Are we Reaping the full Benefits of God's Sabbath?

Well, good afternoon to everyone. Hope that you're feeling good this afternoon. You've had a good week and now a good Sabbath day. It's good to be back in Columbus once again and to see all of you. Certainly appreciate the sermonette as well. And yes, we are preparing to help Jesus Christ change the world, beginning, first of all, cleaning up our own life, cleaning up our own room.

That was a very good point. Thank you for that sermonette. Mr. and Mrs. Martin are in Macon only today. I think they're taking the afternoon off, but the Macon Church did have a potluck meal and they were able to stay and have extra fellowship with the Macon congregation this morning. I want to thank everyone for your prayers for my wife. We have gone through together a major health trial in the beginning about three months ago.

She began to throw up and vomit, get into dry heaves and everything. We could not find out what was going on after even three or four emergency room visits. But finally, we had a doctor who went down and did an endoscopy and discovered that her problem was an ulcer, a stomach ulcer. He said about the size of Iowa. It was a big one. After finding out that, we were able then to begin taking some medication that would coat this ulcer and let it heal, we hope, and also another medicine that would reduce the stomach acid production.

She has been doing a lot better. She's able to eat food. She's able to be comfortable without pain. But she still has not built back her strength and her stamina. She's just not able to get out all that much right now. But she does quite a bit of her housework. I help her out. I wash some dishes, do some of the cooking. Now and then, she gets in there more than I think.

I remind her that this is now my kitchen, to get out of it. She has to get permission to help in my kitchen. But I'll be very happy to very soon relinquish full control of it back to her. Well, do remember to continue praying for her. And thank you very much. I know Mr.

Martin announced it over here, and we appreciate so much your prayers and your concern for us, and especially for her. We are going back to the doctor this coming week, and before too long, I think they will want to go back and do another endoscopy, where they go back and take another look at it. That's amazing, isn't it? They go right down through the throat, the esophagus, the throat, right into the stomach, and they can have a light, and they also have a little camera there.

They can take a picture. He showed us a picture of the ulcer that he had taken. So it's amazing how they can do that. But please remember to continue praying for her, and hopefully we're going to find out real soon that that ulcer has completely healed over. Now let's pray for all of the sick. I know we have many others that are going through sickness or ailments of one type or another, and even around the world, different ones that we hear about, ones going through heavy trials. So let's remember each and every one of them. Before the sermon, I thought I would also mention that our president, Mr.

Victor Kubik, wrote to us this week that a number of us will be traveling the remainder of this month on international missions in Africa. Darris McNeely will be traveling to Africa. He will go to countries like Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, and the Congo.

More than 40—well, I guess, actually, he might not go to all of those countries, but representatives and ministers of all those countries will come in for meetings and instruction, lectures from Mr. McNeely. So let's be praying that everything will go well for him. My wife and I were able to go on several trips to Africa. We went three trips to Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and some of the poorest countries on Earth, and those trips are not easy—not easy at all.

So let's certainly be praying for Mr. McNeely on his trip. And then Mr. Kubik will be going with Mr. DiCapos to Portuguese-speaking Angola. You know where Angola is? It is on the southwestern coast of Africa, right below the Congo. If you look on a map, you'll see Angola. It's a pretty good-sized country. And Mr. Kubik and Mr. DiCapos, who oversees the Portuguese-speaking area in the church, will be going, and again, they will be meeting with some of the leadership in those countries—in that country, rather.

In Angola, we have an unusual situation where we have a group of people, about 6,000 strong, that have wanted to become a part of the United Church of God—6,000 people in this country.

They have fully adopted the fundamental beliefs of the United Church of God.

Angola is a communist regime, and these people have gone through hardships that we are not accustomed to in our Western world. So they'll be having meetings with the leadership of all these congregations in Angola. On the Sabbath, there will be a combined service, and I think that'll be next Sabbath, a week from today, there will be a combined service of 800 brethren in attendance. Overall, in Angola, there are about 6,000 members with 50 elders and many congregations with about 50 or 60 members each. So please pray for our ministers then as they travel, and let's be reminded by this that we are indeed an international worldwide work in church, and we have members of the Church of God all around the world that we can be praying about.

Okay, we'll get into the message today, and it's a wonderful thing to think about.

How many of us at one time went to church on Sunday? Raise your hand. Well, guess what? I gotta raise my hand, too. My parents took me to church the first 16 years of my life, virtually every Sunday, and I was in Sunday school. I grew up on a family farm in North Carolina.

