The Three Choices

Well, happy 7th day of Unleavened Bread! Thank you, Mark! And thank you, Mark! Sounds like I'm repeating myself. Happy feast day and a very beautiful offertory and special music we had today. Thanks for everyone who makes that extra effort to make God's Holy Day so wonderful and so special. In approximately 1440 BC, a major historical event occurred that changed the course of human history. It affected what became known as Western Civilization.

And, of course, Western Civilization is embedded in understanding many of these stories from Scripture. Western Civilization brought stable forms of government to this world for every end of the earth through philosophies, human understanding, through major inventions and discoveries, what a powerful impact Western Civilization has had on the history of this world. And this is one of the events that is the foundation of Western Civilization. The Israelites had left Egypt after hundreds of years in slavery. And for this generation who left at this time, it was the only thing they had ever known, and that was slavery.

It is believed that crossing the Red Sea on the 7th day of Unleavened Bread was occurring, again, on this holy day. So let's read about the event that led up to the crossing of the Red Sea if you'll begin turning to Exodus, Chapter 14. This episode is important in Scripture because within the verses that we're going to look at are actually three choices that we make each and every day.

Every day when we wake up and we get the grogginess out of our heads and we become self-aware, we make one of these three choices. One choice is dictated by Satan and it guides our thinking in a certain direction. Another choice may seem wise. It's often given by very wise men, but it's simply built on the philosophy of men and the ideas of men. And the third choice is to do what God created us to do. So in this sermon this morning, I would like to examine these three choices that you and I make every day and how they relate to us.

So let's take a look here in Exodus, Chapter 14, beginning in verse 5. It says, Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of the Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this? Why have we let Israel go from serving us?

We want them back. We liked having slaves. We liked having people do all the hard work for us. Verse 6, So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them.

And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and pursued the children of Israel. And as we know, those of us who have been in God's church for a long time who have been baptized, Satan continues to pursue us, doesn't he? He continues to try to influence us, to put thoughts in our heads, to pull down our attitudes, to get us thinking about ourselves too much. So he continues to pursue us. It says, And the children of Israel went out with boldness. But we're going to see that boldness didn't last very long.

They left out Egypt with a high hand. They were excited. It's a new beginning. I'm starting a brand new life. My future is going to be different. The history of my children is going to be different.

They were excited. They were bold. Until, verse 9, so the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea besides Paharat and before Baal Ziphon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid. What happened to that boldness? It didn't last very long, did it? And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?

Why have you so dealt with us to bring us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we had told you in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

So this leads us to the very first choice that you and I make each and every day over and over again when we wake up. Satan wants us to be trapped by our past. He wants people to live in the past, be haunted by memories of the past, to be held back by guilt of the past, and to stunt our growth by reliving negative events over and over again.

I want you to notice it says that they were very afraid there in verse 10. Reliving our mistakes over and over again is failure reinforcement therapy. I want to repeat that. Reviewing those negative painful events in our head long after we should have gotten rid of them, we should have processed them and understood the power of forgiveness and disposed of the pain and the negativity when we don't do that and we keep watching that stale video over and over again. That is failure reinforcement therapy.

Psychologists say the number one reason for procrastination is the fear of failure. Reviewing and recalling our past sins and mistakes repeatedly makes us fearful to try new habits, fearful to step out and develop new attitudes. It is human nature to resist change. It is human nature to fear change, but hanging on to destructive habits and ideas from the past is living in the past. Doing something because I remember seeing my dad do it and so that's how I will react to the situation is living in the past reacting in a certain way because I remember mom reacting like that in a similar situation is living in the past.

You see our thoughts, our actions should be dictated on what the book teaches us on how to respond and the attitudes to have. I remember years ago a conversation I had with a young teenager who told me it would be the last time he would ever attend Sabbath services. He was leaving. I said, well why? He said, well I was listening to my music. My father didn't like rock music and my father did the same thing his father did to him. This is how he solved the problem. He got a hammer and he came in my bedroom and he smashed my radio to smithereens.

He said, if that's what a church teaches, I don't want to have anything to do with it. You see, it was an opportunity to stop the dysfunction and to say I should think and I should react to things the way the book says. Not because my mom did it, not because my dad did it, not because my culture says this is the way that you respond to things.

We have to be very careful and realize that when we continue the negative and perpetuate the negative habits and attitudes of the past, my friends, we're still living in the past. Mentally, we are still in Egypt.

