What the Alex Murdaugh murder trial teaches us about the Name of Yahweh. Please join the discussion as we study the Torah portions this year!
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Category: Teachings
Audio and video messages
Commemorating Yeshua
Explaining how the first century Christians commemorated Yeshua’s sacrifice and how you can do the same today!
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Spring Holy Day Details 2023
Shalom everyone! We are blessed this year to be able to host the Spring Holy Day events at our meeting hall in North Kansas City, MO. We meet each Shabbat at noon to share a meal and then at 1pm we start our worship service/message in the basement of the 1st Presbyterian Church at 2125 Fayette St, North Kansas City, MO 64116. The following dates and times are when we will be meeting to observe the commanded festivals and observances of scripture to commemorate Yeshua’s death as the Lamb of Yahweh. If you do not meet with us regularly and plan to be in attendance for the observance below, please send an email and let us know you will be attending.
The following will all also be at 2125 Fayette St, North Kansas City, MO 64116
The Night Yeshua was Betrayed sunset, April 4 – we will meet from 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM to wash each other’s feet, have bread and wine, and read the scriptures about Yeshua’s death and resurrection. This day is not a Sabbath and you do not have to take it off from work.
Pesach (Passover) sunset, April 5 – we will meet from 7pm – 11pm to have a New Covenant Seder. This is a special meal to commemorate the Passover, Yeshua’s sacrifice, and the coming kingdom of Yahweh. Please RSVP as early as you can for this event. The meal is 100% provided and the attendees get to participate in the service.
The First Day of Unleavened Bread (ULB) April 6 – this is a High Sabbath, specifically, the one they did not want Yeshua to be left on the cross upon in John 19:31. We all take this day off of work and then meet together for a service. We’ll meet from noon until 4pm like we normally do on Sabbath.
The Last Day of Unleavened Bread (ULB) April 12 – this is a High Sabbath. We all take this day off of work and then meet together for a service. We’ll meet from noon until 4pm like we normally do on Sabbath.
Shavuot (Pentecost) May 28 – this is a High Sabbath and falls on a Sunday every year. We all take the day off of work and meet together for a service. We will meet from 2pm – 6pm on this day.
Community Service Feb 26, 2023
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!
Navigating Change
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!
Normal versus Crazy
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.
Why You Need the Torah to Understand Christianity
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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The Gospel According to Moses
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.
The Knowledge that Brings Peace
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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The Cure for Communism
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.
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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.