Rabbi’s Reflections – Monday, February 3, 2020
Shalom *|FNAME|*,
Pillar Four: The Kingdom is Expressed in a Life of Power – part 4
Rabbi Trail: How is it that I have something to say/write every day? To me it’s amazing. I sit at a blank screen and pray and (mostly every day) the Lord begins to speak. Good news… I’m also nothing special. Romans 8:11 And if the Ruach of the One who raised Yeshua from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised Messiah Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Ruach who dwells in you.
God’s creative power is spoken. (After all, God spoke the world into existence. Read about it in Genesis 1:1, “God spoke…”) We should all be very thankful. God spoke to great saints throughout the ages. That same Lord is available to you and me. Start (or continue) listening. There is our word of encouragement for today. End RT.
Another Rabbi Trail: I am going to write something to refute cessationism. Cessationists believe that the gifts of the spirit ended on earth with the death of the last Apostle. To me, they have a theory about that. A theory is a theory because it cannot be proven. Once a theory is proven, it becomes fact. There is a mountain of evidence (called testimony) that refutes cessationsim and supports the moving of the gifts of the spirit. Our subject is the power of God. I’m proposing the power of God moves through the gifts of the spirit. To be sure, for every beautiful, righteous, and lovely thing of God, Satan has an ugly, sinful, selfish counterfeit. Don’t let Satan’s counterfeit keep you from the perfection, beauty and love of God. End ART.
1 Corinthians 13 is nicknamed “the love chapter.” It is frequently used by cessationists to prove we no longer have the gifts of the spirit available to us. But thanks to many men and women in my life (I started to name them, but the list is too long), I know better. Remember, every cessationist has a theory. My testimony is that I have an experience. Remember, a person with an experience is never at the mercy of a person with a theory.
Do we stop reading the Bible at the end of 1 Corinthians 13, or is 1 Corinthians 14:1 also in the Bible? 1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. Does that sound like it’s optional? Does it say, “If you have enough faith for it, earnestly desire spiritual gifts?” It sounds like we have a command to desire spiritual gifts.
Why do we have a worship service that lasts 150 minutes? (Okay, most are a little longer, but who’s counting?) Because when we move together into the presence of God, why rush off? Take your shoes off, for the place you are standing is holy ground. Wait on the Lord. Take some time to listen to that still small voice.
If God is not moving, if God is not speaking into our lives, then a 50 minute service is too long. I remember attending a service like that once and thinking as I left, “What was that, church lite?” God wants us to go deep with Him. That’s why we read “eagerly desire.”
It doesn’t say “eagerly desire the lunch buffet line.” But it does say, “Eagerly desire spiritual gifts.” Remember, “It’s a heart thang!” The only thing God wants is the only thing in the universe God has not already given Himself, our hearts. His desire is for us to love Him. The evidence we love Him is when we put Him first.
Psalm 84:11(10) For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else. I would rather stand at the threshold of the House of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
I think there is more on this pillar tomorrow.
Week 6
Memory Verse: Genesis 50:20 Yes, you yourselves planned evil against me. God planned it for good, in order to bring about what it is this day—to preserve the lives of many people.
* 30 2/03 Monday: Genesis 39-40
31 2/04 Tuesday: Genesis 41
32 2/05 Wednesday: Genesis 42-43
33 2/06 Thursday: Genesis 44-45
34 2/07 Friday: Genesis 46-47
Question of the day: We frequently compare Joseph to Yeshua, but how is he like us?
Answer: Joseph got in trouble for doing the right thing.
Romans 8:17 And if children, also heirs—heirs of God and joint-heirs with Messiah—if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
There is a warning to us in Hebrews 12:3…. Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also get rid of every weight and entangling sin. Let us run with endurance the race set before us, 2 focusing on Yeshua, the initiator and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame; and He has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and lose heart.
That’s right, He suffered so that we “may not grow weary… and lose heart.” Joseph endured both slavery and prison before he experienced the fulfillment of the vision God had given him. Does that speak something to you today? Are we better than Joseph? Are we better than Yeshua?
He says, Matthew 16:24 Then Yeshua said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then ‘He will repay everyone according to his deeds.’
While we’re on this subject, don’t miss Raymond Finney’s RR yesterday and next Sunday. He does a great job explaining God’s judgments. As Raymond says, “Shalom and Maranatha.” We know “shalom.” Maranatha means “Come Yeshua, come.”