You Shall Count

Reverend, we are now in the period between Unleavened Bread and Pentecost. We all know that.

We're going to turn briefly to Leviticus 23, please. Leviticus 23. But we see in Leviticus 23 verses 4-8, where it tells us about the Passover, which is on the 14th, and the Days of Unleavened Bread would start on the 15th or 7 days. But the point I want to emphasize is, during the Days of Unleavened Bread, we can read, starting from verse 10, there is what is called a wave sheaf. You see that on verse 11. There is a wave sheaf.

That is a waving of that sheaf. It was a sheaf of barley. I believe it was a vertical waving, not an horizontal waving, but a vertical waving up and down.

And that is a sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest, obviously being the barley, because it's the early harvest. And it shall wave the sheaf before the Eternal to be accepted on your behalf.

This information about being accepted on your behalf is very, very important. It is actually an official ceremony. It was an official ceremony in which this vertical waving of the sheaf was being performed. And we know it was during the days of Unleavened Bread, as it says a little bit further, still on verse 11, on the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. And so the day after the Sabbath, we call it today Sunday.

In the Bible, we first it as the first day of the week, but it's a day of work. And on that day, during the days of Unleavened Bread, it was that wave sheaf was to be waved, to be accepted on our behalf. That wave sheaf represented an official ceremony that would represent Christ being accepted on our behalf. If you keep your finger there in the viticures, we'll get back to it in a moment. But I just want to ask you to turn to Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5 and verses 9 and 10. It's talking there about Christ becoming our high priest. And it says, and having been perfected. So Christ was perfected. Now, what do you mean Christ was perfected? Because he never sinned. He was divine. Surely he was 100% human, but he was 100% divine. And so what do you mean that he was perfected? He was perfected because as a spirit being, he never had to obey against extreme pain and suffering and hatred. And that was something that was perfected. Additional factor that he had to live through so that God, Christ being obviously the one that created us under the instruction of the Father, so that God would suffer. And therefore our Creator can understand what it means when you and I suffer. He can have compassion. So he was perfected. He says, in other words, as you read in the previous verse, he says he learned obedience by the things he suffered. So he learned what it is obeying under suffering condition. And therefore, because of that, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. So him having died for us and having gone through that and never sinned and having resurrected, because he was resurrected at the end of the Sabbath, so having resurrected at the end of the Sabbath, he was now the author of eternal salvation. And therefore, he could now be accepted on our behalf as our high priest, because as we read in verse 10, called by God as high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. And a little later in chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10, starting in verse 19. I'm reading verse 19 through 22, but in verse 19 says, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. You see, because he's now our high priest, and he says, by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh. Now, if you try and mentally think about what was happening in the Old Testament, there was a Holy of Holus, and it had a thick curtain. I can't remember how thick that curtain, but it was like a foot thick. I mean, that's a thick curtain. And you couldn't go there. The high priest could not go to the Holy of Holies behind that curtain, because it symbolized God's throne. He could not go behind that, which is the holiest. He could not go in that, except once a year on the Day of Atonement. And that's the only time he could.

But now it's saying, us, verse 19, you and I, we can go to that holiest today by the blood of Jesus. Because of the sacrifice of Christ, he has opened up, he tore that. And we know at his death that veil was torn from the top down.

So it was a miracle, I mean, tearing a piece of material that was about a foot thick and tearing it. I mean, if you have a lot of pieces of paper that you want to tear like this, you quite often can't tear it. You have to have less pieces of paper between your fingers to actually tear it in half. And so if you have a lot of pieces of paper, you can't tear it. And this was just a miraculous thing. And then he says, and you and I can now go there by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through that veil, that is his flesh.

So his body, his flesh, his sacrifice, the blood of Jesus is allowing us, when you and I pray, at any moment, at any moment, provided you and I are now repentant and come to God, we can go to that holiest. You and I can access God's throne today. Now, obviously, it's not physical.

