Support Israel

Pray for shalom in Yerushalayim; may those who love you prosper. May shalom be within your ramparts, prosperity in your palaces.(CJB) Psalms 122:6,7

I meet many in the body of Christ through the different types of social media available. After meeting fellow believers in Yeshua, I am amazed at how many tell me they like the “messianic” perspective I come from in my beliefs. Really? Are fellow believers that delusional? It seems a great majority of the body of Messiah leave out or forget the Jewishness of the Bible. There needs to be a restoring of the Jewishness of the Bible, the New Testament in particular. It is a fact that the New Testament is a Jewish book. It is by Jewish people, mostly about Jewish people and for the Jewish people and Gentiles. So why the big cover up? Why is the Jewishness of the New Testament, the Hebrew roots of our faith withheld from us? Rarely if any teaching or preaching is done concerning the Jewishness of the New Testament in churches today.

Yeshua our Messiah was a Jew. He was born into a Jewish family in Bethlehem. He was among Jews when he grew up. His ministry was mostly to Jews. He died and rose again in Jerusalem. He is alive! Guess what? Yeshua is still Jewish! Get back to the Jewish roots! Those who follow Him need to support the Jewish people. We should be supporting Israel. But again why do few lend their support? Now more than ever those who follow the Lord need to be supporting and lifting up Israel. You say you need some reasons? Well, Joyce Kaufman in the following video gives 7 reason to support Israel! For a believer, a Jewish Savior in our heart should be enough reason for us to support them!

Mirror Image

After Yeshua had said all this, he went out with his talmidim across the stream that flows in winter through the Vadi Kidron, to a spot where there was a grove of trees; and he and his talmidim went into it.(CJB) John 18:1

Talmidim(pl) means disciple , student. The Complete Jewish Bible says: The relationship between a talmid(disciple) and his rabbi was very close: not only did the talmid learn facts, reasoning processes and how to perform religious practices from his rabbi, but he regarded him as an example to be imitated in conduct and character(Mt 10:24-25;Lk 6:40;Jn 13:13-15;1 Cor 11:1 ) The rabbi, in turn, was considered responsible for his talmidim. (Mt12:2; Lk 19:39; Jn17:12) Mt 5:1 + (CJB page 1594,1595) What was the obligation of a talmid(disciple) during Yeshua’s time? A talmid was to learn everything his rabbi would teach. The talmid would pretty much shadow everything the rabbi would do. The foods the rabbi would eat, they would eat. They learned to observe Shabbat(Sabbath) the way the rabbi did. They learned to pray and fast from their rabbi. They learned how to keep the commandments of God. The talmidim followed their rabbi everywhere he went mirroring every facet of his life. A talmid was a mirror image of his rabbi. A talmid’s job was to learn everything his rabbi had to teach. A talmid(disciple) was to learn the walk of their rabbi as well as memorize all his teachings. He was to become like his rabbi. So not only were talmidim to memorize their rabbi’s words, learn their rabbi’s traditions and interpretations of scriptures, and mirror his life, they were to raise up other talmidim too.

How are we measuring up today? Are we walking the way Yeshua walked? Are we doing what He teaches? Are we mirroring Him and conveying His teachings to others? Are we keeping and teaching the Torah like Yeshua did? Yeshua kept the Sabbath as well as the feasts. Are we? Are we raising up other talmidim(disciples)? How many of us are memorizing God’s Word? How many of us are truly students of Yeshua, trying to learn everything He taught? How many of us are learning the walk of our rabbi, Yeshua? Is our life about imitating Him, doing the things He would do for a lost and dying world? What about raising up other disciples? Are we mentoring anyone? Are we helping anyone to become a better follower of Yeshua? Now by all means, no one is going to do this perfectly, that is a given. However, it seems we are a bit lax in “our definition”, “our pursuit” of what a talmid(disciple) is. This is the problem. It is our definition not His! Let our goal be to become a serous student of Yeshua, a mirror image of our Lord and Savior. With His help we can!

