Discipleship -"Drawing Closer to God" 1 - Rabbi Greg Hershberg

so you know the lord and i got together and i was like okay i could talk about the cross and the crucifixion till yeshua comes back but we got to kind of move on from it not ever forgetting it jay hudson tells that don't take me three feet from the cross but he had things to do and we have things to do we can't park ourselves there and you have to know and forgive me but there are major denominations that the finish line is being born again the finish that being born again is the starting line not the finish line you've just stepped into the kingdom you know what i'm talking about some of you have gone to churches and still go to churches where the whole objective is to get saved save for what is there something after salvation because the bible speaks about it all the time i don't understand help me this is the bible i'm not a scholar but this is what it says in the bible and the churches are saying this and the bible's saying that how do you reconcile that tremendous discrepancy so it's time to move on and we're going to use something that i think is something that a lot of people just kind of gloss over it's the letter that paul wrote to his spiritual son titus it's 46 sentences 46. that's like and there's a salutation and a conclusion to the letter so really there's only like 36 sentences of meat 36 sentences that's a page and a half and it is i'm here to testify to you that it is incredibly meaty a feast in 36 sentences now it was written 1900 years ago obviously to a little-known missionary nobody knew who titus was on an obscure island you know he was crete and if you know anything about greek history the cretans were the worst of the worst they had the absolute worst reputation and it was written by paul who is an aging senior missionary he's at the end of his life first timothy titus and second timothy second timothy was the end the question is what possible relevance could these three short chapters have for believers in the enlightened 21st century well this is my take to the answer that question if these were only the words of some aging missionary to some unknown missionary on an obstacle island then it would only have relevance to a church history buff but the fact is these are the words of god spoken by the inspiration of the holy spirit and as such they make a contribution that no other book can the theme of the epistle or the theme of the letter is real simple guys the letter gives this concise summary of how a believer should adorn should adorn the doctrine of grace with godliness and good works in other words we need to deck the halls of grace with bows of holiness let's take a look okay it's not all i have is 12 verses today that's all i got that's how immediate is but you can't get that many it's it's 36 sentences look at titus 2 11-14 this is the most prized passage of the whole letter this is it right here it says for god's grace which brings deliverance or some of your versions say salvation same thing has appeared to all people and it has it teaches us to renounce godlessness and worldly pleasures and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives now right now not when the lord returns in this age while continuing to expect the blessed fulfillment of our certain hope which is the appearing of the shechema of our great god and the appearing of our delivery yeshua the messiah he gave himself up on our behalf in order to free us from the violation of the torah not the torah from the violation and to purify for himself a people who would be his very own his segu load his special possession eager to do good so let's do what we always do in order to understand it we have to break it down you can't just grab a sentence if you take it out of context you're going to misinterpret it and the devil is the master of getting you to take things out of context did god really say you can't touch it did he say anything about touching it right then he brought in the confusion and eve was sunk you can't be confused you have to know what it says and it's not a matter of interpretation if you read it in context you'll you'll be able to understand it you really will it's not that hard so let's look at the first screen titus 2 11 the first verse it says for god's grace which brings deliverance has appeared to all people god's grace is synonymous with messiah yeshua messiah yeshua is god's grace and god's grace is messiah yeshua when he visited our planet and gave himself up for the forgiveness of our sins this was absolutely the quintessential grace of god that's the definition to me of the grace of god yeshua on the execution stake now just for the record this does not this verse did not equate to something called in the theological circle's universal salvation some people believe in universal salvation the teaching of universal salvation is one of the biggest lies of the enemy the crucifixion is a bonafide offer of pardon and forgiveness which has been made to all however we have to receive him and the only way you can receive him is through absolute out and out repentance receiving him does not mean repeating jesus i believe you died for my sins come into my heart i'm just telling you that's a farce and you have to know that many people that sit in pews and they've been very faithful are going to hell they were pretty everybody has a different idea of what's pretty decent my feeling is good means no bed so if there's any bad and good you're bad and that makes all of us bad but just for teaching purposes there are decent people is this this ladies that have grown up taking care of their family and and being a good mom and a good wife and sacrificing and they pay their taxes for the most part they pay their taxes right everybody everybody here pays their taxes for the most part right a lot of fudge but they basically are decent people right they're decent and then they get saved and they're the same and that's impossible if it's one thing you'll see in the bible is every time yeshua showed up people changed some for the better some for worse but you cannot come in the presence of the holy spirit of god and stay the same impossible and if you do then you have never come into the presence of god titus 2 12 says it teaches us so this grace of god this is what the grace of god does this is what the crucifixion does it teaches us to renounce godlessness it doesn't teach us that hallelujah was saved you've got to move on not not move on like put the cross behind you but what am i supposed to do now and you end up in a church a congregation you get discipled then you learn about godliness you learn right i was listen i'm 60 years old so half my life i was totally in the world not a little i never thought i was a decent person i knew i wasn't and i was really good at being in the world excellent and then when i got saved it was radical which i think it should be for anybody and i totally made a 180 and i walked into this kingdom i went through a door yeshua says i'm the door i'm the door i'm the way in you don't hold on to a door if you want to get to the other side you don't embrace a bridge a bridge is to get you from one land mass to another the father's on the on the end of the bridge you can't get to them unless you go through yeshua but you don't stay on yeshua i know many many doctrines say no no i'm here to tell you that's not i'm here to tell you what the bible says and it says he's the door so when i went through the door i walked into this kingdom that i knew nothing about and my deal was what do i do now i didn't know how to conduct myself in the kingdom i didn't know what was expected of me i didn't know it's not like i just walked in the kingdom and i knew every i knew nothing i had to learn how to conduct myself in the kingdom of heaven the gospel is not just the gospel it's the gospel of yeshua the messiah it's the gospel of the kingdom of heaven you've passed through a portal and the world is no longer your home and you