12/08/12

Keeping your Sabbath Holy

Romans 15:23 - But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you;


Paul all his ministry years desired to go to Rome and minister unto the people there in person. To preach before Caesar was one of the zeniths of his ministry which Paul looked forward too.

In today's scripture Paul is shown as been free and able to go to Rome but yet did not jump for the opportunity, Paul waited on the Lord for the right time to visit Rome.

Today's message goes out to both the Believers (Congregation) and also to those who also work in the Lord's Vineyard (Shepherds).

To the Congregation the Lord is tells normally faith requires one to act in what one believes. Faith to come to fullness requires it to be put into action but then there are times when faith requires you to be still. It is only when you learn to rest in the Lord at these times that you can be still.

To the Shepherds the message goes - you are called to do the work of the Lord. The Lord has given you a mission and that mission is the purpose of your lives but then there are times the Lord needs to work in you before you carry forward the next step of your mission. At these times the Lord requires you to be still in Him. There are also times God is preparing the place for you to go and work in. If you do not learn to be still and rest in the Lord you will start to get tired when doing the Lord's work, also you will find yourself struggling against odds for you have reached before time and thus will struggle till the right time and then will things happening.

One of the commandments the Lord gave was to keep the Sabbath holy. The Jews due to their lack of understanding of scriptures had made the Sabbath a ritual and had made a law greater than the Law of the Lord. Their book on do and do not with regards to the Sabbath was fatter than the Torah. One of the greatest tiffs between the Pharisees and Sadducees with Jesus was on Jesus being called a Teacher of the Law yet broke the Sabbath at many occasions.

Jesus was called the Lord of the Sabbath for He kept the Sabbath in spirit and truth yet He did not follow the ritual of resting on a Saturday (or Sunday).

It is only when we are led by the Spirit of the Lord we will know when to halt and where to halt and rest in the Lord. We may be full of passion for the Kingdom of God, we may also be gifted with many skills and gifts of the Holy Spirit but yet we should not try to use them according to our wisdom and understanding. We should always depend on the Spirit of God. We should know how to follow the Pillar of Cloud and Fire that leads us. Let us learnt during our rest enter the Tabernacle of the Lord and be before His presence and be re-energized in Him. Let us learn to keep our Sabbath holy.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, You gave us the Sabbath to keep. The 7th day was made a day of rest as a statute so that we learn the true Sabbath and like Jesus become the master of the Sabbath. That we be led by your Spirit and know when we should rest in You, be re-energized and when to allow You to go ahead of us and prepare the place for us to walk in and be fruitful. Lord, we pray your people grow in Spirit and do not make the Sabbath a ritual but understand it in Spirit and Truth...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
Romans 15:21-24
21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.
22 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.
23 But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you;
24 Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company.

Exodus 20:8 - Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exodus 31:15 - Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

Matthew 11:1-5
1 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.
3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

Mark 2:27-28
27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

Matthew 24:15-22
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

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