Obviously, it's not talking about you and I can physically go out and click and talk, walk on your feet and walk up and you can have a no, no, it's spiritual. As you and I pray, our prayers get through to God's very throne. And that's a new and living way. We can do that. And then he says, verse 21, that's of Hebrews 10, and having a high priest over the house of God. And so Christ is now our high priest. So he's been officially been put on in that position through this, our official ceremony is now accepted as our priest on our behalf for us on the day of the wife sheaf. And therefore, you and I can get close to God with complete faith, complete faith, as it says in verse 22. And our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, symbolizing God's almighty spirit. And so we have access to God's throne. So this access is open to us, by His blood, and through the veil that is His flesh, as we read there in verse 19 and 20. And that is the meaning of this very important ceremony of the wife sheaf, back to Leviticus 23 verse 11, that that wife sheaf, symbolizing Christ, being lifted up, ascended for this ascending for this special ceremony on the day after the Sabbath. And we then continue reading in verse 15 and 16 of Leviticus 23, where it says, then we ought to count from that ceremony, as you read that, verse 15, and you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, it's the first day of the week, and that was that Sunday, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths of seven weeks shall be completed. Seven Sabbaths, or seven weeks, seven complete weeks, shall be completed. So we're required to count seven full weeks. And then it says, verse 16, count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. So you've got seven Sabbaths of seven seven days per week. Go to one Sabbath, then go to the next Sabbath, go to the next Sabbath. So you've got seven full weeks, seven Sabbaths, counting from that, seven times seven is 49, till the next day after the Sabbath, which is Sunday, then it says you then do another offering to the Lord.

And so we have here a point that we are to count 50 days, count 50, which means 50 means penny, count means cost, cost, penny, count 50, penny cost. That's what we call it now in the New Testament, penny cost, which is count 50. Now we are in this period now of counting to penny cost. It's a period of counting. Now I want to draw, as I'm explaining a little bit more about this, I want to draw that counting to just not a physical counting of 50 days, but also to a spiritual implication of counting as what it means to us in our spiritual lives.

Now remember that 50, these numbers have a lot of meaning in the Bible, as we know, 12 means complete, but 7 also means complete. Now we know 12 means government. We know 40 means trial, time of trial, complete trial. Actually we have 40 years where it went through the wilderness. And 50 means liberty, jubilee. 50 means liberty, jubilee. So we have to count 50 till we are receiving some liberty, namely receive God's Holy Spirit at Pentecost, as you know in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, God's Holy Spirit, which is what gives us the power to fight our carnal mind and to have liberty from sin. And so we have this counting. But another interesting thing to it is that in verse 17 of Leviticus 23, it says, it shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two tens of an ephah, and they shall be a fine flower, they shall be baked with leaven.

They are the first fruits to the Lord. They shall be baked with leaven. Now we know leaven, we just completed the days of a leaven bread, and the symbolism of leaven in this context, not always, but in this context leaven means symbolizes sin or corruption, corruption or sin. But yeah, we have an offering that is baked with corruption symbolically. Now, as you know, as you read through the first five sacrifices of Leviticus chapter one through to chapter five, none of those sacrifices has leaven included. There is one exception, is that the peace offering, if it is for thanksgiving, is to have, it can have leaven. And so, when we are eating and we can have that food, that bread, it can be leaven. Not obviously, Julian's last one, but that is an exception. So, we may eat it before the Lord, but it is not allowed in the altar. And so, the only exception is these two wave loaves, baked with leaven. They are the first fruits to the Lord. So, number one, they baked with leaven.

