Is it possible to see into the future? What's in store for planet earth? Crime, war and natural disasters appear to intensify with every passing day. Do they herald some approaching cataclysmic event? Could the ancient texts of Scripture reveal events yet to come? Discover secrets in the Bible that will change your life as we explore "the Most Amazing Prophecies." Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. One of my favorite lines in all of Scripture is psalm 118, this line, "this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Wherever you are tonight, I want to welcome you to what is truly, as I said a moment ago, going to be an unforgettable 24-hour period. This is our wrap-up 24 hours. I can't believe it.
This is night number eight. One more night and "the Most Amazing Prophecies" becomes history. That means we're ready now to sing that theme song. Have you memorized it yet? If we didn't put it on the screen, could you sing it by memory? Pastor John, come and lead us please. Give us the Bible we're praying as we sing together tonight.
Let's all stand together as we sing our theme song, "give me the Bible." Join us from wherever you're looking at this program from. Are you ready? Here we go... Amen. And this morning we had a wonderful worship service with pastor Batchelor, and this wonderful gentlemen played for us this morning. God chose him to be the blessing of the day, but tonight he's gonna bless us again.
Nesta sorriano is gonna bring us before the Lord through prayer. Let's bow our heads together. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. We thank you for the blessings of your son Jesus Christ and thank you for bring pastor Batchelor here. I ask that your spirit might anoint him and that he might speak words that are anointed by you.
And lord, I thank you for the opportunities that you have given people across this nation and across this globe. Thank you for the doors that are open for them to watch and to learn more about your word. But most importantly, I ask that you might open the door of our hearts. Be with us this evening is my prayer in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.
You may be seated. Tonight's subject is a subject that is gonna grip you right in the core of your being. Let the Spirit of Jesus teach you and be willing to respond to God's invitation to follow him. Pastor Doug is ready to give us that invitation. How about a warm welcome for our speaker for "the Most Amazing Prophecies," Pastor Doug bachelor.
Thank you, Pastor Nelson. Evening, friends. Good to see each of you here, both at our local locations and those who are watching on tv and at the 2,000 sites in 50 countries. Hallelujah. It's exciting.
Last night that was a great subject on baptism. Here comes a question regarding that. "Pastor Doug, what do you think of baptizing very young children, 7-12 years of age as it's sometimes the case?" Well, it's a very important question. And since the Bible does not give a specific age, then all we can do is use some reasoning and various Scriptures. The Bible tells us, of course, a person needs to understand the gospel, they need to be taught to believe with all their heart, to repent of their sins.
It doesn't mean they need to be old enough to understand all of the great theology. I don't understand it all. But they need to understand the main claims in the plan of salvation. Now, some people use Jesus as a guideline. When he was 12 years of age, he went to the temple and he was adedicated.
But, I heard one minister say, "well, if they're old enough to be lost then they should be old enough to be saved." Mmm. I like that. And at what age would that be? Matter of fact, some people, because of maybe some mental handicap, they never get beyond the age of a child and God will probably judge them that way. Children mature and comprehend things not right on a birthday, isn't that right? I've discovered sometimes girls seem to understand these things a lit earlier, these abstract principles than boys, a little before boys. So you know the range is-- my wife--yeah, the boys remember longer.
A little girl said, "amen" out there. No, no, no, but I was gonna point to you, dear. Karen was baptized when she was nine and she felt maybe she was a little too young, but it stuck. So you know, the best thing I can say is Jesus, 12 years of age, went to the temple. That sort of is a guideline, but they need to understand the criteria we gave last night.
That's helpful, thank you. "Pastor Doug," this is from an onsite questioner, "Pastor Doug, I am a hindu trying to understand the Christian adventist point of view. I'm wondering, if I live a righteous life and do good deeds all my life and still chose not to accept Christ as Savior, what's gonna happen to me?" Ooh, good question. Well, first let me tell you that there are going to be people in God's kingdom from all different quarters of the earth and not everybody there has heard about Jesus and his life in ministry. Jesus said, "to whom much is given, much is required.
To whom little is given, little is required." Again, Christ said to the religious leaders, "if you did not know, you would have no sin, but now that you see, your sin remains." So a person is judged in one capacity based on what they understand. When a person understands the gospel and that Christ is the Savior, The Son of God, if they reject that, it doesn't matter whether they've been raised in the church or in a hindu country, they're on very dangerous ground. Sin is knowing to do good and not doing it. And so there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved than the name of Jesus. And if anybody's in the Kingdom, they're not gonna be there because of buddha or krishna.
They're gonna be there because of the blood of Jesus. And no disrespect intended, mohammed did not die for the sins of the world. There's only one person whose blood covers our sins and that's Jesus. "Does Pastor Doug believe the Mark of the beast is a physical Mark?" Ooh, good, good, good question. You know, it's hard for me, like pastor dwight, to juggle my Bible and this microphone, so I'll do some of this from memory real quick.
Deuteronomy 6:4, you know that greater utterance, "hear, o, Israel, the Lord our God is one. Thou shall love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy mind, all thy strength." And you go a couple of verses later he says, "and these words that I command you this day." Chapter 5 Deuteronomy, he just repeated the Ten Commandments. "These words I command to you this day shall be in your heart. You shall bind them for a sign upon your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes." Matter of fact, you'll find four times in the writings of Moses, he talks about the law of God being in the hand and in the forehead. Now, when you jump to Revelation and it's talking about the Mark of the beast.
Some people--and it is one of the big myths. It's one of the big fantasies that confuses people about prophecy. Some people think that in the last days the beast's power is tattooing folks on the forehead or he's got this big rubber stamp with a bar code on it and all these different--if you really read Revelation it says everybody has something in their forehead. The saved all have the seal of God. You think angels are going around engraving a seal on people's foreheads? So if you do not have the law of God in your hearts and in your mind and in your hand, you will have the Mark of the beast.
It's that simple. It is not a physical Mark in the hand; it means in the actions, in the mind, means in the worship in the thoughts. That's part of our study tonight. Here comes a question on heaven. "Pastor Doug, the Bible says in Revelation 21 that, 'I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away.
