THE IMPERATIVE OF HONOR

If Yeshua is the "word made flesh" (John 1:14) what word does He embody? Certainly not the New Testament because it wasn't even written until years after He walked the earth. Didn't He tell the disciples on the Road to Emmaus after His resurrection "all that the Torah and the prophets said about Him" (Luke 24:13-25)? And since the foundation of Torah (law) and the prophets is the Ten Commandments, we can be sure that He embodied those word perfectly.They are worth some time to ponder them and see what God would write on your heart about them, for they were surely upon Yeshua's heart.  

I find one of the Commandments particularly pertinent today during our presidential campaigns. Perhaps you've noticed. Allow me to briefly share some background to the commandments and how this one commandment I'm speaking of is a springboard to the very foundation of our nation, or any nation.

The first three Commandments listed in Exodus 20 have to do with our relationship with God. We could say they are the vertical commandments,reaching up to God: Love Him, have no other gods, do not use His name in vain (meaning carelessly, without reverence), no idols or images of worship, and observe the Sabbath as a day of rest. How hard could all that be?  Evidently challenging for some, a delight for others.  Then comes the horizontal Commandments, having to do with relationships with other people. Assuming the Commandments are listed in God's order of importance, though they are all important, the first one for us human folk is, "Honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you" (Exodus 20:12). What is more foundational to our own lives than our relationships with our father and mother, whether  good or not-so-good?

Children, the commandment says, are to honor their parents.Was the Commandment written to the children, or to their parents? It would seem that the parents must be the catalyst for this honoring to take place. To honor someone (anyone) is to regard them with respect, to esteem them as having worth, to be be honest toward them, and to be fair to them. As Yeshua said, it would mean treating others as you would have them treat you   (Luke 6:31). How does that apply to a child honoring his parents?. Well, a child learns to honor his parents by seeing how the parents model honor for him, how they treat one another and speak about others. And also how they treat child. Such a thing is caught, not taught. Hebrew people saw their children as belonging to God first, then to them. It is considered that parents are entrusted by God with raising their children to be godly people. There is also the honoring of a child's feelings to foster a sound sense of himself and his value in the family, even while "training him up as he should go (so that) even when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs22:6). Such a child is more than likely to grow up to be a sound and valuable member of society.  Ideally any parents who are followers of God should be raising their children with this in mind. 

When a child sees his parents pretty much honor one another, which extends to how they speak about other people, he becomes a person who likewise honors others. It naturally becomes his own value system, his way of life. To go back to a quote from Yeshua, we could paraphrase it to say, "Speak about others the way you would like them to speak about you."  We can all relate to that one, both in how loved and respected we feel when we are spoken to or about with a measure of honor. But how painful dishonor is. It's painful because it goes against the very nature of how God made us in His likeness. We're even uncomfortable when we hear someone speaking in a disparaging way about others. Or at least we should be, Yet there are folks who are so accustomed to verbal abuse that they don't recognize it for what it is. 

Honor is also the basis for another horizontal commandment that says, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (20:16). Neighbor means anyone your life touches, and bearing false witness has to do with your opinion which is not backed up by truth. Gossip would be bearing false witness. I once had a pastor who was also my friend who was making a decision I did not agree with. I went to God with it, sure God would agree with me. But no sooner had I voiced my 'opinion' to the Lord when I heard loud and clear in my mind, "Thou shall not bear false witness!"  I felt as if I had just had my knuckles rapped with a ruler in reprimand by God Himself. It actually shocked me it was so firm. It was then that I realized I had no idea what had transpired between this pastor and God, or what his motive was for his decision. I only had my opinion.  Not that we're not allowed our opinions and thoughts, but had I said anything to anyone else, which I might have, it would have been damaging gossip. I would have dishonored my pastor friend with what was really false, having no real idea of what was true in the matter. I can tell you it was a lesson well learned never to gossip. 

There is a principle in Scripture and in the natural that what comes from the head, or authority, flows down to those under such authority.  Be it parents in the home or a teacher in a classroom, all the way to the highest authority, where there is respect and honor for others, that attitude is evident in those under their leadership.When you see love flowing through a body of people, kindness, benevolence and a respect for all, if you looked at the leader of that group, no doubt you would find that spirit, that attitude, that set of values, coming from the leader. The same has been found to be true even when a king offers such kindness to not only his people but to people in need outside their nation. Norway, for instance, was very helpful to Jewish people when in great need inspired by their king..   A pastor who is loving and compassionate, will instill the same in his people, while a pastor who is breathing fire and brimstone, fearful of hell, will make his people likewise religious and fear-bound. It's just the way it works.

It also works on a political level. To use an extreme example, King Solomon forgot all his own wise sayings and turned away from God to the worship of the pagan idols of his way-too-many foreign wives and as a result the entire nation of Israel in time split apart and all that his father David had built was eventually lost. Tragic.  As the saying goes, "No man is an island, no man stands alone," (author-John Donne). We effect those whose lives we touch. As  individuals, parents, presidents or kings, we will influence others as far as our influence extends whether for good or not-so-good. Not to belabor the point, but whatever spirit the head of a family, an organization or a nation embodies will have an impact on those under their leadership. It is, therefore, so far as we are each able to chose, imperative that we chose wisely with character in mind, not just about policies or verbalized intentions which, as we know, do not always work out quite as they were touted or promised.

