God's Gift of Rest, Part 1

Good afternoon, everyone. I've been asking them to turn one of the lights off. If you would, please. Thank you so much. Good afternoon, everyone. It is a pleasure to have you with us today, and we consider it a privilege to be able to tell you about the Good News of the coming Kingdom of God, because that is our whole purpose and reason for being. In the seminar here today, we are going to answer four questions. The questions are, why don't we have world peace? Why is the Kingdom of God the solution? What is the major underlying crisis of our time, the 21st century? And what is Jesus Christ's plan for your personal and individual success? We are going to answer all four of these questions from the understanding of God's gift of rest. God's gift of rest is knowing and understanding God's Sabbath day, because God's Sabbath day points to and reminds us on a weekly basis of the Kingdom of God. Let's begin with the first question, why don't we have world peace? If you've ever opened a history book, you will see something fascinating about human history, about humankind. Throughout history, as far back as you can go, mankind is either in war, nations are either recovering from war, or nations are preparing for the next war. As a matter of fact, most inventions and innovations throughout human history have been the result of preparing for war, or the result of a recent war. We don't have world peace because we have people that are selfish and angry, and we have nations that want to take from other nations.

This is all a biblical understanding and concept. Isaiah said, the prophet Isaiah, chapter 59, verse 8, The way of peace they have not known. Again, if you open any history book and you look throughout the times from the Egyptian Empire, all the way where we are today, you will see there are very few periods of peace on this earth.

You know what happens 22 times every day? 65 minutes, this happens. You know what that is? A member of the U.S. military commits suicide. You see, war is devastating. Even if you survive war, the after effects of seeing the tragedy and the terrible things that occur in warfare permanently change your life.

They change your relationships with your spouse. They change how you relate to your children. They change how you relate to other people. War is a terrible thing, and humankind has not known peace. It has only known constant war. And there's a reason for this. The reason for this is an influence, a spiritual influence that permeates the air.

Paul talked about this influence in the book of Ephesians. Here's what he said. He was talking to the converted church brethren how they once lived and acted. He said, you once walked according to the course of this world. And what's the course of this world? The course of this world is everybody's selfish. The course of this world is the strong prey upon the weak and those who have power take from those who do not. That is the course of this world and human history in a nutshell.

So you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. We also know that prince of the power of the air as Satan the devil. And he has a Wi-Fi system, a spiritual Wi-Fi system that permeates the earth. And we don't need a password. By default, at birth, we are all connected to that spiritual Wi-Fi system. And that prince of the power of the air emanates negative attitudes of selfishness, of greed, and of all the perversions and dysfunctions that exist in the human race are all the result of the prince of the power of the air and that negative spirit that he permeates upon the earth.

So he says, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. So we were selfish. We were consumed with pleasing self. Paul continues, And we're by nature. It's because we're physical. We are carnal. We're human. By nature, children of wrath, just as the others. So Paul tells this congregation of converted Christians, remember what it was like. Don't forget the way that you lived at one time in your life, because this is the natural world that most people live in today.

Paul also said in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4, and I'll be reading from the new international version, he said, The God of this age, who is Satan the devil, has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel. They can't see the meaning and the positive aspects of the good news of the kingdom of God.

Why? Because they're wrapped up in their own little world. They're wrapped up in their own problems. They're wrapped up in selfishness. And because of that, they are blinded and they cannot see the positive good news that God's kingdom offers each and every person alive. In the book of Galatians, Paul reminded the church again the kind of qualities that this prince of the power of the air emanates into all humanity. And here are some of them. He says, the wrong things, and again, this is from the new century version translation, the wrong things the sinful self does are clear.

Being sexually unfaithful, not being pure, meaning having evil in our hearts and in our minds, not living lives according to God's law, not being pure, taking part in sexual sins, worshipping gods, and that could be money or any material thing that exists in the world today, making it our God, doing witchcraft, hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people angry with each other, causing divisions among people, feeling envy, being drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like these.

Sounds like the front page of the Cleveland plane dealer, doesn't it? But Paul was reminding the congregation here in Galatia what it is like before God calls you and opens your mind, the kind of things that are causing this world to be in the condition that it is today, where there is no peace. A world that is angry, a world that is constantly at war.

He says, continue, those who do these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So these are sinful, negative qualities, again permeated by that prince of the power of the air.

