Hebrews 10:1, “The law is only an unclear picture of the good things coming in the future. It is not a perfect picture of the real things. The people under the law offered the same sacrifices every year. These sacrifices can never make perfect those who come near to worship God.” (ICB) The writer reveals that the sacrifices were secondary and the focus should be on the events we read about. Today the appointed times give us something to remind of the past and good things to look forward to in the future.

Even more on Amaleq...
YHWH's commandment to King Shaul was to utterly destroy Amaleq and spare nothing. YHWH’s commandment to us is to utterly destroy the Amaleq who lives inside us, for he is the one who produces the sinful works of the flesh. Notice that YHWH does not just deal with only the external manifestations of the flesh. He doesn't just list the sinful works of the flesh and then say, ‘Try really hard to stop doing those things.’ Instead, He tells us that true disciples will crucify the flesh with its illicit affections and lusts. Then those sinful actions will cease, because the desire to do them is gone. Amaleq is dead.
Some people neglect the root of the problem and try to get rid of the works of the flesh by their own will power. Instead of crucifying Amaleq, they just subdue him and keep him on a leash. This is what King Shaul did. He captured Agag, king of the Amaleqi, and spared him. He also spared "the best" of the sheep and oxen, "but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly." This is what some believers do. They just kill off the ‘big sins,’ the sins that they consider "vile and refuse," but they spare the ‘little sins,’ the things that look cute and seem harmless. Worst of all, they spare Agag, the king of Amaleq. They keep him subdued and on a leash, but still alive. As a result, their fleshly, sinful nature survives. Agag may be subdued and on a leash, but he can still cause big problems later on. Haman, the man who almost succeeded in annihilating all the Jews of Persia in the book of Esther years after King Shaul's kingdom, was an Agagi.
According to tradition, Agag was allowed to be with his wife during his brief captivity, and during that time he begat a child who became the ancestor of Haman. If you refuse to smite Amaleq today, he may spawn something that will bring a major tragedy later in your life. It was bad enough that King Shaul spared Agag and the best of the sheep and oxen. To make matters worse, he tried to justify his actions. When Shmuel asked him why he had not obeyed the commandment of YHWH, Shaul insisted that he had obeyed the commandment of YHWH. "What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" Shmuel asked. There are some people who claim to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, yet they consistently produce an abundance of the works of the flesh. When such people insist that they are filled with the Spirit, led by the Spirit, and walking in the Spirit, I can't help but wonder: What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? What meaneth these fleshly manifestations of gossip and backbiting; of hatred and rage and heated arguments over things of minor importance; of envy, strife, and division; of anger, resentment, bitter ness, and unforgiveness? "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." If you are walking in the Spirit, why are you fulfilling the lust of the flesh? "And they who are Yeshua's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." If you belong to Messiah, why is your fleshly, carnal nature so alive? The manifestations of the works of the flesh in your life are like the sheep and oxen that Shmuel heard. The works of the flesh are living, breathing, walking testimonies that loudly proclaim the fact that you, like King Shaul, have indeed not obeyed the commandment of YHWH to utterly destroy the little Amaleq who lives inside you.
Each sin you commit is a walking advertisement, a bleating sheep that bellows, ‘Gossip! Anger! Envy!’ Each sin is like a lowing ox that moos, ‘Immorality! Immodesty!’ If the works of the flesh are manifest in your life, admit it. Don't be like King Shaul, who denied his disobedience, then tried to shift the blame to others. The people, spared the best of the sheep and oxen," he said. Don't try to justify your sins with statements like ‘He provoked me!’ or ‘I've had a hard life; I deserve a little illicit pleasure.’ And don't try to excuse your sinful actions by cloaking them in religious garb, like Shaul did when he told Shmuel that they spared the best of the sheep and oxen "to sacrifice unto YHWH thy Elohim."
Some people rationalize their sins and convince themselves that they are actually committing the sin for a noble cause, as a "sacrifice to YHWH." A woman desperate to get married says, ‘I know the scripture says not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, but I'm going to marry him in order to win him to YHWH.’ A businessman says, ‘I know this is a shady deal and illegal according to the Torah, but I'm going to give half of the profits to the work of YHWH.’ A woman who doesn't want to dress modestly says, ‘I know the scripture says women are to dress modestly, but I can't dress that way if I want to evangelize harlots and the immoral. An old-fashioned modest dress like that is going to alienate them.’ A worker who doesn't want to take the Sabbath off says, ‘I'm going to keep working every Sabbath, even though I could get Sabbaths off. That way I'll have more money to give to YHWH. This will be my sacrifice to YHWH.’ When Shaul tried to justify his disobedience by saying its purpose was "to sacrifice unto YHWH,” Shmuel's reply was a reply that is appropriate for any similar attempt to justify disobedience: "Hath YHWH as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of YHWH? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken that the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of YHWH, He hath also rejected thee from being king.”
Witchcraft and iniquity and idolatry are sins of action; rebellion and stubbornness are sins of attitude. Shaul's rebellious, stubborn attitude caused him to lose his position as king, because rebellion and stubbornness are like witchcraft, iniquity, and idolatry in the eyes of YHWH. If we are rebellious and stubborn, we can lose our position in the Body of Messiah. We can miss out on fulfilling YHWH's plan for us. What was the evidence of Shaul's rebellion and stubbornness? It was his refusal to utterly destroy Amaleq. He spared Agag and kept him on a leash instead of smiting him. What is the evidence of a professing believer's rebellion and stubbornness? It is the same thing. It is his refusal to crucify the flesh and its illicit affections and lusts. It is just subduing the fleshly nature and keeping it under control, on a leash, instead of crucifying it.
When Agag was brought to Shmuel, Shmuel took a sword and "hewed Agag in pieces." If your sinful nature is merely subdued and on a leash instead of slain, know that there is a Prophet greater then Shmuel, and He has a sword that is sharper than Shmuel's. That Prophet can hew Agag in pieces with the sword of the Spirit. Bring the Agag who lives inside you to Yeshua, and let Him smite Agag, so that Amaleq will never again rise up in you. One of the commandments of the Torah is also in Devarim 25: "Remember what Amaleq did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Mitzrayim; how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not YHWH." This is a commandment to remember what Amaleq did. When you remember what Amaleq did to Yisrael, also remember what Shmuel did to Amaleq's king, Agag. He hewed Agag into pieces. And, also remember that this is what Yeshua can do to the Agag who lives inside you. Can and will, if you ask him to in sincerity and truth. Then you will have fulfilled the commandment to "blot out the remembrance of Amaleq from under heaven."

Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
More on Amaleq...
While Qorach is the type of those who rise up from within the people of Yisrael to ruin or destroy them through rebellion and division, Amaleq is the type of Yisrael's continual external foe, those who rise up to destroy YHWH's people in every generation. They do so through subterfuge, guile and deceit, attacking from the rear or in Yisrael's weakest spots or moments.
Amaleq is also equated with our “Yetzir Ra – our evil or fleshly inclination. Here is an excellent example of this idea in an article written by Dr. Daniel Botkin:
Smiting Amaleq
“And YHWH said to Moshe, ‘Write this for a remembrance in the book and recite it in the hearing of Yehoshua, that I shall completely blot out the remembrance of Amaleq from under the heavens.’ And Moshe built an altar and called its name, YHWH Nissi, for he said, ‘Because a hand is on the throne of Yah, YHWH is to fight against Amaleq from generation to generation.’”
Through the Prophet Shmuel, YHWH told King Shaul to "smite Amaleq, and utterly destroy ail that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” In a spiritual sense, the commandment to smite Amaleq is a commandment for all Yisrael, past and present.
Shaul was a king and ruled a kingdom. You are a little king (or queen) and rule over your own "kingdom," i.e., your personal life. YHWH gives you free will and you decide what choices to make for your life. You can choose to obey YHWH's commandments and do things His way, or you can choose to disobey His commandments and do things your own way. Concerning Amaleq, YHWH's commandment is to smite him, to utterly destroy him, and to show him no mercy. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood," Paul wrote, but there is a spiritual Amaleq that we must smite and utterly destroy. What does Amaleq represent in the spiritual realm?
Amaleq was a descendant of Esau, the carnal man who sold his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup. Esau is a picture of the man who values his fleshly appetites more than he values the things of the spirit. Amaleq was the fruit of Esau; therefore our Amaleq is the "old man," the sinful, fleshly nature that places more importance on the things of the flesh than on the things of the spirit. Amaleq represents the flesh in the ongoing internal struggle between the flesh and the spirit. This conflict goes all the way back to the womb of Rivka, where Esau, the forefather of Amaleq, and Ya’kov, the forefather of Yisrael, "struggled together within her". What Rivka experienced in a physical sense, we experience in a spiritual sense. Our desire to sin and our desire to do excellent play tug-of-war inside us. Paul, in Galatians, describes it this way: "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."
Our carnal desire to sin is very strong and very persistent. Amaleq tugs at our heart constantly, using whatever means he can to tempt us. What should we do about the Amaleq who lives inside us? Reform him? Educate him? Try to improve his self-esteem? No, none of these things, because Amaleq cannot be changed; he is incorrigible. The only way to deal with Amaleq is to smite him and utterly destroy him. YHWH's solution for the problem of the old sinful nature is to kill it, not reform it. In B’rith Chadasha terminology, "They that are Yeshua's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." To provide some context for the above verse, Paul first contrasts the works of the flesh to the fruit of the Spirit:
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murder, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of YHWH. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffer ing, gentleness, excellence, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Yeshua's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."
This contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit describes the difference between Amaleq, the old sinful desires of the flesh, and Yisrael, the new holy desires of the spirit. The only way to end the struggle between Amaleq and Yisrael is to smite Amaleq. Those who truly belong to the Messiah do this very thing, for "they that are Yeshua's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." If you have not yet crucified your flesh with its illicit affections and lusts, then you do not really belong to the Messiah. You only think you do, because "they that belong to Yeshua have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." The degree to which you have crucified your flesh reveals the degree to which you belong to the Messiah.

Sabbath Keepers Fellowship & Prison Ministry
Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
From this week's Torah portion:
“And Amaleq came and fought with Yisra’el in Rephidim. And Moshe said to Yehoshua, ‘Choose for us men and go out, fight with Amaleq. Tomorrow I am stationing myself on the top of the hill with the rod of Elohim in my hand.’ And Yehoshua did as Moshe said to him, to fight with Amaleq. And Moshe, Aharon, and Chur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to be, when Moshe held up his hand, that Yisra’el prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amaleq prevailed. But Moshe’s hands were heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aharon and Chur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Yehoshua defeated Amaleq and his people with the edge of the sword. And YHWH said to Moshe, ‘Write this for a remembrance in the book and recite it in the hearing of Yehoshua, that I shall completely blot out the remembrance of Amaleq from under the heavens.’ And Moshe built an altar and called its name, YHWH Nissi, for he said, ‘Because a hand is on the throne of Yah, YHWH is to fight against Amaleq, from generation to generation.’”

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Christi Banks
Yochanan Ben Yisrael
Tehillah 48 - Day 2 (yom Sheiny)
Great is YHWH, and greatly to be praised In the city of our Elohim, His set-apart mountain.
Beautiful on high, The joy of all the earth, Is Mount Tsiyon on the sides of the north, The city of the great King.
Elohim is in her citadels; He is known as her refuge.
For look, the kings met, They passed by together.
They saw, so they marvelled; They were alarmed, they hastened away.
Trembling took hold of them there, Pain, as of a woman in labor, With an east wind You break the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard, so we have seen In the city of YHWH of hosts, In the city of our Elohim, Elohim establishes her forever. Selah.
We have thought, O Elohim, of Your mercy, In the midst of Your Hěḵal.
According to Your Name, O Elohim, So is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
Let Mount Tsiyon rejoice, Let the daughters of Yehuḏah exult, Because of Your judgments.
Walk about Tsiyon, And go all around her. Count her towers; Set your heart upon her rampart; Go through her citadels; So that you report it to the coming generation.
For this Elohim is our Elohim, Forever and ever; He Himself leads us, Even to death.

Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
With the Passover Package Program coming up, thousands of brothers and sisters who would otherwise not have any bitter herb or unleavened bread for the week of the Feast of Unleavened bread, could have matzah and bitter herb for the first time in their lives.

We would love to provide these basic elements of the Passover seder and the week of Unleavened Bread. With your help, we can provide for these men and women who are turning to the Most High and desiring to obey YHWH to the best of their abilities.

