All of us have been encouraged, challenged, even warned to stop and smell the roses. The only problem is that by the time we get around to doing it, the roses are dead. Each day is a race to cram in all of our work and activities. Technological advances appear with the promise of making us more efficient and freeing up more time but it never happens. We scramble through life, we feel out of touch with our families and the world around us. But most of all we feel out of touch with God and that is the most dangerous of all. It is God who can reveal all that we need to understand about the purpose life and who and what we are as humans. God has a gift to cure this detachment, it's called the Sabbath. It's His gift of rest for a world that's out of touch with Him. Join us on Beyond Today as we discover this day of rest, God's Sabbath rest.

One of the great keys to making life work is understanding of the God given freedom in the commandment that says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Virtually every religious tradition has the tradition of a day of worship, whether its Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism or Islam. It's universal but keeping a Sabbath is very difficult in a globalized, internet world where nothing shuts down and everything is on virtually 24 hours a day.

How did we get this way? Technology is part of the problem but although its tempting you can't blame this on the modern life or on the free market.

You see it was a problem when the commandments were written. Let me tell you an interesting story. It may or may not have really happened but I think the story illustrates the point of how we may have come to this hectic, busy, modern lifestyle. Listen very carefully, it's called How Busy are You?

Satan the devil called a worldwide convention, in his opening address to his evil angels he said, "we can't keep the believers from going to their places of worship, we can't keep them from reading their holy scriptures and knowing the truth, we can't even keep them from conservative values but we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate abiding experience in God." Satan continued "If they gain a connection with their Creator our power over them is broken. So let them go to their places of worship, let them have their conservative lifestyles but steal their time so they can't gain that experience in God. That's what I want you to do demons, distract them gaining hold of their God and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day. How shall we do this, shouted his demons? Keep them busy in non-essentials of life. Invent numbered schemes to occupy their minds, he answered. Tempt them to spend, spend, spend then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the husbands and wives to go to work for six or seven days a week, ten to twelve hours a day so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. The devil then added, as their family fragments soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work. Over stimulate their minds so they can't hear this still small voice. Let them be involved in the Gospels but crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from God."You know it was quite a convention in the end. And the evil demons went eagerly to their assignments causing believers everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and rush there. It's an interesting story. How true might it be for so many of us.

There is no question that sometime in recent times buying things became more important than what we did with our free time. Every living thing needs to rest. In the plant world we call it dormancy, rest in the winter months. Nature teaches there is a deep rhythm of work and rest. The rest is the time to remember who and what we are. Our lives travel at continual high speed. It's hard for the good things we're doing to sink in.

Our modern world has forgotten the Sabbath. It's time you understood this and start to put your life in harmony with God and His laws.

How important is the Sabbath to mankind?

Jesus Christ said the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. Did you catch that? The Sabbath was made for man. It's time from God, the Creator of life to you and to me. But to what purpose?

Let's look at how the Sabbath came into existence. In the book of Genesis 2 it says this...

Genesis 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Genesis 2:3 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 created the seventh day Sabbath by the act of resting from His work. The Sabbath follows the creation of man and is from the beginning a gift to man. As God rested man is to rest but this rest carries with it an ongoing work that God desires to accomplish. God later defined the Sabbath as a sign between Him and His people. He said, "Surely my Sabbaths you shall keep for it is a sign between you and me throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you."

To keep God's Sabbath identifies you as one who is a part of a special relationship with God. Keeping the Sabbath allows God to do a spiritual work within us which is the ultimate purpose of our lives. In Ephesians 2 it is written...

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

God wants to create His righteous character in humans. The Sabbath was given as a time when that supreme physical work of creation will be focused. We set aside our working to allow time for God's work to be done in us.

You know we all value our freedom. Did you ever stop to consider the way we live our hectic lives as anything but freedom?

Really it's a form of bondage. We don't have enough time to do all we commit to, we over commit on work and leisure, we over spend, we trap ourselves in a cycle of debt for things we really can't afford.

While we live in free countries, our personal habits, sometimes enslave us to a system that keeps us from honoring God and putting Him first in our life. God's whole intent with man is to provide freedom of thought, action especially worship toward Him. That the intent behind His law as an entire way of life.

When God gave the Sabbath command he reminded Israel that they had been slaves in Egypt. He said, "Remember you were a slave in Egypt then the Lord your God brought you out there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day."

Is it possible that we become slaves of a life created for us by a culture and system that does not know God and the way of life that God teaches?

Have we become slaves to a system that extracts the spirit and the meaning from our lives?

Could it be that God has given the Sabbath to free us from a life that's always been on the run, pursuing physical goals and dreams?

To keep God's Sabbath is a statement against materialism it says do not worship the God of materialism. I want you to think carefully about that last statement. I'll come back to it after this short clip that I think illustrates just what I've been talking about. Watch this closely and see it strikes a cord of familiarity with you.

(Video Clip)
There's something depressing about living non stop with it's ability to blur days together our lives can be enveloped by our desires of riches and knowledge and honor. Rushing's addictive nature can leave us consumed with pushing the clock as hard as we can and like jaded junkies looking for our next time hit many precious moments are overwhelmed by worthless actions. Is working a six day, sixty hour week worth it? As a result of this we've got ruined homes and unhealthy bones. There's rising pollution, rising crimes and rising bills, rising blood pressure. Not to mention noisy neighbors, massive taxes, identity theft, natural disasters, disease, war, terrorism. Aghhh!

(Video Clip)
What if I were to tell you that this is not the way we were designed to live, that you are not meant to continuously struggling with your independent self existence? The question is, should we break the cycle? When it comes to God's way of life as defined in the Bible, most people only focus on the negatives. So straight from the start, God's perfect way gets a bad rap. Thankfully the Bible says something quite the opposite. Instead of being chained, God's supreme desire actually is for you to be free. Free of negative, non stop action seven days a week, free to keep the Sabbath. Did you know that God, in His great loving kindness commands us to take a break, relax and unwind? The Saturday Sabbath is like a day unlike any other in which we can disconnect from the plugged in society around us and break the cycle that holds so many captive? The results of this are amazing in that it frees up huge amounts of time for us to focus on the important things like relationships with family, close friends and God. Compared to the worlds destructively frantic pace God's holy Sabbath day is a massive blessing able to turn your world from a never ending stress cycle into a peaceful life you can truly enjoy.

We have a free offer to help you study deeper into this important subject of the Sabbath. Multiple questions abound about the Sabbath. Did Jesus keep the Sabbath because He was Jewish or did he break the Sabbath command leading the religious leaders of His day to want to kill Him? Did Christ's resurrection change the Sabbath? Was the Sabbath changed from the seventh day of the week to another day and if so, when did that happen and by who's authority?

We have a booklet we prepared called Sunset to Sunset, God's Sabbath Rest. This booklet provides you with answers from the Bible and most important it is going to show you how to establish a deeper relationship with God by observing the Sabbath. You can request your free copy today, you can click or call toll free 1-888-886-8632 that's 1-888-886-8632 or you can go on line right now to BeyondToday.tv to begin reading this booklet right on line. God's Sabbath is relevant in our modern world. It can be a time of spiritual and physical rejuvenation. It will challenge your assumptions but you need to look into this for yourself to request your free copy. You can go on line to BeyondToday.tv and download or order your fee copy, Sunset to Sunset, God's Sabbath Rest or request a free copy by calling 1-888-886-8632, 1-888-886-8632 or go on line to BeyondToday.tv and you can also follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook fan page.

You and I have a real challenge before us. We want to keep working, planning, going and doing. Look around at how everything is always on or open, there's large super stores that are open around the clock, seven days a week. Television entertains us twenty four hours a day. Did you know that there was a time past when television stations went off the air for five to six hours a day? It's hard to believe but its true. Now I know I'm dating myself. But of course you've always got the internet today and that's always there as well as television.

You know the Bible talks of a future time when the global economy becomes so massive that it will drain the life from men keeping him tied to the pursuit of the physical. Look in Revelation 18, there is described a world economic system called Babylon the Great. This is such a large all encompassing system that trades even in the souls and bodies of men. This will be the ultimate materialist system cloaked in spiritual garments that's going to deceive the world by the worship of materialism but you don't have to be deceived.

You can choose now to examine your values to examine your priorities. Look at what God says about His Sabbath rest and what it can mean to your life, your family and most of all your relationship your Creator. Through the Sabbath God has given the modern world a tool to deal with the stress and the challenges that come with life but we have to actively use the Sabbath as God intends to get that benefit.

In Isaiah 58 the Sabbath is described, it says...

Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

Isaiah 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

God says this can be a blessing for us. Let's go back and look back at what it says. God says to turn back from doing your own pleasure. If we don't do our own pleasure, then who's pleasure should we do? You know we should use the Sabbath to do God's pleasure, to seek His will, His work and His purpose. Philippians 2 says...

Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

This is the work God is more interested in, a spiritual work of building character in the inner person.

On God's Sabbath during His holy time we should stop doing our work and pleasure and allow God to do His work and pleasure in us. That work is the creation of His spiritual life in us, His righteous becoming a part of our mind and our thoughts. Our ways, pleasure and words are all we spend our waking hours on and that's ok, God says to focus on our work for six days but there comes a time when God says to focus these energies on that which pleases Him.

God says to call the Sabbath a delight. The word in the Hebrew means a luxury, to call the Sabbath a luxury. Indeed it can be a luxury when we understand the purpose of the day and focus on using the time to live our God intended potential.

We are aware today for the great desire for people to achieve success, to live up to their highest potential. Books and programs deal with efforts to market these ideas to all of us and I have read through many dozens of different books that prescribes a plan to be successful or to be effective yet for all their value I've never seen one book, one author or one program tap into the power of God's Sabbath to help us realize inner peace, confidence or power. Yet God provides us the vehicle to achieve true success, lasting peace and our highest potential with the Sabbath, His day of rest.

You can begin to realize the blessing of this from God by making a decision to obey God on this key commandment, the fourth commandment. You can take the step toward developing a relationship with God.

The Sabbath command is clearly important to God and He expects it to be obeyed. Observing God's Sabbath is vital to maintaining a proper relationship with Him.

The Life Application Bible explains why we need the Sabbath. It says, "the Sabbath was a day set aside for rest and worship". God commanded a Sabbath because human beings need to spend unhurried time in worship and rest each week. A God who is concerned enough a day each week for us to rest is indeed wonderful. To observe a regular time of rest and worship in our face paced world demonstrates how important God is to us and it gives us the extra benefit of refreshing our spirits.

Jesus Christ showed by His example the proper way to observe the Sabbath. It was never intended to be a rigid, joyless day constrained by endless restrictions detailing what could and could not be done. He used it as a time to delight and sharing with others the joy of God's way of life showing it to be a time of strengthening our relationship with God. He used it as a time of healing physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. It was a time for encouraging and helping those less fortunate.

There's a whole lot more to discuss on this topic. Up next we're going to be talking with the Beyond Today panel but first I have a special free offer for you today. It's the Good News magazine. This magazine contains important articles on how to makes sense of today's confusing world news. It will help you understand what the Bible teaches about the most vital questions concerning your life, marriage and your family. Why it's important to have a relationship with your Creator. It will help you comprehend God's amazing plan for humanity and for you personally. That's why you need your free subscription to the Good News, it'll help you with these answers. Click or call toll free 1-888-886-8632 that's 1-888-886-8632. You can visit us on the web at BeyondToday.tv or you can watch also there dozens of Beyond Today programs and our weekly Beyond Today commentary. So go on line today at BeyondToday.tv 1-888-886-8632 for your free subscription now. The Good News not only examines world events in light of the Bible but it will also help you in your life. Get your free subscription today. And don't forget to follow Beyond Today on Twitter or join our Facebook fan page.

We're joined at this point with our Beyond Today panel, Gary Petty and Steve Myers to continue this discussion on God's Sabbath day of rest. You know we quoted the scripture here today in the segment about Christ saying that the Sabbath was made for man. What does that really mean in the modern world?

(Gary Petty)
I read an author one time that described the effects of modern society as the hurry disease. We're just running ourselves to death back and forth back and forth with no purpose or meaning. And when we understand the Sabbath we understand that God did make it for us. It's supposed to slow us down, give us priority, it's a blessing. So the message for the Sabbath is today is as it's always been. It's God's blessing for His children.

(Steve Myers)
It's interesting cause that's part of it as well as the physical side of the hurry up world that we all live in with so much to do and so many places to go and people to see and jobs to accomplish. There's also the other side of the coin, the spiritual rest that the Sabbath offers. God understands that we need a break physically. If you Google a break or rest I mean you would come up with all kinds of benefits for just taking a break and be physically rejuvenated. Now God also offers spiritual rejuvenation and the Sabbath offers exactly that. Talk about a benefit for the Sabbath, God knows that you're missing something in your life and it's something spiritual that the Sabbath can help fill.

(Darris McNeely)
You know somebody that is watching this program and they're saying maybe in their mind right now, I already keep Sunday what's wrong with this day?

(Gary Petty)
Well you know when you pick up the Bible and you see the word Sabbath, whether it's Old Testament, New Testament, everybody agrees that we know what that is, it's the seventh day of the week. That is the biblical Sabbath. Now most people don't realize that the Sabbath is a day of relationship, they think it's a law God gave to the Jews. It's a day of relationship. It's when God says to His children, I want you to stop and come into relationship with me. So it is important because Sunday was never sanctified by God as that day of relationship.

(Steve Myers)
Yeah it is interesting when you look up the word Sabbath, it's the only word in the Bible that's used for a day of worship. It's the only word, Sabbath, that's it. The Saturday Sabbath is God's day of rest.

(Darris McNeely)
In the original language it means seventh.

(Steve Myers)
It means seventh, right the seventh day Sabbath, Saturday is the day of worship and maybe one of the easier ways to think about it is what Jesus Christ Himself said, He said that He was Lord of the Sabbath. He didn't indicate any other day. In fact the Bible even says that we should walk as He walked or live as He lived. Which looking back to the way He lived His life, He set that example. And so He said that He's Lord of the Sabbath, the Saturday Sabbath so wouldn't it be wise to worship on the day that Jesus said He's the Lord of.

(Darris McNeely)
So how did it get to Sunday?

(Gary Petty)
Well that's a long historical study that you have to do but it began right after the first century another day of worship began to enter into certain Christian practices and to officially it became the official day and the Sabbath was forgotten by many Christians, not all but by many.

(Steve Myers)
I think it's a story of who's in charge. Can man determine the times that He worships God or is God powerful enough to decide when He wants to be worshipped? It really comes down to that issue.

(Darris McNeely)
Yeah I have to admit that I already knew the answer to the question and really covered in more detail in this booklet, the historical aspects of how was changed from Saturday, the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week. It's a fascinating story far beyond what we can cover in this program. It's something everyone needs to look into and understand. Well does it really make a difference which a person keeps? Can a person pick any day they want? Some will say they can sanctify unto themselves a Sabbath. Does it really make a difference?

(Gary Petty)
Let's go back to something Jesus said, He said the most important teaching in the entire scripture was to love God with all your heart all your mind all your soul and when we look at the first four of the Ten Commandments, those commandments instruct us how to love God. Unfortunately we live in a very selfish Christianity where everyone wants love from God but we don't think how to love God. He tells us how to love Him. And this relationship day is part of how we are to love God. So it does matter, it's very important.

(Steve Myers)
Yeah it really does. Talk about relationships is God the true God and what identifies Him as the true God. If God says worship me on this day and we any old day that we want what are we saying to God identifying Him as. We're identifying Him as just as something that's weak and really can be worshipped any way that we decide. But God says worship me the way that I want to be worshipped and God identifies that. In fact if you do a study of the Old Testament almost the whole story of the Old Testament is about how Israel decided to worship the God they wanted and the way that they wanted and what happened to them? Well they ended up in captivity because they didn't obey God. And so it makes a huge difference.

(Darris McNeely)
Getting the right day correct, worshipping the right God on the right day, I think it goes back to the scripture where it says Christ said He was the Lord of the Sabbath day. He's only the Lord of one day in terms of a day of rest and assembling before Him.

(Gary Petty)
And if you worship God correctly on that day, you'll worship God correctly on all the other days too. What you do on that day because it's a relationship issue effects how you relate to God the rest of the time.

(Steve Myers)
Now it doesn't mean we shouldn't be in a worshipful attitude all the time or any day we can worship Him, honor Him and pray to God and have that strong relationship Him. It doesn't effect that but when it comes to assembling together the book of Hebrews talks about not forsaking assembling ourselves together. We'll it's interesting that God made a commanded assembly a special time for worship and it's within the Sabbath and so if you do a historical study. Simply a historical study will show you that day for worship, the day for assembly is the Sabbath. So it is important and it does matter and it matters to you and it matters to God.

(Darris McNeely)
Well I think when it comes down to establishing a relationship with God and really getting to the core solution of a lot of questions that people have in life and what you have the Sabbath is going to be a key to breaking loose, in a sense breaking free into a whole different way of life and one that has some solutions, peace and contentment.

Well today's programs drawing to a close but that doesn't mean it's time to stop learning. On today's program we offered two different literature offers, Sunset to Sunset, God's Sabbath Rest and the Good News magazine. Both contain a lot of information to help you lead a successful meaningful life. These are materials that you need to help you understand those keys. Give us a call at 1-888-886-8632 or visit our site at BeyondToday.tv to request or download your free copies of the materials we offered. There's no reason to wait, the material is free and vital to your understanding of life. That's again 1-888-886-8632 or BeyondToday.tv. And don't forget to follow Beyond Today on Twitter or join our Facebook fan page.

God's Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments it is a cardinal point of His eternal, spiritual law. That means that it is important to Him, when we worship and how we worship. It is an all important key to the most important relationship we can ever have, a relationship with God the Creator. This vital key should not be dismissed lightly. It's at the heart of your need to understand God's plan for mankind and your place in that plan.

You need to look into this subject and come to understand the value of the Sabbath and living a successful and fulfilling life. If this challenges your long held belief or if it opens a new understanding about God, God may be dealing with you through this program. Check us out on the web at Beyond Today.tv, look into the value and the meaning of God's Sabbath rest for you. For Beyond Today I'm Darris McNeely, thanks for watching.

For the free literature offered on today's program, go on line to BeyondToday.tv. Please join us again next week on Beyond Today.