Amos Reveals A Little Known Detail About The Sabbath
"In prayer you shall perceive ... the way out of every situation that has no exit." |
____________________________________________________________________________ Last Sunday the most widely studied scripture passage from the Old Testament was from Amos, Chapter 8.
We did not remember these words from scripture. For context these are the words of evildoers who reject the Lord as quoted by scripture:
When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale…
Paraphrasing Amos' words, even evil admitted that it was so wrong to transact business on the sabbath. Even the grocery stores of the day could not open their doors until the sabbath was over.
There is more written about the sabbath and honoring it properly than all of the other commandments combined.
Do you go to grocery stores on the sabbath? Or to Restaurants? To bars? Banks? Movies?
Remember- Exodus 20: 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: 10 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: 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it. … you shall not work, nor shall your family, neither shall your servants work for you.
If Christians didn’t go to restaurants on Sundays, they would not open. The waiters and chefs are working for Christians on the sabbath.
Pray about your choice and remember all Jesus had to go through on Good Friday to atone just for one sin to restore us to the Father's good graces.
There was a book written several centuries ago about the namesake of our firm, entitled The Life of Saint Joseph. The author, Maria Baij claimed that she was given extraordinary visions into the life of the Christ child's protector. At one point after Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled from Bethlehem on their way to Africa, Baij saw a scene where the infant Christ broke out in horrific crying. Like most fathers of newborns, Joseph had no idea what was causing the infant's anguish. After this continued for a while Joseph could not contain himself and he asked the child's mother what was the cause of Jesus' sudden and already uncharacteristic crying. The book portrays that Mary had an exceptional, likely unique, understanding of her Son, King Jesus - And Mary knew the answer.
Mary explained to Joseph that infant Jesus was so upset because of the sins taking place in the town that they were passing by. Their newborn infant and our savior knew that those sins were so upsetting to the Father.
What if there is more to get into heaven then just saying "Jesus is Lord"? For our Savior said many will claim to have known Him at judgment but He will deny them. What if as St. James said, faith without works is nothing and there is an accountability for our sins? For sure, we all depend upon the righteousness we have be given through the death of Jesus, or no one could measure up.
But if there was some accountability for our actions … how many absolutely stupid sins would we regret and dread needing to atone for? Do you think that when we see sin as Jesus does, we too will deeply regret how we offended the Father, explicitly ignoring His simple commands? Let us resolve to root out whatever sins we have been justifying with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Sabbath is an easy sin to clean up. The book of Amos shows how high the bar was set for the Sabbath - not even grocery stores could open.
Thank you for taking this to the Holy Spirit and asking Him to guide you as He would desire you live. And thank you for fasting with us tomorrow. The world says your fast is meaningless and your effort will accomplish nothing. Heaven says you are destroying evil strongholds - just you alone with your little sacrifice of bread and water, the way first century Christians fasted each Wednesday and Friday.
And before you let science tell you that sustenance on bread and water is not any good for you or before a theologian tells you bread and water is not an appropriate fast… remember when God's people rejected his bread and water meal plan - those families wandered aimlessly for an entire generation. Bread in the Ark was God’s food that His people rejected just as His law and His priests.
Heaven has told us that bread and water is the best fast and that you will be grateful that you made the effort to fast tomorrow … for all of eternity.
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Why We Fast – Our Core Fasting Intentions 1) For the Holy Spirit to reign down upon America renewing our land as the Christian, capitalist meritocracy we were founded to be. 2) For the protection of our police, firefighters, military and their families from harm and that the Lord bless their courageous generosity on our behalf one hundredfold. 3) For the protection of the families who fast with us, and for God’s blessings of abundance upon them and that true to His word, we will be able to witness that He prospered us in famine. 4) For Mike Lindell who is putting himself on the front lines suing over the election fraud that has taken place and for all of the warriors who are stepping up around the nation to fight for the gospel – May The Father cover them in the blood of our savior, protect them and their families from evil and bring victory to their endeavors. St. Joseph Partners is a for-profit business that has funded Fast for America for over ten years. To the extent you support our work to renew America and if you understand why gold and silver protect believers' wealth in this world, please consider us or recommend us when you or someone you know buys or sells gold and silver. From our website www.StJosephPartners.com you can buy and sell dozens of types of precious metals. We close on Sundays to honor the Sabbath. Click here for a link where you can view a brief video about our firm and a brief video about why all investors and families should have some gold and silver in their portfolios. |