Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of Yahweh and their faith in Yeshua. (Revelation 14:12)
Here are some pictures of a little community service work we did serving homeless women and families in the Kansas City area. Praise Yahweh for the blessed servants of City Union Mission and pray for those they serve to become successful and independent!
Achieving spiritual and mental peace in a world full of change.
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Navigating Change
Achieving spiritual and mental peace
This one has been on my mind for a long time. How do we deal with change. Children get older, we change jobs, we have people come and go in our lives, loved ones die, finances get good then bad then good again. Life is just full of changes.
Restoring our house. Yes, restoring. We let it go far too long. Change and the downstairs door.
It’s not so bad. Politicians in office for decades. It’s not so bad. I’m a little overweight but my health is decent. It’s not so bad. The plant closed down years ago, everybody moved away. It’s not so bad. My boss is abusive, It’s not so bad. Pharaoh is killing our male children and making us slaves. It’s not so bad.
How many times have we talked ourselves out of changing, even when it’s plain as the nose on our faces that Yahweh is telling us to change. Or, in other words, how bad does it have to get?
Slide 2 Not that I have already grasped it all or have already become perfect, but I press on if I may also take hold of that for which I was even taken hold of by Messiah Yeshua. Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Messiah Yeshua. (Php 3:12-14)
At some point we have to leave Egypt. Paul is using flowery language here to tell us not look back. Lot’s wife did and she chose to die with those of Sodom and Gomorrah. Once we enter the Red Sea, there’s no turning back. That’s with salvation and our relationship with Yahweh and His Son, though. What about the other parts of life? How do we know when it’s time to change that job or make other big decisions? On the other hand, how do we know when our long -term habits aren’t bad or are even good? Does it matter if I keep forgetting to use that door? Even though I realize from time to time how silly it is for me to keep going upstairs to go outside, across the deck, down the deck stairs and walk over to exactly where I would have been if I just had used the door that I keep forgetting works now. Again.
What about national sins? Israel was commanded to leave Egypt. And then chased out. And put on the other side of a sea so they could not go back. But they were also commanded to remember being slaves and their liberation. Paul talks about forgetting what lies behind, but can we really do that? Or should we even do that? To a degree, we need to. Once we are born again, we become new people in Messiah and we need to move forward with that fresh start. But we also need to remember where we came from for the sake of contrast. And for the sake of empathy and compassion:
Slide 3 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. (1Co 15:9-10)
The same guy who wrote that we need to forget the past and focus on the future also reminds us how he used to persecute the followers of Yeshua. Paul puts forth a healthy mix for achieving spiritual and mental peace. We need to look forward while remembering where we came from and thanking Yahweh for delivering us from our sinful pasts. Yeshua has provided the payment for our sins and we are free from them, but we also need to remember them as they become more distant memories. We also remember them so we can embrace those who join us on this path and reassure them that our new lives are indeed much better once we embrace the Torah and the Messiah.
Judgment day is explained in detail in Revelation 20. At the end of this age there will be a reckoning. The books will be opened and all will be made known, both good and bad. And at that moment, we will realize the depth of Yahweh’s justice, love, and mercy. We will have similar moments in our lives. My mother passed last year. Going through her papers and mementos was very emotional. I found a will she crafted when I was somewhere around 18 years old. She and my father were going on a sailing trip. Being poor, it was the only nice thing I really remember them doing when I was a kid. While they were on the trip, I threw a house party and wrecked the family car. She wrote a will to make sure my niece and nephew they were raising at the time and I would have what we needed to finish being raised while at the same time I was an out of control teen. I had forgotten all about those events in the last 30 years because I would never do such a thing again. And my own children were raised in such a way that they would never think to do such a thing. Reading that will was very emotional and a small precursor to what will happen for all mankind on Judgment day, when everyone finds out how Yeshua loved us all while we were yet sinners. And then comes this.
Slide 4 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.” (Isa 65:17-19)
After it’s all made known, and judgment is meted out to both the righteous and the wicked, we who are saved will move on into the olam ha ba, the world to come. We’ll move into eternity, a sinless eternity, where we will have no need to remember our former sins. What a wonderful time that will be!
