 Hey man, so we're starting John chapter 5 here, so Jesus runs into a man here and we're going to look at this story of this crippled man that is waiting at this pool at the beginning of John chapter 5 and see what we can learn this evening. So let's go ahead and see what the Bible says here. It says, after this, there was a feast of the Jews and the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is a Jerusalem by the sheep market of pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda having five porches. So this pool or this, I don't know if you want to call it, this body of water is got five, the way I kind of picture it is five ways of entering the pool. Five steps down to it or five ways to enter into this thing around the pool. And it says, in these lay a great multitude of impotent folk of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. Verse number four, for an angel went down and a certain season into the pool and troubled the water, whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. So here was this pool that had all these different entrances where people would wait for God performed this great miracle. It says, you know, after a certain season, so it doesn't imply that God did this every day. It says that God did this in a season. So God did it once a year, twice a year. I don't know what that means but it wasn't something that was daily. It was something that happened every now and then but you had all these people hoping and waiting to, you know, have this angel come to the water and when they could tell when the water moved and then whoever would get in there first was healed. It's kind of a sad story actually when you think about this man. Look at verse number five and it says, and a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he said unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? And the impotent man answered and said, Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool, but while I am coming another step down before me. So just picture this man for a minute here. You have this man who is crippled or he's got this infirmity and he's had this infirmity for thirty-eight years. We don't know if he's thirty-eight years old but he's had this infirmity, he's been lame or had this issue for thirty-eight years and for a long time he has been coming to this pool hoping to be one that gets to go into the water when it gets troubled once or twice or three times a year or whatever it is, a very rare occasion. So you have to imagine that there's people coming to this pool every single day waiting for this to happen, hoping that it happens and then when it does happen, only the first person that gets to go in there is healed and this man has been waiting and waiting and waiting and you can just picture this situation where, you know, he doesn't have the buddies to take the roof apart and lower him down, you know, into the house like, you know, the man that visited Jesus that way. He had nobody and just imagine, I mean, these people when the waters are troubled, he's just getting trampled and people are just pushing past him and he's not able, he has no one to help him. He has no one to help him get into this pool. He says, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another step it down before me. So he just, it's a hopeless situation for this guy. He's coming there. He's been lame for 38 years and he just can't get there. This is a great picture for us of the hopelessness of workspace salvation right here. Is this man, no matter how, turn to John, look at John chapter, I'm sorry, you're already in John 5. Look at John chapter 5 verse number 8. It says, Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed and walk. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 2. So here this man is hopelessly trying to get himself into this water. He has nobody to help him do it. This is the hopelessness of somebody trying to get themselves to heaven. It's the same hopeless, sad situation, yet what does this man find? This man finds himself standing directly in front of Jesus. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 2 and look at verse number 5. This man finds himself, this hopeless situation where he can't get himself into the water to be healed. He can't get there himself. He has no friends that are able to bring him into the water. He's getting trampled by everybody no matter what he does. He's not able to get there, but then he finds himself with direct access to God. Imagine that. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse number 5, verse number 5. The Bible says this. It says, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. This is a great picture of salvation with this man because this man pictures the entire world through Christ. This man pictures the unsaved world that is trying to get themselves to heaven. They are just trying to, and look, everybody that is trying to work their way to heaven, trying to confess their sins to heaven, trying to go and confess their sins to a priest to wipe their sins away that way, they all have this hopeless feeling. They all have, how do you say, how could you know that? Because I had that hopeless feeling. When I would go to church and I would chant the confession of sins every Sunday and try to clear my sins away, and then during the week I just had this hopeless feeling like, am I going to heaven? Am I going to heaven? Am I there? Am I in the water? You just can't get there this way. It truly is a hopeless situation, but guess what? Then you realize that you don't need a mediator. You don't need a priest. You don't need somebody to, you don't need friends to pick you up and carry you into the water. You don't even have to carry yourself into the water. You have direct access to God. Everybody does. Through Christ Jesus. Look at verse number nine of John chapter five. John chapter five, look at verse number nine. The Bible says, and immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. Turn to Colossians chapter two. Turn to Colossians chapter two and look at verse number ten. Colossians chapter two and verse number ten. Just about the words that Jesus keeps using when he's talking to this man, will thou be made whole? Are you going to be made whole? He keeps talking to this man about being made whole. And of course the man is thinking just being healed and that's the application of what happens to this man. But look at what the spiritual application of this is in Colossians two, verse number ten. Look at verse number nine where Colossians two said, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, talking about in verse number eight, we're talking about Jesus Christ here. And look at verse number ten. It says, and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. So this is just a wonderful picture of salvation with this man. His works could never get him there and no one's works are ever going to get them there. They're not going to, you're just not going to get into the pool. You're not going to get access to the miracle. But instead we have access to Jesus, which is this direct way of being made whole. It's just a great picture of salvation. Move on to verse number ten of John chapter five. Verse number ten of John chapter five. Now we see something interesting brought up here where it says that he was made whole and this all happened on the Sabbath. So we're going to talk about the Sabbath day this evening. What the significance of that is, why people argue about the Sabbath day, should we argue about the Sabbath day, what is the Sabbath day, do we even have a Sabbath day? Is it Sunday? Is it Saturday? Is it Thursday? Is it Wednesday? What is it? Let's figure this out tonight. Look at verse number ten because the Jews made a huge deal out of this with Jesus. Here he heals this man. This man has literally been lame for 38 years. So this is why Jesus chooses people like this, by the way, just to show the miracle. Everybody knew that this man was lame. He had always been lame. He had been lame for decades. Everybody knew it, which makes the miracle that much greater for the glory of God. Look at verse number ten, the Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, it is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. What in the world? Look at verse number eleven. And he answered them, he that made me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk. Then asked they him, what man is this that said unto thee, take up thy bed and walk? And he that was healed, wist not who it was. He didn't know who Jesus was. For Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterwards, so Jesus didn't really want this guy to know who he was. He heals them, tells them to take up his bed and walk, and this guy didn't even know who healed him. Afterward, Jesus findeth him in the temple and said unto him, behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. So now he's explaining to this man, you know, like the spiritual application of what he needs to do forward in his life here. Look at verse number fifteen. The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. Just again, showing the reprobate nature of the Jewish leaders here because they cared not about the miracle. It was the same thing after Jesus rose from the dead, what are they doing? They're just trying to pay off the Roman soldiers so they won't tell anybody. You know, they completely dismissed the fact that the man rose from the dead. Completely dismissed that. Because they could not believe, as the Bible says. Okay, that's just a side note. They completely missed the point. They were spiritually blind. This just shows you the spiritual nature of belief on the Lord Jesus Christ. The spiritual nature of, you know, believing on Jesus or trusting on Jesus. People with a hard heart, people with a hard heart, people that are angry and haters of God, these types of people, they literally, they can't believe. It's a spiritual blindness that has put over them, not to get into that. But let's look at this idea of the Sabbath day. The Jews are all upset over the Sabbath day that this guy is carrying his bed and that Jesus actually did a miracle on the Sabbath day. Forget the miracle, but he did something on the Sabbath day and you're not supposed to do that. Turn to Exodus chapter 20. So what is the Sabbath day and what day is it? All right? What day is it? Does it matter? But the Jews are talking about here with the Sabbath day. Turn to Exodus chapter 20 and look at verse number eight. Let's look at the origins of the Sabbath day in the Old Testament. Look at Exodus chapter 20 in verse number eight and then we'll look at how it applies to us and how we take that forward as Christians. Look at Exodus 20 in verse number eight. It says, you know, I mean this is one of the Ten Commandments right here. It says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. For in six days, shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath day of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, 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 in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. So this is talking about Genesis chapter two where God finished the creation in six days and on the seventh day he rested, the Bible says. He blessed it. He made it holy and God rested. Let's just go ahead and turn there to Genesis chapter two and let's take a look at it, what they're talking about here. Go to Genesis chapter two. I believe it's in verse number two and verse number three. Look at what the Bible says here. It says in Genesis chapter two and verse number two it says, this