We worked hard on that farm, but never on Sunday. We never worked on Sunday.

My parents took me to church, a small country church, about 50 people attending.

My first Sabbath, oddly enough, was as an incoming freshman at Ambassador College at the age of 18, 1958. You know, at that time we didn't have very many churches around the country, and there were many students who had never, like me, who had never been to a church service before.

I said, boy, that's, you know, what did you believe then? I understood and believed many things, but I had not understood the Sabbath before going to Ambassador College, and many students were in the same boat as me. So, guess what? The ministers gave sermons encouraging the students, look at these verses in the Bible. Don't believe me, believe your Bible. And so, I was among those students who was encouraged to look in the Bible and prove the Sabbath to myself.

So, I proved the Sabbath and began keeping the Sabbath. August of 1958. Hard to realize that is almost 61 years ago. How many here have kept the Sabbath all of your life? You grew up, your parents, you know, you learned through them. Let me see your hands. We have a number then that have learned about the Sabbath and have kept the Sabbath since, well, all of their life.

But, you know, you also, you also have to prove it for yourself. And I'm sure all the adult ones here, and ones who are members of the church, you also had to prove it for yourself. You just could not take dad and mom's and or mom's word for it. You know, so at one time or another, we all had to prove the Sabbath. And guess what? Just like for me, it was not difficult. When I looked in the Bible, I'd never really studied the Sabbath issue before. When I looked in the Bible, there it was. There were verses that I turned to. You, we do not have time to turn to all of these verses, but beginning in Genesis 2, the Sabbath, God rested on the seventh day and He hallowed it. We're very familiar with that. Genesis 2 verses 1 to 3. God hallowed the Sabbath. He made it holy by resting on it. And then, of course, the fourth commandment, and thus in Exodus 20 verses 8 to 11, six days shall you work and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. And we are to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And then Exodus 31, these are verses I turned to. I'm sure that all of us here did it one time, improving the Sabbath to ourselves.

Exodus 31 verses 13 to 17, the Sabbath is a sign between God and His people.

Then there are other verses in the Old Testament. Some of these we'll turn to as we as we go along in this sermon. But Jesus Christ, we go to the New Testament, we find that Jesus Christ kept the Sabbath. He, one verse that we'll turn to says that He went into the synagogue where the scriptures were read every Sabbath day. Jesus, as His custom was, went to the synagogue on the Sabbath where the scriptures were read. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man, made for man and not man for the Sabbath. And He said He was Lord of the Sabbath. So Jesus kept the Sabbath commandment. You can be sure of this, if Jesus had not kept the Sabbath, if He had been out working in the construction business or out working in a field, you can be sure the Jews, the Pharisees of His time would have criticized Him. They did criticize Him for doing some things they thought were not proper on the Sabbath. More about that later on. So Jesus Christ set the example of keeping the Sabbath. I saw that when I went to prove the Sabbath to myself. And then what about the New Testament church? And what about the Gentiles? Acts chapter 13. Read carefully in that chapter. You'll see it was on the Sabbath day. And then verses 42 to 44, the Gentiles wanted these words spoken to them the next Sabbath. And the next Sabbath came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God. That's Acts chapter 13 verses 42 to 44. You find the Apostle Paul in his journeys, he found a group of women in Philippi that were having a meeting down by the riverside in Acts chapter 16. And he joined them, and many of them became members of the church, were baptized, Lydia and others.

And then you'll find the Apostle Paul in Acts 17, the first few verses, Acts 17 and 18, at Thessalonica and Corinth. So I've not really spent too much time, you know, we're not turning to these scriptures because there are other things I want us to think, consider this afternoon. But the New Testament church, then, there is ample evidence in the book of Acts, they did keep the Sabbath. What about our time today? You know, there's a strong verse, and I think we will turn to this one real quickly, Matthew 24 and verse 15. There's a verse here that is a strong proof that the Sabbath is enforced today. I don't know how you could say otherwise. Otherwise, what did Jesus mean by what he said here? He's talking about the abomination of desolation in Matthew 24 and verse 15. He's talking about the time of the end, events to happen at the end of this age, verse 3. But he was, he gets to talking about those in Judea fleeing, verse 16, to the mountains. And verse 18, those on the house or those in the field, not to go back and get their clothing. Some kind of fleeing is going on by God's people, which I don't think we understand fully at this point exactly what that fleeing is going to be. But verse 19, woe to those who are pregnant and to those with nursing babies in those days. And verse 20, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath, for then shall be great tribulation. So the Sabbath is important to God's people then when they are to flee at a future, a yet future time at the end of this age. And we are to hope and pray that our flight will not be in the winter, not a good time to flee or go anywhere or on the Sabbath. And then there's one verse that shows that all people are going to keep the Sabbath in the millennium. Let's go to Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66. And so these verses then show that we are to keep the Sabbath today. And also this verse shows the Sabbath will be kept in the millennium.