Let's go to 1 John chapter 4 and verse 17. In contrast to living in Egypt, in living in fear, being manipulated by fear, John chapter 1 verse 4, chapter 4 verse 17. Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because, as he is, so are we in this world. Notice he is capital H. As Jesus Christ is, so are we in this world. We have a special calling. We're a royal priesthood. We have the righteousness of Jesus Christ living in us. Verse 18. There is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. So what do people do? What do some preachers that I knew in the past do?

Try to manipulate people by fear. Instead of encouraging them, instead of inspiring them, instead of motivating them, manipulate them by fear. Totally contrary to what the Bible teaches.

The Passover is an annual reminder to process, to analyze, and to learn the lessons of the past year, and then to let go of them, to let go of our sins, to accept forgiveness from God. God says he's not only going to forgive us, he says he's going to choose to forget our sins.

If we don't understand this, or if we're still bearing shame and guilt from something that happened five years ago, or ten years ago, or twenty years ago, then you know what? We're still trapped. We've trapped ourselves into our past. Furthermore, if we're still clinging to obsolete habits, because Dad did it, because somebody did it twenty years ago, because I heard it once, if we're still clinging to obsolete habits and attitudes from the past, we are trapped in the past, repeated, dysfunctional thinking. Think how many biblical examples there are about people desiring to live in the past. Looking back at Lot, Lot's wife looking toward Sodom.

What's she doing? She's looking longingly into the past. How about Jesus warning about putting your hand to the plow and not looking back? He said, if you look back, you're not fit for the kingdom of God. He said that in Luke chapter 9 and verse 62. Stop living, stop thinking, stop looking to the past. The church brethren criticizing and contending with Peter when he returned to Jerusalem after baptizing Cornelius, Acts chapter 11 verses 1 through 18. It should have been a time of great rejoicing. God called a Gentile. God gave his Holy Spirit to a Gentile. You know what Peter got when he got back to Jerusalem? Flack! From self-righteous people who couldn't believe that he would even spend time with someone who was uncircumcised. What was their problem?

They're living in the past, also living in the wrong covenant. Second Timothy chapter 1 and verse 6. Let's take a look at this scripture. Second Timothy, as Paul is writing, to someone he had mentored, someone he loved very much, who was struggling with some personal doubts and issues. Second Timothy chapter 1 and verse 6. Paul writes, therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God has not given us the spirit of fear.

Satan manipulates people by the spirit of fear.

God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Don't hold back in which you believe, nor of me as his prisoner. Don't be ashamed of the fact that I'm in prison, Paul says, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. Not according to our works, but according to his own purpose, and grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

So again, Satan controls the entire human race through fear. Our culture does the same thing. Our worldly culture keeps people in their place through fear. The day you're born, it says, here's where you're allowed. You're supposed to fit in. These are the rules. These are the guidelines, and it does it through fear. As a reminder, the first choice is dictated by Satan and is being manipulated by fear to relive the past over and over again. You know, there's a risk taking a chance to break free from something. It's the unknown. It's no longer comfortable. We're stepping out of our comfort zone to do something new, to think something new. And oftentimes that creates fear. So that's the first choice that we have each and every day.

How about the second choice? Let's go back to Exodus chapter 14 and verse 13. Exodus chapter 14 and verse 13. Continuing with next scripture where we left off. And Moses, so first the people complained.

People being manipulated by Satan. Let's look backward. Let's long for Egypt. Let's wish we hadn't even started this. Let's repeat the same old whining, complaining that we've always done example all over again. And now it's Moses' turn to say something here in verse 14. And Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. Good advice. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, for which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall see no more. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace. Now, much of what Moses says, here's absolutely true. But he misses the mark. We'll see in a little bit that God has a different opinion than what Moses says. Yes, Moses says reject the fear of taking a new path that holds us back and stunts our growth. That's good. Yes, God does fight our battles. And that's true, and that's good. But standing still and hoping God will do everything for you is not the answer.

Yes, Moses meant well here. He was a wise leader. He was a good man. And it's certainly better to stand still and go backward and be stuck in the past. But is this really what God wants?

Does God want us to stand still? Let's go to just a book not too far away, Numbers, chapter 32 and verse 1. Let's see the example of some people who, even after this event, wanted to stand still.

It's wired into our human psyche to want to stand still because, again, we fear change. We fear stepping outside of comfort.

Numbers, chapter 32 and verse 1, says, now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock, and when they saw the land of Jezer and the land of Gilead, that indeed the region was a place for livestock. Just to give you a little update on history, they had marched up east of the Jordan River, the Promised Land. They had to cross the river to technically get into the Promised Land, which they had longed for, which had been promised to them for a long, long time.

