Question: Is the Bible the word of God or does it contain the word of God?

I was asked this in a YouTube comment thread that started by making the claim that verse by verse expository preaching is an essential for a Church group.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 1:1‭-‬5 ESV

Jesus is the Word.

Jesus clearly drew a distinction between Himself and the Scriptures:

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”
John 5:39‭-‬40 ESV

So Jesus is the Word but not the Scriptures, right?

And yet we have 1 Corinthians 10 letting us know the role of Scripture:

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”
1 Corinthians 10:11

I have a couple of questions. Why do so many people want to elevate the Scriptures as the Pharisees did instead of turning to Jesus who has the life? Do they share something in common with the Pharisees?

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
Acts 7:51‭-‬53 ESV

Our friend followed up with:

How do you know which are the words of God and which aren’t?

To which I asked: Are you an obedient child of God or not?

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
1 John 4:1‭-‬6 ESV

We need to come to Jesus, trust in Jesus and have the faith that He will lead us into all truth.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
John 16:12‭-‬15 ESV

Delved Too Deep..

Here is where we find that we don’t need cheap crap imported from across the globe. Where we realize that satisfaction doesn’t come from a hedonically adjusted lifestyle. Where we will find comfort from the heat of a well made fire and gratification from the produce of a garden well kept. Where we will finally have a decent chance at burying the ruin that is the Balrog of globalism where our leaders delved too greedily and too deeply .

Things That I Follow: Faith

I’m wanting to turn a corner on this blog. Previously I posted my devotional work here and published my political and anti-social justice work over at Empathalogism. What I plan to do moving forward is deal with these topics more holistically as I feel the Holy Spirit working out what have been fairly disparate elements in my daily fodder. I have had great difficulty in seeing how God would have me move across all of these disciplines. A word of warning here, I track into some very far flung territory and what I read and watch is not necessarily what I endorse or recommend. I will also give language and content warnings where applicable. (Hyperlinks look like this: (Link), and will take you to what I’m referencing)

As I started to assemble the links and contemplate this task I realized the extensive scope of this idea. I initially intended to make this a single post but on further consideration I will break this down into different headings and post them as resource links at the top of the page for later reference. Currently I’m thinking the topical headers will be:

Faith, covering the resources I use to develop in my walk with Jesus.

Zionism, covering what I see as a principle driver of world events, prophesy, culture, Church history and end-time eschatology.

Culture, will cover topics such as social justice, feminism, church culture (or churchianity) and political developments as they relate to the Church and the Faith.

Apologetics, covering the arguments for the Faith and why we have the hope that we do despite the bleakness of the track that humanity appears to be on. (1 Peter 3:15).

Worldview, this is what informs my understanding of Creation, history, human philosophies, science and technology.

Faith:

I have several sources of inspiration here. I have been attending a truly non-denominational fellowship for the past 3 years. They focus on Jesus Christ and won’t argue about Calvinism/Armianism, Dispensationalism/Covenant Theology or any of the other standard points of division within the Body. Everyone has their opinion to be sure but the focus is on the core tenants of the Faith.

There are several YouTube channels I watch that are also very good, primarily I watch a Calvary Chapel pastor name Mike Winger who has an excellent spirit when it comes to dealing with brothers with differing doctrine:

Mike Winger’s YouTube Channel

Mike Winger’s Website

My brother in the Lord, The Lord’s Anvil recommended On Point Preparedness to me a while back and I have been watching his videos with my wife lately:

On Point Preparedness’s YouTube Channel

Mike Wells Abiding Life Ministry DVD

Paul Washer’s preaching on Holiness has had a significant impact on me over the years:

Paul Washer’s YouTube Channel

I see Russell Stendal as a prototypical example of what we will need more of as the pressures increase on the Church in the West. He has been a missionary to South America whose autobiographical story “Rescue the Captors” tells of his time as a hostage to Marxist guerrilla rebels in Colombia. It covers the ground of what it costs us to fight against Satan while dealing with the men he influences. His body of work is very impressive. I will often cite his translation “The Jubilee Bible” as it eliminates a lot of additional words from the KJV in order to be more faithful to the original koiné Greek.

Here is Russ Stendal’s dramatized story that occurred after the events of “Rescue the Captors”

Pt. 2

The Bible Application I use is E-Sword and I still do much of my searching with Google which usually points me to the pertinent verse on Biblehub which allows me a more flexible search function than the one in E-Sword. I’m still waiting for E-Sword on Android…..until then I use the Tecarta App on my phone. Where I can I will point people away from Amazon, Wikipedia, and Google sources. I prefer Infogalactic which is Vox Day’s fork of Wikipedia because it’s eliminated the problem of Social Justice editing.

