Yeah. Oh, I probably don't need it. Oh, there we go. Hot mic. Hey, man. Good afternoon, Central Park Baptist Church. Good afternoon to you all. If you're able to rise, we'd like for you to join us in singing hymn 419. Hymn 419. We'll work on that. OK. We'll work on that. Hymn 419. Hymn 419. We're marching to Zion. If you're able to rise, sing along. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Join in a song with sweet accord. And thus surround the throne. And thus surround the throne. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Hymn 419, let those refuse to sing who never knew our God. But children of the heavenly King May speak their joys abroad We're marching to Zion Beautiful, beautiful Zion, where Martin uprooted Zion, the beautiful city of God. Verse 3 on hymn 419. The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets Before we reach the heavenly field Before we reach the heavenly field Or walk the golden streets Or walk the golden streets We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Then let our songs abound and every tear be dried. We're marching through. Emmanuel's ground. We're marching through Emmanuel's ground. To fairer worlds on high, to fairer worlds on high. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Let's pray. Dear Father, I just thank you, Lord, for everything you've done for us, Lord. Thank you for our salvation. Thank you for the soul that got saved this morning, Lord. Lord, I just ask that you just bless this service, Lord, be with our pastor. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen and amen. What can wash away my sins? Amen, hymn 314, hymn 314, nothing but the blood, amen. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see, nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. Nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing can force it atone Nothing but the blood of Jesus Not of good that I have done Nothing but the blood of Jesus Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other felt I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow, no other. Felt I know nothing but the blood of Jesus. Amen. All right, and read them, all right? Tomorrow morning, I need everybody here by four so we can, if you have a large suitcase, where's Miss Leah? She's in the nursery. I was giving her a hard time. We can't load the little suitcases till we get the big suitcases here. So I need all the big suitcases here by, anybody got a big suitcase? Kevin? Shelton, you got a big one? What's that got to do with the price of tea in China? But anyway, I'm just kidding. But we need all the big suitcases here by 4, because we wanted to load everything that we could today. But since we don't have any big suitcases, all of them here, we can't do that. So I need to have all our big suitcases here by 4 AM so that Brother Kevin, he'll be here before 4, right? And, you know, and Brother Wu Jian and Brother DeVito will be here before 4. Y'all will be here before 4, right? Shake your head this way. Shake your head this way. All right. So that they can get this stuff loaded so that we can be gone. We want to be driving away by 4.30. So it's a 10-hour drive if you drive straight through. And we've got bathroom breaks. We've got lunch break and all other kinds of breaks. So when you're traveling with a group of people, that 10 will turn into at least 12, maybe 13. So we've got to leave on time, OK? So be here ready to go. Be here with your large suitcases. And if you wanna make you some coffee, there's a coffee machine in here. You can make some if nothing's open where you can get it. But we'll, you know, coffee is okay. My wife likes for me to drink coffee when we travel. Because she knows the bathroom breaks will follow soon, you know? So anyway, be here ready to go. Also, let me encourage you. We're still having church Wednesday night, okay? There's around 25 of us going. But we still need you to be here to be faithful. I don't want us to be at church when the cats away the mice play. So please, you be here, but Marco has got to, listen, there's gonna be some special thing. He's got some things different that he's gonna do Wednesday night, and you don't wanna miss. He was telling me about that. I think you're gonna like it. We're gonna have one of the best storytellers to tell a story that goes with the message, and it's gonna be here. So you don't wanna miss that. It'd be just like, when Thomas missed the coming of the Holy Spirit, when he missed a Sunday evening service. Okay? And then, by the way, wasn't the missionary family awesome this past Sunday afternoon? Man, they were great. Think of all the folks that missed them. It wasn't back. But they're going to be back with us in August. So I'm looking forward to that. And then they're going to be back in our mission conference. So they're not going to be with us all the whole week, but they'll be with us most of it. So anyway, so be here Wednesday night and help us with that. I know we're going to have a good time. OK, let's go to Lord in prayer and we'll receive our offering. And may the Lord bless you as you give. Dear Father, thank