Edited for readability: timestamps removed; spoken wording retained where practical. Automated transcript may contain recognition errors.

Defining the biblical eved

Amen. Thank you, Candace. That’s awesome. And congratulations. But we’ll have video on that later, guys. Welcome. Shabbat shalom. Thanks for hanging out with us here this morning for today’s discussion. What is today’s discussion? Today’s discussion is Evid, servant of Messiah. And I’m asking the question, are you why am I doing that? Well, you recall last week we looked at biblical slavery. That was a fun discussion and that’s where we explored this word evid. And so I felt like it was a proper next lesson to one learn about the typology that slavery is in the Old Testament and then begin to compare it to what it means for us who are servants of evids of disciples of Yeshua.

And you’d be surprised how strikingly similar the Hebrew word evid is to the word disciple uh in the New Testament. So let’s get into this and start asking ourselves some hard questions. Last week in our study on biblical slavery, we examined the Hebrew word EVID and saw that scripture uses it for far more than what we commonly think of as a slave. And Evid is one who serves, belongs to another’s authority, and carries out the will of his master. This week, we’re going to take that concept one step further. We’re going to trace the biblical idea of the eved from the Hebrew scriptures into the words of Yeshua and ask what it really means when he says follow me.

We will see that disciplehip is not only believing in Yeshua or learning about Yeshua. It’s becoming his servant. submitting to his authority, learning his ways, obeying his commands, and living as one who belongs to the master. And already in reading that one brief definition of what a disciple is, what an EVID is, we can already begin to see the differences between that and what common everyday religiosity has become. the churchgoing folk who show up faithfully, religiously to a Sunday morning service or a Wednesday evening service and and then pretty much being who they are every other day of the week is kind of what it’s turned into. But we know from scripture that the expectation is

Isaiah and his disciples

completely different. In the Hebrew scriptures, the English word disciple is rare. It’s actually there, but it’s rare. Concept is widespread. The Old Testament normally expresses disciplehip through the language of learning. I think that word is lemmud, David. Is that correct? Lemud. Yeah. Lmud. Lm. It’s to learn. Um the disciples did the is the the translation that I’m aware of uh is Telmid. Talmid is a a student or a disciple. Yeah. So the Old Testament normally expresses disciplehip through the language of learning, following, serving, ministering, hearing, walking after someone and being trained under a teacher, a prophet.

Primary Hebrew word uh root behind the idea is lamad or as David said to learn to teach. From it comes lemude, one who is taught, trained or a disciple or tamid as David said. I wanted to look at Isaiah. I wanted to look at one of the very few references to disciples in the Old Testament because I think there’s a lot that we can learn from why it’s being used. In Isaiah 8 5-17, Yhovah spoke to me again, saying, “In as much as these people refuse the waters of Shiloh that flow softly and rejoice in resin and Remaliah’s son. Now therefore, behold, Yhelvah brings up over them the waters of the river, strong and mighty, the king of Assyria, and all his glory.

He will go up over all his channels, and go over all his banks like a flood. He will pass through Judah. He will overflow and pass over. He will reach up to the neck, and the stretching out of his wings will fill the breadth of your land, oh Emmanuel. Be shattered, you peoples, and be broken in pieces. Give ear, all you far from far countries. G yourselves, but be broken in pieces. Girdge yourselves, but be broken in pieces. Twice it says that. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing. Speak the word, but it will not stand. For Yahw is with us. Fear Yahw. Heed his word.

For Yhovah spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people. Which people is he talking to? He’s talking about Judah. saying, “Do not say a conspiracy concerning all that this people call a conspiracy. What’s that all about?” Well, there was rumors about Assyria coming to war against Israel. And we know that as a result of that war, the northern 10 tribes were carried off into exile. So, there was a lot of conspiracies going on amongst the people about this possibly happening. And the father is is basically saying, don’t say conspiracy concerning what the people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.

He’s talking here to Isaiah, the Lord of hosts, him you shall hallow. Let him be your fear. Let him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. and many among them shall stumble. They shall fall and be broken, be snared and be taken. And here’s the key. Bind up the testimony. Seal the law amongst my disciples. This is Isaiah speaking. And I, Isaiah, will wait on Yahovah, who hides his face from the house of Jacob. And I will hope in him. So what’s happening here? Well, again, this is a very pivotal time in Israel’s history. Uh, the United Tribes of Israel.

They are already rebellious up to this point, both houses, seeking after other gods, adulteress as we know. And Assyria is knocking at their door, coming to take the northern 10 tribes away. So, this is going to be a big deal. This is 10 of the 12 tribes being cast into the nations. And Isaiah, his concern was the testimony, the law. We have to preserve it. But who is he going to preserve it with? He’s not going to give it to the king of Judah. He’s not going to give it to the people of Judah. Certainly not going to give it to the people of Israel, the house of Israel. He’s going to seal that law amongst his disciples. And that’s a key point that we have to explore a little bit.

Bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples. What does the Bible tell us about Isaiah’s disciples? Well, that’s the first thing I want to know as I’m studying this out here. Isaiah sees fit to make sure that the law and the testimony was bound up with his disciples. In other words, they are keeping it safe. So, what’s so special about them? So, what does the Bible actually tell us about Isaiah’s disciples? Well, nothing, [laughter] which I think is uh unfortunate, but it does tell us about what kind of a person Isaiah was. And this is important in our discussion about what it means to be a disciple. Because Isaiah’s disciples were not just being taught information.

They weren’t just being handed down information. They were learning from a man whose life demonstrated what submission to Yahw looked like. Isaiah heard the word of Yehovah, obeyed his instructions, proclaimed his message even when it was unpopular, and was willing to make his own life a visible sign of that message. What do I mean by that? He was a lot more than just a prophet. He was a married man with children. Isaiah 7:3 identifies his son Shier Jashub whose name means a remnant shall return. Isaiah 8:3 mentions his wife as the prophetess and his family itself became part of his prophetic ministry. Isaiah 88, here I am and the children whom Yehovah has given me.

We electively are for signs and wonders in Israel. And I think that’s such a powerful statement, especially in light of what Randy and Brett just shared about their kids and the prayers that were begging for for all of our kids to come in the way. What an amazing thing. What an amazing privilege and honor for someone like Randy and Brett or Ed and Joy or David and Christine or any of you who have kids to be able to make the statement that Isaiah makes here. Me and my family, we are for signs and wonders in Israel. We are the father’s tool. We are the example for the people of Israel. It’s incredibly powerful and incredibly humbling at the same time. So why am I showing this to you?

Well, because if we want to know something about Isaiah’s disciples, we have to know a little bit about who Isaiah was. And once you know what you know about disciplehip, then you know that if Isaiah was this kind of a person that the men who were following him and his disciples were likewise men of deep character and deep conviction and deep commitment. Hence Isaiah binding up the testimony and the law to be kept with them during one of the most tumultuous times in his Israel’s history. So Isaiah was not just preaching messages. His whole household became a living prophetic sign. And that’s why only his disciples could be trusted as the faithful remnant of Judah.

Remember what’s happening here was immediately before the house of Israel would be swept away by Assyria and sent into the nations. A very tumultuous time. So eyeballing for a moment, giving pause to consider the kind of person that Isaiah and his disciples were, such is the character and devotion of the true Evid, the true disciple. Now before I continue, let me just say this.