They baked with corruption. And it represents you and I being accepted as first fruits, but not yet the final first fruits. It is important we understand what you mean by first fruit, because I can't talk about first fruits and can have a lot of meanings. I have to define what the first fruits are. You can have first fruits of your garden, it could be pineapples, could be cucumbers, could be whatever first fruits. It could be first fruits of a fruit tree, like a peach tree, or whatever. So, you have to define what first fruits it is, first fruits to the Lord. Now, Romans 8 verse 23 explains very clearly what these first fruits are. Romans 8 verse 23, because Romans 8 is a chapter talking about God's Holy Spirit. And as we know, we receive God's Holy Spirit symbolized by the act of the Day of Pentecost, when the early church first received God's Holy Spirit. And therefore, we receive God's Holy Spirit upon baptism. But in Romans 8 verse 23, as I mentioned, it is a chapter about the Holy Spirit. And in verse 23, we read, let me just get to it, not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit. We have the first fruits of the Spirit. In other words, we are the first few people in the world, amongst all the mankind, that have the Holy Spirit. But we are the first fruits, the first few that have received the Holy Spirit. The time will come in the world tomorrow, in the world of the world tomorrow, in the world of the millennium, and in the second resurrection, where God's Holy Spirit will be available to all the mankind. But today, it's only available to those that God calls, and they are chosen. It was John 6, 44, those that God calls, and they respond to that calling in the point of repenting and believing, and then are baptized. And after the baptism, by laying on of hands, they receive God's Holy Spirit on those conditions of repentance and faith. And so, we are the first few that receive God's Holy Spirit. So yes, we are first fruits, you know, the first few that have received God's Holy Spirit. But we're not yet incorruptible. You know, in 1 Corinthians 15, it talks about, I'll tell you a mystery. Run about verse 51, 52, it says, I'll tell you a mystery, that we'll not all sleep, but the wall will be changed from corruptible to incorruptible, at Christ's coming, at the dead, at the lost trumpet, which is symbolized by the day of trumpets. So we will become incorruptible. In other words, we will become spirit beings on the day of trumpets, symbolized by the day of trumpets. But the day of Pentecost, we are already first fruits, the first few that have received God's Holy Spirit, that have the Holy Spirit.

But as you and I know, we have to remain faithful to the end, whatever the end is. The end might be when we die, and we've been faithful to the end. Or the end might be when Christ comes and we're still alive, and we are transformed or changed into spirit beings, and we'll be raised up to be with Christ in the clouds, from which then the Christ will come down to destroy those armies that will try and fight against him. And that's a whole different prophetic story that I don't want to go into today. But what do we have is accounting, accounting of weeks to Pentecost. This year, 2025, the Sunday during 11 bread was April 13th, and the first complete week was the 7th. The complete week was the 19th, the second was the 26th, and so on. And today, which is May the 17th, we are on the 5th complete week. So we got the 6th and then the 7th, two weeks from today.

And then the day after is the day of Pentecost. By the way, as you probably know, the President has invited us to a fast on the day before that Sabbath, which is, if I remember correctly, the 30th of May, that Friday. So there is a church fast on that day. But anyway, we have Pentecost, which is a holiday, but it's the only holiday that you get to it by counting.

All other holidays are a fixed date on a calendar. You know, also it was on the 14th of the first month. The days of 11 bread start on the 15th through the 21st of the first month. Pentecost is accounting also from the first month during the days of wife's Eve. And then we get to the 7th month. And then we have on the first day of the 7th month, we have trumpets. On the 10th day, we have a tolman. On the 15th day is the beginning of the feast. And then on the 22nd day is the last great day or the 8th day. So they all have a fixed date on a calendar, except Pentecost. It's accounting. And there is a spiritual meaning towards that accounting. In first place, Pentecost is counted from, as we know from the wave sheath, but let's put it another way, from the first month. From, in other words, Christ's first coming, which means is directly connected with Christ's first coming. And with Christ's first coming, we have the giving of God's Holy Spirit to the church 50 days after that wave sheath. And so we see it's directly connected with Christ's first coming. It's directly linked. It's linked to Christ becoming our high priest, according to the order of Melchizedek. But let's think about this counting a little bit more.

And think about the Israelites as they left Egypt. They left Egypt, as we know, in the beginning of the night of the 15th. That's why we call it the night to be much observed, symbolizing as being cold and leaving the world. We're making a commitment now to obey God. But, and that is days of 11 break, we make a commitment to obey God. And as we make that commitment, there's a time that you and I talk to the minister and go through counseling. And we have certain trials and difficulties in our lives. And then we get baptized, symbolic to a period between us being cold and making a commitment and taking time till we get baptized. This is symbolized by Pentecost because we baptized and we I'm specifically talking about a baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is when we receive the Holy Spirit, which is the analogy of Pentecost.

The Israelites also, they left Egypt. They started walking out of Egypt. Then after, what we believe, which is very possible, on the last day of 11 bread, that's when they crossed the Red Sea at night, at the beginning of that last day. And then they rejoiced. But then they still went through some trials. They still went through some trials. Let's just look at an example in Exodus 14. I mean, they just crossed the Red Sea. That is Exodus 12. Then in Exodus 13, we see them happy, rejoicing, singing. And then, you know, the consecration of the firstborn because they were protected. And, big apart, and I'm jumping a little bit ahead.

Verse 13 is the consecration, but they haven't yet crossed the Red Sea. So that's during that period. And then on Exodus 14, they crossed the Red Sea. But yeah, you can see in Exodus 14, as they're crossing the Red Sea, they are basically in a trap, quote-unquote, in their minds. Because they got the sea in front of them. They got two mountains, one on the left and one on the right. And they got the Egyptians behind them. So they say, how are we going to get out?

And then we see that they start accusing Moses. Chapter 12, they start accusing a big part of it. Chapter 14, verse 12 says, is this not the word that we told you in Egypt?

Saying, let us alone that who may serve the Egyptians. Why? They wanted to get out of slavery. But now they're pointing back at Moses and says, yeah, you see, we never wanted this. And this is what it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than we would die in the wilderness. And Moses said, hey, stand still and see the salvation and the Lord will fight for you. Verse 14. And verse 15, it says, go forwards. And so we can see as the people make a commitment, the spiritual analogies, as you and I make a commitment to obey God, there's going to be immediately trials and difficulties that you and I have. We immediately have trials and difficulties as we obey God. And the instruction is, go forwards. Keep going. Keep going in faith.

Don't turn back. And you read a little bit later there in verse 19. In verse 19, still in Exodus 14, and the angel of the Lord, which we believe the messenger of God, that messenger of God, which we believe to be was Jesus Christ, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. So Christ was with them. That we can relate that from 1 Corinthians 10, verse 4, where it says, and they all drank of that same spiritual drink, and they all drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, or that was with them, and that rock was Christ. So we can see Christ was with them, or was with them, and later on, they had the problem. They didn't have water. And then they got to a point when they came to Mount Sinai, and then they received the Ten Commandments.

According to Jewish tradition, that when Exodus 20, when God gave them the Ten Commandments, that was on the Day of Pentecost. And so they received that covenant based on the core of it being the Ten Commandments. And they had a responsibility to obey and to believe and do. It's interesting that that day is the day also, Pentecost, when we receive God's Holy Spirit. And so you can see the connection to us that God's Holy Spirit is what writes God's covenant, New Covenant, in our hearts and in our minds. And therefore, it's what writes God's law in us. The Ten Commandments to the Israelites was God's law, which later we know Moses went up on a mountain for 40 days and received the law in tablets of stone. You and I have the law in our hearts and in our minds. And so there's a beautiful comparison between the two, or analogy between the two. But we can see the Israelites were called for a specific job, like you and I are being called for a specific job.

That's why it's only a few of us. We are called for a specific job. The Israelites are only a few of all the many nations in the world for a specific job. And you and I know the Israelites failed. They were supposed to be an example to the other nations. And even modern Israel, which is what we understand, the English-speaking nations and others, besides the English-speaking nations, modern Israel is also failing. It's also failing to be an example of godliness. We are an example of corruption and of sin. And the rest of the world is basically following us. And so no one can say that given enough knowledge and giving enough understanding and having all the all the law and instruction and whatever to do right, no one can say that we'll succeed because we are carnal, because our mind is carnal. And that's why, for instance, as I mentioned earlier on, as we see these agreements being developed between nations, people are truthbreakers. They are carnal. Everybody is carnal. We are carnal. Everybody is carnal.

Unless we are being guided by God's Holy Spirit. And so Israel failed, and all these other nations are gonna are gonna fail. And therefore the only hope you and I have is Christ's coming to bring the time and when God's Holy Spirit will be available to all of mankind.

You see, so we are now in a time of physically now counting towards Pentecost, which brings us the analogy that we gotta count.

But that time of counting can also be compared to after Pentecost. Once they receive the law, they still had plenty trials before they got to the promised land. Think about it. I mean, when they left Egypt, they had trials. But it was only for, let's say, 50 days. About.

After receiving the law in Mount Sinai, they had trials now for 40 years. It's like us, after we baptized and converted and received God's Holy Spirit, yeah, we have trials before we received God's Holy Spirit. But quite often, I tell people when they baptized, your trials, your big trials are still coming. Still coming. And you and I know, after we baptized, there's many years that we go through difficulties and sometimes they get bigger and bigger and bigger.