press through this kingdom and you press through this kingdom till you get to the point of glory land that's the process and this is this is what paul is saying to titus titus is a young man he's basically not been a believer for a long time but he was his spiritual son he raised him he took him on trips he discipled him he taught him he taught him by doing he was a journeyman and now paul's moving on and he's like titus you've got to carry the torch and this is what you have to do you have to share the gospel everywhere you go but let them know what they're signing on to disciple them didn't yeshua's last words in matthew say to disciple them go in all the world and preach the gospel in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit teaching them to obey my commandments that's something that's always left off now i know you know this because you've been here a long time and it's like oh this again oh you're going to talk about obeying god oh my god can we move on to what i'm going to get blessed with so gauche it says the gospel of the kingdom teaches us that you and me to renounce godlessness it's not just about repenting if we are going to announce it we won't have to repent renounce it say no no no and then you think you're going to walk in blatant sin and god's going to forgive you that's disgusting it's one thing to mess up but there's a difference between intermittent sin sin that comes out of the left field and in a life of sin job is to not my job and your job is to discern the spirits some of you can't discern the spirit because you don't trust anybody when you don't trust anybody the holy spirit won't help you discern because you just shut down i'm here to tell you that there are many men of god in the united states that are men of god don't dare think you're the only one it's incredible elitism to think nobody gets it but you the great elijah tried that how did that work out for him there wasn't a ton of people in israel at that point he said elijah i got 7 000 people just like you and then some to live self-controlled upright and godly lives now and then he says in this state make no mistake i'm talking about now i'm not talking about when you get to heaven right now so right now the same grace that saves us the same grace that saves us and it is grace also trains us in the school of holiness that's called sanctification once you pass this phase i don't want to get fancy with theological terms but once you are saved by god's grace and you see it's unmerited and it's an act of love you've got to kind of show him something not that you owe him but like what does he want from you ask him go home ask him what do you want from me god how can i pay you back he said i never asked you to pay me back pay me forward represent me well godlessness means lawlessness make no mistake and that is not an old testament definition that's a very much a new testament definition by the greatest disciple that ever lived john and he says that sin equals lawlessness so this is what i'm saying if that's what the bible declares and you know i'm not telling you anything new i'll never tell you anything new if sin equals lawlessness then righteousness would equal lawfulness right now i'm not the guy who goes well the torah how many how many commands are still around rabbi okay we lost 300 with the sacrificial system and then i'm not a king so those laws don't pertain to me now are you out of your mind you're really going to put a score card together and say okay there's 297 left nobody knows how many but there's 297 and and i checked them all off today guys there's no freedom in that all you are is a legalist and you're lost you're lost if the holy spirit is running through your spiritual veins and the law of god is on your heart you are absolutely already know what's right and wrong you know i don't have to tell you you know but if you keep doing wrong wrong is going to become right isaiah said there'll be a day where what's bad is going to be considered good we're in the day but that's the world not you and me you know what's right now let me tell you the other danger some of you try too hard to do what's right to make sure that god knows you're right you're not moving in the power of the holy spirit you're moving in the power of yourself and let me tell you what's going to happen because i did it for years you're going to be exhausted you're going to be exhausted see if you move in your own power and you get credit for that then you're powerful but you move through the anointing of god's holy spirit then it's all about god and who is it all about so don't make it about yourself don't go i'm in a witness to this lady listen just let me try this on you you're in a restaurant and the waiter has to listen to your spiritual talk because he's working for gratuities now if you talk to the same person outside he might say thanks not interested but he's going to sit there and then there's what you say you go to church now you don't know that this guy was molested by priests when he was young so look what you just did he just opened up a womb that's never a womb that's never really been fully closed but he's trying to move on and you just ripped it right back open why you weren't working under the unction of the holy spirit and when you all working under the action it's unbelievable it's just like night and day but for us who are believers we're supposed to say no to sin we're supposed to say no to sin worldly pleasures and most people equate this to sexual sin because sexual sin is so flagrant it's it's the biggest sin we have sexual sin but what about the lust for wealth oh no rabbi well look if god has blessed you with wealth and you're using it to bless him hallelujah but if you just have a lust for wealth i'm telling you that's not of god what about the lust for power what about the lust for pleasure what about the lust for selfish ambition what about the lust for fame anything that's worldly we're called to live out our faith in practical ways of righteousness in other words godliness is proof that you're saved it evidences your salvation it evidence is your faith if you're walking in godliness that's evidence that you're a man or woman of faith if you're a man of woman of faith and you're truly born again then you're going to do these works because they're just going to happen in other words the supernatural is going to become natural and the natural has become unnatural and this is what happens through this process for all of us again nobody has a corner of the market a lot of things are done in secret that nobody sees so don't please don't mistake blamelessness with perfection blamelessness is a state that noah was in and others these were people who did all they can to walk these things out because they wanted to bless the lord with righteous acts and when they fell they quickly repented they didn't walk in sin as a lifestyle that's the difference okay titus 2 13 it says while continuing so so try to walk try to say no to sin at the same time continue to expect the blessed fulfillment of our certain hope because that's the reason why we do it this is what he's saying this will motivate us which is the appearing of the shaheen of our great god now i don't like this interpretation too much because it almost makes like there's going to be an appearance of the father and the son but the shechena of our great god that means the glory of our god guess what yeshua is the glory of god he is did he show up glorified in matthew 17 on the transfiguration mount he is the glory of god so this is one and the same in the appearing of our deliverer or savior it says in some other versions yeshua the messiah living good godly lives for the certainty of our blessed hope namely the second coming people will fight all day long about eschatology about the rapture and about the second coming and are they different and when are they i'm here to tell you i spent 10 years of my life studying eschatology i became somewhat of an eschatology expert and i'm here to tell you there's enough scriptures if you want to believe in a pre-tribulation rapture or a mid-tribulation rapture or a pre-wrath but listen to me sweet pea it doesn't matter listen to me some of you are not listening to me and all you're doing is turning people off left and right it doesn't matter when he comes are you ready when he comes [Applause] so some seed is the rapture of the body where's that first thessalonians 4 13 17. that's where it talks about the coming of yeshua whether he's going to take us away and up to heaven whether he's going to hide us i don't care i don't care he's coming for me you follow i'm not going to see the wrath of god that i know because wrath and tribulation are two words that are never used interchangeably in all the scriptures and never used in the same sentence so i know i will not see the wrath of god okay or some people see it as the coming as king in revelation 19 11 16 where he sets up his kingdom and puts down his foes at the end of the tribulation okay what's the difference are you ready what we believe paul is speaking of here messiah's bridegroom coming for his bride or the king coming to rule and reign we should be prepared for his glorious arrival this is what motivates us to live good godly lives in the here and now this is what motivates us staying focused on this blessed truth impels a person to get ready for his return titus 2 14 he gave himself yeshua up on our behalf in order to free us from the violation the violation of torah is death the wages of sin is death it's the same thing he freed us from that death his death was the death of my death death stung itself to death but don't stop there you'll be like so many mainline denominational people that's not the end of the story it's the beginning he came to free us from the violation and copulative chi in the greek meaning once dependent on the other the interdependent to purify for himself a people who would be his very own eager excited he fetched in the hebrew that means a delight psalm 119 i delight in your ways i delight in your commands not okay i'll do it well if i if i got to show my obedience to you fine who likes that kid on our behalf in order to free us and purify for himself he just wants uh man so while we await the second coming and we all want that bad and i don't blame you i want it you have no idea how much i beg for the lord to come back i'm telling you and i'm not boasting you have no idea we can't forget the reason for his first coming to not only save us from the guilt and the penalty of sin that's what we believe that's what when people finish the race after getting saved they believe i'm saved from the guilt and the penalty which is true but he didn't just come to save us from the guilt and the penalty he came to free us from every lawless deed it would be a halfway salvation listen this is what the bible says if the penalty of sin was canceled without the power of sin being dealt with the bible calls out a halfway salvation you can't be halfway saved we should be pumped like excited crazy excited to perform acts of kindness in his name we should be pumped to change into the image of yeshua we should be honored and if not honored because that's a fancy word how about just yeah i'm becoming more and more like yeshua this is unbelievable he's my hero what i'm saying is these are fine topics sports and politics and business all i'm saying is we should have a greater zeal for god his kingdom and its righteousness and that's and i'm sorry um but that's irrefutable that's just irrefutable it doesn't matter if you believe it or not it's irrefutable titus 2 15 the final verse in this chapter it says these are the things you should say these are the things you should titus you're a young man i'm leaving you in crete you're one of the elders you're one of the overseers appoint other elders because we need multiple elders one person can't run the show so you need a group of elders how many it doesn't say we have three rabbi why don't you have four it was hard enough to find three do you read what's necessary to be an elder the husband of one woman what does that mean well i'm the husband of one woman now i've been married seven times but i'm the husband that doesn't cut it kids that are not rebellious and walking with the lord i mean look look at these are called the pastoral epistles look at first timothy second timothy and titus and see what it takes to be a deacon and you'll find out if you go back to your church nope some but nope it doesn't say he has to be influential and have a lot of money just go home and read you'll see in first timothy three you'll see it these are the things you should say saying i'm out of here i'm at the end they're gonna kill me i'm at the end of the line my ministry is over i'm passing you the baton i'm giving you the torch and this is what i want as your spiritual father this is what i want you to do encourage and rebuke not just encourage not just rebuke both you know what the spirit does the spirit disturbs the comfortable and it comforts the disturbed he said encourage and rebuke with full authority you have the authority god ordained don't let anyone look down on you why did he say that he was young what else he was a gentile gentiles weren't highly regarded titus was commissioned to teach now let me just tell you something i don't mean to call anybody out but when jesus was teaching people weren't yelling and talking back because when you're in a school the other people the other students can't hear you can you imagine if you were sitting a lot of you go to college right and i was just yelling the whole time the teacher was teaching would that be conducive to your learning this is a school this isn't a rah-rah says mumba i got news for you it's not it's a school you come here to learn because a disciple is a student now if i'm a lousy teacher i understand i don't think of myself as a good teacher but if i'm lousy find a good teacher but any idiot can come up here in ra ra sis mumba you're not going to learn from that you're not going to grow from that that is not discipleship you read the gospels and you'll see every single time every single time every single time it says that jesus looked was sad because they were sheep without a shepherd comma and he sat down and taught to descro teaching the ways of god and doctrine that's discipleship that's what a shepherd does a shepherd brings his sheep to a pasture that's rich so they could feed on he said rebuke those who contradict these teachings if somebody comes against these teachings with their own rebuke them and rebuke them strong do it with boldness paul says to titus and authority and don't apologize for having a forceful ministry he sanitized don't apologize for a forceful ministry apologize for a weak ministry and don't let anybody hit you up with your so-called natural disabilities about your youth about your gentile background no and why shouldn't titus have any qualms why shouldn't he feel bad because he's speaking the very words of god not his own not his own all right last set of titus scriptures titus three five three i'm sorry but these things jump at me and they're so meaty and they're so rich i don't know i don't know how people just run through them i don't know okay this is how he sums up the letter this is what he says to titus on basically on the en at the end of his ministry he delivered us it was not on the ground of any righteous deeds we had done but on the ground of his own mercy his love and his kindness paul was a psychopath about protecting the gospel a lunatic because there were so many judaizers and gentiles trying to add to it so if you read every single letter he wrote he was protecting it he did this by means of the mikvah the baptism of rebirth really the way you get saved is you repent of your sins you don't just confess that's not repentance you say i don't want to walk this way anymore i'm done i'm walking this way and then you get immersed baptized