you, Lord, for our people. I pray God again for your favor upon us as we travel. I pray God that everything will go well. And Lord, but most of all, I pray God that we'll see souls saved and lives changed at VBS this week with Brother Cato in the ministry there. So Lord, we need you, Lord, and we'll fail without you. Bless this offering, Lord. Bless the gift and the giver in Jesus' name. Amen. If you have an offering, you please come. Amen. Amen. If you're able to rise, we'd like for you to join us in singing hymn 569. Hymn 569. We'll do all verses. Hymn 569. Sing along. A sound the Baptist cried, See the foe is nigh, Raise the standard high, For the Lord gird your armor on, Stand firm, everyone, Rest your cause upon. Holy Word. Roused in soldiers, rally round the banner. Ready, steady, pass the word along. Onward, forward, shout aloud, Hosanna! Christ is captain of the mighty throne. Strong to meet the foe, marching on we go, while our cause we know must prevail. Shield and banner bright, gleaming in the light, battling for the right, we never can fail. Rouse the soldiers, rally round the banner Ready, steady, pass the word along Onward, forward, shout aloud, Hosanna! Christ is captain of the mighty throne O Thou God of all, hear us when we call, Help us one and all by Thy grace. When the battle's done and the victory's won, May we wear the crown before Thy face. Rouse the soldiers, rally round the banner, Ready, steady, pass the word along. Onward, forward, shout aloud, Hosanna. Christ is captain of the mighty throne. I would like you to use this opportunity to please greet each other at this time. Hosanna. As we prepare for our afternoon special. We're singing about the truth. The preachers are weary, the singers are tired. The church as we know it is losing its fire. Some are discouraged from bearing the load, but we must determine to keep pressing on. God, if just one more soul were to walk down the aisle, it would be worth every sorrow, it would be worth every mile. A lifetime of labor is still worth it all if it rescues just one more soul. So preachers keep preaching, and singers go sing, and laymen keep sharing that Jesus is King. The angels have gathered They're surrounding the throne And they'll start rejoicing For just one more soul Cause if just one more soul Were to walk down the aisle It would be worth every sorrow It would be worth every mile A lifetime A lifetime of labor is still worth it all if it rescues just one more soul. Cause if just one more soul were to walk down the aisle, it would be worth every sorrow, it would be worth every my dole. A lifetime of labor is still worth it all if it rescues just one more soul. A lifetime of labor is still worth it all if it rescues just one more soul. Brother DeVito doing that, he bailed out our quartet because Brother Will thought we were going to sing Life Railway to Heaven and he said if we sing that tonight we weren't quite ready and it would be a train wreck. So we thought, but he did that. I just want to, it's good to have Mrs. Kelly here with us tonight. She, I had forgotten, she had to introduce herself all over again to me, but I performed her and her husband's wedding ceremony back in 05. So there, she's here tonight and she said her husband, they're going to start coming. They have a little baby, her name's Olivia Rose, and she showed me a picture, and I thought, man, that's awesome. That's been a long time, I don't even remember. But I'm thankful that she's here tonight, and so just let her know that you appreciate her coming. But it's just neat to see folks. It's been a long time. That's 17 years ago. But anyway, I appreciate her coming. Well, I've asked Brother Mark over to preach for us this afternoon. I'm really stingy about sharing the pulpit, but I don't mind sharing it with someone when I know that they're going to preach the word. I put him in a box. He's going to have to preach the message that I asked him to preach. And on the subject on the topic matter so but anyway, he said we'd be through about 330 so y'all just hang Take your Bible tonight and let's open up the Genesis chapter number 2 Genesis chapter number 2 we're gonna start in Genesis and end up in Revelation So there's a lot of stuff in between We are actually going to do that. Genesis chapter 2. We've been studying here on Sunday nights, what do we believe? What is it that we believe? One of the things that has struggled in many Christians' lives is the understanding of Sunday. What's Sunday? This is not the Sabbath day. Sabbath day is Saturday. We do not keep the Sabbath. We're going to talk about why we don't keep the Sabbath. Then we're going to talk about why do we meet on Sunday? How important is it to God? Now we do not understand that in Exodus chapter 20, we do learn this, that it is a command of one of the Ten Commandments to keep the Sabbath day holy. So why do we not have that today? We're going to talk about that. Genesis chapter number 2, and we're going to start with verse number 1. Easy place to find. Amen? 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 he rested on the seventh day from all his works 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. So let's pray. Father, thank you so much for today. Thank you for the trip that's coming up for our missions trip to New Mexico. I ask Holy Spirit that you be with each one of our workers. Fill them with your power and your might. Give them the right words to say that people would receive Christ as their Savior. As a song that was sung just a few moments ago, just one more so, Lord. Thank you for the souls that were saved this morning, those that made every dedication of their life and made sure of their salvation. So, Lord, I ask that you continue to work even tonight through the preaching of your word on a subject that doesn't seem to be all that exciting, but really is. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. The word Sabbath. We see it the first time really here. And it says, in verse number two, he rested on the seventh day. That's really the word sabbathah, or sabbath in the Hebrew. Because the word sabbath simply means one thing, rest, rest. Now I want you to notice, there is no religion here. We're in Genesis, nothing's here yet. He just made man. He made woman. They're in the garden. He made all the animals. He made the trees, the plants, the stars, the sun, the moon. Everything was completed. In six days, he completed it all. On the seventh day, he rested. And here's what he tells people, you and me. Not a group of people of a religion. You need to take a day off every week. You need to rest. I want you to labor. You need to labor. You need to sweat. You need to toil. You need to do a work. But there also needs to be a time where you do nothing but rest. Now, I want you to notice it doesn't say worship here. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say have a time of praise. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say assemble together to glorify my name. It doesn't say that. It says rest. Because that's what the Sabbath is. It's a physical rest. God created everything. And so he wanted all men to know. All that would follow after. All that came from Adam and Eve. He wanted them all to know that there is a day in which we are to rest. It is amazing to me as I grew up, the whole world believed that for a long time. All the way through my youth, all the way into my adulthood, we had what was called blue laws. It means on Sunday you couldn't sell liquor, you couldn't sell gas, restaurants were closed, businesses were closed. Everything was closed because it was considered to be the Lord's Day. and everybody needed to take a time to rest. Even businesses oftentimes, even today, don't work Saturday and Sunday because Saturday is a Sabbath for some and Sunday is the Lord's day for others. And they knew that, they understood that, and they knew that people weren't going to work anyway because they were going to do what they needed to do for the Lord. However, in this day, today, in 2022, we could care less what God tells us. We're going to do what we want to do. And if we want to work six days, we'll work six days. If we want to work seven days, we'll work seven days. Nobody's going to tell me when I have to go to church and when not to go to church. Because we're stubborn and rebellious. I love you, but we are. That's why people will work a job and they will not stand up for what God says. I cannot work today. This is my Lord's day. But I want money instead. Well, I might lose my job. Then lose your job. It ain't worth having. If you cannot obey God at your job, then quit your job or get fired from your job, but stand for God, because if you'll stand for God, then you'll do right. But as long as you put your God second place and you put your money first place, that becomes your God. And we fail. Why? Because the whole point of the Sabbath is to put the Lord first, not ourself first. Saved or unsaved. God gave it to everybody. But then man grew and moved away from the truth. And they became rebellious and wicked. And every imagination of their heart was wicked all the time. And that was Noah's day. And God destroyed the world because of their sin. That didn't change the Sabbath. When Noah and his family landed, they started keeping the Sabbath. Why? Because they were Jews? No, because there were no Jews yet. Because they were Gentiles? They weren't really Gentiles yet. They were just people. Just people. And as time passed, we came further away from it, and further away from it, further away from the things of God, and further away from the things of God. And so God established a nation called Israel through Abraham. Over the next, after the Jewish people were established, Abraham, then came Isaac, then came Jacob, and Jacob was named Israel, and Israel was established, and it's not till over 400 years later that God says to them, I got something for you. So I want you to turn over to that something, Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20, it's gonna be more like a Bible study tonight, so you're gonna keep your Bibles with you. Chapter 20. Again, these are things that we need to know from the Word of God, not from man's opinion, not from my view, not from your view, not from the world's view, but from God's view. And I want you to start looking at verse number 10 for us. Jesus, or the Lord here, is giving to Moses what we call today the Ten Commandments. And here's what he says, starting with verse number 10. We'll read verse 10 and 11. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work. nor thy sons, nor thy daughters, thy menservants, nor thy maidservants, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Now this is the beginning of the commandment of the Sabbath for the Israelites. This is a command that he gives them that they must keep. It's just as powerful and just as real as thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not use the Lord thy God's name in vain. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. All of those, that's just as actual, just as real as this statement here is giving us. It's what's called the ceremonial portion of the law. And they receive it and God doesn't tell them, doesn't tell them to gather together. Do you notice that? There's no assembling here. He tells them to do what? Rest. And actually in detail, as you find out more and more about the Sabbath, he even tells them to stay home. Don't go anywhere. Stay home. Why? Because we don't rest. We don't rest. Then over time, Israel got further and further away from the Lord, and they started to worship Baal, Bondsman, and all the other things, always after money, never after Him. And they offered their babies to the idols and take them and throw their babies in the fire, the Moloch. And they committed all sorts of wicked whoredoms before the Lord, and they let the Sabbath slip away. Then Josiah comes along, way far into the kingdom time, and he reestablishes everything, because they find the word of God. They found a Bible in the temple. Well, look at this. We found this book. Look, we got a book. It's a book of God. We ain't never seen this before. And that's how they responded. And Josiah said, well, read it to me. They stood, and they read it before the king, and he heard all these things, and they shattered his heart. He loved the Lord, and now he saw they weren't doing anything right. So they start to reestablish everything, including the Sabbath. From the time of Solomon all the way to Josiah, they never even had the Passover. Not one time. That's amazing. All those years, that's almost 400 years in itself that have passed. And then, of course, they don't keep it either. And in just a few short years after Josiah's gone, the nation of Judah now is gone as well. Israel's gone. Judah's gone. The temple's been destroyed. preacher talked about a few weeks ago about Baal, I'm sorry, not Baal, Nebuchadnezzar and the Golden Kingdom, okay? But did you know that Israel was a shinier city than they ever were? when the whole temple was made out of gold inside, outside. And every time the sun hit it, it glimmered and shined everywhere. The Bible tells us that Solomon had so much gold and so much silver that it was just like dirt. It was everywhere. And it really lost a lot of its value because it just was common. Everybody had a bunch of it. But when they got carried away, so did all that get carried away. And all that temple got carried away and destroyed. And the things of God started to be used by the heathens instead of by God's people. Over the next 70 years, Israel's in captivity, and suddenly Nehemiah comes along. And they rebuild the walls, they rebuild the temple. Ezra comes along, they rebuild the temple. Everything's reestablished, but it's not even begin to look like what it was. in its glory day. And the young men cheered, but those who knew what they saw, who were still over 70, 74, 75, 76, 80, 85, they saw the original temple. And the Bible says, and they wept, because it was nothing like what they once had. During that time, they reestablished the Sabbath. During that time, Israel, and since that point, has started to add all sorts of tradition to the law. And they started adding, getting together, and coming. And so on the Sabbath day, which starts on Friday night at dusk, then it starts the Sabbath day, and they start doing all the things they're supposed to do, and they're preparing. They go to the temple in the morning, and they're out and stay the whole day at the temple, and they eat a temple lunch. Then they go home at the end of the day, and it starts to develop. And when Jesus was here, that's exactly what he did. That's what they were doing. That was the tradition of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Israelites at that time. That's what they did. They used the Sabbath not to work. They did not work, but they started to attend temple regularly, and it's still done today the same way in the synagogue. But it was supposed to be a special covenant between God and the Jews. Look in Exodus chapter 30. Exodus chapter 30. I'm sorry chapter 31 in verse number 12 And it says and the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak also unto the children of Israel saying verily Verily my Sabbath ye shall keep for the sign between Me and you throughout our generations that