It has been over three weeks since I last posted. I recieved messages from some of you wondering what happened to me. It's nice to be missed. Thank you for checking in with me.
Thanks to those of you who have joined Torah Perspective on Facebook. We are up to 158 now. I know some of you have suggested Torah Perspective to others. Thank you. If you would continue to invite others that would be wonderful. As HE leads, I pray HE will continue to use me for HIS good pleasure.
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It has been a busy time over the past few weeks. I work 5 days a week at my "day" job; Sweetwater Productions, where I am a music producer. I've had some late evenings there. I work on the first day of the week around my home and I edit audio programs on the side. I do these on the first day and usually on Monday's and Tuesday evenings. We had to take Brook, our youngest daughter back to school after winter break on one of the first days. So I've been pretty busy with all of that.
But that is not the only reason I haven't written anything new. I've been considering my life before Abba, according to HIS Word. Paul said to examine ourselves to see if we are of the faith. I've been trying to do that. I am learning more about HIM and about me.
It is all about Yeshua and it is about others. Love of our Creator and HIS creation is the essence of Torah. This is a lot of what HE is teaching me. How we treat HIS Creation is a reflection of how we treat HIM, and HIS Torah.
It is no wonder that many in the world reject the modern expression of Christianity and turn to worship of the creation. The professing church, for the most part, hasn't much concern for their fellow man and for the planet we've been given to be stewards over. The self-centeredness is not of Yahweh. I won't go on and on about this, but it would be good to read Genesis and the creation account. We are supposed to be stewards of HIS creation, yet Adam's disobedience brought a curse upon Yeshua's creation. By one man's rebellion death came to all mankind and a curse came upon the earth. HIS desire is to change our hearts so that we no longer live in rebellion and begin to live according to HIS Torah that has at its heart; love for HIM, and love for HIS creation, both man, animal and earth.
Also in the past week I really was impacted with a deeper realization of my own mortality. I don't know when I will die. HE knows and HE hasn't told me. But why don't I live like I might die today? How would my relationship with HIM and with those around me, and how I view and relate to the world I live in, if I learned I only had six months to live, or if I learned that today was my last on earth?
A greater appreciation for HIS grace in the New Covenant is being given to me. A greater appreciation and love for the fellowship of the greater family of Yahweh is being birthed in me. A fresh look at my own family; my own household, is awakening.
What all this means and how it plays out, I don't know. But I know that I want to love with the same love that HE loves me with.
I plan to continue to write this blog, as HE leads, just as before. I'm looking for opportunities to love in word and deed. May my words be HIS Word - HIS Torah, delivered in love, as HE speaks through me. I want no more of my flesh. May it be the Spirit of the Living Torah speaking through me and may HE be heard.
Those who are embracing Torah; Don't back down! Live it with abandon - abandoning the flesh that wants to add to or take away from HIS Torah. The traditions of men cause division. The Torah of Yahweh/Yeshua, brings unity in HIS Spirit to those who will embrace it in its unleavened purity. We have fellowship as we walk in the Light as HE is in the Light, John says. I beg you to not settle any longer for man's interpretation and traditional approach to Torah. The orthodox Rabbis who rejected Yeshua, and still do, are not our source for life and godliness. Life and godliness are only found in Yeshua, the Living Torah. HE is the only Rabbi. HE is the ONE who said, "You've heard it said, but I say to you...." HE is the ONE that Father spoke from heaven concerning, saying, "This is MY beloved Son, hear HIM."
To those who have not considered Torah as the pure, unchanging Word of Yeshua - I pray you will open your hearts up to HIM, and draw near HIM with your heart and no longer just serve HIM with your only your lips. HE loves you and wants you to love HIM. Yeshua said, "If you love ME, keep MY commandments." HE is not interested in you keeping the commandments and doctrines of men, even if they call themselves rabbi.
Know that your Torah keeping in the flesh is of no value to you. In fact, in the flesh, it is impossible to keep Torah because the flesh is hostile to Torah and cannot submit to it. Torah keeping is for those who have believed the Word of Yahweh, entered into HIS promise of the New Covenant; having experienced HIS amazing work of grace. This amazing grace, the work of the Holy Spirit of Yeshua, changes the heart of a man from stone to flesh and writes Torah on that new heart. This wonderful work of grace places Torah on the mind of the believer (the person who comes by faith) of Torah, containing the promise of the New Covenant. Torah is for the New Covenant believer who has been saved by grace through faith that, as the workmanship of the Almighty, we might walk in the works of Torah that HE has prepared beforehand. Torah keeping is only for these people because only these people are able to keep Torah; they are indwelt by the Spirit of the LIVING TORAH and are experiencing grace; the power of Father that raised Yeshua, HIS Son from the dead. We now walk in newness of life, free from lawlessness. Law/Torah keeping is for those who are now in the Spirit and can now submit, in the Spirit.
Professing Christian who has never considered Torah, or one who is currently rejecting Torah and considering it bondage, please read that last paragraph, go back to the Scriptures, and spend the rest of your life searching them to find out that this is true. The love of Yahweh, our love for Yahweh, and for HIS creation is connected inextricably and eternally to HIS Torah commandments. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And on these two greatest commandments hang ALL the Torah and the Prophets.
How long do you have to live? How long do I have to live? Neither of us know. But the time we have been given by HIM let us be found living it to the extreme in hot pursuit of HIM according to the ONLY INSTRUCTION HE has given us - HIS Torah, and the writings of those writing under the inspiration of the same Torah giving Spirit of Yeshua.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Hebrews 1 and 1 Peter 1 - Same God - Same Message
Hebrews 1
1God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in (B)the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.1 Peter 1:20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.
1 Peter 1:10-11 "As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow."
Notice, just these portions of text, among many in the entirety of Scripture, that shows us Who is The Word, What is the Word, When the Word was spoken and that HIS is an unchanging Word. It's the same message from the same God from the beginning. How awesome is this? It was our Savior, Redeemer, the Messiah, the Lamb of Yahweh, the Son of Yahweh - Jesus (who's real name is Yeshua) who has always spoken HIS unchanging Word to mankind. HE spoke through ALL the prophets, from Moses to Malachi, and when the people rejected HIS Word by rejecting and killing the prophets HE sent, HE came HIMSELF to give us, straight from HIS mouth, the same message to repent; believing HIS Torah and rejecting the lawless doctrine of men.
What a blessing it is that HE came, and overcame putting to shame the principalities and powers and the men held in their sway. HIS Torah stands and not one jot or tittle is done away with. HIS Torah still holds its power in the life of the one who believes it and does it - Biblical faith. Here is the dividing line of the battle - HIS commandments and doctrine (teaching) versus the commandments and doctrine (teaching) of men.
Man's doctrine and commandments sentenced HIM to death, illegally! HE came speaking Torah, kept Torah perfectly, preached (and still does today) repentance to Torah and the lawless (Torahless) ones killed HIM. Those who are lawless don't want to hear the Law - Torah! But, just as one jot or tittle of Torah is/was not destroyed or abolished, likewise Yeshua, the Living Torah did not stay dead! HE overcame the lawless ones and their lawless traditions consisting of their additions and subtractions to Torah. Yeshua came to set it straight. It is why HE said in Matthew 5, "You've heard it said (what these rabbis - men say), but I say to you..."
The Living Torah who spoke Torah (and repentance to Torah) through the prophets from the beginning, was standing in front of them and they didn't want to hear HIM. They wanted to hear their own message. It was their power and they held it over the people. But Yeshua came to set men free from that bondage of lawlessness and the lawless ones who propagate and lord it over men (Matt 23). Most importantly HE came to bring to nothing the lies of the old serpent who began deceiving people about the Word of Yahweh/Yeshua in the garden. Same message, same God - Yeshua speaking Torah from the beginning. Peter tells us that it was the Spirit of the Son who was in the prophets, lining up perfectly with Hebrews 1. HE, Jesus, the Son spoke through the prophets... same God, same message. They killed the prophets, to whom the Son spoke to and through, and then the Son came and they killed HIM too.... difference is their lawless murder of HIM didn't stick. HE rose again, triumphing over them!
Read the story of the Wicked Vinedressers - the parable that Yeshua told. They killed the servants who came in the name of the vineyard owner. So the owner sent his son, saying, "surely they will listen to my son." But they killed the owner's son that they might seize his inheritance. God, who is Jesus - Jesus (Yeshua), who is God, spoke to and through the prophets, and then came HIMSELF, to say the same thing the prophets said, as HE instructed them to say, and they killed HIM too. Same God, same message - repent to the Word of God, namely Torah. HE is the rightful Heir of all that is the Father's, and we are co-heirs with HIM, in HIM.
The written Torah, just as is Elohim - God, in the person of Yeshua, is eternal and binding and will never be done away with. Hear HIS Voice. HE's still speaking today. HIS Words - HIS Torah (Instructions), are either written on stone as witness against us, or written on our hearts by HIS Spirit, by HIS work of grace, causing us to walk in HIS commandments. This is the New Covenant realized and appropriated.
The Torah of Yeshua is either HIS Law convicting, and possibly condemning a person who rejects it, or they are HIS loving Instructions given to HIS people to live according to, by faith - that they might be blessed by HIM. The proof of the application is in who we believe (God or man) and, as a result of that choice, what we do.
Labels:
1st Peter,
God's Law or Man's Law,
Grace,
New Covenant,
The Living Torah
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