Again, Paul wrote to the Romans, he said, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Every human being who has ever lived except for Jesus Christ Himself has sinned and has fallen short of God's law, fallen short of the potential that God put in each and every one of us to be all that He intended us to be.

Sin is the problem. We live in a world of sin permeated by the first liar himself, who was Satan the devil. This causes the problems that we have in the world today, including war, disease, hunger, violence, and all the terrible things that we see in our own society, including here in the United States or in greater Cleveland.

But in spite of all of that chaos, as a counterpoint to the first question we asked, God offers us a reminder each and every week of a time of peace where we can get out of the rat race.

The problem with the rat race is even if you win, you're still a rat. So God offers us the opportunity to get out of the rat race one day a week, to get off of that merry-go-round of life that's going round and round and round, busy, busy, busy, work, work, work, work, work, work, and say enough already.

I'm going to take one day out of seven, the seventh day, God's original Sabbath day, and I am going to stop.

And I'm going to think about life, and I'm going to think about why I was put here on this earth. I'm going to think about my God.

I'm going to think about family and my purpose, and I'm going to fellowship with people of like mind who have the same values that I have.

Exodus 20, verse 8, it says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all of your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God.

In it you shall do no work. So forget about your occupation. Forget about getting to the yard and working yourself into a heavy sweat on the Sabbath day. It is a day to rest. It is a day to get out of this world's cares and anxieties and say, I'm going to take a different course today.

The day is going to be different than any other day of the week, in a refreshing and in a meaningful and in a beautiful way.

Verse 11, For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day. God blessed it. And he hallowed it. He made it holy. He set it apart.

And in the second session of our seminar today, we'll be focusing more on the Sabbath itself.

But let's go to the second question, which was, why is the kingdom of God the solution to the kind of problems that we talked about in question number one? Well, here's what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 45, how precious we should view the knowledge of the good news of the coming kingdom of God.

He said, The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had. How valuable is the knowledge of God's truth? How valuable is the understanding of the kingdom of God and our calling from our Father? It is worth everything we have.

We should be willing to give up everything and anything to follow Jesus Christ as his disciple.

So he says, he went and sold all that he had, and he bought it. It was so precious that he was willing to do that.

Jesus puts it in another way in verse 44. He says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid in that same field.

And for joy, he's so excited about the understanding of what's coming, of what God has promised. He's so excited about it.

He goes and sells all that he has, and he buys that piece of land where he had hidden that treasure.

And he buys it because now he can possess it. That's how important, that's how essential it is to him.

He grasps the power of the message of the kingdom of God.

The joy is the knowledge that Christ will come again to this earth, and he will restore the paradise of God and earth.

That was originally intended in Eden. When God created the earth, he put a beautiful garden in Eden.

There were no cares, no worries, no anxieties, no violence, no war, no disease.

But unfortunately, Adam and Eve rebelled, and God had to remove the presence of that paradise from mankind for a while, so we could try it our way.

You know, mankind's like that stubborn teenager. Anyone here ever have a stubborn teenager in their family? A teenager?

I have to do it my way. I know better. I'm smarter than you are, Mom and Dad. I'm smarter than you are, Grandpa. I have to go out and try it my way.

And God said, fine, in essence. When Adam and Eve rebelled in the garden, he said, go out and establish your own government. See if that gives you fulfillment.

Create your own religion. See if that makes you happy.

Learn the way of greed, the powerful taking from the weak, and see if that brings peace and harmony in the world.

And of course, mankind has tried virtually everything there is to try, and the results are that we live in a very violent world today.

So again, the joy is the knowledge that Christ will come back and restore. That Paradise Garden that was originally intended from the very beginning of creation.

Looking forward, John wrote in Revelation 11, verse 15, Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world, and that will include the United States and the Soviet Union and every nation on earth, every kingdom on this planet, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.

