Pentecost - Speaking Boldly with Confidence

hallelujah thank you lord thank you lord you know i if you've been tracking with us for a while and i want to welcome our live stream audience that's joining us right now from a lot of different places and may god's presence be with you we've had a great time here we did some different things and so you're joining us at this time we're going to light the candles here in just a minute so we encourage you and your homes to to stand with us as we recite the liturgy over our our candles today but if you've been tracking with us for the last uh couple months i think you've noticed that there's some you know a rise in songs about the name of god that yahweh the name of our god is just being exalted in a lot of different groups in christianity people are connecting and beginning to understand that the revelation of his name is just overwhelming you know the psalmist cried out if the nations knew your name they would trust in you and they weren't talking about the pronunciation of the name they were talking about the meaning of the name because the meaning of the name conveys the idea that our eternally present god is a god of compassion and loving kindness and mercy and truth quick to forgive slow to anger and the psalmist said if the nations knew that they'd rush in and so there's a lot of songs being lifted up in a lot of different groups that are on that cutting edge and and they're just using the name of god and and it's interesting yeshua has really gained a lot of popularity due to the passion of christ and now the chosen and it's just gaining this traction as well it's really such a powerful thing to kind of see the hebrew roots the the roots of our faith come alive in some of the hottest music out there the new worship music that's being presented and you can sense the spirit of god in that it's amazing without losing the translation of his name jesus and and and jesus doesn't come from zeus so you can look up in the greek look up the the name zeus and the greek and look up the name uh um jesus in the greek and you'll see that jesus comes from joshua is the transliteration of joshua as it comes through the latin the greek and into english and then zeus is not connected to that just because it sounds like that doesn't mean they're derived from one from from another and so but but seeing this progression of of the name of god into our languages so that jesus is exalted around the world is just amazing in every way and i just uh i just really love all this new music that's coming out and i you know i can't say enough about the chosen i don't believe in mandates and if i was in the government um and i wanted to mandate if i wanted to abuse my power and mandate something that shouldn't be mandated one of the mandates i would do is i'd mandate every christian to sit and watch the chosen i'd make them watch the chosen yeah because it's time that the church wakes up to the jewish jesus the line of the tribe of judah that they would wake up they're grafted into israel they don't replace her they participate with her that they'd come home to their roots and begin to walk in the framework of the covenants that that that's what i would try to mandate but mandates don't work so okay we're way off track so let's go ahead and get back to our liturgy and the candles today so continue standing with me blessed are you yahweh our god ruler of the universe who sanctified us by your commandments and justified us through the blood atonement of yeshua hamashiach and gave us yeshua our messiah the light of the world father in commemoration of creation and recreation through yeshua the light of the world we bless the menorah an ancient symbol of your presence among us blessed are you yahweh our god king of the universe who sanctified us by your commandments and justified us through the blood atonement of yeshua hamashiach and commanded us to be a light for the nation's amen and it was evening and it was morning the sixth day that's the heavens and the earth and all they contained were completed and by the seventh day god had finished the work which he had been doing and so god ceased from all of his work then god blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it he ceased from all the work of his creation blessed are you yahweh our god ruler of the universe who sanctified us by your commandments has taken pleasure in us and in love and favor you have caused us to inherit the holy shabbat in remembrance of creation a day which marks the beginnings of our holy gatherings from egypt even our own egypts from sin and shame for you have chosen us and forgiven us of our sins through the blood atonement of yeshua hamashiach and in love and favor have caused us to inherit the shabbat for rest and refreshing shema hear o israel yahweh is our god yahweh is one and you shall love yahweh your god with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your might and you shall love your neighbor as yourself and these words which i'm commanding you today shall be on your heart and you shall teach them diligently to your children shall talk of them as you sit in your house when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they should be as frontals on your forehead and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates and when you walk about they will guide you and when you sleep they will watch over you and when you awake they will talk to you for the commandment is a lamp and the torah is a light and reproofs for discipline are the way of life oh man we would like to invite parents with children for a parental blessing hey let's start with our daughters may yahweh bless you like sarah and rebecca rachel and leah and miriam the mother of yeshua and may you find favor in the eyes of yahweh all the days of your life and for our sons yahweh bless you like ephraim amanasa and may you find favor in the eyes of yahweh all the days of your life and now for one another in the whole congregation may yahweh bless you and keep you may yahweh make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you yahweh lift his countenance upon you and give you peace in the name of the prince of peace yeshua our messiah now please take a few moments to pray amongst yourselves uh children do not leave please stay inside children all right we're doing things a little bit different and that's why pastor mark came up uh we're gonna start doing announcements before we dismiss kiddos so that parents can hear the announcements there's some feedback that we heard from you uh so for announcements my only announcement of today and it's a great one is tomorrow is shavuot yeah it's what we've been counting the omar for we've been super excited so you can join us tomorrow may 23rd at 5 30 p.m in the fellowship hall we will have an evening of food games fellowship and teaching as we celebrate this convocation we will be grilling out kosher hot dogs vegan options will be available and those will be available while supplies last we have a number of volunteers who are coming for setup and help serve but we do need a few more volunteers who will help us break down so if that's something that you can do please let me know today that would be super helpful um so we hope to see all of you there and that we get to celebrate with you um at this time children are dismissed for torah time if your kids are between the ages of three and ten tour time is for them kiddos ages three through six their classroom is going to be below us so you're going to go down both sets of stairs their classroom is going to be in the preschool room on the right and if your kiddos between the ages of 7 and 10 their classroom is going to be down the first set of stairs and then down the hallway into the fellowship hall at this time please stand and greet one another so few so so so okay thank you so much everyone and uh go ahead and find your seats please we're about ready to start our service and you can continue to schmooze after the service so thank you once again and please find your seats okay great at this time we're going to take up the lord's tithe and our offerings so if you need an envelope for cash giving raise your hands the ushers will get you an envelope if you're writing a check you don't need an envelope just write it out to the harvest if you're giving on your smartphone thank you and for those that are watching via live stream there's a link in the description below you can click on that and you can donate on our website via that link thank you so much all right all right how many people have seen the chosen okay looks like about 50 maybe maybe 50 okay yeah it's great it's just amazing i remember sitting and watching for my first time and i was just overwhelmed um with how many times in the in the series the story surrounds the shabbat and jesus taking time out to observe the shabbat in the whole community that followed him observing the shabbat lighting the candles eating a meal going to synagogue you know it's just like i thought wow this is so refreshing it's just amazing as we watch that you know as messianic jews and as messianic gentiles this is who we are this is what frames our walk we are the ones who love yeshua and are loyal to the commandments of god that's what it means to be a disciple to exalt jesus as your lord and savior and then walk in the commandments of god just as he did that's what we do do you know that one of those commandments is is regarding the weekly worship day remember the sabbath to keep it holy the sabbath isn't just a rest day it's not just a rest day it's a holy gathering day god commands us to gather together corporately for fellowship for unity for instruction for worship so that we rest and we assemble together at the appointed times this is why we don't do weddings on shabbat we don't schedule weddings on shabbat we don't miss shabbat service in order to go to a wedding why we're the followers of messiah we're loyal to the commandments of god we don't do funerals on on the shabbat nor do we miss our shabbat services in order to go to a funeral why because jesus is our lord and savior we follow him we're loyal to his ways when my dad died and we have a huge family clan that's really super tight you know their big value is family so it's it's a it's a big tight family group my dad passed away my mom and dad devout catholics our our clan almost all of them devout catholics they knew because i made it known not in an arrogant way at all but i made it known if that funeral is on saturday i will not be there nor will my family they didn't put it on the sabbath i was so grateful i was so glad that would have been painful but i'm going to put the commandments of god before my spouse and before my family jesus is far above our families and our friends don's mother passed away we did not put that funeral on on on saturday that's one of the big days that the church will schedule we didn't do that and that put somewhat of a burden on all of the family who have no allegiance to the commandments of god but we did that because jesus is more important than our family he's our lord he's our savior there's a cost a price in following jesus the same is cr is true for graduations right we don't miss shabbat service to go to a graduation what are we thinking we don't do that we're loyal to the commandments of god i mean fill in the blank we don't miss shabbat for anything except those few exceptions where life is at stake why because we love yeshua and that translates that love for yeshua translates into loyalty to god's commandments including the fourth commandment the shabbat in fact our shabbat observance measures the strength of our devotion to the king of kings and lord of lords now i know some of you are new and i'm saying hey it's not about where you're at in your walk it's about what direction you're going and if you're new and you're just looking at the sabbath and you never understood it just free passes to you you're going in the right direction we applaud that but if you're going the wrong direction you know the truth but you're compromising on it we call you to attention repent and return it's pentecost when god made us his people gave us his law wrote it on our hearts and empowered us by the holy spirit to walk in his ways in country distinction to the culture around us that's what we do that's who we are and that's why i like the chosen i love it i'm going to buy the dvd sets this is one of my favorite pastimes now on ref shabbat is to watch an episode of the chosen sub very excited about that let's go ahead and pray over our offering and tithe today father we love you we bless you and we just rest in you your grace represented symbolized in the shabbat as we worship your son as we fall at his feet as we're filled with your holy spirit we thank you and we give back to you that which is yours and a part of our own we love you and bless you in yeshua's mighty name amen you may serve the people hallelujah baruch hashem blessed