is right after the creation is done and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Now I'll explain a little bit more about, I mean, what was God tired or was he, did he need a break? What is that all about? I'll explain that in just a few minutes. But the point is the Sabbath day was based out of the origins of the creation story. And you know they were to remember the Sabbath day and not do any work on the Sabbath day. So the seventh day of the week typically, you know, throughout the Old Testament would have been Saturday and that even matches with the New Testament when it comes to the first day of the week which is important. So the first day of the week is Sunday, the last day of the week is Saturday. So the Jewish Sabbath that we're talking about where this man picked up his bed and walked was on Saturday. Very simple, right? Now the question is, turn to Mark chapter two. Do we keep the Sabbath? I mean do we keep the Sabbath or do we not keep the Sabbath? Look at verse number 23 of Mark chapter two because Jesus explains this. Jesus explains the point of the Sabbath. Let's look at what Jesus says and then we'll look at what the New Testament has to tell us about keeping of the Sabbath. All right? Now first of all, the Sabbath day, there was many Sabbath days. Like holy days were a Sabbath day. So when Jesus was crucified, you know, the next day, the Passover day, remember that week there was two Sabbath days. This is why people are so confused on when Jesus was crucified because Thursday the Passover was a Sabbath and then the Sabbath was Saturday. So if you read through all the scriptures, it makes perfect sense on when Jesus was crucified to when he rose again on the first day of the week, which is Sunday according to, but you have to remember that there's two Sabbaths that week. So it's not like the Sabbath day is only Saturday. Just like holy days where there was things going on were considered Sabbath days. And I'll prove that to you in just a minute. Look at Mark chapter two though and look at verse number 23. They're always after Jesus about the Sabbath day, about something that he was doing on the Sabbath day. And it came to pass that when he went through the cornfields on the Sabbath day and his disciples began as they went to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, have you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry, he and they that were with him. So he went into the house of God in the days of Abbaeth or the priest and did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, but for the priests and gave also to them that were with him. And he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So there's your answer right there. The Bible is saying here that the reason God put the Sabbath day in place in Exodus chapter 20 is for guidance for man. It was for man. I mean, God did it for man, not man doing it for God. So it's not like man resting on the Sabbath was doing some great thing for God. God did it for man. God gave man that command that he would work six days. I mean, we're a long way from that today. I think, are we going to like a three day work week in Europe or something like that? But the point is like man was supposed to work six days and then rest on the seventh day. God didn't want man working just the entire time because I mean, what would man do? Man would just work and work and work and work and work and just like, how much can I get? That's what man would do. So God's like, no, you take a break and look, it was pretty hard about the rule about taking a break and not doing any work. You know, it's good to rest one out of seven days. You should take that into account. Now look at verse 28. He says, therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. Because look, God's in control of the Sabbath. That's what Jesus is saying. And Jesus is saying, I'm God. Again, he's saying, I'm God. I mean, how many times does Jesus have to say, I am God? Turn to Romans chapter 14. So the point of the Sabbath was it was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath isn't for us to, you know, prove something to God. God made it for us. And Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. He's God. He can do whatever he wants. Look at Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter 14. So should we keep the Sabbath? We're not Jesus. Should we keep the Sabbath? Look at Romans 14. Look at verse number one. Romans 14, 1 through 6 is talking about a lot of things that we would consider standards today. All right? Look at Romans 14. Look at verse number one. The Bible says, him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak, eateth herbs. So first of all, the Bible here is saying that what was the problem? What was the problem with the Gentiles and the Jews coming together? We study this extensively through the book of Acts. But here you have all these people getting saved, Gentiles, Jews. The Jews have this strict dietary law. They have this strict, all the Old Testament laws that they're picking and choosing, really. But they have all these rules and the Gentiles like had nothing. So there was a cultural clash here. So the Bible here is explaining, look, it's just trying to make people get along. It's trying to say, hey, some people are going to come and they don't eat meat. They're going to be weak. But they don't eat meat. And he's saying, let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not. So if somebody doesn't eat meat, you're not supposed to just despise them for not eating meat. It says, let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth. So somebody that doesn't eat meat is not supposed to look at somebody that eats meat and is like, oh, you know, animal killer or whatever. Paul is trying to write to the Romans here and just get