Sunday Message (1st 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. I want to have you

open your Bible this morning. We're going to

look at a lot of scriptures, but primarily I

want to start from where we left off last week.

If you were here for our communion service, one

of the reasons that, sorry about that, just a

little frog in my throat so you bear with me

here. One of the reasons that we take communion

the way we receive it and the way we operate

is that the Lord spoke to me years ago. about

probably seven or eight years now. Thank you,

dear. About at the communion table, bringing

some fresh revelation to God's people that wouldn't

just be an ad hoc thing. And not that what Life

Bible is doing is... better than anyone else.

It's just that what the Lord was speaking to

me for this house and for this region is that

there needed to be a deepening and an expanding

of our understanding of all of the things that

are tied to the communion table, that when we

take it, there is a real... understanding that

we are grabbing a hold of all that God did to

put inside that truth symbolically of the bread

and the cup, every element that's there. And

as I was waiting on the Lord and I shared this

a little bit with you and I want to just review,

as Pastor Trent came and preached on leading

up to Pentecost, I kind of... I kind of brought

it back the week I came back because it was communion

week. He had done this wonderful job of kind

of building up to Pentecost and got partway through

his message. Him and I had been communicating

on that. And I just felt as I came back from

vacation and our time away that the Lord wanted

to deepen and broaden some things. So it's been

an interesting journey for me in these weeks

that I can't. seem to break away from study.

Normally, for me, preparing a message is about

12 to 15 hours for a Sunday morning, just prayer,

timing, research, writing, things flow. I have

not been able to get out since I've been back

out of about 25 hours. And so it's consuming

my, which is wonderful in some aspects, it's

consuming my time. I've taken If there's a day

off, I've spent my whole day off just being in

the scriptures. And how many know that's a good

thing? It's a great thing. And I'm not complaining.

I want you to know that I'm on a journey here

with you in discovering some of the things that

I believe that the Holy Spirit is trying to highlight

in this season. you know if you've been with

us long enough for those that are visiting and

those that are new to Life Bible Church, we believe

in the prophetic expression of the Holy Spirit

speaking to the church. And what that means is

we believe in the guardrails of the scriptures,

the canon of the scriptures in regard to Genesis

to Revelation. That creates the boundaries of...

the revelation that our truth, in the midst of

that truth, God speaks how to direct his church

into the receiving of all that he's already written

in there. And so he is trying to breathe, if

you will, life into us to catch what the spirit

of God is doing on the earth. And I believe more

than ever that even the word today that AJ released,

is absolutely in the timetable of what God is

wanting to do for this house and not just Life

Bible, but other houses. Because I believe that

what we're going to hopefully get to this morning

is to get you to understand that God is in the

midst of wanting to call in the fullness. of

the season that we're in, which is Pentecost,

but you have to bridge the gap between what he

did at Passover and what he did at Pentecost

and where he's taking the church is moving us

to a final feast time where the final ingathering

of all that we should be doing is taking us.

That's why he's breathing life. on these passages

again in the scriptures. Now, God's word is good.

He's doing things all the time that we just finally

clue into. We can read things, we can understand

things. And then in the season and the timing

of God, he then breathes fresh on it. And all

of a sudden, wow, I've read that, I don't know

how many times, but that is what God is doing

in this season. So I want us to, if you will,

this might be a little more, I don't mean it

to be, but a little more Bible college class

set up here. So just kind of just say, like the

body of Christ, I'm going to widen and enjoy

the fatness of the word of God. Okay? We're talking

about not only are there revelations of Passover

and Pentecost in the scripture, but I believe

that the New Testament reveals that all of the

feasts of Israel, now when I say the feasts of

Israel, I'm gonna bring them out of all the seven

fullnesses of all that's there down to the three.

that God highlighted in the scripture for those

that are fairly new to the faith or haven't maybe

studied much in the Bible. God made a prerequisite

with the children of Israel, the nation of Israel,

right from the beginning of the giving of the

law as they came out of Exodus. He made a prerequisite

that three times a year that God's people would

appear before him. It was... and absolute. It

was, you do not miss these services. They were

week long. They involved sacrifices. They involved

including of the Levites and the priesthood,

all the congregation. It was a time of great

celebration and it worked within God's holy calendar

to progress the people of God forward and through

the calendar year to get them to understand In

multiple things. And I won't be able to even

scratch the surface this morning. Of the depth

of it. But to move them in progressive revelation.

Now when I say progressive revelation. I am not

using the word progressive as in liberal. Okay.