be the name thank you lord all right yeah i just want to remind everyone too that uh as i as i was just worshiping here i was reminded uh by the spirit of god to remind us that the festivals are appointed times too the festivals are appointed times for holy convocations so ours is tomorrow pentecost 50th day sunday pentecost sunday don't miss it for anything hallelujah you're not going to want to miss it it's who we are praise god okay our prayer shop for this week is nassau translated make an accounting it's found in numbers chapter 4 verse 21 through chapter 7 and verse 89. we'll be reading a portion of the portion turn with me to numbers chapter 6 and we'll be reading verses 1 through 12. and i would like to ask sheree chandler to come forward at this time to lead us in the blessing over the torah portion our reader today will be megan cameron please rise for the blessing over the torah let's begin with the opening blessing for the torah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] bless yahweh the blessed one blessed is yahweh blessed one for all eternity blessed are you yahweh our god king of the universe who selected us from all peoples and gave us your torah are you yahweh giver of the torah amen please extend your right hand of blessing to the one who has come up to honor yahuweh he who has blessed our fathers avraham yitzhak and yaakov may he bless megan cameron who has come up to honor yahweh in the torah of moshe may the holy one bless her and her family and send blessing and prosperity on all the work of her hands numbers 6 1-12 and the lord spoke to moses saying speak to the people of israel and say to them when either a man or a woman makes a special vow the vow of a nazarite to separate himself to the lord he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink he shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes fresh or dried all the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine not even the seeds or the skins all the days of his vow of separation no razor shall touch his head until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the lord he shall be holy he shall let the locks of his hair of his head grow long all the days that he separates himself to the lord he shall not go near a dead body not even for his father or for his mother for brother or sister if they die shall he make himself unclean because his separation to god is on his head all the days of his separation he is holy to the lord and if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing on the seventh day he shall shave it on the eighth day he shall bring two turtle doves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting and the priest shall offer one for his sin offering and the other for a burnt offering and make atonement for him because he sinned by reason of the dead body and he shall consecrate his head that same day and separate himself to the lord for the days of his separation and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering but the previous period shall be void because his separation was defiled let's end with a closing blessing for the torah baruch [Music] hey [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] blessed are you yahweh our god king of the universe who gave us the torah of truth and implanted eternal life within us blessed are you yahweh giver of the torah i'm in [Music] well as pastor mark said and also is um our uh torah portion for the week and um it's in the chapter on preparations to enter the promised land which seems pretty appropriate in the season that we're in uh chapters four five and six and seven uh continues the numbering of the levitical tribes chapter five talks about uh the importance of keeping the tabernacle pure and not richly defiled uh also talks about the law of jealousy it's fairly well known but also commonly misunderstood the law of jealousy actually was designed to protect innocent women from false accusations back in those days a husband could divorce a wife but a wife could not divorce a husband so when the husband sometimes was ready to to trade in his wife for a new model all he had to do is just say she'd committed adultery so this put in operation a way to protect the women from false accusations regarding adultery and preserve their place in the marriage number six describes the has the aaronic blessing the portion that megan read and number seven just highlights the ways that um israel supported uh the function of the pre of the uh tabernacle services uh 12-day period each chief of each tribe brought the same sacrifice it was for kohath morari and um i'm black gershom and um so the nazarite viru vowel is a vowel separation and that's what nazar means it's talking about separation this was from our portion of the portion uh the um it was it really expressed a heightened desire to um to serve a heightened desire to be identified with god's redemptive purposes and uh as megan read it was an abstinence from alcohol grapes any fruit of the vine any strong drink it was um avoidance with any corpse contamination and not and then the nazarite who um made the vow could not cut his hair the hair was uh remained uncut during the vowel so what happened is they would typically shave their head at the beginning of the vowel and then they would their hair would grow throughout the vowel generally the shortest was a month the longest was there was no maximum and so to the community the length of hair kind of signified the length of the vowel and at the conclusion of the vowel they shaved the head the hair was burned as part of the sacrifice uh and and the um the patient and not the patient the client or the nazerite continued um had them was bald as kind of a symbolic of a new meeting uh hair was viewed as kind of a source of vitality uh and life in those days because it was known that hair grew um after death and uh so the um nazarite valve paralleled the uh priestly um vowels and it was it was open to anybody men women didn't have to be from you you could be from any tribe so it was it was like an invitation for any member of israel to step up to the same degree of ritual purity uh that the priesthood they couldn't participate in the tabernacle services but they they lived at that level uh and the the um prohibitions of the nazarite were stricter than anybody but the high priest and in uh in terms of the functioning of the temple um it was kind of the layman's response to the priesthood there were three in the bible who were lifelong nazarites samson's samuel and john the baptist but this section dealt with primarily just the the temporary during the temple days you could make a vow a nazarite vow outside the land but when you came back in the land to complete it you had to do it again and that was the the pattern we see that in paul the life of paul in acts 18 where um he um it says in centria he had his hair cut for he was keeping a vow and then in acts 21 see what happened is the the emerging church in jerusalem was under the impression that paul was jettisoning the torah and that wasn't the case and so when he got there the church leaders said do this we have four men who are under a vow take them and purify yourselves along with them and pay their expenses so they may shave their heads and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have told you but that you yourself walk orderly keeping the law paul did that and it was a nazirite vow that he was participating and um the the sages discouraged nazarite valves one because they they were sometimes misunderstood in in the emerging of asceticism in the third and fourth centuries uh but also because once the temple was destroyed they could not complete the vow so the thinking was why start something you can't finish so today what do we do today if you look at roman paul he said present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy acceptable which is your spiritual service of worship do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind remember um when i deliver i gave the message several weeks ago and pastor mark has been says this just regularly our calling is fairly simple it's to commune with yeshua and to commune with his people now when we obey that calling then other things open up for us you know the specifics of our vocation how our unique gifts are expressed and things of that sort and um so what we do now is we make ourselves available yielding uh yielded to him consecrated to him yeshua in john 7 said that if any man is willing to do his will he shall know of the teaching so a willingness to do the will of god is what the nazarite vow it was a consecration and i remember one time i was um a young physician i was a flight surgeon and i determined it was time for me to go on to further training i was looking into moving in different places but i was in the work daily and i was in community communion with god's people on a regular basis so i had breakfast we were involved in the singles ministry had breakfast with this group and uh and this guy shared a verse uh from across the table he didn't know anything as to what i was thinking but that verse stopped me in my tracks and i quit looking i stayed put and within a year i met nancy and probably within two years we were married and the time of change came but i think what happened was i was in communion with god i was in communion with his people and i got the direction i needed in the context of that it was a surprise direction it didn't happen in the way i thought so there is a call here in these days to draw near to god's ways and the way we do that is we draw near to him we draw near to his people and um and and participate in corporate worship uh and uh we do this together as part of our calling part of our evidence for consecration pastor mark please stand for the blessing over the counting of the omer barukhita adonai eloheinu malaka olam ashira kidashanu bemitzvitav that's evanu al-shafarat ha omer blessed art thou lord our god king of the universe who has sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us concerning the counting of the omer today is the seventh day of the seventh week of seven weeks today is the 49th day of the counting of 50 days from the day of the waving of the omar on the morrow after the sabbath today is sabbath the seventh sabbath of seven sabbaths today completes the seventh week of seven weeks and now to the one seated on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and power forever and ever amen again welcome to the harvest just one left is that beautiful that is just beautiful i love that one day away and it's shavuot so today i want to speak on shavuot pentecost i've entitled it pentecost speaking boldly with confidence nearly 2 000 years ago the second and greater pentecost ignited a fire in the heart of believers that resulted in a confidence to speak truth boldly like never before as we fill ourselves with the holy spirit we too will find the courage and boldness to speak the truth in love the world will lash out at us in a baseless hatred well many will respond and be saved this is the way it's always been and will continue to be until yeshua returns so let's memorialize pentecost this year by being filled with the power of the holy spirit as we join yeshua in advancing his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven this is our heritage this is our legacy tomorrow's pentecost celebration memorializes that which took place two thousand years ago a reminder to be filled daily with the holy spirit we're to be filled up every day paul makes it clear to be filled up over and over and over with the holy spirit to wake up in the morning praising god and asking the holy spirit to fill us with power so that we can be god's witness in the world that we live in it's a memorial to the outport spirit the giving of the law becoming god's people the giving of the law and the output spirits this is exciting in every way because really it's our legacy it's ours every generation is the recipient of this heritage leaving a legacy legacy for the following generation to come so let's recap last week we were in acts chapter 2 looking at the second and greater pentecost i just want to pick that up to give us a frame of reference for what i want to speak on today acts chapter 2 14-16 the event has already taken place uh the the great rushing wind all the phenomenon of languages of fire the ecstatic joy of the disciples and everyone gathering and hearing in their own hearing what they were saying to the lord just amazing other people said nah they're drunk those are the followers of yeshua from nazareth right they're just drunk verse 14 but peter taking the stand with the eleven raised his voice and declared to them men of judea and all who live in jerusalem let this be known to you and give heed to my words for these men are not drunk as you suppose for it is only the third hour of the day but this is what was spoken of through the prophet joel then he quotes joel and it