' All right, now I want to know, is the new heaven and earth going to substitute our planet or is it going to be a different planet?" Well, we believe that--first let me explain new heaven. When I first read "new heaven," I thought what was the matter with the old heaven? The word "heaven" in the Bible has three meanings the way the jews used the word. The first heaven, they called it, was the atmosphere around the planet where the birds fly and the clouds float. The second heaven was where the heavenly bodies are meaning the sun, the moon and the stars. Third heaven, where Paul was caught up, that's the dwelling place of God, paradise.
So when it says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth," the heavens dissolve with fervent heat. Peter 3, when the Lord comes, that's the atmosphere. God is gonna make a new, clean atmosphere and a new planet on, probably, the chaotic void of what's left after the thousand years. I don't think he's going to another solar system. God had an original planet right here on this real estate.
He's gonna make from this real estate, a new earth. Hallelujah. That's good news. Yep. Ooh, here's one on the character of God.
Okay? "Why did God destroy many people in the old testament times or give the command to destroy nature even if he's a God of love that you've been talking about?" Well, God is a God of love and sometimes judgment is the loving thing to do. Sometimes discipline is the loving thing to do. And it is sometimes true that even the innocent suffer along with the wicked. Now someone was asking about nature, probably thinking about the flood. Not only was man cursed but when man sinned, God said, "nature is cursed because of your sin.
" Thorns and thistles came out. Man, he was to be, basically, the leader of this world. And when he sinned, the animals began to suffer, the environment, nature began to suffer. Not only did it happen with adam, it happened again with Noah. The whole creation right now, grows and travails.
And how does God feel about it? The Bible says, "man was created to be a steward of this paradise God gave him. It tells us in Revelation, "God is going to destroy those that destroy the earth." I do think Christians should take care of what we got as much as we can. We've gotten several questions on this millennium period. And essentially the question is a long question; let me cut to the chase here. The devil's here, the righteous are in heaven, where are the evil angels? Good point.
Frequently you'll find in the Bible when it talks about the devil did this and the devil did that, it uses the devil as a figurehead but his angels are always present working through him. Or, I'm sorry; he's working through them and they're working together. When it says, "satan is bound during the 1,000 years on earth," it's satan and his angels. And you read in Revelation 12, it says, "the dragon was cast out." He drew 1/3 of the stars with him. Those angels were cast out with him.
And so the angels and lucifer are bound during the 1,000 years. "Pastor Doug, your seminar yesterday about the return of Elijah said that before getting baptized, we have to learn and know about Jesus' teaching. But Matthew 28 suggests that the baptism comes first." Now that person may need some correction. Well, I think the Bible tells us Matthew 28, "go ye therefore teach," that's first. "All nations baptizing them and teaching them.
" There's teaching before and there's teaching after. You don't stop learning after you're baptized. But even when the Ethiopian eunuch was baptized, Philip was studying with him before they were baptized. They were studying the scrolls of the prophet Isaiah. So there must be teaching before, so a person knows what the commitment is, and there's more teaching afterward to be discipled.
We're talking about a very important subject from a prophecies in the Bible dealing with Babylon: "bowing to Babylon" is the title for our study tonight. I have an amazing fact. All over the world, virtually every nation has a day with 24 hours; don't have much choice. That's how long it takes the planet to rotate on its axis one time. Even in the Bible Jesus said, "are there not 12 hours in the day?" All around the world, even various civilizations, they all had a month.
Their year was divided up into months that were approximately -30 days because that's the lunar cycle. That's where we get the word, "month" from moon. And of course, around the world, most of them had a solar calendar that measured out a year that had somewhere between and 365 days because that's how long they could see, from studying the heavens, it took the earth to make a complete circuit around the sun. But here's the question: all over the world, we have a seven-day week. What in the sun or moon or stars, what in astronomy would give us a seven-day week? There is nothing.
The only place our world that all recognizes a seven-day week can trace it to is Genesis 1. And yet, what's interesting is even when many of the settlers came across the atlantic and began to meet the native groups in North America, had a seven-day week. Where does it come from? Now, I think you'll find it very interesting how this ties into prophecy. Revelation 13, you all know that chapter. That's the one that talks about the Mark of the beast, the number 666.
It tells us there, "he was granted power." This is the beast's power. "To give breath to the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed." Now, this is the second beast telling those who do not worship the first beast that if they don't worship, they'll be killed. At one point it says, "they can't buy or sell." Some have wondered is this economic sanctions. If they don't worship the way they're told, they'll be killed. You can't hardly read Revelation 13, if you know your Bible, without seeing shadows and echoes of Daniel 3.
Now, you remember when we studied Daniel 2, king Nebuchadnezzar had that dream of the metallic image and what was he told about the head of gold? Daniel said, "you," meaning Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. "You are the head of gold." And that really flattered his ego. But it troubled him as the prophecy continued because Daniel said, "but after you, another kingdom shall arise inferior to yours." He didn't want there to be another kingdom, he wanted Babylon to last forever. It was inscribed on virtually every brick in ancient Babylon. He'd worked so hard to build it up, he didn't want to see it fall into someone else's hands or be replaced and that troubled him.
So, many scholars surmised that Nebuchadnezzar thought to himself, if that head of gold represents Babylon, what if I make an image, a great image like the one I saw in my dream except make it all gold, maybe I can somehow change the prophecy of the Gods and frustrate that prophecy so that Babylon will last forever. And his advisors, wanting to flatter him, said, "good plan." So Nebuchadnezzar did that. You can read this in the prophecy there of Daniel 3:1, "Nebuchadnezzar, the King, made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its width was cubits. And he set it up in the plain of dura in the province of Babylon." Now before I go any farther, those Numbers ought to jump out, cubits by 6 cubits. A Bible teacher from this campus, years ago, taught me something.
He said in Hebrew, if it tells you the height and the width. If it doesn't tell you the depth, it's usually the same as the width. Like if you look in Exodus 30 when it describes the altar of incense, it is 2 cubits high and cubit wide and 1 cubit deep. Meaning, that image that Nebuchadnezzar built was 60 by 6 by 6. Does that sound familiar? And they're all told to bow down to that image or be killed.
Does that sound like Revelation to you? He's saying, "worship the way I tell you to worship or die." And he goes on. He made a decree. Daniel 3:6, "whoever doesn't fall down and worship, the same hour shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace." Well, there was one little problem. Among the great leaders of his empire that he invited to the inauguration of this new image in this worship were three very loyal Hebrews. You remember hanani, misheal, azariah? Sometimes known as shadrach, meshach and abednego? Those were their Babylonian names.
When the music played and they were told they were supposed to bow down, they did not bow down. Why? Why? Because one of the Ten Commandments says, "you shall not make unto you any graven images. You shall not bow down yourself to them nor serve them. For I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of The Fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of those that hate me but showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. It was one of the Ten Commandments and they said, "no.
" Oh, but their friends probably elbowed them. "We know that you're jews and you normally would not do this but just once or you'll die. God will understand, just once. Tie your shoe." Just when the music plays and everyone bows down, "oh, look, my sandals," and just you know, just don't cause a fuss. I mean, I know a lot of people that would reason that way.
"Or just break it this once." I mean, you know, you'll lose your job. You'll lose your life, not in that order. What did they do? They said, "we're not even gonna look like we're bowing down. We're not gonna give the devil this victory. We're standing up.
" Daniel 3:18. They're brought before Nebuchadnezzar and he's look, "maybe--i don't want to lose you guys. I'll give another chance. Maybe you didn't hear the music. I'll play it again.
" They said, "Nebuchadnezzar, we're not gonna worship your image." And they went on to say, "be it known unto thee, o king, that we will not serve thy Gods." We just obey our God. "Nor worship the golden image which you have set up. We're just not gonna do it. We don't need a second and a third chance." They were decisive about what they believed. Then it says, Nebuchadnezzar, in a rage, they ruined his inaugural party.
"These men were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace." You know, I don't think they were afraid because these young men had read scrolls of Isaiah and Isaiah 43 said, "when you go through the midst of fire, I will be with thee." They knew their Bibles and they were thrown into the fire. Nebuchadnezzar, the sing, said-- he looks into the furnace. So hot, if you think the fire wasn't hot, it wasn't like these coals that some people walk across. It was so hot the soldiers who threw them in her slain by the heat of it. And Nebuchadnezzar said, "didn't we throw three men bound into the midst of the fire? I see four men not bound anymore, loose, walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt.
And the form of the fourth is like The Son of God." When they went through the trial for their faith, who went through it with them? You will be tried for your obedience, but you will not be alone. We will be tested if we decide to follow Christ. This story ought to give us courage in the last days. And if that's not enough for you, go to Daniel 6, very similar. King darius makes a law that everybody should worship a certain way for 30 days or go to the lion's den.
And Daniel says, "I'm not gonna hide my devotions to God." He opens his window, prays out loud. We goes to the lion's den. He says, "I'm gonna obey God rather than man. I'm gonna obey God rather than government." Daniel goes to the lion's den. Does God protect him? Yes, he does.
Will we be faced with a similar test in the last days, choosing whether to obey the commandments of God or the commandments of the beast? And it had to do with worship. It all had to do with worship. Look with me, prophecy of Revelation 14, one of the great prophecies in the Bible. "I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them," this is verse 6, "that dwell on the earth and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people. Saying with loud voice, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come.
" And say that word with me. "Worship him that made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the fountains of waters." Here it is calling us to worship the creator. Why does God deserve our worship? Because he is the maker and we are the makee. He is the creator, we are the creation. Now, God has something in his law that talks to us about worship.
Are you aware of that? It's one of his commandments. It's the longest of the Ten Commandments. It's in the middle of his law and the amazing thing about this presentation is the truth about this subject is so clear and irrefutable that it is absolutely astonishing that this hoax has been perpetrated on so many dear people. It's the subject of the Sabbath truth because the whole Sabbath commandment revolves around worship. You notice there in Revelation 14 it said, "worship him that made the heavens and the earth and the sea.
" That's drawn from Exodus 20, the fourth commandment about the Sabbath. Haven't we been learning that Revelation, there are shadows in Revelation. It's a kaleidoscope of all these other passages in the Bible. It's all about worship. The very beginning of the Bible, adam and eve have two boys, cain and abel.
They both build altars, ostensibly to the same God. One worships the way God said, abel. Cain does it his own way. He gets upset because God accepts abel but he doesn't accept cain's manmade worship. Cain kills abel.
Fast forward to the end of the Bible. Two groups again, both worshipping, claiming to worship the same God. One is really worshipping the beast. The one who worships the beast is trying to kill the one who worships God. Things haven't changed, have they? The devil wants our worship.
God wants our worship. We must choose. That's one thing the devil cannot force you to do and God will not force you. Now as we talk about this subject of the Sabbath, the reason we're presenting this is because in the last days there is a movement to get back to the teachings of the Bible, amen? And so what is a Christian? Follower of Christ. Let's find out what Jesus did.
Question number one, "on what day did Jesus customarily worship?" The Bible tells right there in Luke 4:16. "And he, 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." What's a custom? Something you do once or twice or it's a habit? It's a pattern. His custom was to go to church, the synagogue is the church, on the Sabbath, worship God, read the Bible. It was a custom for him. Number two, you say, "well, I have no problem with that, Pastor Doug, 'but what day is the Bible Sabbath?'" Go to Genesis 2:2, "and on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.
" Now it jumps out at me that the first time anything is mentioned three times in the Bible, it's the Sabbath. God is The Father, The Son, the Holy Spirit. And that's why the angels say, "holy, holy, holy." And here in Genesis, it says, "the seventh day, the seventh day, the seventh day." Now I know you may think this is caveman theology but it works for me. Here in the very beginning it says, "777." Then you go to Revelation and the beast says, "666." I know where I want to land. I want the 777, don't you? You don't want the 666.
One is talking about worshipping the creator because he is the creator. The other one is worshipping the beast. Now, what day of the week is the Sabbath day? If you go to any normal dictionary, you'll find that it says, "Saturday is the seventh day of the week." The encyclopedia will tell you that. Matter of fact, in over languages of the world, the word, no matter what the religion of the country is, the word for Saturday is Sabbath day. Some friends here speak spanish, I know.
This is being translated into spanish. The word for Saturday is sabado. We have any russian friends here, speak russian? Seventh day is subolta. Even in arabic where they keep Friday as their Sabbath, the word for Saturday is Sabbath day; 105 languages of the world. It's got an interesting history.
"But Pastor Doug, hasn't the calendar been changed so we don't really know?" The calendar's been changed many times. That's one of the famous myths that you hear. "Oh, I can't tell what day's the Sabbath." People never have a problem with what day of the week it is until they hear the Sabbath truth. The fact is if you don't know what day the Sabbath is, you don't know what day Sunday is either, right? But you can know. No change to the calendar ever affects that.
The Sabbath and the calendar, the weekly cycle, even though you see them on the same calendar on the wall, they're two completely independent measurements of time. No matter what you do to the calendar, it doesn't change the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. That's why your birthday is a different day of the month-- I'm sorry--your birthday is a different day of the week every year, right? Somebody wrote the u.s. Naval observatory about this question and this is a copy of the letter that came back. And they said, "we've had occasion to investigate the results of the works of specialists in chronology and we have never found one of them that ever has the slightest doubt about the continuity of the weekly cycle since long before the Christian era.
There has been no change in the calendar that has ever affected the continuity of the weekly cycle. Pope gregory made a change back in, I think, 1582. Thursday October 5th was followed by Friday October 15th. No, no. Thursday October 4th was followed by Friday October 15th.
They added ten days. It changed the calendar. Did it change the week? No, it doesn't affect the week. So there's no question about what day of the week is the seventh day. And you know, for me, what the slam dunk is for me on this, you got a whole Jewish nation all over the world, do they know what day the seventh day of the week is? And yes, you might persuade me to think that some Jewish family got shipwrecked on "gilligan's island" and forgot the days of the week.
But the whole nation? No. It's always been what we commonly call Saturday today. There's more evidence for this later. Number three, "who made the Sabbath day and when?" Genesis 2:1-3, "thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. And God blessed the seventh day.
" God did it way back in the beginning in creation. How many jews were in the world back then? How many people in the world? Two. What were their names? This is a test. How many here are related to them? By the way, you're all related to Noah too. That's why Jesus said, "the Sabbath was made from man back in the Garden of Eden.
" the Lord came walking in the cool of the day looking for adam and eve. This day was a special day for their communion together he created as a blessing to man. Was there sin in the world when God created the Sabbath? Was it part of his perfect plan? Then there's nothing that he needed to change. God, in the very beginning, made the institutions of marriage. Do we still have marriage? Is that still part of God's plan? By the way, what did God make from man in the Garden of Eden? He made woman and he made the Sabbath day.
Do we still need women? Do we still need the Sabbath day? Part of his perfect plan. You know, it's also true God made things during creation in order of their complexity. The last thing he made was a woman. That's true. The data is in.
In the Garden of Eden this was the time for fellowship with the creator. Number four, "what does God say about Sabbath keeping in the Ten Commandments which he wrote with his own finger," I might add. Exodus 20:8. Oh, by the way, it's not the ten recommendations. It's not the ten good ideas.
It's the Ten Commandments. "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Now notice, God, on the Sabbath day, he rested, he blessed and he sanctified the seventh day. You know, this is something that just came to me today. Think about this.
I was telling pastor dwight about this back in the office. If you were to pick a holy spot on planet earth, what geography would you pick? Israel, I heard someone say. I agree. Let's suppose there's a holy land that is what? Israel. And in the holy land, you've got the holy city.
Where's that? Jerusalem. And in the holy city, they got the holy mount. You know about that? Mount Zion, mount mariah, same place. And on the holy mount, they got the holy temple. And in the holy temple, they got the holy place.
Then you go further and you've got the holy of holies. And in the holy of holies, there is the holy ark of the covenant. You still with me? What's in the ark of the covenant? Ten Commandments, the holy law. One time the word "holy" appears in the Ten Commandments. It's in the middle of the law.
It's the longest of the Ten Commandments. It's the one that begins with the word "remember" and it's the Sabbath commandment and, yet, it is one that is largely being neglected by professed Christians the world over. Does God care? He cared enough to speak it with his voice and write it with his finger in the presence of a whole nation. And Jesus said, "if you love me, keep my commandments." Some people say, "well, they weren't really expected to keep the Sabbath as a Sabbath day until they got to Mount Sinai." Wrong. The Bible doesn't teach that.
For instance, when the children of Israel first came out of Egypt before they get to mount sinai, God rains manna down from heaven. You remember that experience? And Moses said, "eat that today for today is a Sabbath." They gathered twice as much on Friday. "For today is a Sabbath unto the Lord. Today you shall not find it in the field." God worked a miracle the whole time they were in the wilderness where he rained manna down from heaven six days a week. They'd get twice as much on Friday and he would not rain manna on the Sabbath.
Now, that's in Exodus 16 and he's telling them that the Sabbath is his commandment. He uses that phrase in his law before they get to Mount Sinai. Yeah, the children of Israel had forgotten about it or had been neglected. Number five, "Pastor Doug, that's the old testament. 'Haven't the Ten Commandments been changed,' or altered in some way?" You know, that's what prophecy tells us the beast would think to do.
Do you remember we studied the antiChrist? Daniel 7:25, one of his characteristics was "he would think to change times and laws." When I look at the Ten Commandments, I can only find one commandment that is both a law and a time. It's the Sabbath. It's important to God. Proverbs 30:5-6, "every word of God is pure. Add thou not unto His Words, lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar.
" We are not to add to or take away from His Words. And then you can also read in Hebrews 4:9, this is new testament. "There remains therefore a rest to the people of God." And that word "rest" there, if you take it from its Greek translation is sabbitismos and it means the keeping of a Sabbath. There remains--this is the new testament, one of the final books in the new testament says, "there remains the keeping of the Sabbath for the people of God." Oh, somebody's gonna say, "well, Pastor Doug, now that we're Christians, we keep the Spirit of the law, not the letter." You're being legalistic to tell people they gotta keep the letter of the law. Remember we talked about that a little bit? How can you say you're gonna keep the Spirit of the law and ignore the letter? The letter is the foundation for the Spirit.
If you say, "I'm gonna keep the Spirit of the law that says, "thou shall not commit adultery," which means you don't look upon the opposite sex to think it in your heart. That's right. That's the Spirit of it. But how do you keep the Spirit of the law and say, "I'm gonna commit the act of adultery, but I'm not gonna break the Spirit?" Or I'm not gonna break the spirit of the law, thou shall not kill. Jesus said, "the law says don't kill, but I say unto you whoever is angry with his brother without cause is guilty of murder.
" That's the Spirit of the law. But if you're not gonna break the Spirit of the law, don't be angry with your brother without cause. How do you keep that and still break the letter? So if you're gonna keep the spirit of the law, Jesus said, "come unto me and I'll give you rest." That's the Spirit of the law. I believe it, amen. But the Sabbath is the very starting point for that experience of rest.
And do we still need a day of rest? Do we need a day of worship? Corporate worship-- some people say, "oh, Pastor Doug, I'm a new testament Christian. I worship God seven days a week. You only worship him one day a week." And you know, the Bible tells us that we should, I believe, worship God always. But in the commandment it says we are not to work. And if a person says that they're keeping the Sabbath seven days a week, they're not holy, they're lazy.
We're supposed to only keep that day one day a week, not secular work but reserve that day only for holy time with God. Some are saying, "now that we're under grace, grace blots out the law. We're not under the law anymore. We're now under grace." You know, I don't get that either. That's sort of like you get pulled over by a policeman because you're driving too fast and you start to cry.
It works. I've done it. And she didn't give me a ticket. It's true. Yeah, I never told you about that.
I told you, you learn new things. I got pulled over by a lady policeman. I started to tear up and she let me go. But suppose they do show you mercy, what do you do? Say, "praise the Lord. I'm not under the law now because they've had mercy on me so I can drive as fast as I want?" No.
When you're forgiven because of being under the law in the curse of the law for our sins, when you're forgiven for your sins, Christians are the most careful to obey the law. We're not given a license to disobey. Number six, "did the apostles keep the Sabbath?" Yes. "Paul, as his manner was, he went unto them three Sabbath days and he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." And this acts 17:2, you can jump to acts 18:4. "He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both jews and Greeks," Greeks meaning gentiles, non-jews.
Why would you think that Jesus would say, speaking of the last days, "pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Christ, looking down the course of time seeing his people in the last days told them we should pray that we wouldn't have to flee on the Sabbath day. If they're not keeping the Sabbath anymore, why would Jesus say that? Number seven, "did the gentiles also worship on the Sabbath day?" New testament, yes. Acts 13:42. By the way, this is written by a gentile. "And when the jews were gone out of the synagogue, the gentiles besought these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath day.
" That's still the seventh day of the week, not Sunday. And it goes on to say in Mark 2:27, "and he said unto them, 'the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.'" The Sabbath is meant to be a blessing for mankind. Now, one of the big struggles Jesus had during his earthly ministry is the religious leaders at his time had become very legalistic about the Sabbath. Disciples are walking through the field, they're hungry. They pick some grain out of the field and they're eating it and the pharisees said, "you're harvesting on the Sabbath day! You're carrying a burden!" I mean, they had all these manmade laws and Christ did have to contend with that.
But never ever does Jesus say, "Sabbath doesn't matter anymore." Matter of fact, it was so important to Christ and his disciples understood this, that after he had died on the cross, they did not even finish embalming his body because the Sabbath had come. They waited until after the Sabbath and came back. If they had ever gotten the notion from Jesus that the Sabbath was not intact, matter of fact, Christ said, "think not that I have come to destroy the law. Don't think that." Isaiah 56, is it also for the gentiles? A prophecy in the old testament, "also The Sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord and to be his servants. Everyone that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it and taking hold of my covenant.
" He will make them joyful in his house of prayer. The Sons of the stranger, those who chose to worship jehovah, they didn't pick their own new Sabbath day. They kept the Sabbath day that God picked. The one he gave adam and eve, the one he gave in the Ten Commandments, the one that Jesus kept. It's always been the same.
Do we still need physical rest? Oh, man, I tell you. We're living in a society today. There is a whole litany of diseases now that have been connected with stress and fatigue, ranging from heart disease, high blood pressure, ulcers. One of the top-selling medications in North America deals with ulcers. Sleep aids, people are stressed and they don't sleep.
A lot of it is because people have forgotten about God's time of rest. And he blessed the day. You know, it said right there in the commandment. "I've sanctified it. I've blessed it.
I've made it holy." God even rested that day and we're made in his image. If God rested that day, are we better than him? And so it important to the Lord. It's important for our health. Number eight, "was the Sabbath changed to Sunday at Christ's resurrection?" How many of you have heard that before? Somewhere someone said, "oh, but it was changed." You don't find that anywhere in the Bible. Matter of fact, if we read in the Bible Luke 23:54, I'll read all the way through Luke 24:1 with probably periodic interruptions.
"And that day was the preparation, Friday, and the Sabbath drew on." The day Jesus died on the cross is commonly called good Friday, okay? Now before I get to the rest of Luke, I wanted to interject a couple of slides here. When does the Sabbath begin? Just so you know, Jesus died right about sundown. It says in Leviticus 23:32, "from even unto even," even meaning evening, sundown, "you shall celebrate your Sabbath." If that's not enough, read Mark 1:32, "and at even when the sun did set." So the Sabbath begins and ends at sunset. For those of us in this time zone, is it Sabbath now? It is. The sun has set.
We are in holy time. Shalom. Shalom shabbat. This is the Sabbath time, sacred hours, not just for jews but for all that follow the God of the Bible. You keep going back to--let's return back to Luke 23.
So Friday sundown, it says, "they returned and prepared spices and ointments and they rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Now, this is the gospel of Luke. Is Luke a jew or a gentile? What a good opportunity Luke missed to say they rested according to the Jewish Sabbath, the Jewish law. He doesn't, he says, "the commandment." So there's no question about it. By the way, how many of you know that they've changed the speed limit in Michigan? You are now allowed to drive miles an hour on the interstate. I'm just wondering, does anyone out there believe me? After all our time together, you don't believe me? You know why you don't believe me? I mean, how many of you believe other things I say? Come on, we're getting an audience shot.
