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Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP220205S
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00:11 >> Good morning, and happy Sabbath services. 00:14 We are so happy to be here [Speaking indistinctly] with 00:17 you guys. The songs that we picked mean 00:19 a lot to all of us individually, and we want to invite you guys 00:22 to stand and sing along with us as we start our first song. 00:26 [ "Great Are You Lord" plays ] ♪♪ 00:34 ♪♪ ♪♪ 00:45 ♪♪ 05:19 [ Music fades ] >> If you will, we are going to 05:25 be reading from 1 Peter 1:13-16. 1 Peter 1:13-16. 05:34 We are reading from the NIV. It says, "Therefore, with minds 05:39 that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be 05:44 brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming. 05:48 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you 05:52 had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is 05:56 holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, 06:01 because I am holy.'" [ "Here Again" plays ] 06:06 ♪♪ ♪♪ 11:03 ♪♪ [ Music fades ] 11:18 [ "God Is Good" plays ] ♪♪ 11:27 ♪♪ ♪♪ 11:39 ♪♪ ♪♪ 11:50 ♪♪ 13:57 [ Instrumental music plays ] ♪♪ 14:05 ♪♪ ♪♪ 14:17 [ Up-tempo music plays ] ♪♪ 14:27 ♪♪ ♪♪ 14:41 ♪♪ ♪♪ 14:55 ♪♪ ♪♪ 15:08 ♪♪ ♪♪ 15:20 ♪♪ ♪♪ 15:33 ♪♪ ♪♪ 15:45 ♪♪ 15:55 >> Father, thank You. May our bad days show that You are still good. 15:59 May our whole life testify that You are always good. You will never be not good. 16:07 You will always be good. And it's such an honor to be able to call this good God 16:17 our very best friend. In Jesus' name, we worship You. Continuing now 16:26 that all the people say Amen. And Amen. 16:32 If it's true that familiarity breeds contempt, I'm telling you 16:40 what -- I am developing, as we speak, a major, major 16:47 contempt for this pandemic. [ Light laughter ] 16:53 Huh? I got -- I went to the counter 16:56 myself, this last week. I didn't know what the number 16:58 would be. 17:00 But wouldn't you know it, with my own finger, I pointed at every single Sabbath that this 17:05 church and this campus have been under the suffocating blanket of this COVID-19 pandemic. 17:13 Guess how many Sabbaths? 100. Today is the 100th Sabbath in a 17:20 row that we have endured this pandemic. And don't nobody say, 17:25 "Happy Anniversary." [ Laughter ] No. 17:29 There's some of you here who probably are saying, you know, "What is this American 17:33 English -- 'familiarity breeds contempt'?" Well, I went to Google, and I 17:39 said, "Hey, Google, give me a simple definition of 'Familiarity breeds contempt.'" 17:44 It gave me three. I like this one. So I'm going to share it 17:47 with you right now. "The more you are exposed --" that's what this little proverb 17:51 that's been around forever, "Familiarity breeds contempt" -- "The more you are exposed to 17:56 someone or something, the more bored you become and the less respect or appreciation you may 18:02 have for that person or thing." Does that sound about right to you? 18:06 Yeah, that's what it is. And by the way, that doesn't mean, of course, that the 18:12 longer you are married, the more boring it becomes." [ Laughter ] 18:17 Some of us have been married to the same person for a very long time, and it's getting better 18:21 every day. So you can't apply this to everything, but our human 18:26 tendency -- our human tendency is, the more we're exposed to some thing or the more time we 18:33 have with someone, we develop this, "Aw, come on, again? Again?" 18:40 I wonder if that's the case with the seventh-day Sabbath. That's what I'm just thinking 18:44 out loud with you about. Could it be that familiarity breeds contempt and that 18:49 unbeknown to us, there is this toxic contempt even within our very own souls, and we have 18:55 no clue? "Oh, yeah, it's the Sabbath again. 18:59 Whoo-hoo!" I'm talking about -- I'm talking to a campus that is dominantly, 19:04 on all three campuses, filled with people who have spent their whole lives, every seventh day, 19:09 saying, "It's the Sabbath. Yay." [ Light laughter ] Could it be our familiarity 19:16 with the Sabbath that's destroyed its meaning in our minds and in our lives, 19:21 in our experiences? I mean, we know what the Sabbath stands for. 19:24 "The maker of all things loves and wants me." Oh, I love that. 19:27 That's why there is a seventh-day Sabbath, because He said, at the end of that 19:31 Creation week, I got to have a week, just you and me together. I love the animals, but I love 19:36 you more. We'll be together." "God is a Being questing for 19:40 friends" -- that's the whole point. That's the whole point 19:44 of that book sitting right there on this pulpit. "I'm questing for friends, and 19:50 I'd love for you to be one of them." I get it. 19:53 I understand that Jesus is the Savior, Jesus is the Creator, Jesus is our forever friend. 