shall be in the last days god says that i will pour forth of my spirit on all mankind and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men will dream dreams even on my bond slaves both men and women i will in those days pour forth of my spirit and they shall prophesy this is the promise fulfilled at pentecost that god would pour out his spirit not just on jews but jews and gentiles on every one that would respond to the gospel god said i'm going to pour out my spirit it's a new era the last days of the law and the prophets it was transpiring before their very eyes the end of an era was was was right there on the precipice they were transitioning into the new covenants the new and greater moses yeshua the messiah the new and greater passover and now the new and greater pentecost and god said the earmarks of that would be this that everyone would know me everyone who believes my son would have a personal relationship with me and they would have my spirit in them along with the torah written on their hearts this is the meaning of the second and greater pentecost now there's a really striking passage that follows verse 19. it's often just overlooked or set aside because it just doesn't fit the narrative that we want but it goes on to say and i will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below blood fire and vapor of smoke the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the lord shall come what's that all about right wonders in the sky above signs on the earth below blood fire and smoke the sun being turned to darkness and the moon into blood what is this all about it's the end of an era it's an end of an age is the transition from the law and the prophets to the era of messiah this is a new beginning in so many ways the spirit of god is going to break forth just like it says in malachi and god's going to be worshiped all over the planet it's no longer confined to jerusalem something big is taking place something imminent in their day the hearers of these words in their day they were the ones put on notice to something huge is happening some major global event is transpiring before their very eyes it's the last days the days of the prophets and the torah coming to an end giving way to the era of messiah in fact let me read this okay when we look at wonders in the sky above when you think of the sky the greek word here is not just in reference to the sun and the moon and in the stars in their places in the sky it's also a reference to heaven the realm of heaven some translations actually use the word heaven instead of sky now i want you to keep this in mind as we look at these signs and wonders were there signs and wonders were there great signs and wonders that took place when yeshua walked the earth yeah what about those signs and wonders do they fit the season of acts chapter 2 keep in mind 50 days earlier they're at pentecost what was 50 days earlier the passover where the son of god came as the lamb of god and gave up his life in a bloody scourging and sacrifice the heavens shook and the earth trembled let me read some of these accounts this is from matthew chapter 27 45-53 jesus is on the cross matthew writes now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour darkness for three hours jerusalem was covered in darkness the the the judea that whole area in darkness the sun it says in i'm going to grant signs and wonders right and all of a sudden we have this darkness for three hours right in the midst of jesus on the cross and keep in mind he splattered in his own blood it was a bloody sacrifice his blood being poured out for us jesus cried out at the ninth hour with a loud voice saying saying eli eli lama uh sabachthani that is my god my god why have you forsaken me and some of those who were standing there when they heard it began saying this man is calling for elijah immediately one of them ran and taking a sponge he filled it with sour wine and put a reed put it on a reed and gave him a drink but the rest of them said let's see whether elijah will come and save him then jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit and behold the veil of the temple was torn into from top to bottom the veil in the temple that protected the holy of holies was so heavy it took many men just to hang it just to carry it it was so heavy so thick it's not you no one's going to go tear that what do you think it's going to take to tear that size of a curtain it has to be some pretty big natural phenomenon to result in that being torn right but it said it was torn from from the top to the bottom and the earth shook we call that an earthquake there was an earthquake it shook and rocks were split the tombs were open and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many this is the prophet joel these are the last days that he spoke of we've got earthquake we've got the sun going dark we've got the son of of god in his own blood on a cross what we see written in acts 2 has already transpired over the last 50 days that's why peter's saying what joel spoke about it's happening open your eyes even people race from the dead walking around this is a huge event the transition from one era to another now the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over jesus when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening became very frightened said truly this was the son of god in matthew 28 i read verses one through seven just shortly after this event says now after the sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week mary magdalene and the other mary came to look at the grave and behold a severe earthquake not not a small one a severe earthquake had occurred yeah one one occurred just earlier on friday can you imagine all that's going on in the hearts of mind of the people they're thinking man this is the end of the world and then here we are sunday morning huge severe earthquake it's happening again for an angel with the lord from descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat on it and his appearance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men they passed out they were so overwhelmed they passed out or they faked it which is also a good thing to do when you think your get your lives gonna end but either way they became like dead men the angel said to the women do not be afraid for i know that you were looking for jesus who has been crucified he's not here for he has arisen just as he said come and see the place where he was lying