Christ In You (Unleavened Bread - Day 3) - 2017 "VIDEO"

by Michael C. Garrett

Owensboro Church of Jesus Christ

Good afternoon friends, wherever you might be! We are here in Owensboro, Kentucky, and we are here in compliance with the Word of God coming together as a holy convocation and keeping and observing the Days of Unleavened Bread. We’ve been talking about it now for three sermon’s, and this will be another one and we’ll keep adding to the information about this feast. And this is not the traditional teaching’s of the Worldwide Church of God (hereafter referred to as WCG). If you’re reading this to hear what they said way back when in WCG, again, this is probably not what you want to read. But if you’re hear wanting to know what the Bible has to say about these days in accuracy then this is a great ready and study for you! We’re going to talk about the meaning’s of  the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Review

And, as I’ve said, the WCG, made the Days of Unleavened Bread – from Jewish traditions and the Jewish Talmud – into ritualistic housecleaning. It was a war on “leaven-ing”! And they would go about worrying about all the possible places that “leaven-ing” could be hiding in their home’s or their car’s. And the theory was – the hypothesis was – leaven-ing equals sin, therefore, we’re going to find all of the leaven-ing in our house and thereby eliminate sin from our life. Now, think about that for a second. Think about the silliness of that thought process. How does running a vacuum cleaner remove sin from your life!? Have you thought about it!? Now, some of you aren’t tuned into those old-time WCG ritual’s, but it really was a silly idea. You can’t! Cleaning “leaven-ing” out of your house doesn’t make you holy! Doesn’t make you sin-free! Doesn’t remove sin! The only thing that can remove sin from your life is to have the sacrifice of  Jesus Christ – which is embodied in the Passover Service – and then to ask Jesus Christ and God Almighty to pour out Their Spirit (the mind of God, the mind of Jesus Christ)  to pour that mind into each of us, and thereby removing sin from our life – from the inside out! Because They’re living in us! Because we, on our human realm, are incapable of eliminating sin. And eliminating “leaven-ing” isn’t what the Bible talks about. As I’ve said over and over – the number one leavening agent in the history of mankind (always has been always will be) is yeast. And yeast is propagated by little spores, think of them as a type of seed. There are right now, where you are at, billions of yeast spores. You have hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of yeast spores on your body right now. And if you were examined under an electron microscope it would reveal that!1 You can’t “deleaven” your house! You can’t “deleaven” your body! You can’t “deleaven” your car! You CAN’T do it! But you CAN do what God asks you to do – and we went over this through the last previous sermon’s. Seven different passage’s from the Old Testament. And it said over and over in reference to this holy day period – ‘for seven days you will eat unleavened bread, and for seven days you will not eat leavened bread.’ And that’s all the Bible says about it! And all those other things, and all those other hoops that people jump through, they were never biblical. As I said on Day 2 – these are not the Days of Unleavened Beer. It’s not the Days of Unleavened Wine. You can’t have wine, unless you have yeast. Yeast is a leavening agent, but wine is not a bread. Beer is not a bread. Toothpaste is not a bread – you can have baking powder in some toothpaste’s. Some people brush their teeth with baking powder. Which is perfectly fine, because it’s not bread. And, most of you aren’t going to go eating it. But that’s what some of the people back in the WCG worried about and did! That’s what they taught – that was the emphasis – over and over. And, spiritually speaking that meant absolutely nothing! And in the Bible, leavening is not always equated with sin. One time Jesus gave a parable, He said, ‘the Kingdom of God is like leavening.’ In that it starts small, and before it’s over it will leaven the entire world and the entire universe – meaning the KINGDOM OF GOD! Right now the only two occupants of the Kingdom of God are God the Father and Jesus Christ. All of us, if we have our name’s written in the Book of Life, we are candidates to become member’s of that Kingdom. And then eventually, all the people’s of the world – past, present, and future (except for just a few knucklehead’s) – will become member’s of that Kingdom! Right now, the Kingdom of God is relatively unpopulated. But down the road a thousand years from now (approximately one-day to God 2 Peter 3:8), ten-thousand years from now the Kingdom of God will be expansive – the people who are a part of that great Family, that Kingdom!

And with the last two sermon’s we were talking about – that the whole idea of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, as Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 5:8, and then he talked about – Jesus said in John 6, “’I AM the living Bread.’” And He says, ‘If you don’t eat of My flesh, and drink of My blood, you have no life in you.’ And that’s a direct reference to the Passover ceremony. But Jesus Christ is the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth and LIFE! And if we practice the idea of every day having Jesus Christ become a part of us – just like bread. You eat bread it becomes a part of you. The food molecules are broken down in your digestive system and eventually those molecules travel throughout your bloodstream, some of them lodge in your ear, some in your big toe, some around your belly – and a lot of those guys do like to hang around my belly! But that’s what eating does – and that’s the teaching point. So, instead of food or bread, you NEED Jesus Christ inside of you for seven days – and not just for seven days, that’s just the teaching point. I guess, if God wanted to, He could’ve made every day of the year unleavened bread. And quite frankly I would have gotten use to it, because as I’ve said before, I don’t eat a lot of bread. But I would miss out on those rolls at Texas Roadhouse. And I would miss out, ever-so-often, on some donuts. I can’t eat many, but when I have a chance – Mmmm!

Anyway, today, we’ve been talking about – Christ lives in me  - Galatians 2:20. CHRIST IN YOU! And that’s what we’ve been talking about.

Now, if you would, let’s turn to the Book of Romans, to pick-up some new material. Or – rather some material which we have not yet spoken about this year – this Spring. 

Spirit of LIFE

Romans 8:2 – now the whole chapter is a powerful chapter. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and [the law, the inevitability of eventual] death.” Now, we can’t clean ourselves up. We can’t make ourselves perfect – no matter how hard you try.

There was once a man named Job (pronounced Jōb, English), and there’s a whole Book in the Bible. And Job by all accounts was an amazingly righteous man in a physical sense. But Job had to be humbled horribly in order for Job to understand that of and by himself he could do nothing, and that in the end, the only thing that could help him was the presence of God. And that same thing applies to all of us.

Verse 3 – “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, …” – it’s talking about the law of the Old Covenant. The law of the Old Covenant is an extremely physically oriented ritualistic grouping’s of ideas for people who were unconverted and very carnal, very physical – naturally human. But the Old Covenant, even though it had its place for a time, it ultimately could not solve your problems, because there was never life – there was never a promise of eternal life – contained in the tenants of the Old Covenant. The New Covenant, under which we now live with Jesus Christ being not only our Savior but now our living High Priest. That’s an agreement that has the PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE! We’ve talked about that before, we’ll talk about it again. It is an extremely important principle! And unfortunately most people who cut their teeth in WCG have never had this idea penetrate their hardened spirit’s. Because they’re still wanting to live back in the good old days, with HWA, and GTA in Pasadena. And all of that is gone! Herbert’s in his grave. Mr. Ted’s in his grave. AC, and the WCG doesn’t exist anymore! That’s all gone, and I think God had a hand in it! Because I think He said, “I’m tired of this! It’s time for you people to break away from those stilted ideas and to move on to some much more spiritually liberating ideas.” “…that it was weak through the flesh, …” – the weakness of that covenant was the human carnality – the human flesh of people. “…God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, …” – substituting Himself for sinful flesh. He, being the sacrifice, “…condemned sin in the flesh, …” – Jesus Christ opened the door to ending death. JESUS CHRIST opened the DOOR to all of us being under the bondage of sin and death. Verse 4 – “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us …” – the righteousness of God will be fulfilled in us, “…who do not walk according to the flesh …” – following physical ritual’s, “…but according to the Spirit [of God].” – if you do not have the Spirit of God, you have nothing. And that Spirit of God is an extension of the mind of Jesus Christ and God the Father. And again, that’s what we’re asking for in these Days of Unleavened Bread. As we eat this unleavened bread it’s symbolic of, “send us Your Spirit.” “Send us Your mind dear Brother!” And again, “Remake us from the inside out!” Verse 5 – “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” – so, once you have God’s Spirit, you begin to think differently. You begin to think in a way which was not typical of when you were much younger, and you did not have God’s Spirit. Number one – youth is prone to making mistakes. I mean, all of you know that. You know it, because you’ve lived and you’ve seen – young people don’t think very clearly, don’t think things through, don’t contemplate where it’s all going to lead. I might offend some of you – but I’m not trying to offend you – I hear stories on the television about people becoming addicted to opioids. And it’s staggering! The stories you hear – we’re talking about state’s like up in New Hampshire with like mountain’s and maple tree’s!? What could be so bad in New Hampshire or Vermont, or Indiana, or Kentucky, or out in the Dakota’s!? Beautiful places with beautiful people! And yet, we’re told, if the reports we hear on the television set and the computer screen and our newspaper’s – if it is correct, and I believe it probably is – there’s a raging epidemic2 of people who are addicted to opioids! And, most of these people start their addiction when they’re younger. And I know that some of them were being told – they actually get addicted because they’re getting too many drugs from prescription’s from their doctor’s. And that can lead to some serious issues. If you ever have an operation or an injury and you need a serious pain killer, if you do (and I’m not gonna say you can’t take one, it’s none of my business, you have to decide that) please be aware that you must be careful or else you will become physically, chemically, psychologically, addicted to this artificial substance, which if left unchecked, causes a spiraling downward quality of a person’s life! And so many times you hear people dying of overdoses! I don’t know – they didn’t follow the instructions, or the youthfulness overtook them!? It’s just a sad story! And I wish it weren’t so, someday it won’t be so – someday Jesus Christ will be residing on the Earth, and people will have places to go – if they do develop pain – and healing’s will be rampant! But, just be careful. Verse 6 – “For to be carnally minded …” – now again, back in the WCG days and at AC that was the ultimate putdown! If you were in a discussion or an argument or a debate with somebody, and if you were winning that debate on its merits, it was quite common for the other person who was losing the debate, all of a sudden would rise up and go, “You’re carnal!” That was like the ultimate insult. To be called carnal. All carnal means is “meaty” or “of the flesh.” We were born carnal. We were born fleshly. We were born human. And we will stay fleshly until the day we die – unless something intervenes and takes us to a higher level! You know, that would be a good name for a radio show – the Higher Level. That sounds good! I also think a good name for a radio show would be – What Does the Bible Really Say? Because a lot of people talk about the Bible, but very few people read it and accurately interpret it. They come up with their own stories. Just yesterday – right next door to my property – the Trinity United Methodist Church was keeping Easter Sunday. Those people are good-hearted people – I’ve been around them some – they’re not evil people. They thought they were serving God. They thought they were celebrating the resurrection of Christ. But Jesus wasn’t resurrected on a Sunday morning. He was resurrected on a late Saturday afternoon. And the day they were keeping has its roots in ancient paganism. Ishtar – the sex goddess. And that’s why all of the bunny rabbits and Easter eggs, all symbols of fertility. Well, if you want to go to the next level, you have to know the truth of God! “For to be carnally minded [a natural human being, the result someday will be] death, but to be spiritually minded …” – where your mind focuses and is directed towards things of God – or things on a higher level, “…is life [eternal life] and peace [in this life].” 