Isaiah 66 in verse 23. It shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.

We know that all nations are going to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, Zachariah 14.

Isaiah 66 says that all flesh, all people, are going to come to worship God every Sabbath day.

So you know from Genesis chapter 2 all the way through here into the millennium and the reign of Christ, there's a lot of proof for the Sabbath. Okay, on the other side, the other column, try to find verses that say we should not keep the Sabbath and we should go to church on Sunday. The day I went to church home and I was a boy, the day my parents took me to church and did not work on the farm on Sunday. There's nothing, nothing in the Bible. There's no proof at all that would support Sunday. So we've gone through that rather quickly. If anyone has not yet proven the Sabbath to himself, he should do so just like I did when I was age 18. We have an excellent booklet, Sunset to Sunset, God's Sabbath Rest that will help anyone that needs proof. There's plenty of Bible proof. But the next thing I'd like for us to consider is, okay, the Sabbath is in force, but there are ample verses in the Bible to show that mankind has had difficulty. He's found it hard to really keep the Sabbath. God says, remember to keep the Sabbath holy. That implies effort. Remember to keep the Sabbath holy.

It involves, actually, effort, obviously, to do that. And man has had trouble doing it.

When the Israelites came out of Egypt, God gave them manna. And we read about it in Exodus chapter 16. Let's just turn to Exodus 16. We can't turn to all of these verses because of time, but there are many examples in the Bible showing that mankind has found it difficult to really keep the Sabbath holy. In Exodus chapter 16 and in verse 4, the Lord said to Moses, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. And they were instructed that they could go gather manna every day. First day of the week, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And then on Friday, they were together a double portion because there would not be any manna on the Sabbath. There would be no gathering of manna on the Sabbath day. Well, guess what?

Some of the Israelites did not pay close attention. And so in verse 25, Moses told the people, Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the land.

Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there will be none.

Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day together, but they found none.

They didn't listen very, very carefully. So they went out together and didn't find anything.

In verse 28, the Lord said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?

See, for the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore he gives you on the sixth day, breathe for two days. Let every man remain in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. And so the people rested on the seventh day. Did you know that for over 2000 weeks, this is the way it would be, they would be able to gather manna for 40 years, over 2000 Sabbath days, no manna was to be gathered. There wasn't any. But on the sixth day, they were able to go out and together manna. That went on all during the 40 years that they were in the wilderness.

So over 2000 Sabbath, no manna. But on the sixth day, they could gather a double portion. So, yeah, mankind, some of these people had trouble, difficulty really keeping the Sabbath holy. Do you know the Israelites, two of the big sins they committed? And I'm going to have you just turn to this and maybe study it out later if you would like. But in Ezekiel 20, you will find two of the major sins that of the Israelites that eventually led them into slavery and the captivity was idolatry, worshiping other gods. Number two, breaking the Sabbath. Time and again in Ezekiel 20, you will find that they polluted God's Sabbath day. Yet the ancient Israelites had trouble keeping the Sabbath holy. If you'd like, you could also turn to Jeremiah 17 and verses 19 to 27. The Jews in Jeremiah's time were bringing in animals laden with burdens. They were not keeping the Sabbath. And then if you wanted to read in Nehemiah, Nehemiah 13, that many people there were polluting the Sabbath day as well. But what about the Jews in Jesus' time? Oh, they were so careful that about everything and they condemned Jesus. They had very strict man-made rules. Well, that's not keeping the Sabbath to be to make the Sabbath a burden. They were making the Sabbath hard on people and they were going far beyond what God expects or requires. They made the Sabbath a burden. They saw the disciples, for example, going through a disciples were walking with Jesus Christ. They saw the disciples reach over and pluck some grain and begin eating it. It'd be like you going through your garden and picking a tomato and starting to eat it. Would that be breaking the Sabbath? Not at all. If you went out there and you harvested your whole garden on the Sabbath, that would be breaking the Sabbath. But to go through your garden and reach down and get a tomato or reach down and get a cucumber and start eating is not breaking the Sabbath at all. They condemned Jesus also for healing the sick on the Sabbath. So we can see that the Jews in Jesus' time were failing to keep the Sabbath. I think we can say that there's a very strict branch of the Jews today also that are very strict in what they allow on the Sabbath and they're missing the mark. So the point I'm getting to, the important point for us today, is we have proven the Sabbath to ourselves and I think we can recognize that it could take, it does involve effort on our part to really keep the Sabbath holy. To remember to keep the Sabbath holy involves effort on our part. And I want us to then consider the Sabbath and examine our Sabbath keeping and make sure that we are reaping the full benefit of keeping God's Sabbath the way He wants us to keep it. Brethren, there is great benefit in keeping the Sabbath.

