Media File The story of Jacob's flight from his brother and stay in Haran is one of character transformation. He begins as a bit of a "momma's boy" who is willing to take advantage of both his brother and his father. At the end of the story, he is a man of substance who voluntarily reconciles with his brother and symbolically returns the blessing he had stolen 20 years earlier.
2024-11-30 Hikarat Hatov
Media File The world is a difficult and often dangerous place. It is easy to focus on one's problems and become ungrateful. That is what happened to Esau when he despised his birthright. Learning to look for the good in every situation can radically improve your attitude and your situation.
2024-11-23 Care of the Soul - Chesed
Media File When Abraham sent his servant to get a bride for his son, Isaac, the servant paused at the well in Haran and sought the Lord's favor in his mission. In this prayer, he asked that God show chesed to his master and guide him to the right young woman. Chesed, often translated as 'loving kindness,' is a frequently mentioned characteristic of God. As those who are created in His image, we also should cultivate that character trait; both for our benefit and for the health of the community.
2024-11-16 The Binding of Isaac
Media File In Genesis 22 Abraham is called upon by God to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. This, of course prefigures the Crucifixion in nearly every detail. In addition it says something profound about the relationship between children and their father. Contrary to every other society at the time, fathers do not own their children. (Inspired by Rabbi Sacks, "The Binding of Isaac" on Aish.com)
2024-11-09 The Beginning of a Relationship
Media File The story of Abraham marks the beginning of God's establishing personal relationships with people. Before Abraham Scripture simply records events. With Abraham we get much more personal and emotional information about His relationship with God. It is also significant that in order to develop that relationship God removed him from the big city and made him live in a tent. The patterns developed in this story have profound meaning for believers today.
2024-11-02 Losing the Plot
Media File Over the years, Christianity has become less and less effective in shaping the culture and effecting national politics. This is largely because the church has ignored or deprecated those parts of Scripture that it finds 'inconvenient'. Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, is a unified whole and avoiding parts of it robs it of power and influence.
2024-10-26 The Last Day of the Feast
Media File Having travelled secretly to Jerusalem for Succot in order to avoid arrest, Y'shua made a very dramatic appearance on the last day. The high point of the day was the water pouring ceremony at the altar. There He announced that those who believed in him would have rivers of 'living water' flow from their hearts. He so startled everyone that the guards didn't arrest Him. He went on the following day to announce that He was the light of world. Both water and light are consistent themes beginning in Genesis. They also figure prominently on the last day of the feast.
2024-10-19 A City Whose Builder is God
Media File At Succot we are reminded that we are sojourners in this world and are looking forward to the next. Jeremiah gives some advice to the Jews who were 'sojourning' in Babylon: "seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." So also we are called to engage with the political and civic life of the place we are sent; even as we eagerly await the coming of Y'shua and the establishment of His kingdom.
2024-10-12 Atonement
Media File The Day of Atonement is perhaps the most Christian of the Torah's appointed times. On that day, the High Priest goes into the presence of God and obtains atonement for Israel and cleansing of their sins. Other than being present for the ceremony, the people do nothing. This should also be a day when one examines his life and begins the process of teshuvah or repentance.
2024-10-05 A Day for Cheering
Media File Yom Teruah can be translated as a day of cheering. In Revelation when the seventh trumpet sounds there is cheering in Heaven because "the kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ." At that time Christ will begin purging the world of His enemies, those who worship false gods. The impulse to idolatry has not gone away. What does it look like today when people in the church turn to other gods in the same way that Israel did in the past?
2024-09-28 Choose Life
Media File The world and the culture is awash with death. Moses, in Dt 30 presents life and death as a choice and recommends that we choose life. In a sense that choice is the central point of the entire Bible. All the law and the prophets tell us what behavior leads to life and what leads to death, both temporal and eternal. Choose wisely.
2024-09-21 Guarding the Covenant
Media File There three ceremonies prescribed in Deuteronomy 26 and 27 that set up the Deuteronomy 28 recitation of blessings and curses in the covenant made with the generation going into the land. Each of these ceremonies is designed to maintain perspective as Israel prospers in their new land. When they neglected them, the nation descended into idolatry, injustice, violence and finally exile. We today are on the same path for the same reasons.