Differences of opinions are a reality as it should be. They help us keep things balanced. But we must disagree with others without dishonoring them.  We can see issues differently, but that doesn't have to mean we attack the personhood of those with whom we disagree or we are even vying (running) against. Hopefully we do so civilly without resorting to accusations, which often have little to do with the actual issues being weighed. Along those lines, have you ever considered how much the media is all about opinions as it reports what this one said about that one, or reveals things, true or not, that may dishonor the person being spoken about. Much of it is more gossip and opinions than the whole truth. Gossip can take many forms but it's always laced with dishonor. We reveal the level of integrity of our own character by how we talk about others. Addressing the issues at hand is not the same as ridiculing your opponent and does not lend any weight to your argument on the real issues.

So without going into who or specifics (so I don't dishonor anyone), when considering presidential candidates, give some thought to where you might see dishonor being manifested. It can come in the form of words that vilify, or a heated discussion, or all the way to a mob scene or a riot. If you see such happening, look to where the motivation is coming from. There's a leader in it somewhere, even if he denies it, that instigates dishonor.  If the kind of mindset feeds on the idea that "Might makes right," it is likely that at its core belief is likely to be an "I am stronger than you; therefore I make all the rules" belief. This, folks, is not democracy at work. It is its enemy. History will tell you in that mindset are the seeds of tyranny. 

We've gone a long way from the cradle to political anarchy, haven't we? The commandment to "honor your father and mother" goes on to say, "that you may live long in the land that the Lord gives you" (20:12b). God seems to be making it clear that the respect within the family unit ultimately has effect on how the whole nation goes. God was showing Israel, and the world, that maintaining honor, respect and caring within the family unit, including remaining faithful to one another, will raise up the next generation of adults whose nation would be based on such a high standard of living. The Commandments are God's idea of how to live the highest standard of well-being possible.

We are faced with decisions we consider political in this election we are faced with. In the end, character will (if you will allow me to use the word) trump policies. May God enable us to recognize where the voice of integrity and, to use the word one more time, honor can be heard and allow us to choose wisely.  

As a final word her. This might be a good time to pray and do some repenting so no one reading this carries any "I have so totally missed it" sense of guilt ourselves or seeing where our parents did. We have all been victimized by the Fall.  Thankfully, we have the blood of Yeshua and the forgiveness of God that is so wonderfully available to us. So...."Lord, forgive us for where we have been dishonoring to those in our lives, where we have not treated those nearest or furthest to us with the love and respect You extend to me. Lord forgive me, as I forgive those who have hurt or dishonored me, including my parents who themselves hadn't been taught to honor.  I thank you that I am forgiven as I forgive. Help me to be an agent for you to help others attain to forgivness and honor. In Yeshua's name, Amen. 

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PART?

What matters most to you? Or better yet, who matters most to you? Maybe the two questions go together. They did for me this past week. I just returned from our second family vacation together in a few weeks. I'm talking 16 of us, all together, in relatively small places. OK, the last wasn't really small. We were on a cruise ship, The Independence of the Seas,which is three times the size of the Titanic. Big!

The reasons for the vacations is that this may be the last time ALL of us are together. (You could skip this paragraph and still not miss the meaning of this article, but if you're interested....) Four of my grandchildren just graduated from college, which means 2 are making Aliyah, which means moving to and becoming citizens of Israel; another is moving to NYC for her new job (1000+ miles away); and another is moving, at least for a while, to Paris to attend a cooking school - she's an aspiring chef. Another already lives 5+ hours drive away with her soon to be second baby and hubby. One other is applying to grad school, and who knows where he'll wind up. That leaves us basically with one granddaughter and her hubby and adorable so-smart almost 4 year old still living in close proximity in our fair city, along with one nephew, and one still away at college who does come home on school holidays (at least for now). In case you weren't counting that was 10 grandkids, plus 2 soon to be 3, great grands --- and they are "grand" indeed, though "lovey" might be a better term. 

So in anticipation of an extended-family empty-nest experience, we've spent as much time together as we could recently, including the cruise this past week. We weren't always all 16 of us together but we always came together for meals in the ship's dining room. Or somehow we managed to find each other to share in the various goings-on of the ship's activities. When at the end, eating again on the 5 hour drive home, I asked what everyone's favorite part was, they unanimously said eating together, being together.  

It wasn't the opulence of the ship or the activities which were entertaining, or fun, or the off-ship trip to Mexico where we docked for a day, or....whatever. It was each other. Being together. I agree, my favorite part as well.  In contrast, this brings to mind how we got separated during the lonnnngg lines out of the boat when 4,500 people were disembarking and going through Customs at the same time. What a relief it was to find 'us' congregating outside somewhere, waiting for my daughter Ellen and I who seemed to be the tail end of that excursion back to land. 

