22:6 Under the gospel, neither prayer nor any other part of religious worship is now restricted to or made more acceptable by the place where it is done or toward which it is directed. Instead, God is to be worshiped everywhere in spirit and in truth - daily in each family and privately by each individual. Also, more formal worship is to be performed in public assemblies, and these must not be carelessly or deliberately neglected or forsaken, when God by His Word or providence calls us to them.
…20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21“Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.… John 4: 20-22
…10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.” 11 “For My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In everyplace, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name,because My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of Hosts. 12 “But you profane it when you say, ‘The table of the LORD is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is contemptible.’”… Malachi 1: 10-12
…7 For this reason I was appointed as a herald, an apostle, and a faithful and true teacher of the Gentiles. I am telling the truth; I am not lying about anything. 8 Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension. 9 Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,… 1 Timothy 2: 7-9
…10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.… Matthew 6: 10-12
…16 But I call to God, and the LORD will save me. 17 Morning, noon,and night, I cry out in distress, and He will hear my voice. 18 He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.… Psalm 55: 16-18
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about the ninth hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”… Acts 10: 1-3
5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father,who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.… Matthew 6: 5-7
…24 And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. 25 Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,… Hebrews 10: 24-26
41 Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 A sense of awe came over everyone, and the apostles performed many wonders and signs.… Acts 2: 41-43
22:7 It is the law of nature that in general a portion of time specified by God should be set apart for the worship of God. So by His Word, in a positive-moral and perpetual commandment that obligates everyone in every age, He has specifically appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy to Him. From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ it was the last day of the week. After the resurrection of Christ it was changed to the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's Day. This day is to be kept to the end of the age as the Christian Sabbath, since the observance of the last day of the week has been abolished.
…7 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain. 8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,… Exodus 20: 7-9
1 Now about the collection for the saints, you are to do as I directed the churches of Galatia: 2 On the first day of every week,each of you should set aside a portion of his income, saving it up,so that when I come no collections will be needed. 3 Then, on my arrival, I will send letters with those you recommend to carry your gift to Jerusalem.… 1 Corinthians 16: 1-3
6 And after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we sailed from Philippi, and five days later we rejoined them in Troas, where we stayed seven days. 7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight. 8 Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.… Acts 20: 6-8
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write in a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”… Revelation 1: 9-11
22:8 The Sabbath is kept holy to the Lord when people have first prepared their hearts appropriately and arranged their everyday affairs in advance. Then they observe a holy rest all day from their own works, words and thoughts about their secular employment and recreation. Not only that, but they also fill the whole time with public and private acts of worship and the duties of necessity and mercy.
…12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling. 13 If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable,if you honor it by not going your own way or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words, 14 then you will delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.… Isaiah 58: 12-14
15 In those days I saw in Judah people treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. 16 Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! 17 Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? 18 Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”
19 As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. 21 But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath.22 Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love. Nehemiah 13: 15 - 22
12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
9 He went on from there and entered their synagogue. 10 And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. 11 He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. Matthew 12: 1-13
v. “The Jews were so superstitious, concerning the observance of the Sabbath, that in their wars with Antiochus Epiphanes, and the Romans, they thought it a crime even to attempt to defend themselves on the Sabbath: when their enemies observed this, they deterred their operations to that day. It was through this, that Pompey was enabled to take Jerusalem.” (Clarke)
Note: Some teachers lean to a more Sabbatarian view of Sunday, which I right now do not see a support for in the whole counsel of Scripture to my understanding. I uphold that the original Sabbath, on the seventh day of the week, was instituted in the Mosaic law and it upholds the commemoration of Creation and man's fall from that restful state in the garden. Under the New covenant the law concerning this day is broken, but the acts of God and the miracle of Creation belong to Him still. I see that the early church got together on Sunday, but I do not see mentioned in Scripture that this is a New Sabbath as a set law replacing the old day, since we are no longer under the law. I understand that Sunday was the day of our Lord's resurrection, and so such rest as was lost is now founded in Him, by faith, looking forward to it's fullness in heaven. I know we should not neglect meeting together as mentioned in Hebrews 10:25, also we should not neglect those means such as the preaching of the word, collective praise, reading of the word, sound teaching and fellowship with other believers, but I want to be clear that I do not understand Sunday worship in a legalistic fashion. I think John MacArthur puts it well here:
