1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,800 Thank you so much, Caleb and Alaina, that was beautiful. 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:07,040 Always a healthy reminder, this is our Father's world. 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,120 And that's what we are here on the Sabbath to do. 4 00:00:10,120 --> 00:00:13,440 Part of the point, Sabbath was set aside 5 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:15,640 so we could reflect on creation. 6 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:17,740 And so thank you, that pairs very nicely 7 00:00:17,740 --> 00:00:18,880 with today's topic. 8 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,080 So this is gonna feel a little bit strange 9 00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:25,680 because I feel like I'm introducing a speaker 10 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:27,320 and yet I'm speaking. 11 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:31,520 But it's actually building towards next Sabbath's 12 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:33,920 religious liberty Sabbath. 13 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,440 And I always found it a little strange we would 14 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:41,120 have an, what's the order of service? 15 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:43,960 We have an offering call and then somewhere down the line 16 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:45,760 we also have a message. 17 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:48,840 And so the message meant to compel 18 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,000 the religious liberty offering campaign, 19 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:55,600 giving comes after the giving's been, anyway. 20 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,600 So we're gonna build this here, 21 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:01,200 we're gonna build towards that. 22 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:06,200 We're gonna build towards the why of that campaign. 23 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,840 So yes, next Sabbath, and so I'm borrowing 24 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,480 some of those campaign resources with today's sermon 25 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:17,280 adapted from a manuscript. 26 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:21,800 So next Sabbath is January 13th, 27 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:23,720 that's religious liberty Sabbath. 28 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,760 And this special theme is near and dear to us 29 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,080 and it commonly includes that offering appeal. 30 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,240 I left the flyers at home but they will be here next Sabbath 31 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:36,960 for the actual religious liberty offering. 32 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:38,760 But if you want to, 33 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:43,200 you may have seen the link on the slide, 34 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,600 on the announcement slide for religious liberty campaign. 35 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:51,040 But also you can go to libertymagazine.org slash donate 36 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:52,680 for their concise description. 37 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:57,680 This is what we do, this is what this offering goes towards. 38 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:00,240 But in summary, you can, 39 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,040 the religious liberty department, 40 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:07,760 public affairs and religious liberty department 41 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:09,560 in the Seventh Day Adventist Church 42 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:15,240 is avid in religious liberty advocacy efforts. 43 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,680 And you can also see on the website 44 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,000 some of the ways to give or on the flyer 45 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,160 that we'll hand out next Sabbath. 46 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,520 You can see some of the more unique ways to give 47 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,200 than the offering in the plate. 48 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:38,200 But for today's message, turning to today's message 49 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:40,440 it's adapted from a sermon manuscript 50 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,840 provided by this year's speaker, 51 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,120 religious liberty Sabbath speaker chosen by the NAD, 52 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:49,120 John Ashmead Esquire. 53 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,600 John earned his law degree from Howard University 54 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:57,600 School of Law and he served as the assistant attorney general 55 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:00,360 for the state of Connecticut actually. 56 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:05,360 And he's also a senior assistant counsel for the, 57 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:09,720 oh excuse me, that's what he has done before. 58 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,720 He's currently senior assistant counsel 59 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:15,440 for the Yale New Haven Health System 60 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:20,440 and he's also serving as the associate public affairs 61 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:22,240 and religious liberty director 62 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:24,160 for the Atlantic Union Conference. 63 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:28,640 And so he's put his law degree to work 64 00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:30,960 but he's also putting it to work 65 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,560 for religious liberty advocacy in the SDA Church. 66 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,920 And so he knows a thing or two more than I would 67 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:41,000 on the subject. 68 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:46,000 So starting off, there's the point about Apple. 69 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:55,800 Where sometimes there's the saying, 70 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,480 do you really wanna know how the sausage is made? 71 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:04,600 Well, do you really wanna know how your phone is made? 72 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:09,040 Oh boy, it's something we try not to think about. 