Participants: John & Angie Lomacang (Host), Gary & Elizabeth Will, Joe & Nancy O'Brien
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW017002A
|
00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Removing pain 00:23 Lord, let my words 00:29 Heal a heart that hurts 00:34 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:45 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people. 01:07 Hello, friends, 01:08 and welcome to Friday Night Family Worship, 01:10 I'm sitting here with my captain, 01:13 my wife. 01:14 I'm the copilot. 01:15 The one who wrote the constitution in our family. 01:18 One guy once said that there was a sign his wife 01:21 put the above the bed head on his side, and it said, 01:24 "The opinions expressed by him are not necessarily 01:28 those of the management." 01:30 So, after 33 years, I know what... 01:32 We are a team. 01:33 We are a team, I know that. 01:35 Thank you for letting us 01:36 come into your home on Friday evening. 01:37 Amen. 01:39 It's time to worship the Lord and the beauty of holiness. 01:40 It's the Sabbath. Yes. 01:41 And if you are Seventh-day Adventist, 01:43 you know that. 01:44 But if you are not, 01:46 we know that you may have watched 3ABN before. 01:47 If this is your first time, don't change the channel. 01:50 You are about to experience 01:52 and learn something from God's word, 01:54 not from this network but, from God's word, 01:56 that's very important... 01:58 Yes. 01:59 In your worship, 02:00 and your familiar relationship with Jesus. 02:02 I don't think you'll be watching this channel, 02:04 except you're looking for Christ 02:06 in some beautiful way, 02:07 and we do believe in sharing him 02:09 in a very beautiful way. 02:10 Ain't that right, honey? 02:12 Oh, we do, we love the Lord, 02:13 and He's been so good to us and all of us here. 02:17 We know the Lord's been good us. 02:18 Yeah. 02:19 Speaking of all of us here, 02:21 I think it's gonna be bedtime before we had prayer. 02:22 Introduce everyone. 02:23 To go ahead and introduce everyone, 02:25 and I'll start over here with... 02:27 Who is he? 02:28 The people to the far left, some people may have, 02:30 I'll let him tell. 02:31 Tell us who you are, and what you do now, 02:35 good to have you here, your name surely. 02:38 Okay, I'm Joe O'Brien, 02:40 and I worked here since 1999. 02:42 Oh. 02:43 And I'm in the pastoral department answering phones, 02:46 letters, emails, 02:47 and most of many other things but that's it. 02:52 That's it? 02:53 What about head elder of the church? 02:55 Okay, yeah. 02:56 Okay, well, yeah, 02:57 somebody made me held head elder of the church. 02:59 Thank you. 03:00 And good to have you here, Joe, and always a good, 03:02 always a pleasure to work with you. 03:04 And to your right? 03:06 I'm Joe's wife, Nancy O'Brien. 03:09 And most of my life, I've been a teacher, 03:12 but raised one daughter with Joe, and right now, 03:17 I'm working at 3ABN in Planned Giving & Trust Services 03:21 as well I'm a head deacon at a church. 03:24 That's right, good to have here, 03:25 Joe and Nancy. 03:27 I don't know if you've noticed it. 03:28 Wonderful couple. 03:29 They always coordinate, 03:31 that's how we know who belongs to whom. 03:34 Number of couples do that 03:35 but it's good to have both of you, 03:36 the O'Briens. 03:38 They've been here at 3ABN in a wonderful capacity 03:40 from the time our school started. 03:41 Yes. 03:42 She was our... 03:44 Our first school was Nancy O'Brien. 03:45 Amen, wonderful teacher. 03:47 Thank you for all you've done, Nancy. 03:48 Yes. 03:49 To our right, I'll start with this gentlemen, 03:51 and you can introduce the young lady to your right. 03:53 My name is Gary Will, I'm an Editor here at 3ABN. 03:57 I started out with Brenda Walsh in the Kids Network, 04:00 and Greg and Mollie asked me to come to the main network 04:04 and help out here 04:06 and so the Lord brought my family here. 04:08 And this is my daughter Elizabeth, 04:11 but I'll let her introduce herself. 04:13 My name is Elizabeth Will, 04:15 and I'm a freshman here 04:17 at the Thompsonville Christian School. 04:20 Anyway good to have you both. 04:22 We had a chance to meet, not too long ago, 04:24 and we came to find out that we have something in common. 04:27 We liked flying roads. 04:28 Yes. Yes, they do. 04:30 Glad, you made en voyage recently. 04:32 And he enjoyed that very much, 04:34 and so we're gonna have not only fun 04:36 worshipping together but getting to know his family 04:39 and his wife who'll be moving here soon. 04:41 Yes. 04:42 And you have two other children Gavin and Arabella. 04:44 That's correct. 04:45 Great kids, great kids. 04:47 Well, we got to have both of you 04:48 on our program today. 04:49 We're gonna sing some songs in a moment, 04:51 but, honey, would you begin our program 04:52 with a wonderful word of prayer. 04:53 Sure, let's bow our heads. 04:55 Our kind Father in heaven, 04:57 Lord, it's your blessed Sabbath evening. 05:00 And we thank you Lord for being in the midst, 05:03 we thank you, 05:04 we invite your presence into our hearts, 05:06 and those that are watching and listening to this program, 05:10 we invite your presence into their hearts also. 05:13 We ask Lord that your spirit will abide with us. 05:16 I pray that you'll empty us of self 05:19 and then you'll be lifted up and glorified 05:22 through this study about your blessed Sabbath. 05:26 Lord, we thank you, 05:28 we praise you, and we glorify you, 05:32 in Jesus holy name, Amen. 05:35 Amen. 05:38 Now, honey, 05:39 our program is about the Sabbath, 05:40 and before we dive into the program, 05:42 we're gonna sing some songs about the Sabbath. 05:43 And the lady who's gonna be accompanying us is 05:48 none other than 05:49 one of my favorites Jill Morikone 05:51 who's gonna be on the Piano. 05:52 She fulfills many positions at 3ABN, 05:56 she's the Administrative Secretary for Danny Shelton, 05:58 and a very wonderful Christian, 06:00 who also has a program herself. 06:02 And her husband is in charge of production, 06:04 wonderful couple, and we were blessed by them. 06:05 Amen. 06:07 We're gonna begin, if you have your Hymns notes at home... 06:08 This song... 06:10 Song number 388, don't forget the Sabbath. 06:11 It's a special song. 06:12 Amen. 06:22 Don't forget the Sabbath 06:25 The Lord our God hath blest 06:29 Of all the week the brightest 06:33 Of all the week the best 06:36 It brings repose from labor 06:40 It tells of joy divine 06:44 Its beams of light descending 06:48 With heavenly beauty shine 06:51 Welcome 06:53 Welcome, welcome, ever welcome 06:56 Blessed Sabbath day 07:00 Welcome, welcome, ever welcome 07:04 Blessed Sabbath day 07:09 Keep the Sabbath holy 07:13 And worship Him today 07:17 Who said to His disciples 07:20 "I am the living way." 07:24 And if we meekly follow 07:28 Our Savior here below 07:32 He'll give us of the fountain 07:36 Whose streams eternal flow. 07:40 Welcome, welcome, ever welcome 07:44 Blessed Sabbath day 07:48 Welcome, welcome, ever welcome 07:52 Blessed Sabbath day 07:58 Amen. 07:59 Just two stanzas of that. 08:00 Two? Okay, good. 08:02 And, you know, the Sabbath is about time. 08:03 Yeah. 08:04 We're gonna learn today, the Sabbath is about time, 08:06 holy time, simplified time, blessed time. 08:10 But in order to understand and receive its joy, 08:12 you've got to take time to be holy. 08:15 500, we're gonna sing the first, second, and third 08:19 stanzas of this beautiful hymn, 08:21 Take Time to be holy. 08:29 Take Time to be holy 08:34 Speak of with thy Lord 08:38 Abide in Him always 08:42 And feed on His Word 08:46 Make friends of God's children 08:50 Help those who are weak 08:54 Forgetting in nothing 08:59 His blessing to seek 09:03 Take time to be holy 09:08 The world rushes on 09:12 Spend much time in secret 09:16 With Jesus alone. 