SPRING HOLY DAYS AND BREAD

Well, brethren, why are we here today observing the days of unleavened bread? When I first heard about this, it seemed kind of odd to me. I don't know if I had ever heard of unleavened bread before, and I think probably many of us felt the same way when we first heard this strange sounding word. And sometimes when we explain it to others or tell them what we're doing, we see kind of a blank look on their face. They kind of wonder, what is this all about? So why are we here today? Why is this important? What do these days picture? What should they mean to us? What lessons should we be learning? What lessons should we be reviewing these next seven days? Why did God center these spring hoagies on bread? And why make a distinction between unleavened bread and leavened bread? Leavened or unleavened bread? Does it really matter? Well, of course, we know it matters or we wouldn't be here, right? It does matter. God often uses something physical that is very common and well known as a symbol of something spiritual and much more important. He used a slaughtered physical lamb as a symbol of a spiritual lamb. Of course, our Savior Jesus Christ who sacrificed Himself for us and became our Passover lamb. And of course, we're all familiar with John chapter 3 verse 16, for God the Father so loved His Son or so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but should have everlasting life. And it goes on to say in verse 17, for God set not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. So we know that this is a very special time. It was wonderful having Passover with the brethren from the Buffalo Church. In fact, I feel like I know all of you now. I think I've met every single one of you. Last night, we had a wonderful night to be observed and remembered over at the Holloway home and really enjoyed getting to know those from the Elmira area. So it's really been a real blessing for us to be able to visit all of you this time. God has certainly used symbols again when He comes to these holy days that we began observing last night at the night to be much remembered. Last night, there was plenty of unleavened bread, but I couldn't find any leavened bread anywhere. I looked. I didn't find anything in the Holloway home. It was all gone. They got rid of it. Absolutely no leavened bread to be found in any of our homes. We put the leaven out and we brought the unleavened bread.

Excuse me. We brought the unleavened bread into our homes. Leavened bread is much more plentiful as a rule than unleavened bread. If you go into the store, it's a lot easier to find leavened bread, isn't it? And this time of year, you can find matzos, but at other times of the year, it's almost impossible to find matzos then. You can find rye crisps or triscuits. There's a few unleavened breads out there, but not many. So it's much more scarce, but last night it was much more plentiful for all of us. We had numerous types, lots of unleavened bread in our homes last night. Leavened bread, as it is today, was also very plentiful in ancient biblical times. Bread was even more important back then than it is today. In fact, it was considered the staff of life. It was one of the most essential mainstays of the ancient diet. There's a book entitled, Every Day Life and Bible Times. It's put out by National Geographic. And in the book, it says that around the time of Moses, there were 40 kinds of baked goods. In those days, in Egypt, bread sustained the dead as well as the living. Now, that's an interesting concept, isn't it? I don't think we really would agree with that, but that's what they thought. It sustained the dead as well as the living. Nobles wished for thousands of loaves to supply their needs in the next world. In fact, it goes on to say that the nobles were buried with hundreds or thousands of loaves of bread. So that's a little bizarre, but there's a lot of bizarre things that have gone on in this world throughout history. I would imagine that bread was a little moldy when they found King Tut or whoever. So bread was something with which the people of the day could readily identify. Let's talk about some of the characteristics of leaven bread and about how these characteristics relate in a spiritual way to us today. So first of all, leaven spreads. Let's go to Galatians chapter 5 verse 9. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 9. Here it says, the little leaven leavens the whole lump. You know, you've heard that phrase before. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. It's true physically that a little leaven does leaven the whole lump, doesn't it? It doesn't take much and the pancakes rise. It doesn't take much and the the bread rises. So thank you. Appreciate that. I'll try not to spill this. May be difficult.

So a little leaven does leaven the whole lump and spiritually, of course, we know that that's the case too. We'll talk more about that. We know that sin spreads. In a sense, there's a ripple effect. When a person starts thinking thoughts he shouldn't think. It isn't long before he starts doing things he shouldn't do. And so it is important to keep that in mind that a little leaven leavens the whole lump physically but also spiritually. Sin spreads and affects many in various ways. I've seen that in my 30 years as a pastor. I've been exposed to a lot of different sins, not just my own, but other people's sins that that I came to hear about. And it is very true that sin spreads and affects people in various ways. Oftentimes, as I said, it starts small. Let's go to James chapter 1 because it talks about sin, how it begins, and how it progresses. James chapter 1. We'll start reading in verse 12. James chapter 1 verse 12.

