Keeping the Sabbath day holy

 

Keeping the Sabbath day holy 

 

Ezekiel 20:19 –I am the Lord your God, follow my decrees and keep my laws. Keep my Sabbath day Holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know I am the Lord your God. One of the 10 commandments. Exodus 20:8 – Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. We are to do no work, rest. Deuteronomy 5:17 – same. We are called to follow and obey, keeping the Sabbath day holy allows us to be a witness of our faith and our desire to follow the commandments.

 

I have been called to be a witness of Christ, by my works men shall know me, whether they be for good or for evil.

 

You know there is nothing new under the sun, anything I write about has been written about before. I have no new pearls of wisdom, it is arrogant of me to believe so. What I do have is my perspective on things, my choice of words, in my order.

 

 Man has attempted to differentiate himself with previous generations, the reality is, things are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Faith is faith, obedience is obedience, trust is trust, love is love, service is service, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

 

Thank you Lord for that gift, thank you Lord for my joy, thank you for the Holy Spirit's guidance and direction. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ. I love you Lord.

 

 

Faith, spiritual and physical healing, how to worship, how to heal, how to baptize, how to pray.

 

Faith

 

Matthew 17:20 – I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move.

 

Nothing is impossible for you. Faith as small as a mustard seed, in other words the Lord knows our hearts, our minds and our intentions. He knows our spirit is willing but our body is weak. Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.  He knows that we are not perfect, that we are prone to sin, but yet he said if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we will be able to move mountains. Does that require absolute, complete, and whole without a doubt faith? Did the scriptures say that? No it did not, look at all these examples of people who were healed because they had faith.

 

1. That they would be healed and 2. They believed in Jesus.

 

1. In Matthew 8:1-4 – Jesus cured a man with leprosy, he said Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean, Jesus said I am willing, be clean.  

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. ² A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

³ Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. ⁴ Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.

2. in Matthew 8:5-13 – Jesus healed the servant of a centurion guard. The centurion guard said to Jesus, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. Jesus replied I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. Go, it will be done just as you believed it would.  

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶ “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

⁸ The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³ Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

3. In Matthew 9:1-8 – Jesus healed a paralytic man, Jesus saw that they had faith and he said to the paralytic, take heart my son, your sins are forgiven, get up, take your mat and go home.

Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. ² Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

³ At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”

⁴ Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? ⁵ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ⁶ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” ⁷ Then the man got up and went home. ⁸ When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to human beings.

 4. Matthew 9:18-26 – Jesus heals a dead girl and a sick woman. In verse 22 Jesus turned and saw her, take heart my daughter, your faith has healed you. And the woman was healed from that moment.  

While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.

²⁰ Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. ²¹ She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

²² Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.

²³ When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, ²⁴ he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. ²⁵ After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. ²⁶ News of this spread through all that region.

5. In Matthew 9:27-33 – Jesus heals the blind and the mute, Jesus asked do you believe I am able to do this, they replied yes Lord, he then touched their eyes and said according to your faith it will be done to you.

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

²⁸ When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

“Yes, Lord,” they replied.

²⁹ Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; ³⁰ and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” ³¹ But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

³² While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. ³³ And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

 6. In Matthew 15:21-28 – Jesus heals a young girl who is demon possessed, Jesus says in verse 28 women you have great faith, your request is granted.

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²² A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

²³ Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

²⁵ The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

²⁶ He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

²⁷ “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

7. In Mark 9:14-32 – we see that Jesus heals a boy with an evil spirit Jesus says in verse 22, 23, 24 – The man asks Jesus if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. Jesus replies if I can? Everything is possible for him who believes. Immediately the boy's father exclaimed. I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief. Jesus then rebuked the evil spirit and it left the boy.

When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

¹⁶ “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

¹⁹ “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰ So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil^[a] spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

²⁶ The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

²⁸ After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁹ He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.

Jesus Predicts His Death a Second Time

³⁰ They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, ³¹ because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered over to human hands. He will be killed, and after three days he will rise.” ³² But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

8. in Mark 10:46-52 – Bartimus a blind man receives his sight. In verse 52, Jesus said, go, your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight.

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸ Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” ⁵⁰ Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

⁵¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

⁵² “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

9. in Luke 7:36-50 – Jesus is anointed by a sinful woman. A sinful woman brought an expensive bottle of perfume to the house where Jesus was dining. She began to cry and her tears went on Jesus feet, she wiped his feet with her hair and then she sprinkled perfume in them, in verse 46 we see Jesus telling the woman, your sins are forgiven. And in verse 50, he says to her, your faith has saved you, go in peace.

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. ³⁸ As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰ Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

⁴¹ “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii and the other fifty. ⁴² Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

⁴⁴ Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰ Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.

