The gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.  

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.  For the body is not one member, but many.1 Corinthians 12: 1-14

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:13-25

If you ask a person who they are it is common to receive one of two types of answers. There are some who will list degrees, certifications, or jobs while others will give a list of their morals and ideals. The same is common among believers; they will at times, whether solicited or not, find themselves “proving” they are in a good relationship with the Lord. The proof is offered in two ways some offer the works done by the Spirit through them and others offer their acts of kindness toward others.

The problem with these answers is that who a person is cannot be defined in such a way. The failure of such answers should be obvious enough after all was Balaam’s donkey in a closer relationship with YHWH because YHWH spoke through him, was Caiaphas a believer because he prophesied Messiah would die for the nation, is it godliness to give all one has to the poor? Paul concludes that a man can do all these things and still have not love.

• The Spirit witnesses that if we speak as a man or as a messenger of YHWH without love we are equal because all we say amounts to nothing.
• The Spirit witnesses that if we understand all mysteries, holy knowledge, if we prophesy nd move the earth with our faith but without love we are nothing.
• The Spirit witnesses that if we give all we have to the needy, and suffer torture and death before denying our beliefs without love we inherit nothing.

The treatise of love given through Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 is the conclusion of the 1Corinthians 12 charismatic gift teaching and defined in Galatians 5.

This being established should show us the wrong thinking and eternally dangerous results of those who judge their own and others relationship with our covenant keeping Father by the Spiritual works that have occurred in their lives.

It is perhaps even more dangerous to learn to act joyful, peaceful, longsuffering, gentle, good, faithful, meek, and temperate. Learning to act a certain way is an admission that those things are not our nature. It is no different than what is taught by fallen sons of Adam to their children; after all teaching a child to not act selfishly is for the most part a self-preserving act for both the parent and the child.

The new creation in messiah is not about conformation but transformation. It is not how we act but who we are. The Pharisees went to great length to do what was acceptable under the law and were concluded to be nothing more than actors (hypocrites). The law was not a structure of correct actions but instead a description of who Messiah is.

When we try to make ourselves obedient to the law we find that what we received from Adam (our life) is by nature a transgressor and we are not able to make it righteous. The church has not for the most part disagreed with what I have thus far stated. It is how one proceeds from there where we have failed. 

• The desire for righteousness is not righteousness
• Forgiveness is not salvation
• Trying with all that is in you to do right is not living by faith

Adams fatal error was to trust in himself as an equal to Elohim our Father; not to replace YHWH but to sit equal to Him. We do the same thing when we believe that YHWH will bless us if we do our part. We cannot find the righteousness we desire through effort but the just shall LIVE by faith.

If you claim Yeshua is living through you while the works of the flesh reign in your life you are deceiving yourself. If you have no desire to be made righteous you are not redeemed. Failure to do right is not a sign of hypocrisy but of blindness (my people are destroyed for a lack of vision).

• Pick up your eyes from the earth and look to heaven from which your salvation comes.
• Trust in His promise that He and His Father will abide in you and be one with you.
• Depend upon the fact that Adams life in you is dead (repentance from dead works) by means of the cross.
• Expect the Holy Spirit (the breath, life, being) of YHWH to be His shared life within you

The Spirit calls to us come out from among them who put trust in and attempt to prove the self, inherent from Adam. Let Adam’s death remain in the grave and come away with me my beloved into resurrection life.

Resurrection life is not set aside for heaven, but as Messiah the first fruit and first born among many brethren walked in resurrection life upon the earth until He was taken up so should our shared life with Him be upon the earth until we too are taken up.

Do you know the Lord?

As a child growing up in a small rural town the idea of a church denomination never occurred to me. There existed one community Christian church in town and it was the only flavor for miles; so in my mind there were only those who went to church and those who did not. The combination of maturing into adolescence and relocating to a more urban area of course brought with it an awareness that within Christianity there where multiple denominations each believing their own teachings where the most in line with the truth. However the idolatry of my self and desire to obtain those things that the world around me sought after had lead me so far from my Father that I gave such things no consideration.

When my brother Yeshua said He would neither leave us nor forsake us His witness is true regardless of how untrue we may find ourselves to be. I see His providence in the fact that He brought my wife of twenty five years to me even when I deserved only His wrath. My wife like myself had come to the Father as a child in a full gospel church but walked away into darkness in her teenage years.

In the early years of our marriage my wife attempted to return to church a few times, if for no other reason than to deal with the fits of anger and hatefulness that I had become prone to, but it is hard to be steadfast when your spouse is living worldly. However her prayers and tears were not unnoticed by our Lord and one night my faith in myself broke leaving me empty and alone. Messiah was there to bind my wounds and pour in His oil and wine and shelter me by a price He paid himself. I did not tell anyone what had taken place within me but my behavior change was evident and finally my wife asked me directly “what is going on with you?”

My wife had been attending at that time a UPC church with a friend of hers and upon finding out that I had surrendered myself to the Lords will she asked if I would attend church with my family on the following Sunday. I soundly informed her that I had no intention of attending a “tongue talking” church since such a belief was silly and furthermore I was “saved” with no such experience.

My wife was filled with hope and spent the entire ten hours I was at work the next day finding every scripture she could to show me the “baptism in the Spirit”. I found that the evangelical doctrine I was comfortable with did not address these scriptures with any truly solid foundational arguments. I would later find that the UPC fellowship would be offended by those things which the evangelicals did have solid foundation upon.  For those who would be curious I did come to what Pentecostals call the baptism with the evidence of speaking in other tongues; however eventually my UPC brethren asked me to no longer fellowship with them because of things I believed.

This was the beginning of the cup which my Father has given to me. Like James and John when this cup was set before me I saw opportunity for myself to become someone of position and power as a man favored of YHWH. However just as they had learned before me I have come to understand that the only way to partake of our Fathers cup is to first take Messiahs cup and die in order that the only life in us is the quickening of His Spirit.

The desire for the complete truth of YHWH has driven me since that time. In the childish manner of my early spirit life I went from church to church each time to find fault with wrong doctrine and refusal to consider the scripture beyond already held beliefs. The amount of study and research and fasting  and prayer that I poured into knowing what was right blinded me to the fact that despite my learning the truth I was not living right or true.

In the beginning no one would have thought anything was amiss, many Christians would have probably applauded my biting criticism of many “false teachers”. It is not without reason that the scripture tells us to not wander to the right or the left and that our eye must be single. The scripture also tells us that there are those who are ever learning but never coming to knowledge of God. I learned the hard way that learning the truth is not the same as being one with and living the truth. It crept up on me slowly like the proverbial frog in hot water; who does not realize the temperature is rising until they are dead.

I have said all this that it might be obvious that my subject is not just a theory but instead a truth that I fought hard to bend to my will to my own hurt. In the end this unrelenting truth is without price.

In the end Yeshua will either say come or I never knew you. On that day your personal definition of what knowing Him means will not persuade your destination in the least.

Some say that knowing Him is a belief.

Some say knowing Him is a confession.   

Some say knowing Him is a baptism in water.

Some say knowing Him is a spiritual manifestation.

Some say knowing Him is to be used by Him.

However the scripture says to know Him is to be one with Him.

 Moses said if you love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart, mind and might then you will keep His commands.

Jerimiah prophesied His law will be written on our heart and mind (not written by us but YHWH is the author and finisher of our trust, dependence, and expectation.)

Yeshua said I and my Father are one and I shall be in you and you in me that you may all be one and again He says if you have seen me you have seen the Father.

Paul says it is no longer I that lives but Messiah lives in me, that from faith to faith the righteousness of Messiah is revealed in us, that those who knew not the law by their (new) nature do the things in the law, and again that I am dead in Messiah and the Spirit that raised Him from the dead now quickens my mortal body.

The author of Hebrews says not laying again the foundations let us go on to righteousness.

The man we are inherent from Adam can learn what righteousness is and by will worship for a time or season he can imitate the actions he has learned but it is not his nature. His true nature will emanate out eventually.

The new man is inherent of Messiah will emanate the life of Messiah. Amen

Understanding The Lord’s Supper

The Eucharist, though never intended as a mystery, has been mystified, paganized, and exploited almost since the shift in Christianity from Jewish to gentile leadership. If these violations had been done only in antiquity this subject would be no more than an interesting historic sidebar however in the modern church the communion is still shrouded in superstition and lack of understanding. If we desire to understand what was truly given by Yeshua to his disciples it is required that we first suspend our assumptions of traditional understanding. We must strip back the building of the church to the foundation of Messiah and ensure that what is built on that foundation will be of a substance that is purified by fire and not consumed.

The question begs to be asked who am I to challenge almost two thousand years of church tradition and teachings; what qualifications can I present making me able to argue with the theologians who have divested that which the church believes. The answers to these reasonable questions are I am of no significance or importance and my qualifications are less impressive. I am simply a believer in the covenant and finished work of YHWH through Yeshua and as such the same Spirit that lived and resurrected Messiah lives and resurrects me in Him. It is that same Spirit that places on my heart to speak on these things and that same Spirit abiding in the brethren will lead and teach if I fumble forth.

Before we discuss what communion is let us suspend what we assume it is…

•it is neither physical nor spiritual cannibalism connecting us to the divine

•it is not a talisman to cure or bless our living

•it is not a curse of woe upon those who do not understand its purpose

•it is not a means to be delivered or cured

Yeshua is without question a great teacher and as a great teacher his lessons are delivered with an understanding of his audience and their perception of His meaning. It is this reason that should lead us to see that our communion is and always has been a fulfilment of the feast of Passover just as Yeshua  is our Passover lamb.

That which is given in Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, John 13, and 1 Corinthians 11 if not anchored in Exodus 12 cannot be understood.

Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.

 And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.

 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.  And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. Matthew 26: 17-30

To the gentiles of the first century the communion tradition of the church seemed similar to the pagan right by which worshipers of false Gods thought that food, drink, or even animal blood and flesh could be transformed into the flesh and blood of their gods. It was thought that if this mystically transformed body and blood was consumed then the spirit of the individual would be joined to and empowered by the spirit of their god. As the decades passed and the church became more and more gentile than Jewish the familiarity of the pagan had influence over the way the communion was taught and received.

The men Yeshua was speaking to on that day were brought up in the golden age of Judaism. The Maccabean revolt had purged the nemesis of idol worship and desire to be as other nations from the heart of Israel. The corrupt nature of Adam did without question keep the nation from ever realizing a true purity of the teachings given through Moses and yet it was the pinnacle of what man without the Spirit of God abiding within could accomplish. It was this fertile separatist desire for pure truth of YHWH’s ways that prepared Israel for the birth of Yeshua.

All of this I have said is to establish in our mind that the commencement of communion was not in any way taken from paganism but was instead established and designed to teach the fulfillment of the truth of Passover.  In the Hollywood movie Karate Kid the wise teacher has his martial arts student wax his car and paint his fence in a very particular way. The student obeys grudgingly until he just can’t take it anymore and confronts his teacher; at which time it is revealed that what seemed unrelated was a preparation for what was desired all along. This comparison is silly when speaking of YHWH’s revelation but we must have a point of consideration if our true understanding is to overtake our assumed perception.

Yeshua was teaching us and those with Him that destined night that it was his death and applied blood that was our deliverance from death; and moreover that our sustenance must come from a total consuming of who He is making us who we shall be. The ordinance given through Moses means little more than a shiny car or a pretty fence without Yeshua. Yeshua separated from the witness of Moses is little more than a way to solve our own self-indulgent perceived problems.

It was not very long ago that I witnessed several teachings encouraging people to take communion every day; with the promise that such a regimen would bring the blessings of god on your life in various ways. Passover and thereby the ministry of Messiah is not an incantation or ritual that brings favor but instead an understanding of faith filled dependence and trust that changes us at our core being. We are not doing a thing but becoming one with His life and we shall find that His life brings us into all that is within Him.

How to live by faith

Yeshua lived our faith perfectly!

        WE BELIEVE, TRUST, RELY UPON, AND EXPECT

* YHWH is our Father (maker, creator, provider, and generator) Matthew 3

* The gain of even needful material things are not a goal but a result of receiving YHWH's life living in and through us. Matthew 4:4

* The natural result of YHWH's shared life in us is every word and promise having a living manifestation in us (seeking the manifestation shows we have no faith in YHWH) Matthew 4:7

* To seek temporal things is to worship the temporal self even if we say it was given by God. We instead worship YHWH and seek the eternity of His life in us. Matthew 4:10

* Yeshua is the only begotten Son of YHWH and as such all that He is has come out of the Father and the Fathers life is the Sons life. John 10:30 and 14:9

* The work of the Father through the Son is to make a marriage covenant with man. All we have and are becomes the possession of Yeshua who suffered and carried away from us the reality of fallen men

Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: (why would this please the Father and Son? For the result that comes forth) when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors Isaiah 58

*the new creation of the new covenant in Messiah is us made one with Yeshua in marriage.  We are now restored into sonship as His spouse and are to be fruitful and multiply the glory and image of YHWH throughout the earth.

Who Yeshua is we are

What Yeshua did we do

He is the living word we are the living word

Our failures come from ignorance of what has been worked in us and unbelief that what YHWH says is true despite our experience, reason, and earthly wisdom.

 

I am saved: what does that mean?

There are times when a word comes to have a meaning in our understanding that is not necessarily its definition. The church is not immune to this effect and at times it is even guilty of changing the meaning of words to suite its own desires. When these skewed definitions last through several generations they become at times so accepted that they are not questioned.

One such word used in the church is saved. The commonly accepted thought of such a word deals with a moment in our life when our destination changes from hell to heaven. This definition of salvation allows for us to live out our lives without any effectual manifestation of YHWH’s living through us.

Where did this thought of salvation being about our final destination come from? There was a time when the church as a whole was seduced by worldly power and control of men. This spiritual adultery against our spouse led to a bride that was both selfish and controlling of all in her household. As a form of control she taught her children that must obey her else her husband would punish them to death and throw them out of the household. She locked her spouse out of his own house and moved in her abusive lover who brought destruction to both her (corporate church) and her children (individuals in the church). The lasting results of this adultery are that the children began raising the children though they lacked the experience of being raised in their Fathers love without the lies of bitterness, fear and unbelief.

If a man is drowning and I through him a floatation device then leave him in the water with a promise that I will come get him later only a skewed thinking would conclude I had saved that man. If we consider a biblical example then let us look at the children of Israel in Egyptian bondage. At what point by our modern definition where they saved?

• At prayer for deliverance
• At Moses call
• At Passover exodus
• At Red Sea
• At Sinai
• At manifestation of manna
• At the healing of the waters
• At the water from the rock
• At the serpent on a pole
• At the crossing of the Jordon

YHWH is salvation at each and every point of His effectual manifestation to save. It is not a position of standing given for a future event but instead it is sleeves rolled up power working in our every moment.

When we see this as true then we are not destroyed for a lack of knowledge but instead we are filled with an expectant hope of faith in the Fathers salvation through Yeshua His Messiah. How different does the witness of the apostles look when our eyes open to the active life of YHWH in us?

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12

And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?  And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Acts 16:30-31

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16

 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:9-10

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

Some may say well that sounds good but from what I’ve seen YHWH does not always save us. It may be true that you have seen that but as a believer you don’t walk by sight.

The children of Israel didn’t walk in the wilderness for forty years as a matter of YHWH’s hate but instead by His longsuffering love He was teaching them to trust Him to do what He promised. Our salvation also is found in Abba moving us from agreeing He can or will do what He says to believing has and is doing what he says.

I have a peach tree in my back yard. From the moment the seed sprang forth it has been a peach tree but for years it produced no peaches. I pruned back the branches that were not needed and this year it produced the fruit by which it is named. While the older branches are the support of the tree the fruit only grows on new growth.

In a similar way our relationship in the Father is living, growing, and producing as YHWH gives the increase. If you have put your head down and determined to persevere till you reach heaven then I encourage you to look up and see that your salvation is not far away but is running at you full force to wrap you in His arms.

 

Christians effected by the flooding in Louisiana: is our hope in the Lord?

My regular post may be delayed a couple weeks. I along with more than 100,000 am dealing with the aftermath of the flooding in Louisiana. My personal situation is removing damaged insulation, damaged flooring, ensuring my electrical and HVAC is dry, clean, and safe to use, all while dealing with the fact that I no longer own a viable vehicle.

As bad as that may sound I am blessed. I have an expectant hope that my Lord will provide all I need. I believe this is the greatest gift we can have when things go bad; our hope in our Father. 

The Parish (Louisiana’s version of a county) in which I live has a population of approximately 130,000 people; and this flood has to varying degrees effected an estimated 100,000. Truth be told even those who did not lose anything in the deluge are greatly effected as their homes have become the safe haven of multiple displaced family and friends.

This flood will show a few things about men and believers. On one hand it will show that even ungodly men can be moved to do good things for those in need and on the other it will show that men will use others misery and desperation as a way to make a filthy gain for themselves. This opposing good and evil is evident in every son of Adam to a degree and more exaggerated to one or the other side in many. This is because Adam chose to know good and evil and this decision has been lived out through his children ever since.

Yeshua’s statements about what a house is built on and the effect of a storm on those structures is well known. In a terrain like that of Yeshua’s audience the dry season would have produced a hard surface seemingly great for building. Anyone who has ever tried to dig a hole in mostly clay soil in the summer will understand. However an experienced builder would know that the foundation must be dug down because no matter how solid the ground is during the dry season when the rainy season comes it will soften and give way.

For the believer this lesson is not about flood waters and the structures in which we live but instead it is about the structure of our living. These flood waters bring this lesson to the forefront by revealing to us how much we are placing our trust and hope in our heavenly Father. 

In the book of Job Satan tells YHWH; Job only trust in you because of your many blessing. We see every blessing taken from Job; family, provision, honor, health, everything but his very breath and still his faith and hope remains in YHWH.

Pray for me and my fellow believers going through this trial that our trust and hope will be better established in the blessing of being made one with the Father and not in the blessings of our Father alone. 