You know, right now, in the world we have the Syria problem. Where many nation’s representing many different people. You’ve got Sunni, you’ve got Shia, you’ve got Iran, Russia, rebels, Turkey, you’ve got Lebanon. You’ve got all these different places with warlike intentions. Horrible things! I’ve heard recently that in the country of Syria, over 500,000 people have been killed!3  And beyond that people who have been maimed, tortured, dislocated and just horrible human suffering! We don’t know where all that’s going to lead. It potentially could lead to a confrontation between the United States and Russia. Or, the United States and Iran. But then on the other side of the globe we have North Korea. And you’ve got that little potbellied tinhorn dictator, who rules his country with an absolute iron fist! It’s reported and believed he had his own half-brother assassinated in a foreign country!4 I wouldn’t want that guy for a brother! But that’s what they say happened! And, the living standards in North Korea are horrible! They say that most of the average people are starving or on a starvation diet! Now, if you look at that potbellied tinhorn dictator, you realize – he’s not starving. Quite frankly he probably needs to go on a diet. He’s eating well. And the resources that don’t go directly to him, go into their military. So, I’ve heard they have the fourth – I hope this is correct – largest military in the world.5 And so there is a division between North Korea and South Korea, an armistice which was signed back in the early 50s. There never was a peace treaty to end the Korean War. They just finally came to a cessation of hostilities. But technically both countries are still at war with the United States. So I’m told – am I hearing it right!? – some 500,000 American troops are stationed in Korea!?6 It’s a very large number! We have soldiers, sailors, and marines, and corpsman, and Airmen stationed in Japan. And one of the reason’s they’re in Japan is so they are relatively close to North Korea. On any given day the whole thing could blow up! Soul, South Korea is 35 miles from the North Korean border. Well within range of artillery shells. And that little despotic maniacal dictator, he’s rapidly doing everything he can to produce atomic weapons, and missiles which can deliver those weapons. Hopefully someday, in his mind, to the United States. And it’s a very tense situation! I’ve heard professional diplomats and former soldier’s on television say, anything could set this thing off! Well, if you were a normal person in this world, you should be worried about that! You should be worried that someday there’s going to be an atomic exchange! I actually heard the vice president of the United States, I believe he was in South Korea, and he actually in his speech to the South Korean people actually said, “We [America] will defeat any attack, and we will meet any use of conventional OR NUCLEAR WEAPONS with an overwhelming and effective response.” He was actually saying, ‘we are prepared to send nuclear bombs and remove the country of North Korea. If they would dare to use them.’ Now right now, we here in America don’t have to worry about a missile coming from North Korea – yet. But that’s their goal. But those soldier’s in South Korea or Japan (the Americans) could very well be facing that, plus the native people - the South Koreans and the Japanese. It’s a very worrisome problem. But you know what!? Michael C. Garrett, I don’t worry about it! Because I have through God’s Spirit a ‘peace of mind.’ And I know that in the end the will of God will prevail! And I know that in the end the Kingdom of God will come to this earth, and Jesus Christ will come to the earth and all of this mess, all of these problems will be solved some day! And so I don’t have to get myself all twisted up. 