It's the most wonderful gift. I've got a quote on that that I'll read to you just a bit later, but what a blessing it is that is given to us. I think many times we might take it for granted ourselves. And there may be ways that we could improve in reaping those benefits because there are physical benefits of keeping God's Sabbath day holy in the way that He wants us to, physical benefits, and there are spiritual benefits. So how can we receive the full benefit of keeping God's Sabbath day? I want to give you seven points, and I'm sure there could be many others. You could probably come up with ones better than I've come up with, but I want to give you seven points on how to reap the full benefit of keeping God's wonderful Sabbath day. Number one, number one is keep all 24 hours holy. And let's turn to Exodus chapter 20 and read the commandment now. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8. Exodus 20 and verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Again, as I've mentioned several times, this does imply effort. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It'd be like keeping a pot boiling if you were out on a campout and you were told, keep this pot of water boiling. You know what? That would involve effort. You'd have to put on some more wood, keep it stuck in the fire in order to keep the water boiling. Well, God tells us to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, and it does involve all 24 hours of keeping it holy. That means we should be very much aware of sunset, doesn't it? Last night in Macon, I checked on the internet, the sunset in Macon last night at 842. It went as late as 847, I think it was, just a week or two ago, but now it's beginning to go down. So, 842, the Sabbath began, the holy time, the 24 hours that God commands me to remember to keep holy. Now, here I think you would be a few minutes later. You're further west, and so just a little bit, it'd be a little bit, let's see, 840, was it? Maybe eight upper 30s? 844. Okay, maybe I'm going the wrong way.

So, you know, I guess it'd be a little bit later because you are further west. But these, these, or this 24-hour period is to be kept holy. God gives us six days, six 24-hour periods to do our work, and then He wants us to remember one 24-hour period as the Sabbath rest.

The Sabbath is different than other commandments in that it involves a time element, and all 24 hours then are to be kept holy. Not just when we come to church and not 23 hours, but all 24 hours. We should know then when the sunset is each Sabbath and strive to begin keeping those 24 hours holy at that time. Okay, so number one is to keep all 24 hours holy. Let's go to number two. God wants us to get the full benefit of the Sabbath, of keeping the Sabbath. To do that, we need to realize what a great blessing it is. It is a gift from God, and it is to be, we should view it as a delight. Let's read Isaiah 58 and verses 13 and 14. What a delight, what a delightful day this is. A day off of work. That doesn't sound too bad, does it? That sounds kind of good, in fact. A day off of work, a day off of chores, a day off of the mundane physical temporary pleasures and pursuits and mundane things of this world. Isaiah 58 and verse 13, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, and this verse then maybe does imply that we could put our foot on the Sabbath, and we don't want to do that. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight. That is our second point, to call the Sabbath a delight. The holy day of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, or speaking your own words. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob, the mouth of the Lord has spoken. So the Sabbath is a wonderful day. It's a delight. It's not a burden.

Some people look upon those who would keep the Sabbath as a requirement, as a command. They would think it's like a burden. It's not a burden. It's the greatest gift, the greatest blessing, and it's made for man. Let's go to Mark chapter 2. God made this day in Genesis 2. We read about it being made. He made it for man. For man is for man's benefit, for man's good. Mark chapter 2 and verse 27 and 28. Some of these verses that we've referred to earlier will be turning to them now. Mark 2 verse 27. He said to them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. The Jews were actually making it a burden and making it far too strict. You know, we can make the Sabbath so strict that you just feel like there's not anything you can do. And the Jews were almost doing that in their time. Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. And this is that instance in verse 23. Let's go back and see the setting for this. In verse 23, it happened that he went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and as they went, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.

