Lord of the Sabbath- Mathew 12:1-13

This is a sermon report on the Sabbath and what we are to do on this day.

V.1-2 Here on their way to the temple, the twelve disciples, who had probably not had time to eat before because of the teaching that had been going on before, were plucking and eating the heads of grain in the fields that they were walking through.

At this time there were laws that the religious leaders would take from the scriptures concerning the Sabbath and interpret them on their own understanding, without looking to other commands given in the scriptures to see what the laws really meant.

When the Pharisees see the disciples plucking and eating the grain, they start to accuse them of not acting lawfully on the Sabbath. In v.3-8 Jesus answers to the pharisees by telling them about David when he was running for his life from King Saul (1 Samuel 21:1-6).  We see that Ahimelech was afraid when he saw David coming to him alone. This was the David that slew the giant and was a famous warrior. Why would he be coming to him (Ahimelech?)

David then obviously lies to the priest about why he is there, and asks for food. The only food  in the temple was the show-bread, which David probably knew was there. The show-bread was reserved for the priest's use in their ceremonies. Ahimelech gives the bread to David which was an act of mercy on his part.

Jesus also gives the example of the priest's in the Old Testament. He talks about how they would do double the amount of work on Sabbath while all of it was for the Lord and in obedience to Gods commands. He shows through reasoning how they are always adding to the laws of God and condemning people when it was completely lawful for them to do simple things like obey the law of God in taking food to someones house to feast with them. While their law-book would say that they could not carry anything larger than a fig out of their house.That wouldn't be much of a feast if all each person had was a fig!

The rules that the religious leaders added to the true law of God are ridiculous and in no way seen in any part of the Bible. The commands of the Bible for the Sabbath always work together, but the religious leaders would take one command from the scriptures and take it to mean something else when if you look at other commands you would know the command differently and completely without you having to try to reason what it means. To interpret scripture you must look and search the scriptures. What God wants us to know, He explains in His word.

Jesus tells the pharisees that He desires mercy and not sacrifice. In  Mathew11:30 we see that the Lord delivers us from the burden that we carry when we are not saved.God made the Sabbath for man and not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not to be a burden for man. But when the religious leaders make a bunch of rules for the Sabbath that were not specifically commanded in the Scripture they make it a burden.
God did not desire that we make sacrifices to try to please God on the Sabbath. Instead, he desires to take one day and give it to man to rest their bodies and souls in the things of God. This is the will of God in giving us a day off from the work and burden of this world and to rest in Him. He also desires us to act mercifully to others, and to do the will of God in showing the love and mercy of God in our actions. Jesus demonstrates this later in healing the man with the withered hand.

Jesus in V.9-13 shows that we are allowed to do things that would be an act of mercy to others. Like maybe to go to the store and buy medicine for someone who is sick if you have no medicine available or no one to ask for some.

What we are to do on the Sabbath:  In Isaiah 58:13-14 it talks about not doing what we would and should usually do on  the other six days of the week. Meaning that we shouldn't seek the pleasures of this world for our own comfort. We are to do what God commands us on this day which is to think completely on Him the whole Sabbath and to do His mercies to others. This should be a delight to Christians. But this command is also given to all of creatures (Ex. 20:8-10) it doesn't just say those that are saved.
 In Nehemiah 13:15-18 we are clearly shown that to sell or to buy for our own gain is profaning the Sabbath. We are to trust God in providing for us on the Sabbath. We are told to provide and get ready for the Sabbath before it begins so that we will not be distracted from thinking on Him the whole day. Even though, because of our sinful nature, we cannot possibly think on God the whole day, we as Christians are to have a desire and make an effort to do just that. We who are sons of God have the gift of repentance when we do not obey this command perfectly. But we should have the desire to do this perfectly.

