Rabbi’s Reflections – Thursday, May 27, 2021
Shalom,
A N N O U N C E M E N T
Friday night there will be a Kabbalat Shabbat (Welcoming the Shabbat) service at Shomair Yisrael, 3811 Boyds Bridge Pike, Knoxville, TN. Dinner at 6PM (please bring something to share) with a worship service following at 7PM. Because Saturday is the 5th Saturday of May, there will be no Saturday morning service that day. Instead, you are all invited to watch the Tikkun Conference on Saturday morning. Here is the link below.
Rabbi’s Note: In 2021, we decided that on every 5th Shabbat (one per quarter) we will have a Friday night service followed by a Saturday morning with no service. The building will be locked on Saturday. This week is the second one this year. The next one is July 30 & 31. End RN.
Tikkun has spent many thousands of dollars to upgrade the video and sound quality and make it accessible to our members who can’t make the trip to Maryland. Please send me your comments after you watch. Here is the announcement from Ben Juster… We will be Live Streaming the weekend RESTORE Conference on the Tikkun America Facebook page beginning on Friday evening. For the schedule, please visit: www.tikkunrestore.com/restore21
Concerning the Facebook Link for Tikkun RESTORE Conference Livestreams, the Tikkun America Facebook page can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/tikkunamerica/
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Thu 27 May 2021 16th of Sivan, 5781
Nu 10:11-34 Jer 26 Dan 3 (Mk 10:32-52) 1 Co 9
On Jeremiah 26… Jeremiah was given a word from the Lord for the people of Jerusalem. This same word is still appropriate for our own situation. Jeremiah 26:4 Then you will say to them, thus says Adonai: “If you will not listen to Me, by walking in My Torah, which I have set before you, 5 and by listening to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you, early and often—but you have not listened— 6 then I will make this House like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”
Someone (certainly not you) might read this and say, “So what? We have Yeshua and they didn’t. We have salvation by grace, and they didn’t.” And I would answer that person (certainly not you), “Grace is not permission to live without Torah, grace is the means by which we are now able to live according to Torah.”
May I remind you, God sent His Son to condemn sin in the flesh… Romans 8:4 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.
The men who heard Jeremiah’s word did not respond with repentance, but we should. They wanted to kill the messenger (although his life was spared, there is no evidence his message was received). This same message was also delivered by Yeshua, and we did kill Him. Our hands are stained with His blood, but by grace, we are washed clean.
Our response should (and must) be repentance. We have to get this right (and from what I’m seeing today, we are getting this increasingly wrong). Righteousness does not come through the “woke agenda” but through the power of Yeshua’s once-for-all-time sacrifice. The woke agenda is man’s solution, in an effort to replace God’s solution.
There is evil in the world. Peter testified to the 3,000 on the day of Pentecost. Following his testimony, he was asked… Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the emissaries, “Fellow brethren, what shall we do?” His answer was straightforward… 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.
The solution is not to burn down someone’s house or business, but to declare the Gospel and let God change hearts. Jeremiah’s message preceded him and the message is still the same. Our response (in this generation) must change. Bo Yeshua bo.
Week 22
Memory Verse: John 11:25 Yeshua said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life! Whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
106 5/27 Monday: Jonah 1-2
107 5/28 Tuesday: Jonah 3-4
108 5/29 Wednesday: Hosea 1-3
* 109 5/30 Thursday: Amos 1:1, 9
110 5/31 Friday: Joel 1-3
Question of the day: Our question today comes from Amos 9:5a My Lord is Adonai-Tzva’ot. Who is “Adonai-Tzva’ot?”
Answer: We are not well prepared for the answer. Adonai Tzva’ot is usually translated as “Lord of hosts.” It is God’s name when He is describing Himself as the head of the Army of God.
Joshua 5:13b Joshua approached him and said to him: “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” 14 “Neither,” he said. “Rather, I have now come as commander of Adonai’s army.”
Yeshua is coming back to earth to do battle with His enemy. The children of Israel saw the destruction of their enemy, Pharaoh and sang these words in their song over God’s victory. Exodus 15:3 Adonai is a warrior—Adonai is His Name!
We’re expecting the lovable and huggable Yeshua. Won’t we be surprised to find He is a mighty warrior who is not only fierce in battle, but always victorious. King David understood this… Psalm 3:8 Arise, Adonai! Deliver me, my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek. You shatter the teeth of the wicked. So did his son, Solomon… Proverbs 21:31 A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory comes from Adonai.
Let’s prepare for the coming battle both defensively and offensively. Defensively, put on the whole armor of God… Ephesians 6:11-18 (read it). Then, offensively, we have the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17).
Two things are required before we can use the sword of the Spirit. First, we have to know the word. We learn through repetition (which is why we are reading through the Bible every year and not just once). Secondly, we must be submitted to the word (which proves we not only know it, but believe it). It’s really quite simple, obey God! That is summed up in “Shema Yisrael.”
Remember, Satan has read the Bible, but he cannot have the power of God because he is not submitted to God’s authority in his life. If we are (submitted to God which is demonstrated through obedience), then His victory will be our own.