Backfire

The time approached for the king’s order and decree to be carried out, the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to overpower them. But, as it turned out, the opposite took place – the Jews overpowered those who hated them. Thus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. (CJB) Esther 9:1

Haman plotted to annihilate the Jews because of his savage hatred of Esther’s cousin Mordecai. Esther found out about Haman’s plan. She called for a fast in order to come before the king and make an appeal on behalf of her people, the Jews. The Jews were given permission by the king due to God’s providence, to defend themselves and be delivered from their enemies. As for Haman and his plan to destroy the Jews, his plan backfired. He was hung on the very gallows built to hang his enemy Mordecai on. The Jews definitely had their enemies who still wanted to destroy them. The time for the king’s orders and decree were to be carried out. The enemies of the Jews hoped to overpower them but the opposite happened. Those who hated the Jews were overpowered. The Jews defeated their enemies with the help of the king. It was God’s supreme power at work throughout the whole story.

There are many “Hamans” in our world today who desire nothing more than to see Jewish people exterminated once and for all. The New Testament talks of a “man of sin’ who will organize peace in the Middle East and pretend to be friendly with Israel. He will ultimately betray Israel and seek to have her utterly destroyed. The enemy’s final attempt to annihilate Israel once and for all will be thwarted, just as Haman’s attempt was thwarted. The enemy’s plan will backfire on him just like Haman’s plan backfired on him. Yeshua will return at the end of the Great Tribulation. He will destroy the “man of sin” by His word and deliver Israel as her rightful King and Lord. Those who call themselves followers of Yeshua should be Israel’s staunchest supporters. Then how come we aren’t? We are deceived! The Church barely recognizes her Jewish roots, where She has come from. We act like it started with us but it started with the Jews! The church has not replaced Israel either! Get with the program people! Today, the enemies of Jewish people hope to overpower them but the opposite is going to happen. The Jews defeated their enemies with the help of the king in the book of Esther. The Jews are going to defeat their enemies with the help of a king again! The King of Kings! Be a supporter of Israel! Love the Jewish people! It is biblical. How can we say we have a Jewish Savior in our hearts but hate the Jews? We cannot! Support Israel! Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Treasure His Word

My feet have stayed in his footsteps; I keep to his way without turning aside. I don’t withdraw from his lips’ command; I treasure his words more than my daily food. (CJB) Job 23:11,12

Even after everything that Job was going through he still followed God closely, his feet in His footsteps, not once swerving from His way. Job did not withdraw from any word God commanded. He treasured God’s Word more than his daily food. Job walked with God closely. He kept God’s way without turning aside, without compromise. God was important to Job, so much so that he let nothing keep him from walking in obedience to His commands. God’s way and word were of the utmost importance to Job. He cherished his relationship with God. He took God and His commands seriously without veering to the left or to the right. God’s word was not a duty or a burden but something Job treasured above food. He was a man who valued God and His Word.

How do we compare? Do we follow Him closely? Have we stayed on His paths and followed His ways? Can we say we have not departed from His commands? How much value do we place on the word of God? Job considered God’s word more important than food. How important is God’s Word to us? Do we cherish our relationship to God? If God’s word was treasured as much as natural food is, how much different would we be as the body of Messiah? We need to have a passion for God and His word like Job, so like him we can say we have stayed on God’s paths; We have followed his ways and not turned aside. We have not departed from his commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food.

Perhaps Today!

All that awaits me now is the crown of righteousness which the Lord, “the Righteous Judge,” will award to me on that Day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for him to appear. 2 Timothy 4:8 (CJB)

Paul is talking about the crown of righteousness the Lord will award not only Him but also to all who long for the Lord to appear. Along with Paul, anyone who lives with anticipation of the coming of Messiah Yeshua will receive the crown of righteousness. All who desire Messiah Yeshua’s second coming. All who serve Him like Paul, all who long for Him to appear will be awarded that Day by the Righteous Judge. Paul wanted them to long, eagerly look forward to, welcome the Lord’s return like he was. Paul wanted the Lord’s return to be so loved and looked for by those who were believers. Throughout the ages to believe in Messiah Yeshua’s second coming to judge the world and to desire His return sort of became a standard by which Yeshua’s followers were known. True followers of Messiah Yeshua were the only ones supposed to believe this and no others desired it.

What distinguishes a true follower of Messiah Yeshua from someone who is not? A true follower genuinely desires the return of Messiah Yeshua. They would welcome Yeshua’s appearing in the clouds. Is this us? Is this our heart? Are we being right with God and doing right while loving, yearning for and welcoming His return? There is a lovely, follower of Yeshua’s on Twitter who tweets “Perhaps today” everyday! She is longing, eagerly looking forward to, the Lord’s return each and every day. This is what she tweets. This is her heart. We need to have a heart like this, a heart which says, ” Perhaps today!” So along with Paul and all the many others who long for His return, we can be awarded by the Righteous Judge on that Day a crown of righteousness.

In Front Of Everyone

Therefore I advise you to take some food; you need it for your own survival. For not one of you will lose so much as a hair from his head.” When he had said this, he took bread, said the b’rakhah(blessing) to God in front of everyone, broke it and began to eat. (CJB) Acts 27:34-35

Paul was on his way to Rome. The ship he was on encountered great difficulty in a storm. Paul told the crew what God had spoken to him about what would happen to them all. Paul had warned the crew earlier the ship would encounter problems but at that time his warning was ignored. The storm had been raging on for 14 days. During this time the crew had not eaten so Paul advised them to eat for their own survival. Paul told the frightened crew and passengers not one of them would lose so much as a hair from their head. When he said this, he took the bread and said a blessing to God in front of everyone , broke it and began to eat. These on the ship were not believers. However, Paul was not ashamed of God. He was not afraid to declare openly his dependence on God and to express his thanks for His mercy.

What about us today? Do we pray over our meals? Or do we just hurriedly eat them forgetting to thank God for His provision? Is it really that big of a deal if we do not pray over our meals? Or do we pray over our meals at home but would never think about praying over them in public? Praying over our meals is a big deal! Why? If we cannot be bold enough to do this small witness for the Lord than we might need to examine our walk with Him! If we cannot be a witness in the small things, how will we ever be a witness at all? It is amazing how many people who call themselves believers who do not give thanks to God for His provisions. They will not give thanks to God in the presence of others at a restaurant, or even when they are at home. It is awesome to be out for a meal and see people at other tables, bowing their heads and asking God’s blessing on their food, in front of everyone. It can be a great way to open the door to witness to others, to share why we pray over our food. Are we ashamed of God? Are we afraid to declare openly our dependence on Him? Are we thankful for His provision? Those not willing to pray over their meal in front of everyone might just be an indicator that they are ashamed of Him! Let’s not be ashamed of Him! He has provided us with so much!

Answers

Now that the church as a whole (or the majority)
is observing sunday for worshipping, and all around
I see the faithfulness of God moving mightily answering
our prayers; should you suggest we change to saturday or
observe the sunday and worship God while doing all we should
be doing on the original Sabbath day?

Should we also call on God by El, Yahweh and Jesus as Yeshuah,
the Holy Spirit as set apart Spirit?
I want to please God with all I have but when I’m confronted
With all these evideences I’m sometimes led to wonder if all
I ever was made to believe is a sham.

Your timeous response will be greatly appreciated.

Exodus 31:12-17

First of all, thank you to anyone who stops by to read or even comment on what was written. It is so greatly appreciated. This is a comment that was received in regards to the post “The Sabbath”. Keeping the Sabbath is one of the ten commandments. We should be keeping this commandment no different than any others we should be keeping. Here is a list of a few verses about keeping God’s commandments.

Matthew 19:17
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:21
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

1 John 2:3
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

1 John 2:4
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1 John 3:22
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his

1 John 5:2
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments:

There are many more verses on keeping God’s commandments. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we are to obey all of God commands. This includes keeping the Sabbath. God does often times continue to bless us when we are disobedient to His commands. This is exactly because of His faithfulness and His grace. If God commands us to do something, why do we not do it? No, we want to do it our way and try to justify it. What about someone who is committing adultery? They justify their behavior because they see God is still faithful and answering their prayers? Or what about someone who is stealing from their job? God is faithful and and answering their prayers too. What should the person who is disobeying the command to not commit adultery do? What should the person who is disobeying the command not to steal do? They both should repent. The one needs to stop stealing. The other needs to stop cheating on their spouse. They both need to walk in obedience to God’s commands. It is no different with the Sabbath. We need to repent and do what needs to be done to walk in obedience to God’s Word. James 4:17 says: So then, anyone who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it is committing a sin.