Here it says, Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say, when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. That wouldn't make sense for God to tempt people to sin. God will test us, and Satan he uses to tempt us, Satan is the great tempter. He says, but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires.

So oftentimes, we have wrong desires, and when we start dwelling on those wrong desires and those wrong thoughts, then we become enticed. If we stop dwelling on those things, then sin doesn't progress, or those thoughts don't turn into sin. Verse 15, And then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. So having a wrong desire in itself isn't sin, but when we allow it to continue, and we act upon it, or we think about it, we dwell upon it, because Christ said, if you look at a woman to lust for her, you've committed adultery with her.

Or if you harbor hatred and resentment toward someone, then you've murdered them in your heart. So it is important that we stop sin in its tracks very quickly. As soon as we begin going down that path, we start thinking these wrong thoughts. That's the time to get down on your knees and ask God to forgive you for those wrong thoughts and help you stop going any further. Verse 15, Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. We know that sin is the transgression of God's law, either in the spirit of the law or the letter of the law.

And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death, when it's no longer repented of. When a person progresses so far into sin that he is hardened, that his conscience becomes hardened, and he's not willing to repent of his sins, then that brings forth eternal death. So it is important that we are not deceived.

It says, verse 16, Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Here, James wanted all of God's people to know and understand about sin, how it develops in the mind, begins with thoughts, and then it develops and goes on if we don't stop it. It's very much like a little bit of physical leaven. It will grow and grow unless somehow it stopped. Leavening agents, yeast spores, are microscopic. They're extremely small, but again they have a large impact.

I don't know about you, but for example, unleavened pancakes, to me, aren't nearly as enticing as the leaven kind. You know, they swell up and get nice and fat and fluffy. You know, it seems like those taste better for the most part. So again, sin can be tempting. It can be enticing, but we have to resist sin. We have to resist Satan. We know the Bible says, resist Satan and he will flee from us. Draw near to God and God will draw near to us.

So leaven spreads, and so we have to be on guard for any type of spiritual leaven, any type of temptation that Satan would try to get to us with. Also in the book of Luke, in chapter 4, I believe, it talks about how Satan tempted Christ. He came to Christ. He was tempting him. You're familiar with Matthew 4 and Luke 4, and in Luke 4, it talks about how he left him looking for an opportune time. And to me, that was very profound when I saw that for the first time. See, the thing is, there was never an opportune time with Christ, because Christ was always on guard. Christ never sinned.

Christ never went down that path, so there was never an opportune time. However, Satan was looking for that opportune time. And Satan will do that with us. You know, when we're weak, when we haven't been praying, we haven't been studying God's Word, we're further and further away from God.

Perhaps we're engaged in some material pursuit, and it's taking all of our time. It's almost becoming a God to us. That's an opportune time for Satan to attack. So we have to be careful that we don't give Satan an opportune time. Don't allow him to infect us with spiritual leaven. So the first point is, leaven spreads.

Secondly, leaven puffs up. I already mentioned about those pancakes, how those puff up with leaven. Same thing is true spiritually. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, and we're familiar with the church at Corinth. In fact, there was a term that became used quite frequently about Corinthianizing, because Corinth was a very corrupt city. Spiritually, it was very corrupt. It was a sexually immoral city. In fact, my wife and I visited Corinth on the Mediterranean cruise back in 1989, I believe it was.

Were any of you on that cruise in 1989? Okay, I've met a few people that were on that cruise since then, but not that many people. I think there were 500 or 600 of us on the cruise, though. But anyway, we went to the city of Corinth, and we went to a museum there.

It was very obvious, the type of decadent city, just the artifacts and things that were on display. It was very obvious that they kind of had a one-track mind focus that wasn't focused on godly things, but very much on physical things. So, 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Let's go there for a moment. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we'll start reading in verse 1. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father's wife, evidently a stepmother, and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

So, he's using this term, this being puffed up, and Paul uses this a number of times in the book of 1 Corinthians. And you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from you. That's how we should look at this type of sin. You know, we should mourn that those kinds of things are going on. We should stand up against those kinds of sins.

