Preparing for the Passover

Well, you can see the title here of what I'm planning to talk about today as we heard in the announcements and as I'm sure we've seen as we look at the calendar.

Passover time is coming very soon. It's a time that we look at expectantly all the time as we look at it as the beginning of our Holy Day season, right?

The cycle of days that God gives us to outline His plan and to help us to recognize and rehearse in our minds the plan that God has for us.

And so I'd like to talk today about preparing for Passover and get a little more granular maybe than we usually do.

You know, for some of us who've been around a long time, older than dirt as Mr. Thomas says, I don't usually like to call him that, but since he said it, I feel like it's safe to bring it out.

It's still good to think about what it is that we do and how it is that we prepare for Passover.

And for those who've been associated with God's Church for a shorter period of time or newly baptized, I hope this will be a good way to consider and think about ways that we can examine ourselves and think about our spiritual lives and our commitment that we made to God and to Jesus Christ in baptism.

If you'll turn with me, please. Let's start in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11. And we'll read verses 27 and 28.

This is a passage in the Bible that can sometimes be a little bit scary for us as we read it and as we think about it, because none of us want to be thought of as being unworthy or be guilty about things.

It's not a good feeling, not one we enjoy having. 1 Corinthians 11, verses 27 and 28.

Here Paul writes, But what this verse is talking about when talking about taking this in a worthy manner or not in an unworthy manner is the way that we knowingly, deliberately, with thought and understanding of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in that way that we take the Passover.

So if we prepare for the Passover, as we look forward to it, we use this passage as well as another one that we'll read in a moment, and we take it seriously as a time to examine ourselves and to think deliberately about Jesus Christ, the sacrifice He gave, and what it means.

Now in my experience through the years, this can be a difficult time for many people.

And sometimes leads to people wallowing and feeling unworthy, feeling like they're not good enough, being filled with all of the problems that they have.

But as I hope to point out to you today, this exercise of examining ourselves is not meant to be an exercise of self-hatred.

It's not meant to be an exercise to make us feel inferior. It's not an exercise that's made us feel beaten down.

And when we recognize the totality of Jesus Christ's sacrifice and what it means for His entire plan, it's much different than that.

We soberly recognize the sacrifice that was given to us. We recommit ourselves to the things that we committed to in baptism.

And we look very hopefully towards a new future that God has given us. And that's what I'd like to go through today.

What I want to give you today is a framework to consider. It's only a framework, something that I came up with as I was thinking about this topic, but something that I'd encourage everyone to consider as we go through these last few weeks leading up to the Passover, and hopefully something that will help us as we consider examining ourselves at this time of year.

We'll spend some time here on the diagram that I put together and kind of work our way around it, and hopefully it'll make sense as it starts to come together, and if nothing else, give you something to focus on when you get tired of looking at me up here.

Turn with me, if you will, to 2 Corinthians 13. What is examination? What is examination? 2 Corinthians 13.

We're told here in 2 Corinthians 13, verses 5 and 6, that examining ourselves is something that we're supposed to do.

Verse 5, it says, Paul writes, Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.

Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified.

But I trust you will know that we are not disqualified.

So we're supposed to examine ourselves how it is that Jesus Christ is working within us, what it is that's happening within our spiritual lives.

So the question is, is examination a negative thing?

Now, if you're going in for a dental examination, for most people it probably is a negative thing.

But examination in and of itself is not a negative thing.

When we take our car in to get examined, to get an annual check-up, or 10,000 mile, 50,000 mile, 75,000 mile check-up, are we doing that because our car is bad? Are we doing it because our car is wrong? Of course not.

We're doing it because the manufacturer recommends a regular maintenance check, a regular examination to make sure that everything is running properly, and to make sure that all the settings on the car are optimized, and that everything's going to work well.

Likewise, God gives us the annual Holy Day cycle in the very same way.

We examine ourselves on an annual basis. And again, it's not meant to be a negative exercise.

