Dear Friends in Yahshua,

What a memorable day this is!

The Jews say this is the most Holy day of the year...and with good reason.

It is the only time when we are commanded to fast.

The day that pictures our being cleansed from sin and
coming pure into the presence of our Father Yahweh.

It is a day that can be described in a few words but still offers great scope for deep study.

I am smitten by how far I am from being ready to come before Yahweh right now.

I feel that without our Master Yahshua the Messiah I would never be ready.

Yahweh dwells in purity and without sin.

That is His nature - perfect love, unlimited power, and complete knowledge.

I can say the words but I know I will not really understand what they mean
until that great day when I stand in His presence (if He grants me that).

Leviticus 23:26 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

27 "Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

28 And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your Elohim. 29 For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

32 It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath."

May Yahweh bless you with patience and righteousness on this Day of Atonement.

Tom and Cathy Schattke

Dear Friends in Yahshua,

I hope many of you are reading this in haste. Either because you are getting ready to go to the Feast or because you have a lot of email to go through after being gone at the Feast.

Of course "The Feast" is the Feast of Tabernacles, commanded in Lev. 23:33-36. For those who will not be attending we ask our Father Yahweh to correct whatever it is that is keeping you from the Feast this year. We pray that you will be there with the brethren next year. We also pray that the time of the Feast will bring blessings to you wherever you are;

Blessings in your study,

Blessings in your prayer and

Blessings in your relationships with those you love.

There will be no message next Sabbath because we will be keeping the Feast in Missouri.

For those who are going to the Feast we have been praying for you to have a good journey.
Please also be sure to do your part in driving carefully.
Not too fast, not while sleepy, watch for the fools and inexperienced drivers.
I think the real challenge is after we are at the Feast.
There will be people there. That can be our worst problem - or our biggest opportunity.
Cathy decided one year that nobody was going to spoil her Feast.
She determined to love everyone and greet everyone with a warm smile.
Amazingly, she had a wonderful Feast!
She kept doing it after that and it always seems to work.
Yahweh blesses us when we do our part, and when we are ready to receive it.
Praise Yahweh!

I think I could have skipped the last paragraph and just quoted:

Deuteronomy 16:13 "You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days,
when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress.
14 And YOU SHALL REJOICE in your feast, you and your son and your daughter,
your male servant and your female servant
and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates.
15 Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to Yahweh your Elohim
in the place which Yahweh chooses,
because Yahweh your Elohim will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands,
SO THAT YOU SURELY REJOICE."

May Yahweh bless you with love on this Sabbath Day.

And may Yahweh bless you with a good Feast of Tabernacles wherever you are keeping it.

Tom and Cathy Schattke

Dear Friends in Yahshua,

Praise Yahweh for a great Feast of Tabernacles!

We hope you all had a good Feast too.

Our Feast at Rocheport was filled with loving brethren. They came to Missouri from as far away as the Virgin Islands (12) Washington State (4) and Pennsylvania (bunches). We sang, discussed prophecy and other topics, heard sermons, prayed and sang some more. (We really like to sing.)

Next year the theme for the Feast will be "Blow the Trumpet in Zion" taken from Joel 2:1, 'Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of Yahweh is coming, For it is at hand!'

The use of the ram's horn shophar and also the silver trumpet in scripture makes a fascinating study. Only about a hundred verses are involved but they are some of the most exciting and significant passages in all of scripture. For example, 'shophar' is used only two places in the Torah. It is used three times in the story of the giving of the commandments in Exodus 19 and 20 and then just once more in the laws about the Jubilee Year in Leviticus 25:9. If you have time on Sabbath, look up the other places where these words are used and think about their meaning.

Both types of trumpet are used in 2 Chronicles 15:14: 'Then they took an oath before Yahweh with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and shophars.'

Psalms 150 invites us to praise Yahweh with a shophar:

HalleluYah! Praise El in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
Praise Him with the sound of the shophar;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise Yah!

HalleluYah!
 
 

May you fill your Sabbath with praises to Yahweh and may He bless you with faith on this Sabbath Day.

Tom and Cathy Schattke

Good Sabbath Dear Friends in Yahshua,

Sabbath is an unusual Holy Day because it looks backward in time toward Creation
and it also looks forward to the Millennium (Revelation 20:4).

Most of those who study Chronology agree that Creation was about six thousand years ago
and the signs indicate that now the end is near, within this generation.
If you think of 'a thousand years as a day' (Psalms 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8)
then the six thousand years could be considered as the profane time of man and Satan
with the seventh thousand years as a Sabbath of time devoted to Yahweh's ways.

Here are some scriptures that may relate Sabbath to the thousand year reign of the Messiah

2 Chronicles 36:21 to fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah,
until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths.
As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

Nehemiah 13:22 And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves,
and that they should go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day.
Remember me, O my Elohim, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy!

Ezekiel 46:1 'Thus says the sovereign Yahweh: "The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east
shall be shut the six working days;
but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened.

Mark 2:27 And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
28 "Therefore the Son of Man is also master of the Sabbath."

Another prophecy of the Millennium which shows the resemblance to the Sabbath:

Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh.
3 His delight is in the fear of Yahweh,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
6 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yahweh As the waters cover the sea.
10 "And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious."

May Yahweh bless you with hope on this Sabbath Day.

Tom and Cathy Schattke

Good Sabbath dear Friends in Yahshua,

Here are some more scriptures that tell us about the beginning of the kingdom reign of Yahshua.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty Elohim, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will perform this.

Acts 3:19 "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,
so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of Yahweh,
20 and that He may send Yahshua the Messiah, who was preached to you before,
21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things,
which Elohim has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began."

Luke 21:20 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.

Matthew 24:21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been
since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Matthew 24:27 "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west,
so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Matthew 24:30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven,
and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn,
and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet,
and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of Yahweh will come as a thief in the night,
in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise,
and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be
in pious conduct and spirituality, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of Elohim,
because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace,
without spot and blameless
15 and consider that the patience of our Master is salvation;
as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,

May Yahweh bless you with righteousness on this Sabbath Day.

Tom and Cathy Schattke

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