Christian Sabbath

Introduction

Well, good morning to all. It’s certainly a joy for Arlene and me to be back home again and to meet with you at this hour. As you probably know, for the last two Sundays we’ve been away two weeks, two weeks ago today. I began a gospel meeting with the church in Hewetown, Alabama, Birmingham area. A church with which we worked over 50 years ago. And then they also supported us fully when we went to Australia for a couple of nearly three years. So good to see them. I have to say that many of the people we knew 50 years ago have passed on to be with the Lord. But there were still some who were young then that are now a little bit older, and they remembered us.

It was a great week to be with them. And I think the meeting went very well. Then this past week we were up in the Russellville, Alabama area. Actually, if you know that area, we were with the rustic youth camp, which is 10 miles outside of Russellville, where there were about 20 young men, young preachers. I think all of them in their 30s. We’re studying together. We’re six teachers they asked to come together, and so from eight o’clock in the morning, and you might say all the rest of the day, uh each teacher had an hour to teach. My subject was first John, and that was an assigned subject to me. And then at night we even had a question and answer period where they got to uh see if us older preachers knew what we were talking about with questions.

But nevertheless, that went through Friday, and so yesterday we drove back in, got in the evening, and I’d have to say we’re a little on the tired side, but we we had a safe journey and we’re thankful to be back and so good to see you all. Uh and and I know some of you said I’m a visitor this morning, and I guess I am, but next Lord’s Day I’ll be gone again. Uh this time uh we’re headed to Texas, where we’re the whole family. We’ll be celebrating my father’s 105th birthday, which is October the 24th. So you certainly can understand why we want to be gone and be with him. He is so excited himself. And we’re thankful that he is good health until this time.

Still doing quite well. How would you answer the question? Do you believe that we should keep the Ten Commandments? If a Seventh-day Adventist asked that and you said yes, then he would quickly take you to the Bible and teach you that the Sabbath day, as commanded in the Ten Commandments, the fourth commandment, Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8, is to be obeyed on the seventh day, not the first day of the week. In fact, uh, he would probably teach you that you should worship not today, but you would have started your worship at sundown on Friday until sundown yesterday. For truly the Sabbath day was a signed by the Lord to be on the seventh day of the week. Our lesson today is a continuation in our study from the book of Hebrews.

In fact, you may recall, and I hope you have your Bibles open to Hebrews chapter 4. But the last two verses of chapter 3 that we discussed in our last study, where the writer is warning brethren. In fact, back in verse 12 he says, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened to the deceitfulness of sin. Over and over in Hebrews, we’re going to see this kind of a warning. Beware lest you fall away. And then in the last two verses that Ned read a moment ago, he used the children of Israel as an illustration of how a promise can be left us.

But if we prove ourselves to be unfaithful, we will not receive that promise. We say heaven has been promised to Christians. But can we as Christians lose that inheritance? Can it be so that some who have been immersed into Christ, and yet because of their unbelief, that is their failure to obey, will not go to heaven. Do you know any family members? Do you know any brethren? I’d have to say I’m very concerned about some, as I’ve witnessed even who’ve been members of this congregation in times past, and they’ve fallen away. We do not see them come and worship the Lord. And so, as the last Hebrews chapter 3, the last two verses would say, To whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest but to those who did not obey.

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Unbelief doesn’t necessarily mean that, oh, I’m an atheist. Not that at all. The children of Israel did not believe in God, but if you were to ask them, do you believe God is, they would answer, yes, because they complained about him and murmured about him. So they knew God is, but they just felt like God wasn’t treated them like they wished to be. And so in chapter 4, and it connects, anytime you see the word therefore, you know he’s based upon what has been said, that’s kind of a conclusion. And so with chapter 4, verse 1, therefore, since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them.

But the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. Failure to obey is unbelief. The children of Israel, because of unbelief, didn’t enter Canaan, the promised land. And are they an example to us? Look at verse 11, chapter 4. And as though a conclusion he says, let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. Therefore, there’s a warning to us. Is there a rest that we have yet before us? And that we may fail to enter. Heaven itself is what he’s describing. I’ll say to you, of course, there are many people today who would have answered the Seventh-day Adventists, do we keep the Ten Commandments? Many in the religious world today, denominations, answer, oh yes.

