The Last Day of Unleavened Bread is Friday, April 13th.

Dear Brethren,

Greetings from Qualicum Beach on this day of preparation for the Last Day of Unleavened Bread!

I trust you have all enjoyed a wonderful and inspiring Passover, Night to be Much Observed and the first six days of Unleavened Bread. Now we come to the last one for this year.

If I could sum up this year’s spring feasts in just one word, that word would be “reconciliation.” This was not a humanly contrived theme which we thought up of ourselves. Various events leading up to and during these spring holy days seem to have been pointing us in this direction. The inspiring messages we have heard have pointed in this direction – the direction of seeking reconciliation. Yes, of course, reconciliation with God our Father and with Jesus Christ – but also with our other spiritual siblings – some of whom we have been estranged from for far too long. As we move into this double-Sabbath weekend, it will be interesting to see if there is a continuation of this topical and very worthwhile theme.

Tomorrow, Friday April 13th is the Last Day of Unleavened Bread when we will have a single service beginning at Noon (PST). Warren Lee and I will give split sermons.

The Importance of God’s Right Hand
in Coming Out of Sin

Warren’s title is “The Importance of God’s Right Hand in Coming Out of Sin.” Warren writes:

As human beings and Christians, we often have difficulty relating to our Creator. After all, it is still a difficult thing to comprehend God and His incredible nature, character and power. Yet, we are told in the very first chapter of the book of Genesis that man is made in the image of God. We understand that there is a physical resemblance between created human beings and their Creator.

While this is encouraging, further biblical evidence makes plain that man has the proclivity to create images of God that are false and can lead one into idolatry. God clearly commands all men not to create any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or under the earth as a means of worshipping Him.

In His Word, God describes Himself through human body parts to convey knowledge about Himself, His nature and about His plan of salvation for mankind.

We have just spent the last seven days keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread and we need to look back and, at the same time, look forward to the coming months by understanding that the Bible unequivocally shows the importance of God’s right hand in coming out of sin!

The Two Baggies

The title of my split sermon is “The Two Baggies.” A few years ago, in conversation with an old church friend of ours, he made a very interesting observation in which he likened a person’s deeds and a person’s very self to the contents of two polythene zip-lock storage bags. I thought and meditated upon my friend’s intriguing analogy for quite a long time and gradually developed it into a message – one which I hope you might find very relevant to God’s inspiring symbolism of His Last Day of Unleavened Bread.

At sunset tomorrow evening, we will roll right through from an annual Sabbath Day right on into a weekly Sabbath Day, without even a short break for us to run out to pick up a loaf of puffy bread! This is perhaps the first year in quite a long time that we will, by necessity, be keeping eight days of Unleavened Bread instead of just seven!

God’s Holy Spirit in the Old Testament: Part 14

I will be giving the Sabbath sermon which is entitled: God’s Holy Spirit in the Old Testament: Part 14.

At long last, after almost four years, we come to the final episode of this Bible study. Our study will conclude the series with discussions of the scriptures mentioning God’s Holy Spirit in the books of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.

Are there any common factors in the mentions of God’s Spirit by these three authors? Yes, there are. What jumps out at me from these scriptures are the glory, grace, mercy and compassion of our great God and His Son Jesus Christ. But there are also stern but loving warnings for us never to be deceived into thinking that these magnificent attributes make them – our Father and Elder Brother – “a soft touch.”

Services on both days will begin at:

Noon Pacific Time

1:00 pm Mountain Time

2:00 pm Central Time

3:00 pm Eastern Time

Please note that only the Internet streaming service will be available tomorrow on the Last Day of Unleavened Bread. The teleconference service will not be available. Both services will be available on Saturday.

Trish and I hope that you will all enjoy a wonderful double-Sabbath weekend.

Love and regards to you all,

John Plunkett

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Split Sermon:	"The Importance of God’s Right Hand in Coming Out of Sin"
Split Sermon:	"The Two Baggies"
Sermon:	"God’s Holy Spirit in the Old Testament: Part 14"