Putting Out and Putting In

Welcome on this first day of Unleavened Bread. It's great to see you all. What a wonderful gathering. It's probably more than we'll have at the feast in Cincinnati this year. But we'll encourage all of you to come. I hope I'll be there. But it's really nice to be here with you. And by the way, just to let you know, I've taken a cue from that festival that was referred to by Mr.

Welsh. And we have our ushers who have pictures of water. So if they see any of you sleeping, they'll just cleanse you. They'll douse you with some water. And that way you can be alert for the whole time. So I'll try to look over here at this audience. I may, I don't know, Jesse, can we just take this down so I can see? It's a way over here. We just put those on. I like to see my audience. I like to see all of you.

And I like you to be flower people, but I don't want you to have to look through flowers to see you. I hope you had a wonderful night to be. We were able to spend some with our family. Our daughter and son-in-law are going on this turkey trip, and so they're leaving a little bit early. So we won't see them for about two weeks. So they'll be gone with the others. Mr. McNeely is going to be leading that group, so he'll be going out too soon.

So we want to wish all of you, any of you from here, who's going on a wonderful time. I've been to the seven churches. I spoke at the, no, I didn't speak at them. Philadelphia is hardly anything to find, because it's basic. We drove over. They said that was Philadelphia. So I think they may have done some more excavation work. And then we also went to the, to Laodicea. And I have a picture of a girl standing there, one of the ones on the tour with us, and she was in church. She was going like this to Laodicea. You don't want to be Laodiceas.

But it's a wonderful opportunity to see the way and the area that the Apostle Paul trode. All the things that he went through, all the things that he did, his inspired messages. So here we are. And as Israel was saved from death and delivered from Egypt by the merciful God and the Old Testament Passover lamb, so we have been delivered from sin by the awesome sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which he have just observed on Passover evening.

And then also we had to be, that Passover represented a time where brought us back to remembrance, not only of the great appreciation we have for Jesus Christ, which is what the Passover is about, the reminder to this due in remembrance of me is what Paul wrote and what Jesus Christ said when he gave the emblems of the bread and the wine. And by the way, the word for bread there is not azumos, which is unleavened, it's arthos, but it's the general term for bread.

So Greek Orthodox Church, in which I didn't grow up, but my parents were sort of token members, when they take the Passover, they use leavened bread. But you see the word arthos can mean bread in general. You say, give me a piece of that bread. If you're sitting at the Passover table with Jesus Christ, what type of bread was present? Only unleavened bread.

So you could say, pass the bread, it's unleavened. So that's a sidelight. But Passover reminds us of what Jesus Christ did for us. But through repentance, faith, baptism of the believer laying on of hands, afterwards, we had our past cleansed.

We buried the old self, we buried our old sins, they were gone. This, along with receiving God's precious Holy Spirit, creates a new man in us, which is Christ in us, through having his Spirit and his mind.

Philippians 2.5. Thus, we have been sanctified, as was brought out in the Sermonet. Great Sermonet, I don't have to do much in this first part. And in fact, in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1, the writer of Hebrews, the author, probably believe it's Jesus, but again, I don't know for sure. But the writer of the book of Hebrews said, Holy brethren, he called them holy. He didn't say you bunch of sinners, he called them holy. Christ cleansed you. Does that mean sin doesn't come back into our lives, as the old man will always be chasing you?

Why, as long as we're physical, the carnal mind is still there. Now, we hope that the mind of Christ is outweighing it, overcoming it, and subjecting it. But we have part to do in that as well.

First Corinthians 1-2, Christians are called saints, sanctified in Christ Jesus. Set apart. Set apart for a special blessing and use. What is that special use? To be a child of His in the kingdom of God. But isn't even that? First John 3-1. We're right now called the children of God. You know that? And what Mr. Betzhel brought out, when you're called holy, holy brethren, that's a special designation when you talk about Chagios, the Holy Spirit.