So the kingdom of God is beginning in Jerusalem where Jesus Christ sets His feet, and the Mount of Olives will be there and encompass eventually the entire world. Every government and every nation will be under the authority of the kingdom of God. The prophet Ezekiel, looking forward at a time when mankind's literal heart would be changed. Now, how could mankind's heart and attitude be changed? Well, that prince of the power of the air that we spoke about earlier, Satan the Devil, is going to be put in the spiritual prison where he can no longer affect mankind for a thousand years. And with that Wi-Fi network of his disconnected, and without him constantly influencing and agitating humankind to his worst base level, mankind will be literally able to change through the power of God's Spirit. Here's what the prophet Ezekiel said, chapter 18. Get rid of all the sins that you have done, and get for yourselves a new heart and a new way of thinking. Why do you want to die people of Israel? And of course, part of the gospel, part of the good news, is the knowledge that those who accept and understand the Father's calling today don't have to wait until that time. They today can receive the gift of God's Holy Spirit and have a new heart and a new attitude and a new way of thinking and have a positive and productive life as part of the calling that they've been given by Jesus Christ as a disciple. Isaiah said in chapter 2, again prophet Isaiah, chapter 2, verses 3 and 4, looking forward to that kingdom, the kingdom of God on earth, Many people shall come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways. You say, our cultures are so dysfunctional, so messed up, we need to start all over again. We need to go to kindergarten as a culture and as a people.

Humankind needs to go to God with a humble attitude and say, we obviously don't know what makes us happy. You're our creator. You created the instruction book, which is the Bible. We didn't read it or we didn't understand it. So please teach us of your ways. Teach us of your laws, which will help us to be fulfilled. Help us to be happy and live productive lives.

Continue in, we will walk in his path. So we just won't listen. Humankind just won't say, yeah, God, I'm still going to do it my way. Humankind will say, please teach me and I'll follow, I'll listen to what you say.

And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, he shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people, and here's what will happen. They shall beat their swords, implements of war in the plowshares, in the implements of growing good food to serve people.

They will change or beat their spears into pruning hooks. Again, an implement of war into something that can help reap a crop. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, and neither will they learn war anymore. You know, you have to learn they hate when a small child is born into this world. They don't hate anyone.

They don't hate anyone because of their religion or their skin color or growing up in a different side of town than they do. Children are taught that. They're taught that by their parents. They learn how to hate. And in the same way in this kingdom when new children are born, they will learn God's way.

They will learn His walk because they'll be taught His ways. And they will not even understand why someone would want to kill another human being. Why one nation would be so greedy that it would want to take something that another nation has, or the hard work that someone has acquired themselves. Why someone would want to take that from them. So it'll be a whole different world, a whole different society, and entirely different culture.

Micah 4, verse 4. Again, the prophet Micah, looking forward into the kingdom of God. And why is the solution to the problems this world has today? Everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid. No longer will children be terrified in the morning to go to school, or their parents worrying about whether they'll ever return home again, or whether they'll be beat up by a gang, or whether they'll be kidnapped for a decade.

And disappear from their family. People will no longer live in fear anymore, because that kingdom will have the laws of God and be governed by the values and the principles of God Almighty.

And what weekly event pictures that kingdom that we can look forward to?

Well, there's one day, and there's one day only, that was established in Scripture as a time every week to stop because it reflects the kingdom of God. It is a day of rest, just like the kingdom of God will be a day that mankind rests from his past and his evil doings. It will be a day in which, one day a week in which people think about God.

In the kingdom of God, God will be a priority in the kingdom of God. He won't be an afterthought like he is in so many cultures today.

Hebrews, chapter 4 and verse 9, written, I believe, by the Apostle Paul. Some think it may have been Barnabas or someone else. That's really not the point here. What is more important is what he says. This is from the New International Version.

There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For anyone who enters God's rests also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. So just as God, after he had created the earth and the seventh day stopped and rested as an example for his creation, we too should also rest from our work.

Think about that coming kingdom. Think about God being so important in our lives that we're willing to take a 24-hour period of time and dedicate it to serving God, to thinking about God, to reflecting on our purpose in life.

Here is the third question. What is the major underlying crisis of our time? We live in the 21st century. We live at a time of tremendous crossroads for the human race. What is the underlying crisis for our time? The underlying crisis for our time is, as the Scriptures talk about at the end time, the love of many would wax cold.

We have cultures that are in free fall. In the United States itself, we have what I call a post-Christian culture. That means it was founded with at least a recognition of God. When Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, there's a reference to God three times in the Declaration of Independence.

He said that our right to rebel against the British, because God gives us that right. Because God is our providence. God is our provider. I'm so old that I can remember in elementary school doing the unthinkable. I can remember saying a prayer with my fellow classmates before class began each day.

