Category Archives: Teachable

Grow In Respect To Salvation

A simple message to reflect on from 1 Peter today.

1 Peter 2:1-3

As Newborn Babes

      1Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

We are to put aside some fleshly impulses toward malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander. Peter is not talking to unbelievers but to believers and followers of Yeshua. Let us take heed and not dismiss it as a message aimed at “those who are lost”. He is aiming it straight at those who already follow Yeshua.

He calls for us not to be complacent and satisfied with our current understanding of the word, but rather to long for more like a baby longs for milk. In this way we grow in respect to salvation. We are to avoid stagnating.

An interesting test to consider…

Do you feel you are already 100% in understanding and close relationship with the LORD… perfection mastered on earth? Of course most believes say “no”.

Do you want to be close to the LORD and walk more perfectly according to his ways? Most believers say “yes”.

Then we should expect to experience change in our lives. If we are complacent to just keep doing everything how we grew up or how we are doing it today, we are not growing in the LORD. We should expect and look for where we should drive real change in our lives, tangible change… not just “I am getting sort of better at… over time”.

Give it some time to soak on and prayerfully reflect on it. Then ask YHWH to show you were he wants you to change. Ask him to help you long for change like a baby for milk so that you may draw nearer to him.

Remember, change is uncomfortable in most cases, so don’t expect to “feel” like you should change. Look to YHWH’s word to understand where you should change based on what he has told us.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Saved By Grace, Lay Down The Former Things

We are saved by grace through Christ, and not by our own actions. However, we are to lay down the former things, the former lusts and sin and change. We are not to remain the same, but rather to become holy, because the LORD is holy.

1 Peter 1:10-16

      10As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11seeking 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. 12It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.

      13Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”

Accepting Christ as LORD means we change our behavior to be more like his. It is a deception from Satan that people teach that he accepts you the way you are and does not expect or desire you to change. He may accept you where you are, but he expects you to submit to him and follow him. Our lives should be transformed. It follows that our lives should be constantly changing to some degree as we continue to learn and grow closer to him throughout our lives. We should never get to a point of complacency and stop expecting change unless we conclude that we have learned all there is to learn about YHWH and are doing all we can possibly do to please him perfectly… which is to say we should continue to expect to be changing for our entire lives.

We don’t change to be saved, but rather because we are saved.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Seek YHWH. Study His Word.

STUDY THE WORD

The world pushes non-Christian and false Christian values. As Christians we are called to reject the world and seek and follow Jesus Christ. We are to be set apart for God, to be holy. To do this effectively we must develop a clear understanding of God’s word and then submit to it. This requires that we do more than just go to church once a week.

God wants us to study His word daily to know Him more intimately. He provides the scriptures, inclusive of Old and New Testament, to tell us how we should live and how we should relate to Him and each other. We show love to Him by obeying His commands. How can we obey, if we do not clearly understand? How can we understand clearly if we do not study continuously? We must also allow ourselves to be teachable, that is to accept what scripture says even when it contradicts what churches teach or culture accepts. Only in this way can we actually change our behaviors to honor YHWH more faithfully.

Jesus demonstrated personally the importance of studying scripture and He learned it well. In fact, it is a clear understanding of scripture that allowed Him to avoid  Satan’s deception when Jesus was tempted in the desert.

As a community of Christians, we can work together by sharing resources that help guide us to more deeply understand God’s word.

I have included in the links below  books and other resources I personally recommend to help you study God’s word more deeply and to help you live in a way that honors God. It is very important to remember, however, that all we learn and study about God must be tested against the word of God in both the Old and New Testament and against the life of Jesus Christ, who was the word of God become flesh to dwell among us. All other resources, including our website, are subject to errors and must be tested against the proper interpretation of scripture.

We must not be lazy in avoiding the study ourselves, just trusting one teacher or another. Instead, you can seek out good teachers, validating them against the truth of scripture. Testing what they teach to the truth of God’s word. These are just tools to help. Ultimately only God’s word is without error.

If you have identified Christian resources you recommend for inclusion on our website, please submit via our Contact Us page.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Yeshua Became Our High Priest, and We Need Proper Guidance

Yeshua has become our high priest. He has offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins. He became man, and as such he understands temptation and what we experience. He was chosen by the Father. He has acted as mediator on our behalf with YHWH.

Hebrews 5

The Perfect High Priest

      1For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; 2he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; 3and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself. 4And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.

      5So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him,
“YOU ARE MY SON,
TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU”;

6just as He says also in another passage,
“YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER
ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.”

7In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. 8Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. 9And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, 10being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

      11Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

I suppose it is worth considering also that the end of this chapter highlights a different important reality. Neither in Paul’s day, nor today, are churches perfect in their teaching and walking out the instructions of Yeshua. Quite the contrary. Many of Paul’s letters and again in Revelation letters to seven churches all provide encouragement and also reprimand to them. We are all flawed and need the encouragement and rebuke of the word of YHWH in the Bible to ensure we walk in righteousness and not confusion… according to the ways of YHWH instead of the ways of man. I encourage each of you to test everything against the written word in the Bible, even my teaching of course. We must each study for ourselves and then test the teaching we receive from others.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Letters From Paul… Specific Audiences, Easy to Misunderstand

It is good for us to remember as we read the letters from Paul, that they were written to very specific audiences to address very specific situations. Much of it can and does still apply broadly, but we should take care and examine all his writings through the lens of the specific time and place and audience it was written to. Titus provides a good example, but almost all the letters show this focus. Paul was not writing a gospel in the way Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are written to address broad audiences and broad situations or applications. He was mentoring privately and guiding individuals in the church.

Titus 3:12-15

Personal Concerns

      12When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 13Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. 14Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.

      15All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith.
Grace be with you all.

Many take Paul and confuse his teaching to a point where it does not even line up with the example that Yeshua lived for us. Somehow it paints the expectations for our lives to be different (sometimes radically so) from the living example of the perfect and sinless Christ. This makes no sense. Our lives should mirror that of Yeshua. He is our example for how to live, not our excuse to disregard the law and instruction of the Father.

We should be watchful that we don’t interpret Paul to be changing or in conflict with Yeshua, the prophets, and the Torah. If it appears a conflict, we are in error and should continue to study. We should ensure we don’t become “Paulites” following only what some say about what he taught. In fact, one interesting test to watch for is whether you find yourself validating your understanding only from Paul’s letters or if you in fact can point to other scripture to validate your understanding of Paul.

2 Peter 3:14-18 (emphasis mine)

    14Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

What Paul teaches, Yeshua already lived out the example for us. Paul did not bring new teaching or a new gospel. Our unchanging Father has had that laid out and planned since creation and likely before.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

 

There Are Times and People Who Will Not Accept Sound Doctrine

Paul has an important message for Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, and it is important for every believer. We must be ready to preach the word at all times, when we expect it and when we do not. We do not want to miss an opportunity. Further, we know there are times and people who will not accept sound doctrine. They prefer something which makes them feel good about themselves as they are or avoids conflict… Paul calls it “tickling their ears”.  People go and shop for teachers who tell them what they want to hear instead of teachers who tell them what YHWH desires of us.

Let us take the charge given to Timothy, and prepare ourselves to be ready and willing at all times to preach the gospel of Yeshua. Let us also challenge ourselves not to behave like those who change preachers and teachers rather than change their behavior to match what YHWH has said he desires. Let us challenge ourselves to seek to understand and live out YHWH’s word in the Bible, even when it calls for us to change and be set apart from other Christians. To truly live according to our Creator’s ways, we will be set apart even from most who call themselves Christians in some distinct ways. One example today is fairly obvious. Culture tells us we are to hold our faith private and not discuss it publicly. Many churches are more concerned with an agenda like a social club rather than instructing people in the ways of YHWH.  This is wrong. We are to reprove, rebuke, exhort and do so with patience and instruction. It will be hard and people will reject it. We must endure and pray for wisdom and patience.

2 Timothy 4:1-8

“Preach the Word”

     1I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

      6For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Paul talks about hardship in your ministry. We must ask ourselves, “If we endure no hardship, are we really challenging ourselves and others to change for YHWH?”

None of us should be so arrogant as to assume we have a perfect and full understanding of our Lord. Thus, if we love him and are praying and searching and studying his word we should expect to learn and develop a better understanding over time. This means we should be changing ourselves. Our lives and our understanding with YHWH today should not look the same as it did 10 years ago or will 10 years from now. If we find ourselves anchored in the same comfortable understanding of our Lord and in the same comfortable patterns of behavior, we should ask ourselves, “Am I really growing in my relationship with the Lord, or am I stagnant and no longer growing close to him?” Then we should take action, which will include change in our lives.

Do not be attached to the ways of men (not even traditions of our parents and grandparents), nor to the ways that men declare of YHWH, but rather diligently seek the truth through scripture, study, and prayer and then make changes to live it out more fully even when others come against you because your change makes them uncomfortable. Pray for patience, wisdom, and discernment but also for courage.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Shall We Chose His Ways or Our Own?

Our strength and protection come from the LORD. He will be with the righteous, those who pursue his ways rather than their own. Those who turn aside to their own ways will face consequences.

This is a simple message, repeated throughout the Biblical texts. The LORD will not treat the righteous and the wicked the same way. He will respond and treat us differently based on our response and attitude toward him. Will we pursue righteousness, which is doing things his way, or will we pursue our own ways?

This is an important question we should ask ourselves often. We should ask the Spirit to help us with this. His ways may be strange to us as our culture, even within the church, has separated in many ways from doing things his way and continues to evolve or change things to suit the culture of people today. To seek his ways is to be on a much less traveled path. Even Christians will challenge you as most have become deeply accustomed to certain ways or traditions of man accepted in the church over time.

We see examples in which Sabbath has been given up and no longer has practical meaning to most. Now with regards to homosexuality and transgender, rather than helping these people as our LORD would want us to do, we see more churches accepting and celebrating them to remain in sin and confusion. The same is true with many (almost all) traditional holidays that church going Christians still partake of. Their are many pagan roots based on worship of false gods, but we have relabeled them and declare that they mean something else to us now. However, we must remember that it is not what it means to us that matters. It is what it means to YHWH that matters. We need to seek to understand what it means to him, rather than hold on to something based on what it means to us.

Psalm 125

The LORD Surrounds His People.

A Song of Ascents.

1Those who trust in the LORD
Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.

2As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the LORD surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever.

3For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous,
So that the righteous will not put forth their hands to do wrong.

4Do good, O LORD, to those who are good
And to those who are upright in their hearts.

5But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways,
The LORD will lead them away with the doers of iniquity.
Peace be upon Israel.

Pray that YHWH would open your eyes to any areas in which you are turning aside from his ways to your own crooked ways. Truly reflect on it and be willing to change. Seek to define your life to match what is written in the Bible and lived out by Yeshua rather than defining yourself by simply what you grew up considering to be “normal” or “Christian”. This is hard. It takes YHWH’s help. It takes a truly submissive heart that is willing to surrender some things that you like and want so that you can instead pursue what he likes and wants. You will have to walk away from some things that you have accepted as good your whole life and try out some new things which seem strange at first.

It is not a journey for the faint of heart and most are not willing to really make the transition. Pray for his help and give yourself time to change. You will not get everything right but go in with a desire to please him and submit fully and a willingness to change and a willingness to be humble and learn and get better at it.  Do so humbly and joyfully and without bitterness or complaint.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Each Of Us Should Study God’s Word Personally

Study the Word

The world pushes non-Christian and false Christian values. As Christians we are called to reject the world and seek and follow Jesus Christ. We are to be set apart for God, to be holy. To do this effectively we must develop a clear understanding of God’s word and then submit to it. This requires that we do more than just go to church once a week.

God wants us to study His word daily to know Him more intimately. He provides the scriptures, inclusive of Old and New Testament, to tell us how we should live and how we should relate to Him and each other. We show love to Him by obeying His commands. How can we obey, if we do not clearly understand? How can we understand clearly if we do not study continuously? We must also allow ourselves to be teachable, that is to accept what scripture says even when it contradicts what churches teach or culture accepts. Only in this way can we actually change our behaviors to honor YHWH more faithfully.

Jesus demonstrated personally the importance of studying scripture and He learned it well. In fact, it is a clear understanding of scripture that allowed Him to avoid  Satan’s deception when Jesus was tempted in the desert.

As a community of Christians, we can work together by sharing resources that help guide us to more deeply understand God’s word.

I have included in the subpages associated with this page books and other resources I personally recommend to help you study God’s word more deeply and to help you live in a way that honors God. It is very important to remember, however, that all we learn and study about God must be tested against the word of God in both the Old and New Testament and against the life of Jesus Christ, who was the word of God become flesh to dwell among us. All other resources, including our website, are subject to errors and must be tested against the proper interpretation of scripture.

We must not be lazy in avoiding the study ourselves, just trusting one teacher or another. Instead, you can seek out good teachers, validating them against the truth of scripture. Testing what they teach to the truth of God’s word. These are just tools to help. Ultimately only God’s word is without error.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Following Yeshua’s Example In Celebrating Yahweh’s Appointed Times

The Lord’s appointed times are important to Yeshua. He knew some were plotting to kill Him. He no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews. He knew that the religious leaders who wanted to kill Him would expect Him to possibly come up to Jerusalem for Passover and they made plans to seize Him if / when He did. What we see if we continue reading in John 12, is that Yeshua actually went up to Jerusalem anyway to be there for Passover.

The Lord’s Moedim, appointed times, are described in Leviticus 23 among other places. Scripture shows us they were important to Yeshua and His disciples. We should follow our Lord’s example and seek to learn more and celebrate them as He did to the extent we can still do so today. Let us devote our time and efforts to the Lord’s holy days rather than man made holidays.

John 11:47-57

Conspiracy to Kill Jesus

     47Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. 48“If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 50nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” 51Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.

      54Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.

      55Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. 56So they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?” 57Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.

It seems obvious also, but perhaps worth calling out. Yeshua in His obedience to Yahweh was unmatched. He went to Jerusalem where He knew they were looking for Him to kill Him to honor the Father. Let us not be turned away from our obedience by fear of rejection by man just because they don’t understand.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Humility To Be Teachable and Boldness To Test Everything Against God’s Word

The account of Yeshua declaring Himself to be Messiah, “Son of Man”, in John 9 brings with it some interesting thoughts in the verses that follow. For context, He has healed a man who was blind since birth. The man testified that Yeshua healed Him and thus must have been sent by YHWH before the religious leaders. They put the man out of the temple because they declared him to be wrong, holding fast to their belief that Yeshua is not from YHWH… despite the obvious miracle. They did not have eyes to see. They were not humble enough to consider that their preconceived idea might be wrong and to test it, and Yeshua’s teaching, against the scriptures. That refusal to test what they believe against YHWH’s word ends badly for them. They remain blind.

The man who was healed, on the other hand, was persecuted for standing up for Yeshua. He was willing to look to the evidence around him and stand for Yeshua, even in the face of persecution. He received not only physical, but also spiritual sight because he was humble enough to know he may not have all the answers, and bold enough to test what the religious leaders were saying against evidence rather than simply taking their word for it.

This lesson in humility to be teachable and boldness to challenge and test everything against the word of YHWH is a powerful example to each of us even today.

John 9:35-41

Jesus Affirms His Deity

      35Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” 37Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” 38And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him. 39And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” 40Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Perhaps the most interesting verse is 41. I am not sure exactly how to understand the context of this verse. Clearly He is talking about spiritual blindness. I believe He is referring to their lack of humility, their stubbornness, to refuse to accept that they don’t have the answers. It closes them off from recognizing and accepting Messiah, even as He stands before them doing miracles and teaching the scriptures properly. Their refusal to “see”, to accept Christ, means they remain in darkness and remain accountable for their sin before YHWH.

We face similar situations today. Many in leadership of “Christian” churches teach things that are obviously and wildly out of line with what the Bible teaches. Many people just want to accept it because it is easy, because the religious leaders say so, because teaching has been changed to encourage believers to just blend with society or accept their sins without repenting and changing themselves. The sermons just tickle the ears and fill the seats.

Pray for YHWH to help you stand boldly to test everything, even teachings you have grown up with all your life, against the word of YHWH. Don’t seek answers only in the opinions of others. Many wise people have many different opinions. Seek answers personally by reading and studying the word of YHWH in the Bible daily. Challenge assumptions of basic doctrine that are taught by finding scripture to back it up rather than just accepting it because someone smart or someone who went to seminary said so.

One simple example… where in the Bible do we find any reference to Sabbath being on Sunday, the 1st day? No where. Man moved that to Saturday to distance themselves as “Christians” from the “Jewish” people. However, Yeshua was a Jew. The Jews are the people of YHWH. Scripture says we are grafted in to the vine (Christ). We were not supposed to start our own vine that is essentially a new plant and different. This is but one example. Scripture said we should base our calendar on the moon and the days in Biblical record started at sundown and went to sundown. Man changed it to midnight. Man changed it to the solar calendar we use today.

Most Christians say the law or instructions given to Moses are no longer valid because of Yeshua. But Yeshua lived according to those laws. He referred back to the Torah and its teachings. What did He actually say about this?

Matthew 5:17-19

   17“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Some changes just mentioned are from long ago. Others changes are more recent. In my lifetime I have seen what was left of the Sabbath disappear. Despite celebrating on Sunday instead of Saturday, people used to at least rest. Stores were closed. Families spent time together… not frantically going to and fro… but resting. Now that is all but gone. So too with churches now embracing homosexual and transgender sin rather than helping people find Yeshua and turn from their sin. Did YHWH suddenly change His mind? (Spoiler alert… He is timeless and unchanging so the answer is no, He did not.) These sins are no worse than other sexual sin rampant in our society. They are no worse than coveting, which is our true national pastime if you look at how many people suffer from it.

We will never pull out of this decline in our society unless we start differentiating ourselves as followers of Christ from the rest of society. We need to be different to be a light. We need to focus on serving YHWH His way rather than our own ways. We need to change ourselves to be more in His image rather than change His image to reflect our own so we need not change. We need to give ourselves over to total transformation and submission, not just partial. We can’t say we serve YHWH and then insist on keeping certain traditions and lifestyle choices that are different than what He instructed His people to do.

Wisdom reminds us that we may not have all the answers, we may not be doing everything right, we may need to change, even if painful to do so. For those who want to look to “religious leaders” of today and say… “how could they all have it wrong?” Consider how many of these leaders disagree with each other on even significant issues. All of them may be, but most of them must be wrong about certain issues. Further, if you think there is strength or confidence in numbers, consider the religious leaders during Yeshua’s earthly ministry. They “all” or mostly were on the wrong side. They did not have everything wrong, but they had messed up quite a bit of YHWH’s instruction for the people… just like today.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.