How would you like to have seven-and-a-half weeks of 00:00:01.98\00:00:04.04 joyful vacation with God and your family every year? 00:00:04.07\00:00:07.63 You can, stay tuned. ¤ 00:00:07.66\00:00:13.89 Hi, I'm Shelley Quinn and we're so glad that you're joining us 00:00:35.66\00:00:38.17 no matter where you are around the world and if you're 00:00:38.20\00:00:40.63 listening by radio or by internet or if you're watching 00:00:40.66\00:00:44.44 us on television, thank you for joining Issues and Answers. 00:00:44.47\00:00:47.45 Today is going to be an exciting day because we're going to be 00:00:47.48\00:00:50.52 talking about how to have a seven-and-a-half week vacation 00:00:50.55\00:00:54.20 with God. One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 30:15. I used 00:00:54.23\00:00:59.00 to consider this my life verse. Here's the Lord speaking and 00:00:59.03\00:01:02.68 he says: In returning and rest you shall be saved. In quietness 00:01:02.71\00:01:08.43 and confidence shall be your strength. And actually I look 00:01:08.46\00:01:13.60 at that verse now and I realize it's a call to come to God, rest 00:01:13.63\00:01:19.61 in him on his Sabbath day and that is how you can have 52 days 00:01:19.64\00:01:25.49 out of the year, that's seven- and-a-half weeks of vacation 00:01:25.52\00:01:29.34 with God. And if we look at it as a very special time, a 00:01:29.37\00:01:34.50 vacation time that will be joyful then this is something 00:01:34.53\00:01:38.38 that we should all be looking forward to week by week. 00:01:38.41\00:01:41.41 Help me to welcome, if you will, our very special guest. She is a 00:01:41.44\00:01:46.29 Ph. D. and an author. She's also the assistant director for the 00:01:46.32\00:01:51.81 Sabbath School and Personal Ministries of the Seventh-day 00:01:51.84\00:01:55.80 Adventist Church in the General Conference. 00:01:55.83\00:01:59.09 May-Ellen Colon. May-Ellen, that's just a mouthful for me 00:01:59.12\00:02:01.97 today but we're so glad that you've returned. 00:02:02.00\00:02:03.88 So glad to be back. 00:02:03.91\00:02:06.30 Now let me set this up quickly because we really want to get 00:02:06.33\00:02:10.25 into our topic today, but I just want to let people know a little 00:02:10.28\00:02:13.91 bit about who you are. You grew up and married a pastor. You 00:02:13.94\00:02:20.37 grew up in an Adventist environment, your father was 00:02:20.40\00:02:23.07 not but your mother was. You married a pastor you met in 00:02:23.10\00:02:27.39 college. You were missionaries in Africa and in Russia for nine 00:02:27.42\00:02:31.43 years. And now you're at the General Conference. But you, 00:02:31.46\00:02:34.87 because of your son and just because of the different 00:02:34.90\00:02:39.72 cultural experiences that you've had and seeing how people kept 00:02:39.75\00:02:44.11 the Sabbath, making the Sabbath a joyful celebration really 00:02:44.14\00:02:49.49 because a passion of yours; knowing how to find the biblical 00:02:49.52\00:02:55.70 principles, how to observe the Sabbath in such a way that you'd 00:02:55.73\00:03:01.71 find joy and the Lord would find joy and the family would find 00:03:01.74\00:03:04.91 joy. And you've written a book, From Sundown to Sundown: How 00:03:04.94\00:03:07.67 to Keep the Sabbath and Enjoy It This book is available at the 00:03:07.70\00:03:12.35 ABC or also at Amazon.com. But now what we want to do today 00:03:12.38\00:03:17.94 you have this statement that you said, The Sabbath is a 00:03:17.97\00:03:21.48 vacation with God and with his family, a joyful rest. 00:03:21.51\00:03:25.60 Let's unpack that. You have certain principles that you have 00:03:25.63\00:03:30.46 pulled from the Bible to talk about the vacation. Let's get 00:03:30.49\00:03:34.37 into those principles. 00:03:34.40\00:03:35.58 Okay. Well, first of all, I love vacations and when 00:03:35.61\00:03:42.49 I heard at the General Conference 00:03:42.52\00:03:44.72 that I finally had worked my way up to four weeks a year, I 00:03:44.75\00:03:49.65 thought wow! Then I discovered that I have actually 7-1/2 weeks 00:03:49.68\00:03:52.37 of vacation that I hadn't thought about with God that 00:03:52.40\00:03:56.43 was even more of a big deal. So every vacation though 00:03:56.46\00:04:00.67 involves certain things and one of them is preparation so that 00:04:00.70\00:04:06.15 actually is the first principle under the vacation part of that 00:04:06.18\00:04:11.74 statement that I'd like to just share. In the book, it's more 00:04:11.77\00:04:16.43 explained, but basically that means preparing for this special 00:04:16.46\00:04:20.94 day so we can enjoy its benefits You know we talked the last time 00:04:20.97\00:04:26.45 about we reflect different characteristics of God when we 00:04:26.48\00:04:29.18 live the Sabbath, and even God is a preparer. You know, he 00:04:29.21\00:04:34.33 prepared the earth for the people before he made the 00:04:34.36\00:04:39.68 people. He prepared the garden, he made it very special. 00:04:39.71\00:04:41.98 Then the Sabbath came. The culmination, of course, he is 00:04:42.01\00:04:44.89 preparing a place for us in the earth made new and so he is a 00:04:44.92\00:04:51.20 preparer. So when we can emulate him by following that principle 00:04:51.23\00:04:57.46 of his existence, his life... 00:04:57.49\00:04:58.66 Okay, so principle number one is preparation. There are some 00:04:58.69\00:05:03.72 scriptures for that. Hebrews 4:11, Exodus 16:28-30, 00:05:03.75\00:05:10.31 and Luke 23:54-56 to talk about the preparation. Now when you 00:05:10.34\00:05:20.07 are talking about preparation for the Sabbath, we are going to 00:05:20.10\00:05:23.28 be talking about preparation to make the Sabbath special. 00:05:23.31\00:05:27.35 As the Israelites did in Exodus 16, I'm just taking one of the 00:05:27.38\00:05:31.06 three. They had some definite preparation. They had to get 00:05:31.09\00:05:35.32 the manna prepared before Sabbath and there were some 00:05:35.35\00:05:37.81 definite intentionality there. 00:05:37.84\00:05:39.31 They had to get their fire built because that was a big, big 00:05:39.34\00:05:42.13 chore back then. And so forth. So the principle 00:05:42.16\00:05:45.80 of preparation you will see that thread running through scripture 00:05:45.83\00:05:49.80 in various stories. So what are some of the things 00:05:49.83\00:05:52.17 you do in your family to prepare for the Sabbath. 00:05:52.20\00:05:54.59 Well when I was, well let's see, this must have been in Africa 00:05:54.62\00:05:59.59 when our little girl Sarah was in first grade, she made a clock 00:05:59.62\00:06:03.28 for Bible class one day and I still have this same clock. 00:06:03.31\00:06:06.69 It has survived many years, and it says, Sabbath begins at... 00:06:06.72\00:06:12.14 and it has hands, it's hard to see them, that move, and we 00:06:12.17\00:06:16.33 still have that on our refrigerator and have had it 00:06:16.36\00:06:18.37 for years now. So this is the idea that there is a definite 00:06:18.40\00:06:22.89 time that we're aiming towards. It's sort of like taking a 00:06:22.92\00:06:26.80 vacation. You know you need to be at the airport at a certain 00:06:26.83\00:06:30.05 time to take off; well, we're going to take off on Shalom 00:06:30.08\00:06:33.40 Airlines to Sabbath Land and we need to be there, we need to be 00:06:33.43\00:06:37.51 ready for the departure to get the full benefit of this 00:06:37.54\00:06:41.74 experience. So there's a time element there, there's 00:06:41.77\00:06:45.71 intentionality. I was just going to say, my 00:06:45.74\00:06:50.81 favorite thing that you had was the little schedule that you put 00:06:50.84\00:06:56.85 up on your... Yes I do. We started that when 00:06:56.88\00:07:02.85 we were in Africa. One of the other missionaries was doing it 00:07:02.88\00:07:04.99 with their family and I said, Ah that's for me. I'm going to 00:07:05.02\00:07:07.72 try it. So usually every Monday in family worship, I would take 00:07:07.75\00:07:13.43 Ivan and Sarah, my husband and I would sit with them and say okay 00:07:13.46\00:07:17.58 for worship today, let's plan Sabbath. It's coming in six days 00:07:17.61\00:07:24.61 or five days. What do you want to do? So there's a graphic that 00:07:24.64\00:07:33.27 has it. We asked them what do you want to do on Friday night? 00:07:33.30\00:07:36.60 And what food do you want to have? And they would say and 00:07:36.63\00:07:42.18 we'd write it in. Well it could have been chili and corn bread 00:07:42.21\00:07:46.56 or whatever. Then what activity do you want to do. Most of the 00:07:46.59\00:07:51.60 time they wanted to do charades for worship. 00:07:51.63\00:07:53.87 So on this it was Friday nights you had then Sabbath morning, 00:07:53.90\00:08:00.14 Sabbath afternoon and then Sabbath evening. So I love this 00:08:00.17\00:08:04.74 idea of having this up here you actually got the children 00:08:04.77\00:08:11.20 involved in making preparations and it seemed like a holiday, it 00:08:11.23\00:08:16.23 seemed like it would be something they would be looking 00:08:16.26\00:08:18.19 forward to because then you knew that when you were planning this 00:08:18.22\00:08:22.65 out when the Sabbath came it wasn't going to be somebody 00:08:22.68\00:08:24.96 sitting around saying, What are we going to do? 00:08:24.99\00:08:28.16 Or, Why do we have to do this? When's it going to end? 00:08:28.19\00:08:33.34 Well, if they invented it, they're more inclined to own it 00:08:33.37\00:08:37.85 and look forward to actually doing it. 00:08:37.88\00:08:40.33 You know, not just for children; I think that's a great idea for 00:08:40.36\00:08:43.57 all of us, because if we put some thought into what our 00:08:43.60\00:08:47.87 Sabbath activities are, especially if you're in ministry 00:08:47.90\00:08:51.34 In ministry, we can get so overworked on Sabbath, it's good 00:08:51.37\00:08:56.25 to carve out some time and say this is going to be our special 00:08:56.28\00:08:58.72 time that we're doing just for our own relaxation and special 00:08:58.75\00:09:03.54 time with the Lord. 00:09:03.57\00:09:04.60 That's right and then your preparation... There are 00:09:04.63\00:09:07.75 different seasons of life for Sabbath keeping. Right now I 00:09:07.78\00:09:11.92 spend a lot of time traveling and weekends are very, very busy 00:09:11.95\00:09:17.82 so I have to set my Sabbaths to be simpler now. You know, 00:09:17.85\00:09:21.58 simpler preparation. So you have to gauge whatever your season of 00:09:21.61\00:09:25.68 life is. But you know, simple can still be special. 00:09:25.71\00:09:28.94 Just having that intentionality might mean putting a special 00:09:28.97\00:09:36.07 bowl of fruit you just got from the market on Sabbath and a nice 00:09:36.10\00:09:40.96 pretty... It could mean lighting a candle, it could mean many 00:09:40.99\00:09:43.41 things, but just something to indicate we're about to have a 00:09:43.44\00:09:49.20 special time. We need to be intentional about welcoming it. 00:09:49.23\00:09:54.90 Something that I like is to put scripture promises if I'm 00:09:54.93\00:09:58.26 going to have people over for dinner, put scripture promises 00:09:58.29\00:10:00.75 under their plate and then after the meal when the dishes are 00:10:00.78\00:10:04.13 cleared away everybody can have that scripture promise for the 00:10:04.16\00:10:07.20 week, that's their promise from God. You know they can share and 00:10:07.23\00:10:11.36 say what that means to them or what they might be looking 00:10:11.39\00:10:13.44 forward to. Yes. It takes intentionality. 00:10:13.47\00:10:17.54 But we do it, we plan when we have a vacation or when we have 00:10:17.57\00:10:21.92 people over for a holiday or whatever, we put some thought 00:10:21.95\00:10:24.36 into it and then we can really enjoy it. 00:10:24.39\00:10:26.75 But I like what you said May- Ellen that simple can be special 00:10:26.78\00:10:30.03 because I know that there are probable people out there like 00:10:30.06\00:10:33.64 me and like you who work many hours who feel like their time 00:10:33.67\00:10:38.93 is in such a crunch anyway that sometimes we have almost a 00:10:38.96\00:10:43.65 stop-and-go Sabbath. It's kind of like you rush up to the 00:10:43.68\00:10:46.38 Sabbath hours and some people just stop and then they're 00:10:46.41\00:10:49.94 waiting for the time to click by to where they can go again. 00:10:49.97\00:10:52.87 If we put a little thought into it, it doesn't have to make our 00:10:52.90\00:10:56.68 days more hectic; it's actually to make our weekend more special 00:10:56.71\00:11:01.90 that vacation with God more special. 00:11:01.93\00:11:03.97 Okay, so let's look at principle number two. 00:11:04.00\00:11:06.29 Principle number two under the vacation idea is the principle 00:11:06.32\00:11:11.21 of resting; resting from work and life's burdens and secular 00:11:11.24\00:11:17.14 concerns and distractions. Sabbath keeping means that. 00:11:17.17\00:11:21.08 Again, we're resting, we're putting aside our regular 00:11:21.11\00:11:27.50 business. If we don't rest from our daily grind, it's like 00:11:27.53\00:11:34.68 exhaling all the time. You know, we can try that, we can try 00:11:34.71\00:11:38.80 exhaling for the rest of this program and see how well we do 00:11:38.83\00:11:42.18 and not ever taking a time to just inhale and just, Oh Lord, 00:11:42.21\00:11:48.18 fill me, I just need to be recharged. 00:11:48.21\00:11:50.40 You know, that is something that you're taking the words right 00:11:50.43\00:11:53.80 out of my mouth, is that when I first discovered the Sabbath 00:11:53.83\00:11:58.37 through personal Bible study and the Lord leading me, I 00:11:58.40\00:12:01.92 remember my first Sabbaths just for the first two years even. 00:12:01.95\00:12:05.49 When it would come time, and I was running a ministry out of 00:12:05.52\00:12:10.49 the home so I had a little more time, but when it would come 00:12:10.52\00:12:13.24 time for the Sabbath, I would just feel like I was inhaling 00:12:13.27\00:12:20.35 the fragrance of God and it would be such a joyful change 00:12:20.38\00:12:24.72 of pace. I think you're probably aware that in I think it was 00:12:24.75\00:12:30.39 France they tried to change the work week from a seven-day work 00:12:30.42\00:12:34.80 week to a 10-day work week and found that people could not 00:12:34.83\00:12:39.31 function on a 10-day work week. God's the one who set up the 00:12:39.34\00:12:44.38 seven-day weekly cycle because he knew our bodies' biorhythms. 00:12:44.41\00:12:49.38 We need that break, we need that day off. 00:12:49.41\00:12:53.10 Yes, and they did the same thing in Britain during World War II. 00:12:53.13\00:12:58.86 They upped the hours and they found out that the production 00:12:58.89\00:13:02.95 went down and when they allowed more time for them 00:13:02.98\00:13:05.32 to rest the production went up. 00:13:05.35\00:13:06.68 So it's a given, it's a given for humanity 00:13:06.71\00:13:13.29 Let me give some scriptures, if you're taking notes, that this 00:13:13.32\00:13:18.45 principle number two of resting from your work and your concerns 00:13:18.48\00:13:21.87 and the burdens of life, Exodus 16:28-29, Exodus 20:9-10, 00:13:21.90\00:13:30.66 Exodus 23:12; 34:21 and there are many more, they are all 00:13:30.69\00:13:36.49 listed in May-Ellen's book. So principle number three. 00:13:36.52\00:13:42.53 Well principle number three as listed in the book is renewing. 00:13:42.56\00:13:47.59 Many people may be doing Sabbath-like things but 00:13:47.62\00:13:52.85 sometimes they do them in a stressful manner. In fact, one 00:13:52.88\00:13:57.99 of the strongest findings of my dissertation, I compared church 00:13:58.02\00:14:02.10 leaders as one of the things I studied with the regular laity, 00:14:02.13\00:14:04.85 with the regular church members and I found out that the church 00:14:04.88\00:14:09.10 leaders had a noticeably higher stress level on Sabbath than the 00:14:09.13\00:14:13.04 church members. So somehow we've got to come up with a mind set 00:14:13.07\00:14:20.51 that allows us to do Sabbath- like things in an unstressful 00:14:20.54\00:14:25.00 way. Because if we are just are constantly going all Sabbath 00:14:25.03\00:14:30.52 long and end up more tired than when we started Sabbath, more 00:14:30.55\00:14:35.75 tired at the end, there's something not right with that 00:14:35.78\00:14:40.47 picture. I can relate to that because we 00:14:40.50\00:14:43.15 travel a lot on weekends and minister, but then when we are 00:14:43.18\00:14:47.28 in town often after church then there's hospital visitations and 00:14:47.31\00:14:52.40 there are some times we end up counseling with people and there 00:14:52.43\00:14:55.98 are times that we are going all day Sabbath and we come in at 00:14:56.01\00:15:00.64 the close of Sabbath when we finally make it home we're more 00:15:00.67\00:15:05.70 tired than any other day of the week. So it is something that 00:15:05.73\00:15:12.77 we're trying to... I was telling a young pastor and his wife, 00:15:12.80\00:15:17.43 we can't be God. We can't be the end-all and the answer for 00:15:17.46\00:15:24.94 everyone so we have to learn to pace ourselves and make sure 00:15:24.97\00:15:27.85 that we've got special time for our family and special time for 00:15:27.88\00:15:32.80 God. And there may be one Sabbath 00:15:32.83\00:15:35.36 when you have a day like that, but if every Sabbath of every 00:15:35.39\00:15:41.02 month is like that... I have a little schedule that I sometimes 00:15:41.05\00:15:46.09 try to factor in; my Sabbath monthly plan this time, but it's 00:15:46.12\00:15:52.11 in my mind as I think of my month. Maybe one Sabbath could 00:15:52.14\00:15:54.81 be for service activities after church. Maybe another Sabbath 00:15:54.84\00:16:00.39 could be for nature activity. May be one Sabbath could be just 00:16:00.42\00:16:05.01 fall apart Sabbath. You just stay home with your family and 00:16:05.04\00:16:10.05 maybe take a rest together and just have some neutral things 00:16:10.08\00:16:16.74 that aren't really demanding, but just find yourself again and 00:16:16.77\00:16:23.11 get reacquainted. Maybe another Sabbath could be for a church 00:16:23.14\00:16:27.79 program or something. But not have every Sabbath just one 00:16:27.82\00:16:32.70 constant grind, but breaking it up into different types of 00:16:32.73\00:16:36.97 Sabbaths. All these principles that we are going to discuss 00:16:37.00\00:16:41.94 in the course of these four programs, we can't do all of 00:16:41.97\00:16:44.85 them every Sabbath. I want to give you that little guideline 00:16:44.88\00:16:49.31 right from the start, although there are some that we must do 00:16:49.34\00:16:51.64 or it wouldn't be Sabbath. But some of them you can do it 00:16:51.67\00:16:57.99 maybe not this Sabbath but next Sabbath. Of course, every 00:16:58.02\00:17:00.75 Sabbath we need to rest, every Sabbath we need to keep it holy. 00:17:00.78\00:17:03.86 Those principles we keep intact. But I just wanted to point that 00:17:03.89\00:17:07.30 out so that you wouldn't end up so tired at the end that it's 00:17:07.33\00:17:11.37 not a rest and you're not renewed. 00:17:11.40\00:17:12.89 And the whole idea when we think of this as a vacation time with 00:17:12.92\00:17:18.45 the Lord, I mean there is preparation before we go on a 00:17:18.48\00:17:23.38 vacation. There is principle number two which is the resting. 00:17:23.41\00:17:28.67 And there is resting on a vacation and there is renewal 00:17:28.70\00:17:33.01 on a vacation. Well, I've been on vacations that weren't too 00:17:33.04\00:17:37.59 restful when I'm thinking about it and I told myself I would 00:17:37.62\00:17:40.66 never do that again. When you come home you need a vacation 00:17:40.70\00:17:43.98 from your vacation, you're in trouble, right? Okay so let's 00:17:44.02\00:17:47.27 look at principle number four. 00:17:47.30\00:17:48.64 Okay, did I share principle number three? 00:17:48.67\00:17:51.78 Maybe I'm the one that jumped. That's okay. Principle number 00:17:51.81\00:17:54.98 three. Yes. Principle number three is the one we've been 00:17:55.01\00:17:58.34 giving suggestions on how to live is observing the Sabbath 00:17:58.38\00:18:01.67 in a manner that renews us physically, emotionally, 00:18:01.70\00:18:04.29 mentally, spiritually and socially because the Sabbath 00:18:04.32\00:18:07.18 is made for us. Okay be more specific; 00:18:07.21\00:18:09.36 give us an example. Well physically, that might mean 00:18:09.39\00:18:13.41 resting, it may mean taking a nap if you've had a hard week. 00:18:13.44\00:18:16.72 But you know like I say, it's a vacation with God and he's our 00:18:16.75\00:18:20.00 guest so if we kind of sleep the whole day and ignore him 00:18:20.03\00:18:22.52 maybe that's not... you know we don't do that with our guests. 00:18:22.55\00:18:25.55 Or it may be a nature walk if you don't get a chance to get 00:18:25.59\00:18:28.56 out in the open air. Right, it could mean that, yes. 00:18:28.59\00:18:31.14 And it could mean of course mentally not... If I'm a pastor 00:18:31.18\00:18:35.77 or something maybe I don't do heavy even if its Sabbath-like 00:18:35.80\00:18:40.36 work that I do. Maybe I don't do heavy sermon preparation or 00:18:40.39\00:18:45.18 heavy materials preparation even if it's on a Sabbath-like theme. 00:18:45.21\00:18:50.26 Just because of the mental maybe it won't be a break mentally. 00:18:50.29\00:18:53.25 Spiritually, of course, is the going to church and hopefully 00:18:53.28\00:19:00.19 getting renewed that way. Socially we have maybe a more 00:19:00.22\00:19:06.19 laid back time with our family just in the relaxation mode 00:19:06.22\00:19:11.50 trying to avoid talking business and things like that that we are 00:19:11.53\00:19:16.29 taking a break from. You know, I think I mentioned 00:19:16.32\00:19:20.39 previously in another... I won't mention his name, but I 00:19:20.42\00:19:23.67 do know that there is one very popular pastor-evangelist 00:19:23.70\00:19:28.17 speaker that is on 3ABN and I know that as they welcome in the 00:19:28.20\00:19:36.94 Sabbath, the first thing he does is turn off his phone. He said 00:19:36.97\00:19:40.27 he figures that if the world can't get hold of him for 24 00:19:40.30\00:19:44.81 hours it's not going to fall apart and he dedicates the time 00:19:44.84\00:19:48.66 to his family and their time together with the Lord. 00:19:48.69\00:19:52.81 And this takes, again, intentionality. It depends on 00:19:52.84\00:19:58.25 what your profession is, too. If you're a musician, you know, 00:19:58.28\00:20:02.31 a conductor, or something, maybe music isn't the way that renews 00:20:02.34\00:20:07.88 you or directing choirs on Sabbath maybe that's not a 00:20:07.91\00:20:11.21 renewal thing for you because you're doing it all the time, 00:20:11.24\00:20:14.47 but for me being involved in music is a renewal thing because 00:20:14.50\00:20:17.89 I can't do it during the week. So you have to gauge your 00:20:17.92\00:20:22.11 situation and try to have balance in your life on this day 00:20:22.14\00:20:26.57 Well we could elaborate on that. Also observing the Sabbath in a 00:20:26.60\00:20:32.39 manner of renewal means it produces a sense of well-being 00:20:32.42\00:20:35.52 and lowering stress. So again if we're more tired and stressful 00:20:35.55\00:20:40.79 at the end, we need to rethink. 00:20:40.82\00:20:44.47 Well we need to go on so let's get to principle number four. 00:20:44.50\00:20:49.60 Principle number four is healing observing the day to foster 00:20:49.63\00:20:52.89 healing, relief, release, liberation and refreshment. 00:20:52.92\00:20:56.43 And any action that hurts ones self or others is Sabbath 00:20:56.46\00:21:00.41 breaking. That's an interesting thought. 00:21:00.44\00:21:03.67 So explain what you mean when you say observe the day by 00:21:03.70\00:21:08.52 fostering healing. Give us some examples. 00:21:08.55\00:21:11.07 Well, Jesus healed on the Sabbath and in the book it lists 00:21:11.10\00:21:19.30 the references for the seven healing miracles that Jesus did, 00:21:19.33\00:21:24.33 I think deliberately, most of them, to make the point that 00:21:24.36\00:21:27.89 Sabbath is a day for healing. You know, the man with the 00:21:27.92\00:21:31.95 withered hand, the lady that was stooped over, Simon's mother 00:21:31.98\00:21:34.95 and the pool of Bethesda and all of these healing stories 00:21:34.98\00:21:39.30 took place on Sabbath and I took that as a principle. Wow! Every 00:21:39.33\00:21:44.67 thing I do on Sabbath has to be healing. If I'm going to be 00:21:44.70\00:21:50.73 judgmental and tearing people down, that's not healing. It 00:21:50.76\00:21:55.33 translates into that to be an example. 00:21:55.36\00:21:58.60 Of course, we shouldn't be judgmental or tearing people 00:21:58.63\00:22:00.05 down on any day. Yes, on any day and the Sabbath 00:22:00.08\00:22:02.55 is a day above all days and so we certainly should not turn 00:22:02.58\00:22:07.41 the Sabbath into an occasion for doing that. 00:22:07.44\00:22:09.82 But maybe you know specifically you might apply that with 00:22:09.85\00:22:13.25 parents that if you have problem children maybe the time 00:22:13.28\00:22:18.92 to deal with the problems is not on the Sabbath day. Maybe that's 00:22:18.95\00:22:22.00 the time for just affirmation and building them up and trying 00:22:22.03\00:22:24.57 to heal and have that relationship. 00:22:24.60\00:22:26.81 Yes, one family actually decided to do that unless it was 00:22:26.84\00:22:31.04 something that couldn't wait, they waited so that Sabbath 00:22:31.07\00:22:35.39 could be associated in a positive light in their 00:22:35.42\00:22:39.26 children's lives. And healing... Of course, healing could mean 00:22:39.29\00:22:43.68 going to take care of somebody, or visit the sick 00:22:43.71\00:22:47.99 and you know when we have a situation, if it's an emergency 00:22:48.02\00:22:52.93 that comes up, we can ask our self, will greater harm come 00:22:52.96\00:22:56.64 if I leave this undone that if I do it? You know, that's 00:22:56.67\00:23:03.55 another issue entirely but I suppose we better move on to 00:23:03.58\00:23:07.29 number five. Okay number five. Yes, principle number five. 00:23:07.32\00:23:13.51 Celebrating. Now this is celebrating the creation of the 00:23:13.54\00:23:17.91 creation of the world and our redemption and the atmosphere 00:23:17.94\00:23:22.44 should be one of celebration, joy and delight. 00:23:22.47\00:23:26.14 I love it, May-Ellen, because when I first began celebrating 00:23:26.17\00:23:32.54 the Sabbath and I would go out to people and I would tell them 00:23:32.57\00:23:34.82 I was celebrating the Sabbath. Now, I have to tell you, some 00:23:34.85\00:23:37.79 Sabbath keepers, and I call them that, and I don't mean to sound 00:23:37.82\00:23:43.03 hmm... but that's what they were doing was KEEPING the Sabbath 00:23:43.06\00:23:46.02 but they weren't making it anything joyful. Sometimes 00:23:46.05\00:23:49.37 people would get upset with me and say, You shouldn't be 00:23:49.40\00:23:53.14 celebrating the Sabbath. And I said, It's all about creation, 00:23:53.17\00:23:56.33 re-creation, sanctification. Why shouldn't I be celebrating the 00:23:56.36\00:24:00.36 Sabbath?. I think it is a joyous occasion. 00:24:00.39\00:24:03.78 Yes, the fourth commandment does not say, Remember the Sabbath 00:24:03.81\00:24:06.98 day to keep it gloomy. Abraham Joshua Heschel has written a 00:24:07.01\00:24:12.98 wonderful book on the Sabbath. He says that actually in Jewish 00:24:13.01\00:24:17.70 tradition it's considered a sin to be sad on the Sabbath day. 00:24:17.73\00:24:22.12 Oh. I love that. It's considered a sin to be sad on the Sabbath. 00:24:22.15\00:24:25.66 And then Isaiah 58, of course, that wonderful word delight 00:24:25.69\00:24:28.49 comes up; to keep the Sabbath as a delight; the Hebrew 00:24:28.52\00:24:31.99 word for that means exquisite delight. Richard Davidson often 00:24:32.02\00:24:38.03 talks about it, it's royal delight. It's not just an 00:24:38.06\00:24:43.96 ordinary delight. So we're having a vacation with the king, 00:24:43.99\00:24:48.92 I mean, it's a royal delight and so somehow he wants us to 00:24:48.95\00:24:57.18 experience that. You know, I'm sitting here 00:24:57.21\00:24:59.91 this is a whole paradigm shift. People who have looked at the 00:24:59.94\00:25:04.65 Sabbath as something that they had to do. One program earlier 00:25:04.68\00:25:08.72 you said that some people look at the Sabbath as a day that a 00:25:08.75\00:25:13.50 demanding God has taken from us rather than looking at it as a 00:25:13.53\00:25:19.12 day that is a gift from a loving God who wants to spend this 00:25:19.15\00:25:23.84 time with us. I love the idea that this is 7-1/2 weeks a year, 00:25:23.87\00:25:29.27 52 days out of the year that God says come vacation with me. 00:25:29.30\00:25:33.80 Come rest. You'll find your strength, you'll find your 00:25:33.83\00:25:38.58 confidence when you're resting in me. Let's review those five 00:25:38.61\00:25:42.95 principles again, just recapping those. There's first the idea of 00:25:42.98\00:25:50.14 vacation. There's preparing and that's a guiding principle, that 00:25:50.17\00:25:54.03 we prepare to spend time that time with God. The second on is 00:25:54.06\00:25:56.95 that we should observe the Sabbath in a way that we are 00:25:56.98\00:26:02.52 renewing, excuse me, resting was the second. Then the third one 00:26:02.55\00:26:07.02 was that we're observing in a way that we are renewing 00:26:07.05\00:26:09.94 ourselves physically, emotionally and spiritually. 00:26:09.98\00:26:12.80 Then healing: That principle is that this is a time not only for 00:26:12.84\00:26:18.06 personal healing, emotional healing, but to reach out to 00:26:18.10\00:26:21.56 others as Jesus did and heal on the Sabbath; maybe to visit the 00:26:21.59\00:26:26.67 sick or somebody that's shut in. Then principle number five is 00:26:26.71\00:26:32.20 celebrating. Let's talk about that a little bit more. What 00:26:32.23\00:26:36.58 are we celebrating exactly? Celebrating the creation of the 00:26:36.61\00:26:40.92 world and Proverbs 8 talks about... That's the other 00:26:40.96\00:26:44.95 creation story and it talks about God rejoicing in the 00:26:44.99\00:26:48.92 mankind that he had made. And we're celebrating redemption. 00:26:48.95\00:26:52.68 In the other portrayal of the 10 commandments, Deuteronomy 00:26:52.71\00:26:56.36 Deuteronomy 5 talks about that's why we're keeping the Sabbath. 00:26:56.40\00:27:01.06 You know, May-Ellen, my favorite scripture regarding the Sabbath 00:27:01.09\00:27:05.72 is Exodus 31:13. God says this day is a memorial to let you 00:27:05.75\00:27:10.91 know that I am the one who sanctifies you. For someone who 00:27:10.95\00:27:16.04 grew up so performance oriented feeling like I had to be perfect 00:27:16.07\00:27:19.77 to be loved not only by my family but by my Lord, it was 00:27:19.81\00:27:24.90 such an Ah-ha moment for me to know that I could inhale and 00:27:24.94\00:27:28.98 know that God is the one who's going to do this. I can't 00:27:29.02\00:27:32.90 believe our time's already all gone. May-Ellen, thank you so 00:27:32.94\00:27:37.34 much for being here. The book is From Sundown to Sundown: 00:27:37.37\00:27:41.74 How to Keep the Sabbath and Enjoy It. The author is 00:27:41.78\00:27:46.59 May-Ellen Colon and we are so delighted that you've been with 00:27:46.62\00:27:50.32 us. Nice to be here. We're going to have her come back, right? 00:27:50.35\00:27:54.01 You're going to come back and finish off some of these 00:27:54.05\00:27:56.74 principles. Well we've run through these very quickly, but 00:27:56.78\00:27:59.41 I think you really would enjoy this book. It's available at the 00:27:59.44\00:28:02.64 ABC or at Amazon.com. Learn how to come away and 00:28:02.67\00:28:09.23 rest in the Lord to really enjoy a vacation with God. 00:28:09.26\00:28:15.78