If you did that today, they'd haul you out in chains. They'd probably fire the teacher and haul the teacher off to court. We are in a culture and in a nation which has rejected what little understanding we had of God's value system and has totally embraced the works of the flesh, as we see that Paul mentioned a little earlier in the book of Galatians.

We live in an incredibly narcissistic culture throughout the earth. Everybody is about me. Everyone is in it for themselves. Paul wrote to the Roman congregation, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And John himself, the Apostle John, wrote that sin is the transgression, or that is breaking, of the law of God.

And eventually, when you break the law of God enough, it breaks you, because the consequences are devastating. And if you look around our culture today, you see the consequences in our families. You see the consequences in our schools. You see the consequences in our workplaces are all the result of accelerated sin and the transgression of God's law in our modern cultures today.

Proverbs 14, verse 12.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death. What people will do to make a buck. What people will do to be prominent and promote themselves. What people will do to have a title or an office. And with human beings, it just seems to work. These things just seem to be natural. The one to lord it over people, the one to be rich, to have material things, and to be a celebrity and to be recognized just seems to be so right and so natural. But the result of it is very painful. The result of it hurts our families and it hurts our culture. And mankind has been struggling for thousands and thousands of years to try to find the way that brings happiness and peace. And mankind has not found that yet. Ezekiel, in condemning ancient Israel, said this to them in chapter 20 and verse 12. Moreover, God says, I also gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between them and me that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. He said, I gave them the Sabbaths so that they would stop and pause and say, yes, we do have a relationship with God. We have responsibilities to fulfill. We have a law that we need to keep. We have a way of life that we need to adhere to. So it says, yet the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes. They despised my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. When we keep God's laws and His judgments, the result, the byproduct of that is happiness. It's a life that's fulfilling. It's a life in which good things happen because we are blessed. He says, if a man does, he shall live by them, and they greatly defiled my Sabbaths. Notice who's Sabbaths these were. They despised my judgments and did not walk in my statutes, but profaned my Sabbaths for their heart went after their idols.

Now, do we have idols in our culture today? Sure, we do. Most people may not literally be building something out of stone or a piece of wood, but our idols are money. They're materialism to acquire more stuff because we believe that whoever gathers the most toys wins. Our idol can be ourselves. Someone said to me, well, I never follow a man. I said, well, you're going to follow something. Bottom line is, if you don't follow God or you don't follow another man, you're following yourself anyway. So, in essence, you are following a man. But we live in a culture in which people want prestige, they want privilege, they want material things because, mistakenly, we were taught to believe that that would provide us happiness and that would provide us the good things in life. And that simply is a lie. It is not true. The prophet, Hosea, said in chapter 4 and verse 6, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. What kind of knowledge was he talking about? He was talking about spiritual knowledge, a knowledge of who and what God is and what God requires of us, what our responsibilities are. Oh, yeah, as a secular culture, you couldn't go on Google today and we have more knowledge than we've ever known before. You can virtually study any subject on Google. Technically, you can have incredibly increased knowledge. But what mankind really lacks is spiritual knowledge. That is knowledge of who and what God is and what God's purpose is for you as an individual, for us as his people. He says, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from being a priest for me. And unfortunately, a lot of preachers in today's world, like a lot of the preachers back in Hosea's day, don't have values anymore. Their values are established by Hollywood instead of the Book of Hosea.

Their values fluctuate and change depending on what people want, will make people happy, rather than what God's law says that we should do. And here the prophet is condemning the ministry of the age. He says, Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. The more they increased, the more they sinned against me. So if we deceive ourselves in thinking that if I just acquire more, I'll have a greater level of happiness. If I just have a bigger home, or a newer car, or a fatter 401k, or more clothes, or all of these things, that it'll make me happy. Frankly, in most cases, it will just make you more dysfunctional. And you'll go farther and farther away from God, because part of human nature begins to believe that all of this that I've acquired is because of me. And it doesn't give God the credit, or acknowledge that God is the giver of good things. The more they sinned against me, he says, the more they increased, the more they sinned against me, I will change their glory into shame. And that is certainly a strong warning for the United States of America that is on the brink of losing God's blessings and degenerating, not just morally, but socially and militarily and economically in a very short period of time. But there's hope. Matthew 24, verse 21.

There will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. So this world is cascading to a point that we are going to have a world war like we have never seen before.

And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved but for the elect's sake, for the sake of those whom the Father called out of this world and gave His Holy Spirit to, and who have received that new heart and a new attitude and a new frame of mind, for their sake He will not allow the world to destroy itself.

Now the Sabbath helps us to remember our Creator in this world of chaos, in this 21st century, in which we hear the phrase, everything's 24-7, right? You're expected, if you work for someone, you're expected to be available 24-7. That's the kind of world we hear. It doesn't acknowledge religious days. It doesn't acknowledge time for God. It's all about working.

We are reminded in Luke 4, verse 16, the example that Jesus Christ Himself did. So Jesus came to Nazareth where He had been brought up, and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read. You see, He knew that the Sabbath day was something special. He knew that it was a day to connect once again with God.

And through all the bumps of life, all week, and the ups and downs and the things that we go through, it's a day to step out of this rat race, once again. And they make a connection, a spiritual, emotional connection with God, and Jesus did that. Verse 31, then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. And they were astonished at His teaching, for His Word was with authority. So we see here by the example of Jesus Christ Himself that it's the Sabbath that helps us to rise above all the chatter, the problems, and the issues of this world, and connects us with people, fellow believers of like mind, and transcends us to a different level at least one day of the week as we think about our Creator, as we think about His way of life, as we think about our calling.

Here is the fourth question. The fourth question is this. What is Jesus Christ's plan for your success and future in the Kingdom of God? You're a unique individual. There's no one else quite like you. Your fingerprint is unique. No one else on earth has your fingerprint. The beating of your heart is a unique pattern.

No one else has the heartbeat exactly that you have. You have a unique eye. No one else, if they go through an eye scan, will have the exact insides of their eye laid out like you do. It is so sure they can use it as a security measure today. You are one of a kind, and God has a plan for you, a plan of success in your life. Here's how we're going to see that He lays it out. It begins in Acts 2, verse 38, a famous sermon by Peter on the day of Pentecost. Peter helped the people who were there that day to understand that they may be called by the Father at this time.

This may be an opportunity for them to want to embrace God's way of life and accept the calling of the Father and to receive that new heart that will literally change your life. Acts 2, verse 38, Peter said to them, Repent! That means head in a different direction. Stop sinning and turn around and go towards God's law, God's values, and God's way of life.

Repent and let every one of you be baptized into the name of Jesus Christ. And that baptism is by immersion under water. That picture is being buried in a watery grave and coming out of that water to live a new life, again, as a new creature with a new attitude, and for the remission of sins, for the removal of every sin that you've ever had, that you've ever been involved in or thought about or did.

It'll be totally obliterated and wiped away in the eyes of God. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit changes everything. Because when you have the Holy Spirit, you literally have Jesus Christ living his life through you, coaching you, guiding you, teaching you, directing you through the tool and the power of his Holy Spirit. Verse 39, for the promise is to you and your children. In the late 1960s, my wife's father accepted this promise.

He read this scripture and he understood that he needed to be baptized. He needed to repent of his sins, and he needed to accept this promise. He made a courageous decision in the 1960s, and that promise was passed on to his daughter, who happened to be my wife, and to his other daughter, who is Susan. And that promise was passed on to their children, and that promise was passed on to their children, which are now our grandchildren. So four generations of a family have been able to understand what this scripture says when it says, for the promise is to you and your children.

The promise is having a connection with God. The promise is being a family that is oriented towards God's way of life and all the blessings that come from that promise. So he said the promise is to you and your children. The promise of salvation. The promise of blessings is an opportunity. And to all who are far off, no matter where someone is located on this earth, as many as the Lord our God will call.

And yes, it is a calling. We just can't of our own say we'll do this. We have to deep inside understand that the Father is calling us now at this time to a certain way of life, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Here's a promise that Jesus made to his twelve disciples that by extension also apply to us. Luke 22 and verse 28. He said, But you are those who have continued with me in my trials, and I bestow upon you, he said, a kingdom just as my father bestowed one upon me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And by extension that promise is made to us too. We may not be judging the twelve tribes of Israel, but we will be in positions of responsibility and service and authority in the kingdom of God if we accept our calling and understand what God wants us to do and how he wants us to respond to that calling.

