What We Learn from Bread

I have a question to ask that perhaps is not totally related to the subject of the sermon that I have, but I feel it's a very good question. Why don't we have a Holy Day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ? There's been a question as to why don't we observe or have a special celebration, a special Holy Day, where we observe the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior. We certainly have literature, and the subject is certainly one of great value to us. The wave sheep that was cut at the end of the Sabbath during Days of Love and Bread, and then presented by the high priest, reflected and pictured the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it was not a Holy Day. It was an attribution to this as an important event, but the Holy Days are the days of love and bread. There is one day at the very beginning of the seven days, and then we also have today. We also don't have a holiday or a Holy Day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. You would think that these would be the two most important events, where certainly we would take notice, and that God would take notice. Well, for one thing, the New Testament has no record of the celebration of these events through the days of the Apostle Paul. On the other hand, philosophically and theologically, what God had presented in the Holy Days themselves was a particular focus, and the focus was on mankind.

In Mark 2, verse 27, Jesus Christ says, Man was not made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man. Man was not made for the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was made for man, and Jesus Christ is the Lord of that Sabbath day. He is the one that dictates how that Sabbath is to be presented and what it is to teach. And when you take a look as to how God views the Sabbath or Sabbaths, which this is one of the seven Sabbaths through the year that are the high days, they picture very special events in the affairs and in the life and in development of man. God so loved the world that he gave his son so that we might live forever.

This day focuses on you and me about events, about actions, about what happens ultimately to us in the future.

The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. It's interesting that the Feast of Pentecost pictures about the giving of the Holy Spirit to mankind and giving us his church. The giving of the law was for man. The Feast of Trumpets is a day that God has to celebrate our resurrection of all things, not his, our resurrection, because that's a happy moment for him and that's part of the great plan that he has for us in making us part of his plan.

God wants us to celebrate our resurrection for the Feast of Trumpets. Then we take a look at the Day of Atonement, the reconciliation of man to God, and then the Feast of Tabernacles, picturing the Millennial Rule, a rule of God with mankind achieving his potential, of man finally living in an environment in a society that God intended. It's a great celebration for God. And the last day, the eighth day, is a day which pictures salvation being made open for everyone. It's celebrating an event in mankind in God's plan. And so when you take a look at the meaning of the Holy Days, they are truly made for man and made for teaching us lessons about what it is that we're to know about what God is doing with us. By going through them year by year, we have this knowledge. Every year, I learn new things. Certain things come to mind. And in this last Passover service, as we read scriptures that we always do from John 13 through John 17, one moment came up to me and said, you know, there's some new things that even came to me in the reading of the scriptures this past year, how the word clean was used and how I had noticed it before. It's just interesting how different things come up from year to year to reinforce different aspects of what God's purpose is for us. We have just gone through the foot washing, the bread, and the wine of the Passover service, which are very, very important symbols, as they portray the completeness of Christ's service and sacrifice for our redemption and healing, both physical and spiritual. They teach lessons and they're to keep us connected about that God is very much has us in the middle of his thoughts. We had the Passover wine, and also after that, we had the distribution of the bread. I'll say this, is that I have done the Passover for many years. I'm sure Mr. Myers, you know, for many years we do the Passover. I always, when I had done the Passover, the foot washing was relatively straightforward, and the wine was straightforward.

It was the shed blood of Jesus Christ for our sins. The bread part of the service, I'm talking from the standpoint of a pastor trying to explain it, and this year when I saw that Mr. Myers was doing it, I was somewhat relieved. Because to me, it's more of a complex subject to go through the bread, because there's a lot to it. There's just more elements to it. Jesus Christ's life represented the bread. His suffering represented the bread. Eternal life is expressed in the bread, and that's what I'll be talking about for the rest of the sermon today, about the meaning of the bread.

We have a whole festival that is devoted to bread, the days of unleavened bread. There's no other festival that revolves itself around food as this day, the days of unleavened bread.