I may know that that I'm sorry ye may know that I am the Lord that thus Sanctify you ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore for it is holy unto you. This is a covenant now between the Israelites and God the rest of the world isn't doing this But he has an expectation that God is laying down as a covenant between them you do this and I'll take care of you You see that For whosoever doth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done. But in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest. Holy unto the Lord, whosoever doth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. Now that's God saying that, not Brother Marco. And it is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, and the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." Again, we see that God has every intention of having his people rest, and he has a really important purpose for that. You need rest. I need rest. There are times when you just tell the kids, shut up, sit down, and read something. When I was a boy on Sundays, my parents adopted this Sabbath concept. We couldn't watch TV. We couldn't go outside and play. It was a day of rest. You sit down and you didn't talk back. Any failure to do so brought corporal punishment. We got up on Sunday morning. We put on our Sunday best because we were going to the house of God. And we respected where we were going and what we were doing. Today we are such casual people, we don't care where we're going or what we're doing. I've seen people come to funerals in beat-up jeans and torn t-shirts and wear a baseball cap the whole service. And no respect for God or the person who has passed or what they believe. Jesus, by the way, let me ask this, are we supposed to do that today? Are we supposed to keep the Sabbath today? No. Why? Because Jesus fulfilled the law. Let me give you a few verses, okay? Matthew 5 17 think not that I've come to destroy the law or the prophets But I've come to destroy but I've not come to destroy but to fulfill. That's what Jesus did He came to fulfill the law. This is the law we're talking about. This is the law the Sabbath is the law It's one of those ten commandments. It's the covenant between who Israel and God It's not a covenant between all the people the world and God Okay Galatians Romans chapter 10 verse number 4 for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth Why because he fulfilled that we just saw that Galatians chapter 3 verse 24 wherefore by the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we may be justified by faith So here's what the law does. It says, listen, this is what you need to do. This is what you need to do. This is what you need to do. Just like a teacher doesn't school. And we fail and we fail and we fail and we fail and we keep learning it and learning it and learn it. It's our schoolmaster to bring us to a place where we go, I cannot do this. I've got to trust Christ because he's done it all. That's what the purpose of the law was for. It was nobody can keep the law and nobody. Only person that ever kept the law was Jesus Christ because he fulfilled the law. Jesus then becomes fulfillment of the law, of all ceremonial law, and now we have rest in Jesus Christ. I'm going to say that again because that's a really important statement, and I'm going to use a different word. Now we have a Sabbath in Jesus Christ. because he's our rest. What's the word Sabbath mean? Rest. Rest. He's our Sabbath. Jesus is everything completed in him our souls have rest in him and you can look up Hebrews chapter chapters 2 and through 4 I don't have time to read all that but Jesus is our rest through salvation and John chapter 5 verses 17 and 18 it says this but Jesus answered them my father worketh hitherto and I work therefore the Jews sought more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath But said also that God was his father, making him equal with God. That offended them all. But wait a minute, he had fulfilled the law. And he already knew that. He knew that. He knew it was a thing so that people would understand that you cannot do this. You need a savior. The biggest sin that we commit today is thou shalt not lie. Everybody does. No one has never lied. As a result, we're all guilty of having broken the commandments. Thus, I need a Savior, Jesus Christ. That's the purpose of the law. So, Old Testament Sabbath, then, had nothing to do with the New Testament Church. I'm going to say that again. It's a really important statement. The Old Testament Sabbath has nothing to do with the New Testament Church. Now, where in the New Testament are Christians commanded to keep the Sabbath? Are you ready? Nowhere. Nowhere. No. This isn't a new Sabbath. Sunday is not a new Sabbath. Sunday is the Lord's Day. Well, how do I know that? Now we're going to go to Revelation. All the way from Genesis to Revelation. We went a long way, but we're there. Revelation chapter number one. We started with Genesis in the creation, and now we're gonna come to the end times. And in chapter one, in verse number nine, it says, I, John, who am also your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom. And the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ was in the aisle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. And I was in the spirit. on the Lord's Day. What is that? Do you know that's the only place in the whole Word of God that the Lord's Day is used? That's the only place in all the Word of God that these two words are together, the Lord's Day. Why? Because these people understood what he was talking about. Well, where did the teaching come from? I'm going to show you in a minute, but I want you to finish reading. And heard behind me a great voice as a trumpet. saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, and whatsoever thou seest, write in the book, and send it unto the seven churches, which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. He's telling him to tell this to the seven churches, New Testament churches. What's he doing? I'm in the Spirit. Notice the capital S in that verse. The Holy Spirit. I'm walking with the Holy Spirit on this day. This is the Lord's day. I'm giving myself to the Holy Spirit, letting him guide me, direct me and teach me. And now he's got something that he wants me to give to the churches. And they would all understand this because they knew what the Lord's day was. It's what us that struggle with it. So what is it? Well, I'm glad you asked. Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20 in verse number 19. I don't have the right verse, but I'm going to read the verse to you. Oh, it's John chapter 20. I got it. No, wait a minute. Yeah. No. Yep. Acts chapter 20 verse number seven. Hey, I don't know. I just got off pain pills not long ago. Not really, but Acts chapter 20 and verse number seven. Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow and continued in his speech till midnight. So here they got together on what? The Lord's Day, which is the first day of the week. This was a regular practice. What's going on? Preaching. What do we do on the Lord's Day? We have preaching. How long does it last? All day. Because Paul, he's kind of like, I must be related somehow. Because he preached so long, it was midnight, somebody fell out of the rafters of the church, got killed, he went down and revived them and came back up and kept on preaching. Amen? And somehow, someway, I'm related. Because I could preach and preach and preach and preach and preach and preach and I'm just going. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 2. And it says, upon the first day of the week, that every one of you lay him in store as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. What's this talking about? Giving your tithes and offerings. So we see preaching taking place on the Lord's day. We see John being filled with the Spirit on the Lord's day. We find that on the first day of the week, the Lord's day, we're together at our tithes and offerings. Hey, what do we do? We give tithes and offerings. On what? The first day of the week. What about Sunday night, preacher? Why do we mean on Sunday night? I'm glad you asked that question, too. John chapter 20. Would you guys quit asking questions? We'd be done by now. John chapter 20. John chapter 20. And verse number 19. John chapter 20 and verse number 19. And on the same day at evening, that's the day that Jesus arose from the dead. They were already together. Now they're together in the evening. On the same day at evening being the first day of the week, so now we know exactly when it is. When the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst of them and said unto them, peace be unto you. Somebody missed Sunday night service. His name's Thomas. Now he has a name that we call him and have been called that for over 2,000 years. Doubting Thomas. Why? Because he missed Sunday night service. Why do we have a Sunday night service? Because that's what the Lord taught the disciples to have. That's what he taught them. They were doing this because this is what Jesus taught them, not because they just thought, well, let's get together and we'll spend the whole day on the first day of the week. No, on the first day of the week is the day that Jesus arose from the dead. Remember, he fulfilled the law. Saturday's over, Sunday's a new week, a new life, a new everything. And we have that in Jesus Christ. And as I start a new week, I need to start that week with Jesus first. Not with me first. With the time of rest and worship and praise and preaching and offerings and giving all those things to God for His glory and for His honor. What about Sundays then? I'm glad you asked that question. I'm almost done. You can put your shoes on. That's how close we are. Hebrews chapter 10. Chapter 10 and verse number 25. Then why do we go to church on Sunday? Why is it so important for us to go to church on Sunday? Where does God commit you go to church on Sunday? Well, I'm glad you asked. Like I said, if you quit asking questions, I'll get done quicker. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some. Not what? Forsaking what? What are we? The word church means assembly. Did you know that? It's the word ecclesia. That means assembling. We are the assembling of the body of Christ. You know what the church really is? It's not the building. It's the people. And you know what you form? The body of Christ. That's scripture, by the way. And I don't have time to prove all that, but it's there. If you read your Bible once in a while, you'd know it too. Amen? Even Malachi knows it. And we all know that Malachi has a hard time doing those things. We love you, Malachi. Anyway, so not forsaking the assembling or the ecclesia or church of ourselves together as the manner of some is. That's how some folks are. They don't want to gather together. I don't need to go to church. I can handle God all by myself. Sure, let's find out how spiritual you really are. And by the way, Well, we'll go into that in just a second. But exhorting one another. That's what preaching does. Exhorting one another. And so much the more, as you see the day approaching. Now, what's the day? You tell me. I'm not going to tell you. You tell me. What's that day? The return of Christ. What's it start with? What's the return of Christ start with? The rapture of the church. You're right. Now let me ask you a question. Do you see Jesus coming? Let's look around at the world around us. Raise your hand if you think you can see that we're coming to the end. Raise your hand. Oh yeah, some of you are like this, because you see it. Amen? Yeah, it's coming. It's coming. So what are we supposed to do? We're supposed to be together every time, every time, every time, every time. Why? We need that strength. We need that courage. We need the Word of God to encourage us, to strengthen us, so that we can stand in the day where you may have to say, kill me, because I'm not going to deny Christ. And it's coming. Did you know that right now, this past week, there was a declaration of war between the United States government and Christianity? It was reported in the news. They want to snuff us out. You know why? Because I'm not going to bend. I'm not going to bow. That's what we've been learning in Daniel. Well, we're going to build us a God and you better worship that God. And I'm not going to do that. But some will. Do you know there were more Jews than Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel in Shushan? Yeah. But you know what they did? They bowed. There's coming a day And I hate to say it I See it on the horizon in this country. I don't just see it on the horizon in this country. I actually see it on the horizon worldwide Where you're gonna either be made to bow and worship something fake phony and made by man or Jesus Christ I want to do the right thing and follow Christ. Christ rose on Sunday. Christ appeared to disciples Sunday morning, Sunday evening as they assembled together. And what he's trying to tell us is at the beginning of the week he needs to be first place in our life. If you cannot put I'm not mad at anybody, and I'm not singling anybody out. But if you can't put Christ first over your job and over money, then when the time comes, you're not going to be able to stand that either. If you have to compromise now, you will compromise later. I don't mean to be offensive, and I'm not trying to be. I'm not after anybody or anything. I'm just trying to establish in your mind and heart. Listen, I've had visitors come to my home, and I'll say on Sunday, I'm going to church. My wife can testify to this. If you want to come, come along with us. If you don't want to come, then you're going to have to go somewhere because we're locking up our house and we're going to church. And I've actually had family members go to the mall for the whole day instead of go to church, and that's okay with me. I'm going to church and you're not going to stay in my house and use my air conditioning or my heat or my television You're gonna get out Why because everything I have came from the Lord and you're not going to use the Lord stuff to put something in front of God That doesn't supposed to be there. This is God stuff. He comes first. I'm not gonna lay anything aside And neither should you Why because the day's coming? That day is coming Preacher said something this morning. I wrote it down He said, there'll be a time where, his dad used to say all the time, these are gonna separate the men from the boys. And can I be honest with you? The time's already here. It's every Sunday morning. It's every Sunday afternoon. It's every Wednesday evening. You have to ask yourself, am I gonna go to church? Am I gonna stay home? Am I gonna let a baseball game or a football game or a basketball game of one of my grandchildren get above what God has put there? If you do, you're bowing because he's supposed to be first. First place. First place. You say, preacher, you don't really mean that. I do. I lost the church over it. I didn't even know it happened. I got up and preached. It was Super Bowl weekend. I got up and preached how that we need to be in church tonight because this is Super Bowl weekend and we're not going to turn our church into a TV set and have everybody come here and watch a Super Bowl game and not have church service. We're not going to do that. We're going to keep God first just like he's supposed to be. Well, I didn't know that a bunch of my folks in the church went to some kind of gymnastics things for their kids and grandkids. I had no idea. I will not put forth before we put God, and boy, I went on. I got a call Monday afternoon. Why'd you preach at us? We weren't even here. I'm sorry, what'd you say? Why'd you preach at us? I don't know what you're talking about. They didn't believe me. We were at a gymnastic thing for our granddaughter, my head deacon. I said, well, I'm sorry, I didn't know that. If you're under that much conviction, then you need to take that up with God, not with me. Hello? They said, we don't like that. I said, well, I'm sorry. You've got to take that up with God. I didn't write the Bible. It's not the Bible according to Doug Markle. It's the word of God. Separate the men from the boys. If you let your job become before God in the first place, then you're going to lose your job. And you have already made money, your God. As long as they're playing double time, you're gonna take it every time. Because that's your God, and God is not. You say, well, I love the Lord with all my heart. If you really love the Lord with all your heart, you would do the simple, it's simple to show up here on Sunday morning, Sunday night. Well, I'll just watch on stream. It's not the same. You're a bunch of heathens, and if you're watching on stream today, and you could have been here, you should have been here, and you're not right with God, and you know it. just so that you know. Because it's not about streaming, it's about assembling. Look what it says again in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25. Forsake not, or not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. And you have forsaken that. You are not here. This is the assemblage, not through a video. I tell you, I hate Facebook. I hate streaming. I hate all that garbage. Why? Because it gives people excuses to do wrong. The devil's used it to a tool to destroy your life. And then all of a sudden you say, well, how come this happened to me? Well, who's first? But you don't understand, I have family visiting. No, you don't understand that God comes before your family. God first, family second. I'll read you to my priorities in my home. You ready? God, then my wife, then my children, then my grandkids, then me. God's top. My wife has known that her whole married life, haven't you? Yeah, there's no question in it. I do everything I can to be in church all the time. The only thing that stops me is severe illness, and I can be here severely ill, too, because I want to be here. This is the place to be. You will pay $100 for a ticket to go to Disney World with a bunch of heathens that are gonna tell you that you don't have any gender. who serve the devil more than they serve God. And I'm not joking. And you'll miss church because you're going to go to Disney World. Well, bless your pea-picking heart. Don't come to me when your life falls apart. I'm not trying to be harsh. I'm trying to be honest. We're trying to separate the men from the boys. Do you want to stand when time says? Man says, bow down and worship the image that I have set up. Or do you want to stand for Jesus Christ? I told my wife this the other day. And this is a true statement. And I'm done. And we're early. And this is a true statement. I said, I hope when it happens, when that time comes to stand for Jesus Christ, that I have the courage. You say, well, Brother Marco, obviously you would. I don't know that. I may be able to beat my flesh to get here, and I may be able to beat the world to get here, and I might be able to beat the devil to get here, but I don't really know that I could give my life for what I believe. I'm hoping, praying, and living in such a way that I believe I will. But I won't know till it happens, and neither will you. But some of us already know, because church isn't even important enough to change our life. It'll separate the men from the boys. I'm gonna read this verse and we're done. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. That's what I just did, I exhorted That's exhorting preaching. So much the more, as you see the day approaching, will you be faithful? Will you stay at home and please the flesh, the world, and the devil? Or will you be where you're supposed to be, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night? I say all this for one reason. Preacher and I love you very much. And we want the very best for you. And when you put God second, you're not getting the best. You're getting second best. When you put other things before God, you're losing. And every Sunday is the beginning of a brand new week. What a greater way to spend it than giving it to him. Father, thank you for what we've learned. Bless this time in Jesus' name. Amen. As the piano plays, As the music begins, if God has spoken your heart, let's all stand to our feet, please. you If I slay your heart, does the spirit control? Can I be blessed, and have a place as sleep prevails? Then shall I again be loved? For my peace of spirit.