Participants: James Rafferty
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000090
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 Decoding Apocalyptic Prophecy with James Rafferty. 00:22 Hello friends and welcome to another Anchors Of Truth series 00:28 here in Thompsonville at the 3ABN Worship Center. 00:31 We thank you for tuning in for the fifth and final 00:35 of five presentations by James Rafferty, 00:37 who is the co-Director and Speaker of 00:40 Light Bearers Ministry. 00:41 He and Ty have been teaching and traveling the world. 00:45 Not only themselves, but the literatures that they produce 00:49 by the millions, by the multiple millions, 00:53 have been sowing seeds around the world getting a harvest 00:56 for the kingdom ready for the coming of our Lord. 00:59 And so for the next hour or so, we would encourage you to 01:02 sit down and get your Bibles. 01:03 We are in the book of Revelation. 01:05 And we have learned quite a bit over the last four meetings. 01:07 Can you say amen to that? 01:09 And so join us as we walk through the pages that 01:12 God intends for us to understand in these last days. 01:17 We'd like to thank you also for your prayers 01:19 and all of your support that you give to 3ABN. 01:21 Whether you have come to volunteer or not, 01:23 whatever you do for the cause of Christ, 01:25 we surely do appreciate it. 01:27 But now we'd like to invite you to pray with us 01:30 as we go before the Lord and ask for the power from earth 01:34 to heaven to connect together. 01:36 Our Father in heaven, we thank You, Lord, for this afternoon, 01:39 for the opportunity once again to be fed from 01:42 the living Word of God. 01:45 We know that when we sit at the table of Christ, 01:47 we never partake of food that is devoid of nourishment. 01:51 And so, Lord, help us today to hunger and to thirst after 01:56 righteousness that we may be filled. 01:58 We pray a blessing on your manservant, James Rafferty, 02:01 as he has broken for us the words of life. 02:05 And this book, the book of Revelation, continues to reveal 02:08 over and over that the central person of its message 02:11 is none other than Jesus Christ. 02:14 And so Lord, through the message this afternoon 02:16 entitled, Marks And Seals, help us to see You more clearly. 02:21 May the challenge to our lives be received and lived up to 02:25 by the indwelling Holy Spirit. 02:27 And we pray this in Jesus' precious name, amen. 02:32 I've been given the opportunity to sing another song at the 02:35 final meeting here. 02:37 And I thought to do something a little different before 02:40 I just chose a song. 02:41 I said, well what song could I sing? 02:43 And I chose to do a song entitled, I Surrender All. 02:46 And the Lord tapped me on my back to kind of find out, 02:49 well what is the story behind this song? 02:51 And I discovered something very interesting. 02:53 A young man by the name of Judson W. Van DeVenter, 02:58 born in 1855, he was raised in a Christian home. 03:01 And at age 17, he gave his life to the Lord. 03:04 Now he gave his life to the Lord, 03:06 accepted Jesus as his personal Savior. 03:09 As he went on through life, he got a degree in a university 03:12 and he became very successful in business as well as in music. 03:16 He was a Methodist choir director in the 03:19 Methodist Episcopal Church. 03:21 But as he was tossed between whether he was going to be a 03:24 businessman or whether he was going to concentrate 03:26 his life on music, he continued in that journey. 03:30 And for 5 years, he struggled as to what he was going to do. 03:34 And finally in the year 1896, he surrendered his desires 03:39 completely to the Lord. 03:41 Now there's a difference between surrendering your life 03:43 and surrendering your desires. 03:45 And in that year 1896, after he surrendered his desires 03:49 to the Lord, he wrote down the lyrics to this song, 03:52 I Surrender All. 03:53 He never made it a song. 03:54 He just wrote down the lyrics. 03:56 And a man by the name of Winfield S. Weeden 03:59 later on found those lyrics and put music to it. 04:02 And Weeden loved that song so much that when he died, 04:07 on his tombstone were the three words, "I surrender all." 04:11 And so there are those who may have given their lives 04:13 to Christ but have not yet surrendered their desires. 04:16 I pray that as I share this song, we can go from just 04:19 surrendering our lives to also surrendering our desires 04:22 to the Lord. 04:38 All to Jesus I surrender, 04:46 all to Him I freely give. 04:54 I will ever love and trust Him, 05:03 in His presence daily live. 05:10 I surrender all, 05:18 I surrender all. 05:26 All to Thee, my blessed Savior, 05:34 I surrender all. 05:46 All to Jesus I surrender, 05:54 humbly at His feet I bow. 06:02 Worldly pleasures all forsaken; 06:11 take me, Jesus, take me now. 06:18 I surrender all, 06:25 oh I surrender my all. 06:34 All to Thee, my blessed Savior, 06:42 I surrender all. 06:50 I surrender my all, 06:57 oh I surrender all. 07:06 To You, my Lord, and to You, my Savior, 07:14 I surrender all. 07:22 All to Jesus I now surrender, 07:30 for I feel that sacred flame. 07:38 Oh, the joy of full salvation; 07:46 glory, glory, to Your name. 07:56 I surrender my all, 08:03 Lord I surrender all. 08:12 All to You, my blessed Savior, 08:23 I surrender all. 08:46 Amen. 08:50 Amen. 08:52 Powerful. I surrender all. 08:54 That's what it takes when we are... 08:58 Oh, I don't know. 09:00 I don't want to say "confronted." 09:02 ...faced with, when we come in contact with 09:06 Jesus and truth. 09:08 It takes a full surrender sometimes. 09:10 I know that's what it took for me when I first started studying 09:14 the topics that we're going to be talking about 09:17 in this last meeting together. 09:18 Seals and marks. 09:21 That's the center most focus of this chapter 09:25 in Revelation 14. 09:26 Just checking to make sure that both my pockets are out here. 09:32 Revelation 14, three angel's messages, talks about this, 09:36 in the third angel's message, this mark of the beast. 09:39 The mark of the beast is something that we are 09:42 warned not to receive. 09:43 You'll notice it here in Revelation chapter 14 09:46 beginning with verse 9, "The third angel followed them 09:49 saying with a loud voice..." 09:50 That is, clear. 09:52 The message is clear. 09:53 "If any man worships the beast and his image, 09:56 and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, 10:01 the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God." 10:04 Now this is a warning that is found, not just in chapter 14, 10:10 but it is connected to chapter 13. 10:13 And the thing that connects it, the word that connects it 10:16 all the way through here, is the word "worship." 10:19 Worship, worship, worship, worship, worship. 10:22 That is the key issue here in Revelation's 10:24 three angel's messages. 10:26 And what's interesting is, that is also a key word or key phrase 10:30 that is found in the first part of the three angel's messages. 10:34 The first message or the first angel that brings the 10:37 everlasting gospel calls the world to worship God 10:42 who created heaven, earth, the seas and fountains of waters. 10:45 So what we have here is a conflict that's taking place 10:48 between worshiping the beast and worshiping God. 10:51 It's that simple. 10:53 And the beast, of course, isn't some computer 10:56 or some computer chip. 10:57 The beast represents a power or kingdom, 11:00 an earthy power or kingdom. 