Sunday Message (2nd service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (June 14, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Why don't you turn

in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. We're going

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

to pick up a little bit where we left off last

week. If we can do that. Well, you guys are scattered

to the wind here today. How am I? Let's see here.

All right. I may. Tim, could you bring that down

for me? We're going to just come down to you

all. All right. Jenny, you're going to keep playing

a little bit of music for me here while I get

set up. Thank you. Thank you, Tim. All right,

1 Corinthians chapter five. I'm gonna turn there

while you're turning there. Thank you, Jesus.

I know we've been praying a lot, but let's just

do one more time to open our ears and our heart.

Can we do that? Father, in Jesus' name, we come

now to the reading of your word. We come now

to, Lord, to that place where you who are. You

are the living word of God. The one who was,

is, and is to come. The bread of heaven. The

one that gives life. Lord, I'm asking now as

you are the great feeder of the sheep. You feed

us. And Lord, your word says your sheep hear

your voice. And God, I'm asking as it says all

through the scripture. Let him who hears. Give

him an ear to hear what the Spirit of God is

saying. This morning, in the name of Jesus, would

you open our ear? Would you open our heart? Would

you open, Lord, inside of us that we would be

ready to receive, that we might grow? Let the

Word of God come into our hearts, our mind, and

change us, transform us, shape us, guide us,

and feed us this morning. In Jesus' holy name.

And everybody said, amen. Amen. Thank you, Jennifer.

All right. Well, I'm not going to ask for a show

of hands who was here last week and who was not.

We don't take attendance like that on Sunday

morning. But I am going to move us in a direction

and kind of do a little bit of recap to try to

bring us maybe into some... understanding. Victor,

as you're sitting on the front, you're in dangerous

territory because you might get used for an example

a time or two here. So bring us into an understanding

that would maybe help some of us in this. I'm

hoping it'll help all of us. But how many are

you're new to the Christian faith in the last

five to seven years? Let me see your... Lift

them way up so I can, I'm an old man, and I'm

short, so I'm up here on the front. Okay, so

we got a pretty good percentage here of those

that are new to the Christian faith in the last

five to seven years. How many are, let's say,

in the last 12 years and under are new to the

Christian faith? Let me just see. Okay, a few

more that are popping out. All right, now, so

why is this so important? Well, for some of us,

let me tie this shoe. I don't want to trip. I'm

getting excited here. For some of us that have

been walking with the Lord a long time, sometimes,

and I'll put myself in the long time category

because it's been almost 48 years for me. And

I know some of you have been walking with the

Lord a lot longer than that, but I'll just call

myself the young of the old that have been walking

with the Lord. Sometimes we lose sight of things

that are supposed to be kept up front and quickened

and alive. And maybe we learned some things that

along the way led us to some conclusions in the

scriptures that maybe weren't the fullest that

they should be. How many have found over the

years of being a Christian that what you started

off believing and understanding God had to move

you into some understanding, expand some things,

remove some things in order to make it fuller.

Any of the ones that have been, okay. I'm speaking

to us this morning as much as I'm speaking to

the ones that maybe have never heard this. One

of the things that we dealt with last week, and

just to kind of give you a little bit. why we

do the things the way we do. When I first started

pastoring about 34 years ago, when I got into

the ministry full time, there were things that

I did just because I watched it done to the people

that went before me, right? They were well -meaning

people, loved God, loved, and I learned from

them. The Bible talks about that. Find faithful

men and women. Teach these things to faithful

men and women so that they will teach it to other

men and women. And the gospel has been moving

forward. When I surveyed the whole area of communion,

people take the Lord's Supper and communion in

a variety of ways. And I remember the Lord on

our journey here. Jenny and I had pastored, founded.

Life Bible Church, obviously with the help of

the Lord, it's his church, but asked us to plant

this church. We'll be celebrating 25 years this

fall. When we came out and planted this church,

about eight, nine years into the pioneering,

the Lord really spoke a word to me personally.

He says, I want you to change the way you're

teaching communion. And I thought, oh. I must

not be hearing right. And so I keep going and

I keep doing. And the Lord said, I told you,

I want you to change the way you're doing. I

said, well, Lord, how do you want me to change

it? He goes, I don't want you just to add it

on for the majority of services. I don't want

communion to be something that's just a thing

you do in the midst of something else. I want

you to begin, and this is important because it

connects to what I'm going to say most all of

today. If you don't hear anything, hear this,

is that I want you to deepen, widen, and the

depth of people's understanding of why I bring

them to my table. I don't want them to just walk

away with only simplicity. I want them to understand

the depth of the fullness of my word of what

went into the elements, what went into the table,

and what is happening when we actually have that

meal together. And so it was one of the things

that God really moved on my thinking so that

no matter where I'm at, if you've followed us

for the last four or five years, certainly for

the last eight years, 10 years, I've shifted

that for most part, every time we come to once

a month communion Sunday, doesn't matter where

we're at in a series, somewhere, I kind of just

do the old TV commercial, stop, drop and roll.

And we stop the series that we're in and we move

into some aspect of the Lord, his nature, his

character of what we find in the communion table.

Last week we did that and we used a really, Not

a very common verse to establish something about

communion, which took us back to what I'm going

to call the feast of Passover, and that's what

it was. But for some of us in this room, we don't

even know when you say it took us to communion,

I'm having trouble even understanding communion.

What are the feasts? Well, I'm going to lay out

a couple of things, and I hope I do it justice

today. Okay, one of the things that we're going

to look at, and let's look at the verse. 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5, and we can put it up on the screen

here. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, and I'm going

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

to come back to this verse, but I want you to

see this verse in verse 7, part B. 1 Corinthians

5, 7b. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been

sacrificed. The apostle Paul, through the Holy

Spirit, is writing to the Corinthian church.

The Corinthian church is really a church like

you and I. It's made up of primarily Gentiles.

It means people that were not raised with an

understanding of who God really is. The Gentile

church where Paul met them is kind of like us.

They believed in a pantheon of gods having a...

Greek and Roman mindset. They didn't understand.

They thought there were many deities. And Paul

is now taking people who believed in the gospel

of Jesus Christ as God who sent his only son

to the world to forgive the world and to save

them from their sin and to break the curse of

death. The people were coming out of idolatry,

coming out of paganism, coming out of all forms

of issues of cultural displays of every form

of amalgamation of different kind of concepts.

And God brings them out of every area and brings

them into his church. He calls them saved, but

he also in the midst of calling them saved and

saints is working on changing their heart and

their mind. How many know that he's still doing

that? That's exactly what has happened to every

one of us in this room. If we've accepted Jesus

Christ, we are called saints, we are saved positionally,

and now he's working out that salvation through

sanctification, working in us to change our values,

change our mindsets, change our understandings.

And as he's saying here, he's addressing an issue

in the church. that he's got to root out because

in the church of what was happening in Corinth,

this church that Paul was a pioneer of and preached

the gospel to and all the people would have heard

the message was actually allowing something in

the culture of the church that was actually affecting

it. And so in order for Paul to address the root

situation that was taking place, he had to bring

them back. to what God did in the nation of Israel

when he called them out of bondage, out of slavery,

out of a condition that had them trapped. He

had to bring them a revelation of what was put

in them that very night that he would separate

the difference between those that were unsaved

and those that would be his. And he brings them

back to this truth. of Passover. Passover is

simply a term that was meant that when in Exodus,

when the children of Israel were coming out after

all of the plagues that happened through God,

as Moses delivered them to Pharaoh, the last

plague was the plague of the death angel. And

if blood was applied to the doorpost of the house

and there were a variety of other things that

had to take place, the death angel would pass

over and life would stay in that house. Anywhere

where there wasn't blood, the death angel would

take. Not only just of man, but also of beast.

And the Bible says that the difference between

Egypt and Israel was clearly seen on that night.

Now, Paul brings this Corinthian church that's

now several thousand years past what happened

in the Exodus. and so we are as well, but even

in the Corinthian church, he brings these people

back to the place of Passover. Why is that so

important? Well, he says, listen, Christ, our

Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Now, I need

you to get this in your heart. Everything that

God does in your life and in my life, and God

has always done, is always about establishing

truth and the empowerment of his Holy Spirit

to do what? To get you to actually progress and

move forward with him. There's nothing that God

does in his nature that he wants to actually...

keep something from you or keep you back from

the revelation of himself or forward progress.

Now, when I say the word that revelation should

be progressive, I'm not telling you that revelation

should be liberal, okay? It's not a political

definition. When I say revelation is progressive,

it means that it should build on, each thing

should build on one another. That's why the Bible

says, line upon line, precept upon precept, Here

a little, there a little. Why? Everything you

do in God should actually move you forward in

God. The kingdom of God should grow inside of

you. And every type and shadow, every revelation

that God is giving should all come and it should

stack on one another as something that's being

built on. You say, well, where do you get that?

