Tag: Torah

Who am I?

Kelly’s Facebook page had a neat little post that I wanted to reshare.  Short and sweet but powerful…

This was written by Patricia Ann Rainey…

Who am I?

I am not a Jew. I was not born a Jew. I am not trying to be a Jew. I will never be a Jew. Jewish traditions hold no allure for me whatsoever.

I was born of the Nations. I was called out from the Nations, by the Creator who designed me to be from the Nations, to speak one of the languages of the Nations, so I could be among the Nations.

What I am is grafted into the olive tree (Romans 11) and thus I become Israel. I am not grafted into the Jews. I am called to obey the instructions/teachings of the people of Israel, the Torah! NOT the laws of the Jews (Talmud), or walk in the ways of the Nations (humanism), or the laws of the church (denominational doctrines and traditions).

I am not trying to be a Jew. I am not trying to be a Gentile. I am trying to be an Israelite. Because I come from the Nations, I will never look Jewish, although to the untrained eye, it will appear so, because I will do some of the things that they do, the way they do it perhaps, but other things I will do in a way that looks utterly foreign to them. And that’s okay!

I look this way because I am a person who was called out of the Nations, by my Master, Yeshua the Messiah of Israel, to be a part of His people, Israel, obeying His Torah (teachings), and waiting for His return.

I am doing my best, and it’s going to look weird to most people, but that’s where patience and grace come into the picture. I have to obey the Torah of YHWH, but the way I obey it doesn’t have to look exactly the same as the way others (or you) obey it.

Torah is a pursuit and a journey of a child with it’s Father. As each child is individually unique, so will our walk with the Father be unique. Same rules for all the children, but at different points along the walk, we will be better and worse than others at figuring out how to live in obedience. And it’s okay.

Most weren’t raised as Torah observers. It’s a struggle. A learning process. We will fail many times. Start expecting failure and realize that after 3500 years, we are all doing it wrong, but love spurs us on to try anyway — and faith tells us that YHWH greatly rejoices in our pursuit of obedience.

Shalom~

How did they know? Noah.

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How did Noah know what was clean and unclean?  Did he guess?

Christendom believes only two of unclean showed up and seven pair of the clean, however that doesn’t answer the specificity of God telling Noah to ‘take.’

When combined with the dozens of other Torah specific commands obeyed throughout Genesis the glaring conclusion is that Noah knew exactly what the Almighty told him because he had the Torah, handed down from his father’s.

Clearly, the Torah was in, even before, Gan Eden, and it is God’s instructions for righteous living to all mankind.

Got Torah?

http://bible.com/1/gen.7.2.KJV

How did they know? Abel.

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There are numerous references to Torah commands throughout Genesis that were supposedly first give at Mt. Sinai.  How did they know? 

Either, Abel was just lucky, OR the full Torah was given to all mankind in Eden and pre-existed the Fall?

http://bible.com/114/gen.4.4.NKJV

Tales from the bus. Missed….

Many of my longsuffering readers know that I am a bus driver and driver trainer for the local school district.  Previously, I have blogged a few posts related to work and theological lessons from interactions on the job…..  Grouped as ‘Tales from the bus,’ this is another such missive.

Lately, we have been critically short of drivers due to a number of irrelevant factors.  Long story short, several driver’s recent bouts with a stomach bug has left us scrambling each day to get children home.  Routes are being piecemealed between drivers who are willing to pull double duty or drive sections that border their normal routes, then a couple staff members in the office get to pick up the rest.  “Adventure” would be an understatement.

This afternoon I was assigned two short elementary routes that I whipped out before racing to the high school to pick up two routes of high schoolers.  To keep from confusing the elementary students, I used their bus, but placed large prominent numbers on the bus for the two high school routes.  The signs clearly said, ‘1 & 5‘. Continue reading “Tales from the bus. Missed….”

A Reward Worth Pursuing…

I was only in the US Army for about four years, IMG_20160128_180358573but was blessed to attend multiple special skills schools as well as a nice variety of deployments to several parts of the globe.  When Napolean Bonaparte said, “a soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon,” he might have been speaking of me.  No question, I loved the challenge of hard schools and difficult duties.  In a twisted way, suffering is fun.  It separates the men from the posers.

In spite of the fact that I recognize those bits of colored ribbon fade and will eventually be destroyed by fire, I still pine for those days of testosterone, sweat and tears.  Maybe it’s just the way I’m wired.

Being wired that way, though, is not necessarily a bad thing…  Maybe it has usefulness for the Kingdom.  Throughout Scripture, over and over, we witness God taking simple and seemingly insignificant men and women to do significant works.  We remember Gideon, David, Ruth, Esther, Josiah, etc.  The list could go on and on.

Well, you and I, though we may feel insignificant in a world gone mad, live in a time of history wherein it is clear God is raising up men and women from among the ‘nobodys’ and ‘who is thats’ to do an amazing work in our day.  But, what ‘bit of colored ribbon’ motivates us to fight long and hard?

You may think, ‘I don’t need no stinking ribbon…’, but Scripture actually speaks of an everlasting reward and acknowledgement that is well worth pursuing.  Continue reading “A Reward Worth Pursuing…”

Na’aseh V’nishma!!

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Barry Phillips taught us a terrific song titled Na’aseh V’nishma with the chorus line being ‘all You say, we will do and hear.’ 

What are HIS instructions?  Do we hear AND DO all?  Maybe my experience in church was different, but we professed ALL, did some, and followed carefully crafted and justified traditions of men.

No more.  All He says, we hear and DO!

Got Torah?

http://bible.com/100/exo.16.4.NASB

The ‘New Covenant’ is NOT with Gentiles…

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The provocative title is true and intended to get your attention.  Simply, the New Covenant is NOT with the Gentiles. That is not to say Gentiles can’t enter in, because Ephesians 2 and Romans 9-11 teach that they can, however, they immediately stop being Gentiles and become a part of Israel.

Until one understands this and the attendant implications (Torah to be written on their heart), they simply do not understand Scripture nor can they correctly assemble prophecy.  Hard to swallow, I know. 

Study it out.  How many eternal promises are there to Israel?  To the ‘house of Israel?’  To the ‘house of Judah?’  To ‘Ephraim?’

Christian doctrine ignores these glaring pieces precisely because they do no understand them.  I was a pastor.  Seminary trained.  I nor my professors understood these things, yet in His mercy, Abba is restoring the ancient paths (Jer. 6:16-19) and recovering His flock.

Dare to ask God to open your eyes to ALL of His Word.

http://bible.com/100/jer.31.31-33.NASB