go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold he is going ahead of you into galilee and you will see him behold i have told you and then we even have 10 days before pentecost the ascension of jesus another supernatural event witnessed by many people so in summary these words that peter sang quoting joel and peter saying hey it's here it's happening the last days are breaking forth yeah blood fire smoke earthquakes think about it right the bloody scourging and crucifixion of messiah three hours of darkness during the crucifixion a mighty earthquake at the moment of his death on the cross and then a resurrection multiple resurrections of people in jerusalem and then you have on the heels of that another mighty earthquake and the resurrection of messiah a glorious and powerful angel comes that even the romans could see from what heaven the sky came descended from the sky just like you said you're going to see signs and wonders granted to you from the sky the heavenlies this is fulfillment that's why peter's saying this is being fulfilled which what you read in joel is being fulfilled now i know all the futurists want to put that in the future boring it's always in the future it's never in your future won't be in your future it's going to be in the future it's always in the future ah you can tell i don't like the futurists no i love them i just don't like their view okay now well let's not go there okay this whole thing that we're witnessing that we're reading undoubtedly is the initial fulfillment of the last days the transition from the law of the prophets to the era of messiah and when you move from the law of the prophets to the era of messiah the law isn't set aside follows right on through it's written on our hearts so i'm not talking about the law being done away with at all it's just that we're under the rule and reign of messiah finally with the law and the prophets prophesied finally came messiah and his kingdom 70 a.d 70 a.d look what takes place just another couple decades after these events professor gentry in his book the beast of revelation states quote the jewish war with rome from a.d 67 to 70 brought about the deaths of tens of thousands of the jews in judea and the enslavement of thousands upon thousands more the jewish historian flavius josephus who was an eyewitness records that 1 million 100 000 jews perished in the siege of jerusalem it was called the great tribulation jesus said it was coming get ready now one stone's gonna be left upon another it's not in your future it's in our past one million one hundred thousand jews perished in the siege of jerusalem even though this figure is disputed j l von mishim the great ecclesiastical historian wrote that quote throughout the whole history of the human race we meet with but few if any instances of slaughter and devastation at all to be compared with 70 a.d josephus says it was the greatest tribulation israel had ever been through bar none the mayhem the bloodshed the cannibalism in jerusalem where women were eating their children yeah this occurred between 68 and 70 a.d it's unprecedented in jewish history truly the great tribulation that jesus warned about jerusalem was on fire for days sometimes weeks sometimes months burning burning all of jerusalem right bills of smoke day after day going up you know what that did to the sun if you were there in jerusalem you look at the sun it was like someone put sackcloth over the sun you ever see the sun when there's a lot of smoke it like turns it's kind of blackened like sackcloth what happens to the moon when you look through the filter of smoke at the moon blood red blood red i mean are you catching with what he said in joel signs on the earth below blood fire vapor of smoke jerusalem covered in blood do you realize what they did you know what they were doing under the siege if if someone tried to escape they'd capture him and they would flog him and then crucify him and then flip him over the walls of jerusalem so that the the person that tried to escape is crucified for all to see his blood all over him and the wall and they did that with so many jewish people that tried to escape that the walls of jerusalem were colored colored with the blood of men and women who tried to tragic escape blood fire vapor of smoke sun like sackcloth the moon like blood so this whole issue of what jesus warned about is described in luke 21 as the vengeance of the lord it's the days of vengeance of the lord our god so the great and glorious day you know when we talk about the great and terrible day of the lord the day of the lord is a day of judgment truly this was one of those days of the lord luke 21 let me read this for you 20 through 22 jesus said but when you see jerusalem surrounded by armies then recognize that her desolation is near the armies of rome make desolate the armies of rome are the desolation of jerusalem when you see the desolation spoken of by daniel what was that invading armies again gentile army is coming down against jerusalem jesus says yeah that's going to happen again and when you see rome's armies know that jerusalem is going to be desolated again then those who are in judea must flee to the mountains and those who are in the midst of the city must leave and those who are in the country must not enter the city because these are the days of vengeance so that all things which are written will be fulfilled including joel and it's being fulfilled both in their hearing and within decades to follow joel's prophecies are rolling out with all the other ones trials and tribulations are mixed with the blessings and liberation brought by the gospel this is the paradox of the gospel the good news is that we can be right with god forgiven reconciled to god filled with the joy of the of the spirit of god and then pursued and persecuted by a cruel beast system facing many many tribulations because of our faith what a paradox you know it's that bittersweet that we find in our uh walk with the lord acts 14 21-22 qualifies it as this after they preached the gospel to that city and had many disciples they returned to lystra into iconium and to antioch strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith saying through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of god how do you enter through crisis how did you come to faith through crisis i don't know of anyone that didn't come through crisis god uses crisis to bring us to himself he's always used that it's no different for us today