Special guests Rob and Caleb from Messiah Matters

so we have two two special guests tonight Robert Caleb and if you guys are not familiar with with who Rob and Caleb are they have a radio show on YouTube is called Messiah Matters and they're also connected with tor Resource Institute and there's actually some papers back on the table back here and out in the foyer if you guys are interested in looking at that they brought some some pamphlets that you guys can take a look at they have various courses you know from language courses and Bible study courses and various things and they may talk about that as well I don't know but you know I finally got a chance to meet Caleb in person we've talked over the phone a few times and you know we've had some really great conversations on the phone and so it's really great to actually finally meet him a person when I found out they were gonna be in town this weekend I called him up and I said hey is there any chance you might be able to come visit us and speak at our congregation he said well let me see what I can do and then Rob Rob they found out the rob was gonna be able to be in around 2:00 and and he said hey is it okay for Rob comes to I said that'd be awesome so anyway Robert Caleb would you guys go ahead and come up and and tell us a little bit about yourselves thank you so much it's a no we're in the same room this is different he lives in Spokane I live in Tacoma we're very very blessed to be here and I am very grateful to Lex for letting us come I told the person driving here David that I lead a small group as well and so I understand the weight of handing the Lamborghini keys over to somebody that you don't really know and letting them drive around a little bit and that's kind of it's a very important task to be able to come and speak to to believers into a community and it's also as I know many people probably understand it's it's I think can also be a little bit dangerous to bring people from outside so Lex trusting us is a is a huge step I want to I want to start by kind of introducing who we are and why we're sitting in front of you and then we'll move to well we'll move to we're gonna we're gonna move to your next next week's portion so we're gonna steal somebody's thunder sorry For Ever it's gonna teach well we'll tie it in yeah but we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna talk on Leviticus 19 so for those of you who don't know us my name is Caleb and I grew up in a Messianic Hebrew roots Torah movement however whatever language you want to use I grew up in that in that environment from the age of six my dad was kind of one of the pioneers for one Torah theology that's that the Torres for Juvonen tal alike and so in 2002 my dad was working with F of Ozzy and writing for them he decided to publish some of his own work through a website that he created and he called the Torah resource and then he brought me on in the very beginning he said I'll tell you what I need you to put orders together for me because I'm sending out more stuff and it's taking time away from my study so whatever money we make it to our resource I'll give to you I wish I still had that contract I I don't so I started working for him in 2006 and I wasn't walking with the Lord at the time and through a series of the Lord smacking me around and dragging me kicking and screaming he he turned me it turned my face to him and to make that long story much shorter we my day I decided to open an online school in 2011 that's where torah Resource Institute came from he hired Rob in 2012 and I believe Rob became my Greek teacher so I started taking classes into our Resource Institute and Rob became my Greek deep teacher I was my friends affectionately called me the heresy hunter I was on fire to try to show people where they were wrong and that's not the Lord has brought me out of that now which is very good but one of the things that I tried to do in that was I tried to create a radio program and that's where the Robin Caleb show came from was he was the he was the brains I was the I was the comic relief because my theology wasn't as good as his and over the years that started in what 2013 2012 14 2014 Wow his dr. David Beck was one of our first write time flies so we were the Robin caleb show for a long time and then over a course of time we changed the focus of the of the show and about a year and a half ago we changed and we did that because we wanted to focus more on what the Bible says about the Messiah we wanted to focus on who the Messiah is and with what the Bible says about the Messiah instead of trying to point out where other people's theology is wrong we wanted to point out where we thought the what that we thought the biblical theology was and so that's when our name changed from the Robin caleb show to Messiah matters and basically what the goal of the show initially we didn't think anybody was going to listen to be completely honest we got Amy we'd get emails and like well we've got the same question from completely different people right what if we record a short yes response and then we'll just send the link to people right so now that's that's what the show additionally was was we had short links that we could send to people this was actually heresy heads other people were encountering things and they didn't know what to do and so we were kind of and to rob and Caleb yeah ask them not that they would agree with us but they just say hey what do you guys you know what do you think about that it's a very trying thing to be pointing out heresy all the time and you know there are people in the Christian world there are people in the Torah movement world who do that all the time and it is a very draining thing and so I think the Lord kind of showed me and robbed at the same time that rather what we should do is be focusing on on what the Bible says and those kind of things and my I I knew of Lex and I think everyone knows in the Torah movement you have to be very careful of who you listen to and and is there's so many different things out there right everything's kind of floating around and I'm sure that Lexington I don't agree on everything but he he came out and he talked boldly about the DD of the Messiah and I thought AHA we're kindred spirits at least in in the foundational things and so that's that's where you know when I really felt a strong connection with Lex's when he stood up boldly for the deity the Messiah it's something that we affirm fully I also stand on a 66 foot cannon and so that's a little bit of do you want to say anything else about who we are is that good enough that's pretty good I could just share a