One other thing that I want to show is that God knows what we need. We also have a picture in the Sabbath of being freed from the penalties of sin. In Genesis 3:17-19 God punishes Adam and all future by saying that for the rest of time man will always have to work to eat and survive. On the Sabbath we are commanded not to work on this day. We are not held to work to survive on this day but to delight in God the whole Sabbath without being distracted by the things of this world.
When we say that it is okay to work on the Sabbath we are saying that God should be like Pharaoh in Egypt when he would not let the people of Israel rest on the Sabbath. This is blaspheming the name of God.

Later in Mathew 12:14 we see the irony of all this when after debating with Jesus the pharisees break the Sabbath by plotting to kill Jesus and committing murder in their hearts.

These are some of the things that we are to do and not to do on the Sabbath. There are more commands concerning the Sabbath but I won't post about them now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy belated Thanksgiving!
These are some of the things that I'm thankful to God for:

1. First, I'm thankful for my salvation,
2. For the word of God,
3. For living in a country which somewhat does not persecute Christianity,
4. For parents who care for my soul,
5. For great siblings,
6. For a godly church,
7. For Elders and Deacons who care for their church congregation,
   
8. For friends,
9. For work,
   
10. For the technology that enables me to post this list for other people to read.
11. I'm thankful for the founders of this country and the heritage they left for future generations.
    

The Sovereignty of God in Affliction

My Elder, Mr. Scott Brown , wrote and e-mailed these points to the congregation from today's Sunday sermon.

• The presence of your afflictions are not according to chance.
• The timing of your afflictions are all part of God’s pre-ordained plan to sum up all things in Christ.
• The weight of your afflictions are carefully measured, to bring you forth as gold.
• The number of your afflictions are strategically appointed, to buffet you enough to change you.
• The length of your afflictions will be no shorter or longer than what pleases God, in order to enlarge your patience.
• The outcome of your afflictions are designed to address a God glorifying end.
• The arms which brought the afflictions will hold you through them.

This has really helped me to understand even more about the sovereignty of God in trials and sickness.I hope this will be a great help to you also.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

This month the Lord has given my Dad another year of life. Throughout this year I have seen how the Lord has sanctified and blessed my Dad.

I want to give some reasons for being thankful for my Dad, and in this way I hope to honor him.

1. First, I want to thank God for my father because my father is a godly man, and not ashamed to show and share it.
2. I thank God that He's given me a father that cares for my soul and salvation.
3. I'm thankful that my Dad strives to teach my family and I the Word of God, and so obeying the commandment in Deuteronomy 11:19.
   
4. I thank God that my Dad pushes me and teaches me how to be a man.
   
5. I'm also thankful that my Dad is an example to me of how a hard working man should look.
6. Lastly, My Dad doesn't leave me to live my life alone, he wants to be involved in my life and to help me walk in the way that the Word says that I should.

PICTURES OF MY DAD:

MY MOTHER AND FATHER.

DAD, MYSELF, AND MY LITTLE BROTHERS.

MY DAD AND I.
Happy birthday Dad.
I love you.

ALERT Cadet

Recently, my Dad and I joined a group that was formed several months ago in my church by Mr. J. Tsantels called the ALERT Cadets.

The purpose of ALERT is to strengthen the relationship of the fathers and sons in our church and also to bring them together with other fathers and sons to learn practical skills.

It's like a boy-scout kind-of-thing, but with fathers leading, and keeping the focus on the Lord.
We also has a new blog that I manage and update for our troop. Click this link to see it: Strong to Overcome.

The Lord's Prayer

Mathew 6:5-15
The Lord's Prayer

The first part of this section is where the Lord teaches His disciples how not to pray. The first way not to pray is to pray hypocritically. We do this when we pray in public so that the people who are around us can see how "holy" we are. We do so this to bring glory to ourselves. At that time, when Jesus taught this, the hypocrites he was talking about were the religious leaders. They loved to pray, to babble for hours... so that the people would be impressed. The Lord says here that the ones who do this will have their reward, but their reward will come from men.

The Lord shows that He will bless us when we pray in secret for the sake of taking our petitions and prayers to God. When we do this, the Lord says, He will even reward us openly.

These are several things that hinder prayer:

1. Secret sins,
2. Not hearing the law,
3. Obsession with ourselves,
4. The lack of listening and asking God for mercy,
5. Marital breakdown (1 Peter 3:7),
6. Faithless asking.

The Lord also tells us not to pray with many words thinking that that is the reason we will be heard.

In verse 8 we see that the Lord knows the things that we need before we ask for them. Some people say that because of this they do not have to pray. But God is our father, and like a father waiting for his struggling child to ask him for help, God is waiting for us to ask Him as our loving father.

The first part of the prayer given by the Lord shows that when we pray we have to hollow the name of the Lord in words and the way we pray. In a sense, when we pray, we are glorifying God.

The second part of the prayer shows us we should pray for the kingdom of God to come. The kingdom of God, in this passage, is the true presence of God in His people on earth.

The Lord loves when we come to him with our everyday needs, just like any good father, except He is the best father.

When we come to the Lord in prayer, we should come in humility and with the knowledge that we are in debt to God. And because of our debt, we should come to Him begging for the forgiveness of the many grievances we have committed against Him and His law.

Nearing the end of the prayer, the Lord shows that we should forgive because when we don't, the Lord will not forgive us. In verses 14 and 15 we see that if we do not forgive the trespasses of others, the Lord will not forgive our trespasses.

When we become sons and daughters of Christ, we will not be free from the evil of this world. The Lord sometimes tempts us to test our love for Him. Also, the Lord, if we continually disobey Him may just give us up to the evil one.

Again, we see that we should always acknowledge God as the one with all power and glory.

The Four Speaches of Moses - Part 2

The fifth commandment commands us to honor our father and mother because the Lord has commanded us to do so and the promise if we do is that we will live long on the earth and it will go well with us. This is the first commandment with a promise.

All authority is come from God, even the most wicked authority is from the Lord. There are certain ways that we should treat all authorities: with respect, honor, and obedience. All authority starts in the family. If authority is not honored in the family, it will not be honored in the church, and if it is not honored in the church than the authority of the civil magistrate will not be honored. We see the continuation of this commandments in 16:18-18-22.


The sixth commandment states that we should not murder. When we think of murder we think about someone brutally taking the life of someone else. But in Mathew 5:21-22 it says that when you hate your brother you are committing murder in your heart. As humans, we see differently than how God sees sin. The continuation of this commandment in 19:1-22:8.

The seventh says that we should not commit adultery. Again, we can see that the Lords ways are not our ways. In Mathew 5:27-28 we see that when we look at a woman to think evil thoughts about her we commit adultery in our hearts. This is also found in 22:9-23:19.

You shall not steal is the eight commandment. There are many ways to steal from people. Some of the ways that you can steal are found in 23:19-25:12. Some of the ways are taking a newly-wed man into the army. In doing this you are stealing from him, if he dies in battle, the fruits of his wife, land, and life. You are also stealing the husband from the wife. When we use our life and our possessions for the glory and pleasure of ourselves, we are stealing from God what belongs to Him. When you do not tithe, you are stealing from God (Malachi 3:8).

The ninth of the commandments is that we should not bear false witness against our neighbor. If we do, then we disobey the command given by God which is that we should love our neighbor as ourselves.

The last commandment is that we should not covet anything that is our neighbors. The Lord decides what to give to His children and if we covet anything of this world that our neighbor has, we are declaring that God is not sufficient for us. We should do the most to glorify God with what we have(26:1-15).

The last of the three speeches is found in ch.27-31:13. If we love God we will want to listen and obey all that He commands. We do this as part of repenting of our sins and accepting God as our savior and allowing God to work in our lives. There are no carnal Christians. You either don't obey and the Lord curses you, or you obey the Lord and He blesses you in the way that He chooses.

Here are the links to sermon reports to the last parts of this chapter: The first sermon of the year, and The last days of Moses.