09:20 By looking to Jesus 09:24 Like Him thou shalt be 09:29 Thy friends in thy conduct 09:33 His likeness shall see. 09:36 Take time to be holy Let Him be thy Guide 09:38 Take time to be holy 09:42 Let Him be thy Guide 09:47 And run not before Him 09:51 Whatever betide. 09:55 In joy or in sorrow 09:59 Still follow the Lord 10:04 And looking to Jesus 10:08 Still trust in His Word. 10:13 Amen. Amen. 10:15 We made it through that. 10:17 Thank you, this is not a singing program, 10:19 that's for sure. 10:20 But, you know, 10:22 this is a time to share the beauty of God's word. 10:25 Actually, this idea you conveyed this to me, 10:28 and actually Joe conveyed this to you, 10:31 when we had our Tuesday morning worship. 10:33 Thinking about a topic, 10:34 what have we not covered in Family Worship 10:37 and when is this program going to be aired 10:40 and we thought, 10:41 "It's going to be aired on the Sabbath." 10:42 Yeah. 10:44 Friday evening in the circle of family, 10:45 what better topic to talk about 10:47 than how to observe the Sabbath. 10:50 Amen. Sabbath observes it. 10:52 Now what we're not going to do is 10:53 tell you the dos and don'ts, 10:55 because some of you watching are in the mountains, 10:57 some of you watching are way 10:59 in the recesses of the rural areas, 11:02 nobody around but you maybe your house 11:05 or your trailer or your camper 11:08 if you're camping somewhere. 11:09 But somebody may be in a high rise tenement 11:12 in New York, in Brooklyn, 11:13 and in some part in California. 11:15 You may be watching from your beachfront property. 11:19 Wherever you might be 11:21 and we know that different context 11:24 allows people to appreciate 11:26 and experience different things. 11:27 So we're not going to give you the dos and don'ts, 11:29 don't do this don't do that, 11:30 but we're going to share some principles 11:31 from God's word. 11:33 And experience. 11:34 And experiences on how we grow into the Sabbath, we have, 11:37 just very briefly, we have Joe and Nancy, 11:40 who were not originally Sabbath observers. 11:42 Right. 11:44 You were raised kind of, 11:45 give us a little bit by your background. 11:46 Well, I was raised Catholic, and I was an altar boy, 11:49 I went through the process of doing everything 11:51 I could to the point of thinking 11:54 that might be something 11:56 God would like for me to be a priest. 11:58 And then at the age of 19, I read the Bible, 12:04 and I found out that God has his way 12:06 and man has their way. 12:08 And so I had to start fresh 12:10 and this is where I'll just say that 12:15 concerning the Sabbath as I studied into, 12:19 what the Bible says, what our church does, 12:23 I found the Sabbath commandment, 12:25 and it is a commandment. 12:27 Right. Not a suggestion. 12:29 This is serious, we never to... 12:35 Sin is the transgression of the law 12:37 and the Sabbath commandment is a law 12:39 on the wages of sin as death, this could be serious. 12:42 Right. Okay. 12:43 So that being said, 12:44 I read the commandment and... 12:48 Well, we'll get into that later. 12:49 Okay. 12:50 I just, I'm going to let it set for now, 12:52 but so anyway, 12:53 it's Catholic study for probably 12:57 until I was about 40. 12:58 Wow! 13:00 Before I finally said, "I'll prove you wrong." 13:03 I picked up the book and found out somebody's right. 13:08 And it wasn't you. 13:10 Yeah, that wasn't me. 13:11 Wow. But good to have you. 13:12 And, Nancy, kind of was, 13:14 were you a part of that journey? 13:15 Only the last part of it, I was raised also Catholic. 13:19 I became a Catholic school teacher. 13:21 And I firmly believed that 13:23 what they were teaching me was true. 13:26 And then I also read the Bible, 13:28 and I always stumbled on the commandments. 13:31 I had read through, and I would say, 13:33 "Huh, Sabbath the Seventh-day. 13:35 Well, that must, why, well." 13:38 I would just, you know, dismiss I think, 13:39 "Well, I guess we don't do that anymore." 13:42 And but I always did stumble on that one. 13:45 And so when... 13:46 And also the death as well, it just didn't, you know, 13:51 what happened to you when you died, 13:53 I just didn't like the teaching of the Catholic Church. 13:56 And anyway, long story short, when I met Joe, 13:59 I'd already been, 14:02 like I said stumbled or in questing the Sabbath, 14:06 questing some of the other teachings 14:07 in the Bible that just didn't seem to go along 14:09 with what I had been taught, 14:12 and then we took a revelation seminar. 14:15 Wow! 14:16 And while that, I mean, it's just things made sense. 14:19 Wow! 14:20 Praise the Lord that you're here. 14:22 Now, were studying to be a nun at one time? 14:23 Well, I had prayed and asked the Lord 14:25 if that's what he wanted me to do. 14:27 And I was a Catholic school teacher, 14:29 and I was teaching on a mission school 14:31 on an Indian reservation, and I often... 14:34 I'd spent a few nights with the nuns thinking, 14:35 "Well, maybe I would join them." 14:37 Wow! 14:38 But in my heart, it just didn't seem like 14:41 that's what God wanted, and so I said, "Well, Lord, 14:45 if you want me to get married, bring me somebody." 14:47 He did. Yeah. 14:48 So you could have been a father O'Brien. 14:50 Yeah. 14:51 But here you are elder O'Brien. Yeah. 14:53 Well, you know, being Irish O'Brien, 14:54 it was either going to be a policeman 14:56 or a fireman or a, 14:58 you know... 14:59 A priest. 15:01 A priest, so I ended up being a fireman. 15:02 That's true, that's true, that's a very good one. 15:04 Except for now, now it's changing. 15:05 I just want to mention that Nancy when she, 15:08 when she was teaching in this Catholic school, 15:11 there were other Protestant teachers there. 15:13 And when she began to teach 15:16 what the Bible says about the Sabbath, 15:18 they fired her. 15:19 Oh! 15:21 But they kept the others. 15:22 What? Wow! 15:23 It's only the one that told 15:25 gave the God's word accurately that got... 15:26 You know, I would say, "Well, children, 15:28 this is what the church teaches. 15:30 But this is what the Bible says." 15:31 Really? 15:33 And so I'd let them, you know, get both sides of it. 15:35 Wow! 15:36 I wasn't popular. 15:38 And I also... 15:39 He had to put you out to bring you in. 15:40 Yes. 15:42 I also lost my job but then went through the process, 15:46 and they had to give it back to me 15:48 'cause of the Constitution. 15:49 That's right. Exactly. 15:50 But Gary had a kind of a different experience. 15:53 You were raised in a different environment 15:54 and Sabbath had a different context to you. 15:56 Right, kind of a totally 15:58 opposite side of the coin there. 16:00 I was raised by a young couple who were new in the faith, 16:05 and so they were very zealous for doing what was right 16:09 and the commandments 16:10 and the Sabbath and stuff and so. 16:12 And I love my parents very much, 16:13 so I would not want to talk bad about them. 16:15 But they did the best to their knowledge, 16:19 and they were very strict to my or my sister and I, 16:22 and so we were not allowed to do a lot of things 16:25 that the other kids were allowed to do on Sabbath. 16:28 And so, we'd actually stopped being a joy for me. 16:32 It was more of, you know, watching the clock, 16:34 when is it over. 16:35 It's, "I can't do this, I can't do that." 16:38 And so, for many years, 16:40 Sabbath to me was a real drudgery, 16:42 it was not a pleasure. 16:44 But since then I'm on a journey, 16:46 the Lord helps me on journey on 16:48 what does it mean to keep the Sabbath. 16:50 And my daughter's with me 16:53 and she can probably say some things but, 16:54 you know, 16:57 we're not, you know, 16:59 we're like I said it is a journey. 17:00 We didn't start off with our kids the right way 17:03 but I'm hoping that the Lord is now working 17:05 so that they can see the importance of the Sabbath. 17:08 That's what we're striving for. 17:09 Wow! 17:10 Anything you want to add to that, Elizabeth? 17:12 Well, I mean, 17:14 when we started this journey at first 17:16 I was kind of like, "Oh, no," 17:21 because I didn't find it a pleasure myself. 17:23 It was something that I had to do 17:27 and now that we're, 17:30 I'm starting to learn more about it, 17:32 and I just really I'm starting to enjoy it, 17:36 enjoy fellowshipping. 17:37 That's right. 17:38 Enjoy hearing from God's word, 17:41 and it's really been a blessing. 17:43 That's good. Wow! 17:44 And it makes all the difference. 17:45 And we all have different journeys, 17:47 I was, you know, 17:48 Angie was raised in a fully Adventist Home all of her life. 17:51 And youngest of eight children, 17:54 what was Sabbath like in your home? 17:56 Sabbath was wonderful. 17:58 We sang songs just like 18:00 we're doing tonight, sang songs, 18:02 we read the Bible, our Sabbath school lesson. 18:06 And my mom 'cause my father died in England, 18:09 so she, he left her with eight of us. 18:11 So it was, it was just a wonderful time, 18:14 we looked forward. 18:16 We played music what Jim Reeves or something, 18:19 we always had nice music, nice Christian music. 18:23 Our dinner was done, our closure's ready, 18:26 and we played our music. 18:27 It just set the atmosphere for the Sabbath. 18:30 So when it's time, my mom said, 18:32 it was time for worship, my mom, 18:34 "So, okay, everyone, come on, time for worship." 18:37 And sometimes, she would even say it, 18:38 we would always be there in the living room, 18:41 and we'd just bow our heads and pray 18:44 and ask the Lord for guidance and, 18:46 you know, we were kids 18:48 and it didn't mean much to us then 18:50 but it mean a lot now that I look back. 18:52 That's right, I remember it was in your home 18:56 that I was invited as a teenager 18:57 when we before we actually started dating officially, 19:00 you know, that was the only reason 19:02 I come over for a Family Worship. 19:03 And Angie would invite me over 19:05 and it was in that living room where 19:06 her family had Family Worship on Friday evenings, 19:09 heard her sing a song "I Am Willing, Lord, " 19:11 all these songs, they play those songs. 19:13 And it was a wonderful atmosphere, 19:14 very family oriented. 19:16 It was not rigid at all. 19:17 When we would get off track 19:19 'cause you can't have eight children, 19:20 seven children there at one time 19:22 or five of them there one time. 19:23 And not something go funny 19:25 or something just kind of we'll say, 19:28 you off and you laugh, and a mother say, 19:30 "Let's get back on track," 19:32 never rigid, never harsh. 19:33 So the Sabbath actually was reborn in my heart, 19:37 in your home. 19:39 But what I want 19:40 what I think is really important to do 19:43 is I want to go to Genesis. 19:45 Now we have an outline that we often use, 19:47 and we're not going to necessarily go in order, 19:48 we can kind of look and pick and choose, 19:50 but what I like to start with is 19:52 where the Sabbath was made 19:54 because one of the big misconceptions that... 19:57 And I think that each of us could appreciate is 19:59 from a different perspective, 20:00 one of the misconceptions that pervades, and... 20:04 Oftentimes, evades the minds of many Christians is that 20:07 the Sabbath is just for the Jews. 20:08 Oh, yeah. 20:10 That has been just such a roadblock 20:11 when you talk to other Christians, 20:13 they say, "Well, that's just for the Jews," 20:14 Well, it was noted that the cross 20:16 was no longer relevant. 20:17 So what I want to do, we all... 20:18 How many days do we have in a week? 20:20 Somebody tell me. Seven. 20:21 So we all have seven days in a week, 20:23 and when you look at the Genesis record, 20:26 you'll find that the Lord used every day to create something 20:30 but He had a seventh day 20:33 and you can't find anything physical 20:34 in creation on that day. 20:36 You can't find a tree. 20:38 You can't find an animal. 20:39 You can't find anything physical 20:41 He created on that day. 20:42 So the question will be why give us a seven-day week. 20:45 So let's look at Genesis 2:1 to 2:3. 20:49 If you have your Bibles, follow along with us. 20:52 And if any of you, I haven't... 20:55 Like I should go out and remember that, 20:57 but I will make promises that maybe only I can fulfill 21:01 'cause sometimes people contact and say, 21:03 "Could I get an outline of that program? 21:04 It was really great." 21:05 I have outlines not everyone does. 21:07 So try to be very careful who you might ask, 21:10 but Genesis 2:1 to 2:3, let me just start, 21:13 Gary, would you read that for us? 21:14 2:1 to 2:3? Yeah. 21:16 "Thus the heavens, and the earth were finished, 21:18 and all the hosts of them. 21:20 And on the seventh day God ended His work 21:22 which He had made, 21:24 and He rested on the seventh day 21:25 from all His work which he had made, 21:27 and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, 21:30 because that in it He had rested from all His work 21:33 which God created and made." 21:34 And so, you'll notice what it says, 21:37 what day did God rest on? 21:39 Seventh. On the seventh day. 21:40 What day did He end His work on? 21:43 Seventh day. Seventh day. 21:45 What day did he sanctify? 21:46 Seventh day. 21:48 And could somebody tell me what does sanctify mean? 21:50 Set apart for a holy purpose. Right. 21:52 Set apart for a holy purpose. Yes. 21:54 Sanctified relationships, and sanctified relationships, 21:57 set apart for holy purpose. 21:58 So what you, what we want to establish 22:00 at the very outset before we get into the specifics 22:03 or more specifically the principles is 22:06 this is the record of the creation week. 22:08 So whenever the week cycles, many of you might know, 22:12 you can find 24-hour period 22:14 with the rising and the setting of the sun 22:16 for 23 hours and 56 minutes, 22:18 if you want to be specific. 22:20 You can also find the full moons 22:21 giving us the month, 22:23 the full moon, 22:25 quarter moon, half moon, 22:27 three-quarter moon, 22:28 back to the full moon, that's the cycle of the month. 22:30 You can find it 365 day a year, 22:32 the whole rotation of the earth around the sun. 22:35 We have all these heavenly indicators. 22:38 But many people don't know that the only place 22:39 you can find a seven-day week is where? 22:42 In the Bible? 22:43 Say it. In the Bible. 22:45 In the Bible, there's no other record 22:47 where the seven-day week could be established 22:49 except inside the Bible. 22:51 Yeah. 22:52 So now as we started there, 22:53 Joe, you want to say something that kind of... 22:55 Well, I was thinking it would be nice 22:56 if we would read the... 22:57 The Sabbath command. Yeah. 22:59 And see what we can glean from it. 23:00 Let's do that, let's do that. 23:02 May I read it? 23:03 Tell us where we going? 23:05 Okay, we're going to go to Exodus 20. 23:08 There's the commandments, the Ten Commandments, 23:10 these are the moral law not the sacrificial law 23:14 or the health law or the other laws. 23:16 This is the moral law, 23:17 it's eternal, God says I change not. 23:19 Okay. 23:21 And so this particular one is begins on verse 8, 23:24 so it's Exodus Chapter 20 beginning with verse eight, 23:28 and this is coming from the mouth of God, I mean, 23:31 we're reading it but He is the one who said it, 23:34 in stone, 23:35 and He says, "Remember," 23:38 well, that tells us right there, 23:40 we were going to forget, so keep that in mind. 23:42 Exactly. 23:43 "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, " 23:48 it didn't say keep them holy. 23:49 That's right. 23:51 You don't keep the Sabbath any day you choose, 23:53 it's the day He said, "Keep it holy. 23:56 Six days thou shalt labor and do all your work." 24:00 Six days, He didn't say we're holy. 24:03 He didn't sanctify them, and set them side for holy, 24:05 He just says, "Six days, 24:07 you shalt labor do all your work." 24:09 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. 24:14 Now some people will say the Lord's day is Sunday. 24:17 But God didn't say that. 24:18 Right. 24:20 God says, "The Sabbath is the Lord's, 24:23 the Lord your God." 24:24 Let me pause a second... 24:26 Yes, yes, yes. 24:27 Because, you know, this is important. 24:28 "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, 24:30 your God," 24:31 is really important. 24:33 So when you come back that the Sabbath of the Lord, 24:34 your God, 24:35 the question is not what day is the right day, 24:38 the question is, 24:39 who is your God? Now this is really important. 24:42 Can I say expand on that, will you mind? 24:43 Who's your God? Sure. 24:45 See the thing is God knew 24:47 He was going to have competition 24:49 as to who's God because The Fallen Angel, 24:52 the leader of The Fallen Angel said... 24:54 Yeah. 24:56 "I will exalt myself above the stars of God. 24:59 I will be as the most high." 25:02 That's right. 25:03 That means he wants to be worshiped. 25:05 Yes. That's right. 25:06 Okay, so he reminds us in the commandment, 25:10 "It is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God." 25:13 Now if I may quickly this is really cool stuff, boy, 25:16 I'll tell you. 25:18 God is so smart. Oh, you have notes, too. 25:20 Listen to this, listen to this, Matthew 59 says, 25:24 "But in vain, they do worship me 25:25 teaching for doctrines the commandments of, " who? 25:28 Man. 25:29 Oh, oh, we got commandments, we don't want to be careful. 25:32 Matthew 77, "How be it in vain, 25:35 they do worship me teaching 25:37 for doctrines the commandments of man." 25:40 And that worship is in vain. Yes. 25:44 Please be, notice the little words. 25:46 Yeah. They're powerful. 25:48 And then in Titus, you know, Titus 1:14, it says, 25:52 "Not giving heed to Jewish fables 25:54 and commandments of men that turn you from the truth." 25:59 Let's get back to the truth. 26:00 Where were we? 26:01 Okay, but now, let's just point this out. 26:03 Because it's really good emphasize, 26:04 when you establish the fact that the Sabbath is 26:07 the seventh day of the week, 26:09 and that is the day that God blessed 26:11 and sanctified, and the day that God said to 26:13 "Remember to keep it holy". 26:15 Now I don't know, Elizabeth, 26:16 I'm asking you question that you to answer, 26:17 it might be yes or no, I'm just kind of going, 26:19 did you, were you ever told keep your room clean 26:23 or anything, keep anything clean? 26:25 Yes. 26:26 Okay, yeah, Mom said that, Dad said that? 26:28 Yes. 26:29 Don't forget to keep everything clean, 26:31 we just finished cleaning up the house, 26:32 whatever the case. 26:34 I was raised, were you ever raised told that? 26:36 Oh, yeah, yeah. 26:39 Keeping the room clean was a very important thing 26:41 around my house, yes. 26:42 And keeping something clean means what? 26:48 Somebody clean it. 26:50 Putting in order. 26:52 Yeah, or keep it clean means somebody already cleaned it. 26:56 Yeah. 26:57 We went to a pastor's house once 26:59 and I remember this is a funny story. 27:02 Their housekeeper vacuuming the carpet 27:05 and all the lines were just 27:08 you can see the pattern that they use, 27:10 it just looks so perfect. 27:12 And I thought, "Man, this is so clean, 27:14 this is so OCD, 27:17 obsessive compulsive, everything is just so clean." 27:19 So I was joking around, 27:21 acting like I'm going to step on it, 27:22 and I actually tilted too far forward. 27:25 I've footprint put on another, "Oh, " 27:28 and they laughed at all because once, 27:30 once it was finished, 27:34 my foot print got imprinted on it. 27:37 Yeah. 27:38 And jokingly my friends, 27:41 "Take your foot off of my carpet." 27:44 Now, you know, you know ahead of it, right? 27:46 Go ahead. Isaiah 58. 27:49 Okay. Let's look at this. 27:51 We're going to come back to that. 27:53 Good. Isaiah 58. 27:54 Gary, why don't you read it for us? 27:55 It's in our syllables actually. 27:57 And it would save you a little bit of time. 27:58 We're going go to Isaiah 58:12 to 14, 28:00 because what we're going to address now 28:02 as we established principles, and one of the principles that 28:04 Joe brought out on the Bible of Isaiah strongly is 28:07 we can't really pick a day. 28:08 So when you think about the Sabbath, 28:10 you can't pick a day and say, 28:12 "Well, this is my Sabbath or this is his Sabbath 28:14 or that's their Sabbath." 28:15 That's right. The Lord already decided that. 28:16 Amen. 28:18 If you worship the God of creation, 28:19 there's no need to waste time trying to figure out a day, 28:22 He's already done that, 28:23 which is what number of the week? 28:25 The seventh day. The seventh day, 28:27 that's the day of the seventh day. 28:29 But now look at this because I, I stepped on His carpet. 28:34 And look at this, this is an amazing one, 28:36 go ahead, Gary, read that for us. 28:38 "Those from among you 28:40 shall build the old ways places. 28:42 You shall raise up the foundations 28:44 of many generations, 28:45 and you shall be called the repair of the breach, 28:48 the restorer of streets to dwell in. 28:51 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath 28:53 from doing your pleasure on my holy day 28:56 and call the Sabbath a delight, 28:57 the holy day of the Lord honorable, 28:59 and shall honor him not doing your own ways 29:02 nor finding your own pleasure nor speaking your own words, 29:05 then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, 29:07 and I will cause you to ride on the high heels of the earth 29:10 and feed you with the heritage of Jacob, 29:12 your father, the mouth of Lord has spoken." 29:15 Now look at this, if you turn your foot from the Sabbath, 29:17 what are some of the things that 29:18 this brings out that we looked at? 29:20 Some of the points that this actual text tells us 29:23 what we should do. 29:25 so I'm in the verse 13. 29:28 Well, I'd like to kind of lean into that with this thought, 29:31 it's kind of a dual thought. 29:32 It says, "Don't put your foot on the Sabbath, " 29:35 another words don't take that carpet is perfect and dirty it. 29:40 Okay, In other words, 29:41 it's a holy thing, be very careful. 29:43 Actually in some dictionaries, 29:45 you'll find that holy is defined as potentially lethal. 29:49 So be careful with holy things. 29:52 So anyway, He says 29:53 "From doing thy pleasure on my holy day, 29:56 thy pleasure". 29:58 I want to emphasize, 29:59 if I was against this whole idea, 30:01 I would say, "Oh, see, we can't do anything on the Sabbath, 30:04 see." 30:05 Yeah. 30:07 "I can't have any pleasure on my holy day 30:09 but on his holy day, 30:11 I can't speak my own words and I can't do any of this." 30:14 Okay, but pay attention carefully what God is saying. 30:16 Okay. 30:18 It's power packed from doing your pleasure 30:22 but come to my house 30:24 and have pleasure with me in fellowship. 30:26 Amen. 30:27 Have pleasure that spiritual 30:28 and heavenly beyond your pleasure. 30:30 Okay. 30:31 He's not saying you can't have pleasure... 30:33 Yeah. 30:34 Or enjoy pleasure, He's just saying, 30:35 put yours aside and come be with me. 30:37 I'd like to add that. 30:40 If you look at the Ten Commandments... 30:41 Right. 30:42 All but two of them say thou shalt. 30:44 Right. 30:45 God is speaking to us a direct command thou shalt. 