little bit about me yes and then I'll turn I did not go to Hague household no I'm more I'm the I'm more I'm the Lord shaped me to be kind of a Bible nerd Caleb laughs like when we go to a like SPL conference or some Society biblical literature like if that's the Bible nerds I go to the nerd section of the because of the nerds I love the nerds yeah section so like so one of my arenas of study is medieval Jewish scribal tradition so if you've heard of the Miss aura or maybe you've heard about you don't before the printing press if he was like he just went over your head don't worry we'll ran him back in for a second before we had this before he could go to the store and buy something like this you had to know somebody who could write one out for you and you had to have the money to do it right and and all our Bibles are two knocks that we have in English depend on the information that is funneled through the medieval Jewish scribes basically from around the 900s and the ten hundreds in the Land of Israel and so I've spent the last several years immersed in that world and it's Hebrew because it's the Hebrew Bible but it's also Aramaic because all the notes that those scribes kept were in Aramaic and so I've got a real nerdy side it's a matter of fact I just got back from Jerusalem I gave a paper at the Hebrew University on the aleppo codex and so you know SBL I'll be talking about this kind of nerdy stuff if you'll hear maybe a couple of things ETS stands for evangelical theological Society and SB L stands for Society biblical literature they have conferences back-to-back each year and it's in a different place every year we go every year to both conferences so for instance this year it's going to be down in San Diego so we'll fly down to San Diego for seven days and basically if you've ever read a book by a scholar that scholar unless he's dead we'll be at SPL and we'll probably be giving a paper and we will be able to interact and chat with them and so so Messiah Matters is one it's we're under the blanket or under the umbrella of Torah resource and tour Resource Institute kind of more broadly and so we bring the faith foundation like Caleb just described but we also are wanting to push behind the world what what the world between the translation and the original text right because that's where the strength of our of our doctrine and our edification comes from and how many of you have been frustrated with an English translation of the Bible let's if all you had was one I mean could you pick one if you had your Desert Island English Bible you'd probably be frustrated because like you'd probably want a couple at least so at tour resource Institute we the language study Bible language study is a high priority and that's a high priority for for the nourishment of what we are saying is that the the Torah is actually as taught in the Gospels and by Paul and by Peter is for all God's people not it's not divided on a ethnic line of difference in responsibilities and but that teaching is out there you'll see that out there we before you get too nervous about being too scholarly or whatever just know that I've taken first-year Greek twice and I've taken first-year Hebrew two or three times and I'm still not a language guy he's the language guy my dad's language guy okay before we go on I think what's our time frame Lex what time should we we got five minutes left okay real quick I'm gonna tell you a quick story I'm running on three and a half hours of sleep yesterday I was supposed to fly in yesterday he flew in an hour and a half before me from Spokane I came from ctek and we were in the air and they said we're rerouting to Texas Emer Amarillo Texas and they said there the weather in Oklahoma too bad right now we can't land so he was already here and as soon as they said that I said okay Lord are you really grounding a plane of 50 people so I can talk to one person and I didn't get an audible response but the plane landed in Amarillo Texas so I think the answer was yes it was a it was a very long process they ended up flying me back to SeaTac and giving me a room in Seattle to wait and then fly back this morning and I just got here at like two o'clock and I ended up I was the only person on the plane on the way back except for the stewardess the two stewardess and two pilots they were giving a ride back too and I had three hours to talk to Karen the stewardess on the way back encourage her in prayer and give her a book that I was reading that I hadn't even read the whole thing but um I thought well I got grounded and put back on a plane back to Seattle so I could give this book to this lady so the Lord does wonderful things and I'm grateful for it okay let's I'm going to start with a question we'll make this a little bit interactive what I want to talk about tonight is community I think that one of the largest problems in the Torah movement today is a lack of emphasis in a lack of need for community recognition of the recognition of the need for community thank you in other words in I've seen this many many times we get calls it at Torah resource almost every day from at least one person or multiple people around the United States who call and say I just came into the Torah movement a year ago I live in blank City and I can't find anyone around me to fellowship with and so they are what we call lone Ranger's they are sitting in a town somewhere and for whatever reason it could be multiple reasons it could be that they can't they can't find a community around them that they think it's theologically sound it can be that they have had disputes with a with a leader or whatever it could be that it could be that the congregation that they found that believes in Torah is you know often lala land on things like denying the deity of the Messiah or putting extra books into the Canon or whatever it may be so because of this they have taken themselves out of community with the church and I'm not I don't want it down anyone here and I also don't want it down online communities but I think that there is something to be said and we're gonna this is what we're gonna look at tonight I think there's something very important to be said about gathering together physically gathering together and so that's what that's what we're gonna look at and we're gonna read Leviticus 19 here in just a second anyone can answer what do you think the main function of community is anyone there's no wrong answer I have an answer but it's but it's not necessarily the answer spiritual growth okay that's good encouragement sharpening okay good accountability yeah absolutely say it again serving okay good anyone else