And what's in you and what's in me, from baptism and laying on of hands, is holiness. But as I did my study this year, and I'll just share with you, I went through a lot of famous lists, 10 commandments. How did I keep this? How did I break this? What is my tendency? I went through other lists, Galatians 5, fruits of the flesh, how am I like that, it's still, and the fruits of the Spirit. I compared myself to a lot of lists in the scriptures. I'll share some of those ideas with you, but I'm going to focus on something really important. So as we begin these days of unleavened bread, we need not only to be putting out leavening, and believe me, as you get older, it gets more exhausting to put out leaven, to try to get down under that sofa, to get down in here, to clean underneath that, to move this out of the way, it gets harder. But no matter how hard you clean, you know there's still some leavening there. It's ground into the floor or into the carpet, no matter how well you, unless you have a shampooed every other week or something, it's getting ground into it. And the grooves in my wood floor in the kitchen, I know stuff has gotten in there, we've stepped on it and it's gotten embedded. So the only way I could really be unleavened is to burn down my entire house. We have a nice toaster, so I clean it every year. It takes me probably a better part of two or three hours to clean the toaster. But I don't just take the tray out, try to get in, look at all those wires in there, and try to push them out, put in brushes that I have, to brush it out. I want to get sin out of my life if there's sin there. I want to get it out. I don't want it to be there because God calls me holy. I want to maintain that holiness from God. And what gives me the motivation to do it is the Spirit of God. We read, well, we've heard about it, for it is God who works in you, both the will and the do of his good pleasure. So I'm searching to see where that old man is trying to make inroads, where he's trying to push in, where he's trying to invade. I'm watching. I'm alert. And I should be all my life. So should you. You should be that way, too.

So as we do this, we're putting sin out of our lives. Well, I'm trying to watch that you get all that leavening out, trying to make sure everything is out. The one year I forgot to empty this vacuum cleaner. Another time I forgot this bag that I stuck in a jacket that I had, and I was going to eat some granola bars or whatever that had leavening. Let's grab that jacket. There's the leavening. What do I do with this now? I've already set my garbage on. What do I do? So I waited. There was an empty lot next to me. I threw it into the empty lot in a bag, and I retrieved it afterwards and threw it in the garbage after the days were over. But I threw it off my land, get it off out of my property, get it away. But still impossible to be without it. We're here. I'm sure people have had meetings in this room. I'm sure they may have even eaten in here.

You're sitting around. There's some leavening somewhere around you. We can't be totally without it. But the key is we don't let it dominate and rule us. We must rule it. We must master it. Luke said that leaven pictured Luke 12.2. Jesus Christ said in Luke 12.2, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. And what is hypocrisy? It's living a lie. Living a lie. So again, we don't want hypocrisy in our lives. We don't want sin in our lives. So we need to put something in, however, when we cast something out. And we need to be putting in that something which is righteousness. Every day you eat of that bread, which I have one piece here that I'll eat at the end. Every day you eat of that. Don't just butter it up. Put your jams on it, your peanut butter to make it taste better, whatever you want. And then just, oh, this is so good. Think about what you're doing. Think about putting in righteousness. Think about activating the righteousness that's in you already through the Holy Spirit. But you see, we have all the needed tools. He gave them to us when he filled us with his Holy Spirit. And you notice, he didn't give you a dab of it. He's filled you. However your tank, how much it'll take. I take it if you're a new Christian, your tank isn't very big because you're not using much up yet. The more you understand your human nature, the more you use up. But God's Spirit has to be renewed. It flows into you from God to give you strength, flows out of you in good deeds and good works. So we need to be activating God's Holy Spirit. If you're not joyful enough, you need to ask God to help you. Activate it. It's there. If you're not peaceful, you need to ask God for peace. If you need strength to overcome something, you need to ask God for help. Please help me. If you need to be healed or comforted, that's what the Holy Spirit is. It's a comforter. Ask him to help me. Receive that comfort. To drink it in. Take it in. You know Exodus 13 9, we read about unleavened bread. And when you put that into your mouth, what are you supposed to be putting in? The law of God. And what is the law of God? Righteousness. Psalm 119 verse 172. All your commandments are righteousness. As you're turning your feet toward God's way and turning them away from your old self, you continue to put in righteousness. But is it your own righteousness? We must maintain God's strength and his power. And a lot of times, I know I've given sermons in the past, brethren, you've got to do this, brethren, you've got to do that, brethren, you've got to do this. And I made it sound like you could do it on your own. I forgot to say, ask God for the strength and help. And I remember a famous saying from Mr. Armstrong, and he probably coined it from someone else. I don't know if this is original, but he said, what we have to do as Christians, we have to do as if it all depends on us, but we have to pray and believe as if it all depends on God. That's what we have to do. We have to keep that old man out, keep him down.