They were not harvest in the whole field, but they were gathering up something to munch on along the way. The Pharisees said, look, why did they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?

And so Jesus had to set them straight to say, hey, it's not wrong to go through a grain field or go through your garden and pluck something and have a little snack. It's not wrong at all on the Sabbath day. So the Sabbath was made for man as a day of spiritual rejuvenation.

We can be spiritually renewed on this day and mentally refreshed. It's a day of physical rest.

I read an article many years ago, and I guess I may still have it. I should have looked it up. But there was this man, an executive, who worked long hours every day, like maybe like 12 or 16 hours every day, seven days a week. And the title of this article was exhausted. This man, eventually, because he gave his body no rest or chance to recuperate, eventually he had a nervous, physical, nervous mental breakdown. And so the title of the article was exhausted. It really supported that we need the Sabbath rest. Our physical bodies need the physical rest that we receive. So that's one of the great benefits of the Sabbath day. You give your body a break, a chance to rest. You can just lean back, you can get extra sleep, make up for the hour or two that you may have missed during the week, and you can be refreshed and get ready, and you can avoid a physical breakdown. So number two, yes, call the Sabbath a delight, which is exactly what it is.

Number three, make the Sabbath a spiritual day. We have read already in Isaiah 58 that it is a delight and that we are to pursue godly pursuits, not our own pleasures, our own ways.

But the Sabbath is to have a spiritual accent, even though we get physical rest, which is good, but the accent is still on the spiritual things. Let's go back to Isaiah 56. It shows here, seeking after the spiritual pursuits on the Sabbath day. Isaiah 56, maybe a verse we've not read recently, but a very good verse supporting the Sabbath and even Gentiles keeping the Sabbath.

Isaiah 56 and verse 1, thus says the Lord, keep justice and do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed.

Blessed is the man who does this and the Son of Man who lays hold on it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Do not let the Son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak, saying the Lord has utterly separated me from his people, nor let the eunuch say, Here I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold fast my covenant. Even to them I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger who joined themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord to be his servants. Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant, even them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.

And it shows anyone, any nation, any background, then keeping the Sabbath and being included in God's house. Brethren, the Sabbath then is to be a day for spiritual pursuits. There's time for extra prayer. Maybe during the week you let down just a bit, but on the Sabbath you have that time, don't you? I do strive to spend some extra time myself in prayer. Mr. Herbert Armstrong said that much of his prayer time was just giving God thanks. Certainly we can make known our needs, our requests, we can pray for others, but much of the prayer can just be thanking God for how great he is and drawing close to him. The Sabbath also has extra time for Bible study, studying God's Word, and just take maybe a chapter or two, maybe if you have a series right now, I'm going through the book of Jeremiah, and I'm finding a lot of things in the book of Jeremiah. It's really exciting to read a chapter or two or three each day and study, and then on the Sabbath day, maybe even more chapters than that. So take a book that you don't know too well. Jeremiah, the reason I'm studying that right now is because the times he lived in, Judah was going into captivity to Babylon, and the nation of Judah was living evil to God's ways, comparable to what we see happening in our own country today. Truth had fallen to the street back then, just like truth has fallen to the street today. And so there's just a lot that Jeremiah went through that compares well with what we're going through now, because we are in the time of a decline of our nation, and it's so very obvious. And Jeremiah went through a lot of difficulty. He had a lot of opposition that he faced back in his time. So the Sabbath is a good time for extra Bible study. It's a good time for meditation, and we are to meditate on God's law day and night. The Sabbath is an excellent time for self-examination. Examine yourself. Ask yourself, do I really hunger and thirst after righteousness? Mr. Martin, last week in Macon, spoke about hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and I assume he did over here as well. So do I hunger and thirst after righteousness, God's righteousness? We can ask ourselves that penetrating question. Do I seek God's kingdom and God's righteousness first? We are instructed to do that.

Am I spiritually minded enough? I look at myself and ask myself these same questions, or am I too carnally minded, too mindful of the here and the now, too mindful of the things that are seen, and not as mindful as I should be of the things not seen?

Have I set my affection on things above? Colossians 3, verses 1 through about 2 or 3, admonishes us to set our affection on things above, not on the things on this earth. So we can examine ourselves on the Sabbath day as part of making it a spiritual day.