19:58 And He designed the Sabbath to be a summit -- a summit experience that we meet Him 20:03 every seventh day in a way we cannot meet Him any other of the previous six days. 20:08 I get it. But there's one little part of the Sabbath that I'm not sure 20:17 we get. I'm not complaining about you. I'm not complaining about me. 20:21 I'm still trying to figure this out myself, but I'm just wondering. 20:25 I'm going to run three lines by you right now from Holy Scripture -- boom, boom, 20:29 boom. There's one word that will appear only in all three. 20:34 See if you can figure it out. The first one, of course, is the well-known, "Hey, this is the 20:38 end of Creation. Six days are over," God says, "Okay, this was a great, great 20:43 experience. The human race now is going." "Thus the heavens and the earth 20:48 were completed in all their vast array." Verse 2 of Genesis 2, "By the 20:51 seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from 20:57 all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it 21:02 he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." I mean, we know that. 21:07 There's no way you can look at this text, you won't get it yet. You're not -- You're not 21:12 noticing the word yet. I have to put another text. I'll probably have to put both 21:16 of them up. So here's another text. God's on top of Mount "Sai-- 21:20 now" -- Mount Sinai now -- with Moses, one of His dearest, dearest friends. 21:26 God has, just with His finger -- with His finger, as Moses describes it -- carved in 21:32 granite, stone, the 4th Commandment. "Remember the Sabbath day, 21:36 to keep it holy." He's just done that. And now he turns to Moses, and 21:42 he says, "Yo, I need you to go back to the people at the bottom of the mountain, and I want you 21:46 to tell them these words." So, this is Exodus 31:13. Here we go. 21:51 "'Say to the Israelites' -- Moses -- "You must observe My Sabbaths."'" 21:56 By the way, "My Sabbaths." God calls the Sabbath His own. Jesus says, "I'm Lord of the 22:01 Sabbath, and the Sabbath was made for you." But it's not your day. 22:05 It's My day." "Tell them to observe My Sabbath." 22:08 "This will be a sign between Me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am 22:14 the Lord, who makes you holy." You will don't get it. There's one word that has 22:20 appeared in each of these. Maybe the third one will help. Now he's with a young prophet, 22:26 in exile -- a young man named Ezekiel. He's reviewing the Creation 22:30 story with Ezekiel, and He makes this statement to Ezekiel. This is Ezekiel 20:12. 22:36 "Ezekiel, I gave them --" my people -- "my Sabbaths --" there it is again, "these are Mine" -- 22:42 "I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord 22:48 made them holy." Do you know one word that has appeared in all three of those? 22:53 What is it? Come on, call it out. I can't hear you. 22:56 >> "My." >> "Holy." >> Well, some of you are right, 22:58 and some of you are wrong. I'll not identify who's who. But some of you got it. 23:03 It's the word "holy." For us Americans and for us human beings, us in the 23:09 third-millennial culture that we live, "holy" is a bad word. It's a four-letter word, 23:15 and we're not happy with it. We don't like "holy." Nobody likes "holy." 23:18 "You can talk to me about love, talk to me about joy, talk to me about peace, okay, okay. 23:23 But don't talk to me about holy." What is our problem with "holy"? 23:27 I can't believe this. When there was no sin on the planet, there were no sinners on 23:31 the planet, God made this day holy. That can't be bad news. 23:37 Whatever it is, it's got to be good news, because there's no bad news alive. 23:42 Wow. What is this business? Come on, four-letter word, "holy." 23:45 What's up with that? Well...what's the big deal about it, anyway? 23:52 I mean, you know, "Dwight, don't spend a whole lot of time on this word, because I really am 23:56 not moved by the -- by the need for this word." Okay, I get it, but let me just 24:01 run one more line. We'll only go to the New Testament now. 24:03 Let me run another line by you. The book of Hebrews -- you ever heard of the book of Hebrews? 24:08 And wait a minute -- our faith community right now, all over this planet, is studying every 24:13 single seventh-day Sabbath, the book of Hebrews, written by our friend, Félix Cortez, in 24:18 that building right over there. Did a marvelous job. I'm being blessed every week 24:23 by his writings. Okay, so, this is Hebrews chapter 12. 24:27 Check this out. Paul writing, "Make every effort to live in peace with everyone." 