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12: Learning to Experience the Sabbath – HopeSS Video Discussion — 4 Comments

1. A wonderful facet of the Sabbath is the process of spiritual growth. The Lord blessed me with God-fearing parents, and most Sabbaths in my youth were filled with special activities that were fun. Sabbath was made special by the planning and hard work of my parents that as I grew older, I was able to help so that when Sabbath came around, I enjoyed the benefits of our work. Sabbath was not always enjoyable, and some Sabbaths were tedious and boring. Those Sabbaths, I either entertained myself with non-Sabbath activities or dutifully endured the passing of time so that I could pursue my interests. It took time for the Lord to develop in me the desire to serve him and enjoy the Sabbath.

   I am reminded of a couple of appaloosa colts my grandfather brought home from the stockyards one day. He put them in a big pasture beside the road and next to the farmhouse. We were too occupied with the riggers of tending to livestock and the crops that no one spent time with them. When the colts were about two years old, I gained permission from grandpa to train the colts. One step at a time, the colts went from running away when I got close to the fence to running to the fence when I was close by, vying for attention. Over time they loved to be rode, and we spent many hours exploring the countryside together as horse and rider.

   It would be easy to draw an analogy of this experience to Sabbath observance. In the beginning, the horses were wild, undisciplined, and useless to their owners. Except they were stunningly beautiful. Step by step, they were brought through one experience (trial) after another. As they submitted to discipline and acquired the proper skills, they could experience much more to life as we rode far and wide across the land. They would never have enjoyed these experiences if they were left alone in their comfortable fenced off pasture. As we submit ourselves to the Lord and gain wisdom and experience, the Sabbath becomes a delight. The Lord will take us through great experiences that we could never be capable of ourselves because we put ourselves aside and submit to Him.

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2. A few years ago, I had an important epiphany - I'm not sure if God  gave it to me:
   Hindus and Buddhists argue with me that God goes by many names. So His name could be Vishnu or Buddha or Emmanuel or Jesus!
   They say all religions teach the same thing - don't kill, don't steal, worship God.
   Somehow it hit me that there's one BIG DIFFERENCE between the thousands of Gods out there and our God. Our God is the only one that claim to have created the world in 6 literal days ; now I know why God keeps repeating the same words "the evening and morning were the first day etc."  !!

   Genesis chapter 1. God keeps repeating " The evening and the morning was the first day, 2nd day, 3rd day etc…" . I never understood why God kept repeating those words for all 6 days of creation. Then I realized He had 2 reasons. 1. To let us know He uses the sun to delineate / definition of "day". 2. He knew evolutionists will someday challenge 6 literal days of creation

   He knew that one future day evolutionists will deceive the world with "(conflicting) scientific evidence" that the world was evolved in billions of years. 
    
   So when you worship on Sabbath, you are worshipping the 6 day creation God, not Vishnu nor Buddha!!
    
   In old testament, the word "sign" can also be translated as "mark". So you are marked by God as His child when you keep the Sabbath:
    

   Exodus 31:
   16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
   17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
    
   Ezekiel 20: 12Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
    
   20hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’
    
   Exodus 31:12-18
   And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: "Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."" And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

    

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3. I have a very good SDA friend, a dedicated SDA, who believe in evolution; that the world was evolved/created in billions of years. I had to apologize to him -- that we are worshipping different Gods - because my God created the world in 6 days; in contrast his took a lot more time.
   I have a casual SDA church friend who is a SDA church leader and elder. He too believe there the "scientific" evidence for evolution cannot be contradicted by the Bible's creation story.
   I wonder why he can believe in a God that created the world in billions of years but can't believe that same God can do it in 6 days? His reason is probably based on false science; that aside, why can't he believe that God is powerful enough to create the world in 6 earth days?

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4. The Sabbath will soon be the mark that God will use to separate the wheat from the tares, the goat from the sheep, the true Christians from the false. Just like blood on door post mark Is real from the last plaque of Egypt.
   And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
    
   Revelation 14:9-10        
   Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

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