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Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
Shalom Chaverym,
This week's parasha is: Yithro - יתרו - “Jethro”
Torah Reading: Exodus 18:1-20:23
Haftarah Reading: Isaiah 6:1-7:6, 9:5-6
Kethuvym Hatalmidym Reading: 1 Peter 2:1-3, 9-12
Shalom aleykhem, achym, b’shem Yehoshua Hamashiach, Adoneynu ~ Peace to you, my brothers, in the name of Yehoshua the Messiah, our master.
V’atah im shamoa tish’mu b’qoliy ushmartem et britiy vih’yiytem li cegulah mikal ha’amiym. Ki li kal ha’aretz; v’atem tihyu li mam’leketh Kohanym v’goy qadosh ~ “Now, therefore, if you will hearken with hearing to My Voice and keep My covenant, then you will exist to Me as a treasure from all the peoples; for to Me (belongs) all the earth; and you will exist to Me as a kingdom of priests and a nation of set-apartness.”
These words from our sedra are another simple if/then proposition. This is a common form of logical reasoning in most every language and culture on earth. It is a guarantee that, IF you will do this, THEN such will be the result. The implication is that the reverse also must be true: if you do NOT do this, then such will NOT be the result. It is an oddity of modern thought, and in particular of Western thinking that, while the positive aspect of logical reasoning is commonly considered – the “if you will do,” the negative aspect – “if you will not do,” is most often ignored or even rejected.
Many people who have been raised in Christian or secular culture have been taught that, with the advent of the “New Testament” and Jesus, this is no longer the case – that is, there are no longer any conditions placed on the chosen people of YHWH regarding their obedience and election. In other words, the “if/then” has been removed, and all one need do now is “believe” (or say you do) in order to become (and remain) one of the elect of YHWH – one of His Qedoshym, His “Saints.” This is not true now, never has been, and never will be.
Belief in YHWH, through the saving, sacrificial blood of Yehoshua, results in salvation. This salvation is free and unconditional. YHWH provided this simple avenue of escape from certain eternal death by His attributes of grace and mercy. However, to only SAY, “I believe,” without the subsequent evidence of works – that is, works of Torah – is not enough. In fact, it is a false faith, for it is written,
“Faith without works is dead.”
And,
“The one who says I know Him and does not guard His commands, is a liar and the Truth is not in him.”
About our Torah Parasha this week, Shimon Kepha (Peter) has something to say:
“As newborn babes, desiring the sincere milk of the Word (Torah), that ye may grow thereby: IF so be that ye have tested that YHWH is gracious. Drawing near to Him, a living Stone – rejected indeed by men, but chosen by Elohim and precious – you also, as living stones, are being built up, a spiritual house, a set-apart priesthood, to offer up spiritual slaughter offerings acceptable to Elohim through Yehoshua Hamashiach. Because it is contained in the scripture, ‘See, I lay in Tziyon a chief corner-stone, chosen, precious, and he who believes on Him shall by no means be put to shame.’”
In other words, IF YHWH has shown you grace through the death and resurrection of our Messiah, THEN you should desire to learn and do His Word – His Torah. Kepha next says of Yehoshua,
“This preciousness, then, is for you who believe; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner-stone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock that makes for falling,’ who stumble because they are disobedient to the Word, to which they also were appointed.”
In other words, IF you stumble at being Torah observant through deliberate disobedience (which is rebellion), then Yehoshua is that rock of offense and a stumbling stone, so he will be to you of no avail.
Finally, He paraphrases our Parshath in conclusion; speaking to those of you who do desire to be His obedient sons, and to learn and do His Torah:
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a nation of set-apartness; a treasured people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him, who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
Kepha agrees with the words of our Parasha, as well as the if/then proposition and conditional covenant it presents.
So, what of Yochanan 3:16 then?
“For Elohym so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but receive eternal life.”
You will point out to me that it says we need only “believe” in order to be saved and attain eternal life, and you will be correct. Now go and learn the difference between salvation and election, between the first resurrection and the second, between Yisrael and the great multitude who joins them, and between first fruits and the great harvest.
B'shalom, Ovadyah Ben Yisrael

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Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
The SKF Sabbath Afternoon Prayer Service and Lesson on the Commandments.

Join us live on Zoom and YouTube at 4pm CST on Sabbath afternoon, 02/03/2024, for Torah study and afternoon prayers.

The YouTube link is:


The Zoom link is:


We will be teaching the commandments found in the Torah portion for this week, then answering your questions on the lesson.

This week's lesson will be from parashath: Yithro - יתרו - “Jethro”

The readings are:
Torah Reading: Exodus 18:1-20:23
Haftarah Reading: Isaiah 6:1-7:6, 9:5-6
Kethuvym Hatalmidym Reading: 1 Peter 2:1-3, 9-12

The Torah study will be followed by a formal afternoon prayer service with an opportunity for open prayer from all before we close. We hope you will join us.

Be sure to visit our YouTube channel at: