Building on the Foundation

  In Leviticus 23, we find, “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts”’” (Lev. 23:1-2). The rest of the chapter follows with a list and description of each of God’s feast days. This seems pretty straightforward, but surprisingly there seems to be some controversy out there over which days are God’s feasts. So which days are they? First, it’s important to note that the NKJV translation of Lev. 23:2, which we just read, isn’t quite faithful to the Hebrew text. The Hebrew word translated “feasts,” moed (Strong’s # H4150 ), simply means, “an appointed time, place, or meeting.” A better translation would be, “The appointments of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My appointments.” Does it matter? Yes, a bit. For example, the Day of Atonement, a day on which “you shall afflict souls” (Lev. 23:27), a day of fastin...

It’s easy to forget where our protection and salvation come from, especially in this day and age of seeking out human leaders to come and save us. The election cycle is all about pointing out the evils of the other party while ignoring their own and trying to convince the people that they are the only ones who can save them. It works, too. People become polarized and they are confident that their candidate is the only good one who could possibly lead the country well. Unfortunately, they are all evil. God sets up kings and tears them down according to His purpose for them, but that doesn’t make them righteous or even good. They are unrighteous and immoral men, so why do Christians seek to have them rule over them?  There is a story in the first book of Samuel that we should carefully consider before choosing a candidate this year. The first king of Israel was about to be selected, and God picked a man to please the people. He was tall, good-looking, humble, and an excellent warrior...

  As we’ve proven in some recent posts , the Sabbath serves as a sign between God and His people. It’s also pretty important to God. A life and death matter, in fact. So how should we keep the Sabbath? Folks have debated and quarreled over the Sabbath more than probably any other law of God. Like the ancient Israelites, most self-proclaimed Christians today rebel against God’s Sabbath command. But even among the few who understand that God expects us to keep the Sabbath, there’s considerable disagreement. Some folks go far beyond God’s instructions and turn the Sabbath into a burden; others view the Sabbath as little more than a day to go to church, and suppose that they can do whatever else they please on that day. So let’s examine what God’s Word tells us about keeping the Sabbath, and see what God really expects of us. Too many folks think of the Sabbath as a restraint, as something that stops them from doing other things they’d rather be doing. So I’d like to present the Sabba...