Sabbath Thoughts 15

Sabbath Resources

Two brands of competing Bad Christianity are built on these two shaky foundations: #1 here, wear this firesuit, it's all glittery like aluminum foil, and everyone will laugh at you, but still, it will protect you from the coming fire, and look at all those poor slobs around you, hah ha! They are going to roast, cuz they don't gotz their firesuits, so laugh away, losers! Laugh away, all the way to God's wrathful oven! #2 have some Jesus, He will make you happy and smooth out all your problems, your bank account will grow, grow, grow, so you can look at all the Jesusless people around you and laugh, cuz they is poah poah poah, and so they is cursed by God, and to top it all off with a Heavenly cherry, you're gonna git a mansion, just over the hilltop, and you'll hear the losers screaming in eternal fires just outside the city gates!

You've got the stick, a big stick, to scare fools into accepting God, or else.

And you've got the big ole ice cream sundae with a magnificient seven-bedroom cherry on top.

The thing of it is, there doesn't seem to be a brand of Christianity that says, the punishment isn't the issue, the reward isn't the issue, the magnificent thing, TODAY, is that you can have a relationship with God, the Almighty Creator of everything! And this is why so many people literally hate the Sabbath day, because when you get down to the brass tacks, the underlying foundations, the gist of it, the Sabbath is all about immersing yourself in God, to willfully set aside all the junk, to focus on God, for a full day -- a date with Yahweh. The blessing, the miraculous blessing of HAVING A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

Think about it. Would you worship Him if you wouldn't be punished? Is that LOVE? To come to someone in order to escape punishment?

Think about it. Would you worship Him if you would receive no reward? Is that LOVE? To come to someone in order to get a big shiny present?

Think about it. You have the opportunity to adore and be adored by Someone greater than the loudest rock star, Someone mightier than any king lolling on silk couches. Someone more beautiful than the most surgically enhanced movie idol. The very Being Who created you, Who loved you and loves you and will love you throughout eternity. This Someone is wiser than Oprah or Dr. Phil or Stephen Hawking or Billy Graham or Abraham Lincoln (did I miss ANYone?).

If you were going to blow up and disappear in one week, without any reward, without any punishment, you should wish to run to the most important Person ever in your life, the very One Who would die for you, Who DID die for you -- to get yourself some actual REALITY, possibly the only reality you will ever experience.

We don't know how much time we have, whether it is to live until 125 years of age in golden happy retirement with all the problems of the world solved, or possibly a meteor might hit Earth in the next five minutes, and everything could go dark. But the thing of it is, you can begin to immerse yourself in God, literally God, and you can begin RIGHT NOW. And nobody has to know about it -- you don't have to answer an altar call, or trek over to Tibet and kowtow with monks, you don't have to take up yoga, or don a bright green wig and dance and prance on TV with tears streaming down your face.

Forget all the awful theatrics.

It's yours, right now. You don't have to send a $50 love gift to get my latest message on CD that will really, really bless you. You don't have to enroll in my "Super Cool Bible School" to convert you into God's tool from worthless fool. You don't need a middleman, you don't need a salesman, you don't need to sow a seed.

It's yours, right now, the doorway to knowing the Creator, the One Who loves you more than anyone could ever hope to love you, and He's knocking at the door, right now.

I don't mean to sound like some emotionally unstable guy up front quavering out "In the Sweet By and By," but it's not too good to be true, it's not about emotions, or punishment, or reward, it's not about ME ME ME -- it's about YOU and God, period. It's there. It's yours. It's all in place, and you don't have to do anything...

...just reach out to Him.

This isn't a "This Hour Only!" offer. This isn't something I'm making available to you right now, it's something that's always been there for you, for you personally. And it doesn't happen usually in a snap and a flash and suddenly you can shout "I juzz got SAVED!"

When you are in a relationship with Him, it doesn't mean that all your problems will go away, that everything will get easy for you, that suffering will end. The only real difference is that you will notice a perspective, that suddenly a whole lot of things make sense that didn't make sense before (but there will still be plenty of mysteries to solve, most of them far more interesting than "The Da Vinci Code"); for one thing, you'll realize that you really don't know anything. But what you'll definitely GET, is hope. HOPE.

Because you'll realize, completely, that you are not alone. That you are never alone. That through the hardship, the suffering, the bills and responsibilities, the mean people and the dangerous situations, the traffic, the traffic, the traffic, you won't be alone, and you'll have a reason.

I think this is the reason there is just so much downright scary HATRED expressed when it comes to the Sabbath. Because the Sabbath is all about having a relationship with God. Not just "enjoying" a relationship, but DELIGHTing in a relationship with the Creator, with the Lord of the Sabbath. It's personal, like salvation. It is even a SIGN of salvation, of grace, Saving Grace. It is the rest that comes in Jesus.

And when whole bodies of people that have been taught to "Come to the Lawd" either because they are terrified of the big ole stick, or because they want a big shiny gift-wrapped present -- they don't know what a relationship actually IS, they've never touched God, they've never come into close contact with the Creator. They are playing at religion, parading around in their "Sunday best" chanting in unison: "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!" all the while exulting in their shiny fire-proof suit, laughing at the losers that are gonna burn, squealing like pigs in the delight of their coming reward...

...the echo of Jesus' voice rings out: "I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity."

The Spirit of the Law is LOVE, loving God first, with everything, and a close second is loving the guy next to you with the same slavish attention you shower yourself. And really, the Bible makes it clear, that if you love your neighbor as yourself, this fulfills everything, so loving the next guy IS loving God with your whole heart and mind and soul and spirit and strength!

That is why when you are linked in close to God, prayer is not something you do to get something, it ceases being a grocery list of things you demand or beg from God. Prayer becomes a channel of talk, of communications, questions, and many, many answers. Reading the Bible ceases to be a dry exercise in how to prove the other guy wrong. Waiting all week for the Sabbath to come transforms into the anticipation of a love tryst, you impatiently desire your time alone with God Himself, the lover of your soul.

Think about it, these are all Biblical things, prayer, Scripture study, delighting in God on His Sabbath. Why would anyone react with such hatred to personal time with God, time that He actually commanded us to REMEMBER. Remember to have a relationship with Me, God says. Remember that you will make Me happy by obeying Me, not because I'm mean, but because I love you and the Sabbath is good for you. Come unto me and I will give you rest. Why would anyone hate what God promises, what He gives freely?

You've read the words yourself, God said to work six days, and then rest a day. He did not stipulate "a pattern of one in seven," God stipulated, very clearly, in many places, that it is the SEVENTH day that He declared holy, that He hallowed, and Jesus said, clearly, that 1. the Sabbath was made for YOU, not the other way around, and 2. He is Lord of the Sabbath. When He died, His followers, those closest to Him, KEPT THE SABBATH according to the Commandment, so as it was before the crucifixion, so it was after the death of Christ. Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever.

That's why it is such a wonderful ring of truth, the tolling of a giant crystal bell, that in Heaven we will come together every Sabbath to worship God, from wherever we have wandered in the universe, and monthly too, the Bible says at every moon we will gather together. Our relationship with God is not only NOW, but it is forever, stretching throughout eternity. The Sabbath is a promise of eternity, a promise of continued relationship with the Creator, forever, eternally, to infinity and beyond!

The Sabbath in Heaven! Isn't that amazing? It existed before Mt. Sinai. It existed before the Garden of Eden. God claims it is HIS Sabbath, that He gave us HIS Sabbath. Do you believe Him? Well, why be surprised that the Sabbath, the original Sabbath of Creation, is forever, and will be in heaven, forever, and forever, and ever.

The Sabbath is a sign, of eternity, of relationship, of sinlessness -- think about it, it was given to man before there was SIN! So don't reject the gift that is already yours, it can be your secret between you and God, and one day, not too far away, you will gather with billions of others, on the Sabbath day, to bow before God, where every knee shall bow!

You don't have to wait, you can have it all TODAY.

Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.

Exodus 31:13

Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.

Ezekiel 20:12

I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God. Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my Sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

Ezekiel 20:19-21

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

Isaiah 66:22-24

The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.

I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love. Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.

Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God. Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope. Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.

Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood. Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.

Psalms 119:110-119

Don't let anyone trick you out of the gift that God has given to you (don't step into the snare set by Sabbath Refuters, those that hate the Law of God -- don't entertain their "vain thoughts." God says: "Depart from me, ye evildoers." Instead, love His laws, for they are beautiful. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and the honeycomb.

Sabbath Thought #16

Will the Sabbath become

an Issue at the End of Days?

The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.

Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.

They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.

They are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them. How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don't let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalms 19:7-14

If ye then,

being evil,

know how

to give

good gifts

unto your

children,

how much

more shall

your Father

which is in

heaven give

good things

to them that

ask him?

Matthew 7:11

God gives us good gifts, He gave us the Sabbath, do you believe Him? Or is the Sabbath a day of dread, instead?

The Sabbath is our gift from God, the first gift in the Garden of Eden!

Do not err,

my beloved

brethren.

Every good

gift and

every

perfect gift

is from above,

and cometh

down from

the Father

of lights, with

whom is no

variableness,

neither shadow

of turning. Of

His own will

begat he us

with the Word

of Truth, that

we should be

a kind of

firstfruits

of His

creatures.

James 1:16-18

Make no mistake about it, God's Sabbath day, a gift to us, is a perfect gift, from the Father of lights, Who does not change, doesn't even hint at turning or changing!

The New Covenant:

For this is the

covenant that I

will make with

the house of

Israel after

those days,

saith the Lord;

I will put my

Laws into their

mind, and write

them in their

hearts:

and I will be to

them a God,

and they shall be

to me a people:

Hebrews 8:10

Are you a part of

the New Covenant?

Has God written

His laws, including

the Fourth Commandment,

in your heart? DId

He put His Sabbath

in your mind?

SABBATH THOUGHTS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21

For the

Son of

man is

Lord

even

of the

Sabbath

day.

Matthew 12:8

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Do you believe it? It is His own holy day, it is the Lord's day, the Seventh Day, blessed by God at the creation of the world!

And He said

unto them,

"The Sabbath

was made

for man, and

not man for

the Sabbath:

Therefore the

Son of man

is Lord also

of the Sabbath."

Mark 2:27-28

This is Jesus speaking about Himself. Do you believe Him? Did He really make His own holy day a gift for all mankind? Or do you prefer the "traditions of the elders?"