Carnally Minded or Spiritually Minded?

September 2, 2013 psalmnineteenfourteen1 Comment

I have finally found where the word says we are not subject to God’s law. Here is the entire passage of Romans 8:1-11. But pay special attention to verse 7.

Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You however, are not it the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. If you are led by the Holy Spirit, He will not lead you anywhere that is contrary to God’s Word. If you are being led to something against God’s Word, check the spirit that is leading you.

Diminishing the Holiness of God

August 31, 2013September 1, 2013 psalmnineteenfourteen6 Comments

More and more I am seeing the holiness of the Most High God, Yahweh, being diminished in the eyes of people that profess to know Him. I am seeing and hearing things like you do not need to repent in order to be saved; and it doesn’t matter how we live our lives after we take on His name.

The Word of God clearly has something to say about these things. Let’s start with salvation and repentance. I’ve recently read, “We don’t need to preach about repentance. If we preach the goodness of God, people will repent.” There are some great men of God that had something to say about that.

“They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy law.” –Charles Spurgeon

“Before I preach love, mercy, and grace, I must preach sin, law, and judgment.” –John Wesley

While finding these quotes was quite interesting, I really wanted to know exactly what the Word of God itself had to say about the subject. So here goes…

“If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” –2 Chronicles 7:14

“The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.”—Proverbs 28:17

“If a wicked person turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live because of this.”—Ezekiel 33:19

“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the Wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!”—Matthew 3:1-2

“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well!”—Luke 13:3 (Yeshua speaking)

“”Repent,” Peter said to them, “and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”—Acts 2:38

“Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent.” –Acts 17:30

“Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”—Romans 2:4

“Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn’t experience any loss from us. For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation, but worldly grief produces death.”—2 Corinthians 7:9-10

“For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he didn’t find any opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears.”—Hebrews 12:17

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.”—James 4:8-10

“The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.”—2 Peter 3:9

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”—1 John 1:9

“As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent.”—Revelation 3:19

It seems that repentance is certainly a theme throughout scripture. There are many more verses where those came from. Read the word for yourselves!! While still on the subject of salvation without repentance…what seemed to come through in the article that I was reading was that we just need to believe Yeshua is the Son of God and we will be saved…which is true…in part. However, I have come to realize that the type of belief that is talked about is not just mental assent…after all even the demons believe Yeshua is the Son of God (James 2:19)…are they saved? Do all dogs go to heaven?

Now, how are we to live our lives after we take on the Name of Yeshua? Can we live any old way we want to? Well…we can…but should we? The bible has some clear commands and warnings about this.

Let’s start in Exodus 20:7…yeah you know, part of the big 10! “Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses His name.” I used to think that just meant cursing. But think about it…we have taken on His name. We represent Him…we are His ambassadors. (2 Corinthians 5:20). If we represent Him…and others are supposed to be able to see Him through us…and we are not setting a Godly example…wouldn’t that be misusing His name? Misrepresenting our Savior?

Some “Christians” seem to think we have no duty or responsibility to set a Godly example and walk as Yeshua walked. However, a couple of verses sprang into my mind when I read that. In Luke 17:7-10, Yeshua is speaking to His apostles about being a slave and meeting our obligation. Verse 10 says, “In the same way, when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, “We are good-for-nothing slaves; we’ve only done our duty.” Are we not slaves to Christ? (Ephesians 6:6; Colossians 3:24; 1 Peter 2:16). Another verse that came to me was Romans 12:1, “Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your reasonable service.” Hmm…our reasonable service? What about working out our salvation with fear and trembling? (Philippians 2:12) What does God’s word have to say about trampling the blood of Yeshua? Hebrews 10:29 is quite clear. “How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” Clearly, we need to regard the blood of Yeshua as holy.

Now, before you get all up in arms, I am in no way implying that we are saved by the works that we do. We are saved because Yeshua has given us His righteousness. However, if we truly believe something…shouldn’t our actions line up with our beliefs? Here’s where our belief becomes more than the belief of the demons.

While we are on the subject of salvation, why did you want to be saved? Is it because you don’t want to go to hell? Is it your fire insurance card? Is it because you want God’s blessings? Or is it just maybe because He is the holy, just, and righteous God who sent His Son to die for us because He deserves the reward for His sacrifice…because He is worthy? Because He is holy?