So they're on their way. They're going up east of the Jordan River. You have to cross the river to get over into the Promised Land, and this event occurs. And the children of Reuben and Gad, who have a lot of sheep, a lot of livestock, they say, hey, this land on this side of the river is really good. We don't need to cross the river.

Everything that we could possibly want in life is right here. So let's pick up the story here.

Verse 4, in the country which the Lord defeated before the congregation of Israel is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock. This is what they're saying to the leaders of the congregation to Moses. Therefore, they said, verse 5, if we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan.

We want to stand still. It's comfortable here. It's everything we ever wanted. Look how God has worked this out. We have lots of livestock. The land is good for livestock. See? It proves that God wants us to stay here. That's how they reasoned. And Moses said to the children of Gad and the children of Reuben, shall your brethren go to war while you sit here? While you stand still, are others going to do your job? Is that fair? Was that part of the deal?

Verse 7, now why will you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over to the land which the Lord has given them? Thus your fathers did when I sent them away from Kedesh Barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the valley of Eshkol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them. So Moses said, okay, but you have to cross the river with us, and you have to help us to drive out the inhabitants of the land. That's the deal. If you're unwilling to do that, then you cannot have this land on this side of the river.

What did these two tribes want to do now that they were so close to the promised land but found great pasture and lands for their sheep? They wanted to stop and stand still.

Right here. Comfortable. It's good. I like it. They didn't want to go into the promised land, but stay where they were. How about us, brethren? Are we too comfortable just where we are?

We live in a nation of phenomenal wealth. I don't see anyone here. It looks like they've skipped too many meals. We have clothes and homes and central heat. We have, most of us have automobiles, and life is good. It's easy to become just comfortable right where we're at and to stand still. But is that what God wants? Or are we willing to stretch ourselves to grow to another level? Are we ready to get beyond that fear of failure and take a step forward and do what God wants us to do? Like these two tribes, do we want to stay the way we are, just outside of what God has planned for us? Just outside of the reward that God wants to give us, outside of our promised land? Let's go to Matthew 19 and verse 16. Matthew 19 and verse 16.

Very interesting story of a young man who had it all, and he just wanted to stand still. Oh, he was willing to accept being told that there's nothing more that you need to do. He would have liked to have heard that. Maybe he would have liked to have heard, yeah, you can do this little tweak on your life. Or here, I'm going to give you a life hack. If you just do this, then everything's okay.

But he didn't hear what he wanted to hear because he had decided in his head, he woke up at a point in his life and said, life is good. I'm comfortable. I want to stand still. Now, behold, one came to him, saying, good teacher, what good things shall I do that I may have eternal life? So he said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one. That is God. So he was cautioning him against using religious titles, saying, there is one teacher. That one teacher is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. And he said to him, this is the young man, which ones? And Jesus said, he begins to mention all the commandments that relate to our relationship with other human beings. This young man already kept the Sabbath. And oh, he did the things that are tuned into the commandments in our relationship with God. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to him, all these things I have kept from my youth. Nothing new here.

I've been doing this a long time. I'm comfortable here. I like it here. I'm already doing these things. What do I still lack? And Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect, whoa, talk about a breakthrough moment, right? Well, he says, since you're asking, Jesus says, if you want perfection, go and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come and follow me. Sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and become my disciple. Just think, there might have been 13 disciples. Who knows what might have happened here if the right choice had been made. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. This young man wanted to stand still in life. He wanted to, yeah, he wanted to hear something that he could tweak. He wanted to hear maybe a life hack. That would make him a little bit better. What he really wanted to hear is for Jesus Christ to say, you're just fine.

You keep the commandments? Great. You're just fine. Just the way you are, keep doing it.

Jesus said, if you want to have a major breakthrough, I don't know about you, but for me, perfection would be a major breakthrough. You'll have to stop standing still, Jesus said, and give up a false God in your life, which is how much you desire and love money. And sadly, the young man was unwilling to do it. Do you remember the story of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25?

If you begin turning there, Matthew 25, give you a little background. A man in this parable is traveling to a far country, and he gave three servants money to invest for him. He gave one five talents, another two talents, and another one talent, and then he returned after a long time. And it says in verse 18, but he who had received one went and dug it in the ground and hid his Lord's money. So what's the man with one talent doing?

You know what he's doing? He's standing still. He's reasoning that if I bury the talent, I can't lose it. It'll be just like it is many years from now. When the traveler comes back, it'll be just like it is. I will have preserved it. Because I fear change. I fear doing anything with it.