Well, see, here in Western culture, One of the

things that we deal with the most is because

we still have Greek thinking. We're trained to

think in a Greek form of thinking, in a Greek

Roman form of thinking. We're not trained scholastically

to think like a Hebrew mind. Because all of our

systems, all of our education systems are under

a Greek philosophy. Folks, think about it. Why

do we have... fraternities and sororities with

Greek names and a bunch of Greek letters that

nobody reads. Alpha, beta, kappa, you know, okay?

Why? Because it's a Greek philosophy of thinking.

It's what? It's linear. But I'm telling you this

morning that if you'll ask the Holy Spirit for

help, One of the greatest damages that's been

done to us in Western culture is that we would

pick up Greek linear thinking and try to apply

that to a text that is not linear only. It is

more Middle Eastern Hebrew associated. Why? It's

meant to have a learning style, which is what?

Move it from the realm of keeping it up here

in your head to actually moving it into an interaction

that would allow a I show you and now you begin

to do with me. Greek mindset is what? I'll tell

you about it and we'll talk about it intellectually

and we'll just keep talking philosophically about

it rather than actually doing. And if you'll

recognize this, everything that's in the New

Testament, there's two filters really in Christianity.

There are those that simply want to have a mindset

of everything that makes sense to their natural

mind. And it comes down to, I just need to have

it in here and I just need to believe it, but

I don't have to display it anywhere in my life.

versus that you have to have both. There has

to be a knowledge of him and a growth in him,

but then there has to be what? An actually witness

that you're actually walking with him and that

the spirit of God and the word of God is actually

flowing out of you. Are you there? Now see, when

God builds a house, many of us think this way

because when we read the Old Testament, we think,

How did God build a house? God built a house

by, well, the Old Testament. There was tabernacle

and then there was Moses' tabernacle and that

had an order that was called the house. And that

house had an outer court, it had an inner court,

it had the holy place and then the most holy

place. And there was a progression to that tabernacle

that you went from... all of the furniture out

in the outer court from the brazen altar to the

brazen labor inside the holy place to the golden

candlestick, the altar of showbread to then the

altar of incense and then to that veil. And then

once a year, they'd get behind that veil and

they would be in the Ark of the Covenant where

the presence of God and they would atone. That

was the principle that God was going to set up

all the way back with the children of Egypt.

Israel and it would it would set this order of

how to approach God based on three major feasts

three major feasts now we're going to look at

this next week and and if I can Chelsea I'm going

to have you go to my my very um the slides on

the on the feasts if you will all right perfect

Okay, I didn't get here for first service, so

you guys are getting this. You're gonna get ahead

of the class here, all right? I need you to just

kind of take a look at these charts. And you

can see here, there's biblical feasts. Why am

I spending time on biblical feasts? Because the

Apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit are gonna bring

these feasts front, line, and center for New

Testament understanding. And if we don't have

a framework, of what happened there that's actually

supposed to be fulfillment here, we're going

to miss out on the whole principle of what God's

wanting to do in you in his timing right now.

Now, one of the things that we look at, we look

at, okay, this is what happened. When we say

the feast, there were three times a year, three

times a year. And I'm going to just generalize

it. You see seven up there, but out of the seven,

there were three times a year that God required

that everyone inside of Israel would come to

Jerusalem to celebrate those feasts. And those

feasts are Passover being the first, Pentecost

being the middle, and Tabernacles being the third.

In between those three feasts, there were other

feasts and principles incorporated around the

early feast and the latter feast. Pentecost kind

of stands on its own. And so what we're trying

to do here is get the church to understand, as

we started last week and this week, is understand

the significance of Passover so that when we

get to Pentecost, you don't just see Pentecost

as some particular philosophy that some people

believe in the Holy Spirit and other people don't.

That's the worst thing you could walk away with.

What we want you to see... In the scripture,

that's how God presents it, is that God has been

working all along to bring types and shadows

in his Old Testament to show us how he builds

progressively and how he moves people along in

his purpose, in his will, and to operate in partnership

with his power and in kingdom authority. And

so what you have to understand is he has a calendar.

God had a calendar in the Old Testament. He started

these feasts start in the spring of our year,

most likely in March and April. And Passover,

as we read here in the scripture that we just

read in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7 part B says,

1 Corinthians 5:7

and Christ is our Passover lamb who has been

sacrificed. What did Jesus do? Jesus fulfilled.

Passover, meaning he is the lamb of God that

was slain before the foundation of the world.

The Holy Spirit says, it's been done. Passover

has been fulfilled. But then right next to Passover

is this thing called unleavened bread. And unleavened

bread has a connection to Passover that the A

and the B belong together. And if you don't see

that in your mind, understanding it in New Testament

theology, you'll just think that your salvation

is only yes, it's started in God, it's from God,

and I don't need to worry about anything else.