2024-09-14 Year End Review
Media File The month preceding the fall feasts is an excellent time to reflect over the past year and think about what you want to accomplish in the next. In this, 2 Peter has a helpful progressive list of character traits that lead to Godliness.
2024-09-07 Limited Government
Media File In Parsha Shoftim Moses describes the duties of and limitations on judges, officers and kings. In this he makes it clear that, except for a king who is chosen by God, they are to be appointed by Israel. He also makes it clear that their first priority is to act according to the Torah and that they must not regard themselves as somehow 'better' than their brothers. Reading this passage along side of the US Declaration of Independence and Constitution, it is very clear where the founding fathers got the design for the Federal Government.
2024-08-31 Choose Your Future
Media File In Deuteronomy 11 Moses explains to Israel that their future is in their own hands. If they faithfully follow God's instructions, they will be blessed. If not, they will experience curses. In the same way, the meaning of the events in your life is yours to interpret and to act upon. You may choose to interpret unfavorable events as an indicator that you area victim or you may choose to overcome and plan a better future. You get to choose.
2024-08-24 Satan Hates People
Media File In Deuteronomy God describes His covenant with Israel as one of love. He describes the statutes that He provides as being for the benefit of the beloved and says that Israel's faithfully following them will result in abundant blessing. Starting in the Garden, it has been Satan's goal to lead God's people away from God's way to life and blessing and into destruction and death. That nefarious goal is still in full effect today as we see nations being led into ruin.
2024-08-17 A Religious War
Media File There are two major religions at war with the western world and Christianity. Sadly both of these religions have managed to disguise the religious nature of the conflict. Islam is bent on world domination, yet it has managed to conceal that fact by posing as an oppressed minority. Liberalism is also a religion with its roots going back to Plato, yet it has managed to cast itself as secular and religiously neutral. In order to survive, Christianity must engage both of these religions as what they are - implacably hostile.
Tisha B'Av
Media File The 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av has for millennia been the occasion of calamitous events for the Hebrew people. That date marks, separated by centuries, the destruction of both the first and second temples, the expulsion from England and Spain and many other such events. How do we relate to such events? What do they have to teach us?
2024-08-03 What Defiles
Media File In Matthew 15 the Pharisees berate Y'shua because His disciples were eating with unwashed hands. He tells the crowd and his disciples that putting food into the mouth with unwashed hands does not defile, it is what comes out of the heart. How does that defilement get in there and how can we remove it?
2024-07-27 Triumph
Media File The Bible is full of conflict - wars, interpersonal problems, spiritual battles. In the Letters to the Seven Churches, Christ makes wonderful promises to those who conquer. Those who have locked themselves up within spiritual strongholds or prisons aren't conquering anything. How did we construct these prisons and how do we tear them down? How do we triumph in life?
2024-07-20 The Triune Gods of Liberalism
Media File The intellectual foundations of liberalism were laid in the 19th century. The ideas of Darwin, Malthus and Marx made atheism respectable, racism 'scientific', and promised a man-made paradise. We are now seeing the dismal failure of that legacy. It appears that God has once again answered prayer and is moving to deliver us from our hubris and folly.
2024-07-13 Death and the Read Heifer
Media File Parsha Chukat is almost entirely about death. There is the red heifer whose ashes are used to purify those who come into contact with death, Miriam dies, Aaron dies, Moses is told he will die in the wilderness, and deadly snakes invade the camp. Oddly enough, all of this points to the fact that death is not permanent, and although it defiles, it is not to be feared.
2024-07-06 Weeds in the Garden
Media File In the Parable of the Weeds the common assumption is that weeds represent persecution of the faithful within the church. While that is surely part of it, perhaps more insidious are weeds that bring with them ideas that interfere with character development of the faithful. The resulting lack of virtue undermines the liberty that God wants us to have.
2024-06-29 Gospel as Politics
Media File In the Roman Empire during the life of Christ and the ministry of the apostles, the gospel would have been understood as the announcement of a new king. That understanding was the source of conflict with the Pharisees and with the secular authorities. The modern church, having lost that understanding of the word has allowed itself to be taken out of the political arena.