Do I worship God in spirit and in truth? The Father seeks such to worship Him. Good questions to ask ourselves. The Sabbath day affords us the time to do that. Do I really love God with all my heart and all my mind and all my soul and all my strength?

So these are questions we ask and ask ourselves as we do some self-examination on the Sabbath day.

So number three is to make the Sabbath a spiritual day. Of course, get the physical rest that you need, the extra, but spend adequate time in prayer, more time than normal in prayer, Bible study, meditation, self-examination. Do some spiritual checking up on yourself, on the Sabbath. How are you coming along spiritually on the big goal and purpose of what God has in mind for you? Are you really walking with God? Noah is described as walking with God. All the world was going an evil way, but Noah was walking with God. I'll tell you what, I'd like to walk more closely with God myself than I have. I'd like to hunger and thirst more myself. I'd like to seek God's kingdom and His righteousness more, be more spiritually-minded.

I'd like to set my affection more fully on the things above.

The Sabbath is an opportunity for us to think about this, to get our minds off of the things that are seen and unto the things that are not seen. Third point then is make the Sabbath a spiritual day. Let's go to number four. Number four is attend God's holy sacred assembly.

Ten God's holy sacred assembly. The Sabbath is called a holy convocation. Let's turn to that verse very quickly in Leviticus 23, one of the verses anyway. Leviticus chapter 23 and the first couple of verses here. Leviticus 23 and verse 1, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations. These are my feasts. Verse 3, six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it.

It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Holy convocation, that means a sacred assembly convened by God. It's group worship, worshiping God together, fellowshiping with God together with others. You know, this service here is that holy convocation. This is it, 230 every Sabbath afternoon. And Jesus Christ in his time went to church, you might say, every Sabbath day. Let's go to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4 and verse 16. Luke chapter 4 and verse 16. So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. So Jesus had a habit of going to church every Sabbath day. And reading from God's Word. Do you know the apostle Paul had the same habit? Let's turn to Acts 17 and verse 2. Acts chapter 17. Again, we're picking up some of the verses we referred to earlier. In Acts chapter 17 and verse 2, they came to Thessalonica verse 1, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And verse 2, Paul, as his custom was, went in to them and for three Sabbaths, reasoned with them from the Scriptures. So Paul had the same habit that Jesus had. These are verses, by the way, that I saw in 1958, improving the Sabbath. And you also saw it one time or another. So God wants us to also come to his service, that holy assembly, that holy convocation. And we are admonished not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

Where is that verse? Well, Hebrews chapter 10. We're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 23.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Some of the people being written to in this book were neglecting their salvation. They were wavering. The writer of this book says, let us hold the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful.

Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. We can admonish and exhort and encourage one another. In verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some. Some were not being obedient to that holy convocation each week.

They were forsaken the assembling, God's assembly. And so they're being exhorted.

And so much the more it goes on, they say, we are to exhort one another as we see the day approaching. And don't we see the day approaching today as never before? We still don't know how close we are. It can drag on out a good number of years, but we're getting closer. We know that. Many, many signs. So do strive to attend every week. There may be some instances where there are situations that come up where you cannot attend. Those things do happen. There may be sickness, there may be a death. Other circumstances that occasionally, on more rare type occasions, prevent you from attending. But do come every, every possible time that you can.

Even if you don't feel too good, if you don't have something contagious, come to services. You're not going to feel any worse. You might feel a whole lot better, in fact, to come on to the service. Learn from the sermon. Turn to the scriptures.

I like to turn to the scriptures Mr. Martin refers to. Take some notes. I have many pages of notes of his sermons, the four years I have been here. Fellowship before and after the service. That's important also. You know, when you get right down to at least 24 hours, the Sabbath are the most important hours of the week. And this service, including the fellowship, like maybe two or three hours, are the most important hours of the Sabbath. And they're the most important hours of the entire week then, because we come before God. We come to worship Him. We come to fellowship with brethren. So this is wonderful time together. It just doesn't get any better than this. And you know, I saw the warm fellowship before the service. That's great. So and here we are in sacred worship during this service. It's the highlight of the week. There's no doubt about it. Attend as often as you possibly can. And I know that many do drive a good distance to get here.

Quite a number probably drive close to an hour or maybe two, maybe a couple of hours to get here.

But we've had brethren that have traveled even longer distances and more time than that.

And then when the Greensboro North Carolina Church began, it was the only church in that area. People came all the way from over in Tennessee around Kingsport. And there were no interstate highways back at that time. They had the winding mountain roads. It took them four hours to go to drive from Kingsport to Greensboro through those mountain roads. Four hours, one way.

