"The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath Day"(Part 1)

Now today I have an interesting topic the Lord gave me weeks ago on "REST" but lets go deeper than rest & look at the Sabbath day. The word "sabbath" is actually the hebrew word "shabbath" that means "rest or cessation from labor."Matt.12:8 says, "For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day." Jesus is not more revealed in scripture anywhere else as He is signified out of His own mouth as "Lord even of the sabbath day." The sabbath day is not mentioned until Ex.16:23(And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. ) and no mention of it exists from the time Eden is planted on the earth until God gives the law to Moses on Mt.Sinai. The sabbath day is made a part of the law in Ex.20:8-11(Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates: But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:) and in Ex.31:17( It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. ) it is recorded as a "sign." The sabbath day was observed by complete rest from work and toil. The sabbath which was commanded to be observed in the law came with the penalty of death shown by the man of Num.15:32-36 who who was put to death under the law for gathering sticks. Now Jesus talks with more authority when teaching on the sabbath days than the doctors of the law of His time, if you notice:"Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yolk upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light(Matt.11:28-30)." He speaks as though He is that very rest that the law commanded but, without the penalty of death. The Scribes and the pharisees taught the Law of Moses but also they taught and lived by what is known as "The Oral Law," the oral law is the pharisees' interpretation of the Law of Moses, in other words its what is to be read in between the lines. This "oral law" was meant by them to entangle the other jews and even Jesus as shown in many instances through Jesus' defiance on the sabbath day to refrain from healing the sick. The oral law was taught in this manner when they asked the paralytic man whom Jesus had healed who was it that healed him, "it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed(Jhn.5:10)." No where in Moses' law was it unlawful to show mercy or heal the sick. Jesus reaffirmed this fact by asking those old pharisees "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? (Lk.14:5)" He said again "And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.(Mark3:4.)" The sabbath day was revealed as God's ordained rest for man. It typifies this "dispensation of the Grace of God(Eph.3:2)" which began around 30A.D following the ressurrection of Christ and stretches even until the rapture of the church. During this "rest" God is calling all both jew and gentile unto Him by His Holy Spirit who is described in Hebrews 10:29(see also.Zech.12:10), as the "Spirit of Grace." What is this Sabbath Day really about? The dispensation of Grace? You must wonder does this mystery mean? Well stay tuned for part 2 of this particular series as we examine the bookof Hebrews to open the "Day of the Lord's rest," His "Day of Grace," His Sabbath Day. Stay tuned........

"Are there many that be saved?"

It's hard to come across anyone these days who doesn't have a negative opinion about Jesus Christ as a matter of fact you have 6.7 billion people on the planet; of those people 2.1 billion are professed christians, 1.5 are muslims, and there are 14 million religious jews. Which leaves 3.7 believers in either the God of the bible or the false god of the Quran. The other 3.1 billion people in the the world are atheists who don't believe in any god. The occultist, satanists and all unders that fall under "dark practices" fall under the 3.1 apparently...So let me raise a question to my brothers and that comes from Luke 13:23:"are there many that be saved"?? This world only contains about 2.1 billion christians which leaves the other 4.5 billion without everlasting life which we have. Are you telling anyone about Jesus? Do you see the dead walking amonst us? They are on our jobs, at our schools, some in our houses, others pass by us while we are pumping gas or at Tinsel town, they work on our cars, they put perms in our hair, they cut our hair, they serve us food at restaraunts, we laugh with them at family reunions, they wait in line with us at the grocery stores, they stop at red lights with us , they even sit with us at our lunch breaks, they come to meetings with us, we car pool with them, we gossip with them, they visit our houses during holidays, we date them, we marry them, our children play with them on weekends, they ask us for rides, they wait at the bus stops, they sale newspapers, they even sit next to us at church......

The gospel is the single most power ENTITY that this world has ever come in contact with. Have you been telling anyone about this life everlasting? Oh of course! I forgot.."thats not your calling" right? Isn't that what we say because we are either to unknowledgeable in God's word or to afraid to approach people with the gospel? but didn't you hear it about this Jesus who forgives sin and rose from the dead in some of those places that I mentioned? Some of you have been saved at gas stations or at school and yes even at church but who told you about the gospel? Here's what the Apostle John had to say after his experience with walking with Jesus; "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; For the life was manifested, and we have seen [it], and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship [is] with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.(1Jn.1:1-4)." Is that too deep for you? well how about Luke?Have you read what drove his purpose for writing an entire gospel? Here is what he writes, "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed. (Luke1:1-4)" So Luke just really wanted his brother Theophilus to "know the certainty" of what he believed and it was all on what basis? did he get some vision from God or an Angel dressed in light like Jacob? No.....It just "seemed good to him." So why is it so difficult for us to tell others the gospel? Are we too busy? Do we think that we are too young or too old?
Why is our ministry limited to the four walls of our churches? Is it that we don't regularly study God's word to be able to relay to others with understanding what we are taught at our churches out of the gospel, is that why your ministry is walled in? Haven't you read what Paul told Timothy? "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.(1Tim.5:17)" One statistic says 50,000 teens die everyday that doesn't account for adults and children, of that 50,000 about 45,000 of them die without Christ. Lets see thats 45,000 teens a day thats 24 hours multiplied by 365 thats 16,425,000 teens that die every year without knowing Jesus. We are all called to the gospel whether we are prepared, regardless if you are in the dance ministry, choir, usher, finance, whether you are a deacon, or even if you still drink and smoke. We are all called to the mission. When Jesus went into these countries preaching and teaching and healing everywhere his entire body was involved with His outreach to the world and in His absence we are His body. So its our job to be His light in this world of darkness. Lets not forget no one ever followed Christ that didn't give up something and no one followed Him that didn't lay hands on the sick and preach His doctrine everywhere they went. Lets study Gods word(2Tim2:15) people of God and go out 2 by 2 and preach this gospel to my generation and yours ...afterall He sent someone to you didn't He?