Sabbath Rest - Sabbath School | Bevon Lewin

[Music] shelter in the time of star secure whatever may be tied a shelter in this time of star mighty world [Music] a shelter in the time of storm no fear [Music] is [Music] a shelter in the time of storm [Music] a shelter in the [Music] little [Music] the next song is 205 gleams of the golden morning 205. [Music] golden morning is fast approaching jesus soon will come to take his faithful and happy children [Music] piercing through the night of doom [Music] the gospels will soon [Music] and the trumpet sounds we see the glimpse of the golden morning piercing through this night of gloom oh we see the glimpse of the [Music] angels down the flaming sky the judge will come and will take his people where they will not [Music] the die morning piercing through this [Music] there those loved ones who have long been the tears of those who are broken will be wiped away [Music] to our next song is 251 he lives number 251 and sir the reason savior is in the world today i know that he is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] christ jesus lives today he walks with me and talks with me [Music] you ask me [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] my heart in all the world around me i see his loving care and all my heart grows [Music] christ jesus lives today he walks with me and talks with me a long life [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] heart [Music] rejoice rejoice o christian lift up your voice and sing eternal hallelujah to jesus [Music] christ [Music] with jesus ask me [Music] [Applause] [Music] the next song is 184 jesus paid it all number 184. [Music] watch and pray find in me thine [Music] singing [Music] jesus [Music] i since nothing good have i whereby thy grace to clay wash my garment white in the blood of calvary's jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] him complete i'll lay my trophies [Music] oh [Music] snow okay now it's time for our opening song it is 6 18. stand up stand up for jesus and let's all of us stand as well as we sing 6 18. stand up stand up for jesus the soldiers of the cross lift high his royal banner it must not suffer lost [Music] [Music] and christ is lord indeed stand up stand up for jesus [Music] is [Music] stand up stand up for [Music] he dare not trust your own [Music] stand up stand up for jesus the strife will not be long [Music] a crowd [Music] shall reign [Music] you may be seated happy sabbath everyone hello happy sabbath well um as you all know today is the sabbath and today's lesson is on the sabbath and as seventh-day adventist the name sabbath appears in our church's name and we believe that the sabbath is going to be the special in the end time at a time where it would be a means of making a decision for or loyalty to god for or against him and so we believe that it's important for us as seventh day adventist to understand why we keep the sabbath and why the sabbath is important in our lives [Music] today we're going to be doing the lesson study as a whole and i think there is a roving mic so if anyone has any points they want to contribute to the lesson here feel free to uh just raise your hands and steve will just give you the mic so again before we begin our study today let's bow our heads for prayer there their heavenly father as we about today we ask that you will be with us in our lesson study we see that we are studying this important topic of the sabbath rest and as we study may holy spirit be present with us to guide us and to direct us and to help us to understand the message or the meaning of the sabbath and as we study help us to put in practice what we learn and help us to be closely drawn to thee because we pray in jesus name amen okay so our lesson text today is taken from [Music] leviticus chapter 23 verses 3 and it reads from new king james version six days shalt work be done but the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest a holy convocation you shall not do work on it it is the sabbath of the lord in all your dwellings so in the old testament we see that god [Music] spoke to the children of israel and he taught them that this day the sabbath day was a special day of rest for all the children of israel today as we look at in our contemporary society we see that there are many views out there in christendom about the sabbath for example as we speak to our friends day by day we hear the arguments that the sabbath has been done away with we hear that it has changed from saturday to sunday we heard we hear that jesus abolished the sabbath on the cross and we hear that but nowadays we hear that it's important to keep a day holy but we can choose a day to keep holy in other words we are free to keep our own day holy but is this true i don't think so because some people might be saying that the sabbath is if we keep the sabbath is as if we are trying to work our way to heaven on the contrary the sabbath is a is a celebration or a example of freedom from work i mean the very fact that we are resting on the sabbath should tell that we are not bound to work our way to heaven by salvation but as we study this week's lesson we will see that the sabbath is like a memorial of not only of god's creative power but it's also a memorial of of god's uh redemptive work freedom from sin and so on so the sabbath then is not uh a bond a means of bondage but is a sign of our freedom in christ so as we go through this uh week we will see that god requires that obedience to his commandments is important we as christians know that there's the ten commandments and um all ten commandments are important for us to keep i mean no one says that we should if we if we not kill someone then we are in bondage or if we try to keep the commandments who says you don't shall not steal or lie then we are in bondage to to the commandments but the only commandment which they seem to elicit this response of being in bondage is the sabbath commandment and we know that if we are going to keep the commandments we need to keep all ten