So the New Testament Passover expounded by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 verses 7 and 8. And by the way, for bread, unleavening, you might go out to eat some time during the days of unleavened bread during that time. And as you go out, you know, we went, we were in Texas at the Ambassador College down there. We went out with some friends from fellow college professors and instructors. And while we were sitting there to order our steaks, we made sure we didn't have any croutons in the salad, but out comes his basket full of bread. So we would just kind of put it aside. Finally, the lady said, don't you like your bread? Don't you want that bread? Something wrong with the bread? She said, no, we just don't eat bread during this time. And I explained to her what it was all about. So she took the unleavened bread and the leavening and she put it away, took it off our table. I did not want to be seen with it. The Bible says it should not even be seen with you in all your coasts, which leads me to understand, want to understand how Israel got rid of all their leavening.

How did they get rid of all of it? Because they live in the land. They dump it in the sea. What did they do with it? But you know how easy it would have been to clean your house back in those days? Move your tent.

Sweep the dust out. Sweep it up, gather it up, dust pan, okay, I'm clean. That would have been easy. They didn't have toasters and ovens and all these other things that we do to pay attention to. All the places we've eaten. The sofas that the cushions don't remove. And so you can't, you know you've eaten some things there. And probably some crumbs have fallen inside. Unless you tear apart that sofa, you know it's going to be there.

But the attitude is trying to get rid of it. The attitude is putting out unrighteousness and putting in God's righteousness. 1 Corinthians 5 verses 7 and 8. Paul wrote, Therefore, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump. Since you truly are unleavened, you're already unleavened. Spiritually, you're unleavened because you were made that way. But you're still leavening around that could come in. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness. That's what that brings. The way of the world. Get back at this person. Hurt them. Do what we can. Revenge and wickedness. Not with that, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Truth is a wonderful, defining word.

I met some people that used to be in their church to talk to me, and I just said, as long as you try to stay in the truth, I wish you were in our church, but don't give up Jesus Christ for anything. Stay with the truth. And what did Christ bring into the world with him? Grace and truth. And he was full of it. Grace and truth. Jesus made a startling statement. Let's read it in Matthew 5 and verse 20.

Matthew 5 verse 20. This is what he told his disciples. Sermon on the mount that he gave them.

For I say to you, Jesus Christ, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of God. How could I possibly exceed the scribes and Pharisees and their righteousness? Well, we take a look. Paul had righteousness. In fact, Paul said he was perfect.

Regarding righteousness. But how was that righteousness? Him.

You have pretty strong people out there. My dad was very strong willed. He gave up smoking after 40 years by just looking at it and defying it. Looking at the cigarette. He didn't throw on all the cigarette. He let that pack up there. He would get up in the morning and say, huh! And he'd go through the day. But while he was tempted so many times to go back, but he never would yield. People would be smoking around, hey, you want a cigarette? No, I don't want a cigarette. You can have some pretty good righteousness on your own. But if it's on your own, it's not God-righteousness. Take a look at Philippians 3 verses 4 to 9. The Apostle Paul was righteous. He was blameless.

Read it. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, he said, if anyone else thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I have more. So he's comparing himself to some of these other people. He said, Circumcised the eighth day, sock of Israel, tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I'm thoroughly involved. Concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, I hated people who did not follow his way, the way of the Jews. Concerning the righteousness which is of the law, blameless. Paul was righteous, keeping the law. But what things were gained to me? These I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. Some say, a pile of manure.

All the things that he did, but he was blameless because he did it on his own. He said, and be found that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Notice, not having my own righteousness, and that's what we all have to be careful about, that we do it ourselves. I did it myself. I remember my grandson, he always said, I want to do it myself. We talked about friends. He said, I could be my friend myself.

I counseled one young man to college. He had a drinking problem. His punishment was go get counseling. That's not a good way to work with somebody who's coming to you because he's being punished. But nonetheless, he came. And as he sat before me, I just said, so do you have any bottles that you look for? Who do you kind of idolize? He said, I idolize myself. I said, that's why you're here. That's why you're here. You've been listening to yourself all the time. That's why you're here. He didn't have anybody he looked to.

I love Joseph in the Bible, and I love John. Christ Jesus Christ, I've ruled him out because everybody would want him. If I had a choice, Joseph was giving and kind and caring. John wrote more about truth than any other, all of his writings, and all of his writings, more truth in John's writings, five books, than all the others in the New Testament. Truth, truth, truth.