Verse 7 – “Because the carnal mind [the natural mind] is enmity against God; …” without God’s Spirit people are hostile towards God! Now, there are some little blue haired ladies in a Baptist church or a Catholic church or Protestant church that if they heard me say that, they would probably get their ruffles all curled up! “Well I don’t hate God!” they would say. “I love God.” “Well I come to church every Sunday, I keep Christmas, I keep Easter.” That’s my point! God NEVER instituted Sunday to be the official day of worship! God – in the Bible – NEVER sanctioned the concept of Christ-mass! It’s a Catholic holy day! I understand why Catholics keep Christmas. I don’t understand why Baptists and Methodists and Pentecostals, and all the other people do!

Jesus Christ was not born on or anywhere near December 25th! 

Jesus Christ was born in the late Autumn – most likely on the first day of what we call from the Bible, the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus Christ, like I mentioned earlier, was not resurrected on Ishtar – Sunday. He was resurrected on what we call a Saturday afternoon. So, you say you love God, you say you want to obey Him, but in the most important aspects of your religion you don’t! Some of you belong to a Catholic church and some of you take the communion every day! Especially if you live in a big city where – if there are more services. And yet, we just read here a few days ago, that the Passover – the “Lord’s Supper” “Communion” – is to be taken only ONCE A YEAR! Because it’s an anniversary. It’s not a weekly, or daily, or monthly thing, like many of the churches of the world. Yes you say you love God, but in your works,  you demonstrate that you don’t really give-a-hoot about what He says to do! Now, I don’t think a lot of you do it intentionally. I think you do it because you have been mislead by your family elders and by your religious elders. Because from the time you were a child you were taught to go out and look for Easter eggs. As a little boy or girl you got all excited about waking up Christmas morning, so you could have all your present’s given to you. You’ve been trained to believe in Santa Claus and flying reindeer. You have been trained to believe in the Easter bunny. ♯♪ Here comes Peter Cottontail, hoppin’ down the bunny trail. Hippity hoppin', Easter's on its way! ♫♪ You’ve heard those songs! You’ve been caught up in that spirit! And add to it Valentine’s Day and add to it Halloween. And all the other pagan misinformation which is passed off onto you as an observant Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, whatever you are. And you’ve been misled! And there’s a part of you which says, “There’s no way that my grandmother and grandfather would have lied to me!” Really!? Do you really believe that!? Because didn’t they tell you once upon a time that there was a Santa Claus!? And didn’t they tell you stories about how he could fill up a sleigh and travel all over the world in just one night and deliver all these special packages!? And you believed it! With wide-eyed optimism and glee you believed it and you lived it! And somewhere you’re emotions are still there. Because those thing’s which happen to us in our youth leave us with great difficulty. We hang onto them. Same with the Tooth Fairy. Now I’ve often wondered, why are Tooth Fairy’s collecting teeth? Have you ever thought about that? Why would they do that? So, are they making something out of these teeth!?7  Now if they were gold filled, there might be a profit in that one! Again, I’m being a little silly here, but, isn’t the whole thing silly!!? And I said down in Alabama, to my dismay, in my latter part of my years being a teacher, that I was finding out that teeth was being replaced with five-dollar bills! Is that the going rate still, or are they up to a ten-dollar bill!? Well, the whole custom is silly! And yes, your grandparent’s lied to you, and your parent’s lied to you! And some of you are still believing the lie! And some of you are still believing the lie about Christmas, and Easter, and all of the rest of that poppycock! I’m just saying it’s TIME FOR YOU TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL EDUCATION! It’s time for you to start looking in the Word of God and find out directly from the source, what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil! What is of God, and ultimately what is of Satan! Now, if you want to view our sermon’s and get some help, then I strongly encourage you. But your going to need your Bible. I suggest that you have a minimum of two translations. And my suggestion would be, if you were to ask me, have the King James English Bible at your disposal. And have at least a more modern translation of the Bible And if you get a little more extensive, get a Strong’s Concordance. And then start investing in things like lexicon’s and other word study helps. And have a lot of notebook paper. And if you really roll up your sleeves and start acting like you’re a sophomore studying for your next history test, with some guidance - hopefully from here – you can find out what the Bible really says, especially if you cry out to God and say, “I need some help. Show me, teach me, lead me. Be with me. And eventually, be in me!” – like these days represent. Yes, in the present state a normal human being’s mind is ‘enmity against God.’ “…for it is not subject to the Law of God, nor indeed can be.” – I once had a young man come into my shop – he was attending church with us for a while, and he and his father – I don’t know – they got their underwear up into a tight wad over something – it didn’t make any sense to me. And, this man handed me some letters, basically he was saying, “Goodbye.” I never saw him again. But before he left, he looked me in the eye and told me, “Mike, I am going to concentrate so hard. I’m going to discipline myself so well – that I am going to be perfect. And God will have to accept me!” Oh my! I almost fainted. And I told him, “Darren, where did you hear such a thing!? Never, never, ever have you heard me say anything close to that!” And what he was doing was falling into the trap of self-righteousness. As Jesus said in Luke 18 – speaking about those people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despise others. And poor Darren was following the wrong direction! Going down the wrong path! I don’t know what became of him, I hope he does well, I hope he regains his spiritual footing. But I know the formula by which he was living his life at that time, by expressed in his words, was a proclamation of future death and doom! We cannot be perfect by ourselves! We can’t even come close! The younger you are – and I think as you get older this mellows out a bit – in their 20s, 30s, was every other thought an illegal thought!? An unrighteous thought!?8 I say 50%, but it might be 75%! I’ve known some young men that I think 95% of their thoughts are off base! Now, it’s not because they’re trying to be evil, they’re just being human. And our little mind’s get caught up into things and we go off into different directions! And before we know it, forces, just take us off on another path. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” That’s what the Word of God says, I believe that. I believe it because I’ve seen it in my own life, and I’ve seen it in the lives of other people. Verse 8 – “So then, those who are in the flesh …” – those people who do not have God’s Spirit – those people who have not been symbolically imbibing daily – like the Days of Unleavened Bread – the Spirit of God, the Word’s of Jesus, the mind of Jesus – “…cannot please God.” Young Darren where ever you are – no matter how hard you thought you were going to be to be perfect, you could NEVER please God! Because God can only be pleased when Jesus Christ is living in you! Verse 9 – “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells IN YOU.” – CHRIST IN YOU! The mind of Jesus in you! That’s the true meaning – that’s the ultimate meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread. “…Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” – think about that! If you don’t have God’s Spirit, God doesn’t really pay much attention to you – right now.