The next part is what to call God. Just like a mom is called this by her child, this mom can also be called wife. She can be called sister as well as aunt. She can be called coworker or boss but her name is let’s say Nancy. She is called all these different things but she still is Nancy. This is the same with God. Check out this site for the Hebrew names of God. http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Names_of_G-d/El/el.html . Yeshua is the original Hebrew proper name for Jesus of Nazareth. It is the most proper to call Him Yeshua, since only in the Hebrew does His name have any meaning. In Hebrew Yeshua means “Salvation. The name Jesus has no intrinsic meaning in English, except as it is known as His name in English. Typically the name of Jesus is used since this name is commonly identifies the Messiah to English speaking people. However, it has so much more meaning with Jesus being called Yeshua because it means salvation.

We should be ever learning. When God shows us something in His Word which we never saw before, or He shows us somewhere we might be in error, we need to embrace it and learn from it. The best thing to do when confronted with something different from what we believe is to get into God’s Word ourselves. Check out what the church, pastor, teacher etc who we regularly sit under is saying. Do not take what they say at face value. We are human. We can make mistakes. We need to be people of His Word. We need to dig into it ourselves instead of being spoon fed like most of us are. Not only should we be reading God’s Word for ourselves. We should be studying it for ourselves too. Most are doing neither. Just look at the state of the Church for the evidence of this.

The Sabbath

ADONAI said to Moshe, “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘You are to observe my Shabbats; for this is a sign between me and you through all your generations; so that you will know that I am ADONAI, who sets you apart for me. Therefore you are to keep my Shabbat, because it is set apart for you. Everyone who treats it as ordinary must be put to death; for whoever does any work on it is to be cut off from his people. On six days work will get done; but the seventh day is Shabbat, for complete rest, set apart for ADONAI. Whoever does any work on the day of Shabbat must be put to death. The people of Isra’el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the people of Isra’el forever; for in six days ADONAI made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested.’” (CJB) Exodus 31:12:17

The command was from God to respect the Sabbath. God gave Israel work to build the tabernacle but He did not want them to work on the Sabbath. He said they were to observe the Sabbath through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. God told them the Sabbath was a sign between Him and Israel forever. Skip forward to the New Testament. Yeshua nor any of the Apostles gave the command to stop keeping the Sabbath which by the way was on Saturday not Sunday. Mankind changed the day not God. Yeshua’s death, burial and resurrection showed us that the Law could not make us righteous. We could only be made righteous through Yeshua. However, we are still supposed to obey His commandments, which includes keeping the Sabbath. Not only have we changed the day of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, most do not keep it.

Yeshua knew and kept the Sabbath day, Luke 4:16 but for some reason we do not want to keep the Sabbath day. We want to explain it away. Make excuses for not keeping it. Go with the flow because most say the Sabbath can be any day, or Sunday is the Sabbath, or we do not have to keep the Sabbath. Since when does a majority make it right? Look at what His Word says! Truly look for ourselves not what our Church, preacher or even this blog says! Just look! Would not be the first time mankind has got something wrong, or misunderstood something which they have thought they had correct! Again, the ten commandments, which keeping the Sabbath is one, or any of His commands which we keep does not save us, makes us righteous etc. A relationship with Yeshua is what saves us but we are still supposed to obey His commands. Keeping the Sabbath is one of them.

People cite Colossians 2:16 as the verse which shows we do not have to observe the Sabbath. They would rather explain the Sabbath away by saying anyone who says we must keep it is legalistic. Even respected Bible commentators of old knew this verse was not speaking of the seventh day Sabbath that most believers fight so much not to keep. Colossians 2:16. Adam Clarke, a Methodist, said: “There is no intimation here the Sabbath was done away, or that its moral use was superseded, by the introduction of Christianity….Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, is a command of perpetual obligation, and can never be superseded but by the final termination of time” (The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 2:524). Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown noted that the annual sabbaths “of the day of atonement and feast of tabernacles have come to an end with the Jewish services to which they belonged (Leviticus 23:32, 37-39),” but “the weekly sabbath rests on a more permanent foundation, having been instituted in Paradise to commemorate the completion of creation in six days” (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, p. 378). Albert Barnes, a Presbyterian, observed: “There is no evidence from this passage that he [Paul] would teach that there was no obligation to observe any holy time, for there is not the slightest reason to believe that he meant to teach that one of the ten commandments had ceased to be binding on mankind….He had his eye on the great number of days which were observed by the Hebrews as festivals, as a part of their ceremonial and typical law, and not to the moral law, or the ten commandments. No part of the moral law–not one of the ten commandments–could be spoken of as ‘a shadow of good things to come.’ These commandments are, from the nature of moral law, of perpetual and universal application” (A Popular Commentary on the New Testament, 7:267). God did not change His mind about the Sabbath. We did! For a more in depth look on the Sabbath. http://www.ecclesia.org/truth/sabbath.html and http://www.sabbathtruth.com/

Continue To Believe

“But this I do admit to you: I worship the God of our fathers in accordance with the Way (which they call a sect). I continue to believe everything that accords with the Torah and everything written in the Prophets. (CJB) Acts 24:14

Paul’s accusers call him a heretic but this is not so. Paul makes it clear that he has not forsaken the God of our fathers or the Torah(Law) and the Prophets. Paul lets his accusers know he worships the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the same God who they worship. He believes everything that is in agreement with the Torah(Law) and the Prophets. This is what he is determined to speak, live and die by so he is not a heretic. The Amplified Bible says: But this I confess to you, however, that in accordance with the Way [of the Lord], which they call a [heretical, division-producing] sect, I worship (serve) the God of our fathers, still persuaded of the truth of and believing in and placing full confidence in everything laid down in the Law [of Moses] or written in the prophets; Paul knew the leaders thought the Way which he followed was heresy. He told them he still worshiped the same God his ancestors worshiped. He believed everything written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets.

Look at the words of Paul very carefully. Even after the resurrection of Yeshua, Paul continued to believe everything written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets. He stilled lived by the Torah and the Prophets! He says so himself! Many today have sought to eliminate the Torah and the Prophets. However, Paul, the Apostles and most important of all Yeshua upheld the Torah because of their love for God. They did not look for ways to cancel or destroy the Torah(Law) and the Prophets as many do today. So why have we? Why are we so brainwashed in the “Church”? Why do we continue not to look at the Hebrew roots of the Bible? We want to believe the Torah(Law) was canceled or destroyed. Why? On the account we do not want to walk in obedience to it. Paul believed in Yeshua. He was born again. Yet he still believed the Torah. How can we say we no longer have to obey the Torah(Law) when Paul made this statement affirming his belief in the entire Torah? The “Church” must not continue to neglect or negate its Hebrew roots any longer. We are seriously deceived. What we fail to see is that we have adopted our own way. We are not fully embracing God’s biblical commandments and principles. We have deceived ourselves into thinking the Torah is no longer because of Yeshua but again Paul kept and affirmed the observances of the Law. He defended himself against his accusers by declaring his allegiance to the Law. When are we going to continue to believe everything that accords with the Torah and everything written in the Prophets?

Love Of Money

For the love of money is a root of all the evils; because of this craving, some people have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves to the heart with many pain. (CJB) 1 Timothy 6:10

This verse often, gets misquoted for “money is the root of all evil”. However, the Apostle Paul did not say this. He said it was the love of money is the root of all evils. It is not the money itself which is evil. Money is neutral. It can be used in the hands of a follower of Messiah Yeshua to be a blessing to others. However, Paul is speaking of a covetous love of money. This covetous love of money is the source of every sin. Paul knew the love of money causes all kinds of trouble. He warned them that some people want money so much that they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain. They left the faith because they wanted to get more money but they have caused themselves much sorrow. Paul was trying to spare them from this sorrow and pain which the love of money causes. He wanted them to have a right perspective on money.

In our society, people murder, cheat, lie, steal along with a host of other things for the love of money. Many have wandered from the faith because of their love of money. They put their love of money above their love for God. They serve money as if it is God, putting their trust and confidence in it. Many professing believers have been deceived to depart from the faith by the promises held out by the possibility of wealth. The love of money pushes people on to all evil. We can look around our world today with many proofs that every sort of wickedness grows from the love of money. The believer is not immune to this. We have to be careful not to fall into the trap of the pursuit of prosperity above our love for God. Paul warns us what will the end be for those who succumb to the love of money. The love for money will bring trouble nothing but trouble. We must have money but not love it. We can use money as a tool to further the gospel of Messiah Yeshua,to be a blessing to others as well as provide us with food, clothing and shelter. What are we pursuing? Are we pursuing more ways we can make money for ourselves and our selfish needs? Or are we pursing hard after God? Which is it? Love of Money or love of God?