John and Mary The Bargain, Part 3

After John and Mary learned about the Sabbath in an Amazing Facts evangelistic meeting led by Darrin Bartell and then attended their first Sabbath service, Mary wasn’t feeling good about going back to their Sunday-keeping church. “I wasn’t quite ready to leave our old church,” John admits. “I had a board meeting scheduled for the coming week and I was to be the chair. The pastor would attend with two other board members.”

In the meantime, John called a district leader in his denomination and asked about the change of the Sabbath. “He told me in a few words that it had been moved to Sunday by the disciples,” he remembers, “and that he didn’t have a problem with it.” Then John decided to call his local pastor to arrange a meeting so he could ask him some questions. The pastor insisted on knowing the topic and when John said he had some questions about the Sabbath his pastor agreed to talk with him.

Soon after this John attended the church board meeting. At the conclusion, the pastor announced before the other two members that he was ready to talk with John about the Sabbath. John was completely surprised and unprepared. He had carefully arranged his questions and made notes about specific Bible verses but left all of this at home.

After his pastor repeated many of the first-day verses in the New Testament commonly used to try and support a change from Sabbath to Sunday, John did his best to share his new found understanding of the Sabbath. His comments were not received well and he was called a legalist.

Finally, John stood up and stated, “I don’t like to call any man wrong, but I believe you are wrong.” They politely shook hands and John left the church. The next week, John and Mary attended their Sunday-keeping church for the last time. A few months later, they were baptized into God’s end-time church. The pathway to truth led John and Mary through some difficult times, but God was with them every step of the way. They were determined to keep their end of the bargain with God.

Reflect: Do you believe God will be with you through any trial you experience? David could say that even when “I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me” (Psalm 23:4).

Key Bible Texts

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. (Isaiah 43:2 KJV)