And John knew how to love. Look at Agape, how many times John uses it in the book of John, in 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and even in Revelation.

God in us can help us and strengthen us. So he said, I don't want my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness, which is from God by faith. You pray for it. You ask God to strengthen you. You ask God, is he going to set a bolt of lightning down and say, I did it? No, he's not going to say that. But you'll have strength, strength to overcome things that you thought you could never go through.

I think if we look back on our lives and you're older, like some of us are, you see a lot of God's help and strength that you maybe did not see it at the time.

How did I make it through that? How did I tend? If God told you everything was going to happen to you, in life, you'd give up right away. I quit.

If he told me I'd be hit by a car, I'd almost die. If he told me that I would fall and break my femur and possibly never walk again, if he told me I would faint while giving a sermon, in the North Church, Gerald Selig and some of the elders there couldn't even make it up in front to anoint me before I came to. If I thought of all those things were going to happen to me, why am I going to do this? Why do I want to go on with life? We didn't. But when you look back, you say, God was there. God looked after me, and God continues to look after me, and God continues to look after you, his righteousness. Philippians, a big key. This is the key to more righteous than the Pharisees. The scripture you should write down, Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13. It is God in us, God in us. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, see, you're obedient. That's the way you are. You follow orders. You're willing to do what somebody asks you to do as long as it's godly and right. You do it. I do it. We listen.

Most people are not that way. They don't like you to tell them what to do. They don't like you to tell them, this is the way, walk you, oh, I don't like that. I want to find it myself. I'll be my friend myself. I'll find my way myself. They don't want that. But he said, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, oh yeah, you put on a show when you do it in prayer. Here comes the minister watching. Some of the brethren in Toronto, I just mentioned, I'm going to come around and visit all of you as a thing that I tried to do with brethren and get to know them, spend time with them. And if you have questions you want to ask me anything in the Bible, in your study you were doing, I'll be happy to answer them for you. People are going around calling each other. Mr. Antia's schedule to come see me, when I agreed to come in, I don't have any questions. Could you give me some questions to ask?

You don't have to put on a show, just be you.

You don't have to put on a show. If you have questions, you can ask them. I didn't mean them they had to have a question, but they were trying to give me some questions. They weren't even their questions, they were somebody else's questions. So he says, you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation. You see, if I'm a team member, if I'm a kneecap, or if I'm a fingernail, if I do my part right, the whole body profits. My whole body feels better. Ever stub your toe?

Does your whole body hurt? Yeah, because you start walking the favorite, and then you put your back out, then you start to get back aches. Yes.

Each part is important. We have to do our part, but we're part of the body of Christ overall, and that's what Mr. Metzel was bringing out. You have your own righteousness, which is through God, not your own, and it contributes to the whole, whatever part you play. You do it to the best of your ability. You do it with the strength that God gives us.

So he says, how now much more, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

How many days in a week, how many hours in a week, are you around anybody who, quote, is spiritual, other than your family? Not very many. Unless you work at the office, then you have lots of people there that are around you. But if you don't work in the church, you're not in the church all week. So it's not very many hours that you're on, you're alone. I think I calculated at one time, it might have been six or seven, even if you went to all the Bible studies and all the spokesman clubs. Church, two hours, maybe two and a half, you visit with people an hour, three hours. If you don't have Bible study, that's the only time you see everybody, the only time you're around everybody. You have to do it on your own. You have to do it with God's strength, not your own. He said, with fear and trembling, for it is God. Verse 13 is a big key, is God who works in you both to will, God gives you greater will power, and greater do power, and to do for his good pleasure. Remember Colossians 1, 27? Christ in you what? The hope of glory? When Christ is in you, what does Christ represent?

First John 2, 1, Jesus Christ is called. First John 2, 1, Jesus Christ the righteous.

If Jesus Christ is in you, you have access to righteousness. You have access to it. Whether you'll access it or not is up to you. I've got this, help my fingers when you get old, your fingers, I don't have much moisture, so it helps me to turn the pages. That helps me. That doesn't turn the pages. I have to activate it sitting here all the time. Oh boy, I wish I had something. I'm sorry, if I could use it or not. God's Spirit is there for us to use, to use to be righteous.

What is one of God's names? One of his compound names, founded Jeremiah 23.6. I'm not going to read it. Very important, though. You know what it is? Yahweh to Sid Canoe.

If you look up to Sid, it's righteousness.

God our righteousness. What does he say here in Philippians 2.13? For it is God who works in you, as Jesus Christ and God the Father.

God is spoken of, could be either referred to Jesus or him, our Father.

Righteousness. Our righteousness. And Jesus Christ, the righteous. If they are in you, you need to activate that strength and power that comes from them to stay in a righteous way, to be greater than any of the scribes and Pharisees who were very particular, picking out and being good, that's caught up. How many, what I'm going to give now is an offering. One, two, three, four. Okay, how many am I going to give here? Let's count them up.

Let's notice verses 12 to 14 of Philippians 3 again. Paul wrote this, not that I have already attained, I've not made it yet, or am already perfected, not yet. I press on that I may lay hold on that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Christ has called me. Christ has drawn me. Christ has died for me. Christ leads me. Christ taught me.

He said that I may lay hold on Jesus Christ as he laid hold also on me. And verse 13, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, I'm forgetting those things which are behind. I don't keep dwelling on the past. I want to dwell on the present and look to the future because we all have things in our past that we're not happy about. But some brethren are happy to drag around their sins like a bag behind them. They're toting that bag of sins. Oh, I did that. Oh, I did. Do you think that makes God feel good? He said, I forgave you. I washed you in the water of grave. You buried the old man. Why do you keep bringing the old man with you? Now, the old man will come back to bother you no matter what. He keeps trying all the time because that was easy. However many years you lived, I lived 18 that way, almost 19, before I was baptized. You may have lived longer before you were baptized. You may have a lot more things to think back on. I don't want to drag my sins from the past to make me feel good. Oh, I'm so bad. Oh, I'm so bad. Do you think that makes God feel good to think that he didn't do the job for you? Because if you believed and you repented and you were baptized and you received God's Holy Spirit, you are a Christian. What you do with it is going to be totally up to you.

Life is all about choices, isn't it? So he says, verse 14, reaching for, he said, I forget the things that are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I keep looking for a kingdom to come. I keep looking for a better world. I keep looking for the time when that city will be here, a beautiful city that God is going to make, bring down New Jerusalem, sometimes called the Bride of Christ, too. I press toward. That's what we have to do now. We have to press toward the mark. Goal. Not to relax. When we're baptized, we didn't buy a ticket on the salvation train.

Just so we all know. You don't have a birth. Oh, I made it. I'm on the train now.

I'll have to stay on the train. I'll be in the kingdom. No. You have to keep hurdles and difficulties. You have to go through life. God is proving us. God is testing us.

God wants to see what we're made out of. He wants to see if we're loyal to Jesus Christ. He wants to see if we're faithful to Him. He wants to see if we can walk in His ways. 1 Corinthians 9, 27. The Apostle Paul had to wrestle with him, self, in John chapter 7. But I'm not going to read that. We all could go through Paul's struggles, how he had his old man and how this man came by. He was in the inner mind. I served God, but this other, this inside of me, pulling, trying to pull me. That's his battle. We all have a struggle like that. Struggled not to let the old man come in and take over, but 1 Corinthians 9, 27. Paul said he had to keep himself in check. He said, but 1 Corinthians 9, 27. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. As a minister, we preached a pure word of God. Am I pure? I'm trying to be that way, but am I pure? No. I need God's help to be pure and to stay pure. He made that way in baptism, but it's easy to lose some of that. He cleansed us from all unrighteousness. So Paul, I'm going to read this. Paul said he had to keep himself in check, and if he had to do it, the man who saw Jesus Christ, taught by him for three years, brought more full understanding of grace in God and what God did for you and me, because of his intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ. How awesome is that? But he said he had to keep himself in check. When he did that, he became disqualified. What did he say of all his troubles? All of his struggles? In Romans 7, you can read it, 21 to 25, he said, who's going to deliver me? Oh, wretched man that I am! I'm having this battle. And sometimes you feel like giving up. Is it worth doing?

But you hang in there, because God's Spirit leads you to endure. Remember? One of the great traits of a Christian is being able to endure to the end. He that endures to the end. He wants to see what we're made out of. How will we be under this trial or that trial? Don't give up. I remember in Pasadena, there was a man there who was not good. You know what that man was doing? He was summarily pulling everything to himself, keeping Mr. Armstrong isolated in Arizona.

I remember sitting in that room and looking at him, and I was just looking. I would not follow your way. Because I saw him. I saw through what he was doing.

I would not. But I would not rebel. I would not form a group. I would not try to lead a group against him. No, I would not do that. I had friends that I talked to see if my sanity was correct. And it was. And God took care of that man. He exposed him when it was due time. I know.

We have to be putting off the old man, but we have to do something else. And it's Jesus Christ who gives the victory, 1 Corinthians 15, 56 and 57, who gives the victory? Verse 57 of 1 Corinthians 15, thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The victory isn't from you. It isn't from your strength of character only. It's from what character we build through Jesus Christ. Not our own. Our own righteousness is not worth a pile of done. But God's righteousness is worth a lot to God because you're learning to be dependent on Him.

Colossians 3 verses 7 to 10, we read this. There are other Ephesians as well. 4 verses 22 to 24 is also good. Let's just read Colossians. He said, in which, breaking into a thought, in which you yourselves also once walked, you walked in that way, the way of the Gentiles. When you lived in them, you did that. You were walking, I was walking the way of the world. I was doing the way of the world. But now you yourselves are to put off, and the title of this sermon, by the way, is put off, putting off, and putting in. Putting off, putting off, and putting on. Putting out and putting in. Putting out and putting in. He said, put off these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Put that all off. Whatever your detrimental points were, whatever your sins were, put them off. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds. You put him off. But what do you do? You don't leave it vacant, and have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. That's Colossians 3 verses 7 to 10. You want a companion scripture? Ephesians 4 verses 11 to 24. So during these next seven days of Unleavened Bread, during these next seven days, we need to be checking ourselves, as Paul did not allow that old man to come back, since we were delivered from that old man through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Check the Ten Commandments. How have I been doing with that? How have my life with that? How am I not doing it? What are the fruits of the Spirit? Am I bearing the fruits of the Spirit? Am I really as joyful as I should be? Am I as peaceful as I should be? Am I as patient as I should be? Am I as loving as I should be? Am I as gentle as I should be? What about the armor of God? Did you come today? I have a sermon one of these times I'll give.

Clothe yourself. He says with this, this, and this. Did you come with your armor? Oops! I forgot my helmet. Helmet of salvation you forgot?

Oh, I left my sword at home. I left my scabbard, but I don't have my sword.

What did you forget to bring? Did you put on the armor of God? Do you have faith? Do you have that shield of faith? Do you have that breastplate of righteousness? What does that cover? Your heart. Where is the law of God put in your heart and mind? What should you be thinking about in your head? Salvation, the kingdom of God.

Don't leave your arm. What about the preparation of the gospel of peace? Are you anxious to see the gospel go forth in power to the world? Are you anxious to see God bring more people in as He chooses? Yes. I'll tell you, if you'd not lived back in the 70s, most of the time I was busy visiting new people, and there were two churches that I looked after of almost a thousand.

And people were coming in, and we were baptizing 20 and 30 at a time. In New York City, Philadelphia, we baptized 100 in one day.

They'd already been counseled before. Gathered them at the YMCA, and believe me, when you participated in that, your arms are tired from baptizing and then laying hands on afterwards. We had teams of men, so we didn't have to do all 100 of them.

But in 1987, I think it was 67 in New York and 23 or 33 in Philadelphia. 100 people baptized in one day.

God calls, softens hearts, and leads people to repentance.

After that, Jesus Christ's sacrifice takes over.

What about Acts of the Apostles? When was the last time you read through the Acts of the Apostles and just said, look how Christians lived? Look how Christians lived in those days. What they did, how they loved each other, how they cared for each other. Do you ever think of doing that? What about Romans 6? The whole chapter of Romans 6 talks about baptism and what Christ did for you at baptism and how you can't do it on your own afterwards. But God prepared you to do it afterwards, to have His righteousness. Read through the whole chapter. It's amazing what you find. Those are just some of the preparations to make sure we are abiding. So all we're doing is checking. Remember Paul did a checkup? I checked myself to see. I'm going to give you some self checks, three self checks. I usually give these to young people when they counsel for baptism. And before I do it, before I baptize them, three things. One, how is your thinking?

How are you, how is your thinking? Philippians 4, 6, 4, 8 rather, think on these things.

Philippians 4, how is your thinking? Do you think about that which is true? Noble? Just? Pure? Holy? A lovely rather? Good report?

Virtue? And praiseworthy? Do you think of good things? Or do you think of bad things? What you think about? How you direct your mind? We have the mind of Christ, Philippians 2, 5. Colossians 3, 2, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Don't let yourself get caught up in a doggy dog system. And every one of us has to preserve ourselves. We all have to appear. Nobody's coming to your house and giving you charity, at least not very many. You still have to work yourself. But don't get so caught up in it that you forget God. That's easy to do. How's your talking? Second check. How's your language to each other?

I think I passed somebody on the freeway in California. It was a jammed up thing. And I thought I don't know if you thought I beeped him or something, but he gave me the third finger, gave me the bird. And I recognized him. He was a church member.

I didn't look him up afterwards.

But I'd be careful not to follow him with my car when I'm driving.

Colossians 4-6, just one scripture. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. It's not enough what to answer. It's how you answer with what.

How you answer makes all the difference in the world. Paul said he became all things to all people, that he might gain some. He didn't sound treat everybody exactly the same.

You have to know those people. That's why visiting brethren as a minister is so important to know what these people are like, to know what their needs are.

And I'll remind you of the scripture in Matthew 12 and verse 34. Jesus Christ said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. I cannot speak to you regularly without you knowing who I am.

I can't. You'll know me. You get a—I know you have a reading on me. I hope it's good, but it may not be good. I don't know what your reading is.

One man said when I spoke to him dogmatically about what he asked me about a scripture, and I explained it to him because I knew what the scripture was. I knew how it meant. I knew the definition. I knew the answer. Later, he wrote on to pass Vancouver about me. This guy is such a cocksure person. He just came in here and he did this.

Later on, that man came into the church, was baptized. I counseled him for marriage. I did his marriage. He was in our spokesman's club. But that's how he thought of me. You have to know how to answer every person. How's your talking?

Number three. How are your actions?

What is the result of your actions?

You ever ask yourself, what's the fruit of my life?

What do I have to show for it?

I'm getting old. I'm getting old. What will people put on my gravestone?

We're glad he's gone.

We're happy he's not around.

He sure hurt me.

Only put on what others put on your gravestone.

How are your actions? Colossians 2, verses 6 and 7. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him.

You can do no better than to walk and live like Jesus Christ did. Rooted. That means to cause to take root, to become stable. Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as you have been taught, and abounding in thanksgiving.

Are you a gracious, thankful person?

When people meet you, do they feel like they've been to a buzzsaw? Or do they feel like they've been with someone who cares about them?

What will people say of you? What will they think of you?

We're all going to have to answer.

John 13, verses 34 and 35. Here's what Jesus Christ taught us. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. What is the sign that you are a Christian to others? By this, all will know that you are my disciples.

Because you don't eat unleavened bread?

Maybe.

Because you keep the Sabbath faithfully? Maybe.

But what will they know?

By the love you have, one for another. And Jesus Christ taught it many times. He said, by their fruits, you will know them.

By their fruits.

You see, I could tell some of the politicians their fruits, because I also see and have seen what they did. And so people can see you and me.

So, brethren, I have others. I'll just give you two scriptures that you can read yourself. If you want a bonus, check yourself during these days. James 3, 16, and 17. Add in the wisdom that comes from above. Analyze every one of those. And, secondly, a bonus for you is to also take a look, adding the seven godly traits that ends up with you being given an entrance into the kingdom of God abundantly. That's 2 Peter 1, verses 5-11. I call it God's eternal life insurance plan, because if you do these, you will never stumble.

But rather, an entrance into the kingdom will be made for you abundantly. You won't have to squeeze in. You'll be welcomed. So, in conclusion, every time we ingest this little bit of unleavened bread, I know we're not supposed to bring food in here. That's why I brought it to this envelope.

Every time we ingest this little piece of unleavened bread, I hope we'll be thinking not just, well, how good that is with the butter on it, with the jam, with the peanut butter, with whatever dip I put on it, I hope we'll be thinking, I want to put righteousness, God's righteousness, into my life.

And then, brethren, when you've done these things, done your self-check.

And through the strength of God, you stand before Him, an entrance into the kingdom of God will be made for you. May all the days of unleavened bread be inspirational and meaningful to you as you prepare for the glorious kingdom of God.