11:01 And so we see here a conflict that is going to develop 11:05 in the end of time between worshiping earthly powers and 11:09 kingdoms, religious powers and kingdoms, of this world 11:12 and worshiping God. 11:14 Which means that there's a difference between 11:18 the way we worship God and the way most people worship. 11:22 There's a conflict taking place. 11:24 Because God here, in His prophetic word, is writing this 11:28 looking ahead to our time 2000 years ago. 11:31 And He's foreseeing this conflict that's going to 11:34 take place in the end of time. 11:35 Now in Revelation chapter 7, a seal is being placed 11:41 on God's people. 11:42 This is where we find the seal being identified. 11:44 Revelation chapter 7 beginning with verse 1. 11:47 And the context of this is... 11:50 Well, John has just revealed the second coming of Jesus. 11:54 The fifth seal has been opened, and then the sixth seal. 11:57 And the kings of the earth and the mighty men, the rich men, 11:59 they're all running for the rocks and the mountains. 12:01 And they're saying, "Fall on us. 12:03 The day of His judgment has come, the Lamb has come. 12:05 Who's going to be able to stand in His presence?" 12:07 And so John is basically answering this question, 12:10 "Who will be able to stand in the presence of God 12:12 and the Lamb when He returns?" 12:14 And the answer is, those who are sealed. 12:17 They're symbolized as the 144,000. 12:20 They're identified as a great multitude that 12:22 no man can number. 12:23 But the one thing that is vital for those who are going to stand 12:29 before the throne and before the Lamb is that they have 12:33 the seal of God in their foreheads. 12:36 Now I want you to notice something. 12:37 We'll touch on this later. 12:39 You can only be sealed with the seal of God 12:41 in your forehead. 12:43 You can receive the mark of that earthly kingdom or power 12:46 in your forehead or where else? 12:48 In your hand. 12:49 Don't forget that. That's a very vital truth. 12:51 So they're sealed with God in their foreheads. 12:55 They receive the seal of God. 12:57 What is this seal of God? 13:00 What is it that this group receive that causes them 13:04 to be able to stand before the throne and before the Lamb? 13:07 Now we know one thing for sure. 13:09 It has to do with the righteousness of Christ. 13:11 It has to do with salvation. 13:12 How do we know this? 13:14 Well in Revelation chapter 7 verse 9, it says, 13:17 "I saw after this, a great multitude which no man 13:20 could number, of all nations and kindreds and people 13:22 and tongues," notice this, "and they stood before the throne 13:28 and before the Lamb." 13:30 Now remember the question that was asked by John 13:33 in Revelation chapter 6 and verse 17. 13:37 Well let's get the context, Revelation 6:16. 13:40 And these men say to the mountains and the rocks, 13:42 "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits 13:46 on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. 13:49 For the great day of his wrath is come; 13:51 and who will be able to stand?" 13:53 That is, before Him that sits on the throne and before the Lamb. 13:56 The answer is, "I saw a great multitude," John says, 13:59 "and they stood before the throne and before the Lamb." 14:03 You see that? 14:04 So that's a direct answer to the question. 14:07 Now what is it about this multitude that causes them 14:09 to be able to stand before the throne and before the lamb? 14:11 Read verse 10. 14:12 "And they cried with a loud voice saying, 14:15 'Salvation to our God which sits upon the throne, 14:22 and unto the Lamb.'" 14:23 In other words, what caused them to stand 14:25 was that they were... 14:27 And I'm going to use another word for seal. 14:29 They were settled into the fact, they couldn't be moved 14:32 from the fact, the truth, that salvation belongs to God 14:36 and to the Lamb. 14:38 It is not we who save us. 14:40 It's God who saves us. 14:42 They were settled in that, they couldn't be moved. 14:44 Now this is described elsewhere in the Bible. 14:46 If you'll back to the book of Ephesians, there are two places 14:49 there that describe the seal that we are to be sealed with. 14:53 Ephesians chapter 4 is the first place I want you to look. 14:57 And by the way, this is such an important topic. 15:00 I want to encourage our viewers that are watching 15:02 this last of the five part series, get your Bibles out. 15:06 Get a pen, get a paper. Take notes. 15:08 Write down Bible verses. 15:09 I'm going to be sharing a lot of Bible verses with you. 15:11 We can't make a mistake on this topic. 15:14 This is life and death. 15:15 And you can tell in the words of Revelation's 15:19 three angel's messages how important this is. 15:21 Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30. 15:24 Paul says here, "Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, 15:28 whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption." 15:33 So this verse indicates that we are sealed by the Spirit of God. 15:38 Now the Spirit of God is the third person of the Godhead. 15:40 It is God Himself in the form of His Spirit. 15:43 And He's sealing us with His character. 15:45 The character of God is what we're being sealed with. 15:48 We're being sealed by the Holy Spirit. 15:50 Notice this again, but it's in an even better context 15:53 in Ephesians chapter 1. 15:54 Ephesians 1 brings this out so powerfully 15:57 that you can't miss it. 15:59 Once you see this, you can't miss what the seal of God is. 16:03 Ephesians chapter 1, and I'm just going to read one verse, 16:05 though context is really powerful too. 16:08 Verse 13. 16:11 Actually, I'm going to read verse 12 just to 16:13 try and get more context. 16:14 "That we should be to the praise of his glory, 16:17 who first trusted in Christ. 16:19 In whom," verse 13, "you also trusted, after you heard the 16:24 word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: 16:32 in whom after that you believed..." 16:35 That is, after you believed in the gospel. 16:37 "...you were..." What? 16:38 "...sealed with the holy Spirit of promise." 16:41 Okay. 16:43 You want to notice in this verse that there are three words 16:46 connected together. 16:47 The gospel, the truth, and the seal. 16:51 You can't separate them. 16:52 Gospel, truth, and seal. Gospel, truth, and seal. 16:55 Believing the gospel, believing the truth, 16:59 is synonymous with being sealed with the Holy Spirit. 17:03 You can't be sealed with the Holy Spirit 17:04 and not believe the truth. 17:05 You can't be sealed with the Holy Spirit 17:07 and not believe the gospel. 17:08 Because the seal of God is, in essence, the character of God. 17:12 It is the truth of God. 17:14 And we're to be sealed with that truth so we cannot be moved. 17:18 Now the only way we can be sealed with the 17:21 character of God, with the seal of God, 17:23 is described to us in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 17:28 and verse 18. 17:30 This is very practical. 17:31 This is practical truth. 17:33 And by the way, Satan understands this truth. 17:37 And when you leave here today, when you turn off your TV's, 17:41 when you go about your business through the week, 17:43 I want you to think about this verse that we're going to read 17:46 right here and how it impacts you, how this law impacts you 17:52 on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis, 17:55 year by year. 17:57 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18. 