Sabbath Keepers Fellowship Weekly Torah Study

Join us on Zoom for prayer, fellowship and discussion of the weekly Torah portion, the Haftarah, the Writings of the Disciples, and the Min Hazaqen Torah Commentary.

Our small, friendly group welcomes beginners and those who are learned in the scriptures, and we always take time for questions and answers.

We begin at 7pm Central Time on the 5th day of each week. Here is the link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4731209848

Join Us!

From This Week’s Torah Portion:
“And it shall be, because you hear these judgments, and shall guard and do them, that YHWH your Elohim shall guard with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers, and shall love you and bless you and increase you, and shall bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you. Blessed are you above all peoples – there is not going to be a barren man or a barren woman among you or among your livestock. And YHWH shall turn away from you all sickness and put on you none of the evil diseases of Mitsrayim which you have known, but He shall put them on all those who hate you.
And you shall consume all the peoples whom YHWH your Elohim is delivering over to you – your eye shall not pardon them. And do not serve their mighty ones, for that is a snare to you. When you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I, I am unable to drive them out,’ do not be afraid of them. Remember well what YHWH your Elohim did to Pharaoh and to all Mitsrayim, the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders, the strong hand and the outstretched arm, by which YHWH your Elohim brought you out. YHWH your Elohim does so to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. And YHWH your Elohim also sends The Hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed. Do not be afraid of them, for YHWH your Elohim, the great and awesome Ěl, is in your midst.”

From This Week’s Torah Portion:
“And you shall love YHWH your Elohim and guard His charge, even His laws, and His judgments, and His commands - always.”

From This Week’s Torah Portion:
“Mankind does not live by bread alone, but by Every Word that comes from the mouth of YHWH.”
“One indeed believes to eat all food, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. He that eats, let him not despise him who does not eat, and he that does not eat, let him not judge him who eats, for Elohim received him. Who are you that judges another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. But he shall be made to stand, for Elohim is able to make him stand. One indeed judges one day (of weekly fasting) above another, another judges every day alike. Let each one be completely persuaded in his own mind. He who minds the day, minds it to YHWH. And he who does not mind the day, to YHWH he does not mind it. He who eats, eats to YHWH, for he gives Elohim thanks. And he who does not eat, to YHWH he does not eat, and gives Elohim thanks. For not one of us lives to himself, and not one dies to himself. For both, if we live, we live unto the Master, and if we die, we die unto the Master. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Master’s. For unto this Messiah died and rose and lived again, to rule over both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Messiah. For it has been written, As I live, says YHWH, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to Elohim. Each one of us, therefore, shall give account of himself to Elohim. Therefore, let us not judge one another any longer, but rather judge this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling-block in our brother’s way. I know and am persuaded in the Master Yeshua that none at all is common of itself. But to him who regards whatever to be common, to him it is common. And if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not by your food ruin the one for whom Messiah died. Do not then allow your excellence to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of Elohim is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Set-apart Spirit. For he who is serving Messiah in these matters is well-pleasing to Elohim and approved by men. So, then, let us pursue the matters of peace and the matters for building up one another. Do not destroy the work of Elohim for the sake of food. All indeed are clean, but evil to that man who eats so as to cause stumbling. It is excellent not to eat meat or drink wine, nor to do whatever by which your brother stumbles. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before Elohim. Blessed is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts, if he eats, is condemned, because it is not of faith, and all that is not of faith is sin.”
“Food is for the stomach and the stomach for foods – but Elohim shall destroy both it and them.”

From This Week’s Torah Portion:
“Guard to do every command which I command you today, that you might live, and shall increase, and go in, and shall possess the land of which YHWH swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that YHWH your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you guard His commands or not.”
It is popular among those who refuse to keep all or most commands of Torah law (and amongst many wannabe Torah-keepers who refuse to keep certain commandments they find disagreeable) to say when asked about their rebellion, “Oh, but YHWH knows my heart!” And it is true, He does. In fact, He has this to say about it:
“The heart is crooked above all, and desperately sick – who shall know it? I, YHWH, search the heart, I try the kidneys, and give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
“The heart is crooked above all, and desperately sick...” Don’t trust it, and don’t “lean on your own understanding” when it comes between you and keeping His commandments – any of them. Just do them – every single one that is possible for you to perform. That is the only safe way to go – it is His Way.
Another popular thing to say among those who refuse to keep all of YHWH’s Torah is, “I will study it out further, then pray about it and see what He tells me to do.” But why put Him to the test? As with other scriptural figures who asked Him again regarding things He had already given His Word about, what different result would you expect? He has given us His Torah and commanded us to keep it, all of it, “forever.” That IS what He wants you to do. He “does not change.”
In response to this, most people will say, “But this has all changed under the New Covenant.” Really? His own son seemed to have a different opinion, saying not the smallest mark would pass from the Torah “until heaven and earth pass away.” Last time I checked, they hadn’t. And, if this were true that the New Covenant would nullify the Torah then why does it not say so? In fact, it says just the opposite:
“See, the days are coming,” declares YHWH, “when I shall make a New Covenant with the house of Yisra’el and with the house of Yehudah, not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I strengthened their hand to bring them out of the land of Mitsrayim, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares YHWH. “For this is the covenant I shall make with the house of Yisra’el after those days, declares YHWH: I shall put My Torah in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts. And I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. And no longer shall they teach, each one his neighbor, and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know YHWH,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares YHWH. “For I shall forgive their crookedness and remember their sin no more.” Thus said YHWH, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the laws of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, and its waves roar – YHWH of hosts is His Name: “If these laws vanish from before Me,” declares YHWH, “then the seed of Yisra’el shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.” Thus said YHWH, “If the heavens above could be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I would also cast off all the seed of Yisra’el for all that they have done,” declares YHWH.”
Therefore, according to His own words, to know and be known by YHWH, we keep His commandments. This is how He says He “proves” us. Believe Him.