Positive news 1 John 5:20 NKJV And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ, This is the true God and eternal life.

STORACALS OF PROPHECY. Hello friends, family, and my brothers, and sisters in Christ. This is Brother Johnny Gass. Welcome to Bible study. Study to show thyself to approved unto God, a Workman unashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 Please share these lessons with everyone you know for the expansion of the kingdom of God. A Tale of Two Women. A hush fell over the royal judgment hall, and all eyes were fixed on King Solomon. His servants wondered how the young monarch would resolve this perplexing case. Two single mothers were sharing a room, and each gave birth to a baby boy at about the same time. During the night, one of the mothers had accidentally turned over and smothered her son. When she awoke early and saw her child was cold and still, the distraught woman took her roommate's sleeping baby to herself and laid her dead baby in its place. Later the other mother awoke, saw the dead baby, and began to wail with grief. But after examining the infant, she quickly realized that it was not her child. Across the room, she could see her roommate tightly clutching her baby. Now both women stood before the king, tugging for possession of the living infant. "This child is mine!" one shouted. "No, the dead baby was yours!" the other countered. How would the king determine which was the true mother? Solomon interrupted their debate and told a guard to take a sword and divide the living infant in two. At first the soldier thought the king was jesting, but Solomon began to glare at the guard's hesitation. Slowly he drew his sharp, gleaming sword and made his way toward the woman holding the baby. Suddenly the true mother threw herself at the king's feet and pleaded,?"Let her have the child, but please do not slay it!" But the other woman said, "Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it." Now Solomon knew without a doubt who was the true mother. In prophecy, a woman is a symbol of a church (Jeremiah 6:2). With so many churches in the last days, how can we distinguish the true, last-day church that has the living Son from the counterfeits? Like Solomon, we must use the sword of God's Word (Hebrews 4:12)! 1. How does Revelation picture God's true church? Revelation 12:1, 2, 5. A _______ clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. ... And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: In Bible prophecy, God's church is symbolized by a pure woman (Jeremiah 6:2). In Revelation 12, this woman is clothed with the sun, moon, and stars--the natural light of God's creation. Jesus told the church, "Ye are the light of the world." Matthew 5:14. The sun represents the light of Jesus (Psalms 84:11; Malachi 4:2). The moon under her feet represents the types and shadows of the Old Testament sacrificial system. As the moon reflects the light of the sun, so the sacrificial system was helpful because it reflected the light of the Messiah to come (Colossians 2:16, 17; Hebrews 10:1). The 12 stars above her head symbolize the leadership of the church--12 tribes in the Old Testament and 12 apostles in the New Testament. The one who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron is Jesus (Psalms 2:7-9; Revelation 19:13-16). 2. Who is the "great red dragon," and what does he try to do? Revelation 12:9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and _______. Revelation 12:4 The dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: The dragon is Satan, who at the time of Jesus' birth was working through the pagan Roman Empire. Satan influenced Herod, a ruler under Rome, to try to murder baby Jesus by killing all the infants in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16). 3. What happens after Satan fails to destroy Jesus? Revelation 12:5. And her child was caught __ unto God, and to his throne. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: After His resurrection, Jesus ascended up to heaven and to God's throne (Acts 1:9-11), where He was beyond the reach of Satan. 4. After Jesus was caught up to heaven, what did Satan do to the church? Revelation 12:13. When the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he ________ the woman which brought forth the man child. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: When Satan could no longer vent his hatred on Jesus, he decided to hurt Jesus by turning his fury against the church. 5. Where did the woman go during this terrifying period of persecution? How long did it last? Revelation 12:6. And the woman fled into the _________, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: The woman (God's church) fled into the wilderness (the remote places of earth) to hide from her enemies. It is a well-known historical fact that during the Dark Ages, God's people fled to the caves and solitary places of earth, including the shores of America, to seek religious freedom and protection from papal persecution. The 1,260 days (also described in the Bible as 42 months or as three and a half years) refers to the terrible 1,260-year period of persecution during which millions died for their faith. During this time period, God's church was alive but was not identifiable as an official, visible organization. (See the supplement entitled "Years of Persecution.") 6. What are two other identifying marks of God's true church? Revelation 12:17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the ____________ of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: God's remnant church, into which He is calling all His people, will keep God's Ten Commandments (including the Sabbath). It will also have the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit, or gift, of prophecy (Revelation 19:10). God calls His end-time church "the remnant," because it is identical in doctrine and characteristics to the apostolic church. A "remnant" is the last remaining portion of a bolt of cloth. It is exactly like the first piece from the same bolt. 7. How did Jesus say that we demonstrate our love for Him? John 14:15. If ye love me, _____ my commandments. 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we __________ his commandments. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: In our opening story, Solomon was able to identify the true mother by her genuine display of love. In the same way, God's true church will be recognized by its sacrificial love and its willingness to obey His commandments. 8. What three angelic messages will God's end-time church be preaching? Revelation 14:7. Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his ___________ is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. Revelation 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Revelation 14:9, 10 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: These three angelic statements represent the three urgent messages that God's church will preach before Jesus returns. 9. To whom will God's church preach these messages? Revelation 14:6. Having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to _____ nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: God's end-time church will preach this great three-point message to every nation on earth. 10. What specifications has God given in His Word to help us positively identify His end-time church? Revelation 12:17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the ______ of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. 1. It will appear and do its visible work after it emerges from the wilderness in 1798 (Revelation 12:6, 13-17). 2. It will teach the same truths the apostles taught, and all of its teachings will agree with the Bible (Revelation 12:17). 3. It will keep the Ten Commandments, including the Bible Sabbath (Revelation 12:17). 4. It will have the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 12:17; 19:10). 5. It will proclaim God's three end-time messages with a loud voice (Revelation 14:6-14). 6. It will be a worldwide movement (Revelation 14:6). 7. It will teach the everlasting gospel, which is salvation through Jesus Christ alone (Revelation 14:6). Answer : ____________________ NOTE: Many lovely Christians are members of churches that do not meet the above seven specifications. However, no such church can be God's remnant into which He is calling all His sincere children, because His end-time church must meet all seven specifications. 11. Jesus gives you these seven prophetic identification points and then says, "Go and find My church." What does He promise regarding your search? Luke 11:9. Seek, and ye shall ______. Answer : ____________________ 12. How many church organizations in the world will fit these seven points? Ephesians 4:5. One Lord, one _____, one baptism. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: Only one church in the entire world fits all of these specifications--the Seventh-day Adventist church, which is bringing you these seminar messages. It is right now preaching the great three angels' messages of Revelation 14:6-12 all over the world. Millions are responding. 13. Many denominations call themselves Christian. Does that make them God's true church? Isaiah 4:1. And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own _______ and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: Bread is a symbol of the Word of God (John 6:35, 51, 52, 63), and apparel is a symbol of righteousness (Revelation 19:8). The seven women in this prophecy have their own bread (concept of truth) and want to keep their own clothing (righteousness). They do not want the spotless robes of Christ's righteousness. All they want is to take the name of Jesus, probably because the Bible says, "There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12. 14. Once a person discovers God's true end-time church, is it necessary to become a member? Acts 2:47. And the Lord _____ to the church daily such as should be saved. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: Yes, membership in God's end-time church is imperative. Notice how clearly God answers this question about membership: --We are all called into one body (Colossians 3:15). --That body is the church (Colossians 1:18). --We enter that body by baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13). It is just as imperative to enter God's church today as it was to enter the ark in Noah's day. The Lord says, "Come thou and all thy house into the ark." Genesis 7:1. 15. How many ways of escape were there in Noah's day? Hebrews 11:7. By faith Noah ... prepared an ___ to the saving of his house. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: Jesus says that the time just before His second coming will be like Noah's day (Luke 17:26). There will be only one way of escape, just as there was only one ark in Noah's day. 16. Since there are many faithful Christians in other churches and since God has only one true remnant, what will happen to these sincere Christians? John 10:16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall _____ my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Revelation 18:2, 4 Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. ... come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. Answer : ____________________ NOTE: Jesus will call all of His faithful, honest followers to come out of Babylon. They will hear His voice, respond, and enter His one true, end-time church. 17. Jesus is calling you today to enter the safety of His great end-time church. You are very precious to Him. Will you respond now to His call? Answer : ____________________ Supplemental Study Years of Persecution The 1,260 years of tribulation is repeatedly mentioned in the Bible, because historically it was the worst ever to face God's people (Matthew 24:21). It is referred to as 1,260 days, 42 months, and three and one-half times, or years (Revelation 12:6, 14 13:5 Daniel 7:25). Using the Jewish calendar, which had 360 days in a year, all three add up to the same amount of time - 1,260 years. One prophetic day equals one literal year (Ezekiel 4:6 Numbers 14:34). History clearly shows that the papacy was the power which persecuted for 1,260 years. The period began in A.D. 538, when papal power became supreme in Christendom according to the decree of Roman Emperor Justinian. In it, he acknowledged the bishop of Rome as the head of all churches. This letter became a part of Justinian's Code, the fundamental law of the empire. The period ended in 1798 when Napoleon's general, Alexander Berthier, took the pope captive. At least 50 million Christians died for their faith during this period of persecution. Three Crucial Points Three facts of utmost importance to God's people are established in Revelation 12:10-12. These facts are: 1. Jesus defeated Satan, the accuser of the brethren, at the cross. 2. All of us can overcome him through the blood of Jesus and by sharing our testimonies. 3. The devil is infuriated because he knows that his time is short. We cannot expect him to behave like a gentleman. He is our bitterest enemy. The message is that Jesus, who has defeated Satan, offers His matchless power to us as a free gift. With Jesus' power in our lives, we cannot fail. Satan's fury need not affect us. He is a defeated foe. He was defeated in the war in heaven and cast out. He was defeated by Jesus at the cross and lost his dominion. He will be defeated legally in his case in the judgment, and he will again be defeated when he attacks God's holy city. Finally, he will suffer the defeat of being blotted from the face of the earth in the lake of fire. And, most wonderful of all, Jesus promises that he will be defeated in his bitter fight to destroy you and me. What a tremendous message of hope from Jesus! To learn more about our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, and the Sabbath, please visit your local Seventh-day Adventist Church. Or please visit us at Rossville Seventh-day Adventist Church, located at 1737 Mission Ridge Road, Rossville Georgia 30741 Pastor; Greg Hudson Services start at 11am on Saturday (Sabbath) morning.

"And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached" (Luke 7:21-22). John the Baptist sent two disciples to Jesus with the question, "Art thou he that should come? or look we for another." Apparently John had allowed some doubts to enter his mind concerning Jesus. He had announced Jesus at Jordan, "Behold the Lamb of God," but now he was in doubt. Instead of Jesus sending back just a simple answer, He demonstrates His power before these disciples. They saw the blind given sight; they witnessed men delivered from infirmities, plagues and evil spirits. They were now able to return to John with positive proof for they had actually seen the power of God in demonstration. There can be no greater proof than that of miracles which bear evidence of the power of God. The miracles gave proof of the true identity of our Lord. Someone has said that the miracles performed by our Lord were His credentials. They were signs revealing His true nature and mission. We can see the personality and nature of Jesus Himself in each of His miracles. For example: 1) The miracle of feeding the multitude reveals Him as the Bread of life; 2) The miracle of healing the blind man reveals Him as the Light of the world; 3) The miracle of raising Lazarus reveals Him as the Resurrection and the Life.

Sabbath Truth # 13 7 Facts About the Seventh Day. Adapted from Why God Said Remember by Joe Crews. Part of Satan’s strategy to destroy humanity’s trust in God has been to attack His claim as the Creator. Obviously, the theory of evolution is part of this deceptive and soul-destroying effort. With its amoral humanistic emphasis, Darwin’s doctrine has turned millions into religious skeptics and enshrouded in darkness their need for the Savior. Yet while many Christians rightly denounce this unscientific belief, ironically, many are still falling into the devil’s trap of denying God’s sovereignty over the earth. That trap is the ages-long effort to twist and destroy the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. Through Satan’s false information and man’s trust in traditions over the sure word of Scripture, millions of Christians have been led to discount or even reject the importance of observing the Sabbath. “The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord: … in it thou shalt not do any work” (Exodus 20:10). No one disagrees with the clear meaning of this text, yet millions are finding ways not to follow it. Why? The general Bible ignorance of the church and the clever arguments of Satan have created a climate of prejudice against the holiness of the seventh day in favor of the observance of Sunday. So in the interest of promoting God’s law over the theories of men, let’s take a moment to rediscover some amazing facts about the seventh-day Sabbath. Fact #1: The Seventh-day Sabbath Establishes God’s Sovereignty Why does Satan hate the Sabbath so much? Because the Sabbath identifies the true God and His claim of ultimate sovereignty. God certainly anticipated the controversy over the Genesis account of Creation. He knew that after the fall of man, there would be doubts about His claims of manufacturing all the staggering mass of matter by merely commanding it to exist. To safeguard His sovereignty, He established a mark that denoted His absolute right to rule as Lord. He chose to memorialize His display of creative power by setting aside the seventh day of the Creation week as a holy day of rest and remembering. God wrote these words: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work. … For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is: … wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11). Once a week, as the earth rotates on its axis through space, the Sabbath reminder travels around the earth reaching every man, woman, and child with the message of an instant creation and the one who did the creating. Why did God say remember? Because to forget the true Sabbath is to forget the true Creator. Does it really matter that much? See “The One Unimportant Commandment?” below. Fact #2: The Seventh-day Sabbath Was Made for Everyone A multitude of Christians call God’s fourth commandment the “Jewish Sabbath.” But nowhere is this expression found in the Bible. The seventh day is called “the sabbath of the Lord,” and it is never called “the sabbath of the Jew” (Exodus 20:10). Luke, a Gentile writer of the New Testament, often refers to things that were particularly Jewish. He writes of the “nation of the Jews,” “the people of the Jews,” “the land of the Jews,” and the “synagogue of the Jews” (Acts 10:22; 12:11; 10:39; 14:1). But he never refers to the “Sabbath of the Jews,” although he mentions the Sabbath repeatedly. Christ also taught that “the sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27). Adam and Eve were the only two people who existed when God actually established the Sabbath. There were no Jews in the world until 2,000 years later, so it was never meant just for the Jews. Jesus uses the term “man” in the generic sense, referring to all mankind. The same word is used in connection with the institution of marriage that was also introduced at creation. Certainly no Christian can believe that marriage was made only for the Jews. Fact #3: It’s Not About Just Keeping Any Day Every word of God’s Ten Commandments was written by His own hand in stone. Every word is serious and meaningful. No line in them is ambiguous or mysterious. Sinners and Christians, educated and uneducated, are not confused about the words “seventh day.” So why do they discount those words if every other word in the commandments is considered to be ironclad? Satan wants the world to accept Sunday as the day he has chosen for worship, but any day will do for him so long as it means we’re breaking God’s command. Genesis describes the origin of the Sabbath like this: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made. … And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:1–3). Which day did God bless and sanctify? The seventh day. How was it to be kept holy? By resting. Could any of the other six be kept holy? No. Why? Because God commanded not to rest those days but to work. Does God’s blessing make a difference? Of course. Parents pray for God to bless their children because they believe it makes a difference. The seventh day is different from all the other days because it has God’s blessing. Has God ever given man the privilege of choosing his own day of rest? No. In fact, God confirms in the Bible that the Sabbath is a matter settled and sealed by His own divine power. Read Exodus 16. For 40 years, God worked three miracles every week to show Israel which day was holy: (1) No manna fell on the seventh day; (2) they could not keep manna overnight without spoilage; (3) but when they kept manna over the Sabbath, it remained sweet and fresh! But some Israelites had the same idea as many Christians have today. They felt that any day in seven would be okay to keep holy: “It came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.” What happened? “And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Exodus 16:27, 28). God met them and accused them of breaking His law by going forth to work on the seventh day. Would God say the same thing to those who break the Sabbath today? Yes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). But why the seventh day, exactly? See “Why the Seventh Day?” below. Fact #4: We Know the True Seventh Day Some reject the seventh-day Sabbath over the belief that we cannot know which day it falls on today, so picking any day should be okay. But this is fallacy. Here are four proofs that identify the true Sabbath. 1: According to Scripture, Christ died on Friday and rose on Sunday, the first day of the week. Practically all churches acknowledge this by observing Easter Sunday and Good Friday. “This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. The women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment” (Luke 23:52–56). This is clear evidence that Jesus died the day before the Sabbath! The day of His death was a “preparation day” because it was the time to get ready for the Sabbath. Notice, then, that the women rested over the Sabbath “according to the commandment.” The commandment says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath,” so we know they were resting on Saturday. The very next verse says, “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared. … And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre” (Luke 24:1, 2). 2: The calendar has not been changed so as to confuse the days of the week. Just as we know that Jesus and His followers observed the same day as Moses, we can be positive that our seventh day is the same day Jesus observed. Pope Gregory XIII did make a calendar change in 1582, but it did not interfere with the weekly cycle. What did Gregory do to the calendar? He changed Friday, October 5, 1582, to be Friday, October 15, 1582. He did not affect the weekly cycle of days. 3: The Jews have observed the seventh day from the time of Abraham, and they still keep it today. An entire nation of people, all around the world, continue to observe a Sabbath they have known for more than 4,000 years. 4: Over 100 languages on earth use the word “Sabbath” for Saturday. For example, the Spanish word for Saturday is “Sabado,” meaning Sabbath. What does this prove? It proves that when those languages originated long ago, Saturday was recognized as the Sabbath day and was incorporated into the very name of the day. Fact #5: The Sabbath Is Not a Memorial of Deliverance Out of Egypt This is a belief taken and twisted out of the Old Testament: “The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:14, 15). Some people suggest this means that God gave the Sabbath as a memorial of the Exodus from Egypt. But the Genesis story of the making of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1–3) and the wording of the fourth commandment by God (Exodus 20:11) reveals the seventh-day Sabbath as a memorial of creation. The key to understanding these two verses rests in the word “servant.” God said, “Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt.” And in the sentence before, He reminds them “that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.” In other words, their experience in Egypt as servants would remind them to deal justly with their servants by giving them Sabbath rest. It was not unusual for God to harken back to the Egyptian deliverance as an incentive to obey other commandments. In Deuteronomy 24:17, 18, the Bible says, “Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge. … Thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.” Neither the command to be just nor to keep the Sabbath was given to memorialize the Exodus, but God told them that His goodness in bringing them out of captivity constituted a strong reason for them to deal kindly with their servants on the Sabbath and treating justly the strangers and widows. In the same way, God spoke to them in Leviticus 11:45, “I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt … ye shall therefore be holy.” No one would insist that holiness did not exist before the Exodus or that it would be ever afterwards limited only to the Jews! Fact #6: The Sabbath Is Not Meant to Memorialize the Resurrection It is true that Jesus rose on a Sunday. It is one of the pivotal moments in the history of the world. But nowhere does the Bible hint that we should keep Sunday holy. Many other wonderful events occurred on certain days of the week, but we have no command to keep them holy either. There is, of course, a memorial of the resurrection commanded in the Bible, but it is not to determine a new day of worship. Paul wrote: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Baptism is the memorial of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. However, the Sabbath is a memorial of creation. Still have a question about this? See “The Upper Room” below. Fact #7: The Sabbath Will Be Celebrated for Eternity The Sabbath is an arbitrary arrangement of God that serves a powerful purpose. It is His claim — His seal — over the world and all human life. It is also a sign of the redemption He offers to every single one of us. Surely this is why God will preserve Sabbathkeeping throughout eternity. That’s right! “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 66:22, 23). The Sabbath is so precious to God that He will have His people observe it throughout all time in the beautiful new earth to come. If it is so precious to Him, should it not be precious to us? If we are going to keep it through all eternity, why not keep it now as our pledge of obedience to Him? Trust and Obey: There Is No Other Way It is easy to understand why the devil has waged a continuing, desperate battle against the seventh-day Sabbath. He has worked through the pride of tradition, misinformation, and religious bigotry to destroy the sanctity of God’s special sign of authority — the Sabbath. But with these Sabbath facts in hand, may God grant every Christian the courage to honor the Sabbath commandment as His special test of our love and loyalty. It might be a duty to keep the seventh-day holy. But it should not be a burden. In an age of false gods and spirituality, of atheistic evolution, and the stubborn traditions of men, the world needs the Sabbath more than ever. It is more than just a test of our loyalty to the Creator. It is more than just a sign of our sanctification through His power. It is His promise of a lasting, eternal gift of restoration. The One Unimportant Commandment? God made it very clear that, regardless of feelings, those who abuse the Sabbath are guilty of breaking His law. James explains that it is a sin to break even one of the Ten Commandments: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:10, 11). Most of the commandments begin with the same words: ‘‘Thou shalt not.’’ But the fourth commandment is introduced with the word “Remember.” Why? Because God was commanding them to call something to memory that already existed but had been forgotten. Why the Seventh Day? Why did God bless the seventh day as a day of worship? Because He had just created the world in six days. It was a memorial to the birth of the world, a reason to remember that mighty act. So could the Sabbath memorial be changed? No. Because it points backward to an accomplished fact. For instance, July 4 is Independence Day in the United States. Can it be changed? No. Because the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. Your birthday cannot be changed either. It is a memorial of your birth, which happened on a set day. History would have to run through again to change your birthday, to change Independence Day, or to change the Sabbath day. We can call another day Independence Day, and we can call another day the Sabbath, but that does not make it so. The Upper Room Those who believe that Sunday worship honors the resurrection of Jesus often cite the upper room meeting of the disciples on the same day that He rose from the grave. They argue that this gathering was meant to celebrate His resurrection. But the Bible record of the event reveals another set of circumstances. Mark writes that even though the disciples were confronted with the eyewitness story of Mary, they “believed not. After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen” (Mark 16:11–14). Obviously, none of those upper room disciples believed that He was raised from the dead, so they could not have been joyously celebrating the resurrection. John explains their reason for being together with these words: “The doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19). Adapted from Why God Said Remember by Joe Crews. Part of Satan’s strategy to destroy humanity’s trust in God has been to attack His claim as the Creator. Obviously, the theory of evolution is part of this deceptive and soul-destroying effort. With its amoral humanistic emphasis, Darwin’s doctrine has turned millions into religious skeptics and enshrouded in darkness their need for the Savior. Yet while many Christians rightly denounce this unscientific belief, ironically, many are still falling into the devil’s trap of denying God’s sovereignty over the earth. That trap is the ages-long effort to twist and destroy the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. Through Satan’s false information and man’s trust in traditions over the sure word of Scripture, millions of Christians have been led to discount or even reject the importance of observing the Sabbath. “The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord: … in it thou shalt not do any work” (Exodus 20:10). No one disagrees with the clear meaning of this text, yet millions are finding ways not to follow it. Why? The general Bible ignorance of the church and the clever arguments of Satan have created a climate of prejudice against the holiness of the seventh day in favor of the observance of Sunday. So in the interest of promoting God’s law over the theories of men, let’s take a moment to rediscover some amazing facts about the seventh-day Sabbath. Fact #1: The Seventh-day Sabbath Establishes God’s Sovereignty Why does Satan hate the Sabbath so much? Because the Sabbath identifies the true God and His claim of ultimate sovereignty. God certainly anticipated the controversy over the Genesis account of Creation. He knew that after the fall of man, there would be doubts about His claims of manufacturing all the staggering mass of matter by merely commanding it to exist. To safeguard His sovereignty, He established a mark that denoted His absolute right to rule as Lord. He chose to memorialize His display of creative power by setting aside the seventh day of the Creation week as a holy day of rest and remembering. God wrote these words: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work. … For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is: … wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11). Once a week, as the earth rotates on its axis through space, the Sabbath reminder travels around the earth reaching every man, woman, and child with the message of an instant creation and the one who did the creating. Why did God say remember? Because to forget the true Sabbath is to forget the true Creator. Does it really matter that much? See “The One Unimportant Commandment?” below. Fact #2: The Seventh-day Sabbath Was Made for Everyone A multitude of Christians call God’s fourth commandment the “Jewish Sabbath.” But nowhere is this expression found in the Bible. The seventh day is called “the sabbath of the Lord,” and it is never called “the sabbath of the Jew” (Exodus 20:10). Luke, a Gentile writer of the New Testament, often refers to things that were particularly Jewish. He writes of the “nation of the Jews,” “the people of the Jews,” “the land of the Jews,” and the “synagogue of the Jews” (Acts 10:22; 12:11; 10:39; 14:1). But he never refers to the “Sabbath of the Jews,” although he mentions the Sabbath repeatedly. Christ also taught that “the sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27). Adam and Eve were the only two people who existed when God actually established the Sabbath. There were no Jews in the world until 2,000 years later, so it was never meant just for the Jews. Jesus uses the term “man” in the generic sense, referring to all mankind. The same word is used in connection with the institution of marriage that was also introduced at creation. Certainly no Christian can believe that marriage was made only for the Jews. Fact #3: It’s Not About Just Keeping Any Day Every word of God’s Ten Commandments was written by His own hand in stone. Every word is serious and meaningful. No line in them is ambiguous or mysterious. Sinners and Christians, educated and uneducated, are not confused about the words “seventh day.” So why do they discount those words if every other word in the commandments is considered to be ironclad? Satan wants the world to accept Sunday as the day he has chosen for worship, but any day will do for him so long as it means we’re breaking God’s command. Genesis describes the origin of the Sabbath like this: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made. … And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:1–3). Which day did God bless and sanctify? The seventh day. How was it to be kept holy? By resting. Could any of the other six be kept holy? No. Why? Because God commanded not to rest those days but to work. Does God’s blessing make a difference? Of course. Parents pray for God to bless their children because they believe it makes a difference. The seventh day is different from all the other days because it has God’s blessing. Has God ever given man the privilege of choosing his own day of rest? No. In fact, God confirms in the Bible that the Sabbath is a matter settled and sealed by His own divine power. Read Exodus 16. For 40 years, God worked three miracles every week to show Israel which day was holy: (1) No manna fell on the seventh day; (2) they could not keep manna overnight without spoilage; (3) but when they kept manna over the Sabbath, it remained sweet and fresh! But some Israelites had the same idea as many Christians have today. They felt that any day in seven would be okay to keep holy: “It came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.” What happened? “And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Exodus 16:27, 28). God met them and accused them of breaking His law by going forth to work on the seventh day. Would God say the same thing to those who break the Sabbath today? Yes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). But why the seventh day, exactly? See “Why the Seventh Day?” below. Fact #4: We Know the True Seventh Day Some reject the seventh-day Sabbath over the belief that we cannot know which day it falls on today, so picking any day should be okay. But this is fallacy. Here are four proofs that identify the true Sabbath. 1: According to Scripture, Christ died on Friday and rose on Sunday, the first day of the week. Practically all churches acknowledge this by observing Easter Sunday and Good Friday. “This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. The women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment” (Luke 23:52–56). This is clear evidence that Jesus died the day before the Sabbath! The day of His death was a “preparation day” because it was the time to get ready for the Sabbath. Notice, then, that the women rested over the Sabbath “according to the commandment.” The commandment says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath,” so we know they were resting on Saturday. The very next verse says, “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared. … And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre” (Luke 24:1, 2). 2: The calendar has not been changed so as to confuse the days of the week. Just as we know that Jesus and His followers observed the same day as Moses, we can be positive that our seventh day is the same day Jesus observed. Pope Gregory XIII did make a calendar change in 1582, but it did not interfere with the weekly cycle. What did Gregory do to the calendar? He changed Friday, October 5, 1582, to be Friday, October 15, 1582. He did not affect the weekly cycle of days. 3: The Jews have observed the seventh day from the time of Abraham, and they still keep it today. An entire nation of people, all around the world, continue to observe a Sabbath they have known for more than 4,000 years. 4: Over 100 languages on earth use the word “Sabbath” for Saturday. For example, the Spanish word for Saturday is “Sabado,” meaning Sabbath. What does this prove? It proves that when those languages originated long ago, Saturday was recognized as the Sabbath day and was incorporated into the very name of the day. Fact #5: The Sabbath Is Not a Memorial of Deliverance Out of Egypt This is a belief taken and twisted out of the Old Testament: “The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:14, 15). Some people suggest this means that God gave the Sabbath as a memorial of the Exodus from Egypt. But the Genesis story of the making of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1–3) and the wording of the fourth commandment by God (Exodus 20:11) reveals the seventh-day Sabbath as a memorial of creation. The key to understanding these two verses rests in the word “servant.” God said, “Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt.” And in the sentence before, He reminds them “that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.” In other words, their experience in Egypt as servants would remind them to deal justly with their servants by giving them Sabbath rest. It was not unusual for God to harken back to the Egyptian deliverance as an incentive to obey other commandments. In Deuteronomy 24:17, 18, the Bible says, “Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge. … Thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.” Neither the command to be just nor to keep the Sabbath was given to memorialize the Exodus, but God told them that His goodness in bringing them out of captivity constituted a strong reason for them to deal kindly with their servants on the Sabbath and treating justly the strangers and widows. In the same way, God spoke to them in Leviticus 11:45, “I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt … ye shall therefore be holy.” No one would insist that holiness did not exist before the Exodus or that it would be ever afterwards limited only to the Jews! Fact #6: The Sabbath Is Not Meant to Memorialize the Resurrection It is true that Jesus rose on a Sunday. It is one of the pivotal moments in the history of the world. But nowhere does the Bible hint that we should keep Sunday holy. Many other wonderful events occurred on certain days of the week, but we have no command to keep them holy either. There is, of course, a memorial of the resurrection commanded in the Bible, but it is not to determine a new day of worship. Paul wrote: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Baptism is the memorial of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. However, the Sabbath is a memorial of creation. Still have a question about this? See “The Upper Room” below. Fact #7: The Sabbath Will Be Celebrated for Eternity The Sabbath is an arbitrary arrangement of God that serves a powerful purpose. It is His claim — His seal — over the world and all human life. It is also a sign of the redemption He offers to every single one of us. Surely this is why God will preserve Sabbathkeeping throughout eternity. That’s right! “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 66:22, 23). The Sabbath is so precious to God that He will have His people observe it throughout all time in the beautiful new earth to come. If it is so precious to Him, should it not be precious to us? If we are going to keep it through all eternity, why not keep it now as our pledge of obedience to Him? Trust and Obey: There Is No Other Way It is easy to understand why the devil has waged a continuing, desperate battle against the seventh-day Sabbath. He has worked through the pride of tradition, misinformation, and religious bigotry to destroy the sanctity of God’s special sign of authority — the Sabbath. But with these Sabbath facts in hand, may God grant every Christian the courage to honor the Sabbath commandment as His special test of our love and loyalty. It might be a duty to keep the seventh-day holy. But it should not be a burden. In an age of false gods and spirituality, of atheistic evolution, and the stubborn traditions of men, the world needs the Sabbath more than ever. It is more than just a test of our loyalty to the Creator. It is more than just a sign of our sanctification through His power. It is His promise of a lasting, eternal gift of restoration. The One Unimportant Commandment? God made it very clear that, regardless of feelings, those who abuse the Sabbath are guilty of breaking His law. James explains that it is a sin to break even one of the Ten Commandments: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:10, 11). Most of the commandments begin with the same words: ‘‘Thou shalt not.’’ But the fourth commandment is introduced with the word “Remember.” Why? Because God was commanding them to call something to memory that already existed but had been forgotten. Why the Seventh Day? Why did God bless the seventh day as a day of worship? Because He had just created the world in six days. It was a memorial to the birth of the world, a reason to remember that mighty act. So could the Sabbath memorial be changed? No. Because it points backward to an accomplished fact. For instance, July 4 is Independence Day in the United States. Can it be changed? No. Because the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. Your birthday cannot be changed either. It is a memorial of your birth, which happened on a set day. History would have to run through again to change your birthday, to change Independence Day, or to change the Sabbath day. We can call another day Independence Day, and we can call another day the Sabbath, but that does not make it so. The Upper Room Those who believe that Sunday worship honors the resurrection of Jesus often cite the upper room meeting of the disciples on the same day that He rose from the grave. They argue that this gathering was meant to celebrate His resurrection. But the Bible record of the event reveals another set of circumstances. Mark writes that even though the disciples were confronted with the eyewitness story of Mary, they “believed not. After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen” (Mark 16:11–14). Obviously, none of those upper room disciples believed that He was raised from the dead, so they could not have been joyously celebrating the resurrection. John explains their reason for being together with these words: “The doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19).

TODAY'S MESSAGE SERMON: NEUTRALIZING THE POWER OF DEMONIC DREAMS Have you ever woken up from a dream feeling heavy, afraid, confused… or even attacked? Some dreams don’t just pass—they linger. They affect your mood, your thoughts, even your day. Let’s be clear: not every dream is spiritual—but some are. And when they are negative, oppressive, or repetitive, they must not be ignored. Because if you don’t deal with certain dreams spiritually… they may try to manifest physically. But here is the good news: Every demonic operation—whether in the night or day—can be neutralized by the power of God. Scriptural Foundation Job 33:14–15 “For God speaks… in a dream, in a vision of the night…” 👉 Dreams are a legitimate spiritual channel. Matthew 13:25 “While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares…” 👉 The enemy can operate while people are unaware. Luke 10:19 “I give you authority… over all the power of the enemy…” 👉 You are not powerless—you have authority. 2 Corinthians 10:3–5 👉 Spiritual warfare is real and must be fought spiritually. Isaiah 54:17 “No weapon formed against you shall prosper…” 👉 Every attack can be nullified. 3. Key Points (Structured Teaching) 1. Discern the Source of the Dream Not every dream is from God or the devil. Dreams can come from: God (instruction, warning) Your mind (daily thoughts) The enemy (fear, manipulation, oppression) 👉 Principle: Discernment protects you from fear and ignorance. 2. Refuse Fear—Establish Authority Fear is the enemy’s entry point. If you wake up afraid, the battle has already begun in your mind Authority must replace fear immediately 👉 Principle: What you permit emotionally, you empower spiritually. 3. Speak Immediately—Don’t Stay Silent Silence can allow spiritual impressions to settle. Cancel negative dreams verbally Declare God’s Word over your life 👉 Principle: Your voice is a weapon. 4. Live a Spiritually Aligned Life A weak spiritual life makes a believer vulnerable. Prayerlessness invites spiritual attacks Sin opens doors 👉 Principle: Your lifestyle determines your spiritual defense. 5. Engage in Spiritual Warfare Some dreams are not casual—they are confrontational. You don’t ignore warfare—you respond to it Use Scripture, prayer, and authority 👉 Principle: Victory is enforced, not assumed. 4. Biblical Case Study Joseph (Genesis 37 & 41) Joseph’s life was deeply connected to dreams: He received divine dreams Others also had dreams that shaped destinies But notice: Not all reactions to dreams were positive His brothers reacted with jealousy (negative interpretation) 👉 Insight: Dreams carry power—but interpretation and response determine outcome. Also consider: Pilate’s Wife (Matthew 27:19) She had a troubling dream about Jesus. 👉 Warning dreams exist—but must be responded to correctly. 5. Practical Life Applications When you have a disturbing dream: 1. Wake up and pray immediately 2. Reject the dream verbally “I cancel every negative dream in the name of Jesus. 3. Declare Scripture (e.g., Isaiah 54:17) 4. Cover yourself with the blood of Jesus 5. Avoid meditating on the fear—focus on God’s truth 6. Strengthen your prayer life daily 7. Keep your spiritual environment clean (what you watch, hear, think) 6. Deep Spiritual Insights The night is a spiritual battleground because your physical defenses are low Dreams can be spiritual seeds—they attempt to plant outcomes What is not resisted can take root Authority in Christ is not automatic—it must be exercised 👉 You don’t fight for victory—you fight from victory. 7. Questions for Reflection 1. Do I ignore my dreams or discern them spiritually? 2. Do I respond with fear or authority? 3. Is my prayer life strong enough to resist spiritual attacks? 4. Am I exposing myself to negative influences before sleep? 5. Do I understand my authority in Christ? 8. Powerful Prayer Points Pray with boldness: Father, every negative dream I have experienced, I cancel it now in Jesus’ name. Every seed of affliction planted in my sleep, be uprooted by fire. I reject fear, oppression, and manipulation of the enemy. By the authority in Christ, I nullify every demonic agenda against my life. I cover my mind, body, and spirit with the blood of Jesus. From tonight, my sleep is secured and sanctified. Lord, speak to me clearly through dreams and give me discernment. 9. Strong Closing Call to Action Don’t be passive about your spiritual life. If something is attacking you in your dreams: Don’t ignore it Don’t fear it Confront it You have authority. Use it. From tonight: Pray before you sleep Guard your heart Speak God’s Word boldly 👉 Your nights will no longer be a place of attack—but a place of encounter. Neutralize the enemy—and take back your spiritual authority. If you have not given your life to Jesus kindly do so by joining a Bible believing Church. You can get ebooks from my selar shop below https://selar.com/m/umoh-edem1 https://selar.com/m/umoedem CONTACTS - WhatsApp +2349024173027, +2349055447540 Email: pastor.umoedem@gmail.com

DAILY BIBLE LESSON. ARE WE SAVED BY GRACE, OR THE KEEPING OF THE LAW? Please, share this study with your family, friends co-workers, and all who you can, for the expansion of the Kingdom of GOD. Beloved, the simple teaching of Scripture is that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. From the epistle of the apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus, we read the following clear words: "8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). The apostle Paul also makes it clear in his letter to the Romans that no one will be justified by the keeping of the law. Romans 3:20 brings out this clear point: "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Beloved, the keeping of the law of God does not save us. It does not even justify us before the Father. All our righteousness, we are told by the prophet Isaiah, are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). With this background, the million dollar question which now begs for an answer is this: If the law of God does not save or justify us, what is its use then in the life of the Christian? Friends, even though the keeping of the Ten Commandment law does not save or justify us, it nevertheless plays an important role in the life of the believer in Christ. From Romans 3:20, we are told clearly that even though the law does not justify us, yet by it is the knowledge of sin. From Romans 7:7, 12, the apostle Paul illustrates this purpose of the law as follows: "7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Friends, Paul's point in the above passage is clear. The law serves as a mirror, revealing unto us our miserable sinful nature. But just as the mirror is unable to remove any defects after revealing them, so does the law is not able to help us after revealing unto us our negative sinful situation. The work the law does however help us to know that we have a problem and that we need external help. Friends, this external help that we need after we have known our miserable sinful condition through the law is Jesus. After we have come to know our sinful condition through the law, we run to the One who can show us grace by forgiving us, cleansing us and saving us from the condemnation of the law, even the Man, Christ Jesus. From John 1:29, we read the assuring words: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Beloved, there is nothing we can do about our sinful condition ourselves. How many of us have not struggled over and over again, trying to overcome the sin in our lives, but worked in vain? It is the strength given to us from above that enables us to overcome sin in our lives. It is not by works, lest any of us could boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Friends, even though it is clear from Scripture that it is faith in Christ that saves us, the Bible is quick to also add that "faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). In respect to this same point, the apostle Paul asks the rhetorical question: "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Romans 3:31). Beloved, this is Paul's basic message concerning the law of God. Even though the law does not save, it plays an important role in the life of the believer. The law helps us to run to Christ, the One who can save us from our wretched condition. The Bible wants us to view God's law in this positive light. Unlike the Pharisees in ancient Israel, we do not keep the law to justify ourselves. However, we keep it in loving obedience to the will of God. In fact, Christ plainly told His disciples: "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). It is interesting to learn that the people of God who will be living at the close of this world's history will not only have faith in God, but they will also keep His commandments. Here is the scriptural evidence: i) "And the dragon was wroth with the woman (God's church), and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 12:17). ii) "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12). Beloved, great heroes of the gospel in history agreed to the biblical fact that even though we are saved by grace, God's Ten Commandment law is still relevant and binding upon His children. Let's consider one quote from John Wesley: "The handwriting of ordinances our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail to His cross (Colossians 2:14). But the moral law contained in the ten commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away...The moral law stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law...Every part of this law must remain in force upon mankind in all ages" (JOHN WESLEY, "SERMONS ON SEVERAL OCASSIONS, 2ND EDITION, VOL 1 PAGES 221-222). Beloved, from what we have studied from Scripture and also from John Wesley's insight from God's Word, it is very clear that every part of the Ten Commandment law will remain in force upon mankind in all ages. And beloved, this includes the keeping of the Seventh-day Sabbath, the memorial of the creative power of God. 11 FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGETH SALVATION hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS" (Titus 2:11-14; Capital Emphasis Added). "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put MY LAWS into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them" (Hebrews 10:16; Capital Emphasis Added). Preparing God's People for the Second Coming of Christ. To learn more about our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, and the Sabbath, please visit your local Seventh-day Adventist Church. Or please visit us at Rossville Seventh-day Adventist Church, located at 1737 Mission Ridge Road, Rossville Georgia 30741 Pastor; Greg Hudson Services start at 11am on Saturday (Sabbath) morning.

