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Warren Seventh Day Adventist Church

Giancarlo De Miranda

Making Sabbath Special

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for setting this time apart for us as your people to come together and to worship you.

And Father, now that we are about to open up your Word, once again we recognize our need of the Holy Spirit and father we pray that the Holy Spirit will come and will soften our hearts and the light our minds and impart the grace that we need to live up to your word.

We're going to be talking about again making the Sabbath special and the sermon will not be so much trying to prove that the Sabbath is actually valid for Christians today.

We just came out of a prophecy seminar and we explored that a lot and I'm doing a baptismal class with a number of you and we also will explore that.

But today I thought of sharing some tips, of course we can always grow in how to make the Sabbath special, but at least some tips in how to keep the Sabbath holy and make it special but we can't talk about making the Sabbath special without going back to the very origin of the Sabbath the very beginning of the Sabbath and that is in creation, right?

So when God made the heavens and the earth.

So if you remember in Genesis chapter 1, and you're welcome to turn your Bibles there in Genesis in chapter 2, but I'm mentioning now chapter 1, but you can keep your Bibles open in Genesis chapter 2 you have in chapter 1 the creation week, the creation cycle in 6 literal days and then God made something special to complete that week and we're going to revisit that in our Bibles but right in the beginning you have God coming to this world that was without form and without shape and darkness was upon the face of the deep and God said let there be light and God began to create this world and make everyday something different to make this world beautiful He first created all the spaces like the atmosphere, like the firmament, the air.

He created the dry land and He created also the waters were already there but he made it also the rivers, the springs of water and he began then to fill that place with vegetation and putting, you know, making sure that his living creatures would have supplement once they were created and God created after like the fruit trees and everything that you did nourishment for his creatures Then he began to create the birds and the fish.

He also created all the beasts of the field, the animals.

And on the sixth day, besides creating the animals, he also created man and woman, which was the crowning work of His creation.

And every day that God created, He said it was good.

But God wasn't finished yet, as we are going to read in Genesis 2, verse 1.

You're welcome to follow along with me, which says, Does the heavens and the earth and all the hosts of them were finished?

In verse 2 says, And on the seventh day God, What is the next word now in your Bibles?

So apparently the creation week, the creation cycle was not finished until God actually created the Sabbath.

So Sabbath is part of that creation week, that creation cycle, and God, he ended his work on the seventh day, and he rested, and I think that God rested not to, not because he was tired, but because he was setting us an example of setting priorities straight so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.

So a few things we learned from this passage.

Number 1 is that a 7 day week, it was put in his creatures from the very beginning it's interesting that when you look to the 1 year cycle, the monthly cycle, all that you can find reasons for that in nature but you don't find reasons for that actually in nature for the weekly cycle you only find that in the Bible and you'll find that in all civilizations so right there we can see that the Sabbath is directly connected with creation, the creation of the world.

Where God on that day, He took it aside and He blessed it, He sanctified and He rested on the seventh day.

Teaching our parents from the beginning, our need to take time to set aside and enjoy creation, enjoy the God of creation and enjoy each other.

So God did not allow Adam to keep the first Sabbath by himself.

He actually wanted him to keep the first Sabbath with his spouse.

He had companionship on the Sabbath to nurture that relationship.

So notice what we find here in this statement.

God has left, here's what everyone, his finger prints throughout the universe in creation and that's why it is appropriate for the Sabbath to be spent enjoying what God has created spending time in nature as well We're going to see some tips on how to keep the Sabbath in a little bit, but I want to start already by saying that the very nature of the Sabbath Commandments includes spending time in nature, enjoying the creation that God made.

Of course, the earth is no longer the way it used to be when God created.

There was the flood and the curses of sin, the consequences of sin, the way man has dealt with the environment, nevertheless, God still has his fingerprints in the works of creation.

I want to read this passage to you in Romans 1, verse 20.

Notice carefully what we find here, what Paul says about how God reveals himself other than the written word for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes, the attributes of God, who he is, his majesty, his power, his character, the invisible attributes of God are clearly seen, being understood by things that are...

Can you imagine that we can actually learn about God through creation?

And that's why Spending time in nature is also a good way to keep the Sabbath holy.

We will unpack more of that, but the verse goes on to say, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

He was talking about those that never heard about Jesus, that never had contact with the Scriptures even them are without excuse because God has revealed himself in 1 form or shape, in 1 level or another to people that may not have contact with the Bible, may not have contact with civilization and with Christianity and yet God has found ways to speak to their hearts and reveal himself and they become accountable to the revelation God has made of himself to them.

So these are just some of the pictures of how God reveals himself through nature.

1 of the flowers has a dove there, and that's a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

You have a revelation of His Majesty in the universe when we contemplate, known as the eye of God.

Even under the ocean when you dive, you're going to see the finger prints of God there as well.

And the seventh day Sabbath, given at creation, was to be God's perpetual reminder of our what, everyone?

