Saturday or Sabbath Keeepers

[Music]hello everyone welcome to take charge ofyour health and to a very specialprogram I your host s stovich the fourthCommandment says remember the Sabbathday to keep it holy six days shall thoulabor and do all thy work but theseventh day is the Sabbath of the Lordthy God in it Thou shalt not do any workthou nor thy son nor thy daughter thymanservant nor thy maid servant nor thycattle nor thy stranger that is withinthyGates it is the longest and the mostextensive commandment and the only onethat instructs us to remember but hasthe Christian World forgotten thiscommandment and if we do honor theSabbath which day do we consider theSabbath day and do we know why we keepthat specific day today we are going todiscuss which day is the Sabbath daywhich day is the seventh day why it isso and whether it is a salvational issueor if it can be overlookedadditional information can be found inthe description box you can also requestextra reading materials on this topic byemailing us at take charge ofyouhealth11gmail.com Our Guest today is Dr ConradVine Pastor Conrad thank you so much forbeing with us again it's a blessing tohave you back for this uh very specialprogram it's a pleasure to be with you ss and with all of your viewers thank youfor having meagain thank you let's start with a wordofprayer dear heavenly father we thank youso much again for giving yet anotheropportunity to come together and to hearyour truths and to study your wordplease guide our meeting today help usto have our hearts and Minds open thatwe can receive the truth that you willspeak today through Pastor Conrad thankyou so much again and we ask all thesethings in jesus' nameamen so Pastor conr today we arediscussing the fourth Commandment andthe prophetic significance of it umthere seems to be almost no arguments ordivision about the other nineCommandments uh but the fourthCommandment seems to have divided theChristian world into two main groups I'mlooking forward to exploring why they isthe case and learning more on thistopic I think and yes you're absolutelyright there is a lot of discussion ordisagreement around the world concerningthe fourth Commandments uh mostChristians would have no problem withthe sixth commandment Thou shalt notkill or the seventh Thou shalt notcommit adultery or the eth Thou shaltnot steal Etc but when it comes to thefourth Commandment um most Christiansaround the world um probablyunintentionally they kind of assume thatSunday keeping is what is commanded inscripture and of course it is not and soum of all the Ten Commandments um thefourth you as you rightly say is Up ForDebate among many Christians but when welook at the biblical um witness we findthat the fourth Commandment stillapplies today and it actually has manybeautiful promises from God embeddedwithin itwonderful looking forward to learningmore all right so um I I've entitled mypresentation here um the Sabbath umSaturday or Sabbath Keepers and um thisis this is an important question for usum because as you say sister s mostChristians around the world honor theSunday rather than the Sabbath thebiblical Sabbath and so I want to sharewith you um and your audiencesome of the beautiful truths about theSabbath as they apply um to us today anduh so I'm asking at the beginning are weSaturday or Sabbath Keepers and just toset this in some some kind of contextwhen my daughter was six years old as wewere going through a US immigrationprocess um she received a letter in themail from US immigration with what wasknown as an employment authorizationcard now of course this was part of thethe transition from her existing visa toa green card or permanent residenstatus um and part of that transitionmeans you get an employmentauthorization card from the US federalgovernment now her initial joy andexcitement turned to dismay late thatevening when we asked her to help us setthe table and wash the dishes and shediscovered that an employmentauthorization from the US government wasnow an employment requirement from theUS government something was Lost inTranslation and the employmentauthorization which was supposed to be ablessing a sign that you making progresstowards the rink card had now become awork requirement something was Lost inTranslation and spiritual truths mayalso be lost as they are translated intopractice particularly the Sabbath truthand for some people in history such asthe fares in the time of Jesus the truthabout the Sabbath have been Lost inTranslation by how they practiced it andso some today as in the time of Jesusare Sabbath Keepers and some areSaturday Keepers and you ask Will whatis the difference between the Saturdaykeeper and the Sabbath keeper well askyourself a simple question are youhappier on Friday Sundown when theSabbath begins or are you happier on Sum Sabbath Sundown Saturday evening whenSunday begins according to thescriptures your answer will will revealwhether you are a Sabbath keeper orwhether you are a Saturday keeper nowthere is a basic theological principlethat religious practices are no betterthan the theology that informs andsupports them and so this this umaffirms the importance of understandingand having a scripture-based um b umfoundation for what genuine Sabbathkeeping really is all about and aSabbath is not an end in and of itselfbut it is a manifestation of an innergenuine Christian experience and everyaspect of our Sabbath Theology andsubsequent Sabbath practice reflects ourrelationship with our heavenly father soI want to be a Sabbath keeper not aSaturday keeper so we're going to to belooking today at three foundationaltruths about the Sabbath and what thewhat the Sabbath reveals about God andabout ourselves we're going to see thatthe Sabbath is actually not onlyMemorial of creation but it acelebration of righteousness by faithand it is a tangible sign of our ongoingCovenant relationship with our heavenlyfather the Sabbath truly is a beautifultruth um for Humanity today so we'regoing to focus first of all on theSabbath as a memorial of our creationand just to um establish some basicbiblical foundations for thisconversation this morning with thisevening we go back to the