You know why you didn't believe that last ridiculous statement is because you know that if a nation is gonna change a law that is so prominent, that affects so many people, that they have to clearly advertise it. It'd be everywhere. They've give a lot of lead up to it. If God is gonna change one of the Ten Commandments, if God is gonna tell you to forget the one commandment that begins with the word, "remember," don't you think it would be all through the new testament? Look at the debate in the new testament on circumcision. It's mentioned everywhere.
But the Sabbath day, you don't find that argument. Why? Because he didn't change it. It was understood that they were to still keep the Ten Commandments. And the tragedy is that virtually all Christian ministers also still taught the Ten Commandments 'til about -100 years ago. They began to shift away from it.
I've got good tapes of billy graham talking about the Ten Commandments going--marching right through them including the fourth commandment unapologetic about it. "Now on the first day of the week," back to Luke again, "they came early unto the sepulchre." Let's just do a quick review so you have this in your mind. What day of the week did Jesus die on the cross? Friday. Friday. By the way, friends, Jesus completed his work in saving the human race Friday afternoon.
He said, "it is finished." He gave up his spirit. He then kept the Sabbath even in his death and he rose Sunday morning. It meant so much to Jesus, he rested from his work of saving the human race on the Sabbath day. He didn't rise Sunday morning to inaugurate a new day, he rose to go back to work as our high priest in heaven. That's just mind boggling to me that people--it's just a mystery that so many people miss this.
Then you've got--back to our little graph here-- died on Friday, Jesus kept the Sabbath Saturday, rested in the tomb on that day. He rose Sunday morning, what we would call the first day of the week. That's why people celebrate easter, world over, on the first day of the week. No one contends that Jesus rose the first day. You know what it says in the Bible? "He rose after the Sabbath was passed.
" That means it was stilling the Sabbath. It just was over for that night. Some said, "oh, it was over for--they try and build something spiritual in there. It's just not in there. That that meant now the Sabbath was over for Christians and we're to keep a new day.
Well, that's just absolutely abstract, creative nonsense. It doesn't say that. If that was true, then why do they keep the Sabbath later on in the new testament and the book of acts? "Will the Sabbath be kept in heaven?" Well, let's just do a little review. When I first learned these things, I was angry because I felt like I'd been deceived. Keep in mind, I was going to church on Sunday and I'm Jewish.
And I'd read in the Bible about the Sabbath day. I thought, "shouldn't that be the seventh day?" And yet the whole thing was just going in one ear and out the other. And finally when I saw what was going on, I thought, "how did I miss it? How could I have been fooled?" And one of the things that convinced me that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath is I didn't really want to believe it. I was looking for a Scripture. All I needed was one Scripture that said, "Sunday's the new Sabbath day.
" I would have been happy. Matter of fact, what convinced me was my pastors. I went to a number of Sunday churches then. I had a few different fellowships. I couldn't get enough of Christianity.
I'd go to one church for their prayer meeting. I'd go to another church Sunday. I'd go to another church Sunday night. And I went to all my pastors, and I said, "why do we go to church Sunday?" And I was eager to find a good Bible answer. I just wanted to follow Christ at His Word.
They all gave me different answers. One of them said, "because Jesus rose the first day of the week, it's the new Christian Sabbath." I said, "okay, great. Where's the Scripture that says that?" He said, "well, there's really no Scripture that says that, but we've got a longstanding tradition." I went to another one and he said, "we're not under the law anymore. We're now under grace." I said, "you mean we don't need to keep the Ten Commandments?" "Well, we keep the Spirit of the law." I said, "what does that mean?" So what are we supposed to tell our kids? Keep the Spirit of the law. You're not supposed to steal your brother's toys.
Just keep the Spirit of the law. That won't go very far. I went to another pastor. I said, "why do we go to church on Sunday?" He said, "back in the days of Joshua, he prayed the sun stood still, Saturday turned into Sunday." I said, "that's creative." But it didn't make any sense because for another thousand years, they still kept it on Saturday. Matter of fact, I was doing a seminar one time like this, and a minister from another church was coming 'cause he was worried his members were coming and believing what they heard.
And he stood up angry, veins standing out in his forehead. He said, "Pastor Doug!" He knew me because it was a small town. I was a pastor there. He said, "you're putting these people under a bondage of law." And I said, "well, brother," I said, "do you believe God wants us to keep the Ten Commandments or not?" He said, "no." And his members went--[gasps]! And he caught that and he said, "yes." And then he realized that would include the Sabbath and he said, "nine of them." And so I said, "so you're telling me the one commandment we're supposed to forget is the only one that begins with the word, 'remember?'" And I said, "by the way," I said, "I'm not putting them under works. I'm telling them to rest.
You're telling them not to rest. You're putting them under works." So it just didn't make any sense to me. Now back to our slide. There's a history. Do we see adam keeping the Sabbath back in the garden of eden? Did God have it as part of the plan? I mean, if God rested and he makes adam in his image, adam rested too.
Amen? Did the children of Israel keep it through the wilderness in the old testament? Did Jesus and the apostles keep it? You know what's exciting is we're gonna keep it in glory. Isaiah 66:22-23, "for as the new heavens and the new earth that I will make shall remain before me." We're talking about in the future. "It shall come to pass that from one Sabbath," it goes on to say from one new moon to another and, "one Sabbath to another shall all flesh," does it say all jews? "All flesh come to," do what? What's that word again? "Worship." What is this all about? If we don't know who we worship, we're gonna be deceived in the last days. It's all about worship. "All flesh will come and worship before me.
" I've got news for you, friends. If you want to worship before him there on the Sabbath then, we need to start doing it here now. Get in the habit. It's all about worshipping Jesus and you know what? When Jesus preaches on that Sabbath day in heaven, nobody's gonna sleep during the sermon. Amen? He'll be the minister.
Number ten, "some have said that maybe it isn't the resurrection. But the new testament, doesn't it call Sunday the Lord's day?" It does say in Revelation 1:10, John says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." It never calls the first day or Sunday the Lord's day. Matter of fact, if you go through the Bible and try to identify what day is the Lord's day, you have two options. One is the second coming is called the day of the Lord. The other option is the Sabbath.