Being Together takes on an even greater meaning for me, the only grandparent in the group, to see how much love there is through 4 generations and the sense of "us," of belonging to one another. I pray it remains despite the distance and years ahead of us. But one other reality impacted me.

While onboard I watched a movie in my stateroom, a Steven Spielberg documentary on the Holocaust, with some live film clips and the stories of some of the survivors. I now understand that some of the most terrifying initial experiences for them had to have been being forcibly separated away from their family members, from those they belonged  to. As we worked our way off the ship yesterday, my one sense of urgency was not to loose sight of Ellen who was just ahead of me in the crowd. Last year I fell and broke my hip. It still hurts and keeps me from walking quickly. When the crowd moved faster, I had to choose between increased pain or lagging behind enough to possibly loose her in the crowd. I know that sounds melodramatic, but I thought of the Jews trying not to loose one another as they were separated away from loved ones. The emotional pain, and the fear of being left alone in all that, had to be greater than any physical pain. There in that line a swell of compassion arose in me for how many such situations people may find themselves in, with far worse situations (refugees, for instance) and ends to their stories than mine, as I found my family all waiting for us and even with a wheelchair my daughter Jenny managed to find somewhere as she anticipated my pain due to standing for so long while also having to carry some luggage.

I hope what I'm trying to express comes across: Appreciate your loved ones. Take opportunities to help one another and meet some of their needs. Don't take them for granted. Don't allow petty issues to divide you. God has made us to belong to one another. Families are His idea of learning to love each one as He loves each of us - unconditionally. I read a startling statement recently that has wide implications that would allow such unconditional love. Yeshua's entire life (and death) message was FORSAKE BLAME!  I can see how that would preserve our love for and commitment to one another, can't you? Those two words are worthy of considerable pondering. 

As a final word, if your family isn't as intact, or maybe doesn't even exist, as ours does, there are likely others around you who also might long for family. It doesn't have to be biological family. Friends can often make the best families too. Ask God to help you find them. 

If someone comes to mind while reading this, please pass it on to them.  Blessings, everyone.

Lonnie

Lonnielane.com  

CHRISTMAS IS NOT A GOOD JEWISH MESSAGE

I was invited to speak in a church the Sunday before Christmas. "Bring us a good Jewish Christmas message," Bishop Allen had asked of me. My first thought was that maybe I should come in January instead because there is no such thing as a Jewish Christmas message, good or otherwise, despite Messiah being Jewish. But I went and having spoken there once before I looked forward to being with those warm and welcoming folks. I had done my homework and prepared a message but what took place was clearly God's Plan A and mine had been at best Plan B. Sometimes you get to hear the message you're delivering as you speak it. Here's some of what became the message.

We do know that Jesus wasn't born on Christmas day, right? His birth wasn't connected to that date until the 4th century when it was attached to a Roman holiday. The bible doesn't give us any clue as to when He was born, except that whatever happened of significance in His life was always connected to or fulfilled a biblical holiday, and December 25th surely wasn't one of them. 

It is unlikely that His birth was celebrated at all by Yeshua's Jewish followers. When Jews celebrated the holy days (holidays) they were God's idea and it was God Himself they celebrated. When He gave them a harvest and called for a Feast, for instance of the harvest, it was a time to rejoice in God's goodness and provision to them, of His faithfulness upon which they relied. Or of the Exodus and the great deliverance He brought to them. Except for the shepherds gleeful response to the angelic announcement and came to find Him, Yeshua as a baby was unlikely to have been cause for celebration, especially considering the significance of all that transpired at the end of His earthly life. 

Nevertheless God made it a point to tell us of the various dynamics of the event for a purpose, as everything God does carries with it a message to us. My thoughs went to Miryam/Mary and her deep humility before God in contrast to what appears to be so many self-righteous and outwardly religious folks (though not all) fulfilling one assignment or another related to or in the temple. But God did through Miryam what was entirely unlike anything that anyone with any sense of what was expected of God would have thought of!
 
Certainly there were expectations in Israel at that time that one day, and hopefully soon, Messiah would come and He would change everything. Their expectations were all based on Scripture, even though there were conflicting expectations of how it would all take place. What was agreed upon was that Messiah would do away with sin and sinners as God's wrath poured out upon them. He would surely free Israel from the oppression of her enemies, which to most Jews surely meant the Romans. To some He would take His place as Messiah King and like David, free Israel entirely to once again be a sovereign nation. Some expected immediate peace, while others were geared up for war like Peter with his dagger, Zealots who were ready to fight alongside  Messiah when He revealed Himself at King.Does that give you some insight into some of what Peter did or said?  

