God used me to witness!

[WhiteH2OWoman]

...to a Bible study group of Christians from a Bible church. He used me 3 times in a row to...

1. Encourage a man who was at the end of his rope to trust God even more...and his wife was very happy to hear that.

2. Gently explain to the group that righteousness isn't just imputed to us through Jesus...that we are also to become righteous by following God's commandments and living how He wants us to live.

3. Explaining what Messianic Judaism is and how very scriptural it is...that we are not Rabbinical Judaism, we are Biblical Judaism. And that we are not Christian in that we read the entire Bible, don't celebrate pagan holidays and keep the true Shabbat (Sabbath) on Saturday...among other things.


PRAISE GOD, I've been praying He would use me and after He did, I had His peace.

[extravagantchristian]

woohoo! yay! doesn't it feel great.

[WhiteH2OWoman]

It does feel good. I haven't been hearing much from the Lord these days and so I was very careful to do what He said.

Our Messianic Rabbi has told us repeatedly that if God isn't talking to you, it's probably because you are not obedient to Him. To hear from the Lord, obey his commandments and do what He says.

Rabbi also explained that things the Lord tells you to do are almost never pleasant tasks, either...He doesn't say, "WWW, I want you to go eat a gallon of ice cream and enjoy yourself."

So be prepared for His prodding, His urging, His nudging...to do something requiring boldness that scares you a bit. He WILL be with you!

[bchandler]

I've been wanting to find a local Messianic Jewish congregation, but there are none near me.

I myself have been being led away from "main stream Christianity" toward a Christianity that celebrates its Hebrew origins.

I am a firm believer that we need to get away from the paganized celebrations and return to celebrating the feasts of the Lord. I have a real issue with the whole Easter eggs and Christmas trees thing, as I think most true Christians would when they come to understand the paganism behind the symbols.

The only thing that concerns me about getting involved with a Messianic congregation is that I absolutely do not want to be involved with people who teach from the Talmud... I only want to hear the word of God being taught. I could not stay if they ever tried to teach the Talmud as authoritative.

WWW, I know exactly how you feel. I remember the first person God had me lead to salvation. I think I could have walked on water for a week afterward. It is an amazing thing when the anointing falls on you and you see the conviction and repentance being worked in another person as the Holy Spirit works through you. It is a feeling I could never forget.

[WhiteH2OWoman]

BC, you are welcome to join us online for Zion services at:
http://www.tzion.org on Saturday mornings. (click on the iTV link.) We also have Hebrew & Torah Study on Thursday evenings at 6:30pm Central time. Rabbi's class starts at 10am Central, then the main service is at 11am Central time. Many people around the world who don't have a Messianic Congregation have started one by watching our services and then invited friends and family to come watch, too. Some people project it onto a big screen so more folks can watch. You don't have to watch live--we have archives of services and Torah study.

Rabbi doesn't teach from the Talmud or Midrash, but will use as commentary the parts of the Talmud and Midrash that line up with the Bible (Tanakh + New Testament.) If it ain't in the Bible, we don't do it or believe it. But Rabbi does say that some things from the Talmud and Mishna are useful for commentary, to explain how something was done in practical terms.

Here's an example of how we are Biblical Judaism, not Rabbincal...we believe the Commandment against boiling a kid in it's mother's milk (Deut. 14:21) means what it says, and if there is a deeper meaning, it's a prohibition against animal cruelty. Whereas Rabbinical Judaism extrapolates that Commandment to mean that we should never mix meat and dairy products in the same meal...or even uses the same dishes and refrigerators!

An insight that came to me this morning...Rabbinical Judaism has contained an inconsistency right from the start because they based a lot of the Talmud and Mishna on the teachings of Rabbi Akiva. The problem is that Rabbi Akiva believed in and promoted the false messiah Bar-Kochba. (Google "Bar-Kochba rebellion to read about it.) Yet they follow this man's teachings, but won't listen to anyone who follows Yeshua/Jesus because they claim He is a false Messiah. Hmmm...

(There are other inconsistencies as well...)

[bchandler]

Nice, thx for the link.

I have no problem using the Talmud, or other historical sources of information to reinforce the scripture, and provide anecdotal evidence, or colloquial understanding of some of the language based word plays that provide deeper meaning.

I would have a real issue with someone taking a Talmudic interpretation and giving it more weight than the Word, or even the same weight. This was something Jesus taught against, so I am glad to hear that they do not follow in that path.

Especially for your sake.

[WhiteH2OWoman]

Nice, thx for the link.

I have no problem using the Talmud, or other historical sources of information to reinforce the scripture, and provide anecdotal evidence, or colloquial understanding of some of the language based word plays that provide deeper meaning.

I would have a real issue with someone taking a Talmudic interpretation and giving it more weight than the Word, or even the same weight. This was something Jesus taught against, so I am glad to hear that they do not follow in that path.

Especially for your sake.

Exactly! Rabbi Hall is very firm with us on warning against that sort of thing...and he tells us that most of us are not well-grounded enough in the Word to be able to read things like the Kabbalah, the Zohar, the Talmud or the Mishna and sift out the error from the truthful commentary.

For that reason, I do not read such things nor own a copy of them. I am only on my second time around reading the entire Bible, and I want to gain a much more thorough understanding of His Word before I go reading commentary and things which may contradict it. You can't spot lies unless you really, really, really know the truth!

[Waiting4Jesus]

Yaaaaaay! That is wonderful, Sister!!!