And some of those brethren came every week. Commendable. That is really commendable. So there are many brethren, including ones here, who put out an effort to be able to attend. And that is much appreciated. But keep up the good work. God is taking note of things like that, we can be sure.

Number five. Number four was to attend God's holy sacred convocation or assembly. Number five is to use the Sabbath to build your relationship with God. I guess we could say to further build your relationship with God. God wants a relationship with you and me. And it's a loving relationship.

And the Sabbath helps us to build that relationship. Every Sabbath we nourish. We nourish that relationship with God. I want to read from our booklet, Sunset to Sunset, God's Sabbath Rest, about this relationship that we are to be developing with God.

By the way, I think we all are very well grounded in the Sabbath, but the last chapter might be good for everyone to go back and read. It shows more about how to keep the Sabbath, what Sabbath keeping is going to do for us. Here's a section on building proper relationship.

How do we build this right relationship with God? We build it through contact and communication with Him. We talk to God through prayer. He talks to us through His inspired word, the Bible.

These are vital keys to a right relationship with God. God's Sabbath is an ideal time for additional prayer and contact with God. By refraining from our usual work and other activities on that day, we have additional time to spend with God to build and strengthen our relationship with Him. It's there that time is there. Are we week by week building and strengthening that relationship? We should be. It goes on to say, the Sabbath is also an ideal time for God to speak with us. He instructs us through His word, the Bible.

Not only does the Sabbath observance help us understand God's ways, it helps us better understand our own thoughts and motivations, showing us where we can change to become more like God. As some of that self-examination I referred to a few minutes ago. Observing the Sabbath is vital to maintaining a proper relationship with God. And here's that quote I mentioned earlier. The Life Application Bible, commenting on Exodus 20, the Sabbath command, explains why we as humans need the Sabbath. And here's a quote from the Life Application Bible.

The Sabbath was a day set aside for rest and worship. God commanded a Sabbath because human beings need to spend unhurried time in worship and rest each week. A God who is concerned enough to provide a day each week for us to rest is indeed wonderful. The Sabbath is just a proof of how wonderful God is and how wonderful He is to us. To observe a regular time of rest and worship in our fast-paced world demonstrates how important God is to us and it gives us the extra time of refreshing our spirits. Don't neglect God's provision. So each Sabbath day we have an opportunity to build more, some more on that relationship with God. That's point number five. Use the Sabbath to build further that relationship with God. You know, you and I, each one, nobody can do it for us. My relationship with God is one on one. God, me, and God. Your relationship with God is one on one. It's you and God. Nobody can do it for you. And it's very important that we be building that relationship and the Sabbath helps to further and help us to build a loving relationship with our great God. Okay, number six. Number six. Follow Jesus Christ's example for proper Sabbath-keeping balance. There's a proper balance in keeping the Sabbath.

Do you know that, I think we all do, it's possible to be too strict. The Jews in Jesus' time were too strict. It's possible to be too loose and just anything goes. But Jesus Christ set the perfect example. You can read and study his examples of Sabbath-keeping in the four Gospels. He showed that it's okay, we all do it. Even the Jews did this. They didn't condemn Jesus for this one. To feed and to water your animals. Of course, you should get the food ready ahead of time. You shouldn't get out and harvest a field to get grain for them. You have everything handy for them, food and drink. But it's fine to feed your animals. That takes a little bit of work.

It's fine the Pharisees condemned Jesus on this one for healing a man. They condemned him.

They thought that should not be done on the Sabbath. Jesus shows that doing good on the Sabbath is not breaking the Sabbath, healing someone. We read about the disciples plucking grain as they went through a field and having a little snack of food as they were on their journey.

Not wrong to go through your garden or field and pluck a tomato or cucumber or something.

Not at all. No problem with that. But the Pharisees, they thought that was wrong.

And Jesus showed that sometimes you might need to roll up your sleeves and do something super heavy, like getting your ox out of the ditch. He said none of you would leave your ox in the ditch.

He set them straight on being too strict on, I can't remember the exact occasion, but Jesus then shows the perfect example of balance. We can be too strict. We can be too loose.

Our booklet on Sunset to Sunset God's Sabbath Rest goes on to discuss that. Jesus Christ showed by His example the proper way to observe the Sabbath. It was never intended to be a rigid, joyless day constrained by endless restrictions detailing what could and could not be done.