Others thought of when Messiah would bring peace to the entire earth and all would come to worship in Jerusalem where He would set up His throne and rule the world from there - where, some thought, we know from requests of His own disciples, they would be beside Him  

Expectations ran high. They extended to the ways many of the thousands of priests and the 70 men of the Sanhedrin and other religious folk exhibited their holiness by how they dressed, often in elaborate prayer shawls and phylacteries, how scrupulously they washed their hands, even the way they walked, and the many ways they had added to Torah. Add to that their involvement in whatever was going on in the temple that was meant to catch Messiah's attention when He would come. Surely He would take note of all their (outward) religious goings-on in the magnificent temple of which they were so proud when He arrived.  

It would not be the am ha eretz, the people of the earth, who were too busy with the mundane things of providing for themselves, often with dirty hands, who never had time or perhaps interest in studying the holy books as they did. Surely Messiah would know who the righteous were and who weren't when He came, when sinners would be done away with when God exhibited His wrath against all unrighteousness. 

Can you see then why his hob-nobbing with sinners was so contrary to their religious idea of Messiah? Why when they saw Him tenderly treating lepers and prostitutes as if He was their loving shepherd instead of bringing wrath upon them, that they couldn't understand how He could possibly be the Messiah?

Well, God entirely ignored all of that religious activity and their expectations.  He would not entrust His Son to the High Priest, or any priest for that matter. He entrusted His Son instead to a humble young woman of the am ha eretz, to someone who apparently had more understanding of what God honored than most of the temple priesthood did. She seemed to know her God and what He valued far beyond that of the temple officiaries. And God knew it. He knew her heart and she won God's favor and trust to bring His Son to her rather then to any of them. Hear some of her words:

"My very being magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoiced on account of God my savior." God is already her Savior, she understands, which had to have been by the Spirit, how it is that God is her Savior. Yeshua becomes our Savior because His Father is first and foremost our Savior; He is revealing the Father in all He does. 

"Because He looked upon the humble station of His servant...." She evidently knew what it was to be humble before God. She had evidently, judging from the rest of her words, seen enough of religiosity that she took a position of her need of and dependence upon God, offering Him herself in whatever way He required of her.  When she says to the angel when he comes to tell her of the baby, "Behold the servant of the Lord, may it be unto me according to your word," we get the sense that she has some kind of relationship with God already, that she has humbled herself before Him before, perhaps praying for His will in her life, offering Him only her willing love to do as pleases Him with her life.  

She goes on to say things which reveal that she has given much thought to God's mercy - what it really is and how it is manifested: "His mercy is for generation to generation to those who fear (revere) Him...He scatters the proud (according to) the understanding (of their prideful) hearts." She goes on to speak of what will come as if it's already happened. "He pulled down rulers from thrones and He raised up the lowly." She knows that God does not despise the lowly, the am ha eretz, as others do. 

There is much more in what she is saying here, but she ends it with, "He helped His child Israel, by remembering His mercy just as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever." To Miryam, she knows what God's calling has been since Abraham upon her people, and quite possibly she has taken that as even being her own calling.  She, like Abram, believed God, and apparently God counted it to her  as righteousness as He did to Abram's faith and obedience.*

What about you? What are you believing God for in your life?  Give yourself a gift in this season and take some time to read this whole Luke 1 passage and consider the character and godliness of this young woman. God had entrusted His most precious Son to her, confident that she would raise Him in a way that would not mar or damage His sensitive and tender soul but that she would bring Him up in an atmosphere of reverential fear and loving obedience to God. The books   of two of her other sons, James (Ya'acov/Jacob) and Jude (Yehudah/Judah) fill the pages of the New Testament where you will see what kind of boys she raised besides Yeshua. Judging from the fruit of her labors, God knew well her heart and entrusted her with more than just Yeshua. I can't help but wonder if their passion for truth and for God didn't come from their mother as well as their big Brother. 

I want God to entrust me with knowing Him and with an understanding of God's ways so that I am "carrying" His Son within me and I am able to "birth" Him into the lives of others. The first step is in coming to know Him more and more as we spend time with Him. 

Thinking about this message has given me cause to rethink where I might be more outwardly religious than inwardly reverential. I so want to be humble before the Lord in the secret places of my life where no one else sees but Him. That's where He works in our hearts and souls to make us more like Yeshua. I suspect,He sees what He can entrust us with, level upon level, as we grow in faith in Him. And happily, it is also the place where He will meet us to reveal more of Himself to us, and to grant us more of the gift of His Son - Yeshua, the gift that keeps on giving!  


* All Scriptures from Luke 1:46-55 One New Man Bible, my additions added.  

With Eyes of Love

I was introduced to a young man at church yesterday by the pastor.  We began to talk and it turned into a significant conversation. He has been part of YWAM excursions into other nations and has received some training by significant names such as Reinhardt Bonke on evangelism crusades and other large meetings. But now his heart is for individual persons and to be functioning as an evangelist to bring people to the Lord personally. He told me of his experiences of him and another man going into economically depressed areas of the city. I sensed how much he really cared for those people and longed for them to know how Jesus can change their lives for the better. 