But do you understand that God in Passover, and

this is what we dealt with last week, God in

Passover said, I'm gonna bring Jesus, I'm gonna

put his blood on the doorpost of your life, I'm

gonna have you eat the lamb that represents eating

of all that he is as the savior and as the deliverer

and as your healer and the strength. But in addition,

right next to it, I'm going to say for a week,

I'm going to command you to now check your house.

And I'm going to ask you to remove from your

house every bit of unleavened bread. Now this

is important because it lets us know that God...

starts something and does something that only

he can do, but then he never just leaves it all

by himself. He's always looking to bring you

into his purpose and his will. And notice that

the whole point of unleavened bread, even though

Jesus is the bread of heaven, even though Jesus

is the living word of God. He made the people

begin to walk through an understanding of if

you're going to live under the blood of the lamb,

you're going to have to participate and walk

through your house in order to remove the leaven.

You say now, well, that's just Old Testament.

Well, no, it's not because that's what the Holy

Spirit brings back into the Corinthian church.

Listen to what it says in verse six. Verse six,

we'll keep that screen toggled and we'll go back

to Corinthians. Your boasting is not good. Do

you not know that a little leaven, I'm gonna

say some words here and then we're gonna describe

it. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Now

cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a

new lump as you really are unleavened. For Christ,

our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Okay,

let's talk about the strange language here. Leaven

and lumps. Some of you are old enough to remember

the Looney Tunes commercials and Warner Brothers

and the old thing going, how many lumps you want?

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, and three or four

lumps would appear on his head. That's not what

the Apostle Paul is talking about here, just

so you know. He's not looking just to give you

a lump with a sledgehammer. That is not it. He's

actually looking to do something that our culture

is very unfamiliar with. Most of the people in

this room, we have gravitated on the basis of

time not to make things from scratch. We buy

our bread. already packaged in, what, the plastic

wrappers and cellophane, already sliced. We didn't

mix the flour. We didn't put in the ingredients.

We didn't knead the dough. We didn't bake it.

We didn't do any of that. We just simply go to

the store out of convenience and we buy already

what's already pre -made, pre -sliced, pre -done.

The Holy Spirit was taking the Corinthian church

and saying something to them. He's saying, listen,

I need you to go back to why this is so important.

I need you to go back to the lump. And if you

understand, if you're a baker at all, you'll

understand that the lump represents what you

start with with bread. You're either gonna start

with a lump of dough that represents how you

measured the flour. the amount of oil you put

in, and all of the ingredients that actually

become and will become the bread that you will

partake. And the Holy Spirit through the apostle

Paul says, you need to understand that you are

a new lump. You're not an old lump. Turn to somebody

and say, your lumps have changed. Hallelujah.

Come on. I mean, your lumps have changed. I mean,

the reality is, God is trying to do what? He's

trying to remind you that who you were in your

initial put together of your old nature is not

who you're supposed to be anymore. He's already

declared you. And this is why it's so important

in New Testament theology. He's already declared

you. You're still alive. You're still a person.

But spiritually, when you had the blood of Christ

come over the doorpost of your body, What does

that mean? Your mind, your will, your body, your

soul, and you invited the Spirit of God inside

of you, you now have positionally become something.

You're like the bread that you were, only you're

not the old, you're the new. Paul writes this

again. This is first, notice the interesting

choices of verses, even in the divine penmanship

of what God is dealing with. 1 Corinthians 5,

7. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If any person's in Christ,

they are a new creation. Behold, the old is gone,

the new has come. I find it interesting that

in two different letters, right at the fifth

chapter, he's dealing with what kind of lump

you really are. Right? And here he starts it

out. He says, you are a new lump. Now look it.

He says, cleanse out the old leaven. that you

might be a new lump. Why is this important? Because

Passover linked, that God said, whoever will

not celebrate the cleaning out of their house

by removing leaven, and I'm gonna explain leaven

in a little bit, not 7 -11, but leaven, whoever

won't clean out the leaven, I'm going to cut

off from Israel. Not only will I, I'll pass over

you, but I'm going to give you grace. But if

you refuse to clean out the leaven, I'm actually

going to cut you off from my life. I'll cut you

out of the nation of Israel. Now that is where

the Holy Spirit picks that up in Exodus chapter

Exodus 12 · chapter mention

12, picks it up for the New Testament, for the

New Testament church about members in their church.

that we're not living as new lumps, but we're

choosing to take the truth of God's grace and

live like they lived prior to coming to Christ.