If you think the world has gone crazy, rest assured, it has, and we need a hard push to return us to normal.
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Sarah Sanders recent speech that this message references below.
Explaining how the first century Christians were expected to follow the Torah portions each Sabbath, the origin of this practice, and then using the portion called Jethro to explain important foundations of Christianity established in the book of Exodus.
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Highlights from the last two Torah portions, which comprise establishing Moses and Aaron as leaders through the 10 plagues. This provides a remarkable outline for the plan of salvation established at the foundation of the world. We can see today that this plan, often referred to as the Gospel, is laid out by Moses in the Torah, but not in a verse by verse manner. It’s established by patterns, analogies, and allusions. Today, let’s learn about the Gospel according to Moses.
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From Hell to Salvation
Highlights from the last two Torah portions, which comprise establishing Moses and Aaron as leaders through the 10 plagues. This provides a remarkable outline for the plan of salvation established at the foundation of the world. We can see today that this plan, often referred to as the Gospel, is laid out by Moses in the Torah, but not in a verse by verse manner. It’s established by patterns, analogies, and allusions. Today, let’s learn about the Gospel according to Moses.
Slide 2 Then YHVH said to Moses, “See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.” (Exo 7:1-3)
It begins with establishing the relationship between Yahweh and Yeshua. Yahweh uses their model for Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron operate as one, just as Yeshua and Yahweh do, with Yeshua being always subordinate just like Aaron. Clearly two different people, but working in concert so well that you cannot tell the difference between the two of them.
Slide 3 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (Joh 6:38-40)
Moses did Yahweh’s will, Aaron did Moses’ will. The ultimate in faithfulness is illustrated in obedience. Can we say that what Aaron did, after being commanded by Moses who was commanded by Yahweh, was actually done by Yahweh? Of course. Can we can that Aaron is Yahweh? Of course not. But this is one of the key themes established in the Torah – that Yahweh desires pure obedience and subordination from His prophets. Yeshua, being His Son, perfectly achieved this and if we believe that, then we may be granted eternal life. And this pattern was established at the Exodus as a foreshadowing of the first coming of the Messiah.
Slide 4 YHVH gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Furthermore, the man Moses himself was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, both in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people. (Exo 11:3)
The goal of the plagues was not random destruction. They were to break the people’s will. Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart while He worked through Moses and Aaron to bring about the complete destruction of Egypt. He did this slowly, meticulously, and through His servants. One big reason was to show that Pharaoh was not a god, and Pharaoh’s gods were not as powerful as Yahweh. The plagues broke the people’s will and destroyed their connection to their gods while offering the true alternative – real men of God in the persons of Moses and Aaron, leading them to the true Elohim. Yahweh. This is the same at the end of days. The plagues and end time disasters that are coming aren’t just for the purpose of destruction, they are designed to humiliate the false gods and the imaginations of men, and to show people that Yahweh is indeed our Elohim and Yeshua is His Messiah. Moses was esteemed at plague 9. What happened after plague 10?
Slide 5 A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. (Exo 12:38)
After the 10th plague, the killing of all the firstborn, many Egyptians and other foreigners left with the Hebrews. Israel began as a mixed multitude and in the end, Israel will end as a mixed multitude. And the Torah was for everyone present at Mt. Sinai. YHVH did not dismiss those who were not from the tribes at Mt. Sinai. They became a part of Israel. Because of the death of the firstborn. Remember that.
Slide 6 For you are all sons of God through faith in Messiah Yeshua. For all of you who were baptized into Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua. And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. (Gal 3:26-29)
Do you see the parallel? Those who went through the plagues who realized that YHVH is the real God obtained salvation. They were delivered from Egypt and blessed with manna from heaven. Those now who accept Yeshua as the Messiah, as the Son of God, obtain a better blessing. We become adopted children of Yahweh and heirs according to the promise. The promise that Abraham’s descendants would be more numerous than can be counted. This is clear: those who accept Yeshua as the Messiah become sons of God, which is synonymous with being Abraham’s descendants. We who accept the voluntary death of Yahweh’s firstborn Son as propitiation for our sins allow us to join the family of God. Abraham was blessed because of his obedience, thus we need to be obedient just as Abraham was, just as Yeshua was, once we become grafted into the vine and offered a chance to enter eternal life!