I mean progressive according to the real root

term. Is it moves you forward. How many know

that. the very prophetic nature of God is to

move you forward. The whole point is to get you

from the place that you started into a greater

understanding of who God is, how God works in

you, the revelation of who he is, and the worship

and the expression and the partnership and the

depth of our intimacy is always about getting

you closer in fellowship with the Lord than when

you first started. And God would do this over

and over in the Old Testament. And we have what

we would call the every 50 year jubilee. And

there would be a reset in the economy of God

financially. There'd be a reset spiritually to

inheritance that when the people would fail under

the Old Testament system, there would always

be a reset to start them again. Why? To try to

get them to move forward. and to try to get them

to actually embrace all that God wanted them

to do. Now, here's the beauty about the New Testament.

The New Testament is the fulfillment of the literal

parts of those feasts, now bringing those truths

into spiritual truths for you and I to participate

in. I literally don't have to pick up three times

a year and go to the land of Israel in the Middle

East. I don't have to grab bulls and goats and

I don't have to do that. That has all been fulfilled.

Every one of the feasts, every one of those truths

have been fulfilled in Christ. But here is the

beauty of it. Even though they've been fulfilled

naturally, there are aspects of those feasts

that are being dealt with spiritually. Some have

been fulfilled naturally and fulfilled spiritually.

And some of the feasts, even though they're fulfilled

naturally, are still in play and have not been

fulfilled. And this is where we really need to

get. excuse me, clued in because if we miss this

understanding, we would tend to build a camp

around ourselves. We would just celebrate what

Jesus did for me personally and we would take

salvation alone for ourself and we would not

actually anchor ourselves in to the progression

that God wants to do with you personally in extending

this understanding of what feast you're in and

why it connects to his work now in this time

and this season called the Great Commission and

how it connects you to what he's building in

the church for its purpose, its value, and what

you should be operating in. If you don't get

it, you actually... wrongly, and I'm just going

to say that, it's wrong, not in my opinion, biblically,

it's wrong to pull everything that God is doing

and attribute it just to you. Now start with

you. Yes, he starts with awakening your heart,

awakening your mind, and bringing you into the

truth of salvation. But just as we should tell

our little children, you're not the center. Of

the universe. We don't sing the worship song

to you. It's all about you. No, it's all about

Jesus. Right? Sometimes we turn that worship

song. It's all about me. No, it's not about me.

God loved me. Gave himself for me. But he actually

has a mandate and a plan. that actually I should

see in this holy word that is written all the

way through. And sometimes because of all of

the nonsense that we listen to people rather

than actually see the patterns that is in the

word and actually have biblical sound teaching,

we absolutely can get diverted from what God

wants to do. Now listen. As we look at the progression,

I need you to understand, the whole point of

the feasts naturally was to progress them through

the year and to celebrate God's truth as it unfolds

to them. For us, it's the same principle. From

Passover, which is what? Jesus Christ's cross

and resurrection. The lamb slain. The taking

of a household, the lamb in the household. Those

that would receive the blood on the doorpost,

which was Passover. Those now who receive the

blood of Jesus over the doorpost of their heart,

their mind and all and bring the Lord into their

house. That represents salvation. The whole point

of salvation then is to what? Notice there's

two more feasts. If it was all about just salvation,

we would have stopped right at Passover. Come

on, church. I mean, where we get this idea in

Western thinking and understanding is somehow

it's only about us and God only wants us to go

to heaven. Yes, that's the A part of the equation,

but there's a B part of the equation that goes

with it. Pentecost. And why Pentecost is so important

is it sets the framework of the kingdom of God

in our spiritual template. If you and I misunderstand

Pentecost and we just see it as a charismatic

Pentecostal expression, we have come woefully,

woefully short. Of what God was actually trying

to impart to his whole church. And what we've

made it is. We've made it some form of denominational.

Or certain expression of the body of Christ.

Where evangelicals and now. Pentecostal believers

who believe in the outpouring of the Spirit are

divided and the highest common denominator now

between all of the body of Christ in Western

America or culture is only the cross and the

resurrection. How pathetic is that? That's right,

it is pathetic. I'll answer the question for

you. It is pathetic. It's pathetic that we would

divide. over something that is so clearly laid

out that all of God's church should be operating

in. Pentecost reminds us that it is God's will

and plan to release, please hear me, to release

his kingdom through his Holy Spirit and his word.

Remember, that was Jesus' main thing. If you're

going to worship me, the day is coming. Oh, by

the way, it's now. why two worshipers will worship

him in spirit and in truth. The whole part of

Pentecost, if I could just kind of summarize

what I want to dive into and look at some nuances

today, the whole part of it is to get you to

actually embrace a king and his kingdom and the

source of how he moves the kingdom forward. If

it was only by the word, he would have never

told the disciples to wait for power from on

high. If it was only about just having a first

eyewitness account and having the word of what

they've known as good Jewish disciples under

a Jewish master, teacher, leader, it would have

never needed Pentecost. But the point is, God

goes out of his way, so much out of his way that

he actually ties it to the 10 days. Why? Why

is 10 significant? Because 10 always represents

law. God gave the 10 commandments of Moses to

establish something. We have no problem taking

the 10 and understanding it's connected to the

nature and the character. of a righteous, holy,

and awesome God. Why do we have a problem in

church land connecting the 10 days of waiting

to the nature and the character of his power,

his authority, and the extending of the kingdom?