73 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:13,960 But Apple is the most valuable company in the world. 74 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:18,440 And this economic juggernaut has enjoyed almost a monopoly 75 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,200 over the smartphone and tablet markets. 76 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:23,440 In the great controversy between smartphones, 77 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,240 you're either Apple or Android, yeah. 78 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,080 So we have the heavy hitters. 79 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,160 Each year, millions of consumers eagerly await 80 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:38,000 the next new model or software upgrade to their phones. 81 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,560 And few appreciate the work that actually goes 82 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:42,880 into those products. 83 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,400 Many are actually unaware that the iPhone and the iPad 84 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:49,080 are not manufactured stateside. 85 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:53,360 These products are generally manufactured to some degree 86 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:56,760 in factories in China, India, and Taiwan. 87 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:00,480 There have been ongoing reports that the work conditions 88 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:04,000 in these overseas factories for this brand in particular, 89 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,320 and I wanna be clear, this is a heavy hitter, 90 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:09,640 it's a juggernaut, it is by no means 91 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,040 an isolated case to them. 92 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:17,040 But they've had reports specific to them 93 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:20,240 where the work conditions in their overseas factories 94 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:24,360 would be troubling if we knew how the sausage was made. 95 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:27,040 Workers work six to seven days per week, 96 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:30,040 often forced to work up to 12 hours a day 97 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,800 to meet the insatiable consumer demand for these phones 98 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:35,600 and other devices. 99 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,200 Not only do the workers work long hours, 100 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:42,920 but they also do so for a pittance as far as wages go. 101 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:45,200 They're forced to live, in some cases, 102 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:47,520 forced to live on factory campuses 103 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:49,000 away from their families. 104 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:52,200 And from time to time, there've been reports 105 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,380 of high suicide rates among these workers as well. 106 00:05:55,380 --> 00:05:57,700 So workers often complain of facilities 107 00:05:57,700 --> 00:06:00,980 with poor ventilation, ongoing exposure 108 00:06:00,980 --> 00:06:03,940 to hazardous chemicals, and being forced to work 109 00:06:03,940 --> 00:06:06,360 for weeks without a day off. 110 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:09,280 These conditions leave them tired, exhausted, 111 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:10,480 and if they are complained though, 112 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:15,480 they are replaceable and so easily terminated. 113 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,920 Apple made the decision to manufacture its products 114 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:23,400 in China to take advantage of labor laws 115 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:27,760 that permit them to hire a cheap and skilled labor force 116 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:31,520 where workers can be compelled to work long hours 117 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:33,440 without dealing with labor unions 118 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:36,240 or the costs of healthcare, workers comp, 119 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,680 anti-discrimination laws, pregnancy leave requests, 120 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:43,600 family leave requirements, those things that, you know, 121 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:44,900 cut into the bottom line. 122 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:49,080 These benefits that protect American workers 123 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:54,080 from exploitation are not often extended there. 124 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:59,760 And so, but here, stateside, those benefits do protect us. 125 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:01,720 They give rest to the weary. 126 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:05,340 And when I think about the grueling work schedule 127 00:07:05,340 --> 00:07:07,120 of these factory workers in China, 128 00:07:08,180 --> 00:07:09,980 kind of makes me a little exhausted. 129 00:07:11,260 --> 00:07:14,900 But have you ever been weary? 130 00:07:14,900 --> 00:07:17,940 Have you ever been exhausted or tired from working hard, 131 00:07:17,940 --> 00:07:20,820 maybe stressed, in need of rest? 132 00:07:21,660 --> 00:07:24,300 You don't have to be an overseas factory worker 133 00:07:24,300 --> 00:07:25,340 to feel this way. 134 00:07:25,340 --> 00:07:30,340 It's something that maybe is, let's say, 135 00:07:31,940 --> 00:07:35,220 a cultural observation, 136 00:07:37,100 --> 00:07:41,660 why we're not strangers to weariness, to exhaustion. 137 00:07:41,660 --> 00:07:46,660 We sometimes are cultured to feel, 138 00:07:47,300 --> 00:07:50,500 oh, we need the next big thing, or we need, 139 00:07:50,500 --> 00:07:51,700 we can have it all. 140 00:07:51,700 --> 00:07:54,460 You can do all the work to get all the things, 141 00:07:54,460 --> 00:07:57,740 but also build all that family and support that family. 142 00:07:57,740 --> 00:08:00,980 Oh, get, supply all the things there. 143 00:08:00,980 --> 00:08:03,420 And boy, while we're out doing all that work, 144 00:08:03,420 --> 00:08:07,580 oh man, we, you know, all those hours are filled. 145 00:08:07,580 --> 00:08:10,280 And then now we, by extension, 146 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,040 are trying to fill the kids' hours too, 147 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,960 so we're, to keep them busy and looked after 148 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:16,660 while we're doing our thing. 149 00:08:16,660 --> 00:08:19,100 It's a cycle, it's a cycle. 150 00:08:19,940 --> 00:08:21,700 I get tired thinking of that. 151 00:08:21,700 --> 00:08:24,380 I don't have kids, but I feel the tired 152 00:08:25,340 --> 00:08:27,780 from the rat race sometimes. 153 00:08:28,860 --> 00:08:33,280 So have you ever needed rest from that hard work? 154 00:08:34,580 --> 00:08:37,580 This is where God's people found themselves 155 00:08:37,580 --> 00:08:39,260 in today's key text. 156 00:08:40,900 --> 00:08:43,860 They'd been slaves in Egypt for 400 years, 157 00:08:43,860 --> 00:08:48,860 and boy, were they tired, exhausted, needed rest. 158 00:08:48,860 --> 00:08:52,020 Physical and spiritual rest had been taken from them. 159 00:08:53,380 --> 00:08:55,500 We don't know, the Bible doesn't tell us 160 00:08:55,500 --> 00:08:57,940 how many hours of day they worked, 161 00:08:57,940 --> 00:09:01,020 but one can assume it was long work hours, 162 00:09:01,020 --> 00:09:02,980 limited leisure time. 163 00:09:02,980 --> 00:09:06,580 And they worked, the Hebrews worked seven days a week 164 00:09:06,580 --> 00:09:07,940 with no rest. 165 00:09:07,940 --> 00:09:10,780 This is implied by Moses' request to Pharaoh 166 00:09:10,780 --> 00:09:13,380 to let the people go into the desert for three days 167 00:09:13,380 --> 00:09:16,980 to rest and make sacrifices. 168 00:09:16,980 --> 00:09:20,140 The Egyptian taskmasters employed physical force, 169 00:09:20,140 --> 00:09:23,940 intimidation, and harsh treatments to compel work. 170 00:09:23,940 --> 00:09:26,260 Slaves who failed to meet their daily quotas 171 00:09:26,260 --> 00:09:28,580 experienced terrible punishments. 172 00:09:28,580 --> 00:09:31,940 Indeed, it was due to Moses witnessing the harsh treatment 173 00:09:31,940 --> 00:09:34,500 of a fellow Hebrew that he even intervened 174 00:09:34,500 --> 00:09:37,260 in a more hands-on manner, 175 00:09:37,260 --> 00:09:39,860 in the form of killing an Egyptian taskmaster. 176 00:09:41,540 --> 00:09:44,380 We don't know the life expectancy of the Hebrews, 177 00:09:44,380 --> 00:09:48,140 we don't know the life expectancy of the Hebrew slaves, 178 00:09:48,140 --> 00:09:50,900 but we know that slaves in the United States, 179 00:09:53,140 --> 00:09:55,780 in our history with slavery, 180 00:09:55,780 --> 00:09:58,340 their average lifespan was 36 years 181 00:09:58,340 --> 00:10:01,540 compared to the non-enslaved population 182 00:10:01,540 --> 00:10:04,100 life expectancy of 50 years. 183 00:10:04,100 --> 00:10:05,460 So quite a difference. 184 00:10:05,460 --> 00:10:09,300 For the American slave, this shortened life expectancy 185 00:10:09,300 --> 00:10:11,460 was attributed to poor work conditions, 186 00:10:11,460 --> 00:10:13,980 or excuse me, living conditions, poor nutrition, 187 00:10:13,980 --> 00:10:18,860 and of course those exhausting long work hours. 188 00:10:18,860 --> 00:10:23,860 It's no wonder that Moses sought to bring the Hebrews rest 189 00:10:24,220 --> 00:10:26,740 and to teach them to rest. 190 00:10:27,940 --> 00:10:30,940 From the pen of inspiration, here's a word on this issue. 191 00:10:32,380 --> 00:10:34,060 This is out of First Testimonies, 192 00:10:36,620 --> 00:10:38,820 or Testimonies, Volume One, excuse me. 193 00:10:38,820 --> 00:10:42,540 God reserved the seventh day as a period of rest for man, 194 00:10:42,540 --> 00:10:46,300 for the good of man, as well as for God's own glory. 195 00:10:46,300 --> 00:10:50,580 He saw that the wants of man required a day of rest 196 00:10:50,580 --> 00:10:54,020 from toil and care, that his health and life 197 00:10:54,020 --> 00:10:56,820 would be endangered without a period of relaxation 198 00:10:56,820 --> 00:11:00,060 from the labor and anxiety of the six days. 199 00:11:02,540 --> 00:11:04,580 But in the case of the enslaved Israelites, 200 00:11:04,580 --> 00:11:06,100 Pharaoh bristled at the thought 201 00:11:06,100 --> 00:11:08,660 that Moses taught people to rest. 202 00:11:08,660 --> 00:11:11,380 Cuts into the bottom line, doesn't it? 203 00:11:12,980 --> 00:11:16,860 This rest needed by the Hebrews was not just physical though. 204 00:11:16,860 --> 00:11:20,900 They needed physical rest so that the Hebrews 205 00:11:20,900 --> 00:11:24,500 could also offer sacrifices to God. 206 00:11:24,500 --> 00:11:26,580 In other words, spiritual rest. 207 00:11:28,540 --> 00:11:31,300 In confronting Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron were asserting 208 00:11:31,300 --> 00:11:33,580 on behalf of the Hebrew people 209 00:11:33,580 --> 00:11:36,380 the universal fundamental right that exists 210 00:11:36,380 --> 00:11:37,980 for planet Earth. 211 00:11:37,980 --> 00:11:39,940 If there was a heavenly bill of rights, 212 00:11:39,940 --> 00:11:43,300 rest would be a principle and primary right, would it not? 213 00:11:43,300 --> 00:11:46,460 There is in the universe, in God's universe, 214 00:11:46,460 --> 00:11:48,740 a fundamental right to rest. 215 00:11:49,700 --> 00:11:51,380 Yes, rest. 216 00:11:51,380 --> 00:11:53,940 The Bible tells us that in the beginning, 217 00:11:53,940 --> 00:11:56,580 God created the heavens and the Earth, 218 00:11:56,580 --> 00:11:57,980 he created light out of darkness, 219 00:11:57,980 --> 00:12:00,180 divided the light into day and night, 220 00:12:00,180 --> 00:12:02,100 created the land and water, green grass, 221 00:12:02,100 --> 00:12:05,540 fruit-bearing trees, created the sun to govern the day, 222 00:12:05,540 --> 00:12:08,380 the stars and lesser lights to govern the night, 223 00:12:08,380 --> 00:12:11,060 filled the waters with animals, littered the skies 224 00:12:11,060 --> 00:12:14,180 with birds and spread animals across the Earth. 225 00:12:14,180 --> 00:12:18,220 Then he decided to make a creature in his own image. 226 00:12:19,140 --> 00:12:23,420 And so in doing so, he made man and woman in his image, 227 00:12:23,420 --> 00:12:25,260 gave them dominion over the Earth, 228 00:12:25,260 --> 00:12:28,980 not, importantly, not each other. 229 00:12:28,980 --> 00:12:31,380 When God had finished the six days of labor, 230 00:12:31,380 --> 00:12:35,220 working day and night, 24, six, 231 00:12:35,220 --> 00:12:39,100 the account tells us that he blessed the seventh day, 232 00:12:39,100 --> 00:12:42,980 sanctified it and rested. 233 00:12:43,900 --> 00:12:47,460 God set in place a universal pattern for man to emulate. 234 00:12:47,460 --> 00:12:52,340 Six days of work, one day sanctified and blessed rest. 235 00:12:52,340 --> 00:12:55,460 Seventh day, he called the Sabbath. 236 00:12:55,460 --> 00:12:58,100 This was given to the man and to the woman, 237 00:12:58,100 --> 00:12:59,540 but it was not just given to them, 238 00:12:59,540 --> 00:13:01,540 it was a gift for all creation, 239 00:13:02,860 --> 00:13:05,100 a gift to the animals, a gift to the land, 240 00:13:05,100 --> 00:13:07,140 a gift to the Earth itself. 241 00:13:08,060 --> 00:13:10,780 Six days of work, then rest. 242 00:13:10,780 --> 00:13:12,380 This is dotted across the Bible, 243 00:13:12,380 --> 00:13:15,580 starting with God's own example in Genesis two. 244 00:13:15,580 --> 00:13:17,940 And remember, as we read it, 245 00:13:17,940 --> 00:13:21,280 was God really the one who needed the rest? 246 00:13:22,740 --> 00:13:26,180 Think about that, our limitless, powerless, tireless God, 247 00:13:26,180 --> 00:13:28,140 did he need the rest? 248 00:13:28,140 --> 00:13:29,300 Who was it created for? 249 00:13:30,340 --> 00:13:31,820 So in Genesis two, 250 00:13:31,820 --> 00:13:33,500 thus the heavens and the Earth were completed 251 00:13:33,500 --> 00:13:35,540 in all their vast array. 252 00:13:35,540 --> 00:13:36,500 By the seventh day, 253 00:13:36,500 --> 00:13:39,420 God had finished the work he had been doing. 254 00:13:39,420 --> 00:13:43,160 So on the seventh day, he rested from all his work. 255 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,020 Then God blessed the seventh day, made it holy 256 00:13:46,020 --> 00:13:49,940 because on it, he rested from all the work of creating 257 00:13:49,940 --> 00:13:50,840 that he had done. 258 00:13:52,620 --> 00:13:55,860 So as, then moving on, 259 00:13:55,860 --> 00:13:58,340 we're reminded in the 10 commandments 260 00:13:58,340 --> 00:14:00,860 to follow that example God set. 261 00:14:00,860 --> 00:14:04,060 Because again, he didn't need to rest, 262 00:14:04,060 --> 00:14:07,940 but he knew we would and that we should. 263 00:14:08,980 --> 00:14:11,340 In Exodus 20, eight through 11, 264 00:14:11,340 --> 00:14:14,460 remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 265 00:14:14,460 --> 00:14:16,780 We can almost say this in our sleep, can't we? 266 00:14:16,780 --> 00:14:19,340 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 267 00:14:19,340 --> 00:14:23,300 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. 268 00:14:23,300 --> 00:14:25,140 On it, you shall not do any work, 269 00:14:25,140 --> 00:14:27,260 neither you nor your son or daughter, 270 00:14:27,260 --> 00:14:29,280 your male or female servant, 271 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:32,680 your animals or any foreigner residing in your towns. 272 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:35,940 For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, 273 00:14:35,940 --> 00:14:40,020 the sea and all that's in them, but he rested. 274 00:14:40,020 --> 00:14:42,300 He rested on that seventh day. 275 00:14:42,300 --> 00:14:44,820 Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day 276 00:14:44,820 --> 00:14:46,380 and made it holy. 277 00:14:47,860 --> 00:14:49,620 And as if we needed the reminder 278 00:14:50,540 --> 00:14:54,300 that the command was a blessing rather than just a, 279 00:14:54,300 --> 00:14:55,640 do it because I said so. 280 00:14:55,640 --> 00:15:00,640 In Mark two, Jesus reminded the Pharisees of his day, 281 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,960 but also to all of those hearing 282 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:06,600 and reading his words today, 283 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:11,600 the Sabbath was made for, for who? 284 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:14,540 Not man for the Sabbath. 285 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:18,740 This message is not itself an in-depth study 286 00:15:18,740 --> 00:15:20,160 on the Sabbath fundamentals, 287 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,360 but I encourage you to talk to a friendly face in the pew, 288 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:24,840 church leader, et cetera, 289 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,380 if you wanna look more closely at that sometime. 290 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:31,520 But bringing it back into today's train of thought, 291 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:34,200 I'll refer to Testimonies Volume Four 292 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,920 where Ellen White asserts the following. 293 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,380 God claims one day, one day, 294 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:45,440 and gives it back, gives it right back to man 295 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,260 as a day in which he may rest from labor 296 00:15:48,260 --> 00:15:50,000 and devote himself to worship 297 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,400 and the improvement of his spiritual condition. 298 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:56,020 What a flagrant outrage is it for man 299 00:15:56,020 --> 00:15:59,680 to steal one sanctified day of Jehovah 300 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:03,160 and appropriate it to his own selfish purposes. 301 00:16:05,020 --> 00:16:06,380 Even when sin emerged, 302 00:16:06,380 --> 00:16:08,260 the Sabbath was an ordinance of rest 303 00:16:08,260 --> 00:16:11,300 that bound all to yield control to the creator, 304 00:16:11,300 --> 00:16:13,680 reflect on our relationship with him 305 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,620 and reflect on his creation. 306 00:16:16,620 --> 00:16:20,020 Each Sabbath mankind is called to rest. 307 00:16:20,020 --> 00:16:23,660 We were to rest from all our labors. 308 00:16:23,660 --> 00:16:25,900 Sabbath is a great equalizer, 309 00:16:25,900 --> 00:16:28,860 rich or poor, male, female, 310 00:16:28,860 --> 00:16:31,580 all yield to the power and authority 311 00:16:31,580 --> 00:16:33,140 of the creator of the universe. 312 00:16:33,140 --> 00:16:34,220 That's the call. 313 00:16:35,740 --> 00:16:38,380 When confronted with his defiance of the will of God, 314 00:16:38,380 --> 00:16:41,340 Pharaoh doubled down and increased his harshness 315 00:16:41,340 --> 00:16:43,540 towards the children of Israel. 316 00:16:43,540 --> 00:16:45,220 His attack against God's rest 317 00:16:45,220 --> 00:16:48,500 was both physical and spiritual. 318 00:16:48,500 --> 00:16:52,140 I want you to understand the nature of Pharaoh's strategy 319 00:16:52,140 --> 00:16:56,160 to defy God and deny his people their rest. 320 00:16:57,100 --> 00:17:00,220 The Bible tells us that he increased the workload, 321 00:17:00,220 --> 00:17:01,980 made the work longer and harder 322 00:17:01,980 --> 00:17:05,260 and then scattered the people around Egypt more. 323 00:17:06,120 --> 00:17:07,780 He then gathered the Hebrew leaders, 324 00:17:07,780 --> 00:17:09,240 beat them up and told them 325 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:11,100 that the reason their work is harder 326 00:17:11,100 --> 00:17:13,900 is because these troublemakers, Moses and Aaron, 327 00:17:13,900 --> 00:17:16,200 demanding rest and sacrifice for them. 328 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:21,200 So Pharaoh knew that when God's people are divided, 329 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:24,580 they can be more readily conquered. 330 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:28,560 Pharaoh knew that when God's people are in fighting, 331 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:30,640 they can be controlled. 332 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,520 That time-honored strategy continues to today. 333 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:37,000 The Pharaohs of our day, 334 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,200 be it government, corporate or religious, 335 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:42,800 continue to divide us by our race, our gender, 336 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:44,940 our class, even nationality. 337 00:17:44,940 --> 00:17:48,440 So God's effort though to give his people rest 338 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:50,740 resulted in the creation, you can say, 339 00:17:50,740 --> 00:17:54,340 of the first labor union in the history of the world. 