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HopeLives365

Mark Finley

Ask Pastor Mark

So we won't really talk about anything else.

Pastor Mark, you ready for some questions?

Now, I'm going to look at the comments on YouTube as we go here and I will try to go through those questions as fast as I can.

I mean, have I had 2 hours to study them, Matt?

No, I mean, you know, I think you looked at this paper for about 10 seconds.

You know, we're kind of running behind schedule here, which is why we started a little bit late.

But no, none of these questions, Pastor Mark has looked at before.

And of course, all the live questions that you send in, it's just going to be on the fly.

So send whatever question you want in, and I'll ask Pastor Mark.

We do have a limit on time here, so if I don't get to your question, I apologize for that.

We'll either get to your question in the comments or We'll save it for the next show.

All right, Pastor Mark, the first question we have here is, what activities should we avoid on the Sabbath day?

Well, Matt, the most important thing to understand about the Sabbath is not what we shouldn't do, but what we should do.

And so here in Hebrews, it's the 10th chapter in the 25th verse, the Bible says, forsaking not yourselves assembling together.

So the Bible urges us to meet together, to worship together on the Sabbath.

In fact, in Leviticus 23, the Bible talks about the Sabbath as a holy convocation.

So Sabbath is a day to worship, to praise God.

The commandment specifically says that in Exodus 20, remember the Sabbath the day to keep it holy, 6 days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.

So The Sabbath is a day for worship, it's a day for rest, it's a day for recreation, it's a relaxation, it's a day to be with our families.

When I use the word recreation, I mean to recreate our bodies.

So hiking is perfectly appropriate on the Sabbath, have to worship at times.

My wife and I love to go out and hiking, getting together with friends.

Now- There's a Bible verse that talks about not doing your own pleasure on the Sabbath.

That's exactly where I'm going right now.

And so in Isaiah, the 58th chapter, the Bible says this.

It talks about, and it's interesting, it says, verse 12, they that shall be of thee shall build up the old waste places.

That is, the Sabbath has been torn down, we wanna build it back up again.

Thou shall raise up the foundations of many generations.

We're the restorer of the breach in God's law.

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath.

Now what does it mean to turn away your foot from the Sabbath?

In ancient times in scripture when you put your foot on a piece of land, you stepped on it signifying ownership.

So what this is saying is you do not own the Sabbath, God does, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, but call the Sabbath a delight.

So the Sabbath is not a day where I dream of what I want to do, but I make the Sabbath a delight.

1, in worshipping with God's people, it's a delight.

Secondly, in being with my family, it's a delight.

Thirdly, in the activities of hiking, being out in nature, being with others, that's a delight.

So it's not that the Sabbath is this day of grimness, but it's rather a day in which we absorb the blessings of God.

The Sabbath is not a day, according to Nehemiah 13, for buying and selling, and it's not a day for shopping.

Most of us think it's kind of a day of tension, right?

It's not a time to watch the latest sporting event or the news.

It's a time to concentrate on our families.

It's a time to be rejuvenated body, mind, and spirit, Matt.

All right, Pastor Mark, thank you for that answer.

Our next question comes in and it asks about moving to the country.

Now, I know this is rooted in some of the writings of Alan White and some of the benefits of living in the country versus the city.

So the question is, please Pastor Mark, let us know when we should move to the country.

Is there any sign that we should be looking for that has to do with moving to the country?

But there is a biblical basis for that as well, Because when you look, for example, in the days of Abraham, God called Abraham out from the majority to a more quieter pastoral life.

When the city was destroyed, Lot left the city, but the city was still in his wife's heart, and she looked back at the pleasures of the city, and of course was turned into this pillar of salt because her heart was still tending towards city life.

Now, God invites us to be separate, apart, from the influences of the world, but he calls us to go into the world.

Jesus said in John 17, I pray not that thou take them out of the world, but you keep them from the evil." So it's not that God wants us to move up into the mountains and there up in the mountains save us and our family.

We may be lost up there because we may be selfishness, you know.

But God wants us to do everything we can to protect ourselves and our families from the influences of the city life that are evil, that can grip our hearts, while at the same time we reach out as lights to the world, as salt of the earth, of ambassadors for Christ.

Now directly to your question, the Bible teaches in Revelation 14, 7 that God calls us to worship the Creator.

Revelation 14, 9, he tells us not to worship the beast.

Revelation 14, 12, he tells us to keep the commandments of God.

So there's going to come a time where there's a crisis over worshipping the Creator and worshipping the beast.

That will manifest itself in what the Bible calls the mark of the beast or the National Sunday Law.

The National Sunday Law is the last call to leave the cities.

Because at that point, it's not the first call, but it's the last call, because we won't be able to buy or sell.

It'll be very difficult living in the city if you have food shortages.

So you move out to the country and you have much more time that you can grow your crops, you can barter with other people, you can join with other Adventists, but it's not that everybody has to run out of the country now and abandon the cities.

But there will be families now that recognize the influence of the cities and they decide not to wait to the last call, but they leave now.

But this is a very prayerful, it's a very personal, prayerful time of studying God's word to know what God wants you to do.

That's a kind of a long, you know, that could be a really long question, but thank you for answering that question in a short time.

I'm having some internet connectivity issues on my phone.

Somebody find my phone in the back and bring it out here.

But in the meantime, Pastor Mark, I have some other questions that came in beforehand.

The next question is about Israel, and the question is, what does, what's your opinion on modern state Israel and their role in last day events?

And we have a lot of, maybe you could say, Protestant religions that are focusing in on literal Israel this day and watching the fulfillment of certain prophecies.

But is that really what we should be looking for?

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