Some Tough Questions to Ask Yourself - Part 1

Well, it's less than 10 weeks before the Passover this year, and I would like to get us thinking about the purpose and the meaning of the Spring Holy Days as we approach each Holy Day season. One of the wonderful things about the Church of God and our theology is as we approach each Spring Holy Day season, we take time to evaluate ourselves and look at our lives. That's kind of rare in this world as so many people just fumble through life, aimless, purposeless, always blaming everyone else for all of their problems and their difficulties. But the Church and the Holy Days, the way the Holy Days work out, they encourage us once a year particularly to take a good look at our lives and say, how am I doing as a husband or wife, as a son, as a spouse, as a sibling, as a member of my community, as a worker? How am I doing in these important areas of my life? And that's a beautiful thing about what's built into God's plan is a reminder for us to do that each and every year to do an evaluation on what God has done in our lives as we look in the past. And we see the changes and we see the things that we've overcome and we've seen the progress we've made, what He's doing right now in our lives, the changes that He wants us to make, and also what He desires yet to do in our lives. So it's important for us as we prepare for the Spring Holy Days to realize it is a good time to reflect on our spiritual condition and to make any needed changes and if we even have the willpower and the commitment to reinvent ourselves to literally change course if we are heading in a direction in life or in the church or our relationship with God that we're not happy with, that we're not content with, to realize that we can make those needed changes. We can do that through the power of God's Holy Spirit. As we're going to see in the next few weeks, even nature itself will remind us that it's time to sprout new life. It's hard to believe on a day like this. Everything looks so dead outside, this snow covered. But within the next few weeks, things will begin to warm up and in six weeks to eight weeks we'll actually have daffodils jumping through the ground and we'll have tulips coming up and we'll see even nature's lesson that it's a time for new life. It's a time for growth. And that's the meaning of the Spring Holy Days. Let's go to Psalm chapter 119. If you'll turn there with me, Psalm chapter 119 and verse 57.

We'll kind of introduce the theme of what we want to talk about.

This is going to be a two-part sermon and I'm going to cover part one today and part two the next time we have an opportunity to get together. Psalm chapter 119 and verse 57. The great psalmist wrote, You are my portion, O Lord. God, You're everything that I ever really needed. You are my portion, O Lord. I have said that I would keep Your words. I entreated Your favor with my whole heart. Be merciful to me according to Your word. Verse 59, I thought about my ways and turned my feet to Your testimony. So the psalmist is saying I started straying. I originally worshiped You with my whole heart, but I'm thinking about my life and I need to turn my feet back towards Your testimonies. There are some things in my life that I need to improve. There are things in my life that I need to change. Continuing verse 59, I thought about my ways and turned my feet to Your testimonies. I made haste and did not delay to keep Your commandments. When I saw a change that I needed to make in my life, I said, okay, I'm going to do it. I did stall. I didn't hesitate. I didn't himaw. I decided that I'm not going to stand around and do nothing. I'm going to make that change. I'm going to conform to Your law. I'm going to conform to Your way of life. Verse 61, the cords of the wicked have bound me, but I have not forgotten Your law. At midnight, I will raise up and give thanks to You because of Your righteous judgments. That meant that God was on His mind even when He woke up at midnight. When He got up in the middle of the night, He woke up. He thought about God. He thought about His relationship with God, how much He needed God, how much God should be a part of His life. At midnight, I will rise to give thanks to You because of Your righteous judgments. Verse 63, I am a companion of all who fear You and of those who keep Your precepts. Just like You are, You're part of a church congregation. You, too, are a companion of people who love God. You're a companion of people who have like-mind and want to have a relationship with God and want to take their lives to another level. Verse 64, the earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy. Notice the structure of the next few sentences. Teach me Your statutes. You have dealt well with Your servant, O Lord, according to Your Word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe Your commandments. Before I was afflicted and went astray, but now I keep Your Word. You are good and do good. Teach me Your statutes.