TenCommandments and we find those in Exoduschapter 20 and the fourth Commandment isfound in Verses 8- 11 which says that weare to remember the Sabbath day to keepit holy six days you shall labor and doall your work but the seventh day is theSabbath of the Lord your God in it youshall do no work nor your son nor yourdaughter nor your male servants nor yourfemale servants nor your Cathnor your stranger who is within yourgates for in six days the Lord made theheavens and the Earth the sea and allthat is in them and rested at theseventh day therefore the Lord blessedthe Sabbath day and hallowed it and soum when the Bible when your OldTestament uses the word Lord in capitalsit's referring to Yahweh or Jehovahwhich is Jesus Christ himself so Jesuswas the one who gave us the Sabbath dayand we are to remember remember theSabbath day as a memorial of God'screation the Sabbath is reminded to usthat God is good that he is love thathis creation is very good that all goodgifts comes from God and that God wishesto spend time with you and with me we'veread in the end of the creation story inGenesis 1 it says there then God saweverything that he had made and indeedit was very good so the evening and themorning were the sixth day and sowhereas around the world today the newday tends to start at 1 minute pastmidnight in the biblical understandingthe day starts at sundown and so SundownFriday through Sundown Saturday is thebiblical Sabbath and this verse here inGenesis 1 teaches us that God's creationwas very good it wasn't just good itwasn't just fair to middling it was verygood God created a perfect world andInfused it with the presence of his lovehe infused it of all that is good allthat is wholesome all that is lifegivingall that is life sustaining and all thatis life fulfilling and it was neverGod's purpose for death disease dismayor despair to inhabit our world so whenwe weep at the grave of a loved one weto remember that God never intended usever to say goodbye to a to a familymember now Genesis 2 veres 1 through3goes on to discuss this a bit more itsays there thus the heavens and theEarth were were made and all the host ofthem were finished and on the seventhday God ended his work which he had doneand he rested on the seventh day fromall his work which he had done then Godblessed the seventh day and Sanctifiedit because in it he rested from all hiswork which God had created and made sofor six days God had created a physicalenvironment but the climax of creationwas nothing physical it was nothing youcould touch it was nothing you could buyor sell or chop down or build no climaxof creation is Holy time it is acathedral in time for us to fellowshipwith our creator regardless of where weare regardless of who we are regardlessof how wealthy or poor how educated wemay happen to be it it doesn't matterwho we are we are not called inscripture to make pilgrimages to Rome toJerusalem or to Mecca because thiscathedral in time exists wherever wehappen to be on planet Earth and whileGod is everywhere all and all he iseverywhere all of the time the only daywhich received his special blessing andwhich is particularly infused with hispresence is the Sabbath day itself butIsaiah14:28 um says this have you not knownand have you not heard the EverlastingGod the Lord the creator of the ends ofthe Earth neither faints nor is wearyhis understanding is unsearchable nowGod is never tired according to thisverse he did not rest on the seventh dayout of fatigue from creating planetEarth on the previous six days but herested in order to set an example foryou and for me now in the west we tendto live 247 lives and if it weren't forthe Sabbath we would live 247 livesseven days of the week but without thatSabbath pause that Sabbath reset um timeblurs we lose our bearings we becomerats in a never- ending treadmill wewear out we experience burnout anddepression and exhaustion and ultimatelywe collapse um just exhausted and asthis happens this process of exhaustionand burnout our relationships with thosewe love with those closest to usinevitably suffer they are strained andsometimes they collapse but the Sabbathgives us time to pause to press reset tostep away from the pressures of theworld and to focus on thoserelationships that are most important tous and bring us the most joy andfulfillment it's important to realizefrom the scripture that the Sabbath isnot a Jewish institution it existed longbefore there were Jews or Gentiles howdo we know this because it was given inthe Garden of Eden Adam and Eve it'sGod's gift to all of humanity as Jesusmade clear in Mark 2: 29 he said therethe Sabbath was made for man that is foryou and for me it is God's gift to youbut only is the Sabbath Ro of humanityit exists equally all of humanity now welive in a world where humanity isseparated by multiple dividing Lines byclass by income by education by Race bynationality by cast by gender by age bytribe and by faith our world celebratesthose who are high class High incomeHigh status or high cast and peoplecrave their 15 Minutes of Fame in themedia but in the Sabbath God celebrateseverybody within the human race and hegives 24 hours of every week to everyperson regardless of who they are andregardless of where they are andregardless of their backgrounds theSabbath affirms that we are all equallyloved by God that we are all equallyimportant to God and that God wants arelationship with every single humanbeing on planet Earth and what does theSabbath reveal about us well Revelation4: 9-1 gives vision of the Apostle Johnin the Book of Revelation and he getscaught up into the throne room of God inheaven and what he sees is beautifulendless worship and this is just one ofthe verses from that chapter there itsays whenever the living creatures giveglory and honor and thanks to him whosits on the throne who lives forever andever the 24 Elders fall down before himwho sits on the throne and worship himwho lives forever and ever and casttheir crowns Before the Throne sayingyou are worthy oh Lord to receive gloryand honor and power for you created allthings and by your will they exist andwere created this passage tells us thatGod is worthy of Praise because he isthe Creator and because his creationreflects his goodness and his love thatwe have a sense of awe of God'sTranscendence above everything outsideof everything including time itself whenwe pause during the Sabbath hours andthis is something that we've lost in theWestum theologians talk about theTranscendence of God that is God on histhrone above the heavens and the EarthGod In His Majesty God dwelling inunapproachable light and theologiansalso talk about the imminence of Godthat is how close he is to us howpersonal and how intimate a connectionhe wants with us and we often talk aboutgentle Jesus G and meek and mildes andhe is the Good Shepherd Hensley lookingafter his lamps and in the west we havemoved from an understanding of theTranscendence of God which you find inmaybe Orthodox Christianity whichfocuses on on his Transcendence withProtestants we tend to focus on theimminence of God and uh among secularpeople we just abandoned the idea of Godaltto together and yet the Sabbathreveals that we can pause and have abreak from the Rat Run and the rat raceand the stresses of life and we can liftour eyes to the heavens and worship Godas our creator and he is a good Creatorand he is a merciful creator and he is afaithful Creator to each one of us uhthe Bible says the heavens declare theglory of God and the firmament shows hishandiwork day unto day utters speech andnight unto night reveals knowledge thereis no speech nor language where theirvoice is not heard their line has gonethrough all the Earth and their words tothe end of the world and in the in thesecular West we're so focused on what'simmediate what's now what's tangiblethat we've lost our sense of whatwe've lost our sense of theTranscendence of God and if we wouldonly lift our eyes to the heavens andreflect on how incredible they are andhow powerful those stars are and howthere are trillions of stars out thereand they never Collide they all worktheir course and they they are heldtogether by this incredible order wecall this the laws of the universe butin reality the laws of the universe isanother way of describing how God'suniverse is perfectly made and so whenwe lift our eyes to the heavens and wewe have a sense of the Transcendence ofGod once again and awe and mystery andpurpose have a chance to re-enter OurLives again Psalm 14 verse 6 and 7describes our response to God as theCreator and the the Sabbath is thememorial of that creation he says therethen I saw another Angel flying in themidst of Heaven having the Everlastinggospel to preach to those who dwell onthe Earth every nation tribe tongue andpeople saying with a loud voice fear Godand give glory to him for the hour ofhis judgment has come and worship himwho made the Heaven and the Earth theSea and the Springs ofwater our response to God is to worshiphim as Creator on the Sabbath day when swhen Satan was tempting Jesus at thebeginning of his ministry in the thirdTemptation Satan said to Jesus he saidall these I will give you when he showshowed Jesus the kingdoms of this worldif you will fall down and worship meSatan craves the worship of Jesus whichhe did not receive and he craves ourworship as well and he tempts us everyday in every way in order that we mightworship him yet obedience to anythingother than God and His revealed will isultimately and tragically worship ofSatan and Satan has only one goal inmind your pain today and your Eternaldestruction tomorrow and so we jointogether in a holy Gathering of on theSabbath day as commanded by God inLeviticus 23 and verse3 to worship Godas our creator so the Sabbath reminds methat God is the Creator and I am acreated being it reminds us that we arenot the Masters of the Universedetermining right from wrong it remindsus that we are not omnipotent that weare not omniscient that we are notomnipresent and that we are not Immortalit is a rebuke to our human Pridereminding us that we are not the summitof The evolutionary pyramid living in anamoral Universe without moralresponsibilities but it reminds us thatwe are moral beings within a createdCosmos with moral responsibilities toour neighbor that we are called to loveGod and to love our neighbor as ourselfwhen Cain killed Abel and God camelooking for Cain he said to Cain whereis thy brother and Cain responded to Godby saying I don't know am I My Brother'sKeeper and the answer is no you're hisbrother that is we have moralresponsibilities to our to our neighborsto our fellow our family members tofellow humanity and god holds usaccountable for how we treat other humanbeings so the cab the Sabbath calls usto love rather than to hate ourneighbors reminding us weakly that eachone of us is ultimately accountable toGod for every word and deed we commit uhin relation to those around us ouractions do have Everlasting consequencesSabbath also reminds us that we createdfor a holy purpose by a loving heavenlyfather and if our beginning had purposein creation and my present can havemeaning and my future can have hope andso the Sabbath is a weekly rebuke to themodern philosophies of Despair emptinessnihilism and nothingness it's also arebuke to idolatry that we are toworship the Creator rather than thingsthat we create with our own hands itreminds us that we should have no othergods before the Creator God himself inour lives so the Sabbath is an eternalMemorial of God's creation of you andfor me and the appropriate response isof worship and allowing the sense oftranscendence and awe to enter ourmaterial lives once again and when weallow that Transcendence and awe toenter our lives and we realize that ourlife is played out on a much biggercanvas than just the house where we liveand it renews to each one of us a senseof purpose and meaning but there isanother meaning to the Sabbath that wefind in the scripture and it is actuallythat the Sabbath is a celebration ofGod'sgrace it's a c it's a celebration ofGod's salvation for you and for me andwhere do we find this well if you goback to the story of The Exodus whenMoses led the people of Israel out ofslavery in Egypt to Canaan and mod Dayland of Israel or what was known as thepromised land when Moses firstconfronted the Egyptian king the Pharaohand said let my people go um we find ahint of the Sabbath within that thediscussion between Moses and pharaoh andyou read about it here on the screen inExodus CH 5 veres 1-5 it says thereafterwards Moses and Aaron went in andtold Pharaoh thus says the Lord God ofIsrael let my people go that they mayhold a feast to me in the wilderness andPharaoh said who is the Lord that Ishould o obey his voice to let Israel goI do not know the Lord nor will I letIsrael go so they said the god of theHebrews has met with us please let us gothree days journey into the desert andsacrifice to the Lord Our God lest hefall upon us with pestilence or with thesword then the king of Egypt said tothem Moses and Aaron why do you look whydo you take the people from their workget back to your labor and Pharaoh saidlook the people people of the land aremany now and you make them rest fromtheir labor now the question is whenMoses wanted to take his people for afeast what Feast was he talking aboutbecause the ceremonial Jewish feastssuch as Passover and Tabernacle and theFeast of Weeks and yam Kapur it did notexist until Mount siai after The Exodusso what Feast was Moses wanting to takethe Israelites away from Egypt so theycould honor well Pharaoh's responsehints at the answer he says at the endof the passage there he says you makethem rest from their labor now the wordused for rest is shabbath that means torest it is the root for Shabbat whichmeans the Sabbath and so Pharaoh wasrecognizing that uh Moses wanted to takethe Israelites out of slavery in Egyptso they could celebrate a festival ofrest otherwise known as the SabbathPharaoh would not allow God's people aSabbath restthough God delivered his people out ofslavery in Egypt so they so that theymight live in harmony with his commandsand his wishes rather than with thecruel slavery of the Egyptian pharaohand this comes through in the um theother version of the fourth Commandmentso if you look in the Bible there'sExodus 20 is is the basic version of TheTen Commandments and Deuteronomy 5recites The Ten Commandments and thereno difference to Exodus 20 but thefourth Commandment is different and butwhilst in Deuteronomy once again we'recommanded to observe the sabbath day tokeep it holy you notice as you see onthe screen the portion in red is thatbit that is different to the Sabbathcommandment in Leviticus 20 and in inDeuteronomy and this is after The Exodusum now we are given a new reason why weshould honor the Sabbath day and it saysthere in red it says and remember thatyou were a slave in the land of Egyptand the Lord your God brought you outfrom there by a mighty hand and by anoutstretched arm therefore the Lordcommanded you to keep the Sabbath day soafter 40 years in the wilderness andabout to be led into the promised landMoses reiterated The Ten Commandmentsfor Israel on the borders of Canaan onthe borders of modern day Israel this iswhere the book of Deuteronomy was givenand the fourth Commandment has changedat siai um we are to worship God we'reto honor the Sabbath to remember God asour creator but in Deuteronomy we are tohonor the Sabbath day and worship God onthe Sabbath day because it's a sign ofhis eternal salvation for us for you andfor me it's a sign of his deliverancefrom slavery the rationale for theSabbath is no longer just a symbol ofcreation but it is a celebration ofGod's deliverance from slavery in Egyptand the Israelites were to celebrate theSabbath to recognize that God delivershis people from slavery that he callsthem into a covenant relationship withhim because Deuteronomy is the book ofthe Covenant and so the Sabbath dayexists for people who are in a covenantrelationship with God now likewise weare to celebrate the Sabbath as a meansof affirming the truth that God who doesnot change has also delivered us fromour own Egyptian slavery to sin to enterinto a covenant relationship with him wetalk about that as the New Covenant thatJesus brought in in the Lord's Supperjust as Jesus delivered the Israelitesfrom slavery LED them to the promisedland by the pillar of fire and Cloud sowe affirm in the Sabbath that Jesus hasdelivered Us From Slavery to sin atCalvary and is leading us to Heaven thatis the promised land and the name Jesusmeans Jehovah is saving or God Saves sothe Sabbath is an opportunity for us tocelebrate and to affirm God's wondrousacts in our lives it affirms our faithin Salvation past our trust in Salvationpresent and our hope in Salvationfuture now after The Exodus when thepeople of Israel escaped from the armiesof Egypt they crossed the Red Sea andonce they crossed the Red Sea um pharaohand his armies chased the Egypt theIsraelites across the Red Sea but theWaters of the Red Sea came back anddrowned the Egyptian Army once theIsraelites saw the destruction of theEgyptian army they sang what is known inthe Bible as the song of Moses and thisis what you have on the screen here sothis is just after The Exodus and thedestruction of the Egyptian Army it saysthere then Moses and the children ofIsrael sang this song to the Lord andspoke saying I will sing to the Lord forhe has triumphed gloriously the horseand its Rider he has thrown into the seathe Lord is my strength and song and hehas become my salvation he is my God andI will praise him my father's God and Iwill exalt him the Lord is a man of warthe Lord is his name this is a song ofDeliveranceand according to Revelation chapter 15the saints of God whove been deliveredfrom slavery to sin and who stand Beforethe Throne of God on that sea of glasswill also sing the song of Moses and soit's it's a song It's a song that thesaved saints of God sing throughouteternity because we're all celebratingthe same thing we have been saved not byour own ability but by the incredibleand miraculous work of God on our behalfand so we celebrate the Sabbath and wesing the song of Moses because God hassaved us he is saving us and one dayhe's returning to save us from thisfallen and broken planet of sin so whatdoes the Sabbath as a celebration ofdeliverance from sin means to us itactually celebrates righteousness byfaith the Sabbath affirms ourhelplessness in the face of Eternaldeath it affirms our failure to overcomethe serpent sting it invites us to lookto ourselves and to stop looking toourselves as if we have all the answersit affirms our need for divine help theSabbath affirms that God loves us andwishes us to have eternal life that heis compassionate and gracious that he isslow to anger and abounding in love andfaithfulness maintaining love tothousands and forgiving wickednessrebellion and sin the Sabbath affirms init celebration of deliverance from sinthat we are to look to Jesus lifted highand dying in our place Place trusting inGod's provision for our Salvation inorder that we might be delivered fromDeath to life the Sabbath affirms whenwe look to Jesus dying in our place onCalvary we want to be forgiven cleansedand set free from our guilt and shame itaffirms that when we confess our sins weto ask God for the power to repent andto turn away from our previous life andif I believe the promises of God that Iam forgiven cleansed made whole Godsupplies the fact we are indeed forgivenwe are indeed free from the slavery ofsin in our past and we can live innewness of life and so the S the Sabbathis celebrated by those who have receivedthe gift of eternal life as the ApostlePaul says it is by grace that you havebeen saved through faith and this notfrom yourselves it is the gift of Godand so the Sabbath is not something thatwe keep in order to be saved the Sabbathis kept by those for whom God hasalready done a one wonderous work ofdeliverance from slavery in Egypt orFrom Slavery to sin today and so on theSabbath we are called as the ApostlePeter said in 1 Peter 2:9 to proclaimthe mighty acts of him who called youout of Darkness Into His Marvelous Lightso the Sabbath is an eternal celebrationof God's Sal salvation for you and forme and it calls each one of us to aresponse of witness to testify to God'sgoodness in our lives but there'sanother aspect to the Sabbath that wefind in the scriptures and it is thatthe Sabbath is a sign of God's covenantrelationship with you and withme and um we find this first mentionedin Exodus chapter 19: 3-6 and this iswhat we read there it says and Moseswent up to God and God Called to himfrom the mountain this is Mount siai andsaying thus you shall say to the houseof Jacob and tell the children of Israelyou have seen what I did to theEgyptians and how I bore You On Eagle'sWings and brought you to myself nowtherefore if you will indeed obey myvoice and keep my Covenant then you willbe a special treasure to me above allpeople for all the Earth is mine and yoube to me a kingdom of priests and a holynation these are the words which youshall speak to the children of Israel soat Sinai god um entered into a covenantrelationship with the people of Israelthat they might be his treasuredpossession Priestly Kingdom and a holynation they are to be God's treasuredpossession and the Apostle Peter appliesthis verse directly to the Church of Godin New Testament and Apostolic times andin our times that we can also be akingdom of priests and a holy nation anda special treasure to our HeavenlyFather and so when we when we acceptthat state this when we enter that newrelationship that Covenant walk with Godwhere we say if you will be my God Iwill be your child we find that theSabbath is a sign to the watching worldand the watching universe that we are ina covenant relationship with ourheavenly father we find that in Exodus31:13 and verses 16-1 17 where God saysto Israel he says surely my sabbaths youshall keep for it is a sign between meand you throughout your Generations thatyou may know that I am the Lord whosanctifies you therefore the children ofIsrael shall keep the Sabbath to observethe sabbath throughout their Generationsas a Perpetual Covenant it is a signbetween me and the children of Israelforever for in six days the Lord madethe heavens and the Earth and on theseventh day he rested and was refreshedand so the Sabbath is a sign that we areGod's people and that the Creator is ourGod it is a sign that we are histreasured possession that God hasentered into a a Perpetual Covenant withus that we are God's treasured possess sin perpetuity it's an incredible signthat the Sabbath um manifests to thewatching Universe Ezekiel goes on toaffirm this underlying truth the prophetEzekiel at the time of Daniel he saysthis God says um to Ezekiel he saysmoreover I gave them my sabbaths to beassigned between them and me that theymay know that I am the Lord whosanctifies them hallow my sabbaths thatthey shall be assigned between me andyou that you may know that I am the Lordyour God so the Sabbath is not just asign of God's deliverance from slaveryto sin that is righteousness by faith itis also a tangible sign of the processof sanctification that is of becomingever more holy of becoming more like Godas the as John the Baptist once saidthat Jesus must increase and I mustdecrease so the Sabbath is assignmentGod changes you and me that he makes usmore holy that we are growing intoFuller and Fuller Christian maturitythat we may indeed be that PriestlyKingdom a holy nation and a treasuredpossession for our heavenly father andso the Sabbath is my affirmation to Godthat I'm not perfect that I do need togrow that I do need to grow in Christianmaturity that I want him to recreate mefrom the inside out that I wish to bethe new creation that only he can makeme be that I wish for his image to befully restored within me that firstSabbath was celebrated by God with Adamand Eve in the Garden of Eden before sinentered the world the Sabbath existedbefore the sin emergency on planet Earthit existed during the sin emergencywhere we live today and according toIsaiah 66 the Sabbath will exist afterthe sin emergency when we dwell with Godin the new heavens and the new Earth sothe Sabbath was never given as the meansby which we earn our Salvation somehowno it is an invitation to us to in infaith and trust in our Heavenly savioruh to worship him as Creator and totrust that he is working the process ofsanctification in our lives it is asymbol of God's covenant with each oneof us and what does that Covenant bringus well the Covenant brings us fouressential components and we read aboutthis in