How to Keep the Sabbath | Pastor Mark Finley

welcome to each of you are here i am just delighted to be here with the adventurers you know when dan called me and asked me about this assignment i immediately was excited about it because i'm really excited about the sabbath and i'm excited about sharing with families how they can better keep the bible sabbath i'm going to deal with this in three ways we're going to look at biblical principles for keeping the sabbath then we're going to look at some spiritual insights but by the end of the seminar i hope i can give you some practical ideas one of my mentors an old pastor said to me once you don't have to find many million dollar bills blowing down the street to be a millionaire and i've always thought about that you know my goal here is to give you at least one or two principles a lot of what i'm going to talk about you've already heard before but if i can share with you something that you haven't heard a principle that you can adopt for your family this next 45 to 50 minutes is going to be really well worth it so let's pray but before we pray i should ask you does everybody who is here have a study guide we want to be sure you do just hold them up if you have them so i can see it and dan if there's anybody that doesn't have one that you want a study guide we want to be sure we put one in your hands now for those of you watching online we're going to post this study guide a little later and when we do that it will enable you to be able to have the notes from the presentation as well okay let's pray father in heaven during this time together we thank you on this sabbath afternoon that we can study a little bit about the richness the beauty of the sabbath as we study practical principles as well as biblical insights help us to be able to look at sabbath and really be blessed by it help us to have that sense of your presence and help us delight in the sabbath and may the creator's day be a day when our hearts are recreated in jesus name amen number of years ago late 1800s there was a european who visited america and this european was asked what is the most memorable thing that you found in the united states and he thought for a moment and then he said this those americans are always moving they never seem to stay still in fact they even have figured out a way to move when they sit down now the rocking chair had just come into existence and this european was so fascinated because he saw these americans just sitting down and they couldn't stay still they were rocking back and forth back and forth somebody has said that we live in a jet age but we're not jets if i had to term the 21st century i would say the 21st century is the age of rush hurry stress anxiety and multitasking i'd like you to imagine a a professional woman she is on her way to work but she hasn't had time to eat breakfast so in the car next to her she has her breakfast her toast and her grapes and her blueberries and her granola with her milk in it that she puts on her lap and at the red lights eats it then while she's doing that she is listening to the weather on the radio and at the same time she has her cell phone and she's talking to her husband now some of you are smiling because you can identify with that scene of multitasking or imagine here is a man he's come home from work he's playing with his son but his cell phone is messaging him so while he's playing he's looking at his cell phone clicking and responding to the messages while at the same time his mind is thinking about the next job the next day we live in an age of self uh rush in hurry and anxiety life has become really fast the images on our cell phone i often tease people that people say that my cell phone is a labor saving device because on my cell phone i get messages on my cell phone i not only get messages but i can of course text back on my cell phone i people can call me and wherever i am in the world on my cell phone i'm getting my email that has not saved me labor it has increased my labor just really incredibly dramatically now one of the things that the computer age has done that i think has really been quite seriously in affecting human relationships is that it has affected our relationship with god our families and those closest to us recently i read an article that really impressed me and i put it in your study guide the headlines of the article but you're going to have to do some writing here you'll notice that in the study guides i've left lines for you to write but recently i read an article called the negative effects of computer addiction and the article stated that computer addicts withdraw socially as they spend more time on the computer so the more time you spend on the computer the less time you have for meaningful interaction now i'm going to quote from this article it says this here's what the article says computer addiction can have a variety of negative effects on a person so here's the latest research what negative effects does computer addiction have the most immediate are social so the prime negative effect of gaming on the computer or being addicted to the computer affects you socially the user withdraws from friends and family as he or she spend more time on the computer relationships begin to wither as the user stops attending social gatherings skips meetings with friends and avoids family members to get more computer time even when they do interact with their friends users may become irritable when away from the commuter computer causing further social harm so the idea is the more young people are actively involved in computers the more they are addicted to computer gaming's the more they withdraw socially the less they are willing to participate in family activities and the more irritable they become that's the latest research now you may wonder what does this have to do with sabbath keeping what does it have to do with positive sabbath keeping it has a lot to do you see sabbath is primarily a day for relationships if you are able to analyze the purpose of the sabbath in one sentence if somebody said to me pastor mark define the purpose of the sabbath in one sentence i would put it this way the prime purpose of the sabbath is to develop a meaningful relationship with god in a healthy relationship positive relationship with our families and the people around us the sabbath command gives us and invites us to have this sacred pause now notice god didn't give us 10 suggestions he gave us 10 commands right because what's the difference between a suggestion and a command a green light says go a yellow light says we suggest you be cautious because somebody else might be coming but a red light is what is a command it says stop and so god didn't give us ten suggestions he gave us ten commands he says remember the sabbath day to keep it holy it's very fascinating for seventh-day adventists who believe that the seventh day of the week is the bible sabbath we can also forget to keep it holy we can also at times treat the edges of the sabbath that from sundown friday night to sundown saturday night as a calm and ordinary day you are no doubt aware that there's a telephone number and that you can call any place in the world and if you call that telephone number it will tell you exactly when the sabbath begins so you can be any state you can be any country you can be any place in the world you just dial that number every adventist knows it i mean there's no you're looking at me strange you don't know that number it's lev 2332 any place you are in the world you just dial lev 3 two three three two leviticus 23 32 from evening to evening shall you celebrate your sabbath see from evening to evening shall celebrate your sabbath so any place in the world you are when the sun goes down i dial up lev 2332. leviticus 23 32 from evening to evening shall you celebrate your sabbath now god has a special blessing for us so let's start with sundown friday night on sundown friday night we can learn a great deal of positive lessons from our jewish friends most jewish families light candles at sundown on friday night they have candles littered lit the table is well prepared and as sabbath begins the father of the family blesses each of his children the father walks over at sundown so imagine the sun is just setting the candles are lit the table is decorated beautifully and here's little josiah and the father puts his hands over the head of the of the boy and says the lord bless you and keep you may his countenance shine upon you and give you peace this is my promise for you my son this week now at that same time mother will be holding the younger children in later years both father and mother give the blessing here is a little promise box wouldn't it be a wonderful thing on friday nights if each friday night a father or mother takes the promise out of the promise box different bible texts and a mother takes her little child three years old in her arms and says i want to give you the sabbath blessing the the father goes to his 13 year old son and says i want to give you the sabbath blessing here's the sabbath blessing for you son exodus 14 verse 13 stand still and see the salvation of the lord which will work for you today son take this promise cherish it all week and hear daughter seven years old you pick a promise here's the promise for you this sabbath cast you thy bread upon the waters for you'll find it after many days you know my child if you cast goodness and kindness and graciousness out it's going to come back to you herman woke was a jewish playwright probably one of the most most popular playwrights in all of new york city and herman woke when friday night came told all of his cast i will not be here and he writes the story of the blessing of the sabbath how he would come home on friday night his wife would have the table set the candles would be flickering and herman woke would give the blessing to his children and walk and bless each child now when the jewish families bless their children on that friday night at the end of the blessing each father walks to each child and hugs them and says my child always be faithful to your jewish heritage and always be faithful to god and then gives them a blessing my child the lord bless you and keep you the lord led his face to shine upon you and the lord give you peace so imagine adventist families the sun is setting mom has prepared a delightful meal for sabbath the candles are flickering and father comes with the promises of god's word pulls out a promise blesses his children father and mother hug kiss their children embrace them that sabbath and the sabbath begins in that way now promises like these are often being shared with children john here's your promise for this week seek you first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and everything else will be added unto you mary here's your promise this week my god shall supply all your need the promised blessing sabbath indeed is a day for rich spiritual blessings the reading of the weekly promise and the pronouncing of a parental blessing was always followed in the jewish home by hugs kisses and warm embraces long and it goes a long way to solidify a child's faith and their love for the parents one thing about judaism that you begin to understand is that for the jews the sabbath was this incredible day of delight now of course the pharisees perverted that i have led numerous numerous trips to israel and one of the things i always do with my groups we go to israel i i led a group recently of the general conference leadership the uh presidents of the president general conference and his team and the vice presidents that i was responsible for that and i always tell them on friday night i want to go down to the western wall because if you go there on a friday night when sun is setting there'll be hundreds of jewish young people there hundreds of them and they grasp hands and they begin going around in a circle singing the songs of the bible it's just it's an electric experience uh even miss teeny my wife and i she joined in with the ladies i joined in with the men and you know you go down by the western wall and you ho i'm holding hands with jewish men she's holding hands with jewish ladies and we're going around and around and around singing the songs of the bible just rejoicing that sabbath has come because sabbath is such an incredible delight now there are four principles that i've outlined in your study guide and i trust that each of you have the study guide before you i've listed four principles for you that will help in understanding the fullness of the sabbath first the prime purpose of the sabbath is relationship a relationship with god of worship praise and the celebration of his goodness now the sabbath is a palace in time that god invites us to shut out the cares of the world and concentrate on eternity you see most palaces are palaces in space where i see a palace i see a palace not long ago i was invited to fly to ireland and perform a wedding of a prominent family in a palace or actually was on the palace grounds it was just magnificent palaces are wonderful places most palaces are palaces in time but the sabbath is a palace in space so every sabbath god's palace descends from heaven to earth and god invites us to come into that palace now god can i bring my radio in the palace so i can listen to secular music god i think i want to go come into your palace and sit there and watch tv or god it's a palace in time god invites us to enter into his palace to the sacredness of his presence each sabbath the palace descends from heaven and god invites us to leave off our anxieties our stress our worry at the palace door he invites us to enter into divine rest the sabbath reminds us that we have meaning that we're not specks of cosmic dust so the sabbath is this tremendous sense of celebration friday night sundown to saturday night sundown in our home often on friday night teenie will always prepare some special meal we regularly have things like we love to have soup on friday night pea soup or vegetable soup or potato leek soup and it's incredibly delicious with a large salad and home-baked crackers but we always look forward to something special on friday night and for us sunsets and we have worship together when our children were were with us and now they're of course are grown but when our children were with us after worship we had a wonderful supper and often on friday nights we'd play a sabbath game with the children or we now we love listening to music last night uh friday night as we had our worship and uh a little something to eat and after that we listened to an amazing concert by the three angels um broadcasting called pillars of faith that was performed in uh battle creek michigan with the anders university orchestra and choir we just sat and just totally relaxed i studied some for my sermon this morning but then just totally relaxed and watched listen to that the example that we get in sabbath worship particularly sabbath morning worship is from jesus and you know the text well it's in luke chapter 4 verse 16 and if you have your bible you may want to turn to it luke 4 verse 16. the sabbath worship was very prominent in jesus life in luke 4 verse 16 it says so he came to nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the sabbath and set up to read so jesus focused on sabbath worship now the sabbath is a day of worshiping god but it also has another unique meaning that we see in a in isaiah 56 and 54 and 56 there is a unique meaning to the sabbath that is very meaningful to me personally um if you look for example at isaiah 56 verse 1 it talks about blessed is the man that does this who lays hold on and who keeps from defiling the sabbath that's verse 2 of isaiah 56 and keeps his hand from doing any evil but then in verse 7 it says even them this is talking about all humanity even them i'll bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted to my all my altar for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations the lord who gathers the outcasts of israel yet i'll gather to him others beside those who are gathered to him what god is saying here is this that sabbath is a time that we can have a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood with our brothers and sisters around the world so when i come to sabbath worship at living hope i know that five or six million seventh-day adventists in africa are worshiping i know that i'm my heart is united with my brothers and sisters in angolan mozambique and in kenya and in tanzania i have that sense that i'm worshiping with millions of adventists around the world and i have another 5 million in inter and south america and i have worshippers in europe and i know that i have worshipers sometimes in large churches and sometimes in houses and houses and homes and sometimes outdoors and sometimes in little huts and and and there's that sense it's a seventh-day adventist that we come to worship the sabbath with our brothers and sisters from all over the world so sabbath is a symbol of unite of universal brotherhood it breaks down prejudice between people because we recognize that every human being is created by god and god has made us of one blood of all nations i think one of the things that god wants us to teach our children regarding when we come to worship on the sabbath is this that the sabbath is an eternal symbol that god has created all humanity and it's a symbol of unity among all peoples that god has indeed made of one blood all nations i think also if our young people get a vision of the bigness of the adventist movement on sabbath when i became a seventh-day adventist i was 17 years old my father became an adventist when he was 33 he was a protestant my mother was a catholic they married my father promised the priest that he'd bring the children up catholic and it was later in his life that he worked with a seventh-day adventist at bostitch staple company and dad became an adventist after becoming an adventist he began to witness i worked with my father in his machine shop and we made uh we made all kind of parts uh in those days i worked on screw automatic screw machines brown and sharp automatic screw machines about every one of our my my i have three sisters and every one of the kids in the family had to work in that machine shop and i asked my father why and he said because once you work in it you're not going to want to work in it anymore you want to want to go to college so you got to work in the machine shop so i can get you out of here and so you know so i worked and i made microheight stems now you don't know what microheight stems are they're not the stems of a plant you remember those old beds in the hospital you remember those and they had the cranks and you had to crank them up now we got those push button things how many do you remember those old beds in the hospital you had to crank up okay well what made them crank up was this metal stem that connected from the crank to the bed it's called the micro height stem i bet i made thousands and thousands and thousands of those we had the the business for those and that was my job dad assigned me to that machine and so i'd be making those and making those and making those well look here's the very fascinating thing when my father became a seventh-day adventist sabbath became incredibly special for him and we he began to witness to me and as he witnessed to me i was the first in my family to become a seventh-day adventist after dad and we had a very little place to meet we didn't have our own church building we met in a masonic temple with 35 people almost no young people but here's what kept me going i sensed i'm meeting in this little place with 35 people and no young people but i'm part of an international church i'm part of a divine movement that god has raised up and sabbath did that for me as i would walk in their sabbath i would sense and imagine as a 17 year old boy this greatness of the adventist movement so sabbath is a day set aside for worship for praise for celebration of god's goodness jesus custom was to keep the sabbath on sabbath we are meeting with millions of others around the world and we have that sense of the leadership of god on sabbath we are one body one movement one church with one purpose to prepare people for the coming of jesus now each sabbath god promises a blessing remember what it says in genesis chapter 3 and god blessed the sabbath and god sanctified the sabbath and god rested the sabbath here's why i don't want to miss church one sabbath here's why because every sabbath god promises his blessings to come down and the sabbath i miss maybe the sabbath that god had special blessings for me that i would have missed had i been there so i don't want to miss one sabbath what about you folk i don't want to miss one sabbath because that's the sabbath our heavenly father invites us to into intimate fellowship with him on sabbath now this includes not only corporate worship but setting aside time to quietly read and pray and fellowship with god and listen uplifting music i always like on sabbath to find at least some time to be alone sometime to really seek god um and have some get my spiritual batteries recharged so the first purpose of the sabbath is worship now the second purpose of the sabbath is to exhibit our complete trust in our creator's care when we worship on sabbath we are trusting god to provide our needs the sabbath command is clear sabbath is a day to rejoice in his goodness and not be distracted detoured or diverted from god's purpose in blessing us now let's look at two very clear texts in the bible that help us understand the significance of what i've just said nehemiah chapter 13. the prophets of the old testament were pretty straightforward at times and in this particular instance in nehemiah chapter 13 the israelites are working on the sabbath and they are doing buying and selling on the sabbath and so nehemiah is pretty upset about it nehemiah 13 verse 15. nehemiah 13 15 and onward in those days i saw in judah some people treading wine presses on the sabbath and bringing in sheaves so what were they doing they were working on sabbath see and loading donkeys with wine grapes figs in all kinds of burdens they wanted financial advantage when they brought into jerusalem on the sabbath day and i warned them about the day on which they were bri selling provisions so he's warning them the men of tyre dwelt there and they brought in fish because you know tires on the seacoast in all kinds of goods and they sold them on the sabbath of the children of judah and in jerusalem so here's what's happening the sabbath is being defiled people are going to giant on the sabbath and they're going to subway and they're no no no what were those other stories they were going to oh macy's no so anyway you understand the point here um it says men of tyre they were buying all kind of goods and they were selling them on the sabbath to the children of judah and jerusalem then i contended with the nobles of judah that's the leadership and i said to them what evil thing is this you do by profaning the sabbath did not your fathers do this didn't they bring disaster on us yet your added wrath of israel by profaning the sabbath so when he gave that speech the gates of jerusalem as it began to be dark before the sabbath he commands that the gates be shut and that no burdens be brought but some people still did it verse 20. now the merchants and sellers of all the kinds of way are lodged outside of jerusalem once or twice now i have to smile when i read verse 21. so i warned them and said to them why do you spend the night around the wall if you do so again i'm going to lay hands on you from that time on they came no more on the sabbath and i mean nehemiah was pretty straightforward wasn't he he said look the sabbath is being defiled you do it again i'm going to come out by those gates because all the merchants would get around the gates of jerusalem and they would be taunting the israelites you know couldn't wait till sundown came and nehemiah says you do that again guys i'ma lay hands on you and it says then they came no more around the sabbath god has promised that if we keep his sabbath holy and do not defile it by buying or selling or being so absorbed with the news that he is going to bless us in ways that we cannot imagine the blessing of god is taken away if we defile the sabbath so it's not a matter of a legalistic requirement of what i cannot do buying selling etc but it's rather the missing of the blessing so god blesses us in ways beyond our imagination if we are faithful to him and keep his sabbath those blessings may be peace those blessings may be an inner sense of joy there may be an inner sense of commitment of contentment that god gives us but his blessings are poured down they're rained down on us i can testify that in my own family in my own family as i told you my father was not brought up in a seventh adventist home he became an adventist when he was 33. as the result of dad becoming an adventist dad had been working on the night shift for bostage staple company you know there was the staplers that were made dad made those staplers he was so he was made he was working on the night shift as the result he worked from 3 o'clock friday afternoon till 11 o'clock friday night now of course when sabbath came dad no longer would work on sabbath so he was he was um fired from his job he had at that time three children to feed and um fourth on the way and uh but he began looking for other jobs finally found three part-time jobs it was very difficult for us in those days financially we did not have a lot lived in a small home perkins avenue in norwich connecticut and but dad kept quoting for us matthew 6 33 seek you first the kingdom of god and all these things will be added unto you seek you first the kingdom of god although i was not a seventh-day adventist i respected my father because i saw that he had a deep trust in god that he would not violate the sabbath by working on it for money he believed that there was a blessing in the sabbath my father began looking for other jobs and finally approached a factory called all-time aluminum that was owned by a jewish man and when dad told this jewish man he wouldn't work on the sabbath the jewish man said you're hired and so he hired my father now the interesting story is this you know the aluminum windows and doors that are made the the storm doors dad was making the frames for those and so he would make the frames in the machine shop they would take them upstairs and they would assemble them at that time for the storm doors and storm windows my father was not well educated but extremely smart and incredibly mechanical dad invented new cutters for their machines which cut his work from 12 months a year to six months he could do the same amount of work in six months then they would assemble all year so the president of the company said you just worked yourself out of a job for six months you can you can make our parts for six months but you've developed these new cutters so as a result of that you're you know you're out of a job for the other six months dad said well look your machine's going to lay idle what if i got my own work and i rented your machines for the next six months and i did it dad was an entrepreneur and uh his business grew larger than their business and eventually he bought them out and uh eventually he had a factory that was larger than their factory and that's where we worked i worked there my sisters worked there etc so and i've talked to my father about it he has died now but when he was alive in his he said mark i never forgot matthew 6 33 seek you first the kingdom of god his righteousness and everything else will be added unto you there is a blessing that we miss if we allow secular activities to come into the sabbath isaiah 58 verse 13 and 14 brings this out as well isaiah 58 verse 13 and 14 brings this out as well the first principle is the sabbath is a day of worship second principle is that the sabbath is a day that god invites us him that god himself invites us to come to enter into with him and that the sabbath is a day to exhibit complete trust in our heavenly father isaiah 58 verse 13 and 14 is a text that's often misunderstood if you turn away your foot from the sabbath now what does it mean to put your foot on the sabbath i've heard some explanations that say oh you're trampling on it you're defiling it that's not quite true in the bible if you put your foot in the land it was a sense of ownership so the idea of putting your foot on the sabbath is the idea of saying i own this day it is a common ordinary day for me to satisfy self so not putting my foot on the sabbath is the idea that god owns this day and i'm entering into his blessing on the day so if you turn away your foot from the sabbath in other words don't put your foot on my day don't claim that you own my day that this is a day that's common like any other day from doing your pleasure on my holy day so here's the point the idea of doing your own pleasure has to the the background of that passage is that you selfishly do what you want on this day but if you call the sabbath a delight so the sabbath is n is not a day for my selfish pleasure but it's a day to find delight in the things of eternity to find delight in heaven so every sabbath used to be a miniature heaven where i enter into worship and praise of god i enter into deep trust of god where every sabbath i rejoice in his love and his grace and his goodness it says you call the sabbath a delight the holy of the lord honorable honor him not doing your own ways so the sabbath is a day in which we focus on him to recharge our spiritual batteries not finding our own pleasure not doing your own words but look then you shall delight yourself in the lord and i'll cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and fill you with the heritage of jacob your father the mouth of the lord has spoken it god says that if we are faithful to him and keep the sabbath and delight in his love and grace that he will cause us to ride on the high places of the earth that he will put a special blessing upon us it doesn't mean that you'll never lose a job if you step out for the sabbath but what it does mean is that god will give you something much better he'll give you a joy inside a peace inside he'll give you a sense of right doing inside and he will provide for you and make your and supply your every need some time ago when i was in angola i was interviewing a number of pastors it was just after the civil war in al go in angola and ango had a terrible civil war a lot of devastation took place and i had a group of pastors and i said to them tell me stories about the war and a young pa young pastor got up and he said let me tell you my story he said actually it was just before the war and i was here in university i was a student in university and i was to graduate that year but as i was this student in university to graduate my final exam came on sabbath and i had to make a decision will i go and take this exam on sabbath or won't i take it so it was a real struggle because i thought i was going to lose that course and i wouldn't be able to graduate he said it's really a struggle for me what should i do and he said i know many people would say there's no problem with that but he said look for me i couldn't do it i i just it was against my conscience so i went to my major professor i said look professor the exam is coming on sabbath and i really am concerned about it i am a seventh-day adventist from sundown friday night to sundown saturday night i keep the bible sabbath could you give me permission i'll take it before i'll take it after i'll do anything possible i'll come in saturday night after sabbath i'll come in on sundown i mean i'll come in after sundown and he said my major professor said nothing doing he appealed to the dean nothing doing we can't set this president if you don't take the exam you're going to fail you will not graduate so he said all that friday he struggled should i go or shouldn't i go he decided that that sabbath he would go to church he was in church somewhat anxious but he said god i'm giving this to you the professor came to class that day and gave the exam on the way home from the on the way home the professor is walking home has his briefcase in his hand two thieves grab the briefcase knock the professor down and run off with the briefcase the briefcase was filled with the exams that the students had just taken the professor was not hurt but the exams were stolen so the professor doesn't know what to do because graduation's just in a couple days and so the professor went to the president of the university the exams are stolen what should i do and the professor said you can do nothing the president said you can do nothing else but give to the students the grades they previously had in the class forget about the exam and our adventist student got an a in the class them that honor me god says i will do what i will honor i will honor in brazil we had at one of the secular universities one some of a lot of adventist students there must i don't know the number but there were scores of adventist students in this particular university they were forced to take exams on sabbath the adventist students said we can't do it they appealed to the dean nothing doing they appealed to the university president nothing doing now in that country we have a man who is one of the wealthiest men in the country and one of the most prominent citizens in the country a dear friend of ours and he's in his 90s now just a tremendous man so the students came to him they said you're prominent what influence can you have they're forcing us we don't want to take exams on the sabbath he said leave it to me you know what he did he bought the university fired the president put in a new president and they then could keep keep their exams on sabbath they didn't have to take their exams on sabbath i'll tell you god has his ways god has his ways now there are students in all fairness who've refused to take exams on sabbath and they've had to retake the class there are students who all those stories don't work out that way but this is what they've discovered they would rather have peace inside and a clear conscience before god then violates something that god has done god makes a promise and when god makes a promise he doesn't let that promise down and that promise is them that honor me i will honor the sabbath is a day of trust we trust god they don't care for our business we trust god that if we don't work on that day that he will provide for our needs we trust god as students that this can be a break from our intense study and he'll bless our minds we trust god that day that we can leave our cares and anxieties alone and enter into a relationship with him now the third principle is this the sabbath is a day to enjoy god's creation you know there's nothing more enjoyable than on sabbath to get out and walk in god's creation and study it look i mean i'm always amazed at the ingenious of god and the variety of god i want you to think just about the trees i imagine sabbath collecting leaves for your w with your kids do you know the difference between the red oak and the white oak and how to identify them you know the white oak has the rounded part into the leaves the the red oak has the pointed end but to go out on sabbath and to collect leaves and press them think about all the different uses of wood i mean what sport uses ash and why why do they use it you know baseball bats are often made of ash can you identify an ash tree do you know what that looks like what about the oaks and the pines pines are soft what oaks are hardwood what's the difference between a white pine and a red pine white pine of course has five needles red pine only has three but just to get out and study the trees or think about the ferns the bracken fern you know the bracken comes up and spreads out and the indians used to eat brack and fern teach that to your children no no no don't teach them to eat it obviously but here's why the indians ate it because they noticed the deer were eating the brac and fern and every time the indians would hunt the deer their breath would be smelled by the deer and the deer would run so they ate the bracken fern the deer smelled that on their breath didn't know it was the indians and the wonderful stories the cinnamon fern if you ever lost in the woods and you know what a cinnamon fern is they grow in three you pick it up it has a little nut in the root it's absolutely delicious so there's so many incredible lessons in nature you think about the wildflowers depress them and or you think about the edible berries not long ago teeny and i and and leslie knows because she and joshi and kylie and daniel were with us we're hiking on a trail that i'm not going to name for you because it it's the most amazing berry trail in the in the world and i i don't want all our berries to be gone no i'm teasing you we're over at manassas battlefield and we took a different trail that day and as we were walking down this trail there were raspberry bushes everywhere i mean and i think nobody probably had discovered that trail before us we must have spent 20 minutes there and we were just picking and picking and eating and eating and rejoicing in the goodness of god of giving us those raspberries on sabbath you know nature is incredible what's the sabbath for the sabbath is a day to worship god to praise god to be in church together the sabbath is a day to learn deeper trust in god the sabbath is a day to rejoice to rejoice in nature fourthly the sabbath is a day for service and blessing others did you know that jesus worked more miracles on the sabbath than any other single day jesus worked more miracles on the sabbath than any other single day i'll give you one example or two of this turn please to john the fifth chapter john the fifth chapter the sabbath is to be a day of service and blessing if his parents on sabbath we can help our children to understand the beauty of worship that they're uniting with people around the world if we help them to understand trust that the sabbath is a day where we trust god we lay aside everything else the sabbath is a day to enjoy nature and we get our kids outside in nature and get them to understand the trees and the flowers and learn about the birds and if we can help them to understand sabbath is a day to bless others it's a day of service and this is what you find in jesus life for example john chapter 5 and you look at john 5 verse 2 there was in jerusalem by the sheep gator pool which is in hebrew bethesda bethesda beth means house of like bethlehem house of bread beth house of we hem bread beth sada say to his fish beth is house of fish so jesus and was born in bethlehem in the house of the baker and he was the bread of life uh beth sada jesus called james and john by a fisherman's village and uh that's bethsaidus ate his fish bethesda esther is mercy and so bethesda the house of mercy so jesus comes and as jesus comes he comes to this house of mercy and he comes to this place that is the most despicable place the lame the halt the blind the devil there and the scripture says that jesus comes and he sees a man lying there verse 6 and it says jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time he says you want to be made whole and jesus heals that man verse 80 says rise take up your bed and walk so this is one of the most incredible miracles jesus on sabbath this was sabbath that and jesus on sabbath healed that man you find another story of christ healing a man on sabbath in the book of john and we find that in john as well where christ comes and heals a man on sabbath you find all through the scriptures christ working miracles on sabbath jesus reaching out look at for example let's look at mark though mark 1. you find it in mark you find it in john but there's a wonderful story in mark the first chapter and it's sabbath and jesus goes into a synagogue there's a demoniac there mark 1 verse 21 and it says they went to capernaum and immediately on the sabbath he enters into the synagogue and he teaches and they're astonished at his teaching but this demon-possessed man comes in there and jesus casts the demon out jesus leaves that synagogue or that sabbath worship and he goes to eat sabbath lunch in peter's home and peter's mother-in-law is sick and jesus heals peter's mother-in-law you find that in verse 29 now as soon as they came out of the synagogue they came out from sabbath worship they entered the house of simon and andrew with james and john simon's mother lay sick with a fever and they told him about it at once and he came and looked at her took her up by hand and lifted her up and the fever left her so what is jesus doing always on sabbath do you know there are more miracles that jesus worked on sabbath than any other day and why is that true because sabbath is to be a day of blessing it's to be a day of service young people that are actively involved in service on sabbath and not told what they cannot do not told what they are not supposed to do but simply are kept actively involved in service projects see the sabbath as a delight let me give you some examples some practical ideas of blessing others on the sabbath you can write this in on your study guide think about people that are elderly that may not have the opportunity of coming to church bring them a loaf of bread pray with them on sabbath think about people that may be shut in in the hospital my wife and i for many many years when we were in hartford connecticut i was the associate pastor of the church one of the youth pastors would visit new england would visit new horizons new horizons was a comprehensive home for the handicapped in new britain connecticut joan hermann became one of our good friends joan was paralyzed from her neck down in 1948 in the par in the in the polio epidemic joan could not use her hands she could not use her she couldn't button her blouse she could not feed herself she could not comb her hair and she became one of our dear friends when joan herman got polio she was put in an old person's home she was 17 she was putting an old person's home with people that were dying she was physically handicapped but she was mentally alert absolutely brilliant she learned how to type by putting a mouth stick in her mouth and typing with it she had to be in an iron lung which was a round cylinder with only her head sticking out because her lungs were paralyzed and she couldn't breathe she learned to paint with a paintbrush in her mouth and painted she began to type letters to congressmen to senators to key government officials telling them that her dream was a comprehensive community for handicapped people eventually the government got on that and built that comprehensive community in new britain connecticut so we would go