We have been going through the 1689 in our assembly for some time now. We are now in the section that deals with the law of God. This Lord's day will be the 4th commandment. Most of our people came out of dispensationalism and do not have a good grasp of what the sabbath means. I didn't myself until about 7 or 8 months ago. Our pastor has really come around to it in the last year. Pray that our people will accept it in truth with a good spirit.

The Commandment That Time Made 'Optional'

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1689 Baptist Confession

Psa 55:16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.
Psa 55:17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
James Farley, Wilderness Road Baptist Assembly.
Husband of Melissa and father of Ann.
www.wildernessroadbaptist.org

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Lakewood Presbyterian Church (PCA), Member
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When heresy rises in an evangelical body, it is never frank and open. It always begins by skulking, and assuming a disguise. Its advocates, when together, boast of great improvements, and congratulate one another on having gone greatly beyond the ‘old dead orthodoxy,’ and on having left behind many of its antiquated errors: but when taxed with deviations from the received faith, they complain of the unreasonableness of their accusers, as they ‘differ from it only in words.’ This has been the standing course of errorists ever since the apostolic age. Samuel Miller, Introductory essay, The Articles of the Synod of Dort (1841).

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Submitting to Jesus as Lord entails submitting to Him as Lord of the Sabbath. May the Lord help all y'all to delight in his day.

If the sabbath had been made obsolete, the gospel writers, doing their work decades later would not have focused on it as they did.

May the Lord help you recover the Day. There is hope. The Children of Israel had it reinstititued in the wilderness after the Exodus and before the giving of the Law. "Remember" assumes something pre-existent that ought to be called to mind. The Sabbath did not begin at Sinai. It was from the beginning, Day #7.

MTR

MTR

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Mike Renihan
~Pastor, Heritage Baptist Church, Worcester, MA, ARBCA
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The amazing thing is that my 19 yr. old daughter accepted it completely.
She told me 'dad', I never really did feel right about eating out or shopping on Sunday. She has truly been a delight in this matter.

Praying

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John J.
Member Christ Prebyterian Church (OPC)
Salt Lake City, Utah
www.christpres.net

Within the bounds of Christian liberty, we've structured the Lord's Day to facilitate its observance. Our folk come from about 4,500 square miles (That's larger than all of Northern Ireland). So, we have Sunday School, a morning service, a fellowship lunch and then a corporate prayer meeting in the afternoon. It starts at 9:30 and we usually depart about 4-4:30PM. It is a day full of apostle's doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer.

Dr. Renihan, doesn't Heritage Baptist Church (In Mansfield, TX) similar in their Lord's Day layout?

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Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"On land, at sea, at home, abroad, / I smoke my pipe and worship God." -- J.S. Bach

Have you ever tried having the Lord's Supper at the conclusion of your fellowship lunch? With what result?

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In Christ's love and service

Mr. Tim Cunningham, Dip. CS (Regent College)
Member, First Baptist Church
Vancouver, BC

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"The Reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellar of 1500-year-old, 200 proof grace—a bottle after bottle of pure distillate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly. The word of the gospel—after all these centuries of trying to lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of your own bootstraps—suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the saved were home-free before they started. Grace was to be drunk neat: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale." – Robert Farrar Capon

Those folk are good friends. I believe they do have a similar setup. Pastor Vincent, I call him Hobbit, was here the summer of 2006. We talked about this on our back deck while eating wet-roasted BBQ ribs.

Please call me, 'Mike.' I not one who goes in for all the formalities that come with credentials, not even at the College.

MTR

Thanks. I'll try, Si...err...Mike.

[quote=timmopussycat;351577]I've thought about it. Not everyone is able to stay for the lunch. So, that would unduly keep the supper from some who need to 'feed on Christ.'

I'll have to think about this again. Thanks for the reminder!

Mike

When I studied at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, they had the 'Eucharist' at an 'Agape Feast' at least once a term. It was during an evening meal. At some point during the meal, one of the ordained clergy would rise, bring a brief homily about one of the elements and all would partake of the bread and wine on the table.

I'm not sure the informal 'feel' of it would go over well in our context. It is a legitimate option according to the apostolic pattern.

Mike

Mike,

When was the Sabbath instituted for man? I understand the ordinance stems from creation but when was man first required by God to observe it? Was it not Exodus 16? I am just wondering. You stated above that Remember assumes pre-existence. Can't "remember" also mean something you are to observe based upon what you are being told at present?

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Donald Jacobs
Marysville. WA
Cascade Church (CRCNA)

Cum vero infirmor tunc potens sum.

That is good to hear.

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

Coming from Northern Ireland I really find it hard to appreciate just how big America actually is. Its so large that I am scared of the place.

[quote=PuritanCovenanter;351599]Q1. Day 7 of Creation.


Q2. Exodus 16 is the recovery of the Sabbath that
had been lost in captivity.

Q3. The primary meaning of remember in the form used in the 10 Suggestions, make that Commandmentsm, is to call to mind a previous experience (Deut 24:9; Deut 25:17; Josh 1:13; Psa 103:14; Psa 132:1; & Lam 3:20).

Mike

Blueridge Baptist:

You mention your daughter concluding that eating out and shopping were against the Sabbath and she seems to have picked that up recently as your church has begun speaking on the Sabbath.

Let me ask, from the pulpit is your church giving out specific commands on how to honor the Sabbath? Or is your church giving the general teaching and letting the people interpret much of that themselves?


For instance, if you are trying to get your church to switchover to a respect of the Sabbath, is it wise to teach that one cannot absolutely eat out or shop on the Sabbath?

What if one is stuck on the road and travelling. One must eat and sleep somewhere. Can we stay overnight in a hotel on a Sunday? It causes someone work. What of civil service jobs; nurses, docs, pilice even water pipe and electric people and snow plow people. What of pastors who travel for services, etc.

I have seen in a few cases where churches often get TOO zealous over the Sabbath and bound people too tightly. Others, hearing of this, become less likely to honor the Sabbath and resist their own pastors when he starts introducing the themes.


I rejoice that your church wants to honor the sabbath, by the way.

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"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

Yea, I remember being younger in Texas when they repealed the blue laws. an that in my heathen days. you are in my thoughts and prayers

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Timothy Johnson
First United Presbyterian of Moline
PCUSA (Yea, I know)
Theology/Philosophy Sunday School Teacher
Davenport, IA

Actually brother, she saw this long before the confession of faith was being taught. I had been struggling with the issue for a couple of years myself and did not know it but my daughter was as well. When we finally sat down to discuss it we were already on the same page.
As to your question about exceptions, I suppose there are some. There are certainly things that have to be done by nescessity. I feel for those who must work on the Lord's day. It is not a legalistic ritual to us but a genuine longing for the day to sanctify it. Each person must answer these things in his own conscience. All pastors have to "work" on the sabbath imo.
With us it's a day of worship, rest, and giving ourselves totally unto meditation and discussion of the things of God. It is not a day of T.V. and sports and browsing around Walmart.

Sorry to ask brother. I have been among folks that have been quite detailed in their zeal,and made the Sabbath far from a delight.