And it's important because what's leaven? Leaven

in the Bible, leaven all through scripture, it's

both in the old and in the new, always speaks

of that which causes a rising. It's a rising

up. to pride. It's a rising in arrogance. It's

a rising of man's old ways. It represents anything

that puffs up and anything that brings into a

place of superiority as man, man's purpose, man's

ideals, man's concepts. The whole principle of

cleaning out leaven was what? to actually to

get you to clean out that which you relied on

yourself, your way of thinking, your successes,

your own abilities, remove it out and surrender

it and recognize I'm going to eat bread now that's

dense. It's not the light pastry, French, ooh

la la, croissant that puffs up in so wonderful

pastry. No, no, no. It is the deep, thick bread

that is intense. I'm not eating it for flavor

or pleasure. I'm eating it because God told me

to because it's a revelation of the purity of

only the word of God and nothing else. God goes

back into the Old Testament, brings that forward

into the New Testament, and now says, I need

you to get this because this is what you have

to partner with in order for me to move you forward,

children of Israel. If I'm going to bring you

into progressive revelation and understanding,

I've got to get you to understand that only Jesus

can do what only Jesus did. He could only be

the lamb of God. His blood, the blood of the

God man, the holy blood of the father's DNA that

would represent the blood of all nations. Only

he could die for the sin of the world that every

person that would apply that blood would not

just be Tiffany's side of the Jewish side, but

it would be as Gentile as, what are you normally?

Norwegian, even. Even the legions and Sven get

saved. Okay? I mean, the reality is, natural

Israel, by the blood of Jesus Christ, and Timothy

Sven Munson of Norwegian descent, and Asian,

and Italian, and Latino, and African, and Chinese,

and Filipino, and you name it, the nations of

the world are found in the blood of Jesus. And

with that reality, he doesn't just stop there.

And here's what most people have learned in Western

thought. It's just all about me getting saved.

You see, if that was the case, if it was only

about you getting saved, only about you coming

out under the law of death and sin, Jesus paying

for you, setting you on good ground and going,

okay, you're no longer under that. We wouldn't

have any other feasts. We wouldn't see any progression

from Passover written from the Bible. Why? It'd

be enough. I got you out of Egypt. I just brought

you. You don't need to celebrate whatever Passover

means. You don't need to celebrate tabernacles

and all of the feasts that are around there.

Why? Because it's just about you. Do you understand

that that's the whole reason that he included

the unleavened portion with the cross portion

of the blood of Jesus? Is because by nature,

we're selfish. By nature, we want to make it

all about us. And by nature, he included in the

blood of the Passover lamb, he included what?

He invited their responsibility. He has never

unhooked himself from that. Salvation is only

by grace, but it also carries a responsibility.

Meaning, I can't, how do I say this carefully?

I can't clean my house without the agent that

God gives me to clean it. But I also can't clean

my house just telling the blood of Jesus to do

it by itself. Wouldn't that be nice? Just put

the Ajax and you can tell how often I clean here.

Put the Ajax and the, I was going to say the

Listerine, but that's what you do mouthwash.

Put the Ajax and the Pine Sol and all of the

stuff that you clean your house with, you just

set it on the counter and you just say, in Jesus'

name, clean the house. Yeah, if it would, but.

Thank you, Will, for that because it's totally

wrong. Because that's, think about it, that's

what Western culture has made Christianity out

to be. God saved me and he does everything. I

don't need to partner with him. It's just all

about me going to heaven and as long as I get

my hell insurance, I'm good. Whole doctrines,

philosophies, whole groups of denominations have

built that mindset on that form of linear thinking

that all the gospel is about is about getting

you to heaven. That's only half of the equation.

It's the first half. You see, the equation has

an A and a B side for all you math majors. Okay?