But despite what looked like a good beginning with about five men they met on the streets, it never went anywhere. The men they spoke with initially didn’t all come the next time they had arranged to meet. My new friend was somewhat discouraged but ready to find out how to make it work next time.  And so we migrated over to two big comfy leather chairs in the lobby set up for folks wanting to chat and we talked until just about everyone had left the church and then we stood in the parking lot for a while more.  There is so much to talk about in the Lord!

He had mentioned being an introvert, which tells me he would be more comfortable on a one-to-one situation or a few persons than in a crusade. This led to talking about how some of the people he’s wanting to minister the Lord to might also feel. How can he make them comfortable with what he might want to share with them, especially if what he’s saying is new to them? What would cause them to begin to trust him to even begin a friendship?  In the case of the few he met who didn’t show up for the next meeting, he had told them, “Let’s get together again for a bible study.”  Now mind you, we’re talking about a really poor section of town. What was a “bible study” likely to mean to those folks?

Consider what ‘study’ anything would mean to them:  School, right? Good chance most of them dropped out of school having failed or were totally disinterested in what they considered boring teachers had to say.  Possibly in some cases, they can’t even read very well. I know I’m stereotyping here, but we’re talking about severely economically challenged inner city folks.  Saying something like “Let’s get together for a bible study” would just seem like what they would have zero interest in. They are using up a lot of energy just dealing with daily issues and a bible study is just another thing that they anticipate failing at, something to give them more rules they can’t keep. That’s most people’s idea of Bible study until they get to know who Father God really is through Jesus. They're likely thinking of do’s and don’ts from a God whose standards they know they can’t meet.  

Someone doesn’t have to be in a poor inner-city situation though to relate to feeling this way about God. I’m speaking in extremes here but how many people are actually interested in a good intellectual discussion on the bible when they’re really hungry for food, or strung out on drugs, or they are in the middle of a divorce or just lost their only source of income, or their kids are in trouble and they don’t know what to do? Or for that matter, there just is no one who cares enough to look them in their eyes with eyes of love that say they care, or who will give them a hug, no matter what they may look or smell like. These things could apply anywhere, not just the inner-city. 

What people need is to experience the love of God.  We all need that!  We may have a quest to get people saved, to bring them to salvation because we ourselves know how good and safe and wonderful it is to belong to the Lord, but Jesus wants us to make love our quest first. It's not a matter of our performance, it's a matter of being like Him! I suggest doing so will result in the rest falling into place. The Lord will then lead us to be doing what He’s put in each of our your hearts to do, what He’s created each of us for.  It starts with getting in touch at a deep level with Jesus’ love for people, for individual persons, not just people in general - including His love for you personally. May I suggest taking a read through 1 Corinthians 12:1-8a, the love chapter, and thank the Lord as you make your way down that love-list.  By thanking Him, I don’t mean a perfunctory saying of the words “Thank you, Lord.”  I mean really relating to Him yourself and letting Him respond to you as you express a thankful heart to Him.  And I’m not talking about doing a “bible study” with yourself, I’m talking about getting in touch deep inside yourself with the Jesus who brings the Father’s love to you this way. 

We’ve all experienced God's love for us personally on different levels if we’re His. But there's always so much more. How about His faithfulness to be there for you, no matter what? He has known your innermost secrets and yet never once spoken or conveyed words of judgement or condemnation to you, there's only acceptance and tender-hearted love, even if He disciplined you for a while. Are you aware that once you repent of something He never brings it up to you again, because He doesn’t keep an account of your wrong doings? How long suffering is He with us always. If you ever feel condemned by God, that you’ve hopelessly failed Him, that’s not the voice of the Father you’re hearing; it’s the voice of the Accuser, the devil. Don’t listen to him. Turn to the Lord, repent where you need to, and fall into the loving arms of Jesus who always forgives.  Love isn’t so much a feeling as it is coming to know the faithfulness and kindness of our God. Sometimes it’s also about new revelations of His majesty. 

Yesterday during worship in church I experienced something not new to me but “new” in the sense of awesome in the fresh revelation it always brings. Jesus lives inside of us, right? Get in touch with Him within you and worship as if from Him. By that I mean, worship as if you are one with Him, not just you yourself worshipping – worship as if you are Jesus as He would have worshipped His Father while on earth and the Holy Spirit is likely to share with you some very precious insights between the Father and the Son.  But this time for me it was more than that.  I don’t recall the song we were even singing exactly but the worship leader began to speak about the Father, the very thing I was experiencing. Through the words and the worship what opened up to me was the unfathomable love Jesus had for His Father, His absolute trust in His goodness.  And here's the "more" part: I had the sense of the profound unity and satisfaction, the great sense of accomplishment of Jesus with Abba the rescue of the world and how They had done it together!

Words are always so inadequate when trying to explain things of the Spirit. But being in touch with Yeshua’s worship of the Father from within yourself will open up to you perhaps a deeper worship – Jesus’ worship and oneness with His Father. Yesterday’s revelation was that I suddenly had an awareness at a level I hadn’t known before of that the love of Jesus was entirely for His Father and all the rest came out of that love relationship between Jesus and His Abba.