Now, He’s not throwing you away – and some day He’s gonna pull you back into the boat – you’ve been swimming around in that lake, you’re muddy, you’ve got yuck on you, you’ve got seaweed in your hair, your clothes are all messed up – He’s gonna pull you back into the boat, He’s gonna clean you up, He’s gonna dry you off, He’s gonna teach you the truth of God in a future era of time. But right now you aren’t that important to God! ‘You are none of His if you do not have the Spirit of Christ in you.’ Verse 10 – “And if Christ is in you, …” – that’s the name of this series! CHRIST IN YOU! “…the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit [the Spirit of God, the mind of Jesus Christ which lives in you if you’re a converted member of the Family of GOD] is life because of righteousness.” – and that righteousness is not yours, it’s the righteousness which comes from Jesus Christ and Him living in you! Verse 11 – “But IF the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, …” – remember the IF! IF the Spirit of Jesus resides within you, and the Spirit of God the Father, “…He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies [by, and through, and with, and because of] His Spirit who dwells in you.” – CHRIST IN YOU! That’s the ultimate meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread!

And I’m sorry to have to report to you, that from what I heard, and from what I saw, at AC, and the WCG, and some of the remnant churches of the WCG, that lesson, that fundamental, most basic and essential Message was never taught! And to this day, I dare say, probably, in most of those remnant churches it’s still not being taught. And that’s a terrible shame! Because unless you understand this concept and participate in it, you will not be in the Kingdom of God. It’s that simple. And it’s that important!! 

He went on to say in verse 13 – “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; …” – sort of sounds like, ‘he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword.’ If you live by the flesh you will die in your flesh. “…but if by the Spirit [through the Spirit of God, the mind of Christ – if that mortifies or destroys, kills, put to death] the deeds of the body, you will live. 14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons [and the daughters] of God.” If you don’t have God’s Spirit in you, you’re not a child of God! Verse 15 – “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, …” 

Now, I’ve lived a long time, and I hope I have many more year’s to go, but I’m closing in on the three score and ten that the Bible sometimes talk’s about or refers to. And, even if I were to die right now, I’ve lived longer than a lot of people have – again I hope I have many more to go – but I can remember in 1962 when I was twelve years old, and I can remember watching the news and there was a story about the Soviet Union. We call it Russia now, but it was a larger place then. And they were sending nuclear weapons to the island of Cuba. For a first strike capability. And our president at the time, John Kennedy – and I’d like to say that he received some guidance from God, I’d like to think that, I don’t know, but I presume it’s so – he was faced with a terrible dilemma. And the dilemma was, those missiles are just a few minutes away from some of our major cities.

“I can’t let the missiles stay, but somehow I must confront the Soviet Union and force them to back down!” And in that October of 1962, if you read the history books – if you believe them – we (in America) and the Soviet Union was just within a hair width of all out thermal nuclear warfare. And at age twelve I was aware of that! Now, most twelve year old’s probably weren’t, and they probably would have been better off had they not been aware of it. But I had a certain precociousness about me, and I was very tuned into the significance of what was going on. And I actually remember thinking, my life could end at age twelve. And there was a certain fear and a certain bondage which came with that fear. Well, as I got older, I realized that the Plan of God wasn’t going to allow anything like that to happen – until a whole lot of condition’s were set in. The end-time events. And those end-time events are not yet in place. And therefore I do not live in fear, as this says, you have been delivered from the ‘bondage of corruption and fear.’ Because I know what the Word of God says and I know there are a whole lot of precursor’s that will come about before the climatic end-time, end of the age, massive saga, which is yet to be played out. So, even though at sixty-eight I should be fearful of what’s happening in Syria and Russia and Iran and North Korea, I don’t fear. Because I now have been given access to the truth of God through the Spirit of God. 

“…but you received the Spirit of adoption …” – and the word “adoption” is not a good word, the word actually should have the connotation of sonship – or daughtership – familyship. You weren’t just adopted. You’re going to be made full-time, full-fledged member’s of the Family of GOD! “…by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, …” – which is that old word of that era – meaning Father. And even now, the Jewish people say Abba – that’s the word for Father in the Hebrew language. Verse 16 – “The Spirit [itself] bears witness with our spirit [our mind, in the special nature of our mind] that we are the children of God.” -  and that we will indeed become full-fledged children of God. Verse 17 – “and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs [co-heirs] with Christ, …” – indeed, Jesus Christ has inherited THE UNIVERSE!! Someday – according to this Scripture here – all of us who have God’s Spirit, who have our name’s written in the Book of Life, who look forward to the resurrection from the dead – or are instantaneously changed at the return of Jesus Christ at the blowing of the SEVENTH TRUMP – we look forward to it because at that point we will be bestowed also co-ownership of all the E A R T H, of all THE UNIVERSE! I may not be very rich now, but someday I – and all of you guys – are going to be very wealthy! “…if indeed we suffer with Him, …” – remember that phrase – ‘if we suffer with Him.’ If you live godly IN CHRIST JESUS, you will suffer problems. And why!? Because the god of this world is Satan, and if you belong to Jesus Christ, Satan hates you. And sometimes Satan has an affect on the people who inhabit the earth with us. And he can create some real bad mojo for us! But he says again, “if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” – think about it. The suffering of Jesus Christ happened when!? Have you ever thought about this!? The suffering of Jesus Christ happened right at the time of Unleavened Bread. And, horrible suffering!

Verse 18 – “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time …” – I love this verse – ‘I recon!’ I’ve often said, the Apostle Paul came from Kentucky! “…are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be [someday soon] revealed in us. 19) For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the [manifestations; the becoming obvious – that’s what the word manifestation means; becoming truly in existence] of the sons [and the daughters] of God. Verse 21 – “because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption …” – the very Earth is finally going to be treated well. “…from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22) For we know that the whole creation groans and [travails] and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23) Not only [they], but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, …” 

Here we go again, the Spirit of God being IN YOU! That’s what the Days of Unleavened Bread – we’re told, for seven days you must eat unleavened bread. That unleavened bread represents Jesus Christ and His Spirit and His Word’s and His promises and the New Covenant and everything that goes with it! “…even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the [official change into becoming sons and daughters], the redemption [the buying back] of our body.” Being changed from corruptible to incorruptible. Being changed from mortal to becoming immortal. And that’s what we wait for! And that’s why we keep these Days of Unleavened Bread. 

Romans 5 – I think last time, I asked the question – do you remember year’s ago when you had a certain interest in religion. And it may have been in another church group, a Protestant group, Catholic group, whatever it was. And there was something in you that you intuitively had a great respect for the Word of God. Can anyone remember that!? I can remember as a little boy knowing that there’s something special about the Bible. But then I can remember at the age 17 or 18 or 20, when I read passages of the Bible – and I must be honest – I didn’t understand it! How many of you know what I’m talking about!? And I can remember sometime after my baptism and year’s went by and one day, I picked up my Bible and just wanted to read, and I started in on the Book of Romans – and the Book of Romans has just sort of like weirded me out; I mean I was reading the words, but it was all a mystery. And I can remember this moment in time where the words made perfect sense. Now, the Proverbs – the Proverbs were written for a more physically oriented level of human development. And I was always able to read the Proverbs and get something out of them! But the Book of Romans was a mystery, which had a veil over it. But I can remember that time, where all of a sudden, the Book of Romans was just as clear to me as the Proverbs. Just perfectly clear. And the reason being, that the Spirit of God combines with your brain – the essence of your humanity – and it gives you special power. Gives you understanding. When we were down in Alabama, we sang the song, There’s Power In The Blood, and yes, it’s true, especially when you think about the sacrifice. But there is POWER in having with you the Spirit of God! It allows you to understand thing’s that normal human beings – carnal human beings – simply cannot understand. They just can’t get it! Because it’s to them a different language. 

Romans 5:1 – “Therefore, having been justified by faith, …” – well, that’s a hand-full there. ‘Justified’ means being made right in the eyes of God. Not in our eyes – our eyes don’t count. But how does God view us!? ‘Being justified by faith …’ – alright, that faith is the faith that comes from Jesus Christ through His Spirit, and it lives within us! Faith is one of the fruits of God’s Spirit. “…we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” – now, I’ve said before, I don’t fear dying – or, I don’t fear death. But I don’t want that death to be painful, or miserable, or prolonged. But the idea of going to bed, putting my head on the pillow, and then waking up in the Kingdom of God, that doesn’t cause me fear. Verse 2 – “through whom also we have access by faith into this grace …” – now, that’s a word you didn’t HEAR in the WCG! They did not talk about grace. Because to understand grace you have to evolve – spiritually speaking – from believing and following, and diving into the Old Covenant, you have to evolve and become a practitioner and a believer – and reaching out with open arms and bringing into you with great joy – the concepts of the New Covenant! So, what is that grace!? That love, that kindness!? – that we, mere mortal human beings – small as a human sperm cell – don’t really deserve much of anything. But God has picked us out of a huge sea of humanity, and we have been given the gift of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the gift of repentance, the gift of baptism, the gift of God’s Spirit. And now our name’s are written in the Book of Life, and we can look forward to the return of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God and knowing that we’ll be a part of it! “…in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” – that’s talking about the resurrection. That’s talking about becoming a full-time, full-fledged forever member of the Kingdom of God! Verse 3 – “And not only that, …” – we’re gonna get back into a word we talked about earlier – and I hope to talk about here soon! Tribulations. Well, if you’re a human being, you’ve got problems. And, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ and practitioner of the New Covenant you’ll even have more problems! As it says, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, …” – and that’s hard to do. You know, Jesus said - in Luke’s version – Luke 6 -  of what we often call the beatitudes – “…’Blessed are you poor, For yours is the Kingdom of God. 21) Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh.’” – and there are times where it sort of feels like weeping. And, Oh my, do I very well know – when you think you have friends who support you and want to be with you and will defend you and protect you, and you find out, no, they become some of your worst opponent’s! That’s the stuff of tears right there! Verse 22 – “’Blessed are you when men [and women, and so-called Church folk] hate you, And when they [shall separate you from their company – like, “We don’t want any more to do with you! We’ll just make you feel like you’re a slug!”], And revile you [say an awful lot of bad things about you], and cast out your name as evil, [even make your name into a curse word!] …’” – and they claim to be representing Jesus Christ! And you, actually are. Verse 23 – “’Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!’” – every time I read that ‘leap for joy!’ I think that is a hard row to hoe. It is difficult to look upon rejection, and antipathy and say, “O’ I’m so happy! My former friends are now cursing me!” It’s a hard thing to do. “…’and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in Heaven, …’” – and someday Heaven comes to the Earth! Jesus Christ, God the Father, the Kingdom of God! “…’For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. 24) But woe to you who are rich, For you have received your consolation. 25) Woe to you who are full, For you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, For you shall mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you …’” – Now folks, I spend a lot of my time as a sport’s official. And do you know that there are actually official’s who do the job, because they think people are going to appreciate them. O’ my these are foolish young men! You’re not going to win any popularity contest umpiring, because every call you make half the crowd doesn’t like it. And you have to make call after call. And sometimes that involves their son or their daughter or their grandchildren. And people get all bent out of shape when they think you’re disrespecting their children or grandchildren. “’Woe to you when all men speak well of you, …’” -  I’ve never really had life where all men are speaking well of me. I live most of my life with most men speaking badly of me. “…’For so did their fathers to the false prophets.’”

Well, going back to where we were – Romans 5 – “…and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” – that means the resurrection, the Kingdom of God – we rejoice in that, we think about it! We set our eyes upon it! Verse 3 – “…knowing that tribulation produces perseverance [patience]; 4) and [patience creates experience]; [and experience], hope. 5) Now hope [never has to be apologized for], because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit [which] was given to us.” – once again, the central meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread! God’s Spirit becoming a part of us! And that’s what that bread means. We are imbibing the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth. For a week we follow the symbolism – the teaching point – that we need Jesus Christ, we need the mind of Jesus Christ, we need the Word’s of Jesus Christ, we need the hope of Jesus Christ, we need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we need the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Verse 6 – “For when we were still without strength, …” – and for most of us, I don’t know anybody 2,000 years of age, but for all of us now, we weren’t even born! Our grandparent’s weren’t born, our great-great-great grandparent’s weren’t born! I don’t know how many generation’s you have to go back. Let’s see, 2,000 years, giving each generation twenty-years, that would be one-hundred generation’s! That’s a lot of great-grandparent’s going back! But when we weren’t even born, “…in due time Christ died for [us, along with all of] the ungodly. 7) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare die.” – like a secret service agent, protecting the president who ever he might be over the years. There’s that famous scene of the attempted assassination of President Reagan, where a secret service agent knowing that the president was under fire, leaped out and took a bullet that was probably going to strike President Reagan. He could have, very possibly, saved the president’s life!