So let me ask this question. Are we willing to be taught? Do we still have that attitude? If God teach me, show me, open my heart, and open my mind to who You are and Your way of life? Or do we think we know it all? When we realize that we're straying away from God, are we willing to turn our feet back to God, just like the psalmist mentions here in the 119th chapter of the book of Psalms? I'm going to read verses 59 through 64 at another translation, God's Word for today. I've thought about my life, and I have directed my feet back to Your written instructions. Are we ready to do that this year in the spring holy day season? Are we ready to take a look at our lives and say, there are things that I need to change? I need either have a relationship with God, or I need to rekindle a relationship with God, and I need to get back on track because I have strayed. And why is all of this important? Because we're human beings. Let me tell you something about human nature, and it doesn't matter. Religion, skin color, language, or anything. If you're a human being, you always have a tendency to stray, to get off track. We always have a tendency to take things for granted, to take people for granted, to take things for granted after a period of time. We always have a tendency to think that we're entitled, and we have to stop those tendencies. We have to catch ourselves. We have to do a self-evaluation so we don't get into the kind of mindset that's going to pull us down, that's going to destroy our families, that's going to destroy our relationships with other people, and that's going to hold us back. So the psalmist says here, I thought about my life. I've directed my feet back to your written instructions. Without any hesitation, I hurry to obey your commandments. Though the ropes of the wicked people are tied around me, I never forget your teachings. Are we ready to recall the teachings that God has revealed to us through His Word? Verse 62, at midnight, I wake up and give thanks to you for the regulations which are based on your righteousness. I am a friend to everyone who fears you and everyone who follows your guiding principles. Your mercy, O Lord, fills the earth. Teach me your laws. Again, are we willing to be taught? Are we open-hearted? Are we open-minded? Or have we just allowed those things to become fossilized? Well, I know everything I need to know. No one can tell me anything. What's going on inside of our heads? Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5. We just read from the book of Psalms. We're going to take a look at a parallel admonition from the Apostle Paul here in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5.

Paul writes here.

He says, examine yourselves. And that's what we're starting that process today in this sermon. Now, he doesn't say examine your spouse. Examine your children. Examine your neighbor.

No, he says examine yourself. Greg Thomas needs to examine how he's doing, and you need to examine how you're doing. As to whether you are in the faith, test yourselves. Ask yourself some hard questions and be honest with yourself. Within your heart of hearts, ask yourself some really tough questions and give some honest answers. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you? Do you not know that you have the most incredible power in the universe inside of you if you were baptized and received God's Spirit? You have incredible power. That same Spirit. We go back to Genesis 1. That same Spirit that at God's command was powerful enough to create matter and fashion all that we have in the world today. That Spirit resides in you. Think of the power that resides there, that can change anything. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified, but I trust that you know we are not disqualified. Well, we're here today. We're observing God's Sabbath day, so I don't think that's a question at all. I don't think that should be a concern. Many years ago, a British preacher whose name was Charles Spurgeon spoke to his congregation in the 1800s, and here's what he said. Most people have seen themselves in a mirror, but there's another mirror which gives true reflections into which few men look. To study oneself in the light of God's Word and carefully go over one's condition would be a very healthy exercise. So what I'd like to do today is we begin about 10 weeks before the Passover in the spring holy days. As we prepare for a new biblical calendar year, pretty soon we'll have the first month of the Hebrew calendar starting a brand new year. We have the upcoming spring holy days. I'd like to begin the process of conducting our own self-examination by asking some tough questions. Again, this isn't to examine anyone else but ourselves. As I ask these questions, I just ask that you write them down and ponder them in your private moments and give them some serious thought because only you can discern if you are where you want to be through the power of God's Holy Spirit or if there's more progress and more growth that God wants you to have. So again, we're going to do part one of this sermon today and follow up part two next time. So here's question number one. Some of these may be tough questions and that's okay because they're only for you. You don't have to give the answers today. You don't have to give the answer to anyone else. This is from me to your heart. Number one, have I made time alone with God a priority?

Have I made time alone with God a priority? Or have we been just so wrapped up in the cares of this world? No generation in human history has more distractions than we do. We have more stuff to waste our time to consume every waking moment and then some that it can become all consuming and it can waste our lives. Now, I don't want you to get me wrong. To be a balanced human being, you need portions of the day in which you have recreation, you play games, you enjoy your hobbies, all of that is good and wonderful.

The question is, have I made time alone with God a priority? Do I seem to have time for all of this other stuff? Oops! Another day goes by and I didn't pray. Another day goes by and I didn't think about scripture. I didn't open the Bible. I didn't pray over a meal. I didn't talk about God in any way. I'm very fortunate in that I own a fireplace and I really appreciate having one in this weather and from time to Friday nights we'll burn a fire.

And I'll tell you what I've learned and that is, and it is the metaphors with our spiritual lives, you can put a lot of effort into building a fire, much like occurs with us. Again, the metaphor of when God is calling us. We devour booklets. We're all excited. We ask all kinds of questions. We participate in lots of things. The local Bible studies and the Sabbath services and the work projects and we're all fired up and we're all excited. But I know this about building a fire and that is I can spend a lot of time building that fire.

I can put the right size kindling down and I can stack the wood in the right way so that it'll burn properly. I can open it and make sure there's a good flu. I can crumble paper underneath and I can light it and I can use the bellow. Right? Got this beautiful fire. But I also know this, that that fire won't last very long if I don't regularly pile wood on top of the flames. I might have put all that effort into creating the perfect beautiful fire. But if I am not nurturing that fire, if I'm not putting more wood on it, it's going to go out.

And the same is true of our spiritual lives. Brethren, we cannot survive spiritually without regular communication with God. And if we've been neglecting prayer, or we haven't prayed, or we don't know how to pray, we need to learn how to pray, we need to get in the habit of praying, we need to make prayer an important part of our lives, and it's the same as reading God's Word.

If we've gotten away from that during the past year, we need to make the decision today to rekindle our spiritual life, to rekindle our devotional life. And God doesn't demand that we read the Bible and pray 24-7. He just wants us to make our relationship with Him a priority, the first priority. Actually, we'll read about that in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 31. If you'll turn there with me again, Jesus isn't saying that you don't have priorities that are second, or third, or fourth, or fifth, or sixth.

All of those are good things. But He encourages us and reminds us the importance of seeking something first. And I don't know about you, but I'm human. And I have learned the hard way over many, many, many years that when I wake up in the morning, if I don't get prayer or Bible study and just like right away, that all day long I'll put it off.

Oh yeah, I'll get my Bible study and later. I'll get prayer and later. And then it's nine at night and out. So what I've learned, and this is important to Greg Thomas, is that if I don't do it early, then I probably won't do it. Doing it early means for me, it's kind of the priority of my day. It's the first thing that I get done. Because I know that if I don't do it early, I'll allow a hundred other distractions and things to come in that will all claim to be priorities and will pull me away from prayer and study.

You know, healthy, productive communication requires talking and listening.

Now, I have found over many years that people who are religious by nature tend to be really good at talking. They tend to be really good at having opinions, but we always struggle with that other part of communication is called listening. And here's my question. Are we listening to God? Has God been trying to tell us something for years that we need to change or modify or something that we need to start doing and we're just not listening to Him? We're just allowing all the distractions and all the white noise in this world and all the activity and all these other things to pull us away from making time alone with God a priority in our lives. Jesus said, therefore, do not worry, saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For after all these things, the Gentiles seek. And that's very true. If you look in any newspaper, any online newspaper today, there's going to be tabs or sections about great food cuisine, enjoying the good foods of life. There will be another one about fine wines and how to make 150 different mixed beverages. All right, and there will be another one of fashion. How to be stylish, how to have that latest hairstyle, how to have the latest clothing that's never been invented before, but actually was just repurposed from the way people dressed in 1930. So this is what the world focuses on. These are all materialistic things. Good food, good drink, how I look. Dressing nice, having a nice car, having the biggest home on the block. These are all very materialistic things. And unfortunately, people in the world who don't have a relationship with God, that's all they have to live for, because they bought into the lie that he who dies with the most toys wins. You're still dead.

