From Help To Sacrifice

 

Shalom to you all.  Once again, I find myself in somewhat of a quandary.  Some of the main points of the message of Shabbat are difficult to expound upon without going into great detail.  So, regretfully I must leave the deeper points alone.  But, I can bring to light a very peculiar point that I’m sure will bless you all. 

In last week’s Parasha, Moses was faced with some very helpful advice from his father-in-law, Jethro.  Moses’ task was to bring about understanding of the Torah to the entire population of the children of Israel, a monumental task, to be sure, and warranted the advice of Jethro. 

In verse #17 of Exodus 18, Jethro says, “The thing that you are doing is not good”.  We should all take a moment to pause at this point and reflect on the call, the business, the ministry, the very life that we lead today.  How much of your effort could be better served with some help?  Who do you have around you that is waiting in the shadows that could help you in the thing that you are trying to accomplish?  It is from this perspective that Moses yields to the advice of his wise old father-in-law, and from that yielding, has set in motion judicial concepts that we see even in our own government today.  Now, let us look at our Lord and Savior as an example.

With the salvation of the world at stake; your salvation and mine to be exact, Yeshua carried the weight of the world on His shoulders.  The Roman soldiers placed the beam upon His shoulders, to carry His cross, the very thing that He was to be sacrificed upon.  The Lord endured the torture, the ridicule, and the shame of all the demonic hoards, yet He pressed on. 

It was on His way to Golgotha that He stumbled and fell.  Our Lord and Savior needed help.  Think about it.  The creator of heaven and earth, himself, needed help.  One of the soldiers called upon Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross for Him. 

My brothers and sisters, I am so grateful that our Lord and Savior did not call upon supernatural strength to accomplish the work for us.  No, He allowed someone to help Him so that we could realize that we too need help at times.  Let us never forget that the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior was accomplished with the help from one who needed salvation.  Selah…

We should be careful how we deal with and judge those whom God has placed in a position to be our helpers.  For even our Father, God, saw fit that one in need of salvation would help accomplish the plan of salvation. 

Lastly, my friends, let us take Jethro’s words to heart in verse #23, “If thou shalt do this thing, and God commands thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all His people shall also go to their place in peace.”  So, I say to you, do this thing and go to your place in peace.  Amen.

A Seat At The Table

Well, it’s the first day of the week and once again I find myself trying to decide what I will blog about from yesterday’s message. Like some of my other blogs, there were too many points in my message to be able to touch them all.  So, I will attempt, once again, to take one of the points and expound on it alone.

In our Torah portion from last week, verse #10 of Exodus 14, it says that the children of Israel were sore afraid.  It never ceases to amaze me when I read this story that after all of the marvelous signs that the Lord showed them, they would continue to be in fear.  It wasn’t that they cried out unto the Lord, it was how they cried out to the Lord.  They cried out in fear, not in faith. 

In my message yesterday, I looked at a Psalm of David, chapter 18, verses 1 through 3.  It says in verse 1, “I will love thee, o Lord, my strength; verse 2, “the Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower”.  What a way to start off a prayer to the Lord, rehearsing who He is in your heart.  Then, verse 3 says, “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from my enemies”.  This is the way to cry out to the Lord, my brothers and sisters.  Not in fear, but knowing who He is, in that there is no enemy that can come against you.  For if God be for you, who can be against you.

I went to see a movie last week at one of my favorite theaters.  I’ve been there many, many times before, but this was the first time that they had assigned seats.  I usually get to the theater very early so that I can get a good seat.  But, this time was different.  For when I bought my ticket, I had the opportunity to choose probably the best seat in the house.  I went to the concession stand and realized the person behind the counter was new.  She was a little slow, and I started to get a little anxious, because people were going into the theater.  I still had to put butter on my popcorn and was waiting for my chicken nuggets to come out.  I realized then that I didn’t need to be anxious, because I had an assigned seat.  This was different for me, because there was still a little fear that I was not going to get a good seat, but the fear was false, because my seat was already reserved for me!!

