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Advent Productions

Benjamin Ng

The Issue of Worship in this Time of Pandemic

Father in heaven, we are so thankful that we've come to another Sabbath, that you've preserved our life for another week.

Lord, thank you for watching over every 1 of us.

And as we're now about to come and study your Word again, Lord, we ask for your presence.

Help us to understand your voice above the voice of all others.

And may your words speak directly and clearly to each and every 1 of us, we pray in Jesus' name.

The title of our message this morning is, The Issue of Worship in This Time of Pandemic.

And you know, Friends, there is no doubt that the issue of worship is at the forefront of end times.

In Revelation 14, verses 6 and 7, the Bible says this, And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea and the fountains of waters." What we find here in Revelation 14, 6 and 7 is the first angel's message and it is a call to worship the Creator.

And then there is another warning, another warning in regards to worship.

It is in the third angel's message, found in Revelation 14, 9-11.

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.

And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.

And they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." Here in the third angel's message is a warning to not worship the beast and his image and to receive the mark of the beast in the forehead or in the right hand.

And it's very interesting that in Revelation here, we see these 2 contrasts.

But yet at the very heart of it, it is worship.

The first angel's message is a call to worship the Creator, the 1 who made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.

And friends, you might not accept the Sabbath truth just yet where you're sitting and where you're listening right now but there is no getting around the Sabbath in the very beginning when you read Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2.

Even the days of creation, the Sabbath stands alone.

And so friends, the third angel's message there, it tells us not to worship the beast and his image, right?

And the result, when you go back and look at verse 11, It says they are tormented and the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever and they have no what?

Whoever worships the beast and his image.

And you know friends, whenever rest is mentioned, you always remember and tie it in with the Sabbath.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, 6 days you'll work, the seventh you must rest.

So even in the third angel's message, even in that warning about not worshipping the beast and his image, you see there the message of the Sabbath coming out.

This group is not able to rest day nor night because they broke the Sabbath at the end of time.

And it is without doubt that the Sabbath will be a central issue in the last days.

You can go back to the previous sermon that I preached about the image of the Beast.

I've actually linked it down there in the description below.

You can click on it and go back and study Revelation chapter 13 and you will see that the Sabbath is in the center of even the mark of the Beast issue at the end of time.

The issue of worship is truly found there in Revelation chapter 14 and the 3 angels messages.

And the issue of worship is dotted throughout the Bible as well.

Even In Daniel chapter 3, the 3 Hebrew boys were forced to worship the golden image.

In Daniel chapter 6, Daniel was forced to worship the king and not worship God, to go and pay homage to the king instead of God Almighty.

And as a result, first they were thrown into the fiery furnace, and Daniel, he was thrown into the den of lions.

Even when Moses went up for 40 days to commune with God and receive the 10 Commandments written on tables of stone.

He would come down later to find that the children of Israel had apostatized and had made golden calves and began to worship them.

Satan, All he ever wanted was to be worshipped, to be God.

That's why his last temptation was simply to ask Jesus to take the easy way out and to bow down and worship Him and He would give him earth.

The issue of worship really is at the forefront of last day events.

It is a central issue that will arise even in our time, and I believe that has arisen, and especially the Sabbath.

We need to take a deeper look into it this morning.

You know, friends, whilst there has been many blessings that has abounded because of the pandemic, whilst we probably have been praising God more in this past year, and we've been making that effort to praise Him even more, there are, you know, even in this time that there is a sifting and a shaking time that God's people and God's remnants and believers are going through.

I believe that God is testing His people and these times that are so different to which we've been used to, God has allowed to come upon us, to refine us and to reveal to us our own hearts.

And the subject of worship is what I would like to focus on today, the issue of worship in this time of this pandemic, especially here in 2021.

And so as I look at a couple of things here this morning, I ask you to follow along with an open heart, that you would please ask God to reveal to you the issues that you might be facing and whether it lines up with what I am sharing with you this morning.

You know the first point that I would like to bring up, I want to start by looking at, is the sanctity of the Sabbath.

How is this a test And how is God revealing to us our hearts?

You know, actually before I jump into it, I'm reminded that I am taking a break from the book of Nehemiah.

I actually had almost finished writing my topic and my sermon on Nehemiah, but I decided just to take a break.

I felt that this was rather important to look at.

It was something that's been on my heart for a while.

And so, the sanctity of the Sabbath in this time of pandemic.

The Sabbath, it is holy time and it has been holy time from the beginning even until Jesus appears in the clouds of glory and even into eternity with the earth made new again.

However, the pandemic has made the Sabbath day just like every other day.

We stay at home, like we stay at home for work and for all our meals.

Yes, restaurants are suffering in a sense.

Of course, grab food is at an all-time high and Food Panda and whatever food delivery services that we have here in Malaysia, people have been ordering a lot but Many of us have been staying home to eat.

Sunday is the day that many of us, we feel is different because that's the day we go out to the shopping center.

That's the day that we go out for a walk and a hike.

But the Sabbath, it's become like the other 5 days of the week that those 5 working days have just overflowed and consumed up the Sabbath as well because it feels the same.

And so somehow the Sabbath and holy time, it's been the border between that which is holy and that which is not has been eroded away and staying home on the Sabbath for many.

It's made many of us, for lack of a better word, lazy to worship God.

You see, how can we differentiate this day from all others?

Because 5 days of the week we're at home, and then somehow we get to the Sabbath, and we are home as well.

There's got to be some sort of differentiation.

The sanctity of the Sabbath, that word sanctification means to separate, and we got to make a clear distinction about these holy hours that God has blessed from the beginning that He's given to us and that has even been preserved through the dark ages until our time.

He's given it to us and yet somehow the pandemic has come and has made it feel like every other day.

How can we make this day stand out from all others than focusing on all the things that we shouldn't be on this day that we do on others.

Really, that's what we can do to make it differentiated, isn't it?

Well, the first suggestion that I'd like to introduce and offer to you is have people come over or go over to someone else's house.

Sabbath fellowship, home church and that's what we've been having for many months already.

Look, friends, many of us are brave to go out, brave to go shopping, even in the time of MCO.

I've gone to the shops during MCO And the car park is full.

But I guess they're just like me, you know?

And people are brave to go out to work and meet up with people.

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The Issue of Worship in this Time of Pandemic

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