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How do we get our lives unstuck? Is belief alone the thing that gets our lives moving and producing the kind of fruit we & God desire? How do we actualize the idealized version of ourselves?

In this series, we are seeking to answer the question Yeshua asked His disciples in John 1:38, "What do you want?". Not only are we going to find out what we truly desire, but also some proven ways to become the image-bearing people we were created to be.

https://youtu.be/tkMZJnlbUbk

News and commentary for Tuesday, 18 June, 2024.

News and commentary for Monday, 17 June, 2024.

Moving forward from last week, Rabbi Steve Berkson takes us into Romans chapters 11 and 12, then to Ephesians chapter 2, where he interprets the writing of the apostle Paul quite a bit differently than most of us have ever heard taught before.



Because of this, Rabbi Steve clarifies further his position on the understanding of “grace” or favor, specifically whether it is merited or unmerited. Could it be both? In this message we see the beauty of the kindness and faithfulness of our Creator as He offers the opportunity to enter into His Covenant even though we have done nothing up to that point to deserve it.



Questions:



• Romans 10:17 talks of “hearing by the Word of God”, is there an underlying message that is lost in the translation?



• What exactly is the “Good News”?



• What is the “disease” we see in the Bible from start to finish?



• All people before Acts 2 could not be “righteous” because they didn’t have the Holy Spirit? • Can you empty yourself?



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A Wedding of Words

Ruth's One-Way Flight









Each year, it is traditional to read the scroll of Ruth at Shavuot. We might say the three scrolls of Ruth, Esther, and Song of Songs are the Bridal Scrolls of return from exile.









There are many wonderful ideas about why Ruth commemmorates the giving of the Torah in addition to the story's setting, the time between the first fruits of the barley harvest at Pesach and the wheat harvest at Shavuot.









Sometimes the simplest answer is the most memorable. What happened to Israel in leaving Egypt at Pesach is what happened to Ruth in leaving Moab and arriving at the House of Bread (Beit Lechem) at Pesach. The Israelites left Egypt as strangers there before she became a Bride, and Ruth left Moab to become a stranger in Judah before she became part of the Bride.









The clue is in the wings that carried the Israelites and Ruth to their destinations, the wildernes and the Promised Land. In Hebrew, "wing" is kanaf  (??????). And why were they carried their places? To engage in a covenant of the Ten Words:









“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings (??????), and brought you to Myself.” (Ex 19:4)

“May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings (??????) you have come to seek refuge.” (Ruth 2:12)

He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering (??????) over your maid, for you are a close relative.” (Ruth 3:9)









Were Israel and Ruth flown to a place of refuge, or were they moved to holier places in their journeys?









Yes.









“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment (??????) of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’” (Zec 8:23)









The setting of Ruth’s story is Beit Lechem, the House of Bread, where Judah was recovering from the famine. The wilderness also was a place of miraculous, Heavenly Bread and Living Water. A place of covering, anointing, preparation, and clean clothes for a nation of priests. The wilderness was where the Bride was purified with the Torah as she walked as she walked after her Bridegroom, picking up what He dropped for her each morning.









Let’s see if there are wilderness template parallels in the story of Ruth:









The Ten Words to the Bride

at Shavuot, Mount Sinai,

Via Moshe, Friend of the Bridegroom

become Ten Witnesses to the Bride’s purity and offspring.









Think of the Ten Words (Commandments) as Ten Witnesses, the observable grace of the Bride in preparing for her Bridegroom according to their everlasting agreement. Ruth's character exhibited this grace in the Word, witnessed by ten elders of Beit Lechem:









...for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence. (3:11) He took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. (Ru 4:2)

Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today...(v. 9)

All the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring which the LORD will give you by this young woman.” (v. 11-12)

Parsha "Naso" (Numbers 4:21 through chapter 7) continues with the numbers - this time the other sons of Levi, and their assignments, but continues with SO much more. Including what Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship suggests is one of the most central in Scripture, even if is perhaps also one of the most 'overlooked.'



But it is notable for so many reasons: A look at authority in marriage, and beyond. And, at the same time, a procedure for what turns out to be the only enumerated process in the Torah for which a miracle is mandated as a result!



And then there's the 'longest chapter in the Book,' and most redundant, too. Why?



The Erev Shabbat reading:



https://hebrewnationonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SSM-6-14-24-Naso-teaching-podcast-xx.mp3





The Sabbath Day midrash begins with an observation about a common thread that connects every aspect of the apparently disparate elements of this parsha, submission, and the Authority to which it is rendered.



But it is the 'cup of abominations' that not only ties the pieces together, but should help us understand what it at play today, and coming to a head 'soon'.





"Naso: Submission and Authority"



https://hebrewnationonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/WT-CooH-6-15-24-Naso-Submission-and-Authority-podcast-xxx.mp3





The combined two-part teaching is (finally!) here: