What I Have Learned On Yom Kippur - Well Shut My Mouth!

     Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, has just ended.  The past 10 days have been days of deep introspection.  I have taken this time very serious and as of last Friday I thought I had a good handle on my spiritual life.  That is until Saturday evening.  I attended a local competition event and left so angry I could spit.  After I returned home I began to grumble and growl with a slightly raised voice.  I was venting to my husband who simply gave me that look.  You know the one, a look which said, "That is about enough.  I don't want to hear it."

     When I realized the look he was giving I shut my mouth, thought about what I had said and suddenly felt like the smallest human being on earth.  I had to admit verbally that I was filled with anger.  Anger not only about the event I had attended, but just anger in general.  I come home from work almost daily filled with anger.  I do not look forward to going to church each Sunday, because I am ..... angry.  I can't even hear the names of certain people without becoming ANGRY!  (And the list seems to be growing!)

     I looked my husband in the eye and said, "I don't understand why I am so angry all the time, but it has to stop.  I have to find the source of my anger and deal with it.  So began my journey.  I knew Yom Kippur was coming up in only a few days, so it was absolutely necessary that I deal with this quickly.  I have flung myself headlong before God's throne each evening to beseech Him about this matter.  I have asked Him to show me the cause and how to deal with it. 

     The first answer I received was to be silent.  For someone who is kinda known as the mouth of the south at work, this was no small undertaking.  I love to talk and I love to joke around, but God said NO!  Again I heard Him say, "Be quiet."  My co-workers thought I was mad about something.  My husband gave a sigh of relief! Ha!  Well, I have tried very hard and have managed to do so for the most part.  I haven't been totally silent, but have tried to only speak words that are absolutely necessary.

     One co-worker in particular is a tremendous cause for my anger and for two days I was totally silent to him in particular.  I will just refer to him as "Jack."  My silence toward him is mainly due to him being one of the reasons I am so angry at the end of the day.  He kept asking if I was mad at him and I told him no.  I said I just don't feel like talking. 

     "Jack" irritates me so much that I have literally been praying for God to love him through me, because I cannot love this guy.  In fact I can barely tolerate this guy.  I know that something is not quite right with him and it is something he cannot help, but he drives me up the wall.  If things aren't done the way he wants them done, even if it has nothing to do with him, he pouts and whines like a five year old.  Yet, I know he cannot help the way he is.  If I had to guess I would say he falls somewhere under the Autism umbrella, most likely under the spectrum of Aspergers.  He does not seem to understand proper social protocol.

     Today as we were working, he again asked if I was mad at him.  I shook my head no and he turned his eyes up and said, "Thank you Lord."  I had to fight my mind and the things I wanted to say.  Later while helping a different co-worker I was astonished to learn something new.  "Jack" had shared with this man, a few years back, stories of things his parents did to him while growing up.  These stories were of physical abuse, some severe.  I really don't think "Jack" realizes he was abused. 

     Suddenly it was as if scales fell from my eyes and I saw "Jack" differently.  I no longer saw him as an irritating, immature man.  I actually felt sorrow.  Sorrow for a man who has known nothing but abuse and bullying.  Sorrow for my own sin of adding to the heap of thorns which have been piled on him.  How could I have allowed myself to become just another in his long list of bullies and abusers? 

     For the past 10 days God has reviewed the works of each and every man and woman.  On Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, God makes His judgement based on those works and records His final decision in the Book of Life or the Book of Death for the coming year.  At the close of Yom Kippur the books are closed.....the final verdict is sealed. 

     There are many scriptures read on this day in Israel and among Jews everywhere.  Modern day Messianic Gentiles add a New Testament scripture as well, Matthew 12:22-50.  During my morning break I read Exodus 34:28-29 and Leviticus 16:1-34.  At lunch it was Numbers 29:7-11 and the passage from Matthew.  The first three passages are the requirements for the High Priest on Yom Kippur.  The passage from Matthew has a verbal tally to Yom Kippur as well. 


     Matthew 12 contains a few verses one doesn't usually hear in a sermon.

Matthew 12:33-37,
33“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. 34“You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35“The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. 36“But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” NASB

     I read verse 36 and my heart felt as though it were going to stop.  Verse 37 didn't make me feel any better.  I stopped and I prayed.  I didn't want to be a bad tree yielding bad fruit.  I didn't want to have an evil heart.  I desperately want to have a good tree yielding good fruit and a good heart that brings forth from its good treasure things that are good.  That is what I want and what I need to do.  I guess I would have cried if I hadn't been in a very public place.  I poured out my heart to God and left all the bad fruit at His feet.  I begged Him to prune me and bring me back into proper alignment with Him and His Word.

     Lunch ended and I walked back to my area with a renewed heart.  I still kept my mouth shut more, but I made the decision to think over my words before speaking them.  I knew this fact already, but I suppose God had to show this to my face for it to sink in; everyone has a back story to their life.  Some stories are wonderful, while others have endured the unimaginable.  All people need to feel loved and believe their life has meaning.  Some have been mistreated by so many people they cannot see their worth or believe they are loved.  Many times those people act out in ways we deem socially unacceptable and we only add insult to injury by chastising them or making fun of them for their actions. 

     I know this issue is not over for me.  I have a long road ahead and 50+ years of misspoken words to undo, but according to Matthew12:33 it can be done.  I have chosen to pick off the bad fruit and cast it into the fire so that good fruit can grow.  I know that how I respond is MY choice and I need to take a proactive approach to these people.  It will require me to keep my mouth shut more and listen.  (Not easy for the mouth of the south!)   Choosing my words will not be easy, but is attainable.  I think I will eventually be overcome with a peace that envelopes me and those around me.  I MUST take all negative thoughts captive at the onset and cast them aside as well.  Verse 34 says that it begins in the heart and comes out through the mouth. 

     I pray that you will let these words of Matthew sink into your heart and life as well and if necessary, take the steps to make your tree a good tree bearing good fruit.  I pray that your name has been inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year!  Shalom!

Jots and Tittles.....Oh The Little Things!

One tiny seed can make a great impact.

                        

In the grand ole USA we have this thought process in general: carry on every day in our mundane lives waiting for the big moments to happen.  We just seem to get by on a daily basis.  I can almost guarantee that if you go into work on Monday and ask every co-worker this question, "How are you today?" the majority will reply, "I'm here."

What exactly does, I'm here imply?  That response implies that work and the daily routine is monotonous, boring and something we are obligated to do, but there is no joy in it.  We appear to find joy only in the "special" moments like; weddings, births, promotions, awards, etc.  So, what do we do with the "little" things?

In Christianity we do the same, do we not?  We go through our weekly ritual of services while looking forward to the special services of Easter, Christmas, revival or perhaps a special guest speaker.  We even seem to carry it out in our reading of the Word.

Listen to those who say they are Christians.  Hear their words.  Bring up the subject of sin and see which "sins" are mentioned first.  Chances are you receive a lot of talk on the ones mentioned in Romans 1, yet may never hear Romans 2:13 expounded upon.  That verse says, "For not the hearers of the Torah are righteous in the sight of Elohim, but the doers of the Torah shall be declared right."

James 1:22 says, "And become doers of the Word, and not hearers only deceiving yourselves."  

In my post 10 Things The Church Should Be Doing, a couple of weeks ago, I expounded upon this verse and the breakdown of being doers of the Word.  I won't elaborate further on these things, I only want to teach something very critical in Hebraic thought.  We should stop majoring on the majors and major on the minors.

During Yeshua's (Jesus') ministry on earth He performed many great and mighty miracles and tens of thousands of people followed Him.  They were looking for the "pizazz," the red carpet and golden globe moments.  Luke 13:10-16 tells of Yeshua teaching in one of the congregations on a Sabbath.  While teaching He saw a woman there who was all bent over.  She had been that way for 18 years.  Yeshua has compassion on her and heals her, much to the disdain of the Pharisees who respond with a ruling that there are six days of the week for healing, and not on the Sabbath.

After this healing and His rebuttal of the congregational leader it is said in 13:17, "And all the crowd rejoiced for all the splendid works being done by Him."

And what was Yeshua's response?  Read vs 18-21 remembering that He knew their thoughts, "Therefore He said, 'What is the reign of Elohim like"?  And to what shall I compare it?  It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his garden.  And it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the heavens nested in its branches.'  And again He said, 'To what shall I compare the reign of Elohim?  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened.'"

Can you understand what He was saying?  Look at it this way; a mustard seed is the smallest seed on the planet, yet one little mustard seed produces a very large plant.  Also, a minute amount of leaven produces a lot of dough!  The ratio of flour to leaven is 128:1, in other words it only takes 1/16 oz of yeast to leaven 8 oz of flour.  A very small and what seems like insignificant amount of something infiltrates and eventually consumes the entire amount.

When reading the Word it is absolutely essential that we remember this rule.  The people of His day even, were looking at the "majors" or things that stood out.  All throughout the Gospels we find examples of the people, especially the religious leaders, pointing out "laws" Yeshua has seemingly broken.  (Do we not do the same today?)  But each time Yeshua turned the conversation inward.

"It is written..." they would say and He would respond with taking their point to a deeper (more minute) level.  He took their placement of importance on something apparently blatant and revealed to them the deepest root to that particular issue.

The great sages taught that when the Torah, (or any scripture for that matter), barely mentions something it would be wise of us to look harder at that something than the words which stand out so very clearly.  It is in the intimacy of these depths we find our closest relationship with Him.

I have always loved the story of Elijah on the mountain.  I Kings 19 tells the story.  Elijah had just gone through a test with the 450 prophets of Baal.  Later as Elijah is on the run from Ahab, he is crying out to G-d and G-d responds in I Kings 19:11-12, "And He (G-d) said, 'go out, and stand on the mountain before G-d.  And see, G-d passed by and a great and strong wind tearing the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before G-d, but G-d was not in the wind.  And after the wind an earthquake - but G-d was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire - but G-d was not in the fire, and after the fire a still small voice."

We see the big things in the world today as having G-d's name written all over them.  We see the results of storms, Tsunamis, earthquakes, lightening as well as breathtaking sunrises and lofty views of this great world and are reminded of Him, yet do we think the same when we see a leaf blowing across the yard in September?

We attend a packed house for a worship service or a specialized conference, hearing the latest greatest worship song and think, "Oh my, how strong was the presence of G-d in that place!  I could feel the Spirit!"  Yet do we think and feel the same when we hear the hum of Cicadas in June?

We call out the sins of others which we can see, but do we ever truly realize we are sinners for simply thinking a co-worker is an idiot?  It's in His Word.  If you don't believe me, read it for yourself.  We tend to overlook a tremendous amount of Scripture, because it isn't about big things.  One example: how many times have you read the genealogies with great interest?  There are tremendous nuggets within them which most people never see.

If we will but read the Word looking for the most insignificant things, we will find treasures without measure.  If we will but look at our everyday seemingly mundane activities through the same lens....oh what a difference we would see.

I want to leave you with one last thought.  The next time you hear the hum of insects imagine this, it is the latest and greatest worship song of the insect kingdom to their creator..... Shalom! 

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Tonight at sundown a new year begins in Israel.  It is the year 5776, the year of salvation.  It is Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets, and the shofar will be blown 100 times.  It is the anniversary of the creation of the first man and woman, the anniversary of the first sin, the anniversary of the binding of Isaac, and judgement day for the whole earth. 

The sound of the shofar is a call to repentance and the proclamation of G-d as King of the Universe.  The language of the shofar is the only language the Satan can not understand.

On the evening of September 22 the Holiest Day of the year will begin, Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement.  It is on this day that our destiny, as to whether we live or die in the coming year, will have been determined and G-d will seal the books. 

Now is the time of repentance.  Awake, awake and repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.  Today is the day of salvation. 

"See, I speak a deep secret to you: we will not all sleep (the sleep of the dead), but we will all be transformed.  In a moment's notice at the sound of the final shofar.  For the shofar will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and those who are alive (mortal) will be transformed (to immortality)."  I Corinthians 15:51-52 (Hannah Rachel translation - HRT)

Do not wait, turn to G-d.........and listen to His voice.

"Then the sign of the son of man will appear in heaven, and all families of the earth will mourn, and they will see the son of man coming with the clouds of heaven (the Shechinah or glory of God) in power and great glory.  He will send forth His angels with the sound of a great shofar; they will gather His chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."  Matthew 24:30-31 (HRT)

This will be the sound of the shofar tomorrow, listen for it......wait for it......keep your eyes set upon Messiah's return! 

http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/977030/jewish/Shofar-Blasts.htm

Shalom!

10 Things The Church Should Be Doing

A friend of mine who has battled cancer more than once decided God was not done with her yet.  She realized there was a tremendous need in her community and started this great ministry literally from nothing.  I have been absolutely amazed (not sure why, because I know He can!) at the way God answered her prayers.

 
Recently I have viewed several articles on things the Church should stop doing or saying.  I have read them and for the most part I agree.  We live in a rather negative world and so I wondered, what is the positive spin on those articles?

 I have read study after study about the church of today and found something disturbing; the church is waning rather than waxing.  What does this statement infer?  The church is losing membership and, most importantly, the church is not changing the world.  It appears we have become so self-centered and egotistical that we are extinguishing the light of the Gospel rather than carrying that Light to the nations.  (I will, throughout this article use the church and The Church to denote those who say they are Christians and those who actually are.)

I know many of you will say, "Well that is exactly what the Bible predicts!  The Bible says that in the last days we, (the church), will be persecuted.  Just read Romans 1!"  I agree that Romans 1 paints a very dismal picture of the world around us, but we so often stick with our modern day dissection of scripture.  When written by Paul, Romans wasn't broken down by chapter and verse.  It is essential that we read the entire book as one letter.  If we stop with Romans 1:32 and do not continue on to 2:1-16:27 we are getting only a small fragment of the letter.  In essence we are taking a few verses out of the context of the entire document.  (Gee, sounds like a political ad!)  I urge you to read the entire book of Romans, putting aside any preconceived notions.  Go ahead, give it a try before reading further in this post. 

Now taking all this into consideration, I want to take you on a journey of the very words of Yeshua (Jesus).  After all, He is our example and our Savior and He was The Word made flesh.  If we follow any words or directions, let it be from Him first.  All the matters I am addressing come straight from His mouth.   I will start with the sermon on the mount beginning in Matthew 5, but let me give you a hint about Yeshua's words in this passage; nowhere in this discourse does He tell anyone what to believe, but instead He tells us what to do.  Please keep that in mind as we look at what The Church should be doing.

The Church should:

1.  Become poor in spirit.  We need to rely less on ourselves and more on God, putting the outside world's needs above our own.  We are so busy gratifying our spiritual obesity while the world is dying of spiritual malnutrition.

2.  Mourn: Yearn for God and His kingdom rather than the things of the world. Mourn any and all separation, of ourselves and the creation, from God.

3. Become meek: Psalm 37:11 - Humble ourselves, as we live in subjugation and are trodden down by a government that does not seek God and His ways.  Think about the Jews of Yeshua's day.  They were living under Roman rule.  As Christians in the USA, we are subjugated to our own version of Rome, the United Sates of America's rule and government.  God has allowed that government for a reason. 

4.  Hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God:  The Messiah.  We hunger and thirst for Him by deeply submerging ourselves in His Word as we yearn for the reversal of social and moral injustices.  

5.  Be compassionate:  Measure for measure - Hebrew idiom meaning that God will judge us based on the way we judge others so ALWAYS judge favorably.  (Matthew 7:2)  In the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) Yeshua said His followers will:
          Feed the hungry
          Give water to the thirsty
          Welcome strangers and see to their needs
          Clothe those who are naked or have only rags
          Visit the sick and imprisoned
All of these have a literal and figurative meaning.  We cannot tell people about our God if they have physical needs which are not being addressed.  A starving person does not have the strength to listen until they receive food and water.  Figuratively they imply sharing the Gospel of Yeshua with: those who are searching (hungry or thirsty) for Him, those who have never heard of Him (the stranger), those who are vulnerable to or have been ravaged by the world (naked and sick), and those who are reaping the consequences of life without Him (imprisoned).         

6.  Pure in heart (mind): Psalm 24:3-4 people of integrity.  People who do not harbor deceit, unforgiveness, malice or immorality.  Meditates on God's Word, continuously!  Loving and forgiving those who treat us badly, including family and former friends who have wronged us.

7.  Seekers of Peace: Psalm 34:14 People who not only pursue peace with their enemies, but also pursue peace between others.

8.  Anticipate persecution:  which will come for those who seek to be all of the above as well as for our attachment to the Messiah.  We are persecuted for living a life that brings light into a dark world, yet we are to NEVER persecute those who are in darkness.

9.  Salt: The balance to all the evil, wrong and wicked of the world.  We are to be involved in the repairing of the world.  Salt cannot lose it's saltiness unless it is mixed with other substances and becomes less concentrated.  We must follow the teachings of God, responding to the world with grace.

10.  Light:  We should be conspicuously obvious to the world by our deeds [good works - Hebrew idiom for fulfilling the commands (connections) of the Torah].  Saying we have faith (a relationship with God) yet never connecting with the Torah is useless, which is hiding our lamp under a bowl.

The Sermon on the Mount discourse continues through chapter 7.  Often we stop at 5:16, but again I remind you that there were no chapter and verse divisions until a few hundred years ago.  This discourse contains a tremendous amount of scripture which is quoted often by Christians and non-Christians, although many times out of context.  Further in chapter 5, Yeshua elaborates on the words of Moses.  Verses 38-48 truly define in greater detail what appears later in the sheep and goats parable.

     "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor (Lev 19:18) and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those cursing you, do good to those hating you, and pray for those insulting you and persecuting you, so that you become sons of your Father in the heavens.  Because He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.  For if you love those loving you, what reward have you?  Are the tax collectors not doing the same too?  And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others?  Are the tax collectors not doing so too?  Therefore, be striving for perfection in order to be like your Father in the heavens is perfect."

He continues on to say in Chapter 7:21-27:

     "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Master, Master,' shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens.  Many shall say to Me in that day, 'Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?'  And then I shall declare to them, 'I never knew you, depart from Me, you who are Torahless.  (Psalm 6:8 Most English translations will say lawlessness, but in Hebrew the word is literally not obeying the Torah or living without the Torah)  
     "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, AND DOES THEM, shall be like a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  
     "And everyone who hears these words of Mine, AND DOES NOT DO THEM, shall be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall."

James, the brother of Yeshua says this in his book Chapter 1:22-27:

     "And become doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  Because if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what he was like.  
     "But he that looked into the perfect Torah, that of freedom, and continues in it, not becoming a hearer that forgets, but a doer of work, this one shall be blessed in his doing of the Torah.  If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is worthless.  Clean and undefiled religion before the Elohim and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

     There are those in The Church who are carrying out these instructions, but what about all those who say they are a part of The Church and aren't?  Their words are speaking so loudly, the world hears the noise and is covering their ears while shutting their eyes to avoid them.  Paul himself said in I Corinthians 13:

     "If I speak with the tongues of men and of messengers (angels), but do not have love (compassion, mercy, kindness and forgiveness), I have become as a sounding brass or a clanging gong."

Imagine a child who is beating on pots and pans with a spoon.  We can only take that noise for so long and then we "go off the deep end."  Is this what the church has become, a clanging gong and a miserable noise?

I watch the social media feeds where people I know are passing around, for lack of a better term, propaganda.  They are anti-immigrants, anti-government handouts, anti-government, and anti- lots of things.  My thought is, then what are you doing about those situations?  I found a cartoon that adequately depicts the sad state of the church these days.  I will quote from it:

     "America should get back to Biblical Christian principles!"
     "So we should feed and shelter the poor?"
     "NO! I'm not paying for a lazy person!"
     "So, we should visit and comfort prisoners?"
     "No, they don't deserve that."
     "So we should pay our taxes without complaining?"
     "No, that's MY money and I want it."
     "So, we should show love and mercy freely?"
     "No, that has to be earned."
     "So, we should avoid violence?"
     "No, we have to take out the 'bad guys.' "
     "So, we should be gracious to foreigners?"
     "No, they shouldn't be here."
     "So, we should seek to end social injustice throughout the world?"
     "No, that's not our problem."
     "Then what principles are you talking about?"
   

What could and would happen in the USA if Christians began to do what Yeshua asked of them?  What if we were the ones feeding the hungry and giving water to the thirsty both literally and figuratively?  What if we were the ones giving strangers (foreigners) a home among us?  What if we were the ones providing clothes and a sanctuary for those who have been ravaged by the world?  What if we took the Light in a loving, merciful manner to those who were reaping the consequences of their own actions?

We complain about welfare recipients, being ripped off by corporations, and fearing for our safety.  Are these things happening, because the church hasn't fulfilled its obligations?  When those who are called by God's Name fail to do what He commands, the world suffers.

Let us, the True Church, begin to do more and speak less.  Let's stop judging and remember that we were once deep in sin as well.  Let's remind ourselves that we do not know the other person's entire story.  Let's stop complaining about the state of affairs and begin reaching out with a hand to those in need.  If we will do the things God asks of us we could possibly see the return of the Messiah very, very soon.

Shalom.