Counting the Omer

April 7, 2015 By

In Leviticus 23, the Israelites were commanded to start counting up to 49 days after Passover; that would be seven weeks. This is called “Counting the Omer,” for they had to bring an omer (a small measurement) of barley to the Temple every day in faith of a greater harvest. The bringing of the barley was called “First Fruits.”  (By the way, “First Fruits” was the day that Yeshua was resurrected!) As they counted the days, it would lead them to day fifty (50). Day 50 is called Pentecost in English, Shavuot in Hebrew.

Historically, three days prior to the 50th day, the Israelites arrived at Mt. Sinai after leaving Egypt.  On the 50th day, Adonai gave them the Torah. By “counting the omer” yearly, they would always be reminded, not only that they were given the Torah, but also they would know the exact day on which He gave it.

Fast forward some 1500 years during Yeshua’s day–the people were still “counting the omer,” and they would have begun after Yeshua’s crucifixion. Luke 1:3 says, “After his suffering, he presented himself to them [His disciples] and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” 

During the 40 days of counting, Yeshua does the following:

  • He sleeps in the grave.
  • He rises from the grave.
  • He appears to Mary.
  • He walks with two disciples on the Road to Emmaus.
  • He appears to  Peter and to His disciples.
  • He eats with Peter at the Sea of Galilee.
  • He gives His disciples the Great Commission.
  • He meets them on the Mount of Olives.
  • On day 40, He ascends into the heavens.

Let’s not forget what Luke said: He “gave many convincing proofs that he was alive,” which means He did so much more in those 40 days than I listed above. 

But what about the 10 remaining days?

For the next ten days the disciples wait in Jerusalem as Yeshua tells them to. I believe they wait as they “count the omer.” As they are counting, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them in the Upper Room, and they are filled with the Power and Presence of God on day 50! Pentecost! (Shavuot)!

As we “count the omer” this year, let us be reminded that God still desires to pour Himself out upon us — in us — as He did with His Torah and His Spirit! He still desires to bring forth a great harvest and to use us to reap it. This year, as we count, let us say . . . “More, Lord!!”

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The Lamb of God

March 30, 2015 By

Almost 2,000 years ago, on this day (March 30), and on the Hebrew calendar (Nisan 10), Yeshua rode into Jerusalem and was hailed by all as the “One Who Comes In the Name of the Lord”!

REVERSE: — Three thousand years before as the Israelites were about to spend their last night in Egyptian bondage, God had told Moses to tell the Israelites to select a lamb without defect for each household! For three – four days, that Lamb was to be a part of the family. They would protect it, love it, value it so that it would remain unblemished. It would become “their lamb.” On Nisan 14 this very lamb would give its life for that family and its blood would bring them protection from the angel of death.

FAST FORWARD: Yeshua lived with his family for thirty years. They got the opportunity to live with the Lamb of God for three decades. For three-and-a-half years Yeshua lived with His disciples. He dined with Mary, Martha and Lazarus. He made Himself at home in Peter’s house in Capernaum. He dined with Zaccheus and also at Matthew’s. He ate with sinners and tax collectors. Many followed him, listened to his teachings, were touched by Him, and were healed by His Word. They got a chance to love Him, at times protect Him, but most of all to witness that He was unlike anyone they had met.

John the Immerser called Him “The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29).

Andrew tells his brother Peter, “We have found the Messiah.” (John 1:41)

Philip said to Nathanael that they had found “the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about.” (John 1: 45)

Peter called him “The Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” (Matthew 16:16)

Nicodemus called him a” Rabbi come from God” (John 3:2).

On this day, in particular, He is hailed as the Pesach (Passover), Seh Ha Elohim, the Lamb of God.

AT PRESENT: I invite you for the next three days until Nisan 14 (April 3rd) to spend very special time with Him, love up on Him, protect the value of His Presence in your life and heart, and bear witness to the fact that He is like no other.

What will you declare about Him!!!

Chag Sameach! (Happy Passover!)

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What To Do With Martyrs!

March 10, 2015 By

Terrorists walk into a synagogue while rabbis are in morning prayer and hack them mercilessly. Isis marched thirteen Coptic Egyptian Christians out to the beach and beheaded them, their blood crimsoning the ebbing waters. They lit aflame a Jordanian fighter pilot inside the cage in which they held him. These are just three instances of atrocities that ISIS has committed against Jews, Christians, their own, and the West. The world was appalled at these events, and so the world should be.

But how should we as Believers respond?

When Stephen was martyred, consider the aftermath:

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. 4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. (Acts 8:1-4)

They buried him, they mourned him, but they never stopped preaching the Word for which Stephen had given his life so selflessly. We oftentimes get caught up in the snapshot of what we consider reality as opposed to what God sees. Our Omniscient God, like Stephen, knew that stoning was not the end of Stephen’s life; it was the beginning of a movement. It was the beginning of revival. Hallelujah!!!  It was the beginning of creation moving closer to its completion.

The Coptic Egyptian Christian who called on the Name of Jesus before he was martyred does not want our response to his martyrdom to be just astonishment, sadness, or despair. I’m sure what he would want is an explosion of the Word of God. It’s what I would want if I were a martyr! Most importantly, it’s what God wants.

Believers in Yeshua, we cannot be so taken aback by the world’s heinous behavior when the world does only what it knows to do — evil!!!  Our job is to do what we have been called to do: share indiscriminately the Good News of the Word.

Yes, we will pray for the salvation of the world and of the enemies of Messiah. But there will be martyrs! The Word speaks of it. So, over a martyred body, let’s declare Yeshua is Lord and allow that martyred seed to be the catalyst for the explosion of the Gospel. Only then can we hasten the return of Messiah who will finally put an end to all that is evil!! So be it!

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IT’S IN THE PURSUIT

February 19, 2015 By

When my young son was taking Tae Kwon Do, he said, “Mom, I just want a yellow belt and then I’m finished.” He received his yellow belt and the board he had to break to secure it. He was done!

When he joined a speed skating team, he wanted to make it to Nationals. That was his goal. He and his three-man relay team went to Nationals in Peoria, IL and won third place — a bronze medal. A feat indeed!

When he enrolled in the Music Program at the local high school, he wanted to make District Band. Yes, he did.

What’s the point — because I could go on with more examples? I think for the most part, we all who live in the West are very much like my son. We set a goal and we achieve it and we go on to the next thing. What I did not know then as I supported my son through these achievements is that Biblical (Hebrew) thinking is so different from the way we normally think. Biblical thinking does not center itself upon the goal or achieving it. It centers itself on the process.

Today we want to throw in the towel if we do not have a job making 40K by the time we’re 30 … or 2 1/2 children … or a home with a 2-car garage. We’ve learned nothing along the way, not even the fact that we live in a society that is so Greek-thinking oriented that all of our thought processes are so far from how God made us to think and live.

Who told you you had to be a certain way and to acquire certain things by a certain age? I’ll tell you who told you that!!! Society. A society not based on Hebraic thought but on reasoning and Greek thinking.

Biblical thinking focuses on the pursuit. Just think, Apostle Paul, one of the greatest theologians of all times, says this:

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection” (Philippians 3:12).

Wait a minute, Paul: “YOU of all people have not reached perfection!! YOU who traveled to 3 continents, wrote most of the New Testament, and whose ministry changed the face of the Gentile world??? YOU have not reached perfection?

Paul knew what a lot of us do not know because he no longer thought like the world; he thought like Yeshua who was born into a Hebrew culture. Paul knew that the essence of life was in the pursuit of the goal:

“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Phil. 3:13-14).

It’s in the press. The learning, the character building, the transformation into His likeness — it’s in the pursuit.

Here’s to Yeshua undoing what my son, you, and I have learned from this world so that we can think like Him, be like Him, and love like Him.

HAPPY PURSUIT!

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Slavery & the Torah

February 11, 2015 By

February marks the national observance of Black History. A lot of events come to mind when I  think of Black History: from the Middle Passage, to Jim Crow, to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the many black slaves whose blood forged this nation and their indomitable spirits that fought against the odds that their bodies might be free.

It is true that the Bible speaks of slavery, but what the Israelites came out of in Egypt and what the slaves in America went through was never condoned by the Bible, although “seemingly” devout men and women used the Bible to justify this brutality.