“For the High and Exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy says this: “I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed.”—Isaiah 57:15

“Our Lord and God, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because You have created all things, and because of Your will they exist and were created.”—Revelation 4:11

Lemmings on the Road to Rome

June 29, 2013 psalmnineteenfourteen5 Comments

A truth’s initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed. It wasn’t the world being round that agitated people, but that the world wasn’t flat. When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic. – Dresden James

LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited only lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.” Can one make gods for himself? But they are not gods. Therefore, I am about to inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is Yahweh.” –Jeremiah 16:19-21

I am sure that most of you have heard the saying, “All roads lead to Rome.” What about The Lemming Condition by Alan Arkin? The Lemming Condition is about a lemming named Bubber. Bubber is ready to follow all the other lemmings on their march to the sea and their eventual jump off the cliff into the sea. All is well until his friend Crow asks him if he knows how to swim. Bubber isn’t sure, so he begins to question and search. During his quest, he finds out he can’t swim. So he tries to stop all the other lemmings from jumping off the cliff. They were all hypnotized and he could not stop them. Eventually it looks like Bubber is the only lemming left; but soon other lemmings start popping out of their holes. He was not the only survivor, and so there was hope for the future of the lemmings.

Daniel 7:25 tells us, “He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law…” These deceptive changes to Sabbath and Yahweh’s appointed Feast Days have come about through many centuries, and over the torture and dead bodies of millions of followers of Yeshua. And, the lie is followed by dare I say millions of “bible believing” Christians today. They will tell you that Sunday is the Sabbath, that they observe Sunday because that’s the resurrection of Jesus (although that He resurrected on Sunday is in and of itself questionable, but that is for a later post), that God does not care which day you worship Him on (which is true to some degree…you can and should worship Yahweh every day; but He Himself has commanded that the Sabbath (7^th day) be set apart, holy, and blessed). They will tell you that it was “nailed to the cross”. They will tell you that following Yahweh’s commands is legalism. There are many excuses as to why the fourth commandment is not followed. And yet…are any of these excuses based on the powerful, holy, eternal, unchanging Word of Yahweh?

Most people have no idea that Sunday worship did not start with the dawning of Christianity. It was in fact a practice two thousand years before Yeshua. It goes all the way back to shortly after the flood with Tammuz, Nimrod and his mother/wife Semiramis founding the pagan religious system of “sun-god” worship/Baal worship. From the tower of Babel, “sun-god” worship spread throughout the entire ancient world. With the exception of the worship of the One, True God, all other religious systems come from Babylon. They also all worshipped the sun, which correlates with Satan, otherwise known as Lucifer which means “light bringer”.

When Babylon fell, and was taken over by the Medes and the Persians in 539 B.C. the Babylonian priests made their way to Pergamum and Egypt. They taught their religion in these places and eventually saw an opportunity and made their way to Rome. The Romans readily took on the ways of this religious system. By the time the “Christian” Church came into existence, the practices of the Babylonian religious system blended right in and mixed with the Christian church. The blending of these two religious systems made it quite easy for people to “convert” to Christianity. Eventually the Roman Catholic church was born. As it grew in power, it came to oppose the 7th day Sabbath and changed it to Sunday. Historical records show clearly that the Catholic Church made the change official at the Council of Laodicea in 364 AD when they handed down 59 Canon laws.

Canon XXIX: “Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.” (Percival Translation).

Samuel Bacchiocchi in “How Did Sunday Keeping Begin”, which summarizes his thesis From Sabbath to Sunday, tells us, “Both anti-Judaism and Sun-worship contributed to the change from Sabbath to Sunday. Anti-Judaism led many Christians to abandon the observance of the Sabbath to differentiate themselves from the Jews at a time when Judaism in general and Sabbath keeping in particular were outlawed in the Roman empire. Sun-worship influenced the adoption of the observance of Sunday to facilitate the Christian identification and integration with the customs and cycles of the Roman empire. The change from Sabbath to Sunday was not simply one of names or numbers, but authority, meaning and experience. It was a change from a holy day divinely established to enable us to experience more freely and more fully the awareness of divine presence and peace in our lives, into holiday which has become an occasion to seek for personal pleasure and profit. This historical change has greatly affected the quality of Christian life of countless Christians who throughout the centuries have been deprived of the physical, moral, and spiritual renewal the Sabbath is designed to provide. The recovery of the Sabbath is especially needed today when our souls, fragmented, penetrated, and desiccated by a cacophonous, tension-filled culture, cry out for the release and realignment that awaits us on the Sabbath Day.”

