Rabbi’s Reflections – Monday, November 11, 2019
Happy Veterans Day and Shalom,
Thank you to all of our veterans, especially to my daughters, Berelyn (US Army) and Jacquelyne (US Air Force). Honorable mention also goes out to my late father, Leonard Weiner (pictured above) who completed 20 years of service as a chief in the US Navy.
Rabbi Trail: The story behind that picture is this… my dad enlisted in the Navy at the age of 17 in 1944 (near the end of WWII). There was a special program at the end of the war. High school boys could get a GED and be exempted from their last semester of high school by enlisting. That’s what dad did. This picture was taken because he was named “Sailor of the Month” in 1961 (age 34) at Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station in Puerto Rico (that base is now closed). Dad died at the age of 61 in 1989 shortly after being diagnosed with lung cancer. He would have been 92 last month. End RT.
As the song goes, “all gave some, some gave all.” We hold our freedom as sacred. Of course, in all things we give thanks to God. And especially on Veterans Day we thank those who served to protect and defend our rights, freedom and liberty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E
Week 46 Memory Verse: 2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God and not from ourselves. 8 We are hard pressed in every way, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not in despair; 9 persecuted, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua may also be revealed in our mortal body.
226 11/11 Monday: Acts 20-21
227 11/12 Tuesday: Acts 22-23
228 11/13 Wednesday: Acts 24-25
229 11/14 Thursday: Acts 26-27
230 11/15 Friday: Acts 28
Question of the day: What is missing from the gospel message in most churches these days?
Answer: I want to set up the answer from today’s reading. Paul declares there is such a thing as the “whole purpose.” Acts 20:27 For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
The gospel message (good news) is found in Scripture… 1 Corinthians 15:3b that Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Rabbi Trail: What do you think of this story (you might even call it a parable). There was a little boy who begged his mommy to forgive him. She asked him, “What did you do that I should forgive you.” The little boy replied, “I don’t know, but I’m sure it was something bad.” End RT.
This little boy is us, if we don’t repent. To repent, we have to know what we need to repent of. What is sin? (Messiah died for our sins, but what sins?) 1 John 3:4 Everyone practicing sin also practices lawlessness—indeed, sin is lawlessness. (I prefer the KJV which plainly states “sin is transgression of the law.).
What’s missing today from most gospel messages is the necessity to repent and a clear explanation of what sin is. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
And there is this from Peter on the day of Pentecost… (Let me set it up first.). Peter was asked what one needs to do in order to answer the call to enter a relationship with God (and be saved). Acts 2: 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be immersed in the name of Messiah Yeshua for the removal of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach ha-Kodesh.
Although I took a few “Rabbi Trails,” please don’t miss my point today. Living a holy life is part of the salvation experience. And living a holy life is not what you say it is, but what we learn from God’s Word about His righteous standard.
Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Yeshua. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what was impossible for the Torah—since it was weakened on account of the flesh—God has done. Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin offering, He condemned sin in the flesh— 4 so that the requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Ruach.