We keep the Ten Commandments, some are taught. But then they would answer, well, we worship on Sunday because it’s the Christian Sabbath. You ever heard that? Actually, there’s not a single scripture that ever describes Sunday as the Christian Sabbath. And so the Seventh-day Adventist says he takes his Bible and he’ll go back and he’ll show you that actually the Sabbath day was on the Sabbath day. And that Sunday is a man-made substitute for that divinely instituted Sabbath. And they’ll quote liberally and literally from the Old Testament, and if you believe the scriptures to be inspired of God and you don’t know the difference between how to handle the Old Testament from the New Testament, you’ll be convinced. And there are many today who worship yesterday as though it were the Sabbath day ordained by God that they believe should be observed and worshipped even today.

The fact is they denounce denominations that refer to Sunday as the Christian Sabbath. They claim that the Catholic Pope was the one who changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. Well, I’d have to say, first of all, there’s several points that they make that I fully agree with. First of all, I fully agree that the Sabbath was to be observed on the Sabbath day. I fully agree that nowhere does the Bible ever call Sunday the Christian Sabbath. And frankly, the Pope has no authority to change any God-given day. So from those points discussing with the Sabbath day Adventist, I’m in full agreement. But what we need to understand is, as we study about the Sabbath from the Word of God, is to understand that the Sabbath is not mentioned by name until Moses.

1. The Sabbath Made Known to the Children of Israel

Let’s learn about the Sabbath day itself. Was it ever given to Christians in the New Covenant? Or do we go back to the Old Testament and begin to learn about the Sabbath day? Actually, you’re probably aware, if you go back to Genesis chapter 2, that there the scripture after describing how the creation, God finished the creation, and verses 1 through 3 of Genesis 2, thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. And so on the seventh day God ended this work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.

God rested on the seventh day. He set it apart, he blessed it. But even then the word Sabbath is not described in Genesis two nor three, nor on until you know the first mention of the Sabbath day. It wasn’t mentioned as ordained to Adam. It wasn’t mentioned as even ordained to Noah. Even to Abraham. You do not read or hear about the Sabbath day. In fact, it’s not until we come to Genesis to Exodus chapter sixteen. The first time the Sabbath is mentioned in the Bible, is to the children of Israel. In fact, in Exodus chapter 16, verses 23 through 30, the scripture describing how that God had given them manna to eat, and how they were to collect the manna, even on the sixth day, because on the seventh day there would be no manna, so they were to have plenty before.

I’m going to read Exodus 16, verse 23. He said unto them, This is what the Lord has said. Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today and boil what you were boiled and lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept until morning. So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find in the field, but six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day of the Sabbath there will be none. Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.

And the Lord said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See? For the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in this place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. The seventh day, therefore, clearly is given to the Israelites. But this is the first mention of it. It hasn’t been mentioned in any of the of the ancients before this point in time in their history. So you’d say, Well, when was the Sabbath first given to God’s people? We’d have to say the first time it’s mentioned is to the children of Israel, after they had come out of Egyptian bondage.

Well, where was it given? Obviously, you know the answer to that. They had come to Mount Sinai, there the Ten Commandments were given. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8, the fourth of the Ten Commandments, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. So at Mount Sinai, it was given to the children of Israel, among the other nine commandments, called the Ten Commandments in full. So who and to whom was it given? In Nehemiah chapter 9, in verses 13 and 14, the scripture speaks how that God gave to the Israelites. He made known to them the Sabbath. They hadn’t been keeping it before now. In verse Nehemiah 9, verse 13, you came down also Mount Sinai, spoke with them from heaven, gave them just ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments.

Now listen, you made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them precepts, statutes, and laws by the hand of Moses, your servant. You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought them water out of the rock for their thirst, told them to go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them. So as though of some reform, Nehemiah is certainly reminding them, here’s something that was given to them. Why was it given to them? Not only when and where, but let’s answer the question from the scriptures why. In Exodus 31, verses 16 and 17, the scripture says, Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever.

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. Therefore the Sabbath was given or made known to the children of Israel when they were at Mount Sinai, and he clearly said, Why? It is a sign that is as a covenant relationship. These children of Israel, God’s chosen family, through whom the Messiah would later come. He made known to them the Sabbath. But when we’re talking about keeping the Sabbath day, notice as we go to the Old Testament, the laws that pertain to the Sabbath day. In Exodus 35 and verse 3, no fires could be built on the Sabbath day. It was a day of total rest. They were not to cook on the Sabbath day.

Exodus chapter 16, verse 23. Absolutely no work on this day of rest from Exodus 16, verse 29. In fact, the Sabbath day was to be from sunset to sunset. We’d call it sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. That was the time of the seventh day for them as they kept the days and months. In fact, on the Sabbath day, two lambs would be offered by the priest as a burnt offering. We certainly don’t do that today, do we? Or in Exodus 31, anyone who violated these laws would be stoned. Now you want to keep the Sabbath day according to the word of God, it’s pretty severe. If you break the Sabbath day, you might be put to death. And certainly, as Christians, we understand the law of Moses has been done away.

2. Jesus Kept the Sabbath Because He Was a Jew

And those things that they had to do in order to obey God and keep the Sabbath are not binding today, and it’s not part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, the answer usually by our friends who are Seventh-day Adventists is, well, you know, Jesus kept the Sabbath day. And in fact, uh, Jesus made the statement that he was Lord of the Sabbath, didn’t he? And those statements are true. And the reason why, first of all, is Jesus kept the Sabbath because indeed he was a Jew. He was born in the flesh of the Virgin Mary, who was a Jew. In fact, Jesus came and kept the law of Moses perfectly. He’s the only one who was able to keep the law without fault, without sin.

The answer sometimes that the Seven-day Adventists would give is, well, okay, you read these verses a while ago, how the Sabbath was made known to the children of Israel. But they had the law of Moses. We don’t have the law of Moses. They’ll admit that. But we have the law of the Lord. And so they said the Ten Commandments are the law of the Lord. But what they failed to understand is that the law of Moses is the law of the Lord. And to the Israelites, the law of the Lord was the law of Moses. In fact, in Luke chapter 2, the story is revealed how that after the birth of Jesus, according to the law of Moses, Luke 2 and 22, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Jerusalem after her days of purification to present him to the Lord.

And the scripture in Luke 2, 22 through 24 show those two terms, law of the Lord and law of Moses, to be interchangeable. The law of Moses was the law of the Lord. And therefore, even from time of his birth, even his parents, earthly parents, kept the law of the Lord by bringing him to be presented to the Lord. He kept perfectly that law. In fact, in his lifetime, there’s more than one occasion where the Jews accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. He healed a man’s withered hand in Matthew chapter 12. And in fact, he he challenged, he never broke the Sabbath, though they challenged him. And he said, you know, uh, for example, you know, there are exceptions. If if a sheep falls into a pit, you don’t, you don’t want you’re not ready to stone the man because he he lifts him out of the pit on the Sabbath day.

There’s some exceptions. Or in fact, there may be a time it’s the eighth day, and time for the circumcision. And you’d circumcise on the Sabbath day. You keep the law of the Lord. In fact, he said the Sabbath is, man is not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath is made for man. And it is true in Mark chapter 2, 27 and 8, that he said he was Lord of the Sabbath. What that simply means is as Jesus Himself was explaining, you might say, to the Jews themselves, who had really misunderstood and misapplied and applied some laws that did not pertain to the Sabbath. Jesus never broke the Sabbath. He was the one who fully understood it. Lord of the Sabbath meant he had authority over the Sabbath.

He was superior to the Sabbath. And he understood perfectly what the Sabbath should be and how it should be kept. In Matthew chapter 5, what we call the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5, 17 and 18, Jesus said, Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

3. The Law Nailed to the Cross

Simply and clearly, the Sabbath have been given by God for a purpose. Number one, as we read from Exodus, it was as a sign between God and between Israel, his special and chosen people, that they might understand that this day was set apart, a day of rest, and a day of worship of God Almighty. Jesus Christ kept it because he was a Jew, and the law of Moses was still binding during the lifetime of Jesus Christ. But he didn’t destroy the law. In other words, he did not abolish it in the sense that it was bad. The law had been given by God, and had been given by God for a purpose. Jesus said he came to fulfill. And in his keeping the law, and then dying, that there might be even the new covenant.

The first law, the law of Moses, was as a shadow of the better which was to come, Hebrews chapter 10. And therefore Jesus did indeed keep it, but he fulfilled it. He indeed pointed through him, the law pointed to Christ. And with Jesus Christ, the work of the law was completed. We read passages often, like Galatians 3, 23 through 25, that the law served as a tutor, as a schoolmaster to bring us into Christ. But now the Christ has come, we’re no longer under that law, that covenant. Passages like Colossians chapter 2, verses 14 and 15, clearly teach us when the law of Moses came to an end. In Colossians 2, reading verse, beginning in verse 14. The scripture says, if I can find it here quickly, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers.

He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. So, verse 16, let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath. What does he mean? Don’t let someone condemn you if you don’t keep that day of Passover or the week of Passover, the festival, the annual. There were annual Sabbaths, Pentecost, and there was the Passover, Feast of Tabernacles. Three times a year the Jews were to go to Jerusalem. Annual keeping, and they were Sabbaths involved. Verse 16 says, Don’t let them in judge your condemnion regarding that festival. Or with the new moon, there were Sabbaths. So there was monthly Sabbath as well as annual Sabbaths. But then in verse 16, or Sabbaths. I believe that last word describes the weekly Sabbath.

I find this interesting, and the point you need to understand. That our friends who are Seventh-day Adventists will say that there are 60 times in the New Testament, the word Sabbath is found. They will agree that 59 of those times refers to the weekly Sabbath. The one exception. They will say is this Colossians 2 and verse 16.

In other words, that’s been nailed to the cross. No longer are we to keep that.

It’s just also referring to one of the annual or the monthly Sabbaths. 59 other times. Actually, the word that is used here in Colossians 2 is the same word that is also, I’m saying in the Greek construction of it, that in the Septuagint version of Exodus 20 and verse 8, the genitive plural, if that means anything to you or Greek students, in the same form that it’s given in the Ten Commandments recorded in Exodus 20, is the way it’s found in Colossians 2. In other words, it’s it’s a quibble. That doesn’t hold up. In Colossians 2, the apostles are saying, don’t let them condemn you for keeping either the annual Sabbaths or the monthly Sabbath or the weekly Sabbaths. They’ve been nailed to the cross. They’ve been done away.

4. The Ministry of Death Engraved on Stones

No longer is that required of God’s people. Now I ask you if you have your Bibles, turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3, beginning in verse 7, the Scripture says, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 7, if the ministry of death written and engraved engraved on stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away. Let me pause a moment and get us in context. What’s he talking about? With the giving of the law of Moses, you remember in Exodus chapter 20, it was a glorious occasion.

What did he have to do? He had to put a veil over his face because the shining was so great that the people of God couldn’t look steadily on Moses’ face. It was a glorious time. For what the apostle in 2 Corinthians 3 is saying, that was glorious, alright, but the giving of the gospel of Christ is more glorious. You want to compare the two? Here’s glory. But the what the law, the gospel of Christ is more glorious. So comparison of the two. Now, verse, again, verse 7, he calls the law of Moses the ministry of death. Why? Well, because under the law of Moses, man did not have the taking away of sins. The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin. And while it was for forgiveness of sin, it pointed to the death of Christ.

Without the death of Christ, there would still be no hope. Without his blood of perfect man who lived among us, tempted at all points, like as we are, was the only one who could qualify to pay the penalty that you and I owe. Blood of bulls and goats couldn’t do that. But therefore, it was a ministry of death because it kept man in the bondage really of sin. So he says, if the ministry of death written and engraved on stones. Any question about what that’s talking about? The only time you find anything written and engraved on stones from God was the Ten Commandments. So it’s clearly talking about the Ten giving of the Ten Commandments, and he said, it was glorious. It really was. So that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance.

Which glory was doing what? Passing away, Genoa. In verse 8, now continuing that comparison, he continues. He said, How will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect because of the glory that excels. Well, if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have hope, we use great boldness of speech. Unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded, for until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.

In other words, if you keep going to the Old Testament as though the means of salvation and God’s law today, then that veil still remains. But it’s taken away in Christ. I hope you notice the words in verse 7. Something written and engraving on stones, talking about the law of Moses, which glory was passing away. In verse 11, what is passing away? Verse 13, what was passing away. And verse 14, the veil is taken away in Christ. Clearly, and I’ve spent a lot of time on this simply to say the Sabbath day has been taken away with the taking away of the law. Moses, that included even the Ten Commandments. Do we keep the Ten Commandments a day? Somebody asks you. I say, Well, only those commandments that are repeated in the New Testament.

5. Why Do We Worship on the First Day

And it is true, nine of the Ten Commandments are found in the covenant of Christ. We still need to recognize that there is no other God, one Lord God of heaven. And we’re not to take the name of the Lord in vain. And we’re not, in fact, we are to honor Mother and Father, and do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, etc. Those are all repeated in the New Testament. Why do we worship on the first day of the week? Good reasons. Because the first day of the week was the day of the week our Lord arose from the grave, first and foremost. It was also the day of the week in which the Lord’s church was established. The day of Pentecost, Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit fell on the apostles.

Pentecost, as the scripture gave it in the Old Testament, was to be on the morrow after the seventh Sabbath. Seven Sabbaths would be seven times seven, forty-nine days, the 50th day, and that’s why it’s called Pentecost, 50th. Well, on the morrow after the seventh Sabbath, it had to be on the first day of the week. It’s when the Holy Spirit fell on the apostles, and about 3,000 were baptized and added to the Lord’s church. It indeed was the day on which the Holy Spirit fell on the apostles. And frankly, Christians met on the first day of the week to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Acts 20 and verse 7, upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them.

6. There Remains a Rest for the People of God

It was a regular assembling, no doubt. 1 Corinthians 16, verses 1 and 2, verse 2 particularly, upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by in stores God hath prospered it. So these are the reasons today under the new covenant, we worship the Lord on Sunday, first day of the week, the Lord’s day. I spent a lot of time with that, but if we go back to our text, and you may wonder, well, aren’t you preaching from Hebrews 4? And I am. But I think it’s not that hard to understand. When I say what our lesson today about is called the Christian’s Sabbath. I don’t call Sunday the Christian Sabbath. But the Sabbath for Christians, the Christian Sabbath. It’s what the Apostle is writing about in Hebrews 4.

In fact, if you have your testament, look at Hebrews 4, verses 1 through 4. Where here the apostle says, Therefore, since the promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear, lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel of the good news was preached to us as well as to them. But the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest as he has said. So I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day on this way, God rested on the seventh day from all his works.

And again in this place, they shall not enter my rest.

But as even King David in the Psalms spoke about, the children of Israel who fell, who indeed died in the wilderness, who did not enter Canaan, the promise, they did not enter my rest. And God, of course, is the one who established the likeness of entering Canaan as the rest that they were headed to, had the promise for, and did not make it. So what happened? And verse 6, since therefore it remains, that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience. Again he designates a certain day, saying in David, Today, after such a long time as it has been said, today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Quoted from Psalm 95, 7 and 8.

For if Joshua, verse 8, had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day. Somebody protests and say, Well, those who originally came out of Egypt turning up didn’t go, but but weren’t the children of Israel. Didn’t Joshua lead them into the promised land? And it’s as though to anticipate that argument when it says in verse verse 8, if Joshua had fulfilled that promise, he would not afterward have spoken out of another day. But even after they’d gone into Canaan, those children had gone into Canaan, verse 9, he would say, There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works, as God did from his.

Verse 11, let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. Chapter 4, verses 1 through 11, is a significant chapter. Because it talks about our hope of heaven itself. That God has a rest. Because it’s Sabbath, the word Sabbath literally means rest or ceasing from work, cessation is literally the meaning. So in that sense, as we we often quote from Revelation chapter 12, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them. Speaking about the heavenly reward. You and I are looking forward to that rest from labors. We have work to do. And there are lanes of rest. And what’s the warning? Take heed, brethren.

Conclusion

Beware, brethren. Don’t fall away like the children of Israel. Don’t become so concerned with the things of today, the things that are passing, that are just temporal. Remember who you are, child of God, where you’re going, to heaven. Don’t lose sight of that destiny, of that reward that God has prepared for those who are faithful. May God help us all to that end. Not only to sing about heaven, I appreciate Dennison picking songs this morning about heaven, but also to realize that it is for the faithful. And God will keep his promise. And we can enter therein if we will but be faithful even unto death. Would you pray with me? Our Father, we’re thankful for your magnificent plan, for the purpose that you’ve fulfilled through Jesus Christ.

We are amazed when we study even the Old Testament and you’re dealing with these people who indeed had that opportunity to enter the Canaan land of rest and who failed because of unbelief. Help us to realize their example to us, that we not walk in the same ways that they walked, that we not take for granted your love and also your justice, that your law must be kept. Help us to be faithful and to keep our sights set on that promised land that we look forward to. Forgive our sins, Lord, as we confess and repent. But help us as we go forth from this place today, that we go forth with our heads held high, a people who have a promise, a great promise of an eternal rest.

Keep us now as we go to our classes and study and throughout the day as we worship. May all glory and praise be unto you. For we ask in the name of the Christ. Amen. Now we’ll go to our Bible classes. If you’re visiting with us, we’re glad you’re here.