Slide 7 Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. (Exo 12:37-38)
This is an incredible sentence for those who are blessed to follow in the footsteps of the first century Christians. The plan of salvation I’m speaking on briefly today is based on the holy days of Leviticus 23, which span a journey from Egypt (Ramses) to Sukkot, the 8 day festival in the fall. This sentence is alluding to that outline and it is no accident that those who were saved, the mixed multitude, left Egypt and landed at a place called Sukkot, which is the same word as the Feast of Tabernacles. The people were delivered from Egypt through Passover by the blood of the lambs, they made their escape from Pharaoh, and then got to Sukkot where they would finally be delivered. Their hell would be to have died in the wilderness, slaughtered by Pharaoh’s army. From Sukkot they crossed the red sea and there was no going back, which is an allusion to the 8th day where we transition from this sinful world, the olam haze, to eternity, the olam haba or world to come. We can choose to die here or live there, just like the mixed multitude. They didn’t know what was waiting for them after Sukkot, but they knew Yahweh was the true God, Moses and Aaron His servants, and theyirchoice was to go forward in faith or die at the hands of Pharaoh’s army.
This is the outline for our faith, brothers and sisters. We know that the festivals outline the plan of salvation. The Exodus is the first part, where Yeshua died for us on Passover. The fall festivals, culminating in Sukkot, are yet to be fulfilled. We know what’s coming is infinitely better than this world but we don’t really know what’s coming or how we’re going to get there. We know that accepting Yeshua as Messiah, as the Son of God, allows us to enter the world to come. The blood of the Lamb allows us to be saved, just like the blood of the lambs saved the firstborn of the Hebrews. And now you know the Gospel according to Moses.
Understanding the scriptures from a first century Christian perspective gives one an understanding of the plan of salvation that results in a deep psychological shalom that we want all to experience!
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Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it is a famous quote by Sir Winston Churchill. In this podcast, I illustrate that our society has indeed forgotten history and our slide to pure debauchery, socialism, and communism is a result of this. I also include how rejecting God and the bible are central to our demise and were erased from our society on purpose. Please also scroll down to watch the video of a KGB defector explain his first-hand experience with overthrowing countries.
Audio only right below here. The special video is below that.
Special video of the KGB defector
The Cure for Communism
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
This quote is attributed to a few people, but I prefer to cite Sir Winston Churchill and it will become apparent as we move forward. Today, I’m going to explain why our servants swear an oath to God in a round about way.
The imaginations of men. Do you ever wonder why our movie plots don’t make sense and nobody seems to care? The most successful movies are often just vehicles for social propaganda where the definitions of heroes are now shifting to lionize even the most vile of creatures. Do you ever wonder why all of a sudden any manner of sexual debauchery isn’t just tolerated but it’s celebrated?
The loss of critical thinking training. Logical fallacies abound. If you believe a then you must not believe b. No nuance and no time to investigate anything. You either believe something completely the moment you hear it or you reject it completely. Positions are hammered into the ground, even completely irrational concepts that have been concretely untrue for thousands of year are now not just mainstream, but are unchallengeable in just the span of a couple decades. How did this happen?
Would you believe that these concepts were introduce into our society on purpose and for a specific reason? Well, I will post a video showing why this is happening to us under this post on firstcenturychristianity.net and you will likely be shocked.
The purpose of all this is to make a mess. A literal mess of a country where society and its institutions of government and religion fail. But also a psychological mess where people have no idea what to believe. We have had years of full blown riots in the streets of the United States and other western nations with nobody being brought to justice. Our justice system handles cases based on political affiliation, not on the merits of cases, as is proscribed in the Torah and in our founding principles. People are pitted against each other on issues where both folks are partially right and partially wrong at the same time. And these things are being done to us on purpose. Confusion is a blazing fire that keeps getting fanned. To what point? The point is to generate a sense of outrage and hopelessness that conditions society to desperately seek a solution, even it it’s an irrational solution.