As a personal note if you feel led to help those affected I would encourage you to give your gift to a church which is trying to help those in need. Just as Paul councils us that our disagreements with believers should be handled within the church so also our help should go through the body of which we are all a part; the body of Messiah.

Abraham: true ever increasing faith

 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: Genesis 12:1-2

After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Genesis 15:1

Abraham is a prominent figure in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. As with any prominent historic figure he is also a subject of many fables and manipulations. I have no intension to argue against these falsities concerning Abraham but instead I would set forth to witness, as did Moses, of the central teaching of Abraham’s life.

Within the first twelve chapters of genesis Moses has come against the false gods and histories of the surrounding nations but in chapter twelve he begins to deal with our own false ideas of what covenant with YHWH means.

Abraham and his progenitors are not super human examples of our faith but instead a witness of YHWH’s unfailing ability to make weak feeble men the vessels of His unbreakable will and work.  

Abram was called like every other believer into a way, a truth, and a life which was completely foreign to all he had before known. The promise given by YHWH to Abram is the seed carried in the womb of the Jewish nation which was born into the world as Messiah and matured into eternal salvation to all that place their trust in Him.

The scriptures say faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of YHWH. Abram lives this out before the world. It begins with a call to leave behind what is known and move into an unknown place with nothing more than trust in Him who has called you.

The believer should see themselves in Abram. The same human nature inherent from Adam that we struggle against was also in Abram and also the same Elohim who formed Abraham from the dust of Adam and breathed into him the breath of life made him and us living souls.

Abraham’s story begins at his call from YHWH to leave behind all he has known and considered himself to have come from. The call of Abraham has a great blessing promised but also a price to be paid. From the time of Abraham until now the call to those who will walk in faith is the same “come out from among them”.

Abraham’s obedience to this call is much like our own, incomplete. It is not for a lack of desire to obey but rather an ignorance of what full submission entails. Only faith can be blessed and YHWH blesses to the extent that our trust is in Him. Abram enters into faith by leaving both his country and fathers house to obtain the promise of YHWH. However the leaving of his kindred is only partial for he takes with him his nephew Lot.

It is very likely that Abraham did not do this because he was in any type of disobedience but instead his actions were generated by what he felt was right. It would be many years later before Abraham would separate from Lot and begin to experience the full presence and blessings of YHWH.

This is the journey of Abraham’s faith from exuberant action of obedience into a trust that became the very foundation of Abraham’s being. Abraham’s path of change from simply accepting a spoken offer of covenant from YHWH to becoming an embodiment in his very person (a living word) of those things promised is the same path every believer travels.

In Abrahams call of chapter 12 there is a promise of blessings for obedience without a description of how the blessings or obedience will be manifested. In chapter 15 Abraham has come to an experiential knowledge of YHWH to the degree that he can now understand that the how of what was promised is in the fact that YHWH is not only his shield but his reward. The very being of YHWH has been given to Abraham as his. It is this grace that Messiah has delivered to all those in the household of faith.

 The interim events of these three chapters is not only a story of Abraham’s journey but an account of YHWH casting out self-trust (from Adams inheritance) and a creation of a new man in YHWH’s image. I am not saying that Abraham has arrived at chapter fifteen (life is about relationship not arrival) but instead the effective faith that would be called righteousness, receive the miraculous, and be tested beyond comprehension was formed here.

We see in Abraham’s life during this time three things that dove tail perfectly into the three temptations of Messiah. We should see these things as a witness of our own maturing into the life of the Father. Of course Messiah was tempted in all points without sin; neither we nor Abraham can make such a claim. What Abraham can witness too along with us (in the course of time) is that YHWH does give beauty for ashes and joy for tears.

In the first temptation of Messiah we see a Man after forty days of no sustenance tempted to act of His own accord to provide what He truly needs. In Abraham a famine drives him to leave that place YHWH has called him into and find his own way of providence.

If we then look at the results of this action we see that Abraham finds himself not only looking for physical sustenance but in fear for his life from the hands of those around him. The father of faith found himself trading his own wife to sustain his flesh. The mercy of YHWH, even in Abraham’s failure held this shame from being cast on Abraham. Abraham was not forsaken or abandoned in this failure; instead YHWH taught him of both his mercy and providence. When Abraham was converted from trust in self leading to destruction into a more established trust in YHWH the very one Abraham feared would take his life served to establish him with more than he had entered his failure with.

In the second temptation of Messiah a description of Messiah from scripture was used to tempt a public display of messiahship to remove any reasonable argument against believing Yeshua was who he claimed to be.  Yeshua could have avoided the strife that plagued his ministry from those who ran both the temple and the synagogue with a display of angels catching him from a public leap from the pinnacle of the temple.

