KEHILAT NOTES 7/3/04
BALAK
Meshiach = Messiah
Ruach HaKodesh = usually translated as Holy Spirit
Jim:
We’re closer to the Jews than the Christians, but in many ways they’re closer to the Christians than us. In Romans, Paul mentioned that they are our enemies because of the Good News. I can’t go up and embrace them because of this. But if you read the Scripture that still doesn’t diminish their status as the Chosen People.
Every time we obey a mitzvot, it’s phenomenal. It’s almost instant, it comes back to us. Once you begin feeling and sensing this, you realize that you really are at the bottom of the ladder. That’s one of the reasons why we study Torah. Yeshua atoned for us – nothing else could have atoned for us like that. A sheep sacrifice is a one-shot thing. We do not turn our back on Yeshua and what he’s done for us. My counterparts in Judaism are light-years ahead in Torah. I’ve studied the Bible all my life, mainly the New Testament. But it’s too bad the other side of my brain wasn’t balanced with Torah.
Mikhael’s computer crashed and he lost all his notes, which is why he isn’t here tonight. We were talking about backups last week, and he wasn’t here to hear that. Next week he should be back to teach on the Anatomy of the Soul. The mystical aspects of Judaism far exceed anything you can imagine.
Recommendation: Tim Hegg’s It is Often Said series gives a very good foundation. Published by First Fruits of Zion. Diane usually has them.
Rev. Thomas:
Sun Myung Moon is proposing that Judaism and Islam merge into a single faith.
Jim:
That’s why we’re studying Torah.
Meriam:
Bush is calling for a roster of all church members for his election campaign. Churches are fighting it.
Tom:
I guess pastors are going out and getting liability insurance.
Jim:
We need to be cautious about everything going around us, so it doesn’t take us away from Torah. I love history and politics. But I can’t study it any more. We have to be armored and well girded. It might not be as bad as we think it is, but it might be worse. With Torah, we can try to endure and see what happens.
Blessing
after meals: Deut. 8:10
Speaking Hebrew in the time of Meshiach: Zeph 3:9
What we are to do: Micah 6:8
There are things from the Brit Hadashah that I want to share with you as well.
I want to spark some thought in your own mind as to what is being said, especially in the Torah. Pray to the Ruach HaKodesh for understanding.
Too many times we associate our learning concerning God and his Word and the World to Come with holding hands with God someday. That isn’t how close to God we are going to get, because we are part of God. Some of this is hard to comprehend. When we start to appreciate the fact that we are created in God’s image, what does that mean? When we’re living in a time when we can see DNA, it’s amazing. The implication is that we are part of Him. That’s why the emphasis on living with our fellow man. If I go and bust somebody in the nose, I’m hitting God, whether he’s a jerk, a Communist, or whatever. As we start putting these things together we start appreciating our relationship to God. We cannot break a bond we have with God. We can stretch it. Because of that we can really mess ourselves up if we want to.
John 1:1-5
I see the Word as being all kinds of different things, all kinds of different understandings. Now I see it as Torah, the blueprint of the world. It’s a light that continues to shine in the darkness. But the darkness will continue to ignore it, unless darkness makes itself receptive to the light.
Matt. 5:17-18
I’m in the road-building business right now. There’s a piece of road to be built. We have the contractor trying to build it. When it’s built, the contract does not disappear. It’s still there. What kind of oil and rock did they use? That’s the way it is with Yeshua. He fulfilled his time on Earth by being raised from the dead. He fulfilled the contract. But we continue to study. It goes back to the basics, that he came here first to the Jew, and then to the Gentile. You talk about some of the Jews, and you have someone more into it than a fundamentalist. The Law says this…
He’s setting the groundwork for us to learn by. There’s all kinds of rabbit trails by the way to pull us off. Instead of lending themselves to the Ruach HaKodesh, they’re into a book or a movie or something. When you come out of a church that’s heavy on door-knocking, it’s night and day. You don’t share this like you would the Gospel. They won’t listen. Until the Ruach HaKodesh comes and softens their heart, they’re not going to listen. Now you have time to study.
What are we doing? Something we should have been doing in the first place, putting it in God’s hands. Trying to get my dad to come to Kehilat, it’s like trying to build a bridge across Gibraltar Strait in a year.
When Yeshua said we have to take this to the world, that means we have to make ourselves available. We’ve made known to Cheyenne that we’re here. They know that there’s a Torah observant group meeting here. If two families come asking “what is this?” we have to be here for them. We don’t preach the Gospel so much as we preach Torah. That’s what Yeshua was teaching.
Tikvah:
It’s more than saying it. It’s living it. People at work come up and ask why I’m not eating pizza with them, and I can tell them. This happens even on the phone. They’re coming and asking. It’s because of what you do. If everyone in the room is gossiping, they will notice that I haven’t said a word in an hour. Later they come and apologize.
Rev. Thomas:
When you say something without meaning to, they will ask. That just sort of opens the door.
Tom:
You have to do what Yeshua did. He never forced himself on anyone.
Rev. Thomas:
When they come to you, you have to have the knowledge to help them.
Jim:
You have to have three things, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. With just any one of these you’re just a clanging gong. If I have all kinds of wisdom, but don’t understand it, there’s no value. Look at the example of Solomon.
Duane:
You need to be quiet and humble. So when somebody comes to me about Torah, I won’t misdirect them.
Jim:
Matt. 22:14
That’s a spooky part. Many are called, but few are chosen. In tonight’s Torah portion alone, we’ve got 24,000 people who were killed.
Matt. 24:13-14
That’s a hint that there’s more to salvation than just going to the altar.
Matt. 10:5-6
Specific commandment to his Apostles, going to the house of Israel. They turned their back on them, we didn’t. We’re waiting to find out.
Matt. 22:39
Comes from Lev. 19:18.
John 15:1-6, Romans 11:17-22, 24
The church a lot of the times sees themselves as the vine, but this was written before the church. The vine consists of Torah. If a Jew says that we’re not part of them, the fact is we’re grafted in.
Bless God for giving us the opportunity to learn Torah. If you learn Torah, you learn Yeshua.
The last part of tonight’s portion has an interesting story. Pinchas Nu. 25:7 towards the end. Balak and Balaam have gone through what they did, and it didn’t work. So they went to another strategy, to make the Midianite women appealing to the Hebrew men. The men are starting to fool around with these women, and even settling in. When you settle where God doesn’t want you, you’re not going to be there very long. Sexual perversion is one of the big areas that will irritate God real quick. They start dying from a plague. To make things worse, one of these boys brought a Midianite woman near his brothers and Moses. They were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He’s got some chutzpah and showing off. Pinchas put a spear through them and the plague stopped.
Lately I’ve had people bring it to my attention that I’m being judgmental. Don’t just automatically assume that you’re not to judge, but that it’s setting up the criteria by which you will judge. With Pinchas, in his judgment at that moment killing was the thing to do, and he was congratulated for it. What we’re asked to judge is those things we learn where we see what type of behavior is wrong. Those are the things by which we are going to be judged. Homosexuals are not going to come into Kehilat and push their agenda. That’s my judgment. It’s Torah.
These people were involved in both adultery and idolatry. It was disgusting. They had bowel movements in front of their idols. This also violated rules of hygiene which were rediscovered by Pastuer!
The guy who wrote Shrek 2 was a Jew who became a Presbyterian minister, and then back to his roots as a Jew. Note the talking donkey! The donkey did talk to Balaam, and you realize that Balaam was obsessed, and so was Balak. They were a real pair of comedians. Were they rational human beings, they would have ended the first time. Balaam really did want to go and curse the Jewish people. Nu. 22:18-19 and on. He invited the officers to stay overnight for more of an answer. God permitted Balaam to go, but only to say what he was told to say. Note how this high-falutin’ prophet even saddles his own donkey. Hashem sent the angel to stand in the way and warn him. Three times he tries to get the donkey moving, and then it starts talking. Balaam was so obsessed that he even ignored this, and was willing to kill the talking donkey.
God changed his mind, the angel permitted him to go through. Three times Balaam ended up showering blessings on the Jews. Balak even moved to another place to try putting the curse on. If we didn’t know that this was our history, we would suspect that Abbott and Costello had a hand in these proceedings. Everything is set forth according to God’s will. An obsessed individual is not being rational. We see it today in our country, Israel, the Arab world, and everywhere. People pick up ideologies and won’t let go no matter what. We run into these people on a day to day basis. Then we go through stages where we get out of these obsessions. With some people it’s money. We have to get out of any obsession that stands in the way of our relationship with God.
Matt. 10:5-6
If people won’t accept their peace, the disciples are to move on. Sometimes it’s inner, and comes spiritually. We don’t mess around with things that we can’t change – those have to be left in God’s hands.
God uses us in all kinds of ways. Sometimes it’s just somebody saying hi to me at a certain time. We’re going to impact things because God will direct us toward that end. When we’re directed that way, there’s nothing so beautiful. There’s nothing like that feeling like we’ve done something God wanted us to do. When you do his will, you’ll know it, you’ll feel it, and it will be profound. What do we do? The Mitzvot. The suffering and pain of other people that we can help, do it. The things we can’t help, avert our eyes.
Nu. 24:19 is a Messianic prophecy.
NEXT
WEEK: PINCHAS starts Nu. 25:10