we can't say we're gonna keep nine commandments and then forget about one because if you break one it's as if you're breaking all 10. so it's important then that we remember the sabbath and the word remember tells us that something happened in our past and that we need to go back into our past to remember what happened and uh we we it tells us that it takes us back to creation the creation week and what happened in that first week on this earth well in the very first week of this earth's history we realized that god created the heaven and the earth and he created everything by his word his word was power and we he created um in six days he created the heaven and the earth and also the human beings but on the seventh day he created just the sabbath he created a period of time where we can where he could rest and be refreshed and we ask ourselves the question why does god need to rest and i mean he the bible tells us that he was arrested and he was refreshed but the rest that he is speaking of is a rest whereby he is meditating upon his creation he did all this work for six days and on the seventh day he's like he's taking a pause to look at his creation and so he created the sabbath and the sabbath day it's not our day it's god's day because he created it and so now he has invited us as his creation to partake of this rest with him and so we ask ourselves the question what do we do on this day what's the purpose of the sabbath and we look at what god does god is pausing he's taking a break he's looking at his creation and he's kind of uh refreshed getting refreshed from his creation and so we also as these creatures we need to take a pause in our busy life and look at his creation look at what he did it takes us back to to uh that creation week so we realized that this world we live in as we look around as we look at the trees let's look at the sun we look at nature we realize that god created all these things and so it brings our minds back to who our creator is as we look at our fellow human beings we see that god created them as well and so god created all of us he created everything and so as we meditate upon in the sabbath we realize that we need to respect each other we realize that we need to see in every human being the image of god we need to be brought back to the idea that each human being was created in the image of god and as such they require our utmost respect they require our service and therefore we are treat them as if they are less than the image of god and so the sabbath brings us tells us all these things so today as we go through this lesson let's realize that we need to take our minds of the things of the world and you know ellen g white stated that if everyone observed the sabbath they will never be an atheist because we would all be meditating upon the creation we would all be realizing that it is god who created this world and it also take to make us realize that every human being is created in is in his image and we would not try to belittle or put down another human being because we realize that god created them in his own image so today on this god's sabbath day let us realize that uh you know god is the one that we need to [Music] pay close attention to and to realize is creation so on sunday's lesson it talks about sabbath and creation um it says of all the ten commandments all of them there is never anyone which god says remember for example it didn't say remember not to steal it didn't say remember thou shalt not covet but there is only one commandment which tells us to remember and it seems to me that the one that he tells us to remember is the one that we forget because uh if we remember all the different commandments all nine but when it comes to the seventh the tenth the fourth commandment we tend to forget as a society as a world we tend to forget that god says remember this and god particularly says remember because he knew he looked to the future and he realized that that we as human beings would forget so it is specifically stated that we need to remember this uh seventh day commandment and so um as we go throughout um uh in genesis chapter 1 verse 26 and 27 um it's i'll just read that what it says here genesis chapter 21 and if there's any points from our congregation today feel free to make that point because we have a roving microphone and if you feel urge that urgent need to make your point please feel free to uh to make that point because we need to it's a sabbath school and um i'm not preaching today we are just discussing the lesson so feel free to make your points um so i i'll just go ahead and i read uh my genesis chapter 1 verse 26 and 27. okay i see uh handle there that's garrel okay is not ten separate laws is one law in ten parts if you break any one part you are breaking the law if there were a human law and i'm sure there are many that is a multi-part law no judge in the land would look kindly at a person who broke just one part and kept the rest of them [Music] amen so as he's saying that the law is a huge is a unit it's not just uh it's ten separate parts and again the law the ten commandments is a transcript as we know it's been said that of god's character so it it tells us what god is like in words and so they are all important so if we break one part we are breaking all because we are not reflecting perfectly the image of god okay so in uh genesis chapter 1 verse 26 and 27 uh go ahead and read that it says and god said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fall of the ear and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth so god created man in his own image in the image of god created he him male and female created e them so we realize that god created man in his own image and he created man to have dominion over the the things of the earth the fish the birds the animals and so on but because man forgot the sabbath what we do what do we see we see man having dominion over other men which is not what god's plan was because his plan was that we should have the meaning over the earth but having dominion over the earth doesn't mean we should exploit the earth because there's uh you know if we explore the earth then we are not really being god's will we need to take care of the earth so in other words we need to make sure that the environment is still intact that environment is able to be preserved and that not in a political way because we know that in this world today we have it's become a political topic with the environment but we should realize that it's it's it's uh it's a thing that god has given to us as uh a trust he has given to us this world this earth to take care of and when he comes back he wants to know how do we take care of this earth okay we have another point here by deborah and we know today that this so-called climate change we know it's really not the climate that you need to be talking about it's the sand that causes all of these changes in the world it's our sin and when we get to really reality and realize to speak it for what it is you know you keep hearing them say oh all these disasters are happening because of climate change it is happening because not saying there is no climate change but the climate change is because of the sin and our neglect of the god that created this earth amen so sin causes a change in our climate and so when we talk about climate change and so on we need to look at ourselves and in our lives and what are we doing which is not according to god's will are we keeping god's commandments are we keeping a sabbath i mean all these things are what will help us to make preserve the the environment not just um you know other means but so we need to be aware of these things because eventually maybe they're going to be a situation where where they're gonna say probably okay we need to keep one day holy so we can preserve the environment and what day do you think that they're gonna say that is sunday right so we need to be aware that um all these things are pointing to are bringing us closer and closer to that one conflict which will be the god's true sabbath in the end time and it will bring us to a point where we need to make a decision as to what we're going to do are we going to choose god's holy sabbath day or are we going to choose that that um sabbath day which is created by man which is the first day so let us realize how all these things are coming together and make sure that we understand the issues that are in our world at this time okay how does the creation story remind us of of our relationship to creation uh so again we said humans have dominion over the earth a dominion doesn't mean that we're gonna be exploiting the earth but in dominion means we're gonna take care of the earth we're gonna make sure that we uh preserve god's creation and so um as we move on to our next day which is uh monday it says celebrating freedom and if someone wants to read deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 12 through 15 someone could probably go ahead and read that remember this is a class and we are all participating in this class okay um so yeah right right here she's gonna read the deuteronomy uh deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 12 through 15 keep the sabbath day to sanctify it as the lord thy god hath commanded thee six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy god and it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter nor thy manservant nor their maidservant nor they ox nor thy ass nor any of thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou and remember that that was the servant in the land of egypt and that the lord thy god brought thee out of thence through a mighty hand and a stretched out arm therefore the lord thy god commanded thee to keep the sabbath day amen so so israel were captive in egypt and god was the one who delivered them from captivity and god is saying remember the sabbath day because it was by my hand that you were released from captivity so we see here again that the sabbath is a memorial of god's delivering power from the from slavery in egypt and as we saw in sunday's lesson where the sabbath was a memorial of god's creative power it brings us back to the time when god created everything and if you think about it we weren't alive when god created this earth right so we realized that god created everything and then he created the sabbath so we realized that god is the one who did everything and then he created a memorial of his creative power and in the time of the israelites god delivered them from captivity and he told them to keep the sabbath as a memorial of this creation and so the sabbath in this case is a memorial of god power to release us from captivity as we look at our lives today we don't have slavery as such but we have other forms of slavery who would like to tell me what other forms of slavery exist in our world today okay start with s sin so um slave sin is uh we know that people are slaves to different habits you know it could be different addictions which exist out there in the world and we realize that it's near impossible to release ourselves from certain habits in our own power but we can be released through the the power of god okay we have one person you have a point uh deborah yes hebrews chapter 12. verse one uh-huh do you want to read that yes yes and it says wherefore see and we also are compassible with so great a cloud of witness let us lay aside every weight and the sand which so do we should do so easily beset us and let us run it with patience the race that is set before us so it is our you know the weight that holds us down the corruption that is in our lives that needs to be surrendered you know and so that's a form of slavery we're brought into uh under slavery to our com our passions our sins and all of these things yes so um and we know that jesus is the one who delivered us from sin we know that he was he was here on this earth and he lived the life that we should live the is the entire time he spent on this earth he was weaving that character for us that perfect character go ahead i am um about the sabbath um years ago when boer was here and he went through that really heavy wit with us about the sabbath and to keep the sabbath and he just went through it through and through it so um i was reading a verse last week with a lesson and one of the parts in the verse said um you will not have to fight i will fight for you and that brought the story to my mind that i've never shared it with the church and i don't know why i never shared it but i guess it's time to share so i had not worked for 10 years i was at home with my with my children and then i was trying to find a job and nobody wanted to hire me because i hadn't worked in 10 years so i said okay i'm going to think of a place that i would like to work and i'm going to go volunteer there and i'm hopefully i'll get a job there so i thought i would like to work for children so i went and i applied there and they said oh sure we are taking volunteers so they asked me what can you do and i said well i i help out with my kids at school and and the teacher has me file and she says i file really well and they said okay then we'll have you work in the medical records and i'm like okay so i did and then i made friends with with somebody who was working there and this little this little job came up it was a it was a full-time temporary job and so she she told me hey you know why don't you go ahead and apply and i said i can't because the rules are you have to you have to volunteer for six months first and then she says just put my name down and if they say no well then they say no i said okay so i did and i got the job and and the director came and told me um we do not like to lose good people so i went to the director of the volunteer people and asked her to break your contract and i'm like oh okay and so that job was a day job so then when that job was finished a new job came up and it was a full-time permanent job but it was working on the sabbath and so i i just kind of just just didn't go for it and so one of the girls who was who was working with me um she got that job and so the the boss asked her do you know why lydia didn't you know apply for this job and she says i don't know but i think it has something to do with the sabbath and so she came to me and said lydia you need to come to us when there's situations like this you need to come and see us we will give you days we will give you whatever you want we just want you to work for us and i'm and i hadn't worked in 10 years so i'm thinking like i don't know anything they're going to find out i don't know anything but i i did i did well and so that verse that said you will not have to fight i will fight for you came to my mind because i didn't have to say anything so it's that's all amen so as you see in that story um god was the one who was uh fighting for you and as again this sabbath is a memorial of god's power to fight for us and in as you see in the case of the israelites when they were released from slavery it wasn't through their power whilst they were released it was through god's power and so god told them to remember the sabbath because this is our memorial of my power to release you from physical service as well as spiritual slavery so today on this the sabbath day we need to realize that look back remember what christ did for us on the cross where he released us from the power of sin and so we need to realize that on this day this sabbath day we don't need to sin we are free we have freedom from all sin and we can live totally free from any addictions on any other things which keep us down because christ himself has released us from these things okay deborah i was just going to hit on the fact that you know even with the sabbath you know we will remind people sometime of oh you know different things but when it comes to the sabbath we forget that the lord says even the stranger that is within your gates yeah i'm coming to that it is very hard for even our families to understand yeah well you can just come live with me and you you can just you know and that they don't understand when you're living for christ and god says even a stranger you have to choose you have to choose am i going to live in a household that does not respect a sabbath day or am i going to choose to let god open doors for me and i'd rather live alone than to live where god has not been appreciated or worshiped and the sabbath is not being kept so my family sometimes wonder why you know and it's because no one you know i'm not gonna i don't choose to live in a household that does not observe the sabbath amen so with that uh segway we move on to tuesday which talks about the stranger in our gates so the sabbath is just not for those who believe in in god as a creator as the redeemer but it's also for the stranger that is within our gates so um a stranger i am i'm thinking means a person who does not believe the same as we do and who's that who is a stranger in our world who does not believe the same as we do it's the is the entire world if you think about it it's all the people that we come in contact with every day who don't know about the sabbath they also um you know are required by god to keep his day holy now they might not know this but we are there to be you know a means of educating them about what the sabbath is all about so let us do our part in you know being educating christians uh i was just thinking of jim finn when he was here he would talk about some of the jewish people in the building he was in and what they would do is because they weren't supposed to work on the sabbath they would put money on top of the heater and he would come up take the money turn on the heater now this is what they're talking about too when it says the person in your house too it's not just me but you can come and work in my house okay all right so um so so the k so the bible says in exodus chapter 19 verse would like someone like to read that exodus 19 verse 6. whoever wants to go ahead and read that 19 verse 6 and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation these are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of israel amen so we know that um the israelites were you know in slavery in egypt and god delivered them he called them out of egypt so that he can make them a kingdom of priest and a holy nation and he called them back then to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation but today there is also a spiritual israel and the spiritual israel are who and who would you say is the spirit of israel today and what proof do we have of this uh so this this spiritual israel today are those who are of or not of abram's seed physically but of abram's seed spiritually as well and so the sabbath was to be a a perpetual sign between god and his people so back then in in old testament times the the sabbath was kept by the jews the israelites but today um the the one the people are keeping his sabbath day holy these are his modern day spiritual israel and so the same promises that he had for israel of the old testament is is uh applicable to to our contemporary society where this the spirit of israel of today is those who are keeping god's sabbath commandment okay so uh so the same promises that he has for israel back then is significance to us today okay deborah everybody else that might have something to say but it's okay you know lord said circumcision of the heart not you know back then it was a big thing he had to be circumcised and you know and of the jewish faith but god let us know there's not the circumcision of the outward flesh the circumcision of the heart so anyone that believes that jesus is the son of god didn't accept him as their lord and savior it you know it is it is our changed life it's not based on because i'm circumcised [Music] okay all right um so we know that the sabbath is a special day because god created six days then he created the sabbath and so he created a sabbath for himself it belongs to him and so it's a special day now if you think about it um if he invites us to keep his sabbath day that makes us all so special but it makes us um like different and what you know what's different between us and god's natural creation what's the difference is that we were made in this image okay and so as we look around in our society there the sabbath is not being kept in other words people are desecrating the sabbath in in general but if we are keeping his sabbath remember it's his sabbath then we are entering into a special relationship with him and this special relationship with him makes us also special not in a selfish way like you know okay let's say i'm special therefore i am you know better than but especially the sense that god has sanctified us especially in a sense that god has saved us from our sins and create and recreated us in this image the sabbath was a memorial of god's physical creation and as we see it's also a memorial of god's spiritual recreation so if god was able to make this world through his power in six days i mean that's awesome power by just speaking the word how much more can he recreate our characters in his image in this present day so uh he has done this for us and he's doing it for us and so even today as we look at um as we serve him today we can see that he is uh recreating us okay so we move on to wednesday's lesson we talks about serving others honors god's sabbath serving others honors god's sabbath what charge was brought against jesus in john chapter 5 verse 7 through 16. uh we know the story of of john chapter 5 verse 7 through 16. anyone want to remind us of that story just kind of recap as to what was that what it was talking about john chapter 5 verse 7 through 16. anyone remember this is a sabbath school and we have been participating very beautifully and i totally appreciate that so remember this is not a preaching sermon this is a sabbath school so everyone should be involved in giving their points of view all right if not i'll just go ahead and recap that story we know that um there was this man who was uh ill for 38 years he had a he was paralyzed he couldn't move so we know that if someone is paralyzed for 38 years it's like their nerves their muscles are all atrophied it's like there's no active motion and then in any of their limbs and so there was a pool of siloam pool of uh which when they believe was that when the waters was stirred if you're able to get into the water you'll be healed but this man is paralyzed he cannot get into the pool because when the pool moves everyone kind of jumps over him and move and no one there here to help him which was kind of sad because you think that someone would help him i mean for 38 years this man has been trying to get healed and i mean he has the desire to be healed but there's no one there to help him and jesus comes and jesus asked him would you be healed would you want to be healed what a question to ask someone has been for 38 years wanted to be healed in a way the mind said yes and jesus told him take up your bed and walk no what day was this that time this happened the sabbath and so this man took up his bed and he walked that was a ma that was amazing miracle and you'd think that you know people would be amazed at what just took place but what were they more interested in in seeing i mean if someone was paralyzed 30 years and then someone told them to take up their bed and walk to me that's amazing but the jewish leaders were more interested in the fact that the man was carrying his bed i mean that was totally missing the point because they were so blinded by these rules that they created to do on the sabbath not to do on the sabbath day that they miss totally the meaning of the sabbath and the thing is that to me is sometimes we think that the sabbath belongs to us and we think that we can create rules and regulations for the sabbath and that's what they were doing they were creating rules and regulations as to what can can or cannot be done on the sabbath not realizing that the sabbath was not theirs but it was god's and god is the one who we should go to to figure