in the name of yeshua not not in a bucket of water it's in his name that your sins are forgiven and it's in his name that you receive the holy spirit to help you walk in that way you follow you can't walk in that way yourself listen what god asks of us in the bible it is impossible to walk out without being regenerated some of us change a little bit right we become a little nicer we bring flowers home we curb our language but that's not walking that that's just a smidge to do what god is asking us to do we cannot do that without being regenerated and receiving the holy spirit i'm here to tell you it is impossible absolutely positively impossible he did this by the means of the mikvah of the rebirth and the renewal brought about by the ruach hakodesh the holy spirit whom he poured out on us genuine generously through yeshua the messiah or deliver our savior he did it so so why did he do this why did he save us why to give us access to the holy spirit so that by his grace and it is a total act of grace we might come to be considered righteous by god and become heirs with the certain hope of eternal life now is that positionally righteousness we sit in heavenly places or is there some practicality that's got to come out of it let's find out you can trust what i've just said titus paul saying you know me i raised you i'm your spiritual father you know i don't speak with a forked tongue i'm telling you this is from the lord you can trust what i've just said in those aforementioned verses and i want you to speak with confidence about these things be confident about these truths so that those who have put their trust in god may apply themselves to doing good deeds so it's not just about getting saved these are both good and of themselves and value to the community he sums up his whole reason for preaching the gospel and seeing people get saved he's been saved from so much by such a great salvation he's saying we should live a life worthy of that calling many today seem incredibly pleased with the doctrine of grace but apparently they have very little interest in displaying it in good works or godliness such an attitude is wrong and it's a misinterpretation of true grace faith without works is dead there's no evidence no evidence at all yeshua's last prayer before he was crucified was for our sanctification deeds are simple the word is argon in the greek and it means works just works and good look at what look at what the lord calls our works when we do it in his name he says it's beautiful this is the lord it's excellent it's magnificent it's surpassing and it's praiseworthy now look second corinthians 5 10 says this and paul was just dovetailing on what he said into titus we must all appear before the messiah's court of judgment are you aware are you aware about the judgment seat of messiah are you where that will probably happen when he comes for his bride it's not going to happen at the second coming when he sets up his kingdom it's too late he's going to come take us and we're all going to sit before his judgment seat it's not scary because it's not a judgment of salvation like the great white throne after the millennium it's not that judgment clearly it's just not but we're going to be judged nevertheless judge for what where everyone will receive the good or bad consequences you imagine those who just skate in and he's like yeah yeah sorry i mean you're here and i'm really glad you're here but i'm looking at your life and yeah wow yeah so self-absorbed yeah what he did while he was in the body and look yeshua himself said this two more verses that's it matthew 16 27 is what he says right after peter says you're the messiah you're the lord he says yep he said but don't forget this pete the son of man will come in his father's glory with his angels and then he will repay everyone according to his deeds what he's done the lord reminds his own that the glory that follows the suffering he points forward to his second advent when he'll return in transcendent glory hallelujah and he'll report those that live for him i think just my opinion toss it if it doesn't make sense the only way to have a successful life in the spiritual realm is to project oneself forward to this glorious time and then decide what really will be important then and then go after it with all your heart in other words occupy until he returns don't just be preoccupied with his return i i'm i'm i'm occupied with his return i i read about it all the time and i pray for it but if i'm just waiting for him to come when i sit in his judgment seat he's going to say wow you really waited for me to come this this this is the last verse and it's just a beautiful verse and i want to know something about this israel was so greedy the rich landowners forced the poor workers into the city they couldn't make it in the city and greed was an all-time high 750 bc so if you're wondering it's so greedy now today it was greedy in 750 bc horrifically greedy the rich taking advantage of the poor two classes the haves and the have-nots and this is what he says to him in this time of extreme greed and materialism this is what he says god rehearses all the kindnesses that he gave to israel and this is what he finishes with human being you ever say this to your kids i'm so good to you i always give you the car and whenever you need something i'm there and you rehearse all the good things you've done right hoping that they'll come to their senses and go i'm sorry mom i'm sorry dad you've given me everything i haven't really been that great of a son or a daughter that's what you hope but by golly if they're are they dense or what just like the children of israel was god rehearses all the things i've done he's saying i've done so much for you this is what i would like you know what's good and you know what the lord demands of you not challenges you with demands no more than this this is all you need to do act justly love grace and walk humbly with your god that's all he's asking this is across the board baptist methodist presbyterian i don't care if you're born again you're in the kingdom this is what god is asking no more no less no more no less act justly listen to me you are what you you are what you do repeatedly you are what you do repeatedly excellence ought to be a habit not an act don't say well ten years ago i had this ministry in the prison what you've been doing for the last 10 years excellence ought to be a habit not an act there are people who have htlw it's an awful syndrome in the body are you familiar with it htlw syndrome high talk low walk i i really don't want to hear what about everything and every vision and dream you have just walk in the ways of righteousness be a good man be good husband be a good dad be honest with people hear from love them and do whatever god tells you to do love grace you may be tough but always be kind i know you think you're the same i know some people think you're the same but you're not and i'm here to say none of you are the same i don't care what sin you've committed i don't care how bad it is i don't care how hard it is for you to forgive yourself or your wife to forgive you i don't care i know what the bible says you are forgiven it is forgotten and you are greatly loved and move on [Applause] act justly do the right thing love grace do you realize how many people that you meet are miserable but their life sadly enough has caused them to be miserable you meet somebody and they're kind of weird and standoffish and you don't know that they were sexually abused for years or they came out of a sex slave trade or their dad used to burn them with matches you can't be too quick on the trigger guys now some people are just difficult it's almost like they're subsidized by the government but you don't know which guy that is so you have to give them the benefit of doubt there was a guy george trudy was a pastor first baptist dallas 1897-1944 great man of god he accidentally killed his best friend while they were hunting his daughter