say it one more time I'm sorry mm-hmm yes absolutely relationship good yeah absolutely and that's why Lexus hit the nail on the head and in one respect that when we look at Leviticus 19 this is this is what we're gonna see time and time and time and time again right but I want to suggest that the main and key function of community is to glorify God now that's an obvious answer right everybody everybody say oh yeah of course but the main function of community in my opinion is to glorify God and we do that in every reason that you gave right so we we glorify God in our relationships we glorify God in sharpening we glorify God in shining forth Christ through the Messiah to other people around us right this these are all things to glorify God and when we see the fall in Genesis the snake says and I'll you can correct my translation here but the snake says you can make yourself like God or as God you can become God essentially and what we do as humans is continue to try to attain that every time we sin what are we doing we're saying that we're pushing against God we're pushing against what God wants for us we're trying to make ourselves out to be God because our way is more important our flesh is more important these kind of things so let's go to Leviticus real quick Leviticus 19 it's two pages I don't know if we were gonna read the whole thing or not but we'll see how far we get I'm in the ESV and the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them you shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy so this is first of all from the very beginning of 19 we have this wonderful wonderful thing be set apart be holy right to be holy means to be set apart be holy why because I'm holy you and anyone who has children I I mean I don't know what your what the level of Torah observance is in in this community or what it meant might look like but my children have already felt the pain of going to the pizza party for their friends and not eating the pepperoni pizza right why can't why can't you eat the pepperoni pizza we don't eat pork you know every time my son and I go in the Costco every person in there giving a sample gets asked the question yeah is is there gelatin or pork in it that's my son's automatic response now to him he's six years old he doesn't you know the the nuances of you know and he told me the other day dad it's really hard for me to say no to marshmallows I see yeah well there's gonna be some other things in your life that are gonna get even harder than rejecting marshmallows why why do we do that why did we reject the marshmallow why do we ask if there's pork in the Chinese Rabbit Costco when they're given us the sample because it sets us apart we're different every aspect of our life is given to God in some way right what is the Sabbath why the Sabbath well it's a covenant right I'll give you some time here in a second I'm taking all the time I apologize but why the Sabbath it's set apart but it's a gift who's it a gift to and from it's a gift from God to us to rest in him right amen but it's also a gift from us to God what can you give the king that has everything your time we take time something that none of us have enough of something that you can't grab something that is pouring out of our hands all the time something that we try to give to our best friends to our families to our children right and what do we do we stop and we give the gift of time to the Almighty God we do that with our with our food too you know a lot of people will say oh yes well the kosher laws were good back then right because they didn't know about all the diseases they didn't have refrigeration so you know that's why you weren't allowed to eat pork but now you can refrigerate no I don't eat kosher food or not eat non-kosher food because of health reasons I do it because the Lord asked me to it sets me apart when I go to that pizza party and I can't eat the same thing that you're eating or they're eating and not you guys but right what does it do you're different why are you different we're one verse in sorry with this biscuit take a while let's I want to flip go for it yeah footnote so Paul uses this term hug yo cadeau Xin in Hebrew holy this this passage that Caleb it says be Kadosh em because I am Kadosh so that's the Levite that's what the Torah says well the Greek speaking Jews it's it's be Hagee Oy because I am hog Yas that's how they understood it from the Septuagint so here you have Paul beginning does everybody know what the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Torah I assume but that had already been circulating in various shapes for 200 plus years when before the incarnation so this is not a Greek Christian kind of concept right we're and we're entering in a world in the Mediterranean when Paul is out going from synagogue to synagogue throughout the Diaspora he's leveraging knowledge that is going to get the best traction among his audience that's why Paul's not writing in Hebrew to the Ephesians right he's leveraging the synagogue diaspora synagogue could meet mediterraneans synagogue community's knowledge to help build them up correctly and so them's fightin words if you're coming to Paul's coming to a synagogue let's say in Corinth or in Ephesus or in Thessalonica or something Berea is good they all accept it in Berea and he and he goes on the Shabbat and they read the Torah and the prophets probably in Greek maybe someone maybe there were teachers there that knew the language and could bring that into the discussion that was probably the case but remember this is no printed Bibles no digital Bibles it's all your access to the Word of God is are you part of community you don't you don't have a Bible at your home even you don't have a Torah scroll at home that you can you know fast-forward through and read and study because education I mean how many of you know Hebrew how many you know Greek right that takes work and investment in the same way that the Greek speaking Jews up in Thessalonica or Ephesus isn't gonna have immediate access to these things that's gonna take if you have parents that have money and no people right no internet no YouTube so we've got to kind of remember that those are new things but Paul uses this term in Ephesian Ephesians he use it in Romans probably I think in most of his letters he says you are called Saints in a lot of our English translations called Saints in Romans 1 he says you to you who were in Rome called Hagee I called Saints Paul's calling them says you're to be Kadosh I'm how do i what is what's the literal Hoggy i Saints Holy Ones it's just the Greek version of kendo Xin so how would that feel though if if you were if you believe that Jews are the holy people and these Gentiles don't really belong the covenants not for them but then Paul's calling everybody this term that the Torah is commanding I touch people I'll tell you exactly how they felt in acts 22 he says and now the Covenant is for all I'm paraphrasing the covenants for all the Gentiles are included and what do they do and at this they picked up stones to stone him they were so angry that the Gentiles were supposed to be part of this covenant sounds like a lot of the groups running around at any Ryan so people always say I mean we get this all the time oh are you Jewish my dad's Jewish but often I'll say no but I have a new word Louis NYE a Jewish Jewish ish it's like it's a quick answer and they'll give it you know and then if they want to know more then they'll ask ok I want to I'm gonna skip here and this whole passage this whole Leviticus 19 is all about doing stuff together right so let's go to we'll go to verse 9 when you reap the harvest of your land you shall not reap your field right up to the to its edge and either shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest and you shall not strip your vineyard bare neither shall you gather the Fallen grapes of your vineyard you shall leave them for the poor and for the Sojourner I am the Lord your God so this right here we call that a tie-down yeah we're what are we supposed to do though we're supposed to have compassion for people that are less fortunate so this right here is already talking about some form of community even if it's not general community and it expresses holiness right once he says be holy cuz I beat Kendall Xin y'all be holy I used y'all and then and then because I am and then he gives a commandment and then he says I am I don't I write in other words it's like okay that is an expression of saintly living if we want to use these an expression of who God is amongst ourselves our community okay let's keep going you shall not steal no what's he gonna do he's gonna go back he's gonna start looking kind of back at Exodus and the Covenant you should not steal you shall not deal falsely you shall not lie to one another you shall not swear by my name falsely and so for pray or so profane the name of your God I am the Lord you shall not oppress your neighbour or rob him the wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you on the night until the morning you shall not curse the Deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind but you shall fear your God I am the Lord your God so again there's another tie down I am I don't know they all express all these don't do these things because those are opposite of holiness right right those are opposite of holiness this is not yeah this is not how my people are represented look each one of us in our in our everyday life what are we we are a walking talking billboard for the Messiah when people see you at your job when people see you taking care of your children mom's you have one of the hardest and most difficult jobs in the world today my wife is unbelievable and it is I think often people women feel like they are stay at home with the kids and the dad gets to go to work and the dads sometimes feel the opposite oh I go and I work all day guys thank your wives for what they do because that is a difficult difficult job at all of it all of it represents shining forth of Messiah the reason that motherhood is such an important job and fatherhood too but those women who are bringing up their children stay-at-home moms what a what a difficult job because what are you doing you're giving the Gospel message to children right we're training people up in the in the service of the Almighty God so we are the billboard and we have some people online okay thanks Lex will do yeah that's one Rob you're screwing it all up you know he's called the old school he's the loudmouth no you're good let's keep going though let's keep going thanks for listening online y'all yeah yeah I will keep that in mind okay you shall do no injustice in court and you should not be partial to the poor or defer to the great but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor you should not go around as they slander among your people and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor I am the Lord and we're gonna read just a couple more verses here and then we'll move to a little bit different flavor you shall not hate your brother in your heart but you shall reason frankly with your neighbour lest you incur sin because of him you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself I am the Lord these things can only be done I heard that one before yeah yeah no doubt these things can only be done in community now sure there's a wider community of believers in and I I mean my wife and I we travel a lot to be with other believers to go to different groups to see what other groups are like we try to connect connect on on not only in the Torah movement but also in the Christian Church and we do that to try to be a light to people so I believe in the wider ecclesia in the wider assembly I believe that I can come here and I can be with you guys and we can glorify the Lord on Shabbat and we can lift each other up right but I think one of the things that we miss so you know when the Torah movement began to push against traditional doctrines of the Christian Church in terms of keeping the Sabbath keeping a kosher diet these kind of things what almost instantly happened is the pendulum went way too far and what ended up happening is people said oh well my pastor is wrong about this so I have to break community completely with them but then we see the pendulum go even farther if they don't keep Sabbath they're not in covenant with God therefore they're not saved this is a huge problem and we can we could talk about this until we were blue in the face he's not endorsing that view he's saying that that's B yeah I'm not endorsing that at all what I what I'm saying is is that I think that the the body of believers in the body of the Messiah you know we've all been in different walks of our of our of our walk right we've all been in different stages of our walk and so I find a really difficult I find it really difficult when people say I'm going to have no community over this community even though I don't have anything you know there's no there's no bad feelings it's just maybe a couple of theological things what I'm trying to do here is I'm trying to show you that I think that part of Torah is being in community so when it says you know in Hebrews this is it Hebrews no Galatians I'm sorry in Galatians it says