God's Gift of Rest, Part 2

Thank you very much. I see a few hidden cookies being taken back to seats. A flask or two. All right, I think we're getting close. Okay, thank you very much. We are ready to begin Part 2, or the second session, of our Kingdom of God Bible Seminar today. I grew up as a child in the Methodist Church, and I was taught about the importance of Sunday.

And as a child, an early teenager, I observed Sunday as a religious day, or at least, well, a couple hours. I believed it were religious time. And I remember as a young teenager that I had a very close friend whose mother observed something that I thought was the weirdest thing I had ever heard in my life. She observed a Saturday Sabbath. And as a young teenager, it was so different to me that I couldn't understand why anyone in the world would want to observe a Seventh-day Sabbath. Surely everyone knew that Sunday was the Lord's Day, and that Sunday was the proper day for Christians to worship. So by the time I got into my late teens and I began to study this issue, I was absolutely stunned to see what the Bible said, because it was the diametric opposite of what I had always been taught.

So we want to talk about in this second session today God's gift of rest. And for those of us who keep the Seventh-day Sabbath, the more we keep it, the longer we keep it, the more we realize how important it is in our lives, how it becomes part of our family cultures. It's a day that we look forward to and anticipate. You know, in our culture, we talk about Wednesday, they call it hump day, it's kind of the middle day of the week, and we look forward to the Sabbath, because we know we're going to be able to detoxify from all the anxieties and the troubles and cares of this world.

So we want to talk about the Sabbath, why it matters to God, why it matters for Christians today, and why it matters for the kingdom of God. And of all places, we are naturally going to go to the beginning, the Book of Beginnings, the Book of Genesis. And we'll go to chapter 2, verses 2 and 3, and see where the Sabbath day was initially sanctified and instructed. Genesis chapter 2, verse 2 and 3.

And on the seventh day, this is after God did His career, worked the first six days, and on the seventh day, God ended His work, which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all the work that He had done. You know, God doesn't get tired. God does not need a rest. He rested to set an example for the rest of His creation, everything that He had just created. He wanted to understand that you are physical, that you are limited, that you will become tired, you will become exhausted.

And by example, He rested on the seventh day, not because He needed to or because He was tired. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. God didn't bless any other day of the week except the seventh day.

And He sanctified it, which means He set it apart. He made that day holy, because in it He rested from all the work which God had created and had made. So what does Genesis chapter 2 verses 2 and 3 tell us about the seventh day? Well, it helps us to begin by turning to virtually any dictionary. It can be Merriam-Websters. It can be your favorite dictionary at home. I just put down a comment here from the free dictionary because they virtually all say the same thing. And that is, quote, the seventh day of the week, Saturday.

That is what the seventh day of the week is. That's Revelation number one for me as a teenager. I just assumed that Sunday, which I thought of as the end of the week, the weekend was the seventh day of the week. It is not the seventh day of the week. Any dictionary will teach you and tell you that Saturday is the seventh day of the week. We saw in these verses that God rested to set an example for His creation. God doesn't need rest, but His physical creation does. I sure need rest. You need rest. His creation does. By God's example and decree, the seventh day was blessed.

No other day was blessed during the week except the seventh day and set apart as something special, as something holy to God. It's a blessing in contrast to what many modern theologians would like you to believe that Saturday, or a, quote, Sabbath is a curse or is a burden to keep the seventh day Sabbath, as unfortunately many scholars will say today, and they are in error. Now let's go to Exodus chapter 31 and verse 13 and 14 and see what the Scripture says.

Surely, God says to Moses, to the nation of Israel through Moses, surely, my Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you. First, I want you to notice who Sabbath it is. It's not the Jews Sabbath, it's not Moses' Sabbath, it's not Greg Thomas' Sabbath, it's not any church's Sabbath.

He says, my Sabbath, that's God speaking first person. He says, it's a sign, it's a good sign. It'll identify you as being a special people, as being my people, the people of God. And he says, it will help you remember that I have an important presence in your life.

I am the Lord God, that I should be first in your life more than anything else. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you.

So again, Exodus chapter 31 verses 13 and 14, Sabbath observance signifies a special relationship with God. He says, you will know that I am the Lord. Sabbath observance sets you apart in a society of confusion and materialism, because when I was a young man and I kept a different day of the week, because I was part of a different church, my worship basically was token worship.