Because it's a spiritual truth. The 10 was a

big, big sign that says, I'm bringing you into.

A closed law has been fulfilled, but a spiritual

law and the root of all spiritual truth is now

being opened to you with what will fall. This

is really important. Pentecost is about God establishing

in very clear terms that Jesus is the cornerstone

and the head of his church. Pentecost makes it

clear that Jesus empowers his people With wind,

fire, and power, and a new language. Wind, fire,

power, and a new language. That event is unmistakable.

And through Pentecost, Jesus reveals to us the

elements of partnership with the heart of God

in both celebrating it and keeping this feast

spiritually. Pentecost is about walking in the

purpose. Now here it is, because we gotta get

this. It's walking in the purpose of the Great

Commission and welcoming the Holy Spirit as we

receive his baptism, his fillings, his impartations,

and his spiritual gifts. We partner with him

because he is God as he. uses us to fulfill his

kingdom mandate. That is pretty stinking simple.

And yet we have whole movements that try to divide

out, well, that was only for just the apostles'

age. Let me just ask you a question, or maybe

a series of rhetorical questions, which means

I will answer them for you. It means, are we

still called to plant churches, share the gospel,

and that God is involved in not only the releasing

of his message of love and truth of Jesus Christ,

to plant churches where he's building people

to become part of his family, his bride. Is that

still going on? Okay, that was about three quarters

of a year. Is that still going on? Which means

what? You're in the church age, which means somewhere

in those two things, you should be finding your

fulfillment. Let's let that sit for a bit. Jesus

has released the great commission. That is not

a paycheck on your best sale you've ever done.

The great commission, no. The great commission,

okay. Mark, you're looking at me like, shoot.

No, the great commission is what? To go and reach

people with the message, that God the Father

has sent the answer to them being under the Lord

of death. And by his love, he's brought the Lord

of life that they can choose by grace and through

faith to receive Christ's pardon for their life,

come out of under the Lord of death and darkness

and be transferred into the family of the Lord

of life through Jesus Christ. That was the whole

point of what Paul was saying. He said, I've

been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness.

Whether you realize it or not, maybe you look

at others and say, well, I'm not as dark as the

other person. You're still under the Lord of

darkness if you do not have the Lord of life.

And the whole point is that message is to be

everything that we carry on the inside. But he

doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't. Okay, bring

it a little. Bring a little farm to the house

today. Jesus doesn't, he doesn't just leave it

at the place of salvation. He then says, go make

disciples. The making of the disciples is as

connected to salvation. You can't separate them.

It's like Reese's peanut butter cup. Come on.

I mean, people are starting to feel that in the

stomach right there. Sometimes you got to preach

when it hurts. Hallelujah. Now, listen. Who got

their peanut butter on my chocolate? Whose chocolate

got on my peanut butter? Salvation. And the making

of disciples cannot be extracted from one another.

Can't be. And through Pentecost, Jesus reveals

to us the partnership that God has to get his

heart for the nations and his heart to build.

communities of faith where he is glorified, worshiped,

and the message and the building goes on. You

see, it's not either or. The body of Christ has

done a great job of just saying, well, that's

the church and this is the ministry of evangelism.

No, no, no, no. Stop making separate candies.

You better put them together how he put them

together. Because he never separated them. Remember

when I said, through Moses, the scripture actually

says, I didn't say it, the scripture says, through

Moses came the law, but through Jesus Christ

comes grace and truth. Once Jesus comes, he comes

to us in a marriage package. Grace and truth

can never be separated. And unfortunately, we've

tried to separate the grace and the truth. We've

tried to say that the grace is the salvation

message and we'll have people do that. And then

the truth is for those that just want to go a

little deeper. No, no, no, no, no. Grace and

truth come together. The scripture is very clear.

They come as a couple. Pentecost is about walking

in the purpose of the great commission. And welcoming

the Holy Spirit in all of his aspects. And these

are necessary. God given grace. Let me say that

again. The Holy Spirit and all that is written

in this book. Is necessary. Every part of it.

To have some. Over gelled haired. think that

a know -it -all preacher tell you that you shouldn't

be operating in the gifts of the Spirit is absolutely,

well, to me, it's blasphemy. Now, I know I'm

not supposed to get, the wrath of man does not

accomplish the righteousness of God, but I'd

like to try a couple of times. But the point

is, there is no way. That you could ever pry

me away from the truth of operating with all

that the Holy Spirit has. Now, I want to tell

you, I live that way. I live that way. I had

an experience of salvation where I experienced

God's touch and God's pull on my life at a young

age. I experienced just... the salvation, but

had no framework of how to partner with the king

in his kingdom other than just know God and just

be satisfied with salvation, you're going to

heaven. I had that. Everything changed for me.

Everything. And there have been multiple times

in the last 40 some odd years. Where culture

and people and even the adherence to how we structure

services and why we do what we do have tried

to pull me back just to kind of mitigate this

other process. I won't do it. Why? Because it

is critical to... Everything that is written

and if the church, which it is, is supposed to

be the vehicle that God prepares for the end

times to bring in the final harvest of his purpose,

how in the world can I do it without a full understanding

and operating in all of the gifts and all of

the things that the Holy Spirit wants to bring

to me and somehow put it off on, oh, that was

just a first century church and God gives nothing

for the last century. church? I'm sorry. Now

listen, if I need to high step this while I'm

preaching, I will, but somebody ought to get

a little bit excited and go, if, if God says

that the glory of the first house was awesome,

then how much is the second house going to carry?

All right, calm down. Down. The Feast of Pentecost,

back to teaching. The Feast of Pentecost is meant

to build on the truth. I spit all over my glasses,

glory to God. The Feast of Pentecost is meant

to build on the truths of Revelation on the foundational

truths of Passover. It's meant to be built. It's

the building up of the building. We've always

said this. You've heard me say this multiple

times. You've been here any time. The Old Testament

is the blueprint. The New Testament is the building.

But the New Testament is not a ranch -style house.

It's not just a single story that just widens

itself every time it's supposed to build. The

New Testament building, if you'll actually look

at what Jesus is building, he's building a four

square city that has dimensions in every single

area. He doesn't just build it one way. And his

church is to represent that type of model. It

actually is to be wide and deep and tall. Why?

He wants and has depth. Why? He wants that. Why?

His whole goal is to get you to spiritually look

like the temple of God that is actually in heaven.

I'm not here to offend anybody, but the temple

in heaven does not look like the old temple that

was in Jerusalem. So what pattern do we take

shape after? Because the temple there had no

curtain. The temple there had that which represented

everything that was sanctified has every room

that has access. Hello. Now we understand the

pattern and I am all for understanding tabernacle

and temple from outer court to. the inner court

to holy place to most holy place. But you need

to understand when God brings heaven and earth

together, when it's all said and done, the whole

thing, there will be no compartments and no sectioning

out. There might be compartments, but everybody

has access. In my father's house, there are many

rooms. Okay. He's talking about what his, I mean,

I have to undo so much bad theology. The reality

is, it's what? You're with him. The city of God

is, look at the parallel. It comes down from

heaven onto earth. It's four square. It's beautiful.

It's not that God is saying, I build cubes. Okay,

that's not, you know, the creator of the universe

doesn't say, this is the best cube ever. Okay.

God doesn't sound like Trump. Thank God. All

right. Okay. It's a really good cube. I like

it. Okay. No. Okay. The reality is he's trying

to show. Come back. Come back. Okay. He's trying

to show you. That in every part, what he told

you in his word through the apostolic revelation

and partnership with the Holy Spirit. Listen

to what the Holy Spirit prayed through the Apostle

Paul. That you may be filled to the height, depth,

breadth, and width of the love of God. What is

heaven and your dwelling going to be about? Height.

depth, breadth, width of the house of God and

having freedom to live with and around him always.

And the goal of the New Testament church is what?

To look, to model, and to bring thy kingdom come,

thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And the reality is the feasts point to the what?

The building that has height, depth, width, and

breadth. Sometimes you just got to go back to

high school. Give me a breadth. Okay, whatever.

Moving on. It falls short. Hallelujah. All right.

Do you understand what we're talking about? Can

you get a visualization? The New Testament building

cannot just be a logical expression that moves

your mind out to accept it. It must have both

mind, body, and soul to it. And spirit. Because

why? That's how you were made. Mind, body, soul,

and spirit. He wants to actually present you.

That's why he says to the Thessalonians and other

places that I might present to you a pure virgin

in spirit, soul, and body, cleansed and absolutely

pure and pristine. Why? That every dimension

of you, your thinking, your motives, your...

