Blog Posts

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Super Heroes: It’s not about special powers

What is it that makes for super-heroes? What attributes do they need? What special skills like x-ray vision or special human strength do they need?

Perhaps the truth is that they need none of these; that is a more about their character and their sense of their place in the scheme of things?

Consider Moses.

What a super-hero he was! Yet, he had no super-powers, he couldn’t even speak well! He had just spent 40 years farming in the desert before he began his great mission.

But think back to the event that changed his life. He was a prince; he lived in the most absolute luxury of his day as a Prince in the household of the Pharaoh. But he saw an injustice and decided it was his responsibility to intervene!

Moses took responsibility; Moses became, in a sense, in that instance, a leader, one of the greatest leaders of all time! Taking responsibility is the Jewish definition of leadership.

Taking responsibility is seeing that the world  was in some sense made just for you – for you to have an impact to change it for the better – when you recognize this and repent of your failure to actualize your responsibility, then you too are on the path to becoming a great leader and super-hero!

Every Yom Kippur (through the great 10 Days of Awe) you again have a chance to reflect and to turn back to HaShem and to take responsibility for YOUR world, to repair or improve it – this is Tikkun Olam, repairing the world.

Become a super-hero today; take hold of the awesome and unique responsibility that the Almighty has given you to change the world, your world, for the better.

It is a sin to fail to use your God-given gifts for the betterment of your world. You are ‘missing the mark’ when you are NOT being the super-hero you were designed to be!

I hope you can come back early next week and catch our upcoming Podcast on Yom Kippur and being a super-hero; a man or woman with a future in the world to come!

Our podcasts are at aubreyandpaul.podomatic.com

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From Awe to Atonement

From Unity (through Yom Teruah) comes strength of mind;

from Strength, peace of mind;

from Peace, deep introspection,

from Introspection comes recognition of wrongs committed;

from  Recognition comes repentance (turning back to HaShem).

Repentance seeks forgiveness and,

Forgiveness brings Atonement and,

stays Judgement (Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement)!

You have 10 Days – choose Life!

“We shall ascribe holiness to this day. For it is awesome and terrible.

Your kingship is exalted upon it. Your throne is established in mercy.

You are enthroned upon it in truth. In truth You are the judge,

The exhorter, the all‑knowing, the witness, He who inscribes and seals,

Remembering all that is forgotten. You open the book of remembrance

Which proclaims itself, And the seal of each person is there.

The great shofar is sounded, A still small voice is heard.

The angels are dismayed, They are seized by fear and trembling

As they proclaim: Behold the Day of Judgment!

For all the hosts of heaven are brought for judgment.

They shall not be guiltless in Your eyes

And all creatures shall parade before You as a troop.

As a shepherd herds his flock, Causing his sheep to pass beneath his staff,

So do You cause to pass, count, and record, Visiting the souls of all living,

Decreeing the length of their days, Inscribing their judgment…”

  • From the great  Unetanah Tokef prayer

King David wrote:

1. O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than God
and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,

7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,

8  the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9  O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8)

In these Days of Awe, we should reflect not only on the awesome majesty of the Creator and King of the Universe, but also on the amazing role that he gave to us, to human beings made in His image. He is a personal God; He is always in our Presence; He is always communicating with us!

In fact, as we learn from Ps 19, He is speaking to us through His Creation every day and night!

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,  and night to night reveals knowledge.

Ps 19 also tells us that:

8  The Torah of Adonai is perfect, 
restoring the inner person.
The instruction of Adonai is sure,
making wise the thoughtless.

9  The precepts of Adonai are right, 
rejoicing the heart.
The mitzvah of Adonai is pure,
enlightening the eyes.

10 The fear of Adonai is clean,
enduring forever.
The rulings of Adonai are true,
they are righteous altogether,

11  more desirable than gold,
than much fine gold,
also sweeter than honey
or drippings from the honeycomb. …

15  May the words of my mouth 
and the thoughts of my heart
be acceptable in your presence,
Adonai, my Rock and Redeemer!

Let us seek the Almighty in these days leading to the great Day of Judgment and Atonement. May we fully turn back to our King and may we be given life so that we can also enter in the Appointed Time of Sukkot, the Marriage Supper of Heaven!

Aubrey and I will be speaking on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) in our next Podcast. If you haven’t listened to Parts 1 and 2 on Yom Teruah (the Day of Trumpets), you can hear it here.

