Rabbi’s Reflections – Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Shalom,

Heads up!  Save the date!!  Justin Rizzo is coming to Shomair to lead worship on Monday evening, October 26, 2020 beginning at 6PM.  Justin is one of the leading worship leaders at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City.  https://justinrizzo.com/  We are beyond exited to welcome Justin to Knoxville.  We believe he has something of value to impart to our community.

Please remember the High Holidays (God calls them His appointed seasons) start this Friday night with a Shofar blast on the Feast of Trumpets.  Bring your Shofar and make a joyful sound to the Lord.  (Covered dish, please bring something to share) Dinner at 6.  Service at 7:30.  No reservations or tickets required.  

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Last night (Sunday night) we had class #4 in the Song of Songs Discipleship Training series.  Near the end of the class I was overcome with passion for this verse… Song of Songs 2:4 He has brought me to the banquet house and his banner over me is love.  There are many reasons to be passionate over this verse, but what caught me on this occasion is only one word.  It’s the Hebrew word translated “banner.”  This is the Hebrew word “Degel.”  It is typically translated as flag.  God has a flag over me, and His flag is love.  

A “flag” is a symbol of identification.  The flag represents sovereignty, and it flies over the subjects of the sovereign.  Subjects must obey the Sovereign (immediately and without question).  God is love. (1 John 4:8)  Love is the dominant characteristic of His kingdom.

If His “flag” is over me, then I must be His standard bearer.  Each of us is the “carrier” of His flag of love.  We are in His army assigned to a fighting unit.  Sounds counterintuitive doesn’t it, “fight for love?”  Fight doesn’t mean to “punch the other guy in the face,” but to stand firm.  To take and hold ground for the kingdom.  To “stand firm” for love is to share love.  The flag flying over each of us is love.  

One way to view the upcoming Feast of Trumpets is as God’s “wake up call.”  Wake up!!  Deuteronomy 20:4 “For Adonai your God is the One who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies to save you.”  Yes, we fight by standing (the name of last week’s Torah portion), “Nitzavim”… Psalm 94:16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against evildoers? 17 Unless Adonai had been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.   

As we approach the return of Yeshua, we are reminded of Moses words on the front side of the Red Sea… Exodus 14:13 But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid! Stand still, and see the salvation of Adonai, which He will perform for you today.  We too, must stand firm and see….  For a good example, the question of the day below highlights how Peter and John stood firm.

Week 38
Memory Verse: Acts 2:42 They were devoting themselves to the teaching of the emissaries and to fellowship, to breaking bread and to prayers.

186   9/07      Monday:       Acts 2-3 

* 187 9/08      Tuesday:      Acts 4-5 

188   9/09      Wednesday: Acts 6 

189   9/10      Thursday:     Acts 7 

190   9/11       Friday:       Acts 8-9 

Question of the Day:  The ruling elders put Peter and John on trial.   The first question they asked (after giving them a night in the pokey) was Acts 4:7b By what power or in what name did you do this?

Answer:  The accusation was that Peter and John had healed a man.  Just go back to the previous chapter… Acts 3:16 Now through faith in the name of Yeshua, His name has strengthened this man whom you see and know. Indeed, the faith through Yeshua has given this man perfect health in front of you all.

So you see, Peter and John had already told them “by what authority” the man was healed.  Let’s remember something about Jewish people back then and the same is true of non-believing Jewish people today… their problem isn’t with Yeshua, it is with God.  (My friend, David Chansky, reminded me) Yeshua said… John 5:46 For if you were believing Moses, you would believe Me—because he wrote about Me. 47 But since you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

When we pray the Shema (quite often actually), we should be praying in intercession; that all Israel would believe Moses and the profession of God’s oneness and His command of love.  That faith will lead all Israel into faith in the Son, who is the reflection of Father.  Colossians 1:15 He is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible], the firstborn [the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator] of all creation. AMP 

Rabbi Trail:  I used the Amplified Version because I strongly object to the TLV in this verse.  Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.(TLV)  Yeshua was not cresated, but He is the originator of everything that was created.  John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has come into being.  End RT.

May each of us have the defense of the faith as Peter and John.  Acts 4:20 “For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”  May each of us speak with that same boldness… Ephesians 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be like children, tossed around by the waves and blown all over by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men with cunning in deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all ways into Messiah, who is the Head.  Stand firm beloved.