It was in the midst of a twelve year plus crack cocaine habit that an associate of mine remarked to me, “you don’t need money…you need Jesus”

Upon hearing those words, I thought it was the most unkind and terrible thing Captain Medas could have said to me. I came to him broke and homeless and expected that he would have some sympathy on me and loan me some money. It hadn’t been very long ago that I was evicted from my modest one bedroom apartment and had my belongings stored at Medas’s warehouse where he ran a shipping company. He did not charge me any monies for storing my furniture and other household items so I was very grateful for that.

I had become familiar with captain Medas in the process of publishing and marketing a magazine targeted to the Caribbean community in the United States. He had become a supporter of the magazine and placed some advertising with it. Our relationship had been one of professional friendship. Coming to him to ‘borrow’ a few dollars was out of the ordinary.

As I made my request, he looked at me, eyeball to eyeball, and asked a very pointed question,” Aubrey, do you use drugs?’ I boldly responded, “NO” It must have been his spiritual discernment. The old sea captain was a religious man and an elder in his church. His respond to my request for money with an invitation to come to Jesus and visit his church.

It was not in any way a conscious to respond to the call of Jesus on my life; but rather out of my respect for and admiration for Captain Medas that I visited his church. His invitation evoked a double surprise. First, I was not brought up in a religious at home so going to church was a brand new experience for me. Secondly I was quite surprised when the captain told me that his church met on Saturdays. I, like most of the people I knew thought that going to church on Sunday was the right, God ordained thing to do. Nevertheless, I accepted his invitation and visited his church. The members were accepting of me and quite loving. As a result I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior from sin and eventually got baptized. However my crack cocaine addiction remained a driving force in my life.

From more than a twelve-year addiction to crack cocaine, estrangement from family, licentious living and many near death experiences, God has delivered me. He has literally moved me from the crack house to His house. He has restored my mind and has equipped me to tell men and women of His boundless love, unfathomable mercy and amazing grace. Not only has he hired me for the position of ambassador; I came to realize that He had paid my wages two thousand years before I accepted the job.

That wage was paid at a place called Calvary. There He gave the ultimate price for my ambassadorship. He gave His life in the person of His Son and my Savior and elder brother, Jesus Christ. The cruel cross of Calvary upon which He made the payment for my ambassadorship is Father’s object lesson illustrating to the world the cost of sin and the redemption of sinners and like me. It is here that justice and mercy meet each other. On Calvary, I witness the greatest demonstration of love the world ever knew or will ever know. I beheld the supreme sacrifice of all eternity. The One who is infinite in power, rich in principalities and planets gave it all up to become one with me that I may one day become one with Him.

My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who knew no sin, became sin for me that I may become righteous in Him. He took upon Him my transgressions in which He had no part; so that I may obtain salvation which I do not deserve. This is a great mystery that my feeble, finite mind cannot and perhaps may never comprehend. He endured the pain and agony of an ignominious death on Calvary, that I may enjoy a life of bliss throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. On Calvary, He cried so that I may rejoice. He became mortal that I may be made immortal. In the process, He traded His righteousness for my unrighteousness. He descended to earth that I may ascend to heaven.

In my walk from crack to Christ, I made some amazing discoveries. It was revealed that as I dwell upon the life of Jesus, my character was being transformed. As I contemplate His payment on Calvary, my pride was turned into humility. My drug addiction and drunkenness were remade into sobriety as I beheld His glory and majesty. The rough traits of my personality have been turned into attitudes of kindness, benevolence, and politeness by partaking of His amazing grace.  In the light of His love and mercy towards me, my prejudices were dispossessed and were replaced by love, respect and appreciation for all my fellow men. I was made to realize that it was not the qualification of the applicant that mattered; but rather that the position qualifies the applicant.

As that qualifying takes place, I am being prepared for the ultimate reason He offered the position…to restore me back to oneness with Him and His Father. He came down that I may go up. He was separated from His father that I may be united with Him and His Father. He became a member of my earthly family that I may become a member of His heavenly family. He came to die so that I may live. He was treated as a criminal so that I may stand vindicated. He became a servant in order that I can be a king. That’s the mystery of His glory and the truth of my story.

My story, a glimpse of which I now share with you, is a testimony of God’s amazing grace. It is the report one man’s encounter with the One and Only true God…the God of creation and recreation.  He is the One who gave us the Sabbath as a sign between Him and us.

Whatever you may be going through, my desire is that my story will be an inspiration and encouragement to you. Whatever you have done, where ever you have been, I pray that my story will motivate you to seek and find God’s glory. He is the only One that can deliver you from every besetting circumstance and provide you abundant pardon and unfathomable peace that passes all understanding. He is the balm for every pain, heartache and hurt that you can experience. He is truly a friend who will bear all your burdens, sins and grief. He is the One who will never leave you nor forsake you. He will give you comfort like no one else can. He will rehabilitate you from whatever has destroyed you. He will set you free from whatever prison bounds you. He will ennoble your character, purify your thoughts, temper your passions, and certify you as an ambassador of His amazing grace.

He is waiting for you to experience His glory and play your part in His story. He is willing to give you, as He has given me, a touch of His amazing grace. It is grace that transforms.

It is from this perspective that this presentation of God’s Sabbath Truth is brought to you and the invitation extended to allow Jesus to be not only the Savior from sin, but also the Lord of your life.  His grace not only pardons but it provides the power to obey all of his commandments. The apostle Paul teaches us, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men;  teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-13). Herein is the full plan of redemption, grace to pardon, grace to empower.

The information shared in his volume comes not from a renowned theologian, nor a revered, learned Biblical scholar. Rather, it is the testimony of a sinner saved by God’s amazing grace who recognizes the power of that grace to grant us obedience to His divine, immutable ten commandment law which includes His Sabbath Commandment. It is the objective of the writer to draw you into a closer relationship with God by helping you to better understand God’s Sabbath.

My sincere prayer is that you will be blessed by God’s Sabbath Truth. As you examine the Biblical evidence, historical facts, and contemporary events, I trust that you make the right choice for God, your Creator.