we were to bear each other's burdens how are you able to bear each other's burdens when you don't go to a community when you're not in a mighty church hopping if I'm Church hopping and and this is an area where we need prayer for healing too because there's people who've received you know legitimate hurt had a church or a fellowship or something and then you know they're a little gun-shy to build relationship the trust issue is kind of now a little bit delicate and so they might be a little more distant so we got to be patient and understand that just like we all have come I forgot to remember to talk to the mic here Caleb's had his walk I've had you know we each have our own walk of how we learned of why we're here what's your story as to you know the last five years your life as to why you're here tonight right and we all have a different story if why we're all here tonight starting five years ago and there's stuff that has happened to people you we don't always know we might think we've seen a lot and heard a lot but there's there stories that you know will break your heart would you hear what people have been through and we don't want to rush to judgment right we don't want to rush to judgment we it says judge with Zedeck that's not Starbucks drive-through like they say up here you don't that means your patient you're demonstrating the fruits of the spirit and you're listening you're gonna someone's gonna share something with you you've that's maybe a real tender spot well they're not going to share it with you unless they trust you unless you've shown yourself dependable a good listener discreet show discretion you know there was you're not just gonna be a gossip and blabbermouth that you have kindness towards them and you believe in that the Lord brings healing and how long does it take to discern when you meet someone new that they have all these that they are a candidate to share some of this burden and so again that's just another footnote there on the importance of where it says judge with righteousness that's the weight that right that word righteousness I should be a heavy word that should it should strike some fear in our heart to say okay because we just read this morning at another wonderful gallery we're reading from James chapter four and it talks about who are you to judge your brother you judge your brother you're judging the Torah and now you're making yourself out to be a judge well there's only one judge and so how do we understand that well this idea is is people who rush to tell a story about somebody without checking the facts without walking a mile with them you know etc we all know that it just just rehearse in it end of footnote before before my father my dad was a pastor in a nanananana national Christian Church until I was six eighteen and he was also the leader one of the leaders at a messianic congregation in Tacoma and he still is and I've seen splits in the Christian Church I've been through those I think there was two in the time in the 18 years hurts and yes and and then there's been splits over legitimate issues sometimes I think over legitimate issues deeded the Messiah was one of the first splits my dad's the congregation that my dad is a messianic congregation that was one of the first splits they had was deity the Messiah I think I was maybe eight so there is legitimate reason to leave a community there is legitimate reason to split from community that's not what I'm saying however you know that community is that my father's a leading is going through another split right now it's a very difficult split and a lot of it comes not from not from a place of righteousness but from a place of gossip a place of not listening to leadership you know that's one of the things that the Bible speaks very clearly about there you got leaders at this community they're there for a reason they've been appointed for a reason and worse to see them as God appointed so if we're going to push against leadership there needs to be a very good reason and a very good biblical reason to push against leadership you can't just get upset because somebody said something the wrong way or because you're not sure if you you know there's all sorts of different reasons people get upset and a lot of them are not the right reasons and so we need to respect the leaders that are above us and we need to see them as Authority that God has placed above us truth in love space has speak the truth in love right so the truth sometimes that's part of brother Corey was it was talking about the mandate right that's one of one of these mandates of holiness is speaking the truth in love okay have you ever had to you know had to deliver a tough message to somebody that you were trembling before God maybe you couldn't sleep for a couple days you couldn't eat because you knew you're gonna have to have this conversation and the last thing you wanted to do was to not have a relationship with this person anymore but you knew that you were getting into territory where that's a possibility that's that's what we're talking about speaking the truth it has Yeshua never you know what are the alternatives is to speak the truth but not in love right that's gonna hurt a person and if but then the idea is if well what if I'll just love and I'll not speak the truth well what what is that true love then anymore and we're just gonna pretend that this other thing doesn't need to be working you know there's that like they say the elephant in the room nobody's going to talk about it so we walk when Yeshua says this is a narrow path that's that's the that's the real real sobering precise description well and and you know as believers you know I was listening to the Proverbs last night I was trying to fall asleep and I couldn't fall asleep so I turn on the proverbs and I'm gonna screw it up but it said something to the effect of a fool is reproved and basically gets angrier there's a chv the Kayla Pig that's exactly right but a righteous man is reproved and and grows and it will love you still yeah yeah exactly and so when someone reproves us we need to and it's hard right isn't it hard isn't it hard to be Rizzo we need to be the hearer of the truth - right right not just that there's this seat where we're delivering the truth and then there's the seat where our flesh is not wanting to hear this but we need to hear it my wives are good for that for us that who are married who have wives that will speak what we need to hear and and we go you know what you're right we got 15 minutes left so I'm going to jump a little bit that's okay so one of the things that we talked about the Sabbath right a gift of