It is my goal to stay with the Word of God and help it make sense to you. And it's my purpose for you to make sense out of your life, to understand that God does love and care about you, and to know that He has an answer to life's questions.

REMEMBER ME?

The parable of the parakeets: there are two parakeets, Olive and Petie. Living in a cage with food and water provided--a good life--Petie bolts. Flying around the house, he dives low and disappears. Where is Petie? Then the dog opens his mouth and Petie flies out. He aims straight for his perch in the cage. He now knows that a cage around him protects him.

Petie is a parakeet with a carnal nature. He is in all of us. God gives us protection but we like to bolt. Carnal--like carnivorous--has to do with the flesh, or our natural selves.

"For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." Romans 8:6-8 NKJV

Having enmity--hate toward or variance--against God, our carnal natures oppose His authority. We are neither subject to the law of God nor can be--why? Because we do not love Him. Remaining carnal and continuing to rebel against God results in death.

Olive, the parakeet in the cage, is in love with God--that is, she is a spiritual bird. She is subject to the law of God and the result is life and peace in her cage.

Nearly devoured by the dog, Petie becomes a born again parakeet. I, too, am born again the first time I accept Jesus and love Him more than I love myself. The natural response to falling in love with Jesus is to do what He wants me to do. When I am looking for the way to please Him, God knows that I really love Him. Sincere Christians misunderstand a Bible principle: if you love Jesus, keep His commandments. It is serious to love and obey God.

"`If you love Me, keep My commandments.'" John 14:15 NKJV

The protective cage around Petie and Olive is like the Ten Commandments. Not saved by law-keeping, when I receive grace I am no longer carnal but spiritual. The law is spiritual; to be born again is spiritual; to be under grace is spiritual; and, I keep God's law when I am born again and spiritual.

"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, `I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 John 2:3-4 NKJV

The Ten Commandments are written by the finger of God on stone tablets. They are not the handwriting of ordinances written by man's hand. Keeping the commandments is a natural result of being delivered from sin. The theme of the Ten Commandments is "love." When a sincere brother or sister in Christ tells me to not keep God's law because I am Christian, I conclude--based on what I have read so far--that it is a carnal teaching that results in death.

Christians agree on keeping nine commandments and sincere Christians--who are also Creationists--dispel the commandment that honors God as the Creator. It is the only one for which I am accused, "You're a legalist!"

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

"For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11 NKJV

There is a clear pattern in the Bible spanning from creation to heaven.

(1) "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 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 2:1-2 NKJV

The Sabbath, created when Adam and Eve live, is for mankind.

There are no Jews at creation or in Moses' day--Jacob, the first Israelite, lives later than Sinai. But, as the charge of legalism dismisses, it is replaced by the indictment, "It's a Jewish law."

(2) ". . . because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." Genesis 26:5 NKJV

Five descriptions of obedience are seen in the life of Abraham.

(3) "And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: `Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.'" Deuteronomy 5:1-2 NKJV

Sincere Christians question, "How do you know when the seventh day really is?"

"Well," I counter, "how do you know when the first day really is?"

There is no problem identifying the first day, second day. . . seventh day. All know that Sunday is the first day--add the days on your calendar to get to seven.

(4) "So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read." Luke 4:16 NKJV

Jesus did not keep the Sabbath because He was Jewish. The Jewish leaders oppose Him as He did not do all the things that Jews naturally do.

(5) ". . .having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." Colossians 2:14 NKJV

It is simply not true that the Ten Commandments are nailed to the cross at Jesus' death. The ordinances of the Mosiac law--the temple services and animal sacrifices--are nailed to the cross.

(6) "That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near." Luke 23:54 NKJV

After Jesus death, His followers observed the fourth commandment by resting on the Sabbath. On the first day, Sunday, they came to the tomb.

(7) "And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath." Matthew 24:20 NKJV

Jesus describes two events simultaneously: the temple destruction and the end of the world. He expects His followers to still keep the Sabbath when they flee Jerusalem in 70 A.D.; He foresees that they will keep the commandments in the last days.

(8) "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Revelation 14:12 NKJV

In the last days, God's people love Him!

There are two commandments that summarize the decalogue: love God and love your neighbors. The first four commandments depict how to love God; the last six, how to love your neighbor.

(9) "So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. . . On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God." Acts 13:42 and 44.

Paul first preaches to the Jews on the Sabbath. Then, he also holds meetings for the Gentiles (non-Jews) on the seventh-day. He did not tell the Gentiles about changing the Sabbath to any other day.

(10) "`For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,' says the LORD, `So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,' says the LORD." Isaiah 66:22-23 NKJV

In heaven, throughout eternity, the saved demonstrate love to God by keeping His commandments.

The clear Bible pattern of Sabbath-keeping connects from creation to our home in heaven: Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Jesus' followers, Paul, the Gentile converts, the last-day people, and all of heaven.

Satan covets worship--the place of God in our hearts. Attacking sincere Christians on the point of creation, dishonoring the fourth commandment hands the devil what he wants. Who you worship will be an issue in the last days.

Elijah brings out the same point. Standing in front of halting Israel, he builds an altar. The priest of Baal construct another altar. On which will the true God light fire? Flashing on Elijah's altar, lightening and fire consume it all. Now all the people worship the true God.

The message is the same today: who will you worship? If God is God, keep all His words. You cannot keep parts of God's word and call it obeying Him. But, if you love someone, you want to please them. Likewise, if you love Jesus, you want to please Him. Brothers and sisters, if it is God's Word, by grace you are duty-bound to keep it. Otherwise, why bother!

Petie found a good life inside his cage; you will find life and peace in the security of God's Ten Commandments.

"Father in Heaven, In the Bible there is a clear pattern from creation to heaven of keeping Your Ten Commandments. To some sincere Christians, it may be confusing, having never heard these words before. I pray that Your Holy Spirit will speak to each person reading the messages wherever they are now. By grace, teach us all to love and obey You. In Jesus' name, Amen."