Wow! That was a real accomplishment. As I've said before, that's not true. It's just that your heirs will be very happy. So he says here, continuing, but this is verse 33, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow will worry about its own things sufficient. For the day is its own trouble. So it's Jesus teaching, saying, just take one day at a time. Now he's not saying we shouldn't plan or we shouldn't have goals. We most certainly should. He said, but don't worry about something two weeks from now. First of all, we don't even know if we're going to be alive tomorrow. There's no guarantee we'll even be breathing. We'll be upright tomorrow. So the big word today, people talk about mindfulness. Jesus is saying, have mindfulness. Be mindful of right now, today, because that's all you've got. You can't change anything that happened in the past. The future you may or may not get to tomorrow. So right now, be mindful of today and deal with the issues and challenges and things that you have going on in your life today. And within that, what should you do? You should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. I want you to notice the two things that says we should seek first. First is the kingdom of God. That is a new world that we look forward to coming at the return of Jesus Christ. And it's going to be a world with a perfect government because the people running that government are not going to be human. They are going to be spirit beings. And it's going to be a world in which there is no hunger, no fear, no poverty, no broken lives, no emptiness, no war. It's going to be a beautiful world that Jesus Christ is going to establish upon this whole earth. And we should look forward to that. That's the kingdom of God. The other thing He said we should seek first is His righteousness. We should become desirous to become more like God. It's His righteousness. It's not our own righteousness. Our own righteousness is filthy rags and we can't attain anything with our own righteousness because we're mere human beings. But to seek His righteousness and when Jesus Christ dwells inside of us, His righteousness is there inside of us. And that's actually what fills the gap. That's what makes us God's children is when His righteousness, which comes through the power of the Holy Spirit, dwells within us and fills our weakness, fills the gap so that we are righteous in God's eyes. And this means developing the mind and the character of God. And these are only possible if we make God a priority in our life. And if we get into the habit and establish some time alone every day developing that relationship with God.

So that was tough question number one. Here's number two. Did I develop bad habits that need to be broken? Did I develop bad habits that need to be broken? How we've been doing the last year, the last couple of years? Have we watching things we shouldn't be watching? Doing things we shouldn't be doing either to ourselves or someone else? Have we begun to do some things that are self-destructive because they are bad habits? 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 19. If you'll turn there with me. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 19.

Paul uses a metaphor here that ties in really nicely with what I mentioned a little while ago about building a fire in my fireplace. Ties in with that beautifully. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 19. Do not quench the spirit. Another translation, a new international version. Do not put out the spirit's fire. This word quench comes from the Greek word shinomii and it means to extinguish or to go out. So don't extinguish or go out. Allow to go out that spirit that dwells within us. Here is what the Believer's Study Bible says about this word. The metaphor quench suggests that the activity of the spirit conveys a warmth, even a fire, within a fellowship. When the spirit's fire is not quenched, one will find a Christian a fellowship. Pretty powerful statement, I think. Are you doing anything that is extinguishing the spirit's flame in your life? As I said earlier, we're human and we sometimes cannot only stall out, we can actually go backwards. We can revive bad habits that we've overcome for a while. I mean, I've known brethren who stopped drinking and they overcame that and a few years later they went right back to drinking again. I've known brethren who stopped smoking and that's a good thing because smoking is very destructive to our health. And they went years without smoking and they went back to smoking again. So we can indeed go back to bad habits, to things that we did before, before we were called or when we were called, and we can go right back to those bad habits all over again and they don't serve us well. It may be time to stop the behavior and to fill that void with something positive. It's like anything in life. If you replace a bad habit, you have to fill that void with something positive or another bad habit will just simply fill that void. It will jump in there and replace that. So is there anything going on that, again, we are extinguishing in our lives the spirit? A bad habit? Something that is hurting us? So another tough question, did I develop bad habits that need to be broken? Here's a third question I'd like to ask. How can I avoid the mistakes of the past? How can I avoid the mistakes of the past? You know, we don't have to stay in a rut. We can repent in our moments of weakness and sin. We can turn away from our willful sins and we can run back to our Father's gracious arms. He's always there. He's always waiting for us to come home, to return back to Him. Upon repentance, God has forgiven you and you can move forward. The spring holy day season reminds us that it's a time of new beginnings. Are we willing to take advantage of the new beginning that's represented by the Passover and the spring holy days? Are we willing to look at our lives? Are we willing to say, hey, this is a bad habit and I need to stop doing this and I need to stop doing it now? And this is something that is not serving me well. It's not serving my family well. It's hurtful. It's insensitive. It's destructive. Are we willing to do that? Number three here. How can I avoid the mistakes of the past? As I mentioned, you don't have to stay stuck in a rut. You can realize the spring holy day season is a time for a new beginning. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse 16. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse 16. It says something here about a righteous man that you may not have fully appreciated before. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse 16. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse 16. Has God called perfect people?