There's an A plus a B. I didn't do so good in

math. That's why I moved more toward a humanitarian

arts degree. But anyways, the reality being there

is a second side to this thing. The A side is

Jesus by his blood can only pay for sin and breaking

the power of the Lord of death. Do you understand

that? Satan, because of Adam's transgression,

Adam and Eve's transgression, now became ruler

and was over sin and death. That's why the apostle

Paul would write later in the New Testament,

he says, oh, King Agrippa, when he was talking

about giving his testimony, going to Rome and

even to Caesar, he laid out to Agrippa and to

Festus and the others, he said, I've been transferred

from the kingdom of darkness into the glorious

inheritance of his son's love. The principle

being, that's what Jesus did on the cross is

he broke the lordship of death. That's Hebrews

chapter two. He says, he broke the fear of death

in which we were all subject. He breaks the Lord

of death, the power of death, which is sin. That's

what Paul writes again in 1 Corinthians 15. Oh,

death, where is your sting? Oh, grave, where

is your victory? For the strength of sin is the

law. But thanks be to God our Father who's given

us the victory in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ

broke... The lordship of death, being held captive

from being separated from God, paid the price

of sin and did what? Also established everything

that God sent in his law about his holy nature

that we would break. He also satisfied it on

the cross. And with those three things, Christ

liberates us. And then he does what? He grabs

you and I and he says, now, I'm not just gonna

apply the blood. Now you're gonna partner with

me. Because the Passover was never meant to just

be fulfilled naturally. It was meant to be fulfilled

both naturally when Jesus fulfilled it and that

the church would spiritually fulfill it. Meaning

what? That you inside of Christ, Christ in you,

the hope of glory, I'm in Christ. would recognize

I've now applied the blood of Jesus. I now feast

on the lamb as the word of God. And now with

the help of the Holy Spirit as the light, come

on, walk with me, the light and me as a person.

So this represents, Victor, good looking guy

here. Okay. Represents the light of Christ wearing

a white shirt. Very nice. Way to fit the example

today. Okay. Wearing the light of Christ, we're

gonna do what? I'm gonna take my conscious heart

and mind and the light of Christ now, because

the blood has come and the presence of God has

come, is gonna walk with me in the very aspects

of my mind, of my heart, of my emotions and my

motivations, and he's going to shine light on

where I can bring leaven. Leaven is what? Where

I've believed. My way is better than God's way.

Where I've puffed up me. Where I've puffed up

people's opinions. where I've made things that

were easier for me and it's time like this that

I don't just keep that once a year like they

did naturally. I now live with the blood and

the Holy Spirit with me and he's now removing

and always speaking in grace and an understanding

of where I now have kept leaven. Thank you. You

may keep burning. Right there. All right. Now,

in that process, it's not just for me personally.

It's not just for you personally. See, many times

as a Western thought, we think, well, this scripture

is for me. It is, but that's half the, again,

Western thought gives you half of the equation.

The other half is, it's not just for me. It's

for us. It's for the church. That's why he's

writing it. He's writing it. for the community

called the church so that they would know how

to collectively allow the light of the Holy Spirit

and the blood of Jesus to keep the body of Christ

clean, not just relegate it to our own personal

private deal where nobody can speak into. Oh,

snap. Do you understand that that's part of the

reason that people don't want to do church? It's

not the fact that, oh, Dwayne and Lana were just

elders in the other church or pastors and they

just didn't treat me right. And I just, I mean,

they wounded my inner puppy and I just haven't

got over it for 25 years. No, that is not the

reason. You know why? It's because most people

don't want the accountability that it actually

comes. The reason they don't want to be in the

house of God for the purpose of God is they want

to keep their relationship with Jesus private.

Why? They don't want to be responsible for growth.

They don't want to be responsible for serving.

They don't want to be responsible for actually

discipling other people and actually putting

down roots and actually recognizing that their

life is meant to be life giving to others. We've

built, oh, come on now. Come on. Don't make me

high step and get out there to you. Come on.

The reality is the issue of Western thought and

Western Christianity is it's what? We stop singing,

it's all about you, Lord, and we change it. It's

all about me. And we focused on what we want,

how we want, how we want to live. And we can

mark out all sorts of pages of the scripture

to try to justify the fact, well, it's only really

about me and heaven. No, no, no, a thousand times

no. Why? My God. I feel like Joshua and he looked

at the sun and said, stand still time. Hallelujah.

All right. We have a thinking. That what God

is building is only one dimensional. If you've

been here long enough, you've heard me say this

about marrying the Old Testament and the New

Testament. I say it this way. The Old Testament

is the blueprints of what God designed all the

things that would be seed thoughts and revelation.

They would be signs. They would be prophecies.

They would be understandings. They would build

the whole framework. That when you get into the

New Testament, those blueprints would now begin

to build the building. Why? Because the building

wasn't according to the old. The building was

according to the new. And God says, according

to his scripture, he doesn't live in houses of

wood and stone anymore. He now lives, what? In

people. And he's called you. the living stones.

So he takes all of the principles of the blueprint

and he brings it to what? Inside the temple called

you. And then he says, it's not just about you

though. We're now living stones. Notice what

he says, living stones now being fit together.

