Rabbi’s Reflections – Friday, November 1, 2019
(Early) Shabbat Shalom *|FNAME|*,
Can you believe it’s time to write the Friday RR already? This was a fast week. (I write on Thursday for Friday.) Before I write something substantive, let me make a few announcements.
You already know Marty and Misha Goetz will be ministering in music and in the word at Shomair this Shabbat. Please also remember this week is our monthly Oneg Shabbat, so kindly bring a double portion. Lastly, remember, soup goes a long way when you keep adding water. This is where my daughter, Jocelyn, calls me a goofball.
How is it that our months are named wrong on the Gregorian calendar? October, November and December are named for the 8th, 9th, and 10th months, but they are the 10th, 11th and 12th months. I asked rhetorically, so I can answer my own question. There used to be only 10 months. The first month wasn’t a month at all. It was 61 days long and was called winter. It lasted until the month March began in spring.
Watch this… The revised Republican calendar (named for the Republic of Rome around the year 700 BC) had the full 12 months, but only 355 days in it. It was lunar based on the phases of the moon, like the Jewish calendar. There were 4 months with 31 days and 7 months with 29 days (February had only 28, even back then). Because they were about 10 days short of a tropical year (the time it takes the earth to travel around the sun) they would add a leap month almost every 3 years. This is how the Jewish calendar is managed today.
Anyway, I thought you would like to know. Even if you didn’t, I felt like writing it. I’ll admit it is not spiritually enriching. I’ll try to make up for it in the bottom part of the RR today.
Week 44
Memory Verse: Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been made righteous by trusting, we have shalom with God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
216 10/28 Monday: 2 Corinthians 9-10
217 10/29 Tuesday: 2 Corinthians 11-13
218 10/30 Wednesday: Romans 1-2; Acts 20:1-3
219 10/31 Thursday: Romans 3-4
* 220 11/01 Friday: Romans 5-6
Question of the day: Here is a remarkable verse of Scripture. It is not the question of the day, but it will lead us there. Romans 5:6. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Messiah died for the ungodly.
Why did I just call that verse remarkable? (Still not the question of the day.) There are 3 parts.
Part 1, we were helpless. Yes, there was (and is) no way for us to help ourselves. Sin is a problem that can only be healed by sinlessness. But “all have sinned” according to Romans 3:23. Therefore, all are disqualified from healing our “sin problem.”
Part 2 involves God’s timing. Do you know God has never been early or late? We tell time by the planets, (in their relationship to the sun) and God ordered the planets. Exactly 4,000 years after the sin of Adam and Eve got them removed from the Garden of Eden, God had to send His only begotten Son to heal the sin problem once and for all time. That is why Yeshua’s last human words were “It is finished.”
Part 3 reveals an amazingly gracious gift. Messiah died for the ungodly. Have you ever felt unworthy? Rightfully so. We are all unworthy. But if we hold on to that attitude of not feeling worthy, we are making God a liar.
His death has to count for something and that something is you. You are special. You are worth the life of the savior. Why? (That is the question of the day).
Answer: So that Yeshua can be Lord of your life. That’s right, He is the Savior so that He can be Lord. The definition of His Lordship is that He must be obeyed immediately and without question. Everyone in heaven does that. The last one to be disobedient in heaven is no longer in heaven. He and his minions are spiritual beings roaming the earth searching for whom they may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
So we are commanded to obey God, and when we do, He is our Lord. However; there is constant tension between flesh and spirit. We who have been saved are being led by the spirit into all righteousness. Our obedience is to the word of God (revelation of His will). We are no longer slaves to our fleshly desires.
The victory (over sin) belongs to the Lord. 1 Peter 3:18 For Messiah once suffered for sins also—the righteous for the unrighteous—in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Ruach.
Maybe you would enjoy these victory verses… https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/victory-bible-verses/