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VISITING PROGRAM TRAINING CLASS
Eighth
Class
December 29, 1968
FORMAT:
1.
Open with prayer.
2.
World news discussion and drill (5-8 minutes).
3.
Difficult scripture drill (30 minutes).
4.
Sermonettes and evaluations (30
minutes).
5.
Recess (10 minutes).
6.
Lecture (one hour).
7.
Assignments for next class.
DIFFICULT
SCRIPTURES
I.
It makes no difference today whether or not you keep the Sabbath or
the
Holy Days and you shouldn't let
any man judge you if you don't (Col. 2:16-17).
A. The word "is" is in italics in
Verse 17 and is not in the original.
Therefore, this should read,
"Let no man therefore judge you, -- but
the
body of Christ."
B. The body of Christ is the Church
of God (Col. 1:18) and it is the
Church that is our pillar and
grounding in the truth (I Tim. 3:15)
and
our standard, not the ideas of men.
C. The word "judge" in Verse 16 is
better rendered "call you in question."
The Gentile Colossians
previously knew nothing of God or of His Holy
Days. God's ministers taught them to observe the
Sabbath and the Holy
Days,
and outsiders called them in question for doing so. The ascetics
in Colossae saw those in the Church eating and drinking (feasting)
on
the
Holy Days and despised them for it.
D. These Holy Days are shadows of things to
come -- they picture the
major
events in God's master plan to bring all mankind to salvation.
E. Therefore, Paul is telling the Colossian
converts to let no man call
them
in question for their observance of God's Holy Days.
II. Give simple proof that the Sabbath
is to be kept.
A. Mark 2:27-28 -- The Sabbath was made
specifically for man, and Christ
is
the Lord of the Sabbath, not some other day.
B. Genesis 2:1-3 -- It was made by Christ at
the same time that man was
made,
and set apart as holy time for all mankind forever.
-2-
C. Exodus 16 -- Israel had lost the knowledge of the Sabbath in Egyptian
slavery and God showed them
which day it was by means of a special
miracle
and reemphasized the importance of keeping it holy.
D. Exodus 20:8-11-- God commanded all men to
remember the Sabbath for-
ever
as one of the cardinal points of His spiritual law.
E. Luke 4:16 -- Jesus kept the Sabbath
Day.
F. Acts 17:2 -- Paul, the apostle to the
Gentiles, also kept the Sabbath.
G. Isaiah 66:23 -- The Sabbath will be kept in
the future when God's
Kingdom will be ruling on
the earth.
* From this we see that the
Sabbath was made for man at the time man was
made, that it was given
before Israel was given the Ten Commandments,
it is one of the Ten
Commandments, Jesus kept it, Paul kept it, and it
will
be kept in the Millennium when God's Kingdom will rule. So, we
also
ought to keep the Sabbath now.
III.
Prove that the Holy Days are still in effect and should be kept
today.
A. The Holy Days are Feasts of God, not the
Jews (Lev. 23:2, 4). They
were
commanded to be observed forever (Lev. 23:31,
41).
B. But these days were ordained during the
year before the sacrifices
were
given to Israel (Ex. 12 and 13).
The Days of Unleavened Bread
are
part of the identifying sign between God and His people (Ex. 13:9).
Jeremiah 7:21-23 also points
out that when God began instituting the
Holy Days -- at the time He
brought Israel out of Egypt -- He did
not
institute burnt offerings or sacrifices.
Therefore, the Holy
Days do not stand or fall
with the sacrifices, but are truly commanded
forever.
C. Jesus observed the Passover and the Days of
Unleavened Bread (Luke
2:41-42) and the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day
(John
7:1-2, 14, 37).
D. The New Testament Church and the apostles
kept the Holy Days.
Passover and Days of
Unleavened Bread -- Acts 12:3; 20:6; I Cor. 5:6-8.
Pentecost -- Acts 2:1; 20:16; I Cor. 16:8.
Day of Atonement -- Acts
27:9.
Feast of Tabernacles -- Acts
18:21.
Paul told the Colossians not
to let anyone condemn them for observing
the
Holy Days (Col. 2:16-17).
E.
The Feast of Tabernacles will be observed during the Millennium by
everyone
-- both Jew and Gentile (Zech. 14:16). So all who would
be
in God's Kingdom had better learn to observe them now!
THE SABBATH AND HOLY
DAYS
I.
GOD'S PURPOSE FOR THE Sabbath AND HOLY DAYS
John 5:17 -- During His earthly Ministry, Christ said, "My
Father works)
hitherto,
and I work."
Philippians 1:6 -- The work He
referred to was the Work that God the
Father is doing IN US. He is now engaged in a spiritual creation,
creating in us His very
character to prepare us to be born into His
Family! God's weekly and annual Sabbaths have a
vitally important role
in this
spiritual creation!
Leviticus 23:1-4 -- God set
aside certain days to be observed by His
people. These were the weekly Sabbath (Verse 3) and
His annual Holy
Days (Verse 4). His purpose for these days is (1) to bring
all mankind
(ultimately) to a knowledge and
understanding of His plan, and (2) to
teach and perfect mankind
spiritually so that they can qualify to be
born
into His Family and fulfill the purpose of their existence!
Mark 2:27 -- Notice, the Sabbath was not made for God, or for the
angels.
It was made especially for
MAN~ The MAIN purpose of God's Sabbath
is to
help
man to become God!
II.
UNDERSTANDING COMES THROUGH OBEDIENCE
Before seeing specifically
how God is using the Sabbath and Holy
Days to
give us knowledge and
understanding and to perfect us spiritually, we
need to review an important
principle that governs our grasp and under-
standing
of spiritual knowledge. Knowledge and
understanding are not
synonymous! Knowledge is the academic possession of
facts or information,
while understanding is the grasp
or comprehension of the meaning or
significance
of that knowledge. Many in God's
Church have a certain
amount of spiritual knowledge,
but lack the depth of understanding to
utilize
that knowledge because they are not obeying God as they should!
Psalms 111:10 -- If we obey God,
we will have understanding. This is an
absolute
promise from God!
Psalms 119:100 -- Again we see
that obedience is the prerequisite for
understanding. If you are sincerely and wholeheartedly
obeying ALL that
God has thus far revealed to you
-- and deeply repenting when you do
slip -- God will continue to
give you spiritual perception and spiritual
understanding.
This is an important principle
in every area of our lives, and those of
you in this Visiting Program
Training Class are being given knowledge
that
most in the Church don't have a chance to learn in the same way.
God holds you responsible for
that knowledge, and unless you are putting
it to work, you won't come to a
deep understanding of it because under-
standing
comes as a result of OBEDIENCE!
-4-
This principle especially
applies to the Sabbath and the Holy Days.
We
all have a knowledge of the
Sabbath and Holy Days, and we are all "keeping"
them, but the degree to which
we are keeping them God's way -- in the spirit,
as well as in the letter -- is
the degree to which we deeply understand
God's plan and the degree to
which we are being perfected spiritually!
III..
The Sabbath AND THE HOLY DAYS ARE KEYS TO THE KNOWLEDGE
AND UNDERSTANDING of GOD'S PLAN
Matthew 16:19 -- Christ promised that His Church would have the keys
to
the Kingdom
of God. The Sabbath and
Holy Days are two of the most important
basic keys that UNLOCK the
knowledge and understanding of God's plan for
bringing
all mankind into His Kingdom!
A. Weekly Sabbath
1. God is the Creator
People who do not keep
God's Sabbath do not understand that God
is
the Creator. They are deceived by the
clever arguments for
evolution. Some of them may believe in a
"God," but they don't
know
the true God. Most of them have either
a vague notion of a
"first cause"
or an over-sentimentalized idea of a far-away,
helpless
God who does not intervene in the affairs of men on earth.
Anyone who even knows
the truth of the Sabbath, the Seventh-day
Adventists, for example
-- whether they keep it properly or not --
knows
that God is the Creator. They can see
the idiocy of the
theory
of evolution.
But unless they are
keeping the Sabbath properly, God is not real
to
them. They don't know the
all-powerful, all-knowing Creator
God of this universe who
does intervene in the course of human
affairs! The Seventh-day Adventists, for example,
will say they
believe
in a Creator God, but they don't trust God to heal them.
They look to doctors,
instead, just like everyone else.
In the same way, all of
us know academically and intellectually the
truth of the Sabbath,
and therefore, we all know that God is the
Creator and that
evolution could never have occurred.
But real
understanding
comes from obedience. The degree to
which you are
keeping the Sabbath
God's way is the degree to which God is real
to you and the degree to which you can look
to Him in complete
faith
and confidence in every area of your life.'
2. Sign of God's True People
Exodus 31:17 -- The
Sabbath identifies God's true people.
It is a
sign that sets us apart
from the world and shows that we are truly
different. If we are keeping it Properly -- using it
as God intended
to
grow spiritually -- we will be different from the world. We won't
just stop working on
Saturday, but the way we organize the other six
days
and conduct:our personal lives will set us apart,
as well. We
won
t blend in with the world. Our
conversation, the expression on
our faces, the way we
react to daily problems and in every way our
lives
will reflect that we are God's people!
-5-
B. Annual Holy Days
It is through keeping the
annual Holy Days that we understand the
step-by-step plan by which
the great Creator God is bringing the
family
of man into His Family! The depth of
your understanding of
God's plan is in direct
proportion to how diligently and faithfully
you
keep the.Holy Days God's way.
Since the Churches of this
world do not keep God's Holy Days, they
are
in total confusion. Their doctrines do
not fit together and
complement
one another in a logical, purposeful fashion.
They are
totally
ignorant of God's purpose and plan.
Since they keep the
"Lord's Supper' on a
Sunday morning with grape juice and leavened
bread instead of God's
Passover, they do not know when Christ died,
why He died or how He died,
and they don't understand that healing
is
the forgiveness of physical sin. Since
they don't keep the Days
of Unleavened Bread, they
don't understand what sin is, and by not
keeping Pentecost, they
cannot understand that a human mind must be
converted
by God's Spirit and given the power to overcome sin.
They don't know when Christ
will return -- whether it will be tonight
or a thousand
years from now -- or even if He will return.
Most of
them don't believe that
Satan is a literal being who must be bound
before
the world can have peace. They
certainly aren't looking for
God's Kingdom to bring peace
to this earth. They think that God is
desperately trying to get
the world saved and is thus far failing) not
realizing
that today is not the only day of salvation.
God's Holy Days unlock to us
the knowledge of His plan, and as we
participate in them by
keeping them, we gain an understanding of the
significance and meaning of
each facet of that plan as it relates to
us personally. Whether our understanding is shallow and
superficial
will be determined by the
degree to which we are keeping them as God
intends! If we are keeping them properly, we will
deeply and fully
understand God's plan and we
will be MOTIVATED by their significance
and
meaning to us personally!
IV.
GOD'S REGULARLY SCHEDULED TRAINING SESSIONS TO
TEACH AND PERFECT US SPIRITUALLY
In addition to giving us knowledge
and understanding as a result of our
keeping them properly, God uses
the Sabbath and Holy Days as regularly
scheduled
training sessions to teach and perfect us spiritually.
Acts 8:27-31 -- You need someone to teach you. You can only go so far in
study
on your OWN, and then you need guidance and help.
Ephesians 4:11-13 -- This is the very purpose of God's Ministry -- to
teach and perfect
His people. God has given us His
Sabbath and Holy Days
as regularly scheduled training
sessions at which this primarily is to
be
done.
-6 -
A.
Holy Days
God prescribes what should be
taught on His Holy Days. The
repetition
each year of the meaning of
each day keeps us in remembrance of His
plan. It gives us an overview and helps us to get
the BIG PICTURE.'
In your own personal study
you should concentrate on each Holy Day
as it comes around each year,
realizing that God wants your attention
focused
on that particular aspect of His plan at that particular time.
B. Sabbath
II Timothy 4:2 -- God wants
His ministers to preach the Word in season
and out of season -- to
preach what should be preached on the Sabbath
according
to the needs of the congregation.
God's ministers always
ask God to guide them and
help them preach what the people need the
most at that particular time
-- whether it be instruction, exhortation,
correction
or encouragement. You too, should pray
every week that God
will inspire your local
minister and all of His ministers everywhere
to give you what you need and
what all of God's people need that
coming
Sabbath.
Then come eagerly and
expectantly to Sabbath Services, alert and
ready to take personally the
messages that are given that day, con-
sidering
that whatever is given is what God intends to be a major
part
of your spiritual diet for the coming week.
Look forward to
each Sabbath as another
special training class that God has given
you the opportunity of
attending to teach and train and perfect you
for
your responsibilities as part of His ruling family. Take good
notes and then concentrate on
and diligently study that particular
"lesson" God has
given you for that particular week -- and above all
be
sure that you change your life to conform to the knowledge given!
Ezekiel 33:31-32 -- We often
apply these scriptures to the world, but
too many in God's Church refuse the
instruction God makes available
through
His ministers on the Sabbath. They
reject the knowledge --
even though they may pay lip
service to it by saying, "What a fine
sermon" --
because they don't do it! Don't let
this be your approach!
Take seriously the
instruction you are given on the Sabbath and apply
or
make a part of you whatever knowledge is given!
Romans 2:13 Just hearing
the Word -- having spiritual knowledge
is
not enough. God is not interested in
how much you know but how
much
you OBEY!
V.
YOUR ATTITUDE AND APPROACH
Now that we have seen the importance of
keeping God's Sabbath and Holy.
Days properly and that
superficially going through the motions of keeping
them is not enough, let's see
what our attitude and approach should be
in
keeping them!
- 7-
A.
Holy Days
We can't have a passive attitude
toward God's Holy Days. It's true
that
familiarity does breed contempt! We
can't come to God's Feasts
as
spiritual dullards with a "ho-hum, another 'why are we here?'
sermon
"!
Malachi 1:12-13 -- If you grow bored with what you consider the
"same old sermons"
every year, you are contemptuously turning up
your
nose at the spiritual fare God has set before you at His Feasts.'
By your attitude you have shown
that you are taking His Holy Days
for granted, and you are on a
collision course with disaster, spir-
itually.
We must approach each of God's
Feasts positively and thankfully.
Be thankful that God has called
you in this age of spiritual darkness
and
revealed His plan through His Holy Days.
Really APPRECIATE each
particular facet of God's plan as
you keep the Holy Day which pictures
it. Meditate on the meaning of the day, and
drink in deeply of it
through your own personal study
and through the training sessions on
that day
-- the Holy Day services.' Absolutely
FEAR to take any of
those
days lightly, but keep them zealously and wholeheartedly.'
B.
Sabbath
God's Sabbath not only identifies God
as the Creator and identifies
His true people, but it is also a
type of the Millennium -- the 1000
years of
the Kingdom of God on earth. Your
Sabbaths should picture
the wonderful peace, happiness
and closeness with God that the entire
world
will experience at that time! (Isaiah 14:7.)
It should be a
time of both spiritual and
physical refreshing and rejuvenation (Acts
3:19).
Isaiah 56:2 -- Do you pollute God's
Sabbath by your attitude and
approach
to it?
Amos 8:5-- Do you sometimes catch
yourself with this attitude toward
the Sabbath -- an attitude of
impatience for the sun to set so that
you can
get on with your pleasures? Many in
God's Church have this
attitude. They just can't wait to live it up and
blast out of their
consciousness any shred of what
they might have learned or any special
rapport
and closeness to God they might have achieved on the Sabbath!
In addition, by staying up late
on Saturday night they begin the new
week short on sleep and tired,
rather than physically rested and
refreshed as
a result of a peaceful Sabbath Day.
Isaiah 58:13-14 -- God wants us
to sincerely look at His Sabbath as
a
delight. He wants us to be refreshed
and rejuvenated physically,
mentally
and spiritually. He wants us to
experience the peace and
closeness to Him that we can have
by spending extra time in study,
prayer
and especially in meditation.
-8-
This won't happen accidentally,
however! You must work at it because
our human nature causes us to
naturally laze around on the Sabbath,
feel bored and waste time in the way
that people in the world do on
Sunday mornings. It takes a little effort to make the
Sabbath a
delight,
but it is worth it. It is much more
enjoyable than just
drifting through another Sabbath,
marking the passing of another
week of
your life and accomplishing nothing as a result.
Don't let your Sabbath just
"happen." Prepare for it and
look forward
to it, not just for the physical
rest, but for the spiritual uplifting,
refreshing
and strengthening that comes as a result of keeping it right!
The Sabbath doesn't come
unexpectedly like a "thief in the night"!
If at all possible, be home an hour
before sunset -- in time to
shower and
change clothes before the Sabbath begins.
Shift gears in
your mind as sunset approaches and
begin to put away all the worries
and
physical concerns of the past week.
Don't scurry and rush around
right up to the last minute and be
on the brink of breaking the
Sabbath in the letter. You can't do this and at the same time keep
it in the
spirit! Consciously change the pace of
your life as you
enter God's
time.
It is good to begin God's Sabbath
with prayer, and you should either
have family prayer or make the
prayer at dinner extra long to thank
God for His blessing and protection
that week. Then use the long
winter Sabbath evenings (Friday
night) to spend extra time with your
children -- perhaps giving them a
bath before bedtime yourself, and
telling
them stories from the Bible or reading the Bible Story to them.
Make the Sabbath attractive to them
so that they, too, will look for-
ward to the
Sabbath rather than look on it as a "cannot" day.
You can allow yourself a half hour
or an hour extra sleep, but have
a regular
getting-up time on the Sabbath. If you
are getting your
sleep during the week -- and you
should -- you will feel refreshed
after
eight-and-a-half or nine hours of sleep.
On the Sabbath then,
if you don't have to drive a long
distance, you can sometimes go for
a leisurely walk with your family,
or in the summer, you can stop for
a picnic
lunch on the way to or from services.
Talk about God's Work, His Creation,
His plan, the sermon and sermonette.
Explain to your children some of the
wonders of the physical world
around them and how delicately,
perfectly and wonderfully God has
designed every creature and plant to
maintain perfect physical balance
and
harmony. Show how God has put beauty,
humor, intrigue, into His
creatures
for the benefit and interest and enjoyment of mankind.
Forget your problems on the
job! Stop grumbling and complaining
about
your
neighbors, the weather, or little irritations! Make the Sabbath
a day of
rejoicing, happiness -- delightfully refreshing! Then, having
been refreshed physically and
spiritually, don't ruin it all with
late-night Saturday night
"entertainment" offered by the god of this
world. Try to get to bed reasonably early, so you
can begin the new
week refreshed and ready to apply
what you've learned -- alert, close
to God, and
determined to obey Him more fully than ever before.
-9-
Hebrews 4:9-11 -- This is what we
are looking forward to! By keeping
God's Sabbath His way we will enter
into His rest. We'll enjoy the
mental and physical refreshing here
and now that comes as a result,
and our
Sabbaths will truly picture the Kingdom
of God on earth.
Further, we'll be taught and
perfected spiritually to prepare us
for that
Kingdom!
ASSIGNMENTS FOR NEXT
CLASS
"Personal from the Editor,"
by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong,
December 1967 PLAIN mum.
"The Seven Laws of Radiant
Health," by Mr. Roderick C.
Meredith, Reprint #180.
"So You Had A Cold," by Mr. Paul Royer, November 1965
GOOD
NEWS.
*NOTE: There will be no test with Lesson #8. We will send the
test with
Lesson #9, and it will cover Lessons 7, 8 and 9.
Then we will be sending a mid-year exam
along with Lesson 10,
which will
cover all the lessons from 1 through 10.
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