon about bringing every thought into captivity. And so, God says we have the ability to do that with His help, with the power of His Spirit, that we can do that. I'm not going to think that thought. Just wait a minute. I'm going to stop. I'm going to count to ten or whatever. And, God, I'm going to take it to You and I'm going to ask for Your help to put that thought out.

You know, how much have our thoughts improved since last year? You know what your thought process is. You know what's floating around between your ears. And I know what's floating around between mine. Is it better than it was a year ago? Is it healthier than it was a year ago? You know, there's so many Scriptures that say, you know, if you're going to think on something, think on these things. Something that's good. Something that helps. Something that encourages. Something that edifies. Those are the things that the mind of Christ thinks about.

So these are some examples. Again, just to begin to have us think about an assessment. You may have other things that would be on your list.

One more example, just as an example, is do I have the same love, the same drive that I had when I was first baptized? Do I have that same love and drive that I had when I was first baptized?

You know, I think these are important questions to ask. And I'm not trying to overwhelm you, because trust me, you know, we can freeze. There are so many things that come at us from so many different directions, we can freeze. But I think what God wants us to do is He says, you know what, I want you to start. I want you to start somewhere. As you look at yourself and examine yourself and you test yourself and you see, and scrutinize yourself, you see a few things I want you to pick out two or three to focus on.

And be careful too, not to be too judgmental of a brother. There may be something we see in them. But they may be in a situation, you know, they've already got three or four things that they're working on. We don't know necessarily. I mean, God expects us to be working on, I think, two or three things, particularly before Passover, to start that process to see, and then to begin to continue it as we go through the days of 11 bread and work our way towards Pentecost. But they may be working on things that we don't know about.

So have you ever written down a few goals and then a few plans? I'm going to encourage you to do so. You know, ever created a list of expectations from God?

Maybe we haven't thought about it that way before, so we've never done it.

You know, our parents had expectations of us, didn't they? They did.

And what about our relationship with God?

What's His expectations for us? Where are we spiritually and why is it important?

If we don't know His expectations, then we don't have a target. We don't have something to focus on. How do we even know what we're shooting for? You know? Ready, shoot, aim.

That'd be disastrous with it. Ready, shoot, aim? That wouldn't work out very well. I think it should be, as we know, ready, which has to do with preparing.

Aim, which has to do with focusing on something. And then fire, which has to do with action.

It's amazing the difference that comes to mind when we prayerfully and consider a list on paper, as opposed to just thinking about it and rattling it around in our mind.

You know? I mean, that's a starting place. You know? When we talk about self-examination, that's a starting place, and we may do that, and that's good. That's what we do need to do. But consider the concept of how things are crystallized when we put them down on paper.

Let's go back to Deuteronomy chapter 17. I think there's a reminder here, Deuteronomy chapter 17, of something that's really beautiful and I think helps to drive home this point.

Some of you have maybe heard this concept before. I remember hearing about it several years ago, and I first heard it. I thought, wow, I've never heard that before. I thought this was really a good concept. Maybe some of you here have heard it. Others of you, perhaps, if it's new to you, I want you to consider what God is talking about here, because I think there's great value here in this particular section of Scripture, Deuteronomy chapter 17 and verse 14.

God is speaking to His people, and He says, When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it, and you dwell in it, and you say, I'm going to set a king over me like all the nations that are around me. He says, You shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. One from on your brethren, you shall set his king over you. You may not set a foreigner over you who is not your brother.

But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses. For the Lord has said to you, You shall not go that way again. Don't want you going back to Egypt. Verse 17, Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.

Now, this is a typical thing that kings would eventually do.

You know, they would start stockpiling. They would start multiplying. They'd stockpile the horses, the gold, the silver, the things, the things that people would think about, you know, as wealth to the average human being. Verse 18, this is really where I want to focus in. It shall also be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the Levites. He was supposed to take that book from the Levites, and then, in his own handwriting, write down all of the copy of this law in his own book. And notice verse 19, And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the day of his life.

All right, not only not to stockpile things like others would do, but here's what I want you to do. I want you to write down with your own hands the law for yourself.

And then I want you to read it all the days of your life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes.

You know, it's that word fear there that he may learn to fear the Lord that can also be translated as trembling, that we read about in Isaiah 66. It's all tied together, isn't it, brethren?

Verse 20, And that is heart. We know that that's important in this process. That is heart won't be lifted up because of following God's instructions. Heart may not be lifted up above his brethren.

And that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left. It's going to stay close to God. Going to stay close to God in his ways.

And that he may prolong his days in his kingdom. And that he, in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

A couple of things I think that stand out to me, maybe others that stand out to you here. A couple of things here. First, it is not to be too big for your britches, you know. You're doing this so you don't lift up yourself above your brothers and your sisters. Your brethren.

How do you stay in contact with God? Well, according to this, you write something down and you read and you study this Word. You can't say, well, you know, I've got scribes that can read that for me. You know, they can write something down. You know, I've got scribes that can write things down for me. And every so often, I can ask them, well, what does God say about such and such?

It's not what He's saying. He says, you take individual responsibility.

No, you can't say to have a scribe do that. Wait a minute. God says, I hold you to that.

God knows how things work. Mickey knows that when we write things down on paper, and I think that's why we take notes at church, why we take notes at services here, perhaps you've kept them over the years, you've got things that you can review from time to time.

It's been proven, you know, that when you just listen to something, that your retention of the knowledge is much, much less than if you write things down. And I think that's why we encourage the brethren to take notes during services.

We have better retention.

Writing those things down helps the process. And I think some of you have been doing that for years, 30, 40 years here in the church. You've probably got more notes than you could probably count. You know, and there's a reason why we've done it. There's a reason why you've done it and still do it.

Because it helps you to ingrain in your mind what God's Word is. It helps us to learn better. It helps us to do better what we've learned. And it helps us to remember. God points this out right here in Deuteronomy, through His prophet Moses, that He wants any future kings to do this, and not just the opposite, probably what was happening in Egypt and what they saw in Egypt and other places.

But unfortunately, Scripture does show that there were very few kings that eventually followed through and did this.

Another point in this section, I think, that I wish to drive home is verse 18 and verse 19. That the king himself, not anybody else, was to write down this law.

Now again, I think we'll lose touch with God, with what God would have us to know and understand if we don't value it. And that's why God says, I want you to do certain things.

I think repetition is one of the most important forms of learning and remembering, and assists us on acting upon what we've learned. It's bound to improve our chances of making changes in our lives.

Let's go over to Psalm 26 and verse 2. So that's my suggestion. I think there was good fruit. I think Jelinda would agree there was good fruit at the feast. When we did this process at the beginning of the feast, I think it really resulted in good fruit in a lot of people's lives. I think they really did have a better feast. But I also know that when we put those goals at the feast, and we wrote down those plans of how we were to accomplish those goals, but that was a whole lot simpler, thinking about how we're going to meet people at the feast as an example, or how we're going to study more, than it is to overcome a sin, or an area of our life. So that's a much harder process, isn't it?

But God says, you know, we can do this. It's a process. We can do this. We can grow. We haven't arrived yet, but we are on our way.

And God says we can do this with His help.

Let's look at the example of David. Psalm 26, v. 2. He was a man after God's own heart, which the Scripture speaks about. And let's look at his approach to examining himself, testing himself. We will see here in examining himself that he goes far beyond what maybe many of us would have even thought. He goes far beyond. He's an example for us. Let's take a look. Psalm 26, v. 2. To me, this is a very simple and short verse, but there's a lot here. It says, examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my mind and my heart. Now on the surface, there's just a few words in this Scripture. It's a very short verse.

But David says something and does something here that is very profound.

What does he do?

He goes beyond examining himself. You see that here? You know, we've been mainly talking about examining ourselves, testing ourselves. But notice in verse number 2 that David now asks God to examine him. See how there's a big difference there?

This is a major shift. He says, examine me, O Lord. And then David asks to express this. He uses three words.

Examine, prove, and try. I'm reading from the New King James here, so I'm not sure what translation you have. Examine, prove, and try.

You know, the way that he asks and the words that he uses, it's designed in a sense for God in almost any possible way. However you can do it, I want you to reveal to me the reality of where I am, of who I am, and what my character is. That's how far he took it. He took it a long way.

You know, he basically states his wish, his desire, that I want the most thorough investigation of my character that is not humanly possible, but godly possible. Of course, we know another place, he says, but in your mercy. You know, we know that. So he said that another place, and God knew that too. He didn't want to shrink back from really knowing where he stood.

Why did he do that?

Why did he go this far?

Brethren, he must have felt that it was essential.

He must have thought it was essential to his spiritual growth. And his spiritual welfare? That the most rigid examination possible with mercy, in order to extract the exact truth of where he was.

You know, I think God was pretty pleased with that approach. I really do.

You know, David thought if... and there's another place that he talks about, show me even my secret sins, the ones that I do not even see.

He wanted to know if he was in error. He wanted to know if he was deceived. Because he wanted to walk a righteous path.

He wanted to know so that he could change.

What a wonderful model. What a wonderful example. You know, he wanted to know so that he could act upon it. So he could change.

Again, these words, examine, try, prove, suggest the most complete and thorough examination possible. David, in a sense, said, try me, God, try my mettle.

I want to know. Apply to me the tests that will determine the genuineness of my character. Because I want to know, and I want to change.

I think this is one of the most profound Scriptures. I think this is one of the most profound requests in Scripture that has been made of a man's Creator.

What do you think God thought about it? I would suggest He was greatly pleased about it. But David wasn't finished. He goes on to say in verse number 2, don't just examine me, God. Don't just prove me, but try my mind and my heart. The seats of the emotions, what drives us, you know, what drives the things that we say, the words that come out of our mouths.

So again, the heart is involved in examining self, and David wanted to get to that, and he wanted to get to the heart of the matter, so to speak, and he wanted to take that self-examination and self-testing to a different level.

Once we are in the examination mode, we should be thankful, even happy, because of the examination by God or by His Word, because it's really to result in our benefit, ultimately. Now, it may not feel like that at first, but it's ultimately going to be for our benefit, and it's ultimately going to bear fruit for God.

Brother, let's ask ourselves, do I keep the Passover just because it's a Christian ritual, something that I think should be kept?

Or do I keep it because I really want Christ in my life, and I really want to live by every word of God?

Now, both you and I know that we're not perfect.

We're not spiritually perfect yet. We've got a long ways to go. You know, when we look at our life, there are things that do need to change. We know that.

But I think what God would have us to think about is are we bearing more fruit today than we did a year ago?

And will we bear a little more fruit than that a year from now than what we do right now?

Or have we gone dormant?

You know, that's something that we have to individually take to God. But, brethren, as the Holy Days are approaching the spring, Holy Days are going to be upon us.

Remember, we're not partaking of the bread and the wine because of a physical appetite. We're not going to get an eudriated, like Paul had to address with some of the people in 1 Corinthians 11, that they were eating and drinking and then coming before the Passover, not partaking of it in a worthy manner, not discerning the Lord's body.

But we partake of the bread and the wine because we really desire to focus on the purpose of this first feast, the Passover service, and the purpose of the days of the leavened bread. That's why we do that, to examine ourselves, to test ourselves. And as David did, to ask God to examine us as well. One thing I think is clear, that we all have a job to do individually. We all have a personal responsibility to do before the Passover. According to Scripture, we don't have a lot of time left, we don't have a lot of time to waste, and I don't think we have the time to be pointing fingers at others or waste time putting anything ahead of our spiritual development as we examine ourselves. So let's make an effort when we come to this Passover to prepare ourselves. Spiritually, let's come humbly before God as we gather on the evening of April 2nd.

And remember that a couple of things, that our responsibility prior to partaking of the Passover according to Scripture is to examine ourselves. To begin to see ourselves as God sees us. To make changes going forward, and to realize that we fall short and that we need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our life. And secondly, again, in light of what's all been said, that we partake of the Passover in a worthy manner. That we do discern the sacrifice of our elder brother, Jesus Christ. And we do discern the Lord's body.

So, brethren, let's plan on that. Our responsibility is to come to the Passover after a thorough examination and then proceed on to the lessons that come afterwards, the Days of 11 Brad.