The Bible actually gives very little on what to do and what not to do. It just says you're not to work. But we have to make some judgments ourselves on matters to make sure that it is within the Sabbath law and what we allow. And maybe that some things the Sabbath of the law does not allow.

Going on in our quote here from our booklet, Jesus used it as a time to delight in sharing with others the joy of God's Word and way of life, showing it to be a time for strengthening our relationship with God. He used it as a time for healing, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. It was a time for encouraging and helping those who were less fortunate.

Jesus Christ made it clear there was nothing wrong with doing good on the Sabbath, pointing out that God's Sabbath command had never forbidden it. He emphasized what the day is for rather than listing all the things we can't do. Christ's example showed the Sabbath is a day of physical rest and spiritual rejuvenation. It is meant to be a welcome, refreshing rest from our weekly labors, a time during which we must no longer be absorbed in our ordinary daily cares and concerns.

So Jesus set the perfect example of the right balance toward the Sabbath. Not too strict, not too loose. By the way, recently in the United News, the church's newspaper, United News, there are articles expounding more about the Sabbath and how we are to have the right balance in keeping the Sabbath. The January-February issue of United News has part one on the Sabbath keeping and then the March-April issue has the second part on the Sabbath. So that would be good to read and see the proper balance further if you would like to look into that. Okay, we've got to very quickly do number seven now. Number seven is very important, too, and I want you to think about this. Number seven is to approach each Sabbath as new and fresh. So I'm going slow on that one because you may not think this is an important point, but it is. Approach each Sabbath as new and fresh because, you know, after many years of Sabbath keeping, you can just kind of begin to take the Sabbath for granted, maybe begin to treat it as kind of old and ordinary. You know, things that have been around a long time, like a car can get old, you don't wash it and keep it up as well, a pair of shoes, you know, can get old and worn out. We don't want the Sabbath to ever become kind of old and worn out. In the very true sense, every Sabbath day is new. This Sabbath day here has never been before. Last Sabbath, we've already kept that one, is past. But this one, we're in the process of keeping these 24 hours. It began last night around 844, whatever sundown is here.

That's when it began, and it was new. It never had happened. And as we go through these 24 hours, then it's new and fresh. Next Sabbath at sunset, it'll be just a few minutes earlier, but next Sabbath at sunset, that Sabbath will be absolutely new and fresh. So we should approach every Sabbath as being new and fresh. We should realize when the sun sets and then those 24 hours begin holy time. You know, when you think about it, we have never kept this Sabbath before, have we? This one that we're keeping now. We're in the process, but we have never kept this one before. But we're doing it, and we're doing it in the right way. We're right here in holy convocation. We're learning, reading scriptures, we're thinking about God's Sabbath. And maybe we picked up a few points, even though we may have for many years kept the Sabbath, maybe we're picking up a few things that will help us to keep it even better and to reap the full benefit of keeping God's Sabbath. Just to quickly summarize our points, then, number one, determine to keep holy all 24 hours. Number two, delight in these 24 hours. Number three, make these 24 hours a spiritual day, spiritual rejuvenation day. Number four, strive to attend God's sacred assembly every week, if possible. Again, there may be on occasion extenuating circumstances, but just as often as you're able. Number five, build your relationship with God. Further build that relationship.

Number six, learn from Jesus' perfect example of balance and how we should keep the Sabbath.

And number seven, yes, each Sabbath, let's treat as new and fresh. Each one has never happened before.

Brother and I hope this will be helpful because God has given us something wonderful here.

He's given us a day of rest and a day of worship. It is wonderful indeed.

We want to be sure we reap the full benefit of this day. And to do that, let us be sure that we cease our work and chores and pursuits.

Let's rest on working on our... let's rest from working our physical needs so we can work on our spiritual needs. Let's rest from the mundane and pursue the sublime. Let's rest from our creations and focus on God's creations. Let's rest from laying up treasures on the earth and focus on laying up treasures in heaven. Let's rest from serving ourselves and reach out to serve others. Let's rest our minds from things on earth so we can set our minds on things above.

Let's rest from the secular and temporal and focus on the sacred and timeless.

And let's use this holy precious time to become more holy as God is holy. And on each and every sacred Sabbath day, as we rest from our work and worries, let's rejoice and delight with our great God and His purpose and be refreshed and rejuvenated as we reap the full benefit in keeping God's wonderful and sacred Sabbath day.