30:47 But when it comes to the Sabbath 30:49 and then our parents, 30:50 it's almost a, 30:52 it's a calling to remember to... 30:55 And then it's any kind of goes in that with, you know, 30:58 don't work. 31:00 Who doesn't want to day off, right? 31:02 That's true. 31:03 You know, and so He's calling us 31:04 not into a burdensome relationship 31:07 but a relationship where He's, you know, 31:10 wanting to spend time with us 31:11 and so those things that distract us, 31:13 He's saying, "Put those aside." 31:15 Spend the day with me and that was important to me 31:19 when I was reading the Ten Commandments, 31:21 it's a calling, it's God's calling us to Him. 31:24 And speaking of calling, 31:25 and this was a phrase that really touched me 31:27 when we were first trying to discover 31:29 about Sabbath was call the Sabbath a delight. 31:32 That's right. 31:33 And I thought, "Wow, a delight, 31:35 we're supposed to have a delight on this day." 31:36 That's right. 31:37 So we kind of set out 31:39 to make it a delight for our daughter, 31:40 you know, to make it a delight. 31:42 Yes. 31:43 Not restrictions but, you know, 31:45 that phrase really struck me 31:47 when I was reading at that, hey... 31:48 I'd say real quickly, this is so beautiful, 31:50 I just love this. 31:51 And if you go just a step further, 31:52 it says "I'm not seeking or finding thine own pleasure." 31:55 Yes. 31:57 I can't have any pleasure on the Sabbath. 31:59 That's now all it says. 32:00 Not what it says, 32:02 it says thine own pleasure. 32:04 That's a key. 32:05 Another words instead of looking at all 32:07 the tall buildings in a city and how fancy they are 32:08 and how pretty they are and how hard they were to build 32:11 and how high they went, forget that. 32:13 Come and have pleasure with me. 32:14 Amen. 32:16 Come into my second book, creation, 32:20 go to a park with your child and show them that, 32:23 look at that bee, 32:25 all the birds have slippery feathers can fly fast, 32:27 why is the bee fuzzy and slow? 32:30 Well, because there's pollen in the flower, 32:32 and God put that pollen on those fuzzy little hairs 32:36 to be carried to another tree so that you could have apples. 32:41 This is the second book. This is the pleasure of God. 32:44 Forget the buildings on that one holy day 32:47 fellowship with the creator. 32:48 Amen. 32:50 And now notice what's also happening, 32:51 let's think of some of the things now. 32:53 If you are a city dweller, you might say, 32:56 "There are no bees for 20 miles." 33:00 You know, there're no bees for 20 miles. 33:02 We don't have any birds, we've got pigeons. 33:04 Yeah. 33:05 And pigeon is a pigeon, and bird is a bird, 33:07 if you're in New York, right, honey? 33:09 Tons of pigeons. 33:10 Pigeons, pigeons, don't fear anyone. 33:11 No. 33:13 And so we don't get that chance 33:14 to enjoy those things growing up, 33:15 we never looked at bees and pigeons on the Sabbath. 33:17 No, never. 33:18 So what did we do? 33:20 How do we enjoy the Sabbath? 33:21 What was a delight for us? 33:22 Wow, we went out witnessing, didn't we? 33:25 That's right. 33:26 We share in our faith. We share in our faith. 33:27 In Sabbath, we went to nursing homes, 33:29 we visit the sick, 33:31 you know, and I enjoy that as a... 33:34 Within prison ministry? 33:35 Prison ministry was huge for us 33:37 and we did that on the Sabbath. 33:38 I just, I mean, we did it together. 33:42 Remember? That's right. 33:43 We would after Sabbath school, 33:45 we had this car that only drove forward, 33:48 it didn't have a reverse gear. 33:50 So Christian car, we call that. 33:51 That's kind of sign, Lord say go forward. 33:53 Forward. 33:54 And we would drive to prisons, Rikers Island there, 33:57 and right off and outside of, right in New York. 34:01 And we would sing to inmates. 34:03 Yeah. 34:04 and we would be so much more fulfill, 34:06 it was a pleasure. 34:08 We actually left more blessed than 34:10 if we sometimes just sat in church 34:12 and really just received, 34:13 which is a beautiful thing, that's a part of worship. 34:15 But we thought, 34:16 "Man, there are people that can't come out to church. 34:18 Let's go to them, 34:19 go on to the highways and hedges 34:20 and the prisons and give people the joy of it." 34:24 Real quickly though, 34:26 we started off with saying 34:27 that the Lord is the Lord of the Sabbath I believe. 34:29 Yes. 34:30 And so how can the Sabbath, 34:32 and I'm asking question to all of you. 34:34 How can the Sabbath be a pleasure of delight? 34:36 If you don't know the Lord of the Sabbath, 34:38 how can you go into the nursing homes 34:42 and witness people, 34:43 if you don't know him 34:44 because that was my problem as a child really is 34:47 I didn't know the Lord of the Sabbath. 34:48 That's right. 34:50 And so it wasn't a delight. 34:51 I couldn't wait to, you know, go do what I wanted to do. 34:54 You know, I wanted to do what I wanted to do. 34:56 I was not following this. 34:58 So, you know, how can you do these things 35:00 if you don't have the love of the Lord of the Sabbath? 35:02 Well, I may though question to Elizabeth, 35:04 I like to put Elizabeth on the spot. 35:06 You know, knowing your brother and sister. 35:10 If somebody else walk up to a stranger, 35:12 walked up to you and ask you to do something, 35:14 who would you listen to first, 35:16 your brothers and sisters or a stranger? 35:22 Probably my, the people I know, 35:24 my brother and sister. 35:26 Exactly. 35:27 If your dad or mom asked you to do something 35:28 or a stranger ask you, 35:30 who would you probably listen to first? 35:32 My parents. Excellent. 35:33 And what's the difference? I know them. 35:36 And see that's the good thing that Gary to bringing out. 35:38 Good point. 35:39 If we don't know the Lord, this is a command. 35:45 When the military, the Christian military, 35:46 "Let's do it, let's do it because we might get killed." 35:49 The Lord doesn't want us to put our pleasures aside. 35:53 We'll put our work aside because we are afraid of Him. 35:56 Yeah. 35:57 We will want to put our work aside 35:59 when we understand His pleasures are far greater 36:01 than our pleasures. 36:02 Matter of fact, I want to have Angie 36:05 to read some real quickly here. 36:07 We're going to come back to you, Joe. 36:08 Man, our time is fast, slow that clock down, 36:12 please put us, stop the clock 36:14 'cause we want to get a couple of things here. 36:16 Mark 2:27 and 28. 36:19 This is something that was really important 36:21 because if you think the Lord loves us, 36:23 does He love us? 36:25 Amen. Yes, He does. 36:26 He would never recommend something 36:29 that is not good for us. 36:31 And this is a beautiful passage here. 36:32 Mark 2:27 and 28. 36:34 Look at what the Lord tells us. 36:37 And by the way, 36:39 this is in direct response to people that have the Sabbath 36:42 and didn't understand the beauty of it. 36:44 "And He said to them, 36:46 'The Sabbath was made for man, 36:48 and not man for the Sabbath.' 36:50 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." 36:55 Okay, so He's not only Lord of our lives 36:58 but He's Lord of the Sabbath. 36:59 Sabbath. Yeah. 37:01 So as Gary was pointing out and we have discovered so far, 37:05 this is a day that is to be kept holy, 37:08 to be free from our pleasures. 37:10 Let's get specific about one of, 37:11 some of the things that we kind of cease to do. 37:13 Let's get specific... 37:14 Yeah. 37:15 Because we have CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX news. 37:19 We've got magazines, 37:20 we've got our iPads or what else, 37:22 what do we have? 37:24 What is this? Texting. 37:25 We're texting our brains out, 37:27 ding, our Facebook post, 37:28 ding, Messenger, 37:30 click, click, cricket sounds. 