And so we have a lot of trials. We know that Christ, as He, after the 40 days of being with the apostles, He then ascended and He says, wait here in Jerusalem until you receive the promise of the Father.

We read that at the end of Luke 24, which is the promise of the Holy Spirit. And we read that also at the beginning of Acts chapter 1. So He appeared with them and at the end of 40 days, your sin, and they said, why are you looking? The way you went is the way you come down. But Christ told them, not many days from today, which basically was about 10 days, they were to receive power. And indeed, we read in Acts chapter 2, they received God's Holy Spirit.

And from that moment, God's Holy Spirit began to dwell in man. And now we have the first fruits of the Spirit. So that is very important for us to understand. So as I went through these facts briefly, let me just draw them from the Bible for you. So let's first go to Luke 24, because I just gave you a brief summary.

So let's just look at Luke 24, starting in verse 44. 44. Luke 24 verse 44. And it says, Then he said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms concerning me. Now it's interesting, it says, all the things concerning me had to be fulfilled.

Can you remember how in Matthew 7 says, everything has to be fulfilled about him, about the law? That's what it means. All the things that in the law that's talking about Christ has to be fulfilled. Yes, he fulfilled the law as well, but all the things in the law that talked about him had to be fulfilled. In other words, the law pointed to the Passover, Passover land, which represents Christ, and many other items in the law, which represents the offerings and the sacrifices, which point to Christ.

So he says, all those things had to be fulfilled, and also in the prophets and the psalms. And then verse 45, he Christ opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. Then he said to them, thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.

So he died on a Wednesday afternoon, and then he was buried towards the end of Wednesday, and then therefore Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the end of Saturday, he rose the third day. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.

And you are witnesses of these things. Therefore, or behold, I send the promise of the Father upon you. That's God's Holy Spirit. I'm going to send you God's Holy Spirit. It's the promise of the Father. What do you mean it's the promise of the Father? The Father promised God's desire is for you and I to be his children. And for you and I to be his children, we have to receive the seed proceeding from the Father, which is our Holy Spirit, so that we are begotten again as his true children.

And so that's the promise of the Father, that we're going to be his children. And for us to receive that, that means we have to have God's Holy Spirit in us. You know that when Christ was speaking to the apostles, he was saying after the foot washing, you have God's Spirit with you, but it will be in you. And for some of us that are not yet baptized, God's Spirit is with you. He's working with you and helping you to understand. But when you baptize, you have God's Spirit in you. And what does that mean?

That you are now begotten a second time by the seed that recedes from the Father, and we now become really God's children. We have God's Holy Spirit, but we're not yet born again. We're not yet spirit beings, but that's the promise of the Father upon you. But, Terry, in it was weight, in Jerusalem, until you are endured with power. It was until you received God's Holy Spirit, which is power from on high. And as we then turn to Acts chapter 1, verses 3-8, so I mentioned that a moment ago, but I just want to read the Scriptures so that solidifies that.

It says, and starting from verse 3, it's talking about, He was also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during 40 days, speaking the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. So for a period of 40 days, Christ was seen by people. He had resurrected, and that helped the people to really comprehend that Christ was indeed resurrected.

It was not just a thing one day or another, but it was for a long period they saw Christ resurrected. And therefore, they were convinced they knew and they could speak boldly about it. And 40 again representing a time of proving and testing, so they became assured that Christ had resurrected.

And then verse 4, and being assembled together with them, so at the end of those 40 days, Christ being with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem. He told them, stay in Jerusalem, stay in this area, but to wait for the promise of the Father. That's God's only Spirit, which He said, you will from Him.

For John, that's John the Baptist, truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And so, the Epentecost symbolizes the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which you and I, when we are baptized, we have the laying on of hands, and we also then are baptized by Christ with the Holy Spirit. It's Christ that baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

It's Christ that gives us the Holy Spirit. We, you and I, are physically baptized by a minister of Jesus Christ in the water, but then the minister prays and lays hands on you and asks Christ to, you know, was the Father, through Christ, to give you God's only Spirit.

