Transcription
[Music] Hmm. Good morning. You know, we're very, um, we're very diverse, not just here. But I don't know if you've traveled the Messianic world, but the Messianic world is very, very diverse, which is kind of neat.
Um, just in case you're wondering, because sometimes people do wonder, you know, why do we need a Messianic synagogue? Why do we need a Messianic synagogue, especially in a place like Macon where there's, you know, 600 churches? You might say, well, it's just, it's just believer, non-believer, right? But the fact is, a Messianic synagogue is crucial. Because if you want to worship in a Messianic way, you need a Messianic synagogue, right?
Take me for instance, okay? I'm Jewish by birth. I want to worship as a Messianic Jew. If I go to the synagogue, I can't do that. The traditional synagogue has Judaism, but they have no Messiah. And to be honest with you, I mean, I see them as my, my heritage, but it's not a place I'm, I'm totally comfortable worshiping. I'm not.
And if I go to the church, they have Messiah, but they don't have any expression in Judaism. So I can't celebrate there. Although I'm comfortable with the church, I really am, but still, I can't worship the way I want. And you might say, well, that's, well, you're Jewish, Rabbi. But no, in the first century, people like Cornelius and others wanted to worship the way Yeshua worshiped. So you also need a Messianic synagogue. You really do. There's, there's a reason for it. It's not, it's not just because it's cool or it's hip or it's something new. Like, we don't need a new thing. It's not new. It's actually 2,000 years old.
The first Messianic synagogue was in Jerusalem, and James, Yeshua's half-brother, was was the rabbi, the leader of that synagogue. It says so in the book of Acts. So don't, even though you have to explain sometimes to people because they don't understand, this goes way back. This is, this is very ancient.
And, um, if I want to, if I want to celebrate the Shabbat, which I do, I just don't think that fourth commandment changed. I don't think God brought nine forward. It doesn't mean that anybody worships on Sunday or Wednesday or Tuesday is doing a bad thing, but they just can't claim that is the Shabbat. There's no way they can prove in the Bible or extra-biblically anywhere in the universe that it was changed. And that's so I want to honor Shabbat, right? It says on a Shabbat from one new moon to another and from one Shabbat to another. So honor it. So I want to honor it at the synagogue. I can honor it, but I can't honor it with Yeshua being Lord of the Sabbath. In the church, I could celebrate Yeshua's Lord of the Sabbath, but I can't honor the Shabbat. You're getting it. I can go on and on until Yeshua comes back, but I think you, you, you get it. It's, it's crucial. Dolly, it's right. See, she cuts to the chase like Bernadette. Bernadette doesn't want to know all the theology, but yeah, it's just so don't, don't feel like it's weird, even though in, in today's modern world, they make you feel like, you know, you're weird, right?
Um, no, it says in Luke 4 that Yeshua went to the synagogue at Nazareth on Shabbat, which was his custom. And if you can't celebrate Yeshua's custom, something's radically wrong, right? Okay. So I just wanted to get that out there.
Um, did you, it was so diverse. I don't know if you saw the different umbrellas. Like, for instance, Mark had an umbrella that could have fit the entire synagogue under. Did you see that? And then Mike had an umbrella that, it looked like a yarmulke on a, on a pole. That's how small it was. So we're taking up an offering later to get Mike a real man's umbrella. It was like a zebra print, right? Or, ah, wow, that's cool. Okay.
[Music] And you know, when all said and done, I keep, I'm not changing, but I keep evolving. And I'm not talking about evolution. I'm talking about I'm trying to become more and more like Yeshua and trying to understand him better and trying to make my heart more like his. And hopefully, you're doing the same, because that's really what it's all about, emulating him, right?
Um, but I hope, I pray today, really, that you enjoy the joy of the Shabbat, because that's what Shabbat is. It's a time of joy. And let me just make one other point. I just, um, one other point. The point I'm going to make to you is not because anybody said anything to me. I would never do that, okay? If somebody said something to me about something, I would, I would deal with that person or those persons. I would never do it from here. But Shabbat is sacred. It's sacred. It's a time, it should be a time of rest and a time of joy and a time for you to just relax with the Lord.
And a lot of you have different expertise. For instance, let's take for instance, Mike is in collision. Even though he's a friendly guy and a nice guy and a good friend to me, I don't want you to come up to him on a Saturday and go, "Hey, I had a little fender bender. Could you take a look at the car?" You understand what I'm, what I'm driving at? Or a doctor to say, "Hey, would you mind going into the bathroom and looking at my rash?" First of all, that's, first of all, that's disgusting. But do you know what I mean? In, in any way, whether Aaron's outside doing security and he's an air conditioning guy, you go, "You know, I got this issue with my air conditioner." We're supposed to not do any kind of normal work today, right?