My dear brothers and sisters, this is what the children of Israel were doing.  They were so afraid of what Pharaoh could do to them from past experience, that they did not realize what God said was more true than what Pharaoh could do.

God said that He was going to lead them to the promised land and He had already shown Himself mighty and able to save.  There was a place waiting for them.  There was a seat reserved for them.  Think about that!  Rejoice about that!  Rest in that!  You have a seat reserved at the table of the Lord.  Whatever God has said to you SHALL come to pass.  No matter what the enemy has declared that he is going to do to you, he is a liar.  The truth is spoken by God, your father, your strength, your fortress, who is able to deliver you. 

So, dear friends, the next time you are cornered or caught between a rock and a hard place, don’t cry out in fear, but shout out in faith.  For just like Moses said, “See that the Lord will fight for you” (Exodus 14:14). 

I hope to see you all this coming Sabbath, so that we can partake together of the Bread of Life at the Lord’s Table.  It’s not just the name of our congregation (The Lord’s Table), but it is the essence of where we long to be at The Lord’s Table.  And, at The Lord’s Table, there is a seat reserved for you.  Don’t ever forget that no matter how hard it might be, the Lord has reserved a seat for you at His table.  Amen!     

Light In Your Dwelling

Greetings in the name of Yeshua and a very happy New Year to all who celebrate the New Year.   The reason I say it like that is because of the Torah portion that we studied this past week.  See, the Gregorian calendar, for the most part, doesn't mean very much to the Lord.  He’s on a Biblical calendar that has little to do with the calendar that we recognize.  Still, it serves a purpose when dealing with matters concerning this age.

I have just come off of a sabbatical in which I spent New Year’s Eve alone with the Lord.  It was a glorious time, but the significance wasn't in the New Year coming.  No, the significance was that I took time to spend with the Lord.  While the world celebrated a seemingly meaningless time in the Biblical context, it seemed the Lord was waiting for me and our very intimate time together.  Now, let’s look at the text of this past week’s Aliyah.

 21 The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch forth your hand toward the heavens, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, and the darkness will become darker.”

 22 So Moses stretched forth his hand toward the heavens, and there was a thick darkness over the entire land of Egypt for three days:

 23 They did not see each other, and no one rose from his place for three days, but for all the children of Israel t here was light in their dwellings.

Verse 21 speaks of not just darkness, but a darkness that can be felt.  While families gather for New Year’s and have wonderful times (I have had wonderful times over the years as well), we are well aware that this time can be a time of great darkness in this age, with parties that have nothing whatsoever to do with our Lord. I've personally experienced darkness during the New Year celebration before I came to Christ and it is dark.  There is coming an age, and now is, when the darkness will become darker (verse 21).  We can see it and even feel it all around us now.  But, the portion speaks of a darkness that even those in the darkness will not be able to comprehend.  How true that is today.  Even evil people are saying things are getting bad. 

My encouragement in this writing is that the children of the Lord are children of light and no matter how dark it gets we will continue to dwell in the light (verse 23).

Another  word for “dwell” is  “tabernacle” .  In the Gospel of John 1:1, it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God, etc.    Verse #4 says in Him was life and the life was the light of men.  Now, go to verse #14.  It says and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.  What does this mean, my dear brothers and sisters?  Yeshua made his tent here.  He “tabernacled” here, he dwelt here, and when he finished the work on the cross, that light was made available to dwell within us.  When you accepted Yeshua, there is no amount of darkness that can overcome the light that shines within you.  I don’t care how dark, how ugly, how scary it becomes out there, it shall not “come nigh thy dwelling” place (Psalm 91:10).  The darkness shall not overtake you.  I declare it.  I decree it.  I absolutely profess it over your lives in the name of Yeshua.     

In light of what I just said, I believe for you all a joyous and prosperous 2014.