Meaning for two hours out of the week, I went to church, I complained that the service was so long, it was probably 45 minutes, I complained that the service was so long, and then for the rest of the day, I listened to the Indians game, probably needed a psychological counselor for depression after the game was over, I listened to the Indians game, or I would cut the grass, or I would do all kinds of things that were about me. And except for my little token one or two hour religious observance, God really meant nothing to me the rest of the day.

In contrast, the Sabbath from sunset to sunset is a 24-hour period of time in which we are emotionally, spiritually, and physically refreshed. Let's go to Leviticus chapter 23 verses 1 through 3. This is actually a chapter of it's very important because it not only lists the Sabbath day, but it also lists God's other festival days.

It says, the Lord said to Moses, speak to the Israelites and say to them, these are my appointed feast, the appointed feast of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assembly. So again, as I mentioned a minute ago, I want you to notice, because there's always these confusions, you read a lot of biblical literature scholars talking about the Jewish Sabbath, I want you to notice that God tells Moses that these are his feast.

They're not Moses or the Jews or any church. He says, these are my appointed feast. Leviticus 23 verse 3, this is from the translation, the new international version. There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work wherein you live. It is a Sabbath to the Lord. Now, a sacred assembly is a meeting of like-minded believers together to worship God in a fellowship. That's what a sacred assembly is. It is an assembly where believers get together, they open with prayer, they worship God, they praise his name, they sing some hymns, they listen to some biblical messages, and they have a closing prayer, and then they spend time with each other.

That's what a sacred assembly is, and that was from the very beginning the intention that God had for his people to get together on the Sabbath day. Now, the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments. We're going to go to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8. This is one of the Ten Commandments. Known as the fourth commandment. Remember this Sabbath day.

To me, it's just astounding that the day that most people forget is the day that he says, remember. As if he knew that mankind might accept a lot of the other commandments, but one thing they would be unwilling to do would be to keep the seventh day of the week, a 24-hour period of time, is something that is holy and sacred towards God. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. Again, whose Sabbath is it? It's the Lord's Sabbath. The Sabbath of the Lord your God in it you shall do no work. And then 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 seventh day, and the Lord hallowed it. The Lord set it aside and made it holy.

So let's ask a few questions. Again, whose Sabbath is it? Who doesn't belong to? First hand, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God in it you shall do no work. Now what example does God use to validate this fourth commandment? Where does he go to tell them why they should remember that the seventh day is the Sabbath?

He goes back to the creation story that we just read a few minutes ago. 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, and hallowed it. So this is the fourth of the Ten Commandments. Once again, the people were reminded of the importance of observing this day because it would connect them with God. It would identify them as God's people. Well, what about the New Testament? We saw some wonderful scriptures there in the Old Testament. Did things maybe change in the New Testament?

I think that's a fair question, so let's take a look at some scriptures in the New Testament.

Mark chapter 2 and verse 27. Jesus's disciples did something that because of the Jewish oral law that they felt was appalling. They were walking through the fields, they were a little bit hungry, there was grain growing in the fields, so they pulled off the tops of the little grain heads and took the little kernels out, and they were eating it. Now, that didn't violate any law from the Old Testament, but it violated the Jewish oral law. They defined that as working and violating the Sabbath. And of course, Jesus was a little upset with that attitude, and he said in Mark chapter 2 and verse 27, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Now, I think, you know, Jesus chose his words carefully, and the Greek word for man is anthropos. Have you ever heard of anthropology, the study of anthropology? That is not the study of the skulls of Jewish people.

That is the study of the skulls of any human being who has ever lived anywhere on the earth.

So what Jesus was saying is the Sabbath was made for humankind. He could have easily said the Sabbath was made for Jew, but he didn't say that, because going back to the creation before there ever was a Jew, back to the creation story, God rested by example on the seventh day so that his creation would learn to rest and learn to connect once again with God. So the Sabbath was ordained to be a blessing and benefit to all humankind. The translation God's Word has it, I think, very good here in verse 27. Then he added, the day of worship was made for people, again, not Jew, not Israelite, for people, not people for the day of worship.

And his point was to them is the Sabbath was created to benefit mankind. It is created to serve and benefit mankind, not mankind to become a slave to a day. And that was the point that Jesus was making here, allowing certainly his disciples to enjoy that grain that they were munching on. Verse 28, continuing, therefore the Son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath. Christ is saying that as the creator of the Sabbath, which he was, he had the authority to heal, relieve suffering, and to do other positive works on the Sabbath day.

It was okay to do good on the Sabbath. He told the Jews, he said, even in your own law, if you have a donkey that falls in a ditch, you don't let it sit there on the Sabbath day until sunset. You have enough compassion to help that donkey get out of the ditch on the Sabbath day. So Jesus was trying to help them to understand their own contradiction they had in the way that they were keeping God's law. Now let's go to Luke chapter 4 and verse 16. Ever hear the phrase WWJD?

That was really popular a few years ago. What would Jesus do? People were wearing bracelets that said WWJD. And the theory or the idea behind it was when you faced any complexing problem or issue before you reacted, you would say to yourself, what would Jesus do? Which, you know, it's a good motive. It's not a bad thing in itself. So I want to have a play off of that. Let's look at the example of Jesus Christ.

What would Jesus do? Luke chapter 4 and verse 16. And this is the translation from God's word for today. Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up as usual. Now this is different translation that King James would say as his custom was, as if it had no authority or as if he just did it by a habit. It says, as usual, he went into the synagogue on the day of worship and he stood up to read the lesson.

I like the translation from the New Century version. They have no bones to pick. They're not trying to endorse the Sabbath, but here's how they translate it. Jesus traveled to Nazareth where he had grown up. On the Sabbath day, he went to the synagogue as he always did and he stood up to read. So Jesus acknowledged the Sabbath day as a very important day that was intended for all human kind. And by his example, which we should follow in every aspect of his life, by his example, he respected and worshiped and observed the Sabbath day.

Hebrews 13 and verse 8. Shouldn't we follow the example of Jesus Christ? Maybe he changed his mind since then. Well, Hebrews 13 and verse 8 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the messenger of the Gospel. Why would he teach something that would become obsolete two years later and confuse everybody? Things are hard enough in life.

We're easily enough confused. He certainly wouldn't teach things that would be obsolete in a year or two when his ministry was over. So he was the messenger of the Gospel. His life is a model of how we should live and act, including the aspect that he respected, that he appreciated, the Sabbath day and the meaning behind it. Now let's go forward a little bit. Jesus Christ died and resurrected, ascended to heaven, and now the New Testament Church is fulfilling its commission of preaching the Gospel to the world. Paul is preaching in Antioch in Poseidia.

This is about 48 AD, approximately 17 years after Jesus Christ died. So after everything's been nailed to the cross, as they like to say, after everything that's going to be abolished was abolished, after everything that's supposedly done away has been done away, I think we should take a look at some examples of the disciples of Jesus Christ. Acts 13 and verse 42. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them, the next Sabbath. Wow, Gentiles are begging.

Can I come back next Sabbath and learn more about the ways of God? Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And what's one way they would continue in the grace of God? By coming back the following Sabbath and hearing Paul preach some more. That's one way that they would do that. Again, this is Acts chapter 13. Verse 44 here, the next verse from what we just read and what happened. And on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. So what example is Paul following? Remember I said, what did Jesus do? He's following the example of Jesus Christ, isn't he? He is going into the synagogues on the Sabbath day. He is worship. He's not there to recruit. I've heard theologians and people say, well, he just went there because that's where the converts were. He went there to worship. And yes, there certainly were converts there, people who were going to be potential converts. But he went to worship on the Sabbath day first and foremost, and then he certainly preached about Jesus Christ when he was there. On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together. Now let's take a look at Acts chapter 16. This is important because there was a ministerial conference in Acts 15 in which they settled on circumcision and a few other matters and the fact that it shouldn't be required for Gentiles. There are some who would want you to believe that the Sabbath and the Ten Commandments and everything was decided at the ministerial conference in Acts 15, that that was all done away, that the Gentiles didn't have to do any of those things. Well, let's see what happens after that event here. Acts chapter 16 verses 13 and 14. And on the Sabbath day, we went out of the city to the riverside. This was not a city in Philippi that was large enough to have a synagogue. I think you had to have 10 Jews in order to officially create a synagogue where prayer was customarily made. Why? Because they were observing and worshiping on the Sabbath day. And we sat down and spoke to the woman who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the thing spoken by Paul.

So what is the example of the Apostle Paul and those traveling with him? On the Sabbath day, they went out to meditate, they went out to enjoy God's creation, and they went out of the city since there was no official place to worship there. And they went to the riverside where they found other people who were praying and worshiping God and observing the Sabbath in that city. Now how about his example in Thessalonica? This is Acts 17. Verse 2. First we'll read from the New King James version. Then Paul, as his custom was, went into them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures. Three weeks in a row. The New Century version, Paul went into the synagogue as he always did. Pretty powerful translation. And on each Sabbath day for three weeks, he talked with the Jews about the Scriptures. So again we see this continuing example by the Apostle Paul following what Jesus Christ did. Now let's go to Acts chapter 18. This is 55 AD. This is almost 25 years after Jesus Christ died. Everything that's going to be nailed to the cross or done away has happened 25 years ago. No matter how slow of a learner you are, certainly it would have filtered to you by now what was obsolete, done away, and nailed to the cross. Right? You would think so. Acts chapter 18 and verse 1. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and he went to Corinth where he spent about a year and a half. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. Every Sabbath in the synagogue. Now let's pick it up here in verse 9.

Now the Lord spoke to Paul in night in a vision saying, Do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent, for I am with you and no one will attack you or hurt you, for I have many people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.

So he was there for a year and a half. He was there for about 18 months teaching the word of God among them. Now I want to combine a couple of scriptures here. Let's take a look at verse 4. I want you to remind you here in verse 4 that it said, He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and then down here it said in verse 13, and He continued there a year and six months. Have you got those two scriptures together? Same part of Acts. So verse 4, he said, He preached and reasoned every Sabbath. Verse 6 says, He stated that He was there for a year and six months.

You put those two together, Paul preached on over 70 straight Sabbaths in this Gentile city.

Now what more of an endorsement do we need to have for the Sabbath day than the Apostle Paul, 25 years after everything that's going to be nailed to a cross or done away or obsolete or whatever term one might want to use that for 70 straight weeks he observes the Sabbath day and teaches. I think this is a pretty powerful scripture in understanding that Paul was not only following the example of Jesus Christ, but he certainly, having been someone who was trained to be a rabbi, understood that the Sabbath went back to creation and that it was a day of worship, that it was a day of rest. But what about Acts chapter 20 and verse 7? Does this change everything?

Many years ago, there was an old comedian, his name was W.C. Fields, and he actually had a lot of personal tragedies in his life, and he became rather agnostic and atheistic by his own admission. One tragic thing that happened is a little neighbor kid that he loved so dearly drowned in a pond that was between his home and his neighbors, and he lost faith in God. But as he got older, he knew he was dying, and someone came over to visit him one day, and they said to him, W.C., now I know that you don't believe in God. Why are you reading the Bible? And W.C. Fields was turning the pages, and he said, looking for loopholes.

And a lot of people use Acts chapter 20 and verse 7, looking for a loophole. Now, we just read a lot on the background of the Sabbath, didn't we? We started with creation. We started with God telling the Israelites that it was his Sabbath. We have followed the example of Jesus Christ. We have seen a number of scriptures following the example of the Apostle Paul, and some would want us to believe that presto chango, out of nowhere, that this scripture endorses keeping Sunday as a holy day.

But you have to be fair with the scripture, and you have to look at it closely. So let's read it, and let's ask ourselves that question. Acts chapter 20 verse 7. Now, on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. So let's ask the question, does this mean that in spite of all that we saw already, that there's a change? Suddenly, the Sabbath is obsolete and done away, and it's been replaced by worshiping on a Sunday. Well, let's ask ourselves that question, and let's be honest in our responses. First of all, it says they came together to break bread. There is no evidence that indicates that this is some type of a communion service. The phrase breaking bread refers to, or if you've seen the phrase in the Bible, broke bread, the breaking of bread, like when Jesus fed the 5,000, it says he looked up in heaven, he broke bread, and then they started handing the bread out. It was a typical Jewish practice of a prayer given before you digest a meal. It's no more complex than saying we ate. We shared a meal together. That's what break bread means. It does not mean a communion service, which some would like you to believe that this somehow is referring to a communion service because it says break bread. Another thing we need to understand is that Paul was ready to depart on the next day. They weren't sure that they would ever see him alive again. It was an incredible thing they haven't visited to your church area by the Apostle Paul. This was their last chance to hear from him. Perhaps they'd never ever see him again alive.