17:59 "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass 18:04 the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image 18:10 from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 18:14 There's the Spirit again. 18:16 The Spirit is working to seal us into the glory, 18:19 or the character, of God. 18:20 And He does this as we behold Him. 18:22 We behold Him and we're changed into that same glory. 18:26 This is a law of our spiritual and intellectual nature; 18:30 that by beholding, you become changed. 18:31 Think about that when you go to work. 18:33 Think about that when you are surrounded with the atmosphere 18:36 and the influence of the world. 18:38 Because the world is trying to use this law to change you 18:41 into another person. 18:43 Satan wants to perfect his own character in his own people. 18:47 And God is seeking to develop His character in us 18:51 and settle us into that character of love 18:53 so we can't be moved. 18:55 He does this through the Spirit. 18:56 Now what is so powerful about this is to recognize 19:01 that it is by beholding that we become changed. 19:04 Do you know what that means? 19:06 That means spending time in the Word of God. 19:09 How many of you are busy? 19:13 Oh man. 19:15 We've got so many inventions in this world to give us so much 19:18 extra time so we can have extra time to do so many things, 19:21 and we're still busy. 19:22 We're busier now than we were a century ago. 19:25 And everything is easier, yet we're more busy. 19:28 People tell me all the time, they retire and they're more 19:30 busy in retirement than they were when they were working. 19:32 Busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. 19:34 You know who's that, don't you. 19:37 If it wasn't for a certain day of the week 19:40 that God has set aside, mandated as part of His law 19:48 for me to rest, I don't think that I would spend 19:53 very much time beholding Him. 19:58 Let me put it in very simple words. 20:00 The Sabbath is the key to being sealed with the seal of God. 20:06 Why? 20:07 Because the Sabbath is the day that God has instituted 20:11 for every person on planet earth to put the brakes on, 20:15 to lay aside the secular. 20:16 And the dishes, ladies. 20:18 To lay aside every unnecessary work in this world 20:24 so that we can behold Him. 20:26 So that His Spirit can move upon our hearts and transform us, 20:29 so that by behold Him we can be transformed into His image. 20:32 Then I say, well if the Sabbath is so true, 20:36 so important, so vital, where is it in the context 20:40 of the three angel's messages? 20:41 Well let's go back to Revelation chapter 14 and see if it's here. 20:44 Let's go back to the context of the three angel's messages. 20:48 Let's begin at the very beginning. 20:49 Revelation chapter 14 verse 6, "And I saw another angel 20:52 fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel." 20:55 Remember, the gospel is what we need to be sealed into, 20:57 according to Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13. 21:00 "...having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them 21:02 that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, kindred, 21:04 tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God 21:08 and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come. 21:11 and worship him who made heaven, and earth, and the seas, 21:17 and the fountains of waters.'" 21:19 Hmmm. 21:20 Do you know where John is quoting from in this verse? 21:25 "Worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the seas, 21:27 and the fountains of waters." 21:28 Just flip back. 21:30 I know you know it. Don't you. 21:31 You give me the answer, right? 21:33 Where is he quoting from? 21:34 Exodus chapter 20. 21:36 Just keep your hand in Revelation 14. 21:38 Keep your hand in Revelation 14. 21:40 And just flip back to Exodus chapter 20. 21:43 And look at this, this is amazing. 21:45 Okay, Exodus chapter 20. 21:46 The Sabbath commandment, by the way, begins 21:49 with the word "remember." 21:50 And that word "remember" actually means, "mark." 21:53 "Mark." 21:56 It's the mark of God. 21:57 We call it, the seal of God. 21:58 But it's also the mark of God. 22:00 You have the mark of the beast, you have the mark of God. Why? 22:01 Because Satan always counterfeits 22:03 everything that God does. 22:05 And if we had time, we'd go through that. 22:07 We don't have time because we've got to move through this. 22:08 And this is a very important subject. 22:10 So, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 22:12 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. 22:14 But the seventh day," Exodus 20:10, 22:17 "is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." 22:19 I guess that means that the seventh day is the Lord's day. 22:25 According to the Bible. 22:27 John says, "I was in the spirit on the Lord's day." 22:28 I've read some Bibles versions that say, 22:30 "I was in the spirit on Sunday." 22:31 That's what some translations say. 22:33 I don't like those translations. 22:35 Because the Bible says that the Lord's day is the 22:37 seventh day, not Sunday. 22:39 Sunday is the first day of the week. 22:40 Okay but, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. 22:42 In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, 22:46 nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, 22:49 nor thy maidservant..." 22:51 Remember that when you're in a hotel on Sabbath. 22:54 "...nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger 22:57 that is within thy gates. 22:59 For," here it goes, "in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, 23:03 the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. 23:07 Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." 23:11 Okay that last verse, verse 11, "In six days the Lord made 23:15 heaven and earth, and the sea." 23:16 Worship God on the Sabbath, because on the seventh day 23:19 the Lord rested from all His work of creation, of creating. 23:24 He's the Lord of the Sabbath. 23:25 In six days He made heaven and earth, and the seas, 23:27 and the fountains of waters. 23:29 Revelation 14 says, "Worship him that made heaven, and earth, 23:31 and the seas, and the fountains of waters." 23:34 That's a direct quote. 23:35 The last message to the world quotes directly from the 23:40 fourth commandment. 23:41 Now God could have quoted from any commandment, 23:44 or all of the commandments, in His everlasting gospel message. 23:47 But He quoted from this one specifically because 23:50 He knew that this was the one commandment that 23:52 the world would have forgotten in the end of time. 23:56 So He directs us back to this commandment 23:58 which starts, "remember," knowing we would forget. 24:02 Why would we forget? 24:04 Well not just because of a certain prophecy in 24:06 Daniel chapter 7 and verse 25, but also because we are 24:11 human beings that naturally tend to work. 24:16 The world inundates us with this idea that if you want it, 24:19 you've got to earn it. 24:21 If you want to graduate from high school, 24:23 you've need to get your credits. 24:25 If you want to get a degree, you need to get, 24:28 excuse me, graduate from college, 24:29 you need to get your degree. 24:31 You need to put in your time. 24:32 If you want to get paid, you need to put in your hours. 24:34 If you want retirement, you need to put in your years. 24:37 Nothing is free. You've got to earn it. 24:40 And then contrary to that, the gospel comes along. 