10. John 9: the whole chapter – it talks about Jesus healing a blind man, this is the man who said I was blind and now I see verse 25. In verse 3-5 – Jesus is explaining to his apostles that people who are born with infirmities do not receive those infirmities because they are sinners.

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵ Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

¹⁷ Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. ¹⁹ “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

²⁰ “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹ But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God and tell the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

²⁵ He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

²⁸ Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

³⁰ The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

Spiritual Blindness

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹ Jesus said,“For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

This happens so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one will work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. We have just seen 10 examples of people who were healed because of faith. We as Christian believers do not heal others, we pray for others to be healed by the grace of God. If it is his will they will be healed, by their faith, not yours they will be healed.

 

I find it interesting that the Lord did not leave a set of instructions, a lesson manual, and a guide book on spiritual and physical healings. Nowhere with one exception does the Lord place his hands on people and pray to God to heal these people. He had the ability and authority to cast out evil spirits, heal people physically as well as spiritually. He had the authority to forgive sins.

 

He granted this ability to cast out evil spirits and heal the sick to his 12 apostles.

 

Matthew 10:1 – He called the twelve disciples to him and gave them the authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease or sickness. Nowhere in the scriptures do we find the methodology behind the healing, the directions or instruction manual.

 

People were healed who 1. Believed in the name of our Lord Jesus and

2. Had faith, believed that they would be healed.

The apostles as did Jesus went around healing all kinds of people. In Matthew 8:14-17 – we see that Jesus heals many who were demon possessed, he drove out evil spirits with a word and healed all the sick.

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. ¹⁵ He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

¹⁶ When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities
and bore our diseases.

There is no mention of faith on the part of hundreds or thousands of others he healed. Jesus and the apostles performed miracles so that people might see or hear and believe in the testimony of Jesus.

 

Jesus was building up the church at that time, the church known as those who believed and followed Jesus.

 

I find it interesting that there is no specific mention of church, a denomination of a church, ritualistic or rites practiced within the church. How to worship except as I wrote about before.

 

We need to 1. Come together in the name of our knowledge Jesus Christ.

Matthew :19-20

 

Again I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.

 

2. We need to sing songs of worship and praise.

 

3. We need to receive spiritual teaching or instruction.

 

I believe Jesus and our Heavenly Father purposely let us come to our own conclusions on how to worship and how to heal others. Healing is not a test of faith but a strengthening of faith. Jesus performed miracles to build up the church, miracles occur in our life to strengthen our faith. For those who don’t believe, miracles occur to draw them closer to the Lord. When someone is not immediately healed of their sickness when they are prayed for it is because of the will of the Lord.

 

When we pray for spiritual healing we must remember.

 

1. It is the Lord who does the healings.

 

2. It will be done according to his will.

 

At one point Jesus was explaining to his disciples that we were going to have to die and be resurrected. At which Peter said Lord, I will not let this happen. Matthew 16:23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

 

Jesus turned to him and said Peter, get behind me Satan, you are a stumbling block to me, you do not have in mind things of God, but the things of man, Jesus then said to Peter, get behind me Satan, I have come to do the will of my father, not the will of men. We cannot impose our own desire for someone to be healed; it can only be done by the will and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

There is no manual because healing requires faith and belief on the person being healed, not on the person praying, although they too must be believers.

 

Healing can only be done through Christ, in the name of Christ and according to his will and purpose for our lives or the lives of those around us.

 

Remember the work of Jesus Christ is to not lose a single person that the Lord draws near to him.

 

We are not to question why people die, aren’t cure of sickness or illness, are demon possessed, we just need to pray for our Lord's will be done and for knowledge, wisdom and understanding so that we might be comforted and find joy in everything.

 

When we see a loved one in pain, suffering, dying or even dead, we too are grieved, sad, in despair. That is the time we need to pray to the Lord to heal us of our pain and suffering. We cannot wish a person to better health, we can pray about it and if the good Lord chooses, he will heal that person and then we must give thanks for that blessing. Regardless of the situation, we need to thank the Lord for the many blessing we do have. There is always a silver lining to every cloud, a purpose behind every situation, an opportunity to increase our faith at every turn or twist in life.

 

Sometimes we need a wakeup call that the Lord is in control, when we try to control our own lives and live according to the worlds standards, we often times fail and are greatly disappointed, the Lord desires us to know at all times he is in control.

 

He wants us to come to him with broken and contrite spirits, repentant, desiring to be free from the bondage of sin. He will spiritually and physically heal us, he will give us life everlasting, he will impart the teaching and instruction of the Holy Spirit if we will only believe, trust, have faith in our Lord and redeemer Jesus Christ. I love you Lord, thank you for this bit of inspiration Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.