The Roman Catholic Church itself brags and throws it in the face of Yahweh the fact that it alone changed the Sabbath.

“The authority of the Church is illustrated most clearly by the scriptures, for on one hand she recommends them, declares them to be divine, and offers them to us to be read, and on the other hand, the legal precepts in the scriptures taught by the Lord have ceased by virtue of the same authority. The Sabbath, the most glorious day in the law, has been changed into the Lord’s day. These and other similar matters have not ceased by virtue of Christ’s teaching (for He says that He has come to fulfill the law, not to destroy it), but they have been changed by the authority of the Church.” – Gaspare de Posso Archbishop of Reggio, Council of Trent.

And they mock Protestants that follow Sunday keeping.

“They [the Protestants] deem it their duty to keep the Sunday holy. Why? Because the Catholic Church tells them to do so. They have no other reason…The observance of Sunday thus comes to be an ecclesiastical law entirely distinct from the divine law of Sabbath observance…The author of the Sunday law…is the Catholic Church.” – Ecclesiastical Review, February 1914.

“It was the Catholic church which…has transferred this rest to Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord. Therefore the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the (Catholic) church.” – Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213.

“I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ The Catholic Church says: ‘No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.’ And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church.” – father T. Enright, C.S.S.R. of the Redemptoral College, Kansas City, in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884, printed in History of the Sabbath, p. 802.

“Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:

“1) That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man.

“2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws, for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages, the regulation of Catholic marriages and a thousand other laws.

“It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible.” Peter R. Kraemer, Catholic Church Extension Society (1975),Chicago, Illinois.

Yeshua never once mentioned the first day of the week. As followers of Yeshua, we must diligently seek the truth and line up our beliefs and behavior with His Holy Word. We must strive to enter the narrow path that leads to righteousness no matter what the cost. People argue that Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life…not a truth, a way, or a life because of the definitive article THE. Well, doesn’t the fourth commandment say, “Remember THE Sabbath…”

I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of His appearing and His kingdom: Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, be serious about everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. –2 Timothy 4:1-5

May we all be found as the Bereans in Acts 17:11, “The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” May we examine the Scriptures daily and find ourselves workmen approved. May we look beyond the way things have been done and not blindly follow the crowd in order to find THE Truth.

From the Heart

June 1, 2013 psalmnineteenfourteen1 Comment

“Don’t work only while being watched, in order to please men, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart.” –Ephesians 6:6 As I was meditating about this verse and being a slave to Yeshua, and how it is our duty (Luke 17:10) to obey His commands, (Good-for-Nothing-Slaves), the second part jumped out at me. “Do God’s will from your heart.”

It’s one thing to obey out of obligation and duty. After all, what else should we do in light of all that Yeshua has done for us. It’s another thing entirely to obey from the heart. Jeremiah 17:10 says, “I, Yahweh, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.”

I’ve seen this transformation, obeying because it’s my duty to obeying from the heart, take place in my own life. While I have always been grateful for Yeshua’s sacrifice for me…His atoning blood…my salvation…I have not always done things for Him from the heart. For the longest time, I didn’t even realize there was anything to do. But once my eyes were opened to all of Yahweh’s word, and I began to see that we should be obeying His commandments, I started walking them out. I’d like to say that it was all just perfect and my attitude and motivations were pure…but I can’t say that.

Yahweh would reveal something to me and I would begin walking it out one faltering step at a time. Let’s take Sabbath as an example. So my eyes were opened to the fourth commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” I jumped right on that train and lived happily ever after….NOT!!! I questioned, “Well, how do we know Sunday’s not the seventh day?” “Why can’t it be any day I choose?” “What?!! No work on Sabbath?” “What?!! No buying and selling on Sabbath?” You see, I came from the mindset that going to church for two hours on Sunday was setting the day apart. After church you would most often find me grocery shopping and then doing lesson plans for the upcoming week.

As I questioned and researched, read the Word and prayed, I took a step, and then another, and another…My pastor and his wife had seen Sabbath and began to offer services on Saturday and Sunday. I chose Saturday. (As a side note, so did the rest of the congregation so it wasn’t long before it was just Saturday service.) I chose to stop shopping and doing my lesson plans on Saturday. At first, these were choices because I saw it in the Word and felt it was my duty to obey. Gradually my sense of duty turned to a sense of longing and joy. How refreshing it is to have a day totally set aside to rest…but not just rest, rest in Yahweh! Isaiah 58:13-14 really came alive for me, “If you keep from desecrating the Sabbath, from doing whatever you want on My holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, seeking your own pleasure, or talking too much; then you will delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you ride over the heights of the land, and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.”

As Yahweh circumcises my heart (Deuteronomy 30:6), and changes me from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), my attitude about following Him and His ways is transforming from following His ways out of a sense of duty to following them from the heart. May we all bring glory to Yahweh as we serve him with the right heart attitude.

A couple of other verses about the heart to meditate on:

“The pure in heart are blessed, for they will see God.”—Matthew 5:8

“Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not set his mind on what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”—Psalm 24:3-5

What Is Man…

May 25, 2013May 26, 2013 psalmnineteenfourteenLeave a comment

Have you ever had an experience like you know something, but then whatever it is hits you right between the eyes in a fresh, new, powerful way? Well, this very same thing happened to me recently. Two things happened. First, I was teaching my students about astronomy and we were discussing light years, stars, galaxies, etc. Secondly, my husband and I went on a walk on a crisp, clear night where we could see forever (or so it seemed!). All of a sudden, Psalm 8:3-4 became a reality to me. “When I observe Your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place, what is man that You remember him, the son of man that you look after him?”

Here are some facts that when I stop to think about them and ponder them, my mind just can’t quite grasp them.

A light year, which is the speed light travels in a year, is approximately 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). Stop and think about that number for a moment. It’s easy to say, but can we really grasp the enormity of the number… (It would take about 32,000 years to count to 1 trillion; assuming you could say 1 number per second.)
The sun is 93 million miles from Earth. It takes 8 minutes for the light from the sun to reach us. Therefore we see the light from sun as it was 8 minutes ago.
The second closest star to Earth (after the sun) is about 24 trillion miles (4 light years) away from Earth.
There are between 200 and 400 billion stars just in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Milky Way Galaxy is about 100,000 light years wide. (Think about that, 100,000 x 6,000,000,000,000). In other words, traveling at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second), it would take 100,000 years to get from one side of our galaxy to the other.
The closest galaxy to the Milky Way is actually within the Milky Way Galaxy. It is called the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy and is about 42,000 light years from the center of the Milky Way. It is 25,000 light years from Earth.
The Andromeda Galaxy is about 2.5 million light years away from Earth. (Think: 2,500,000 x 6,000,000,000,000). Mind boggling!
There are at least 100 billion galaxies in the known universe.
Even on the clearest of nights, we can only see about 3,000 stars.
It is estimated that the number of stars in the known universe far exceeds all the grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth! So on a clear night, we can only see the equivalent of a handful of sand.

As I pondered these facts, while gazing at the heavens I felt so small and insignificant in comparison to our awesome God. Here are some other verses that speak of the awesomeness of our God. Take some time to meditate on these scriptures.

Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.”

Psalm 147:4, “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.”

Isaiah 40:5, “Look up and see: Who created these? He brings out the starry host by number; He calls them all by name. Because of His great power and strength, not one of them is missing.”

Amos 5:8, “The One who made the Pleiades and Orion, Who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the sea and pours them out over the face of the earth – Yahweh is His name.”

Psalm 33:6, “The heavens were made by the word of the Lord, and all the stars, by the breath of His mouth.

Job 9:8-9, “He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. He makes the stars: the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.”

Psalm 90:1-2, “Lord, You have been our refuge in every generation. Before the mountains were born, before You gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, You are God.”

What is man that He remembers him? All praise and glory to our eternal, immortal, invisible God!

How to BE a Sheep

May 20, 2013May 21, 2013 psalmnineteenfourteen1 Comment

I recently felt led to write a post, “How to Spot a Goat”, in response to what, in my opinion, was a poorly written, scripturally-unsound article entitled “How to Spot a Legalist”. However, I think the most important idea that should come from that post is how to BE a sheep.

Throughout His ministry, Yeshua makes the comparison between wheat and weeds (Matthew 13:24-30), sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31-46), and ready and unready virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). I’ve always thought these were interesting teachings, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized that He is comparing believers. This realization combined with Matthew 7:21-23 that says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’”, has given me great pause for thought, reflection, prayer, and studying the scriptures. Our focus should be on how to be wheat, how to be sheep, how to be ready, because not everyone that says they believe in Yeshua and has done things in His name is going to go to Heaven. Yeshua said it Himself.

So here is a list for “How to BE a Sheep”. This is not an all-inclusive list, but some important guidelines on our journey with Yahweh.

1. We must enter THE door. John 10:7-10 says, “So Jesus said again, “I assure you: I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. We must be saved by grace, through faith, for good works (Ephesians 2:8-10).

2. We must love Yahweh with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength. Absolutely nothing should get in the way of our love of Him. And, our love for Him must be His way. (Deuteronomy 6:4-6; Matthew 22:34-38; 1 John 2:3)

3. We must love each other. We must be willing to put others ahead of ourselves and love them with the heart of Christ. (Mark 12:31; John 13:34-35; Romans 13:8-10; 1 John 3:11-18; 1 John 4:7)

4. We must be totally souled out and committed to Yahweh. We must be willing to take up our cross and count the cost. We must be prepared to follow Him no matter what may come our way. (Matthew 10:32-39; Mark 8:34-38; Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 2:20)

5. We must hear and obey His voice. It is more than mere mental assent. We must have a saving faith that leads to obedience to His Word. We must understand that if we are living by the Holy Spirit, He will not lead us to do anything that is contrary to God’s Word. (Matthew 7:24-25; John 8:31-32; John 10:27; Romans 2:13; 1 John 2:3-6; 2 John 1:6)

6. We must bear good fruit. We are known by our fruit. What kind of fruit are we producing? (John 15:1-17; Luke 6:43-45; Galatians 5:16-26)

7. We must be servants. We must have a servant’s heart. If our Messiah was willing to wash His disciples’ feet, how much more should we be willing to serve Him and each other? (Psalm 119:125; Mark 10:42-45; John 12:26; 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; Galatians 5:13; Philippians 2:5-7)

8. We must forgive. We must be willing to forgive others if we want Yahweh to forgive us. (Proverbs 17:9; Matthew 6:14-15; Mark 11:25; Ephesians 4:31-32; Colossians 3:12-14)

9. We must be humble. We must stay away from self-righteousness and a proud and haughty attitude. We must be humble before Yahweh and realize that every breath we take is because it is from Him. (2 Chronicles 7:14; Micah 6:8; Matthew 23:12; Luke 18:9-14; Philippians 2:3-11; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:6)

10. We must be holy. Holiness is not optional; we must pursue holiness or we will not see Yahweh. (Isaiah 35:8; Leviticus 20:26; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:21; 1 John 3:6-10; 1 Peter 1:14-16)

Are you a sheep? Are you wheat? Are you ready?

Holy Days vs. Holidays

March 31, 2013April 2, 2013 psalmnineteenfourteen5 Comments

What’s the difference? Well, to be honest, I had never really thought about it. As a matter of fact, I never even knew about Yahweh’s feast days. Growing up, I noticed some odd holidays on the calendar that we didn’t celebrate…those are Jewish holidays I was told. I grew up celebrating the “traditional” holidays…Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and on the list goes. And I learned the “true” meaning of the holidays in amongst all the extra fluff…you know…Santa, the Easter bunny, coloring Easter eggs, all the important traditions that go along with celebrating. And I taught them to my children as all good parents do.

Fast forward to 2010 and I was presented with the fact that some (or even all in some cases) of the holidays and traditions that I had been celebrating came from pagan roots and were not scriptural in the least. Well, let me tell you, that rocked my world. Really…how can that be…that can’t be right…I was happy and comfortable in my traditions…my family’s traditions. But, I also knew I had to investigate for myself. What I found out turned my world upside down. I discovered that it was true! Great…so what do I do now? Well, through much prayer and study, I decided not to celebrate Christmas and Easter. (I had given up celebrating Halloween many years ago…that was a no brainer!) But, I didn’t stop there. I continued to study the bible and pray, which led me to studying about the Feast days.