24:31 "Come on, guys, get along, will ya?" That's what Paul is saying, 24:34 "Get along. Come on, love each other. Make every effort." 24:38 "Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be --" Ooh, to be what? -- 24:43 "holy." Well, what's the big deal about holy, Paul. 24:45 Come on, finish your sentence. He says, "I will." Without holiness no one will 24:50 ever see whom? That's Jesus. "Without holiness, you're 24:56 not going to see me." "Aw, You're -- You're such a grumpy old Creator. 25:01 That's what You are." "No. You won't see Me without holiness." 25:09 So, this isn't a little throwaway. No, this is -- this is a 25:12 big deal. What kind of a big deal is it? A.W. Tozer, a long-ago writer, 25:18 when I graduated from the seminary here, a friend of mine -- he now sleeps in 25:22 Jesus -- Lou Venden -- he gave me this book for graduation. It's a classic. 25:28 Let me put a line from that book on the screen here. "God is holy --" God is holy -- 25:34 four-letter word, there He is -- "God is holy and He has made holiness the moral condition 25:39 necessary to the health of His universe. Sin's temporary presence in the 25:44 world can only -- only accents this." Keep reading. 25:50 "Whatever is holy is healthy; evil is a moral sickness that must end --" like this 25:55 pandemic -- "ultimately in death." The pandemic is bad news. 26:00 True or false? 'Cause it's evil. That's why. It's evil. 26:06 Holiness is the moral language -- the moral language of this universe, the 26:11 universal descriptor of the Kingdom of God. And without holiness, hey -- 26:15 Jesus says, "Without holiness -- I'm sorry but that's the way we are -- you won't come here." 26:20 So I can't just blow this off. Mnh-mnh. And by the way, speaking of the 26:25 word "holy," do you know that this word appears, in its various forms, over 600 times 26:32 in Holy Scripture. Over 600 times. And it must be a big word. 26:38 I mean, if the word appears 600 times, it's on God's mind. And guess what? 26:44 Not once is any other characteristic, any other attribute, any other quality of 26:51 God given the distinction that the word "holy" gets. You say, "Can you prove that to 26:55 me, Dwight?" I sure can. I'll prove it from the heart of 26:58 the Old Testament, and then we'll go to the end of the New Testament, and you are 27:02 going to discover something about the word "holy." Watch this. 27:05 Now, this is Isaiah chapter 6. Okay? "And the seraphim --" so, he's 27:08 the young -- because he's a young prophet, the young prophet is looking, "And the 27:12 seraphim --" these angels -- "were calling out to one another." 27:15 What are they calling out? >> Holy. >> "Holy, holy, holy is the 27:21 Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory." How many times do they call out 27:28 this one word that we're having a little bit of trouble with? How many times did they 27:31 call it out? >> Three. >> Three. 27:33 Watch this at the end of the Bible, in the mighty Apocalypse. "Day and night --" ooh, day and 27:38 night -- "the four living creatures --" these are the highest, by the way. 27:41 This is the highest order of angels in the universe. These are the top four -- the 27:45 four. "The four living creatures never stop saying --" whoa, here it 27:49 comes again -- "'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to 27:57 come!'" Do you know that the Bible nowhere says, "God is love, 28:03 love, love." The Bible nowhere says, "God is righteous, righteous, 28:08 righteous." The Bible nowhere says, "God is just, just, just; 28:12 forgiving, forgiving, forgiving; merciful, merciful, merciful." No, no, no. 28:15 Only one quality of God is given this trifold, this triad treatment. 28:22 And it's "holy." His holiness. Wow. 28:27 We can't just run from this, because, obviously, the three verses we read show us that in 28:33 the heart of the seventh-day Sabbath, the -- the -- the iss-- the reality is the 28:38 holiness of God. Whoa. That just blows my mind. 28:45 God is holy. And by the way, the New Testament doesn't stop 28:51 there. It doesn't just say, "Oh, without holiness, you can't come 28:54 to heaven." No, it goes on. You just heard it a moment ago. 28:58 Darius read it from 1 Peter. Here it is. "But just as He who called you 29:04 is holy, so be holy --" this is 1 Peter 1:15 -- so be holy in all you do." 29:10 Keep reading, verse 16. "For it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" 29:17 That really blows you out of the water, because what God is, He says, "I want you 29:21 to be. I'm holy; you'll be holy." "No, God, you don't know me. 29:27 Whoo-hoo. You don't know me. And don't ask me to describe myself to You. 29:31 You don't know me. I cannot be what You are." Oh, that's true in many aspects. 