time what what is that does anyone know what the what the Torah calls a Sabbath the Sabbath I mean it's it calls it a lot of things anybody have any ideas what I'm sure glad to you yes Shabbat that's the answer it does call it a delight I'm thinking of me Krakow dish Oneg yeah Oneg a holy gathering yep so just like the festivals are Mikako - right the microcode like the festivals what are you supposed to do you're supposed to come together and gather together right technically it me Krakow dish is a whole declaration of holiness but by extension what is a declaration of whole it's not like a room with just one person holiness today no it's it's back to be Kadosh eeeem right be holy because I am holy and it's and it is a gathering right and so this is one of the reasons that I think that you know when we have people who become lone Ranger's and they are content to stay at home instead of desperately seeking to be in community with other believers now I'm not saying that it has to be a huge congregation what I'm trying to do is encourage you that your that this is a wonderful thing that you're doing here that this is God intended that being here together is intended by God and that that you're doing something that the Bible says to do which is to gather together to be together to glorify God together to lift each other up to bear each other's burdens you know whether it's in this community whether it's in a home community you know there's I know people who have not been able to find something so they've found a church that they think is as close to their theology as possible and they go and they they worship with other believers and yeah there's tension right Caleb I have a question oh here we go so this is good because the Nazarene tradition has a high value on sanctification right holiness can i if i'm a Lone Ranger as you call it yes how can I grow in sanctification apart from fellowship apart from regular life to life relationship I think yes and but not fully as God intended and the reason why is because there's different forms of fellowship right so we have and we see this with this authority structure - right you guys have an authority structure here in this congregation so that's one Authority structure but that Authority structure doesn't come into your family life so in other words Lex can't come to your house and say your kids can't watch that movie that's not right that's overstepping his bounds now he could sit down with everybody and say are these the kinds of things that we want to teach our children or that we want our children it's say what I'm saying is that there's there's different authority structures because a father is an authority structure in his home right and a mother is an authority structure in her home so we have different authority structures and we have different forms of fellowship as well one of the things I've done recently as I started a prayer group a prayer group in the Eko app with some Torah observant believers around the united states and canada and this is a group that is made for accountability we talk constantly now through this app but it's not the same kind of community that I have with the group that I lead on Shabbat it's a different kind of community right so I think that we can grow in sanctification because even in our homes we are constantly called it's a life every single day we are a billboard and so and I should probably finish that point the billboard that we have should reflect what it should reflect the holy spirit out right so if we sin or if we are around others and we do something that is not of the Holy Spirit what happens to the Billboard it shines something that is not what we are supposed to be we are you know when we are baptized what are we doing yes it's symbolic of the death and the resurrection of our Lord right coming washed clean but what else is it it is saying my life is not mine I give my life fully and completely to the Almighty God and I will live according to that even if I don't want to even when it's hard even when there's persecution and there will be persecution we're told that there will be persecution so even then because you're either slaves to sin or you're slaves to righteousness there's no free man we are slaves so who are you a slave to there's no neither yeah exactly there's no third option there so the last thing I wanted quick on that last point though Paul in Galatians 6 says you know if if a brother is caught in a trespass you who are spiritual and that's it shifts to the plural y'all who are spiritual go and seek to restore such a one and and watching yourselves lest you also be tempted well how is that brother going to grow in sanctification if there's no one in his life who loves him who sees what's going on is committed to staying in relationship with this person and even in the middle of whatever this is and is willing to prayerfully in advance seek the Lord's guidance seek the Ruach to to give the words and the timing and then to dive in and say I'm going to have this difficult conversation with this person it's a wonderful thing when the brother is the lights come on and it's like wow thank you I didn't I didn't see that I was blind to that and there's you know Yeshua tells about how I need to talk loud into this the rejoicing of the of in heaven of the repentance of one sinner right and that's the joy that's the fruit of having that difficult conversation but I'll tell you what if you go and you're not prayed up and you think you've got the story figured out etc guess what you have to have already been you know offered yourself on the altar say Lord if they're I'm not you know you've got to be trembling before God if because if that's not the gravity of the situation if the situation is not that weighty to you then you're not the person to go and then but the restoration and the joy why does it say there's more joy in heaven for the repentance because that person now the glory goes to the Father this is the holiness right there's an increase in holiness in that person's life because of that risk that you took without it where's the where's who's gonna go out the Shepherd goes and gets the lamb right and the issue is parable who's gonna go unless it's someone who knows the story who's gonna who's in it to win it like they say right and it's gonna do the difficult thing and to not short hint not to short-circuit the story and make up a new story and then just write the person off or put an ultimatum out there you know there's all these short hands and that's not Dedic that's not righteousness righteousness in the Torah is when a matter it's diligently searched out diligently