Make Haste to Help Me

Dear Brethren,

I wish you all a spiritually fulfilling Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread.  Passover is the most serious, important, and solemn Feast of the year.  Pray for one another that we may take of the Bread of Life worthily.

When the hour came for Jesus' last Passover in His earthly life, things were not shaping up in the way most of His followers expected  (Luke 22:14).  It seemed that nothing He had promised had come to pass.  His disciples dispersed into the night leaving Him all alone to be led away to a lonely death – and the shame of the cross  (Hebrews 12:2).  Those Jesus was closest to lost faith, doubted, and returned to their old jobs.

Jesus Christ was sacrificed for them and for us, today.  There was so much more to His sacrifice than His physical agony leading up to His death.  The pain of betrayal is the worst pain that exists. Jesus was betrayed – not only by Judas – but by His disciples, and by all of us.

Often, the future looks bleak.  What are we to do when our expectations are not being met?  We too, can easily become discouraged and lose faith when things do not work out as we had hoped they would.  Can we learn the vital lesson the disciples learned shortly after Jesus died?

The extreme physical agony that Jesus suffered was made much worse by the debilitating mental anguish, which burdened Him as a result of the betrayal and abandonment, by his closest and dearest friends.  The deep hurt and profound discouragement that Jesus faced caused Him to beg His Father for relief.  When the grief and suffering seemed to be more than He could take, Jesus prayed, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me."  (Matthew 26:39) "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears."  (Psalm 18:6)

Had we been there, we would have doubted Christ just as assuredly as the disciples did.  To them, Jesus had not become the much anticipated world ruling King over the empire of Israel.  He had not even established a functioning church group of true believers.  The disciple’s world crashed around them – their hope was lost.  They could not see what Jesus Christ was doing for them.  We observe Passover so that we do not make that same mistake.

The Passover is a solemn memorial in which baptized members of the Church of God recall the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ each year.  We remember that Jesus is alive and on His heavenly throne – and His Father's Kingdom will soon be set up here on the earth.  We have His example and the promise that we will be delivered out of this evil world.  Let us be encouraged by the promises that we are never alone as He was on the cross.  "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

Understanding the meaning of God’s Feast Days is a gift God has given to us.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread shows us that simply accepting Jesus’ sacrifice to pay for our sins is not enough.  We must endeavor to cease sinning. After repenting of our sins and being forgiven by God, we must strive to come out of sin completely, just as Israel came out of Egypt, a type of sin  (Hebrews 11:25-29).  The Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures putting sin out of our lives and Jesus Christ into our lives.  True Christians continually strive to rid sin from their lives.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins with the Night to Be Much Observed.  As Passover Day came to a close, the Children of Israel ventured forth on their trek out of Egypt.  “It is a Night to be Much Observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.”  (Exodus 12:42)

Unleavened bread contains no leavening agent, and therefore typifies sinlessness.  In order for us to become Spirit-born members of God’s Family in the resurrection, we must prove that we will obey God here and now by striving to put the spiritual leaven of sin out of our lives and keep it out.  Paul said that we are to lay aside every sin that so easily besets us – striving against sin  (Hebrews 12:1, 4).

"Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth."  (1 Corinthians 5:8)  Jesus Christ is that Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth.

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Offertory:  "Praise the Lord"
Sermon:  "Make Haste to Help Me"
Note:   Realplayer will play mp3 files.

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