said that she never heard him laugh after that day but he was a wonderful pastor tremendous pastor and love people he had a radio program and each day when it came to a close he would say quote be good to everyone because everyone is having a tough time last but not least walk in humility stuck up people and arrogant people tend to suffer humiliating experiences brought on by the lord i'm sure at least one of you can say you've been humbled by god several times and so if you want to walk with god and you're walking in pride he's he's he's the bible says humble yourself before the lord if you don't he will and i i'm here to say you'd rather do it than he do it these humiliating experiences are designed to deflate our ego it only takes a small pinprick to deflate a huge balloon make sure your servant's towel is bigger than your ego if heaven's hero can become a common slave where do we get off being anything less so let me give you the greg hershberg version do the right thing love love and stay low guys the take-home message is this it does not matter how long we live what matters most is how we live you know the right thing to do i don't have to tell you you don't have to tell me you know if you're not operating in love it's totally misappropriated and the holy spirit will run away and you know it's always safe to stay low right the tallest tree gets hit with the lightning just stay low um it's amazing to be a child of god it is amazing to have somebody in your life that is so willing to forgive you and not only forgive you but say i don't know what you're talking about when you bring it up it's hard to embrace i know it's hard to believe guilt runs rampant in me but you've got to get into the word and realize this is god's word and if it says it do all you can to believe it how much love do you think god has for us the creator and the sustain of the universe when we sit and go ah we're not that good and he says stop you're my kid it's a terrible thing when god's telling you how much he loves you and you keep telling him what a bummer you are do we deserve it why does god do it because you're his and he loves you walk in that this weekend walk in the love of god walk in the forgiveness of god walk in the mercy of god and i bet if you walk in enough you'll share it with others and you'll show them who god really is that's the way to do it yeshua showed people who he was by the way he conducted himself you know we in the believing community focus on yeshua's death and resurrection i mean i'm in i'm in let's face it i'm in southern baptist land right this is this is not the bible belt this is the buckle and the southern baptist world is almost a stronghold on the cross okay i think it's unbelievably important guys but i let me just tell you i focus on yeshua's life i can't emulate his death he's not asked you to die for him he said i would die for you when did he ever ask you to do that he's asked you to live for him and the only way you can know how to do that is not in dreams and visions but in emulating his life of humility submission and compassion and when people see yeshua maybe they'll believe in yeshua because they do not care how much you know until they know how much you care draw near draw near draenei is used in the bible both in the old testament the new testament the word in the old testament obviously because the old testament was written in hebrew is and means to come near and enter into speaks about intimacy and um in the new testament the word is angidzo and it means to join one thing to another same idea so i just want you know whether it's in the old or the new the word is pretty much the same the idea behind the word is that god wants to be close to us and he wants us to be close to him but before we move forward with this little presentation if you will you have to ask yourself the all-important question and this is the question do i really want to be close to god because if you know you don't have to be close to god nobody can force you to be close to god but if you want to there's certain things you got to do there's just certain things you got to do and this is not my opinion it's just what the bible teaches and i i think most people want to be close to god that uh that are here if not all i think so i think so but but you know even if one person wants to be close to god i want to help you out today repentance now in the hebrew mindset repentance to shubha is not confession or apologies no all confession apologies will do is bring you to the door of repentance but it's not repentance people apologize all the time there's nothing behind it hey man i'm sorry or this is the worst kind of apology i didn't know you'd take it that way you just called me fat how am i supposed to take it so it's not confession it's not apologies it's not even turning around like the christian mindset it's turning around god makes u-turns right when's the last time you seen god driving anyway it's moving in a totally new direction just because i turn from something doesn't mean i'm going towards anything i could just turn and just stay neutral a lot of people are neutral well i don't do that but i don't do that either see if you if you know there's no moment frozen in time you're either moving closer to god or further away but you're not staying still we should make repentance a daily habit nobody would refute that right but yet right theoretically we'll agree right in theory amen amen we're so strong theoretically aren't we sin is the barrier in our relationship with god sin is the barrier our repentance must be heartfelt we're in no position to determine whether somebody else's repentance is legitimate but tears is a fairly good testimony when god touches your heart or tenderizes your heart or turns your heart usually your heart gets squeezed when god squeezes your heart tears come out of your eyes it's just the way it is people used to blush when they were ashamed remember some of my older folks remember now they are ashamed if they blush modesty has disappeared and a brazen generation with no fear of god before his eyes mocks its end we are so fond of being called tolerant and broad-minded that we wink at sin when we ought to weep at it let me repeat that we wink at sin when we ought to weep at it take a look at a verse psalm 51 17 king david speaks and you know this all too well my sacrifice to god is a broken spirit god you won't spurn a broken or a chastened heart here david says lord i am not depending on just rituals or ceremonies for forgiveness although you although although you instituted them right god did institute the levitical sacrificial system there were animal sacrifices correct but the animal sacrifices look to the worship of offering himself to god humbling his pride and stubbornness you were transferring you had a zelbach you had an innocent victim that paid the price but when you went to that brazen altar which was made of copper brass iron and and it was shiny when you put that animal on top of that altar guess whose face you saw in the mirror yeah they should have known it should have been them on that altar not the innocent animal the animal didn't do anything so it's supposed to humble our pride when we not feel oh not feel great now repentance it should be humbling so david said i come to you with a broken heart i present myself to you as a living sacrifice for i know you won't reject this broken heart that i bring you luke 5 32 yeshua says i have not come to call the righteous but rather to call sinners to turn to god from their sins the so-called righteous the religious people or just the religious leaders of their day which is no different than the religious leaders today i throw myself in the mix the so-called righteous were unwilling to confess their sins some christians forget some believers forget oh i used to be a sinner no no no no the great apostle paul didn't say i was the chief of sinners what'd he say huh interesting they were unwilling to confess their sins the religious leaders of yeshua's day consider themselves to be righteous like a lot of men of god do and you do that to them but you know what they do they allow it for years you guys built them up and put them on a pedestal and they thought well i'm pedestalized i have to act like it they're no different than you the same commandments that you're supposed to obey they're supposed to obey there's no more commandments for them except they should be a little bit more of a role model and be honest with their sinfulness and so should the body of messiah for that matter they had no deep sense of sin or of need that's why he couldn't perform how could the messiah not be able to perform miracles in nazareth because they didn't need it they just didn't need it we're good remember remember the church of laodicea we're good we got this thing and what did he say you're wretched you're pitiful you're poor and you're blind you would hate to hear that from god won't you see the bible's black and white but since living in the religious community that's here i've met a lot of gray you know how you get gray you mix black and white together and you know what you can do with gray nothing it's drab gray skies drab you can't do nothing with a lukewarm person you know why because they never realize that lukewarm a hot person knows when they're hot a cold person knows when they're cold hot people can be used cold people can be warmed up lukewarm you got nothing to do with it and they don't know they don't know he was speaking to believers in a church at laodicea and they said what good we got this thing but the tax collectors and the prostitutes the cold ones they were the ones who realized they were sinners and needed deliverance from their sins it was for people like that that the savior came in all actuality the religious leaders were not so righteous and they needed to be saved as much as the tax collectors did but they were unwilling to confess their sins and acknowledge their guilt and move in a new direction luke 9 23 this is challenging but i didn't say it then to everyone he said if anyone wants to come after me if anyone wants to be a follower not do great things just follow just call you use the term christian i don't really use that term but use the term christian because it's very ambiguous to me i don't know what that means anymore okay and the term wasn't used for 10 years in the believing community at the beginning but it's okay if you call yourself a christian hopefully that means you follow the messiah that's what he's saying if you want to follow me this is right out of the gate this is the beginning of your walk with him if you want to follow me you got to say no to himself he's going to say no take up his execution state daily and keep following me keep following me present progressive okay taking up the execution stake means to deliberately choose to deliberately choose to be intentional the kind of life that yeshua lived okay now why is the health and wealth gospel so so impressive why did somebody use some of you fell for it why there's seven billion people in the world that wants to be healthy and wealthy there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself kind of there's nothing wrong i promote good i think it's good that you should take care of your tabernacle it says physical training is of some importance comma spiritual training is of greater importance so some people have it the opposite physical training is of greater importance and spiritual training is of some importance they got it backwards that's the issue the issue isn't to eat smart and exercise that's not the issue of course god wants that for us the issue is when you make that a god that's the issue let me tell you how yeshua lived one complete dependence on god he was submitted submitted to god he only did what the lord told them to do obedience to the leading of the holy spirit he didn't have a mind of his own he chose not to use it suffering for righteousness sake pouring out one's life for others hello death to self and to the world the world had no hold on him the world had no attraction for him the world has its own literature it's all movies its own books its own ways forsaking family and house and lands and the comforts of this life accepting slander and shame as well as a pathway of loneliness we just sung a song in other words yeshua gave up control i give you control god so many people are control freaks we just sung the song that's what this is saying taking up your execution saying whatever you want lord whatever you want living a life that will lead to rejection you check me in on this if you have nothing better to do spend a couple of weeks you'll find out that yeshua said 1800 sentences 1200 really because their synoptic gospels and 25 percent of everything he said i shared this with john yesterday at lunch 25 percent of everything he said that means one out of four words that came out of his mouth was about rejection that you will be rejected for following me it's called the law of ejection in some theological circles we instinctively recoil from a life of cross-bearing we like the sunny uplands our minds are reluctant to believe that this could be god's will for us how could this be a will for me i'm not doing well according to who i told you people ask me how you doing i say great they go oh you're healed oh spiritually i'm doing great oh you meant how am i doing physically is that all is all you care about yeshua says if anyone wants to come after me that means nobody's excused and nobody's an exception this isn't just for the elite or the strong or the on fire this is for the nominal believer did you notice that the gospel in luke which i kind of like this one because it it it deals with him being a perfect man if you will and it deals with all humanity he says if anyone wants to come after me let him say know himself take up his execution stake daily doesn't say that in the other gospels daily so if we're to take up our execution state daily and none of us take it up daily then shouldn't we repent daily which is my point when we started talking about repentance on a side note on a side note is it all right to get angry with god blame god or question god what are the hit people tell you today from the pulpits god understands did did you talk to god and he he told you that he understands show me a chapter and verse where it says that god i'll be talking for at least another 30 35 minutes go through the bible show me first of all first of all i think sometimes we operate under the false impression that life should be easy and god should prevent tragedy from happening to us isn't that you isn't that the way we think come on i'm talking human thinking i'm not talking spiritual thinking and i'm not talking theoretical thinking come on be honest if you're not going to be honest then i'm not going to be honest i don't care if you're not honest i'm going to be honest but the bible tells us differently look what job says this is the most righteous man that ever lived a human being born from a woman that means every single human being right just to let you know you've all born from a woman i just don't want any letters no rabbi a human being he's he's talking about every single solitary human being that's ever lived lives a short trouble-filled life no rabbi my life's been great well maybe you've made it that way maybe you've made it nice and cushiony but i guarantee you if you've cushioned your life you're not walking with the lord strong no way you think you are you think you've surrendered you love the lord if your life is cushioned and all is going well something's wrong satan doesn't feel your attack really in reality i think we need to repent of our anger and our blame in our questions towards god is there a biblical president not president precedent i'm sorry sometimes my my addiction is very bad i'm a dsms and those guys sorry dramatically i'm incorrect but then again politically i'm incorrect too so i don't mind take a