Dropping down to verse 19, then he who had received one talent came, said, Lord, I knew you would be a hard man. I know you have expectations. Reaping where you've not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. You call whomever you want. You call the poor. You call the rich. You call people of every creed and every race. And you call people through the Father who draws them. And you work with anyone that you want. What's he say here? And I was afraid. There's that fear again.

And went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. But as Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I've not sown and gather where I've not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received mine back with interest. It says here the traveler was gone a long time. With inflation and no interest gained, the talent was actually worth less than when it was given to that servant. So you see that standing still over time is actually going backward. Brethren, over time values mature. Over time knowledge increase. Over time life experiences should mature us towards more balance. And if we're not growing, if we are not maturing, we end up going backward. Time moves on, values and knowledge move on, and here we are standing still, actually going backward slowly.

It's allowing time and chance to make decisions for us instead of us choosing ourselves to break free, to take that step in the right direction and do something different with our lives. I want to ask you a little question here. What do you think these may be some names you remember growing up? What do you think Kodak and Hostess and Saab, Friendly's Ice Cream, Radio Shack, F.W. Woolworth, H.H. Gregg, and Circuit City all have in common?

They all once were very large companies and they made lots of money. They also all went bankrupt.

Because time and technologies like ordering online and markets and what their customers wanted changed and they stood still. Soon, standing still put them in the past. People were buying differently. Technologies changed their habits of what they were looking for and the way they wanted the information provided to them. But these companies were standing still. After all, we'd make a lot of money. We have a brand name.

So, brethren, when they woke up, by the time they woke up and realized, whoa, the world has passed us by! It was too late. That's why those names are gone from history. So, again, the second choice we saw offered in Exodus 14 was the wisdom of men. From a wise man himself, it was Moses.

And in his defense, he needed to say something. He was the leader. The people were complaining. The people were almost in open rebellion and some of them were probably about ready to run up the pharaoh and say, have mercy on me. I give up. I surrender. Take me back. And being a human being, he made his own statement and what he thought was the right thing at that time.

Stand still. Keep the status quo. No need for action. Now, let's look at the third choice we can learn from Exodus 14. And this choice doesn't come from people complaining or living in the past because they're being manipulated by Satan. This choice doesn't come from wise leaders.

Might be wise, but they're still human. They're not perfect. This choice comes directly from the mouth of God himself. And if we don't read it closely, we don't understand and appreciate that God is mildly correcting Moses for what he had said. Exodus 14 and verse 15. And the Lord said to Moses, he loved Moses, he didn't want to rebuke him or correct him in front of everyone, so he spoke this to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

Let's stop being paralyzed. Let's stop panicking. Let's stop being fearful. Let's stop being frozen in our tracks because the only way to salvation is to go forward. From the translation to New Century Version, then the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me? Command the Israelites to start moving. God isn't just saying this to humiliate Moses. It's a mild correction for the statement he had made because he had told the Israelites simply to stand still. And yes, standing still isn't as bad as going backward because it's going backward slowly, not rapidly.

But standing still is not progress. Standing still does not provide opportunities. Standing still does not provide options. Standing still does not provide advancement. As a matter of fact, as I've said already, as time and events pass you by, standing still does become actually going backward slowly. Verse 16, but lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea, and I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over his army and his chariots and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gained honor for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen. This is a very interesting scripture. On what is traditionally acknowledged to be the seventh day of unleavened bread, Moses told the Israelites to stand still and watch God's saving hand at work, and on the other hand, God told them to go forward. It was time for less talk and more action. By the way, this also shows faith and works working together. They need to have faith in God as we do. They needed to know that God would, and have through hope, that God would indeed part the waters of the Red Sea, that God would save them. But there was something they had to do. God was not about to pick them up and carry them across the water. They had their part to play, just like we do. There's an important message here about life. We often make mistakes. Sometimes we don't act like we should. Sometimes we don't do all the things that we should.

Sometimes we sin and fall short of our calling. The message here is repent. Stop looking backward. Stop repeating dysfunctional attitudes and mindsets and habits, because reliving the past doesn't change the outcome. See a similar principle in Paul's writings, Philippians 3 and verse 8. If you'll turn there with me. Philippians 3 and verse 8.