GLORIOUS SUNDAY SERMON OF 12TH APRIL 2026 PLEASE, DO WELL TO WATCH THE VIDEO HERE 👇👇👇 https://youtu.be/vU5jev3-B18?si=gAfv-9DlzOETrnOC AND DROP POSITIVE IMPRESSION LIKE SUBSCRIBE, COMMENT LIKE & SHARE LESSON: ACT 1:1-8. TOPIC: WAITING FOR POWER: The Assignment is Not Over Yet. TEXT: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8 (NKJV). INTRODUCTION: After the resurrection, Jesus did not immediately send His disciples out. It’s a bit surprising, if you think about it. The victory was already won. The grave was empty. The proof was there. Yet… He told them to wait. In a world that rushes results, God sometimes pauses His people. Not because nothing is happening, but because something deeper is being prepared. The period after resurrection was not an ending, it was a preparation ground. Be blessed by the word. EXPOSITION: [1] . RESURRECTION IS NOT THE END. No, resurrection is not the end, rather, It is a Beginning. Acts 1:3. Jesus appeared to them for forty days, speaking about the Kingdom of God. He didn’t just rise and disappear. He stayed. He taught. He revealed more. Sometimes we celebrate what God has done… and assume that is all. But resurrection opens a new chapter. There is more instruction, more clarity, more direction. What God starts, He intends to continue. [2] . OBEDIENCE IN THE WAITING SEASON. “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait…” Act 1: 4 This is where many struggle. Waiting feels unproductive. It feels slow. But their next level depended on their ability to stay where God told them. There is a kind of obedience that is not about movement… but about staying. Not every instruction is “go.” Some are “remain.” And maybe, that’s where someone is right now. [3] . POWER IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE ASSIGNMENT. “…you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” Acts 1:5, 8. As we may know, Power is the ability to make things happen. Jesus knew something: passion alone is not enough. Witnessing without power leads to frustration. Effort without empowerment leads to burnout. So He made them wait… until they were filled with power that enabled them to make things happen in their days. God will not send you empty into a calling that requires fullness. CONCLUSION: WAIT UPON THE LORD! The disciples had seen the risen Christ. That alone was powerful. But even that was not enough for what was ahead. So they waited. And in that waiting… power came. If God is asking you to pause, to stay, to wait… it is not punishment. It is preparation. PRAYER: Lord, give me the grace to wait when You say wait. Help me not to rush ahead of Your timing. Fill me with Your power, so I will not walk in emptiness. Prepare me for all You have called me to do, in Jesus’ name. Amen. GOODWILL MESSAGE: May you not miss your season of preparation. What God is about to release through you will require the strength He is building within you now. HAPPY BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK. WAITING FOR POWER OR NOT! JESUS IS COMING BACK AGAIN!! REPENT AND BE READY FOR HIM!!! 🙋With Love from Pastor M O Glorious, CAC Palace of Mercy, Royal District, Restoration Zone. 56 Zone B CDA, Damolapa, Laketu, Lucky Fibre, Ikorodu North, Lagos state, Nigeria. For prayer or counseling, pls contact us@ 08055646358: 09018952081 or peganmire[gmail].com #ResurrectionPower #WaitOnTheLord #HolySpiritPower #KingdomAssignment #FaithJourney #DivinePreparation #ActsOfTheApostles #ChristianLiving #SundaySermon #JesusLives

ChristoStream Connect – LIVE 24/7 Christian Social Videos & Gospel Chats Community. Download ChristoStream Connect on the Loveworld AppStore via LINK Below: https://tinyurl.com/Get-ChristoStream-Connect-App Experience a vibrant, faith-filled digital space where believers connect, grow, and stay inspired every day. ChristoStream Connect is your all-in-one Christian social platform, streaming powerful gospel content and enabling real-time fellowship with believers around the world. Download ChristoStream Connect on the Loveworld AppStore via LINK Below: https://tinyurl.com/Get-ChristoStream-Connect-App 🌟 Key Features: 📺 LIVE 24/7 Christian Video Streaming Watch uplifting sermons, worship sessions, gospel music, teachings, and inspirational programs anytime, anywhere. 💬 Interactive Gospel Chat Community Engage in meaningful conversations, share testimonies, discuss the Word, and connect with a global network of Christians in real time. 🙏 Faith-Based Social Experience Build spiritual relationships, encourage others, and grow together in faith through a supportive and positive community. 📱 Seamless Streaming on the Go Enjoy smooth, high-quality streaming and easy navigation designed for a powerful mobile experience. 🌍 Global Christian Connection Join believers from across the world in one unified platform dedicated to spreading the Gospel and strengthening faith. - Download ChristoStream Connect on the Loveworld AppStore via LINK Below: https://tinyurl.com/Get-ChristoStream-Connect-App ✨ Why Choose ChristoStream Connect? - Stay spiritually uplifted 24/7. - Connect with like-minded believers worldwide - Access rich, life-transforming Christian content - Share your faith and be encouraged daily Download ChristoStream Connect today and be part of a growing global community where faith comes alive through video and conversation. Available exclusively on the Loveworld AppStore.

THE SABBATH TRUTH. Sabbath Truth # 9 Sabbath History Denominational Statements on the Sabbath 1 CATHOLIC CHURCH It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church. —Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, NJ ‘News’ on March 18, 1903. Protestants ... accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change... But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that ... in observing Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the Church, the pope. —Our Sunday Visitor, February 5th, 1950. Of course these two old quotations are exactly correct. The Catholic Church designated Sunday as the day for corporate worship and gets full credit – or blame – for the change. —This Rock, The Magazine of Catholic Apologetics and Evangelization, p.8, June 1997 Q. Have you any other proofs that they(Protestants) are not guided by the Scripture? A. Yes; so many, that we cannot admit more than a mere specimen into this small work. They reject much that is clearly contained in Scripture, and profess more that is nowhere discoverable in that Divine Book. Q. Give some examples of both? A. They should, if the Scripture were their only rule, wash the feet of one another, according to the command of Christ, in the 13th chap. of St. John; —they should keep, not the Sunday, but the Saturday, according to the commandment, "Remember thou keep holy the SABBATH-day;" for this commandment has not, in Scripture, been changed or abrogated;... —Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism; New York in 1857, page 101 Imprimatuer Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; —she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority. —Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism; New York in 1857, page 174 Q. In what manner can we show a Protestant, that he speaks unreasonably against fasts and abstinences? A. Ask him why he keeps Sunday, and not Saturday, as his day of rest, since he is unwilling either to fast or to abstain. If he reply, that the Scripture orders him to keep the Sunday, but says nothing as to fasting and abstinence, tell him the Scripture speaks of Saturday or the Sabbath, but gives no command anywhere regarding Sunday or the first day of the week. If, then he neglects Saturday as a day of rest and holiness, and substitutes Sunday in its place, and this merely because such was the usage of the ancient Church, should he not, if he wishes to act consistently, observe fasting and abstinence, because the ancient Church so ordained? —Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism; New York in 1857, page 181 Question: Which is the Sabbath day? Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day. Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. —Rev. Peter Geiermann C.SS.R., The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50 Q. Must not a sensible Protestant doubt seriously, when he finds that even the Bible is not followed as a rule by his co-religionists? A. Surely, when he sees them baptize infants, abrogate the Jewish Sabbath, and observe Sunday for which [pg. 7] there is no Scriptural authority; when he finds them neglect to wash one another's feet, which is expressly commanded, and eat blood and things strangled, which are expressly prohibited in Scripture. He must doubt, if he think at all. ... Q. Should not the Protestant doubt when he finds that he himself holds tradition as a guide? A. Yes, if he would but reflect that he has nothing but Catholic Tradition for keeping the Sunday holy; ... —Controversial Catechism by Stephen Keenan, New Edition, revised by Rev. George Cormack, published in London by Burns & Oates, Limited - New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: Benzinger Brothers, 1896, pages 6, 7. The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's Day. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians. —The Catholic Encyclopedia, Commandments of God, Volume IV, © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company, Online Edition © 1999 by Kevin Knight, Nihil Obstat - Remy Lafort, Censor Imprimatur - +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York, page 153. The [Roman Catholic] Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh-day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant. —The Catholic Universe Bulletin, August 14, 1942, p. 4. All of us believe many things in regard to religion that we do not find in the Bible. For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church outside the Bible. —The Catholic Virginian, To Tell You The Truth,” Vol. 22, No. 49 (Oct. 3, 1947). ... you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify. —The Faith of Our Fathers, by James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, 88th edition, page 89. Originally published in 1876, republished and Copyright 1980 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., pages 72-73. Deny the authority of the Church and you have no adequate or reasonable explanation or justification for the substitution of Sunday for Saturday in the Third - Protestant Fourth - Commandment of God... The Church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.' —Catholic Record, September 1, 1923. But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn't it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not the Church, observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Yes, of course, it is inconsistent; but this change was made about fifteen centuries before Protestantism was born, and by that time the custom was universally observed. They have continued the custom, even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon an explicit text in the Bible. That observance remains as a reminder of the Mother Church from which the non-Catholic sects broke away - like a boy running away from home but still carrying in his pocket a picture of his mother or a lock of her hair. —The Faith of Millions Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. "The Day of the Lord" (dies Dominica) was chosen, not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church's sense of its own power. The day of resurrection, the day of Pentecost, fifty days later, came on the first day of the week. So this would be the new Sabbath. People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy. —Sentinel, Pastor's page, Saint Catherine Catholic Church, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995 If Protestants would follow the Bible, they would worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church. —Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal, in a letter dated February 10, 1920. The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church. —Monsignor Louis Segur, ‘Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today’, p. 213. What Important Question Does the Papacy Ask Protestants? Protestants have repeatedly asked the papacy, "How could you dare to change God's law?" But the question posed to Protestants by the Catholic church is even more penetrating. Here it is officially: You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed! but by whom? Who has authority to change an express commandment of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said, Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day, who shall dare to say, Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of worldly business on the seventh day; but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its stead? This is a most important question, which I know not how you can answer. You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only; and yet in so important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of that day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the ten commandments; you believe that the other nine are still binding; who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible and the Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which this fourth commandment is expressly altered. —Library of Christian Doctrine: Why Don't You Keep Holy the Sabbath-Day? (London: Burns and Oates, Ltd.), pp. 3, 4. There is but one church on the face of the earth which has the power, or claims power, to make laws binding on the conscience, binding before God, binding under penalty of hell-fire. For instance, the institution of Sunday. What right has any other church to keep this day? You answer by virtue of the third commandment (the papacy did away with the 2nd regarding the worship of graven images, and called the 4th the 3rd), which says 'Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.' But Sunday is not the Sabbath. Any schoolboy knows that Sunday is the first day of the week. I have repeatedly offered one thousand dollars to anyone who will prove by the Bible alone that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep, and no one has called for the money. It was the holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday, the seventh day, to Sunday, the first day of the week. —T. Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture delivered in 1893. Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters. —C. F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons, in answer to a letter regarding the change of the Sabbath, November 11, 1895. Tradition, not Scripture, is the rock on which the church of Jesus Christ is built. —Adrien Nampon, Catholic Doctrine as Defined by the Council of Trent, p. 157 The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine law". The pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts a vicegerent of God upon earth —Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, art. Papa, II, Vol. VI, p. 29. The leader of the Catholic church is defined by the faith as the Vicar of Jesus Christ (and is accepted as such by believers). The Pope is considered the man on earth who "takes the place" of the Second Person of the omnipotent God of the Trinity. —John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 3, 1994 ...pastoral intuition suggested to the Church the christianization of the notion of Sunday as "the day of the sun", which was the Roman name for the day and which is retained in some modern languages.(29) This was in order to draw the faithful away from the seduction of cults which worshipped the sun, and to direct the celebration of the day to Christ, humanity's true 'sun'. —John Paul II, Dies Domini, 27. The day of Christ-Light, 1998 (Prominent protestant leaders agree with this statement - See here for a statement by Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the ‘Baptist Manual’) The Sun was a foremost god with heathen-dom…The sun has worshippers at this hour in Persia and other lands…. There is, in truth, something royal, kingly about the sun, making it a fit emblem of Jesus, the Sun of Justice. Hence the church in these countries would seem to have said, to 'Keep that old pagan name [Sunday]. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.' And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus. —William Gildea, Doctor of Divinity, The Catholic World, March, 1894, p. 809 The retention of the old pagan name of Dies Solis, for Sunday is, in a great measure, owing to the union of pagan and Christian sentiment with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects - pagan and Christian alike - as the 'venerable' day of the sun. —Arthur P. Stanley, History of the Eastern Church, p. 184 When St. Paul repudiated the works of the law, he was not thinking of the Ten Commandments, which are as unchangeable as God Himself is, which God could not change and still remain the infinitely holy God. —Our Sunday Visitor, Oct. 7, I951. Question: How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays? Answer: By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church. —Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine (1833 approbation), p.58 (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. by Daniel Ferris [1916 ed.], p.67) Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the NEW LAW, that he himself has explicitly substituted Sunday for the Sabbath. But this theory is entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as holy days. The church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days. —Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, Washington, DC, Catholic University of America Press, Studies in Sacred Theology, No. 70.,1943, p. 2. If we consulted the Bible only, we should still have to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is, Saturday, with the Jews, instead of Sunday; ... —A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies, by Rev. John Laux M.A., Benzinger Brothers, 1936 edition, Part 1. Sunday is a Catholic institution, and... can be defended only on Catholic principles.... From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first. —Catholic Press, Aug. 25, 1900 The Sabbath was Saturday, not Sunday. The Church altered the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of Sunday. Protestants must be rather puzzled by the keeping of Sunday when God distinctly said, 'Keep holy the Sabbath Day.' The word Sunday does not come anywhere in the Bible, so, without knowing it they are obeying the authority of the Catholic Church. —Canon Cafferata, The Catechism Explained, p. 89. Reason and sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible. —John Cardinal Gibbons, The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893. 2 ANGLICAN CHURCH "And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day... The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoined it." Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, pages 334, 336. 3 BAPTIST CHURCH “There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will however be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many years, I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found: Not in the New Testament – absolutely not. There is no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the Seventh to the first day of the week.” Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the ‘Baptist Manual’. "To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years' discussion with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question, discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false [Jewish traditional] glosses, never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during the forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated. Nor, so far as we know, did the Spirit, which was given to bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever that He had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did the inspired apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach the subject. Of course I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of Paganism, and christened with the name of the sun-god, then adopted and sanctified by the Papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism." Dr. E. T. Hiscox, report of his sermon at the Baptist Minister's Convention, in 'New York Examiner,' November 16, 1893 (The leader / spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church agrees with this statement. See Below) "The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath. . .There is no Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course, any Scriptural obligation." The Watchman. "We believe that the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral government."-" Baptist Church Manual," Art. 12. "There was never any formal or authoritative change from the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath to the Christian first-day observance." -WILLIAM OWEN CARVER, " The Lord's Day in Our Day," page 49. "There is nothing in Scripture that requires us to keep Sunday rather than Saturday as a holy day." Harold Lindsell (editor), Christianity Today, Nov. 5, 1976 4 BRETHREN CHURCH "With the views of the law and the Sabbath we once held ... and which are still held by perhaps the great majority of the most earnest Christians, we confess that we could not answer Adventists. What is more, neither before or since have I heard or read what would conclusively answer an Adventist in his Scriptural contention that the Seventh day is the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10). It is not 'one day in seven' as some put it, but 'the seventh day according to the commandment.' " Words of Truth and Grace, p. 281. 5 CHRISTIAN CHURCH "I do not believe that the Lord's day came in the room of the Jewish Sabbath, or that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day, for this plain reason, where there is no testimony, there can be no faith. Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath is changed, or that the Lord’s Day came in the room of it." Alexander Campbell, in The Reporter, October 8, 1921 "It has reversed the fourth commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's Word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday." - Dr. N. Summerbell, History of the Christian Church, Third Edition, p. 415 "There is no direct scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lord's day." - Dr. D. H. Lucas, Christian Oracle, Jan. 23, 1890. "The first day of the week is commonly called the Sabbath. This is a mistake. The Sabbath of the Bible was the day just preceding the first day of the week. The first day of the week is never called the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Scriptures. It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath. There never was any change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any place in the Bible any intimation of such a change." First-Day Observance, pp. 17, 19. 6 DISCIPLES OF CHRIST CHURCH "There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day ‘the Lord’s Day.’" Dr D.H. Lucas, Christian Oracle, January, 1890 7 CHURCH OF CHRIST "But we do not find any direct command from God, or instruction from the risen Christ, or admonition from the early apostles, that the first day is to be substituted for the seventh day Sabbath." "Let us be clear on this point. Though to the Christian 'that day, the first day of the week' is the most memorable of all days ... there is no command or warrant in the New Testament for observing it as a holy day." "The Roman Church selected the first day of the week in honour of the resurrection of Christ. ..." Bible Standard, May, 1916, Auckland, New Zealand. "... If the fourth command is binding upon us Gentiles by all means keep it. But let those who demand a strict observance of the Sabbath remember that the seventh day is the ONLY sabbath day commanded, and God never repealed that command. If you would keep the Sabbath, keep it; but Sunday is not the Sabbath. The argument of the 'Seventh-day Adventists' is on one point unassailable. It is the Seventh day not the first day that the command refers to." G. Alridge, Editor, The Bible Standard, April, 1916. "There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lord's day." -DR. D. H. LUCAS, Christian Oracle, Jan. 23, 1890. "The first day of the week is commonly called the Sabbath. This is a mistake. The Sabbath of the Bible was the day just preceding the first day of the week. The first day of the week is never called the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Scriptures. It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath. There never was any change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any place in the Bible any intimation of such a change." -"First-Day Observance," pages 17, 19. "It has reversed the fourth commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's Word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday." DR. N. SUMMERBELL, "History of the Christian Church," Third Edition, page 4I5. "To command...men...to observe...the Lord's day...is contrary to the gospel." - "Memoirs of Alexander Campbell," Vol. 1, page 528. "It is clearly proved that the pastors of the churches have struck out one of God's ten words, which, not only in the Old Testament, but in all revelation, are the most emphatically regarded as the synopsis of all religion and morality." -ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, "Debate With Purcell," page 214. "I do not believe that the Lord's day came in the room of the Jewish Sabbath, or that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day, for this plain reason, where there is no testimony, there can be no faith. Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath was changed, or that the Lord's day came in the room of it." -ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, Washington Reporter, Oct. 8, 1821. 8 CHURCH OF ENGLAND "Many people think that Sunday is the Sabbath. But neither in the New Testament nor in the early church is there anything to suggest that we have any right to transfer the observance of the seventh day of the week to the first. The Sabbath was and is Saturday and not Sunday, and if it were binding on us then we should observe it on that day, and on no other." Rev. Lionel Beere, All-Saints Church, Ponsonby, N.Z. in Church and People, Sept. 1, 1947. "Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. ...! That is Saturday." P. Carrington, Archbishop of Quebec, Oct. 27, 1949; cited in Prophetic Signs, p 12. "The observance of the first instead of the seventh day rests on the testimony of the church, and the church alone." Hobart Church News, July 2, 1894; cited in Prophetic Signs, p 14. "Where are we told in Scripture that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the Seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day. The reason why we keep the first day holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoined them." Rev. Isaac Williams, Ser. on Catechism, p. 334. "The seventh day, the commandment says, is the Sabbath of The Lord thy God. No kind of arithmetic, no kind of almanac, can make seven equal one, nor the seventh mean the first, nor Saturday mean Sunday. ... The fact is that we are all Sabbath breakers, every one of us." Rev. Geo. Hodges. "Not any ecclesiastical writer of the first three centuries attributed the origin of Sunday observance either to Christ or to His apostles." -SIR WILLIAM DOMVILLE, "Examination of the Six Texts," pages 6, 7. (Supplement). "There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about ab­staining from work on Sunday. . . . Into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters…, The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday." -CANON EYTON, 'The Ten Commandments," pages 52, 63, 65. "Is there any command in the New Testament to change the day of weekly rest from Saturday to Sunday? None." -"Manual of Christian Doctrine," page 127. "The Lord's day did not succeed in the place of the Sabbath....The Lord's day was merely an ecclesiastical institution. It was not introduced by virtue of the fourth commandment, because for almost three hundred years together they kept that day which was in that commandment...The primitive Christians did all manner of works upon the Lord's day, even in times of persecution, when they are the strictest observers of all the divine commandments; but in this they knew there was none." -BISHOP JEREMY TAYLOR, "Ductor Dubitantium," Part I, Book II, Chap. 2, Rule 6. Sec. 51, 59. "Sunday being the day on which the Gentiles solemnly adore that planet and called it Sunday, partly from its influence on that day especially, and partly in respect to its divine body (as they conceived it), the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear causelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice than might be otherwise taken against the gospel." -T. M. MORER, "Dialogues on the Lord's Day," pages 22, 23. "The Puritan idea was historically unhappy. It made Sun­day into the Sabbath day. Even educated people call Sunday the Sabbath. Even clergymen do." "But, unless my reckoning is all wrong, the Sabbath day lasts twenty-four hours from six o'clock on Friday evening. It gives over, therefore, before we come to Sunday. If you suggest to a Sabbatarian that he ought to observe the Sabbath on the proper day, you arouse no enthusiasm. He at once replies that the day, not the principle, has been changed. But changed by whom? There is no injunction in the whole of the New Testament to Christians to change the Sabbath into Sunday.' - D. MORSE­BOYCOTT, Daily Herald, London, Feb. 26, 1931. "The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other." - F.W. FARRAR, D.D., "The Voice From Sinai," page 167. "Take which you will, either of the Fathers or the moderns, and we shall find no Lord's day instituted by any apostolical man­date; no Sabbath set on foot by them upon the first day of the week." -PETER HEYLYN, "History of the Sabbath," page 410. "Merely to denounce the tendency to secularise Sunday is as futile as it is easy. What we want is to find some principle, to which as Christians we can appeal, and on which we can base both our conduct and our advice. We turn to the New Testament, and we look in vain for any authoritative rule. There is no recorded word of Christ, there is no word of any of the apostles, which tells how we should keep Sunday, or indeed that we should keep it at all. It is disappointing, for it would make our task much easier if we could point to a definite rule, which left us no option but simple obedience or disobedience. . . . There is no rule for Sunday observance, either in Scripture or history." -DR. STEPHEN, Bishop of Newcastle, N.S.W., in an address reported in the Newcastle Morn­ing Herald, May 14, 1924. 