Models of discipleship

Hopefully this audience, those of you here in person or watching via YouTube, understands the difference between a religious person and a true evid, a religious person and a true disciple of Yeshua. I think many of you probably understand the difference in your head, but it’s up for questioning, I should say, as to whether that’s moved to your heart and thus changed your lifestyle. Because even in a Torah observant community, can you fall into the same trap of religion that you came out of? It’s very, very simple. Matter of fact, it’s more likely than not that you will at some point uh slip into the same traps that you came out of.

So the battle that’s before us as followers of Yeshua is to constantly be confronting that tradition. That’s the reason I wrote my entire book. My entire book is focused around how easily it has been historically for men and women to start off with passion and commitment and zeal and desire. All good things, all good intentions. But slowly over time, like sitting on a boat close to shore, you look away from shore for what feels like five minutes, but when you look up, you’ve floated a hundred yards away from it. And and so we have to understand what it means to be a true evid, a true disciple of Yeshua. And as we know, Isaiah was also willing to stand against the majority.

Something I talked about in one of my recent shorts and his disciples, his taught ones with him. Isaiah 11 8:11 rather. Yehovah spoke thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people. Who is this people? This was Judah. Who is Judah? Judah is the chosen tribe from which the Messiah would come. Right? It was the house that was not divorced. Even though she earned it, she earned a divorce by all means. This was two of the 12 tribes of the elect of the chosen who had gotten so far off the path that the father is telling Isaiah, “Do not walk in the way of this people.” And he didn’t. And the scripture says that Yehovah spoke that with a strong hand.

What does that mean? with force, with determination, maybe mixed with a little bit of indignation that the father was instructing Isaiah and thus his disciples not to follow that path. Bind up the testimony, seal the law amongst my disciples. When I read that, and I’ve read it many times, but when I read it this week, I thought to myself, there’s something incredibly profound and almost prophetic about this statement. Bind up the testimony and seal the law amongst my disciples.

So I thought about it and I thought well this presents disciplehip as the preservation the guarding of the embodiment of Yehovah’s revealed instruction in the midst of widespread rebellion and it was the evid the servants the slaves the disciples that were of paramount importance during this time of widespread rebellion. And when you look at disciplehip like this, these relationships that Isaiah had to have had with however many disciples he had, we can see it everywhere in scripture. We can see it with Moses and Joshua. Moses laying his hand on Joshua and giving him some of his authority, which eventually would be all of that authority as Joshua would lead the people into the promised land.

We see it between Elijah and Elicia, right? Uh the the choosing of Elisha to be his servant, his EV, and Elijah calling Elicia to leave his former life. Right? That’s that’s the call of disciplehip. We see it with Alicia and the sons of the prophets. 2 Kings 3, the sons of the prophets who were at Bethl came out to Alicia. So he took on this unique discipling relationship with the sons of the prophets. We see it with Samuel and the prophetic company he had. They sent Saul messengers to take David when they saw the group of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as leader over them.

So here was a group of prophets, unnamed prophets largely in scripture that Samuel was standing as leader over them. So there’s this discipling relationship going on. And of course we see it with David and his mighty men in 1st Samuel 19 um beginning in 1st Samuel. No, sorry that was that’s a typo. Sorry about that. It should just say David and his mighty men. 1st Samuel 19 got carried over from the last one. 1st Samuel 22, everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over him. So this was David being captain over his mighty men. I liken this to, if you ever saw the movie, the 300.

This king had, you know, he had a vast army, but he only had 300 that were his direct disciples, right? And this is what I like to think of when I think of Da David and his mighty men. But the scripture says that everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. And I couldn’t help but think of the similarities to Yeshua’s call to disciplehip. Come to me all you who labor and are heavy b laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I’m gentle, lowly in heart, and you’ll find rest for your souls. for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. This was a call to disciplehip, believe it or not.

It’s very similar to what we see happening in 1st Samuel 22 with David and his mighty men.

Yeshua’s call to follow

So, let’s look at Yeshua’s call to follow him. But first, we need to understand the Jewish teacher discipling relationship culture of the first century. Because Yeshua didn’t invent this per se. The normal pattern placed considerable initiative on the student. Which pattern? The pattern of a teacher disciple relationship. That normal pattern placed considerable initiative on the student. A person who wanted advanced Torah instruction, sought out a respected teacher, attached himself to that teacher, listened to him, questioned him, observed his interpretation of Torah, increasingly patterned his life after him. And here’s a couple of early sayings by different rabbis.

An early saying preserved in Per, is that how I say that, David? Perote attributes this instruction to Yahushua ben parakaya where he said in perote six make for yourself a teacher. So that was a basically a support for the mentality that was happening during that day that the individual who wanted advanced Torah instruction would make for himself a teacher by seeking him out. Uh Yose Ben Yozer describes the posture of the learner in perote 14 where he says sit in the very dust of their feet and drink in their words with thirst. And we can see that Paul reflects the reality of that pattern that culture in his day.

He says in Acts 22, I’m a Jew born in Tarsus of Cissia, brought up in this city at the feet of Galia, taught according to the strictness of our father’s law. So Paul in his own testimony is reflecting this dynamic happening during the days of Yeshua. And that’s what makes what Yeshua did much more incredible because the 12 didn’t seek out Yeshua. The 12 didn’t seek to sit at his feet. No, John says that Yeshua told his disciples, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you and I appointed you.” And that’s huge. That’s a big difference from the normal pattern that we see in scripture. And his choosing comes with conditions.

And here’s where we kind of start putting some of the rubber on the road as it were because I think it’s important that we kind of look at discuss some of these conditions. Here’s Mark 1 16-20. And as he Yeshua walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Then Jesus Yeshua came to them, “Follow me,” he said, “and I will make you become fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther from there, he saw James, son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.

And immediately he called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went after him. Now David and Tim, we all know this verse very well, don’t we? This is a verse that we would use in the quote unquote conversion studies of our old church because there’s a lot to it here. But let me ask you fellas to give maybe your two cents here on what’s happening here and why did it go down the way it did? What does Yeshua mean by follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men? Uh, and why did these guys do what they did? Just give me your a brief synopsis of this. They were going about their daily work. They were fishermen and that was their trade, right?

And so basically what what Yeshua is saying is yes, that is what you do today for a living, but follow me and you will have a a a higher purpose, a higher mission in life, a higher cause. And so he calls them out of, if you will, their worldly environment into something that gives it a higher person to serve him. And they didn’t know that they were following the son of God, obviously. Uh and their response was that they immediately left their nets and followed him, right? There was this immediate response to it. It wasn’t like, “Oh, let me think about it. Let me go talk to my family. I’ll get back to you on it.” It was like, “Drop the nets. Let’s go. Okay, Timothy. Yeah.

Also, I think David said it well, but number one, the more I’ve been reading this, it seems like they might have had previous hearing or knowledge of Yeshua, maybe. Um, but also they left, you know, their way of life and all their resources for their economic striving. You know, they left everything that they had really had or their means of economic improvement. And then they left their father’s will of the family business which back then had deeper implications. So it’s really interesting. They just literally gave up everything. Yeah. So let’s think about this for a second. Tim, you brought up an interesting point.