The first thing that I discovered was that when Yahweh told Moses about His appointed times, they were permanent statutes throughout the generations. The next thing I discovered was that He gave those eternal statutes to the Israelites, the people, that if we claim to be believers in Yeshua, have been grafted into (Romans 11:17)…adopted into His family (Romans 8:14-16). Think about that…if you adopt a child, do you follow the child’s traditions or does he/she become part of your family and take on the teachings and traditions of your family? If we are Yahweh’s children, we are to take on His ways…His traditions. And the Feasts of Yahweh are just that…His appointed times. He did not say they were for the Jews, the Christians, etc. They were His feasts, His appointed times (Leviticus 23:1-2).

But, you cry out, “Those are part of the old covenant which is a shadow. Jesus is the substance.” And I say, “EXACTLY!!!!!” How much more depth and meaning do these appointed times have now that we have the substance of them? Yahweh’s feast days tell the story of Yahweh and His people. It begins when Yahweh called His people to Himself and continues through to the end of time that John saw in his vision and wrote about in the Revelation. They identified special times throughout the year to give glory and honor to Yahweh for specific acts done on behalf of His people. But they also have a spiritual meaning as well.

The first three feasts of Yahweh have been fulfilled through the death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah Yeshua. Let’s start with Passover as it is the first feast day of Yahweh’s calendar. Passover not only represents the Israelites rescue from Egypt, it is also the day of Yeshua’s sacrificial death. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 tells us, “Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch. You are indeed unleavened, for Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast or with the yeast of malice and evil but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” He is our Passover! This feast has certainly been fulfilled through Messiah Yeshua and is observed on the 14^th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. (As a side note, did you know that Christians commemorated the death and resurrection of Christ on Passover until the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, in its quest to rid Christianity of anything Jewish changed the date to coincide with the pagan carnival Easter which celebrated the goddess of fertility Ishtar?)

The next feast, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, has also been fulfilled by Yeshua at his burial in the tomb on Nisan 15. Yeshua is our bread of heaven. John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

Next is the Feast of Firstfruits. This was fulfilled by Yeshua at His resurrection. (One thing that I noticed when studying these appointed days, Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits, there is actually three days between the death and resurrection of Christ, unlike Good Friday to Easter.) 1 Corinthians 5:20-23, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at His coming, those who belong to Christ.”

Fifty days from the Feast of Firstfruits, we are to observe the Feast of Pentecost. This feast was fulfilled by the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Acts 2:1-4, “When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. And tongues, like flames of fire that were divided, appeared to them and rested on each one of them. Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages, as the Spirit gave them ability for speech.”

The last three feasts of Yahweh, the Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles, have yet to be fulfilled by Yeshua. They represent future events in Yahweh’s master plan. They point to His return, judgment, millennial reign, and final triumph over evil. The last feast, the Feast of Tabernacles (also known as the Feast of Booths or Feast of Ingathering), represents the fulfillment of Yahweh’s plan. The Messiah will return to “tabernacle” with His people. Zechariah sees the ultimate fulfillment of this feast, Zechariah 14:16, “Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Festival of Booths.” See also, Revelation 7:9-17, Revelation 21:1, and Revelation 22:5.

But you cry out, “Christmas and Easter don’t mean anything about paganism to me! It’s how I celebrate Christ’s birth and resurrection. God knows my heart.” First of all, the heart is deceitful above all things…(Jeremiah 17:9) Jeremiah 17:5-8 also says, “This is what the Lord says: The man who trusts in mankind, who makes human flesh his strength and turns his heart from the Lord is cursed. He will be like a juniper in the Arabah; he cannot see when good comes but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives. The man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.” Colossians 2:8 says, “Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.”

I will be the first to tell you that celebrating Yahweh’s appointed Holy Days is not a matter of salvation or acceptance by Him. However, as a child of the Most High God, Yahweh, I have been adopted by Him and as such, I am going to follow His ways and His traditions. Since Yahweh says His feasts are to be celebrated forever and He never changes, it is quite clear to me that He still desires to be worshipped the way He has outlined in His Word. “Therefore, let us keep the feast…”

“As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh.” (Joshua 24:15)

Law vs. Grace

March 30, 2013April 1, 2013 psalmnineteenfourteen11 Comments

So which is it you ask? Law…or grace… So here is my opinion, take it or leave it. I believe the debate/argument about law and grace is the most useless, unprofitable, and worthless debate going on in “Christian” circles today. So there it is, and here is why I believe what I believe.

But…before I proceed, I just want to unequivocally state that I firmly believe no one can be saved by works of the Law. That was never the purpose of the Law…ever. We are saved by grace through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Messiah Yeshua alone. (Ephesians 2:8-9). If we try to obtain salvation through works of the Law, we become legalistic which is strongly cautioned against by the church today, and rightfully so. However, many have become so caught up in anti-legalism, anti-Law, that the “church” has swung on the pendulum way too far in the opposite direction.

So, now here it is…why I believe what I believe. The Holy scriptures themselves tell us in several places that the Law of God is eternal: Ecclesiastes 3:14, “I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of Him.” Isaiah 40:8, “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.” Matthew 5:18, “For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished.” Luke 16:17, “But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out.”

The Word of God also tells us that when the Messiah came there was a change in the priesthood. And Hebrews 7:12 says, “For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must be a change of law as well.” Hebrews 9:11-14 then tells us, “But the Messiah has appeared, high priest of the good things that have come in the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), He entered the most holy place once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God?” This was a change in how the Law was manifested, not an exchange of one set of laws for another or to abolish the Law. Messiah’s words in Matthew 5:17 reiterate this point, “Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

Here is an example. The Law of sacrifice is still in effect today. The death of Yeshua on the cross did not cancel the sacrificial law. It is true that because of Him we do not need to sacrifice animals to atone for our sin. Yeshua took care of that once for all. However, there is still a definite need for the Law of sacrifice to be in effect today. Romans 12:1 commands us to, “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.” The manifestation of the Law changed…i.e. animals to humans…dead to living…but did not cancel the Law. God’s Laws are eternal.

What about the “Law” of celebrations…Feasts of Yahweh? Some say they are for the Jews only. Some say they were done away with when Yeshua fulfilled them. Well, both of the arguments are not scriptural. When the feasts are commanded by Yahweh he states very clearly they are eternal, permanent statutes throughout the generations. He gave those eternal statutes to the Israelites, the people, that if we claim to be believers in Yeshua, have been grafted into (Romans 11:17). Not only that, He did not say they were for the Jews, the Christians, etc. They were His feasts, His appointed times (Leviticus 23:1-2). Divine. Godly. The New Testament even shows us that the feasts were kept after the death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah Yeshua. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 tells us, “Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch. You are indeed unleavened, for Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast or with the yeast of malice and evil but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Yeshua is our Passover. So much more depth and spiritual meaning are added to Yahweh’s appointed times in light of Yeshua. Again, our observance of these biblically appointed times are not a matter of salvation. They are a matter of worship; a time of remembrance and reverence for what He has done for us and is continuing to do. (For more on Yahweh’s feasts see Holy Days vs. Holidays.)

What about the dietary laws? Following them does not lead to salvation, however they are proven to be healthy guidelines to follow…the proper way to treat our “temples of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The bottom line is science can confirm the health benefits of following them. God gives us His Law for our health and benefit.

One of the purposes for Yeshua’s sacrificial death was to change the heart of man, not abolish the Law of God. Ezekiel 11:19-20: And I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh, so they may follow My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.” Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”

James 2:12 tells us, “Speak and act as those who will be judged by the law of freedom.” I have heard this verse used to “prove” that we are free from the Law of God. The reality is that this verse is speaking entirely to our freedom from sin by the mercy and grace of Yahweh. “Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:1-2).To develop a theology that is based solely on grace and nullifies the Law of Yahweh is to commit a gross misunderstanding of the scriptures. To develop a theology that is based solely on the Law nullifies the sacrifice of Yeshua. The conclusion of the matter is this: There is no such thing as law versus grace. You must have both. You can’t have one without the other. It is law and grace.

All the Lord’s ways show faithful love and truth to those who keep His covenant and decrees. – Psalm 25:10