Sidenote: Vox Day’s blog covers much of the news and cultural territory I am working through and I read him regularly. He has a Deus Vult approach to the problems I look into. He is not averse to more direct action in the coming ethnic conflict we see Jesus prophesy of in Matthew 24:7. His blog Vox Popoli (more of a culture link) goes straight for the jugular on cultural issues and earns a mild content warning from me.

George Warnock’s classic work on the typology of the Feasts of the Lord: The Feast of Tabernacles.

This is a pretty good start on Faith, however I plan to add to this and improve the links here as we go along.

Farther Along

One of the things that has hit me in the past year is how dependent I am on revelation from God. As I get older and I’ve spent more time in the Way with Lord Jesus I’ve come to realize how utterly dependent I am on Him to do what I thought was basic when I was younger. The ability to understand anything for example. My understanding is a bruised reed and a smoldering flax, when I have humility in my heart and I am faithful to knock He is faithful to fill me with His understanding. Then an amazing thing always happens, He gives me the gift of even deeper humility. He gives me understanding of His grace, mercy and deep love for me. None of this can happen when I hold the pride of knowing something for myself in my heart.

View from Mt. Healy, Denali Park – Alaska 2017

As I mentioned in my last post I have great trepidation in writing now that the Father has began to reveal this to me and expose the motives of my heart. My particular point of hubris is as a culture warrior fighting against the progressive elements in our Church and society, a point on which I am still very strong-willed, I confess. The big issue being how to resist the enemies assault on the Church in a Godly and masculine way. In my striving I found it easy to lean on the arm of my own flesh and my own understanding and turn my back on God’s rest. As the “manosphere” would put it, I was busy about my own business establishing my own “frame” while trying to cling to the covering I have in Jesus Christ. His rest, His “frame” (in all reality His Cross) and mine are not compatible. While I have adopted some of the attitudes, skills and techniques of leadership that were invaluable in my growth as a husband and leader from a circle of Godly men found here I have struggled with bringing into submission under Jesus much of the truth I’ve been exposed to.

I would point to an old revelation that the Lord gave to me regarding the action of the enemy:

And all thy sons shall be taught of the LORD; and the peace of thy sons shall be multiplied. With righteousness shalt thou be adorned: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear it; and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. If anyone should conspire against thee, it shall be without me, whosoever would conspire against thee shall fall before thee. Behold, I have created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, and that brings forth the instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the slaves of the LORD, and their justice from me, said the LORD.
(Isa 54:13-17)

I came to the realization that much of what is considered by many to be the Church is going to be consumed by this destroyer as I wrote about in Into the Maw of the Matriarchy. What I’ve increasingly come to realize as we are siding towards an era of outright hostility and persecution of those espousing Jesus Christ is that anyone who is NOT taught of the Lord is going to be consumed by this thing. The whole point of the exercise is to destroy all flesh, yours and mine which will compel us to abide entirely within Jesus Christ.

The thing is that God has allowed for the construction of such a monstrous beast in the Social Justice movement that I’m now more than ever convinced that He is the only one that can overcome it, and that is the point.

As we head into a time of the below ground Church, a Church I feel as if God has been preparing me for my entire life I MUST realize the futility of political fights and remember what we are fighting against and with what tools. For example: who will we invite into our home fellowships? With whom will we share the Good News? Assuredly, that will come to mean risking our jobs, our homes, our well-being and perhaps our lives? If we are to share Jesus Christ and His Cross with the chronically offended and the professionally oppressed it needs to be done with a sensitivity of spirit that far exceeds my imagination, it also lies outside of the bounds of the culture of Christian Masculinity:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God for the destruction of strong holds), casting down reasonings and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ and having a readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If anyone trusts to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s.
(2Co 10:3-7)

God Himself in His goodness and mercy will not allow anything else to prevail. That is a good thing, as we will see.

Farther Along ~ Josh Garrels

Farther along we’ll know all about it
Farther along we’ll understand why
So cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine
We’ll understand this, all by and by
Tempted and tried, I wondered why
The good man dies, the bad man thrives
And Jesus cries because he loves em’ both
We’re all cast-aways in need of ropes
Hangin’ on by the last threads of our hope
In a house of mirrors full of smoke
Confusing illusions I’ve seen
Where did I go wrong, I sang along
To every chorus of the song
That the devil wrote like a piper at the gates
Leading mice and men down to their fates
But some will courageously escape
The seductive voice with a heart of faith
While walkin’ that line back home
there’s so much more to life than we’ve been told
It’s full of beauty that will unfold
And shine like you struck gold my wayward son
That deadweight burden weighs a ton
Go down into the river and let it run
And wash away all the things you’ve done
Forgiveness alright
Farther along we’ll know all about it
Farther along we’ll understand why
So cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine
We’ll understand this, all by and by
Still I get hard pressed on every side
Between the rock and a compromise
Like the truth and pack of lies fightin’ for my soul
And I’ve got no place left go
Cause I got changed by what I’ve been shown
More glory than the world has known
Keeps me ramblin’ on
Skipping like a calf loosed from its stall
I’m free to love once and for all
And even when I fall I’ll get back up
For the joy that overflows my cup
Heaven filled me with more than enough
Broke down my levee and my bluff
Let the flood wash me
And one day when the sky rolls back on us
Some rejoice and the others fuss
Cause every knee must bow and tongue confess
That the son of god is forever blessed
His is the kingdom, we’re the guests
So put your voice up to the test
Sing Lord, come soon
Farther along we’ll know all about it
Farther along we’ll understand why
So cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine
We’ll understand this, all by and by

Coming Back From Hiatus

It’s been quite a while since I last set foot in these parts. The Lord has done a lot of chastening in my life, a lot of growing. I’ve took a full time job in the “city” about 3 years ago and left my cabin in the woods that God had placed me in for an extended season. The increased pressure of work and the fact that I’m now living in an apartment were a catastrophic sea change for me. I now attend a fellowship larger than I could have imagined a mere 5 years ago. All of this has had some serious consequences for my worldview and my attitude.

One of the things that was confronted was my attitude towards the state of the Church and Social Justice. The battle is still raging and I am still in it but the Lord has given me a new perspective on the participants. I have wrote about this in the past. I no longer consider my participation in the same light.

And Joshua, being near Jericho, lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou one of us or one of our adversaries? And he said, No, but I am the Prince of the host of the LORD; now I am come. Then Joshua falling upon his face in the earth worshipped him and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his slave? And the Prince of the LORD’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place on which thou dost stand is holy. And Joshua did so.
(Jos 5:13-15)

So, the Lord has been continuing to deal with me. In a more dramatic way in the past several months as I began the RZIM Core Module and started interacting with people with different perspectives than me, some I would view as “Churchians”. God has used them in my life. I have been getting a lot of encouragement to begin writing again and my sister started blogging recently. Today I hit a point where I knew the Lord was calling me to continue in a deeper capacity as a writer. The message at Church hit me like a specific instruction.

I have a great deal of reluctance in my writing. Putting words down and committing to them is daunting. I worry about the error I could be broadcasting and what damage I could be causing by my callous attitudes towards things I haven’t begun to understand (and there are plenty of them). All I can do is try to be obedient and depend on the Lord’s divine enablement (Grace) and mercy. To hear His Holy Spirit and to move in faith, knowing that He is faithful.

Counsel these things, charging them before the Lord. Strive not in words that profit nothing, but rather subvert the hearers. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that has nothing to be ashamed of, rightly dividing the word of truth. But avoid profane and vain wordiness, for it will develop into ungodliness.
(2Ti 2:14-16)

I’m brushing across a lot of territory here, territory I intend to cover more deeply and expand on in the posts to come. I have some blog maintenance to do and some bridges to mend that have been neglected in the past few years. I hope to be a blessing to my readers and that this will be an encouragement in the time to come.

Also, I intend to be more transparent with my personal life as I have come to be less afraid of those potential consequences (with the encouragement of my wife and family). It may get interesting.

A Few Scriptures to Meditate On

Consider:

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD’S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word: If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings. And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king’s house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD’S house. Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.

Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard. Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you. But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears. (Jeremiah 26:1-15)

In light of the words of Jesus here:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Matthew 23)

What has become of Jerusalem?

Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.  (Revelation 18:20-24)

A few questions to meditate on:

• What was the warning that God delivered to Jerusalem through his prophet Jeremiah?
• Did Jerusalem heed that warning?
• Where is the blood of the prophets and saints found?

Let it go? “Frozen”.

Believers, take a hard look at this:

Lyrics:

It’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me I’m free!

Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You’ll never see me cry!

Here I stand
And here I’ll stay
Let the storm rage on!

My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I’m never going back,
The past is in the past!

 ***********************************************************

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
(Luk 10:18)

Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
(Rev 12:12-13)

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
(Psa 2:1-3)

These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
(Jud 1:12-13)

How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
(Rev 18:7)

I propose that “Let It Go” is an anthem from the lips of a roaring lion.

Rest.

Linked here is an excellent discourse about the children of Israel entering into God’s rest and the consequences of not entering into His rest by faith.

https://www.reviveourhearts.com/radio/revive-our-hearts/finding-true-rest-1/

In my opinion this is as good of a teaching on the topic of rest and faith as given as a warning from the Old Testament. The Lord’s Anvil has been speaking on this for decades, it’s the first time I’ve seen the teaching from an Evangelical perspective.

(Nancy also has excellent teachings on marriage.)

 

The Way (Psalm 2:12)

The Lord has been instructing me concerning sanctification lately.

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
(Joh 17:14-17)

As soon as we started following Jesus Christ, obeying His word and following after him we started being sanctified by Him. He started making us different from the world. That is what “saint” is, a sanctified one, one that is set apart from the world and it’s ways and established in THE WAY, Jesus Christ. This opposition between us and the world further creates a separation, as Moses and Israel were brought into opposition (through slavery and the calling out process) with Egypt. God led them to a place of separation at the Red Sea where He destroyed Pharaoh’s armies and put a sea between them and Egypt. Baptism is a reflection of this separation. As saints the world is not our friend.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
(Joh 16:33)

I’ve been providing some technical assistance in excavating a foundation lately. It’s for a strange building (a giant shed with concrete footers). As we have been establishing grade (the level that the building will be built at) we encountered a large pocket of “frost-susceptible” silt (think clay). It has been necessary for us to dig out this silt and replace it with silt-free gravel but given the time constraints, the fact that there are utilities in the silty area and the size of the area instead of cutting ALL of the silt out of the foundation pad my employer has elected to cut out only the areas under the footers themselves. This is making a large horseshoe shaped hole with a gooey blob of silt in parts of the middle. Because ALL of the silt wasn’t removed it was inevitable that the silt-free gravel we put back into the hole became contaminated with the silt. Ouch!

God, wants to get ALL of “sin-susceptible” dirt out of MY foundation.

Last week I was considering this:

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
(2Ch 34:2-5)

I need to strip all of the garbage out. All of the compromises. all of the things that encroach on what should be God’s alone. The “way” is a path away from the world’s normal mode of operation. No more leeks and onions (and clay bricks) for God’s children.

Now finally,

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
(Psa 2:12)

We need to embrace “the way” with all we have. The world is going to burn and we need to stop identifying with what God is bringing judgement against. There are no military or political solutions to what is wrong with this world, only sanctification and judgement.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
(Deu 30:19-20)

The Law is a Shadow.

I’ve been having a conversation online with a member of the Hebrew Roots Movement (HRM).  I have found some interesting parallels between their understanding and my own. However, their insistance upon the performance of the law as a requirement for pleasing God becomes a sticking point I am trying to iron out with one of them. The following text is a comment I made regarding the observance of the Mosaic law (with a tip of the hat to the Lord’s Anvil who I have had extensive conversations with on this topic).

The law was a shadow, not the thing itself. Like the shadows of my hands shows you the outline of my hands with the sense of proportion and the idea that I have 10 digits they are not my hands themselves. When we are told not to steal, it is not enough to not steal we must not be a thief in our heart, to do so is to sin. The person who is not a thief has had the law written on their heart and their shadow will not steal. The person abiding in the Lord has that law written on their heart, they are at rest and their shadow will be a reflection of this rest. I am open to the possibility that God may want me to observe a rest but that is something I will do as I conform to His will, not because I am trying my hardest to make the proper shadow puppet on the ground.

And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
(Rom 2:27-29)

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
(1Co 7:19-20)

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than 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 the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
(1Sa 15:22-23)

If God desires that I stand on my head every 5th day of the month and I don’t perform it, it is a sin unto me. If He tells me to keep a sabbath rest day and I don’t it is sin to me. If He tells me to fast for a week straight and I don’t it is a sin to me. This is accomplished through HEARING and circumcision of the heart and enablement by the Holy Spirit. Not by my own comprehension and effort.

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
(Jas 4:17)

I have been taught and understand that the observance of a day isn’t as important as an abiding rest in His presence daily. When I fail to enter His rest it is a sin to me, no matter what day it is. If I don’t cease from MY OWN works on ANY day it is a sin. My works need to be dead, my heart of flesh needs to be cut off and I need to cease from my own vain endeavors. That is the whole law, not just the shadow of it.

O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
(Hos 14:1-3)

Find the balance of the discussion here.

An excellent video on the topic by Chris White was what kicked the whole thing off: