Month: November 2020

Let’s talk the 10 Commandments

This blog is inspired by the New Testament Book written by Paul as a letter to the Romans. Romans, chapter 7 has been viewed by some as confusing and difficult to figure out what Paul is talking about. I believe that what He’s saying is that the 10 Commandments or the Laws are “NOT A DEATH PENALTY”, but that doesn’t mean that they are void! The LAW is actually an expression of God’s Heart and the way HE wants us to live in this world. These LAWS were not just designed for the Children of Israel when He brought them out of Egypt, they were designed to show us WHO HE IS – the LAW is HIS VOICE speaking to mankind! So we should give it a 2nd thought when as a Christian we get angry because someone brings up the LAW! After all, HE gave us these LAWS for our benefit and correction! In Roman’s 7, Paul begins by talking about the humanity of Adam’s sinful nature which brought mankind death and Jesus’s righteousness which defeated death giving us victory over the death penalty of the LAW. I feel an essence of determination as Paul speaks of his own flaws and about the clash of his flesh and spirit; so in my eyes he’s telling us that as long as we’re alive, the “Letter of the Law” will be wrestling with the “Spirit of the Law”. This disagreement between the flesh and the spirit is why we continue to stumble and fall. This is why “WE NEED the SALVATION of JESUS CHRIST“. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to pick us up and put us back on the path of HIS Righteousness which can only be attained by HIS Blood that HE shed for us on the cross.

Therefore, although the 10 Commandments are no longer a death penalty for the believer, they are the way of life for how we are to live as Christians. This is why Paul was having such a struggle between his flesh and his spirit…his spirit desired for him to be in harmony with Christ.

2 Corinthian 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” ‭‭

WOW!!! A new identity! Has the “old man – woman” in you been crucified with Christ? Be honest with yourselves… are you doing your best to repent of your sin and to turn away from sin , or are you dragging your sin and the baggage of your “OLD LIFE” into a pretentious non-existent salvation because you refuse to let go of this world? Until you love and serve the Savior with all of your heart, mind and soul, you’re cheating on HIM! Frequently scriptures in the “OLD TESTAMENT” tells us that He’s a jealous God!

Psalm 79:5 How long, Lord? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy keep burning like fire?

The first commandment and the Greatest Commandment is to Love God! Matthew 22:36-38 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.38 This is the first and great commandment.

When Jesus Messiah – Yeshua HaMashiach (Hebrew), enters into your life, more and more as each day passes, you come to be so “in LOVE” with HIM and so overwhelmed by the fact that He loved you so much that He died for you and that our Father in Heaven so loved us that He was willing to sacrifice His only begotten Son for our Salvation, that we are overcome by the desire to please and obey God. The knowledge of this sacrifice should become the motivation and the catalyst for your existence in this world. You should be overcome with a tremendous desire to do all that you do to glorify Jesus and your Heavenly Father.

John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Ezekiel 36:25-27 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances.

When I hear people say that the “OLD TESTAMENT” has no bearing on who we are today as Christians, it’s almost shocking! We have been adopted into the family as the Children of God, the Heirs. Wasn’t it enough that He gave us His Son as a sacrifice? Why would we think that God changed His rules for us too? If you were to invite someone into you home, would you change the house rules? Would you say it’s okay for them to continue in the lifestyle they were living before they became a part of your family? Wouldn’t the other members who follow the rules of your family ask…why have you made it so easy for them to be a part of this family, yet so difficult for me?

Walking the path that Jesus shows us how to walk becomes a heart and head journey. Why does Jesus use and expound upon and clarify the 10 Commandments as a mirror to show the reflection of sin? For one thing, he’s making it perfectly clear that when you break any one of these commandments, you’ve broken them all. When he reiterates the commandment about adultery, he goes so far as to spell it out that “looking in lust” is committing adultery because you’ve partaken of sin in your heart. When you’re angry with your brother without cause, you are the same as a murderer. Not only does he tell us to love our fellowman, but to love our enemies too! In both the Old & New Testaments, God tell us that his people will follow him because “HIS LAW” is written on our hearts and in our minds. Following the 10 Commands that God laid down for His people becomes a privilege not a burden and when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us, he leads us. When we “KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, we are pleasing our Father in Heaven.

Chosen to be the children of God:

Deuteronomy 7.6 For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be His own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

WE HAVE BEEN SET APART! We are to look different, live and act differently than those who haven’t accepted Jesus as their Savior. We are to become a light in the darkness of this world! God gave the world the 10 Commandments that we might become obedient…and of course the 10 Commandments were not designed to save us! Jesus is the “ONLY” Salvation! Therefore, we need to embrace the WORD not the WORLD! Jesus came to earth as a man to give us a standard to live by and HE was “Obedient unto Death”! Obedience is not an option…in order for us to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation, we must become God’s children in every aspect of our lives! That’s not to say that we won’t stumble and fall, or that we can ever be perfect as HE was perfect, but we can know and recognize the “perfect will of God” and do our best to be faithful to Him to the end.