Exodus 20:10, it tells us there, "but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord," not the jews, "the Lord your God." It's the Lord's day. Again, Isaiah 58:13, "if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure--" turning away your foot means stop treading on something holy. Remember they'd take their shoes off 'cause of holy ground. And when we trample on something with our shoes on, it's desecrating something holy. And there are a lot of dear Christians out there that did not know what they're hearing now and God has accepted and blessed your worship because he's winked at our ignorance, acts 17.
We didn't know. There'll be a lot of people in heaven that went to church on Sunday, amen? Millions of them, because they didn't know. King David will be there and he had too many wives. But we know better than that today, don't we? He winked-- God winked at their ignorance. But now that we see, he commands men everywhere to repent and some have been desecrating God's holy time and missing the blessing that he has.
Again, Mark 2:28, Jesus said, "therefore The Son of man is lord also of the Sabbath." So what day is the Lord's day? Saturday, the Sabbath day is the lord's day. "Oh, Pastor Doug, you're making a big deal out this one little commandment." Did God make a big deal out of it? When he speaks audibly in the hearing of the whole nation and he writes--he etches it with his own finger, arc welding it in stone, signifying the permanence, the eternal nature of it, does it matter to God? Number 11, some say, "well, we keep Sunday to honor the resurrection." I've heard that and I think we should do something to honor Christ in the resurrection. What does God give us in the Bible to do that? Romans 6:4. He does have an institution for the resurrection. It's not a new Sabbath day.
There was nothing wrong with the old one. Romans 6:4, "therefore we are buried with him through baptism into death just as Christ was raised or resurrected from the dead by the glory of The Father, even so we should walk in a newness of life." So what did the Lord give us? What institution did he give us to honor his resurrection? Baptism. We've talked about that with this group, and I'm hoping that some here are still praying about that decision. Some who are watching, I hope that you'll make your decision to follow Christ. Number 12, "well, if Sunday keeping isn't in the Bible, where did it come from?" Matthew 15:9, Jesus said, "in vain they worship me.
" Are there some who worship him in vain? What about those who worship the beast thinking they're worshipping God, will they be worshipping Jesus in vain? Go back to the verse, I'll read it. Trust me. "In vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of," who? "Of men." This is from the encyclopedia britannica. That is not written by my church, in case you're wondering. "The earliest recognition of the observants of Sunday is a constitution of constantine in 321 a.
d. Enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday." It was a roman day of rest. It comes from paganism. That's where we get the word, "Sunday." It was connected with sun worship, had nothing to do with The Son of God worship. It had to do with solar worship.
And gradually, the Christians in rome began to give up the seventh day and to embrace the day of the Romans. True Christians were persecuted. The jews were very unpopular. They called them jewdiaisers because they still kept the same day the jews kept. Now, if you have any other doubts, this is right from stephen canaan's catechism.
It's a catholic catechism. I didn't write this. If you want to study to be a good catholic--how many of you were catholics at some point in your life and you remember the catechisms? See all the hands out there? You remember that? All right, question, "which day is the Sabbath day? Answer, Saturday's the Sabbath day. Question, why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer, we observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the catholic church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." Again, stephen canaan's catechism. I forgot to put the reference on the screen.
This is actually from 1995. It's an article that was in a magazine of a catholic district. "Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the church ever did happened in the first century." It's not actually the first century, it's the third century. "The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday, not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, the Bible, but from the church's sense of its own power." Keep reading. "People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become seventh day adventists and keep Saturday holy.
" Bless their hearts. Thank you very much, st. Catharine's for that article. I want to be a Bible Christian. How about you, friends? Number 13, "isn't it very dangerous to tamper with God's law?" There was one priest who just touched the ark.
They were not even supposed to touch it because anyone who was touching it, there could be a risk that they would harm or change or alter it in some way. They couldn't even touch it. And uzza reached out and touched the ark and he dropped dead because God didn't want anyone changing his law. Matthew 5:19 Jesus said, "whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments and teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them--" that's what we're trying to do at this seminar-- "the same will be called great in the Kingdom of heaven.
In other words, Jesus is saying, "you look over the Ten Commandments and you find out whichever one you think is the least important. And if you were to even try and change the least, you'll be spoken of in heaven as the least. It doesn't mean you'll be there. Some people think that means you're just gonna have a low position in heaven, but you'll still be there. No, those in heaven refer to you as the lowest kind of person who tries to change God's law.
Nothing wrong with the law. The law doesn't need changing. We need changing. That's why Jesus came. Save us from our sins which is transgression of the law.
Number 14, "why did God make the Sabbath anyway?" It says in Ezekiel 20:12 "I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them." I'm the one who makes them holy. See, God made that day holy and every holy Sabbath day we remember that if he can make a day holy, he can make us holy. Not only that, it's a day that reminds us of creation. And every Sabbath day, we realize if he could create all things, he can recreate me. I'll tell you why the devil hates this subject.
Stay with me. I'm fighting the clock. I wish I could pray like Joshua, the sun would stand still right now, but then people would think we changed the Sabbath. Salvation is all about loving God. It's about loving Jesus.
All love relationships are developed in the crucible of time. It's time. God wants to have quality time with us. One of the principle things that Karen talks to me about-- I'm so busy-- she says, "doug, we need time together." And she doesn't just mean that we happen to be in the same house 'cause I'm often in the office working on sermons. She's not talking about that kind of time.
She's talking about time where you're really--you're interacting, you're meshing, you're communicating, quality time, getting to know each other. God wants a relationship with you, not just to have you say, "yup, you're God," and then go your merry way. He wants an ongoing relationship with you and it takes time. And because of the cares of life, we can get so busy. God, to protect that love relationship says, "I have set aside holy time.
It's a day I'm gonna be there. I'm resting that day. I blessed that day. I want you there with me." It's all about love. The devil hates that.
And so you're gonna find even those who claim to be Christians fighting the Sabbath truth. Oh, by the way, there's a website that I recommend. It's very simple Sabbathtruth.com. A lot of information there. We can't cover everything in this seminar.
You might jot that down, simple, Sabbathtruth.com. I think you can even go to Sabbathtruth.org and just--lots of resources on the history of the Sabbath. Number 15, "how important is Sabbath keeping?" James 2:10, he tells us, "for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." "Pastor Doug, are you telling me that if I keep 90% of the Ten Commandments perfectly, just because I break the Sabbath because I go a different day, God's gonna punish me for that?" Well, it's like somebody standing before a judge. They're guilty of murder. That's one of the Ten Commandments by the way, "thou shall not kill.
" And they say, "well, look, your honor, I realize I did murder one person, but I've kept all the other laws of the land perfectly. You should just wink at this one." Any judge gonna buy that? What is the penalty for sin? Death. Is the Sabbath one of the Ten Commandments? Might I submit to you that the penalty is the same as the other nine. God means what he says. And you notice he doesn't say, "remember a Sabbath day to keep it holy.
" He says, "remember the Sabbath day." The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. He's very definite about it. Amen? Jesus said, John 13:7, "if you know these things, happy are ye if you do them." God isn't calling the Sabbath day a day of cursing. It's a day of blessing. That's why we're sharing these things with you, friends.
We want you to have that blessing. Now, I know what some of you are thinking now. I remember when I first learned this. It meant a change in my work schedule. Some people say, "hey, I might lose my job.
" Shadrach and meshach, abednego, they realized if they didn't obey the King's law, they'd lose their jobs and their lives. Might I submit to you in the last days, God is looking for people to trust him enough to step out in faith and he will go through the furnace with them. And they'll be more blessed in the latter end and in the beginning. I lost jobs because I wouldn't work on God's holy Sabbath, and he gave me better jobs. He'll test you.
I can promise you. Whenever you take up your cross to follow Jesus, there will be trials, there will be tests. "Prove me," God says, "test me." See if he's still on the throne, friends. I'll promise you he is. Number 16, "how does God feel about religious leaders who ignore the Sabbath day?" Ezekiel 22:26-31.
I'm reading the Bible, don't get upset with me. "Her priests have violated my law and profaned my holy things. They put no difference between the holy and the profane and they've hid their eyes from my Sabbaths." That's why Jesus said, "why do you call me, lord, lord, and you do not the things that I say?" Jesus says, "if you're gonna call me lord, lord, then worship me the way and the day that I say." He's God. What would happen to the church, anyway, if everybody sort of picked their own Sabbath day? They say, "I'll see you in church next Sabbath." "When's that?" "Well, I go Thursday, when do you go?" One more thought. Sometimes people have said, "well, Pastor Doug, you're downplaying the importance of the resurrection.
That's when everything--they were so important. That's what made it a new Sabbath day." What day of the week did Jesus institute the new covenant? Last supper. Thursday night. How important was that? What day did he die for our sins? Friday. He said, "it is finished," Friday.
That would have been a good day to switch it to. That's the day the muslims keep, I mean, if you're gonna change it. Jesus did a lot of important things a lot of different days, but he never said that made it a new Sabbath day. Number 17, "does Sabbath keeping really affect me personally?" Yes, it does. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, "come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden.
" And I will do what? "I'll give you rest." It's all about worship, friends. Again, Hebrews 4:5, "they will enter into my rest." In the last days, remember when we studied Revelation 12 about that woman? The dragon is especially infuriated with the woman. Revelation 12:17, "and the seed of the woman who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." That's Revelation 12. Revelation 14, "here are those that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus." Revelation 22, last chapter of the Bible. "Blessed are those that keep his commandments that they might have a right to enter through the gates of the city and eat from the Tree of Life.
" It's in prophecy, friends. It's talking over and over through Daniel in Revelation about who do we worship? How can we study that subject and not talk about the Sabbath? Let me turn you to a prophecy. I see a miracle of miracles, God made the time stand still. I got a few seconds. Turn to Isaiah 58.
I want to read this to you. This is a prophecy about the last days. Verse 12, "those who are from you shall build up the old waste places. That which was broken down will be built up. You will raise up the foundation of many generations.
" Something that had been there for many generations. The foundation is still there, but it's being built up again. "You'll be called the repairer of the breach." A breach has been made in God's law in his wall. It's gonna be repaired. "And the restorer of paths to dwell in.
" A path where God's people used to walk, has been lost. It's been grown over but it's gonna be cleaned out again. Now listen to what he identifies after he talks about this great revival and restoration of truth. "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day." It's not the day of the jews. "And call the Sabbath a delight.
" Friends, it's a blessing. It's a delight. The holy day of the Lord, not of the jews. Honorable and shall honor him, not doing your own ways or finding your own pleasure. You know why we all got into trouble? Isaiah says, "all we like sheep went our own way doing our own thing.
" One of the things that happens every Sabbath day is we are telling God, "you're God, you're the creator, you're the redeemer. We worship you." Every Sabbath we're saying, "you're in charge. You're on the throne of my heart." You know, sometimes it's easier for people to say, "lord, I don't have a problem giving you money, but I don't have time." "Time is the stuff life is made of." That's not the Bible, that's ben franklin, but it's a good quote. Time is the stuff that life is made of. My father, millions of dollars.
I had almost no relationship with my father because he never had time. Oh, yeah, he'd buy us toys and junk. We had boats and skis and yachts and cars and all the junk, but I never had any time. You know what I wanted? I wanted time with him. God loves you infinitely more than any earthly parent loves their children or spouse loves their spouse or children love their parents.
And he says, "I want time with you, and I know the devil wants to distract you. That's why I wrote it in my law, in the middle of my law and I said, 'remember to keep it holy.'" You notice it says, "keep it holy." Keeping it holy means--it implies it's already holy. I've had some nice people during this seminar say, "Pastor Doug, we're praying that God will keep you holy--" they said, "we're praying that God will keep you humble." I said, "well, you're assuming I am humble then and that he'll keep me humble." I said, "I'm not so sure I am humble." But when God says, "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," what God is saying is, "it is holy. I want you to keep it the way it is." He's inviting you to do that today. He's brought you to this seminar.
He's had you find this frequency. He's brought you to your venue. You're watching because God wants to bless you with a blessed day. Would you like to receive that blessing? Last question, question number , "are you willing to follow Jesus' command and his example of Sabbath keeping?" A Christian is a follower of Christ. It was his custom.
This is a very important subject because now we're not talking about intellectual assent. When people hear this prophetic message, they go, "wow. That's not just about what I believe about this or what I believe about this, it's about my time, my life." We would be doing you a disservice if we didn't call you to a biblical commitment of your heart to worship God. Amen?