Well, what do these days teach us about what God has in mind by us eating unleavened, or for that matter, the subject of bread itself? Because I'll step out of the bounds of just unleavened bread as to how God himself looks upon the subject of bread. Also, I'll tell you this, is that I won't speak about everything that's involved, because it is a subject that's big. I can't cover it, and Mr. Myers, I hear, had a record-breaking 43-minute sermon, and I can see if I can break it here this afternoon. I can't cover everything possible about the subject of bread. So, some of the obvious ones I will bypass, so you won't say that, well, how come you didn't cover this? How come you didn't cover that? I won't talk about unleavened bread picturing humility, or unleavened bread picturing the putting out of sin from our lives. I thought that actually Mr. Myers did a presentation that was excellent about changing from the inside out, talking about a reconstruction of ourselves, totally from the ground up. But what do we learn about bread, and what should be something that we take away from these days of when Jesus Christ presented bread, along with wine, about God's thoughts about us? First of all, Jesus Christ is the source of eternal life. Let's take a look at how that comes out. The symbol of bread is one biblically representing sustenance.

It represents being nurtured and being fed. We talk about a breadwinner in the family. Who is he?

The breadwinner is the one who provides the income that buys food to feed the family and give them life. He means he's the provider. In the prayer, model prayer that Jesus Christ gave to his disciples in teaching us how to pray. We should be praying daily. Give us this day our daily bread.

Give us this day our daily bread.

John chapter 6. I'm lucky to turn to John chapter 6.

I really focused on the book of John in my preparation this year for all the holy days and actually read through the words of Christ as he spoke to his disciples beforehand because there's just so much meaning in them that is brought out. But here in John chapter 6, and this is one of the preparation chapters that is oftentimes created the Passover service, John chapter 6. When Christ was feeding the 5,000, this was a large group that was assembled.

And the context of this was now the Passover, John chapter 66 and verse 4.

The Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and seeing a great multitude coming towards him. He said to Philip, where shall we buy bread that these may eat?

Jesus provokes a discussion about bread and eating at this mass gathering of people who came to hear him speak. And Jesus Christ was a very, very well-known person. If we could get 5,000 people here to come and hear any one of us, hooray with all the media that we have. But Jesus Christ, in just one of his public gatherings, had 5,000 people. In fact, he had probably much more than that if you count it. They're referring to just the men. There are also children and others involved.

Lots of people heard Christ. And here, to one of the disciples, he was talking about, well, what about feeding them afterwards? Well, then we know that after the service, and I won't go through the whole story itself, but they just had a couple loaves of bread and they just had some fish. And Christ was able to divide them up and pass them around and feed the crowd. In verse 26, this same chapter, Jesus answered and said, Most assured they say to you, you seek me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. It must have been known that there may be food at the end of this, but he made a point to people that many of them had a soup line mentality that they're going to come and hear this great prophet and hear what he has to say. I mean, a lot of people were there. And actually, the people had a very, very good meal given to them afterwards. And he said, you really didn't get the point of what I said. He says, here's what you should be concerned about and what you should focus on. Verse 27, Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of God will give you, because the Father has set his seal upon him. Just don't be concerned about the physical bread. Be concerned about the food that gives eternal life. Verse 30, he talks further about some of the symbolism of sustenance. Therefore, they said to him, What sign shall you perform that we may see and believe you? What work will you do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert that is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. This is how manna was described, as bread from heaven to eat. 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. Jesus Christ is connecting bread to eternal life, and we'll see that it connects him as the bread of life, which follows here in verse 32.

33, 34. Then they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. Sounds like a good deal.

Give us this bread so that we can live forever. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.

So Jesus Christ connects himself as being the true bread that came down from heaven.

In ancient Israel, it was this manna that poured down, became a regular event for nearly four decades, where the people were able to live in a desert where they could not grow anything, and where they were just simply out there very vulnerable. But they got used to the fact that they were kept alive as a nation through manna. He connects this now with bread here, in connection with this event where he fed the 5,000 with bread, and he said that you are seeking this only to feed yourselves. But he says, why don't you get the real thing, me? I am the bread that has come down from heaven.

Verse 47, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life.

Verse 48, I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life. This is a very important lesson of these days of 11 bread. Jesus Christ is offering us eternal life, and part of that is pictured by the bread, the unleavened bread, that we are observing these days. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is a bread which comes down from heaven, and one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. How much more explicit can you get as far as believing with absolute trust in the way how to get out of this physical life? It's through the bread that represents Jesus Christ.

So that is the point. Well, this was something that was hard for people to understand because Jesus Christ speaks about the fact that his days were coming to an end here on this earth.

Verse 53, most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. This is the bread, verse 58, which came from heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead, he who eats this bread will live forever.

Repetitious, but repetitious for a purpose. To show us that Jesus Christ wants us to live forever. We accept him. He is the bread of life. He is the source of life, the source of substance.

John chapter 17, verse 3.

John chapter 17, verse 3. This is eternal life, that you may know the only true God, in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Now, all of us want to live forever. All of us want to feel absolutely assured that our lives are protected and that we will, in the next moment of our consciousness, will be seeing things, and we'll be alive. We need to live our lives right now with the bread of life that we ask for daily. Not only during the days of the bread, but we can say, give us this day our daily bread.

It may not be out of bounds to say, give us this daily bread of Jesus Christ coming into our lives to be the one that is to help us.

Number two.

The bread pictures, our relationship with Christ, now in this lifetime.

Bread pictures a relationship with Christ in this lifetime.

In the song that we sang this morning, Search Me, O God, we sang, I pray in me, abide. But where we were in John chapter 6 and verse 56, we just read that, John chapter 6 verse 56.

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. What is this abiding process? The first thing, the first lesson of loving bread, was that eternal life is in Jesus Christ. He is the source, He is the bread, He is the true sustenance that will give us eternal life. But what is this abiding in him all about? John chapter 14.

If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father and He will give you another helper that He may abide with you forever. This term for helper or comforter, as it comes across, is the word paracletos, which means one who is an advocate, comforter, one who steps by your side and helps you. And Jesus Christ said, if you have this helper, He will help you to be with me. He'll be the one that will be your counselor and your spirit of truth, as He mentions further down.

I will use the word he. The reason I use the word he is, you know, sometimes change it to it and everything. In the Greek, or in the languages that those of you who know German and other languages, gender is supplied to certain, to almost all nouns. In the Ukrainian language, for example, a pencil is a he. You know, how is a pencil a male person? A window is an it.

A table is he. A pencil is a she. Well, to the word spirit, he is supplied. That does not mean that it's male and gender. It's just the way that that word is added. And so that's where the translators edit it. And so that we are careful not to give personage to the Holy Spirit, which we do not.

The Holy Spirit is the power of God. It is not a personage like God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Nonetheless, the word has been assigned to it. The pronoun that's been assigned to it is the word he. And why do in these languages gender supplied to words, which is not the case in English? Very few words are assigned a gender. A ship, maybe a she, she's a beautiful boat, whatever. But that's the way it is in other languages, where so many other objects and nouns have been given a certain gender supplying. But that's not the way it is in other languages or English languages. Very, very few.

John chapter 15. John chapter 15. These are the words that Christ has spoken on his last evening before he was betrayed. I am the true vine and my father is a vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bring forth more fruit. Talking about the fact that as one becomes a Christian and he is the one who is the one we're connected to, we need to bring forth grapes. We need to bring forth whatever the vine is offering, because melons or whatever. But normally we think of grapes. Verse 4.

Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. Now, we read earlier in John chapter 6.56 that we have to eat of his body. We have to drink of his blood. Jesus Christ said, you must eat the bread of life that gives life forever. Here he talks about abiding as that process. And we also just read that it comes through the pericletos, the comforter, that comes to supply that ingredient, which is the Holy Spirit, which was then given on the day of Pentecost, which will be seven weeks from now.

Another extremely important celebration of an element given to mankind, the comforter, the helper, the spirit of truth, the counselor, that is a part of our relationship with Christ.

But Christ, from the very beginning, talked about it as being the bread, the bread that was given to us.

What kind of fruits are we developing?

You know, what was brought out today was so very well done by Mr. Myers, because the subject he spoke about how we need to pretty much start all over again, start from the bottom. It was interesting to me, because I was thinking of a discussion that I had with Ukrainian cepitarians. We had a discussion, this was maybe more physical, about how they can rebuild their country, and how they can start doing moving forward with other of the Western countries and being successful. Some of them really wanted to improve their state, their standard of living, and how they could make a living and compete more with Europe and the United States. And they talked about how they needed to change this, and how they needed to change the economic system, how they needed to change even the educational system, how they needed to work in free enterprise. Until one of the cepitarians stood up and said, you know what we need? We need a bulldozer. We need to just scrape off all the things that we have and start from scratch, because that's the only way we'll really move forward. The only way we'll really have results. Start all over again. That was interesting, that some of that thought was with what Mr. Meyer said. We want the land. There's a building on it or anything else that's on it that's been around for a long time, maybe cherished, maybe have some historical value. Get rid of it. Start all over again. Have it built right. A lot of people in California, Southern California, are buying properties and then scraping off a perfectly nice home. Then they'll be putting up 50 condos or whatever on it.

Have we started our life with Jesus Christ from a building of something new and a transformation? You know, one thing that God does not want is a Reformed Christian. He wants a Transformed Christian. He wants somebody that's totally different from what he had been before. Have you thought about the thoughts that you may have of being weak in this area or doing some improving? Which is fine. A person should do that.

But you know when we come and talk about having on the nature of Jesus Christ and having Christ live his life in us, we're asking to go from being a caterpillar to a butterfly. We're asking for a transformation process of being brand new. In Romans chapter 12, Romans chapter 12, the exclamation by the Apostle Paul about what a Christian should be, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This transformation exceeds just a little bit of self-improvement or just being a little bit better every day in every way. Not to say that we can't improve and just do things better but when we take a look at ourselves when we come to repentance at baptism and then as we grow we're asking us to become a brand new person.

Singularly minded person. A worshipful person. You know one thing I find from truly converted people and I just love hearing stories about people's pasts, where they've come from and where they are now. And in some ways it may not seem like it's a great transformation but when you take a look as to where they were and what they didn't know and what we all of us did not know about God what we know now it truly is a transformation sometimes I get very disgusted with myself because I haven't done better or I haven't overcome more.

But you know something with Jesus Christ living his life in me you know what I have I see that I have been a sinner and I need to repent instead of excuses and make excuses for the way I am or blame my past or blame my parents or blame my school friends or you know people make justifications for what they are but to say that I am a sinner. Number two I have come to understand who Jesus Christ truly is and I can talk to him I know that when I learned first about how to pray from going from my old prayer book and I was rather devout as Orthodox person I completely changed the manner in which I approached a God that I had a vision of having a halo around his head and the Father who looked mean and the Christ who looked compassionate then Mary and others that we prayed to it's all gone it's all scraped away that's false and I can talk to Jesus Christ every day I can talk to my Father in heaven I for my Father in heaven I can talk to him I can thank him I can communicate that is so much more than I had before and you know there are so many people the vast majority of people in this world who don't know this or don't know it the way we understand it I'm not ashamed of what we are what we understand we have truly an abiding with Christ with him living his life in us in talking to him and asking him to transform and to change our lives and to truly shoot for the gold truly I am very very happy with that I'm asking God to make my life a transformation I'm asking God to make my life filled with fruit for the purpose of helping others of encouraging of helping of strengthening of saying the right things of doing the right things correcting mistakes and so forth that's a kind of conversion that God wants a transformation of what we were where we were greedy we were conniving we were cunning we had agendas and now we are pure with God and clean in the way we look to him Galatians chapter 4 and verse 19 Galatians chapter 4 4 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you this is the way the apostle Paul wrote to the people in Galatia he says I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you is Jesus Christ being formed in you is the Christ who loved his enemies is the Jesus Christ who suffered is the Jesus Christ who truly gave of himself being formed in you and that's a part of this abiding in Christ of he is actually being formed in us here in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20 one of the most powerful scriptures I believe believe in the new testament as far as action and how we ought to be I have been crucified this is what the apostle Paul writes with with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me this is abiding in Christ this is that bread of life abiding and living in you through the periclitos the comforter and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me we truly believe that we have crucified our lives that we really have died crucifixion had only one outcome death have we crucified our lives have we been buried in baptism and have come out living your life with Jesus Christ abiding in us that's the way we ought to be third lesson third lesson of the bread suffering first Corinthians 11 verse 23 the bread does not picture the death of Christ the blood does the binary she says the bread pictures the suffering and the beating that Jesus Christ went through I receive from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night took bread and we have given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this due in remembrance of me it had to do with the broken body of Jesus Christ the suffering that he had gone through we have no doubt read all of Isaiah chapter 53 before the Passover about the suffering that Christ went through where he was not recognized by man he had suffered so badly that nobody could even identify him he did that all in our behalf but it wasn't only for him in first Peter chapter 4 the apostle Peter we also see the apostle Paul talking about the fact that Christians are not exempt from suffering and this explains some of the suffering that we have gone through and are going through at this time first Peter chapter 4 and verse 1 therefore since Christ suffered for us in the flesh arm yourselves also with the same mind for he who suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin that you no longer should live the rest of the time in the flesh for the lusts of men but for the will of God this is relating to suffering as a result or in the battle against sin once we have come to repentance and have come to walk in a new way of life it's not easy it's not easy to overcome things that have been bad habits or certain behaviors that have hurt others and part of the conversion process and part of the counseling process is to encourage people to continue doing what they're doing certainly one has the help and is under grace and has been given strength but nonetheless part of the Christian experience is suffering and suffering is a result of habits and sins that they may have committed in times past that they have fallen back into do you think that life as a member of the church of God is easy or that somehow you have been put on some kind of an easy system of being able to continue no it's not life is hard it's hard for all of us when we counsel people for baptism we remind them of this point Luke chapter 14 in verse 27 Luke chapter 14 in verse 27 people wanted to become Christians they wanted to follow Christ I wouldn't say they want to become Christians they wanted to follow Christ because he was very very popular and they evidently saw that there were people following him and they said what does it take to be part of this movement as Christ spoke to the crowds well he told him about certain conditions and certain environmental states that they had to go through but one thing he said here whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple if you can't bear your cross your trials your fate or the things that come your way you cannot be my disciple and in the euphoria of conversion and initial repentance we may forget the fact that life may be filled with suffering with the pain it's not only in overcoming but what comes at you at life in life we have so many things that come at us with health with reversals betrayals relationships issues matters dealing with our parents with our children that are painful and things that don't just resolve themselves very easily how do we as a Christian deal with that we have to learn to suffer with Christ learn the suffering aspect of being a Christian Jesus Christ was beaten he was suffered more than we possibly could ever endure but also just as Christ suffered we are to suffer too that's part of the Christian experience one reason why people don't hang on as Christians is because they have an unrealistic view of the fact that life will not always be easy life will be hard I talked to my Christian friends in Ukraine who don't know from week to week whether the Russians will move in and bomb the next town where some of their friends and family live some of the sanitarians now are taking in who live in a safer part of Ukraine are taking in refugees from eastern Ukraine I'm talking these people real time it isn't like watching a World War II movie in black and white this is real and this is something that's ongoing and the suffering in their voice and the way that they face this in some ways in a stoic way just admire that so much because we're so far away from that from that kind of suffering what if our suffering was involved with an army moving in from Indiana and just being tanks all along the border of Indiana and Ohio or in the border of Ohio and Kentucky and you just don't know when they will start firing or when they will start firing random shots into Batavia or into Milford this is the kind of thing happening over there and they say and they pray they have meetings they have their Sabbath services they pray for peace continually and I always pray for peace for Ukraine for my friends and the people that I know there to protect them and to keep the Russian bear away from from them and just to keep that under wraps yet knowing at the same time that these things have to happen before Christ returns and there has to be all the all the things in the book of Revelation that have to take place and yet I pray for safety for those people knowing how much they suffer and what they are going through I probably talk to Ukraine a number of times per week not really talk sometimes emails and sometimes Skype and talk to them about what they go through with my Christian friends and see the kind of suffering that they have gone through God forbid that we will have that happen to us but we just don't know what we will have but are you as a Christian prepared to suffer to cope with the suffering that comes at you that I'm saying too that it's not just in the dramatic sense that I had mentioned with a war but the suffering in your day-to-day life with relationships with children with your health every time a prayer announcement goes out by Mr.

Myers or his read or comes out from ministerial member services I just know that that announcement is made not just as a precautionary or as a you know preventative it's after the person has suffered a while a long time and is going through some type of health issue that's very very serious that they have to contend with and live with we have to deal with the fact that some will die and in the process before Jesus Christ returned some will die how do we cope with that are we prepared and are we realistically looking upon caring and bearing the cross the trials of life one reason why we're smaller as a church because there have been things that have happened that have been traumatic in our lives betrayals bad behavior by members by ministers by churches sometimes feeling very alone and suffering but our can we cope with our suffering in this period in this lifetime Christ said he that endures to the end shall be saved when you talk about endurance it's not going through something that's enjoyable it's going through something that is painful he that endures to the end will be saved that's why in this first round in this trial period that we're going through the statistics the numbers aren't as attractive or as high as they are but i believe that you understand that and you understand the meaning of the days of 11 bread with a bread as one of the symbols that it represents is pain and suffering the pain and suffering that Jesus Christ went through acts chapter 14 and verse 19 the acts chapter 14 and verse 19 this is when the apostle Paul the Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and having persuaded the multitudes they stoned Paul dragged them out of the city supposing them to be dead how's that for a public appearance campaign however when the disciples gathered around him he rose up and went into the city the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby and when they had preached this is after they were stoned and left for dead they decided to do one more public appearance and when they had preached the gospel to that city and and made many disciples they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch strengthening the souls of disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith saying we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God it's not easy to be an evangelist in those days the ministry was not the profession really to go into because that's what was involved suffering is a part of our calling first Peter chapter 2 verse 19 first Peter chapter 2 for this is commendable if because of conscience towards God one endures grief suffering wrongfully for what credit is it when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently what when you do good and suffer if you take it patiently this is commendable before God saying that there may come times when what's happening to you is unjust it's not fair for to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that you should follow his steps Jesus Christ suffered and when we break the bread represents the suffering that Christ went to and the example that was left for Christians of all time to also suffer sometimes for things that they deserve and sometimes for things that they had not deserved are you prepared for that we could read about the continual track record of the Apostle Paul and all the things that he had gone through through the shipwrecks the suffering that he had gone through the beatings and ultimately execution Romans chapter 8 verse 17 Romans chapter 8 verse 17 and if children then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him that we may be glorified together so as a package deal of reaching the land of glory glory means brightness sunshine eternity but we all suffer together and we need to recognize that we should not insulate ourselves to the fact that any time that we hurt that we take it out or find fault but recognize that Jesus Christ suffered for us we also must suffer as a Christian we have to learn to cope with it we have to learn to work with it we have to go in prayer and saying help me with the burdens that I have help me with the cross I have to bear does anybody who follows me Jesus Christ said must bear his burden which we can say that becoming a Christian just protects you from all the things that take place in the world you know if you take a look at the people outside of us who are not Christians are following the things they go through the same things they go through the same things except that we go through some of the trials that we do with help understanding and support I know that things come up with my work and the challenges that we had ahead of us where they are daunting as to what to do what decisions to make for the betterment of our mission our church our employees the membership around the world and the way I cope with it is is that God always gives me an answer I may always be feeling good I may be in pain but I know that God is helping me through the tribe he's not helping me by removing certain pain but he's helping me get through what needs to be done finally the fourth things fourth thing that we learned from bread is the unity of God's people the unity of God's people I'd like you to turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 10 where alof symbolizes unity 1st Corinthians chapter 10 in verse 16 the cup of blessing which we bless is it not communication not not the communion of the blood of Christ the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ for we though many are one bread and one body and for we all partake of that one bread one of the symbolic statements about the bread is a reference to the entire body of Jesus Christ where one loaf here in fact the feast of firstfruits which began with the wave sheaf offering last Saturday night or when it was cut and then presented to God the Father as it was done in ancient times commences or concludes at the feast of weeks where two loaves are brought forward one representing the Old Testament and one representing the New Testament symbolizing the body of Christ so bread is symbolic too of the body of Christ when we pray over the bread one thing that we consider even in the Passover service I know that with Mr.