340 00:17:54,340 --> 00:17:58,340 They advocated for rest, physical and spiritual. 341 00:17:59,740 --> 00:18:01,060 I want you to understand that 342 00:18:01,060 --> 00:18:04,540 this first resistance movement recorded in scripture 343 00:18:04,540 --> 00:18:09,540 was about rest and the last will also be about rest. 344 00:18:09,540 --> 00:18:14,540 So the path to rest though is not your work, of course. 345 00:18:14,540 --> 00:18:15,980 Here's what God instructed Moses 346 00:18:15,980 --> 00:18:17,900 to say to the children of Israel, 347 00:18:17,900 --> 00:18:20,380 a word that resonates to all the oppressed 348 00:18:20,380 --> 00:18:21,420 through all the ages. 349 00:18:22,420 --> 00:18:26,940 And this comes out of Exodus six, verses six through eight. 350 00:18:26,940 --> 00:18:29,940 Therefore say to the Israelites, I am the Lord 351 00:18:29,940 --> 00:18:31,700 and I will bring you out from under the yoke 352 00:18:31,700 --> 00:18:33,020 of the Egyptians. 353 00:18:33,020 --> 00:18:36,060 I will free you from being slaves to them. 354 00:18:36,060 --> 00:18:39,580 I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty 355 00:18:39,580 --> 00:18:40,740 acts of judgment. 356 00:18:40,740 --> 00:18:44,740 I will take you as my people and I will be your God. 357 00:18:44,740 --> 00:18:47,340 Then you will know that I am the Lord your God 358 00:18:47,340 --> 00:18:50,340 who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 359 00:18:51,660 --> 00:18:54,660 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand 360 00:18:54,660 --> 00:18:57,540 to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. 361 00:18:57,540 --> 00:19:01,060 I will give it to you as a possession. 362 00:19:01,060 --> 00:19:03,540 I am your God. 363 00:19:03,540 --> 00:19:06,620 I am your God and I will give it to you as a possession. 364 00:19:06,620 --> 00:19:08,620 I am the Lord. 365 00:19:11,620 --> 00:19:14,700 The Bible tells us there's a work that only God can do. 366 00:19:14,700 --> 00:19:18,260 In the beginning, he created. 367 00:19:19,540 --> 00:19:23,220 The world is not the product of random chance operating 368 00:19:23,220 --> 00:19:26,540 by natural mutation, but life is the product 369 00:19:26,540 --> 00:19:29,020 of the mind of our creator. 370 00:19:29,020 --> 00:19:30,860 He spoke and it was done. 371 00:19:30,860 --> 00:19:34,140 He was not the product of the military mind of man, 372 00:19:34,140 --> 00:19:39,140 but by the mighty word of God who spoke and plagues fell, 373 00:19:39,140 --> 00:19:42,540 who breathed and sees opened by his might alone 374 00:19:42,540 --> 00:19:45,140 and empire fell. 375 00:19:45,140 --> 00:19:50,140 And by his power alone, his people received rest. 376 00:19:50,140 --> 00:19:53,740 All God wanted them to do is rest. 377 00:19:55,260 --> 00:19:58,940 God's redeeming act brought Israel both physical 378 00:19:58,940 --> 00:20:01,740 rest by taking his people out of Egypt. 379 00:20:01,740 --> 00:20:04,260 God gave his people physical rest. 380 00:20:04,260 --> 00:20:07,140 They're no longer slaves to the Egyptian empire. 381 00:20:07,140 --> 00:20:11,580 By bringing them out of Egypt, God gave them spiritual rest. 382 00:20:11,580 --> 00:20:16,580 The Sabbath, they could now worship God every seventh day. 383 00:20:17,580 --> 00:20:21,260 In other words, the Sabbath is the great symbol 384 00:20:21,260 --> 00:20:23,940 of God's rest given to mankind. 385 00:20:23,940 --> 00:20:27,740 Every time we rest, it opens the door to worship God. 386 00:20:27,740 --> 00:20:31,700 Every time we rest on Sabbath, we acknowledge God. 387 00:20:31,700 --> 00:20:34,980 Every time we rest on Sabbath, we honor God. 388 00:20:35,940 --> 00:20:39,420 It's an ongoing and perpetual reminder to all mankind 389 00:20:39,420 --> 00:20:42,140 to remember God as creator. 390 00:20:42,140 --> 00:20:45,260 This is why God reminded Israel of the following 391 00:20:45,260 --> 00:20:47,260 in Deuteronomy five. 392 00:20:47,260 --> 00:20:49,460 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt 393 00:20:49,460 --> 00:20:52,940 and that the Lord your God brought you out of there 394 00:20:52,940 --> 00:20:55,740 with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. 395 00:20:55,740 --> 00:20:58,420 Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you 396 00:20:58,420 --> 00:20:59,860 to observe the Sabbath day. 397 00:21:01,420 --> 00:21:04,420 The Sabbath is a symbol of every slave, servant, 398 00:21:04,420 --> 00:21:08,020 bondsman, day laborer, farm hand, 399 00:21:08,020 --> 00:21:10,020 these days the blue collar worker 400 00:21:11,340 --> 00:21:13,020 and everybody in between. 401 00:21:13,020 --> 00:21:16,220 God can redeem you by his mighty hand. 402 00:21:17,780 --> 00:21:21,140 If there's anything I want you to take from the rest, 403 00:21:21,140 --> 00:21:26,140 take from this message, it's that rest precedes worship. 404 00:21:26,220 --> 00:21:31,220 That's why Satan and Pharaoh, his workers, 405 00:21:32,260 --> 00:21:33,380 put that under attack. 406 00:21:33,380 --> 00:21:36,340 Rest precedes worship. 407 00:21:36,340 --> 00:21:39,300 Before you worship God, you must rest. 408 00:21:39,300 --> 00:21:41,420 If you don't rest, you can't worship. 409 00:21:43,340 --> 00:21:47,020 When you come to worship, you need to lay aside 410 00:21:47,020 --> 00:21:48,180 the labor of the week. 411 00:21:48,180 --> 00:21:49,540 Ignore the worries of the week. 412 00:21:49,540 --> 00:21:53,060 Forget the stress of living in a sin-sick world. 413 00:21:53,060 --> 00:21:55,340 Put down the wars of the week. 414 00:21:55,340 --> 00:21:56,700 Doesn't mean they disappear, 415 00:21:56,700 --> 00:21:59,820 it means you're putting them at Jesus' feet 416 00:22:00,820 --> 00:22:02,980 and take the shoes off your feet 417 00:22:02,980 --> 00:22:05,420 so that you can worship the God whose presence 418 00:22:05,420 --> 00:22:08,740 lit up a mountain and whose glory outshines the sun. 419 00:22:10,340 --> 00:22:13,860 Far too often when we worship, we remain connected 420 00:22:13,860 --> 00:22:16,740 to things that can't save us or redeem us. 421 00:22:16,740 --> 00:22:20,900 Those stresses that we carried through the week, 422 00:22:20,900 --> 00:22:24,340 the to-do lists that's still rattling around in our mind 423 00:22:24,340 --> 00:22:26,740 when we try to sit down and be quiet 424 00:22:26,740 --> 00:22:30,140 and know that he is God for a moment, 425 00:22:30,140 --> 00:22:32,500 we need to set their distractions, 426 00:22:32,500 --> 00:22:33,860 we need to set them aside. 427 00:22:35,740 --> 00:22:40,180 We remain also distracted by these devices in our pockets 428 00:22:40,180 --> 00:22:43,140 or other such. 429 00:22:43,140 --> 00:22:45,420 The fruit of restless work. 430 00:22:45,420 --> 00:22:48,340 We worship data and information rather than the God 431 00:22:48,340 --> 00:22:50,060 who's the source of all knowledge. 432 00:22:53,140 --> 00:22:55,100 In the passage for our meditation, 433 00:22:55,100 --> 00:22:57,620 Moses pleads with Pharaoh to let the people rest 434 00:22:57,620 --> 00:22:59,660 so that they may go into the wilderness 435 00:22:59,660 --> 00:23:01,380 to offer sacrifices to God. 436 00:23:03,740 --> 00:23:07,060 I want you to understand that God expects us 437 00:23:07,060 --> 00:23:08,620 to exercise this right. 438 00:23:11,300 --> 00:23:12,140 There it is. 439 00:23:12,140 --> 00:23:14,980 He's calling us to rest. 440 00:23:14,980 --> 00:23:17,420 In face of oppression, we need to rest. 441 00:23:17,420 --> 00:23:20,740 In face of disenfranchisement, we need to rest. 442 00:23:20,740 --> 00:23:22,980 When the powers that be seek to enslave us, 443 00:23:22,980 --> 00:23:24,660 we need to rest. 444 00:23:26,180 --> 00:23:30,180 And I know we can struggle with this concept sometimes. 445 00:23:30,180 --> 00:23:32,300 Rest seems passive. 446 00:23:33,220 --> 00:23:35,860 Rest is not resistance. 447 00:23:35,860 --> 00:23:36,700 Or is it? 448 00:23:38,220 --> 00:23:40,420 The stories told of a young woman 449 00:23:40,420 --> 00:23:45,420 in Montgomery, Alabama. 450 00:23:45,500 --> 00:23:48,580 After a long day of work as a seamstress, 451 00:23:48,580 --> 00:23:50,580 she was sitting on a bus. 452 00:23:50,580 --> 00:23:53,340 Law required her in those days though 453 00:23:53,340 --> 00:23:55,660 to give up her seat to a white person 454 00:23:55,660 --> 00:23:57,620 in accordance with segregation laws. 455 00:23:58,460 --> 00:23:59,780 But she was tired. 456 00:23:59,780 --> 00:24:03,220 She decided to rest. 457 00:24:03,220 --> 00:24:04,740 She held her seat. 458 00:24:06,860 --> 00:24:08,700 That led to her arrest. 459 00:24:08,700 --> 00:24:11,020 Her arrest led to the Civil Rights Movement 460 00:24:11,020 --> 00:24:15,540 that culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 461 00:24:15,540 --> 00:24:17,580 I think we know who this is I'm talking about now. 462 00:24:17,580 --> 00:24:19,100 Rosa Parks, yes. 463 00:24:19,100 --> 00:24:20,420 Good job. 464 00:24:20,420 --> 00:24:23,940 Rest can be resistance. 465 00:24:23,940 --> 00:24:26,420 Her rest transformed America. 466 00:24:26,420 --> 00:24:28,380 And God is calling us to rest. 467 00:24:30,180 --> 00:24:33,660 Similarly, on October 24, 1975, 468 00:24:33,660 --> 00:24:36,460 Icelandic women went on strike for the day to, 469 00:24:36,460 --> 00:24:39,300 and this is out of some of their, 470 00:24:40,300 --> 00:24:42,300 I guess some of the strike records of the day, 471 00:24:42,300 --> 00:24:47,220 strike documents or news reports of the day. 472 00:24:47,220 --> 00:24:49,020 They went on strike to demonstrate 473 00:24:49,020 --> 00:24:50,580 the indispensable work of women 474 00:24:50,580 --> 00:24:53,220 for Iceland's economy and society 475 00:24:53,220 --> 00:24:55,780 as well as to protest wage discrepancy 476 00:24:55,780 --> 00:24:58,100 and unfair employment practices. 477 00:24:58,100 --> 00:25:01,380 It was publicized domestically as Women's Day Off. 478 00:25:02,300 --> 00:25:04,580 Participants led by women's organizations 479 00:25:04,580 --> 00:25:07,700 did not go to their paid jobs that day. 480 00:25:07,700 --> 00:25:10,820 They did not do any housework or child rearing 481 00:25:10,820 --> 00:25:11,980 for the full day. 482 00:25:13,220 --> 00:25:17,100 90% of Iceland's female population participated. 483 00:25:17,100 --> 00:25:18,500 It's incredible. 484 00:25:18,500 --> 00:25:20,940 Iceland's parliament passed a law 485 00:25:20,940 --> 00:25:23,660 guaranteeing equal pay the following year. 486 00:25:24,820 --> 00:25:27,180 There's power in rest. 487 00:25:28,980 --> 00:25:32,220 Last year, the Oakwood University basketball team 488 00:25:32,220 --> 00:25:34,020 had to forfeit a playoff game 489 00:25:34,020 --> 00:25:37,060 that was scheduled to begin during Sabbath hours. 490 00:25:37,060 --> 00:25:39,860 Their petition to a local athletic organization 491 00:25:39,860 --> 00:25:44,300 or athletic association to reschedule the game to a time 492 00:25:44,300 --> 00:25:47,980 outside of Sabbath hours was denied. 493 00:25:47,980 --> 00:25:52,100 These young men chose to rest. 494 00:25:52,100 --> 00:25:55,260 Their stand for Sabbath rest resulted in an invitation 495 00:25:55,260 --> 00:25:58,540 from the governor of Alabama and national publicity 496 00:25:58,540 --> 00:26:01,700 for a group of young men who took a stand for their faith. 497 00:26:01,700 --> 00:26:04,420 The public affairs and religious liberty department 498 00:26:04,420 --> 00:26:07,300 for the general conference got involved, 499 00:26:07,300 --> 00:26:10,460 filed suit, and the athletic association settled 500 00:26:10,460 --> 00:26:15,020 with the promise to accommodate Sabbath rest going forward. 501 00:26:15,020 --> 00:26:17,540 So God is calling us to rest. 502 00:26:18,740 --> 00:26:19,580 And we can worship. 503 00:26:20,540 --> 00:26:23,140 The Hebrews heeded God's call to rest. 504 00:26:23,140 --> 00:26:25,340 They followed Moses out of bondage. 505 00:26:25,340 --> 00:26:27,580 They left behind their slave masters. 506 00:26:27,580 --> 00:26:30,060 They left behind the land of the Pharaoh, 507 00:26:30,060 --> 00:26:35,060 left behind the gods of Egypt, and entered into rest. 508 00:26:35,980 --> 00:26:38,580 They began their journey to the promised land. 509 00:26:38,580 --> 00:26:40,260 But before they journeyed, 510 00:26:42,180 --> 00:26:45,380 they met God at Sinai and rested, 511 00:26:45,380 --> 00:26:46,780 physically and spiritually. 512 00:26:47,660 --> 00:26:50,100 We need to understand if we're to worship God, 513 00:26:51,660 --> 00:26:53,020 we must first rest. 514 00:26:53,020 --> 00:26:55,780 When there's no rest, there can't be worship. 515 00:26:55,780 --> 00:26:57,620 When there can't be worship, 516 00:26:57,620 --> 00:26:59,700 deliverance can be hard to come by. 517 00:27:01,980 --> 00:27:05,220 Now fast forwarding to these United States. 518 00:27:09,820 --> 00:27:13,820 For 246 years, enslaved Africans had no rest. 519 00:27:13,820 --> 00:27:16,700 In many instances, the enslaved Africans 520 00:27:16,700 --> 00:27:19,060 worked six or seven days a week. 521 00:27:19,060 --> 00:27:22,100 While slavery lasted, early Adventists advocated 522 00:27:22,100 --> 00:27:24,500 the end of slavery by their voice, vote, 523 00:27:24,500 --> 00:27:28,100 and defiance of the laws that sought to keep men and women 524 00:27:28,100 --> 00:27:31,660 also made in God's image in perpetual bondage. 525 00:27:32,860 --> 00:27:35,020 The war to end slavery and the ratification 526 00:27:35,020 --> 00:27:38,500 of the 13th Amendment was the first step to freedom 527 00:27:38,500 --> 00:27:40,300 for those excluded from rest. 528 00:27:41,420 --> 00:27:43,340 But following the end of that slavery, 529 00:27:44,340 --> 00:27:46,340 workers, whether black or white, 530 00:27:46,340 --> 00:27:49,700 worked 12 hours a day, six days a week. 531 00:27:49,700 --> 00:27:50,540 There was a time. 532 00:27:51,500 --> 00:27:53,940 In other words, from sunup to sunset, 533 00:27:53,940 --> 00:27:56,140 from sunup to sundown basically. 534 00:27:56,140 --> 00:27:58,580 In many instances, even children found themselves 535 00:27:58,580 --> 00:28:00,980 working these long hours in factories 536 00:28:00,980 --> 00:28:02,500 and fields across the country. 537 00:28:03,780 --> 00:28:06,660 So next, a bloody fight between organized labor 538 00:28:06,660 --> 00:28:08,780 and corporate monopolies began. 539 00:28:08,780 --> 00:28:11,820 Labor unions acted by any means necessary 540 00:28:11,820 --> 00:28:14,020 to fight for laws that would benefit workers 541 00:28:14,020 --> 00:28:16,220 and bring them rest. 542 00:28:16,220 --> 00:28:19,420 Their tactics were so bad at times that Ellen White 543 00:28:19,420 --> 00:28:22,620 warned Adventists not to join those movements, 544 00:28:22,620 --> 00:28:24,980 while at the same time still condemning 545 00:28:24,980 --> 00:28:26,860 those corporate monopolistic powers 546 00:28:26,860 --> 00:28:29,140 that wouldn't allow their workers to rest. 547 00:28:31,260 --> 00:28:34,900 So imagine being caught in this rock and hard place. 548 00:28:34,900 --> 00:28:37,100 The unions would compel workers to strike 549 00:28:37,100 --> 00:28:39,580 sometimes against their will, 550 00:28:39,580 --> 00:28:42,940 and also the corporate monopolies would deny them rest 551 00:28:42,940 --> 00:28:43,900 against their will. 552 00:28:45,220 --> 00:28:49,060 It wasn't until 1930, late 1930, 553 00:28:49,060 --> 00:28:51,820 when the Fair Labor Standard Act was passed, 554 00:28:51,820 --> 00:28:54,740 limiting work hours to 40 hours a week, 555 00:28:54,740 --> 00:28:58,580 that many employees finally started to get some rest. 556 00:29:00,580 --> 00:29:04,140 But that rest didn't always lead to Sabbath worship. 557 00:29:04,140 --> 00:29:05,260 It led to leisure. 558 00:29:06,940 --> 00:29:10,820 Still, by 1950, life expectancy in the US 559 00:29:10,820 --> 00:29:14,620 increased from 50 years to 68 years. 560 00:29:14,620 --> 00:29:15,660 How about that? 561 00:29:15,660 --> 00:29:18,940 Today, that's bumped more so into the mid-upper 70s. 562 00:29:18,940 --> 00:29:22,020 But consider Loma Linda, 563 00:29:22,020 --> 00:29:25,820 what we sometimes refer to as Adventist Mecca. 564 00:29:25,820 --> 00:29:28,940 Not solely Adventists living there, but mostly. 565 00:29:29,900 --> 00:29:34,140 It's recognized as a blue zone, a geographic area 566 00:29:35,500 --> 00:29:37,020 with a high concentration of people 567 00:29:37,020 --> 00:29:39,180 living over 100 years of age. 568 00:29:40,020 --> 00:29:43,020 There, the average lifespan is more like 569 00:29:43,020 --> 00:29:46,260 89 years for men and 91 for women. 570 00:29:46,260 --> 00:29:47,100 It's incredible. 571 00:29:47,100 --> 00:29:50,420 You can kinda see in these modern comparisons, 572 00:29:50,420 --> 00:29:55,340 it pays to rest, and it turned that rest into worship. 573 00:29:57,460 --> 00:30:00,420 Ironically, it was the advocacy of unions 574 00:30:00,420 --> 00:30:04,020 and not the work of the church that finally brought rest 575 00:30:04,020 --> 00:30:06,740 to an overworked entire nation. 576 00:30:06,740 --> 00:30:10,020 Because the laws in the United States now protect rest, 577 00:30:10,020 --> 00:30:12,940 a new form of unrest has been shipped overseas 578 00:30:12,940 --> 00:30:17,220 by corporate giants like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, 579 00:30:17,220 --> 00:30:18,340 you probably have a few others 580 00:30:18,340 --> 00:30:21,620 rolling around in your head right now as well. 581 00:30:21,620 --> 00:30:24,380 Where workers are being exploited at factories 582 00:30:24,380 --> 00:30:27,180 when they work from sunup to sundown, 583 00:30:27,180 --> 00:30:30,500 six, seven days a week. 584 00:30:33,140 --> 00:30:36,260 This year, in Religious Liberty Advocacy Efforts, 585 00:30:36,260 --> 00:30:40,660 we celebrate Gerald Groff, an Evangelical Christian 586 00:30:40,660 --> 00:30:43,060 who believes that Sunday should be devoted to rest 587 00:30:43,060 --> 00:30:47,260 and worship, and Alan Ranick, an Adventist attorney 588 00:30:47,260 --> 00:30:50,140 who has devoted his life to defending Adventists 589 00:30:50,140 --> 00:30:53,260 who seek to rest on God's holy day, the Sabbath. 590 00:30:54,140 --> 00:30:57,260 Together, they challenged the United States Postal Service 591 00:30:57,260 --> 00:30:58,940 and their business partner's decision 592 00:30:58,940 --> 00:31:03,940 to deny Groff's request to rest on the day he called holy, 593 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:06,140 a decision that was in violation 594 00:31:06,140 --> 00:31:10,580 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 595 00:31:10,580 --> 00:31:14,140 So in that challenge to the USPS, 596 00:31:14,140 --> 00:31:18,460 Mr. Groff upped the chance for rest 597 00:31:18,460 --> 00:31:21,380 to thousands of Adventists who lose their jobs 598 00:31:21,380 --> 00:31:24,860 on a yearly basis because employers across the nation 599 00:31:24,860 --> 00:31:27,580 refuse to grant them rest. 600 00:31:27,580 --> 00:31:30,740 This joint stand of a Sabbath keeper and a Sunday keeper 601 00:31:30,740 --> 00:31:34,100 resulted in a unanimous decision, unanimous, 602 00:31:34,100 --> 00:31:37,580 that's a big deal, unanimous decision by the Supreme Court 603 00:31:37,580 --> 00:31:40,900 to affirm the power of rest in an age 604 00:31:40,900 --> 00:31:45,220 where corporate pharaohs continue to increase the workload 605 00:31:45,220 --> 00:31:47,740 on an exhausted nation and world. 606 00:31:49,260 --> 00:31:52,060 The legacy of slavery continues to haunt our world today, 607 00:31:52,060 --> 00:31:56,100 and rest remains the battle cry for the oppressed. 608 00:31:56,100 --> 00:31:59,200 Our political divisions are largely driven 609 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:02,880 by the fight between these corporate giants and labor. 610 00:32:03,980 --> 00:32:06,700 There's a concerted effort to destroy union power, 611 00:32:06,700 --> 00:32:09,260 give massive tax cuts to corporate giants, 612 00:32:09,260 --> 00:32:11,640 and deregulate government control over the actions 613 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:15,300 that work against the interests of the laborer, the people. 614 00:32:16,260 --> 00:32:20,540 As Adventists though, we understand that the final battle 615 00:32:20,540 --> 00:32:24,160 in Earth's history will be over rest and worship. 616 00:32:25,620 --> 00:32:28,020 Our pioneers understood the role this country would play 617 00:32:28,020 --> 00:32:29,860 in taking rest from the Earth. 618 00:32:29,860 --> 00:32:33,180 They concluded that the United States was the land beast 619 00:32:33,180 --> 00:32:36,560 of Revelation 13 because of slavery. 620 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:39,420 They understood that the final battle will be 621 00:32:39,420 --> 00:32:42,520 over both physical and spiritual rest. 622 00:32:43,460 --> 00:32:46,760 They knew that physical rest gives mankind the means 623 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,820 to prepare for spiritual rest. 624 00:32:49,820 --> 00:32:53,460 They knew that physical rest must first be diminished, 625 00:32:53,460 --> 00:32:57,480 and when that occurs, spiritual rest is under attack. 626 00:32:58,460 --> 00:33:02,020 With divine insight, Ellen White connected the fight 627 00:33:02,020 --> 00:33:05,140 for rest between laborers and corporate powers 628 00:33:05,140 --> 00:33:08,780 as leading the societal divisions that would elevate 629 00:33:08,780 --> 00:33:13,780 a few men at the expense of the dignity of the masses. 630 00:33:14,140 --> 00:33:17,220 In other words, men would gain dominion over each other 631 00:33:17,220 --> 00:33:19,240 to the detriment of the nation. 632 00:33:21,420 --> 00:33:24,820 As a consequence, our church predicted that Christians 633 00:33:24,820 --> 00:33:29,620 would seek to elevate Sunday as man's effort to give rest 634 00:33:29,620 --> 00:33:32,620 while protecting corporate interests. 