37:32 It's all pouring in on us, isn't that true? 37:34 We live in a media saturated age. 37:37 I mean, do you text? 37:38 Yes. Okay. 37:40 Help us with texting in the Sabbath. 37:41 Kind of, how does that happen? 37:44 Well, when you talk to people, 37:47 I think some of the things you should talk about is 37:51 relating to God, relating to the Sabbath, 37:54 talk about what you do what you find that 37:59 brings you closer to God 38:01 and that you can really spend time with Him, 38:04 get to know Him better, 38:05 and that's the things 38:07 I like to talk to my friends about. 38:09 And If they bring up something, I say, 38:12 "Hey, let's talk about this. 38:14 Let's see what we can get out of this." 38:18 And that something that I like to do. 38:20 You'll guide the conversation 38:22 always hear it back to the crisis. 38:23 Doing a wonderful job. 38:25 And what else can we, 38:26 what else do we not do on the Sabbath, honey? 38:29 Well, we don't watch TV, 38:32 for secular shows, we watch 3ABN, of course. 38:34 Right. 38:36 But we don't watch secular shows, 38:37 we don't open our secular mail. 38:41 Even secular e-mail, 38:43 we leave that out on the Sabbath 38:45 because our concentration is on the Lord. 38:48 That's right. Especially on the Sabbath. 38:50 And so it's every day, but on the Sabbath, 38:53 we don't do those particular things, so... 38:57 And we don't, and this is why I love as a teacher, 38:59 you know, no school work. 39:00 Exactly. 39:02 No school work. And no housework. 39:04 Exactly. That's right. 39:05 And why do we not do these things, Joe? 39:07 Well, it's because in the commandment, 39:11 if we were to continue, 39:12 we find out that God identifies himself as the creator. 39:15 Yeah. Right. 39:17 That's the second book, 39:18 nature Is like a pagan word to me 39:21 to substitute the real word which is creation. 39:25 And God says know me, 39:27 and when we fellowship with Him on a Sabbath day 39:30 in nature in creation, we know Him. 39:33 Look at all He's done all these skills, 39:35 He says, "Everything on heaven I created, 39:37 everything in heaven, 39:38 everything on the earth, everything in the sea." 39:40 And it's just amazing, 39:42 because you can go out and as far as you can go, 39:45 when you get to that brick wall, 39:46 my question is what's on the other side? 39:48 More. More. 39:50 When you go inward, 39:52 this is hard to swallow but take it. 39:53 When you go inward, 39:54 I don't care what you've find the tiniest thing possible, 39:57 it's made out of something else. 39:59 Yeah. That's true. 40:00 So there's no end inward or outward, 40:02 and if we could be fascinated by this, 40:04 instead of tall buildings or other things, you know, 40:07 we would know God. 40:09 We'd have that relationship. 40:10 And throughout the Bible, He says, 40:12 "I'm the God of creation, 40:13 I made this, I made that." 40:15 And even in the last book 40:16 when He was about to lead us in through the gates, 40:18 into the kingdom, 40:20 He tells us and reminds us worship the God of creation. 40:24 That's right. 40:26 The one who made, made, made 40:27 because there's a lot of gods out there 40:29 but none of them except Him are the creator. 40:32 Wow. Well said. 40:33 You know, I call Joe, I call Joe my zealot. 40:36 Yeah. 40:37 'Cause Joe's champion for the truth. 40:39 Yes. 40:40 And I like that, I really do 40:41 because sometimes people easily swayed 40:44 and easily convinced to go other ways 40:46 but once you discover the truth, 40:48 it's a beautiful thing. 40:49 Something I've discovered in keeping the Sabbath is, 40:53 if I don't keep the Sabbath holy, 40:56 if I don't put these things aside, 40:59 my week is off balance. 41:00 I'm not, I'm like a top that's wobblier. 41:03 When you spend the day with God on the Sabbath 41:07 and you put all those earthly worldly things aside, 41:10 you become centered. 41:13 Things don't bug you like, 41:14 you know, your tempers, you know, 41:16 not as short as it might have been. 41:17 You have more patience so I know with my kids I do. 41:20 And I've also found as the father 41:23 and the husband of the home 41:25 that when my relationship with God's not right, 41:28 it affects my family, and my kids, my wife. 41:31 And it's not even that I've been cross with them. 41:33 It's just, it seems like we break the barrier, 41:36 and the enemy is allowed to come in and affect our, 41:40 start affecting our family but as a man, 41:43 as the husband and father of the home... 41:44 The priest of home. 41:45 It's very important I think for married couples 41:48 for the man to really have that relationship with God 41:50 because the whole family does suffer. 41:52 I mean, I actually see it in my family and my kids, 41:54 when I'm not centered 41:56 and not having my relationship with God. 41:58 That's important. 41:59 Going back to relationship, 42:01 if you don't have a relationship, 42:02 what we're telling you is of absolutely no value 42:04 because you can't work your way into, 42:06 you cannot on watch enough television to be saved. 42:09 This is all in the context of a relationship 42:11 and like anniversary 42:13 or when you have a family member 42:15 you want to spend time with. 42:17 Imagine going to a family member's house 42:19 and while they're trying to share with you, 42:22 you've just been out, 42:23 "Hold on wait, wait, wait, 42:24 he's about to kick a field goal, 42:26 wait, wait, 'cause he was on the news. 42:27 Wait, wait, gonna go to the store as I, 42:30 wait a minute, 42:31 didn't even care about communicating with me." 42:34 And God is saying in the relationship 42:36 like anniversary. 42:37 Yes. 42:38 Anniversary could be the worst day, 42:40 if the marriage is horrible. Right. 42:41 Or the best day if the marriage is good. 42:43 It's always the best for us. Praise the Lord. 42:46 And the weekly if we don't use the word anniversary, 42:48 what could we use, weeklyversary? 42:50 No. 42:52 Yeah, that's good word. That would be good. 42:53 every week the Lord reminds us, "Hey, Gary. 42:56 Hey, Elizabeth. I'm here. 42:58 Got a whole lot of fun things to share with you 43:00 but you got to... 43:01 Your things are not fun compared to mine. 43:04 Let's go ahead and find out what I want to share with you." 43:06 And matter of fact, there's something else. 43:07 Now let's just hit what we've talked about so far. 43:09 Sabbath is holy. It's about relationship. 43:12 Yes. 43:13 It's about not turning the television off 43:15 because there's enough news. 43:16 You'll catch it up when the sun sets 43:20 or in the next day. 43:22 And sometimes, 43:23 you have to shut your mind down. 43:24 Recently, honey, 43:26 on CNN they pointed out there's a new, 43:29 it's not a law but kind of like a parameter, 43:32 they're passing in Europe. 43:33 They're saying to people, 43:35 "When you leave work and go home, unplug." 43:38 Not the Sabbath, they're saying in the evenings, 43:41 when you go home, unplug. 43:43 Don't keep doing work from your computer, turn off. 43:45 Don't keep checking the office emails, unplug. 43:49 And the commentators on CNN said, 43:51 "It would be wonderful if they do that in America." 43:54 They were capitalistic. 43:56 But there's something else, so let's talk about 43:57 what about people 43:58 in the professional industry of health? 44:00 What about neighbors that need, have needs? 44:03 Let's talk about this one in Matthew. 44:04 Yes. Yes. 44:06 How it is important to do good things on the Sabbath. 44:10 And Jesus brings us out. 44:11 This is actually a two-program subject, 44:13 don't you think? 44:15 We might come back with part two sooner or later. 44:17 But Matthew 12. 44:21 We're going to look at verse 11 to 13. 44:24 "Then He said to them..." 44:27 What chapter? Matthew chapter... 44:28 Start from verse 9 because that really, 44:31 that pulls it all together. 44:32 Start from verse 9. Okay. 44:34 "Now when He had departed from there, 44:36 He went into their synagogue. 44:39 And behold there was a man who had a withered hand. 44:42 And they asked Him, saying, 44:45 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' 44:48 that they might accuse Him. 44:51 Then He said to them, 44:54 'What man is there among you 44:56 who has one sheep, 44:58 and if it falls into the pit on the Sabbath, 45:01 will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 45:07 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? 45:12 Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.' 45:17 " And verse 13. 45:18 "Then He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' 45:22 And he stretched it out, 45:23 and it was restored as whole as the other." 45:27 Now we don't... 45:29 It was healed. He was healed. 45:30 And when did it happen? On the Sabbath. 45:32 Wow, so what principle are we getting here? 45:34 Is it good to, what about people that have needs 45:37 that must be met, should we wait till sunset 45:39 if they have these needs? 45:40 No. 45:42 Well, it goes to show that, well, 45:43 God has given us a commandment. 45:45 He didn't tighten it down to 45:47 "It has to be this way and no other way." 45:49 He left it nebulous, sort of, 45:51 open for each one to judge and decide for himself. 45:55 Firefighters, doctors, 45:58 policemen, caregivers, 45:59 nursing homes, 46:01 I mean, there's people who have needs 46:02 and God is saying, 46:04 "Don't neglect the one who can't get to the kitchen 46:06 to feed fix the food. 46:08 Feed them. 46:09 Do the things. Help your people. 46:11 The Sabbath is for man not for..." 46:13 You know, and so what would it be like 46:15 if a child broke his arm 46:17 and there was no doctor in the emergency room 46:19 to fix his arm? 46:20 God would be saying, "I don't care. 46:22 I'm the boss. 46:23 Let him suffer for another day." 46:25 No, no, no, no, no, God is cool. 46:26 Come on. 46:28 What kind of God would that be? 46:29 Would it be a God that 46:30 we'd even want to sort of I mean... 46:32 Would we want to spend the day with a God like that? 46:33 No. You made the point. 46:34 If it falls in the ditch, get him out, if it's thirsty, 46:36 take it to water. 46:38 Come on, now be sensible. 46:39 Where is your commonsense? 46:41 God has got commonsense. 46:42 And what's bringing, 46:43 what comes out here is we had an instance 46:46 once I was on my way to church in Brooklyn going to Bethel. 46:50 And there was a guy whose car stalled in the intersection. 46:53 And I had my suit on. 46:55 I was going to church. I was sharp. 46:58 And this guy jumped out of his car. 47:00 And in Brooklyn, you can't stall too long. 47:06 So... 47:07 Now you can, back then you couldn't. 47:08 Well, back then, yeah. 47:10 It was kind of really rough. 47:11 So he stalled and he jumped out of his driver side, 47:13 and he couldn't move that car for anything. 47:17 It was a big car Buick Electra 225. 47:20 So I was walking, passing, I looked at him and he, 47:23 he kind of glanced at me and when his eyes caught me, 47:25 I thought, "Go to church 47:26 and leave this guy pushing his car here. 47:28 It's the Sabbath 47:30 or it's lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 47:34 I got rolled up my sleeves 47:36 and got on the passenger side and when I did that, 47:39 three other people, 47:40 somebody got in back and pushed, 47:42 and all together 47:43 we alleviated this man suffering on the Sabbath. 47:46 And see what we want to bring out is 47:48 while we don't seek our own pleasure 47:49 and find our own words 47:51 and watch television do all these things that, 47:52 draw our minds away from God, 47:55 Gary, point you emphasized so much, 47:56 how will people know about the Lord of the Sabbath? 47:58 Yes, a relation. Plus He's revealed though us. 48:02 What about cooking, honey? 48:04 Well, you're supposed to have your cooking done 48:09 by sunset Friday. 48:11 Have all your cooking done, everything out of the way, 48:14 and that's what I do especially when I'm having company. 48:16 I get everything out the way. 48:19 All the cooking done 'cause on Sabbath, 48:23 I want to be free and clear of doing all of that. 48:26 Even dishes, I don't like to do on the Sabbath. 48:28 Right, we would always wait till sunset. 48:30 We wait till out to sunset to wash the dishes. 48:31 And so Sabbath is so special, 48:34 but someone may ask the question, 48:37 when does Sabbath begin. 48:40 When does it begin? 48:41 Is it just Saturday morning? 48:43 You know, when does it begin? 48:45 Okay. Let's look at Leviticus 23:32. 48:47 Okay. 48:49 It's on our syllables actually, 48:50 it's right under the first point. 48:51 Oh. 48:53 If you look at that point there, 48:54 and the more I look at this topic, 48:56 the more I'm convinced, 48:57 we got to touch this again. 48:58 Yeah. 49:00 There are some other principles, 49:01 Joe, you know, have you noticed that? 49:02 Yeah. 49:04 We're kind of polishing the car, 49:05 we haven't even gotten to see it. 49:07 Yeah. 49:08 So let's look at it 49:09 because it's a very important relationship. 49:11 You have the Leviticus, read that for us, honey. 49:12 "From evening to evening, 49:13 you shall celebrate your Sabbath." 49:16 Okay, from evening to evening. 49:17 So what is, when is evening? 49:18 How do we know it's evening? 49:20 Right. When sun goes down. 49:21 How do we know, when the evening ends? 49:23 When it rises. 49:27 So but notice what it says, 49:28 it didn't say, from evening to morning. 49:30 No. 49:31 It says from evening to evening. 49:34 So how many hours apart are the two evenings? 49:36 The way I like to see it is when it when does the day end? 49:40 The day ends when the sun goes down. 49:41 That's right. 49:42 That has to be the beginning of the next day. 49:44 That's right. 49:45 So evening is the beginning of the day. 49:47 Right. That's right. 49:48 Because, he said, 49:49 the evening and the morning were the first day. 49:51 The evening came first. Yes. 49:53 Because the other day ended. 49:54 That's right. 49:55 So comes the evening as the beginning of the day. 49:57 And it's a 24-hour day to evening again 50:00 when the sun sets and that day ends. 50:02 That's right. 50:03 You know, He knows what He's doing. 50:04 I think Gary mentioned, 50:06 he thought about what he's going up 50:07 for the Sabbath with such so strict at times. 50:09 What is that? 50:10 I couldn't wait for the sun to go down, yeah. 50:13 And even when we say happy new year, what do we, 50:15 when do we do that? 50:17 New Year's Eve. 50:18 New Year's Eve. 50:19 Well, midnight. 50:21 Well, actually the world does it at midnight. 50:22 Midnight, oh, we do ours at sunset. 50:24 That's right. 50:25 Our New Year's Eve, 50:26 we had our New Year's Eve program, 50:28 every year we have it sunset. 50:30 And Elizabeth was there. 50:32 Yes, I was there. 50:33 Enjoyed that. That was a good time. 50:34 That was good. 50:36 So we looked at and said, "Okay, 50:37 4:36 is going to be a sunset." 50:39 That's what it was here in the Central Time Zone. 50:41 And when the sun went down, we said, "Happy New Year." 50:44 And now what do they call 12:00 at night, 50:50 what do they call that? Midnight. 50:52 Which means what? 50:53 The middle of the night. Yeah. 50:54 The middle of the night, the night didn't start there, 50:56 it's the middle of the night. 50:58 And there was a time 50:59 when this Sabbath was new to the early Adventists, 51:02 they didn't know when it began. 51:03 So they always go from 6 o'clock to 6 o'clock. 51:06 And then there are some people that live in time zones, 51:08 we've got to address this. 51:10 What if you lived in Alaska? 51:11 Oh, yeah. 51:13 It's dark for six months. Yeah. 51:16 Can you imagine I worked there for six months? 