9 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH "The Christian Sabbath' [Sunday] is not in the Scripture, and was not by the primitive [early Christian] church called the Sabbath." Timothy Dwight, Theology, sermon 107, 1818 ed., Vol. IV, p49 Note: Timothy Dwight (1752-1817) was president of Yale University from 1795-1817. "It is quite clear that, however rigidly or devoutly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath ... The Sabbath was founded on a specific divine command. We can plead no such command for the obligation to observe Sunday ... There is not a single sentence in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday." Dr. Dale, The Ten Commandments, pp. 106, 107. "It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day." Buck's Theological Dictionary page 403. "There is no command in the Bible requiring us to observe the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath." -ORIN FOWLER, A.M., "Mode and Subjects of Baptism." "The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament." -DR. LYMAN ABBOTT, Christian Union, Jan. 18, 1882. 10 AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST CHURCH "The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament." Dr. Layman Abbot, in the Christian Union, June 26, 1890. 11 EPISCOPALIAN CHURCH "We have made the change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church of Christ." Bishop Symour, Why We keep Sunday. "The Bible commandment says on the seventh-day thou shalt rest. That is Saturday. Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday." Phillip Carrington, quoted in Toronto Daily Star, Oct 26, 1949 [Carrington (1892-), Anglican archbishop of Quebec, spoke the above in a message on this subject delivered to a packed assembly of clergymen. It was widely reported at the time in the news media]. 12 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH "The day is now changed from the seventh to the first day ... but as we meet with no Scriptural direction for the change, we may conclude it was done by the authority of the church." ‘Explanation of Catechism’ 13 INFIDEL CHURCH "Probably very few Christians are aware of the fact that what they call the 'Christian Sabbath' (Sunday) is of pagan origin." "The first observance of Sunday- that history records is in the fourth century', when Constantine issued an edict (not requiring its religious observance, but simply abstinence from work) reading, 'let all the judges and people of the town rest and all the various trades be suspended on the venerable day of the sun.' At the time of the issue of this edict, Constantine was a sun-worshipper; therefore it could have had no relation whatever to Christianity." - ­HENRY M. TABER. "Faith or Fact" (preface by Robert G. Ingersoll), page 112. "I challenge any priest or minister of the Christian religion to show me the slightest authority for the religious observance of Sunday. And, if such cannot be shown by them, why is it that they are constantly preaching about Sunday as a holy day? ...The claim that Sunday takes the place of Saturday, and that because the Jews were supposed to be commanded to keep the seventh day of the week holy, therefore the first day of the week should be so kept by Christians, is so utterly absurd as to be hardly worth considering....That Paul habitually observed and preached on the seventh day of the week, is shown in Acts 18:4-'And be reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath' (Saturday)." -Id., pages ,114, 116. 14 LUTHERAN CHURCH "The observance of the Lord's Day (Sunday) is founded not on any command of God, but on the authority of the Church." Augsburg Confession of Faith. "They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord's day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it appears, neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, say they, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments." -Augsburg Confession of Faith, Art. 28, par. 9. "They [Roman Catholics] allege the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's day, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue [the ten commandments]; and they have no example more in their mouths than they change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the Church's power to be very great, because it hath dispensed with the precept of the Decalogue." The Augsburg Confession, 1530 A.D. (Lutheran), part 2, art 7, in Philip Schaff, the Creeds of Christiandom, 4th Edition, vol 3, p64 [this important statement was made by the Lutherans and written by Melanchthon, only thirteen years after Luther nailed his theses to the door and began the Reformation]. "For up to this day mankind has absolutely trifled with the original and most special revelation of the Holy God, the ten words written upon the tables of the Law from Sinai." -"Crown Theological Library," page I78. "The Christians in the ancient church very soon distinguished the first day of the week, Sunday; however, not as a Sabbath, but as an assembly day of the church, to study the Word of God together, and to celebrate the ordinances one with another: without a shadow of doubt, this took place as early as the first part of the second century." -Bishop GRIMELUND, "History of the Sabbath," page 60. "The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance."- AUGUSTUS NEANDER, "History of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. 1, page 186. "I wonder exceedingly how it came to be imputed to me that I should reject the law of Ten Commandments...Whosoever abrogates the law must of necessity abrogate sin also." -MARTIN LUTHER, Spiritual Antichrist," pages 71, 72. "We have seen how gradually the impression of the Jewish Sabbath faded from the mind of the Christian church, and how completely the newer thought underlying the observance of the first day took possession of the church. We have seen that the Christian of the first three centuries never confused one with the other, but for a time celebrated both." The Sunday Problem, a study book by the Lutheran Church (1923) p.36 "But they err in teaching that Sunday has taken the place of the Old Testament Sabbath and therefore must be kept as the seventh day had to be kept by the children of Israel .... These churches err in their teaching, for scripture has in no way ordained the first day of the week in place of the Sabbath. There is simply no law in the New Testament to that effect." John Theodore Mueller, Sabbath or Sunday, pp.15, 16 15 LUTHERAN FREE CHURCH "For when there could not be produced one solitary place in the Holy Scriptures which testified that either the Lord Himself or the apostles had ordered such a transfer of the Sabbath to Sunday, then it was not easy to answer the question: Who has transferred the Sabbath, and who has the right to do it?" George Sverdrup, ‘A New Day.’ 16 METHODIST CHURCH "This 'handwriting of ordinances' our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail to His cross. (Colossians 2: 14.) But the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away.... The moral law stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law. ...Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages." -JOHN WESLEY, "Sermons on Several Occasions," 2-Vol. Edition, Vol. I, pages 221, 222. "No Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral." -"Methodist Church Discipline," (I904), page 23. "The Sabbath was made for MAN; not for the Hebrews, but for all men." -E.O. HAVEN, "Pillars of Truth," page 88. "The reason we observe the first day instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the Scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the seventh day to the first. The early Christians began to worship on the first day of the week because Jesus rose from the dead on that day. By and by, this day of worship was made also a day of rest, a legal holiday. This took place in the year 321. "The reason we observe the first day instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the Scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the seventh day to the first... Our Christian Sabbath, therefore, is not a matter of positive command. It is a gift of the church... "-CLOVIS G. CHAPPELL, "Ten Rules for Living," page 61. "Sabbath in the Hebrew language signifies rest, and is the seventh day of the week... and it must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day." Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary, "Sabbath" "In the days of very long ago the people of the world began to give names to everything, and they turned the sounds of the lips into words, so that the lips could speak a thought. In those days the people worshiped the sun because many words were made to tell of many thoughts about many things. The people became Christians and were ruled by an emperor whose name was Constantine. This emperor made Sunday the Christian Sabbath, because of the blessing of light and heat which came from the sun. So our Sunday is a sun-day, isn't it?" -Sunday School Advocate, Dec. 31, 1921. "The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He [Christ] did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken... Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their un­changeable relation to each other." -JOHN WESLEY, "Sermons on Several Occasions," Vol. I, Sermon XXV. "The Sabbath instituted in the beginning, and confirmed again and again by Moses and the prophets, has never been abrogated. A part of the moral law, not a jot or a tittle of its sanctity has been taken away." New York Herald 1874, on the Methodist Episcopal Bishops Pastoral 1874 17 MISCELLANEOUS CHURCH "You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed! But by whom? Who has authority to change an express commandment of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said, 'Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day,' who shall dare to say, 'Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of business on the seventh day; but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its stead'? This is a most important question, which I know not how you can answer." "You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only; and yet in so important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of that day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten Commandments; you believe that the other nine are still binding; who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible and the Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which this fourth commandment is expressly altered." -"The Library of Christian Doctrine," pages 3, 4. "The first precept in the Bible is that of sanctifying the seventh day: 'God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.' Genesis 2:3. This precept was confirmed by God in the Ten Commandments: 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep It holy. ...The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.' Exodus 20: 8, 10. On the other hand, Christ declares that He is not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. (Matthew 5: 17.) He Himself observed the Sabbath: 'And, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.' Luke 4: r6. His disciples likewise observed it after His death: 'They . . . rested the Sabbath day, according to the commandment.' Luke 23: 56. Yet with all this weight of Scripture authority for keeping the Sabbath or seventh day holy, Protestants of all denominations make this a profane day and transfer the obligation of it to the first day of the week, or the Sunday. Now what authority have they for doing this? None at all but the unwritten word, or tradition of the Catholic Church, which declares that the apostle made the change in honour of Christ's resurrection, and the descent of the Holy Ghost on that day of the week." -JOHN MILNER, "The End of Religious Controversy," page 71. "Sabbath means, of course, Saturday, the seventh day of the week, but the early Christians changed the observance to Sunday, to honour the day on which Christ arose from the dead." -FULTON OURSLER. Cosmopolitan, Sept. 1951, pages 34, 35. "I do not pretend to be even an amateur scholar of the Scriptures. I read the Decalogue merely as an average man searching for guidance, and in the immortal 'Ten Words' I find a blueprint for the good life." -Id., page 33. "Most certainly the Commandments are needed today, perhaps more than ever before. Their divine message confronts us with a profound moral challenge in an epidemic of evil; a unifying message acceptable alike to Jew, Moslem, and Christian. Who, reading the Ten in the light of history and of current events, can doubt their identity with the eternal law of nature?" -Id., page 124. "The Sabbath is commanded to be kept on the seventh day. It could not be kept on any other day. To observe the first day of the week or the fourth is not to observe the Sabbath. . . . It was the last day of the week, after six days of work, that was to be kept holy. The observance of no other day would fulfil the law." -H. J. FLOWERS, B.A., B.D., "The Permanent Value of the Ten Commandments," page 13. "The evaluation of Sunday, the traditionally accepted day of the resurrection of Christ, has varied greatly throughout the centuries of the Christian Era. From time to time it has been confused with the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath. English ­speaking peoples have been the most consistent in perpetuating the erroneous assumption that the obligation of the fourth commandment has passed over to Sunday. In popular speech, Sunday is frequently, but erroneously, spoken of as the Sabbath." -F. M. SETZLER, Head Curator, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institute, from a letter dated Sept. 1, 1949. "He that observes the Sabbath aright holds the history of that which it celebrates to be authentic, and therefore believes in the creation of the first man; in the creation of a fair abode for man in the space of six days; in the primeval and absolute creation of the heavens and the earth, and, as a necessary antecedent to all this, in the Creator, who at the close of His latest creative effort, rested on the seventh day. The Sabbath thus becomes a sign by which the believers in a historical revelation are distinguished from those who have allowed these great facts to fade from their remembrance.' - JAMES G. MURPHY, "Commentary on the Book of Exodus," comments on Exodus 20: 8-11. 