these people to get together. He's talking about people that are weak in the faith, people that are weak in the faith. Somebody comes to church and they're a vegan. And but they know nothing about the Bible. Maybe they think that it's biblical to be a vegan because what do they know? They know nothing. They got saved two minutes ago. They don't know anything. But look, they're going to grow in their faith and they're going to realize that there is no, you know, the Bible says slay and eat, kill and eat, Peter. You know, so you're going to learn and people are going to come together. He's talking about people that are just weak and just don't know these things. They say, hey, don't beat up on people for these things that quite frankly don't really matter. All right. Look at verse number four. It says, who art thou that judgeth another man's servant? To his own master he standeth her falleth. Yea, he shall be holding up for God is able to make him stand. Look at verse number five. It says, one man esteemed one day above another. Now he gets into esteeming days or, you know, recognizing days or holidays, as we would call them. One man esteemeth one day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Look at verse number six. So what's important here? What's important? So here you have two people. Now he's just from food to recognizing holidays. So what if we had somebody come in the church and they're like, I do not celebrate Christmas on January or January, on December 25th, because I think Jesus was born on October 2nd. Well, I mean, that's strange, but whatever. It's not a big deal. It's not a thing. Right? It's not something. I mean, look, Jesus wasn't born on December 25th. Everyone's pretty sure about that. But the point is, it's just celebrating it to the fact of celebrating. There's nothing wrong with it as long as we celebrate it for the glory of Jesus Christ. Whether you celebrate it on October 2nd or December 25th or whatever that is. Look at verse six. It says, he that regarded the day, regarded it unto the Lord. So if you want to celebrate Christmas on December 25th, as long as you regard it unto the Lord Jesus, it's good. Everything's fine. And he that regarded not the day to the Lord, he doth not regard it. Well, maybe somebody was raised to just like believe that December 25th is just evil and it's not right and all these things. This is the clash that's happening in this church, not this church, but this church. And Paul is explaining, these are standards. These are things. Somebody that thinks that they're not going to celebrate Christmas on December 25th, as long as they think that they're doing Jesus Christ service for that, it's fine. You're not to jump all over them for it. It's a standard. That's it. As you learn the Bible, the culture of the church should come together and be one. That would be the ideal thing. That's what does happen, by the way. But people come here with all kinds of fixed things from their cultural past and Paul is just trying to sort through the things that matter and the things that don't. And he's saying these things don't matter. Look at he that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks, and he that eateth not to the Lord, eateth not and giveth God thanks. Look at Code of Colossians chapter 2. So he's just saying, as long as everybody that doesn't eat and eats and celebrates and doesn't celebrate is doing it for the glory of God, and look, not to make themselves look super spiritual because people do this. People do this. They have these little weird things and they're going to take a Bible standard and they're just going to just get super extra biblical with it because why? Because I'm super spiritual. So they can look down their note. That is not what this is talking about. All right. Look, the Bible has a lot of standards. The Bible has a lot of strict standards as far as how you should look, what you should do, where you should go, who you should fellowship with. The Bible's got a ton of standards, folks. There is no need to add standards to what the Bible has. So you could say, oh, well, yeah, I understand that, but I'm extra biblical. I'm more spiritual. People do that, but they're not doing that for the glory of God. They're doing that for their own glory. You know what I mean? You have a Christmas tree? Oh, yeah. We don't worship Satan in our home. We're not pagans. You know, things like this. These are just holier than vows. These are people that are doing that for their own glory. That's a different thing. That's not what Paul is talking about here. He's just saying, look, if somebody's coming and they have a different diet or they have a different holy day that they worship the Lord Jesus Christ on, it's not a big deal. It's not a big deal. Look at Colossians chapter 2, verse number 16. Colossians chapter 2 and verse number 16. Here's a simpler way of saying it in Colossians 2, 16. It says, let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or what? Look at this. Of the Sabbath days. Notice how it says the Sabbath days, like what? That could be Saturday. That could be Passover. That could be whatever holiday that you recognize. That's what Paul is saying. These are things that do not matter. It says why? Why meats and drinks and holy days and Sabbath days? He said, because they're a shadow of things to come. They're a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Now that Christ is here, these things are done away with in Christ, is what Paul is saying here. Look, we don't, you say, okay, you're talking about, Pastor, you're talking about Sunday versus Saturday. And I know you're all thinking like, you know, Seventh Day Adventists and things like that that worship on Saturday. But here's the thing, folks, we don't observe a Sabbath day. That's not what we're doing on Sunday. Turn to Matthew chapter 28. The reason that Christians get together on Sunday, instead of like the just the generic Sabbath day of the Jews in the Old Testament or the Jews that Jesus is talking to, it's because of Jesus. That's why. It's the Jesus difference. That's why Christians traditionally get together on Sunday as their main church day. Look at Matthew 28 in verse number one. The Bible says that in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to draw, as it began to dawn, I'm sorry, so the end of the Sabbath, which is, this is the Saturday Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, that Sunday, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. Mark 16 too says, and very early in the morning of the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. Luke 24 says the same thing. John 20 says the same thing. Jesus rose early in the morning on Sunday morning, the first day of the week. Now turn to Acts chapter 20. This is the origin of why Christians have church, their main church day on Sunday. And the disciples in the Old Testament or in the New Testament did the same thing. Look at verse number seven. So we have proof of this. Of the new Christians after Jesus went to heaven, the Christians in the book of Acts, look at verse number seven of Acts chapter 20, the Bible says that upon the first day of the week, this is Sunday. When the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight. This is why Christians gather on Sundays. And look, we're not moving the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday. That's not even something a Christian would say. Because the Sabbath day is done away with. The Sabbath day is done away with in Christ. Turn to Acts chapter two. So we are recognizing our main worship day on Sundays because that's when Jesus rose from the dead out of recognition of when our Savior rose again from the dead. Look at Acts chapter two. So you say, well, why Wednesdays then? Why am I here? It's Wednesday night. You're all like, what in the world? What's happening? Look at Acts chapter two. Look at verse number 46. Acts chapter two and verse number 46. So it's very simple why Christians gather on Sundays. And it has nothing to do with the Saturday Sabbath from the Old Testament. Look at verse number 46. It says in A, who they? The disciples continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 10. I'm going to go to verse number 25, which you should know very well. Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse number 25. So the Bible says that actually many of the disciples in right after the main disciples in the book of Acts, they were gathering daily. And they were just getting people saved daily and they're adding to the church daily. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25 says this. It says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. Now I want to focus on that last part. I want you to, I'm going to read that to you again as you turn to second Timothy chapter three. We're looking at why we would get together on Wednesdays right now. We know why we get together on Sundays. We're looking at why we would get together for a midweek service out of the Bible. First of all, they got together daily in Jesus' time. Look at second Timothy chapter three. Look at verse number one. So in Hebrews 10, 25, it says that we shouldn't forsake the assembling of ourselves together. So whenever the assembly gathers, we should not forsake that. So if this assembly gathered every day, you should not forsake that. We don't gather every day. We gather on Sundays and we gather on Wednesdays. And then we do extra things on the sides. So some days we might gather pretty close to every day. But the point is, look at second Timothy chapter three in verse number one. The Bible says in Hebrews 10, 25, it says, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Meaning it's going to be more important as the end times approach. It's going to be more important as time goes on. Look, every single second thing goes by, we get closer to the end times. Whether that's 100 years away or 500 years away or a year away. We're getting closer to the end times. So it says, as we get closer to the end times, it is more important that you assemble yourselves together. That's what Hebrews 10, 25 is saying. You say, why is that? Look at second Timothy chapter three. Here's why. Know this, this know also that in the last days, perilous times shall come. Jesus himself said that he was in the last days. So we are 100% in the last days. What I think that means is we're in the last half. Jesus declared he was in the last half now. All right, so look, we know that it won't go beyond 8,000 years if we do the math on that. But the point is, we're not in the end times. That's the whole point of the Clues and Milestones series so we can recognize we know we're in the last days, we know we're in the last half. But how can we know when the end time starts? That Daniel 70th week and all those things that will come to play those milestones, those clues, that's what we're looking for. We're looking for the start of those end times. But it says in the last days, perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. That's us. That's the same believer right there. Traders, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God. Now verse number four is really kind of a key right there. What it's saying, as we head towards the end times, men are going to get worse and worse and worse. They're going to get further and further and further away from God. They're going to get further and further and further away from you if you love God. So the Bible is saying that men are going to get worse. And it says, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, from such, turn away. Talking