29:38 You can't be God. Neither can I. You can't be your father. 29:42 Can you? You can try, but you'll never be your father. 29:45 Or your mother, by the way. You just can't. I can't be God. He's God. 29:50 He's the only God there is. And I'm not God. But wait a minute, wait a 29:54 minute, wait a minute. God is telling me, "Dwight, I want you to be holy, 29:57 because I'm holy." Whoa. What's going on here? 30:03 Jerry Bridges, in his stirring little book "The Pursuit of Holiness," 30:08 he writes, "To be holy is to be morally blameless." Oh, this is getting worse 30:14 as we go. Morally blameless? "To be holy is to be 30:18 morally blameless." Is is to be separated from sin and, therefore, consecrated 30:22 to God... Holiness is nothing less than conformity to the character 30:27 of God." Oh, my. You can't ask me to do that. 30:34 But He did. And he says it's in the heart and soul of the seventh day 30:41 of the week -- the Sabbath, the holy Sabbath. "Remember the holy Sabbath, 30:46 to keep it holy." Wow. [ Inhales sharply ] 30:53 I realize that this sounds rather scary now. "This -- We're now into the 30:59 impossibility territory. I mean, Dwight, just give it up, will ya?" 31:05 And I would say, "Yeah, you're right"... except your friend and mine, 31:11 Paul, comes along. We won't even look it up. Paul comes along and he says, 31:14 "I'm writing a letter to the people that live in Corinth. It happens to be a seaport town 31:18 full of STDs." You know what "STD" is, don't you? 31:21 Sexually transmitted diseases. It's full of them, and some of them are going to that church 31:25 that Paul planted. "Well, Paul, I want you to give a name to those people." 31:29 He says, "I will. If they come to Jesus..." "They have." 31:32 "...then I want you to call them saints." "What?!" 31:34 "I want you to call the Corinthians saints." "No!" 31:37 "Yes." And you know the word Paul uses? The holies. 31:42 He calls them the holies. "Hagios." In the Greek, it's "the holies," 31:46 "the holy ones." 31:49 Apparently, you don't have to be perfect... 31:55 to pursue holiness. There would be no Corinthian 31:59 church, and there would be no Andrews University. 32:04 So this can't be bad news. I mean, if God starts out with 32:07 saying, "This is the day. This is My holy day," it's 32:10 got to be wonderful news. We just got to figure out how 32:13 in the world does this turn into wonderful. 32:14 And I'm going to tell you how it turns into wonderful, because 32:17 we're going to shift -- we're going to shift the paradigm 32:19 right now. I want you to see that the word 32:21 "holy" is, indeed, a four-letter word. 32:23 We're going to misspell the word "holy." We've done this maybe before, 32:26 you and I. We're going to misspell the word "holy." 32:28 Instead of saying "holy," we're going to say "wholly," but spell it another way. 32:37 It's no longer a four-letter word. That ought to make it good. 32:41 This is "wholly." I have found that if I can move from the domain of moral -- 32:50 moral rectitude, which is just a big word for "moral specificity and 32:57 precision" -- in other words, sin -- if we can move from that, from rectitude to relationship, 33:06 we find out what's going on up here. So that because of this little 33:10 spelling change -- and I want you to do that in your mind -- I do it now all the time -- 33:14 I want you to do this in your mind. I want you to hear God say to 33:17 you what He says to me, only He'll use your name. But he says, "Dwight, I want to 33:21 tell you something, because I'm holy, and I want you to be holy. Here's the deal. 33:25 I am wholly yours, and I'm asking you to be wholly Mine. That's what I mean." 33:34 "Really, God?" "That's it. I'm wholly yours, and I want you 33:39 to be wholly Mine." Well, that makes it more possible. 33:48 At least, conceiving it. Hmm, now, wait a minute, wait a minute, don't just 33:55 blow that off. "I am wholly yours." In fact, let's put the -- Let's 33:58 just hang it in front of our eyes for a moment here. "I am wholly yours, and I want 34:03 you to be wholly Mine." Let that go deeper into your mind. 34:07 "I am wholly yours, and I want you to be wholly Mine." You know, that the Almighty God 34:13 Himself would say, "I'm wholly yours," that's enough to -- that's enough to blow you 34:17 out of the water, isn't it? I mean, that "I'm wholly yours"? "All of me for you"? 34:21 Come on. No, it is. That's the truth of Calvary. That's the truth of Jesus' death 34:26 on the Cross -- "I am wholly yours." I want to show you something. 34:31 Every child on this planet. We got wonderful children in this church. 