I was briefly with an old friend when I was in Israel recently. He has been in an evangelistic ministry on the streets of Israel for over thirty years. I hadn’t seen him in a number of years but I was struck with the love that poured out of his eyes when we met again.  Joy flooded his face and permeated his smile, at me and others as I watched him, even when he was interrupted by someone who was sure he only wanted to hear what they had to say. He wasn’t annoyed. Instead love just oozed out of this man. He’s taken a lot of persecution while preaching the gospel on the streets of Tel Aviv over the years, but all he’s got to give is love. His words were so surrendered to the God he loves I wanted to climb inside of his heart and know Him the way He does. 

What drew people to Jesus wasn’t just the miracles, or the loaves and fishes, but what He said that made sense to them. He spoke to them in ways they could relate to: seed planting, sheep tending, losing and finding coins…. He talked to them in their language, even though He could no doubt have discoursed on doctrinal issues way beyond what any learned Pharisee could have. He related to them where they were. His love was seen and heard and brought acceptance to them in the familiar circumstances of their lives. But some of our ways of attempting to bring people to Him don't seem to match up to His ways, as I see it. 

And while I'm on the subject, mind if I share a few concerns on evangelism?  I’m not inclined to think the Lord meant for us to feel satisfied that we’ve done our job if people just recite a prayer after us after we've given them the "God has a wonderful plan for your life" abbreviated evangelism spiel. With little coming from them in spontaneous heart-felt response to God, what does that tell them about how they are to relate to Him? That's not to say that some actually do get no-kidding really saved this way, but on the whole, if they are introduced to Him with a ‘canned’ speech, how does that teach them that they can talk to God naturally? Its not a good intro to Him as I see it. Another thing that troubles me, while I’m sharing all this. Do we tell people they’re going to heaven because of the repeating of a few sentence as do some gospel presentations without any introduction to the requirement to walk holy before the Lord?  But even then, holiness is not something taught, it’s caught. It’ll be rules and have-to’s if they don’t see it modeled in love, first for the Lord, and then toward others because we largely live out our love for God through our relationships. 

If hearts aren’t touched somehow, then the words of our presentation may sound promising while we’re talking to them, but do they stick? Jesus taught His men how to reach others through discipleship. And discipleship should be about relationship. The early church met house to house in relationships that undoubtedly functioned as a form of discipleship by those who had walked with Jesus or the sharing and the caring for one another that took place wouldn’t have happened as it did. Did you ever think of how He turned one of the Sons of Thunder and into the apostle of His love? 

Real discipleship isn’t a weekly class for an hour or two.  It’s what my brother and I once learned from a man who gave us his time and his heart as we followed him around for a while. He simply said, “Welcome to my life” and we spent a short season of our lives with him but it was a game-changer for us and I’ve never forgotten the difference that experience and he made in our lives. 

What if each one of us welcomed into our lives one other person. And then a while later your disciple learned from you and did the same thing. Multiplication in Kingdom math would exceed what 1+1 does naturally. Here’s how it works:  You’re the 1. Let’s say you disciple two other people in a given period of time.  That’s 1+2 =3.   In time you and your two disciples are each discipling two other folks; that’s the 3 of you now discipling six others. That’s 3+6=9.  Then the 9 of you are each discipling another set of two folks: 9+18=27, and on it goes. What if most people in your fellowship did that? If you all had someone into whose life you are imparting what you know of the Lord including just being their friend?  Let’s say 30 people are discipling two people a year who then go on to disciple two others, etc.  I’m terrible at math and maybe I wouldn’t get the numbers right, but I figure that’s 810 people being led into maturity in the Lord. That’s maximum church growth not just in numbers but in solid relationship and commitment.  Such discipleship relationships generally continue throughout life as friendships in the Lord, which is how the Lord intended them to be.  I don’t know about you, but that gets me pretty excited:  Doing the stuff of the Kingdom!  Yeah!! 

I will also say that such relationships will also cause you to be sure you’re right with God, and with men, lest you misrepresent the Lord to your disciples.  God set it up that way so that we are always aware of how our walk with the Lord affects others. That’s not a burden, that’s a security built into the ways of the Kingdom; we love others and want only good for them so we live accordingly. Discipleship works both ways, for the disciplee and the discipiler to the benefit of both. Befriend someone this way and your life will be all the richer for it.  We can all invest in the lives of someone else with whom we can share how we live our lives in the Lord.  If you don’t feel ready, ask the Lord to make you ready. Clean up your life – for the sake of someone else. It’ll bring you more joy than you can imagine.

Jesus said to His disciples early on in their relationship, “Follow Me and I’ll make you fishers of men.”  I have often wondered, if we aren’t fishing, are we really following?  The young man that I met yesterday is surely fishing, but he wasn’t using the right bait.  Love is the bait, not bible studies, not first off anyway. Relationship building comes first if we want to see changed lives. The words of the gospel without somehow conveying the love of the gospel isn’t really the gospel. Just saying “Jesus loves you,” or “God loves you” is so abstract to someone who doesn’t know what real love which they can trust means. And that applies to all levels of society.  It takes loving people to convey His love to others. Jesus said to “pursue love” (1 Cor. 14:1).  It’s a good place to start – for yourself, and those whose lives you will touch for Him and for eternity. 