out how do we keep his day because it's his day it's not ours and so um when we keep his day we also belong to him but anyway uh this this man was was um healed by jesus by him speaking the word which tells me that jesus was in fact the creator of the world because when he created this world he was able to speak it into existence and so when he healed this man he used his word he said get up i mean get up take up your bed and walk now the man when he heard these words if he didn't respond if he didn't like do what jesus said he wouldn't be healed so by him obeying what jesus said then he was healed so we realized that we also when we hear the word of god speaking to us we need to obey be obedient to god's word because if we are not then we are not going to read the results of healing yes deborah i i was going to say too um you know this man when you think about how long he had been sick only god knows how long had he been trying to seek the healer you know and that here at this particular time god is always on time and he finds here this man is but this test was not just for this man this test was for god's people that had not been stepping up and doing the things if he had been that long and going to the pool that long where were god's people to go and witness to this man to introduce him to the lord of the sabbath and it says here in isaiah 58 13 and 14 if you turn away your foot from the sabbath from doing your own pleasure on my holy day and call the sabbath day delight the holy day of the lord honorable and shall honor him not doing your own ways not finding your own pleasures nor speak in your own words then you shall delight yourself in the lord and i will cause you to ride up on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of jacob your father the mouth of the lord has spoken it so here we see and it says down lower human agencies are not part of god's sabbath ideal agendas i mean rather we rather we are invited to look out for those who struggle who are captive who are hungry and naked and walk in darkness and those whose names no one seem to remember more than other any other day of the week savage should take us out of ourselves and our and our own selfishness and cause us to think more about others and others needs than about ourselves and our needs amen so uh do you have a point she has a point over there steve when jesus asked the man if he would like to be well that was a yes or no question instead of answering yes or no he made an excuse sometimes we tend to make excuses and so we stay in the place that we have been for 38 years because instead of trying to get out of it and accepting the help when somebody says would you like to be well we make excuses well you know um every time i try somebody else comes before me so so instead of actually doing our part we just sit there and we just stay in our place yes uh so um this miracle was took place on the sabbath day and the jews were totally upset that jesus performed a miracle on sabbath day now that's that tells me that you know the sabbath we know is god's day it's his day he can do whatever he wants on that day because it belongs to him and healing on the sabbath day is you know what he does and so the sabbath day should be a time when we look for god's richest blessings it should be a time when we look for god we need need to be healed of any ailments or diseases or whatever is there to help us to be healed so let us not let this day go to waste you know let us realize that god is there to heal us and physically spiritually you know recreate us in his image so this day is a really special day and he is there he's present he's present today he's present this very very moment to to heal us and so we need to realize that we need to take advantage of the fact that he is willing and able to heal us and to cleanse us from sin and make us whole again so let us not uh just make it a day of just rules and regulations like we can't do this we can't do that but it's a day we can we can have a relationship with him and come close to him and he come close to us and he can be with us in a very special way okay all right let's move on to if there's no more points for thursday's lesson the sign that we belong to so someone could read exodus chapter 31 verse 13 16 and 17. okay i would like to go ahead and read that one for us okay the the chapter is exodus 31 verses are 13 16 and 17. so exodus 31 13 um it says speak thou also unto the children of israel saying verily my sabbath ye shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations i believe it says let me turn the page okay generations that ye may know that i am the lord that death sanctify you and then you said the next one was 16. okay 16 wherefore the children of israel shall keep the sabbath to observe the sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant and then 17 17 okay it says it is a sign between me and the children of israel forever for in six days the lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed amen so we see here that the sabbath is a sign of sanctification it's a sign that we are in covenant relationship with god and so as we look at the word sanctification um what what idea comes to mind what what's the meaning of sanctification um anyone wants to tell me what it means i think deborah as a no sorry oh all right okay uh anyone wants to tell me what it means sanctification all right okay deborah as a answer set aside for holy use yes set aside for holy use yes so so god is saying that we are set aside for a holy use when we are sanctified we are being set apart by god and so as we keep the sabbath day holy we are being sanctified we have been set apart and even today being the sabbath as we observe this day we are in fact been sanctified even at this very moment we have been sanctified we have been set apart we are we are being made holy we are being made into the image of god so that um and also we have a covenant relationship with god in other words when you are married married you have a relationship covenant with your spouse which you have some vows to keep and so we also are in a covenant relationship with god we are set apart we are we are united to him and we are not our own anymore we are we belong to him and so he has a claim upon us and whatever we do we have to do what he wants us to do because we can no longer say we're going to do our own thing or do our own pleasure but we have to do what he wants us to do on this especially on this holiday all right christine i forgot to say also you know when you read here it says the sabbath you know a lot of people say we have 11 sabbath for the jews no this was not just for the jews father the commandments were from the beginning it was in heaven that the commandments already created god had already written it in you know even in beyond this world when this world should come to a close and you know beyond the sabbath will still be in existence we will still keep the sabbath in heaven and for eternity so the sabbath is not for time only but is for eternity and so if you are keeping the sabbath today we will be keeping it in eternity so let us uh you know remember that it's not only for time but for or for eternity and so as we just come to a close in this lesson it says here all heaven all heaven is keeping the sabbath but not in a listless do-nothing way on this day every energy of the soul should be awake for we are we for are we not to meet with god and with christ our savior we may behold him by faith he is longing to refresh and bless every soul so it says as we meet him today because he's here with us today he's present with us and so we need to be excited we need to be refreshed we need to realize that he is willing and he's able and he's looking forward to to coming to meet with us on the sabbath day i mean the sabbath comes around every week and so as we finish the sabbath it's on its way for next week so we need to look forward to next week because it's it's coming and um you know it takes six days to get to the sabbath so uh we just have to i mean as we travel through through space and time we realize that as we finish one sabbath we start to we start to prepare ourselves for the next sabbath and it gives us kind of a rhythm to life you know it's like we work six days and then rest one day and we're and we work six days we shouldn't be um taking sabbath for a day where we the sleep all day say we are resting you know it's uh it's not meaning that we should just be inactive when it says rest it means resting in god it means resting with god it means that we are doing good good works it means that we are going out to spread the message of his salvation it means that we are helping someone to get better it means that we are praying for people it means that we are inviting people home to have lunch you know it it means we are doing something positive for others it's not just for ourselves but it's for others as well says the work of christ is is in healing the sick was in perfect accord with the law it honored the sabbath every sabbath we are reminded that all humanity was created by god it helps us to see people through god's eyes so as again as we close we need to realize that all humanity or our creation of god all humanity our brothers and sisters and they were created by god and they were also saved by god because christ died for them christ died for each of us and so we when we look at our fellow human beings we should see a soul that christ died for and so on sabbath it should remind us that we need to uh be doing what we can to help a soul to be saved okay not just a situation where we are in church all day i mean church is i'm not saying we shouldn't be in church but after church we need to be active in doing something for someone else yes steve this is one thing god impressed me to do with the covet and things going on and people kind of leery about going to people's homes he impressed me to go to the bus stops so i would sab it i'd take it on sabbat i'd go for my walk i can take a whole area of the bus stops go to all of the bus stops i put the little tracks in there and i he impressed me to do that a while back and now this several homeless guy comes and they know me now so he looks for every other track oh i read that one oh i don't have that one no i and so we have become friends that way and so he always see me you know okay he comes around that way to see if if he's missed the track he haven't read so it's amazing so god gives us things we can do even if you can't go around a lot of people go fill the bus stops the people have got they're traveling to that bus stop they will pick it up and they will read it amen so yeah so each of us i mean myself included i'm not preaching to you i'm preaching to myself as well that we need to do all these things um on sabbath because we need to proactive when it comes to sabbath so let us you know endeavor to be more real true sabbath keep i'm sure god will be with us so with that said let us bow it for prayer as we close today dear heavenly father we thank you for the opportunity to keep your sabbath day we ask that you will just give us ways that we can be more active in keeping the sabbath in terms of doing good and helping others and helping to bless others and not just to be inactive but be with us today and be thankful again be those who are sick at this time we pray for the pastor's wife as she's having surgery today that you you'll be with her and have her to be totally healed and and all those who are sick at this time we ask on this year holy sabbath day to heal everyone that's sick and help us to be good health physically and spiritually we thank thee that they're such a good god and we help that we pray that you'll be with us as we within thee for your soon coming in jesus name we pray amen amen well thank you all for your wonderful participation in this sabbath school lesson

Channel: Fresno Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Id: 3a6bMGU-JRY

Length: 70min 52sec (4252 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021