24:42 And the gospel says, "You can't earn it. 24:44 Absolutely impossible." 24:45 Wait a minute, I've been earning everything in life. 24:47 Everything I've ever gotten in life, I've had to earn. 24:50 The gospel says, "Well, this is different." 24:52 We have a hard time with that. 24:54 We profess to accept that as a gift. 24:57 "Well thank you for the gift." 24:58 But in the back of our minds, we're thinking, 24:59 "Now what can I do to earn this?" 25:03 If you don't think we have a problem with it, 25:04 read Matthew 18. 25:07 There's a certain servant who owes his master 25:11 a sum of money that is so great he can never repay it. 25:14 And his master calls him to give an account and tells him that 25:18 he and his wife and children are all going to go 25:20 to debtors prison. 25:21 And the man says to this master, "Give me time 25:26 and I will pay you back." 25:28 Absolutely impossible. 25:29 We're talking about salvation now. 25:32 And the master has compassion on him 25:34 and forgives him the whole debt. 25:36 That's the gospel, by the way. 25:38 In two ways. 25:39 Number one, He let us amass the debt in the first place. 25:43 And then number two, He forgives us even though we don't ask. 25:49 Because he didn't ask for forgiveness. 25:50 What did he ask for? 25:52 Time, he wanted more time. 25:54 The only way we can ever grasp the gospel is if we recognize 25:58 it comes from a heart of unconditional forgiveness. 26:00 That's what Matthew 18 tells us. 26:03 Did he grasp it? 26:04 Did this man who was forgiven this great debt 26:06 grasp the gospel? 26:09 No. 26:10 He went in on his terms, he went out on his terms. 26:12 How do we know that? 26:13 Well, he saw his fellow servant that owed him a small pittance. 26:15 He went over and grabbed him by the throat and he said, 26:17 "Pay me everything you owe. 26:18 Because I've only got so much time, I've got to pay this back. 26:20 Pay me everything you owe." 26:22 That's how we are many times. 26:23 We come to God and we hear what He says, 26:26 but it doesn't sink into the heart. 26:27 We don't take hold of it. 26:29 So we think we've got a certain amount of time 26:31 to perfect a certain character or to do a certain amount of 26:34 things in order to make ourselves worthy to be 26:36 what God calls us to be, or to pay back the debt. 26:40 But friends, when you grasp the gospel of God's love, 26:44 when that impacts your heart, it will change the way you 26:46 deal with others who owe you. 26:49 When you know that God has forgiven you, 26:51 it's going to impact you in a very powerful practical way. 26:54 That is sanctification, or the fruits of the gospel. 26:58 It causes you to be forgiving as God is forgiving to you. 27:01 So in this context, we have a very interesting idea. 27:08 I'll call it an idea for now. 27:11 The seal of God, which comes to us through the Holy Spirit 27:14 and the work of the Holy Spirit on your hearts, 27:16 changing us into God's image so that we reveal His character 27:19 is directly connected with the Sabbath. 27:22 Because the Sabbath is the time when God says, 27:25 "Spend time beholding Me. 27:27 Spend time taking in who I am so that you can become changed 27:30 into My image." 27:32 So the Sabbath now is dead center right in the middle 27:36 of the everlasting gospel and the three angel's messages. 27:38 When we read about the Sabbath, it directs us to Exodus 20. 27:42 But when we read Exodus 20, it directs us to Genesis 2. 27:48 What does Genesis 2 have to do with the everlasting gospel 27:53 and the Sabbath? 27:54 I want you to look here in Genesis chapter 2. 27:55 This is really, to me, quite profound and quite interesting, 27:59 and the most important thing that we can talk about 28:02 in relation to the seal. 28:04 Especially when we contrast that with the mark. 28:07 Because Revelation 14 tells us, those that have the 28:10 mark of the beast have no rest, day nor night. 28:13 God is interested in giving us rest. 28:14 Not just literal rest, but spiritual rest. 28:17 Not just temporal rest, but eternal rest. 28:20 Which comes to us through Christ. 28:22 Okay, Genesis. 28:26 God is creating the world. 28:28 First day, second day, third day. 28:30 He's creating the sky and separating the waters, 28:32 and creating the land and putting the animals, 28:35 and the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky. 28:37 Fifth day, sixth day. 28:39 On the sixth day, the finality of His work comes together 28:42 and He creates us; you and me. 28:45 He waits to the last day to create us. 28:47 So there He is putting us together. 28:50 Breathes in us the breath of life. 28:51 We become a living soul; breath plus body equals soul. 28:55 And we stand before God. 28:58 And of course, God creates Eve from Adam's side. 29:02 We stand before God and He says to us, 29:05 "First thing I want you to do is rest." 29:11 "First thing I want you to do is rest." 29:15 Why did God do that? 29:16 Well, I think there's a few reasons, but I'm going to 29:19 state the one that I think is most important at this point 29:21 in our juncture of salvation history. 29:25 God created this world without us, 29:28 but He made it for us. 29:31 There was nothing we could point to and say, 29:33 "Hey, you see that tree over there? 29:35 Me and God did that together. 29:37 I did the trunk, He did the branches. 29:39 I did the leaves, He put the fruit on." 29:41 Nothing. 29:42 Everything God did, He did without us 29:45 in creating this world. 29:47 But then He gave it to us as a gift. 29:48 And the first thing He asked us to do was rest 29:51 in everything He did without us for us. 29:54 Are you following Me? 29:55 Okay, this is powerful. 29:57 Because in Revelation chapter 14, God is 30:00 calling us all the way back to Genesis to remember something 30:03 quite valuable about how He created the world. 30:05 Because when we sinned, God began the job of 30:11 recreating the world in Jesus Christ. 30:15 Jesus Christ became the second Adam, 30:17 the second head of human race. 30:19 He's called the second Adam in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 30:21 Why? 30:23 Because someone has to take responsibility 30:25 for what the first Adam did. 30:27 The second Adam is going to do that so God can be just. 30:30 So He creates the second Adam. 30:32 Jesus comes to this world in the form of a man. 30:34 Adam means man. 30:37 And He lives a perfect life. 30:40 None of us helped Him to do that. 30:41 He recreated the human race in Himself; 30:44 perfect righteousness in Jesus. 30:47 Then He goes to the cross and He dies our death. 30:54 The Bible says, He tread the winepress alone; 30:56 speaking of His life and of His death. 30:58 And of the people, there was how many with Him? 31:00 None, no one was with Him. 31:02 Okay, now when God finished creating the world, 31:06 on the sixth day He said, "It is finished." 31:11 What day was that? What day was the sixth day? 31:13 Friday, the day before Sabbath. 31:15 Then He rested on the Sabbath. 31:17 When Jesus finished recreating the world; 31:21 perfect life, died our death, 31:24 He's hanging on the cross, what day is it? 31:26 Friday. 31:27 What does He say when He's done? 31:29 "It is finished." 31:32 So the Sabbath is a reminder, not only of God's first 31:37 creation, but of His second. 31:39 It's a reminder that He recreates us. 31:43 We are new creatures in Jesus Christ. 