2024-06-22 Inflection Points
Media File Numbers 10 represents the high point of the wilderness generation. The tabernacle is finished and they have set out for the Promised Land. It all starts to fall apart in Numbers 11 with the result that that generation dies in the wilderness. Similarly, in Matthew 13 Y'shua switches from plain speech to cryptic parables indicating that he is done trying to reach the Jewish leadership. The problem in both cases was the same.
2024-06-15 Shavuot - Expression of God's Love
Media File On Shavuot God has twice appeared in dramatic fashion to give His people tools by which to live and to expand His Kingdom. The first occasion at Sinai, He gave us the Torah. The second time in the Upper Room, He gave His Spirit to comfort and guide us. These are two tremendous gifts to people whom He loves.
2024-06-06 Bamidbar - The Census
Media File It is important that the census in the wilderness emphasizes that people are to be counted by name. This reinforces that God deals with people as individuals and not as interchangeable units. In addition to the theological implications, this has practical political implications. All of the various 'ism' theories of human governance treat people in mass, as interchangeable and expendable.
(Technical note: in the first few seconds of the recording we had microphone problems. That smooths out quickly.)
2024-06-01 Injustice
Media File As God has been driven from the public square, people have lost an awareness of both His goodness and His justice. That void is filled with covetousness, bitterness, anger and resentment. We can see this played out in all of our institutions, but especially in the courts. To quote Jeremiah, "No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity."
2024-05-25 Release
Media File In The Torah, God tells Israel that both the land and the Israelite people belong to Him. He specifies that there are to be several economic resets over a 50 year period. Slaves must be freed and debts cancelled every seven years and land must revert to its original owner at 50 years. In this way God assures the maximum possible economic freedom while assuring that those who fall behind will periodically get a new start. Inspired by an article by Rabbi Sacks https://aish.com/481254991/
2024-05-18 The Kingdom has Suffered Violence
Media File In Matthew 11, John's disciples ask if Y'shua is actually the Messiah. This is a hinge point in the book. He explains that John could have been Elijah, but both he and Y'shua are being rejected by the ruling elites. This sets up the rest of the story telling how they are willing to corrupt every organ of society to get rid of a populist trouble maker. The parallels with our own day are striking.
2024-05-11 Elastic not Plastic
Media File Fashionable intellectual belief is that reality is plastic, that is it can be formed into whatever people desire it to be. That is the basis for all of the 'isms' from the 19th and 20th centuries. In contrast, God tells us that reality is elastic. That means that it can be pushed out of shape for a while, but it eventually snaps back. The farther it is stretched, the more violent the snap. In Leviticus 19-20 Moses tells Israel to keep separate from the nations and not to adopt their ways. There he gives a set of principles to insure that Israel's society stays within safe elastic limits.
2024-05-04 Dominion
Media File God designed humans to exercise dominion over the earth and all its creatures. That design feature also drives people to try and dominate each other, often in inappropriate or harmful ways. What does God have to say about the proper exercise and limits to power relationships between people? It turns out, quite a lot.
2024-04-28 Resurrection
Media File Christ rose from the grave on First Fruits and so became the first fruits from the dead. There are a number of other resurrections in Scripture. What makes that one special?
2024-04-27 From Slavery to Liberty
Media File When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He did not take them directly to the Promised Land. Instead He began a process of teaching the former slaves how to be free. The first stage of the process took 50 days (seven sabbaths plus one day). That pattern is repeated in the Land, but in years instead of days. Every fifty years, Israel was to do a reset, restoring everyone to his patrimony, freeing all slaves and forgiving all debts. This teaches us that liberty is not easy and must periodically be refreshed.
2024-04-20 Hijacked By Evil
Media File As we prepare to celebrate Passover, it is well to reflect on God's appointed times as, among other things, a mechanism to keep our history fresh in our minds. In the west today, our history is under systematic attack. The success of that attack has left our young people adrift, not sure who they are or what 'tribe' they belong to. That gap has been used to advance every form of evil.
2024-04-06 Profane Fire
Media File During the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests before God, Nadab and Abihu offered profane fire before the altar and were themselves consumed by fire from heaven. Most commentaries focus on speculation about the two men's motivation in doing what was not commanded. Such speculation is completely irrelevant. What matters is what they did, not what they believed.
2024-03-30 Ordination
Media File There are ritual elements in the ordination of the High Priest that are repeated only in the procedure to cleanse a leper. That leads to some profound insights into God's plan for the redemption of His creation. (Inspired by Rabbi David Block at AlpehBeta.org)
2024-03-23 Demons
Media File Demons are a Biblical fact of life. How do they operate? How do people encounter them? What do we do about them?
2024-03-16 Obedience Changes You
Media File On the surface God's laws might appear simply to be organizing principles for a decent society. They certainly are that, but they are also His means for changing His children into the image of Christ. The principle here is, 'As you behave, so you become.' If one simply reads Scripture out of fear of punishment, he misses a great wealth of character changing information.
2024-03-09 Law and Love - The Importance of Emphasis
Media File The United States was founded and built by Christians. While the scaffolding of our society (consent of the governed, freedom of conscience, etc.) is Biblical, secularists increasingly reject Biblical morals. This stems from a Christian emphasis on rules and doctrine at the expense of love. In a sense that was Christ's criticism of the Ephesian church.
2024-03-02 What is it About Idols?
Media File Idols are a perennial human problem, warned against both in the Old and New Testaments. To understand the impulse and recognize the manifestations, it may be helpful to look at idols from three perspectives: as intermediaries to God, as connections to false gods and as blindfolds to truth. All are forbidden, but for different reasons.
2024-02-24 Hidden Beauty
Media File The High Priests' garments described in Ex 28 are made for glory and for beauty. Clothing can do many things. It can define a person's function or status. It can also either reveal or hide the truth about the one wearing it. That ambiguity is inherent in the Hebrew word for clothing.
Inspired by the article, "Splendor in the Quest" by Rabbi Noson Weisz at Aish.com.
2024-02-17 God's Mercy - The Tabernacle
Media File The design of the Tabernacle speaks of God's mercy and forgiveness. It also speaks of His hopes for each of us. This is contrasted to the current religion of 'Woke' with its purification rituals - the destruction of the past. The gods of that religion have no concept of mercy or forgiveness.
2024-02-10 Human Power Relationships
Media File After the Ten Commandments, Exodus goes into a long list of laws. Philosophically, laws represent someone's vision of what a good society should look like. What do these laws say about God's expectation about Israel? It is significant that He leads with laws about slavery. In this He is speaking more broadly about human power relationships.
2024-02-03 Sinai - The Birth of Liberty
Media File God desires a freely chosen relationship between himself and people. The codification of that concept occurred at Sinai when He first asked Israel if they wanted to enter into a special relationship with Him. Israel answered in the affirmative and so began a relationship that has lasted for thousands of years.
2024-01-27 The Terrible Beast
Media File Daniel had a vision of four beasts, the fourth being different from the other three. That beast is exceedingly terrible. What does that beast represent and what makes it different from the other three? What does the answer to those questions mean for believers today?
2024-01-20 Language Drift
Media File In the Sermon on the Mount, why does Y'shua find it necessary to assure a crowd of Jews that He will not change the Torah or the Prophets. The answer to that is in two parts, one concerns with language drift over time and the other concerns Pharisaic expectations.
2024-01-13 The Beatitudes in Matthew 5
Media File In His first major speech in Matthew, Y'shua lays out His ministry. The first section, the Beatitudes, are a restatement of Torah principles of good character updated for a first century audience. With the drift of the English language over time, some of the terms need to be updated again so that modern readers can appreciate what He said.
2024-01-06 Gratitude
Media File The world is a difficult and dangerous place. In going through difficulties and trials, it is easy to lose track of the fact that God is with us and wants very much to have us overcome and thrive. In this realization, we should have a sense of gratitude for all that He has done for us - both the pleasant and the difficult. This attitude serves as a counter to envy, self-pity, malice and covetousness.
Sermons given at Restoration Messianic Fellowship during 2024
