3rd Quarter 2021, Lesson 10 - Sabbath Rest

[Music] let's pray dear father thank you for this time this afternoon again we can spend to preview the lesson for next week we kind of touched on the rhythm of the sabbath this morning in our lesson study but now as we go to the next lesson we will go into more specifics and details of the sabbath gift that you've given to us may we treasure this special gift you've given where we can remember not only your creative power but your redemptive and sanctifying power through the spirit make us humble make us teachable in jesus name i pray amen so we continue our study on rest as we've uh learned in our intro you know when we uh we're processing this early on in our lesson previews rest is a concept that covers the entire bible like the covenants rest began in the garden of eden and after men's fall there was an invitation to rest in jesus through his pardon to his redemption you know through lay our loads to him coming to him to find rest all the way to the rest that will be available in the new earth so now we come into a special focus this morning we talked about rhythms and there are rhythms that we need to follow in our sanctification to be closer to god and one of the rhythms that has been established by heaven is the rhythm of the sabbath and it's the cyber threats we'll we'll try to focus on what the sabbath is meant for by god particularly in our coming lesson so we have a book written by matthew sleath md his uh he figured out the importance of a break in the week for every seven days you know you work six and the seven is a break and the only problem he said is we now have a 24 7 world and everybody knows what 24 7 is 24 7 is where you work 24 hours a day seven days a week non-stop no rest and because of technology and all the advancements that we now have in society we tend to work and work work ourselves to death so he asked the question how do we find rest in a 24 7 world the sabbath is about letting go of the controls one day a week and letting god be god by adopting the 24 6 lifestyle as we go into the jungle of technology and try to survive within technology and use the tools to accomplish a lot of things and there are magnificent things that has happened because of technology we tend to think that we are in control and that we really can run the world and the sabbath was meant for us to remember that it's not us running the show it is god who is actually in control so this is a reminder that we should not be 24 7 people we should be 24 6. abraham joshua the rabbi the distinguished rabbi wrote the classic the sabbath and this is what he said there's a realm of time where the goal is not to have but to be not to own but to give not to control but to share not to subdue but to be in accord life goes wrong when the control of space the acquisition of things of space becomes our sole concern what we plead against is men's unconditional surrendered space his enslavement to things we must not forget that it is not a thing that can lend significance to a moment it is the moment that lends significance to things you see the contrast between time and space and it begins to introduce the importance of the sabbath via this concept of time and space it's worth noting the last part of this quote that he had in his book it is not a thing that leads significance to a moment it is the moment that lends significance to things in other words it is not space that's important it is time where the spaces that makes moments meaningful so he then proceeds to say the meaning of the sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space okay you got to understand spacious materialism time has been set aside by god six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space on the sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time so at the get-go we gotta understand that the sabbath is a special gift in time and some writer called it the gospel in time in the sabbath we find god's special presence one day each week so we will cover in our preview three invitations of the sabbath there are three invitations that god gives in the gift of the sabbath the first invitation is to celebrate the creator let's review the account in genesis terry was with me in our cyber school lesson this morning we kind of touched on the simon we covered some of these verses but we want to go into more detail as to what the sabbath was meant to be the intention of god behind the gift of the sabbath thus the heavens and the earth were finished and on the seventh day god finished his work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done so god bless the seventh day and made it holy because on it god rested from all his work that he had done in creation so at the beginning of the bible we look at god creating the world and what happens after he creates the world on the seventh day he stopped creating he stopped his work because he was done on the sixth day and what did he do he rested on the sabbath day he sanctified he set it apart so out of the seven days the seventh day is special it has a special place in that rhythm okay in creation and this is something very important genesis 1 31 he processed this during our lesson study this morning in their zoom class and god saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good and some one of the members asked why should it not be perfect okay the original word in hebrew for good is pleasing so there is an element of celebration god did not just stop work because of inactivity he stopped work in order to appreciate and be pleased with what we have done the rest oops sorry we'll go back to the rest of achievement these arrest of achievement is supposed to arrest of an activity god celebrates and takes pleasure in what he has done so it's very important the sabbath is not just a cessation of activity it's not about laziness it's not about doing nothing instead the sabbath is an active celebration and taking a delight and pleasure on things that has been accomplished by god okay so how does the how does the commandment go exodus 28-10 remember the sabbath day to keep it holy set it aside holy sanctified means it's got a special place it's distinct from the rest of the days of the week six days you should labor and do all your work but the seventh day is habit to the lord your god on it you should not do any work you or your son your daughter your male servant your female servant your livestock or this adjourner who is within your guts notice i put some numbers there the reason i put a number there is the dr richard davidson and an interesting article about the sabbath it ran a series last year in the adventist review and the distinctive beliefs of the adventist church but you notice uh who shall not do any work in the commandment if you count you your son your daughter male servant female servant livestock and sojourner those are seven okay those are seven entities that will have to observe the sabbath so uh and dr richard davidson goes into the psalms goes into the hebrew structure and say that seven is embedded into all the poetry and all the literature in the old testament because of the blessing of the sabbath and you know what then the sabbath dress is god and man in unbroken fellowship and relationship with men enjoying god's presence and celebrating his finished work so everything is good so what god said is hey you know let's take a break let's have a day where we can celebrate my finished creation and have fellowship with his other when he created adam and eve for in six days the lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day therefore the lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy that's the last part of the commandment it is very clear that there was a creation of six days okay the lord made heaven and earth but on the seventh day god rest rested and he blessed it and he made it holy all right so i should say this i my my condolences to pastor dan botavara with the with the passing of eve she she passed yesterday there's a good friend who was a pastor over a church for the longest time but i remember one of her pastors here after pastor dan left for california pastor roman baldwin took his place and pastor mon almost left the adventist faith he had been this church he started questioning the relevance and the biblical soundness of a lot of our distinctive doctrines and you know what took him back was the next verse when he read revelation 14 this is where he saw the evidence for the sabbath okay uh in our class this morning in fact yes in genesis 1 you would not see the word sabbath you will see the seventh day you will not see the sabbath but the thing is when you go to exodus 20 verse 8 there is now an explicit uh mention of the sabbath and the six days and the seventh day so if you go two and two put two and two together you get exodus 20 and go back to genesis 1. in genesis 2 you will see that after sixth day there was a seventh day which is called the sabbath in the ten commandments and some people always argue that's only the old covenant was given to the israelites because the sabbath was only there for israel but we go the old testament the sabbath has been there even before the israelites came into view particularly in the creation account right so what why is this important and he said with a loud voice fear god and give him glory because the arab his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth the sea and the springs of water this is very important is one of the most respected scholars in the adventist ranks is john pauline john paulin authored the new series that we have in revelation you should follow that i think that's one of the best series in revelation that we have but john paul is recognized as one of the experts in the society of biblical languages and it's an association of biblical scholars who studies the languages of the scriptures and in his research he told this in his research that this particular verse has a direct allusion to exodus 20 this verse they say worshipping who made heaven and earth the sea and the springs of water john the revelator was actively referring to the fourth commandment in exodus 20. okay so and then he proceeds to prove that and we'll let's do that right now he said there's a variable parallel there's a parallel parallelism between the verb age the words in revelation in exodus 20. in six days the lord made heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them okay and then in in revelation you start talking about the basis of worship in revelation four and five and two of my favorite chapters in revelation is four and five that's the actual worship in the presence of god where where john is taken into heaven by the angel and the curtain is rolled away and he looks into the actual worship session in heaven you know with the 24 elders the four living creatures that's fascinating but there you see everybody worshiping god for on one reason worthy of your lord and our god to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and because of your will they existed and were created why why were they worshiping because god created and that's the message of the first angel worship him and fear him because he created where on what basis he alludes to exodus 20. and then here's the key we'll go to this and the question i asked did god leave some sabbath markers in nature even after men fell okay in 1817 robert owen founder of the cooperative movement formulated the goal of the eight-hour day and coined the slogan eight hours labor eight hours of recreation eight hours rest you may be wondering today in our industrial society why do we work only eight hours a day why not ten why not of course some narcissists work twelve hours a day you get three days in a week but the the common mode is to work eight hours a day because according to research of economists and industrialists they're not even reading the bible they know that the body has a rhythm to follow you can only tolerate so much if you want to keep on going and they said let's give a limit of eight hour work days for men to make it possible why because this is known everybody agrees that this is real we have a circadian rhythm we have a rhythm for the day for each of our bodies uh we talk about this you know your lowest body temperature is four o'clock in the morning your melatonin secretion starts at nine pm that's why you can easily go to bed and sleep that then your eyes blood pressure is 6 30 pm fastest reaction time is 3 30 pm this happens if you are a normal individual that's why there is always a comment when you especially us when we go to a mission trip to the philippines we fly from america to the philippines and there's a 13-hour differential and then uh at least even my wife finds it very difficult to sleep because it has been if it's shifted the rhythm has been shifted and this is what we call jet lag why is there a jet lag because there's a rhythm that you follow daily with your body and that rhythm if you violate that somehow messes up the constitution of your physiology and your body and your health might suffer but what's interesting is aside from the circadian rhythm we have what we call a silica septum cycle circus something has something to do with seven okay let's read what franz haldberg the father of grand chrono biology says chronobiology is the study of time and life looking at the rhythms of time and looking at life body rhythms of about seven days far from being passively driven by the social cycle of the calendar week are innate autonomous and perhaps the reason why the calendar week arose in the first place you gotta find this body rhythms is not generated by culture it is innate it is within that mark of the rhythm of seven is within our bodies that's what he's saying okay let's let's read some more chronobiology international this is the journal of biological and medical rhythm research these are scientific journals these are not this biblical commentaries these are not biblical articles these are scientific journals and it says the biological requirement for rest and repair one day in each days just as the circadian time is representative of the biological need for rest and repair each 24 hours island rhineberg you can research this there is a research that there is a circumcepted rhythm a rhythm of seven days with a man i can live with the nature you know what's interesting most current research thomas pavlichek and pavel drihak and the research gate this is as early as may 2020 last year when calvin hit the oscillatory dynamics in infectivity and death rates of government 19. government 19 infectivity and death rates is revealed in many countries around the world a typical oscillatory pattern with a seven-day circumceptant period remember if you go to countries right now quarantine begins with seven days or it becomes 14 days seven times two there's a rhythm of seven in terms of during the research in terms of infectivity and in terms of mortality some of the circuit symptoms rhythm even with kavit comes into play so there's a marker that god left in nature for us to understand the value of the seventh day or the sabbath i mentioned this to you before dr sangli a health lecturer a preacher heard about bees in brazil who were stingless but you know what they do they gather nectar every day except on the seventh day they go out and gather nectar from their arms there's no stings they work every day non-stop until the seventh day comes and they stop working okay in terms of microbiology the unicellular green algae acetabularia meditermania it has a rhythm of about seven days okay this is acquisitive rhythm exists and that the removal of the nucleus results in the circumceptin frequency multiplication even in the algae you get the circumception rhythm at first glance it might seem that weekly rhythms develop in response to the seven day week impulse by human culture thousands of years ago however this jury doesn't hold one she realized that plants insects and animals other than humans also have weekly cycles biology therefore not culture is probably at the source of our seven day week we already said this before you can explain the day astronomically with one rotation of the earth on its axis you can explain a month with one revolution of the moon around the earth and you can explain the year with one revolution of the earth around the sun astronomically from an astronaut astronomy standpoint you can explain that how they explain the seven days in a week you do not find an explanation in astronomy for the seventh day of the week and people say oh it was because of culture we got accustomed to having a break for every seven days we got that but no when the scientists looked into this they said within nature is a built-in circuit septon cycle like a circadian rhythm that we follow not only within man but within even animals and microorganisms sean pittman says this if the seven day week is an invention of culture and religion as most historians would have us believe how do we explain innate circumcepting rhythms in primitive algae rats plants and face flies these forms of life have no calendar can't read the torah and don't know saturn from santa claus these are not religious people these are scientists and they say how in the world do we have this cycles of seven within all these organisms organisms including the human body is this not compelling evidence for a common designer who could so powerfully program his creation to a cycle he set in motion to a rhythm tuned to his own activity of work and rest that's what can west be says there are marks even outside of the bible within nature that there is a cycle of seven there's a need for the cycle as introduced by god into his creation and you know what people did as always they want to prove that they're smarter than god and there were two regimes the french revolution the russian revolution both regimes tried to tamper with the circumception rhythm and you know what they did there was an attempt to obliterate the seven day week and during the french revolution they actually wanted to eliminate all traces of religion and because the sunday keeping and all of this observance came from the catholic church they want to get rid of the catholic church you talk about the capture of the pope in 1798 as part of the french revolution okay so you know what they did one thing that leaves an indelible mark in the minds of men is the way they reconcile and date so let's change the date reckoning instead of having the sex adjustment system which is one to twelve you know the twelve we talked about this 360 and 60. let's have a decimal week so the decimal week ends up having 10 days a week instead of seven days a week look at what they did i'll go back to this they gave people this watch and this clock during the time the french revolution where you have a 10-day hour in the clock and then the built in 12 hour within so you can do the translation and these are the translations of the 24 hour and 12 hour with the decimal system why in order for them to disrupt the circuit septon cycle okay what happened because this happened well the productivity of france went down because both the mental the physical and economic health of the country suffered when you disrupted and tampered with the circuit septon cycle they did the same thing in russia in 1929 1940 they attempted to abolish religion increase productivity so they had a five-day continuous work week did it help the economy no yes fine initially it will help the economy because you got a lot more labor force but when your labor force becomes sick they cannot produce and the economy suffers so dwight el mory said this no nation has ever prospered that this trampled the sabbath in the dust show me a nation that has done this and i will show you a nation that has got it in it in the seeds of ruin and decay i believe that the sabbath desecration will carry a nation down quicker than anything else don't tamper with the rhythms of god when you do that men first suffer and because men constitutes society society will suffer and nations will suffer as a result of us disrupting the rhythms that god established for our lives so how do we the first game of disciple is saying if that being the case i must celebrate my creator because there's a creator of the world that i live in so psalms 8 3 and 4 6 when i look at your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the starch which you have set in place what is men that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him what are we saying here you know we've talked about this before i don't want to be redundant but there are how many stars there's about 10 to the 24 stars in the universe in the known universe that's one plus 24 zeros what does that mean if you were to look for our solar system within our galaxy which is the milky way what is it it will be the size of a quarter that's within our galaxy alone and there are 200 billion galaxies in the universe so when you start looking at the dish like david is saying he didn't even have a telescope during his time i just look at the heavens the moon and the stars he said what is man that you are mindful of him so albert einstein the genius in physics says this we are but spec in an unfathomably large universe the more we gain enzyme into its mysterious forces cosmic anatomic the more we harness the huge power of these forces the more such humility becomes an impurity what does that mean if you're honest with yourself the genius of the mind of einstein saying you know who can probably understand this better than most of us if not all of us in the world because of his intellect said oh the more i look into this the more i am forced and i am commanded to be humble because i am so small compared to the universe that i'm studying i love what louis giggling said sin is a way of shrinking god and puffing us up but just a glance at the universe resizes everything the god to be worship is unrivaled and contested of all kinds of might and glory and power and also imagine yourself god invites you in the sabbath every week to sit down and appreciate his creative power and all of his creation and you with your jaw dropping looking at god in awe how great is my god enter the sabbath you can spend time admiring the greatness of god but not only that we don't have a universe outside there's also a universe inside if you remember one dna me the reason why i'm here today i have a human genome that figure out my height my the color of my hair my eyes what have you one human genome four nucleotides with three billion characters will take 96 years to read if read one character per second if you were to read my human genome my makeup okay my my dna it would take you 96 96 years if you were to hit one character per second a single standard human dna would feel a thousand volume encyclopedia comprising 600 000 pages with 500 words on each page that's how complicated my makeup is so when i look at my body and how god you know you probably have seen this in our live stream i fractured my clavicle two weeks ago in two places it hurts but it's amazing how my body recovers and i look at what god has created in me and you know what though is what i what does i i what do i say psalm 139 34 for you form my inward parts you needed me together in my mother's womb i praise you for i am fearfully and wonderfully made a as insignificantly small as we are compared to the universe it's more incredible that we are marked with majesty for we have been made in the image of god the gift of the sabbath gives us reason to appreciate the greatness of our creation and the intricacies of our own bodies that god has made if i were to summarize what the first invitation is when we rest from our work on the sabbath we are essentially saying god is the ultimate provider of our needs we trust him to take care of us we give up control and declare god is the one in control of our time and our resources yeah we don't want to let religious control as human beings we're very selfish we want to take matters into our own hands every time but god invites us why don't you let go and understand that i was the one who created this in the first place and i'm in control and if you are related to me and you know me you don't have to worry because i'm in control including you i'm in control of your life and in control of your environment the sabbath was meant to invite us into that mental perspective that god is the ultimate provider of all our needs we stop stop working thinking that we can provide for ourself and earn our salaries and our living in the in the sabbath we stop and basically say we really can't do it only god can do it for us terry were you asking something you have something all right so the first invitation is to celebrate the greater the second invitation in the sabbath if you read the biblical testimony is to remember the redeemer okay he goes this is my favorite passage about the sabbath okay as much as i love exodus 20 and revelation 14. i love deuteronomy 5 because we will see the difference of the function of the sabbath before and after the fall because of what this said you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of egypt and the lord your god brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm okay see look at the commandment it begins but it doesn't say remember the sabbath day but he say remember that you were slaves in egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm i delivered you therefore look therefore the lord your god commanded you to keep the sabbath day all of a sudden the purpose of the sabbath is not just to celebrate the creator it is now to remember your redeemer how important is this dr bakayoki wrote the book divine rest for human restlessness which i still consider one of the classics on the salmon that's where he said that you know after men fell into sin and we lost paradise decay and death came into the picture we look at the world now which is deteriorating and decaying in front of our eyes god set out the plan in order to redeem us through jesus christ you know we talk about the seed and we talk about the covenants but part of the plan is to change the function of the sabbath because now the sabbath is not only a celebration of the creator the sabbath is now a symbol of god's finished work of redemption in jesus christ and taking us out of the slavery of sin we are now to remember that we are redeeming jesus christ in the sabbath nation the redemptive focus of the sabbath we owe a lot to the the research of dr bakogi is founded in deuteronomy 5 15. it says that you were slaves and i delivered you with the mighty and therefore remember the sabbath translating it into our days you know what you were slaves to sin with a mighty hand i transform you and change you and save you and redeem you therefore keep the sabbath day where as you celebrate god's finished work in creation you can also celebrate god's finished work of redemption in jesus christ when you observe the sabbath it is a review but you know what we studied right that they say that matthew 11 25 to 30 are perhaps the most important verses in the synoptic gospels coming from cambridge university press this is the new testament scholar a.m hunter in cambridge university what is what matthew 11 25 30. remember we started this come unto me all you that labor and heavy laden and i will give you rest i thank the father that you that you've revealed this to children that particular passage according to some scholars is the most important passage in the sign of the gospels why because here's what don carson says in matthew 12 1 you read that you see at the time matthew then carefully points out that the sabbath conflicts occurred at that time presumably at or near the time when jesus had spoken expressed what is carson saying don carson is saying the invitation of jesus to come unto me only that labor and heavy laden and i will give you rest was given in the context of sabbath conflicts so the rest that christ invites us to go into is based on resting on the sabbath day remember the invitation come unto me all you who labor in a heavy laden i will give you what is that heavy load we studied this a few sabbahs ago that heavy load are all the sabbath restrictions that the piracy says imposed among the jews in order for you to fight really observe the sabbath you should not do this you should not start a fire you should not work more walk more than a mile you know some of the ridiculous laws and it has become a burden instead of the gift and the blessing the sabbath became a burden so in the context don carson is saying when jesus said this come unto me take away that burden you know from your shoulders and i will give you rest because that dress is typified in the sabbath command okay let's expand on this more remember the story of the pharisee in the public end what did the parents just say i think that i'm not like that guy extortionist that's all the evils i'm so clean you know it reminds us of our the servant of our pastor this morning about the self-righteous elder brother in luke 15. and then all that the publican could say he beat his breast and what did he say oh god have mercy on me a sinner and what did jesus say this is what jesus said in matthew 18 14. i tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled but the one who humbles himself will be exalted that's the biggest problem of self-righteousness because they never recognize the finished work of redemption in jesus christ they want to finish the work of redemption themselves and to take credit for what they do and that's why the pharisee gloats in his self-righteousness and thinks that he's accepted by god but somebody who knows his need of redemption and forgiveness and pardon will be like the public and invoke the mercy of god what did blaise pascal say truly it is an evil to be full of faults but it is still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling to recognize them that's why i love what our pastor said in the sermon this morning in effect the elder brother was more lost than the younger brother in luke 15 because at least the younger brother knew how filthy eating with the swines are but the elder brother didn't care they thought he had it made because everything belongs to me he was a good intuition it was perfect yes yeah the the that's not that you're within giant yeah you you see the mode in your brother's side but you didn't see the beam in your and that's an hyperbola how can a beam fit in your eye but basically jesus is saying oh it's sure easy for you to point fingers but if you will know how sinful you are before god then you will understand the meaning of pardon and forgiveness yes yes and that's a that's a stinging rebuke right to us i mean there's a tendency like our pastor admitted this morning there's the tendency for us to be self-righteous so easy to have the tendency but if you realize how much god has forgiven us then we will understand our need of mercy yeah and that's that's one of my concerns and i know there's been some back and forth in youtube some people have made comments about their approach in teaching our lesson there is a tendency among adventists to think that we're it right we're anything outside of the adventist church is babylon and whether we like it or not and intentionally what we end up doing is being very exclusivistic and in the process become very judgmental anybody who doesn't smell and and talk like an adventist is babylon and we're better than the other guy oh my if we only realize that all of us are sinners before god and only christ can make us acceptable then maybe we can get rid of such spiritual and denominational pride it's sad that uh ellen white basically saying our foremost calling is to lift up jesus christ but sometimes you mistake that to lifting up the seventh day i have in this denomination i got nothing against that denomination that's the reason i'm here as part of the admin family but the moment our denomination takes the place of jesus christ something is wrong and one of the quickest way to do that is to concentrate on how special we are instead of how special god is all right so so here's what monica margaritas is saying that the privacy of men is at once the most empirically very verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resistant fact if you're honest with yourself you're really bad but we resist that i'm really good right that's such a tendency and then c.s lewis candidly said when he wrote for the first time i examined myself with a seriously practical purpose you say fine i'll be honest and look at myself have a self-inventory what did you find what did he find and there i found what they called me a zoo of lust a bedlam of ambitions a nursery of fears a harem of fondled hatreds my name was legion you remember legion the demon demoniac with legions of evil spirits you know look at me i'm an oxford professor i look decent to you but when you look at my heart it is like a zoo of lust a bedlam of a nursery roof is a harem of fundamental hatred i am a sinner through and through you realize that you will need jesus christ yes and nothing that's why god thought of depravity not a single square inch of our bodies not affected by sin and that's why it's a wonder how people can gloat in their self-righteousness despite their sinfulness that's why what did jesus say it's very telling for i tell you unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven jesus is saying are the pharisees and scribes righteous oh yes they are but their righteousness cannot come up to the standard of god because the standard of god is absolute perfection in jesus christ who was the only one who is perfect and good only jesus only jesus can be accepted by god and how can you be righteous alone if you get and accept and receive that righteousness by faith the perfect righteousness of jesus becomes yours if you combine all the righteousness of the pharisees during time of years they will not even come close to the righteousness of christ how does one puts it when one one pastor and evangelist said okay let's go outside one night when the moon is shining in its brightness let's pick up stones and everybody try to hit the moon with the stone you know of course the one with the with a stronger right hand or stronger you'll probably throw the stone higher but can anybody hit the moon there's no way because the standard is so high and that's righteousness god says be holy because i am holy you know the standard of righteousness is so high we can't even reach that and yet people think that they can oh here comes the relationship with the sabbath okay so then there remains a sabbath dress for the people of god for whoever has entered god's rest has all to rested from his works as god did from his watch this very carefully what does the author of the book of hebrews say you know if you enter into cyber threats you rest from your works the way god did from his what was he saying you rest from trying to save yourself because god has already finished the work of redemption and jesus christ you don't have to try to save yourself it's already done why do you try to accomplish what has already been accomplished in jesus christ so like god rested you know god rested in the work of creation he also rested in the work of redemption we must rest from our works trying to save ourselves we will not cut it we must depend on jesus christ remember dr bakayogi asked this so very significantly why did jesus not rise from the dead over the weekend you know on a saturday why did the hebraic have to wait till sunday morning to rest from the dead okay well that's one of the well what that's one of the answers and then dr marquis asks a very important question what was she just doing on saturday oh oh he was resting why in the world was he resting all right okay but i mean what did he say on the cross it is finished so as god rested in creation that's what hebrews 4 is saying somewhere he said that after the six days of gracie accomplished create the creation work he rested so did jesus after dying on the cross saying it is finished he rested because the work of redemption has been finished and completed that's what he is saying in the sabbath you tell god lord i cannot save myself i am so sinful there is no hope in me but i thank you because of what jesus has done he has accomplished the work of redemption all i need to do is receive and trust him and i will be saved that's what you do on the sabbath so the cycle is not only what what you do in celebrating creation it is also a reminder of your redeemer we already talked about this john 19 30 when jesus had received the sour wine he said it is finished and he bought his hand and gave up his spirit he said it is finished and you know what happened when he said it is finished right you read the gospels the available temple was run into two right people can go into the throne room the most holy place is no longer restricted because jesus entered into heaven itself we talk about that um and then if you want to relate back to deuteronomy 5 15 where you were slaves and i delivered you with the mighty and therefore remember the sabbath this is what romans 4 4 and 5 says not to the one who works his wages are not counted as a gift but as his jew if you work for it it will not be a gift anymore okay and to the one who does not work but believes in him justifies the ungodly faith is counted this righteousness the contrast that paul is trying to say you can try to work for your righteousness and when you work for your righteousness your righteousness is no longer a gift it is your due because you work for it and the bible again and again says that salvation is a gift from god it is given by grace that's why it says in galatians 4 4 and 5 same book god sent for the son born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption of sons and because you are sons god has sent the spirit of his son into your hearts crying abba father so you are no longer a slave there you go but the sun and if a sun then an heir throughout the fulfillment of the sabbath in the gospel of jesus christ you say because you are now sons because of what christ has done you are no longer saying well this is amazing i did not plan this but it correlated the sermon on the pastor in his morning the eldest elder brother treated himself like a slave in the sermon but in fact he was a son and jesus is saying through the sabbath you will realize because the worker redemption is done you have been freed you are no longer a slave you are my child you're my son i love the way tim keller puts it the sabbath is therefore a declaration of our freedom it means you are not a slave not to your culture's expectations not your family's hopes not to your career demands not even to your own insecurities in the sabbath you are no longer a slave you are freed from all these entanglements in your life because in jesus you are now a child of god and you're freed from any slavery that the enemy has imposed upon you okay there's another angle to remembering your redeemer remember when the egyptians finally relented and let the easter lights go what was that was the 10th plague right that was the beginning of the passover feast what's the passover feast remember the angel the death angel goes in the midnight in both the egyptian and the israeli camp and he looks at the doorpost in the middle and he finds blood what does the angel do the angel passes over the house and nobody dies and of course you know terrorists first born the cattle died and finally pharaoh after the attempt like relents and then this is what exodus 12 27 says you shall say it is the sacrifice of the lord's passover for he passed over the houses of people of israel in egypt and when he struck the egyptians but spared our houses and the people what did they do they bow their heads and they worship all right get it they worship next finally pharaoh cause moses and aaron into the palace get out you and your israelites leave my country go and what worship the lord as you ask what was the purpose of what was the purpose of of god giving the sabbath you know in in liberating the israelites that they can worship put them in the mirror worship him as both creator and redeemer here comes the extension of what john paulin says and i i mentioned this earlier it was pastor baldwin who was here it was this reading and study that pulled him back into adventists there's a thematic parallel there's a three motivations to obedience in revelation 14. remember eternal gospel the salvation you've got judgment irish judgment creation look at what the verse says then i saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel that's salvation and he said with a loud voice the hour of his judgment discount this judgment and worship him who made heaven and earth the sea in the springs of water all right so you got the parallels of salvation judgment and creation what happens in exodus 20 there are three motivations to obedience okay what are those motivations i am the lord your god who brought you out of the land of egypt that salvation visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children that's judgment the lord made the heavens and the earth that's creation this is amazing you look at revelation 14 and exodus 20 the parallels are there you cannot mistake the illusion of john the verb later to the sabbath commandment now there is a structural parallel this is where worship comes in the remnants are characterized as those are what are the two traits of the ramen those who keep the commandments of god okay and so the dragon was enraged with a woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children who keep what the commandments of god and hold on to the testimony of jesus so there's a structure of parallel note what revelation is saying this is brilliant what john paul explained here commandments is the ten commandments right okay and something's happening in revelation 12 13 14 and 15. what's going on there there's a beast okay and there's a sea beast there's a land beast and according to revelation there will be a move to worship the beast and people will make an image to the beast and then there will be blasphemies coming from the mouth of the beast and then there'll be the mark of the beast he said if you do the structural parallel listener says john paul and you end up having the first commandment saying thou shalt have no other gods before me worship the beast thou shalt not make any grave and immediately make an image to the beast thou shalt take the name of the lord again blaspheme is coming from the beast and what is the at the next parallel it is remember the sabbath day and if all of these are counterfeit worship this our worship of the beast worship the image of the beast and blasphemies of the beast what happens to the market to be something will be enacted in the end to counterfeit the sabbath command that remembers god as creator and god is redeemer of man all right i will have no time to discuss the rest of this stuff but this is very interesting this part of dr richard davidson's article it says the pineal gland kind of given away the pineal project is in some animals not only has a circumcept and seven day rhythm but this rhythm highlights a specific day of the week saturday in case of rats for example vol rat at alfond that the pinyon gland releases its calming and mood enhancing melatonin maximally on saturdays right it's amazing you know what melatonin is right melatonin yeah the the sleep hormone right uh they did they researched this coming from the pineal gland for some reason when they look at the mice what happened it releases a maximum calming and mood enhancing you know level of melatonin on saturdays okay so give it whatever you want to give it but the bottom line is when god gave the sabbath he also specified the seventh day as the sabbath i don't want to go into it then extend the discussion of that but you will know we talked about dr bakayoki and all but the bottom line is in the end says the revelation the test will be on observing the right of servants of the sabbath okay in order for us to truly worship god the issue is worship the issue is not just the first and seventh day the issues will you worship god or will you worship the beast will you worship the image of the beast and listen to the blasphemies and follow the beast or the counterfeit sabbath of god and that's the issue that will be a test final test in the end it takes us to the last part the third invitation is not only to celebrate the creator remember the redeemer is to savor sanctifier right what does it say moreover i gave them my sabbaths as the sign between me and them that they might know that i am the lord who sanctifies them what's the purpose of the sabbath exodus 20 in the chapter so that people will know what that god sanctifies us develops and forms us spiritually okay this christian maturity and then later on in another eight verses down in exodus 20 ezekiel 20 20 keep my sabbaths holy that they may be a sign between me and you that you may know that i am the lord your god how do you how are you sanctified you are sanctified by knowing god okay it's very very clear here you know it's a sign that i am you got your signifier and if you keep my sabbath you may know that i am the lord your god okay what is this no yeah let's review this in john 17 3 jesus said and this is eternal life that they know you the only true god in jesus christ whom you upset if you take that verb no and take it from the greek and the hebrew and find out what that means it will take you to a verse in the bible in genesis 4 1. it says an adam new eve his wife and she conceived and board came saying i have gotten the man with the help of the lord what's here look at the word no here the verb no adam knew eve and what and eve conceived so what is known here is it very plain no it's the physical relationship the most intimate relationship between a man and a woman and that's what's being used in john 17 3 eternal life is knowing god so intimately it's a delightful knowledge and that's what salvation is about this is very powerful that's why you worship because of that intimate relationship with god and let's read yes that's exactly the point that's why the sabbath became a burden and and that's why jesus had to invite them come unto me and i will give you rest sure if they really knew god they will delight in him because you know the root word no here you know what it means it's delightful relationship between a man and a woman and that should be a relationship we got in the spiritual realm they never knew that they were burdened they were burdened with the sabbath rather blessed by this hour let's not let's not be so high with our snouts they're the bastard because with it within adventism you know we can be so guilty and do the same thing when there's something i i i kind of said this yesterday i participated in the discussion of the sabbath in one of the live sessions in facebook with a bunch of ministerial graduates and teachers and you know what the discussion was how do you observe the sabbath what should you avoid doing on the sabbath what what should i inhibit myself or should i prevent myself from doing in the sun but in other words how do i burden myself on the sabbath day instead of giving you a rest and delight and celebration and that's where i kind of suggested they said when jesus spoke about the sabbath in the gospels did jesus ever say don't no it was very positive it is good to save lives on the sabbath right i mean look at this woman has been bounded by the enemy for years shouldn't she be freed on the sabbath day jesus always said this you should do on the sabbath day and celebrate the servant with me it's a positive imaging but the concept of the jews was you should not do this do this all prohibitions i always say listen we played the game among adventists where we got the big stick he heard about it sunset friday what do you do you push the sun up i guess you don't understand first because you will stop you will not be able to do anything you're going to watch tv you're going to do this thing and then by the time saturday afternoon cover what you do you stick the stick and pull it down so that the silence will be done and i can do my thing what a what a perverted view of the sabbath the sabbath was given as a gift and we look at this as a burden that's that's what what's ironic we're so good in the seventh and first day debate but we've never really valued the meaning of the sabbath as the people i mean traditionally at least from my own experience yes because you don't want to simon i mean that's the point i mean if you don't want the sabbath you don't want god as your creator god is your redeemer and that's your sanctifier what are you then if you don't want to appreciate god's creation redemption and sanctification do you even know him that's the point if you don't delight you probably don't know it why because here's the two favorite verses i have watch these two verses i say 58 i like the message translate the paraphrase if you watch your step on the sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage if you treat the sabbath as a day of joy god's holy day is a celebration if you honor it by refusing business issues what making money or running here and there it's very clear right take away all of your distractions and all you things that you can achieve all your self-made works and achievements and ambition take that out what will happen look uh the message the message is the paraphrase yeah the paraphrase okay but look at what happens in english standard version which i always use then you shall take what look what does it say they theory they shall then you shall take delight in the lord and i will make you right on the heights of the earth i will feed you with the heritage of jacob your father for the mouth of the lord has spoken watch this very carefully what this what does i say you say if you will get rid of all the distractions in your life and spend time with me you will find the light in me so why are you supposed to stop all of this work not to give yourself a hard time you're stopping all of this so you can concentrate and focus your attention on god and if god is your treasure you will delight in him it's amazing the sabbath is connected directly to the lighting in the lord okay what's that what is your favorite verse for worship remember this delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of yours this is the essence of worship finding the light in god and watch this vehicle the last three slides through the sabbath you'll be able to find the lighting and god to the side but you can worship god when we started i remember we studied isaiah when isaiah wrote this it was still years before the babylonian captivity but this was prophetic and remember what happened when the babylonian exiles came back right the nehemiah built the walls remember what they did to the sabbath right they desecrated the sabbath you read we studied in the mias or nehemiah on the sabbath day all the people came you know to sell merchandise right at the wall of jerusalem can you imagine going to church by the time you go out of church they're selling fish you know they saw they're selling all the merchandise when you're doing the recessional in church that was going on and nehemiah was so mad he got rid of that because they were always doing the sabbath for themselves they're doing it for business you're utilizing your righteousness to get brownie points but what this jesus saying to isaiah but if you will stop and be present with me let me go back to what pastor said this morning remember the conversation between the elder son and the father the son said i i never disobeyed you i've obeyed your perfect record you haven't even killed the goats for me you know and then this son the son of yours not even his brother he wasted his living and harlot what do you do you kill the father calf you know what the fatted calf is so you spend years to make that calf ready for a big big celebration you didn't even kill a god for me imagine he spent his own life just for a goat that's crazy right that's what and how many of us spend our whole life trying to keep the sabbath for a goat from god and what did the father say my father my son i'm always with you and all that i have is yours what this is saying he said it's not the goat it's not the fat that count it's your presence and my presence with its other that really goes you're missing it you think you resonate but you are my son i've always been with you you know why people don't enjoy the sabbath they come to the sabbath as a slave that's a name that they can that can't do anything because it's a sabbath day i'm enslaved by god maybe we don't have a true heart maybe we don't have that no that we think we know yes the reason why we don't have a heart is we're absent to god what's this this very i love this when i was reading i had a series of manila and spiritual disciplines god is always present right because god is always there he's always in our lives but the problem is sometimes you're absent to him you get it i mean he's there but we don't give him a time of day i'll give you an illustration you use the cell phone don't go anywhere just use the software is it possible for you to be with somebody and that somebody's not with you because he spends one hour looking at the cell phone not even looking at you not even minding what you say so that person is present with you but you're not present he's not present with you in terms of here so what did we say that's why that little girl started pulling on the apron of her mom doing something in the kitchen mom look at me look at me listen to me yes yes yes yes honey i i'm hearing you then he posted mom no mom i want you to listen to me with your eyes what is he just trying to say that's why we talked about this before attention is the beginning of devotion don't forget that if you're not willing to give god attention you will not learn what devotion is is like so if god promises his presence with us unless you pay attention to his presence and cherish that presence with you you will never find the light in him it's true especially when you don't pay attention to the god you're distracted by cell phone by technology you don't have time to pray you don't go to god and all of a sudden you got a problem in your life you blame god and then you tell god where are you you see i need you now are you really god why did you leave me and then god says oh my son my daughter i've always been here but you were not and that's why dr james ford jr had the marriage seminar and he said he was driving one day with his wife sitting in front you remember those days when you didn't have like single seats in the car there's only one run row you know that car they're driving and say the wife said oh we're not like we were before used to be when you drive you put your arms around me it was close to you when you're driving now you're really far so he's the wife you know what dr james ford said hey i haven't moved i'm still here who moved you know what i was trying to say that's what god is starting to say i've never moved i'm here but if you don't find the light in being present with me and if your job your accomplishment your toys are more important to you than me you'll never find the light in me and if you don't find the light in me you will never enjoy the sabbath it's the sabbath is an opportunity to say i'm gonna get your attention okay take away all your distractions focus on me and i'm telling you if you focus on my presence you will have joy like never before and that's where the secret the desire of this theory and unfortunately because we're so preoccupied with our accomplishment and what we do we never go into that the bliss and the delight of the presence of god in our lives that's why a lot of people who know the value of being present with god cherishes the sabbath they can hardly wait for the sabbath to come because they can throw away everything you know forget all this one pastor saying you know actually what they're practicing their family they shut down all technology sunset friday you know what that means cell phone is off tv is off everything this is just a break with god where they have devotionals and family they worship and they go to nature and enjoy the presence of god tough to do that today especially with the drive of technology and all so good question because hopefully towards the end of this presentation i'll give you some pointers on doing that because it helped me it helped me my just myself it's very important okay and remember this is my my very my basic proposition for the entire quarter what is the definition of rest this is the definition for us in the bible what does it say exodus 33 14 my presence will go with you and what and i will give you rest rest is not possible without the presence of god you get it that's that's the promise you want rest you are so weary you're so overburdened overloaded you want to rest hey recognize my presence i'm here with you rosie and lily is with us because of adventurers and rosie came to me the other day he said grandpa is it true that at night there are a lot of animals you know that might go to the house so i thought don't worry the door is closed the window is closed the animal's gonna get in and then she goes and hugs me and said grandpa do you always take care of us [Music] you love those comments but that's it jesus is saying you know the only way you can have security and rest is to know that i'm present with you my presence is with you be present in the presence don't be absent in my presence and you know you know what psalm 16 11 says right you make known to me the path of life in your presence there is fullness of joy at your right and their pleasures forevermore if you know the presence of god you wouldn't that you will know joy and pleasure how in the world can you tell me that the sabbath is a burden if you know that the sabbath is enjoying the presence of god yeah we also answer your question i've been answering practically a practical uh obligation this is what augustine said the move is asked to delight in praising thee for those forms for thyself and our hearts are restless till they find the rest in thee yeah maybe it's over there but i mean people miss the first part here they always quote the last part like i've seen people do this from from renowned speakers tim keller and all they only go the last part and they miss the first part what's the first part augustine says you are the one who moves us to delight there you go you cannot move ourselves to do it god moves us to delight in praising him and you know what we remain restless until we find our hearts find the rest in god right so i'm beginning to answer a question now theory how do i find the delight and the rest or we will find it in god how do you do that here goes how do you find the dress in hebrews 4 11 is an oxymoron if you don't understand this encoding let us there for what strike i thought we were resting why why are we striving actually the word is to strain and really do everything that you can in order to what to enter how do you enter the rest it is to strive wow i mean how what what what kind of rest is that so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience as an explanation all right let's let's jump river before i go there jesus answered them said this is the work of god follow me carefully this is your striving what is the work of god to keep the sabbath nope to obey the commandments nope that you believe in him whom he has said what is the work the work is to believe and trust jesus all right hold your horses we're still trying to answer answer the question that's why surrender is not a battle of the will it is an act of worship uh this romans 12 1 says offer your bodies as a living sacrifice this is true worship true worship is to offer yourself to god how do you offer it by surrendering yourself to god that is you're striving to rest if you strive to surrender yourself to god every day then you will understand what that rest will be about but remember who moves us to do that god moves us to do it okay what's that islam oh islam oh oh yeah yeah i know i know what you're trying to say but here to your question finally terry you need to do it by trying if you try you will fail eventually but you do it by training you know what training means yeah i'm i'm one i wanted to run the marathon that i probably won't be able to do that now with my age okay but before i had my accident i decided to at least take a two hour walk every day before the winter comes because it really helps you but since i haven't walked for the longest time why i found it difficult to walk for two hours a day so what do i do i don't walk for two hours right away i only work for walk for 30 minutes and then the following day i work walk for about 60 minutes and i go you want to run the marathon can you be a marathoner tomorrow no you first run your mile for a baby for to try to do it in a week and after the first week you go to two months the second week okay you stretch this and a lot of people are saying if you're young enough to be a marathoner it will take you at least six months to train in order to run the marathon then and only then when you have trained can you say i am a marathoner in the christian life it's the same unless you train you cannot say i am mature enough to be your servant lord to glorify your name how do you do that here comes my practical answer how do you allow god to move your heart for him here this is what i said in manila we started this for the last four weeks and i left this with the congregation you must have enforced rhythms or grace in your life you must develop habits that will allow you to be trained in the life of god the first habit you need to develop is slow down i preach an entire sermon in church about slowing down being a speed addict busy does not necessarily mean hurry those are two different ones jesus was very busy but he was never in hearing slow down i mean learn to wait on the lord don't force issues you know that's that when you wait on the lord it means even if you don't feel him right now wait on him they who wait and the lord shall renew their strength right slow down don't be there you think by accomplishing things so fast you're getting brownie poison no slow down what does the bible say be still and know that i am god second rhythm that you need to develop in your life is solitude you got to spend quiet time with god every day how in the world can you be a christian without a prayer life alistair beg you saying a prayerless soul is a christless soul you cannot be a christian and not have a prayer life what what this aw toaster says prayer is not the preparation for the battle it is the battle so every day begin your day with a quiet time with god what do you do you spend time and as opposed to eastern meditation you fill your minds with god's word and meditate on it till you memorize some of those verses and you react with your heart and your mind into the truths of god you do that every day and what else you don't only pray once a day one guy saying how many times did daniel pray three times and one pastor is suggesting don't just have quiet time in the morning when you're working maybe spend a couple minutes or ten minutes five minutes at work during lunch time have have a have a have a during lunch time have a session with god and then in the third what else during that before you leave work here's the bottom line i kind of said this you know that interruptions are portals to communion with god example you're in walmart you're doing shopping and you want to check out you've got a very a cart load of stuff you're going to just go to the you know check in shelf check counter so you got to go online and turns out when you go in line this is 100 feet long so oh not here forever you know because you don't know how to slow down you know what one writer said do you realize that the interruptions are portals to communion with god have you ever thought that while you're waiting in line you can talk to god in your minds have you ever thought that if you develop that rhythm and that attitude and that habit that once the moment you can grab an opportunity to talk to god in your mind even at the counter in walmart or even at the gas station while you're waiting for your turn have you ever thought that you will be in the presence of god and you will find the line in him will he then move you to oh yes you will that's the time when you say lord come into my life and move me so i can follow you but that doesn't come by trying it comes from training if you do that the more you do that the more habit forming it is the more you talk to god in your mind and then simplicity is very important oh my a lot of people got hit when we studied this in manila now one of the biggest problems in america is clutter a lot of americans cannot park in their driveway you know what you know what they did to their driveway they stuff all the goods there there's not enough room to park the car instead of becoming a garage for the car it becomes a warehouse of what they shop for you know what they've proven if there's so much clutter in your life you will lack sleep you know you tend to be more miserable non-productive even depressed when you do that so what's the the rule i i call it two ds the first this declutter your life simplify he said start going to your rooms in your house one at a time go to your closet and ask the question do i really need this if i don't need this i can either sell it or give it away and one pastor did this for the last six months and you know how much simpler his life was it was less clutter because there's less clutter there's less destruction and you can pay more attention to god and in hell and of course aside from decluttering the other deeds to donate or to give it's more blessed to give than to receive jesus is saying the antidote to greed in the heart in the human heart is to give you start giving to people and decluttering your life make that habit if somebody's in need respond to the person who's in need and give and start taking away the clutter because a lot of the clutters you can even offload and give it to people who are in need and that's simplification and and mark john mark homer is saying the opposite of simplicity is not complexity the opposite of simplicity is superficiality you get it you know how many things in life do you have that you really don't need things are superficial so if you simplify there'll be more depth you'll have less destruction more time again and of course the fourth habit is the sabbath and follow me carefully in your this is a direct answer to your questionnaire theory if you learn to develop these rhythms in your life of slowing down of solitude silence with god prayer time with him of simplicity so he looked there by the time you get to the third rhythm that you develop you're enjoying the