A HEARTFELT RECONCILIATION WITH ISRAEL

Hello folks, It is with a humble heart that I answered the invitation to speak at a conference in Jerusalem on September 16-18, 2015 entitled "Reconciliation With Israel." An Orthodox rabbi who is also the publisher of Breaking News Israel (with a Jewish and Christian readership of 100,000 daily) will be covering the conference. He has asked for articles from any of the speakers before the event relating to why we are participating.  Below is my article which reveals much of what motivates me altogether and which I felt to share with you, dear readers, as I know many of you share my thoughts and feelings.

The conference will be streamed live and will be available after the conference as well.  Go to: www.reconciliationwithisrael.com to register for watching the conference or to see the line up of speakers.

Here's my article: 

A Heartfelt Reconciliation With Israel

YHVH told Avraham that He would bless the world through his descendents.  And so He has. Much of the world would not be what it is today if it were not for Israel’s technological advancements in science, agriculture, geology, aeronautics, archaeology, communication or medicine.  But the “blessings” came from Jewish people long before Israel was restored to Statehood. To name just one specific instance of medical advancement, in the mid-1800’s  a Jewish doctor by the name of Ignaz Semmelweiss recognized that germs or microbes were the cause of death of both mothers and babies in an obstetric hospital in Vienna.  The number of lives that have since been saved through germ prevention is incalculable beginning with his three words: Wash your hands. Stories like this abound. God has surely advantaged the world through the wisdom and expertise He has given to the descendents of Avraham, Itzaac and Yaacov.

But not every person or every nation in the world, although they may be advantaged by Israel’s discoveries, recognizes the extent to which Jewish people have influenced their lives.  To the contrary, it appears today that Israel stands alone with the exception of very few friends. Among those friends around the world are those Christians who recognize Israel’s place in YHVH’s heart.  A group of those Christians have come to Israel to extend their hands of friendship with the intent of letting Israel know that they are not alone, that they recognize God’s specific call upon the nation and to let Israel know of their love for them as a nation and as a people.

They will be speaking at the up-coming Reconciliation With Israel conference that is taking place on September 16-18^th at the Cinematique in Jerusalem.  Speaking as well will be several Israeli Jews whose life’s work for Israel brings them in contact with literally millions of Christians who are supportive of Israel, not only verbally but financially  – as the expression goes, “putting their money where their mouths speak.” 

The conference speakers, as well as the organizer and inspiration for the conference Kellen Davison, are here in Israel to show Israel that there are believers in Yeshua who are not their enemies as the “church” has too often been in times throughout history, but who recognize that YHVH gave the land to Israel so that they are supportive of Zionism, and that they stand against anti-Semitism that may exist today.  These Christian speakers are people who have largely incorporated the values of Torah in their lives to revere YHVH and to “love others as you love yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).  Most of them observe the Feasts of the Lord which God gave to Israel and who, through their love for Yeshua whom they recognize as the Jewish Messiah, have a deep love and reverence for YHVH in the way that Yeshua Himself did as the Brit Hadashah (the New Testament) reveals.

As early as the 2^nd century, pagan practices and beliefs began to enter the church when the Jewish believers were well outnumbered and basically no longer there to bring correction to the errors.  Ironically, men who are known as “the church fathers” beginning from that time, stripped Yeshua of His Jewishness making Him seem like their gentile God. The 1^st century real fathers of the faith were in fact Jews who lived entirely Torah-consistent lives by faith and the grace of God. The goal of the Christian conference is to help set right what has been wrong for too long. Their hope is that they can put to rest some of the gross misunderstandings of the Jewish people that the church has historically and erroneously believed which have resulted in immeasurable  sufferings and losses to the Jewish people. True Christians are as horrified as any Jewish person at the atrocities that were perpetrated against the Jews through those misunderstandings. 

Notice we use the term true Christian.  The terms “Christian” or “Christianity” did not come about until the second century and were never used by the original Jewish believers in Yeshua.  A true believer in Messiah Yeshua was someone whose faith included living by the unction of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) who would never have led them to distort or misappropriate the teachings of the God-given Torah, nor would the Ruach HaKodesh ever have motivated men to act in such ungodly ways against His people.  It has been quite possible, therefore, for men to call themselves “Christians” but to believe and act in opposition to what God (or Yeshua) would want.  Accordingly, there is a justifiable distinction between the politically motivated “church”  or the distorted ideas of man who thought they were acting for God but clearly were not, and those true believers who were usually a minority and were often persecuted themselves for living as they believed the first Jewish believers in Yeshua would have.