So every time we keep the Sabbath, we remember who created us, who is our creator.

We remember that we didn't come from the big man theory, we didn't evolve from other inferior creatures, so to speak, without the power to reason, but we were made from God, from our Creator.

And another thing that we also learn here when we go back to the very beginning of the Sabbath is that the Sabbath was not made for the Jews as some claim.

We see that it was made before there was any Jew on the earth, right from our first parents.

The Sabbath was never an exclusively Jewish institution.

It was given for all humanity without exception.

It is true that it was reinstated in the 10 Commandments and it's part of God's commandments in Mount Sinai when given to Moses but it was just reinstated and not Given at that occasion.

In fact, if you would turn your Bibles with me to the book of Exodus.

The book of Exodus in chapter 20, when Moses received the 10 Commandments and there was found the Sabbath, in that commandment we find the words, and the very first word I want to highlight there for us, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

So before I continue, you cannot remember.

God wouldn't be able to tell them to remember something that they were not doing before so therefore the Sabbath was not only part of the commandments of God it traces back all the way to creation, but even the Israelites, if you go to chapter 16, we don't need to go there, but you're going to find them keeping the Sabbath, God teaching them to keep the Sabbath by letting them know that they were supposed to gather the bread of heaven, the manna, for 6 days, they were not supposed to keep it for the next days, each day they would have the right portion for the day, but on the sixth day, what happened there?

God told them to gather double the amount that wouldn't rot in the next day.

So they learned to keep the Sabbath holy.

And God says, remember, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy and then he gives the reason for that it says 6 days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God in it you shall do no work it says because I rested I want you to rest also I want to share that with you in Revelation the last book of the Bible Jesus calls us back to true worship and that includes worshipping the Creator, the 1 who made us.

Revelation 14, verse 12, let's turn our Bibles there for a moment Revelation 14 and verse 12 we see here the characteristic of God's people in the last days responding to the love of Jesus by yielding obedience to him including his commandments we find in Revelation 14 verse 12 here's the patience of the Saints the people of God here are those who keep what what do they keep their the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus because he must be a response to Jesus, he must be by faith in Jesus that we keep his commandments.

In the same chapter in verse 7 if you are there we find a message urging people to worship the Creator.

Notice carefully what we find in verse 7.

Sing with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come.

Worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of waters.

The words that we just read that are highlighted there in yellow, not highlighted but it is in yellow there, It is the greatest quotation in the New Testament from the Old Testament Scriptures.

It actually comes straight from the Fourth Commandment, where we were reading about the Sabbath it says there notice carefully here I put in yellow as well for you for in 6 days the Lord what is next word made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

And then it says, He rested the seventh day, therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.

So in the last days, the message is to urge people to worship The Creator, the 1 who made and takes our minds straight to the Fourth Commandment.

Just a summary here of what we have learned, not only today, but through our studies recently.

And then it was repeated at Sinai in the 10 Commandments.

Kept by His people, both in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament.

Kept by Jesus himself, honored by the disciples, sign of God's power to create, kept on the new earth, as the Bible says, that we will enjoy.

This just as a reminder for ourselves, we read from this source, St.

Catherine Catholic Church, Sentinel, May 21, 1995, the holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday, not from any direction noted in the Scriptures.

So they are being honest, it's nothing contained in the Scriptures for us to change.

And then he goes on to say, but from the Church's sense of its own power, people who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority should logically become Seventh-day Adventist and keep Saturday holy.

So they're basically saying listen is the Bible really your only rule of faith?

You Protestants who says the Bible and the Bible only, if you really believe that, remember that that change from Saturday to Sunday was done by the church, not by the Bible.

And we are faced with the choice to either follow the Bible or tradition either follow Jesus or religious leaders either follow God's law or man's dogmas God's instruction or human teachings, God's way or man's way.

Yet Jesus appeals to us and gives the very reason we should obey him.

That's right friends, really the commandments of God were given out of love toward us and we responded to God's love by yielding obedience to his commandments in fact the entire law can be summarized in 1 word.

Love toward God as supreme in our lives and love toward our fellow men.

Now I want to just emphasize that a little bit more because not only some of the commandments should be kept out of love but including the Sabbath as well as we are going to see in a little bit.

It is easy for us to understand why thou shalt not kill is a commandment of love, why thou shalt not commit adultery or bear false witness, steal and covet your neighbor's house and wife and all that.

And sometimes we fail to understand why the Sabbath is also a commandment of love notice friends what it says here all love relationship are nurtured and flourish in the context of what everyone quality time no exception quality time must be part of all relationships if we want to nurture and to grow in that relationship would that be different with God?

And God knows that we need time to nurture our relationship not only with Him, because remember the commandment is love toward God and love toward your neighbor, And the Sabbath is a commandment where we can foster or nurture our relationship with God, but as well as with those that we love, and even nurture new relationships, like in a church context.

In fact, the Apostle says, love is what everyone?

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Making Sabbath Special

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