Paul says here, yet indeed I 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 that I may gain Christ. Here was a young man who was on the fast track, the leadership in Judaism. He knew the high priest. He knew the important people there. He was influential in Judaism. Smart, young, talented, could have really been something within the Jewish faith, but God called him. And he gave up all that preeminence and prestige and titles and everything to gain Christ. Verse 9, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but which is through faith in Christ the righteousness, which is from God by faith. And as we understand and learn from the Passover, our salvation isn't because of what we do, our own righteousness. It's because the righteousness of Jesus Christ dwells within us. Verse 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. Paul says I'm willing to go through whatever I have to, experience whatever God requires of me, even sufferings, pain, discomfort, trials. Verse 11, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. He looked forward to the resurrection of his physical life upon his death. Verse 12, not that I have already attained or I'm already perfected, he says I'm not there yet. I'm imperfect. I have my own flaws. I have my own weaknesses. He says, continuing, but I press on that I may lay hold of that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. When you lay hold of something, you are seizing it. You're being active. You're reaching out. You're doing something. He says, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. Are we willing and ready to get out of our comfort zones? Or that fear of failure? Or those repeated dysfunctional habits and mindsets and thoughts that were still carrying with us from spiritual Egypt before we were called, before we were given the gift of God's Holy Spirit? He says, verse 14, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, as many as our mature have this mind. You know what he says you want to know what spiritual maturity is?

He says, quit living in the past.

Quit repeating the dysfunctions of the past.

Quit running that DVD in your head of that silly, stupid thing that you did ten years ago that humiliated you.

Or that thing you said to your mom who's since has died. You can't tell her you're sorry.

Are all of those painful things that we have a tendency to rerun over and over again in our heads? As I told the Cleveland congregation, it does you no good to do that because when you relive those old memories, the end is always the same.

You've seen that movie before.

And it doesn't change anything.

It doesn't help.

He says, verse 14, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, let us as many as our mature have this mind. And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule.

Let us be of the same mind. And what mind is that reaching forward to those things that are ahead? Forgetting those things which are behind.

Now, in context, what does Paul mean when he tells us to forget the past?

Well, there are many good things we can learn from the past, looking into the past. For example, fond memories of friends and loved ones, some of them who have died in the faith.

We can learn lessons from past experiences so we don't repeat a mistake over again. I'm a history buff. I love reading history, but I don't read history to desire or to place myself sometime in the past.

I read history so that I can learn the lessons of things that were wrong so that I don't make the same mistakes.

We can see by looking in the past how much progress has been made completed by comparing the present with maybe the way that we were when God called us. These are good things.

So what's Paul talking about when he makes his statement?

Well, if we're not careful, we can actually become slaves to the past. In a physical sense, consider the Israelites, even though they were now physically free by the events recorded in Exodus 14, they were still slaves mentally and emotionally. They still fought like a slave.

Fearful. Controlled. Manipulated. Every time they faced a problem in the wilderness, what did they want to do?

Wah! They wanted to complain. They wanted to belly ache. They wanted to blame Moses. They wanted to blame God.

They went right back to that pattern of the past of complaining about everything.

And this is what Paul is talking about when he says, forgetting those things which are behind.

They wanted to go backward to Egypt.

They wanted to complain. The Israelites, they wanted to stop going forward.

So now let's bring a spiritual application to this history.

We've all made mistakes.

If we relive these mistakes over and over again, we become slaves to guilt and a scenario in our lives, and there are too many people who live their lives, I coulda, I shoulda, I woulda.

You can't change the past. It's history. It's done.

So learn the lessons, process it, understand the power of what forgiveness means, and move on. Let it go.

Because if you don't let it go, it will pull you back. Those thoughts, those attitudes, those habits will pull you back.

The beautiful meaning of the annual Passover is that through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we're forgiven. And now it's time to move forward. Brethren, we may have God's Spirit, and I believe we do, and the freedom that is in Christ.

But if we're still living in guilt or shame over something God has already forgiven, then we're still in bondage, mentally, emotionally, we are still slaves.

Brethren, doing that is debilitating. It drains our emotional and mental resources. We've got to let it go.

We've got to let the shed blood of Jesus Christ forgive, and then get on with living in the present and change the future. And this includes, again, letting go of past attitudes and habits that not only hurt ourselves, but hurt others. They hurt our children.

They hurt our loved ones. They hurt future generations.

And others are still standing still in life, comfortable with where they're at, holding on to some serious sins and dysfunctions while refusing to change and grow.

I just want to stand still. I've been in the church for 40 years. I've been through 40 of these days of unleavened bread. I just want to be comfortable. I just want to be left alone. The truth is that God wants us to reinvent ourselves continually through the power of this Holy Spirit.