And so, that is what we see in verse five. Verse six, therefore, that's Acts chapter one, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? So, He said, hey, you don't need to know that. It's up to God. And then verse eight, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You know, with God's Holy Spirit, it's that Spirit of power. And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in Old Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth, to all other nations. And that's what is happening today. So, in chapter two of Acts, we can see the day of Pentecost being fully fulfilled.

And that basically means not only it was the day, but the meaning of that day was fully fulfilled, was completed. So, the meaning, the significance, and the significance is that we receive our Holy Spirit. Then the following holiday, which is much later, which is on the first day of the seventh month, which is trumpets, it's when Christ will then return and we will be changed. We will have the first fruits of the Holy Spirit, will be changed to a spirit being, and then we will become the first fruits unto God, as he talks about in Revelation 14 verse 4, if I'm not mistaken. And so, we now have God's Holy Spirit in us. We went through this period before baptism, of certain trials, and I don't know if you remember, but the day you were baptized, or maybe during your baptism counseling, there was a scripture that every minister, I believe, has asked before baptizing a person. And that is in Luke chapter 14, starting in verse 26.

Luke chapter 14 verse 26. And it says, if anyone comes to me and does not, as we understand, loveless, his father, mother, wife, and children, brothers and sisters. It's interesting that in Portuguese the word there is not hate. The translation of the word is more related to disappoint. Basically, what it means is, let's say you come into the church, but members of your family are not in the church, and now they want you to be with them and say, well, keep Christmas with us. You know, it's a family day. And you say, I can't. I won't do it. So you're disappointing them. You're making them sad. You're loving them less because you're putting God first. That is the connotation there. But it also says, hand his own life also.

There are times when you can say, or you get challenged, particularly in other nations, not so much in the States, but it's starting to happen more and more in the States. But in other nations, I know in Brazil, brethren struggle with the sad. And I've had some people that struggle for a number of years because they can't get a job. They've got a family of little children, and they get to a point. They don't have food. They don't have anything. They've got nothing, and they don't have a job. And so we've got this person who gets to a point and says, I can't do anymore. I don't know. I've got to go and get a job to feed my family.

And I mean that. So I do help them a little bit of money. But I say, that's just to get you out of the ditch. But you've got to keep the sabbath. And so I help them a little bit to get out of the ditch. But then they get a job on the sabbath, and they go for a year or two. Then they come back to me again and say, I've got to keep the sabbath. I can't keep this job. And so they leave that job. I mean, I'm talking about real cases of people. I'm not just talking about stories that I'm fabricating. And then they said, well, I'm going to get this job. And then they look, they look, they look, and they get back to the same ditch. And again, back to the same cycle. I helped them a little bit. And it says they get a job, break in the sabbath, unfortunately. And then another two years later, they come back to me and says, no, I really have to keep the sabbath.

I really have to keep the sabbath. And I say, yeah, and I've been praying. And so in this specific case, I went to the individual and said, I just thought about it. And I said, have you been fasting about? No. Tell me more about fasting. And so I tell him, you got to pray and fast. And so he left that job. He prayed and fast. The week later, they told me, I've got a job. Wait in, I can keep the sabbath. You know, you got to, you got to love God more than your own life. That's what it means and but sometimes it requires you go through big trials and He's not baptized yet. This is a person that is not baptized yet, but I'm working with Him and counseling Him and things like that. But it's taking time. But He's gone through a lot of trials before baptism. But look at the instruction here. Verse 27, whoever does not bear yeast cross, the Greek word, the storas, which means the stake, so if you don't bear your burden, your trial, and come after me, you cannot be my disciple. We got to bear our trial. But the interesting thing then goes in verse 28, for which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost? Have you noticed the word is the same? Count as we got to count to pay the cost. We got to count the cost. We got to count. There is a time of counting. You and I, before we get baptized, we have to count the cost. And this is the analogy, which is maybe not a direct comparison, but it is a very interesting point that just like we have to count to pay the cost before we receive us a wish for it, we got to count the cost of what this commitment means, spiritual counting, what it means to our life and to us before we can be baptized and receive us before we can be baptized and receive us a wish for it. We got to determine in our minds that you're going to put God first. That's a very interesting point that we have to count the cost.

But what happens afterwards? Well, what happens afterwards is that we still have to remain faithful, right? We have to remain faithful through many, many, many trials until the end.

There's another interesting scripture, which is in Luke 21. Look at 21, verse 36.

In Luke 21, verse 36, it says, Watch therefore and pray that you may be, what is the word? Counted. Counted. Worthy. To escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand, in other words, be resurrected and stand before Christ at His second coming. And so, again, we have to count and be counted worthy to be because we persevere until the end, until Christ's coming.

You see, Satan continues to pursue us in so many ways. And just like we had to count the cost, we have to make sure that now we fulfill that counting and remain faithful so we can be accounted worthy at the end. And so, as I prepared for this sermon about counting to Pentecost, I thought about this maybe indirect analogy, but it is interesting that we need to spiritually be counting and we have to count the cost before we baptize and we have to be accounted worthy till the end by remaining faithful till the end. I want to look at a few more scriptures.

And the first one I want to look at is Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4.

And in this section of Ephesians, we have that God has given us ministers to help us in verse 11.

Yes, God has given us his spirit to help us, but he also is given a spirit, ministers to help us, as we see in verse 12, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service or ministry or service of Diaconia, its service, for the building or the edifying of the body of Christ, which is the Church of God. In other words, we all have a job to serve one another to build a church. To build a church. Till, this is the goal, this is the goal that we have to wait and persevere to be counted worthy. This is the goal. Till we come to the unity of the faith.

Then we are united in what we believe and what it is for us, the faith, the truth. We are united right till the end and to the knowledge of the Son of God. In other words, then we understand what Christ did, what he is, and what we got to become. It was for us to come to a perfect man, for us to be a perfect man, a perfect woman, to be of the same degree of character and commitment as Christ is. That is to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That is the goal. That is the goal. We know we got God's Holy Spirit that helps us, gives us the power to overcome our carnality. We got the ministry through their messages and booklets that we read that is being published by God's ministers and others that are serving to help us to come to that unity of the faith. Till finally we become, we reach a stage that we are, let's call it mature, ripe. And when we ripe, not necessarily we are 100% perfect, but when we ripe, maybe God then will let us sleep. Or maybe we gotta keep going till Christ's coming, whichever. And when we have that unity of the faith, you and I are not going to be tossed around with little ideas. Yeah, left, right, and sin because you unified in the faith. You rock solid and you're not going to be tossed around by trickery of man. That's why it says in verse 14 that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of man in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. And so, Satan is the one that's plotting this. But if we have the unity of the faith, we look at the important things that it is that we're going to become like Christ. We're not going to be tossed to and fro.

But, verse 15, it says we are speaking the truth. Now, note that in Greek it's just one word.

It's not speaking the truth. In Greek, it's just one word. In other words, we are following the truth. We are being truthful. We are truthful people, faithful people, truthful people in up-going concern. In other words, we don't say things in a way that are going to hurt and offend others. We're going to say in love so that we, therefore, are growing up and to Christ, which is the head. So that we all work with one another and help one another to grow.

And if we are doing this, we're not disappointing God's God. In other words, God's mind in us, which is God's Holy Spirit, as it says in verse 13. It says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

In other words, we're not disappointing God's mind in us, God's power in us. And how? Because we're going to show love towards one another, as it says in verse 32 of Ephesians chapter 5, of being kind and tender-hearted and forgiving. And that's so important, because quite often I found some people say, I can't forgive that person. I can't forgive. Wow! We've got to reach a point that we just have to say, I forgive. I forgive. And so it is so important. And to conclude, I'd like to turn to Hebrews chapter 10. We looked at Hebrews chapter 10 a little early on, and then I talked about that we have access to God's throne by a new and living way. And now, I want you to look at the end of Hebrews chapter 10, verse 35 and 36. Therefore, do not cost away your confidence, which is a great reward, for you have need of endurance. You and I need endurance. You and I need to stay on the road so that you and I may be counted worthy to escape. We need endurance so that after you've done the will of God, after you have done the will of God, that's so important, you may receive the promise.

And what is the promise? It's eternal life. It's the kingdom of God.

And so, there's a big push. You and I still have a big push still ahead. We are counting to Pentecost. We also have counted the cost. We gotta remain counting, standing. We must endure to the end because the big promise. Our promise land is spiritual. It's the kingdom of God at Jesus Christ's return.