Hebrews 8 verse 10 and 11 whichis picking up on what the ProphetJeremiah spoke of in Jeremiah 31 andthis is the New Covenant that Jesusoffers everybody who go through thewaters of baptism and who are born ofwater and of the spirit and the firstaspect of the New Covenant is this itsays for this is the Covenant that Iwill make with the house of Israel afterthose days sayith the Lord I will put mylaws in their mind and write them ontheir heart this is the process ofsanctification it means theinternalization of God's law so you'renot following God's law because you haveto do it to be saved but God's law whichis an expression of his characterbecomes an expression of your characterit simply is who you are so the the NewCovenant and with Sabbath that goes withit is an expression ofsanctification It also says in Hebrews8:10 and I will be their God and theyshall be my people so the Sabbath is asymbol of reconciliation with God itheals our estrangement from God itrestores our relationship with ourheavenly father the text goes on to saythat none of them shall know hisneighbor and none his brother sayingnone of them shall teach his neighborand none his brother saying know theLord For All Shall know me from theleast of them to the greatest of themthis here is is a testament to the powerof witness that comes when we are bornagain and we testify to God's goodnessin our life we can make God knownthrough verbal witness and throughloving service for broken humanity andthen we also find in Hebrews 8 and verse12 again discussing the New Covenantthat Jesus brought infor which the Sabbath is a sign it saysI will be merciful to theirunrighteousness and their sins and theirLawless Deeds I will remember no more sothe Sabbath and the New Covenant are asign that we are set free from theguilts of the past we are no longerprisoners of our past and we haveexperienced forgiveness from God and wehave experienced justification where Goddeclares the the guilty sinner innocentnot because they're really innocent inand of themselves but because they arecovered by the righteousness of JesusChrist so the Sabbath is an eternal signof God's covenant relationship with youand with me and it calls for a responseof engaging in Christian Ministryworking with Jesus Christ and what theApostle Paul calls a Ministry ofreconciliation that we becomeambassadors for Jesus working with Godto seek and to save the lost so thereare three aspects of the Sabbath thatwe've covered today and beautifulaspects of the Sabbath and so we justreturned to my daughter and when shereceived her employment authorizationcard um it was initially a source of Joybecause it was a sign that the processof moving towards a green card wasindeed moving forward but somehow thatjoy and the meaning was Lost inTranslation and she somehow experiencedthe employment authorization card as awork requirement card now that she hadto wash the dishes and set the tablethat which should have brought Joy hadsomehow become a burden and as I said atthe beginning spiritual truths are oftenLost in Translation and this isparticularly true of the Sabbath whichinstead of bringing Joy has become aburden for many people around our worldtoday but God is calling us to turntoday from being Saturday Keepers tobecoming Sabbath Keepers so the Sabbathis a an eternal Memorial of God'screation and it calls for a response ofworship a sense of awe and Transcendenceand meaning and purpose and permeate OurLives once again the Sabbath is aneternal celebration of God's salvationthat we are saved by grace From Slaveryto sin and it calls for a response of aliving faith in Jesus Christ the Sabbathis an eternal sign of God's covenantrelationship with you and with me theNew Covenant that Jesus brought in inthe Lord's Supper just before he died onCalvary and it calls for a response ofwitness to those around to witness toGod's goodness and his mercy and hisfaithfulness and his love in our livesso here on this final slide here I justwant to reflect on um two ways ofunderstanding the Sabbath in summaryhere um if if in Greek philosophy if Igive you a word let us say the wordpropitiation um your first questionwould be what does itmean and um in in Hebrew way of thinkingthe biblical way of thinking thequestion is not what does the wordpropitiation mean but what does it doand so um you might say that um in in inGreek thinking um I have here a glassand if if I would say to you would youlike a drink you're not focused on theglass itself you're focused on what's init that's what adds meaning to thisglass and that's the Greek way ofthinking that you add meaning to a wordwhereas in in the Hebrew way of thinkingum a word is more like um a straw or apipe or a funnel and and and meaningflows through it and as it flows throughit it cleans that which is on the insideso if we if we approach the question ofSabbath from let's say a a western Greekphilosophical background um we discussthe Sabbath we say that yes meaning canbe added to the concept of the Sabbathbut it stays with us just as you have acup you pour water into the cup um thewater doesn't go anywhere it sits withinthat cup but but life's experiences mixwith Heavenly truth and they stay withus having nowhere to go so if you have acup like this sitting on your bedsidetable and you fill it with water andjust leave it there for six months andthings like dust and you know maybe somebugs get trapped in it and it is nolonger drinkable and so spiritually webecome essentially like stagnant poolswe have the truth but we we become toxicwe become Saturday Keepers Saturdaybecomes a burden people see this andthey're driven from God on the otherhand if we adopt a Biblical or moreHebrew perspective on how what wordsmean and what truths mean and how theyoperate within our lives we understandthat um meaning is added but it flowsthrough us so that the the truths aboutthe Sabbath don't just enter our livesand stop with us but they flow throughus to those around us and if you youhave water flying flowing through a tubeor a pipe or a funnel what you noce isthat that the continual flow of water umwashes away any dirt within that pipe orstraw or tube or funnel and so life'sexperiences are