Musing – Have you been with Jesus?

Hebraic Musing – Have you been with Jesus?

The book of Acts opens with an example of apostolic ministry and action.  Peter and John are going about their daily routine, going to the Temple for prayer, when the lame man asked them for money.  Their reply has become a cute children’s song (which I love too).   ♫  “Silver and gold have I none, But such as I have give I thee, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.  He went walking and leaping and praising God, Walking and leaping and praising God, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”  ♫

If we stop here, we miss a personal application.  This miracle became a witnessing opportunity … “all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.” Acts 3:11 NIV   And as Peter and John continued to preach the Gospel of Jesus and His resurrection, the crowds grew until… “The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people.  They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.” Acts 4:1-2   But Peter and John continued preaching to these leaders until those scholarly leaders noted that “These men had been with Jesus.”   “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

The critical points the leaders noted about Peter and John always caught my attention –

·         They were unschooled.  (I can relate to that)

·         They acted, stood their ground and preached with courage. (I wish I could always do that)

·         They “had been with Jesus”.  (Let’s talk more about that…)

Peter and John were apostles, yes.  They had walked with Jesus, yes.  I encountered Jesus and I talked to Him and He changed my life in 1977 and I have been walking with Him ever since.  THEREFORE, I too have walked with Jesus and should also act and preach with the same boldness that Peter and John did.

Have you walked with Jesus?  Are you walking with Jesus daily?

 Points to ponder

Did Jesus commission only the Apostles to go forth and preach the Gospel?

Why did Jesus indwell us with the Holy Spirit? 
(to provide us with the Words, Courage, Insights, Boldness, etc.?)

Are we any less prepared than Peter and John?

♫   And He walks with me and He talks with me. And He tells me I am his own…  ♫

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                      March 27, 2018

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”

Musing – How Could ISREAL Possibly Continue to Exist?

Hebraic Musing – How Could ISREAL Possibly Continue to Exist?

When Fredrick the Great asked his trusted advisor for the single, strongest piece of evidence that proved the existence of God, the advisor answered him: “The Jews, Sir, the Jews.”  How is it that the Jewish people are a living testimony to the existence of God?

According to all reason and logic, the Jewish people should no longer exist.  It is statistically impossible for such a small nation, persecuted and kicked out of land after land, to still be around.  Even more unbelievable is the fact that the Jews have returned to their homeland.  There is no natural explanation for the existence of Israel today, only a supernatural one.

There is only one possible explanation for the survival and revival of the Jews: God.  If the Jews exist today, it is only because God exists eternally.

·      If the Jews were a large and mighty nation, we might attribute their perseverance to their significant numbers or military prowess.  

·      If the Jews had remained safely in their homeland since its inception over three thousand years ago, we might have been able to credit their existence with the stability that they enjoyed throughout history.

However, the Jews have enjoyed none of these advantages. They have been a small nation, less than 1% of all humanity, with neither a military nor a homeland until recent times. Under these circumstances, no nation could possibly survive.

Even more startling is that the Bible predicted all this: “The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you.” Deut. 4:27 NIV   And the Bible also promised the miraculous return of the Jewish people: “ . . .  then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes  and have compassion  on you and gather  you again from all the nations where he scattered  you.   Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.   He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it.” Deut. 30:3-5   Only the Master of the world could make such outrageous claims!  Only God could predict and arrange such events!

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik lists the six modern miracles regarding the Jews, including the return to the land of Israel, the miracles of the Israeli army, and the establishment of the State of Israel.  He points out that these supernatural events predicted in the Bible are God knocking on our door beckoning us to wake up and let Him into our lives.

 Points to ponder

We are living in wondrous times, Bible promises are being fulfilled today.
Let us be inspired by the miracles unfolding before our very eyes.

Let us reaffirm our faith and renew our commitments to God.
God is eternally faithful; may we be faithful to Him for all eternity!

♫  Jew and Gentile, one in Messiah, One in Yeshua, one in the olive tree. … One in Yeshua's love. ♫ 

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                  March 20, 2018

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”

*    “My Beloved Knocks,” Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik (20th century New York)
Note – Inspired and copied from Rabbi Eckstein’s Holy Land Moments (IFCJ), March 9, 2018

Musing - What does it mean to say “Jesus is my Lord”?

Hebraic Musing - What does it mean to say “Jesus is my Lord”?