attitudes, your appetites, your expression of

what comes out of you. That's why Jesus focused

on the way deep here in the kimchi here, but

that's why he, he focused on. It's not what you

take into you that defiles you. It's what comes

out of you. Why? Because he's dealing with height,

breadth, depth, and width of putting Christ formed

in you. Are you there? So if you think Christianity

is logical and everything you've come to in the

Bible is a logical understanding, you've missed

three of the four dimensions. And you have way

less than what he paid for you to have and to

walk in. And that's why Pentecost is so important

because it is one of the feasts that has such

spiritual... and the fulfillment of what happened

then and the actual open door of what you're

to participate in now actually begins to expand

inside of you and create room for more of God

living in you, through you, and out of you. You

doing okay? Now, so we build on the feasts of

Passover. And as we looked at last week at communion,

We looked at how the Holy Spirit, and if you

have your Bibles, we're gonna actually get to

some scripture. I quoted some, but let's look

at some. First Corinthians, if we could look

at that. First Corinthians chapter five. And

I told you it was kind of a unique process last

week of how God took me here to kind of open

up this and just to create a little bit deeper

dive for me and hopefully for all of us. First

Corinthians five, seven and eight. Actually,

let's go a little earlier than that. Instead

of seven and eight, let's go to verse six. Can

you put up verse six? Thank you. Do you not know

that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

Now, verse seven, speaking to the church body,

but specifically to the church eldership, cleanse

out the old. This is both to us. Please hear

this. Anytime God gives scripture for the most

part, it is for us individually. And when he's

speaking to the church, he's also speaking to

it corporately as a congregation or as a gathered

body expression. So he says, so cleanse out the

old leaven that you may be a new lump as you

really are unleavened. Now, I know that this

language is not how we talk. People don't hardly

do anything from scratch anymore. Except maybe

just scratch. People go to a store. They get

it in a box. They buy it ready to eat. There

was no such thing as Grubhub when... The scriptures

were written. You didn't just dial somebody,

Uber Eats, and they brought you a sampling. Okay?

Everything in their worldview and everything

in our worldview, to bring us back into Bible

understanding, we must know the language that

what they were saying. What was the lump? The

lump was the starter dough of bread. How are

you starting? Now see, this is important. It's

important for the church today. We wouldn't necessarily

look at this point and go, this is foundational,

key, fundamental, doctrinal truth for the Western

church absolutely right now. Well, it is because

how you start with the lump is what you'll actually

get as the bread is being baked and rises and

does what it's supposed to do. The starter lump

Not only the contents of what's put in that.

Did you make it with fine flour? Did you make

it with... The oil that was represented of what

it meant to make that bread that was pure oil

and fine flour, meaning that the word of God

was in there, was true, and that there was the

mixture of the Holy Spirit putting the truths

of God's word together to have bread for you.

So when Jesus says, I am the bread from heaven,

everything that Jesus was saying had started

with the fine flour of the nature and the character

of God and was always mixed with the revelation

of the Holy Spirit. So that lump is important.

Are you starting with leaven or are you starting

with unleavened? Meaning, are you making a bread

that will rise that's more about your liking

of taste or are you making a bread without leaven

that won't cause it to rise without pride that

isn't so much about your taste but is about receiving

the purity of God's word? That is what he was

getting down into the congregation and saying

personally and congregationally, what are you

doing with the lump of truth that is all that

is in the scripture? Are you making this look

like? convenience for your culture and your day?

Or are you actually understanding that in this

moment, you're actually to be living that bread

that has no yeast in it? That's without pride.

Let me go deeper. That's without partiality.

That doesn't have disunity. Scripture that Chloe...

said this morning in Acts 4, they had all things

in common and they didn't divvy up things and

say, this is mine, this is mine, this is mine.

There was something about when they came to Christ,

they let down everything and they had to work

out their selfishness and keep their individually,

their expression with Jesus in their personal

life. But when they came into the house of God,

they preferred one another as themselves. They

recognized that that lump didn't have a pride

in it. It had unleavened. It didn't have the

influence of mixture in it. We doing okay? Now

notice, now we're still in the scripture. That

you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened.

You really are unleavened. That is the beauty.

of what God did for us. We could not do that

on our own. Every little loaf of bread you would

have baked that represent your life without Christ

would have been one puffy air ball. That's what

we are, just a bunch of hot air and pride. Come

on. Don't look at your neighbor. I'm talking

to you. Come on, I'm talking to me. Everything

about us by nature of self Have you ever listened

to somebody that had no self -awareness quotient?

That everything in their life was about them,

their accomplishments, what they've done, what

they're doing. And you're like, can't comment.

Nope. Okay. Continue on with the resume. That's

the bread that is full of leaven. No awareness

of anything else. The center of the universe,

the pride, the arrogance, the selfishness, that

is the puffed up bread. And notice Paul was,

I'm not dealing with this in the context of we're

excommunicating somebody. So Scott, you're okay

for the Sunday. So I'm messing with him. The

reality is Paul even uses that language, says

you should have mourned rather than being puffed

up when this was happening among you. He uses

the analogy of what leaven does even before he

brings in the leaven and the unleavened issue.

So you need to understand that there was an attitude

of heart that he was addressing and that the

Holy Spirit always addresses is the attitude

of the heart and the mind. When it actually comes

out of our mouth, it's already baked. Let me

say that again. The attitude of the heart and

the mind when it comes out is already baked.

That's why it says what comes out of a man is

what defiles a man. It didn't just, once it comes

out, it reveals what has been there for a long

time. So he says you are unleavened bread. That's

what happens to you in Christ. You become a a,

a personal piece of, if you will, an unleavened

bread. And together with the body of Christ,

we represent a loaf of unleavened bread. That's

why we're to keep what the sincerity of truth

and purity in holiness, because God made us that

way. Not because we do our own work, but because

that's what Jesus did at Passover. Now we're

building on this. The apostle Paul is not just

explaining this to the Corinthian church, but

he's explaining this now for all of the church

to understand how important it is that God actually

expects us to do something. Notice God doesn't

say he comes and cleanses out the leaven. This

is so important because this is where it ties

into kingdom understanding and why it's so important

that we progress. In this understanding of getting

to Pentecost. Why? Because he's telling us it's

our responsibility to cleanse the leaven. Now,

do you have within yourself all that is capable

to cleanse yourself? Absolutely not. Scott's

a wonderful young man. I mess with him a lot.

But honestly, the wonderful thing is. Other than

some of the stuff he eats, he is a great guy.

And he loves Jesus. And he's kind to his parents.

He's kind to people. He loves his wife and his

children. I mean, he is the poster child in Life

Bible Church of what a good shepherd should look

like, right? Okay, that's awesome. Don't let

it puff you up. Say it again. All right. Now,

the point being is he has no capacity, even though

he was raised well, loves God, and does a great

job of partnering with the Spirit. He cannot

cleanse himself from his sin. It has to be Jesus

that does that. But what Scott has understood

And what God is trying to get all of us to understand

of as we're watching it live out in Scott and

our lives should look like. Follow me as I follow

Christ. Follow Christ in Scott of what he's doing.

He's doing what? He now recognized he has to

now partner with God and he has to begin to be

awakened and aware of what's on the inside. This

is the beauty of Pentecost, or Passover. Passover

brings the sacrificial lamb of Jesus, pays that

the Lord of death would no longer have sway over

you, removes the penalty of the curse of the

law that was written against you, and brings

you into a salvation. a positional sanctification,

and you are redeemed and made righteous with

the Lamb of God who is Jesus Christ, the one

who was given. That happened. You couldn't do

it. You couldn't force it. You couldn't pay for

it. You couldn't add to it. There's nothing you

can do. That alone is Christ and Christ alone.

However, that's the A part. That's the recess

part. The chocolate goodness. Then there's the

peanut butter part. The peanut butter part means

that you gotta gather peanuts. I know it's deep.

That is revelation on a level. Meaning what?

There is a gathering and a looking for something

that God is partnering with on the inside and

requires you to help him. He brings all of the

wonderfulness that is all that salvation is.

And with it, he invites you into the center of

it. He invites you into the center and says what?

He says, now I want you to cleanse yourself from

the leaven. What does that mean? Does that mean

that I have the ability? No, it means that I

have been given responsibility to now look for

things that are not. of his nature, of his character,

of his will or his purpose, and I'm to live soberly

so that the Holy Spirit can get it out of me

so I can stay unleavened. Personally and in the

church. Okay? So our slide here is God is always

moving us forward with his purpose and his plans.

That's the beginning. cornerstone, if you will,

of Passover. Passover establishes that only God

could deliver from slavery, from death, from

everything that was designed to destroy us when

we were captive in Egypt. But once he brings

that blood, in addition to bringing the blood

and the meal of the fullness of who his son is,

he now says, I'm not just going to allow you

to sit there. I want you to begin to look through

the house. And I want you to partner me with

partner with me with the light of the Holy Spirit

to begin to now go in to the avenues of your

house and sweep the leaven. I'm helping you,

but you're having to participate. I'm helping

you find out where it is in the corners of the

house and on the countertops. I'm helping you

clean out old things. That's why God says, I'm

giving you the promised land. But what did he

do? He required that in the giving that he was

with them, they actually had to do something.

It starts that way in Passover as the giving

of salvation. He now invites you to the responsibility

of partnering with him. And the whole point of

every feast is to move you into greater understanding

of partnership. Are you okay? So, cleanse out

the old leaven that you may be a new lump as

you really are unleavened. And then he says it

again and he substantiates it and this is what

we dealt with last week. For Christ, our Passover

lamb, Has. In the past tense. It has. Been sacrificed.

It's done. It's fulfilled. Put. It's just. It's

done. The revelation. Of all that was pointing.

Found its pinnacle. And was established. Christ.

Sacrificed. As Passover lamb. Then verse 8 says.

When you see it therefore you ask. What's it

there for? It connects it. So those of you that

are new to reading the Bible, every time you

read a therefore, you must go back to connect

the context. It's a what? It's a bridging word.

It's a bridge word that brings you back to the

thought that he was just in to the fuller explanation

of what he's about to release. Therefore. celebrate

the festival. Oh, wait a minute. The festival,

that was a natural thing, but you just said the

lamb was Christ and was sacrificed and was done.

Yes, now there is a festival spiritually. Now

you're actually in not just a one week time frame.