The point is to bring a society to the point where it makes an irrational decision that it would never normally make. The Bolshevik revolution was the turning point in Russia where the people enacted communism. Communism is a system of government that is coined as giving power to the working class by the elimination of private property, but in reality it creates a dictatorship that is so deep that you are not even free to think what you want. The government becomes God, the giver of life and the taker of life, and the highest authority in the land. The Russians got to this point because of deep economic problems that were blamed on the aristocracy. They made an emotional decision to redistribute wealth that resulted in 80 years of complete despotism and oppression.
The same thing happened with the birth of Nazi Germany. While people like to say the Nazis were far right and the Soviets were far left, both regimes were far left totalitarian dictatorships founded on socialism/communism and the rejection of God. The famous night of broken glass was the tipping point. Jews were besmirched for years as being evil and were discriminated against until this night where Jewish homes and business were ransacked by Germans and Austrians. 267 synagogues destroyed. All while authorities looked on and did nothing. If this sounds familiar, it should, because our own society had riots all over the place where police were forbidden from protecting the peace a couple years ago.
The phrase “In God We Trust” was added to US currency in 1957. This was one small part in our fight against communism and socialism. It was put there to remind us that our nation only exists by the grace of God and that our leaders are accountable to Him. This was a direct response to the godless regime of the USSR that was undermining our way of life in the 1950s. They wanted to normalize debauchery, discredit God, and then watch our nation fall apart. In the aftermath, they would either destroy us or take us over. The godless always want to spread their godlessness, and then replace themselves as god.
Sir Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of the UK during WWII. When Hitler started taking over countries, Churchill spoke out and wanted to intervene early. He was dismissed in favor of diplomacy and negotiations. Once it became reality that Hitler was not interested in diplomacy or negotiations, Churchill came to power and the British suffered the blitz, the constant bombardment of the Nazis, until we joined the war and liberated Europe. This is the man who said those who fail to know history are doomed to repeat it.
The USSR, aka the Soviet Union, started a program of destabilization in the United States in the 1950s. This is how they took over countries – by creating havoc and then sweeping in as the solution. And the poor people inviting them in didn’t realize the absolute evil of that way of life until it was too late. Again, please watch the video below this for first-hand testimony of this practice. The west defeated the Soviet Union and communism in 1991, when the Berlin Wall fell. Our way of life defeated the socialist dictatorships because our way of life is superior. Unfortunately, nobody could stop what they had started with destabilizing our society. It has run on autopilot ever since and is one very large reason why people question even the most concrete of facts like the shape of the earth and that there are only two genders. It’s hard to realize that a villain did this to us when that villain was invisible to begin with and literally no longer exists today. But that villain did indeed do this to us and it is one reason why society is spiraling out of control.
So what is the solution? First we have to understand history and learn the basics of what has happened before. We also have to understand that black is black, white is white, and there are absolute truths. The way to stop communism and socialism is something that seems like a non-sequitur to us today. It’s to read your bibles. Understand that the highest authority in the universe is the Creator of the Universe. Understand there is a Creator and He has told us how He wants us to live through His Word, the 66 book bible that our leaders are supposed to swear their oaths to serve on. Our nation was founded by men who had deep respect for the Bible and created a nation where we would be free to worship as we see fit. Our founders had restraint with power, some refusing to serve, with Washington refusing to become king. They knew their actions would be judge by a higher power because their culture was one founded on scripture. They created a government that could improve and change over time, based on the will of the people through their elected representatives who swore an oath to God when they took power. Our way forward is to repent and turn back to God. The path back is a long one, but it doesn’t get shorter until each of us decides to turn around and get on that path.
Let’s take a look at equality from the New Testament standpoint and explore some of the information that is new to the New Covenant!
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Society has struggled with equal rights for millennia. Nations have risen against nations, people have been held as slaves on huge scales, and even today there is mass oppression in many parts of the world. Let’s take a quick walk through the Bible and see what it has to say about equality.
Slide 2 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'” And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. (Luk 4:16-29)
This is the beginning of Yeshua’s ministry. There’s a theme He had running, kind of as an undercurrent, throughout His earthly ministry, that most of Christianity misses. This is a theme of equality. First Century Judea had a lot of problems with respect to equality. It was a world that those of us who have been born and raised in the west have no ability to comprehend. The Jews wanted to be left alone and were not interested much at all in others joining them, for lack of a better word. Granted, there were proselytes, but they were never accepted to the level of a native born Israelite. Their exclusivity was a problem because Judea was occupied by the Romans who had a pretty brutal view of society. If you had Roman citizenship, you had rights and were by all measures more of a human being than if you did not. This comes into play when Paul becomes the apostle to the Gentiles and uses his Roman citizenship to further the kingdom of God. Within the Roman life was a caste system as well, which is something we know nothing about, either. In a nutshell, some people were definitely more equal than others withing Roman citizenship but those who were not Roman at all were of much less value than those who were and attaining that citizenship was difficult.
So what does this all have to do with Yeshua in the synagogue? The Jews had a similar “us versus them” view of society. It’s part of the word goyim, or nations. The Jews believed, rightly so, that they were the chosen people and were special to Yahweh. But they also had a wall of separation, they did not care to mix with other nations. This is completely understandable because that’s what got them smote repeatedly. When Yahweh re-established Judea through Nehemiah and Ezra, the people read the Torah aloud. When they realized they had married those from forbidden nations, they sent them away and “purified” the land. They realized they had been sent into captivity for a few reasons, one of which was blending the worship of the nations with the worship of Yahweh. This is where the synagogue system began and where they started studying Torah weekly. This did a pretty good job of keeping them on the straight and narrow, particularly after the Maccabean revolt, but it also served to create an insular society. So what we had in first century Judea was a nation that did not care to mix with other nations being occupied by a nation that liked to gobble up other nations and destroy those who didn’t want to be gobbled up. That’s a lot of friction. And then, in the synagogue, Yeshua starts His ministry by reminding his fellow Jews that Yahweh worked miracles for gentiles in the days of Elijah and Elisha, miracles that were not performed for Jews at the time. And it really made them mad. To the point of wanting to do Him harm.
It’s very important to understand that He started His ministry with this message because the New Testament does have new information. The New Testament shows a shift in the way Yahweh interacts with the world with Yeshua’s sacrifice. Yeshua starts His ministry alluding to this.
Slide 3 “This Yeshua God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.”‘ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Messiah—this Yeshua whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Yeshua the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Act 2:32-39)
Do you see the shift? “The promise” is for those present, their children, and those who are far off… as many as God will call to Himself. When you see the phrase “the promise” in NT scripture, it’s speaking of the promise made to Abraham to make his descendants more numerous than the stars. Peter is telling them that Yahweh is calling all people, not just Jews, here at Acts 2. It’s interesting these words come from Peter because he seemed to have a problem with this later in the New Testament, but let’s take a look at “the promise” in detail.
Slide 4 For you are all sons of God through faith in Messiah Yeshua. For all of you who were baptized into Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua. And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. (Gal 3:26-29)
These people still had to deal with the injustices of their day but within the congregation, they all had to come to the reality that they were equal with respect to salvation. They were still literally male and female and those who were slaves were still literally slaves, but they had to treat each other equally within the assembly.
Back in Acts 2, the Jews and proselytes who witnessed the results of the Ruach falling on the apostles were from all over the known world. They had come to Jerusalem to keep Passover and Pentecost. After they witnessed the miracles of that Pentecost, with many of those who crucified Yeshua repenting and being baptized, they took that information back to their home congregations. They sowed seeds ahead of the apostles coming with the Gospel. Here, ten or fifteen years later, Paul is re-affirming Peters words, that those who were far off were being called by God. Paul is making it clear that anyone who accepts Yeshua as the Messiah becomes a child of God, and an heir according to the promise. This, brothers and sisters, is equality. This is why we call each other brother and sister, because we are in the family of Yahweh. And we need to treat everyone we meet as if they are already family or potentially family, which is how we live in equality.
Let’s leave the past in the past and receive those who repent as the first century believers did, as if they have been here all along.
Video with slides via Rumble below.
Audio only via Spotify below.
Let’s leave the past in the past and receive those who repent as the first century believers did, as if they have been here all along.
Jan 1 isn’t really the new year. In the Torah, the beginning of months is in the springtime, not the dead of winter. But we do live in Babylon and we will be writing the year “2023” on our checks and documents starting today. It’s unfortunate that times and law have been changed, but it is all in Yahweh’s plan to bring us to the ideal. It’s just that we are so far from the ideal today.
What shall we leave behind in 2022? What shall we focus on in 2023? These things tend to run together. Overeating or eating the wrong stuff, lack of exercise, not studying the WORD enough, all these things make the list. We will be examining ourselves in the spring so we don’t observe Pesach in an unworthy manner and we will be doing heavy repentance in the Fall for Yom Kippur, but we should always be in a state of spiritual examination and growth. We should always be putting first things first, but sometimes it’s good to remind on the very basic things.
2022 was another year of intense division here in the US. Social media divisions, political divisions, travel nightmares, economic challenges – these things put the most patient of us to the test. Discovering that most of our fears were true about social media and the government colluding to manipulate our thoughts and speech is incredibly alarming. How do we navigate all these things and not just get furious? More importantly, how do we reconcile and move forward?
Slide 2 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Messiah—this Yeshua whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Yeshua the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Ruach ha Kodesh. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Act 2:36-39)
Brothers and sisters, we have to return to the basics if we’re going to move forward. If society has any hope of returning to civility, we’re going to have to be able to forgive and forget. The past three years have been intense with division, fear, and all manner of corruption increasing. But as people repent and realize the errors of their ways, we have to accept them back and be kind. Peter’s message was to the very people who murdered Yeshua and once they realized their sin, they asked Peter what to do. Peter did not execute judgment, but received their repentant attitudes and told them to give their lives to Yeshua the Messiah through baptism. That through this they would receive forgiveness from Yahweh and Yeshua and be granted the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Ruach ha Kodesh. And this was not a one-time thing. Oh no.
Slide 3 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. (1Co 15:9-11)
In Acts 7, Paul was the one who held the coats of those who stoned Stephen. He went on to persecute all the first century believers, hunting them down. He locked them up from house to house. In Acts 9 it even mentions murder with Paul’s ravaging of the church of God. But Ananias was giving a message by the risen Yeshua to accept Paul so Paul could become the evangelist to the nations.
This message of repentance and subsequent reconciliation is central to the faith once delivered. We can also see that Yahweh uses chaotic situations in order to bring His chosen ones through the fire. Things keep getting worse and worse in our society but people are starting to realize their mistakes. We need to receive them as if we were receiving Paul when they turn to Yahweh and His Son. This form of reconciliation has been foundational to American life up until recently. We ultimately ended up the greatest of allies with Great Britain after the revolution. The southern states regained their statehood and rights after the civil war. We are now also the greatest of allies after severe war with Japan. The list goes on and on. That was only possible because we were a Christian nation. After other nations defeat their enemies, they destroy them utterly so that their memory isn’t even recorded. But that’s not how followers of Yeshua conduct ourselves in a grand or a small scale. We are to receive people who have repented as if they had been here all along, with the same mercy and love that Yahweh and Yeshua have shown us.
For 2023, brothers and sisters, let’s pray for more people to realize the ways of the world are not going to be profitable. As more and more repent, let’s put first things first and follow the example of the first century believers. For it is Yahweh’s desire that all come to repentance, is it not?
Yahweh has made it clear through this year’s weather and travel woes that we are not supposed to have religious gatherings in wintertime.