This is what the Bible says about slavery: “In the Torah, kidnappers face the death penalty (Exodus 21:20). If a man seriously hurts his slave, the slave is to be immediately released (Exodus 21:26-27). If a slave is killed by his owner, the man faces the death penalty (Exodus 21:16).” [First Fruits of Zion]

“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment.” (Exodus 21:2)

God knew that once the Israelites reached the Promised Land that there would be the  poor, those captured by war,  and probably those who would have to sell themselves into bondage just to survive. He made stipulations for them in the Torah so that they would be protected.

It wasn’t until “seemingly” devout men and women minimized the validity of the Old Testament and tried to understand the New Testament apart from the Old. The result was obviously error. The result was Slavery in America.

The Egyptians did not know the God of the Old Testament. The “seemingly” devout men and women who justified slavery supposedly did know Him.

If we got the idea behind slavery wrong because we tried to interpret the New Testament by discrediting the Old (calling it useless and outdated and obsolete) what other principles/ideas/concepts have we gotten wrong?

It’s time to get back to the Source — to the document that first spoke of a coming Messiah — to the Document that the Messiah spoke of when He came — and to the Document that gives validity to the New. It’s time to get back to the Torah.

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It’s a Set-Up!!!

January 27, 2015 By

Ever been surrounded by job loss on one side, a wayward child on another, and medical issues on yet another side? At that point you wonder:

  • Where is God???
  • Why am I in this situation??
  • Did He bring me out to destroy me?

What I realize from my experience with God is that “It’s a Set-up!”

When the Children of Israel left Egypt, they left with great rejoicing! After over 400 years of slavery they were free. That is . . . until God intentionally leads them into what appears to be a trap. This is what he tells Moses: “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon” (Exodus 14:1).

Apparently, the Children of Israel were hemmed in with mountains on all sides and the Red Sea in front of them. You have to wonder: A Trap? Or a Set-up? The Children of Israel saw it as a Trap! God saw it differently. This is what He says to Moses: “When Pharaoh sees their location, he will think ” . . .

  • ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ (NIV)
  • ‘The Israelites are confused. They are trapped in the wilderness!’ (NLT)
  • ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ (NASB)
  • ‘They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. (JPS)

God intentionally sent His children into what seemed to be a trap . . . and here is the reason:  “I will get Me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” (Exodus 14:4 JPS). IT WAS A SET-UP!

Consider this New Testament scenario: Yeshua has just worked miracles among the crowd in Matthew 14:22: “Immediately Yeshua made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side.” Consider the word “made.” He coerced them! He told them! He gave them an order. As I read this passage, here is my dialogue with Yeshua:

  • ME: But Yeshua, there is going to be a storm at sea and the disciples will be in the midst of it.
  • YESHUA: I know.
  • ME: Then why are you sending them out into the very midst of it?

Say it with me: IT’S A SET UP!

YESHUA: I’m trying to show you My glory! I want you to see a glimpse of Who I really am! I’m trying to bring you deeper into My presence!

Say it with me again: IT’S A SET-UP!!!

Whatever you’re facing today, you are not in it alone! It is true that some things we bring upon ourselves, but God can use even those things to set us up for a blessing! Between a rock & a hard place!??? Between Migdol, Baal-Zephon, Pi-hahiroth and the sea??  IT’S A SET-UP!!! Out on a boat in the midst of the storm!!!  IT’S A SET-UP!!! Stop seeing things as Pharaoh did or as the Children of Israel did. It’s not a trap! IT’S A SET-UP!

Let Him get what He wants: Honor & Glory!!  He’s worthy of ALL of it!!

Shalom Oveerecha,
(Peace & Blessings)

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God’s Calendar

January 6, 2015 By

As I left the shopping center last night, my eyes were drawn to the moon. There it stood, a round, beautiful, white orb in the eastern sky. I smiled — not at the moon, per se, but at the moon’s Maker. I knew, without a doubt, that it was the middle of the Hebrew month Tevet. A full moon always occurs during the middle of the Hebrew month.

The Creator aligned the stars, planets and moons to his making! He said in Gen. 14:1, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.”

He’s already marked everything for us.  It’s done! We don’t need to try to “create” anything new! We don’t need an astrologer, a soothsayer or a fortuneteller. He’s marked it all!

I know that the full moon is called, by some, the “harvest moon” for farmer;  the “hunter’s moon” for hunters; and attributed to all kinds of superstitious lore, but do you know that there was a full moon, probably the biggest, brightest full moon ever, the night the Children of Israel left Egypt? There was a full moon on the night Yeshua was born, the night Yeshua wept in the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the night of his crucifixion. All purposeful!! Only God!!!!!

He was the one who commanded us to watch for and observe the new moon each month so that we honor and follow His unique calendar and the arrival of His special holy days. So I have decided to align my life with what God is doing. Even though I live under the Gregorian calendar, I will not set my sights there. I will live according to it in the natural, but NOT in the spiritual! January is January in the natural, but Tevet is spiritual; it is the month God has ordained!

I will set my sights upon what He said He has designated for us, so that I will know the “sacred times, the days and the years,” not to worship the moon or any other celestial being, but to observe it to follow His Calendar.

Do you want to discover what God is doing? Well, let’s align our lives with His times. And when you see a crescent moon, a full moon or just a sliver of a moon, please know that God ordered it to be so at that time and He ordered it for you.

Jews pray at the sight of every new moon. Let me pray this prayer over you during this month of Tevet: “May it be Your will, O LORD our God and God of our fathers, that you renew for us a good month in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! Amen!”

Chodesh Tov! Have a blessed month!

(Tevet ends January 20th and the month of Shevat begins on the 21st.)

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Bethsaida: The Path He Took #7

December 9, 2014 By

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes” (Luke 10:13).

P1030249 My Israel tour group entered the grounds of what was once the town of Chorazin  — scattered stones around the ruins of a synagogue. That’s all that was left. That “Woe” that Yeshua pronounced upon the city is still in effect. No longer a living city, it is now a national park.

From there we walked toward Bethsaida, which means “House of the Fishermen.” It, like Chorazin, is a victim of its faithlessness to the presence of the Messiah, an expanse of leveled ruins. Before Bethsaida sank into spiritual coldness, however, Yeshua called three disciples from that city, one of them Phillip.

P1030251

The paved road that led to this fallen city — a part of it is still there! The tour guide invited us to sit around this stone path. He said the stone pavers dated to the time of Yeshua  and that Yeshua would have walked this road on his trips to and from Bethsaida. Around that road we sang, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.” I’m sure that road reminded us of the path that we, ourselves, take to walk with him.

It was time to go. I lingered behind, wanting to STAND, SIT, or even LIE PROSTRATE on that same road! It didn’t matter how many other feet had trodden its path. I wanted to sit for a while and think of Him. The mountains of Israel were still there. They had watched the Son of God come and go, traveling from Chorazin to Bethsaida. The voices of the mountains were silent, their emotions dulled, but their eyes were opened to me. I imagined him walking across those stones with the disciples,  teaching them about the Kingdom.

I could have stayed at that sight a little longer . . . The tour guide Gideon hit us with an actuality — Yeshua walked that road — and then it was time to go.  But somehow I had to capture the moment. When everyone had left, I gave my camera to Larry and he hurriedly memorialized that moment for me.

P1030255“No turning back!” Thank You, Yeshua, for walking that road.

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“The Desert Blooms”: From Israel #5

November 9, 2014 By
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“A Matter of Timimg”: from Israel #3

November 7, 2014 By

imageWe were in Jericho proper, a Palestinian controlled territory.  I would get to teach from a balcony overlooking the oldest city in the world. Limestone houses dotted the panoramic view! To the right a tel, a mountain of dirt, held the secret remains of a city destroyed by the strategy of an army empowered by the God of the universe!

I, of course, taught on Joshua. Moses was dead and now Joshua had no recourse but to lead the children of Israel through the Jordan into the Promised Land! He could not go back! There was no other place to go but forward. After he gets across the Jordan, he knows that the next stronghold is Jericho, a strongly fortified city. One morning he is up, no doubt reading the Torah, filling himself with the Word of God, feeling a little apprehensive about taking the city. The Bible says that Joshua “lifted up His eyes and looked.” When the Bible uses that phrase, the one looking always looks up with expectation! And so Joshua did and, when de does, he sees “The Angel Lord” whom he worships as God. This “Angel Lord” gives his all the strategy he needs in order to take the city.

As I encouraged my tour group to “lift up their eyes” in their own Jericho-situations, I pointed above the tel of Jericho, and a rainbow appeared in the sky filling the panorama in front of us with undeniable color!

The story of Jericho and Joshua has taken on a greater meaning for me. I will never be able to read that Book or hear those names  without remembering how God met me on the plains of Jericho in The Holy Land!

 

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