presence of god and you know how thrilling it is to be present with god every day and because that is so thrilling you look forward to the sabbath because you know oh lord you know all this week i've been working i got to work out of work for my family to survive that's that's part of the curse of sin but man when the sabbath comes i will have more time dedicated time for me to be in your presence because i'm slowed down i got solitude and i'm simplified i will delight thoroughly in the silence and i'll be closer to god and you know what when you do this you'll start training when you start training you will wake up one day and you'll see how marvelous it is to be matured in the knowledge and grace of god that's a practical answer there it's not it's not like a magical formula i'll be a good sabbath keyword today no learn to enjoy god's presence that's what it means to strive what's to mean to strive to enter the trust what does it mean train you must train to enter god's way how do you train focus your attention in god and there are habits you can develop in order for that to happen and i promise you when you develop these habits it'll be so thrilling in your life so i'll give you an example of my own experience you know that we finally gave the new slate of officers to the church right and you heard me read those names twice it's very difficult to do that because not everybody says a lot of people said no you have to follow that up to get ready for the reading of the church and you know i i said oh the pastor's coming like the 1st of august i got to get done with this you know so that when the fastener comes the officers are ready oh we didn't have all the yeses that we need and we couldn't do it so one weekend i was talking to elmer was part of the mmt the nominating committee and said well we haven't gotten a yes from this guy do you know what i told him oh i've learned from my study of the scriptures to slow down you know i gave myself my own deadline and then i rush towards the deadline oh it's got to be done before the pastor comes here who gave you that deadline what if god says say maybe there's some consideration maybe you need to wait another couple of weeks for this to happen and it did it said say i'm done with that i told them i'm done with that i'm not making my own deadlines now i will ask god what his deadline is and then i will work within his timetable and i will slow down community with him make sure that it is direction that is that i'm following you know how liberating it is and one pastor who did this and i don't even want to mention the name anymore but the pastor who did this was a pastor of a mega church his church is like over 5 000 members in a matter of five years they were growing 1 000 members a year then they ended up having with 93 people in the staff and he said everybody thought we were successful then he said but i was rotten to the core i had no arrest and you know his contemporary a pastor who was also a mega church pastor committed suicide because there was no rest they never followed these rhythms of god that was given to us so we can rest in him and this is the promise if we only do this you will see how god moves in your heart and molds your heart and you can have a heart for him uh i'll i'll skip this we'll probably cover this in the next lesson but that's the coverage of the sabbath the purpose of the sabbath is basically to enjoy the presence of god and delight in him so that you can really worship him but like you brought up terry i will never enjoy the delight if i do not cherish the moments i have with god every day and develop the rhythm in my life so that i really treasure my communion with god every day i treasure his process even at work while i'm driving while i'm in a meeting i talk to god i have portals in my mind where i talk to him that's what it means to pray without seizing and when you treasure that communion with god in the presence of god in your life the sabbath will be very meaningful to you yeah i don't have to go far you know how stacy has been so blessed by god you know she's now she's now in the business world she's finishing her second masters but she goes to new york one weekend because there was a business trip that he needed to do and she was part of our small group and you know what she did while we were starting the bible friday night she was in manhattan in broadway she used the ipad to join us facetime he hit their meeting and his friends her friends were telling what you doing what are you doing these guys were into their happy hour you know a lot of those business partners there they had you know they were like having partners two three partners in a week that's the way they left they lived their life in new york and all of a sudden you see somebody studying the bible friday night when in fact you should be spending the rpr in the bars in new york and of course stacy was saying you don't understand i could hardly wait for the cyber because that's the time i can be present with god now that changes that changes that changes the story right it's no longer pulling the sun down or pushing us up it's now about being present with god and that present is so intimate so joyful and delightful it's the knowledge that jesus says in the bible where adam and eve knew each other and eve conceived if you're so the delight that only god can give you that the world can never give you is possible if you are present with god and i thank god because through the sabbath that becomes possible a full day that has been marked by god in time where we can celebrate our creator remember our redeemer and savor our sanctifier and through the sabbath we will understand what it means to be present with god and to truly delight in him all right any more questions i hope that answers yes yes what is your point benji jihad is like all you are right if if i were to learn something what's going on right now did you did you read about the operation pineapple in afghan it happened the other day because the country has not taken definitive states to to actually free the they were they're saying there were over 61 000 commandos of afghan commandos who worked alongside u.s troops to maintain the peace in afghanistan for years and the pledge of allegiance supposedly the understanding between these forces was if something happens to my afghan brother whether he's an informant or an elite commando i should give my house to my brother it's my you know it's my my fighting partner and if i need to give my life i should give my life and there is a group of elite military people who volunteer themselves outside of the government sanction to liberate over 600 elite commandos of the afghans because they were brothers and sisters through all the checkpoints in in afghanistan today they were willing to give their lives so that they can be free okay it's an illustration that he didn't intend to use but that's what the sabbath is all about right jesus said to go through all the battle whether you call it jihad or not and stake his own life actually gave his own life so that we can be freed from what we have how how in the world can you not delight in having a savior like that yes and you know how we get to that uh terry right when you get so consumed by the greatness of god's love and that's why when i was talking to pastor you know what i've been appreciating in your sermon the last three savage you've raised up the love of god the extravagance of god's love and nothing is more powerful in the universe than to move the heart than the greatness of god and when you do that oh my it's a lot easier to surrender everything to him yeah because for daniel who cares about your life this is not yours it has been bought by jesus christ and if you trust god he runs your life whether in death yeah in death or life it doesn't matter you'll find contentment yes for prayer actually dying for the sabbath should be translated more precisely by saying are you willing to die for spending time in the presence of god right if the presence of god is so valuable to you you will not give up that presence of god in your life even if it calls for your own life that's the reason why we have martyrs for them i'd much rather be present with god than to have my life preserved and deny him that's what they're saying so i hope you guys got something very practical here but the sabbath is one of the the key parts like i said to make the sabbath more meaningful practice these rhythms you know practice slowing down spend time together every day simplify your life and then as soon as you appreciate god's presence throughout the whole week the sabbath becomes way more meaningful to you and then you will know what the psalmist said delight yourself in the lord and what and he will give you the desires of your heart asparagus and prayer dear father thank you for a wonderful lesson oh lord there concept of the sabbath for so long has been so warped so that the sabbath has become a burden and we have not found rest for for a gift that was meant to give us rest lord teach us to value your presence and practice these rhythms in our lives to train in our discipleship to be in your presence every day to be attentive to you be aware that the sabbath is one of the most precious gifts you're given so that we can celebrate you as our creator remember you as a redeemer and savior you as our sanctifier praise and worship in jesus name i pray amen [Music]

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Id: E8k9dbU5PmQ

Length: 92min 26sec (5546 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 28 2021