Last year, it was a privilege to visit on your behalf in Europe and to see what God
is doing in a little part of Europe that we were able to visit.
But in going there, we were visiting the roots of our own culture, basically.
And so it was not as fully a cross-cultural experience as this last trip was, which took
us into the Far East to Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
There were many enjoyable aspects of that.
A couple that weren't exactly as fully enjoyable.
We flew a number of times on the national airline of Indonesia called Garuda.
And on the smaller planes, they served us a box snack.
It was more than peanuts.
I'll give them that much credit.
It was more than peanuts, but it was a box snack that included a piece of sweet bread
and a rice roll.
I don't know how many of you have ever had a rice roll?
Well, some of you have.
It is cold, sticky rice that is rolled with something in the middle of it.
And you don't ask what the something is.
It is something there.
And it's wrapped in a banana leaf.
And it's really not very good.
In fact, I couldn't even get it down.
But Wendell, who grew up in Indonesia, just wolfed them down, so that was fine.
He had my share.
And then I learned that there is an advantage in the Far East to their shower system.
Actually, they don't have showers over there as we do.
They have what I call pours, because you pour the water over you.
There are some showers in westernized hotels and homes, but the typical home in, I would
guess, in Manila from what I saw, as well as in Indonesia for sure, would be to have
a ceramic or perhaps plastic container in the home that would be filled with water.
And then to bathe, you would take a dipper and put it into the water and then pour it
over yourself.
Quite stimulating, let me tell you, at 5.30 in the morning, because you don't have to
wait on the hot water there.
There is none.
You just go like this and, hello, morning.
So there were a lot of cross-cultural experiences that were interesting and we're eager to
share with some slides some of the things that we saw and experienced.
And we'll do that, I think, on Monday night of the Missions Festival, the way it sounds,
perhaps at another time.
But we'll see.
Do you enjoy cross-cultural experiences?
They're good for us.
They really are.
We learned a lot about ourselves and we learned a lot about the world that God has created.
I suppose that many of you have sat down at ethnic restaurants, Mexican, Chinese, Afghan.
There is one here in St. Paul.
Japanese, McDonald's.
Quite a few of you have traveled to foreign countries as well and you've seen firsthand
the different customs.
You've heard the language that seems strange to your ear.
Some of you have invited international students into your home and you've learned that way
about cross-cultural kinds of things.
Well, they're good instructors for us, these cross-cultural experiences.
Have you ever considered the fact that this one that we have invited into our homes for
our fall spiritual adventure is a Palestinian Jew?
Have you ever considered that?
There's something cross-cultural that is to be learned from that fact also.
And really our thoughts today more or less focus upon that cross-cultural truth regarding
our Savior that He was a Jew.
Because you see to the Jews there was nothing that was more sacred than the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was the sign between Israel and her God.
I'd like you to turn with me in your Bible to the book of Exodus and the 31st chapter.
Exodus 31, beginning in verse 12, where it says,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel,
saying, You shall surely observe my Sabbaths.
For this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I
am the Lord who sanctifies you.
Therefore, you are to observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you.
Notice how seriously God takes it.
Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death.
For whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete
rest, holy to the Lord.
Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.
So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their
generations as a perpetual covenant.
It is a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever.
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he ceased from labor
and was refreshed.
The Sabbath was always the high point of the week to the Jews.
It was not a day of busy activity, but it was rather a day of enforced rest.
From our Jewish roots and our Jewish Christ, we should observe that for us the day of worship
likewise should be made the high point of our week.
The day of worship for the church is not the Jewish Sabbath.
It is not even the Christian Sabbath.
Our day of worship is the first day of the week.
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week.
The Sabbath, or seventh-day observance, was a part of the law of God given through Moses,
as we have read.
It was given to Israel.
The law regarding the Sabbath was based upon God's rest after his creative activity, a
rest that came not because he was fatigued, for he is all-powerful and cannot become weary,
but rather a rest that was based upon his complete satisfaction with the perfection
of his work in creation.
Now, typically or symbolically, the Old Testament Sabbath pictured the rest from works which
Christ brings the one who trusts in him.
As it says in Hebrews 4.3, we who have believed enter that rest.
We have believed on him who died and rose again on our behalf, and have ceased from
our own righteous works.
We have believed on him and have entered rest from our own works for salvation.
The law, including the observance of the Sabbath, was for the Jews and was not for the Gentiles
at all.
In the work of Jesus Christ at the cross, our Lord fully dealt with the law, with its
ceremonies and its regulations.
The law was completely fulfilled in what he did there.
As he himself said in Matthew 5.17, I am come not to abolish the law and the prophets, but
to fulfill them.
And then Paul writes about this in Colossians 2, beginning in verse 13.
He says, And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God
made you alive together with him, with Christ, having forgiven us all our transgressions.
Notice verse 14, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us,
and which was hostile to us.
That phrase is simply a phrase that means the law of God.
It was hostile to us, though it was holy in itself.
Its decrees were against us, not because they were wrong, but because we were wrong.
We are sinners.
But it says that Jesus canceled out that certificate of debt.
It goes on to say, And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it, the law, to
the cross.
When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed
over them through him.
Therefore, let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink, or in respect to
a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.
All of those things in verse 16 pertain to aspects of the law.
Paul has said it has been taken out of the way.
Christ has nailed it to the cross.
He says, Don't let anyone anymore judge you in respect to those things.
They are no longer valid for you.
He goes on to say in verse 17, Things which are a mere shadow of what is to come, but
the substance belongs to Christ.
You see, Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf.
The early church recognized this change, and they practiced worship on the first day of
the week, commemorating Christ's resurrection.
We see that pattern established in the Book of Acts as you read through that progressive
history of the church.
It began to meet on Sunday, the first day of the week, to break bread together, to share
together, to worship together.
Now I point this out because I don't want you to be confused by Sabbath keepers.
That is, those who seek to bring you under the yoke of the law.
When I am thinking of those cults that are seventh day kind of cults, seventh day Adventists,
for example, or other denominations that insist that its adherents worship on the seventh
day.
You see, the worship on the seventh day had to do with Israel, and we are not Israel,
and it had to do with the law, and we are not under law but under grace.
Here should we make Sunday a Christian Sabbath by creating regulations on how it should be
observed.
Now there was a time a few decades ago when that was more prominent in the United States,
in our society.
It is still observed, especially in some parts of the South today.
One church where I pastored had regulations for its leaders and teachers, and on Sunday
they could not do certain things because that was Sunday.
We see the establishing of those kinds of regulations tends to make the first day of
the week a so-called Christian Sabbath, and Sunday is not intended to be that.
It is a day when we celebrate our liberty in Jesus Christ from regulations and from
the law.
But having said those things, I do, I do want you to make Sunday a special day.
I believe God wants that.
Sunday is our day of worship, and just as the Sabbath was the high point of the week
for the Jews, so Sunday ought to be the high point of the week for us who are part of the
church through faith in Jesus Christ.
The public worship of the church claims priority in our lives.
We see this, for example, in Hebrews 10.
We have read part of this in our scripture reading this morning, but I want you to look
at it more fully.
Hebrews 10.
Let me repeat.
The public worship of the church claims priority in our lives.
As it says beginning in verse 24, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good
deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Notice he is talking about our assembling together, the public worship of the church.
I think we learned at least three things here in our text, the broader text, regarding the
public worship of the church and its priority in our lives.
In the first place, the public worship of a congregation is the result of our spiritual
privileges.
Now, I want you to notice how that fits into what he says.
Back up to verse 19 where it says, since therefore, brethren, and again in verse 21, and since,
you notice he is building an argument here, actually verses 19 and 21 are the second step.
So let's go back to the first step.
He is pointing us back to what he says earlier in chapter 10 when he talks about the once-for-all
sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
I have been asked, why do we not have Mass on Sunday in our church?
Why do we not celebrate Mass and offer up the body and blood of Jesus Christ for sins?
There's a very simple answer to that.
It's unbiblical.
Jesus Christ does not need to be offered up every Sunday.
In fact, he cannot be.
It's a fallacy to think that he is.
Because you see, he once and for all, by his sacrifice at Calvary 2,000 years ago, fully
dealt with sins.
As it says, for example, in verse 10, by this will of God, we have been sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Verse 12, but he having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time.
Notice that.
The Roman church has forgotten this chapter is in the Bible, I think.
Then again, in verse 14, for by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are
sanctified.
Jesus Christ has been offered once and for all.
Now because of that, brethren, verse 19, we have confidence to enter the holy place, that
is the presence of God, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated
for us through the veil, that is, his flesh.
And since we have a great priest over the house of God, now he started out with the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, now he shows our spiritual privileges in the light of what
Christ has done for us.
We can come directly to the presence of God.
We have a great priest who is over us, Jesus Christ.
Now he says because of that, let us draw near with a sincere heart, verse 22.
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope, verse 23.
And let us consider, verse 24.
Now do you see how that last part of the text fits in with the rest?
The point is this, that the public worship of a church, it's assembling together, is
the result of its spiritual privileges.
Those two cannot be unlinked.
They are put together by the Holy Spirit.
He says because of what Christ has done for us, because of what you can do now through
Jesus Christ, that is come to the very presence of God through the high priest, therefore
do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together.
How so closely tied are those thoughts that he goes on in verse 26 and following to warn
about defecting, to warn about apostatizing.
His suggestion is this, that if a person is following the habit of some, verse 25, he
may well be in danger of defecting from the faith altogether.
The writer is saying that coming together, assembling together with other believers in
public worship is so important to God that it is the sign that one has fully entered
into the spiritual privileges that Christ purchased for us at the cross.
How do you know if a person is saved?
The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 10 seems to be saying to us that one indication
is his attitude toward the public worship of the church.
Now that's pretty serious.
Now the second thing that we learn is this, that public worship is purpose to provide
mutual encouragement which all of us need.
He says we are to consider how to stimulate.
Boy, that's a strong word.
Negatively it was used at times of provoking people to anger.
It means to shake them up.
He says we are to consider how we can shake up other Christians so that they will perform
love and good deeds, so that out of their heart will flow selfless acts of kindness.
He seems to be saying here that the emphasis when we gather for public worship ought not
to be on what we get out of it, but rather what we can give to other people so that they
will be encouraged to go on in their Christian life.
If our attitude is that I come to church so that I can get something, or we go away saying
I didn't get anything out of it this morning, we've come with the wrong spirit altogether.
The emphasis is that we publicly assemble together so that we can decide how we can
encourage others and stimulate them in their Christian maturity and Christian service.
The third thing I notice is this, that public worship is to be a priority until the day.
What day is that?
Verse 25.
What day is drawing near?
Well it seems to refer to the day that we will be with Christ.
It's interesting to note that this word assembling together is used only one other
time in the New Testament, and that's 2 Thessalonians 2.1.
And there it is used of the rapture of the church, where he talks about our gathering
together under Christ.
The day that he has in mind here is the rapture, and he is saying this to us, we are to take
heed to be in public worship so we can encourage other people.
And we are to make that a priority in our week until that day when we will have our
final worship service.
And we will gather together in the very presence of Jesus Christ.
And that day is drawing near.
There is no law telling us how Sunday should be observed, but there is a clear command
in our text today that we should, as a body, make Sunday the high point of the week, for
that is our time of assembling together.
Whenever the body meets, we are expected to participate.
There is a lack of specific commands in the Scriptures as to the frequency of services,
or how long they should be, or really what the content of them should be.
Isn't it interesting that God doesn't tell us those things?
I believe there is a reason for that.
The command is that we are to assemble together with the Lord's people.
It seems to me that these other areas of concern represent liberty that God gives to us as
a congregation.
How often should we meet?
I think a congregation has the right to determine that.
How long should the services be?
I think each congregation has the right to determine that.
What should be the flow of the service?
What should be included in it?
I think each congregation has a right to determine that.
God doesn't tell us in His word.
Each congregation is at liberty to make its own decisions.
Listen to the point.
The point is that however often that congregation decides to meet, however long the services
are, or whatever the content should be of the service, whenever it meets, we are to
be together and not to forsake it.
That means in our culture, for our congregation, our public assembling together for worship
is two times on Sunday.
Not just Sunday morning, but Sunday night as well.
Will you notice that there is no word here that says, forsaking not our own assembling
together on Sunday morning.
Facing not our own assembling together, however often we do it, however long we do it, and
whatever we do, we are not to forsake it.
In our context as a church, that means Sunday morning and Sunday night.
There are some churches that have only Sunday morning.
Apparently they feel that they can do their whole thing in one shot.
There are some churches that have Wednesday night worship.
In addition, if a congregation chooses to do that, then I think every member of the
congregation has an obligation to assemble together on Wednesday night as well.
You see a church is at liberty to make its own decisions about that.
In our case, public worship, our assembling together is twice on Sunday.
And each of these services is different.
The final question I want to talk about this morning is what can we do to make Sunday worship
a meaningful high point of our week.
I'd like to make several practical suggestions, and in doing this I will probably make some
enemies.
That is not my intention, but that may be the byproduct of it.
But I hope you'll hear me out, and that however provoked you get by the stimulation I'm about
to get you, give you, that you will consider before God what I have to say.
In the first place, I believe that we need to mentally determine that Sunday is the Lord's
day, and set that day aside in advance and plan for it.
We ought not to come to the weekend and say, well, what have we got this weekend?
Well, we need to use Saturday for this, and well, we'll use Sunday for that.
Or if we have time, we'll get the church too.
No?
Our attitude needs to be in advance.
Sunday is the Lord's day.
And that is a day that we as a family set apart because we have invited Jesus Christ
into our home as King.
I think also we need to prepare ourselves mentally and physically for Sunday by getting
sufficient rest on Saturday night.
When we stay up late partying, even if it's a group of Christians who are together for
a small church party, or we stay up late watching that movie on television that we've wanted
to see for years, or even if we stay up late just talking, it's going to take a price
on Sunday.
That's one reason that as a family we do not get involved in a lot of Saturday evening
things because we have a whole lot to do to get ready for Sunday, and we need to get to
bed at a reasonable hour.
If you were up so late last night that you're having a hard time staying awake in this service,
the bottom line is that this day has not been a priority in your life.
It wasn't as important as whatever it was that fatigued you last night.
We need to prepare ourselves mentally and physically for being in church on Sunday,
and we can do that by watching what time we get to bed on Saturday night.
I think we need to plan our Sundays so that they will be as little rushed and pressured
as possible.
There's always stress on Sunday.
The devil makes sure of that.
So often our families are running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to
decide what they can get done before they have to leave for church, and still they're
late for church.
We need to plan ahead of time what clothes we're going to wear, for example, and I'll
be concerned when it's time to leave if that dress or that shirt happens to be pressed.
We should decide ahead of time what our meals are going to be, if we're going to eat out
at some ethnic restaurant, as I mentioned, that we do that, but not be concerned at the
last moment about the meal of the day because that creates pressure, especially on the wife.
We need to plan Sundays so that we reduce as little cause for stress as possible.
I would also suggest that you determine in advance what your offering will be.
If you really want to make Sunday a high point, rather than coming into the service and pulling
out the billfold as the prayer is being said and fumbling through the bills trying to decide
which one is small enough to give and yet big enough that you bought God off, determine
ahead of time what you believe God wants you to give and come prepared.
So there's not that last minute fumbling with the billfold, but you can simply reach
in your pocket and pull out and lay into the plate what God has laid in your heart to give
for His work that week.
Another idea, make it a point to invite someone to come with you.
For you see, if Sunday is really the high point of the week, it means there's not
another time of the week that you enjoy as much as Sunday and you surely want someone
to enjoy it with you.
Now just pick up your feet off the floor and put them in the back of the chair so we don't
stomp too hard down the rows and hit your toes.
I want to encourage you to be on time to worship.
To be on time so that you can quiet yourself and be ready to worship when the service begins.
Now I recognize that there are all kinds of reasons that we think that we're late, and
there are sometimes good reasons.
We can't always predict the car is going to break down.
We can't always tell ahead of time that the roads are as slippery as they are.
We can't help it if a child gets sick and we have to go in and change clothes at the
last minute before leaving the house as has happened to us.
I don't know how many times.
It happens to you as well.
There are reasons.
But you know what?
If a person is habitually late to worship, it's evidence that that worship service is
not a priority in his life, in the family.
When you say this is the second service and I have a hard time getting out of small church,
have a hard time getting out of my elective, you let me know which elective it is and I'll
take care of it.
Those who are teaching the electives know that you're going to be through in time to
have an opportunity to get here and be quiet.
There may be those who say, well, you know, I have to stand in line at the nursery.
And I understand that that's the case.
We have a lot of babies that use the nursery.
But if you know ahead of time you're going to have to stand in line there, don't come
at 1158 thinking you're going to dump your child and then rush in here.
Realize that you're going to have to stand there a while.
Plan for that and still plan for time to come and sit and prepare yourself.
Now I noticed this morning there was quite a number that came into this service after
it had already begun.
You have already lost something that you will never be able to reclaim by being late into
this service.
You cannot go back and recoup that.
It is a loss to you forever.
It is important that each of us make Sunday a priority and that we evidence it's a priority
by being here in time for the worship service at its very beginning.
Indeed, time to prepare ourselves so that we can look through the hymns or read any
scripture that may be involved.
Maybe even look into the newsletter to see if there are some high points of the service
that we need to be aware of.
In fact, in the second column on the front side there is often a note or two about the
music that helps me appreciate more what's being done here on the platform.
Then I want to say this, and I want to say it tenderly, but I want to say it clearly
too, that we need to be thoughtful not to distract others in worship.
We have a nursery for a reason.
We have a nursery to take care of babies.
It is a very beautiful nursery and there are fine people who take care of it, and that's
where babies belong.
We've had four children and we had to learn early with the first one that babies belong
in the nursery and not with us in church.
There are exceptions to that.
Sometimes babies for one reason or another have to be with the parents, but not regularly.
It's true that babies may get sick in the nursery, but I'll tell you what, they're
going to get sick at home in your crib as well.
So you can't worry about protecting them from disease.
By the way, in the first service when I was talking about this, would you believe a baby
started crying in the back right at this point?
Right now.
Bless his heart, the father got up and was walking at long distance from that side to
that side.
I felt so sorry for him, but I commended him because he was doing exactly the right thing.
Perhaps the baby needed to be with them this morning, but they were immediately taking
the baby out.
We've had babies stay in here when they should have been taken out.
I hope the parents are not offended when an usher or some kind lady in our church comes
and says, can I help you with your baby?
Can I show you where the nursery is?
That is a very gracious thing to do because you see one baby can disrupt the worship of
500 people that fast.
Let's talk about necessary stops.
Have you ever noticed how children have to go to the bathroom the minute they sit down
in a service?
Now they train themselves for that.
And we have to untrain them by saying in advance, do you have to, and if you do, go now.
And let them go.
And let them know that once they've come in here, they don't leave.
Now please, there are exceptions to that.
I don't have to clean it up, but somebody does, so there are exceptions to that.
There may be a little discomfort, a little wiggling for a time, but children will learn
that they can take care of those things ahead of time, and so can adults, by the way.
We need to be thoughtful not to distract others in worship.
We can prepare for Sunday by utilizing the fifth discipline in our journal.
I'm sure some of you have done that, but in that center section, it's so beautifully
laid out.
Jesus, I'll make this Sunday special for you by—and we write it in.
Maybe spending extra time in prayer Sunday morning, or coming to church with a clean
heart, or maybe it is getting there on time.
And then the next three days, Jesus, this last Sunday, provided this for me, and we
look back upon Sunday and we reflect on it.
Because of Sunday, I'm going to do this.
We can make Sunday special in so many ways by coming eager to hear, determining ahead
of time to obey what God tells us to do.
As the hymn writer said, Speak, Lord, in the stillness, while I wait on Thee, hushed my
heart to listen in expectancy.
And then I believe that because our custom is to have a public gathering together Sunday
morning and Sunday night, that if we in Grace Church of Roseville are going to make Sunday
the high point of our week, it means being present Sunday morning and Sunday night.
Because only then is one able to get a balanced appreciation for the public services of our
church, for one thing.
But secondly, that's just simple obedience to the Word of God.
Now recognize that for some of you that means a great change in your Sunday routine.
But how important is Sunday?
I think we need to see Sunday as a delight and as a privilege.
As one Jewish scholar wrote about the Sabbath, just as one prepares for a bride with the
utmost care and meticulous detail, so the Sabbath is preceded by careful preparation.
Just as one yearns for the arrival of the bride, so is the Sabbath met and welcomed.