about there's going to be a lot of false prophets out there that say that they're godly and say they're representing Jesus Christ, but they're false. They're denying the power. They're false prophets. So the Bible here is saying, it's interesting, it's kind of irony here. It's kind of irony. Hebrews 10.25 is saying, as we get closer to the end times, it's more important for you to be in the assembly. And the reason is because the world is going to get worse and worse and worse as those times approach. Now here's what's interesting. If you look at, I mean, key statistics of what is happening in our very country matches this perfectly. You know how I love all-time highs and all-time lows? You know, I love looking at trends. Where are we at today? In 2023 in the United States of America, Americans that attend church is at an all-time historical low for the history of the entire country. I mean, Americans that attend church every single week, once a week, is less than 20% at this point. And Americans who attend never. I mean, these people don't even, I mean, just think about this. I mean, a lot of people go on Easter. A lot of people go to church on Christmas and Easter. I mean, at least, I mean, most decent people go to church at least that were raised Christian go to church at least on Easter and Christmas. 57% of Americans at this point right now never go to church. Never. Not even once a year. 20% go to church once a week. And I couldn't even find stats on what kind of people go to church three times a week. Probably us, and people that we know. But the point is this. It's interesting because this is exactly what the Bible says. That's exactly what Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 25 is saying. And it's exactly what 2 Timothy chapter 3 is telling us is going to happen. So back to the Sabbath day. The day means nothing. The day means nothing. Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, literally it means nothing. I mean, Christians traditionally get together on Sundays because that's the day that Jesus rose from the dead. Now you take like Seventh Day Adventists. They're just ardently like our worship services will be on Saturday, period. Look, I don't even care about that. My problem with the Seventh Day Adventists is that they have a false gospel and they're all going to go to hell if they believe that. I don't care what day they go to church. You know that some churches that we're friends with, First Works Baptist Church, they have their midweek service on Thursdays. You know, Pastor Mehe and I, we almost stopped talking to each other because of that. And then he showed me Romans 14. I'm like, oh, sorry. No, I'm just kidding. But the point is, it doesn't matter. As a matter of fact, when we started here as a satellite church, we had our midweek service on Thursdays. And we changed fairly quickly because I just, I personally couldn't stand it because it was so long from Sunday to Thursday. Like I was just like, ah. So I mean, I moved it to Wednesday. But many of the churches that have satellite churches and have churches where they can send preachers to preach at that church that will have that midweek service on Thursday just for a logistical reason. So they can send the pastor of a Wednesday church can go and preach somewhere on Thursday and not miss his own church service. So that's one of the reasons that that happens. But the point is the day means nothing. The day means nothing. It is all about getting, and look, it's not about resting from work. It's really about spending a day in spiritual things away from the world. That's what Sunday is. Look, that's what Sunday is for me. But the Bible says whenever the church doors are open, whether it's Wednesday or Thursday, you should be there. And as the end approaches, it's more and more important to you. And I mean, look, as we went through COVID, was that not obvious? That it was like spiritual therapy to come here when the world seemed like it was just going crazy during that time. But here's another thing you need to understand. As you come to church on Sundays and then you also come on Wednesdays, and then the world, the nation around us, no one goes to church, you're going to stand out more and more. You have to recognize that. And you have to be ready for that. Look, already, it is odd to many people if they find out that you go to church three times a week. Is that not true? People find out that you go to church on Sunday morning, and then, oh yeah, I'm going to go back to church for Sunday night church at 5 o'clock, because we're going through a sermon series, and I can't wait. Look, my whole Sunday is just church. My whole Sunday is just spiritual stuff. It's such a great thing to just put away, just put away. And this is what God, and this is the irony of it, is that this is exactly what God meant when he rested on the seventh day. When he rested, he was just, he wasn't tired. He's just like, you know what? I want to just bask in the glory of this, in what I've done. And you know what we should do on Sundays is we should take a day, and we should just bask in the Lord. Instead of being out in the worldly things and all these things, I remember there was a huge controversy in the 80s. Many of you probably don't remember this, but there was this controversy in the United States, especially in the Midwest, about Sunday openings. Because everything used to be closed on Sundays. Because, you know, I mean, it was a misunderstanding of the Sabbath to be sure. But basically, it was the culture of the Midwest that you would just spend Sunday in spiritual things, at church, in your spiritual life, and not be in the world. And a lot of people were against, even like, well, why not have a restaurant open? Because after you're done with church, then we can go to the restaurant. But then you're forcing somebody else to have to work. And this was the argument. But the point is, nobody goes to church anymore. So eventually, everything's open on Sunday. Now everything's open on every single day, 24-7, whatever it is. But this used to be the attitude. But now, in the country today, with the culture moving the way it is and the wicked direction against the Lord, it is shocking if people find out you go to church twice on Sundays and then once on Wednesday nights. And they just can't wrap their head. They can't fathom that. It's because nobody does it. And also, another thing we need to realize is it's going to be harder. It's going to be harder to disciple people out of that into this. You need to be ready for that, too. I mean, you're going to get somebody saved, bring them to church. And it's just a longer bridge to cross for them. Like, well, church, now you go to church Sunday mornings. You know, I go to church once a month. That's good. But then they're just going to start learning and growing and growing. It's just going to be further from them to grow from that culture. And we just have to be aware of that. Here's another thing, folks. It's going to be harder. It's going to be odd. It's going to be odd to employers that you go to church three times a week. It's going to be odd. Like, you know, it may have been normal to say, I need Sundays off. And I would like Wednesday nights off. But that's odd to employers now. But those are my, I mean, I'll just give you a look. I'll give you a little bit of a testimony for myself on this, and we'll probably cut this part out of the sermon, because this is just a personal thing just for the church only. But there is nothing that is going to take Sundays and Wednesdays away from me. There's never going to be a time in my life when I trade money for my spiritual life. And let me tell you something. Any time you decide to give up money for your spiritual life, that is a winner every single time. Just take it from me. When I was in the satellite ministry, I had a different job than the one I have right now. And I was in that job, and the job was really close to the church. And it was just a really nice job to have for the church. I could run over to the church at lunch. If something needed to be done to the building, I was just like two minutes away. I could walk over there. It was perfect. But then my job shifted slightly at that same company. And it became a completely different thing. It became this thing that was consuming my life. It became this thing that was in the evenings. It became this thing that was on weekends. It became this thing that, and look, I'm not even saying it was consuming me physically, but it was getting up here. And I knew this is not good for my spiritual life. I left that job. I just got another job. And you say, what would you do if right now your job, and look, you know what, I got another job, and it was a lot less money, but who cares? And I'm happy to make those decisions. Because every single time you make those decisions, God's gonna take care of you. I guarantee it. I guarantee it. He guarantees it. But the point is, you say, what about this job? What if the job I currently have, like, all of a sudden would shift and change, and then I would need to work on Wednesday nights? It's like, what would I do? Oh, you're so stressed. No, I just get a different job. It's very simple. I would either just, and look, here's the thing. If you have credibility at your job, and you've got a good testimony at your job, many times these problems are gonna work themselves out. Because if you have that credibility, if you, you know, you can't be this person that just shows up late and leaves early, and you're like, oh, you want your boss to do you a bunch of favors. But if you're honest, and you work hard, and you're ethical, and you do the right things at work, and you say, you know what, I just, I'm just not gonna do this at this time, and this time, that's part of having me as an employee for you, it's usually gonna work out. But if it didn't, big deal. Because I'm never going to trade my spiritual life for anything. And the decision, see folks, it's not a stressful thing because the decision's already made, the decision's already made. It's just like nothing's gonna, nothing's gonna get in the way of that. You're like, well, you're the pastor, but yeah, but it's the same thing for you. So, Sunday is not about rest. It is about a day for the Lord. And look, it's literally all I do on Sundays is just have a day for the Lord. And look, you know what, I love it. I love it. Wednesdays, it cuts in half a secular week. It's a, you know, that's the booster shot you really need. You know, that's the only booster shot you should get. It is the Wednesday spiritual booster shot of the word of God, of fellowship, of edification from your brothers and sisters in Christ. You go out in the world and you're just like, this is crazy, man. And you come back here and you're like, oh yeah, no, it's not. The Bible's still here. My brother's a sister's and Christ is still here. People still love the Lord no matter how, you know, wicked things get out there. You know, people just start going nuts every single day, whatever, at least I can be here on Wednesday. At least I can be back here on Sundays. And you know what? We do a lot of stuff outside of those days as well. So that's what the Sabbath is all about, right? It's not about this legalistic day that somebody chose. It's just about setting time aside for God in our lives. And Jesus Christ was Lord of the Sabbath, even when they were getting on him here, so he could do whatever he wanted. They kind of missed the point, even after he's doing all these miracles. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.