Now, if he's a buddy of yours, a good buddy, that's between you and your buddy. But I'm just saying in generalities, because sometimes people come to just enjoy Shabbat, and you got to be a believer, right? So you know what you do? You smile and you say, "Sure, I'll look at it." Then you go home and you say to your wife, "I can't believe someone's looking up to me." So don't do that. So I'm, I'm making the announcement for you to just try to keep it just between you and the Lord and enjoying his peace on, on, on Shabbat, okay? Does that make sense? Okay. Good. All right.
So now, without further ado, let me read you a psalm. I'm getting so much better at my delivery, aren't I? 20 years ago, I would not have said it that way, right? Uh-huh. God's doing the work. God's doing the work. And, and you should see that in your own life. Don't, please don't talk to the enemy. Don't negotiate with the enemy. The only time you should say anything to the enemy is "Get thee behind me, Satan," in Yeshua's name, period. That should be the extent of your discussion with him. Don't let him tell you that you're the same person. If you're the same person, then God's not God. Did hear what I said? Don't, and sometimes your own mind is your own worst enemy. Yes. Yeah. You're changing. And who's anybody here to say to a person here, "You're not changing fast enough"? I recommend you worry about your change. You know, not even your husband's change, your wife's change. You change, and they change, and we'll all be doing very, really well with the Lord. Yes. Amen.
And here goes. If I had a title, this song, you know, I do this a lot. I don't know why. I just think songs deserve a title. And these are songs. I would call this "Rescued." And if you're reading along at Psalm 40, it says, "I waited patiently for Adonai." That's not easy, huh? Listen to me. God's delays do not mean God's denials. You hear? God's delays don't mean God's denials. Moses went into Midian at 40, and at 80, he went before Pharaoh. I'm not saying you might have to wait 40 years, but patience is a virtue. God's timing is perfect. "I waited patiently for Adonai till he turned toward me and heard my cry. He brought me up from the roaring pit, up from the muddy ooze, and set my feet on a rock." This is definitely a prophetic psalm about Messiah, but I think we can all relate to it if we've been saved. Amen. Yes.
Um, "He put a new song in my mouth." Listen to this verse. It's really neat. "And a song of praise to our God." So God put the song in your mouth, and the song is objected to God. So therefore, God is the source of our praise and the object of our praise. He brings the praise for himself. "Many will look on in awe and put their trust in the Lord."
Now here comes the most basic truth in all of spiritual life. Verse four: "How blessed the man who trusts in the Lord." How blessed the man who trusts in the Lord. If you trust in the Lord, you should feel blessed. And does not look to the arrogant or to those who rely on things that are false. Who are the arrogant? It's the defiant, it's the rebellious. It's all about submitting to God. So they don't look to the rebellious, and they don't look to what's false. What are false gods? Materialism, pleasure, sexual indulgence. Those are things that are false gods. The blessed man is only concerned about God's approval. That's when you know you're free. We have a lot of freedom to work on because we, we care too much what people think. You should love people, but you should only care what God thinks.
"How much you have done, I don't know, my God, your wonders and your thoughts toward us, none can compare with you. I would proclaim them. I would speak about them. There's just too much to tell you." You should feel exhausted proclaiming God's goodness. How about the spiritual blessings? How about justification? How about redemption? How about pardon? How about forgiveness? How about salvation? How about the new birth? How about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? How about the anointing? How about sanctification? How about sonship, heirship, glorification? And that's just to just touch a smidge.
"Sacrifices and grain offerings you don't want." This is repeated in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 5 through 10. "Burnt offerings and sin offerings you don't demand. Instead, you have given me open ears." So then I said, "Here I am, I am coming." Obviously, he's not talking about us. We're not coming. It's Messiah. "In the scroll of a book it is written about me." Yes, 333 prophetic messages in the Old Testament alone. "Doing your will, my God, is my joy. Your Torah is in my inmost being." That's the definition of the new birth. That's Jeremiah 31. If the Torah is not on your heart, something's wrong with your deliverance. "I have proclaimed what is right in the great assembly. I did not restrain my lips." Now, we're not talking about pastors or rabbis here. We're talking about Yeshua. "I don't know, as you know, I did not hide your righteousness in my heart, but declared your faithfulness and salvation. I did not conceal your grace and truth from the great assembly." Grace and truth. Grace and truth. It's, it's, you'll see it all over the Bible. It's very important. The truth is, we should have been the one on the cross. The grace is, he went. "Adonai, don't withhold mercy from me. Let your grace and truth preserve me always."
People flip-flop with grace and truth all the time. Um, some congregations years back, they only spoke truth. And when you only speak truth, it's just, it's destructive. It's destructive because truth, always only truth, leads to legalism. And nobody can walk out the truth 100 percent. You hear me? And nobody ever will. [Music] Nobody. Not the greatest men of God in the past, not none of them, not Daniel, not Job, not Noah, not Abraham, only Yeshua. That doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to walk in truth. But if you don't bless truth with a hundred percent grace, it's going to be destructive. If you don't bring truth into grace, it's going to lead to deception. That's the problem. That's sometimes you'll, you'll see this. I'll, I see this. You'll see a pastor will come in, and he'll bring like, what he calls a hard message. I don't call them hard messages. I just call them biblical truth. But he'll feel bad. It's like, "I hurt their feelings." So next week, he'll come and, and he'll just grace you. And that's a mistake. Years ago, we had these fire, hell, and brimstone constantly, right? And that was all truth. So then what do we have now? Hyper-grace. We left that behind. No, you need both. And you don't bring 50 percent of hellfire and brimstone and 50 percent of God's love. You bring a hundred, a hundred, because they're both right in its fullness. It's, it's so important and it's so hard to find. And I'm telling you, from my perspective, it's really challenging bringing a hundred percent of the truth, a hundred percent of the grace, every week. It's very challenging. So I'm not saying it's easy, by no means.
"Numberless evils surround me. My iniquities engulf me. I can't even see." Now, Rabbi, you said that this is about Yeshua. And yet it says, "My iniquities engulf me." Well, when he drank the cup of God's wrath, he was drinking everybody's iniquities. They were all over him. "Be pleased, O Lord, to rescue me." This is not when this person is not crying out to God out of like, God's obligation, like, "You owe me." No, no. It's, it's desperation. It's desperation, which is music to God's ears. "O Lord, hurry and help me." "May those who seek to sweep me away be disgraced and humiliated together. May those who take pleasure in doing me harm be turned back and put to confusion. May those who jeer at me, 'Aha, aha,' you know, like Job's wife, really sadly enough, his own wife said, 'I guess it didn't work out for you, huh? This God didn't come through. Why don't you curse God and die?'" "Be disgraced because of their shame."
Now, look, if you're reading this with me, verses 14 and 15, especially in the land of hyper-grace, of God's love, this is rough. This is rough. "May those who seek to sweep be disgraced, be humiliated." Listen to what they're praying. "Turn them into confusion. Let them be disgraced because of their shame." Wait a minute, Rabbi. Isn't God a God of love? Yeah, yeah. But I need to remind you that in refusing God's love, man deliberately chooses his own punishment. [Music] God did not send his son to condemn the world, but save. So he's offered, right? Does it make sense?
And this is how it ends. "May all those who seek you be glad and take joy in you." That's my prayer for you today. It's a prayer as you're seeking the Lord this morning. Man, I hope you're glad. "May those who love your salvation, may those who love your Yeshua say, 'Always Adonai is great and glorious.'" And it ends with this verse. "But I am poor and needy." I have to say a little side note. Every time I get some affliction, and I've had so many, I'm not trying to get you to play the violin, and I'm not looking for, you know, you to mourn with me. I'm not. But every time I'm, I'm, you don't know me too well, but I'm a fighter, you know? I've been fighting my whole life. I played sports. I did full contact martial arts before MMA was popular. I'm a fighter. So when I get an affliction, what do I try to do? What's my go-to? Fight. And it's almost like I'm saying to God, "I'll show you." I'm not saying it, but I kind of am. "I'll show you. You allow this or you promoted it. I'll show you." And then I get past it. And then, you know what happens? I get afflicted again. And then I get past it. You know what happens? I get a. And it keeps coming. How long is it going to take me to realize God loves brokenness? How long is it going to take me to realize that the world system cannot infiltrate my walk, not even a little? Because if it does, even a little, I will be frustrated, and you will be frustrated. Because in my weakness, truly, that's when He's strong. That's the only time He could be strong. You're on the side of the road, you got a flat tire. Somebody stops, "Can I give you a hand?" "I got it." You can't get any help. You follow. But I am poor and needy. May I really think of me? You are my helper and my rescuer, my God. Don't delay. That's where I am. I am a messy onyx Jew. And my prayer today for me is that God unmesses me.
Father, thank you for this wonderful day that you set aside to spend time with us uninterrupted. Father, thank you that on a Shabbat, I can feel like an only child. Thank you, Lord, that you know each and every one of us intimately, better than even we know ourselves. You know our needs before we ask for them. Father, you say that those who delight in you, you'll give them over to the desires of their heart. Father, I hope that this is a crew, and I believe it is, that just enjoy you, just love being your child, your kid, love spending time with you, love talking to you, love telling you our deepest, darkest secrets, even though you're aware. Love being intimate with you. Father, we just love you. So, Father, there's so many needs here, physical needs, and emotional needs, and spiritual needs. Father, there's financial needs, and family needs, and marital needs, and there's so many. I know it's overwhelming for me, but not for you. I can just ask you, Father, in the hopes that you'll deliver us today and bless us with your presence. In Yeshua's name, I pray. Amen. Shabbat Shalom, guys.