Wouldn't it be, you see, Western Christianity

paints the picture that you and Jesus as the

cornerstone and one stone are the house. And

that's just simply not true. You and Jesus are

wonderful. That's your salvation. But the house

is supposed to be connected to living. It's plural

and it's also Pentecostal. Living stones means

that God is bringing, what did he say? took down

the wall of separation and I'm now bringing Jew

and Gentile together and I am building a house

of living stones for the dwelling of my presence.

That is why it's so important that you get Christ

on the inside but it's also important that you

begin to join yourself to both Jew and Sven and

Oli and Asa and you begin to see that God is

actually looking to what? Not only take the grace

of God that he dealt with you personally, but

now he comes to bring his presence in a greater

capacity when the stones gather together in love,

in unity, and preferring one another. And the

residence of God and the presence of God begins

to fill the corporate house as well as the personal

house. I'm preaching myself happy, and I hope

you're enjoying it as well. Now, back to the

chart. Okay. Now, you're saying, Pastor, we're

going to get through all seven feasts? No. Okay.

We're barely getting out of Passover here this

morning. If you'll see the three feasts before

we ever get to Pentecost, notice what he's doing.

He deals with Passover. The very same day or

the next day, he deals with unleavened bread,

which deals with what? There is no old nature.

Everything is new nature. The old nature is buried.

That's the unleavened bread. We're a new lump.

And then he goes first fruits. You say, well,

why do we do first fruits? Well, part of it is

this. It's part of the understanding of Passover.

First fruits was what? I'm bringing something

out of the field that has not been harvested

and called mine. I'm giving the first as an offering

before I ever take the field. I'm giving the

first as an offering that the rest of the field

would be made like the first. That's why the

very first first fruit offering was done at the

same time right after the end of Passover, which

ended on a Sabbath. First fruit starts when?

On the Sunday right after the Sabbath ended.

So as soon as the Sabbath of the law ended, the

first resurrection Sunday would be the celebration

of first fruits. And that's what we celebrate

when we celebrate, in essence, Easter is what?

The death, the burial, and the raising from the

dead of the Lord Jesus Christ as the first fruits.

And the Bible's filled in the New Testament with

what? Jesus is the first fruits. So that what

follows after, and just kind of pat your neighbor

on the shoulder, that means you. Come on, that

means you. What follows after Jesus is you get

to do exactly what he did. That death no longer

will keep you. And how what God did with the

first, he promises to do with the second. And

in type and shadow, all in the whole, if you

want to just narrow it down. all in the wholeness

of Passover, unleavened and first fruit is connected

under the canopy of Passover because it is saying

to us, we are going to move you to the understanding

of what God did for you. And then we, in the

midst of that, join you to what God now wants

to partner with you so that you have a solid

foundation so that when you come to the next

feast, you'll not only celebrate what it is naturally,

but you'll be ready to partner at a deeper level.

You see, when I said God builds according to

the blueprint, here's what America wants. Here's

what Western culture wants. I want a house that's

one level, ranch style, and if I just want a

house, I'll just make it bigger. and I'll just

spread it out. Do you know that in every other

part of the world, ranch -style houses are not

the main construction element? Everything around

the world is built up for people to live in multi

-stories and for people to live multi -generational.

Now, maybe I'm going to, Jenny, if you want to

come up to the piano, I hope to drop something

on you here that will help you make sense of

something. We get ranch style, not that if you

want a ranch style house, God bless you. I'm

not saying that that's wrong. I'm not saying

go sell it and buy something else. I'm telling

you, don't try to put your faith like your personal

home. Because God's blueprint was never to build

a mindset that just enlarged your footprint of

single family dwelling on one floor. You can

say, well, why are you saying that? Because God

is multidimensional. Meaning, now I'm not being

weird here. Think about it. He is into what?

He's into width, but he's also into breadth and

depth and height. He wouldn't have sponsored

through the apostle Paul in Ephesians through

one of the greatest prayers that was ever prayed

when he said, I pray that the Lord fill you in

height, breadth, depth, and width with the what?

Love of God. What was he looking at in you? If

he knew you were the temple, he was not just

saying, well, I just fill you with just the width

of love. Why? Because Western Christianity, ranch

style, we are a mile wide and an inch deep. That

is not biblical. It's not close to biblical.

Fact is, real biblical faith does what? It builds

you in every dimension. You see, love can't get

into you. Height, which I'm challenged on, height,

depth, breadth, and then I got the width thing

down, okay? Height, breadth, depth, width of

the love of God. What does that mean? It means

he's getting now, are you ready? He's getting

now into my thinking. He's getting into my emotions.