Instead, those in Corinth were putting up with it. He says, for I indeed as absent in body but present in spirit have already judged as though I were present him who has done this deed. Paul says, I stand up against this type of conduct in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together along with my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. So again, we see that leaven does puff up.

Spiritual leaven puffs up. Sin puffs up. And if it isn't stopped in its tracks, it will continue to puff up. Of course, this represents pride. It represents arrogance. We know that Lucifer was puffed up in pride and he rose up against God. So we know that he was the father of lies. He was the first to send who broke God's law.

Actually, this word that's used to, this word that's used, that's translated puffed up, it says in the primary sense of blowing to inflate, that is figuratively to make proud or haughty. So that's what he's talking about. So some in Corinth were arrogant. They were puffed up. They weren't humble when it came to God's law and observing God's law. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and read a few verses here. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6. Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. So there were problems in Corinth, as we know. People taking sides. There was a great division going on in the city of Corinth. And people were puffed up against one of another. You know, some say I am of Paul or Apollos, and some would say I am of Christ. And they would use this to show themselves better than others.

He says, why do you have that? Verse 7, for who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? You are already full. You are already rich. You have reigned as kings without us. Paul has a way of becoming sarcastic to make a point. Now this is what he's doing here. You are already full. You're already rich. You have reigned as kings without us. And indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you. For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles last, as men condemned to death. For we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake. But you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are distinguished, but we are dishonored. To the present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands, being reviled, we bless, being persecuted, we endure, being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, and all scouring of things until now. The apostles obviously were persecuted.

More than anyone at that time. In fact, we know that all of the apostles, except for the apostle John, were martyred as they stood up in their belief of Jesus Christ as their Savior.

So some in Corinth were very arrogant. They were puffed up. Paul is using the analogy of leaven to puff them up. He warns them in verse 14. He says, I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children, I warn you. Paul was warning them to be careful to get a grip on themselves and to not allow their pride and their arrogance to get the best of them. Let's notice Colossians chapter 2, another epistle by Paul. Colossians chapter 2, verse 18.

Colossians 2, verse 18. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight and false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. So if any of us think that we can't be vainly puffed up by our fleshly mind, then we're certainly deceived. Because that's the human condition. We have to fight against that.

And not holding fast to the to the head, speaking of Christ, from whom all the body nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments grows with the increase that is from God. He's talking about how we're all members of the body of Christ. And we should uphold each other, we should strengthen each other, we should encourage each other, we should help each other, we should not fight against one another. We should learn to love each other and be there for each other. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why as though living in the world do you subject yourselves to regulations? And he goes on into things that we don't need to talk about right now. So some in Corinth were arrogant, they were puffed up. It says they were vainly puffed up by their fleshly minds.

It reminds me of something that Benjamin Franklin once wrote. He vividly remembered a visit that he had made as a young man to see the Puritan preacher Cotton Mather. He learned a lesson that day and Franklin recalls it by saying, he was showing me out of the house and there was a very low beam near the doorway. I was still talking when Mather began shouting, stoop, stoop! I didn't understand what he meant and so I banged my head on the low beam. Your yang, he said, and you have the world before you. Stoop as you go through it and you will avoid many hard thumps. That advice has been very useful to me, Franklin said. I avoided many misfortunes by not carrying my head too high in pride. You may have heard that Benjamin Franklin at a very early age, at age 20, he made a list of virtues. He came up with 13 virtues. Humility was his 13th one and he said it was the most elusive because he said that once I thought I had mastered humility, I knew I hadn't. Because once you think you're humble, you're probably not. So he did say part of that 13th virtue was to learn to imitate Jesus Christ, who truly was humble, who gave his life for us. So that second principle, again regarding leaven, is that leaven puffs up with arrogance and with pride. We have to be on guard for that. The third one is leaven is deceitful and also very hypocritical. Leaven is deceitful and very hypocritical. You wouldn't naturally think that a little leaven would have such a large impact. So it is deceitful. It is a pretender and a sense. Let's go to Luke chapter 12 where it talks about the Pharisees. Remember what they said was the leaven of the Pharisees? In Luke chapter 12, it's something that a lot of people, especially teenagers it seemed, they really hate to see this. They notice it in parents sometimes and in others. We really need to set a good example for our children, for younger children as well as teenagers, because they notice hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is something that is easily noticed. In Luke chapter 12 verse 1, in the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another, he began to say to his disciples first of all, so they were flocking to hear Jesus Christ. Also, there were miracles that were taking place, so people were coming to Christ. There was this large group of people, and he began to say to his disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Verse 2, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed nor hidden that will not be known. So we need to be careful. All things will come to light. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

They would say one thing, but they would often do another. They did not practice what they preached. In fact, Christ railed against the Pharisees and the scribes more than any other group. Remember what he called them? Over and over again in Matthew chapter 23. Hypocrites. Hypocrites. He was pretty outspoken against the Pharisees and their example. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. So we have to be careful about the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

This is a word translated hypocrisy that, as I said already, it's acting under a feigned part. It's being deceitful. And so you have to be on guard that we aren't deceitful and we don't follow others who are being deceitful. I read a story about Newt Rockne. Some of you might remember Newt Rockne. Some of you were alive back when Newt Rockne was alive. I don't think I was. Well, I don't think any of us were probably alive. I think he died in the 30s.

So I don't know if we have... I won't ask for a show of hands. There might be a few in here that were born around that time, but about 80 years ago, as Notre Dame was preparing to play the USC Trojans in college football, the fighting Irish coach Newt Rockne was aware that his opponent had a far better team.

He knew they were better, so he devised a plan to deceive and to intimidate the opposing players. Rockne scoured the city of South Bend. I have a sister who lives in South Bend, so I've been there before. In fact, my brother-in-law worked for Notre Dame. He was a professor in chemistry at Notre Dame for many years. So Rockne scoured the city of South Bend, Indiana, and hand-picked 100 of the largest men he could find, each at least 6'5 and 300 pounds. So some big farm boys around South Bend, Indiana. He put the men in fighting Irish uniforms, and at game time he marched them onto the field ahead of the real team.

So this was obviously before the days of limited rosters. I think it's only like 40 people now, but back then they could suit up all kinds of people, all numbers. So USC watched these giants line up on the sidelines, and they forgot about their talent. They forgot about their undefeated record. They really were a better team, and they began mentally preparing themselves for taking a beating. They thought these guys were huge, though none of the specially recruited men played during the game.

Their presence on the sidelines was enough to knock Southern Cow's concentration off balance. Newt Rockne's trick had worked. He had intimidated the Trojan players into giving up before the game even started. So he was using tactics here, deceitful tactics, hypocrisy to a degree, but all is fair in football, right? If you can win the game. No, I don't believe that myself, but I suppose Belicheck believes that. Coach Bill Belicheck. Oh, wait, he's from New York. I better be careful. We might have some New England Patriot fans in this room. All right, well, I mean, he is a good coach.

He's done quite well. Anyway, Newt Rockne was deceitful to gain an advantage, and others regularly practice deceit. So we have to be on guard. This is 11 that we have to look for in ourselves, also in others. So there's a lot about the deceitfulness of sin in the Bible. So we have to be careful that we are not deceived by Satan the Devil, who, of course, is the great deceiver. That also reminds me of another story I heard about, a cashier, who had rung up Kerry Wooster's items when she realized she didn't have her wallet.

She was in a Walmart. She didn't have her wallet, so she dashed back to the car. She thought she left it there, but she came back empty-handed to face the line of visiting customers. You know, like, you know, she's in front of them. Can't find her wallet. So she pressed her cell phone to her ear, and she said, Jordan, did you take my wallet out of my purse? So she asked this in parental exasperation to her supposed son.

She says, I'm holding up the line. You need to put things back where you find them. Well, the fact, the truth was that she even had no children. She was using her cell phone to deceive. In fact, she's called a cell phoney. So anyone that uses their cell phone to deceive others is called a cell phoney. So she did do this. This is documented in the Dallas Morning News back in 2005, and it was entitled, cell phonies know how to fake it. So people actually do use their cell phone sometimes to deceive others. She was trying to do this as well, as it turned out. It says she earned a lot of sympathetic looks from the frustrated crowd, thinking that it was their son that did this. So there are a growing number of people who will use fake conversations. You've heard of fake news? Well, these are fake conversations. To avoid contact with annoying co-workers or supervisors, some pretend to be finishing a call when they arrive late for a meeting. They act like they had an important phone call they had to take, when really there was no one on the other end. They were just late, but they didn't want other people to think that they were late. So they use that as an excuse. So that's pretty sad when we start doing those types of things to deceive, but that's the leaven of sin. It's hypocrisy, and we have to be on guard against that.

