Author: Jeff

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Discussions Torah

Take a stand for what’s right in an evil age: Joseph and Messiah (Genesis 37)

Joseph’s brothers and many in the Sanhedrin during the first arrival of Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) were incensed that God had chosen someone other than the first- or best-born to lead Israel. Yet, both Yosef and Yeshua did not fear betrayal, arrest, prison or even death.

In this study of the Torah section וישב Vayeshev (“he settled,” Gen. 37:1–40:23), the “cancel culture” of their day did not deter them. Similar to the Maccabees at the time of the first Chanukah, no one could smooth-talk Yosef or Yeshua out of standing up for what is right as they refused to kowtow to the evil ways of those around them.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Living in the ladder days of Jacob’s stick-with-it deliverance (Genesis 29–31; Hosea 12–14)

Living in the ladder days of Jacob’s stick-with-it deliverance (Genesis 29–31; Hosea 12–14)
Living in the ladder days of Jacob’s stick-with-it deliverance (Genesis 29–31; Hosea 12–14)

In Genesis 28-31, the transformation from Jacob the deceiver to Israel the overcomer is a lifelong journey and one that the book of Revelation underscores is essential for those who enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Discover in this study of the Torah reading ויצא Vayetze how our entry into the kingdom of the Messiah calls for a lifetime journey from slavery to freedom.

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Discussions Torah

Why a life is worth remembering respectfully (Genesis 23:1–2)

How to live a life worth remembering (Genesis 23:1-2)

Ancient views on the opening verses of Torah reading חיי שרה Chayei Sarah (“Sarah’s life,” Gen. 23:1–25:18) about the funeral for the pivotal matriarch of Israel remind us that we all go through phases of our lives. Like Sarah, Abraham and other key leaders of the people of God, we get a new name — character, reputation and legacy — when we are delivered from our old life of bondage to things that keep us separated from the Kingdom of Heaven. In this study, we explore why embracing our “new name” as a “new creation” of Heaven is essential to this transformation.

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Discussions Torah

How Abram learned faith, fought fear and become a friend of God

In the Torah reading Lech Lecha (“go forth,” Genesis 12–17), we see some key motifs from Abram/Abraham’s life that are repeated or echoed elsewhere in Scripture. Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) is the ultimate expression of these messages from Heaven.

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Discussions Torah

Wandering heart, where treachery starts (Deuteronomy 21:10–14)

We may think that faith and belief are wishy-washing things that can change with our mood or socio-economic situation. But the way the Bible uses those concepts, the clearer translation may be “trust” or “dependable.” We trust in God’s words, find the promises of Heaven dependable.

But the flip side of that is, are we trustworthy? Are we dependable? Are our desires, lives and resources following after Heaven’s instructions? Or are they wandering back and forth between God’s rules and the Zeitgeist, the Spirit of the Age, what’s trendy and popular.

Those questions are behind the instructions about marriage and adultery in the Torah passage כי תצא Ki Tetze (“when you go forth,” Deut. 21:10-25:19).

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Our behavior with others shows how much we really love God (Deuteronomy 5–6)

Our behavior with others shows how much we really love God (Deuteronomy 5-6)

Long before Yeshua’s arrival on Earth in the 1st century, another special anointed one led Heaven’s ambassadors to humanity out of slavery and toward freedom, foreshadowing a greater Prophet Who would take humanity the distance to the Kingdom of God. In the Torah reading וָאֶתְחַנַּן Va’et’chanan (“and I pleaded,” Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11), we see the beginning of Moshe’s (Moses’) explanation of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5), a lesson that stretches almost to the end of the book.

Categories
Discussions Torah

God, why did You make me this way? (Numbers 30)

Why did You make me this way? Bible lessons on Potter and clay from Numbers 30, Isaiah and Romans.
Why did You make me this way? Bible lessons on Potter and clay from Numbers 30, Isaiah and Romans. hallel.info/matot-masey-2020

Why wasn’t I born tall? Athletic? In a prosperous country? To wealthy parents? In a loving, stable home? There are so many ways popular culture, our peers and we ourselves can tell us that we are less than valuable. We might glean from a cursory pass through the Torah readings מטות Matot (“tribes”) and מסעי Massei/Mase’y (“journeys of”), covering Numbers 30–36, a few more points of discrimination against us: born a woman, born in the wrong family.

Yet we will discover in this Bible study after lifting the hood on the full message from Heaven, rather than pulling soundbites convenient to our bias, that where we start out in life and where we find ourselves doesn’t have to define what truly matters: “the content of our character,” to quote Martin Luther King Jr.

Here’s what Moses, Isaiah and apostle Paul have to say.