34:34 Man. 34:36 Every child on this planet -- Doesn't matter what country 34:39 you're from or where your parents are from, if you're a 34:42 child, you know this motion. When I do this to a child 34:48 anywhere on earth -- and I've been to a lot of places on 34:50 earth -- If I see a little child in a room, and I go like this... 34:55 No, no, take me out of the picture. 34:57 When mother goes like this, when Daddy walks into the room and he sees his little girl, he 35:03 sees his little boy -- When Daddy walks into the room and he goes like this to his son, 35:07 what's he saying? "Come on, child... run to me, run to me! 35:13 I want to love on you. I want to hug you. Come here!" Isn't that what outstretched 35:18 arms mean? >> Yeah. >> "I want you to run to me. 35:21 Don't run from me. Come to me." When Jesus died -- When the 35:26 incarnate God dies, God makes sure that when He dies, they have His arms nailed this way, 35:32 so that every time you look at the Cross, those arms are facing you. 35:37 And you know what He's saying? "Run to me, child. Run to me. 35:43 I want to love on you. I want to hug you. Come here!" 35:48 Is that bad news or good news? >> Good news. >> "I am wholly yours, 35:55 and I want you to be wholly Mine." Hey, listen, guys, if you don't 36:00 like it, up in the balcony or down here, I got to tell you a little secret. 36:04 You're going to end up in front of this church someday with me, because you got a beautiful girl 36:09 beside you or a beautiful, handsome boy beside you. And you're going to say, "Hey, 36:13 Pastor, marry us, will ya?" And I will, after a few weeks of premarital counsel. 36:19 But when you stand up here, whoa, be careful. Don't you dare come here 36:23 unless you're ready for this. When you stand up here, I'm going to ask you, in front 36:28 of the witnesses in the building and the witnesses of heaven, to declare to her, "I am 36:34 wholly yours. And I want you to be wholly mine." 36:39 Every marriage begins with that pledge. Don't be ragging on God about, 36:45 "Oh, this is such a bad deal." Ha. You can't get married without 36:48 this deal -- "I am wholly yours, and I want you to be wholly mine." 36:56 And guess what? That's not only the truth of Calvary, that's the truth of the 37:00 seventh-day Sabbath, because it's the same Creator, who's now the Savior of the world. 37:07 His arms are nailed wide-open. But when He made the Sabbath, it was like He was saying, 37:11 "Come on, children. Come on! Run to me! 37:18 Let me love on you. Let me hug you." Wow. 37:24 And by the way, that's why God didn't make -- God did not make the Sabbath a place. 37:30 Because if it were a place, we'd all be in Mecca, worshipping Him, right? 37:34 "You got to go to Jerusalem. It's the only place you can do it." 37:38 God didn't make the Sabbath a place. He didn't even make it space, 37:42 because if He made it space, we'd all have to -- we all would have to be going to your church 37:48 to have worship. "No," he said, "I need something that's universal. 37:54 I need something that's global. I need something that is given equally to the entire human race 38:00 from the beginning of time to the end of time. And that something is time. 38:05 I'm going to holy-ize time. Wshooh." 38:12 "And when I have holy-ized time, man will never be able to un-holy-ize it. 38:18 Man will never be able to walk unto me and say, 'You know what? God, thank you for doing the 38:21 seventh day. We want the first day. Please, it's more convenient 38:25 now. The culture is this way. We don't want to stand out and 38:28 have to get serious about this holiness thing. Just let us do this.' 38:32 Well, how can you? Wshooh! I've already done it on the 38:37 seventh day. Only one day. And it's the seventh one." 38:44 That's why it's a big deal, folks. There's a lot of confusion 38:48 going around, these days. Nobody's sure. Some are saying, "It really 38:51 doesn't matter. Folks, it just doesn't matter." Okay, you can live by that. 38:55 [ Chuckles ] "God wrote it with His finger, but it really doesn't matter. 38:58 It's not that big a deal." Oh, come on. It's a big deal. 39:04 Wow. "I am wholly yours. And I want you to be wholly Mine." 39:08 Abraham Joshua Heschel, in his classic essay on the Sabbath -- and that's the title of it, 39:15 "The Sabbath" -- "To observe the seventh day does not mean merely to obey or to conform to the 39:21 strictness of a divine command." Keep reading. "To observe is to celebrate the 39:26 creation of the world and to create the seventh day all over again" -- I love that -- "the 39:32 majesty of holiness in time." And I love that phrase -- "the majesty of holiness in time." 39:38 That's what God did. "I put holiness in time. It's not in space, it's not a 39:45 place. It's in time. Everybody