What To Do Now

What To Do Now!

(09-06-15 www.LifeChurchSpringfield.org)

Next Sunday is September 13th. That is a significant day on the Jewish calendar: Elul 29. Elul 29 marks the end of their civil year and the beginning of the New Year.

A couple of weeks ago we talked about why Elul 29 is particularly important in 2015. As a quick review go back with me to Leviticus 25:1-7

“The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2 ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you--for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.”

Here in His covenant with Israel, God established the Shemitah: the Sabbath year. Just as He established the seventh day as a special day of rest for each week, He also established the seventh year as a special year of rest as well. In that message we saw that Israel’s failure to honor the Shemitah was a significant factor in God’s judgment on the nation and in their captivity. I will not go back over all that; the message is available on our website under the title “Is America in for a Shaking?”

Simply understand that next Sunday is a major event concluding the Shemitah and launching an even more significant occasion: the beginning of the Year of Jubilee. Nobody can be 100% sure which year is the Year of Jubilee (I won’t take time to discuss why that is the case); but there is very good reason to identify this month as the beginning of the Year of Jubilee. Follow with me as we read Lev 25:8-13

“Count off seven sabbaths of years--seven times seven years--so that the seven sabbaths of years seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. 13 "'In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property.”

So on September 13th the Shemitah will conclude and ten days later on the Day of Atonement the Year of Jubilee probably begins. That is significant stuff going on right now!

In this message we will talk about how we should respond to all that; but I want to give you a little more information first. In your notes is a calendar of events in September.

Date 2015 Jewish Holiday

Begins Sunset Sept. 13 Elul 29 Rosh Hashanah

Ends Nightfall Feasts of Trumpets

Sept. 15 New Year Begins

Sept 13-23 Ten Days of Penitence

Begins Sunset Sept 22 Tishri 9-10 Yom Kippur

Ends Nightfall Sept 23 Day of Atonement

Begins Sunset Sept 27 Tishri 14-21 Sukkot

Ends Nightfall Oct 4 Feast of Ingatherings

Feast of Tabernacles

Current Events

Sept 16-17 Federal Reserve Rate Decision

Sept 17 Deadline for Vote on Iran Nuclear Agreement

Sept 23 Pope meets with President Obama

Sept 28 Blood Moon

At sunset next Sunday, the shofar will sound and the Feast of Trumpets begins. If you recall we talked about the blowing of that shofar being a release of debt for Israelites. It is also an announcement of the New Year. Numbers 29:1 refers to this as the Day of Shofar or Blowing. The Hebrew word is teruah. "'On the first day of the seventh month (Tishri) hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. 2 As an aroma pleasing to the LORD, prepare a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect….” Rosh Hashanah is considered a Day of Judgment. There is heightened awareness of individual accountability to God for sin.