You suggested that they may have known somehow about who this Yeshua character was. And I think there’s some truth to that. What’s the truth that could be there? Well, Andrew. Who was Andrew? Andrew was a disciple of who? John. John the Baptist, right? And so Andrew would have been there when John the Baptist identified Yeshua as the lamb who would take away the sins of the world. And scripture records Andrew going and telling his brothers, “I have found the Messiah.” And here Yeshua walks up to them all on the shores of the lake and calls them to follow him. Now follow me is the language of prophets and rabbis and it was well known in that day.

So this wasn’t just a stranger like say somebody today walking up and knocking on my door and me opening the door and he has follow me [laughter] and what what are you talking about dude? Get away from here. That’s not what it was. Follow me was the language is the language of prophets and rabbis. Yeshua says, “Follow me.” The idea isn’t just, “I want you to learn from me.” They understood, even though they weren’t pursuing deeper knowledge of Torah, it was their culture. They understood that to follow him would be to attach himself to this master, learn his teaching, imitate his conduct, submit to his authority, carry out his instructions.

And when you know that that’s what you’re signing up for, then it makes it easier to realize why they immediately left their nets and followed him. Why James and John immediately left their father and followed him. anything else besides this model, besides embracing this kind of model when it comes to following Yeshua, then

The cost of discipleship

you’re just a casual observer or one who observes from a distance. And I think as I said earlier, we know that the world is full of that desire is not disciplehip. If you’re watching this and you’re a regular Sunday worshshiper and you think that just by faithfully showing up to church every Sunday is providing cover for you and your eternal condition. Desire is not disciplehip. What you want from God or what you want from your religious experience is not disciplehip and interest is not disciplehip. A lot of people will tell you that they started their journey in Christianity with interest. That’s all it was a curiosity if you will. But it’s not disciplehip. Hearing is not disciplehip.

How do we know this? Well, how many thousands of people heard Yeshua teaching? And yet James tells us, not James, Luke tells us in Acts 1 that there was only 120 that remained. of all the thousands of people that heard the message. So just because you’re hearing the message doesn’t make you a disciple and church attendance is not disciplehip. All this is nothing more than religion. And I’m trying to show you this morning that’s not what an EVID is. That’s not what a servant is. That’s not what a disciple is. It’s radically different. And here’s where we’re going to get into just how radically different it is. Again, Luke 9. Then he said to them all, who’s the all?

Remember, thousands of people following him. Then they were all following him for different reasons. They had heard about the miracles. They had heard about the food from nothing. They had heard about the healings. Some were curious. Some were interested. Some had desire. Some wanted just to hear what this guy was saying. And Yeshua knew it. So he said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after me,” some of your translations will say, “follow me.” If anyone desires to follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. Not every Wednesday and Sunday, daily. And follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

And we have to wonder why he is saying these things. He’s saying these things because he knows who’s in the crowd. He’s saying these things because he knows what’s going to happen to him. In the previous verse, we just read 9:23 and 24. In the previous verse of Luke 9 verse 22, he says that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes and guess what? Be killed. Knowing who’s following him and knowing what’s going to happen to him and thus happened to his disciples. We know that’s true, right? Our history is 2020 vision. We can look back and go, “What happened to the 12?” All of them were killed similarly except for John.

They still tried to kill him by boiling him in oil. So Yeshua is saying this because a he knows the type of people that are following him and and why and B he knows what’s going to happen in the future. So that’s why he says if you want to follow me, you have to deny yourself. And we’re going to take a closer look at that here in a moment. Yes. take up your cross every single day and follow me. Well,

Submission and service

let’s figure that out. What What does deny yourself mean? Let’s ask David and Tim. Tell me what you think deny yourself means. I think that basically he’s saying, “I’m going to die and you’re going to die, too, but you’re going to be the one that put yourself on the cross.” The scripture that comes to mind is, you know, the flesh counts for nothing. We’ve been we crucify our flesh. We live in the spirit. You know, our flesh is contrary to God’s will. So thing that comes to my mind is the source of our actions or our flesh initially with which our our actions spring out of. So David to me to me it brings or it echoes what uh Yeshua was saying to God in the garden.

He says not your will but my not my will but yours. Right? Basically I have [snorts] desires. I have fears. I have things that I want to do. I set those aside. I deny myself of those things and put your will, your plan for my life above that and follow that. Yeah. Well, it surely doesn’t just mean denying your pleasures, possessions, and comforts because that’s the first thing that goes through a lot of people’s minds. Well, what Yeshua is telling me is I’ve got to learn to be uncomfortable. Well, there’s some truth to that for sure. He’s not just telling you to give up your pleasure and your possessions. It means you’re denying yourself the right to rule.

The self no longer has the authority to rule over you. To deny yourself means that your desires, not only your desires, plans, opinions, ambitions, and instincts no longer have the final authority. Yeshua now has this authority in your life. Now let’s talk about that fellas and what this looks like in real life. If to deny yourself is to deny your desires, your plans, your opinions, your ambitions, and even your instincts and laying them down at the feet of Yeshua. What does that look like in real life? Otherwise, this is just talk. It’s getting to know what his plans, desires, definition of of a way of life is. So that’s the first element is getting to know that and and what that is.

That is the element of being taught and obviously becoming very familiar with the word of God where everything is manifested there. And then second is actually putting that into practice. Right? As we said, it’s not just hearing it or knowing it but actually doing it. I think first of all we have to accept, hey, we don’t have the answer and we just literally just fall down in our hearts and circumcise our hearts. So we just literally admit, hey, I I’ve got to change and and I do not have the answer and without Yeshua, I’m lost. And be and what springs out of that saying, okay, now I’ve got to walk in a different direction.

So and and usually the in the opposite influences are coming through not only your desires but also every single relationship around you. So like the the pressure comes from close close relationships. That’s reminds me of like Matthew 19:22. You know, no one who’s left homes, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, jobs, homes, like every all all the opposite influences in your life come from the closest relationship. So it’s saying, hey, does this person or does do my desires, they match God’s word? And so it’s that self-evaluation initially and and saying no to that and then walking towards his word and what you believe is he would do. Yeah. I mean both of you guys spot on. Thank you.

Appreciate that. Here’s my two cents. Is it normal for a human being like you and I, we’re all human beings to have desires on a daily basis? Yes. Is it normal for us to have plans on a daily basis? Yes. Is it normal for us to have opinions? Uh definitely some more than others. Is it normal and human for us to have certain ambitions in life? Yes. And certainly our instincts? Yes. We all have these things. Normal. Are they wrong to have them? No, it’s not. So then what does it mean to deny these things? For me, it means it’s up to me, my responsibility as the evid to funnel every desire I have through him in what is written.

Take every one of my desires and see it through the prism of his word. To take my plans, whatever they may be, frivolous or magnificent, doesn’t matter. To look at them through the lens of his word. My opinions most certainly need to be filtered through his word. So to deny oursel is to do all of these things through the prism of his word and his instructions and what he says a evid or a servant looks like. After all in Luke 6, why do you call me lord lord and not do the things which I say? So these people were religious, right? If nothing else, those words in Luke 6 should destroy the idea that simply calling Yeshua Lord means that you are actually following him.

