I understand this appears long but I promise it will not take as long to read as it did to write, so please.............. [b]Romans 11:11 gives us a clear answer to a question that should nag us all.[/b] Since G-d choose Israel, not because they were great, not because they were strong, and not because they were many. He chose Israel to show Himself strong within a people that were few and weak. Why, then did he choose to bring salvation to the gentiles? [b]Romans 10:19, 11:11 and Deuteronomy 32:21 [/b] [b]“Salvation has come to the gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy[/b].” That is it! That is the very purpose of the gentiles coming to faith and for the existence of the predominately gentile body of Messiah. Yet, for two thousand years, gentiles have totally neglected its sole purpose as it has tried to selfishly soak up the blessing granted it. The church has become selfish in its thought that it has replaced Israel and sees no need to live the reason it was called. Israel has not been replaced. [b]Romans 11:17-24 says:[/b] [b]“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you - a wild olive - were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree, then don't boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you. So you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. “True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don't be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified! For if G-d did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won't spare you! So take a good look at G-d's kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, G-d's kindness toward you - provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off! Moreover, the others, if they do not persist in their lack of trust, will be grafted in; because G-d is able to graft them back in. For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree!”[/b] The gentile “wild branch” has forsaken the root into which she is grafted and has, instead become, not an olive tree, but a Christmas tree. A Christmas tree is covered with bright light and glitter but its root is cut off and it is dead. Go to a funeral and look in the coffin at the made up person pretending to be alive, this is what the “church” has become! And it stinks! Oh gentile church, wake up! Come alive to Truth. You do not support the root, the root supports you. We must repent and return to the G-d of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel. How will this occur? When Israel accepts the truth of Messiah, as Paul wrote, what will their acceptance bring, but life from the dead! The church is dead in their mission to provoke Israel to jealousy, yet only when that happens will the church be again revived. [b]Romans 11:15-16 says “For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead![/b] Because they have stumbled, you have seen Messiah. What will their accepting Him mean? Life from the dead for all! The church is dead and Israel accepting their Messiah will bring it back to life. But you do not have to wait on the side lines, you could start to fulfill the only reason you have been called. How can a gentile provoke Israel to jealousy in their Messiah? What should a christinan have that Jewish people would want. Something more significant than a ham sandwich or a shrimp cocktail. Having Yeshua (Jesus) is not enough either. Yeshua is not something they want and jealousy is not about what a person needs, but about something they would want. Most Jewish people do not care about a personal relationship with their creator or believe they have one already by virtue of being born Jewish. What is it that all Jewish people want? To do Torah! Whether they are “religious” or not, this is what binds them together as a people. At Shavuot (pentecost) as recorded in [b]Acts 2[/b], there is an insight into how we can truly provoke Israel to jealousy in a way few christians have ever tried to consider. Some believe that Shavuot (pentecost) happened once and that it will never occur again until Messiah’s return, if then. Others believe that every day is Shavuot (pentecost) and that evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues as they did on that eventful day in Jerusalem. Neither is close to the facts. Pentecost is the Greek word for fifty days, and is the Jewish feast of weeks which is celebrated every year seven weeks and one day after the Sabbath of Passover. What was the miracle of that particular Pentecost? Not the outpouring of the Fathers Holy Spirit that was His plan all along. No, the miracle was that there were 120 Jewish people in one accord! Before you laugh too much, think about the last time 120 representatives of your denomination were in one accord, That is, I believe, worth praying for. Why were they all together? Yes, Yeshua had instructed each of them to remain in Jerusalem until they had received the Ruach Hakodesh, i.e. Holy Breath (Holy Spirit). But why were they in one place (the Temple) that night? Again, to the Jewish audience and those with an understanding of the Feasts of the L-rd, this makes perfectly good sense. On Shavuot, Jewish people remember the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. The way it is remembered is by gathering together to read and discuss the word of the L-rd. Since there were 120, we can assume that there were 12 groups of 10 each, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, gathered in groups of ten as this is the number required to read Torah. Called a minion. So they were gathered to study G-d’s word, which is commonly referred to as Torah Emmet, or the Instruction of Truth. [b]Acts 2:2-4[/b] is a parallel of [b]Exodus 20:18 [/b]and the giving of Torah. For what reason did the Holy One have for sending His Holy Spirit? So they could speak in tongues? No! That was just a side-effect of this empowerment. Scripture gives two places for the reason for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The first is found in [b]John 6:13[/b], as Yeshua is preparing His talmidim (students) for His death. He tells them of the Holy Spirit in this way [b]"However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative but will say only what he hears. He will also announce to you the events of the future."[/b] So, these people were gathered to study the Torah of Truth and the Father sent them His Spirit to lead then into all Truth. The other place is [b]Acts 1:8 [/b]and speaks of the same event as it relates to this feast “[b]but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth[/b]." The giving of His Spirit accompanies the giving, speaking and studying of His Torah, Always! And nothing less. I guarantee that if you are teaching not all of Torah is for you (it was for the Jews, gentiles are set free from G-d’s law) you are speaking from the flesh and without the Spirit of the Most High and there is no truth in your mouth. How can I guarantee this? Have a look for yourself, every man sent by Him in Scripture taught men to return to G-d’s word including those of the “new testament” like John the baptizer. [b]Mark 1:1[/b] says [b]“Behold, I send my messenger before you, who will prepare your way.” [/b]This saying harkens back to [b]Malachi 3[/b]. What will you find in that? “[b]Since the days of your forefathers you have veered away fro My laws and you have not observed them. Return to me and I shall return to you.”[/b] Would John really teach this if Yeshua was fixing to do away with it? If that were true it would make John a false teacher and would a false teacher be the one called to prepare the way of the L-rd? It is time for christians to take hold of the Scripture “to the Jew first” ([b]Roman 1:16[/b]) and return his word in truth to Jerusalem. We are not instructed to go door to door with bible tracks in hand. We are called to provoke Israel and we will do that by living a life that will make them (as well as all other people) take notice. Living such a life is being His witness and verifying His word to be True. How then shall we live? By the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit enabling you to live a life of Torah obedience. It is asked, but why would we do that? Aren’t we free from G-d’s law? G-d forbid! ([b]Romans 3:31[/b]) Whatever country you live in you must submit to its laws. So, why is it so difficult for gentiles to be under the law of G-d, the very one They claim as Master? For to long pastors have taught that in Messiah, we are free from the law (teaching) of G-d. That is not what Scripture says however. [b]Romans 8:1-4[/b] says [b]“Therefore, there is no longer any condemnation awaiting those who are in union with the Messiah Yeshua. Why? Because the Torah of the Spirit, which produces this life in union with Messiah Yeshua (which is in union with Torah), has set me free from the "law" of sin and death. For what the Torah could not do by itself, because it lacked the power to make the old nature cooperate, G-d did by sending his own Son as a human being with a nature like our own sinful one. G-d did this in order to deal with sin, and in so doing he executed the punishment against sin in human nature, so that the just requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us who do not run our lives according to what our old nature wants (to live in transgression of Torah) but according to what the Spirit wants (obedience to Torah).”[/b] Notice that we are made free from the “law of sin and death”, not from the ordinances of the Living G-d. That law simply states that sin brings death. But in Messiah, who has become our sacrifice forever, G-d no longer requires my death. The price is paid: Bless His Name. How can we continue to rejoice in our freedom from G-d’s instruction and call ourselves children of G-d? Aren’t you under the authority of your natural Mother and Father? Aren’t your children under your authority? Of course; this would be the only commandment with a promise. So what every Jewish person wants more than anything is to be able to do Torah, but without the empowerment of G-d through His Holy Spirit, obedience is impossible! Only those who have accepted His Son can do Torah and for two thousand years they have been told not to. What christians have done is say they accept the Son and His forgiveness of sin all the while continuing in the very sin Messiah died to take away. [b]Romans 6[/b] say to not do to this very thing. “[b]So then, are we to say, ‘Let's keep on sinning, so that there can be more grace’? Heaven forbid! How can we, who have died to sin, still live in it? Don't you know that those of us who have been immersed into the Messiah Yeshua have been immersed into His death? Through immersion into his death we were buried with him; so that just as, through the glory of the Father, the Messiah was raised from the dead, likewise we too might live a new life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will also be united with Him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was put to death on the execution-tree with him, so that the entire body of our sinful propensities might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For someone who has died has been cleared from sin. Now since we died with the Messiah, we trust that we will also live with Him. We know that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, never to die again; death has no authority over Him. For his death was a unique event that need not be repeated; but His life, He keeps on living for G-d. In the same way, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for G-d, by your union with the Messiah Yeshua. Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal bodies, so that it makes you obey its desires; and do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument for wickedness. On the contrary, offer yourselves to G-d as people alive from the dead, and your various parts to G-d as instruments for righteousness. For sin will not have authority over you; because you are not under the law of sin but under grace. Therefore, what conclusion should we reach? ‘Let's go on sinning, because we're not under the law of sin but under grace’? Heaven forbid! Don't you know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, then, of the one whom you are obeying, you are slaves - whether of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to being made righteous? By G-d's grace, you, who were once slaves to sin, obeyed from your heart the pattern of teaching to which you were exposed; and after you had been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. (I am using popular language because your human nature is so weak.) For just as you used to offer your various parts as slaves to impurity and lawlessness (Torahlessness), which led to more lawlessness; so now offer your various parts as slaves to righteousness, which leads to being made holy, set apart for G-d. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relationship to righteousness; but what benefit did you derive from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end result of those things was death. However, now, freed from sin and enslaved to G-d, you do get the benefit - it consists in being made holy, set apart for G-d, and its end result is eternal life. For what one earns from sin is death; but eternal life is what one receives as a free gift from God, in union with the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord[/b]. Yeshua said in [b]Matthew 5: 17-19[/b] [b]"Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to show you have to live it in its fullness. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah -- not until everything that must happen has happened. 19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot (commands) and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.”[/b] Nowadays, those who teach men to break these commands are called “free in the L-rd” and those who do and teach them are called “Legalist!” This is all part of the evil intention of the enemy of our souls to prevent the people of Israel to come to faith in Yeshua. Because the enemy knows it is Israel who all the promise must be fulfilled in. Also, let look at [b]Romans chapter 11:25&26[/b]: [b]"For, brothers, I want you to understand this truth which G-d formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won't imagine you know more than you actually do. It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Israel, until the gentile world enters in its fullness; and that it is in this way that all Israel will be saved."[/b] We see from this verse that when the gentiles gain the fullness of this understanding, Israel will be saved. Most assume this to mean a certain number of gentiles need to come to Messiah, but this is a poor understanding of the use of the word fullness. It does not mean conclusion, but rather fullness in understanding. The misunderstanding of this word fullness also happens when Yeshua speaks of fulfilling the law in [b]Matthew 5[/b]. Most assume it means a completion of the law, but what Yeshua said was he brings a fullness in understanding, not completion. Only when the Word is taken to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, not just the uttermost parts of the world, will the salvation of Israel come. Only then will we see life from the dead in both Jew and gentile. Only then will Jerusalem say, “Baruch Haba Bashem Adonai”, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the L-rd.” This expression is so important to understand. Even in the days of Yeshua’s life here on the earth, many proclaimed Him as having come from G-d. But in Israel, when a guest arrives at your door and you wish him to enter, you say, “Baruch Haba.” You read these words in [b]Luke 13:34&35 [/b]as the Messiah talks of His return. We talk about wanting to see His soon return, yet most all of the church ignores the one thing that will bring it about. When the church starts living like the one they call Messiah and doing all of Torah in the midst of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, then Israel will be provoked to jealousy and come to Him who, even today, is still weeping over His children.

Post edited by: barry, at: 2007/06/28 14:28