prayed about diligently weighed in prayer and before the word right you know community is hard in it community is really hard my dad once told me we grow the most in community with the people we like the least he's right what he means by that and the reason we laugh is because that's our flesh nature is to make those quick judgments about somebody we just met right and we and we have this idea that that's who that person is there's always a couple of people in the community that people think to themselves are they right like Oh someone new walks through there or oh I hope this person doesn't go talk to them first so that everyone said they think that this is what everyone's like I've thought that I've known several people like that they come they start walking towards me I think oh great here we go so you shouldn't say this because now everybody's like I'm gonna want to go talk to Caleb but am i that I might like that nobody one of those the the point is is that those are the people that God tests us with in other words how do you gain patience is it by saying lord give me patience and he zaps you with patience no it's by bringing the annoying person who always talks to you about that thing you can't stand up constantly to talk about that thing constantly with you right and what do you have to do you have to be patient with that person and that's how that skill is honed and it's like that with everything else in community too is that the people that we can't stand are the people that God is using to sharpen us the most and when my so my father I grew up as I said in a congregation in Tacoma Washington beta lo about two and a half years ago my wife and I felt like the Lord was leading us to start a group in our own house and this is a very big issue and it was I knew it was gonna be a big issue because obviously my father wants me to be with him in community and I understand that I get that right and so I knew that this was going to be an uphill battle and it took of a lot of Prayer and a lot of seeking counsel I spoke with all the elders at that congregation my father was one of the only people who was really against it which kind of told us that we were actually going the right way because we talked to 30 people and 29 of them said we think the Lord's moving you to do this and my dad said please don't leave and so that was very difficult for him but we did it as an outreach to people who were coming out of the church and were into all things Jewish my dad's congregation is very built like an Orthodox synagogue in many ways not fully but in a lot of ways and so people would come and it was this total culture shock there's a Torah being paraded around there's you know blessings for 45 minutes you know the whole service takes three hours people who are coming out of the church are used to 45 minutes and we're done you know the what it was just a culture shock and so we finally my dad said yes it's apparent that that he wants you to do this as well we started this group it started with with four couples in around my my living room and my dining room table you know we got about 30 people they come and the second week that we had a study we had a couple extra people show up and I said to my dad the next day you know it doesn't matter how small you are there's always one or two people that shows up that you just can't stand now that sounds really harsh and it is really harsh because we're supposed to love right but the point is is that yeah there's that's human nature there are people going to be people that rub you the wrong way and there are gonna be people that you just can't really get along with but you know what they're there for a reason they're there because God has placed them in community with you and they are probably the most important part of that community for you because God is working through them on you so then what are we supposed to do as believers how are we supposed to be seen to the outside world what does it mean to actually be in community John 13:35 says by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you love if you have love for one another we are supposed to be marked out by the love that we have you know I asked us to the group that I lead last week I asked him I said how many people have said I know that you're a Christian or I know that you're a follower of Jesus Christ because you love so much no one's ever said that to me ever and so I encouraged the people at my group we need to be praying that the Holy Spirit will manifest through us supernatural love love that love that we can't produce because we're human only love that the Holy Spirit can produce that's what we need to attain and try to attain to that's what we need to pray for beloved let us love one another for love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God and what is this this is covenant relationship right I see the people singing the song yeah so but it's covenant relationship - no God doesn't it mean no about God it means to be in covenant relationship with God Adam and Eve you know Adam took cava Eve and Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bore a child to know her is an intimate relationship anyone who does not love does not know God that should stop us in our tracks do we love the way that the Bible tells us to love because God is love this is important to know God is love but love is not God a lot of the politics in our nation today and I'm not into politics at all but a lot of the politics in our nation today is love is love right all love is love that is not true it's not true in this the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through him in this is love not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins beloved if God so loved us we also ought to love one another no one has ever seen God if we love one another god abides in US and his love is perfected in us and without holiness is God there right so that we manifest God's love through obedience to God and to love one another something that is so difficult why is it so difficult because we're humans and it's not our nature to love one another the way that Christ has loved us the way that the Messiah has loved us love is patient and kind love does not envy or boast it is not arrogant or rude my wife and I have been memorizing this verse and she has well we both kind of have used it as ammunition we joke a lot with each other but you know she'll say something I said that seems a little recipients that seems a little arrogant and rude don't you think we started this I said love is patient and love is kind she said well something to work on Caleb it's true right we need people like that right we need to hear that when we need to have that right because that's spirit we're spurring each other on and it's it's in a trusting loving relationship so it's not like oh I'm not gonna talk to you you know it's like okay I hear ya I hear ya we in Tiger Woods it was some he was in his peak see the peak of his golf career right and it was time in between the tournaments and somebody asked him tiger what have you been doing and he said well my swing my my swing was off so we went back to the basics and I worked for three months on my drive how to hold the club understand the motion to make if you think that you've attained love if you think that you've obtained holiness go back to the basics the Torah is the basics we are to constantly be growing wayne gretzky always practiced he wasn't just an amazing hockey player he continued throughout his entire career to practice every scenario he led free throws I think for many years in the 80s and he would just shoot free throws every day free throws so what are we we're disciples of the must of the living whether our fundamentals yeah right Lucas nineteen it's back to the basics yeah so let's let's finish it out love is patient and kind love does not envy or boast you know this but it's okay we can hear it again it is not arrogant or rude it does not insist on its own way that's when we but that's what I have to work on right is that's not just if I come to the relationship and I'm just gonna strong-arm my way is is the other person being treated justly no just we need to deal with justice it is not irritable or resentful it does not rejoice it wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth love bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things love never ends I wrote this the function of the church / congregation is to build community the ekklesia is much more than a Sabbath or a Sunday gathering it is a day-to-day lifestyle it's not just coming here on Saturday nights and worshiping the Lord together although that is a very important function of it but it's being in each other's lives throughout the week it's lifting each other up it's praying for each other it's burying each other's burdens this is what community is and ultimately what all of that wrapped up is is to glorify God in our daily lives these people around you your brothers and sisters in the Lord they are here to glorify God with you and through you and sometimes that is the most difficult thing for us to grasp because we're humans and relationships get in the way but we're called to something higher we're not called the gossip we're not called to be angry you know there's there's been I've seen wrongdoing towards my father throughout his life from different people I had a dream recently where my father died and I was giving the eulogy and I stood up and I said well I see a lot of you came to your knives out of my dad's back but when I told my dad that dream he said Caleb we can't be mad at the people who have wronged us instead we have to pray for them because they're still brothers and sisters in the Lord so these are the kind of things that we need to think about are we praying for the people who have wronged us instead of talking behind their back or being resentful you know what pride is one thing that often leads to bitterness those who can't forgive someone else the reason that they can't forgive them is because they think that they're better than that person so that's pride and we need to constantly be checking ourselves for not only for pride but also for bitterness because bitterness is a root and it will grow and fester and grow and fester and these are things that we constantly have to come back to descriptions say lord help me release this and help me to love this person instead of being resentful and bitter towards them that's the matzah lesson right we just all celebrated Pesach in first Corinthians 5 Paul says throw out the leaven of malice and wickedness right and you're the you in Messiah you're the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth that's who you are if you're not puffed up you're not arrogant you're you're just this simple bread without any leaven in it that's what you are in Messiah and we rejoice that that's the truth of who we are and one leather footnote on love rejoices in the truth love always rejoices in the truth that's when you have when you either the one that has to to talk to somebody then have a difficult conversation and speak your goal is to speak the truth in love the reason you're doing it is because that's that whole that whole venture that whole risk to reach out to that person on those terms is shaped because you rejoice in the truth yourself because you are coming from a position of love and when they're restored there's going to be a greater rejoicing because they if you've restored this brother through this that the the Spirit restored brings this restoration there's gonna be a mutual rejoicing of the truth it's a wonderful thing in but it's community right let's pray real quick yeah Lord we thank you so much for this time that we've had father we thank you for this group with this community of people and for the bonds that have been made here father we pray that the city that you will bless this community and that you will continue to shine your spirit into the lives of these people father I pray that that they will love as you have loved and Lord that you will shine your spirit into their lives and give them a true love for each other father I pray that the words that were spoken here tonight a scripture that was read will enter all of our hearts soften our hearts and then we will be able to take it into this week into the people around us that we will be shining lights to those around us that we will be able to speak the gospel and the word of the Lord into the people around us and that you will soften the hearts that we speak to and that people will know that there is something different about us and what that difference is is love and it's love because you first loved us so lord I thank you so much for our time tonight bless the rest of our time together I pray you to shew his name amen [Applause] thank you guys enjoyed that

Channel: The Grafted Church

Views: 1,300

Rating: 4.7090907 out of 5

Keywords: sermon, church online, sabbath service, live sabbath service, preacher, bible teaching, Lex Meyer, Grafted Church, Torah Portion, Yeshua, Jesus, Bible, rob and caleb show, rob and caleb, messiah matters, messiah matters youtube, caleb hegg, importance of community

Id: 7QbMC1_wucs

Length: 63min 11sec (3791 seconds)

Published: Sat May 04 2019