The president came a hair width of dying that day, because he was struck by one of those bullets. Verse 8 – “But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9) Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, …” – which the Passover represented. “…we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10) For if when we were enemies …” or maybe not even yet born, “…we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” – I like to bring out this verse this time of year. 

The WCG, that bent over backwards to prove that they were not Catholics or Protestants, and because Easter in the modern Western world Christianity is “the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ” – the WCG hardly even brought up the subject of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Which I always found sort of odd! The death of Jesus Christ was momentous! And had tremendous implication’s for all of us. That we have a source to have all of our sins, mistakes, and problems washed away by His sacrifice. But is because He walked out of the tomb that we will be saved, because He set an example. He set in place a pattern. First, He walked out of His tomb, and someday, all the people who have lived, whose name’s are written in the Book of Life, they will walk out of their tomb’s! And we, now living – if we don’t live until the Return, we too will walk out of our graves! And there will be a few who will be alive when Jesus Returns, and they’ll simply be instantaneously changed from mortal to immortal. ‘But we shall be saved by His life.’ Now, the question that never was taught – the idea that never ever was taught in the WCG – what period of time, what momentous event or holy day, or holy day period, did Jesus Christ walk out of the tomb!? The Days of Unleavened Bread. It’s another meaning of the Days of Unleavened Bread. The churches of the world talk about Easter Sunday. Well, what they ought to be talking about is the fact that during Unleavened Bread Jesus Christ was resurrected!

                                                                                                                                                                        The Plain Truth

        

See, we have that great event too, in our spiritual arsenal! And we keep it when we demonstrate our obedience to the proclamation of keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread! And a lot of people never think about that! That’s never brought up – that part of the story is never told. And it’s a great part of the story! 

Verse 11 – “And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the [atonement].” – that means His sacrifice. 

So, the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread – even here in Romans 5 is being talked about. And being celebrated by the Apostle Paul, and we too should take great joy in these words! Now, we’ve got more to cover, and there’s so much more to talk about. And what did the WCG teach!? “YOU MUST PUT SINNNNN OUT OF YOUR LIFE!” They were doing their best, I know that. But they didn’t do very well. Had they gotten their head’s out of the Old Covenant, and put their nose’s into the New Covenant – the New Testament – they would have seen so much more and learned so much more! Well, we’re thankful that God the Father and Jesus Christ have allowed all of us to know this! And we relish it and we celebrate it, and we declare victory, because we know this great truth.

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1 Candida albicans is located on most of mucosal surfaces and mainly the gastrointestinal tract, along with the skin. (Kourkoumpetis TK, Velmahos GC, Ziakas PD, Tampakakis E, Manolakaki D, Coleman JJ, Mylonakis E (2011). "The effect of cumulative length of hospital stay on the antifungal resistance of Candida strains isolated from critically ill surgical patients". Mycopathologia. 171 (2): 85–91).

2 The increase in opioid overdose deaths has been dramatic, and opioids were responsible for 49,000 of the 72,000 drug overdose deaths overall in the US in 2017. Overdose Death Rates. By National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

3 On 23 April 2016, the United Nations and Arab League Envoy to Syria put an estimate of 400,000 that had died in the war. "Syria death toll: UN envoy estimates 400,000 killed". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 20 March 2019. 

4 Kim Jong-nam died on 13 February 2017 in Malaysia as a result of an apparent assassination conducted by North Korea using VX nerve agent. "U.S. sanctions North Korea for killing of leader's half-brother". Reuters. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2019.

5 “29 Largest Armies In The World.” worldatlas.com. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
6 “The United States of America stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the Republic of Korea, and the service and vigilance of some 37,500 U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines on this frontier of freedom stand as a testament to the enduring partnership between our people.” Vice President of US, Mike Pence. Remarks by the Vice President and South Korean Acting President Hwang at a Joint Press Statement 14 April 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2019.

7 “…tooth fairy just wants to help people’s teeth. In order for babies to eat solid food they need teeth too. That is why the tooth fairy recycles and reuses your old teeth and gives them to small babies. She plants them in their gums and then they “teethe” and grow those teeth in.” What Does the Tooth Fairy Do with your Teeth? Burg Children’s Dentistry and Orthodontics. 02 December 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2019.

8 The Age-Crime Curve. The prevalence of offending tends to increase from late childhood, peak in the teenage years (from 15 to 19) and then decline in the early 20s. This bell-shaped age trend, called the age-crime curve, is universal in Western populations. Farrington, David P., “Age and Crime,” in Crime and Justice: An Annual Review of Research, vol. 7, eds. Michael Tonry and Norval Morris, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1986: 189-250; Piquero, Alex R., David P. Farrington, and Alfred Blumstein, Key Issues in Criminal Career Research: New Analyses of the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2019.   

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