So Messiah is tempted to do that which will bring Him acceptance from His kinsman to which He answers that YHWH alone can make Him acceptable. Abraham in order to avoid strife with his kinsman (Lot) gives that which was not his to give. It is from a motive of doing what is acceptable and generous but his decision has at its source only Abraham.

It should be noted that despite YHWH’s providence and blessing Abrahams sin still causes hurt to him, his household and those he comes in contact with. The covenant of faith does not make us free from the results of sin but when our eye becomes single we are made free from sin.

 That being said we must always remember that we press for the mark of the prize in Messiah: that mark was a perfectly complete faith in the Father to be His maker and life. It is safe to say that Yeshua alone has walked in perfect faith all other believers are pressing toward that mark.

The third temptation of Messiah deals with the glory of the kingdoms of the earth becoming His. Messiah is promised those same kingdoms will be subject unto Him but the Father alone is the possessor of the heavens and the earth. In a like manner Abraham refuses to be established by an earthly king; instead trusting YHWH’s promise alone will establish him.

We see a very different Abraham now. YHWH has made in him a faith by which comes obedience in the form of simple trust.

•get the out of thy country…to a land I will show you (no provision from Egypt)

•from thy kindred… I will make you a great nation (separation from Lot)

•from thy father’s house…I will make your name great (no dependence on man)

 

Baptism in the Bible

Pin on pinterest

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.  Genesis 6: 1-13

Often the things that are the most familiar to us are the things we most ignore. Messiah said that Moses was His witness and as such it is a grievous error to relegate those things taught in Genesis to myths and children’s stories.

The writing of Genesis is apologetic in nature. YHWH through Moses has laid out the truth by which the fables of gods, creation myths, and historic fictions of the surrounding nations would be revealed as embellishments of man. While this is true the believer must remember that this was not YHWH’s purpose for recording these things.

The purpose is to be a witness of the person, truth, purpose, and necessity of the promised Messiah; Yeshua the first born among many brethren. When the believer comes into covenant with YHWH through Messiah the scripture becomes a witness of both that within them from Adam who must be left in the death of the cross and the life of YHWH which is the being of both Messiah and ourselves within us.

The witness of evils consumption of pre-flood man is a truth which should cut through the deception of good works. Mankind is a mirror of every man. Even that which begins as benevolence from a source of man, given the generation of time, becomes selfish and twisted from its original intent. Wickedness (a twisted way) brings forth evil which like a cancer spreads until all becomes cancerous.   

 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh:

Noah found grace by which he was just and upright in his generation. Was this by random selection from YHWH? YHWH does not change and is no respecter of persons therefore when He says we are saved by grace through faith and that the just shall live by faith we know these things to also be true in the witness of Noah. Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Romans 6: 4-10

The flood of Noah is a baptism of mankind. A baptism is a burial not a murder. What is buried is already dead. We often can see that a surgeon’s act of removing cancer, while violent, is a benevolent act of preserving life. YHWH on the other hand, despite His longsuffering that waits till all possible hope of recovery is exhausted, is confused as being nefarious when He preserves life.

More bible verses about baptism

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God John 3: 17-18

The story of Noah’s salvation is the story of our own death, burial, resurrection, and expectation of life.

As a closing note the providence of new life for Noah did not make him without sin but served as a lesson of the true resurrection when all men stand before YHWH. On that day the consuming fire of holiness from His presence will purify those who have His life in them and destroy those without His life forever.

The way of Cain: why was Cain's sacrifice rejected?

And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Genesis 4:1-7

The two sons that came forth from Adam are not his children alone. Now please do not think that I am giving any credence to the fable of the serpent seed story but instead we must keep in mind that we are all born after the “kind” of Adam. This being true what came forth from Adam comes forth from us also.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Hebrews 4:12

I believe that these stories are literal yet they were not given to us for the sake of literal facts but instead as examples. they bring those with open eyes and ears to knowledge of themselves, of their creator, of their redeemer, and of their redemption.

The why of given scripture is the understanding that affects beyond our thoughts to our being. A mental and analytic determination of the facts may change what we believe to be acceptable or unacceptable.This acceptance could lead a man to attempt to act as he should. Understanding of why leads us to a place where the only decision is to be different; which we come to know can only be effected by something beyond ourselves through faith.

So what is the why of Genesis? The word of YHWH is a living word but it was necessary to write down a witness of that word so that it could not be changed; which Moses began at Sinai. 
If left to men the how becomes very muddled. We see this at the tower of babel when men first organized an apostate religion; spreading out from that central access point to be embellished by the many groups to form the pagan worship system. 
Moses gives at the outset a debunking of the multitude of creation myths and the pantheon of gods they birthed. There is one creator, one giver of life, wisdom, and might and YHWH is one.

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons Genesis 3:7

For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. 2 Corinthians 11:4

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11

We see in Cain the beginnings of building on his father Adams failed man devised foundation. Cain’s god of his own making retains YHWH’s name and his ordinance of sacrifice but is shaped to Cain’s own way of right and wrong instead of life and death.

Decades before YHWH took a skin and replaced the fig leaf aprons of Adam’s design with a covering for man’s nakedness of His own making. This began the age of mercy when as Paul puts it YHWH winked at sin.
 It was a time bringing us to grace; when the blood of bulls and goats covered sin, just as their skins covered the nakedness of men. 
In the same way that the coat could not change the man within it so also the covering blood could not take away the guilt of its offeror.

These things being established then why did YHWH institute such a grisly ordinance of blood and death if it had no power to take away sin? If it was the faith in YHWH’s promised redemption that has always brought salvation then why the ordinance? The answer is that mental assent of a truth is the deception of man that he dwells in that truth just as actions performed are the deception that he is righteous.

The sacrificial system was the killing of living innocent lambs not to take our sin but a lived out parable teaching us of the horror of sin and the magnitude of the price involved to redeem us.
 Sin is deceptively easy and small until we come face to face with the cost to ourselves and those who we care about.

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. Hebrews 9: 22

So is YHWH callous; caring nothing for lambs that are slaughtered just to teach us a lesson? If one would ask this question then consider have any of us ever made a lamb? 
YHWH spoke them into existence and as such they are from the abundance of his heart. However His children are His greatest treasure and at a gruesome cost to himself He has laid put forth a way that goes beyond teaching us what to do and teaches us what we must trust Him to make us become.

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1: 29

The understanding of the why we are given the witness of Cain and Able is tied directly to the why of Cain’s sacrifice not being accepted. In the relationship of our being made the righteousness of YHWH we are shown that we offer Cain’s sacrifice much more readily that Abel’s. 
Abel in this story is almost seemingly secondary. Cain is the main character. When the sacrifice is offered we do not see YHWH lavishing attention on Abel but it is instead Cain with whom YHWH spends His time; pleading with Him to understand his need to be given redemption in the way that had been established, offering a chance to be redeemed, and warning him of the results of following after his own way.

What made Cain’s sacrifice unacceptable? Some have suggested that Cain offered those vegetables and fruit that he thought to be subpar; however if this had been the case then shame or guilt should have been the reaction. 
Cain’s murder of passion was an act of anger. If YHWH had rejected something Cain had placed no value in then Cain would have saw the rejection as being for the inferior fruit alone.
 Cain took this rejection all the way to the core of his being.

It is likely Cain worked the soil, seed, plant and fruit with meticulous care and concern and then from them picked the very best. It should be obvious from His reaction that he expected to be accepted and lifted up.
 This way of Cain is still practiced today by most that claim faith in Messiah.
 We decide what we should do for YHWH, the way we will make ourselves pleasing to Him, and what will manifest His blessings in our life; all of these things we take shore up with scripture. Yet they are a facade and a manipulation used that we may be conformed to our perception of right.
We forget (or ignore) that only YHWH is our Elohim (creator) and that as we give up on ourselves and trust Him He makes us what we should be…one with Him.

It is a redemption that must be possessed but can never be paid for. It is offered to all men as grace but that infuriates those who wish to be recognized for the work they have done and the sacrifices they have made to a place of hate and destruction for any who accept it.

  

Fellowship of the brethern honors the Father

I believe the most important thing for born again brethren to do is to have fellowship.
We are born of the same womb from heaven if we have entrusted our self to YHWH's life given by union with His Messiah Yeshua and His death and resurrection.
I have recently added to the bottom of each post buttons where anyone can share their opinions with a quick click. As always I encourage you to leave any comment you might have whether you agree, have questions, corrections, or think I am wrong.
Only when we dwell in fellowship and desire for the living truth, despite any differences, will we come to the fullness of what YHWH has for us in this life.
That being said fellowship is not you asking me for money to support you.
 I believe in giving alms, but alms are for those with no ability to support themselves.
If you are healthy then thank YHWH for this and honor your heavenly Father by trusting Him to provide you with the way to work and have provision.
I also believe in giving to ministry but such giving only comes from fellowship first.
True giving does not come from someone asking for help but from what is upon the givers heart and spirit to give.
A man looking at another man to receive or worse to try to manipulate a man to receive from him will not be helped by silver or gold. Only in the name of Yeshua can men rise up and find true provision.
I pray that I never shame a man by encouraging him to look to men but instead that I can honor all men and the Father by encouraging all faith be placed in YHWH.
Fellowship is when we share with each other those things that YHWH has or is forming in us.
I am not trying to be lifted up from among my brethren and set as some great minister for we are all ministers and when YHWH works His works through us we are all great.
All this being said I would be honored with any interaction to anything I share here.

Life and Death: are we born guilty

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun Ecclesiastes 1:9

We are often quite harsh on those who in the New Testament assumed Messiah was wrong and the traditions handed down by their fathers where correct. However do we ever stop and ensure that we are not doing the same thing.

The traditions were the conclusions of the Jewish forefathers as to how the law was to be honored and lived out. For instance the law stated to do no work on the Sabbath for it was a day of rest. The traditions of the Fathers attempted to define what work was and what was inclusive of rest.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: Exodus 20:8-10

 Yeshua is, at times, seen taking part in the traditions (John 8:6) and at other times He challenges them vehemently (Matthew 15:1-10). His opponents had so accepted the traditions that they had changed from a way to stitch the scripture together and became a form in which the scriptures where forced to fit.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican Luke 18:11

While we thank YHWH for His grace that we are not blind as those poor men we at the same time force scripture into the accepted understanding of our denominations and fellowships. We certainly dismiss any discussion of those things which have been established since Constantine; doctrines such as these are so sacred that anyone who questions them is a heretic for like the Pharisees before us we have made our fathers understanding above question even from the scripture.    

I ask you please don’t assume I am some rebel. I have great respect for the church Fathers and others who have tried to make clear the greatness of our Messiah and the redemption price paid by both our Heavenly Father and His only begotten Son.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him James 1:5

 My course, and yours, is to know Him and the power of His resurrection it is not to learn others opinions of it.

If teachers born from the same womb as Messiah missed some key understandings of scripture; leading to incorrect expectations of who Messiah was and what His ministry consisted of. These misunderstandings accepted as truth throughout the entire nation engrained in the minds of His own disciples, who had heard him and touched Him and been witness to the Shekinah coming forth from Him, that even after His death, burial, and resurrection asked “will you now restore the Kingdom to Israel?”

The power of assumed perceptions is to make one blind to the truth plainly spoken. If we see that the scholars and lawyers of the first century then we must allow for the same misunderstanding in the theologians that followed. I have said all of this so that we might seek the truth revealed in scripture with open eyes and with careful consideration of its meaning. So with these things in mind we come to the subject of original sin.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12

The perception of men that confuses the issue starts in the garden. Original sin says in its most basic explanation that we were in Adam when he sinned thereby either directly or by hereditary the sin guilt and nature passed to us. The problem is the focus on the sin as an end result and not as it truly is as a seed of death. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not a tree whose fruit brings sin it is a tree that brings death.  An apple is not a tree it is a fruit…but that seed is what brings forth the tree. When that tree is present it brings a harvest of a multitude of apples.

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9

To be clear the focus on sin and righteousness, clean and unclean, holy and defiled is the result of the duel nature of good and evil. This focus blinds us to true understanding of these two trees. The tree of (which brings) life and the tree of (which brings) death go beyond action, will, and motive to the very core of being; it is not what you do but what you are.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live Deutoronomy 30:19

When Adam became a tree of death then his seed could only bring forth seed after his kind. This nature of death is deceptive in that it experiences doing both good and evil. This nature is not capable of only doing one of the two for both are its makeup. So it sets out to make the scale balance in such a way that the good is greater than the evil. Of course this whole system depends on consciences of what good and evil consist of. It is this driving force in man that has brought forth religion, culture, philosophy and social structure. It is this same nature that reads the scripture and sees actions to be taken instead of a nature that must be changed. It is not original sin that has passed to us but the dual nature of death.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: Deuteronomy 6:4-6

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people Jeremiah 30:33

The tree of life is one nature; it is the life of YHWH breathed into Adam. Yeshua prayed that we might be one as He and the Father are one for YHWH is one. In the cross our old natural man is crucified in Messiah and the Holy Spirit that gave Him life makes alive even our mortal bodies.

Adam was born into the union of YHWH’s life and given a choice to remain or make his own way. This choice came with a warning that his way would bring death. Adam brought death to us all. Yet despite being born alone into a world of men who are each alone no matter the size of a crowd YHWH has still loved us and extended Himself to us that we might have life and union in Him.

We must let go of trying to do right and trust Him to make us right; which will bring us to our next subject of Cain and Able.