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What is The Sabbath
Celebrating?
The
Sabbath is a weekly gift from Yahuah.
It provides an opportunity to rest from the curse of
Adam symbolically as we look forward to the Millennial
Reign. We are to
do no work for money, i.e. whatever we do as our occupation
from the 1-6th day of the week, we are to cease
from that labor (from the curse of Adam).
The Sabbath is also a prophetic rehearsal each week
for the coming “rest” in the 7th millennium.
On this day we meditate on what Yahusha accomplished
in fulfilling the Passover and covering our sin.
We should understand that Yahuah raised Yahusha on
The Sabbath and that Yahusha returns again as King of the
Sabbath millennium.
The Sabbath is a weekly celebration of the return of The
King of the Sabbath to rule this Earth for a 1,000 years or
The Sabbath Millennium. The reason we “rest” on The Sabbath
from our labor is because The Sabbath is a Moedim or
rehearsal as we express our faith that in The Sabbath
Millennium the curse of Adam that “by the sweat of our brow
we labor” will be lifted and our burden lightened.
The
Sabbath is a time for the men of Yahuah to exercise their
authority and responsibilities as Priest over their
household. It is
a “family” day.
A time to spend with our families, do family things, and to
teach our family about The Salvation of Yahuah… Yahusha.
Traditionally (these are not commands of Yahuah) the Sabbath
is celebrated in the example of Yahusha when he kept
Passover with his disciples just before he died.
We use:
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A pair of candle holders with two white candles and matches, I use a Menorah.
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Wine or grape juice with glasses or a Sabbath/Passover Cup.
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A pitcher of water, a bowl and a towel
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Two loaves of bread (challah is traditional) or Matzah crackers.
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A nice napkin to cover the bread
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A special dinner or “offering of fire” Kosher meat cooked over an open flame. Basically this is a feast so break out your grill and fire up some meat!
The Sabbath is a commandment
of Yahuah
Exodus 20:8-11
8
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall
labor and do all your work,
10 but the
seventh day is the Sabbath of Yahuah your God.
In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your
daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant,
nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your
gates. 11 For
in six days Yahuah made the heavens and the earth,
the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the
seventh day. Therefore Yahuah blessed the Sabbath day
and set it apart as Holy.
In
keeping The Sabbath, we are “set apart” from this creation
just as Yahuah is as His future children and cherished
possessions. In
Hebrews 4, Paul lays it out very simply. You must keep The
Sabbath or you will not enter into Yahuah's Rest which is
eternal life:
Hebrews 4
A Sabbath-Rest for the People
of God
1
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still
stands (Paul is speaking of The
Sabbath), let us be careful that none of you be found
to have fallen short of it (short
of His rest by failing to
Keep the Sabbath)….
just as Yahuah has said,
"So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.' "And yet his work has been
finished since the (re)
creation of the world 4 For
somewhere he has spoken about
the seventh day
in these words: "And on
the seventh day
God rested from all his work…
6 It
still remains that the remnant sons of Yahuah
will enter that rest, … when a long time later
Yahuah spoke through David, as was said before:
"Today, if you hear his voice, do
not harden your hearts (against His
Sabbath)." 8 For if Joshua
had given them rest (when Joshua
led the Israelites into the promised land of Canaan),
Yahuah would not have spoken later about another day of rest
still to come (because Israel did
not find the prophesied rest at that time, that was not the
fulfillment of The Sabbath promise).
9 There remains, then, a
Sabbath-rest for the people of Yahuah; 10
for anyone who enters Yahuah’s rest also
rests from his own work, just as Yahuah did from his.
11 Let us, therefore, make every
effort to enter that rest (by
being obedient to The Sabbath).
Then
Paul goes on to teach, that if you don't keep the Sabbath
and do not understand the fundamental doctrines that day is
intended to instill in us... you cannot press on as a mature
son of Yahuah.
Paul
is describing "what" you do on the Sabbath in Hebrews 6:1 as
the elementary teaching in
The Yahushaic Covenant which we re-affirmed each Sabbath Day.
Hebrews 6
1Therefore
leaving the elementary
teaching about the Messiah
(who is the Passover Lamb,
resurrected on the Sabbath), let us press on to
maturity, not laying again a foundation of
repentance from dead works
and
of faith toward Yahuah,
2 of instruction about
washings
and laying on of hands, and
the resurrection of the dead and
eternal judgment. 3And
if Yahuah permits us, we will press on to more mature
doctrines.
Each
Sabbath we:
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Establish the fundamental teaching about The
Messiah, the King of the Sabbath
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Repent of our dead works
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Express our faith toward Yahuah by re-affirming The
Yahushaic Covenant
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Ritually cleanse our hands and lay hands on our
family members
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Declare our belief in the resurrection of the dead
and eternal judgment
Preparation and Lighting the Candles
The preparation prayer is spoken by the woman before
lighting the
Sabbath candles. Traditionally, the woman covers her
head with a scarf while lighting the candles. A small pair
of candles may also be lit by a child, as they learn from
their mother.
The woman of the home leads the following prayer:
“Our Heavenly
Father, holy is your name Yahuah, Your kingdom come, Your
will be done as we enter your Sabbath rest.
We thank You for the blessings of Your rest and peace
this evening. Father breathe your Holy Spirit on each of the
members of my home; be with us as we partake of this
Sabbath. Fill our hearts and minds with Your Spirit of
Truth; give to us Your Shalom: Your peace that surpasses all
understanding.
Guide each of us that we may bless one another with our
words and actions. We ask Your blessing over our home and
family. Pour out Your Spirit upon us as we set ourselves
apart from this world and partake of Your Sabbath, Your
rest. May our home, our hearts and our minds be used by You
to bring the news that Your Messiah has come, has risen and
will come again! I ask these things in covenant with our
High Priest Yahusha the Messiah.
Let it be so. HalleluYahuah”
Lighting the Candles
As the woman lights the candles remember that Yahuah
chose another woman, Mary, to bring forth "The Light of the
World" (John 8:12).
Blessing in Hebrew:
“Baruch atah Yahuah
Eloheynu, melech ha-olam, asher kid-shanu b'mitz-votav,
v'tzinvanu l'hadlik neyr shel Shabbat”
Blessing in English:
Blessed are you,
Yahuah our God, King of the universe! Who has set us apart
by Your commandments and has enjoined upon us the kindling
of the Sabbath light.
The first candle (light the first candle) represents
creations.
Genesis 1:1, 3
"In the beginning Yahuah
created the heavens and the earth...And Yahuah said, 'Let
there be light' and there was light."
The second candle (light the second candle)
represents redemption. Yahusha said,
John 8:12
"I am the Light of the
World. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life."
Faith expressed through works
leads to righteousness.
We cannot simply have “faith” in The Sabbath, we must
also “keep it”.
James 2
14
What does it profit,
my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have
works? Can faith alone save him?
18
But someone will say, “You
have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without
your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
You see then that a man is
justified by works, and not by faith only.
26
For as the body without the
spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Below is a step by step guide
to expressing the fundamentals of our faith as expressed by
the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 6:1.
1. Teaching about the Messiah
We
should have the proper understanding that Yahusha was
sacrificed on the Passover and he is
The Passover
Lamb of Yahuah.
Yahusha was resurrected 3 full days and 3 full nights later
on The Sabbath.
This is why Yahusha is called The Passover Lamb and King of
the Sabbath.
Yahuah promised a human King and High Priest who would offer
his life as a sacrifice to Yahuah on The Passover to save
the sons of God.
Yahusha was that prophesied Messiah.
Yahusha as the Eternal High Priest offers himself
before the Throne of Yahuah daily as “a Lamb that has been
slaughtered”. Yahusha
is our substitute for sin and mediator before Yahuah.
Revelation 5:6
and in the midst of the
elders before the throne of Yahuah, stood a Lamb (Yahusha)
as though it had been slain
… and all creation sang: “Worthy
is the Lamb who was slain, To receive power and riches and
wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
2. Repentance from dead works
Understanding that Yahusha’s blood covers our sin, we must
repent of our sin for that blood to be effective.
We are to repent of our sins and dead works and
perform works of righteousness which is defined in the
Torah.
Physical expression of our
faith:
Remember faith without works is dead.
We must express this faith for it to be counted to us
as righteousness.
To express our faith, each one of us openly asks
Yahuah to forgive our sins against Him.
Everyone present should repeat after me:
“Our Father in heaven, holy is YOUR NAME Yahuah.
I believe that in covenant with Yahusha You have
promised to forgive my sin and make me righteous in keeping
Your Law. I
humbly ask that you forgive me of my selfish will and my
inability to fully obey your commandments.
I ask for Your Spirit of Truth to help guide me and
give me a heart for your Law as it is a light unto my path.
I believe that in obeying Your Law is Your love
perfected within me.”
3.
Faith toward Yahuah.
Faith
toward Yahuah is defined in 1 John as keeping the
Commandments of Yahuah and in doing so the love of Yahuah is
perfected within us.
The evidence of our salvation and proof we are
participants in The Yahushaic Covenant is in keeping His
Commandments.
Those who do not are not true children of Yahuah:
1 John 2
3
Now by this we know that we
know Yahuah, if we keep Yahuah’s commandments.
4
He who says, “I know Yahuah,”
and does not keep Yahuah’s commandments, is a liar, and the
truth is not in him.
5
But whoever keeps the
commandments of Yahuah, truly the love of God is perfected
in him. By this we know that we are in covenant with
Yahusha.
6
He who says he abides in
covenant with Yahusha ought himself also to walk just as
Yahusha walked as a Torah obedient son.
We are
to follow the example set by Yahusha in keeping Yahuah’s
commandments and express our faith in the promises Yahuah
made to us.
Yahuah promised in His Torah eternal life through faith in
The Passover Lamb and obedience to His Commandments.
The
example we are to follow as we re-affirm each week our
commitment to The Yahushaic Covenant was given up by Yahusha
just before he died.
Yahusha declared as often (each Sabbath and each
Passover) that we do this, we keep alive the memory of the
sacrifice he made on our behalf and express our belief and
faith in that sacrifice to cover our transgressions:
1 Corinthians 11
23 For
I received from the King what I also passed on to you: The
King Yahusha, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,
24 and
when he had given thanks, he broke it and said,
“This is my body, which is for you; do
this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way, after
supper he took the cup, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever
you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
26 For
whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim
your faith in the King’s sacrifice until he returns.
The Blood of the covenant
Matthew 26
27
Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he
gave it to them, saying, “Drink
from it, all of you. 28
This is my blood of
The Yahushaic Covenant, which is poured out for many for the
forgiveness of sins. 29
I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the
vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you
in my Father’s kingdom.”
The prophet Isaiah foretold of the
coming sacrifice of The Messiah and that it is through his
suffering and the blood he shed that we are healed and made
whole. It is
through Yahusha’s sacrifice we are brought into complete
obedience to The Law as the death decrees have been “nailed
to the cross” and our death is no longer demanded.
We are forgiven through grace.
Isaiah 53:5
He was wounded because of our
rebellion against The Law, crushed because of our sins; he
endured punishment that made us whole; because of his wounds
we have been healed.
Blessing the cup - The wine
symbolizes Yahusha' blood that was shed for us. In Matthew
26:27, Yahusha "took
the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them saying, 'Drink
from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant which
is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins'".
It is interesting to note that
when Yahusha "gave thanks", he most likely said the same
ancient blessing used here.
Blessing in Hebrew:
Baruch atah
Yahuah Eloheynu melech ha-olam, boaray peree ha-gofen
Blessing in English: Blessed are you, O Yahuah our
God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the
vine.
As each of us drink from the cup, we humble ourselves
before Yahuah’s grace and repeat:
Revelation 5:12
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and
honor and glory and praise!"
The Bread of
Life
The
bread represents Yahusha’s body, broken on the stake.
It represents the Sabbath and Passover Meal as
Yahusha is The Passover Lamb and King of The Sabbath.
In Leviticus 24:5-9, bread was to be set on the altar
each Sabbath as a lasting covenant. This bread is a physical
parallel of the Spiritual Truth that Yahusha’s body
consummated the lasting 7th Covenant.
Yahusha is the Living Bread that came down from
heaven.
The
bread represents Yahusha, the Bread of Life. Yahusha said "I
am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone
eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
-- John 6:51.
Then Yahusha spoke the same ancient blessing we speak
today:
Blessing in Hebrew:
Baruch atah Yahuah Eloheynu melech ha-olam, ha-motzee lechem
min ha-Aretz
Blessing in English:
Blessed are you, O Yahuah our God, King of the universe, who
brings forth bread from the earth.
Pass the bread around the table as each person breaks
off a piece and eats.
Humble yourself before Yahuah in faith that Yahusha
is the Lamb of Yahuah.
He is the living bread that came down from heaven.
Whoever “eats of this bread” or rather enters into
The Yahushaic Covenant will be made whole in keeping The Law
of Yahuah and receive eternal life.
4. Instructions about washings.
We
wash our hands in a symbolic act as David did to ritually
cleanse our hands in innocence so that we may approach the
altar of Yahuah in blessing our family by the laying on of
hands:
Psalms 26:6
I will
wash mine hands in innocence: so will I compass thine altar,
O Yahuah.
Water
is used figuratively throughout Scripture to represent the
Spirit of Holiness as Yahuah pours our His Spirit and
Blessings on our family.
Isaiah 44:3: “For
I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the
dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and
my blessing on your descendants. And continued in
Isaiah 12:3: “With
joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation”.
(Salvation in Hebrew is "Yahusha").
John
7:37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Yahusha
stood and said in a loud voice, "If
anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever
believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living
water will flow from within him."
Blessing in Hebrew: Barukh atah Yahuah Eloheinu,
melekh ho-alam, aher kidishanu b’mitz’votav v’tzivanu, al
n’tilat yadayim.
Blessing in English: Blessed are you, O Yahuah our
God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us through
Your commandments and instructed us concerning the washing
of hands. We dedicate our hands and ourselves to You.
As
Priests over our home, we are to ritually clean our hands
before approach the Altar of Yahuah and seek His blessing
over our family members.
This is a symbolic act that we dedicate the
works of our hands and our lives to Yahuah by being obedient
to
The Yahushaic Covenant.
The Priest of the home pours water over the hands of
each family member into the bowl while each family member
says:
“Father, I dedicated my life and
the works of my hands to serving you”
5. Instructions concerning laying on of hands
Each
man of the family as the Priest of Yahuah under the
authority of The High Priest Yahusha should take the time to
write out a specific blessing for each family member and lay
hands on them and recite their blessing.
We should ask Yahuah to give each family member His
Spirit of Holiness as a guarantee of our future salvation as
we are passed over the second death (decree) and given
eternal life.
6.
Resurrection of the Dead,
Eternal Judgment, the Second Death...
Those
of us who are in
The Yahushaic Covenant
are given The Spirit of Holiness and taught to keep Yahuah’s
Law which is written in our hearts.
Where we fail and transgress His Law, the blood of
The Passover Lamb covers the death decrees in The Law that
demand our death.
In
this way, The Law is made whole and we are brought into
perfect obedience.
The promise in The Torah to obedience is eternal
life. This
physical body must die because we inherited death in our
bodies genetically through Adam.
However we die innocent in the eyes of Yahuah and the
death penalty is no longer found just.
Yahuah doesn’t issue the death decree for us and
therefore He raises us from the grave.
Romans 8
1
Now there is no condemnation for those in The Yahushaic
Covenant. 2 For
The Law of the Spirit
of life in (covenant with)
Yahusha the Messiah has made me free from
The Law of Sin and
Death. 3 For
what The Law could not do (bring
eternal life as promised) because The Law was made
weak by our flesh (because we
broke The Law and the decrees in The Law condemned us to
death for disobedience), Yahuah did (provided
Eternal Life as a free gift of Grace) by sending His
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (as
a man), on account of sin (to
defeat it by living obedient to The Law and dying innocent):
(by dying
innocent) Yahusha condemned sin in the flesh (making
The Law whole),
4 that the righteous requirement of The Law might
be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the
flesh (disobedient to The Law)
but according to the Spirit (of
loving obedience to The Law).
Closing Prayer
The
closing prayer is offered up as a spiritual sacrifice to
Yahuah by the man/Priest of the home.
Atonement Prayer
“Our
Father in Heaven, blessed be your Holy name Yahuah.
Thank You for the sacrifice You made of Your
Passover Lamb and for choosing each one present here today
as sons and daughters in covenant with our King, Messiah
Yahusha.
We enter into covenant with you through Yahusha
whose blood makes us one with You in Mind, Will, Purpose,
Spirit, and Family.
Worthy is the Lamb for his obedience to Your Will.
We all declare before you THE Seal over our minds…
Hear O’ Israel, Yahuah our God, is ONE
God and there is no other.
Father I come to you today in the name of my High Priest
Yahusha who is the Messiah, and whose body is offered
continually before Your throne as Atonement for our sin and
I ask that you forgive us of our transgression against your
Laws, for our selfish will that stands against your Will and
Holiness, I humbly ask that you honor Your promise to grant
each of us eternal life in The Kingdom of Yahuah.
I ask
that you give us all the strength to forgive those who have
sinned against us and that you make us all a shining example
of Your grace.
Father, I ask your blessing on my Marriage and on this home
and I ask that you give me Wisdom, Knowledge, and
Understanding that only comes from You as I commit myself to
my family as Your priest, as Stephanie’s husband, as Dayne’s
father, as my mother’s son, and as a brother to Tim and TJ.
Teach me Father your ways that I may serve as an
example of your Love, Patience, and Understanding to my
family and guide me as I teach them of You.
I vow before You today, the Most High, that I will
serve you in their lives and present them back to you on
that last day as spotless Lambs of God as they are but a
gift to me and ultimately they belong to You.
I ask
these things of you, my Father, in the name of my elder
brother, my High Priest, heir to your creation, Your
Passover Lamb and my King whose name is Yahusha.
HalleluYahuah!
Let it be so."
Next:
We must have "The Testimony of Yahusha"
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