Because he didn't write this letter to the Corinthians

that happened to fall right on the day of Passover

during the week of celebration. He was now saying

something. Christ, because he sacrificed as the

Passover lamb, has now opened up all of the truths

of Passover and you're actually to celebrate

this continually. Do you understand that that's

part of what you did this morning? You say, well,

where do we get worship and where do we get some

of this stuff in the Bible? You know, I've had

people tell me, well, there's no nothing in the

New Testament about how to conduct worship services.

Au contraire. Right here. You're to celebrate

the festival, which is what? It means we better

have songs. about what he alone could only do.

We better have prayer and there better be honor.

And there better be an elevation of how the fact

that he took us out of sin and brought us in

to the fullness of what he's trying to bring

us into. He's not only accomplishing what he

did back then for other generations, he's accomplishing

it now. And it is by the truth of the blood of

a resurrected Christ who died on the cross for

me. Everything about worship and... that should

have its firstborn expression out of who is the

head of the church and who alone is worthy of

praise. It's in there. Therefore, let us celebrate

the festival. Then he says, now, not with old

leaven, meaning as you now live in this festival

truth of knowing that Jesus Christ died for you

and he invited you to partake of his life and

to clean now the house with his help of the Holy

Spirit and his word, don't live your life neglecting

living in old leaven thinking. And then he names

it. The malice in the leaven of malice and evil.

Contrasted with the unleavened bread of sincerity

and truth. Now we may not get to Pentecost today,

but we're at least gonna give it our best shot

here. Why would he say malice? We haven't looked

at this. Why would he say malice? Fact is. The

Holy Spirit picks up that word malice in specifically

three places. Twice by the Apostle Paul, once

by the Apostle Peter. Ephesians 4 .31 says, let

all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander

be put away from you with all malice. 1 Peter

2 .1 says, so put away all malice. malice, deceit,

hypocrisy, envy, and slander. Colossians 3, 8,

and 10 says, but now you must put them all away.

Anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk from

your mouth. Do not lie to one another. See that

you've put off the old self and its practices

and put on the new self, which is being renewed

in the knowledge and in the image of its creator.

Are you getting a theme here that In understanding

of New Testament theology and Holy Spirit theology

in the church, not only in our personal lives

but in the life of the church, God is saying

there should never be malice. In the atmosphere.

When his people are together. Why? It's connected

to pride. Hypocrisy. Arrogance. Selfishness.

And it always moves to the sin of the tongue.

That word in the Greek. Kakia. Means. Wickedness.

The old King James translates it as naughtiness

or badness. Well, when we look at the English

words, put away all naughtiness and badness.

Okay, that's, I kind of understand that. The

fact is you have to almost just, you don't have

to be around a little child, but when you are

around a little child, naughtiness and badness

brings a greater light to it. Right? Because

usually naughtiness and badness in the life of

a little person is always connected to something

that you told them not to do. Have you noticed

that? That when it's always what? The testing

of the boundaries. Things that you've told them

before that they were not to do, that they knew

not to do, but when company comes around or a

new environment happens, they test the boundary.

Now I'm not thinking of any particular granddaughter

I have in mind. But I am thinking about all the

other children in the children's ring right now.

That how quickly it is to move to a spirit of

naughtiness and badness. We like those words

because we don't like the word wickedness. Wickedness

just doesn't have a good ring to it. I actually

had, and I'm not going to say who this was, but

I actually had, as I was counseling years ago,

this couple that was in the church, and I'm still

great friends with them, so that's why I'm not

going to say anything. They said, I'm just praying

that God will give me a couple of naughty children.

I said, are you out of your mind? Oh, I just

think it'll be cute. Oh, they found out. Not

so cute. Why? Because it's not connected to cuteness.

The word is connected to wickedness. And it's

paralleled against sincerity and truth. So you

got put away all malice, right? Malice and evil

compared to sincerity and truth. Well, we probably

know what truth is, but let's look at sincerity.

That word means, to start with, it means It's

amazing to me that the Apostle Paul is writing

to the New Testament church, to you and I, in

this passage saying, I am moving you to build

on the revelation of what Passover is to bring

you a new truth of clarity. I'm bringing you

clear, pure truth. That's the difference between

unleavened and leavened bread of Passover. Does

that make sense? It means what? Another word

for it would be unalloyed. Unalloyed means what?

Many people wear jewelry and it has 14%, 14 karat

gold. There are other alloys in that gold. You

can't see them on the outside, but once you put

a real test to it, All of the formations of how

they bond to the real thing is exactly what Paul

is and the Holy Spirit are trying to get you

to see is that what he's trying to put inside

of you as the church to build you and move you

forward to get you from Passover feast to Pentecost

feast is to remove the alloy that was in your

nature to make you pure. Because that's the nature

of the bread of heaven. That's actually feeding

you. The bread of heaven is pure and he has no

alloy. The bread of heaven is pure. It actually

means in some of the original Greek language

actually means, and here's what they do. It's

been tested by the light of the sun. It means

it's been brought out and exposed to the light

that what was ever on it would all have to be

seen. So that's what God was actually saying

to the church individually and personally. I'm

bringing you out of the ways that you've been

operating in your cultures and in your mind.

And I'm doing this to you personally, and I'm

doing it to my church. I'm bringing you now not

into the light of the S -U -N, but into the light

of the S -O -N. And in the light of the purity,

that's how I want you to partner and live. All

right. Okay. Let me leave you. Give me a second.

I've been waiting four weeks to do that. Hallelujah.

No, just kidding. I'm kidding. People, come on.

Bunch of unleavened. All right, moving on. No,

just kidding. Second Timothy chapter one, verse

nine and 10. Because we're talking about a holy

calling. We're talking about a holy partnership.

And we're talking about what was put in at Passover

to move us to Pentecost as we start, keep moving

in this journey of what God is teaching the church

in his word. You've got to get this in your spirit.

God who saved us and called us to a holy calling,

not because of our works, but because of his

own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ

Jesus before the ages began, which has now been

manifested through the appearing of our savior,

Christ Jesus, who abolished death. brought life

and immortality to light in the gospel. And then

he says, you know how he does that? By the Holy

Spirit who dwells in us, so you must guard the

good deposit entrusted to you. The platform,

now, sweetheart, thank you. Now, the platform

in which We leave here today and the thought

of why did pastor preach that message is to get

you to say God wants to move you forward in his

purpose, in his kingdom, and what he has destined

your part to play, not just personally in your

own life that he brought wife and now added children.

but also in the body of Christ that you become

a living, life -giving member, not just sitting,

soaking up and absorbing truth and that's it,

but absorbing it to actually carry it and partner

with the Spirit of God. You have a holy calling.

It's a holy calling. The reason that Jesus, the

bread of life, is giving you his life at Passover

and telling you to search the house is why. He

does what only he can do, but he has in his will

chosen to use you. If I take these feasts and

just say, oh, it's just only about salvation,

I miss the grand partnership. of how to actually

walk and live with God in a dimension of not

just knowing his word, but being able to release

his love, his power, his grace gifts, the way

he tells me to in the appropriate times. While

he deepens, widens, builds, strengthens, and

increases me, he also then brings that to every

person that I'm in contact with. That's God's

goal. That's God's goal. Salvation, empowerment,

equipment for what? The great commission to use

you and me. If you're here this morning, I know

we're kind of, this is going to be a little more

teaching centered series as we go forward. But

if you're here this morning, and you don't know

the Lord Jesus Christ. You've not ever encountered

him. You've heard about him. Maybe you've been

around people that have professed him, but you've

not been introduced to the one that I am talking

about that I love dearly, who not only is the

reason that I was released from the bondage of

my sin and shame, and what I had been guilty

of before God. But he also is the baptizer of

the Holy Spirit who brings his spirit to come

and live in me and fill me. It is this Jesus

who all authority has been given to in heaven

and on earth. In him, all things are about what

is written in that book. He is the... common,

most highest theme of everything that is written.

It's about him. And if you don't know him, he

wants to know you. He died for you. And part

of my assignment and part of some of the assignments

of every person around you that knows him is

to be a place where you can find Christ, the

one we've all linked hand in hand and heart in

heart and said, there is no other life but his.

In just a few moments, I'm going to ask you.

The Holy Spirit is here. I'm going to dismiss

us. Tiffany's coming to the platform right now.

It's going to be quick, but I can't let you out

of here. Shouldn't. Until we have a response

to Jesus. He's the king. If you're here this

morning, you would say, you know what? I want

to know this Jesus that you would give your life

to and preach, teach. And teach us how to do

that. I've not met him. I want to encounter him.

I want him to forgive me. I want him to come

and fill my heart. And I want to live for him.

If that's you this morning, would you just be

so bold right now? I'm not going to sneak you

out the back. I'm not going to do anything. I'm

just going to ask you just to lift your hand

straight up and say, would someone come introduce

me to him? And I'm going to send somebody back

to you. And we're going to pray. And you're going

to encounter the Lord. Is there anyone here that

would say, I don't know him and I wanna know

him. Would you just be so bold just to lift your

hand? Mom, say that's me. I'm here today and

I'm here to give my life to Christ. I'm gonna

give it just a little bit more time. Tiff, come.

I don't wanna miss you. Lift it up high so I

can see it. I'll send our favorite pastor back

to you to pray with you. In the back, thank you,

ma 'am. Scotty, would you just jump and run?

Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else?

All right. Incredible. Would you stand to your

feet? If you are in need of prayer, send us a

text message at 541 -625 -1365. We would love

to pray with you.