51:18 Or it's light for six months. 51:20 There's always an answer. 51:22 There's always an answer. 51:23 Take for example, you know, in Alaska, 51:25 when the sun dips and starts back up, 51:27 that's the change. 51:28 That's right. Okay. 51:30 And so you honor the Sabbath, and in some of those places 51:33 people said, "Okay, if 6pm to 6pm the next day..." 51:37 And the Lord understands 51:38 because the principle there is what matters, see. 51:41 It judges the heart. Yes. 51:43 I think, you know, 51:45 the preparation getting ready for it, 51:47 that's what we try to, 51:48 we've been really trying to do that 51:49 in our house so prepare. 51:51 And I called it preparation day for the Sabbath. 51:53 So that you're not rushing around to get things done, 51:56 and so it really almost doesn't really matter what time, 51:59 you know, you could see your, "Okay, 52:00 sun downs at 4:32 or 8:32 whatever." 52:03 But if it's almost if you're looking at that time 52:06 what's the last moment I can do something, 52:08 are you really prepared? 52:10 You know. That's a good point. 52:11 So it's nice to, you know, be looking ahead so that, 52:15 you know, we do have that preparation done 52:17 so that when the hours do come, 52:18 you can invite the angels 52:20 and God's presence into your house. 52:21 Yes. 52:23 And, you know, the main reason 52:24 this is something for those of us 52:25 who travel remember we were in Herald Singers, 52:27 we traveled quite a bit. 52:28 And most of the places we went 52:29 to churches would have meals for us, 52:31 but there were times 52:32 we would go to church on Sabbath, 52:34 and we didn't eat anything that morning 52:35 when we left the hotel, and there would be no lunch. 52:44 Now did we have the freedom on the Sabbath 52:48 to alleviate our own suffering? 52:49 Mm-hm. 52:51 Those were the odd times, I always said, 52:52 "You know, we got to find a place to eat. 52:54 We got to find something to eat. 52:55 We'll have no energy by this evening." 52:58 Those are those times with the principle applies 53:01 and The Lord understands that. 53:03 But don't make it so rigid, 53:05 or at the same time don't become so relaxed 53:09 that you're at home and you say, "Hey, tomorrow, 53:12 Gary, let's go out to Applebee's for lunch." 53:15 Yeah. 53:16 Seeking thy own pleasure. There you go. 53:18 Instead of pleasure with God. 53:19 Well, I don't think that's so thankful that 53:21 Jesus and His ministry 53:23 and His life illustrated proper Sabbath keeping. 53:24 Yes. 53:26 So that we could, you know, have an idea of how to keep it, 53:29 rather than, you know, being either too rigid 53:31 or too relaxed like you are saying. 53:34 It's the talking to my mind real quickly, 53:35 do you remember the disciples on the, 53:37 they walk through the field on the Sabbath 53:38 and they pick... 53:39 Yeah. 53:41 And they begin to eat and what did the Jews say? 53:42 Oh, word. Yeah. 53:43 They were breaking the Sabbath. 53:45 The Lord said these guys are hungry. 53:47 If they what... 53:49 Didn't you ever read a boy Deva went to the temple 53:52 and ate the bread on the Sabbath? 53:53 He was hungry. 53:55 So this is the principle being pointed out, 53:56 the Sabbath is not a burden, can we say Amen to that? 53:59 Amen. 54:00 It's the Sabbath is delight. 54:01 I want to, I want to, you know, Joe, 54:03 our time is going by so quickly. 54:04 Oh, going to say, I wish we had more time. 54:05 We could do this topic again. 54:07 You have a point you want to make though? 54:08 Oh, don't judge other people 54:11 what they're doing on the Sabbath 54:12 because you can't read the heart. 54:14 Okay, I'll just give you a quick example, 54:16 two men they both have daughters nine years old. 54:20 You're not supposed to go snorkeling on the Sabbath. 54:23 Don't you dare, 54:24 you're seeking your own pleasure. 54:26 So there's the two men 54:27 with their two daughters in this, in this lake, 54:30 and they're each doing their thing, 54:31 and one of them, I tell everybody, okay, 54:34 they're sinners, they're sinners. 54:35 "Excuse me," God say, "wait a minute, 54:38 let me do the judging." 54:40 Because one of them splashing water on his skin, 54:42 splashing back in their being frolicking having okay, 54:45 and that's play. 54:46 Okay, that's seeking your own pleasure. 54:48 The other one sets her and tells his daughter, 54:51 "I'm going to go, we're going down, 54:53 and I'm going to point at something 54:54 I want you to pay attention to what I point at 54:56 and study it." 54:58 And they will come back. 54:59 So they come back up and they sit on the rock, 55:00 he points to the fish down there, 55:02 and they come back up, 55:03 sit on rock, and then he says to his daughter, 55:05 "Did you notice that, that fish had no scales? 55:09 Did you notice that, 55:10 that fish's mouth wasn't on the front 55:12 but on the bottom of his face?" 55:14 That is what God created 55:16 to clean up the bottom of the lake, 55:18 don't eat those. 55:19 That's why he gave them no scales 55:21 so you'd know not to eat them. 55:23 This is the second book. 55:24 This is learning about God 55:26 and loving him for what he's done. 55:28 How is that a sin? 55:30 And, you know, that's a very good point 55:31 because you can walk out into the forest and see birds, 55:34 but what if you want to find out 55:35 about fish on the Sabbath? 55:37 You know, that for those who live near a lake, 55:39 for those who live in your beautiful location. 55:40 But I'm just saying... 55:42 Flexible, all I'm saying is watch out for the heart. 55:44 The heart... That will be the judging. 55:45 The heart is the most important thing 55:47 in matter of fact, honey, 55:48 there's a text in the Ezekiel 20:20. 55:50 I want to share with our listeners 55:52 and our viewers before we go away 55:54 because the Sabbath is a, it's a huge sign, 55:58 it's a beautiful sign. 55:59 It says, "Hallow my Sabbaths, 56:01 and they will be a sign between me and you, 56:05 that you may know that I am the Lord, your God." 56:10 Wow. 56:11 Gary, Elizabeth, Nancy, Joe, I think the clock just, 56:16 they oiled at the clock today just a little way from us. 56:19 But let's kind a recap a few points here, 56:21 one very important point, 56:23 The Lord made the Sabbath as a blessing to mankind. 56:26 Can we all agree with? Amen. 56:27 He said the Sabbath is made for man 56:29 and not man for the Sabbath. 56:31 He said, "Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy." 56:33 It's a day He sanctified 56:35 and when you are involved in sanctified activity, 56:37 touching someone else's life, 56:39 alleviating someone suffering, learning about God and nature, 56:43 turning off the school books 56:45 and turning on the holy book, 56:47 turning off CNN, and ABC, and NBC, 56:49 and allowing the Lord's music to permeate your home, 56:52 sit with your children, 56:53 get your meals ready before the Sabbath, 56:56 all that washing and the clothing 56:57 that you want to do, 56:59 wait till Sunday to do that. 57:00 That's right. 57:02 It's God's special time, 57:03 and if you really have a thriving 57:05 or want to have a thriving relationship with Jesus, 57:08 understand the principles 57:09 and follow the examples of Jesus. 57:11 You know, Gary, you know, 57:13 fell if we follow the examples of Jesus, 57:15 if we do what Jesus did, 57:18 you'll never be lost. 57:19 Amen. 57:21 So who's our example, honey? 57:22 Jesus is always our example. 57:23 And why should we keep the commandments because what? 57:25 We love him. 57:26 Amen. Amen. 57:27 Friends, if you love the Lord, 57:29 learn about Him through His word 57:30 and the blessing will always come to you, 57:32 happy Sabbath. Happy Sabbath. 57:34 Until we see you again. 57:35 Amen. |
Revised 2017-01-19