Are we willing to reinvent ourselves? And how do we reinvent ourselves? We maintain all that is good, the truth, the balance, the maturity of our life and church experiences. And we hold on to that, and we reinvent ourselves by eliminating other attitudes and mindsets and habits and perhaps even sins that are still holding us back.

Think about how God designed the two major Holy Day festivals.

He designed them because they're all about getting us out of our routines.

Think about the days of unleavened bread.

Nice, soft, cushy bread is a major food source for most of us. What does God say?

It's time to shake you up a little bit. It's time to get you out of your habits.

And now I don't want you to eat anything with leaven for seven days.

Why does God do that? Because he's got a sense of humor?

No, because he wants it to picture getting sin out of our lives, and he wants us to understand there's the power behind shaking things up a little bit.

That's what being a new creature in Christ is all about. You can't live in the past and be new because you're still in the past.

You can't be standing still and be new because you're slowly going backward anyway.

You're new continually as you reinvent yourself.

Maintaining and keeping that which is good that you've developed through character, through reading God's Word, through prayer, through fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and then taking that bold step forward to work on those things that we need to clean up and get out of our lives.

The second Holy Day festival is even more dramatic.

Bring Holy Days, God says, get that tasty, desirable bread out of your home.

What's he doing to feast the tabernacles? Oh, now I'm going to change your living arrangements.

Talk about shaking you out of a habit, right? I'm going to have you go into a new building, whether it's a tent or a hotel or whatever, and you're going to have new smells, and you're going to have an uncomfortable bed that'll probably take you three nights to get used to, and you're going to have food served to you that's different than probably what you're making at home. Talk about shaking us out of our lethargy. Talk about saying it's time to move forward and stop standing still. That's what God's major Holy Days are all planned around. God is saying it's time for something different. It's time for something new! Are we listening? Are we hearing him?

Think about what Israel did during those original days of Unleavened Bread that we read about here in Exodus chapter 14. They learned to do without leaven, which pictures sin, and replaced it by yet another unleavened bread for seven days. That was good. So for one week they replaced something in the past with something that was new. Get them out of a different mindset, but they were just carnal. They weren't guided by God's Spirit. They didn't get the point. They didn't catch the symbolism or the meaning of changing their lives. Then on the seventh day, it was time.

When it was time to stop dwelling in the past and to look forward to the other side of that river, what did they do? What was that human inclination? Either being manipulated by Satan, let's go back. Let's surrender. Let's ask for mercy. Or, well, let's just stand right here. Okay, God, you're on! Or, move forward. It was not the time to stand still. It was not the time to look backward.

It was the time to go forward with their lives towards a better land where God had prepared a new home for them. Our final scripture today in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 13. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 13. Think about how God tries to impress the importance of looking forward.

We know a whole group of people that were inspired by God, and we call them prophets.

And you know why we called them prophets? Because they went in great examining detail of things that happened 2,000 years ago? Nah, because they looked forward. They were inspired to look forward. One of the big differences between the Passover of the Old Covenant and the Passover of the New Covenant is the Passover of the Old Covenant reviewed past history. Oh, you were slaves in Egypt. Oh, there was a death angel. And oh, you slaughtered that lamb. It was all backward looking. Whereas with the fulfillment of who and what Jesus Christ was, the New Covenant Passover is forward looking. Growth! The kingdom of God! The Lamb of God who shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins, for the salvation of the whole world. It doesn't look back.

It looks forward. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 13. Nevertheless, we according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. We look forward to that, don't we? Because that's what God wants us to be thinking about. Verse 14. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent, to be found by him in peace, without spot and blameless, and consider that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation, as also is our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you. So he's saying Paul writes about the same things, and perhaps he had access to the letter written to the Philippians where Paul himself said, I press forward. I don't look behind. I just keep going forward. So brethren, in conclusion, let's remember a few lessons for us, left for us, in the Scriptures by Moses in Israel.

God doesn't want us to be looking backward. He doesn't want us to be living backward, to be thinking backward. He also doesn't want us to stand still. He wants us to live forward, beginning right now, into today. That's called mindfulness. Being mindful right now, what God is doing in your life right now, because the things that you and I do today, and when we wake up tomorrow morning, if we make the right choice of those three choices, it will influence our tomorrows. It will make us a better people. It will grant us a greater level of fulfillment.

And by doing this, we can allow God's Spirit to help each and every one of us reach our fullest human potential. Have a wonderful Holy Day.