can have it. 39:52 And I want everybody to have it." Wow. 39:56 Heschel is right. Well, didn't we just read it? It was a moment ago. Come on. 40:01 "Dwight, bring the text back up again, one more time." Okay. 40:04 "I have given you the Sabbath, so that you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy." 40:10 The Sabbath is a sign that God makes you wholly His, and makes me wholly His. 40:17 Is it a sign that I make myself holy? Yes or no? 40:21 >> No? >> Of course not. The Sabbath is not a sign that I 40:24 make myself holy. The Sabbath is a sign that the Creator makes me holy. 40:27 The Creator makes me holy. "I'm wholly yours. I want you to be wholly Mine." 40:32 Lookit, if I can do that -- if I can do that with Karen -- and we did -- got it on old Super 8 40:39 film now, so I can never back out. "Dwight, did you really make 40:42 that promise?" I did. If I can do that, and you will 40:45 if you haven't, then God has the right to do the same -- "I'm wholly yours. 40:51 You be wholly Mine." And there's only one day of the week that declares that -- 40:57 only one. It's the one He chose. It's the seventh day. 41:04 Nothing has changed on the calendar, nothing has changed in time. 41:08 It's still the same day. Wow. Okay. 41:14 So, what does that mean? That means there's some power embedded in this day. 41:19 Hey, my friend Sakae Kubo, the professor here years ago -- some of you knew him -- had the 41:25 privilege of knowing him -- in his book "God Meets Man" -- this is good -- "The Sabbath has 41:30 no meaning at all unless creative power accomplishes its result in the life of the one 41:35 who observes the day." There's something -- There's creative power from its Maker -- 41:40 the Maker of all things, Who loves me. If the Maker is not having His 41:44 creative power in me, then there's no -- who needs the Sabbath? 41:48 Hey, listen carefully. The Sabbath is not Fourth of July. 41:50 "Yo, I love Fourth of July! I love hot dogs. I love -- I love 41:55 corn on the cob. I love watching fireworks at the end of the day. 41:58 I love the Fourth of July." The Sabbath is not the Fourth of July. 42:01 It's not Christmas. It's not Thanksgiving. It's not a holiday. 42:08 It is the only holy day... of every week. By the way, that's what 42:18 "holiday" means. They took the two words "holy day" and they said, "Well, 42:21 we have so many holy days around here, we'll just call them 'holidays.'" 42:24 The Sabbath is not a holiday. That is secular. The Sabbath is a holy day. 42:29 That is sacred. And there's a world of difference, because it has God 42:34 inside it. You can feel the sizzling power of the Creator Himself 42:40 embedded in His day. "It's all about Jesus. You don't have to give me a 42:44 lecture. It's all about Jesus." I understand that. 42:47 Wow. Oh, come on, Kubo, keep going. "Okay," Kubo says, "I will." 42:52 "Holiness --" Oh, this is going to make you think. You can't blow this one by. 42:55 You won't get it the first time, but that's okay. "Holiness of being must match 43:00 holiness of time. Holiness of time --" his emphasis -- "Holiness of time 43:08 must become holiness in time." Something feels very right about that sentence, but it took 43:16 me a long time to figure it out. Then, I found another sentence he wrote, a couple pages later. 43:23 "Ooh, ooh, ooh, I got it." So I'm going to add that sentence. 43:27 "The Sabbath does not stand simply for holiness of time or holy time, but holiness in time, 43:34 or holy people." Yep, it is holy time. The majesty of holiness in 43:39 time -- of course it is. But it's not just about time. It's about people. 43:43 "I give myself wholly to you. Please, you give yourself wholly to Me. 43:50 It's you and Me. It's all about you and Me." Is that bad news or good news? 43:56 That's the greatest news in the universe. He wants time with me. 44:00 And so He gives me that day. "It's going to be you and Me together." 44:03 And next week, by the way, we're getting down to brass tacks. "Now, come on, Dwight, how do we 44:07 really do this?" We'll talk about that next week. "Come on, how do we really do it 44:10 on a campus?" We'll talk about that next week. "I've given you this day, 44:16 embedded Myself in it. Come to Me. Run to Me. 44:20 Let Me hold -- Let Me hug you. Let Me love on you." That's what the Sabbath is. 44:25 It's about relationship, holy people, people who are wholly His. 44:30 That's all it's saying. "You can't get to heaven without us." 44:33 Oh, don't get me going on that. I'm not worried about that, because there's one verse in the 44:37 Bible, came to me while Pastor Ben was praying in second service. 44:40 So those of you who were sitting up here saw a little bit of movement going back and forth, 44:44 because I sent word up, "Hey, I need this text right now and these notes." 44:48 And they got it. We got an incredible media team. On the spot, they make changes. 44:54 And so we're adding this -- 1 Corinthians 1:30. I love this text. Watch this. 44:59 This will knock your socks off. Paul is writing to the saints who used to have STDs, okay? 45:05 So we're talking about, you know, mm-hmm. "It is because of Him that you 45:11 are in Christ Jesus, who has become for you and me -- He has become for us wisdom from 45:17 God -- that is --" Paul says He's become for us -- "our righteousness --" He's become 45:23 for us -- what's the next word? >> Holiness. 45:26 >> Our "holiness, and he's become our redemption." He's everything. 45:31 "I'll be your holiness. Let me become holiness for you. I am wholly yours. 45:37 You be wholly Mine. I'll take care of it all." Hey, is that good news or what? 45:43 "I am your holiness." Wow. Talking about power. 45:50 Whoo! [ Chuckles ] Hey, have you driven down by the dam here in the village of 45:55 Berrien Springs? Anybody driven down by the dam lately? 45:58 Come on. Do you know that they spent, like, months -- I don't know how 46:02 long -- but they have been constructing this very classy-looking electrical 46:06 substation. Have you driven down there? It's beautiful. 46:10 It's a work of art. And they spent months. But I'll tell you this. 46:14 There is a chain-link fence around it right now, and repeated warnings affixed to it 46:20 that declare, "Danger. High voltage." [ Chuckles ] 46:26 Sometimes -- it's true -- Sometimes you can hear the sizzle of the power. 46:35 Jesus says, "Hey, in the beginning, I gave you the Sabbath, with Me in it. 46:42 Power. And it will sizzle with the evidence I can change 46:52 anything that needs changing in your life." Remember, holiness is what 47:01 opens the door to the universe. "I am your holiness. You know that room that you've 47:08 been hiding from Me in your heart? Of course, you can't hide it 47:12 from Me. I've known about it. I'm waiting for the day when you 47:14 say, 'Lord, You can have that room.' You know that little corner 47:20 of your life that you've been hiding from Me? You haven't hid a thing from Me. 47:25 I'm waiting for the day that you say, 'Lord, You may have this corner of my life.' 47:29 Just give it to Me. I am wholly yours. And I need you to be wholly 47:34 Mine. I'll take care of everything. I am your holiness." 47:40 [ Chuckling ] Wow. Man, come on, guys. Help me out here. 47:45 Is this good news or is this bad news? I'm telling you, it's the 47:48 greatest news. It's the greatest news that is not known today, because the 47:53 world has blown the seventh day out of the water. Yep, "Aw, we don't need 47:57 that day. We have our own." And there is a church on this 48:01 planet today that says, "Yep, we did it." And everybody else says, "Well, 48:05 see, that's why we have another one." Come on. 48:09 You can't be serious. This is the truth that God is going to begin to 48:16 percolate. He'll find ways. 48:19 He'll find ways to make sure the truth about the Creator will 48:24 return one last time, even to academia. 48:29 Some of you were placed in academia because you're part of 48:31 a strategic movement from God to tell the truth. 48:37 Don't you belittle that. Don't you say, "I'm not going to 48:40 be concerned with that. I teach in a parochial school, 48:42 and that's all I have to worry about -- just to make sure these 48:45 kids know what's right and wrong." 48:46 No, that's not enough. You have colleagues 48:49 all over this planet. 48:50 And you have credibility. I was talking with a lawyer, this last week. 48:55 He showed me the law firm he belongs to. My Lord. 49:00 Washington, D.C. One of our members here belongs to that firm. 49:06 Why is he in the firm? [ Chuckles ] Because God needs His agents 49:10 everywhere. Don't you ever apologize for being a Sabbatarian. 49:14 Mnh-mnh. Don't you ever apologize for being a Sabbatarian. 49:18 You're that for a reason, because of Jesus. And He needs you to live out the 49:23 truth of that holy day that is wholly His, even as He is wholly yours. 49:31 "Live it for Me." That's it. I'm stopping this right here. 49:40 It's the good news of the Sabbath that we've forgotten. It's the good news of the 49:44 Sabbath we have forgotten. It's a holy day. "I'm wholly yours. 49:51 And you, please, be wholly Mine." I think it's beautiful. 