Cleft of the Rock

The Cleft of the Rock I - YOU - GOD - YOU – WE

Secret clubhouse – what do you do there?

John 15:1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home [?Dwelling Places?][?places of rest?]{Nuances of words}. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

9 Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11 Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.

When I was an adolescent, Aunt Lillian decided to pay a visit.

FUNDAMENTAL SOCIETAL PROBLEM – We've lost respect – for anything... Politicians, preachers, used car salesmen (lawyers?).

8 “Remember to observe (respect)(to set it apart, to make it distinct from the other days.) the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
12 “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

I won't toy with your intelligence by arguing the unction of God as to the Sabbath command, except to say that as soon as you can demonstrate that God approves of murder, adultery and idol worship, I will accept that He approves of my forgetfulness of his Anniversary appointment with him. (DL MOODY)

What hero would you want to visit your house? The queen of England? How would the visit look? What would you do? Where would you take them? LIVING OR DEAD? Moses, Abraham Lincoln, Abraham?

Time has value – ask anyone paid by the hour.

A love appointment... in time a respectful visitation

A group of children were asked, "What does 'love' mean?" Here are some sample answers:

• Rebekah, 8, said, "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time—even when his hands got arthritis, too. That's love."

• Billy, 4, said, "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."

• Bobby, 7, says, "Love is what's in the room at Christmas, if you stop opening presents and listen."

• Nikka, 6, says, "If you want to learn to love better, you should start with someone you hate."

• Tommy, 6, says, "Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."

• Cindy, 8, says, "During my piano recital, I was on a stage, and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me, and I saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. And I wasn't scared anymore."

• Jessica, 8, says, "You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot."

Mark Buchanan, in the sermon "The Greatest of These," PreachingToday.com

you cannot love in a hurry – Kids can't love like parents can.

“In the spiritual life, the word ‘discipline’ means ‘the effort to create some space in which God can act.’ Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. Discipline means that somewhere you’re not occupied, and certainly not preoccupied in the spiritual life. In the spiritual life, discipline means to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn’t planned or counted on.” Henri Nouwen, 1932-1996

What should our sabbath look like? After the resurrection in Spiritual Israel?

What can I do on the Sabbath? Better question – What would I do today if Jesus was visiting?

If you didn't remember your anniversary, would your spouse still love you? What would it say about your love for your spouse?

I Wanna Know What Love is – Foreigner

I gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I'm older
Now this mountain I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
And through the clouds I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colder
In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
I'm gonna take a little time
A little time to look around me,
I've got nowhere left to hide
It looks like love has finally found me
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me

John 14:23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. 24 Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. 25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.27“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.

Love is spending time in intimate relationship … If God had not invented Sabbath we might have done so to make a routine love-building appointment – Perhaps it is only our rebellion that makes it harder than it needs to be because it was not our idea.

Oh, friend do you love Jesus?

Lord – please help my heart to experience the ecstatic love for you that you deserve and that I want to give

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D.L. Moody == “I honestly believe that this commandment is just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated, but they have never been able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it. When Christ was on earth, He did nothing to set it aside; He freed it from the traces under which the scribes and Pharisees had put it, and gave it its true place. 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.' It is just as practicable and as necessary for men today as it ever was-in fact, more than ever, because we live in such an intense age.

The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. The fourth commandment begins with the word remember, showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote this law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding?

I believe that the Sabbath question today is a vital one for the whole country. It is the burning question of the present time. If you give up the Sabbath the church goes; if you give up the church the home goes; and if the home goes the nation goes. That is the direction in which we are traveling.

The church of God is losing its power on account of so many people giving up the Sabbath, and using it to promote selfishness."

Make the Sabbath a Delight.--All who love God should do what they can to make the Sabbath a delight, holy and honorable. They cannot do this by seeking their own pleasure in sinful, forbidden amusements. Yet they can do much to exalt the Sabbath in their families and make it the most interesting day of the week. We should devote time to interesting our children. A change will have a happy influence upon them. We can walk out with them in the open air; we can sit with them in the groves and in the bright sunshine, and give their restless minds something to feed upon by conversing with them upon the works of God, and can inspire them with love and reverence by calling their attention to the beautiful objects in nature. {CG 536.1}