I've never met one. If you're perfect, I would like to shake your hand after services. I'd like to meet you and maybe take a selfie with you because I've never met a perfect individual in my lifetime. Proverbs chapter 24 and verse 16. For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity. So what does this scripture mean? What's it telling us? Well, notice, I want you to notice first of all that the righteous person makes a lot of mistakes. Falling seven times is a lot of times to fall. What sets them apart is that they keep getting up.

They keep repenting. They keep brushing themselves off. They keep doing a self-analysis, underscoring where they're going wrong, and they keep moving forward. In contrast, the wicked fall down and they stay down because they don't have a relationship with God. They've rejected God. They quit. They go down into the gutter and they wallow through their entire lifetimes in the gutter. Some type of substance abuse, some type of pity party that they're in. Woe is me. The world is against me and everyone hates me. Whatever it may be, they fall down in the gutter and they stay in the gutter. Where the righteous man makes a lot of mistakes but gets up again, repents, and moves forward. Psalm 145 and verse 14. Let's turn there just to very close to the book of Proverbs. Psalms 145 and verse 14. The psalmist wrote, The Lord upholds all who fall. Did you fall at all this past year? Did you make some mistakes? Some things you're struggling with emotionally, mentally, physically? It says, The Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. Meaning those who in humility said, God, you know I messed up again. Please forgive me. I repent of my sins. I want to be better. I want to do better. Please uphold me, Father. Please forgive me. Please help me to get up and move forward. Verse 15. The eyes of all look expectantly to you. Capital Y, meaning to God. And you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

If we make God a priority in our life, He will satisfy our desires, whatever those desires are. If we follow His law and we live God's way of life, God will give us a very satisfying life and will fulfill our physical desires. Jesus promised that. He said, if you seek the kingdom of God, all these other things, homes and cars and nice things, will be added to your life. If you get your priorities straight and if you seek first the kingdom of God in His righteousness. Verse 17. The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. Have we had a difficult year? Have we gotten away from God? Maybe it's time to call upon Him. Haven't been getting the study in, the prayer. Maybe you've been struggling with some personal relationships. Maybe now is the time to draw near to Him, to call upon Him. Say, okay, time for me to reboot, Lord. Time for me to get my act together and rekindle that fire, that relationship that I want to have with you. Verse 19. He will fulfill the desire of all those who fear Him. Now, this word fear in this context doesn't mean being terrorized by the thought of God or punishment. It means having a very deep and profound awe and respect for who and what God is. He will also hear their cry and save them. So, if we cry out to God, it says that God will hear us. He will respond. He will forgive us of our sins and transgressions. He will save them. The Lord preserves all who love Him. When's the last time that you told God, I love you? For some of us, particularly those of the male gender, we have trouble saying that to our wives, let alone to God. When's the last time you told God that I love you? Continuing, but all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth shall speak, the praise of the Lord, and all flesh shall bless His holy name forever and ever. So, if we've drifted away from the things that we should be doing, or we've been doing some things we shouldn't be doing, maybe it's time for a wake-up call. Yeah, there was an ad on TV. I can't remember the product. I even Googled it and couldn't find it. It was a TV ad out a few years ago that went something like this. While you were out, life called, and you're late. And what I took out of that ad was stop drifting through time. You're in your life. It's time to make choices. It's time to do something with your life because you've already waited too long. You've already stalled too long. Get at it and live and make the most out of your life. Paul said in Romans chapter 13 and verse 11, he said, and do this knowing the time that now is the high time to awake out of sleep. Have we fallen into a slumber? I know physically speaking, like the days we had this week where it was minus come three, four in the afternoon. It's, oh, I'm ready to go to sleep. I don't know what it is in the house, whether it's the heat or the environment outside. But physically speaking, I was very tired. Spiritually speaking, is it time to wake up? Is it time to realize that life has called and you're late? It's time to catch up. Continuing here, what Paul said in Romans chapter 13 verse 11, now is the high time to wake out of sleep, for now your salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. So, how can we avoid the mistakes of the past?

The next tough question I would like to ask is, in what areas do I need to grow spiritually? In what areas do I need to grow spiritually? Maybe some areas I've been putting off, some things I've been stalling on, some things I need to change but keep putting off till tomorrow and somehow tomorrow never comes and dealing with those issues or those problems in my life. Second Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 12, second Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 12, and here Paul is drawing an analogy from Moses who came down from the mount and had a veil on his face.

Because he was in God's present, he was so bright that the people couldn't look at him directly. It irritated them, it bothered them, so he put a veil on so that they could talk to Moses. And Paul is saying, because of Jesus Christ, the veil has been lifted and we can go to God directly.

So, I'm going to, with knowing that background, I'll read the scripture, therefore, this is second Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 12, therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike Moses, who put a veil over his faces, the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away, but their minds were blinded.

For unto this day, the same veil remains un-lifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ. It's only when we accept Christ into our lives that we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. And we are baptized and receive God's Holy Spirit. That blinder is taken away. That veil. Christ makes it possible to see the richness and the fullness of God. Continuing verse 15, but even to this day when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.

He's talking about those who were a Jewish background who had not accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. They still had that veil. They're reading the Old Testament. They know the Word of God, but it doesn't make sense. The puzzle pieces don't come together. Verse 16, nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit is, there is liberty. You see, when we understand the fullness of what repentance means and we receive God's Spirit, we become a child of God, we live in liberty.

We no longer regret these stupid things that we did in the past because it's all been forgiven by God. So there's no reason to relive them. They're all forgiven. We live in liberty because we're governed by the laws of God, and God's laws provide balance in our lives.

They provide stability. They provide a life that is fulfilling, a life that is guided by purpose and goals and direction. And when you're not trying to live by the values of this world, but you're living by the values of God, you live in total liberty and freedom from the kind of consequences that other people experience because they break God's law all of the time. So there is liberty there. Verse 18, but we all with unveiled face, beholding in the mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

I want to focus on this word transformed. It says we're being transformed into the very same image from glory to glory by God's Spirit. The word transformed here is something that'll sound familiar to you. It's a Greek word metorfu, from which we get metamorphosis in English. And it means to transform, to change something. Think about the slow, vulnerable caterpillar and how in time it changes into a butterfly through metamorphosis.

That's what Paul means. There's a metamorphosis going on in your life. You're being changed from a mere human being, selfish, directed by our own emotions, controlled by our problems and controlled by our habits. You're being transformed into something spiritual, into a new being. A new, as Paul, the phrase Paul would use, a new creation, a new creature in Christ. I looked up the English Oxford dictionary, and I loved just the definition it had of metamorphosis.

Here's what it says. The process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages. I thought right on. We're human beings. We're immature. We're struggling. We're lost. We're confused. We're looking for purpose. We're going through this life aimless if we don't have the knowledge and have a relationship with God. But we're being transformed from that immature human form that we have into an adult, a spiritual adult who's developing the mind of Jesus Christ.

And that happens through a number of stages. It doesn't happen overnight. I've been doing this for almost 50 years, and I've made some progress, I hope. But there's still a lot of growth that I need to attain in my lifetime. And that's exactly what he meant here. He said being transformed in the very same image from glory to glory. This means that we're intended to grow from one degree of glory to another degree of glory over a period of time. We grow for a while, and we get to that level, and we stabilize, and then we're ready to take a step up, and more experiences will generate more growth in our lives. And we go from glory to glory throughout our physical lives. That's what God intended. God wants to take us to a new level. So have you been struggling with anger, anxiety, fear, doubt, resentment? Are there things that you're dealing with? Are certain attitudes dragging you down? I encourage you to identify the roadblocks in your life and ask the Father to help you replace them with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. All right, number five. Here's the fifth tough question. What is God spiritually saying to me as I ponder another Passover and a new Holy Day season? What is God spiritually saying to me as I ponder another Passover and new Holy Day season? You know, God knows you better than you know yourself. We oftentimes deceive ourselves, right? We have this filtered view of who and what we are. But God can look right down into the core of our heart and mind and know us better than we know ourselves. Like he told us, a Samaritan woman. That's right. You're not married because the guy that you're living with now, you're not married to. And he told her all about her past and she was amazed. How could he do that? Because he was God. He could look right down into the core of her heart and her mind. So God knows us better than we know ourselves, or at least more than we're willing to admit about ourselves. And he also knows your future. He knows the challenges you have faced to get you where you're at today. And he also knows the challenges that may come upon you this coming year as you enter a new season of personal growth. So what is God trying to say to you? Right? Now.

Let's turn to Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 11.

I'd like to take a look at scripture, a future prophecy, but I'd like to apply it to ourselves, take it slightly out of context, and take this prophecy about his people after Jesus Christ returns and establishes the kingdom of God on earth, and apply it to ourselves as individuals. Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 11.

The prophet was inspired to write, For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

I know there are some who would like you to believe that God is down on you, that God just walks around with a spiritual paddle, looking for every reason, every flaw, every time we make a mistake to come down on us and paddle us or correct us because we're bad, and no matter what we do, it's never good enough. There are some who have that distorted, warped understanding of who and what God is. But that is not the God of scripture, it's God of the Bible. He says, I want to give you a future. I want to give you hope. I know what my plans are for you, God says. Then you will call upon me, and if we have stumbled, we certainly need to repent. If we need to call upon God because we haven't been doing the things we should be doing, this is the time of year to begin to think about making a course correction in our lives. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. So if we haven't been doing the things we should, and we cry out to God and we call upon Him in repentance, He says, I'm listening. I'm here for you. I have great things planned for you. Thank you for realizing that you need to get back on track. Thank you for realizing that I really want to have a relationship with you, God says, but it only works if it's a two-way street. God says, you've got to talk to me. You've got to spend some time with me. Verse 13, and you will seek and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity. Now, prophetically, this was talking about people who went into captivity, but let me ask this question. What habit has held us in captivity the last year?

What stinking foul attitude do we have that's held us in captivity? What addiction do we have that we're slaves to today? That's holding us in captivity and holding us back from reaching the potential in our lives that God wants us to have. I will bring you back from your captivity. I will gather you from the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. Again, we may tend to think of this scripture as prophetic, and it certainly is, but what about our personal lives? God has great plans for us. He has an incredible future outlined for our lives, but it's very easy to allow the world to make us captive. All of these distractions focusing on all of these material things and not even setting any time aside for God each day. That can be a real problem. Are we held into captivity in some way in our lives? God wants us. He wants to gather us up. He wants to bring us back home to Him and have a relationship, a personal relationship with Him. So right now, in this moment of time, what is God saying to you?

What do we need to do? What do we need to stop doing? Who do you need to apologize to?

When are you going to tackle that most difficult sin that you've been putting off for far too long that's holding you back and hurting your loved ones?

Why have you been putting something off that you know that you certainly need to deal with? So again, that question was, what is God spiritually saying to me as I ponder another Passover and a new Holy Day season? Well, that's enough tough questions for one day. We will conclude the sermon at this point. Thank you so much. I wish you a wonderful Sabbath and we'll have part two of the sermon next time we have an opportunity to get together. Have an awesome Sabbath day!