635 00:33:32,620 --> 00:33:35,460 This forced rest will not lead men to worship, 636 00:33:35,460 --> 00:33:40,060 but will in fact remove liberty of conscience. 637 00:33:40,060 --> 00:33:43,060 Men cannot give what only God can ordain. 638 00:33:43,900 --> 00:33:46,620 However, our pioneers knew that those faithful to God 639 00:33:46,620 --> 00:33:49,700 will defy the man-made rest for the rest 640 00:33:49,700 --> 00:33:51,300 that only God can give. 641 00:33:51,300 --> 00:33:54,340 And a final generation will rise and honor God's Sabbath 642 00:33:54,340 --> 00:33:55,960 and remember him as creator. 643 00:33:57,760 --> 00:33:59,400 Martin Luther King offered these words 644 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:02,060 during the fight for civil rights. 645 00:34:02,060 --> 00:34:03,140 I'm tired of fighting. 646 00:34:04,620 --> 00:34:07,620 I'm tired of fighting for what should have been mine at birth. 647 00:34:09,900 --> 00:34:12,540 I'm here today to tell you that now is the time to grow, 648 00:34:12,540 --> 00:34:15,240 now is not the time to grow weary. 649 00:34:15,240 --> 00:34:18,780 There's more rest to fight for. 650 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,340 So I want us to remember these seven things today. 651 00:34:23,140 --> 00:34:26,040 First, we are made in the image of a creator 652 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:28,820 who made the world, made it in six days, 653 00:34:28,820 --> 00:34:32,160 made the universe, but also made the world in six days, 654 00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:35,220 and then rested. 655 00:34:35,220 --> 00:34:38,660 He set the example for resting after working. 656 00:34:38,660 --> 00:34:41,600 God created the Sabbath so that we can rest. 657 00:34:43,300 --> 00:34:46,780 Next, because we're made in the image of our creator, 658 00:34:47,740 --> 00:34:50,700 we don't have dominion over each other. 659 00:34:50,700 --> 00:34:52,220 We're made in his image. 660 00:34:52,220 --> 00:34:55,100 Each person is equal in God's sight. 661 00:34:55,100 --> 00:34:57,040 We have dominion over nature. 662 00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:01,120 Consequently, no person has the right or power 663 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:02,660 to take rest from us. 664 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:07,760 Third, God made rest for all mankind in nature. 665 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:10,120 It's the first fundamental right that supersedes 666 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,840 the claims of all governments and corporate interests. 667 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:17,400 Four, we must teach our children to rest, 668 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:19,920 and our families should rest together. 669 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:22,960 Family that rests together stays together. 670 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:27,960 Next, if you don't rest, you're a slave. 671 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:31,800 Don't be a slave. 672 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:35,840 Slavery destroys Sabbath rest and the image of God 673 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:37,020 and every human being. 674 00:35:39,180 --> 00:35:43,320 Next, Sabbath rest is the great symbol of liberation 675 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:45,960 for all people who find themselves enslaved, 676 00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:50,220 be it by old-fashioned slavery, ecclesiastical dominion, 677 00:35:50,220 --> 00:35:53,160 or the modern corporate slavery. 678 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:56,600 God calls us to physical rest so that we can worship. 679 00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:59,960 Our mission is to bring physical and spiritual rest 680 00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:01,360 to the world. 681 00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:03,720 This is why the early Adventist pioneers fought 682 00:36:03,720 --> 00:36:06,680 against slavery and identified the United States 683 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:08,720 as the final beast power that would take rest 684 00:36:08,720 --> 00:36:09,560 from the earth. 685 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:14,320 And last, the final battle in earth's history 686 00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:17,720 will be over physical rest that will take away 687 00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:20,420 from spiritual rest and worship. 688 00:36:20,420 --> 00:36:23,680 In this final battle, God and those who are faithful to him 689 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:24,940 will be victorious. 690 00:36:27,240 --> 00:36:31,240 So in closing, we can't preach the Sabbath 691 00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:35,140 unless we're willing first to fight for that rest, 692 00:36:35,140 --> 00:36:37,240 be it fighting to break away from the rat race 693 00:36:37,240 --> 00:36:42,300 in our own lives and be willing to hit that pause button, 694 00:36:42,300 --> 00:36:49,300 put the cares at Jesus' feet, they're his now, 695 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:51,520 turn our hearts and minds to him, 696 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:56,180 or be it fighting the more frank or sinister challenges 697 00:36:56,180 --> 00:36:58,000 to our freedom of conscience, 698 00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:01,200 or advocating for others who are oppressed. 699 00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:06,920 Physical rest precedes spiritual rest, 700 00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:10,460 and spiritual rest leads to worship. 701 00:37:10,460 --> 00:37:13,500 You can't worship unless you are at rest. 702 00:37:14,700 --> 00:37:17,100 If there's one consistent mission for our church, 703 00:37:17,100 --> 00:37:19,040 it's to give rest to the world, 704 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,600 telling overworked and spiritually deficient world 705 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:25,360 that has forgotten its creator that there is a God 706 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:28,460 and he wants to give them rest and abide with them. 707 00:37:29,500 --> 00:37:31,480 God is calling us to take a stand for rest, 708 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:34,180 to tell the world about rest, to fight for rest, 709 00:37:34,180 --> 00:37:38,900 but most importantly, to rest. 710 00:37:38,900 --> 00:37:41,900 When we rest, we remember that God's the one 711 00:37:41,900 --> 00:37:43,400 who's really in charge. 712 00:37:44,500 --> 00:37:46,660 God will defeat pharaohs of all kinds, 713 00:37:46,660 --> 00:37:49,160 lead us from slavery to freedom, 714 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:51,900 redeem us from physical and spiritual bondage, 715 00:37:51,900 --> 00:37:54,900 and we will enter in a communion with the God 716 00:37:54,900 --> 00:37:57,160 who leads us to the promised land, 717 00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:09,160 a city whose maker and builder is God.