We have heard and been led to believe that John was called on a Sunday to write what became the book of Revelation based on Ch.1:10-11  –  “On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll…”  NIV   Could “the Lord’s Day” have meant something other than a Sunday?   Has that phrase become misused?  John is not necessarily referring to Sunday, nor is he intending to institute or confirm Sunday as the God-ordained day of worship.  What did John mean by “On the Lord’s Day”? *

What was John’s situation when he wrote the book of Revelation on the island of Patmos?  Could John have been referring to a specific day of the year in the Roman calendar?  Caesar worship was the religion that covered the entire Roman Empire.  Every emperor after Caesar was thought to have been divine, so those who didn’t worship Caesar were considered atheists.  Punishment depended on the current ruling Caesar.  During the time of John’s imprisonment on the island of Patmos, Domitian was emperor of Rome and he’s the one who exiled John after the unsuccessful attempt to boil him alive in a vat of oil.  Domitian was referred to in public documents as “Our Lord and God.”  In the year 96, he put to death his own cousin for being an atheist; it is widely believed the cousin was actually a believer in Christ so the accusation of atheism was for denying that Caesar was God.

Domitian took his perception of his deity so seriously that he mandated that all government announcements and proclamations must begin, “Our Lord and God, Domitian commands.”  They must call Domitian God—or die; the issue was clear.  Either the Lord Jesus Christ or the emperor of Rome was Lord-God.  It was Jesus or Caesar.**  Other religions were tolerated, as long as they did not conflict with Caesar worship.

This became a problem for the believers as well as for religious Jews who did not believe in Jesus. Once a year, everyone in the empire had to appear before the magistrates in order to burn a pinch of incense to the godhead Caesar and to say: “Caesar is Lord.”   To refuse to say “Caesar is Lord,” was treason.   This yearly event was known to be “The Lord’s Day.”   Was this was the day John was referring to, not Sunday?

The believers who read John’s book of Revelation understood both the reference and its implication. Many Christians were thrown to the lions, charged with atheism for refusing to sacrifice to the Emperor who claimed to be God.   Back then, to publicly confess, “Jesus is Lord” put one’s life and family in serious peril.

Romans 10:9 sometimes seems too simplistic: “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  NIV   Just confess Him and believe?  However, once you understand the background of Caesar worship and the persecution risk, you realize that to do this was to say in essence, “I am willing to die for my faith in Jesus.”  Paul confronted the issue of commitment.  To confess that you are serving Jesus in those days was equivalent to confessing that Caesar is, in fact, not your Lord.  That statement could get you a lunch meeting with a hungry lion.

Final statement – Even if we do not confess Jesus as our Lord, He still is our Lord.  Like it or not!

 Points to ponder

It’s easy to say “Jesus is Lord”, but is it easy to make Jesus your Lord?

Are we willing to die for our faith in Jesus?   How does that work in daily life?

♫   He is Lord, He is Lord, He has risen from the dead and He is Lord.
Every knee shall bow.  Every tongue confess, That Jesus Christ is Lord  ♫ 

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                      March 13, 2018

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”

Note - Inspired by and excerpted from Ron Cantor’s “The Coming End-Time Awakening” Chap.12.
*     Capitalizations are arbitrary translator inventions, not in the original texts!
**   Revelations From Revelations, Patrick M. Jones, 2008, Teach Services, Ringgold, Georgia, pg. 19

Musing – Who doesn’t like to boast?!

Hebraic Musing – Who doesn’t like to boast?!

Seems we all have a tendency to want to brag, boast, compete and then argue because it is so hard to be humble.  My children taught me this song many years ago. 

♫   Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, When you're perfect in every way.  Each morning I look in the mirror.  I’m getting better lookin' every day.  To know me is to love me, I must be a heck of a man.  Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, But I'm doin' the best that I can!  ♫

The Apostle Paul dealt with that fleshly nature in 1 Corinthians 1:10 by exposing divisions in the Corinthian church – “I appeal to you, … that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. NIV   Then Paul detailed the childish examples of boasting and concluded with a simple statement in verse 31 – “Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’”   He simply paraphrased the prophet Jeremiah’s message which the Jews readily recognized.  What had Jeremiah said that the Lord declared?

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,  but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” Jeremiah 9:23-24

So when Paul said “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” the Jews had heard and knew these key points in Jeremiah’s message telling us what we are not to boast about, and what to boast about. 

Don’t boast about your (a) wisdom; (b) strength; or (c) riches. 

But if you must boast, boast about this – “understanding to know me, that I am the Lord” and it is the Lord who (a)“exercises kindness, (b) justice and (c) righteousness on earth” and those are the attributes that bring delight to the Lord.

When can we boast?   “One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.” 1 Kings 20:11   And when do we finally take our armor off?

 Points to ponder

Since all kindness, justice and righteousness come from the Lord,
is there anything left that I have right to brag/boast about?

Who made us?   “For we are God’s handiwork,
created  in Christ Jesus to do good works, 
which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

♫   Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble…  ♫ 

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                      March 6, 2018

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”