Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), May-Ellen Colón
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000416
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00:01 Did you know there is a temple of time where a loving God wants
00:04 to meet you for an intimate relationship. Please join us. 00:10 Music playing. 00:33 Hi, I'm Shelley Quinn and this is Issues and Answers 00:36 and we're so glad that you joined us today because we have 00:40 a fascinating topic. Let me share with you a scripture, it's 00:43 a beautiful scripture from the Bible and this is the Lord 00:46 speaking in Jeremiah 31:3 and he says, Yes I have loved you with 00:53 an everlasting love and, therefore, with loving kindness 00:56 I have drawn you. And God is trying to draw his 01:00 people into a more intimate relationship with him and 01:05 because of that, because he loves us and because he wants 01:10 to make sure that we never forget about this great love, 01:15 he has given us the Sabbath day and here to speak on this is 01:20 someone who I feel is quite qualified. She's qualified not 01:24 just by education but by experience. She's the author of 01:29 a book called From Sundown to Sundown: How to Keep the Sabbath 01:34 and Enjoy It. Let me introduce to you Dr. May-Ellen Colon. 01:39 Dr. May-Ellen, thank you so much for being with us again today. 01:43 It's wonderful to be back. 01:44 You know, I'm going to just briefly for those who don't know 01:48 you say that you are the assistant director for the 01:51 Sabbath School and Personal Ministries of the General 01:55 Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. You are also a 01:58 pastor's wife, you were a missionary and you did your 02:03 dissertation on the Sabbath because of your personal 02:07 experience of the journey the Lord was taking you through. 02:14 Now in the last program right now we are setting up some 02:16 principles and we're going to get into this quickly because 02:19 we've got a lot to cover in this one. But in the last program 02:21 we talked about certain principles you found in the 02:26 Bible how to celebrate the Sabbath and principle #1 was 02:30 preparing, principle #2 was resting, then there was renewing 02:36 healing and celebrating. But now we're going to take it a step 02:41 further because you said this is a vacation with God. We talked 02:46 about the vacation part; there were five principles of all 02:50 things that we would do to go on a vacation and think of this 02:54 Sabbath as a vacation. But we're going to focus on the idea that 02:58 this is a vacation with God. So let's talk about the sixth 03:02 principle that you cover in your book and I believe that's the 03:07 principle of sanctifying. 03:09 Yes it says there that Sabbath- keeping means to keep the 03:15 Sabbath day holy, setting it apart. Now, holy and sanctified 03:21 are similar words and they mean set apart for a purpose and also 03:27 for a relationship. So the Sabbath hours are set apart 03:32 for a special focus on God, his word and his agenda where I 03:37 put mine aside. But I'm not losing anything, let me tell you 03:42 His agenda is to be all those things that we just said. 03:47 His agenda is to bless me in a way that in my busyness during 03:50 the week I didn't have a chance for him to catch up with me and 03:54 to give this blessing even though he has been with me all 03:57 week. It's just like dating. When I dated my husband, yes, 04:01 we saw each other in our classes during the week but in the midst 04:04 of all our busyness we couldn't wait for Sabbath when we could 04:08 have a date with, well, with each other and most importantly 04:11 with God. But now we just set aside everything and focus on 04:14 each other. You know, it's not must dating 04:17 but even in marriage. I know that J.D. and I and you probably 04:21 experience this, I know you do, because you're husband's a very 04:24 busy man, you're a very busy woman, and throughout the week 04:28 sometimes you're almost like ships passing in the night. 04:32 So if you didn't have a time that you could come apart and 04:36 have that special time once a week, you could lose touch very 04:39 easily. When we were dating, our 04:41 relationship wouldn't have gone anywhere if we hadn't had our 04:45 special date times. I had mentioned in the last 04:52 program that Exodus 31:13 was my favorite scripture because it 04:57 says that the Sabbath, God says, is a memorial to remind us that 05:02 he's the one that sanctifies us. But May-Ellen has researched 05:06 this even deeper and I loved what you shared. Please share 05:10 that with our audience. 05:13 Shelley, earlier in, I guess it was another program, they all 05:17 run together here, it says there in verse 13 of chapter 31 of 05:22 Exodus, You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign 05:26 between me and you for the generations to come so that you 05:31 may know that I am the Lord who makes you holy. Now that word 05:38 holy in Hebrew is kadesh and in some versions it says I am 05:44 the Lord that sanctifies you, but it's the same idea. 05:48 Kadesh is actually, according to Dr. Jack Dukon, a Hebrew scholar 05:52 at the Adventist seminary, says that this is a conjugal, 05:59 a marital term. So if we were to think of it in that way, 06:05 we would read this verse this way: This will be a sign between 06:10 me and you for the generations to come so that you may know 06:14 that I am the Lord who is married to you. 06:18 Right. Your maker is your husband. 06:21 Yes, yes. And this time is set apart for this marriage with our 06:28 lover. You know, he could have just said, Well once a year we 06:34 will have this time. He couldn't wait for that. Every seven days 06:39 he's given us this opportunity to have a date with him and I 06:45 find that very exciting. 06:46 I do too. This idea of having a vacation with God where we can 06:53 seek more intimate relationship with him. I had a woman who told 06:58 me, quit using the word intimate and I think that some people 07:05 equate the word intimacy with a physical act but intimacy is 07:11 just a mental act even. It's sharing a oneness with each 07:17 other as you and I become more intimately acquainted it's when 07:22 can share your thoughts and heart with me and I know that 07:26 on the Sabbath when some people even sadly don't have much time 07:30 to spend in the Bible, but sometimes on the Sabbath as they 07:34 get into their Bible, maybe they're out in the woods and 07:37 opening the Word and reading the Word, letting God speak to 07:41 them through the Word, they're seeing how much he really loves 07:45 them. The more you understand his love, the more you love him 07:48 back. Yes. But you have to 07:54 deliberately set aside time or that won't happen. I know for me 07:58 it won't happen, it just won't. Even in a marriage. Yes, and in 08:02 a marriage. You know, my husband and I, of course, sometimes we 08:07 have to go in two different places on Sabbath sometimes. 08:12 We try to be together but it's been hard lately. But we have 08:15 somehow at least have that attitude towards God even if we 08:19 are separated from each other on that day and just Sabbath 08:22 with him. Sabbath is also a verb. 08:24 You know, that's an interesting idea; it is a verb meaning come 08:31 apart and rest. Yes, Yes. Also my husband and I 08:35 try to have Tuesday night as our date night. But again it's that 08:39 Sabbath idea; it's a time set apart for a relationship. 08:44 Okay. So let's look at the seventh principle. 08:49 Okay, the seventh principle is remembering, remembering, 08:54 reflecting and rejoicing about the creation of the world. 08:59 Of course, Exodus 20:11 talks about that; redemption from sin, 09:03 Deuteronomy 5:15, the second rendering of the law says you 09:07 were slaves and I redeemed you, therefore, keep the Sabbath, 09:11 and so on. And then it also points forward to Christ's 09:15 second coming and the creation of the new earth. 09:19 In Isaiah 66:22-23, it talks about in the new earth again we 09:23 are going to again have Sabbath time with him. 09:26 You know, I not only look at the Sabbath as a memorial day 09:30 of creation and remembering God as my Creator, but remembering 09:34 him as the one who is recreating me in the image of Jesus. 09:38 But something you said in your book really caught my attention. 09:42 In your book From Sundown to Sundown, you made the comment 09:46 and I'm probably misquoting you, that each time we celebrate the 09:52 Sabbath we're practicing for the return of Jesus Christ. We're 09:58 getting our hearts in a preparation time and all. 10:01 It's like we're preparing and practicing the second coming. 10:05 Where did you get that idea? I love it. 10:07 It's a rehearsal for his coming. I think I might have heard 10:11 Nancy Van Pelt say that or something like that a few years 10:15 ago, several years ago. But just that attitude! You know, when 10:19 Jesus comes we're going to say, This is our God, we have waited 10:22 for him and he will save us. If we can just say that when 10:26 Jesus comes to our home each Sabbath: Here's my God, I've 10:30 been waiting all week for this time with you and I'm going to 10:33 enjoy it. And it's not that he's not with 10:36 us always. He said, I'll never leave you or forsake you, but 10:40 he's coming in as a special guest. 10:43 That's right; it's a different mode, it's a guest mode, it's a 10:49 vacation mode. I don't want to greet him when he comes to my 10:54 house for this special intimate time, this set apart time where 10:59 I can bask in his presence. When we're in the presence of 11:03 somebody after a while it starts rubbing off on us if we're in 11:08 his presence enough. So this holiness can become part of our 11:13 experience if we are in that presence. But, if when he comes 11:17 to our house, what if I'm going pant Happy Sabbath pant pant 11:22 Jesus. Whew, I just made it. There has to be some preparation 11:26 ahead of time so we don't just skid into it and feel out of 11:30 breath when he arrives. 11:31 And then there also has to be some preparation as far as some 11:36 planning so that you know how you're going to spend that time 11:39 with him. If I knew literally that he was coming, his second 11:45 coming was going to be this Saturday, I wouldn't be planning 11:51 on cooking on that Saturday. I'd try to get as much done as 11:54 possible in advance that I could just have things prepared for 11:58 him, if he was literally going to be sitting at my table. 12:01 It would be a whole different attitude. There is something 12:06 that I'm learning. I think that you mentioned I believe the last 12:10 program when you were here you mentioned that there are 12:13 different seasons. The first few years of learning the Sabbath 12:19 truth nobody could have taught me; the Lord had to take me 12:22 through the scripture and just show me himself, but I was so 12:27 excited and my experience was such that it was a new dimension 12:34 in my relationship with the Lord There wasn't anything legalistic 12:37 about it and it was always so special and I had this time for 12:41 special preparation. I don't have all that time now but as 12:47 you said, there are seasons and the simple things can make it 12:52 beautiful and special, too. But the thought that this is a 12:56 vacation with God, the thought that this is a rehearsal for his 13:00 second coming, just thinking those two thoughts has some 13:03 how totally put me in a different mode when I'm thinking 13:07 about Sabbath. And when we're thinking about 13:10 this remembering principle, we shouldn't only remember the day 13:14 we should remember the Lord of the day and just try to include 13:19 him in our conversations and not leave him out. Just kind of make 13:23 believe he's right with me when I go out in nature or wherever 13:26 it is and when I'm with my friends. Just don't leave him 13:29 out of the conversation. Remember him, too, not just 13:31 remembering to have to go to church. Sabbath doesn't stop 13:35 at the end of the church service Remember him throughout the day 13:39 that he's your guest. 13:41 You know, I'm smiling. I wish we had more time but in your book 13:45 From Sundown to Sundown you mentioned some conversation 13:49 starters, What is God doing in your life now and talk about the 13:53 various ways and that's excellent so I wish we had time 13:56 to do this, but let's go to guiding principle #8, which 14:00 is worshiping. Worshiping: Sabbath keeping 14:04 means participating in corporate focused worship of God with our 14:09 church family and it nurtures both our vertical and our 14:14 horizontal relationships, those with God and those with our 14:16 fellow human beings. See this with-God part is the vertical 14:21 part of our Sabbath keeping. But the corporate worship also 14:26 nurtures the horizontal part because we're all there together 14:29 fellowshipping and focusing on the one who is altogether lovely 14:34 You know, would you agree with this: Some people come to church 14:38 and walk out without a blessing. They will complain that the 14:42 sermon was too long or they complain about certain things 14:48 and I have also fallen into that trap once or twice, maybe more, 14:54 but the Lord has shown me that when I come and I leave and that 14:59 is my experience, it's my heart attitude. Because if I come 15:04 prepared to worship the Lord it doesn't matter what else is 15:08 going on around me, I am blessed and I am worshiping God and I 15:14 leave with that attitude. So the whole idea of worshiping is not 15:20 just a matter of getting ready to come to church and showing up 15:25 for church but having a heart attitude that you're going there 15:29 to worship God. Amen? 15:32 It's all about you. Sometimes I like to envision that at the 15:35 front of the church there's this big throne there and all the 15:40 songs I'm singing to him, you know. He's there, it's so real 15:46 and I just thank the Lord that I've had this time that I don't 15:49 have to work so I can have this experience of focused worship. 15:53 Yes, I have my worship in the morning every day but there's 15:58 and end to it and you have to get on with work and stuff, but 16:01 this I can focus and let these other things be set aside and 16:08 really just love to be in his presence and this is the gift 16:11 he's given us to be able to do this, the time to do it. 16:14 I just want to remind everyone that all of these principles 16:20 that May-Ellen is sharing with us came from scripture and I'm 16:24 so sorry that we don't have time to give you all the scripture 16:27 references because she has a long list of scripture 16:30 references after each one of these, but we wanted to give 16:34 you at least the mindset that there could be a shift or an 16:39 altering of your mind set for this. So, let's look at guiding 16:43 principle #9: Basking. Okay. Basking: Since I'm an 16:51 outdoor person, this one really appeals to me. Sabbath keeping 16:58 means enjoying, studying, experiencing and basking in the 17:02 world that God made rather than working at maintaining it. 17:07 This is a time to just... You know when you and I make 17:20 something sometimes we just like to stand back and look at it and 17:25 really enjoy it and that's what God invites us to do. In fact, 17:29 he did that too. That's probably what he did on the Sabbath which 17:33 is one of the things that he created that week. He probably 17:35 just sat back and enjoyed it and enjoyed the company of the 17:39 new beings that he just had made and I imagine that was really 17:42 their honeymoon. It was sort of a love triangle between the 17:47 three of them. I have so many happy memories of basking on 17:55 Sabbath. I remember once my family and I had a floating 18:00 church service. We were coming back from the General Conference 18:03 session of 1995 and we decided to stop in Norway because it was 18:07 in Holland that year, you may remember. So on Sabbath we ended 18:11 up at a fjord, a gorgeous place. So we got hold of a little small 18:19 boat and went out to the middle of the fjord and said, Okay, 18:24 let's have church right here with the sides of the fjord on 18:29 each side and the birds and Oh my word. So we had a church 18:33 service. I remember my husband preached a little sermonette to 18:36 the children. Anyway, it was a wonderful experience and so I 18:41 call that basking. There are so many more stories I could 18:46 tell you about. It's just some thing about being out in nature. 18:50 The Sabbath has an even deeper meaning. 18:53 You know, J.D. is kind of picking up birding now so we'll 18:58 go out with the binoculars and go look at the various birds and 19:02 we've seen some beautiful species and just enjoy. 19:06 To me it's so amazing how God has so much detail and beauty 19:14 for our eyes to see. So that's something that's great. 19:18 Okay, not trying to rush you on, but guiding principle #10: 19:21 Responding. Responding: Let me find that one 19:26 here. Responding: Sabbath keeping means that we have a 19:33 joyful human response to God's grace in obedience to his loving 19:36 command to remember him and his Sabbath gift. It's not meant to 19:42 be a means of earning our salvation and Romans 3:20 makes 19:47 it very clear at nothing we do can earn our salvation but we 19:51 respond to God's gift of rest by working for him in his 19:55 strength and for his glory. It's sort of interesting how 20:03 creation week worked. When God worked, he rested after he 20:07 worked. Then when Adam and Eve were created they actually 20:13 rested before they worked. God worked and rested and then they 20:19 rested first and basked in his presence and then they started 20:25 the work of dressing and keeping the garden. That cycle has never 20:28 been broken since creation. We rest in God as our first parents 20:35 rested then they worked the following week and then the 20:38 whole cycle is still going. Our works are a result of resting in 20:44 God. How can anyone say that's legalistic? 20:47 Yes. It's so funny because before I became one who 20:55 celebrated God's Sabbath, before I understood the truth, 20:58 I thought anyone who kept the Sabbath was legalistic and there 21:02 are some who keep the Sabbath who do it in a very legalistic 21:05 manner and they give a bad name to everybody else, but if you 21:11 truly understand the meaning and the purpose of Sabbath there's 21:15 nothing legalistic about it. It's just the extreme opposite 21:19 isn't it? Right. Amen. So responding. You made a comment 21:25 once, I think you were quoting someone who said that the Jews 21:31 didn't keep the Sabbath, the Sabbath kept the Jews, is that 21:35 how it went? Yes. So that's from week to week since creation week 21:40 and before the Jews. Of course, this wasn't a Jewish day, this 21:44 was well before the Jews came into being, but the Jews did 21:49 follow that and they had kept that from week to week from the 21:54 beginning of their history of their nation and that has kept 21:58 them as a special people. 21:59 That's right and it has kept their families intact. It's an 22:04 exciting thought. I know we need to go on the 11th one. 22:10 Number 11: The trusting. This is all under the vertical 22:15 relationship with God, the with God part of our Sabbath keeping. 22:18 And that one says: Sabbath keeping means trusting God to 22:23 take care of what we leave undone during the hours of the 22:29 Sabbath. It means learning to depend on God rather than on 22:34 ourselves. Of course, the manna story is a great example. 22:39 They left the collecting of the manna undone on Sabbath and you 22:44 saw what he did to compensate. The manna didn't spoil and, you 22:48 know the story; they took a double amount and it... 22:52 Excuse me. I was going to say was one of the stories that has 22:57 touched my heart the most was we had a gentleman, a farmer, 23:02 who came to 3ABN, big farmer, big time farmer, and he'd been 23:08 watching 3ABN for a number of years and he then joined the 23:12 Adventist Church. He became one who celebrated the Sabbath. 23:17 So he's got, I forget, but it was thousands of acres that he 23:22 has planted and it came time and the perfect time for harvesting 23:27 would have been on Sabbath and here is a storm coming and he 23:34 is faced as a brand new Christian who's keeping the 23:38 Sabbath: Am I going to go out and is the ox in the ditch in 23:43 other words? Am I going to go save all my crops or am I going 23:47 to trust God and not work on the Sabbath and trust that God will 23:52 take care of me? And he decided he was going to trust. You know 23:56 what? One either side of him, the farms on either side of him, 24:01 got hailed out because it was a violent storm that came, but he 24:06 lost nothing. It was like the storm split and the area in 24:10 which he lived he lost nothing. So I think the Lord really 24:15 honored his faith there in that trusting. 24:17 God is faithful. All his biddings are enablings. 24:21 You know, we can trust him and we're missing so much when we 24:25 don't test that idea out more in our lives. 24:28 Amen. Well let's kind of recap this because we are learning how 24:32 to trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and lean not on our 24:36 own understanding and that's part of the Sabbath experience. 24:39 So let's look at these principles that we have 24:43 looked at today that have to do about... We talked about the 24:47 vacation last program but this is the vacation with whom, with 24:51 God. So the principle #6 that is the Sabbath is a time of 24:56 sanctifying and looking at God as our husband, as the one who 25:02 has set us apart. Principle #7 is remembering, reflecting and 25:06 rejoicing on what God has done for us from the creation of the 25:12 world all the way to expecting his return. Principle #8 is 25:18 worshipping in truth and in spirit where we are nurturing 25:21 that vertical relationship with the Lord. Principle #9 is 25:26 basking. Basking in the nature, basking in God's creation 25:31 instead of working to maintain it. Principle #10 is 25:35 responding to God's grace with a joyful human response and 25:40 realize that we're not trying to keep the Sabbath for salvation's 25:44 sake but we're just responding to God's gift of rest. 25:48 Principle #11 is trusting in the Lord to take care of what we 25:54 leave undone during the hours of the Sabbath and depending on God 25:59 rather than on ourselves. You know, one thing that has been 26:03 pointed out before, but May- Ellen, you pointed it out in 26:09 your book From Sundown to Sundown is that the word Sabbath 26:14 itself has a very special root, if you will, something that's 26:19 inside of that word. So tell us, What's in that word that's on 26:23 our screen right now, Sabbath? 26:26 ABBA, Abba. That's an endearing Aramaic word that means daddy, 26:34 daddy or papa. And the Sabbath just enfolds us in his presence, 26:42 in a warm, loving, intimate, unhurried, focused relationship. 26:49 You know, and when you think about how Jesus cried out to 26:55 his Father as Abba and how the Bible says that he sends his 27:01 Spirit into our heart by whom we cry out Abba, Father. God is 27:07 a perfect Father and he's called us into this relationship, not 27:12 only as a perfect father, an intimate relationship as a 27:16 father. It's not like he's just up there saying, Well I've 27:20 adopted you, he's saying I want to live with you, I want to have 27:24 this wonderful intimacy and that's what the Sabbath is all 27:28 about isn't it? Yes and I just praise him for 27:33 this gift. Why would the King of the Universe want to spend time 27:37 with me. It's grace and there's no kind of grace but amazing 27:41 grace and that's an example. 27:43 Amen. May-Ellen, thank you so much. We are so glad you have 27:46 written this book, From Sundown to Sundown: How to Keep the 27:50 Sabbath... and Enjoy It. What we're going to do now is we've 27:53 already got to say goodbye. I can't believe time flew so fast. 27:58 But we want you to think about having this special relationship 28:03 with the Lord. Think about changing the way you celebrate 28:09 the Sabbath. You'll be blessed. Thank for joining us. |
Revised 2014-12-17