look at the next verse from job there's a guy who stood up he's then illinois answered out of the storm remember this job did great for 37 chapters now most of you would have broke in chapter one admit it admit it and there's good reason i mean look this was the most righteous man that i've lived of course satan's going to come after him and challenge him he doesn't challenge us like this because we couldn't do this 10 kids ten ten health a knucklehead of a wife who says you know all your worshiping god didn't work out curse god and die wow thanks for the encouragement sweetheart what a help mate so he questions god he breaks he took him 37 chapters very impressive very very unbelievably impressive but he broke right every man has a breaking point that's the point and what does god say i would have thought when i read the story like if i were god i would have been like wow 37 chapters this guy's amazing let me go down and comfort him right because that's what we're taught just god is love and wants to make you feel good and so this is what this god of love says who is this darkening my plans with his ignorant words do those love preachers take this out of the bible stand up like a man you got a big mouth you got a big mouth back it up reminds me of my old days stand up like brace yourself i'm coming yikes brace yourself i'm coming you've been asking a lot of questions i've got some for you where were you when i laid the foundations of the earth do you know how i made the seas go just so far do you know the gestation period of a goat do you know where i store the frost and the snow can you put a hook in leviathan's mouth did you hang pleiades in orion's place when you summon lightning does it come to your feet and say here we are and what does job say at the end i heard about you with the hearing of my ears meaning you know rabbi greg yeah i know him you don't know me some of you know me because you've spent countless hours with me travel with me spend countless hours my wife my kids know me some of you know me you don't know me job's saying i heard about you with the hearing of my ears but now i see who you are forgive my ignorance and he put on sackcloth and ash's hand repented pretty good stuff huh you can only do that before a great god you can only do that before the only one and true god is this easy no rabbi i'm going through it so am i you don't understand yes i do rabbi it's not easy i'm with you sometimes i fall me too i have some good days rabbi where i'm on and then something happens like an uninvited guest and it just comes in my head and i get all distraught and all messed up and anxious me too anybody with is anybody human here is anybody human being are you going to act churchy we need to listen when god speaks we need to listen when god speaks first of all we have to ask ourselves is god still speaking today well of course he is look at beth yeshua israel india kenya germany australia ethiopia pulaski what about nevi mikhail alay karine orr what about these places i mean this is an ultra orthodox place in israel who wouldn't give me the time of day i'm performing a spiritual holocaust right i'm taking jewish people and turning them into christians there's no way i'd want a jew to become a christian i wanted you to become a jew and praise king jew the messiah of israel and become jewish become a praiser of god you're jewish by the way you obey and praise the lord all this was his doing here this is all his doing guys i mean it's it's unbelievable if you don't see it but there are times when god appears and i say appears to be silent in the days of the judges israel's judges there was no king in israel and sadly enough the people did what was right in their own eyes which means laodicea people ruling so we got most of the churches people ruling so we got in the churches we got a committee of guys who aren't necessarily that close to god they're not fasting they're not praying they're not seeking the lord but they're deacons or elders or whatever the heck they are because they're influential and then they tell the pastor what he should do and when the pastor doesn't do what he wants to do what do they do run them out and run him off really good right well he's got kids or anything who cares who cares we need somebody who's going to do what we tell them to do anybody know what i'm talking about yeah well don't worry about that here israel people did what was writing their own eyes samuel was the last of the judges and god raised enough to inaugurate the era of the kings his heart was pure and his heart was devoted as opposed to eli who was an aaronic priest whose heart was polluted and disobedient look at first samuel three one through three i don't know under eli's direction now in those days i know i really spoke and visions were few once during that period eli had gone to bed his eyes had begun to grow dim so that it was hard for him to see the lamp of god had not yet gone out and schmoyel had laid down to sleep in the sanctuary of honolulu where the ark of god was so at this time samuel's serving the lord in his tabernacle in shiloh and the word of god was rare that's what it says right but the verses to me have rich symbolism i i think they depict the spiritual climate of of the time in israel night rained night's not good god's got a light the lamp of god was going out in the temple thank god the smoldering wick he won't snuff out the high priest's eyes had grown dim he didn't have a vision so you can barely see and he went to sleep and it says visions were few now what are visions i meet people all the time they say i see a lot of visions what do you think they mean they're seers they're watchmen you know how sometimes they do this with their eyebrows i met a lot of people like that around the world i go all around the world and they do that and i go what's do you have a do you have an eye disorder but this is supposed to make them more you know look at look at the word vision so you know what he's talking about okay zone in the hebrew it's a divine communication it's a divine community it doesn't mean something you see in an open or closed vision it's a divine it's a communication from god we said we need to listen to god we need to listen speak look what proverbs 29 18 says you know this scripture without a prophetic vision so we need a visionary no no we don't need a visionary ask me rabbi are you a visionary ask me absolutely not i have no vision at all none i have no vision my vision is to do what god tells me to do whatever that might be you think god told me to go to ethiopia through a movie i mean and i went like you got to be a knucklehead to watch a movie and think you heard god and just go and then a few months later have three vibrant congregations and wells being dug you gotta be a little nuts without a prophetic vision the people throw of all restraint but he who keeps torah is happy some of your versions that you read it says law this anonymous okay what's this word vision is it the same in first table three one yes hazon divine communication what's the torah let's see what it means divine instruction so god gives us communication to instruct us that's what divine communication is he had the prophetic vision that he's speaking about is synonymous with the word of god the thought here is that when god's word is not known and not honored the people run wild however the ones who obey the torah aka the law aka the word of god are the truly blessed ones great apostle peter says let's defer to him second peter 1 19. yes we have the prophetic word made very certain you will do well to pay attention to it it was something we needed to hear he would say we have it a shining light in the dark murky place until the day dawns in the morning star what the day doing until messiah comes again until messiah comes again believers are admonished peter is admonishing the believers to pay strict attention to the certainty of the word of god this that people aren't reading anymore we should always keep it before us so if we want to grow closer to god it is imperative that we read his word regularly not once in a blue moon not verse of the day which will in turn if we do read it regularly you know what's going to happen it's going to bring us right back to number one repentance because it's going to show us that we are off and we're going to go right back and get on then we read it get off then we get on and that's the way it works a story is told of a devout father whose son was studying for the ministry the son chose to go to europe for an advanced degree and the father worried he would be spoiled of his simple faith by sophisticated unbelieving professors anybody know what i'm talking about yes every time your kid goes off to college those colleges are filled with the most liberal antichrist people you've ever met in your life rabbi that's horrible i know a professor he's a devout believer he's the anomaly he's the exception i don't live by exceptions i live by the rules and that's why 85 percent pew research tells us 85 percent of our children who are in youth groups every wednesday every wednesday and in church every sunday fall away from the faith because they were never rooted in it in the first place and they were able to take them away on the college campus well this father was worried about the same thing so he says don't let them take jonah away from you he admonished figuring the swallowed by a great fish story might be the first of the bible to go two years later when the sun returned the father asked do you still have jonah in your bible the son laughs jonah the story isn't even in your bible it certainly is what do you mean the old man fumbled through his bible looking for the book of jonah but he couldn't find it at last he checked the table of contents for the proper page when he turned there he discovered that the three pages comprising jonah had been carefully cut from his bible i did it before i went away said the son what's the difference whether i lose the book of jonah through pseudo-sophistication or you lose it through neglect this is not an amulet either is the fish on the back of the car the cross on your neck it's not a rabbit's foot you're gonna rub it in you're close to god if you see a bible that is falling apart it probably belongs to somebody who isn't three we need to speak to god more we need to be more conversant with god take a look at the model prayer 6 9-13 in matthew you therefore pray like this okay our father in heaven may your name be kept holy may your kingdom come you will be done on earth as in heaven you know this probably by rote because you've said it eight million times okay yeshua gives his disciples an example to follow in praying not necessarily to say this because we know we're not supposed to say wrote words repeated over and over again it says so right in matthew 6. so he gives us a model that we should pattern our prayers this is a model the three first three petitions are directed towards god the last three are requests made after the first three now i don't want to even deal with the last three because they're just requests let's start with the first three okay matthew 6 9. you therefore pray like this our father first of all it doesn't say our yeshua now my kids were raised with the bible they weren't raised with my ideology i taught them the bible so when they used to go to youth groups and they used to not youth groups vacation bible schools i remember they come home daddy they pray to jesus dear jesus dear jesus jesus said to pray to the father now you might say is this is this horrendous it's not her heresy it's just not the way he told you to pray he's come to reconcile you to not him to the he said so i've come to reconcile you to the father so if you ask the average christian why do you pray in jesus name they won't know they don't know they're like i don't know nobody asked nobody ever asked me nobody have asked so why do you you pray to the father and at the end of the prayer you say in yeshua's name because you're acknowledging that you wouldn't have the relationship with the father if not for what yeshua did you just that's what you're saying and you shoot his name that you're saying it's not just some road thing that's what you're declaring our father prayer should be addressed to god the father in acknowledgment of his sovereignty over the universe and his unquestioning supreme power and authority now we have to be careful with the aramaic abba is abba right yes is daddy right no now a lot of the ministries now they want they want you called god he's my daddy he's my and jesus says a lot of women don't have husbands or have a bad husband and jesus becomes their lover and god becomes their daddy very emotional not biblical emotional not biblical you'll hear it you'll hear in some of the songs i'm not going to mention the ministries but you have to be careful people say what are you so uptight about the songs because if i put a song up there and because we obey the law and we pay our christian licensing right you're going to see that song from that ministry and then you might be here the first time go oh rabbi greg's okay with that ministry i am not okay with that ministry the song might be good but not the ministry so i've got to be ultra careful because i'm responsible everything i put out there you understand some people almost sing songs like they're having intercourse with the lord when you start calling god daddy i had a daddy that i so respected and if i didn't done deal but he loved me no question about his love he's dead 46 years i miss him like it was yesterday but i called him daddy you start getting familiar with god you're gonna get caught up with familiar spirits and it breeds irreverence and contempt just my opinion if you don't agree with it it's okay i'm not here to sway you this is just what the bible says it's all right to call god abba but calling him daddy can lead to familiarity rather through our father we are invited into this intimacy that yeshua had with his father your name is holy we should begin our prayers with worship you don't just jump in and say hey god heal me where's the worship this is a model prayer you skipped over the most important part ascribing praise and honor to him who is absolutely worthy of it in judaism we say avenue our father and our king our father and our king in the days of the kings and in monarchy if you showed your back to a king you lost your head how much more should we respect the king of kings matthew 6 10 your kingdom come your kingdom come i haven't asked him for anything yet i just went through a worship session now i'm going to make a declaration after worship we should pray for the advancement of his cause you just jump right in tell them what you want he knows what you need before you ask why don't you ask him what he needs we acknowledge that god knows what's best so we surrender to his will it also expresses a longing to see his acknowledged his in him being acknowledged throughout the world on earth as it is in heaven this phrase modifies all the three preceding petitions the worship of god the sovereignty rule of god and the performance of his will are all a reality of heaven the worship of god is happening in heaven the sovereign rule of god is happening in heaven and the performance of his will is happening in heaven the prayers that these conditions might exist on earth on earth as they do in heaven it's not about going to heaven it's about bringing heaven to earth christians just want to go to heaven say a prayer go to heaven say pray go to heaven say your prayer go to heaven say pray go to heaven your prayer yeshua is saying this is the way you should pray bring heaven down make heaven a reality on earth

Channel: Getzel

Views: 9,496

Rating: 4.9662447 out of 5

Keywords: #Yeshu, #Jesus, #Discipleship, #DrawingClosertoGod, #RabbiGregHershberg, #Getzel

Id: M44Mw-SgLIU

Length: 77min 30sec (4650 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 23 2020