washed away the Pains oflife and the bitterness of Life As Weallow the continual flow of God's lovethrough us to those around us sospiritually rather than becomingstagnant pools out of our hearts flowstreams of Living Water just as JesusPromised in John 7 and: 38 we have thetruth yes but it no longer stays justwith us to be mixed with the bitternessand the disappointments of life to forma toxic mix but we have the truth aboutthe Sabbath and about Jesus Christ andit flows through us and it becomes alife-giving blessing to those around usand so we are no longer Saturday Keepersbut we're Sabbath Keepers Sabbath is ajoy people see this and they are drawncloser to our Heavenly Father and so Iwant to encourage you today to be aSabbath keeper and not a Saturday keeperto celebrate the fact that the Sabbathis a memorial of God's creation of youand of me and therefore we can respondwith worship to our Heavenly Father torecognize that the Sabbath is acelebration that God has worked on ourbehalf in our past to set us free fromguilt and From Slavery to sin and theare the response that he's looking foris one of wit is one of witness abouthim and the Sabbath is also a sign ofour covenant with our heavenly fatherthe New Covenant that we enter into whenwe are baptized and when we are bornagain and the response that God islooking for from each one of us is thatwe participate in witness to others ofGod's goodness in our lives so I lovethe Sabbath day it's the highlight ofthe week um I don't know what I would dowithout the Sabbath day I want toencourage you to taste and to see thatGod indeed is good you can read aboutthe Sabbath you can sing about theSabbath you can listen to sermons aboutthe Sabbath but why not try it foryourself why not stop work on FridaySundown turn off the internet turn offthe mass media avoid um Hollywood andmovies and the news and music and spendtime with those closest to you slow downpress the pause button and the resetbutton on the relationships that aremost important to you as you honor theSabbath day your day will become infusedwith the presence of God a sense of aweand wonder will will return to your lifeand you will experience life no longerin black and white but in gloriousTechnic color so uh enjoy and worshipand honor God on the Sabbath day it isone of the Ten Commandments it's howwe're created to be we're created tohave one day in seven as a complete restso enjoy the Sabbath day honor theSabbath day and God will honor you theresister s if I may hand back to you nowand um we will continue our conversation[Music]amen that was really insightful and umit has all the components that um theviewers might be looking for it's apleasure it's a delight and it's got thehealth component as well and it is partof the moral law it hasn't been doneaway with it was there at creation rightit's been it's going to be there allthroughout um the human history to theum up to um the Heavenly rest when wewill still keep the Sabbath in in heavenand in the newEarth it's an absolute Delight so andyou know I don't know what I would dowithout the Sabbath you because we workso hard and um you know life is toughand the Sabbath is like a weekly pauseand you just you just stop and you havea reset and you can rejuvenatephysically and spiritually andemotionally and I I I often wonder howpeople live without the Sabbath daybecause they they get caught up in aNeverEnding Rat Run that simply ends inBurnout and exhaustion and so I'm sograteful to God for the gift of theSabbath that's true and that's one day Iknow for our family when our kids ask umwhether daddy is going to go to work umdaddy says no it's the Sabbath so theyare happy they know that it's one daythat they're GNA have their dad withthem the whole day at least and umthere's no way he's is's going to engagein any work so yeah um it is a reallygood time and also if I may add fromHealth Point of View there have evenbeen done studies about this that umSabbath Keepers May out leave theirAmerican this is an American study thatthey may out leave their Americancounterparts by up to 10 years andthat's um that can be contributed to theSabbath rest um um and I guess when wesay Sabbath uh rest and we talk aboutthe fourth Commandment we should also umremember that God also says work sixdays a week right so that's that's alsopart of theCommandment it's it's pretty easy forsome people to keep um seven daysresting and not doing anything butthat's also um part of The Commandmentsright yes we forget that workers isactually a blessing from God andparticularly uh for men we talk abouthealth um men in particular get theiridentity from their jobs andunemployment um can cause not just afinancial crisis in a family but it canalso cause a series of Mental Healthcrisis as well and so work is a blessingfrom God and without work we can slideinto depression or despair um alcoholand substance abuse and so um work is ablessing from God and so the fourthCommandment commands us to work six daysof the week but to rest on the seventhday and so um God is is not just givingus physical rest but he's maintainingour emotional and mental health at thesametime yesabsolutely so I actually got a questiontoday from someone that said um is thereany evidence in the Bible that suggeststhat the Sabbath was kept by Christiansor by people before Moses is there amention in the Bible aboutthat yes so before Moses okay so the thefourth Commandment was codified andgiven in the uh in the Ten Commandmentson the the tablets of a stone that Godgave Moses the evidence for the Sabbathgoes back to the Garden of Eden where umGod rested on the Sabbath day and herested with Adam and Eve this was beforethere was such a thing as Jews orgentiles and we also know with thePatriarchs that for instance Abrahamkept all the Commandments and thestatutes of God which is referring tothe Ten Commandments Abraham would havehad them in oral form before they weregiven in written form at Mount SII soyes as far as we can see in thescripture the Patriarchs Abraham Isaacand Jacob and Adam and Eve all kept theSabbath day before it was given at Mounts Pastor Conrad does it matter in thatcase which day we rest let's sayit used to be Sunday used to be thefirst day of the week now it's theseventh day of the week um will we beheld accountable if according to thecalendar today we keep the Sunday umeven in good faith believing that thisis the Sabbath of the Lord so this is areally interesting question and thequestion of the Sabbath is a question ofauthority in our lives um if we askourselves where's does Sunday worshipcome fromum the Roman Catholic Church explicitlyStates um in the in the in the canon lawand in the catechism that the theCatholic Church changed the solemnityfrom Sabbath to Sunday on the CatholicChurch's own authority or presumedAuthority rather than on the word of Godand so we must ask ourselves are wegoing to obey God or are we going toobey man and when Peter and John wentbefore the S heden and were commandednot to testify to the life and the storyand the resurrection of Jesus theyresponded that we must obey God ratherthan man and so when men say You mustworship on Sunday for instance God saysI want you to remember the Sabbath dayto keep it holy then we have to chooseare we going to obey God or are we goingto obey man and that is a principle wefind in the New Testament so yes it doesmatter now many people are not aware ofthese truths which is why we talk aboutit in program s like this that ifanybody reads their Bible and reads theTen Commandments they will very quicklyrealize that oh God wants me to rememberthe Sabbath day not the first day of theweek and indeed the Catholic Churchexplicitly states that um there is nobiblical evidence or mandate forShifting the semity from Sabbath toSunday uh and that if you want to followthe Bible then you need to become aSeventh Day Adventist or if you want tofollow the traditions of men then joinsome other Faith though does God holdpeople accountable for this um yes hedoes hold people accountable for it butsome sins are committed in ignorance andGod is merciful to those who who whocommit sins in ignorance um but there isa final judgment coming and each one ofus must live in the light that we havereceived and once you know about theSabbath day that it is God's perfectwill for all of humanity then you aregoing to be judged according to yourresponse um to the light that God hasgivenyou amenand um to close off Pastor Conrad wouldyou say that this is God's Mark um inopposition to the mark of the beast yeahso that that's a great question so umthe world has been divided alongideological lines and ethnic and raciallines for Millennia as part of the humancondition but in the final crisis inRevelation chapter 13 we find that umthere are four on this planet the firstand second beasts of Revelation 13 whichenforce worship of the first Beast whichis the papacy and ultimately of of theDragon behind that Beast which is Satanand we also find um in response to thethe powers of this world who areenforcing through the mark of the beastfalse worship that God sends Messengerswe call those The Three Angels inRevelation 14 the next chapter callingpeople to worship God as the Creator andthat points us back to the fourthCommandment so yes this is going to be apoint of contention at the end of timeand just as we've come through years ofwhere there was a division between thevaccinated and the unvaccinated andthere was the social demonization of theunvaccinated so we are entering a timewhere the question is whose voice do youlisten to do you obey the word of God ordo you obey the teachings of Fallen menand when Fallen men are commanding falseworship and God says remember theSabbath day to keep it holy and we areto um to worship him as our creator inRevelation 14 as God's response to thisfalse worship that is being imposed uponthe world then everybody has to make achoice and everybody has to decide am Igoing to honor the Sabbath day becausethat's what God commanded us that's whatJesus did he set us an example inkeeping the Sabbath day or are we goingto follow the false teachings of Fallenmen and that's a choice that everybody'sgoing to have tomake definitely and if anyone thinksthat that's not um realistic that umSunday worship will be imposed I thinkthe last three years have have taught usthat worldwide uh laws and rules can beimposed on everyone at the same time souh it's now more of a reality and moreeasy to believe that that is exactlywhat will happen with the Sabbath andSunday worship as well exactly rightsister suanyes yeah so we want to thank you so muchfor your time Pastor Conrad and um mayGod bless your ministry as you share umGod's truths um can we ask you to closewith a word of prayer pleaseabsolutely dear heavenly father I thankyou for the privilege of being able toshare with sister so in this programtoday what I want to thank you for thegift of the Sabbath day I want to thankyou that it reminds us that we arecreated beings with more moralresponsibilities to our neighbor remindsus that we have a loving Creator remindsus that we are saved by grace it remindsus that you want to work a mysteriouswork in our innermost hearts and changeus so that every day we become more likeJesusChrist father I pray for those who arewatching this program wherever they maybe father I pray that your holy spiritwill impress upon their hearts the truthabout the Sabbath day the blessings ofthe Sabbath day and that they will turnto you in Humble obedience and as theyhonor the Sabbath day father I pray thatyou will Infuse their Sabbath experiencewith all of your blessings so fatherdismiss us now with your blessing in thename of Jesus we askamenamen thank you everyone for joiningunfortunately time will not allow us tocontinue our Sabbath discussion furthertoday but please look in the descriptionbox for the additional reading materialmentioned if you have friends and familymembers who will be blessed by thispresentation please forward it to themconsider becoming part of our onlinecommunity and supporting our ministry aswell details on how to support ourministry can be found in the descriptionbox and if you have any questions forour speakers or for us don't hesitate tosend them to us on take charge of yourhealth 10@gmail.com to be addressed inin our future meetings God bless you allsee you next time