Tag Archives: Yeshua

Yeshua Was the Life of the Party—But in a Different Way

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Nuggets from Luke 14: Yeshua Was a Salty Character

Luke 14:1, House of one of the rulers. Yeshua was invited to a Sabbath meal at the home of a Pharisee who was a ruler (likely a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin). Had Yeshua been a typical man, he would have engaged in the customary small talk of a polite and gracious dinner guest not wanting to offend his host. Yet Yeshua was not there to schmooze—to curry anyone’s favor in an effort to gain personal influence. As he required his own disciples to maintain a salty or spicy demeanor at all times (Matt 5:13; Luke 14:34–35), he was definitely up to the task to lead his disciples by example.

"May I have your attention please? Yeshua has something to say."

“May I have your attention please? Yeshua has something to say.”

 

The following discussion that Yeshua initiates is what some may consider to be a prime example of how to insult one’s host and the other guests. Continue reading →

 

Don’t Pass the Offering Plate!

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Luke 11:33, No one when he has lit a lamp. As Jonah witnessed to Nineveh proclaiming the message of repentance (Luke 11:29–32), even so, Yeshua is teaching us that we must do the same to our generation.

Greedy dogs!

Greedy dogs!

Furthermore, if when proclaiming the gospel message of repentance (turning from sin or Torahlessness and turning to Yeshua) our eye is evil—a Hebraism for greedy or covetous—then our whole message will be compromised or tainted. How is this? If we have been called to preach the good news or gospel of the kingdom of Elohim, and we’re in it to make money, then those hearing our message may view it as suspect because they see behind our preaching potential ulterior motives. Are we preaching the message out of pure altruism and seeking no financial gain or other personal benefit, or do we have a hidden agenda—namely, personal enrichment? If the latter, are people going to believe our message more or less? How is this going to reflect on the message itself—favorably or negatively? Is this going to help bring people into the kingdom of Elohm or keep them out of it?

Sadly, many in the church system have perfected the nefarious art of taking people’s money, while attempting to legitimize it scripturally. Some approaches are more blatant than others, but taking people’s money out of coercion has basically become part of the institution and culture of the church.

For example, you’ve all probably been in churches where the preacher disparages “the law of Moses that was against us. Thank God it was nailed to the cross and done away with,” they’ll opine, “and that Yeshua did it it all for us, so now we don’t have to.” And then they’ll continue, “And now Sister Malarkey will play a piece on the organ as we pass the plate to take up your tithes.” So what’s wrong with this picture? Can you see the logical disconnect here? Simply this. The tithing command is in the Torah-law the preacher just said was done away with! “Away with the Sabbath, the dietary laws, and those terrible Jewish feasts that YHVH hates, but don’t forget to drop your tithes in offering plate as it comes around!”

Not only this, but too many preachers have even learned how to con people into even feeling good about handing over their money to these greedy and misguided ministers. This is the evil eye or dark eye to which Yeshua was referring in this passage.

Because of this unbiblical approach that is rooted in greed and covetousness, many heathens not only want nothing to do with the church and Christians, but since we (i.e., the examples of our lives) may be the only Bible some people will ever read, many spiritually lost folks have rejected the gospel message itself along with the Bible and Yeshua altogether because of us.

People need to be able to give financially into ministries that preach the gospel and to help support those who are doing so, but out of freewill, love and from a willing heart, not due to mental and emotional manipulation by silver-tongued preachers with gold-filled pockets. Giving into YHVH’s ministers is just, righteous and biblically encouraged, but at the same time Yeshua’s disciples must preach the gospel whether they are remunerated for doing so or not. This is our reasonable service—something we owe to Yeshua our Master who bought and paid for our sins with his own blood.

So don’t pass the offering plate! Instead, leave it in the back of the room for those who want to give cheerfully from a willing heart, and not out of compulsion!