through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of god it says they encourage them stay the course stay the course don't give up finish the course be a finisher not a fader maybe many people fade away many people grow passive and they slowly disengage and they begin to fade away from loyalty to god in his ways you see it i see it we all see it right we got to encourage each other stay the course finish the course it's not how fast you run it's how well you finish acts 2 and verse 21 goes on to say and it shall be that everyone who calls in the name of the lord will be saved why because people typically don't call in the name of the lord without blood fire vapor and smoke coming to their lives most people don't come to faith until they have an enormous need for the lord so god allows crisis to come and believe me crisis comes to all of us in our lives it's just the way of the world but it's through the crisis that we typically get on our knees and cry out to god so after the prophecy of joel and all the bad things that jesus said were coming he was saying be encouraged though because there's going to be a whole lot of people that are going to be ready to respond to my love my goodness my peace my joy they're going to enter into the kingdom so get ready for them eileen gave us a word a beautiful word we've been praying into that word get ready get ready get ready disciples are coming we're after a lot of believers are going to be coming and we we're going to have to get ready to disciple them yeah i think they're going to come because i think things are getting a lot worse they're getting a lot worse the good news is with the worse comes a softening of hearts and a response to the gospel that results in the advance of the kingdom so we need to get ready for them yeshua said in john 16 33 these things i've spoken to you so that in me you may have peace in the world you have tribulation but take courage i have overcome the world we've all heard the phrase if it doesn't kill you it'll make you stronger i that's just a remix of jesus's message that's jesus okay today in a song he's saying tribulation comes to all of us trust in me i'll bring you through and you'll be stronger we see that throughout the epistles of paul that message is is is given to us in many different ways now i want you to think about what we've been through the coronavirus which hit us in what january of 2020 the coronavirus let me say this if it doesn't kill you it'll make you stronger if it kills you you'll get a promotion anyway the believer has nowhere to go but up but if it doesn't kill you you'll be stronger you'll have antibodies t cells you'll just be you know you'll have this this this this immunity that's a beautiful thing the virus comes to kill you your body responds by the grace of god and it becomes stronger than what it was before think of the forced shutdowns in 2020. it decimated our community it cut our attendance in half it cut our giving in half we're just beginning to rebuild but we have really struggled i informed our staff our board of directors and our elders in march of this year that if things don't turn around quickly that we would have to reduce our staff by about 50 percent in order just to stay afloat now the thing that makes this so painful and troubling is that when you cut staff it also is a cut in ministries supported by those staff which knocks the church back again it's not just our church that struggles it's every church what the government mandated shutdowns did devastated the church not just businesses the churches many churches didn't survive others won't they're not going to make it through 2021 so we have some huge challenges ahead of us painful challenges ahead of us the good news is if it doesn't kill us it's going to make us stronger by the grace of god if we make it and i think we still will but things are quite challenging we're going to be stronger than ever but the challenges are huge we're going to keep fighting the darkness as we faithfully share the gospel of of the kingdom of messiah with all whom god puts in our paths the enemy has infiltrated the nation our government has become a beast system business churches and citizens across america have been devastated with the extreme government shutdowns but we will continue to resist the beast system as we speak up and speak out on god's behalf this is what we do that's what joel prophesied it's in the last days that god's going to pour forth of his spirit on all mankind and your sons and your daughters will prophesy your sons and daughters are going to speak out they're going to be the representatives of god in our nation they will bring the gospel they will bring correction they will be bring rebuke to to a culture that's gone cancerous this is what pentecost was designed to do even under the roman empire do you realize that there's a really pretty solid view that it's the church that caused the collapse of the roman beast system i happen to take that view i believe that's exactly what happened let me read acts chapter four we'll go down through this as we kind of wind this up you know the disciples in the midst of all their challenges just stayed faithful that's all they did they just stayed faithful we're going to stay faithful no matter what happens to the harvest we're just going to continue that's all we can do that's who we're that's what we're called to do right we don't know what god's going to do can't we you know that god's going to do what god's going to do our job is to be faithful to him speak on his behalf his word to share the gospel with those around us that are that are going to be more responsive as time goes on so they've been you know sharing who jesus is post resurrection in the temple and it stirred up a lot of problems for him it says as they were speaking to the people the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the sadducees came up to them the disciples of jesus being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in jesus the resurrection from the dead and they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day for it was already evening gotta shut them up they're running around prophesying speaking the word of god proclaiming that jesus is the messiah shut em up you need to censor them silence them we can't let that message get out the beast system is always about censorship i'm telling you the enemies tried to use this coronavirus to silence the church to silence the people of god and the world isn't done using it by the way but many of those who had heard the message believed and the number of the men came to about five thousand on the next day their rulers and the elders and the scribes were gathered together in jerusalem and annis the high priest was there and caiaphas and john and alexander and all who were of high priestly descent when they had placed them in the center they began to inquire by what power or in what name have you done this good questions then peter filled with the holy spirit filled with the holy spirit said to them rulers and elders of the people if we were on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man as to how this man has been made well let it be known to all of you and to all the people of israel that by the name of jesus christ yeshua the messiah the nazarene whom you crucified whom god raised from the dead by this name this man stands here before you in good health he yeshua is the stone which was rejected by you the builders but which became the chief corner stone they were filled with the spirit and they were prophesying they were speaking to the powers of their day bringing reproof even correction and revelation because that's what we do that's what we do we're called to speak forth on god's behalf his words they go on to say and there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved no other name yeshua aramaic jesus english there is no other name by which a person can be saved well i'm jewish so i mean what what does that mean you're jewish see if if you don't put your faith in the jewish messiah what good is that at the end of the day do you think when you stand before god he's gonna ask you the question are you jewish he's going to ask how did you respond to my son did you believe in my son as the atonement given for your sins my lamb offered on your behalf that's the question why i'm one of the lost tribes really what does that mean at the end of the day you think god's gonna say yeah which of the ten lost tribes do you belong to no he's gonna ask what did you do about yeshua my son well i'm filling the blank a lot of ethnic pride going around nowadays so just putting whatever whatever your sizzle is i'm this i'm that okay good that's not the question god's gonna ask when you stand before him there's only one name under heaven by which a man can be saved yeshua the messiah jesus the christ better do business with god on that because that's the only thing that matters at the end of the day now as they observed the confidence of peter and john and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with jesus ah i'm out of time man i wish i could i wish i could you two can stay you know what i'm gonna do thank you who said part two we're gonna do part two tomorrow at our shadow service i'm going to finish this tomorrow okay uh but let me just at least finish this verse they observed the confidence of peter and john and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men and they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with jesus big question who sits on on the board of the nfl who sits on the boards of education who sits on the boards of the medical community right who sits on any professional boards anywhere in america that don't have accredited degrees from some university why did god choose the uneducated and the untrained to build and lead his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven have you ever wondered about that god what are you doing you honestly ch you chose he smells like fish i mean pete peter's a fisherman he's going to be like one of your board board men right what are you thinking lord right mary magdalene she was a prostitute why did god choose the uneducated and the untrained first corinthians 1 verse 26 says this for consider your calling brethren that there were not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble but god has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and god has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong and the base things of the world and the despised god is chosen the things that are not so that he may notify the things that are so that no man may boast before god but by his doing you are in yeshua the messiah who came or who became to us wisdom from god in righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that just as it is written let him who boasts boast in the lord now let me qualify that i'm not against degrees from accredited universities not against those at all they have their place that's important but when it comes to the spiritual kingdom of god god doesn't need that he can use it or not use it it's it's it's it's not a requirement to serve god if i need a surgeon i'm bypassing all you i don't care how much you speak in tongues and you know how you can move and this or that gift i'm telling you right now when i need a surgeon i'm looking for someone who's formally accredited and has a formal accredited training and experience in operating that's where i'm going to but when it comes to my spiritual life i'm not asking my surgeon that's not his forte it's not his experience so so understand that god is choosing the average in the ordinary and saying come come build my kingdom come and shake the world that we live in be the changers advance my kingdom on earth as it is in heaven all you need is a pure heart and a willingness to follow in my steps and i'll raise you up and i'll use you and it'll be the most extraordinary experience of a lifetime that's the invite that's what's available to you and me so regardless of our professional status in life recognize that god is using you and wants to use you in a spiritual dynamic as well run with that be used of god be filled with the spirit and be used for his glory haksamayak shabbat shalom see you tomorrow at pentecost can't see anyone [Music] please stand if you haven't yahweh spoke to moses saying speak to aaron and his son saying this is the way you shall bless the children of israel say to them may yahweh bless you and keep you may yahweh make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you may yahweh lift his countenance upon you and give you peace and we add in the name of yeshua our messiah the prince of peace so they shall put my name on the children of israel and i will bless them receive nail receive now the name of yahweh even [Music] is [Applause] yes [Music] foreign you

Channel: The Harvest

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Length: 84min 38sec (5078 seconds)

Published: Sun May 23 2021