joanie could come out of her wheelchair probably about um a few hours maybe three hours a day and she had she could come out of her iron lung rather about three hours a day and she had a motorized wheelchair in another artificial lung that would keep her breathing and she had a little platform when my little daughter my daughter who is now older debbie was just a girl a little girl she would put her on the tray and joanie would go up and down the corridors with it joni was amazing she was giving over 20 bible studies at one time and i would go into her room and she would mount the bible above her because she had to lay on her back hours and hours a day and she would memorize those passages and then with her mouth stick she'd turn the pages um i would go into her room and she would say pastor mark third door on the left draw on the left yes joni pull out the drawer she would say there's about 18 bible lessons in there could you read me the answers that people gave and i'll tell you whether they're right or wrong we had every sabbath afternoon 30 40 people come there was billy who pulled himself on a board because he could not walk with his legs and the board had wheels on it and there was doris whose head was cocked to the side and she i remember i'd be preaching and doris would say pastor mark we think fast but our hands are slow don't go so fast you know and just incredible people doris who could not see she was blind she could not speak she was dumb she was totally paralyzed but she could hear and we would sing to doris you can smile when you can't say a word you can smile and you cannot be heard you can smile anytime anywhere and doris would give us this big smile we brought our young people there and our pathfinders came some of our adventurers came and surfaced on sabbath what can you do on sabbath visit elderly visit hospital bring them a loaf of bread what can you do on sabbath take kids door to door with literature and let them hang the literature on the doors i talked to a friend this week they have a 500 member church in fallbrook california and they have about 90 to 100 people coming in covet he said we had a coveted project i said what chikovit project he said taking great controversies putting them in plastic bags and we started in october now can you believe this 90 to 100 people california where did i say everybody california where did i say everybody california they took the great converse and put them in bags full editions and that church has pro has passed out from october to january 20 000 great controversies door-to-door members every sabbath come they take the plastic bags miss teeny and they hang them on the doors we need to get some more books here right that's what the literature ministry is planning every one of us can be a part our young people can go out they don't have to say a word to anybody giving out literature on sabbath can you think of somebody at living hope that doesn't get many invitations for lunch for sabbath can you think of somebody who doesn't get many invitations for a lot look around the congregation and see who you can invite for lunch on sabbath that may not get an invitation you will be so blessed by doing that encourage a family to go for a walk with you you know we have a lot of families in the church where the wife may be a seventh-day adventist and the husband may not be you may have young people in the church whose parents are not real faithful in coming think about gathering them in one of my favorite stories is about a young man i'll call chad just to protect identity uh chad was brought up in the adventist church but while as he grew he decided that there wasn't much left in church for him it didn't have much excitement for him so chad left the church got involved with a motorcycle gang group long hair blowing in the breeze defied the helmet laws never more helmets and one day it was a sabbath morning he was speeding by the church and as he sped by his motorcycle he thought you know i still have a few friends there i think i'll go it wasn't a large church 50 60 members extremely conservative church one of those churches where on platform you have to wear a white shirt i would not be allowed on the platform because i have this blue shirt but anyway you have to have a white shirt you need a black suit and a black tie it was a church that was very very very did i say very very conservative so chad comes in it he gets in a little late it's 10 after e 11. and as he gets in it's late and he it's it's now song service is over announcements are over the they're singing the opening song and everybody's standing up have you ever walked into a church a little late and everybody's standing up what do you notice immediately you don't know where the seats are because you can't see everybody's standing up right so chad comes in everybody's standing up and he's walking down the aisle he's looking you know where where can i sit where can i sit and before he knows it he's about the third from the front everybody's looking at that kid he is the recalcerant rebellious backslidden kid in the church we know what he's doing he's not keeping sabbath you know chad doesn't know what to do he just came there to see his friends but here he is now finds himself so you know what he did he sat down right in the aisle sat down right in the aisle i mean right on the floor the head elder was sitting in the back white shirt black tie you have to dress proper to go to church and the elder began walking down the aisle and everybody knew what he was going to do he was going to ream that kid out to their surprise the elder sat on the floor next to chad and put his arm around him and said chad we missed you i'm glad you're here and the elders sat on the floor with that kid the whole service at the end of the service he looked at chad and he said chad you know my wife makes a pretty mean apple pie and you like look like you need a good lunch today why don't you come home with me and chad went home with the old man that day and they walked they walked trails they talked chad shared the struggles he was going through and as chad looked back on his life he said that day that that old man invited me home as a teenager that was the day that i began making my little steps back to the church and back to commitment to christ who do you know that may not get an invitation home for sabbath meal that you can invite that you can fellowship with see sabbath is a day for service a day to visit the elderly that may be shut in and can't get out to church a day to visit members in hospital a day to spend time with those that are less fortunate that may not have the opportunities that that all of us have sabbath is that day when we view sabbath through these four lenses the lens of worshiping god and opening our hearts for a blessing not wanting to miss one church service the lens of trusting god the sabbath is a day to trust god the lens of nature where sabbath is a day to study nature and to love god's creation and sabbath is a day to do good we can become so absorbed with the delight of the sabbath that we cannot wait till the next week to come do you know that's the way it was in ancient biblical culture do you know the word for a week in the greek language of the new testament the word for week like we say the first day of the week the second day of the week the third day of the week they don't say it that way the word for weak in the bible is sabaton it's a little different than sabatha sabbath it's sabaton so when you say the first day in the original biblical language you say the first day toward the sabbath that's sunday second day toward the sabbath third date on the sabbath so when you talk about the sabbath you are every day of the week is pointing you forward to that great day that day when the palace from heaven will come down that day when jesus will visit his people in a special way that day when we can shut in in his presence and recognize that he's our creator he's our redeemer he's our coming king the sabbath is the link it is the link that links us to creation in the past it links us to redemption and it links us to the future how so every sabbath we're reminded that god created us that we did not evolve every sabbath we rest from our works and we trust his we rest in the salvation that he provides in every sabbath we remember that just as he created the world in eudenic splendor he's going to recreate it and as we read two key texts first chronicles i could take your bible and turn to chronicles we're going to look at two key texts that i want you to keep in mind when you think of the sabbath we're looking at the book of chronicles first chronicles chapter 7. 17 first chronicles chapter 17 verse 27 it gives you an eternal principle first chronicles 17 27. now you've been pleased to bless the house of your servant that it may continue before you forever for you have blessed it o lord and it shall be blessed forever the sabbath blessing is a blessing that god has placed in that day forever and when we come to keep sabbath we are rejoicing in this blessing and know that god will bless us when i was just becoming a seventh-day adventist not yet baptized god gave me an experience of the blessing of the sabbath i played on the ymca basketball team and in our area the ymca was a very significant youth movement and i played basketball for the ymca team and our team qualified for the new england championship i played in connecticut in norwich connecticut and new england of course consists of maine vermont new hampshire connecticut rhode island and the the the championship was a real big deal i came from a home that did not have a lot of money so i hardly ever in my life in my childhood can ever think back of staying in a hotel i don't remember if i ever did i don't think i ever stayed in a hotel before uh in my in my teen up until through my teen years eating in restaurants maybe occasionally but very very very rarely would we ever eat in a restaurant when you qualify as a basketball team for the new england championship uh have the chance to travel and the preliminary tournament was in springfield massachusetts we were to travel to springfield stay in hotels eat in restaurants and i thought this is the only chance in my life i'm ever going to get to travel i will never get to travel again i will never stay at a hotel again i'll never be in a restaurant again i can't give this up but i had studied the sabbath and i will remember i was in high school i was norwich free academy and i was a senior now in academy i was baptized in march of 1963 and this experience would have taken taken place in december or january of 63 december 62 or january 63. and so there i i'm thinking man what an opportunity i can't let my friends down i can't let my buddies down you know i i i just have to go to this tournament i have to go and i wasn't yet baptized but i had studied the sabbath i was really convicted on it i called an old lady who francis parisi was her name she didn't go to the norwich church i was but new london connecticut i called france i said francis i got this great opportunity to play basketball to go to the new england championship but i'm struggling i'm really struggling about she was an old wise adventist lady and i said what should i do i'm not yet baptized i can still remember her she said mark what would jesus do that's all she needed to say you know there goes my dreams i knew the answer mark what would jesus do i said sister he wouldn't go to play basketball he would he would keep sabbath she said you've got your answer i had my answer i didn't go and you know i look at my life and i think about it a great deal if i would have compromised god's truth about the sabbath then would i have ever had the chance to travel the world to probably around 100 countries stay in places all over the world people from a variety of backgrounds jesus says what i blessed are blessed forever and one of my favorite texts in the bible is first samuel 2 verse 30. this is the text that i want to leave you with today what is the purpose of the sabbath is to come and worship god it's to praise him never to miss that opportunity what is the purpose of the sabbath it leads us to deeper trust deeper confidence in god what's the purpose of the sabbath to spend time with our creator in nature to spend time letting our our souls catch up with our bodies in an age of russian hurry what's the purpose of the sabbath it's to do good to find projects that can bless others what's the purpose of the sabbath in one line to draw us closer to god and closer to one another the sabbath is a day of relationships and here god says in first samuel chapter 2 verse 30 therefore the lord god of israel says i said indeed that your house in the house of your father would walk before me forever but now the lord says fart far be it from me now here's the part for those who honor me i will honor and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed those that honor me god says i will honor we'll be so richly blessed if we're faithful to god and keep the sabbath we're not always blessed with material blessings but whatever happens god gives us an inner peace an overflowing joy and a contented heart in knowing him and being secure in the fact that we have done the right thing his love surrounds us his grace fills our hearts and his holy spirit strengthens us so week by week my prayer is that you too will enter into the delight and the joy and the blessing of sabbath let's pray father in heaven how we thank thee with all of our hearts for this palace in time this slice of eternity the good news of the sabbath may it always be a delight for us may we always rejoice in it and find strength and worship to you may we find a deeper trust may we see the beauties of nature and rejoice in their intricacies and your creative power and may we discover how to do good and bless others and we thank you that those that honor you you will honor in jesus name amen

Channel: HopeLives365

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Keywords: Seventh-day Adventist, Seventh day Adventist, SDA, Adventist, Adventists, Mark Finley, HopeLives365, Hope Lives 365, sabbath

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Length: 68min 16sec (4096 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 23 2021