Myers and we were doing it together I think of our people all around the world that are part of this loaf this bread and being one it was so important to Jesus Christ that his disciples be one there is a devil who wants to see that different who's tried his very best to divide destroy placed out and hurt the unity of the body of Christ Jesus Christ in his last words in John chapter 17 I pray that they may be one as we are one preserve them as one and one thing in the administration that I have that I pledge to the very best of my ability is to hold us together to make us one to make us united to help us be able to resolve issues that come before us in a responsible and Christian way which I believe we have that we can be loving and forgiving one towards another that we can be that one loaf frankly we won't be able to do any kind of work with division we are able to move forward right now which I am so very happy with the fact that we have so many wonderful new things on the horizon we have grown we have I was so happy to see the statistics on the first holy day that we have 300 more people attending services on the first day of 11 bread this year than we had last year I know that probably represents a net probably a gross of about 500 people coming because of the fact that people have died and people aren't able to make it to church I keep hearing reports about new people coming to baptism I'm signing baptism letters congratulations letters for baptism daily well right now at this time of year a lot of people are baptized I'm so very happy to see a good spirit and a good will go throughout the church if he sees chapter four in verse one this was important to all the apostles and all those who did work in the ministry there's nothing more disheartening than to see people split off and depart and leave to me relationships are very very important they're very important in my family they're very important in the church and I am deeply hurt when relationships are hurt and I want to do everything I can to correct anything that goes wrong Ephesians chapter four I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the call in which you are called with all loneliness and gentleness and long suffering bearing with one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace this is what the apostle Paul was telling the people in Ephesus there is one body and one spirit just as you are called in one hope of your calling there's nothing so beautiful than to have one group of people and you can talk the same language and have the same spirit of goodness my wife and I just returned from Australia and New Zealand we walked into the congregations in Melbourne we didn't know most of the people but it was just like talking with you here or people that we have known for years there was one spirit one body one sense of goodness and goodwill one Lord verse five one faith one baptism one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all verse 16 which we use for our vision statement for the church is part of it from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love i say verse 17 therefore in testifying the Lord you should go no longer walk as the rest of the gentiles walk in the futility of their mind but to walk in the faith with everyone doing their part we certainly had i believe a most wonderful Passover understanding of where we have come to we have learned a great deal we see that God loves us and i look back on the things that God does for us to show that love and one of the greatest is the Sabbath's the holy days that were made for us to teach us things not days that are just days of celebration but days that picture events that are important to us they actually show God's attitude and love towards us that he wants us to celebrate actions activities and events in our lives in the process of mankind coming from being nothing to repentance to growing in the spirit receiving the holy spirit of God being resurrected and ruling with Christ the holy days have a fantastic outline for this as we go through it year by year and see the deeper and deeper meaning of it so imbibe of the bread the two days two of the seven days that are holy days of the whole plan that God has before us have to do with bread and have to do with something that God is instilling and giving us and that is giving us eternal life the fact that we're to abide in Jesus Christ that we also suffer and learn to cope with the pain that comes in this life and if you need to talk about it talk about it pray about it but pain does come and we have to learn to cope with it and finally all being one bread one big loaf one body of Jesus Christ so I do pray for peace I do pray for God's grace to be upon us and as we dismiss with this eventful year which I feel has been very very wonderful in understanding and working together and we're just I feel with the church and the work just on the verge of having some very very wonderful events and happenings take place so may the God of Grace and Peace be with you