Glorious Pursuit
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Php 3:14)
There is something about pursuing God that He loves in a man and a woman. It is a trusting in the Unseen God and thrusting our life, future and in fact everything into His loving hands, sojourning into the uncharted territory where man’s council and experience could never articulated. God’s ways are beyond all scope of human understanding and history.
Once we have been called, He is faithful to keep calling us. Whenever we forget, face discouraging hurdles, pain, suffering, despair, He keeps reminding us of the call. Don’t give up as much as He doesn’t; He cannot deny His character of faithfulness.
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: (Heb 12:14)
Our pursuit is ‘in the Kingdom’, not outside. This pursuit of holiness only avails to those who believe and testify that Christ is Savior and Lord. Christians are not to remain idle, but to pursue. Never boast (Prov 27:1) of any form of spiritual attainment (Php 3:12, 13) nor compare ourselves against others who haven’t attained but remain faithful in whatever station of life we are in and continue to press on (Php 3:16).
Our reward is great. We will discover that in our pursuit, there will be much rubbish that requires shedding off to complete the race gloriously, clothed with nothing but His righteousness (Job 29:14, Php 3:9).
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
What is the original Hebrew name for Jesus? And is it true that the name Jesus is really a pagan corruption of the name Zeus?
Dr. Michael Brown
I am continually amazed by how many people write to our ministry and ask us questions like this one, which came in last week: “Some Christians say we have to use the Hebrew name, Yashua. They say calling on the name of Jesus is calling on Zeus. That Jesus is a disguise name for Satan. What answers do you have for this? Where can we prove the name of Jesus is correct to use in its English translation and pronunciation?”
As bizarre as these questions are, the fact that they keep coming up means that they need to be addressed, so here are some simple responses (for more details, see What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus, question #38).
The original Hebrew-Aramaic name of Jesus is yeshu‘a, which is short for yehōshu‘a (Joshua), just as Mike is short for Michael. The name yeshu‘a occurs 27 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, primarily referring to the high priest after the Babylonian exile, called both yehōshu‘a (see, e.g., Zechariah 3:3) and, more frequently, yeshu‘a (see, e.g., Ezra 3:2). So, Yeshua’s name was not unusual; in fact, as many as five different men had that name in the Old Testament. And this is how that name came to be “Jesus” in English: Simply stated, this is the etymological history of the name Jesus: Hebrew/Aramaic yeshu‘a became Greek Iēsous, then Latin Iesus, passing into German and then, ultimately, into English, as Jesus.
Why then do some people refer to Jesus as Yahshua? There is absolutely no support for this pronunciation—none at all—and I say this as someone holding a Ph.D. in Semitic languages. My educated guess is that some zealous but linguistically ignorant people thought that Yahweh’s name must have been a more overt part of our Savior’s name, hence YAHshua rather than Yeshua—but again, there is no support of any kind for this theory.
Read rest of article
Dr. Michael Brown
I am continually amazed by how many people write to our ministry and ask us questions like this one, which came in last week: “Some Christians say we have to use the Hebrew name, Yashua. They say calling on the name of Jesus is calling on Zeus. That Jesus is a disguise name for Satan. What answers do you have for this? Where can we prove the name of Jesus is correct to use in its English translation and pronunciation?”
As bizarre as these questions are, the fact that they keep coming up means that they need to be addressed, so here are some simple responses (for more details, see What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus, question #38).
The original Hebrew-Aramaic name of Jesus is yeshu‘a, which is short for yehōshu‘a (Joshua), just as Mike is short for Michael. The name yeshu‘a occurs 27 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, primarily referring to the high priest after the Babylonian exile, called both yehōshu‘a (see, e.g., Zechariah 3:3) and, more frequently, yeshu‘a (see, e.g., Ezra 3:2). So, Yeshua’s name was not unusual; in fact, as many as five different men had that name in the Old Testament. And this is how that name came to be “Jesus” in English: Simply stated, this is the etymological history of the name Jesus: Hebrew/Aramaic yeshu‘a became Greek Iēsous, then Latin Iesus, passing into German and then, ultimately, into English, as Jesus.
Why then do some people refer to Jesus as Yahshua? There is absolutely no support for this pronunciation—none at all—and I say this as someone holding a Ph.D. in Semitic languages. My educated guess is that some zealous but linguistically ignorant people thought that Yahweh’s name must have been a more overt part of our Savior’s name, hence YAHshua rather than Yeshua—but again, there is no support of any kind for this theory.
Read rest of article
Friday, July 22, 2011
THE GATEWAY TO THE KINGDOM
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." Matthew 5:3
Oswald Chambers
Beware of placing Our Lord as a Teacher first. If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard I can not attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it. What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be - to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Saviour before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man - the very thing Jesus means it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out Our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. "Blessed are the paupers in spirit," that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility - I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says - Blessed are you. That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." Matthew 5:3
Oswald Chambers
Beware of placing Our Lord as a Teacher first. If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard I can not attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it. What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be - to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Saviour before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man - the very thing Jesus means it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out Our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. "Blessed are the paupers in spirit," that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility - I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says - Blessed are you. That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Parashat Pinhas: Leadership through speech
By SHLOMO RISKIN
“Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, ‘Let the Lord God of all the spirits of mortal flesh appoint a person of stature over the witness congregation’” (Numbers 27:15).
Moses was the master of all prophets, and the individual who came closer to God than any other mortal in history. Now, after a chorus of rebellions against him, God tells him that he is about to be taken from this world without entering the Promised Land. His response to God demonstrates his deep and abiding commitment to his nation. He does not seek a reprieve for himself, but rather a fitting successor for his people. In so doing, he identifies the area in which he himself failed, and the qualities which his heir must have in order to succeed, thus defining the sine qua non condition of leadership for future generations, and so leaving a crucial legacy to “Knesset Yisrael.”
The biblical words are stunning in their simplicity: “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Climb to the top of this Abarim Mountain [just in front of Mount Nebo] and gaze upon the land which I am giving to the Israelites. After you see it, you will be gathered to your nation, in the same manner as was Aaron your brother. This is because you rebelled against My word at the Zin desert, just as the witness-congregation were engaged in dispute and you neglected to sanctify Me before their eyes with the water…” (Numbers 27:12-14) God is now exacting the punishment He had meted out to Moses in last week’s biblical reading, when the prophet was instructed to take his staff and “speak to the rock”; but instead, “struck the rock with the staff twice.” Although at the time much water gushed forth, God proclaimed that as a result of this transgression, Moses and Aaron would not be permitted to lead the nation into the Land.
Why did God command Moses to take the staff but only to speak to the rock, whereas almost 40 years before, after the splitting of the Red Sea, when the Israelites also bitterly disputed with God over the lack of water, He instructed Moses to take the rod and strike the rock with it? Why was striking the rock a commandment then and a transgression now? Apparently, Moses himself had pondered this question, and in this week’s portion, he arrives at the reason.
There are two types of leadership: leadership with a staff, and leadership with words; leadership by means of power and leadership by persuasion.
A slave people, beaten into submission by a powerful despot, will be moved only by a greater and mightier power. Slaves lack the emotional energy and the rigorous reserve to respond to logical thought or inspirational visions. They require a God with plagues more powerful than the Egyptian Nile, and a leader with a staff more efficacious than that of Pharaoh’s magicians.
But almost 40 years have passed since then, years of wandering in an alien desert and years of being protected by a loving Deity, years of commitment to God’s laws and years of studying God’s words.
And now, when history is repeating itself, when the witness-congregation is again panicked by the lack of water, God adjures Moses: Take your staff of leadership, but instead of striking with your hand, speak with your mouth; instead of commanding with the fiery law of a written Torah from God on High, try convincing with a song of an Oral Torah whose chorus is composed and sung by the souls of all of Israel; the Written Torah is a strict law, eternal, absolute and unchanging, emanating from the Lord, Creator of the Universe, while the Oral Torah is a soft law, born of dialogue with Israel and informed by the compassion and loving-kindness of the God of history.
And so Moses understands that the next leader of Israel must be less a prophet of God and more a man of the people, less a conveyor of God’s eternal law and more a mediator between God’s words and the people’s needs. Moses is at peace with his realization that if the staff was crucial to bring Israel out of Egypt in order to form a nation committed to God and His law, the next leader must use the word – speech and dialogue – to convince, inspire and extract new insights and interpretations of Torah from God’s partners in history, the nation of Israel.
“Moses spoke to the Lord saying, Let the Lord God of all the spirits of mortal flesh appoint a person of stature over the witness-congregation. Let him go out in front of them and let him come in before them, let him take them out and let him bring them in, so that the witness-congregation of the Lord shall not be as sheep without a shepherd” (Num. 27:15-17).
By SHLOMO RISKIN
“Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, ‘Let the Lord God of all the spirits of mortal flesh appoint a person of stature over the witness congregation’” (Numbers 27:15).
Moses was the master of all prophets, and the individual who came closer to God than any other mortal in history. Now, after a chorus of rebellions against him, God tells him that he is about to be taken from this world without entering the Promised Land. His response to God demonstrates his deep and abiding commitment to his nation. He does not seek a reprieve for himself, but rather a fitting successor for his people. In so doing, he identifies the area in which he himself failed, and the qualities which his heir must have in order to succeed, thus defining the sine qua non condition of leadership for future generations, and so leaving a crucial legacy to “Knesset Yisrael.”
The biblical words are stunning in their simplicity: “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Climb to the top of this Abarim Mountain [just in front of Mount Nebo] and gaze upon the land which I am giving to the Israelites. After you see it, you will be gathered to your nation, in the same manner as was Aaron your brother. This is because you rebelled against My word at the Zin desert, just as the witness-congregation were engaged in dispute and you neglected to sanctify Me before their eyes with the water…” (Numbers 27:12-14) God is now exacting the punishment He had meted out to Moses in last week’s biblical reading, when the prophet was instructed to take his staff and “speak to the rock”; but instead, “struck the rock with the staff twice.” Although at the time much water gushed forth, God proclaimed that as a result of this transgression, Moses and Aaron would not be permitted to lead the nation into the Land.
Why did God command Moses to take the staff but only to speak to the rock, whereas almost 40 years before, after the splitting of the Red Sea, when the Israelites also bitterly disputed with God over the lack of water, He instructed Moses to take the rod and strike the rock with it? Why was striking the rock a commandment then and a transgression now? Apparently, Moses himself had pondered this question, and in this week’s portion, he arrives at the reason.
There are two types of leadership: leadership with a staff, and leadership with words; leadership by means of power and leadership by persuasion.
A slave people, beaten into submission by a powerful despot, will be moved only by a greater and mightier power. Slaves lack the emotional energy and the rigorous reserve to respond to logical thought or inspirational visions. They require a God with plagues more powerful than the Egyptian Nile, and a leader with a staff more efficacious than that of Pharaoh’s magicians.
But almost 40 years have passed since then, years of wandering in an alien desert and years of being protected by a loving Deity, years of commitment to God’s laws and years of studying God’s words.
And now, when history is repeating itself, when the witness-congregation is again panicked by the lack of water, God adjures Moses: Take your staff of leadership, but instead of striking with your hand, speak with your mouth; instead of commanding with the fiery law of a written Torah from God on High, try convincing with a song of an Oral Torah whose chorus is composed and sung by the souls of all of Israel; the Written Torah is a strict law, eternal, absolute and unchanging, emanating from the Lord, Creator of the Universe, while the Oral Torah is a soft law, born of dialogue with Israel and informed by the compassion and loving-kindness of the God of history.
And so Moses understands that the next leader of Israel must be less a prophet of God and more a man of the people, less a conveyor of God’s eternal law and more a mediator between God’s words and the people’s needs. Moses is at peace with his realization that if the staff was crucial to bring Israel out of Egypt in order to form a nation committed to God and His law, the next leader must use the word – speech and dialogue – to convince, inspire and extract new insights and interpretations of Torah from God’s partners in history, the nation of Israel.
“Moses spoke to the Lord saying, Let the Lord God of all the spirits of mortal flesh appoint a person of stature over the witness-congregation. Let him go out in front of them and let him come in before them, let him take them out and let him bring them in, so that the witness-congregation of the Lord shall not be as sheep without a shepherd” (Num. 27:15-17).
Finally
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord…..(Php 3:1)
What is the ‘finally’ in our Christian life we are experiencing? Conclusively is there rejoicing? Not in what we have done, achieved, accumulated or any form of spiritual trophy placed on the pedestal of a Christian’s hallway of fame. The finality of our faith is Christ and Christ alone (Php 3:8) and to be found in Him (Php 3:9). To be established where our enduring existence is not of our own but His only.
I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine…… (Son 6:3)
Exclusivity comes with a price of suffering loss and reckoning all else as dung (Php 3:8). As with a marriage there has to be a leaving and a cleaving unto oneness; our position where He will spread His banner of love over His church (Son 2:4). His joy will sustain us (Neh 8:10). Our pursuit is not then aimless and our destiny laid out; the path has been drawn out. We keep our eyes focus on the goal of our upward call. It is upward glorious resurrection to save us from all forms of depreciating corruption that surround us daily, into an everlasting Kingdom. Rejoicing now and rejoicing in the end.
With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace. Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever. (Psa 45:15-17)
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord…..(Php 3:1)
What is the ‘finally’ in our Christian life we are experiencing? Conclusively is there rejoicing? Not in what we have done, achieved, accumulated or any form of spiritual trophy placed on the pedestal of a Christian’s hallway of fame. The finality of our faith is Christ and Christ alone (Php 3:8) and to be found in Him (Php 3:9). To be established where our enduring existence is not of our own but His only.