In Hebrews, it says in chapter 2 and verse 10. Again, this is from the New International Version, In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. And that, of course, was Jesus Christ, who endured so much suffering on the cross and shed his blood so that you and I can have eternal life. This is both the one who made men holy, that is Christ, and those who are made holy, and those are people who are repentant, who have repented of their sins and received the gift of the Holy Spirit and become converted. And those who are made holy are of the same family. As you see, ultimately, God wants to make you a part of the family of God, an adopted member in his family with eternal life and eternal glory. And wonderful opportunities and great fulfillment throughout eternity. That is what God wants for each and every one of us. 1 John 3, verse 1, Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God, not just servants of God, not just slaves of God, but literally the children of God.

Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We don't know every intricate detail. We don't know where in the world exactly we'll be serving in the kingdom of God, what role or cities or areas of responsibility that we may exactly have. So it says here, we have not been revealed what we shall be, but we know this. We know when he is revealed, we shall be like him. And how is Jesus Christ like today? He is eternal. He is spirit. He is beyond pain, the need for sleep, beyond suffering. He is part of the family of God, literally the Son of God.

But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Because we will be spirit, we'll be able to see him in his full glory, and in what God always intended from the very beginning.

Now, I painted a very rosy picture here of being called by the Father and understanding God's way of life. But I have to be honest with you and tell you that for any converted Christian, there are challenges. Because you are so different from those in the world, you stick out like a sore thumb.

If you decide that you're going to obey God's law, and you're going to keep his seventh day Sabbath, for example, you may have job issues, you may have employer issues. If you keep God's law, the Ten Commandments, and you're unwilling to be like your buddies or your co-workers, and you're not going to take drugs, and you're not going to steal, and you're not going to lie, and you're not going to do all, you're not going to get drunk and party all night, you are going to stand out like a sore thumb.

That is why, in the book of Acts, we are told we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. It's not easy. We have to stay close to God through prayer, through appreciating his Sabbath day, and coming to worship him on his Sabbath with people of like mind. Someone told me many years ago that the kingdom of God is like a greased slide.

Once you receive God's Spirit, and you've repented of your sins, it's like the greased slide. He said the only problem is that you're in the bottom of the slide, and you're trying to crawl your way up.

It can take some struggle. It can take some work.

But God, because of the power of his Holy Spirit, will see us through whatever we need to endure, whatever we need to go through.

And even if they are painful, difficult events, we will come out far stronger than we were before.

Whatever God may require of us.

Matthew 6, verse 33, Jesus said, Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

God wants to be first in your life, not an afterthought or a last resort. God is not a genie. He's not a Disney character.

He doesn't want to be the God of last resort.

He wants to be the first one we go to when we have an issue or a problem or a need to get on our needs and to go first to our Father in heaven. So seek first the kingdom of God.

Being part of that kingdom needs to be a priority in our life, not simply a hobby.

And we need to seek his righteousness. We need to look at the righteous life that Jesus Christ lived in. Model his example. Model his respect for God's law. Model his patience.

Model his endurance. Even model his suffering if it's required of us. So that's how we can seek his righteousness.

It's Isaiah 66, verse 22. Again, looking forward to the kingdom of God. The prophet wrote, For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. Because if you keep God's law, you are blessed. And your descendants are blessed, and your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren, and your great-great-grandchildren, as Scriptures say to a thousand generations, if we keep God's ways. So shall your descendants and your name remain, and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come and worship before me, says the Lord. He doesn't say all Jews. He doesn't say all Israelites. He says all flesh, at any human being on earth at this time, will come to worship before me from one Sabbath day to another. Well, that is the end of our first session. The second session, we'll be talking more about the Sabbath day and why it is so important. And we'll be looking at the biblical teachings on the Sabbath day, but I have a treat for you today. And the treat is probably one of the oldest friends that I have, known since the early 1970s. He is a performer. He actually performs in a Cleveland group called the Hesitations. His name is Art Blakey, and he's going to perform for us, I Understand, by Smokey Norfull, and he will be giving us a special musical presentation. And then we're going to have a 10-minute break. We're going to bring out some refreshments, have a 10-minute break, and then we're going to move around a little bit, use the restroom, and then we'll begin session two. So it is my pleasure to introduce Art Blakey.