Paul spoke for hours and hours. If you think I'm bad, the Apostle Paul preached past midnight. People were falling asleep and falling out of balconies. He's going on and on and on. He spoke for hours and hours. There is no indication of a worship service at all.

This was a farewell, what we'd call in our modern terms, a potluck meal to hear Paul preach to them one last time. He's leaving the next day! So they got together, they had a meal, they shared a meal together, and they said, okay Paul, teach us. Tell us more. This was not a worship service. So Acts chapter 20 verse 7 is not a change or a contradiction to the example of Jesus Christ or the earlier continuous example of the Apostle Paul. Now let's go to the book of Hebrews.

Again, I believe written by Paul. Here's what the book of Hebrews says in chapter 4 verses 4 through 6.

For he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works. And we saw that in Genesis 2. We read that earlier. And again, in this place, and they shall not enter to my rest. This is found in Psalm chapter 95 and verse 11. And in the context is the disobedience of ancient Israel. How they broke the Sabbath, they broke their covenant with God, and they never attained the promise of the kingdom of God. Verse 6, since therefore it remains that some must enter it, because it hasn't been entered yet, hasn't been achieved yet, the kingdom of God, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter it because of disobedience, again referring to ancient Israel. What the author is saying here is the promise of God's kingdom still remains today. Israel disobeyed and they broke the covenant, and there are some who are intended to enter it. Hopefully you and I. Let's continue now in verse 7. Again, he designates a certain day, saying in David, today. After such a long time as it has been said today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Now again he's going to refer back to the disobedience of ancient Israel. For if Joshua had given them rest, you know, Joshua led them into the Promised Land. Remember that? They crossed the River Jordan, they went into the Promised Land. The Promised Land was a small type of what the kingdom of God is. And you know, they weren't there for very long. They were there until they rebelled against God, and eventually they all went into exile and they went into ruin. So Joshua only gave Israel a temporary rest and a physical land. The Promised Land, what the author is saying, is yet to be fulfilled, the ultimate Promised Land of the kingdom of God. Let's pick it up again in verse 8. For if Joshua had given them rest, and that is a Greek word, katapalis, it means to settle down. If he had given them the ability to settle down, then he would not have afterward spoken of another day. All right, let's continue here. And verse 9. Verse 9, to me, is one of the most powerful scriptures in the New Testament to remind us that a Sabbath observance still remains. But it is so poorly translated in the New King James Version. I truly believe the translators wanted to hide the meaning of this verse, because here's how they translated it. They translated it, there remains therefore a rest for the people of God. Now, because they used the English word rest, and previously they had used the English word rest, but from a Greek word katapasis, you would assume that it is the same Greek word here, therefore a rest for the people of God. But it is a totally different Greek word.

The word is sabatismos. It's a unique word. This is the only place that it's found in the New Testament. But if you go to secular writings at that time, you will find that sabatismos was the term used for people who were physically observing the Seventh-day Sabbath, who were into it for all 24 hours, who were observing it and respecting it. So it's a unique word used that unfortunately is poorly translated here. And because of that, since many people only read the King James Version or New King James Version, they never see what the Bible intended. I'm going to show you some other translations. And again, there's no hidden agenda here. The people who translated this verse and these other translations observed Sunday. So they're not trying to endorse the Sabbath with what the Seventh-day Sabbath with what they say. They're just being honest. And here's what they say. The New Revised Standard Version. So then, a Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God.

The New International Version. There remains there a Sabbath rest for who? The Jews?

No. The people of God. Jung's literal translation, there does remain then a sabbatic rest to the people of God. Darby's new translation there remains then a sabbatism to the people of God.

So very powerfully in the book of Hebrews itself, it endorses the fact that the people of God continue to respect and observe the Seventh-day Sabbath, Sabbathismos.

So in conclusion, I would like to give you seven reasons why the Sabbath is important. Why the Seventh-day Sabbath should be a part of your life, should be a part of your value system, should be a part of your family's culture. And much like my father-in-law did in the 1960s, someone, a generation has to rise up who draws a line in the sand and says, it all begins with me. My example, it all starts right here and right now, and I'm going to start doing what's right. Number one, one of the seven reasons, it acknowledges God as creator each week. The Sabbath in itself, because it goes back to a command in creation, reminds us that we are created beings, that we have a creator.

And the creator gave us an instruction book. It is called the Bible, the Word of God. And that instruction manual, just like a maintenance routine on a car or any other complex thing you would buy, reveals to us how to maintain ourselves so that we operate the way we were designed to, so that we're happy and balanced and fulfilled. And the Sabbath day reminds us to do that week after week after week.

The second reason, it follows the example in practice of God, we saw in Genesis 2, the example of Jesus Christ, what would Jesus do as he went to the synagogues on the Sabbath, and the early apostles, as we saw so many places in the book of Acts where Paul went and observed the Sabbath and taught on the Sabbath day. The third reason of the seven reasons is it sets us apart from other days because it's holy. Man does not have the right to make anything holy. Church councils cannot decide the Sabbath is now a different day of the week. Mere men can't make anything holy, only God can make something holy and sanctify it.

And God himself set the seventh day Sabbath apart and he made it holy. Number four, it gives us physical rest and spiritual renewal. That is virtually impossible to do if you are going to give God a token performance two hours out of one day of the week and then go home and cut the grass and go to the mall and do everything else the rest of the day. The rest means you need to shut it down, you need to turn it off, your body needs to be, get a little extra sleep that day, a little extra ability maybe to take a nap late in the afternoon.

It's a day where physically you relax and you allow your body to recharge itself. Even more important than that, however, it is a day of spiritual renewal. It is a day to get in a little extra prayer, to get in a little extra Bible study by coming to church and opening your Bible up as the preacher expounds the Word of God.

So it is a time of spiritual renewal and refreshment. The fifth reason, it is a time to worship and fellowship. First and foremost, it is a worship day. Why? Because God made it holy, because God sanctified it, because He blessed it.

He is the Creator and He deserves our worship, our adulation. And the Sabbath day is a time to worship God, and by extension also to fellowship with people who are of like mind, people who are fellow believers. The sixth reason is that it looks forward to the kingdom of God on earth. There were so many parallels. The Sabbath is a time in which we get out of the anxieties of this world and we rest. The kingdom of God is when man's period of ruling himself ends and the world enters a period of peace established by the kingdom of God.

The Sabbath is a time for us to draw closer to God because we have a little extra time. We're not running around getting ready for work. We're not doing other things to distract us. The kingdom of God is a time when mankind, all humankind, will be able to spend more time focusing on their creator and their God. And number seven, it is God's gift. And it truly is a gift. And the longer you keep it, the more you realize the powerful influence that it has in your life. It's God's gift and a blessing to the people of God.

So these are the seven reasons why the Sabbath is so important. And I certainly encourage you to embrace, to respect, and observe the seventh day Sabbath as God originally intended. Well, we just wanted to remind you, as our visitors today, of a couple of things.

First of all, some of the folks in this room today are members of the Greater Cleveland congregation. We meet right here in this building every week, usually at 12 noon. Next week will be a little different. We'll be meeting here at one o'clock because we have a picnic later in the afternoon. But normally we meet right here at this facility at 12 noon. We'd like to encourage you to visit our literature table.

We have most of the United Church of God literature on that table that can help you to understand the doctrines from God's Word. And we happen to be out of the one on the Sabbath, but we can certainly order one for you. You can see one of the folks that'll be managing our literature table. Also in our literature table is a box for you to put your survey in, and I encourage you to complete your survey. It'll help us to make these better in the future so it'll be more effective to a greater number of people.

So please complete your survey and put it in the survey box. And if you want to hear previous sermons that I have given, they are all posted on our local website, which is cleveland.ucg.org. That is our local website. What I'd like to do at this time is I would like to close the seminar with prayer, and then afterwards we're going to have a very special musical presentation from another friend of mine that I have known since the 1970s.

His name is Mark Graham. Mark is an internationally recognized composer of religious hymns. His hymns are in a number of hymnals, sung in a number of languages, and Mark will be performing. I have a reputation for butchering these titles. Kuluma. Was I close? Not bad. Okay. Kuluma by Betty Cosa. And Mark will be giving that very special musical presentation. And after that, we would like to encourage you to stay around.

We have more refreshments, things to eat and drink, and we hope you'll fellowship, visit our literature table, and spend as much time as you would like with us today. But if you'll bow your heads, or better yet, stand and bow your heads, we'll ask for a closing.