I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine…… (Son 6:3)
Exclusivity comes with a price of suffering loss and reckoning all else as dung (Php 3:8). As with a marriage there has to be a leaving and a cleaving unto oneness; our position where He will spread His banner of love over His church (Son 2:4). His joy will sustain us (Neh 8:10). Our pursuit is not then aimless and our destiny laid out; the path has been drawn out. We keep our eyes focus on the goal of our upward call. It is upward glorious resurrection to save us from all forms of depreciating corruption that surround us daily, into an everlasting Kingdom. Rejoicing now and rejoicing in the end.
With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace. Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever. (Psa 45:15-17)
Friday, July 08, 2011
Consistency
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. (Luke 9:23)
Have we asked ourselves why we roller coaster through our Christian walk? Victory sometimes can be grasps at an arm’s length and other times it does not seem to avail to us. David knew about the importance of consistency (Psa 51:10).
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? (Luke 14:28)
Victory requires reckoning or accounting with regard to the issue of the cross. Weigh not on what is the gain, but on the loss. The next step of faith is to cut off (Matt 5:30) and put off (Eph 4:22). His grace avails deeply for us, but we have to weigh and be willing to suffer loss (Phil 3:8). There is no short cut but always remembering that His grace avails always. Keep in mind that the person who carries the cross is not dead but a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). 'Dead' yet alive to a higher life (Rom 6:11), it is a mystery that can only be fully realized if we live on the foundation of grace. An Old Testament sacrifice is severed, place on the altar, burned with fire and reduced to the lowest irreversible and consistent form, ashes. The Lord is not concerned with the gruesomeness of the sacrifice but in the aroma it finally emits.
Consistency is a narrowing journey (Matt 7:13). We have to reckon and account for loss in order to end at the gates of the ‘Celestial City’ (Pilgrims Progress, John Bunyan). Loss in order for great gain (Matt 14:36). The secret to consistency is carrying the cross and following Jesus. He will never lead us the wrong way. Cross equals loss, the end of great gain.
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. (Luke 9:23)
Have we asked ourselves why we roller coaster through our Christian walk? Victory sometimes can be grasps at an arm’s length and other times it does not seem to avail to us. David knew about the importance of consistency (Psa 51:10).
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? (Luke 14:28)
Victory requires reckoning or accounting with regard to the issue of the cross. Weigh not on what is the gain, but on the loss. The next step of faith is to cut off (Matt 5:30) and put off (Eph 4:22). His grace avails deeply for us, but we have to weigh and be willing to suffer loss (Phil 3:8). There is no short cut but always remembering that His grace avails always. Keep in mind that the person who carries the cross is not dead but a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). 'Dead' yet alive to a higher life (Rom 6:11), it is a mystery that can only be fully realized if we live on the foundation of grace. An Old Testament sacrifice is severed, place on the altar, burned with fire and reduced to the lowest irreversible and consistent form, ashes. The Lord is not concerned with the gruesomeness of the sacrifice but in the aroma it finally emits.
Consistency is a narrowing journey (Matt 7:13). We have to reckon and account for loss in order to end at the gates of the ‘Celestial City’ (Pilgrims Progress, John Bunyan). Loss in order for great gain (Matt 14:36). The secret to consistency is carrying the cross and following Jesus. He will never lead us the wrong way. Cross equals loss, the end of great gain.
Friday, July 01, 2011
What Glory Do We Seek For?
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (John 17:22)
The bride is the focus of attention in any wedding, which is how much glory Jesus bestows upon His church. It is not ours to earn nor striving nor fighting to gain (John 18:36). It takes faith to receive. Looking at not with human senses, but having a belief full of unshakeable substance and able to behold things not seen (Heb 11:1).
The glory is not then, but now. The manifestation of the glory is unity. Oneness is in Christ where the bond of brotherhood becomes thicker than blood which is of the spirit (Eph 4:3). The humanly base idea of glory is exaltation of self to prove we are better. God’s glory is founded on love, not the sentimental kind but one of action toward others, never self seeking nor arrogant. This is the true mark of discipleship (John 13:35). Christ’s glory given to the church is deeply founded in His love (John 17:24, 26), what else do we desire or seek for?
And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (John 17:22)
The bride is the focus of attention in any wedding, which is how much glory Jesus bestows upon His church. It is not ours to earn nor striving nor fighting to gain (John 18:36). It takes faith to receive. Looking at not with human senses, but having a belief full of unshakeable substance and able to behold things not seen (Heb 11:1).
The glory is not then, but now. The manifestation of the glory is unity. Oneness is in Christ where the bond of brotherhood becomes thicker than blood which is of the spirit (Eph 4:3). The humanly base idea of glory is exaltation of self to prove we are better. God’s glory is founded on love, not the sentimental kind but one of action toward others, never self seeking nor arrogant. This is the true mark of discipleship (John 13:35). Christ’s glory given to the church is deeply founded in His love (John 17:24, 26), what else do we desire or seek for?
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