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Shout in Unity – the Day of Shouting

Yom Teruah/Rosh Hashanah has already drawn to a close for some of us (it’s after sunset on Tuesday 18th Sept. 2012 here).

If you enjoyed the Podcasts at ‘A Sharp Arrow & a Strong Draught Horse‘ and would like some supporting documentation, our background doc is now online  – Click here: 10 Questions on Yom Teruah

The Day of Shouting (also called the Day or Feast of Trumpets; Yom Teruah or Rosh HaShanah) is a great day;  an amazing and intriguing Day of Celebration instituted by the Almighty.

Why? What is it’s significance? Why is the theme of Unity so foundational to this time? Listen to the 2 Part Podcasts or read the article – if you have more questions please be in touch.

Shalom!

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ONE DAY – a song for Rosh HaShanah/The Day of Shouting

A great song from Latma TV that is also a great prayer for peace, love unity and Truth. A call to the One God who instituted the Festival of Yom Teruah, the Day of Shouting. (See lyrics below)

Lyrics:

One Day, One day …

Perhaps is a year we’ll learn to smile quietly,

And not to surrender to every enemy and madman,

To see clear headedly

Who’re our foe and who’s our brother

Just have a little patience

The truth – that’s all – is stronger than everything

My whole life, I’m always learning

How not to be afraid

And keep on SHOUTING

That we need to learn at last

That its no shame to be right

One day, one day, Le- chayim

One day, one day,  I pray

That it’s a year without strife

Sanctions or boycotts,

On a city or town, oil or wine,

Parking or nothing, the UN rantings

Without uprooting or destroying like fools.

Because not every wish will be granted

No … no …
Not to get in the dumps

Even if the whole world is angry.

When the darkness covers all,

That’s the time to recall, soon comes the dawn

My whole life I’m always learning

How not to be afraid,

And say again and again, even if it all looks awful, a dead end,

There’s One who guards us!

One day, one day, Le-chayim

One day, one day,  I pray

It’ll happen one day, just hold on the whole world will change,

Won’t fear what’s right. Without hate and division, only harmony and love.

So from Latma to you – Have a Happy New Year.

Check out our 2 Part Podcast series on Yom Teruah at aubreyandpaul.podomatic.com

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Yom Teruah – The Day of Trumpets – Part 2 of 2

In this second Podcast on Yom Teruah, Pastor Aubrey Burt and Paul Herring answer the second five questions about this special Festival of God.

We further discuss it’s biblical mandate; its place in Jewish life today and it’s relevance to followers of Yeshua.

Most of the Scriptures used are either read out or clearly referenced – you can pause the Podcast and rewind if you miss one.

Along with the follow-up articles  ‘Our Passover Lamb’; Colossians 2:16 and the Sabbath’ and ‘Yom Teruah’, from Podcast Part 1, the article ‘Siblings of the King: Living in the Will of the Father’ also discusses the challenge of Matt 5:17 – these are all available from www.circumcisedheart.info

The Podcast ‘The Times of Yeshua’ that is also mentioned can be downloaded here – http://pfherring.podomatic.com/entry/2011-12-30T04_18_57-08_00

Click here for Podcast Part 2

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Yom Teruah – the Day of Trumpets – Part 1 of 2

In these two Podcasts Pastor Aubrey Burt and Paul Herring answer 10 questions about this special Festival of God.

We discuss it’s biblical mandate; its place in Jewish life today and it’s relevance to followers of Yeshua. Most of the Scriptures used are either read out or clearly referenced – you can pause the Podcast and rewind if you miss one.

Reference was also made to some great information and understanding from Moshe Avraham Kempinski, but not acknowledged at the time as I had forgotten where I got it from – thanks Moshe for the info on ‘this day‘. Moshe is an author of some great books; he has a FaceBook page where he gives a weekly Torah Portion Podcast and he also writes for the ArutzSheva newspaper (israelnationalnews.com)

Some follow-up articles are mentioned such as Colossians 2:16 and the Sabbath’ and ‘Yom Teruah’ – these are all available from www.circumcisedheart.info

May you be blessed by these Podcasts! Click Here or download here

http://aubreyandpaul.podomatic.com/entry/2012-09-15T19_08_01-07_00

Here’s a great songs/video for Rosh Hashanah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BtgeiIdl7U&feature=g-all-u

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It is NOT too hard for you – the practicality of Torah:

Here is a very short summary of the last Torah Portion before Yom Teruah – from Chabad:

“The Parshah of Nitzavim includes some of the most fundamental principles of the Jewish faith:
The unity of Israel: “You stand today, all of you, before the L‑rd your G‑d: your heads, your tribes, your elders, your officers, and every Israelite man; your young ones, your wives, the stranger in your gate; from your wood-hewer to your water-drawer.”
The future redemption: Moses warns of the exile and desolation of the Land that will result if Israel abandons G‑d’s laws, but then he prophesies that in the end, “You will return to the L‑rd your G‑d . . . If your outcasts shall be at the ends of the heavens, from there will the L‑rd your G‑d gather you . . . and bring you into the Land which your fathers have possessed.”
The practicality of Torah: “For the mitzvah which I command you this day, it is not beyond you, nor is it remote from you. It is not in heaven . . . It is not across the sea . . . Rather, it is very close to you, in your mouth, in your heart, that you may do it.”
Freedom of choice: “I have set before you life and goodness, and death and evil: in that I command you this day to love G‑d, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments . . . Life and death I have set before you, blessing and curse. And you shall choose life.” – http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/3078/jewish/Nitzavim-in-a-Nutshell.htm

For more on the practicality of Torah read my short article:

The last Torah portion before Yom Teruah

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Who is the Messiah from a Hebraic Perspective – Part 2

In this Podcast (part 2 of 2) we ask the question of who/what the first believers expected the Messiah to be; why many Jewish people reject the belief that Yeshua is this end-times Messiah; how Christians have misunderstood his ministry and how we should view the Messiah.

In this second podcast on this question, Pastor Aubrey and I look back through time to Yeshua’s day and ask the question of who the Messiah was to be; who was expected; what sort of man was he to be; what was he to do? What was the understanding that the first disciples would have had and how did they see Yeshua as fitting their criteria. We touch on Isaiah 53; Psalm 110 and Psalm 2, etc.

How does the answer to this question help us some 2000 years later, both in a better appreciation of who Yeshua is; but also a better appreciation of typical Jewish perspectives on Yeshua as the Messiah. Also how does such an understanding help us now as we look forward to the Coming Age?

We also touch on the issue of the New Covenant and it’s still future fulfilment – see Pastor Aubrey Burt’s series of 5 Podcasts on this topic – go to pfherring.podomatic.com

Podcast – click here – Part 2

Articles & links:

Background article: http://www.charismacomputers.com.au/The%20Messiah%20from%20an%20Hebraic%20perspective.pdf

Yeshua Preached God – see blog post on this site;

Righteousness Before Messiah; Yeshua THE High Priest; The Times of Yeshua; Psalm 2 v6 and Siblings of the King – all at http://www.circumcisedheart.info
http://aubreyandpaul.podomatic.com/entry/2012-09-13T06_00_00-07_00

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The Apostle Paul and the Festivals of God

Some biblical scholars have tried to argue that the Apostle Paul (Sha’ul) only attended Pentecost (Shavuot) because that was where the crowd was so he could preach the Good News, and that this was the ONLY festival he attended! (This would also imply a degree of duplicity in his actions as well).

In other words some Christian theologians try to argue that after his Damascus Road experience, the Apostle Paul no longer observed the Jewish festivals and the ‘trio’ listed in Colossians 2:16-17.

I have listed many of the ways in which the Apostle Paul demonstrated that he remained a practicing orthodox Jew after his Damascus road experience in my articles ‘Siblings of the King: Living in the Will of the Father’ and ‘Living the Way: The Path of the Circumcised Heart’. For the details read these articles at www.circumcisedheart.info

However, as I have just stated, some scholars continue to read Col 2:16-17 back to front and believe that Paul was exhorting the Gentile followers of Yeshua NOT to keep the ‘trio’!

So here is a short, non-exhaustive list of Paul’s keeping the ‘trio’ (as recorded in the NT):

Paul observed and/or supported many of the Feasts, New Moons such as Yom Teruah (- only a few days away! – writing on the 13th Sept 2012) and the Sabbath(s), either by a direct reference to it; or by attending the festival or making some supportive implication or reference to it:

For some examples see:
Shabbat: Acts 13:14-16; Acts 18:4; 4:16 – Paul imitated Yeshua (1 Cor 11:1)
Pesach (Passover) – 1 Cor 5:7; Acts 27:9
Festival of Unleavened Bread – Acts 20:6
Shavuot (Pentecost) – 1 Cor 16:8; Acts 20:16
Yom Teruah – 1 Cor 15:52; 1 Thess 4:16 (New Moon Day, Rosh HaShannah)
Yom Kippur – Acts 27:9 (the Fast Day)
Sukkot – Acts 18:21

While this list does not include all 7 ‘Feast’ days, as they are grouped into 3 (Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot), with the first and last being week long and including the others, attendance at Sukkot would by inference assume attendance at Simchat Torah (the Joy of Torah celebration) for example.

As Shaul/Paul said we should be imitators of him, as he was of Yeshua – 1 Cor 11:1; Phil 3:17; 1 Thess 1:6; 1 Thess 2:4; I would suggest we should consider the blessings of these Festivals of YHVH.

If the Apostle Paul only attended these festivals to to evangelize, should we do the same, should we also engage in such duplicitous and dishonest expediency? No! I don’t believe Paul/Shaul was a hypocrite. Rather he was a Torah observant Jew!

Thus, I think the evidence most strongly indicates that, as he himself declared, he observed the ‘trio’ and hoped Gentile followers would do likewise and imitate him, and not allow the ‘judgment’ and ridicule of their pagan neighbours to stop them embracing these great indicators of even greater feasts in the Coming Age!

For details see my ‘Colossians 2 and the Sabbath’ article at www.circumcisedheart.info

Our next Podcast will touch on this topic – click follow to receive it automatically.

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The Messiah: A King, a Prophet, a Priest?

The Hebraic perspective – Who the Messiah? 

Since the days of Moses, what were the people expecting from the Prophet that Moses foretold would appear (Deut 18). Were they expecting a King, a Prophet, or a Priest. Were they expecting 1, 2 or even 3 Messiahs?

Today there is a common Jewish understanding that there will be two ‘end-times’ Messiah’s:

“A Kabbalistic tradition within Judaism is that the commonly-discussed messiah who will usher in a period of freedom and peace (Messiah ben David) will be preceded by Messiah ben Joseph, who will die sacrificing himself while uniting all of Israel in preparing the world for the arrival of Messiah ben David.” – see http://www.aish.com/tp/i/moha/48909612.html

The Qumran scrolls, the Book of Jubilees and the Testaments of the Tribes—all of which are close to the Essene[1] worldview and written prior to the first century of the Common Era, reflected the belief in three messiahs: an eschatological messiah, along with the messiahs of Aaron and Israel.

So what were the characteristics of this eschatological (end-times) Messiah?

Messiah is the English transliteration from the Hebrew ‘Mashiach’ meaning ‘anointed one’ i.e. someone chosen specially by God for some purpose. This term is translated into ‘Christos’ in Greek and then to ‘Christ’ in English. The term occurs some 37 times in the Hebrew Scriptures (KJV OT version – Strong’s #H4886) and is not always a prophetic reference to the eschatological Messiah. It is used to refer to the kings of Israel, the high priest, the patriarchs, as well as the Assyrian Cyrus (see Isaiah 45).

Look at Isaiah 11 where we read of his characteristics. His seven main attributes are described in Isaiah 11:1-10 and they are:

(1)… and the spirit of Adonai will rest upon him,

(2) the spirit of wisdom,

(3) and understanding,

(4) the spirit of counsel,

(5) and might,

(6) the spirit of knowledge,

(7) and the fear(awesome respect) of Adonai. …

He was also to redeem the Land of Israel; remove the oppressors and return all of Israel from the four corners of the Earth. He was to introduce a time of great peace, a time when all would know the Almighty, as per the New/Renewed Covenant prophecy of Jeremiah 31. This would also involve the cessation of war; the universal conversion of the world to Judaism or ethical monotheism; the rebuilding of the Temple; the recognition that it is the Jewish people who know God as prophesied in Zec 8:23, and the ‘swallowing up of death’ (Isaiah 25:8; Isaiah 26:19; Ezekiel 37:12)!

To read more – check out the rest of this article at www.circumcisedheart.info 

Part 2 of our Podcast on this topic will be available to listen to very soon – click follow to be notified.

[1] The Essenes were a fringe sect of the ‘proto’ – Judaism of Yeshua’s time.