He's getting into my motivations. He's getting

into the very, essence of what I value. That's

why Jesus could say, it's not what goes into

the man that defiles the man. It's what comes

out of the man. Why? Because once it comes out,

it means it's been there a long time. And that's

why just ranch style in the spirit doesn't cut

it. Why? There's no depth of growth. There's

no depth. Why? And that's why we gravitate to

Western thinking because we're not opening our

heart to actually have a spiritual encounter

with the Holy Spirit. We'd rather just understand

the gospel with our mind than actually be vulnerable

and hear what the Spirit of God is saying in

addition. Are you there? Why do you think? I

almost went back up on stage. Why do you think?

That when God shows us the city of God at the

very end of the scriptures here in Revelation

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21 and 22, why does he not show you a

giant ranch style house coming down from heaven?

You got yourself a 1400 square foot ranch baby

coming down. That is your mansion, Texas edition.

No, that isn't what he's doing. What's he showing

you? He's showing you a city that is square.

Now, is that because God is creator, all he could

come up with is master cubes? Beloved, I send

you the cube. No. It's he was modeling something

in the cube that we miss. That heaven, its dimension

of God and his people is what? Height, breadth,

depth, width of all the same measurement that

every aspect is full. Every aspect is deep. Every

aspect is filled. It's God does not build something

that just has one dimension. He builds you. That's

why you're created in the image of God, body,

mind, soul, and spirit. And if he's the God of

wholeness, he's going to bring wholeness in every

level of your personhood. And wouldn't the city

of God and all of the people redeemed also live

in the fullness of who he's supposed to be? That's

why he wants to move you forward. Because he

doesn't just want you to know the truth about

salvation. He wants you to experience the truth.

He wants you to live the truth. And then he's

prepping you. He wants you to be filled with

that truth so that you can actually release that

truth wherever you go, extending the king and

the kingdom. Would you bow your heads, your hearts

with me? Father, this morning, Lord, I thank

you for this church. And Lord, by church, I'm

not talking about walls. I'm not talking about

wood or stone. I'm talking about people. I'm

talking about the saved people who've been redeemed

by your blood, by your grace, through faith,

and that have called on your name. Lord, and

you heard their prayer. And as the Bible said,

if they confess their sin, You will forgive them

of their sin and cleanse them of all righteousness.

You also said in three different places and whoever

calls on the name of the Lord. That means who

you are, what your purpose was and what you came

to do will be saved. I thank you for those that

you've redeemed in this house. Lord, as you're

feeding them and as you're growing them, I'm

also now coming to you and I'm praying for those

that have not truly known you. on the inside.

They have a mental understanding. They've been

caught in the beam and the tracker beam only

of rationality of the gospel. And God, the gospel

does make sense to a sinner, but it's also supposed

to be something that is so tied to your nature

that is wonderfully glorious and spiritual. Lord,

you said if Jesus would be lifted up, you would

draw all men and women unto you. And so, Lord,

today we have lifted you up, your purposes, your

plan. And that is to encounter people, to do

for them what they couldn't do for themselves,

and then to draw them into partnership. And today

I ask, Lord, as we open this church service now,

Lord, To that place where they come to meet you.

In just a few moments. I'm going to give an altar

call. What that simply means is I'm going to

give a request. Because the spirit of God is

here. He's the one responsible for drawing people's

hearts and minds to the Lord. My job is to give

the message. His job is to embrace you. Forgive

you. love you and begin to grow and walk with

you as you walk and grow with him. So if you're

here this morning and you've not asked Jesus

Christ into your heart personally, into the very

depths of your heart, your soul, your mind, you

would say, Lord, I'm not going to trust in myself

anymore. Today under this, under what I've heard

today, I need you. To come and fill me. And be

my King. Be my Lord. Be my Savior. Not only save

me from Lord the curse of death and sin. But

to bring me into fellowship with you. As Lord

and friend. If that's you this morning. And you'd

be willing to pray that prayer. As the Holy Spirit

is here. I'm going to ask you. I don't need you

to come front. But I do need you to have a response.

So I'm going to ask you just. If that's you,

right where you're at, just lift your hand above

your head so that I can see it. And that's part

of the witness and part of the response package.

And as you lift your hand, I'm gonna send somebody

to come and pray with you. And together, they're

gonna call on the Lord together and ask Jesus

to come and fill your heart and bring you under

his care and his leadership and love. Is there

any here that would say, that's me? I wanna accept

Jesus. In totality. No longer just making him

a mental image of someone that was a good teacher.

But I want him to come and save me from my sin

and fill my life. Make him king and Lord. Just

a little bit longer. As you're hearing my voice,

you say, that's me. I need the Lord on the inside.

I want to know him in spirit and truth. If you

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