18 MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE "The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word 'remember,' showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding?" - D.L. MOODY, "Weighed and Wanting," page 47. "I honestly believe that this commandment [the fourth, or Sabbath commandment] is just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated, but they have never been able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it. When Christ was on earth, He did nothing to set it aside; He freed it from the traces under which the scribes and Pharisees had put it, and gave it its true place. 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.' It is just as practicable and as necessary for men today as it ever was-in fact, more than ever, because we live in such an intense age.' - Id., page 46. "This Fourth is not a commandment for one place, or one time, but for all places and times." D.L. Moody, at San Francisco, Jan. 1st, 1881. 19 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH "The Christian Sabbath (Sunday) is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive church called the Sabbath." Dwight's Theology, Vol. 14, p. 401. "A further argument for the perpetuity of the Sabbath we have in Matthew 24:20, Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day. But the final destruction of Jerusalem was after the Christian dispensation was fully set up (AD 70). Yet it is plainly implied in these words of the Lord that even then Christians were bound to strict observation of the Sabbath." Works of Jonathon Edwards, (Presby.) Vol. 4, p. 621. "We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law; for it is the eternal rule of a devout and holy life, and must therefore be as unchangeable as the justice of God, which it embraced, is constant and uniform." JOHN CALVIN, "Commentary on a Harmony of the Gospels," Vol. 1, page 277. "God instituted the Sabbath at the creation of man, setting apart the seventh day for the purpose, and imposed its observance as a universal and perpetual moral obligation upon the race." ­American Presbyterian Board of Publication, Tract No. 175. "The observance of the seventh-day Sabbath did not cease till it was abolished after the [Roman] empire became Christian," ­American Presbyterian Board of Publication, Tract No. 118. "The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard to the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel in any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation." "Westminster Confession of Faith," Chap. 19, Art. 5. "The Sabbath is a part of the Decalogue-the Ten Commandments. This alone for ever settles the question as to the perpetuity of the institution ... Until, therefore, it can be shown that the whole moral law has been repealed, the Sabbath will stand...The teaching of Christ confirms the perpetuity of the Sabbath." - T.C. BLAKE, D.D., "Theology Condensed," pages 474, 475. "Sunday being the first day of which the Gentiles solemnly adored that planet and called it Sunday, partly from its influence on that day especially, and partly in respect to its divine body (as they conceived it) the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear carelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice that might be otherwise taken against the gospel" T.M. Morer, Dialogues on the Lord's Day "There is no word, no hint in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday. The observance of Ash Wednesday, or Lent, stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday. Into the rest of Sunday no Divine Law enters." Canon Eyton, in The Ten Commandments. "Some have tried to build the observance of Sunday upon Apostolic command, whereas the Apostles gave no command on the matter at all.... The truth is, so soon as we appeal to the litera scripta [literal writing] of the Bible, the Sabbatarians have the best of the argument." The Christian at Work, April 19, 1883, and Jan. 1884 20 SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH "The sacred name of the Seventh day is Sabbath. This fact is too clear to require argument [Exodus 20:10 quoted]… on this point the plain teaching of the Word has been admitted in all ages… Not once did the disciples apply the Sabbath law to the first day of the week, -- that folly was left for a later age, nor did they pretend that the first day supplanted the seventh." Joseph Hudson Taylor, ‘The Sabbatic Question’, p. 14-17, 41. "The first four commandments set forth man's obligations directly toward God.... But when we keep the first four commandments, we are likely to keep the other six. . . . The fourth commandment sets forth God's claim on man's time and thought.... The six days of labour and the rest on the Sabbath are to be maintained as a witness to God's toil and rest in the creation. . . . No one of the ten words is of merely racial significance.... The Sabbath was established originally (long before Mo

Good evening, brethren. 1. Evening devotion for today. i. *DAILY WALK WITH CHRIST* (COCIN DEVOTIONAL) *DATE:* WEDNESDAY 8TH APRIL, 2026. *SUB-THEME:* THE CROSS: CULMINATION OF GRACE. *TOPIC:* GRACE TO ALL PEOPLE *TEXT:* TITUS 2:11-14. 11. For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13. while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14. who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good. *TOPIC:* GRACE TO ALL PEOPLE. *THE MESSAGE:* This passage highlights the transformative power of God's grace. Salvation is available to all through God's grace. It is universal and does not discriminate. This grace saves and teaches believers to reject ungodliness and worldly passions, leading lives marked by self-control, righteousness, and devotion. For Christ gave Himself to free us from sin and purify us to live holy. It also gives the believers great hope - to live in anticipation of Christ's glorious return. God's grace is not a license to sin (Rom. 6:1-2). Are you experiencing moral and spiritual growth? Are you struggling with particular sin and thinking there is no way out? The grace of God can help you overcome it. You must discipline yourself to live above reproach. *REFLECTION:* Do not abuse the grace of God. *PRAYER:* Lord, help me to appropriate Your grace. Amen. *MEMORY VERSE FOR THE MONTH:* COLOSSIANS 2:15. "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." *TODAY'S BIBLE READING PLAN:* 2 KINGS 1-3. ii.Skip to content Dalily Devotional by Elizabeth Haworth Posted onApril 8, 2026 by Editor Examine Yourself Christian Applications Store:: Christian devotional App Store; Explore Recommended Christian Books and Devotionals God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Galatians 6:14 2 Aspects of Salvation The death of Christ is the most wonderful thing that deserves our thanks, for through the death of the innocent Victim our sins were forever forgiven. The resurrection of Christ deserves our most glorious worship and praise – for by His resurrection He also broke the power of death in the life of the believer. The death and resurrection merit our greatest gratitude and excellent thanks to God. Both, indeed, deserve the greatest and most triumphant celebrations of all believers. Sin’s Penalty / Power But what does it mean: this aspect of the cross of Christ, in which we should glory alone? What is this cross, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world? How many truly glory in this sombre aspect of the Cross, which means self-surrender? How many prefer to simply focus on the initial surrender – forgiveness of sins.. rather than the glorious surrender of a life, utterly yielded to Him – a life that is truly, totally, and completely broken before the Lord. Surrendered Life Praise God for those that focus on the initial surrender of a forgiven sinner, but how crucial that we go on to that glorious surrendered life of a saint. What is it that prevents us from keeping our focus on this life, yielded in utter surrender? Well, it is anything that takes the place of Christ …. absolutely anything. Anything that comes before the totally surrendered life becomes a hindrance. Anything that is placed before a life surrendered to Christ becomes an obstacle. Anything that eclipses a life self-surrender to Christ becomes a legalistic impediment. Not one of us should consider ourselves exempt from these interfering encumbrances. Legalistic Impediments Legalistic rituals, rites, and ceremonies can most certainly impede spiritual growth, but what are these things? How can you identify such hindrances? What can become legalistic rituals, rites, or ceremonies? What can become such interfering encumbrances in the life of a believer. Anything! ANYthing!! ANYTHING that we do ourselves as a means of sanctification – any experience or any devotional undertaking which we think will make us mature. Prayer and devotion; Bible reading and preaching; alms-giving and obedience are all good – all are good, but any one can become an impediment if we see it as a means to an end. Anything we deem necessary to bring us close to Jesus, can become a hindrance! Legalism in Galatians We need to examine ourselves to see if we have become like the foolish Galatians. We need to see if we are trying to use such methods and means for self-sanctification. We need to check if any such self-effort is leading us away from the crucified life. 2 Aspects of Faith It was Paul that recognised this failing in the Galatian Christians and cried out, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you… Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?Galatians 3:1 Sanctification Trap These are serious and sombre words that each of us would do well to examine. These are grave accusations that can be true of any believer who’s trying hard to do well! The Galatians were forgiven, born-again people, who were not relapsing into sin, but they were foolishly falling into the trap of ego, self-righteousness, and pride. The Galatians had become sanctimonious moralists. They had become hypocrites. Outwardly they were clean and polished but inwardly they were ‘full of dead men’s bones’. 2 Aspects of Righteousness In true sanctification, there is no place for anything except, that I should know Him. In true sanctification, the only reality is the Lord Jesus Himself. If we really know Him we will pay no attention to other experiences. If you truly know Him, no outward garment of self-righteousness will be donned. Internal Hypocrisy Oswald Chambers puts it this way:-‘There is only one thing – and that is our relationship to Jesus Christ. What is needed today is not so much a revival as a resurgent form of awakening – the incoming of the tremendous life of God in a new form. The spiritual cure for triviality, is a new note of greatness born of the realisation of what it cost Jesus to produce His salvation in us – a sanctified life. Only when we continually face the cross, are we safe from the dangers of triviality and internal hypocrisy.’ Self- Surrender Study and prayer mean nothing if we use them as our means of sanctification. Self-discipline and flagellations will never draw the un-crucified heart closer to the Lord. Preaching and proselytising of itself, is of none-effect – for God knows the heart. So what is required? Only a complete and total self-surrender.. a heart that is truly, totally, utterly and completely broken before the Lord – a life that has reached the absolute end of ‘MY-self – to focus upon HIM-self. So let us grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Post navigation Previous Post Previous God Appointments Proudly powered by WordPress. 2. Evening Prayer for today. i. Evening Prayer He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. ⏤ Psalm 121:3-4 God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be. ⏤ E.M. Bounds Our heavenly Father, You’ve brought us to the end of another day. We don’t even know all the dangers we’ve passed through safely because You were watching over us. We don’t know how close we were to death, or how Your hand guided us along narrow paths. We don’t know the enemies we’ve passed by unharmed because You protected us. We don’t know how You kept us from wandering into dangerous paths and instead led us on the right way. We thank You not only for the close calls but also for the safe and peaceful paths You’ve led us on today. It’s been a good day because You guided our way. Now we leave the day with You—its work, its responsibilities, its mistakes, its sins. Where we’ve messed up—will You forgive us? Where we’ve done wrong—will You make it right? Where we’ve broken things—will You restore them? The poor pieces of our obedience, scattered along our path—will You gather them up and turn them into something beautiful? You have a way of using even our brokenness to build something good. So, we give You this day with all its imperfections, asking You to make it a day of grace and beauty. May the influence we’ve had on others today be positive and uplifting. Let no harm come to anyone from our words or actions. Bless the good we’ve received from others today as well. Take us now into Your care for the night. We can’t keep ourselves safe, so we place everything in Your hands. We will sleep peacefully because we trust You to watch over us. Keep us safe, we ask in Jesus’ precious name. Amen. https://www.youdevotion.com/daily-prayer/miller/03/evening #taptapstudio #youdevotion.