49:56 Just between you and me, I think it's beautiful. And I want it to be beautiful 50:02 in your life and in your heart right now. Yeah, as simple as saying, 50:07 "Jesus, wholly Yours, I am. Help me to find how this day accentuates that gift -- 50:19 the gift of You." Let's pray. Oh, God, oh, Christ, 50:24 I am wholly Yours. We get it. Calvary's outstretched arms. 50:28 Who could argue with that? And for You to then turn around -- this is nothing 50:33 unusual at all -- every wedding does it -- for you to turn around and say, "I need you to 50:37 be wholly Mine," on behalf of all of us -- because there's not a soul right now, in this 50:45 sanctuary, on this livestream, that is not saying, "I want to be wholly His, I want to be 50:54 wholly Jesus', belong wholly to Him" -- oh, Christ, draw us near. 51:04 And as You do -- maybe in the end, this is what you want -- 51:12 draw us near so that we become more and more like You. 51:23 Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the 51:29 Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. You will make that line 51:39 come true by Your grace, in the end, that all the people say "Amen." 51:48 Yeah, amen, amen. Alright, singers, come on out here. 51:51 Come on out here, singers. We got to end with this great old gospel hymn. 51:56 While they're coming up, let me just remind you that we have an electronic Connect Card today. 52:02 You just go to our -- Get your little cellphone out and 269-281-2345 -- our code today. 52:09 Just text the word "Banner4" and it'll take you to this Connect Card. 52:15 Let me just show you this before the singers get their voices 52:18 going here. "To the One who declares He is 52:20 wholly mine, I wish to respond, 'I am wholly Yours.'" 52:24 I know that's your desire. And that's mine. 52:26 You put a checkmark there. Now, lookit, this is a little 52:28 different. "I want to find the holiness of 52:30 Jesus in the seventh-day Sabbath and begin keeping the Sabbath 52:33 with Him. Please pray for me." 52:35 If you put a checkmark there, and I have your contact -- there 52:38 will be a place to give me an e-mail address -- I will be 52:40 personally praying for you. I will personally pray for you. 52:44 You've never kept the Sabbath -- seventh-day Sabbath -- before, 52:47 but you say, "Listen, I'm just going to try it," my friend, God 52:51 will honor that. You're not going to have a 52:53 hard time, trust me. We'll talk more about this 52:56 next week. Okay, box number 3, "Please send 52:58 me the Bible study material on the Sabbath." 53:01 You put a checkmark there, and give me an e-mail address, we'll 53:04 send it to you. And finally, number 4, "I want 53:06 to be baptized and follow Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath." 53:10 Hallelujah. Why not? You've been putting it off. 53:13 You've been saying, "No, I'm not going to go to Jesus yet." 53:16 My friend, this is the year that you and Jesus, He who gave 53:21 Himself wholly for you... Baptism says, "I'm wholly 53:24 Yours." It's a beautiful service. 53:26 You're not going to be baptized next week, but if you'll put 53:29 your name and give me an e-mail address, we'll start planning 53:31 with you. We'll make it the happiest day 53:33 of your life. 53:34 Alright, "Take Time to Be Holy." Come on, that's a great gospel song. 53:37 Teach it to us, please. [ "Take Time to Be Holy" plays ] >> We'd like you all to sing 53:42 our final song together. 53:44 ♪♪ ♪♪ 54:39 ♪♪ 56:14 [ Instrumental music plays ] ♪♪ 56:23 [ Music fades ] >> "And, looking to Jesus, 56:28 still trust in His Word." Let us pray. 56:34 Dearest Heavenly Father, You have promised that by 56:39 beholding You, we become changed. 56:43 You promised that You will give us Your holiness. 56:49 And so, God, as we leave this place, help us to be wholly 56:52 Thine, as You are wholly ours. 56:56 I pray that You'll bless us, You'll keep us, You'll watch over us. 57:01 In Your sweet name. Amen. >> Amen. 57:07 >> We've been really blessed by the financial support that comes 57:09 from our viewers, and we've made a conscious decision not to 57:12 continually appeal to you for that support. 57:15 The fact is, as everyone in the industry will tell you, we're 57:18 needing to make constant upgrades to our technology. 57:21 So if God has blessed you and you'd like to further the work 57:24 of this ministry, we invite you to partner with us. 57:26 Not a single penny of your donation will go to me. 57:29 Every bit of your gift goes to the mission of blessing your 57:32 community and our world. You can donate on our website, 57:35 newperceptions.tv. Or call the number. 57:38 You know the number -- 877-HIS-WILL. 57:41 Again, that number is 877 -- the two words "HIS-WILL." 57:45 And may the God who has blessed you continue to pour into your 57:48 life the gifts of His joy and His hope. 57:51 Thank you. And I'm looking forward to 57:53 seeing you, right here, again, next time. 57:59 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:20 ♪♪ |
Revised 2022-02-15