Many people who read Revelation become filled with fear…however, when we read Revelation, we’re told right at the opening of the book:

Revelation 1:3 The one who reads this is blessed, and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it are blessed, because the time is near!

Revelation 14:12 This demands the perseverance of the saints, who keep God’s commands and their faith in Jesus.”

Revelation 21:8 But the cowards, unbelievers, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Without the LAW, how can we show someone that they’re walking down the wrong path? How can we say the Law no longer matters…until the sinner has repented and been covered by the blood of Jesus, it matters! We can’t do away with the “perfect nature of God”!

The Law of God or the 10 Commandments are not just a list of right and wrong, once again I reiterate, they are a reflection of the WHO GOD IS! They are a reflection of WHO Jesus is! Why is it so easy for a Christian to nonchalantly say: I don’t need to follow THOSE LAWS anymore. When HE says that HE will put them in our hearts and write them on our minds, does that make them less important than when they were written in stone on Mt. Sinai? And why would he write just some of the law on our hearts and in our minds? He didn’t say that he would write just portions of it in our hearts and on our minds…the scriptures say:

Hebrew 10:15-17 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after He says: This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws on their hearts and write them on their minds, I will never again remember their sins and their lawless acts.

Jeremiah 31:33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put My teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.

As Christians, we need to be careful of the language we use, especially when there are non-believers within hearing distance! Accepting Jesus as your Savior is the 1st step of many more steps to become pleasing to God…to become a child of God.

Who changed the Sabbath to Sunday?

The 4th Commandment is important to me because I want every aspect of my life to reflect the life of Jesus…Jesus was PERFECT and kept ALL of HIS FATHER’S commandments. I recognize that I can never measure up to Jesus, but with every fiber of my being I want to try to reflect Him in my life. I thank you Heavenly Father that belief in your son and His Sacrifice is Salvation and I have the choice through faith and obedience to become one of your children!

Emperor Constantine I Changed the Sabbath to Sunday on March 7, 321, however, Roman Emperor Constantine I issued a civil decree making Sunday a day of rest from labor, stating: All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun. From that point in time, it slowly ebbed it’s way in to replace the Sabbath (day of rest) that was proclaimed by God after He created the Earth and ALL that’s on the Earth.

Genesis 2:1-3 So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it He rested from His work of creation.

What is the original Sabbath day? The Jewish people have kept the Sabbath (from Hebrew shavat, “to rest”) and it’s observed throughout the year on the seventh day of the week— which according to the Gregorian calendar (introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII), instead of “SABBATH”, we now call it Saturday (named after the Roman God Saturn). According to biblical tradition, Sabbath commemorates the original seventh day on which God rested after completing the creation.

God, who is omnipotent (all powerful), does not require a day of rest, after all, he created the entire world in six days. However, man is just the opposite of God, we are powerless, so He designed a day of rest for us and it was also a day for us to commune with Him and get to know Him better.

4th Commandment:

Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: 9 You are to labor six days and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. 11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

Exodus 34:21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest: even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest”.

NOWHERE in the BIBLE does it say that “God our Heavenly Father” or “Jesus Messiah – Yeshua Hamashiach” changed the Sabbath or gave us permission to change it from the 7th day of the week to the 1st day of the week. According to the Scriptures Jesus kept Sabbath. The following scriptures all speak to the fact that Jesus was teaching and healing in the synagogue on the Sabbath:

Mark 1:21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.

Mark 6:2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

Luke 4:16 And 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 for to read.

Luke 6:6-11 And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. 9 Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?

Jesus didn’t abolish the Sabbath…as in so many other instances, Jesus was showing the people that the Sabbath had been “profaned” by the teachings of MAN! (PLEASE NOTE that throughout all the teachings of Jesus – Yeshua, not once did He say that any of the 10 Commandments of God had been taken away, as a matter of fact, he explained in more detail the commandments to reinforce their importance!) Yes! It’s true that God wrote the 10 Commandments on stone after they left Egypt and while they were in the wilderness with Moses, but that was because the Israelite tribes had been slaves of Egypt for 400 years and throughout that time, they’d lost touch with how God expected them to live. He didn’t give them the commandments to be a “death penalty” he gave them the commandments as a guidance or a book of rules to follow that would make them pleasing in His sight. The Christians today, believe that the 10 Commandments were nailed on the CROSS when Jesus died for our sins, but what they don’t recognize is that it was not God’s guidance that was nailed on the cross, it was all of the ceremonial laws that were in themselves a prophecy of the coming Messiah – Jesus fulfilled these prophecies as well as every prophecy in the entire Old Testament.

Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

The definition of fulfil is to carry out, or bring to realization, as a prophecy or promise. to perform or do, as duty; obey or follow, as commands. to satisfy (requirements, obligations, etc.) The entire Old Testament is preparing us for the 1st coming of our Lord Jesus – Emmanuel -GOD WITH US! Jesus’s birth and ministry fulfills the prophecies of the Old Testament and The New Testament sets forth in detail exactly what Jesus expects of us as HIS followers. Ultimately, the Bible gives us God’s plan for Salvation beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation.

Luke 13:10-16 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.

Luke 14:1-5 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; 5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

Matthew 12:1–8 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. This same account of Jesus and His disciples is repeated in Mark 2:23–28 and Luke 6:1–5. In all 3 accounts, Jesus tells us that He is the “LORD of the SABBATH”.

He reminds the Pharisees of David and the sacred bread and how the Priests had not shown mercy, but condemned them. I believe that He’s saying that the Priests have complicated the Law of the Sabbath and twisted it to their own interpretations. Jesus is not saying that the Sabbath is no longer valid. He’s saying “DO GOOD on the SABBATH”! and of course, we are to do good everyday.

Mark 2:27  And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

When man is referenced in the Bible, He’s not just talking about the Jews! He’s talking about Gentiles (ALL MEN, WOMEN & CHILDREN). The SABBATH was kept during the time before and after the flood and before the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (patriarch of the 12 tribes of Israel). The time period from creation until Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the 10 Commandments was approximately 2500 years. So for those who say the Sabbath is for the Jews, they are missing the point that the Sabbath is for all mankind.

The apostles kept the Sabbath: in the book of Acts when Paul goes to Corinth, he’s taken into the home of Aquila and Priscilla (who were already followers of Jesus) and it is understood that he worked with them as a tent maker; every Sabbath, Paul went to the synagogue using the Scriptures (OLD TESTAMENT) to persuade both Jews and Greeks proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah.

Acts 18:11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

That’s approximately 72 Sabbaths (I’m talking 7th day – that doesn’t include the High Sabbaths held during the feasts). I can’t help but believe that if the Sabbath had been changed, Paul and the other apostles would have used this book alone as an opportunity to make this change known to the Gentiles. So of course the Apostles didn’t change it! Aside from proclaiming the Gospel, it was the Apostles intention to emulate Christ in every aspect of their lives. So when Scripture tells us that keeping the Sabbath is referred to as a “custom”, that doesn’t make it any less important to God, it just means that from the beginning of time, God’s people had observed the 7th day as HIS SABBATH. If God hadn’t wanted us to observe the 7th day Sabbath he wouldn’t have started the 4th commandment by saying “REMEMBER”! He wouldn’t have declared it “HOLY” and “BLESSED“! What God has made HOLY remains HOLY!

The Bible tells us in regards to the antichrist:

Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

So keep this in your minds…the 1st day of the week Sunday was chosen to be the Sabbath by a man or men…Sunday had for centuries before the time of Jesus had been a day that the Romans had consecrated to the pagan Sun God and that’s also where it gets the name of Sunday. It became the official day of rest in the Roman Empire, making it the day of choice for church assemblies. The first-century apostles did not change it! NO human being, institution or state has ever had the right or been given the right to tamper with what God has set apart as Holy and Blessed. As you can see from reading the 4th Commandment, God makes it perfectly clear that He has blessed the 7th day and declared it holy.

As in today’s world, politics seem to orchestrate lawlessness and deception. Politicians have always put themselves above the law, especially God’s Law. If you’re willing to look at historical evidence, the substitution of Sunday for the Sabbath took hold largely through a political decision made by the Roman Emperor Constantine, who by legalizing Christianity, he secured a political advantage over a defeated contender for the office of emperor. Rome which had been Pagan for centuries, used and abused Christianity by making it a puppet under the control of the state. When Constantine made the decision to move the capitol of Rome to Constantinople (in what is today’s country of Turkey), he left the city of Rome in the hands of the Pope.

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Once you’ve accepted Jesus to be your Savior and repented from your sins, every moment of everyday of your life, you are standing at the fork in the road…you have to make a choice whether you are desiring to continue as a child of God or as a child of the world! Are you willing to choose the narrow way? Jesus tells us that we must give up this world to be His follower. So I end this blog by saying choose wisely!