There are other examples of that sort of thing, but I won't bore you with the details. I think you'll know where I'm coming from. There was even an alibi club that was set up. There were 4,000 people that were part of an alibi club, and if someone needed a good alibi, then they would just contact someone who would text the girlfriend or call her and give some kind of an alibi that the boyfriend was over here when instead he was over there. So even those kinds of things have happened. In fact, there was a guy who founded an alibi club who got a new girlfriend, and she made him shut it down. She said it was immoral. She didn't want him to have any part of it. Those things do happen. This was from an article entitled, For Liars and Loafers, Cellphones Offer an Alibi. That was from the newyorktimes.com. So there's a lot of ways that people deceive one another, and sin is deceitful. It's hypocritical. We have to be on guard ourselves. And then a last point in regard to leaven. Leaven represents malice and wickedness in the Bible. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

God really knows what he's doing when he institutes days like today. And this whole week, he wants us to see the deceitfulness of sin. He wants us to understand human nature. He wants us to understand what we have to fight against, what we should not take for granted. He wants us to see that that leaven really has a big impact in our lives. So leaven represents malice and wickedness. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 6. Remember, we read the first five verses of this in regard to the immoral state of those in Corinth. Verse 6. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? I believe I read that earlier today as well. He says, therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. So clearly this is a reference to keeping these days. In fact, verse 8 says, therefore let us keep the feast, the feast of unleavened bread, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness. So again, it represents malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So unleavened bread pictures sincerity and truth, whereas leaven represents malice and wickedness, malicious things that are happening to take advantage of others, there's all kinds of sin as we all know that.

You may have heard about people using different types of fish and claiming it was like red snapper.

There was a species, see this is from an article, something's fishy about red snapper. It came from the Christian Science Monitor and it says, when is red snapper not red snapper? When a DNA test declares it otherwise. Species of fish like sheephead, porgies, and grunts. Have you ever been to the Bahamas? I caught a bunch of grunts. Now why would you, you wouldn't want to eat a fish called a grunt, would you? Okay, well they used these grunts and and pawned them off as red snappers. People were paying big price for these very common fish that were called grunts down there in the Bahamas and Florida. And so they were dressing them up to look like red snapper, snapping, putting a label on it, and then raising the price. Again, you wouldn't pay much for a fish called a grunt, but a red snapper you'd be willing to pay more money for. These tricks aren't new. The article says, during the years I lived in an ocean side community, I learned some of the code words for seafood variants. The skate is a bottom feeding fish with human-shaped lips, and it looks like a stingray. They're about the size and shape of a garbage can lid. When I hauled in my first one, it was very disquieting until I was able to identify it.

Later, I discovered that the meat from the skate, stingray-like wings, is often sold as scallops or clam strips. It tastes fine, but it's not what the customer believes he's paying for. Of course, none of us would ever eat a skate or a clam strip because they're both unclean, so we don't have to worry about that one. Now, maybe the red snapper we might be deceived on buying red snapper. That doesn't mean you can't buy red snapper, by the way. Probably most of the time it's probably fine. But it does go on to say that consumer advocate Tim Duffy described finding some Atlantic cod labeled as a product of China. I wasn't great in geography, he says, but I don't think the Atlantic Ocean goes all the way to China. That's right. While some misidentifications could be honest mistakes, there is great financial incentive to make the switch. Duffy says, he goes on to say, the profits in mislabeling fish can equal or exceed those of drug dealing. So I guess there's some big money in mislabeling fish and getting a bigger price for them. When the Apostle John reminds us to test the spirits, it is a reminder not to take things at face value. You know, don't believe everything you hear. There are a lot of false profits out there, so we have to be careful. We don't want to buy into something that isn't true. Greed is often the motivating factor, so you have to kind of follow the money trail, as they say, and be on guard. So this fourth principle, again, was it's leaven is representing malice and wickedness of all kinds. People who are malicious, who take advantage of one another, that's leaven that's spreading, spiritual leaven. So we have to be on guard for that, and we have to look in ourselves and make sure that we're not that way, with others being malicious, taking advantage of others. So we just talked about some characteristics of leaven bread. So now let's talk about some characteristics of some unleavened bread, and how we should look at it from a spiritual standpoint. We covered a little bit of this, but the first point, unleavened bread is flat. It isn't puffed up. It represents humility. It represents sincerity, not pride and arrogance.

So we already read the scripture about the sincerity and truth. That's what unleavened bread is all about, sincerity and truth. When we know we can believe another person, it's certainly a lot more beneficial than if we have to wonder. If someone has somewhat of a reputation for being dishonest, it's hard to enter into any kind of meaningful conversation with someone. You're not sure you're being told the truth. So unleavened bread is sincerity, honesty. I was talking about unity the other night as Mr. Seeker mentioned in the sermonette. Appreciated the sermonette, by the way. I grew up on a farm, too. I was a farm boy, somewhat like Mr. Kester. Not probably as handy as I should have been, although I was called Mr. Fix-it in my own home.

I was better than my wife when it came to fixing things. Okay, well, anyway, I came up with a simple formula that I think works well if you don't scrutinize it too deeply, but I wanted to make it a very simple one. So what I came up with was integrity. Integrity is all about wholeness, because integrity comes from the word integer, which is a whole number. It's not a fraction. It's not part of a number. It's a whole number. So someone who really has integrity is the whole package. You can believe them. They're honest. They tell the truth. They have integrity. They're faithful. They're loyal. I think also a part of that would be someone who would be forgiving. Someone who has integrity is also forgiving, because the second part of the formula also goes along with this. Integrity plus humility equals unity. If we look back in our history in the United Church of God and before that, if we would just take a look at this, whenever there are problems, there's a lack of integrity or a lack of humility. You can count on it. The thing is, none of us are perfect, so all of us will lack integrity at times. But if we have humility, then we can admit that we lacked integrity. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have said that. Whatever it is, if we have the humility to admit it, then we once again have integrity and we can have unity. If everyone has integrity and everyone has humility, on the other hand, if there's anybody that's lacking integrity or lacking humility, then there will be divisions. There will be a lack of unity. So I would encourage all of you to think about that. Are you men and women, children of integrity? Are you the whole package? Can we count on you? And also, are you humble? Are you willing to forgive others? Are you willing to allow someone to unload their burdens on you if they need to talk and you can listen and you have enough humility to do that? There are many things that work very well when a person is humble and when they have integrity. So I would encourage all of you to work on yourselves, to have more integrity, and to be more humble in your dealings with one another. I believe there will be greater unity if that's the case. So that's the first point. Unleavened bread is about humility. It's about sincerity, not being puffed up. Secondly, unleavened bread is, again, a part of this very closely linked with the first part. Unleavened bread is true. You wouldn't expect it to be puffed up. It represents truth and honesty.

In Luke chapter 8 verse 15, we find the parable that, again, Mr. Seeker mentioned, the parable of the sower. And the seed that fell on good ground pictures the person who has an honest and a good heart, as it says in Luke chapter 8 verse 15. Someone who has an honest and good heart, it says, God will pour out upon them a hundredfold. If God sees that you have an honest and a good heart, then He will allow you to increase, and you will produce good fruit. One hundredfold. That's Luke chapter 8 verse 15.

Again, there are many examples of lying. I'm sure you've all known someone who had a problem with lying. In fact, you may have known what people call a pathological liar. That it seems so much of what comes out of their mouth is lies. I remember when I was a teenager, there was a certain person who had a reputation as a pathological liar, and he would make up stories constantly. I think trying to add some prestige, so he would tell us all these stories, and we all pretty soon figured out there's no way that could be true. So it really hurt his reputation rather than helping it.

In fact, there was an article entitled, Lips Can Lie, but your brain will spill the beans. It was written in the Chicago Tribune, and this was by Ronald Kodalak. He says, lying takes serious thought. That's the conclusion of neuroscientists at Temple University. According to the Chicago Tribune, it says, with brain imaging technology, they can see how a lie sparks activity deep in the limbic system, the center of emotion and self-preservation. The lie gathers support from the memory banks in the left and right temporal lobes, and then makes a dash to the frontal cortex where a decision is made to suppress what the brain knows to be true. Researchers see this technology eventually replacing the the polygraph, you know, the lie detector test, which they say is about 90 accurate. It's based on accelerated heart and breathing rates. The problem is some liars have gotten so good at it, they can control their heart rate. It's second nature to them, so they can beat a lie detector test. Brain activity would make it much harder to mass, so they're trying to get away from using the lie detector test. Dr. Scott H. Faro says, lying is a complex behavior. There's more activity and more interactions that occur during a lie than in truth-telling. So again, Satan is the father of lies, the Scripture tells us, and I would say that if I ask anyone in here to raise their hand, if they ever told a lie, I think probably, I think for sure, everyone would have to raise their hand in here. If they were honest, that is. If they weren't, then they might not. But lying is something that we should certainly root out of our lives.

Unleavened bread is true, and we need to be true as well.

Remember what it says in Philippians 4, verse 8.

Paul talks about what it is we're supposed to dwell upon, what it is we're supposed to think about. He says, whatsoever things are true. Whatsoever things are honest. Whatsoever things are just. Whatsoever things are pure. Whatsoever things are lovely. And of good report of virtue, things that are praiseworthy, he says, think on these things. This is how we should train ourselves to think in more positive ways. Pure thoughts, just thoughts, honest thoughts, true thoughts, and not allow our thoughts to go anywhere else. Think on these things. And again, we'll have greater unity if we can all learn to control our thoughts. We can become more unleavened if we learn to do that. A third characteristic of unleavened bread is that it's also symbolic of love because love isn't puffed up.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. This is the love chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. We'll start reading in verse 1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all of my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Notice verse 4. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. Love is not puffed up. Okay, love is not puffed up. No, love is humble. Love is gentle. Love is kind. And so we, too, need to become love, as the scripture says. We know that Christ is the unleavened bread that comes down from heaven. We know God is love. Christ is God. Christ is love. And we know that we're to put in Christ, as these days of unleavened bread, we're supposed to put Christ into our lives. We're supposed to put the unleavened bread, which is actually our fourth point. And I'll get to that in a moment. But let's go to Galatians 2, where it talks about allowing Christ to live in us. Galatians 2, verse 20.

Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The unleavened bread that came down from heaven is to live in each and every one of us. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So we are to emulate Christ. Christ is to live his life in us. Once we're baptized, we're to walk in newness of life. And we're to reflect Christ in all that we do. We're to grow to the stature and the fullness of Christ. That is our goal as God's people. So that's a high and a holy calling, isn't it? To become just like Jesus Christ, who never sinned, who's perfect. He's our example. He's the one that we want to become like. So it is important again that we learn to put Christ into our lives and become like him. So that's the third point.

And then the fourth point is, unleavened bread is symbolic of Christ. So the third point, just to make sure we're clear, third point was unleavened bread is symbolic of love. Love is not puffed up. Christ is love. The fourth point, unleavened bread is symbolic of Jesus Christ. Let's go to John chapter 6. John chapter 6 in verse 32. John chapter 6 verse 32. John chapter 6 verse 32. Here it says, Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven. Of course, manna was given to sustain them in the wilderness. He says, My father gives you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, speaking obviously of himself. Then they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. And he wasn't talking about leavened bread. He is the unleavened bread that comes down from heaven. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe. All that the father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of the father who sent me, that of all he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. So he's talking about all of those who are firstfruits. We know that the scripture says that no one can come to Christ unless the father draws him, and Christ came to reveal the father. He said, I and my father are one. If you've seen me, you've seen the father. Verse 40, this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the son and believes in him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. So that is our calling. We are among the firstfruits to be a part of the better resurrection. So it's worth all of this. You know, it's worth keeping days that seem strange to the world. You know, I doubt there are many people other than us. There's probably a few other small groups somewhere around here that are keeping the days of Unleavened Bread, but there are very few people relatively between Rochester, Buffalo, you know, all the way to Elmira, and I guess all the way a lot further. You know, there aren't that many people who are keeping the days of Unleavened Bread. So this is a special calling. You know, God has called you out of the world. We're not to be of the world, but God leaves us here so that we can also spread his truth and his way of life. God does want us to do that.

In Philippians chapter 2, verse 5, it says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Let this mind be in you. You know, that's something God wants all of us to do. He wants us to put on the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. We know that Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. We know that no one comes to the Father except through him, through Christ.

So, we've gotten 11 out of our lives these next seven days. You know, hopefully you don't have your car on automatic pilot where it stops at every Dunkin' Donuts. If you do, you need to reprogram it so that you don't accidentally have a problem. I remember one time I popped into this gas station during the days of 11 Bread, and I didn't do it very often, but once in a while I would have an ice cream sandwich. So, I bought an ice cream sandwich during the days of 11 Bread. My mind was not focused where it needed to be. It's ice cream, right? It shouldn't be leavened. But I was starting down the road, and I think I took one bite, and it dawned on me, and I rolled the window down and spit it out the window.

And that is, I think, the reaction we should have if we accidentally get some leaven, depending on where we are, we should try to spit it out. Because we don't want to put leaven in. We want to put Christ in. We want to put the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth in. So, it does save that we are to put the unleavened bread in for seven days. And I think it's certainly best by far that we remember to do this every single day. Seven days, we're to put unleavened bread in. So, be careful that you are eating unleavened bread, and every time you eat unleavened bread, think of the principle that you're putting Christ in. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So, do your best to eat unleavened bread. And I think, you know, since we eat three times a day, and we're supposed to pray three times a day, that's the example from Daniel and David and others, not that we're limited to three times a day, but that's a good principle, to pray three times a day, to eat three times a day, to eat unleavened bread three times a day. So, to put that the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth into us. I think it will help us get the message of these days better if we keep that in mind. I wanted to leave you with just a couple of scriptures before I conclude today. Let's go to 2nd Chronicles chapter 30, verse 21. 2nd Chronicles chapter 30, and verse 21. 2nd Chronicles chapter 30, verse 21. You know, the Israelites oftentimes got away from God, they got away from His truth, they weren't always faithful. We know that because of that, He allowed them to go into captivity. First, in Assyria, the house of Israel, then the house of Judah went into captivity in Babylon. You know, they got away from keeping God's holy days at times. You know, they were neglectful of God's truth and God's way of life. But notice in 2nd Chronicles chapter 30, remember Hezekiah had a lot of reforms, and Hezekiah was a good king. There weren't many good kings, but Hezekiah was for the most part a good king. And in verse 20, verse 21, it says, So the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness. So hopefully you will keep these next seven days with great gladness, that your mind will be focused on the joy of God's truth and God's way of life. Hopefully, your mind will be focused on what God wants us to get out of these days, and that you will rejoice in these days. We're supposed to rejoice in God's festival days. He says, offering peace offerings and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers. Then the whole assembly agreed to keep the feast another seven days. Now, we're not saying you have to do that. We have been keeping the feast faithfully now for many years. Some of us for 50 years. We've been keeping the feast faithfully. They had gotten away from keeping the feast, so they kept actually 14 days. And they did it with great joy, because the truth had been restored to them. And then in Ezra, when they came back out of Babylon, in Ezra chapter 6, let's notice again, they kept these days.

Ezra chapter 6.

Okay, Ezra chapter 6 and verse 22. So they came back out of captivity. They were allowed to come back into the land of Israel. Verse 22, and they kept the feast of 11 bread seven days with joy, for the eternal made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. So they again kept these days of 11 bread seven days with joy, for the eternal made them joyful. So I hope that God will make you joyful as well throughout these seven days that are in front of us. We're just at the very beginning of these days. We have so much to be grateful for. You know, we've kept the Passover that pictures Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who laid his life down for us. His blood was shed for us, and there's life in the blood. And when we accept Christ as our Savior, we will have eternal life. So let's keep these days with great joy. Let us continue to observe all of these days and be careful to avoid leaven. Both physical and spiritual. Stay away from the Dunkin Donuts, from the ice cream sandwiches, from the cookies, and other things that could tempt you, especially if you go to work. And there's cupcakes and things like that. Around the world has this way of getting back in there if you're not careful. But let's focus mostly on the spiritual. Spiritual sin is obviously a lot more damaging to us than the things that represent sin physically. Leaven. We want to stay away from sin, period. There is a great difference between leavened and unleavened. That was the question I asked you at the beginning. Does it matter? Does it matter whether it's leavened or unleavened? Well, hopefully you see it matters a great deal. It matters to God. It shouldn't matter to each and every one of us. There is a great difference between leavened and unleavened, especially spiritually. So let's come out of this world this week and let's all be unleavened.