31:45 That everything that God has worked out was done without us, 31:49 but it was done for us. 31:50 Just like creation. 31:52 The everlasting gospel calls us to remember the Sabbath 31:56 and remember what God did for us without us, 31:58 and to rest in what God has done for us without us. 32:02 Are you with me? 32:04 That's why the everlasting gospel is connected 32:07 directly to the Sabbath, and the Sabbath is connected directly 32:11 to being sealed by the seal of God, or by the Holy Spirit. 32:17 There's no difference. 32:18 Because the Sabbath reminds us to rest. 32:20 Now I have a difficult time, at times, 32:23 entering into Sabbath rest. 32:24 Okay, I've been keeping the Sabbath for 30 years 32:26 and I'm willing to admit that. 32:28 I've just got things on my plate. 32:29 I've just got things I want to get done, you know. 32:32 And yet, God has given a command. 32:35 And sometimes, that's what it has taken for me; 32:37 a command. 32:39 That's why I believe Sabbath is so, well it's so powerful. 32:43 Because it's a command of God. 32:45 God's power is in the command. 32:47 God's power is not in any other day, it's only in that day. 32:50 That's the day that God created to be the Sabbath 32:53 for us to rest. 32:55 And it's because He's commanded it, because it's part of His 32:56 commands, that I cease and desist. 32:59 Because I'm affected, my life is affected by the power of God. 33:03 God calls me to rest. 33:05 And at times, I do it by faith. 33:07 Because, "If I could just get this one phone call in, 33:09 if I could just get this last task accomplished, 33:11 I think I'd be further ahead in life. 33:13 I think I could, you know, be more comfortable 33:16 about my future. 33:17 If I could just do one more thing. 33:19 The sun is going down in an hour at home." 33:22 But God says, "No, no, no, no, no. 33:25 You need to remember the Sabbath. 33:27 You need to remember that everything you need, 33:30 everything that you really want, has been accomplished by Me. 33:35 It's in Jesus Christ. 33:36 And you need to rest in that." 33:38 All the secular stuff is going to fall by the wayside. 33:42 But one this is sure and one thing is eternal. 33:44 And that is salvation. 33:46 And what would it profit any man if he gains the whole world 33:51 and loses his soul? 33:53 So the Sabbath stands in contrast, in Revelation 33:58 chapter 14, to the mark of the beast. 34:02 But what about the mark? 34:04 I was doing a series of meetings in Zimbabwe. 34:12 This was just a few years ago. 34:14 I'd never traveled to Africa. 34:15 It was my first time traveling to Africa. 34:17 And as I traveled to this university, 34:21 I was really excited. 34:23 One of the reasons I was so excited is because 34:26 the university was, well it was an Adventist university 34:31 with a lot of Christians. 34:35 Christian young people. 34:37 Two-thousand of them. 34:40 And my specific week of prayer was mandatory 34:45 for these two-thousand. 34:46 In other words, unlike the week here at 3ABN, 34:53 every student on that campus had to come and sit 34:57 physically in my meeting. 35:01 Are you with me? 35:05 There were three weeks of prayers every year at Solusi. 35:07 The other two weren't mandatory. 35:09 You could come if you wanted to, you didn't have to come. 35:11 But I had the one that was mandatory. 35:12 That means I had a full audience of 2000 young people 35:16 every single meeting whether they liked it or not. 35:18 And I was pretty happy about that. 35:24 I didn't realize that a lot of them didn't like it. 35:27 But I found out. 35:28 I was moving through the three angel's messages. 35:30 I was really excited because I knew that all of them 35:33 were Adventists. 35:36 And I was so interested in sharing with them 35:40 the everlasting gospel in the context 35:42 of the three angel's messages. 35:43 You know, something I thought was so powerful and so new 35:46 and so, "Oh you've just got to hear this in the context of 35:48 the three angel's messages, the everlasting gospel." 35:50 So we moved through it and there were amens 35:52 and there was positiveness, and people were attending. 35:54 It was good. 35:56 Then we got to the middle of the meeting 35:57 about half way through, about here. 35:59 We started talking about Babylon and about the wine of Babylon, 36:02 about marks and seals. 36:04 And as we started indentifying these things, 36:06 a change came over the audience. 36:09 The pastors came to me after the meeting and they prayed 36:11 with me, they always did, and they said, 36:12 "Did you notice there were a few murmurings 36:14 in the audience today?" 36:16 And I said, "Yeah, I noticed that. 36:17 They were really impressed with some of the 36:19 information, weren't they." 36:20 "Well no, not exactly. 36:22 You see, we aren't sure that we told you this before you came, 36:26 but not all of these students are Adventist students." 36:32 I said, "Really?" 36:33 They said, "Yeah, since we've become a university, 36:37 umm, we have, well we have a lot more students coming here 36:40 because of our status. 36:41 I said, "How many more?" 36:42 And they said, "Well, we use to have four hundred. 36:44 Now we have two-thousand." 36:46 I said, "So how does that relate to 36:49 Adventist verse non-Adventist?" 36:51 That's about how it relates. 36:53 Four hundred verses two-thousand. 36:55 I said, "So you're saying about 1600 of these students are not 36:58 Seventh-day Adventists?" 37:00 "Yes." I said, "Well what are they?" 37:02 "Uh, the major religion here in Zimbabwe is Catholic." 37:12 "Thanks for telling me." 37:13 So I though, you know I would have stepped a little gentler, 37:16 but oh well, I guess it's out of the pot now. 37:21 Went to the local library that afternoon. 37:23 I always met with the students in the early afternoon, 37:26 mid-morning, that had questions. 37:28 There were four girls waiting to talk with me. 37:30 They wanted to come in together. 37:32 I usually met with one for about 15 minutes, 37:33 one student at a time. 37:35 But there were four there, they wanted to meet together. 37:36 They sat down in front of me in their chairs 37:38 and they were upset. 37:39 There was one that was a spokesperson. 37:40 She had a Bible and she said, "We want to tell you something." 37:43 I said, "What is that?" And she said, "We are Catholics. 37:45 We don't like what you're saying and we want you to stop now." 37:48 I smiled and I said, "Well, I was raised a Catholic." 37:50 That didn't help. 37:52 She was really upset. 37:55 Here was her problem. 37:58 She said, "You told us this morning that the seventh day 38:02 is the Sabbath, not Sunday." 38:06 I said, "Well, yeah." 38:07 She said, "Show us that from the Bible." 38:11 I said, "Well okay, let's go to Genesis chapter 1." 38:17 So I said, "You have a Bible. You start reading." 38:20 So she started reading, she said, "And the evening 38:22 and the morning were the first day." 38:24 She took a pencil and she wrote in there, "Monday." 38:31 Then she looked at me and she said, 38:32 "Who's to say it wasn't Monday? 38:33 How do you know it wasn't Monday? 38:35 I say it was Monday. What do you girls say?" 38:36 "Monday." "Monday." "Monday." "Monday." 38:38 You know where she's going, right? 38:40 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sabbath. 38:43 Sunday, seventh-day. 38:44 I said, "Okay." 38:46 I'm praying, I'm praying, I'm praying. 38:47 I'm saying, "Lord, where do I go from here?" 38:49 These girls are honest. They're Catholics. 38:51 I was raised Catholic, I know where they're coming from. 38:52 I remember when my sister first came into my house. 38:55 I was a brand new Christian, I was in love with Jesus. 38:57 He had just forgiven me for my sins. 38:59 I was going to church every Sunday and every Wednesday. 39:01 I was going to Calvary Chapel. 39:02 I was going to a Pentecostal church. 39:04 My sister was studying with Adventists. 39:05 And my sister says to me, "The seventh-day is the Sabbath. 39:08 And that's Saturday, not Sunday." 39:10 And I thought, she's gone bonkers, literally. 39:12 I thought, "What in the world are you talking about? 39:14 The Bible doesn't teach that." 39:17 I was so concerned about her that I started studying with 39:19 Adventists to get my sister out of the church. 39:21 I was like, "I'll find out what they're teaching. 39:24 These guys are crazy." 39:25 I studied my way right in. 39:30 So I thought, hey, these girls are honest. 39:31 They're honestly asking me what day is the day. 39:34 But then when she started writing, I thought, 39:36 I've never had any... Have you ever had anyone do that? 39:38 I've never had anyone do that before. 39:40 I said, "Lord, where do I go from here?" 39:42 And God took me to Luke chapter 23. 39:45 And I said to them, I said, "I want you to open 39:46 now to Luke chapter 23." 39:48 Because she said to me, "Now what, Pastor? 39:50 Now what are you going to do?" 39:53 She had an attitude. She was upset. 39:55 She told me after we were done... 39:57 By the way, I was in there for an hour and a half 39:59 with these four girls. 40:00 People where opening the door, "It's our turn, it's our turn." 40:02 I said, "No, no. Wait a minute. 40:03 This is important." 40:05 She said, "When we came in there, we thought 40:06 we were going to pick up our chairs and throw them at you. 40:08 We were so angry at you." 40:11 I kept smiling, because I could understand. 40:14 And so I took them to Luke chapter... 40:16 God impressed me, Luke chapter 23. 40:18 And as we were going there I said, 40:20 "Now you're raised Catholics. I was raised a Catholic. 40:22 What day was Jesus crucified?" "Good Friday." 40:25 "What day was He resurrected?" "Easter Sunday." 40:27 I said, "Now I want you to read these verses." 40:28 And I said, "Read starting with verse 52 of Luke 23." 40:32 "And this man went unto Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. 40:35 And he took it down," verse 53 of Luke 23, 40:38 "and wrapped it in linen and laid it in a sepulcher 40:40 that was hewn in stone, wherein never a man before was laid. 40:43 And that day was the preparation day." 40:44 I said, "What day was that?" And she said, "Friday." 40:46 She kept reading, "And the Sabbath drew on." 40:48 I said, "The Sabbath drew on?" 40:51 She didn't respond. Head down. 40:53 I said, "Keep reading." 40:55 "And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, 40:57 followed after and beheld the sepulcher, 40:59 and how his body was laid. 41:01 And they returned and prepared spices and ointments; 41:04 and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." 41:08 Her voice got a little lower. 41:11 "Now upon the first day of the week..." 41:12 I said, "Read chapter 24 verse 1." 41:14 "Now upon the first day of the week..." 41:16 I said, "What day is that?" 41:17 "The day after Sabbath." 41:19 "...very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, 41:22 bringing the spices..." 41:23 That was the day He resurrected. 41:26 She didn't look up for a while. 41:28 I think she read the verses again. 41:30 And again and again. 41:31 After she got done reading, she looked up and she said, 41:34 "Okay, you've taught us something. 41:37 And then she went on this tyrant about Adventists 41:39 and what hypocrites they are, and this, that, and the other. 41:40 And I said, "Listen, I'm not here to defend any person, 41:44 except for the truth. 41:46 Just the Word of God, please. Just the Word of God." 41:50 And she said, "Couldn't you please just 41:53 preach a social gospel? 41:55 Do you have to go into all of these details? 41:57 Do you have to talk about all this stuff?" 41:58 I said, "This is vital stuff." 42:01 I said, "This is part of the three... 42:04 This is God's last message. 42:05 This is the everlasting gospel. 42:07 This is vital for us. 42:10 Even people who keep Sunday have lost track of the Sabbath. 42:14 They don't understand the connection between 42:16 2 Corinthians 3:18 that the Holy Spirit is transforming us 42:20 from glory to glory. 42:22 Sealing us, settling us into the truth. 42:24 The character of God being manifested in us through 42:26 spending that time with Jesus, through connecting with Him. 42:28 And letting secular things alone. 42:31 We don't understand it, we've lost sight of it." 42:33 I said, "So I've got to preach this, I've got to teach this. 42:35 This is vital for me." 42:37 The Sabbath is how we enter into the salvation rest 42:40 through Jesus. 42:42 It reminds us to connect with Jesus, to abide in Jesus, 42:45 to trust in Jesus, to put our hope in Jesus. 42:48 That we can't save ourselves. 42:49 That we didn't create this world and we can't recreate it. 42:52 We didn't create this world and we can't recreate ourselves. 42:56 But Jesus can. 42:58 The Sabbath reminds us of that every single week. 43:00 And we need that reminder every single week, don't we, 43:04 when Friday is coming, pushing its task upon us. 43:08 And besides, I've got all these questions, I told them. 43:10 I've got all these questions now. 43:12 I had pile of them, I mean, I had a pile of questions. 43:13 So I sat down, this is right before the meeting 43:16 on the mark of the beast. 43:19 And I sat down in my room and sorted through the questions. 43:24 I made three piles. 43:25 The pile of questions, the longest one that I just didn't 43:28 have time to answer. 43:29 The pile of questions that I would try to answer. 43:31 And then the other pile of questions 43:33 that weren't really questions. 43:34 They were statements like, "We hate you." 43:39 "We wish you would go back to America." 43:41 "We can't stand the fact that you've come here to tell us 43:44 that we're going to church on the wrong day." 43:45 Things like that. 43:48 So I put those statements aside. 43:52 Because to be a follower of Christ, 43:54 you're going to be hated. 43:55 "The world hated Me, it's going to hate you." 43:58 But sometimes, they don't know what they hate. 44:02 And then I put the other questions aside to answer later. 44:04 And I started dealing with these specific questions. 44:06 Which the question I kept getting over and over again 44:09 was the same question these four girls had. 44:10 It was, "Show us from the Bible which day is the Sabbath." 44:14 "Show us from the Bible which day is the Sabbath." 44:16 I didn't realize this, but this college of 2000 young people, 44:20 very few of them had Bibles. 44:22 By the way, Light Bearers Ministry, we print literature 44:24 like the leaves of autumn. 44:26 We ship literature and Bibles overseas 44:27 to third world countries. 44:29 After I left there, we shipped a container of literature to 44:31 Bulawayo for the university. 44:34 2000 Bibles were in that container; 44:36 one for every student. 44:37 168 young people were baptized in follow up 44:40 meetings after this meeting. 44:42 Because I told him, I told the pastor, I said, 44:43 "Don't baptize these people. They don't even have Bibles. 44:45 Don't put any pressure on these young people 44:47 to be baptized for my sake. 44:49 I want them grounded in the truth so they can't be moved; 44:53 sealed with the seal of God." 44:54 And these young girls were part of that, by the way. 44:58 So I'm sitting in the meeting. 45:01 And I have a five minute, ten minute, question/answer time 45:05 before I give the mark of the beast meeting. 45:06 So I get up and I ask the question. 45:08 Same question, I ask it three times. 45:10 Proof from the Bible which day is it. 45:11 Proof from the Bible which day is it. 45:12 By the time I asked it the third time, everyone in there 45:14 is smiling and they're relaxed. 45:15 It was really intense in there. 45:17 It was just a, you can cut it with a knife atmosphere. 45:18 So I'm sitting down and I'm thinking, "How, how, how 45:22 can I share this truth? 45:24 How can I share this truth without people feeling like 45:28 I'm attacking them?" 45:31 I was raised Catholic, I understand. 45:33 So I'm sitting on the bench and a verse comes to my mind. 45:35 And this verse was so powerful. 45:38 God will do this sometimes. It's in Proverbs. 45:41 Now I didn't know where it was, so I'm in my Bible. 45:43 I've had this Bible, by the way, since 1984. 45:45 This is the only Bible I've ever had. 45:46 And it's getting hard, sometimes. 45:48 The papers kind of don't stick exactly, but I know where 45:51 stuff is in this Bible. 45:52 So I keep it. 45:54 And I don't know where it is in Proverbs. 45:55 I'm looking, looking, looking, through Proverbs. 45:57 I'm turning the pages. 45:58 All I know is this verse is on the left hand side top corner. 46:00 That's all I know. 46:02 So I'm going through Proverbs looking for this verse. 46:03 And I finally find it as I'm sitting there. 46:05 It's Proverbs chapter 27 verse 6. 46:07 And I read this verse, and immediately 46:09 peace comes to my heart. 46:11 And I read it to myself again and again and again. 46:13 Because I'm feeling nervous. 46:15 By the way, I think a little bit of nervousness qualifies you 46:19 to preach, to teach, to do whatever God wants you to do. 46:21 If you're not nervous, you don't feel your dependence on God. 46:25 You don't feel a need to depend on God. 46:27 So I've been preaching for 30 years, I get nervous. 46:29 That's alright. 46:31 It helps me to turn to God, turn to God, turn to God. 46:33 So I read this verse. 46:34 So I get up to preach the mark of the beast 46:39 and I read this verse. 46:41 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; 46:44 but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." 46:49 And it gives me so much courage and such a feeling of, 46:53 well, goose bumps that I read it again. 46:57 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; 46:58 but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." 46:59 And I said, "I could just give you the social gospel 47:03 and just share with you what you want to hear." 47:07 But I said, "I wouldn't be being faithful to you 47:09 or to God. 47:11 And I want to be faithful even though it may wound you." 47:13 And then I told them a true story 47:15 that I'm going to tell you. 47:17 God impressed me to share this with them. 47:18 I said, "This is a true story." 47:19 I said, some years ago I was in a room by myself 47:23 and I was out, I mean I was out. 47:26 So out of it that as I was laying on the bed there, 47:31 I didn't even know that these men came into the room. 47:34 They walked in; didn't know they were there. 47:36 One of them had a knife. 47:38 Took the knife, true story, went over to where I was laying, 47:41 and put the knife to my throat and began to cut. 47:49 I was so out of it that I didn't even feel it. 47:53 Seriously. 47:55 Now fortunately, I was in a hospital operating room 48:01 and those men were doctors. 48:06 And they were removing from my throat a cancerous tumor. 48:09 I had thyroid cancer. 48:12 And as painful as the whole thing was; the operation, etc, 48:16 and the recovery, I was so glad that they cut my throat 48:19 and took out the tumor. 48:21 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, 48:24 but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." 48:27 And I began to share with them the whole picture 48:31 of this worship in the end of time. 48:34 I did the same thing when I was in Pakistan. 48:37 And I think it's vital for us to understand how 48:39 Jesus paves the way, the everlasting gospel 48:42 paves the way. 48:44 Because when I went to Pakistan, I went there 48:45 in 1997, 1998, and 1999. 48:47 I was going there to preach to primarily 48:51 Christians from different denominations. 48:53 I went to a compound in Peshawar right on the Afghanistan border 48:56 where there were 50 Adventist members in this church. 49:00 We preached the first night, there were 800 people. 49:03 The second night, there were 1200 people. 49:04 The third night, there were 1600 people. 49:05 By the time we got done with our series, 49:07 there were 4000 people there. 49:09 From every different denomination. 49:11 And the Lord impressed me, He said, 49:12 "The verse that you are to preach, James, is John 12:32. 49:16 'And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.' 49:19 That's your blueprint for evangelism. 49:20 That's what I want you to do in every meeting." 49:22 So I started just lifting up Christ. 49:23 And in the afternoon, I was doing a series on Revelation 49:26 for the pastors. 49:28 And there was a certain pastor there who asked me if I would 49:31 come back to Pakistan and preach this same series 49:34 for his pastors. 49:35 He had 120 of them, they were Pentecostal. 49:37 And I said, "Sure. By God's grace." 49:40 So in that series of meetings, we began with the gospel 49:42 and we were lifting up Jesus and we were focusing on Christ. 49:44 And he said to me, "Now that we've cleared that up, 49:47 I want you to tell us about the mark of the beast 49:48 and the antichrist." 49:52 See, I believe that Jesus opens the door. 49:55 You know, when you look at Christ, He said some 49:58 pretty intense things at times. 50:00 Didn't He? 50:02 I mean, He told Peter, "You've got a devil." 50:06 He told the Pharisees a few things too. 50:09 But He did it with love. 50:12 Tears were in His eyes and He had choked utterances. 50:15 It's not so much what you say. 50:18 It's how you say it. 50:19 My wife reminds me of that very often. 50:22 Because the intensity that I have when I preach 50:24 doesn't always get turned off when I think I'm right 50:26 about something at home. 50:29 We had two labs, Jake and Willie; a gold and a black. 50:32 And they remind us of this because these dogs were 50:35 very sensitive to voice tone. 50:38 We rarely ever had to touch them to discipline them. 50:41 All you had to do was say something in a certain tone. 50:45 I could say to those dogs, Jake and Willie, I could say to them, 50:48 "Jake and Willie, I love you. 50:56 I love you, I love you, I love you." 50:59 And you know what they would do? 51:00 They would stick their tail between their legs 51:02 and they cower off somewhere. 51:05 Because they couldn't understand the words that I was saying, 51:07 but they understood how I was saying it. 51:08 And I could say to those same dogs, "Jake, Willie, 51:11 I hate you guys. 51:13 I hate you, hate, you, hate you. 51:14 Oh, I hate you so much. I just hate you. 51:17 I just can't stand you stinky dogs. 51:20 Stinky." 51:22 And they'd just be all over me, man. 51:23 They'd be licking me and they'd just be... 51:24 Because it wasn't the words I was saying. 51:26 It was the way I was saying it. 51:28 That's the way it is with Jesus. 51:31 Sometimes we get so caught up in the symbolism of the beast 51:36 and the mark of the beast that we just start hammering people. 51:38 "You're the beast, you've got the mark." 51:42 It's a very simple issue. 51:43 It's about worship. 51:45 Those two days. 51:46 For all Christians, the seventh day Sabbath or Sunday. 51:51 This is what differentiates us. 51:54 And one of them is kept by millions of Christians 51:57 because they see it directly connected to the 52:00 everlasting gospel and the seal of God. 52:02 They see it as a biblical truth. 52:04 They've experienced what it means to rest in Jesus 52:07 through keeping the Sabbath. 52:09 Now that can become very legalistic. 52:11 It did with the Jews. 52:12 And we need to be very aware of why people see us as legalistic. 52:17 Because of that history and because sometimes 52:18 we come across that way. 52:20 There's another group of people who keep Sunday. 52:23 Some of them do it because, well, their fathers kept Sunday; 52:27 because the apostles broke bread on Sunday; 52:29 because Jesus resurrected from the grave on Sunday. 52:31 They all have to admit that there's not a 52:33 biblical command for it. 52:34 Except for, well there are about a billion people, Catholics, 52:38 in the world today who keep Sunday for a different reason. 52:41 They do it because they believe their church has the authority 52:44 to change the day from Saturday to Sunday. 52:47 And that's where the conflict begins. 52:50 Do we follow man or do we follow God? 52:53 It's not a question of judging others. 52:55 God has millions of people in all different churches 52:58 who don't understand or haven't seen or aren't fully convicted 53:02 for one reason or another. 53:03 Maybe primarily because we haven't been the 53:04 Christians we're suppose to be. 53:07 Because we come across as legalists, who knows. 53:09 We can leave that with God. 53:10 Romans 14 says we don't need to judge. 53:12 But at the same time, we need to share. 53:14 Why? Because this is becoming a big issue. 53:17 When I was in Pakistan, it was huge. 53:19 I mean, here I am in a Muslim country. 53:20 I'm doing this seminar for pastors. 53:22 And I started talking about the change, in Daniel chapter 7. 53:25 And some of the pastors were uncomfortable and they said, 53:27 "We don't want you talking about Sunday/Sabbath. 53:28 Don't mention that anymore." 53:29 I said, "Okay, but I've got to touch on the mark of the beast." 53:31 How am I going to do this? 53:32 And so what God impressed me with was the fact that 53:35 in the country of Pakistan at that time... 53:41 I'm trying to think how much time I have to share this story. 53:44 Don't hesitate, James. Just do it. 53:46 Okay, in the country of Pakistan at that time... 53:49 Pakistan is a Muslim nation. 53:51 It's an Islamic nation. Islamic law is enforced. 53:54 When I woke up on Friday morning, 53:56 it was business as usual. 53:58 When I woke up on Sunday morning, 54:00 all the businesses were closed. 54:03 Nobody was doing anything. 54:05 I said, "How is that in a Muslim country that businesses 54:09 close on Sunday and open on Friday when Friday is the day, 54:12 you know, you're suppose to go to the mosque?" 54:14 They said, "That's a recent ruling. 54:15 Just recently, the day was changed because of the 54:18 economic pressure from the rest of the world. 54:20 They were open for business on Friday and we were closed, 54:22 and closed for business on Sunday when we were open." 54:25 Revelation 13, can't buy or sell. 54:27 Think about it. 54:29 So I'm in this meeting with these pastors and I ask them, 54:31 this is a summary, I ask them, "Revelation says the world will 54:36 receive the mark in the right hand; 54:39 means they go along with it, they don't believe it. 54:40 Or in the forehead; means they believe it." 54:44 I said... 54:45 And they would worship, they'd follow one religious leader. 54:47 I said, "What day," I asked them, I said, 54:50 "What day has the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 54:54 chose to close for business... 54:56 A country in which it's against the law for 54:58 a Muslim to become a Christian. 55:00 What day have you closed for business? 55:01 And why?" 55:03 And these pastors looked at each other, they looked at me, 55:05 and they all said in chorus, "Sunday." 55:09 I said, "Why?" "Because of economic pressure." 55:12 And you see this happening even in the Muslim world today. 55:14 You see a transition taking place. 55:16 Hasn't happened in Saudi Arabia yet, but in many Muslim 55:18 countries a transition is taking place 55:20 from Friday to Sunday. 55:23 Closed for business on Friday, now closed 55:25 for business on Sunday. 55:26 And they're not even Christian nations. 55:27 God knew what He was talking about when He identified 55:31 this crisis in the end of time. 55:33 He understood what was going to take place 55:35 between the mark and the seal. 55:36 He recognized that our only hope was in the everlasting gospel 55:39 and understanding that we rest in Jesus for salvation. 55:44 And He knew, and oh does He know, that we needed 55:47 that message first and foremost, and that we need to share 55:50 that message with others in other countries secondly. 55:56 That's why we keep the Sabbath. 55:59 We keep the Sabbath because it reminds us that 56:01 Jesus is our Savior, not us. 56:03 We rest from work because we recognize that 56:05 Jesus is the Savior of all men. 56:08 We don't go out to eat in restaurants on Sabbath. 56:11 Why not? 56:12 Because we recognize that Jesus is your Savior 56:15 as well as my Savior. 56:16 And we're not going to make you work on that day 56:18 any more than we would work on that day. 56:20 We want you to rest from doing those dishes, and 56:22 you to rest from packing those bags and cleaning those rooms. 56:25 We want you to rest because you have a Savior. 56:27 And every time we rest on the Sabbath from our works 56:31 and don't allow others to work for us on Sabbath, 56:34 we're proclaiming to them, at least in actions, 56:36 that they have a Savior too. 56:39 When we go out to eat on Sabbath, we're telling 56:40 other people, "Oh we can't work, but you can. 56:42 We're saved, but you're not." 56:45 It's a testimony. 56:48 We believe that Jesus, in His everlasting gospel, 56:52 has given His life for the whole world. 56:54 And we need to give this testimony to the whole world, 56:56 whether they receive it or reject it, 56:58 and we need to do it in the spirit of Christ. 57:00 The only way we can do that in the spirit of Christ 57:03 is to ask for the spirit of Christ to come into our hearts. 57:06 To spend that time beholding Him and being 57:08 transformed in His image. 57:10 How many of you today would like to say, 57:11 "Yes, I want to ask the spirit of God in once again?" 57:14 Let's pray together. 57:16 Father, You've seen every hand, You read every heart. 57:19 You know our needs and the needs of the world. 57:22 You recognize how vitally important this 57:24 everlasting gospel is and You've given it to us in clear language 57:27 that it can be proclaimed with a loud voice. 57:30 Father, for those that are hearing, 57:32 for those who have listened, and for those of us who are here, 57:35 we're asking for Your grace, Your strength, 57:38 to be faithful not only to the truth, 57:40 but to the spirit of the truth. |
Revised 2014-12-17