We have to ask the question here in Luke 6. Who is calling him Lord here? Certainly not unbelievers. They were believers at some point in at some level I should say. These are people who clearly believe they belong to him. Yet Yeshua exposes the contradiction. you call me Lord. But she refused to do what I say. Why? Well, because they didn’t filter their desires, their plans, their opinions, their ambitions, and their instincts through him. That’s what it means to be Lord is you have emptied yourself of these things and his desires become yours and not vice versa. And this is how Yeshua can say in John 10 that I know who my people are.

That’s how he can know is because his people are doing the things which he says and they’re not just crying, Lord, Lord because they’re a part of some religious group or they’re a believer at some point. No, they’re actually doing the things which I say and those are his sheep. Calling him master while reserving the right to disobey him doesn’t work. Contradictory. Now we have to take a moment and really sit and look at that statement. Calling him master i.e. Lord Adoni while reserving the right to disobey him is contradictory. How many people do that every single day in the churches? For one reason or another, they have reserved the right to disobey him.

Well, because my doctrine says or because my pastor says or because I think or even someone who says I know. Those are the worst kind. It’s contradictory. It doesn’t line up with scripture. So you’re calling him master while at the same time disobeying him. John 13. And this is powerful. So when he Yeshua had washed their feet, taken their garments, and sat down again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done?” Let’s stop there for a moment. David and Tim, what is the ramifications, the implications of that question? Basically, do you see it? The ramifications are you can’t follow me unless you do see it or you do do it. But he’s saying, “Do you get it yet, guys?

Do you get it?” Yeah, David. Yeah. And and I guess he’s he’s saying, “I am modeling this for you.” Right? Look at me do as I do. It’s not that situation, you know, where sometimes they can talk the talk but can’t can’t walk the walk, if you will, right? It’s it’s following the example and the teacher in this case is leading by example and then expecting those who are true followers of his to follow a similar path path. Yeah. So maybe you know this maybe you don’t but to wash somebody’s feet would is you know in that culture one of the lowest life things a person can do. It’s it’s an extremely deep servitude action.

And here is the Lord of the universe, [laughter] the Messiah, the King of Kings, on his hands and knees, washing people’s dirty feet. And he says, “Do you know what I have done?” I like the way Tim put it. Do you get it? Do you understand what I have done and why I am doing it? You call me teacher and lord and you should because I am. He says if and then I love this. You know me in my if and then situations. Here’s an if and then situation. If I then your lord and teacher have washed your feet, then you also ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you the example that you should do just as I have done to you. Most assuredly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master. Stop.

Why would he say that, Tim? You think because people just want to speak words and we do in instead of just live it out. We want to be we want to be first. And and he’s trying to say, “Hey, no, you’ve given up your right to be first. You got to be the servant.” So like, stop talking. Let’s do let’s serve. Well, yeah. I mean, to me, when I see this story, and I imagine it in my mind, the King of Kings on his hands and knees with a bucket of water and dirty towels washing these people’s nasty, dirty, crusty feet and then sitting up and saying, “Do you get it? Do you see what I’ve done? So, you must also do.

I am your example.” And then right after that he says a servant is not greater than his master. Why is he saying that? Because some of us in our flesh don’t want to humble ourselves that much. And when you take that position, you’re basically saying you’re greater than the master. And Yeshua is saying, “Sorry, pal. I’m your example. If you think you can’t humble yourself this much to be this much of a servant, then what you’re doing is saying you’re greater than the master if you know these things. Blessed are you if you do them.

So what an incredible lesson Yeshua is giving the 12 about what it means to be a servant, what it means to be a disciple, what it means to be a follower, what it means to be a tamid, a learner, a lemude. I just wanted to say something here and this has been on the back of my mind. Yeshua talks here about two dimensions here and two roles that I think are different. There’s the he’s a teacher, right?

So he’s there’s a teacher and the students the mo and the right and then there’s the other one the lord the master and the servants okay and and just in terms of terminology we were saying the evid is more related to that relationship of lord master and slave versus the teacher and the other the equivalent or the the rule would be uh the the right word for that relationship would be the right so in the same way that he’s a lord and master then we are his students his talmid his disciples but also his aadim his evid his slave right so there’s two dimensions there if you will one is stronger than the other in terms of overall ruling I rule over your entire life as your master as your lord but then as the teacher talmid disciple relationship.

It’s more like I’m teaching you these things. It’s not necessarily that I I have a an authority in terms of a teacher over you, right? It’s not the same authority that I have as a lord or master. So, it was just a thought there. It’s been on the back of my mind here. That’s awesome, bro. Thank you. So, yeah. So, first John 2:6, by this we know that we’re in him. Here’s one of those things you got to love, right?

Crucifying the flesh

Because John’s really good at it. Not only in his gospel, but in his epistles. He he always says this. If you want to know how we are in him, here’s how. And this is one of those times. By this we know that we are in him, in Yeshua. He who says he abides in him needs to walk as he walked. And that’s probably one of the top five most challenging verses in all of scripture, especially as it pertains to our discussion today on what it means to be his disciple. If I were to ask any of you in the audience, how many people in the religious world today would this identify? The number would no doubt be extremely low because we’ve all redefined Yeshua in our own image through our religion.

And yet John, the apostle that Yeshua loved, is is basically saying, I know, hang on a sec, fellas. I happen to know this for a fact. If you say you follow him, then you need to walk as he walked. And how does that challenge the religious world, especially evangelicalism? Because we see that Yeshua obeyed Shabbat. He obeyed the festivals. He became the festivals. But we’re not going to do that because, see, we’ve redefined him in a different image. He’s a Greek Jesus. He’s the one who freed us from these things. You see the problem here? Hopefully, you do. I happen to know some of you that are watching this on YouTube right now are from my old group. You secretly watch these videos.

[laughter] This is for you. I want you to see this. You need to see this. What’s taking up your cross mean? Well, we often use the phrase that’s my cross to bear to mean some difficulty in our life. But that’s obviously considerably weaker than what Yeshua’s audience would have heard. When when they heard Yeshua say, “Take up your cross,” a cross meant death. A man carrying a cross was not headed toward inconvenience. When they saw a man carrying a cross, they knew where he was headed. He was headed towards his execution. And this execution has both a physical reality and a spiritual reality in our lives as his disciples. The spiritual reality is this.

Galatians 2, I have been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The physical reality is this. Luke 14. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciple. Probably another one of the top five most challenging verses in all of scripture. Because Yeshua is saying on a physical level, you don’t give up everything you have. You cannot be my disciple. And again, this was cultural. The rabbi would tell his student, you have to basically leave behind your old life. And Yeshua is obviously taking that many steps further. No, no, no. You’ve got to give it all up. In the same way, he says, “Well, what what does that mean?

In the same way.” Okay. Well, let’s read this story real quick. Again, large crowds were traveling with Yeshua. We know why. And turning to them, he said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even their own life, you cannot be my disciple.” And yes, the word there is hate. Why is Yeshua using the word hate? Well, consider who he’s talking about. He’s talking about father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters. Not talking about aunts, uncles, in-laws. He’s talking about the nuclear family, the people in your life who will have the most influence to convince you not to follow him.

And in comparison to your love for him, what you have for them needs to look like hatred. Not that you actually hate them. How do we know that’s not true? Well, because of the commandment of honoring your father and your mother. That comes first. No, he’s not telling them to have vitriol, animosity toward your family. He’s talking about loyalty. Whoever does not carry his cross and follow me can’t be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? Because if you don’t, people are going to laugh at you. They’re going to ridicule you saying this person began to build, wasn’t able to finish.

That’s huge. That whole paragraph right there. How many people who say they quote unquote came to Christ could also say in the same breath that before they did that, they counted the cost. They sat down and honestly estimated the cost of what it would mean to follow him. What it would cost them to follow him, where it may lead them, how it may cost them their very lives, how it may cost them relationships with the people they love. Very few, I think, would say that when before they quote unquote came to Christ, they did this. Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king, won’t he first sit down and consider? That’s the same thing.

You’re the king with 10,000 men going against him and he’s the king with 20,000 men. You got to sit down and think about this thing. You’re not going to be able to oppose the man coming against you with 20,000 men. So, what’s the solution? Surrender. Yeah. It says to ask for terms of peace, not set the terms of peace. And again, too many people in the evangelical world set the terms of peace when it comes to their relationship with Yeshua and thus are not his disciples. I’ll believe in you, but I’ll follow you, but I’ll go to church on Sundays, but even in the Torah group, I’ll observe Shabbat, but and we set the terms of peace. No.

Yeshua said surrender is the only thing that’s going to work. You ask for terms of peace. And what are the terms of peace? Well, we already read it in verse 33. Giving up everything you have. Those are the terms of peace when it comes to being a disciple of Yeshua. But I wanted

Living under new authority

to look at this real quick and ask the question, are you dead? We’re coming in for a landing. I think this is my last slide. Paul says in Galatians 2, I’ve been crucified with Christ. No longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And I just wanted to ask the question, how can we know? How can we know that we’ve been crucified with Christ and it’s oh no longer me living but Christ living in me? How can we know? It reminds me of the first John 3 passages. If you want to know that you’re in in his will, you obey. Your obedience, your outcome matches it. Okay, David, you are walking as he walked. Your life resembles his life. Yes. Thank you guys. Yes. Uh both of those are true.

But I thought about this. I pondered this when I say how can we know. I didn’t just write that because I thought this would be a cool thing to teach. I wrote that down because I wanted to know. How can I know Ed dos if I have been crucified with Christ? Biblically, you know that you’ve been crucified with Messiah. Not because you had an emotional experience, but because scripture describes a recognizable change in who rules your life, what you obey, and how you walk. It means that the old selfdirected life has lost its claim to rule over you. A person’s life is now lived under a different authority. Galatians 5. And those who are Christs, well, that’s a pretty good indicator, right?

I would say that’s a pretty good marker if we’re asking the question, how do I know if I’ve been crucified with Christ? Well, if if you are Christ and he considers you his, that’s a pretty good marker. Those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. So hm passions when you look it up basically means powerful inward impulses that we all have. The appetites, the affections of the flesh desire the specific things that those appetites crave, pursue or long to satisfy. So if I am in Christ, the marker is that I’ve crucified these things. Okay? Notice who’s doing the crucifying. It’s not Yeshua. It’s the believer, right?

Of all the ways a person can be lawless, and we know all those ways. Galatians, and that says six, it should say five. Sorry for the typo. Galatians 5 is talking about the sins of the flesh. What sins of the flesh? He tells us that the works of the flesh that we are supposed to crucify. And again, of all the ways a person can be lawless, this chapter is talking about these sins, the sins of the flesh. The works of the flesh are evident. In some verses, it says obvious. Adultery, fornication, that’s sex before marriage. uncleanness, lwdness, that’s like debauchery or an overindulgence of the senses, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions.

That’s kind of like being dissentious, which he mentions a little bit later on, but being that person that always begs to differ. jealousies, outbursts of wrath. We call that fits of rage, selfish ambitions. Why? Why are they selfish? Well, because they’re not filtered through Yeshua. As we talked about before, dissensions, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, realies, uh I believe that word is orgies in the Greek, and the like of which I told you beforehand. Just as I say now, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of Yahw. In my old church, we looked at this list of sins as the totality of sin. Because I was Old Testament illiterate, as was the rest of us.

When we thought of sin, this is what we thought of. I didn’t realize that this was just a list of the sins of the flesh that we are supposed to crucify in Galatians 5:24. Those who live like this have not crucified the flesh and thus are not what Christ. Remember I asked at the beginning of the slide, how can we know? That’s important for me. And it’s important for you. If you want to know, then look at that list and ask yourself, have I crucified me? Has Ed doss crucified these sins of the flesh in my life? If I haven’t, then I can’t say that I am his. All those who are Christ have crucified the flesh. Hard lesson for all of us. But these aren’t my words. These are Yeshua’s words.

These are Paul’s words who are basically telling us what it means to follow Christ and to be his evid. Paul’s not saying that someone belonging to Messiah no longer experiences temptation or sinful desire. And neither am I. We all have these things. He is saying that those desires no are no longer permitted to rule the person. The onus is on the believer in Galatians 5. We have to crucify that flesh. Sometimes if especially if you come up from the Christian world, you can be taught, you can believe erroneously that you’re waiting around for the time when Yeshua decides to get rid of this thorn in your flesh to take away this sin. And yet the scriptures say the opposite.

You have to crucify that. Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Wow. Here we are still in Galatians 5. All this is being said together at the same time. If we want to know how not to give in to these things, how to crucify these things. Paul says, “Walk in the spirit.” Thanks, Paul. What does that mean? The evidence that the flesh has been crucified is therefore not the complete absence of sinful impulses. We all have them. It’s that those impulses have been removed from the throne in your life. You are going to still feel them, but you no longer recognize them as your master. And that is what Paul means by crucifying the flesh.

The desires of the flesh may still speak, but they no longer have the right to command. Why? Because you crucified them. So next week we have to understand what walking in the spirit means as opposed to what the religious world would have you believe that it means. That’s the lesson for the moment. In light of what I just read, I would like

Encouragement and reflection

to hear first and foremost from David and Tim because as I said, they both come from my same background with a very similar understanding of Galatians 5. What did you learn here today, fellas, about Galatians 5, this the list of sins in particular? I think that I had a a same understanding in the past when when we used this scripture as a demonstration or a proof text if you will of what we shouldn’t be doing. Right? There are some of them in there that uh those in our you know previous group did not understand the context or where they came from.

when you say uncleanliness that for example they didn’t understand that it was referring to you know definition of uncleanliness right um but then also um the the second half which you’re going about to talk about next week is don’t do these things do these things and this is what it looks like to walk in the spirit to live as Christ lived and I won’t steal your thunder but spoiler alert look In Galatians as well, it talks about what not to do and what to do and how to live. How does it make me feel?

That that’s it makes me feel like Galatians 5:19 through 21 is my resume, you know, prior to I mean uh I am a stone cold pagan sinner like in my flesh like even just I have to really watch the flesh, you know, like those exact things in my life. Uh, and I always have to just be conscious. So, the first thing that hits me is is, hey, my flesh wants to do many of those things on that list. Uh, even now that I’m radically pursuing Yeshua in, you know, in his word, and I I’ve been I’ve been that way, but it’s like it’s still with me. The second thing that that comes to my mind is the fact that I’ve tried for decades to hold on or obey by grit or or my own desire, which is good.

