We overcome the devil, the flesh, and the world by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony. Yeshua tells us how we are to overcome our anxieties about the things happening in the world today, and that are yet to come. Continue reading “Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled”
Gen 1:14-31 — Days 4-6 of Creation
Mk 10:5-6 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
We have seen in the first three days of Creation how God created the heavens and the Earth, at first in a state of darkness and lack of order, and without any gap of time between the first and second verses. Then He began to speak things into existence, and made distinctions: between light and darkness, between waters and waters, between seed and seed, between kinds/species and other life in their own kind. God was forming the Earth for its unique place in His created universe, and for the unique life that He filled on it. Continue reading “Gen 1:14-31 — Days 4-6 of Creation”
Genesis 1:1-13 — Days 1-3 of Creation
Mk 10:5-6 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
As we begin our study of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, I want to emphasize again: it is the Word of God; it is truth. Doubting what God says about the Creation will negatively affect us to doubt what He tells us about other matters throughout the Scriptures. It will weaken our faith in His Word, but it is His Word that He will not change, because He does not change. God’s Word judges us; we do not judge Him. (Heb 4:9-13) God Himself lives by His Word (which also allows Him sovereign authority to do what man may not), and has magnified His Word above His Name. (Ps 138:2b) Yeshua is the Word of God, and He lived by it, and will continue to fulfill all that is written. As we trust God more to believe all that He says, our praise and worship will also enlarge. Continue reading “Genesis 1:1-13 — Days 1-3 of Creation”
Genesis 1 – 12: Introduction
Ps 19:7 (8 Heb) The law of YHVH is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of YHVH is sure, making wise the simple.
Why study Genesis 1 – 12? The whole of the Bible is under attack from those who never believed it for what it is, and from those who have fallen from the truth they once held. This attack has become the very fabric of the educational and intellectual spheres of influence, and has infiltrated down to the general public. We want to be equipped to be faithful witnesses and stewards of the mysteries of God. Continue reading “Genesis 1 – 12: Introduction”
2Pt 3: The Day of YHVH Is Coming
Peter begins this chapter by reminding his brothers and sisters in the faith of what both the prophets during the Old Testament and also the Apostles of the Lord and Savior in the New Testament have spoken: “knowing this first”, that scoffers [among even the people of God] will come in the last days, living according to their own lusts, and saying that there are no indications/signs that the Lord is coming; nothing has changed since the creation of the world. If Christians and Jews do not believe in their heart that the Lord and Judge is coming, why should we expect others to take the matter seriously?! If believers are not praying the last prayer of the Bible – “Even so, come, Lord Jesus”! – why should we expect Israel to say “Blessed are you, Lord Jesus/Yeshua, who comes in the name of YHVH!”? Continue reading “2Pt 3: The Day of YHVH Is Coming”
2Pt 2 — False Teachers and Heresies
2Pt 1:19-21 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
2Pt 2:1-3 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who secretly shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with deceptive words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not.
Messiah Has Come!
What joy and hope this gave to those who heard the good news/glad tidings when the angels sang, and the Israeli Jewish shepherds in the field heard the joy of the Father in Heaven over the birth of His only-begotten Son, Yeshua, the King of Israel! And what comfort and expectation it gave to those who were waiting for the long-anticipated Messiah whom God first spoke of to our first father and mother in the Garden of Eden! In the sovereign wisdom of God, this expectation and hope were not fully fulfilled at the birth of the Lord, or even during His life and death and resurrection; no, that fullness of the Law and the Prophets waits for the return of this same Yeshua/Jesus to return in great power and glory, to be Lord of every man, and to whom all must confess that He is YHVH! What a glorious day that will be, and the new song to be sung by the saints and the angels! Continue reading “Messiah Has Come!”
1Pt 3:13-22: Witnesses for Yeshua Through Suffering for Righteousness
Yeshua says that His disciples are His witnesses in the world, and that as He was in the world, so are we to be. (1Jn 2:6; Phlp 1:27-30) A disciple is not above His teacher. The Father loved His only-begotten Son, and Jesus suffered and died in obedience to His love for and trust in God His Father.
The Apostle Peter did not want to accept that the Messiah would suffer and be rejected to the extent that He was. And Peter did not want to suffer for being a disciple of Yeshua. . . . until he learned that this is the way of YHVH in this world to fulfill all righteousness, in order to save those persons who repent and believe, and to condemn those who will not. Continue reading “1Pt 3:13-22: Witnesses for Yeshua Through Suffering for Righteousness”
Peter and His Epistles
Peter was one of the 12 Apostles, and he thought he had no fear and could do anything. Yeshua at least twice rescued him from situations he got himself into because of thinking that he was not afraid of anything: once, when Peter walked on the water, until he was afraid; second, when he went into the courtyard of the high priest on the night that Yeshua was betrayed and arrested: Peter was afraid to admit that he was one of Jesus’ disciples, or that he even knew Him. The Apostle Paul also confronted Peter in his fear: Peter was more afraid of the Jewish leaders who were still trying to keep the Law, than continuing in the freedom of the gospel in the fear of the Lord. Peter’s fear of man was at the expense of the truth of the gospel. Peter humbly accepted Paul’s courageous and necessary rebuke; and he learned from it, commending Paul for the wisdom which God had given him regarding the implications of the gospel. (Gal 2:11-16; 2Pt 3:14-16)
Peter’s over-self-confidence gave him to think that he was able to cope in any situation, and he was usually the first among the apostles to react or respond to a question or a challenge. Peter was a typical Israeli! Continue reading “Peter and His Epistles”
Whose Right of Determination? – 17 Apr 2018
Israel remembers tonight all her sons and daughters who have died in the numerous wars and terror attacks since her birth as a nation 70 years ago, according to the Hebrew calendar. (The Western calendar Independence date is May 14/15.) Every war and attack against Israel is an existential threat to her existence. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Through many tribulations we enter the Kingdom of God!” (Acts 14:22) There is much suffering, even death, before entering into glory.
YHVH God of Israel called and destined His people to be separate from the Gentile nations, a holy people to Himself, and a priestly nation to the nations. But in the days of Samuel the prophet, the Children of Israel asked for a king like the Gentiles have, to judge them and lead them in war. God gave them what they asked for: He gave them Saul to be their king. (Shaul in Hebrew, which means, “asked for”.) Continue reading “Whose Right of Determination? – 17 Apr 2018”