Just as the presence of the bride elicits tender concern, so does the Sabbath evoke
love and devotion.
Now if a Jew feels that way about the Sabbath, how ought we to feel about the day commemorating
our Lord's resurrection from the grave?
Yet I'm afraid that Sunday has degenerated into a day when we courteously give God a
tip of our hats by saying we've been to a service, and then we go off to use the day
as we please.
We think it's just another day off, or we call it our family day.
But would you notice that in the Word of God it's not called family day, it's called
the Lord's Day.
It is not a legalistic day, but then neither is it a day to be used to please ourselves.
It is not a time for us to select the neatest thing that's happening in town and go visit
that church.
I have a little bit of an aversion to the Saturday religion page and to some of the
announcements over Christian radio because it gives kind of the menu approach to local
Christians.
Well, there's a neat thing happening over there tonight.
I think I'll go there.
Oh, there's a film over here.
Let's go there this week.
That's so contrary to the Word of God.
We need to be publicly worshiping where we belong.
In Isaiah 58, and I want to close with this thought, in Isaiah chapter 58, God gives a
special word of blessing to the Jews regarding the Sabbath.
Now if it's true of them regarding the Sabbath, I think that there's an application at least
to us.
Notice what he says.
Chapter 58 of Isaiah verse 13, if because of the Sabbath you turn your foot from doing
your own pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the
Lord, honorable, and shall honor it, desisting from your own ways and seeking your own pleasure
and speaking your own word, then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make
you ride on the heights of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob
your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
What is it going to mean to some of us to make Sunday a delight and to honor it as the
day of the Lord?
Well, it's going to mean for some changing our work hours, if possible.
Perhaps even quitting that extra job that we have so that we can give the Lord His day
and be in worship regularly.
I recognize that there are exceptions to that, and there are people who have to work certain
shifts so that they miss Sunday occasionally, but my friend, if you miss Sunday every week,
something's wrong somewhere.
You need to ask God for relief from that situation.
I heard of a lady who just a few weeks ago went to her boss, somewhat trembling, asking
for Sunday off regularly.
She had to work every other week, and she was asking him now to be off regularly on
Sunday so that she could be in worship.
You know what her boss did?
He said, I'm going to give you a raise.
We need more people like you around here, and you can have Sunday off.
Now, I can't guarantee you your boss will respond the same way.
I wish I could.
Our society has certainly lost something in this regard in the last generation, and it's
sad.
I think that there are some parents who need to talk to their teenagers about working on
Sunday.
You see, if you allow your child to make Sunday a work day, what are you teaching your child
about Sunday as a priority in your family and the day of the Lord?
For some of us, it may mean changing our cabin habits.
You know what I mean.
If going to the cabin means that I am too far away from church to worship anywhere,
then I need to find another cabin.
It may not be that a person can drive all the way back to the Twin Cities to be in church,
but somewhere there ought to be a church to fellowship in.
For others, it's going to mean changing the whole Sunday routine so drastically that they
have to be back on Sunday night and want to be.
It means putting away the playoff game or the Vikings game and saying, God's word is
more important to me and I need to assemble with His people.
For others, it may mean deciding that fish, deer, or duck are not as important as obedience
to God's word, which says, and not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the
manner of some is.
Would you bow together with me, please?
I wonder if in the quietness of these moments you would talk to the Lord.
Maybe you've been provoked in a negative way by some of the things I've said this
morning.
I hope that God would turn that around and make it a stimulation for good.
But would you listen to His voice?
Would you ponder what I've said?
In the quietness of just a few seconds, would you tell the Lord what you intend to do to
make Sunday the high point of your week?
Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.
Lord as you mold us and make us after your will, show us precisely what your will is
regarding our use of your day.
All of us have repenting to do.
We have changes to make.
I pray that you will give us not only the conviction of doing it, but the courage and
the strength to follow through and establish the new patterns, the new way of thinking,
so that we come to the Lord's day prepared and on time and enter into it fully, that
we might delight in it and honor you and thus know the blessing that you will bring to our
lives.
Lord, show us what this holy day means to you, how important it is to you, and then
write that on the pages of our lives in the way that we live.
In Jesus' name, amen.
God bless you.