Grit or holding on to God’s word is good, but um it took me forever to realize it says by, you know, with the spirit we put to death the mysties of the body. And so for me, I’ve had to really go, look, we crucify, we set our mind on, and we follow, we obey, and then the power is released within us to not live those resume things. So those are the things that that I got out of it is just an alarm and a reminder and a conviction. Amen, brother. Thank you. Okay, let’s see who’s up next. Daria, you’re up next. Go ahead, sister. Shabbat shalom. Shalom. Uh thank you for today’s uh topic.

Uh I want to share something with you what I’ve read recently in Luke 17 and it resonates resonates with me all these days. Uh it’s about the the slavery and the way we should we should approach uh uh our our uh work for the Lord. It starts in this the verse seven. But if you have a slave who is plowing or tending sheep, who among you will say to him when he comes in from the field, come right in and recline at table? But won’t he instead say to him, “Prepare 1 hour, 1 minute, 2 seconds something for me to eat.

Dress yourselves and wait on me while I eat and drink, and afterward you may eat and 1 hour, 1 minute, 11 seconds drink.” He doesn’t thank the slave because he did what he was commanded. 1 hour, 1 minute, 17 seconds Does he? So you too when you’ve done everything you are commanded say we are 1 hour, 1 minute, 24 seconds unworthy slaves. We have done only what we were supposed to do.

Uh I mean the 1 hour, 1 minute, 31 seconds whole passage is actually worthy to dive deep in but I just want to only 1 hour, 1 minute, 38 seconds uh focus on the attitudes we should have which really just you know touched me 1 hour, 1 minute, 45 seconds very much and it’s we have done only what we were supposed to do.

Uh that’s that’s the the attitude I am now working 1 hour, 1 minute, 54 seconds on myself saying Lord more of you and less of me and so I think that all goes well with 1 hour, 2 minutes, 4 seconds what you have what you you were at teaching today is that we are only 1 hour, 2 minutes, 12 seconds slaves that uh that the Lord anyway he is so wonderful that he will he is going to 1 hour, 2 minutes, 21 seconds honor when we have this kind of humble attitude towards him and also towards towards the others 1 hour, 2 minutes, 29 seconds like you said that we should uh wash the feet of one another.

So uh I just wanted 1 hour, 2 minutes, 36 seconds to share this uh this passage with you that resonates in my life and thank you again at for what you are bringing to 1 hour, 2 minutes, 44 seconds us. So God sister thank you very much. I’m very encouraged by your sharing, Samuel. 1 hour, 2 minutes, 52 seconds Brother, we heard the good news before you logged on about what’s happening next month with the baptism, but um 1 hour, 3 minutes you’re up next. We would love to see your face, man. All right. All right. You asked for it. Here it comes. 1 hour, 3 minutes, 9 seconds Let’s see. There we go. There we go. 1 hour, 3 minutes, 12 seconds It’s the bridge to uh to Shamayim, hopefully.

There you go. All right. 1 hour, 3 minutes, 17 seconds Um, brother Ed, wonderful um, wonderful teaching, exceptional exposition, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 24 seconds um, and very encouraging. I I wanted to, um, to address um, a question that was 1 hour, 3 minutes, 31 seconds posed by by a sister in the chat with respect to the idea of cleanliness. So, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 38 seconds you have to look at it from I’m going to give you two levels to look at it, sister. So, so one we have the the Torah 1 hour, 3 minutes, 46 seconds on being unclean that we find in Leviticus.

This has to do with the the 1 hour, 3 minutes, 53 seconds instructions on NIDA, you know, in terms of monthly cycles with respect to um 1 hour, 4 minutes, 2 seconds giving birth, um touching the the corpses, touching corpses. So you have those things that 1 hour, 4 minutes, 10 seconds can make you um physically unclean and ritually unclean um potentially unclean 1 hour, 4 minutes, 18 seconds from a hygienic standpoint whereby what you are what we are instructed to do is 1 hour, 4 minutes, 24 seconds to not be in close proximity to other believers to contaminate them or 1 hour, 4 minutes, 32 seconds touching things that are set apart or going into set aart places.

So that’s 1 hour, 4 minutes, 39 seconds one aspect of of uncleanness. But there’s a second level with respect to 1 hour, 4 minutes, 46 seconds what’s inside of us and whether or not we are defiled. So if you if you think about um what happens within the good 1 hour, 4 minutes, 54 seconds news account where the talmade of Yeshua Hamashiach are are walking along, they come to a 1 hour, 5 minutes, 3 seconds place. They they take up bread to eat and then they’re being lambasted for not washing their hands before eating.

1 hour, 5 minutes, 13 seconds And Messiah says, you know, to the effect that it’s it’s not what goes in a man’s mouth that defiles him or makes 1 hour, 5 minutes, 20 seconds him unclean. It what comes out. Now, a lot of that has been interpreted to mean that all things are clean. That was something that was added later to to 1 hour, 5 minutes, 29 seconds that story. That’s not what was being said. What is being said is something more fundamental. Number one, it was a renunciation 1 hour, 5 minutes, 37 seconds of a Jewish religious practice which was a a tradition of men to engage in a ritualistic washing of hands.

But more 1 hour, 5 minutes, 46 seconds importantly, it is your your heart condition. 1 hour, 5 minutes, 50 seconds If your heart is towards righteousness and walking in the commandments of the Most High, you’re not going to be 1 hour, 5 minutes, 57 seconds inclined to do things like take in pork, shellfish, 1 hour, 6 minutes, 3 seconds um unclean birds and insects that are not designated as clean. Why? It’s a 1 hour, 6 minutes, 10 seconds twofold purpose. One, because the father said so, which is most important of all. 1 hour, 6 minutes, 17 seconds And two, we know based on Deuteronomy 6 that the father tells us to do these things because they’re for our good always.

So even if we don’t have a 1 hour, 6 minutes, 26 seconds scientific explanation for why there’s a certain instruction at a part at a given point in time, what I find interesting is that ultimately you see the science catching up to the Torah. 1 hour, 6 minutes, 37 seconds So I’ll leave that there. And if you have any additional questions with respect to that, if you join um the telegram group, then we can explore that 1 hour, 6 minutes, 45 seconds um a lot further and you can have questions answered, sister. And I hope that that begins to put you in the right direction.

For for for brother Luke 1 hour, 6 minutes, 53 seconds Kinder, um he seemed to be in despair with respect to not being saved yet. 1 hour, 7 minutes, 1 second Brother, let me give you an encouragement. I’m not saved yet either. 1 hour, 7 minutes, 5 seconds I’m not saved yet. And I don’t know for sure. until I hear the words from my Messiah’s mouth, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” When I hear that, I 1 hour, 7 minutes, 14 seconds know the job is done. Until then, I’m struggling with you. I’m I’m I’m falling down and I’m getting up because a 1 hour, 7 minutes, 22 seconds righteous person falls down seven times and he gets up seven times and I’m getting up eight. Okay?

So, don’t be 1 hour, 7 minutes, 30 seconds discouraged because you are you are struggling in your walk. The whole purpose of us coming together in this fellowship and being in disciplehip is 1 hour, 7 minutes, 38 seconds because one of the things we are supposed to do is bear each other’s burdens. 1 hour, 7 minutes, 42 seconds I am a bondervant of of Yeshua Hamashiach. That makes me your bond servant. If there’s something that you’re struggling with, you have 1 hour, 7 minutes, 50 seconds brothers here who are here to to give you aid. You don’t have to carry the burden alone. You need us to go a mile 1 hour, 7 minutes, 58 seconds with you, we’ll go too. Why?

because we’re told to by our Messiah and we obey our king. So again, brother Amed, thank 1 hour, 8 minutes, 6 seconds you for allowing me to share total rabbi and thank you again for the for the masterful lesson, brother. Amen. Thank you, Samuel. Very well said. 1 hour, 8 minutes, 14 seconds Couldn’t have said it better myself, but then again, you always say things better than me. 1 hour, 8 minutes, 19 seconds So, thank you. And and Samuel, he’s a master in Telegram, man. He’s the he’s the man over there. I I can’t spend as 1 hour, 8 minutes, 26 seconds much time in Telegram, but uh Samuel’s always there and he’s always helping people through stuff. So, thank you, brother. Appreciate that.

Uh okay, let’s 1 hour, 8 minutes, 33 seconds see who’s up next. Jim, who continues to want to be called Katherine, but we’re going to call him Jim. 1 hour, 8 minutes, 40 seconds You can send me um a link to the email that uh I gave you um where I’ve asked you a few questions. 1 hour, 8 minutes, 49 seconds Um anyhow, I did. It’s probably in your spam, but that’s another topic. Go ahead. Oh, okay. 1 hour, 8 minutes, 56 seconds All right. Well, I was uh wasn’t sure if I was going to contribute to uh the the conversation after your 1 hour, 9 minutes, 5 seconds teaching because what was coming up to me as you were teaching was um 1 hour, 9 minutes, 11 seconds the the laws of leprosy.

And I know that sounds like inongruous, but um it’s 1 hour, 9 minutes, 18 seconds interesting that the four anointings that are mentioned in uh Leviticus are prophet, priest, 1 hour, 9 minutes, 28 seconds king, and leper. You know, one of these things is not like the other. 1 hour, 9 minutes, 34 seconds And it wasn’t just a leper who had a um a question mark about an angry raised section of flesh, but a leper head to 1 hour, 9 minutes, 43 seconds toe got the anointing. And I just want to speak to any discouragement in the group cuz I, you know, I I I 1 hour, 9 minutes, 52 seconds get distracted by the chat a lot of times.

I I try not to look at them as as the teaching’s going on, but I noticed 1 hour, 10 minutes in the tach in the in the chats some people talking about um you know I I’m not there yet.

I I you know just kind of 1 hour, 10 minutes, 9 seconds a sense of um deflation I guess would be in in people’s minds and hearts as we 1 hour, 10 minutes, 16 seconds listen to this idea of crucified with Christ and um you know the the selfinflicted wounds that we have to put 1 hour, 10 minutes, 24 seconds in you know hammering our own hands into the cross you know it’s a it’s a difficult question that I think we’re all up against 1 hour, 10 minutes, 33 seconds and uh I know I am and I I’ve kind kind of arrived at um a state in myself that 1 hour, 10 minutes, 41 seconds emerges from Romans 7.

I think the the verse markers 22 23 somewhere there it’s like oh wretched man that I am who will 1 hour, 10 minutes, 50 seconds set me free from this body of death and then he goes on to say in in Romans 8:1 there is therefore no condemnation 1 hour, 10 minutes, 58 seconds but there’s this state of wretchedness that we continually seem to be living in. And I I would 1 hour, 11 minutes, 5 seconds suggest that the typology goes all the way back to uh Jacob where he’s wrestling with the angel and um he finally comes clean with his identity. 1 hour, 11 minutes, 17 seconds It’s like who are you? My name is Jacob. 1 hour, 11 minutes, 20 seconds I I’m not Esau. I’m not my older brother. I’m Jacob.

1 hour, 11 minutes, 25 seconds And that’s the point at which the angel gives him a new name and says, “No longer are you going to be called Jacob. 1 hour, 11 minutes, 33 seconds you shall be called Israel. And immediately the very next time the Lord speaks of this person, he uses the name Jacob. 1 hour, 11 minutes, 43 seconds Even after saying no longer will you be called Jacob, your name’s Israel. The very next time we get introduced to this Jacob character, it’s Jacob again. And 1 hour, 11 minutes, 52 seconds it’s only in the very end of his life as he’s blessing his children is uh the scripture using the phrase Israel.

Now, now you can fact check me on that, but but I think that’s pretty accurate. 1 hour, 12 minutes, 3 seconds Well, it’s always been kind of interesting to me that immediately following and he gets twice he gets called Israel and twice God back to calling him Jacob. 1 hour, 12 minutes, 14 seconds I I think that’s kind of the state of wretched man. That’s, you know, Paul talks about the old man, the new man, and nobody talks about the wretched man. 1 hour, 12 minutes, 23 seconds And I think that’s where we are. I think this is the context of our life is we live in the state of connection to a 1 hour, 12 minutes, 30 seconds sinful body that’s infested and thoroughly lepous.

Our physical 1 hour, 12 minutes, 36 seconds condition is thoroughly lepous. And it’s not until we recognize the complete 1 hour, 12 minutes, 44 seconds headtotoe condition of our physical um nature that that we get the anointing 1 hour, 12 minutes, 50 seconds oil. Um, so my my encouragement to the group today is if you find yourself in a 1 hour, 12 minutes, 57 seconds discouragement or um a hopelessness, it’s like I’m never going to get across that finish line. 1 hour, 13 minutes, 4 seconds Amen. You know, it’s like we we need the anointing that comes from a recognition of the complete corruption of our 1 hour, 13 minutes, 12 seconds condition.

you know, as we live in the flesh, but are called to a walk in the spirit. Um, we are going to be in the 1 hour, 13 minutes, 20 seconds context of wretchedness. We we have this new name, Israel. It’s out there. It’s in the future, but we live in the 1 hour, 13 minutes, 27 seconds context of Jacob. And so, I my my encouragement to everyone is is don’t lose heart. And and particularly, you 1 hour, 13 minutes, 34 seconds know, to uh um what was his uh the new guy uh what’s his name? Luke. What?

1 hour, 13 minutes, 40 seconds Anyhow, the guy who who’s just recently entered this path, um I just want to encourage you uh to um 1 hour, 13 minutes, 49 seconds there will be a phase of of tremendous excitement as you’re learning new things about your relationship with God. As 1 hour, 13 minutes, 57 seconds you’ve entered the ancient path, you’re you’re going to be amazed. The word is going to come alive to you in ways that you’ve never um realized [clears throat] 1 hour, 14 minutes, 6 seconds before. And that’s that’s an exciting and awesome time.

And I think each one of these commands as we come back to it 1 hour, 14 minutes, 13 seconds is also an opportunity for us to encounter our wretchedness [laughter] again. So I I just want to I just want 1 hour, 14 minutes, 20 seconds to encourage you in this walk that you’re on. Um you’re you’re doing your best. You know, we we come from total 1 hour, 14 minutes, 27 seconds darkness into a gradual emerging of light. There’s going to be a lot of stub toes. There’s going to be a lot of uh 1 hour, 14 minutes, 35 seconds misunderstanding. And h how do I how do I walk this? I have no context. I have no community. We’re in the exile. How do 1 hour, 14 minutes, 42 seconds I do this thing?

Um I I just want to say that there’s incredible amounts of grace 1 hour, 14 minutes, 48 seconds um upon us and um just I I guess I’ll just leave. Don’t lose heart. Just continue the path. Continue to ask 1 hour, 14 minutes, 57 seconds questions. Reach out to the community of faith here and there are others. But anyhow, welcome aboard and don’t lose 1 hour, 15 minutes, 5 seconds heart. So with that, I’ll just uh leave you guys to your Sabbath. 1 hour, 15 minutes, 10 seconds Amen, brother. Thank you. Very, very wise words. And I think I just want to close here by capitalizing on something 1 hour, 15 minutes, 17 seconds that you said, you used a very important word. You said deflate.

1 hour, 15 minutes, 21 seconds And sometimes when you when you look at the kinds of scriptures that we looked at today, 1 hour, 15 minutes, 29 seconds it can deflate you. Why? because you recognize in that say I don’t know that list of sins we we read from Galatians 1 hour, 15 minutes, 37 seconds 5. Ooh, I still struggle with A or B or C or I did A B or C and now you’re 1 hour, 15 minutes, 47 seconds deflated uh in for if that’s you then I would take Jim’s words to heart. But I want 1 hour, 15 minutes, 55 seconds you to remember something.

When Yeshua said these things, when he was calling people out, when he was laying down the 1 hour, 16 minutes, 4 seconds conditions, what was happening there in the crowd? 1 hour, 16 minutes, 9 seconds There’s two kinds of people in that crowd when they heard these seemingly impossible things. 1 hour, 16 minutes, 15 seconds There were those who just put their hands up and said, “I’m out.” And then there were those who said, “I’m not there, but I’m going to try.

1 hour, 16 minutes, 26 seconds I’m gonna keep going and I’m going to follow this guy and and 1 hour, 16 minutes, 34 seconds be as the as the student to his footsteps, you know, who are watching his footsteps and they ended up being 1 hour, 16 minutes, 40 seconds the 120 in the end, right? So, what’s the purpose in laying such a challenging 1 hour, 16 minutes, 47 seconds lesson out to all of us for the very same reason? The only reason that you’re here in the first place is because you 1 hour, 16 minutes, 56 seconds were one of those people who said, “I’m not there, but I’m going to keep trying. I’m going to keep going. I’m going to keep 1 hour, 17 minutes, 4 seconds growing.

I’m in this for however long it takes me and wherever it leads me and whatever it costs me. You’re going to keep falling. 1 hour, 17 minutes, 15 seconds You’re going to keep making mistakes. 1 hour, 17 minutes, 16 seconds You’re going to keep erroring. You’re going to keep getting up. As one of the brothers said in their sharing, as long 1 hour, 17 minutes, 25 seconds as you don’t stop getting up, you’re going to make it. That’s why 1 hour, 17 minutes, 31 seconds Yeshua said to him who endures, it doesn’t say to him who becomes the perfect model of all these things. 1 hour, 17 minutes, 41 seconds [laughter] 1 hour, 17 minutes, 42 seconds Praise the Lord. It doesn’t say that.

1 hour, 17 minutes, 45 seconds It says to him who endures to him or her who does not stop fighting to reach that model of disciplehip. 1 hour, 17 minutes, 58 seconds So no, I don’t want any of you to be deflated. If you feel deflated or you feel you need help, as Jim and the 1 hour, 18 minutes, 5 seconds brothers said, that’s what we’re here for. 1 hour, 18 minutes, 9 seconds I personally can’t disciple all of you, but you have there’s other sisters in this group you could reach out to. 1 hour, 18 minutes, 17 seconds There’s other brothers in this group you could reach out to and say, “Hey, I just need your insight, your wisdom here. 1 hour, 18 minutes, 22 seconds Help me out.

Maybe we can pray together.” Something like that. You just have to do it. You just have to jump 1 hour, 18 minutes, 28 seconds after it. And I can create a um a private contact list if you like or not. 1 hour, 18 minutes, 38 seconds It’s just an idea so that that at least those of us who need somebody else’s information, email perhaps. Um, you 1 hour, 18 minutes, 47 seconds know, we can we can get that going. But, um, that’s all I wanted to say. Thanks guys for all of your input. All of it was extremely valuable. 1 hour, 18 minutes, 59 seconds And I hope you have a fantastic Shabbat the rest of your day.

and we’ll come back together next week and we’ll look at what it means to walk in the spirit. 1 hour, 19 minutes, 8 seconds I think that’s important. We’ll probably just catch up where we left off today and try to answer some of the questions that Samuel and Jim and David raised in 1 hour, 19 minutes, 18 seconds in their sharing so that we can know what that means. But guys, if there’s no one else, have a fantastic day, a 1 hour, 19 minutes, 25 seconds fantastic Shabbat. We’ll see you next time. Philip has something to say. Who does? 1 hour, 19 minutes, 31 seconds Oh, oh, there he Philip did raise his hand. Sorry, brother. Go ahead.

1 hour, 19 minutes, 36 seconds I just had a word of encouragement for you, Ed. 1 hour, 19 minutes, 40 seconds I I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this, but I was in a a Torah group where this idea of servant and master had 1 hour, 19 minutes, 48 seconds master um underlined. Um and uh I was first drawn to um studying with you with 1 hour, 19 minutes, 57 seconds your with your Paul. Paul only taught Torah. But the thing that that has kind of kept me here is the humility of you 1 hour, 20 minutes, 5 seconds saying if there was anybody who disagreed that you would entertain that and uh walk side by side with us in a in 1 hour, 20 minutes, 12 seconds a combined search for truth.

And I think that is is the model we’re supposed to follow. So I just wanted to encourage 1 hour, 20 minutes, 19 seconds you with those words and thanks for what you do buddy. 1 hour, 20 minutes, 22 seconds Thanks brother. I appreciate that. Yes, guys. And I’ve said a million times, I by I am by no means the authority on 1 hour, 20 minutes, 29 seconds truth. I am just like you. I am just trying to find my way just like you. The father has given me the talent, the 1 hour, 20 minutes, 37 seconds ability to teach and so I do. But at the end of the day, I am in your shoes. And so we got to we got to do this together. We got to take this journey together. 1 hour, 20 minutes, 46 seconds Amen.

Love you all. Shabbat shalom. Shalom. Shalom. Thank you for this. Shabbat shalom. 1 hour, 20 minutes, 55 seconds Shalom. Shalom. Shalom. 1 hour, 21 minutes, 3 seconds Shalom. Shalom. Shalom. Shalom. Have a great people. Love you. 1 hour, 21 minutes, 12 seconds Thank you, sister. Love you all. Thank you for the great teaching and comments. Great teaching. Hi, Emily. Hello. 1 hour, 21 minutes, 20 seconds Shalom. Thank you, brother.