 

Redemption: The Strong Arm of YHVH to Save His People (pt 2)

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Exodus 6:6–7, I will. Now let’s explore the concept of redemption as it applies to the four cups of wine drunk during the Passover (Pesach) Seder. The first four “I wills” of Exodus 6:6–7 are central to the Passover Seder. The four cups in the Passover Seder represent the four I wills that YHVH declares over Israel:

Yeshua the Redeemer is the Lamb of Elohim

Yeshua the Redeemer is the Lamb of Elohim

1. “I will bring you out” is represented in the Cup of Sanctification.

2. “I will rid you out of their bondage” is represented in the Cup of Deliverance.

3. “I will redeem you” is represented in the Cup of Redemption.

4. “I will take you to me” is represented in the Cup of Praise or Completion. This last cup is marriage language. He is taking Israel to be his bride. We still use this type of language in our modern marriage ceremony.

The Abrahamic Covenant has seven “I wills” from YHVH as well:

“And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” And Abram fell on his face, and Elohim talked with him, saying, “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations [Strong’s H14871, goyim]. Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made you. And I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations [goyim, or “a nation, people, a confluence, a body politic”] of you, and kings shall come out of you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be an Elohim unto you, and to your seed after you. And I will give unto you, and to your seed after you, the land wherein you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their Elohim.” (Gen 17:2–8, emphasis added)

The Renewed Covenant of the Testimony of Yeshua also has seven “I wills” from YHVH:

“Behold, the days come,” says YHVH, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was an husband unto them,” says YHVH, “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days,” says YHVH, “I will put my law [or Torah] in their inward parts, and [I will] write it in their hearts; and will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know YHVH,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says YHVH, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer 31:31–34, emphasis added)

This last covenant is the one that Yeshua is in the process of making with redeemed Israel. He started the process at his last supper (Matt 26:28; 1 Cor 11:25). This process continues to this day (Heb 8:8–13), and will be finalized after Yeshua’s second coming (Ezek 34:25; 37:26; Jer 32:40; 50:5). This covenant is Yeshua’s marriage covenant with his blood-bought bride—redeemed Israel, the saints.

Please note that each successive covenant YHVH makes with his people is based on and is an expansion of the previous covenant/s. The concept of YHVH redeeming his people from sin is an ancient one, yet is constantly expanding and extending into the future. YHVH’s love and outreach to his people knows no limits!

 

Did Yeshua Allow His Disciples to Eat Anything?

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Luke 10:8, Eat such things.  Does this passage give believers the freedom or even enjoin them to eat whatever is placed before them if, for example, they are in someone else’s home even if the food is non-kosher?

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Understanding context is vital to understanding the true meaning of the Scriptures. When verses are taken out of context they can not only lose their meaning, but can take on an entirely different meaning to the writer’s original intent.

As Hebrew roots teacher Dr. Daniel Botkin points out in an article entitled God’s Dietary Laws: Abolished in the New Testament?,

“Yeshua spoke these words when he sent out the seventy. These were seventy Torah-observant Jews who followed a Torah-observant Rabbi. … Rabbi Yeshua had told his disciples, ‘Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,’ (Matt 10:6).

“It is obvious from this statement that the disciples would be lodging in Torah-observant Jewish homes, where the kosher laws were followed. It is ridiculous to suppose that the disciples might have been offered a pork chop in one of these Jewish homes. Even if this very unlikely possibility had occurred, the disciples would have had enough sense to know that this is not what their Master meant when he said to ‘eat such things as are set before you.’ He simply meant to be content with the food which your host provided” (Gates of Eden magazine, Nov.–Dec. 1997 issue).

Though similar to Yeshua’s passage, Paul’s passage in 1 Corinthians 10:27 has an entirely different context. The issue here is not clean versus unclean meat (e.g. beef versus pork), but meat (e.g. beef) that was sacrificed to idols that was later sold to the public in the meat markets of Greek cities (for context read 1 Cor 10:19–29).

Botkin points out that four times in the Testimony of Yeshua believers are forbidden to eat meat sacrificed to idols (Acts 15:20; 21:25; Rev 2:14, 20), yet the dilemma was that when one bought meat in the public markets it was not known whether it had been sacrificed to idols first or not. So for conscience sake Paul instructed the Corinthian believers to buy the meat and to not ask about its origination (1 Cor 10:25). However, if a person knew that it was meat sacrificed to idols (1 Cor 10:28) for their own conscience sake and that of others who might be watching them then they were not to eat of it (ibid.).

The same principle applied to those eating in someone’s house as a guest. If one knew that the meat was offered to an idol then they were forbidden to eat it. However, if they did not know, then it was not necessary to ask. Again, it was not a matter of clean or unclean meats (i.e., beef versus pork), but whether meat had been sacrificed to idols or not.

 

Designer Labels of the Pharisees

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Luke 7:36–37, The Pharisees… a woman… who was a sinner. The name Pharisee itself tells much about this sect or denomination within the first-century religious Jewish landscape. It derives from the Hebrew word perushim meaning “separatist,” and was born out of the fact that Pharisees didn’t associate with Am Ha-Eretz  or the common people (Yeshua: a Guide to the Real Jesus and the Original Church, p. 86, by Ron Mosely), who in their view who were impure by the standards of the Levitical law (The Jewish Background of the New Testament, p. 203, by J. Julius Scott Jr.), and their high standards of holiness (Mosely, p 86).

Pharisee-3 16958369

Acting like an elite religious fraternity (The Sketches of Jewish Life, p. 208, by Alfred Edersheim), the Pharisees were known for their strict observance of the Torah or the law of Moses, as well as numerous additional laws or “traditions of the elders” that were added to the Torah along the way (From the Maccabeees to the Mishnah, p. 149, by Shaye J. D. Cohen; Scott, pp, 206–207; Edersheim, p. 217).

Though this sect probably numbered only 6,000 at the time of Yeshua (Cohen, p. 146), they wielded a great deal of power and influence in Jewish society, since they were viewed as the most accurate interpreters of the Torah (Scott, p. 203; Mosely, p. 92), and they were the leaders and teachers of the masses in the local synagogues (Cohen, pp. 147, 148).

For the Pharisee, personal holiness was a badge of honor. To remain a member of this elite sect, one was required to maintain a high standard of holiness relating to tithing, piety, cleanliness and ritual purity, or one would face demotion within the social status of this community, or worse yet, face excommunication and shunning (Mosely, p. 86).

It can be safe to say that the Pharisaic religious system promoted an elitist and holier-than-thou religious demeanor among many of its members who hyper-focused on legalism and religious form and trappings. The result was “a system of pure externalism, which often contravened the spirit of those very ordinances, the letter of which was slavishly worshipped” resulting in hypocrisy (Edersheim, p. 217).

For these reasons, this may be why the woman in Luke 7:37 was labeled as a sinner. It wasn’t that she was a sinner any more than anyone else, but that she was not part of any recognized religious sect that labeled her as being righteous as opposed to being a sinner. Because she was probably outside of the accepted religious system of her day, she was automatically given the label of a sinner. In our day, this would be like a church-going Christian viewing a non-church going person as a heathen.

The problem is this. Can we know for certain the condition of a person’s heart and their relationship with the Almighty simply because of their external religious involvements? This is what Yeshua is addressing in this passage—the condition of the heart. To Yeshua, the woman who was labeled as a sinner was much more righteous, in a certain sense, than those of the most preeminent religious club of the day. Look at her humble and repentant demeanor at the feet of Yeshua!

Yeshua was known for shining the sharp light of truth on a situation and then turning that situation on its head. The end result was that those who thought they were in first place spiritually, were now in last place, and those who were in last place were first. This gives added meaning to Yeshua’s words, “In the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory…many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew 19:28–30).

 

Let’s Go to the Movies: Torah Paradigm

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At this movie, you’ll have to get your own popcorn and soda—hey, but the price is right! The admission is free. Plop yourself down into favorite chair, get a cup of hot stuff and sit back and get spiritually fed for some no-guilt entertainment. Okay, it’s not exactly brainless entertainment, but it’ll hopefully be a sweet dessert for your spirit man.

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The marquis on this billboard reads as follows:

Torah Central—A New Spiritual Paradigm Through Which to View the Bible

Here’s the description:

Do your spiritual glasses obscure or improve your view of the Bible? Do you view the Bible through the perspective of the church and its traditions of men, or through the lens of the heart and Spirit of YHVH Elohim, the God of the Bible? This teaching discusses viewing the Bible through the paradigm of Torah—both the Written Torah and Yeshua the Living Torah as revealed in Genesis 1, Psalms 119 and Revelation 21 and 22.

This is our third video. Each one, hopefully is getting a tiny bit better in quality. It’s our desire that the content will make up for the lack of cinematic sophistication. Nonetheless, I’m playing with camera angles and lighting, and critiquing myself on my delivery and trying to improve in that department as well. Constructive suggestions from the audience—especially from those who have some background in filmmaking—would be appreciated.

Our next flick will hopefully be a live presentation at our congregation this coming Shabbat.

When watching the video, and check out the rooster.

Enjoy.

 

Can You Heal All the People All the Time?

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Can you heal all the people all the time, or just some of the people some of the time? That’s the questions we’ll answer today from the example of Yeshua’s healing activities as recorded in the Gospels.

Yeshua heals cripple

Luke 5:17, The power [Gr. dumanis] of YHVH was present. Let’s explore the healing activities of Yeshua.The Greek word dunamis means “strength, power, ability” or as often used in the Testimony of Yeshua, “miraculous power.” This is an interesting statement pertaining to the dynamics of Yeshua’s healing activities. Did Yeshua heal all people all the time, or only when the power of Elohim was present for him to do so? This verse, at least in this case, would indicate the latter. Elsewhere, we read that Yeshua “healed many that were sick” (Mark 1:34), but not all that were sick. On other occasions, the Gospels record indicates that Yeshua did in fact heal all the sick who were brought to him (Matt 4:23–25; 9:35; Luke 6:19).

The Gospels reveal some other interesting facts about Yeshua’s healing activities that we often pass over. On at least one occasions, Yeshua prayed to heal someone and they were only partially healed. After he prayed for them the second time, they were completely healed (Mark 8:22–25).

Often Yeshua healed people after he was “moved with compassion [love and pity]” for someone who was sick (Matt 14:14; Mark 1:41; Luke 7:13–15). The Greek word for compassion, literally means “to be moved in one’s bowels,” or in the deepest areas of one’s emotions.

Some people simply touched Yeshua’s clothing as he was walking by, and the miraculous power (Gr. dunamis) of Elohim flowed from him and healed them (Matt 9:20; Mark 6:56; Luke 8:44 cp. Luke 6:19).

Elsewhere, it appears that Yeshua’s healing activities were hampered by the presence of those who ridiculed him and exhibited doubt and unbelief, which is why, on one occasion, he put the unbelievers out of the room and closed the door behind them when he raised the little girl from the dead (Mark 5:40–42).

Similarly, in his hometown of Nazereth, Yeshua “could do no mighty works there” except for healing a few sick people, “because of their [the townspeople’s] unbelief” (Mark 6:5–6; also Matt 13:58). Matthew’s account adds that the people of Nazareth were offended (literally, scandalized) by Yeshua, or that they stumbled over (or judged unfavorably, distrusted) Yeshua. Because of their low esteem for him, they lacked the faith to receive healing, which is why he healed so few people in that town.

The Bible reveals that the miracle of healing is still for today, and that not only were Yeshua’s disciples of old given the power and authority to heal the sick, but that his disciples nowadays can do the same thing (Mark 16:18; 1 Cor 12:9; Jas 5:14–16). In fact, many of us have received many miraculous healings during the course of our walk with Yeshua. Maybe I’ll tell you about some of mine someday. I’m literally a walking miracle!