It's meant to be a time where we go in for our own periodic maintenance, some introspection, coming before God, thinking about what it is that's going on in our lives, how we're treating our calling in our Christian walk, and how it is that we can improve the things that we're doing. A proper examination as well identifies things that are going well, not just things that are going poorly. Think of when you go to the doctor, and the doctor gives you an annual physical. Chances are the doctor, a good doctor, is going to say, these are the things that are looking great. Here are all the indicators, and hopefully that's the vast majority of the indicators when we're going into the doctor, looked really good. And then the doctor will talk about a few other areas that are looking perhaps troublesome, or getting into that red zone where something needs to be done about it. And then we think about it, and we hopefully move forward with those things. Manufacturing facilities do this kind of thing all the time. They look at what's going well, what's not. They look for a safety record, and they always examine accidents that happen, things that have gone wrong. I heard a funny story a couple weeks ago. I was with a client, and they were telling a story about how they had gone to visit a manufacturing plant. And when you walk into a manufacturing plant, those of you who've worked in them, I'm sure you've seen this every day of your working life. They usually have a sign up there that says, it's been x number of days since our last accident. 300 days, 500 days. I've seen days up in the thousands, where it's been several years where a plant has gone without an accident. Well, his friend was telling a story, and there was a plant that had a cafeteria in it, and a couple of accountants go walking into the cafeteria. The lady fills her tray with food, and is walking out of line with the tray, and slips on something. There was a green bean on the floor, or who knows what. And the tray and food just all goes way up in the air, and the lady fell, and unfortunately broke her arm. And the next morning, they walk into the factory, and it says, it has been zero days since our last accident. And imagine how this lady felt. And the unfortunate part of the story is, you know, manufacturing facilities have these safety regulations, one of which was, don't wear high heels. And it just so happened she was wearing high heels. And as a visitor in that building, she got into a lot of trouble in the end for doing that. And you can imagine how a plant manager felt, having somebody who's breaking the rules come in and destroy the perfect safety record that they had. So we diagnosed these things. It's just like when that accident happened. There was a diagnosis that took place. Why did this happen? What were the contributing factors? If this person had not been wearing high heels, would the same thing have happened? What do we need to do to monitor visitors coming into the factory, into our complex, and whether they're in conformity with our safety codes? All of those things happen. You do a diagnosis, and then you act on that diagnosis. Now, human beings are not really good at putting these two things together, are they? So I can think of an example in my own life, one of the houses that we owned back when we lived in Colorado. And I remember one winter, it was getting really cold in the house. Now, I keep turning up the thermostat, keep turning it up higher and higher, and I had it up to about 80 degrees. And still, the house was like 55, 60 degrees. And I'm wondering what in the world is going on? And so I finally called the heating and air conditioning company and said, you know, my furnace is broken. There's something going on.

And they said, well, sir, we'd like to encourage you to do one thing. And then if that doesn't work, give us a call back in a few hours. Go downstairs and pull your furnace filter out and just give it a couple hours and see what happens. And sure enough, I went down there, I pulled out the furnace filter, which was just caked with stuff, so no air could get through it. And as soon as I pulled that out, everything worked. The heater worked, there was airflow, and everything was good again.

And of course, we all know if we've owned a house, we should be changing our furnace filters, right? Once every three months, I think they recommend, which is something through that experience I learned to do. How often, though, in our lives have we diagnosed things that are happening, that we know we need to do, but we don't act on them? If you want to turn to one example of this in terms of our lives, we won't turn there right now, but I'll give you the site in Psalm 19, verses 12 and 13.

In this case, it was something I should have known to do, but really didn't think of it, didn't register with me after having moved into that house, that it was something I should check. In Psalm 19, verses 12 and 13, David prays to God, and he says, asks God to show him his hidden sins, to be able to diagnose the things that of himself he wouldn't see, so that he can act on them and that he can change them.

We have other things that are diagnosed that we know we should do, but we don't perform. How many times have we gone in for a health checkup, we've gone to the dentist, we've gone to the eye doctor, and we've decided, you know, they've recommended that I do this, but you know, I can get away without it. I like doing X so much that I'm not going to stop.

I like eating this. I like not exercising. Whatever it is that it is that we're supposed to do, as human beings, somehow we're good at believing that we are that one exception to the statistics. So we don't need to listen, and we don't have to follow the actions that result from a diagnosis. So these are things that we need to do as we're examining ourselves. We need to think about, we need to not only diagnose what's happening, but we need to act on the diagnosis that we have. Let's look at another part of the framework here as we continue through this.

This is our spiritual toolkit. We're not going to spend a lot of time here because these are concepts that I think we're all familiar hearing about, but we do need to think about it at this time of year as well. Because, you know, as Jesus Christ laid out before the Passover, He did not leave us helpless. He left us with His Holy Spirit as a comforter, as an enabler, and that Spirit working through us and through this toolkit of spiritual tools that we have can help us. It can help us diagnose, it can help us take actions, it can help us have insight into our lives that we wouldn't otherwise have.

Of course, prayer, studying the Bible as God's Word, meditation, which simply means taking time, turning things off, and thinking about God's way of life, reflecting on our own lives, putting those two things together and thinking about how we should be acting, what we should be changing and doing differently in our lives, periodic fasting, mentioned often in the Bible as a tool in order to help us as we're going through things, as one of our strong spiritual tools.

Another tool that we're familiar with we don't necessarily hear talked about in this context as much as fellowship. So again, we won't turn there, but in Acts 2, if you look in Acts 2 verses 42 through 47, there are several mentions there of the early New Testament church, and one of the hallmarks of the early New Testament church was they spent time together. They fellowshiped, they talked with each other, and we see so many other places in the Bible as well where we're told to encourage one another, we're told to exhort one another, we're told to pray for one another.

All of these different things that we're told that are based on fellowship as another tool, and as we're trying to act on things that we see in ourselves, as we're trying to continue to improve our Christian walk, fellowship is another important tool that can help us in that direction. And the last one that I put there, if you can't read it, is counsel. Counsel. We read it in many places, especially in the Proverbs. Proverbs 11, 14 is one you could look at if you wanted to, where we're told that in a multitude of counselors, there's safety.

And there's so much as we're looking at things within our own lives, we're struggling with different things that are happening, whether it's within our own lives, with our families, whatever it is that we might be trying to overcome, there's all kinds of counsel that's available out there, whether it's within the church or outside the church, people who have expertise in different matters, whether they be financial matters, whether they're matters of addiction, whether their family matters, whether they're physical and health matters. Seeking wise counsel, again, to help diagnose and to help act on those things, is part of the toolkit.

So let's move on to the next section in this diagram. A little difficult maybe to read, but I think we all know what the red light, the yellow light, and the green light mean. Right? Stop, continue, and start. This is something I'd like to spend a few minutes talking about as we analyze the different parts of our lives. Because, again, examination, the time that we spend here around the time leading up to Passover, is not just about looking at ourselves and saying, I shouldn't be doing this, I shouldn't be doing this, I shouldn't be doing this. It's a matter of standing back from our lives and thinking about what are the things that are happening in my life that should stop. When I stand back and meditate, I use this toolkit that I have spiritually.

When I fellowship with others in the church, when I seek counsel, when I read God's Word, when I pray to Him, what is it that I'm being led to understand that's happening in my life that needs to stop? Something we should give serious thought to, especially this time of year, as we reflect on our spiritual lives. But secondly, what is it in our lives that's happening that's good and should continue? Because as Christians walking with God, I can guarantee you there are things that each and every one of us are doing in our spiritual walk that the number one thing we should be doing is keep on doing it. Just like when you go to the doctor, and the doctor will ask, for example, do you exercise? And you'll say, perhaps, yeah, I go for a walk three times a week, I go for a walk for a mile or two. The doctor will say, that's fantastic, keep doing that, and you'll be able to keep yourself in good shape. Same way, when we look at ourselves, if you're not finding things in yourself that you should continue doing, maybe you're not looking at everything in the right way, in the right frame. I guarantee you, as we look at our lives, there are things that we are doing right in our spiritual lives that we should continue. And then lastly, with a green light, start. What is it, again, that we reflect on our lives, and as we think about what's going on, what is it that we are led to believe that we should start doing? I think we can all identify some of those things, things we've wanted to get moving on, things we've been wanting to make time in our spiritual walk, that we need to start doing.

Let's look at a few scriptures that outline this type of an approach to our lives. Start, continue, and stop. Start with Ephesians 4, please. Let's go to Ephesians 4, and we'll read verses 20 through 24. Ephesians 4 verses 20 through 24. Paul here writing to the Ephesians talks about things going on in our spiritual lives, in this case talking about things that we should put off, things that we should stop doing. Ephesians 4 verses 20 through 24. Paul writes here, So in this context, it's talking not only about stop, but it's talking about start, isn't it?

And as we look at our lives, he talks about putting off the old man. And what he's talking about there, I think we understand, is looking at the things that are within ourselves, or the way that we used to live before we were converted, before we gave our lives to Jesus Christ through baptism, and to God, to living a different way of life. What is it that we still carry with us from that old way of life? What are those things that we need to put off, as it says here in Ephesians, or stop doing? But it's not only about what we stop doing, as this verse lays out, verse 24.

Here it says that we should put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. So baptism was a symbolic death as we go under the water, and that's why as a church we believe in water baptism by immersion, just as John the Baptist did, as Jesus Christ went through as an example to us being baptized in the Jordan River. We go entirely underwater. Our entire body goes under, symbolizing the fact that our old life has come to an end, and then we're raised up out of that water as a symbolic resurrection, coming into a new life as we've made a new commitment to God. We've left behind that old man, and we've made a commitment to start living according to a new way of life. And of course, as we go through our walk, then we need to start taking on some of these things that we need to do. We continue in those.

Turn with me, if you will, to Colossians. We'll talk briefly about continue, how the Bible very much tells us that there are things that we need to continue doing. Colossians 1, we'll read verses 21 through 23. Colossians 1, 21 through 23. Here talking again about what things were in times past before a commitment made to God, verse 21, and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he is reconciled. Talking about the fact again that through baptism, through coming to Jesus Christ, we've been reconciled to God in the body of his flesh, meaning Jesus Christ, through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you've heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. He's talking about continuing here, right? He's talking about the fact he's reminding the Colossians in this letter that they've made a commitment, and they have come away from their former way of life, and they've begun to walk a new way of life. And what he's saying is, continue.

Continue in that new way of life and be steadfast. Being steadfast carries that idea of being immovable. You think of a solid object that stands there that's not going to move, whether it's a big tree that you might have as a landmark, whether it's a building.

We've seen it more and more today for security purposes, these large, concrete pillars that get put up, steadfast and immovable, so that even if a large truck comes along and tries to compromise a building or drive into an area where it's not belong, doesn't belong, it's going to run into this big, immovable, steadfast object. And just that way, we're supposed to take the things that we're doing, we're supposed to continue in the faith, being grounded and steadfast, just like that big concrete pillar that might stand there to stop a vehicle from coming through. What is it in our lives that we need to continue? Certainly coming to service as fellowshiping with one another is one of those things, and it's always good to see everyone here every week. What other things are we doing in our lives that we should continue? As we come daily before God in prayer, as we make time for Bible study, things that we should simply recognize we are doing and building that relationship with God and should continue doing. So what I'd like to do now for the rest of this message is to consider this framework, the top, the bottom, and what's cutting across the middle, as we look at our spiritual lives and look at it across these three dimensions, the past, the present, and the future. Now, I've mentioned this before in messages, but what I find compelling and most strong about the message and the beliefs that we have is the fact that through the Holy Days and through the observances that we keep, we rehearse and we have in our minds, at the forefront of our minds, the fact that God has a past, a present, and a future for us. In all three of these dimensions, when we think about discerning Jesus Christ and his body, all three of these dimensions have to do with Jesus Christ at the center. In the past, Jesus Christ gave his life as the perfect Son of God so we could be forgiven of our sins. In the present, Jesus Christ lives within us through his Holy Spirit so we can live his way, so we can be an example to others, so we can do good works in this life. In the future, Jesus Christ will return, he will bring his kingdom, he will bring salvation, he'll bring an opportunity for every person who has ever lived to come into the knowledge of God and have a relationship with him.

So Jesus Christ is at the center of every bit of this past, present, and future.

I just realized I didn't turn on the microphone.

Also, our lives have a past, present, and future, right? And those things that I just talked about, our past, when we think about our past, the time before we came to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, the time before we made a commitment to God, that was our old man that we've talked about and read about in some of these earlier passages. That was a past. We do need to think about that past.

We need to go through these frameworks. We need to diagnose. We need to take the spiritual toolkit to consider to what extent that past is still a part of us. We have a present as Christians, don't we? We have a time that we're living here on this earth with God's Spirit within us and things that we are meant to do, to grow closer to him, to grow, to bear fruit, all of these things that we need to consider and analyze. But those two things alone is not the whole story, because God gives us a future as a hope. And that's one of the fantastic things that we have, is a clear hope that through the resurrection and through the kingdom of God that's going to be established on the earth, like we were hearing in the sermonette, us with the opportunity to reign on earth as kings and priests with God, he holds a fantastic future out in front of us as well. And so when we're conducting an examination, when we're thinking about things coming into Passover, I think traditionally for those who've been around for a long time, we've thought a lot about the past.

We've thought a lot about, well, I'm still this and I'm still that and I can't do this and I don't do that. And we haven't thought as much about the future, and perhaps we've thought some about the present. But what I'd like to put before you is the idea that in a balanced way we need to consider all three of these dimensions as we're looking at the things we need to stop, the things we need to continue, and the things that we need to start doing to look in a balanced way across all of these. So let's go through these one at a time and consider them a little further. One of the things I want to do here is leave everyone with some ideas in a concrete way of how should you spend your time when you're examining yourself? Because if you're like me, at least if I take myself back a few years, I would sit back and I would say, okay, Jesus Christ died for our sins. Now for how long can I sit there and think about the fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins? It's a fact. I know it happened. So what do I do now for the next 20 minutes when I'm trying to think about this?

So I'd like to draw some framework for that and hopefully give everyone some ideas about what do we reflect on? What kind of questions should we consider as we're examining ourselves across these dimensions? Turn with me, if you will, to Romans 3. Romans 3 verses 23 through 26 is what we'll read here. Romans 3 and we'll start in verse 23. Here Paul writes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness. Because in his forbearance, God has passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So yes, absolutely, a big part of what we need to understand in the past is the fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins. And as we do think about it, it is profound to think that Jesus Christ, number one, came to the earth as God in the flesh and gave his life. And we thought it all about just the miracle of resurrection.

You know, even if we look through the entire Bible, I think nine is the number of people accounted for in the Bible who were raised from the dead, who are specifically named.

Not that many. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. And through that, we've had our sins washed away. Turn with me, if you will, to Psalm 103. It is important to examine and to think about where we were before we made our commitment to God, what our lives were like, the situation that we would be in if his blood had not been shed and we had not been able to claim that sacrifice through his calling. Psalm 103. We'll start in verse 8. Psalm 103, verse 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins. He has not punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father, pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him.

For he knows our frame, and he remembers that we are dust. This is something encouraging when we read about it. Not only the fact that, you know, the writer of this psalm is using every symbol that they can think of to talk about how incredibly far God has taken us away from our sins.

Far as heaven is from the earth, east is from the west. It's almost as though he's saying it's inexpressible for me to say how much separation God has given between each and every one of us and our sins because of Jesus Christ. And to me, what's incredibly comforting is the last verse.

He knows our frame, and he remembers that we're dust. Jesus Christ came to live as a human being so that he could understand everything that it is we're going through. He has sympathy for it. He expects us to continue to move forward, to ask for forgiveness daily, and to walk in his way, but he understands as well. How comforting is that? Is that something that we reflect on every day?

To know that Jesus Christ our Savior and through him God our Father understands what it is that's going on in our lives. The aches and the pains, the difficulties, the fears, all of the things going on in our lives. He's able to empathize with us. The last part of this before we move on thinking about our past, let's turn to Romans 4. I'm sorry, Romans 6. Romans 6. And we'll start in verse 4. Romans 6 and verse 4. Here Paul writes that we were buried with him, referring to Jesus Christ through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Then in verse 6, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. So again, as I was talking about a few moments ago, when we look at the past, we also have to recognize the fact that the past is done. The old man, even though he keeps trying to dig and scratch and reach a hand out of the grave to pull us back into the way that we used to be, that's a commitment we made, that we were going to fight that. We were going to continue to move forward and distance ourselves from our past and live a new life in Jesus Christ.

So before we move on to the next element, I'd like to just give a few things to think about as I reflected on this framework and thought about our past and what we look at in the past. If you're looking for things to consider, questions to ask yourself as we're all examining ourselves coming into the Passover, these are just some ideas that I jotted down, which hopefully might trigger some thoughts in your own mind. In terms of stopping, what elements of my old man do we have in the past do I need to stop clinging to? Where is it in my life that my humanity, my nature that's not conformed to God, keeps coming through and driving the way that I act that I need to stop?

That I need to take before God and ask him to put to death? In what ways do I not recognize the reality of God's forgiveness in my life? I've run into people and they're people who struggle with things their entire lives because they continue to believe and suffer under things that they've done in the past that they cannot forgive themselves for, they can't let go of, and in one sense they're just not able to recognize and grasp that God has forgiven that sin, taken it as far as east as from the west. I have to ask myself that. We all have to ask ourselves, do we understand that God has removed those sins? He's freed us from that, even though that old man keeps trying to claw back. In what way do I need to stop condemning or judging other people whom God is forgiven? I know what God has done for me in forgiving me. Do I extend that same thing to others?

Or do I need to stop condemning others who God has forgiven and is not condemning? In continuing, in what ways have I successfully put away the old man? In what ways have I built habits or put myself on a pathway to overcoming that I need to continue doing? And in starting, what is it that I need to start doing in terms of extending God's love, mercy, and forgiveness to other people? What do I need to do to remove the shackles of guilt that weigh me down in stopping the things that I can and should be doing as a Christian? In what ways do I need to make more of a concerted daily habit of repentance and putting myself in front of God, claiming the blood of his Son Jesus Christ, and asking for his ongoing forgiveness? These are all questions we should ask ourselves. If you're looking for things, what do I do when I examine myself and looking at this element, the past? Those are some suggestions and thoughts that you can put down. Let's turn to the present. In the present, like we talked about, God lives within us, lives in us through his spirit, and we're to bear fruit. We're called to do something. We're called to grow. We're called to continue to be stronger in his way. Turn with me, if you will, to Colossians 3. We'll read a slightly longer passage in Colossians 3, verses 1 through 17. Talking about what we should be doing in our present time as Christians. How it is that we should conduct our lives. Colossians 3, and we'll start in verse 1. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not things on the earth.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourself once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Don't lie to one another, since you've put off the old man with his deeds. And you've put on the new man who's renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him, where there's neither Greek, nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so also you should do it.

But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were also called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

We look at our present, the present that we're living in. We look at the things that are written here in Colossians 3. It gives us a lot to think about, doesn't it? In terms of the things that we need to be taking on within our lives, the places we should focus as God's Holy Spirit powers us in our spiritual lives. We had a fantastic sermon last week that I'm not going to reiterate in terms of bearing fruit and growing these imperatives that we have as Christians. So we won't go over that again, but I think we recognize that through the things that we heard last week, especially. And the fact that one of the things that's supposed to be happening in the present, as God's Holy Spirit dwells within us and lives within us, is that we bear that fruit, that we continue to grow. And just as Colossians laid out here, or we can read in Galatians 5, that we exercise and build the fruits of God's Spirit in our lives. So as we think of this box and the present, what are some things that we can think about or ask ourselves as we examine ourselves this time of year? Here are a few things that I jotted down, again just as ideas, and I'd encourage everyone to take some time in these dimensions and think about them before the Passover. One, what is it that I'm doing that stifles or quenches God's Spirit working within me?

You think about the parable of the sower. I think often about that parable. And for me, the thing that I think about is the thorns, those cares of the world, those things that come up in day-to-day life and can choke out the focus on God's way of life. We focus on all the challenges that we have in everyday life, the things that we have to do, and of course we're supposed to live in this world and we need to live good and productive lives in this world. But when we let it get out of hand, those thorns start to grow up and intertwine and pull down the fruit that's beginning to grow and choke it off, just as that parable says. That's something I always face and think about in my own life. What are the priorities related to that that we place above our daily walk with God?

I have to sit back and think about that as I examine and consider my daily life. What is it that I, in fact, when I look at my actions, what are those things that I'm prioritizing ahead of God's way?

And how can I stop doing that? What situations do I need to take myself out of in order to walk in a godly way? Do we have friends that take us in the wrong direction? Do we find ourselves in environments that lead us to sinful actions that we should stop putting ourselves into?

What destructive relationships do we have that drag us back into the old way of life that tend to pull that old man up out of the grave that we need to stop?

In terms of continuing, in what ways do I nourish myself regularly spiritually that I should not give up? That I need to continue on with on a day-to-day basis? In what ways am I bearing fruit that I need to continue cultivating? I think in this area especially we tend to sometimes not focus enough. We need to realize that everyone in here is contributing. Everyone is building fruit.

Everyone is growing. We need to look at the ways that we're doing that. Usually the way to do that is to look back over several years. You know, our Christian walk is not a short-term exercise, and often we're not going to recognize change in three months, in six months, sometimes not even in nine months in certain ways. But look back in your life. Look over the longer term, especially if you've been baptized for several years now, and look at that time frame and reflect honestly about ways that you've grown, ways that you should continue to grow, fruit that you've borne, ways that God has worked through you that you should continue to commit yourself to doing.

In terms of starting, what can I start to do that will make my life more effective as a Christian?

What people and situations should I start gravitating towards to encourage me to live God's way of life and to bear more fruit?

What specific fruit of the Spirit do I want and need to focus on developing and strengthening in the coming year? Lots of things we could think about in terms of what we should start as we look at the present. Let's go into the home stretch here and look at the future.

Two elements of the future we already referred to earlier. Jesus Christ will return.

He will return to this earth. We will inherit eternal life in God's kingdom, as all of His people will. Things that we can have fantastic hope in. Turn with me, if you will, to 1 John 3, verses 1 through 3. As we discern the body of Jesus Christ, as we examine, as we think about the importance of His sacrifice and the life that He lived, we should not forget about the future and what's coming, the promises that He's made, and the hope that we have in Him as a result of those. 1 John 3. We'll read verses 1 through 3. 1 John 3, verse 1. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it's not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself even as He is pure.

We need to think about that hope that's been laid out before us.

And God is so focused on that that He calls us children now. As is written here, we are now the children of God. That's the way God looks at us. He doesn't look at us and say, well, you know, if things go like this for the next few years, I'm not quite sure He's going to be a son of mine.

God looks at us with confidence, and He wants us to continue growing and changing and being like Him.

He wants us to inherit the reward that He has for us. Turn with me, if you will, to Philippians 1. That brings us out even more. Philippians 1. We'll read verses 3 through 6 in Philippians 1. Philippians 1, starting in verse 3.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making request for you with all joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

God is confident in us. God has called us for a reason. He gave us a very precious sacrifice in His Son. He did it so that we could succeed as Christians, so we could enter His kingdom.

The last thing in the world that He wants from us is failure, and He's going to do everything that He can to help us. Now, just like a loving parent working with a child, not everything that's good for us always feels good when it's happening. Sometimes we learn as much through the difficult situations, the pains and the trials, and more, really, in those ways, unfortunately, as human beings than in other ways. And that's why we go through those things, because God is working with us, He's molding us, He's shaping us, and He's helping us to grow towards that magnificent future that He has. And as we examine our lives, as we think about the things going on in our lives, including the trials and the difficulties that we have, it's so important to think about the future, the promise that we have in Jesus Christ, something that's been given to us in a fantastic hope, something that we should be yearning for and thinking about and hoping for.

So what are the things we should think about, or could think about here, again, in this framework, as we think about what we should stop, what we should continue, what we should start?

Some of the things I think of is, what hopes in this world do I have that cloud my hope in God's eternal vision? Are there other hopes or goals that come in the way that tend to become more important because they're more tangible than God's coming Kingdom?

What doubts or feelings of inadequacy do I need to shed to understand that God wants this marvelous future for me? You know, we all struggle with these things, don't we, depending on our background, and differently across past, present, and future by person, right? We all struggle with different things as we look at these things. Some people are overconfident. They think about how great they are.

God called me because I have all of these fantastic attributes that he needs, right? Have you heard people say that? Unfortunately, I have heard some people say that. But other people also say, I have no idea why God called me. I'm worthless. I can't do anything. I'm worse than dirt.

I don't have anything God can work with. You know what? That's not true. It is not true for any single one of us. And if there's one thing we need to understand, it is that. God has given every single one of us worth as human beings. He has called us. You've made a commitment to him, and he can and will use each of you powerfully if you yield yourself to the Spirit, you give yourself to him. It's going to be in a different way for every one of us, but he will and can use each and every one of us. And so we can't allow ourselves to drop into that feeling of inadequacy and think that somehow we're not good enough for God or God can't use us. It's simply not true.

Continue. What habits do I need to continue in order to have the vision of God's kingdom burning brightly in my mind? What people do I need to continue associating with to keep that vision strong in my mind and encourage them as well? And then lastly, from the element of starting, what do I need to start doing in order to make the vision of God's kingdom more real in my life?

What do I need to start doing so that I'll understand with much more clarity what it is that God has waiting for me and all of his people so that I can drive myself and continue to submit myself to him and walk in his way? Just some ideas, again, of things to think about within this framework. So as we're going forward, we're going to encounter the last few weeks here before the Passover, and it's a time that we need to consider and think about very carefully.

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was a precious one. It was given for reason, reasons that were set before the foundation of the earth as we hear in the Bible or as we read in the Bible. And God's given us a fantastic plan that has a past, it has a present, and it has a future. And all of us have been called to come into that stream. And we need to think now, we need to use this time coming up before the Passover, not only to think about the things we stop doing, but to think about what it is that we need to continue doing and what we need to take on as new things within our lives. Set goals within our lives, set spiritual goals, look for things in ways that we want to make ourselves better Christians, more able to walk in His way. And let's not just wallow in the past. Let's think about our past and what it is that God has taken us out of. I think of it as kind of a line or a yardstick to measure from as we look where we were. And we can start to see the progress that we've made from that point after the time that we gave our lives to God through Jesus Christ.

And as we're walking through our present then, we continue to distance ourselves and move forward down that road to grow and to build fruit. And all that time, we're powered by the hope that we have, the hope that we have in Jesus Christ, the future that He's going to give us in His Kingdom that's coming. So I wish everyone a very profitable time between now and the Passover. I hope this framework will give everyone some more things to think about as we examine ourselves and we consider the body of Jesus Christ leading into the Passover.