The conference belief is that to misunderstand the place of the Jews in their relationship with God is to misunderstand God Himself.  As the conference will be streamed live around the world and continue to be available online, the messages are largely to set erroneous facts straight on both sides:  To set aright the distrust that Israel and the Jewish people world-wide justifiably have for the church at large, letting them know that there are Christians who genuinely love the Jewish people and who love Israel and are standing with and for her, and to help the true church to understand the place of Israel in YHVH’s plan of tikkun olam (restoration of the world).

 

 

    

One cow out of the herd of many.

Hello from the Heart of Texas.  Life here is not life in Jacksonville, FL, that's for sure.  Aside from the wonderful people I have come to love and the meetings where I spoke (the reason I'm in Texas), the high points for me were being out on the ranch with the cows - lots of cows, including the babies, and later a visit with the goats in the 'backyard'.  A number of calves just born trotted along with their mama's. My host, John, loves his cows - a good size herd. We pulled into the pasture waaaay out on the ranch which I was told would be an 18 mile drive to go around the perimeter of the ranch. This is where John grew up.  He and his brother and father 'worked' the cows on horseback -- we're talkin' genuine no-kidding cowboys. They are still alive and well in Texas. John whooeeey'd for his cows and here they came, over the hill and through the woods in response to his call.  Each cow weighs about 1200 pounds, pushing and shoving one another to get closer. Their loud moos are more like mmmaaah's and a lot of them at once is sure loud.  They have sweet faces though and for all the noise and pushing to get really close by the braver ones they are docile and not scary at all. I loved being out there with them.

         We then went to the hunting lodge on the property where John and Elaine, his wife and my hostess and now dear friend, lived until they built their beautiful house in town.  We sat on the veranda overlooking grassy plains and listened to the quiet and just talked. It made me long for simpler times when life moved along at a different pace than we do in the cities of today.  Despite the relative isolation, Elaine told me how she loved living out there and would welcome it again.  Can you just imagine being where there is not one sound of modern civilization, only nature: bird calls, the breeze rustling the grasses....   I'm thinking that is how it's supposed to be. Makes me yearn for that kind of quiet. 

         I had the chance to visit folks on another ranch for a dinner with John and Elaine who are elders in a local church, with another couple, Joe and Mackye, also church elders at their home (also on a ranch), and the pastor and his wife as well as Elaine Reinhardt Lang, who along with her husband Ray, has brought me to Texas and in whose home I am now as I write.  What a fun group, telling so many stories, all Texan-life style stories, things that don't happen in my hometown of Jacksonville.        For instance. one night Joe heard a critter, some animal outside in the back of the

house. He got up and put on his boots and in his underwear (picture this) out he went holding the rifle in one hand and the flashlight in the other hand. He fired at the what-ever-it-was animal but he somehow missed the animal and hit a Laurel tree which his wife, Mackye, was rather fond of. The shot split the tree in half. What to do?  He wrapped the tree in duck tape to hold it together.  But "the graft didn't take," Joe said and a year or so later the left half fell over dead and the right side followed some time later.  This may not read as funny but there are some folks who are just funny whatever they say. Mackye telling this story and the others telling theirs made for a very laughter-filled evening. If anyone thinks that elders and pastors are stodgy and 'religious' such is not the case here. 

           

The goats are in John and Elaine's backyard (far from the house, ranch style) and were fed the left over watermelon, one goat in particular (pictured) enjoyed it till she flipped it over and couldn't get through the rind to the good stuff. Compared to the cows, they are so quiet. Except for two bucks butting heads in typical goat fashion, they were just sweet. 

             Aside from the temperature which ranged from 96 - 105 degrees with a humidity in the 40%, it has been very pleasant. There is always a breeze, even to a howling wind, I'm told. The ground and the grasses are quite dry however and rain is a constant prayer request and concern lest there be fires.  In my home town of Jacksonville, we are surfeited with rain; here, the projection is for no rain until into September.  Crazy.

              I attended a prayer meeting with about 12 women who pray weekly for America and Israel. I felt so 'one' with them. It seem the Holy Spirit has His Spirit-filled church pretty much on the same page with regard to the importance of Israel and what to pray for our nation. It's a wonderful thing to be so in sync with others in the body of Messiah and feel so united with them in prayer even though in some other ways our life styles are somewhat different.  I was told they aren't aware of any Jews living near by, yet their hearts were for Israel - a work of the Holy Spirit who puts what He loves in the hearts of His people.   

             Aside from being mega allergic to something here in Texas causing my voice to threaten to disappear so that preaching was a challenge to be heard (thank God for microphones), I love Texas. I have one more preaching 'gig' on Sunday morning in a local country church I'm looking forward to. For now, I'm just enjoying just Being in the country. It's a reminder of how pleasant simple life can (or should) be. 

GIVING HONOR WHERE HONER IS DUE

I'm in the Atlanta airport awaiting a flight to Austen, TX which I will tell you about in later posts. I'll be speaking in TX and then on to Israel mid-September so I'll be taking you along on my journeys if you'll be reading these blogs. 

I had quite a meaningful initial start to my journey today.  Seated next to me was a Navy officer in a sparkling white uniform. We said hello and I couldn't help but ask him how he managed to keep his uniform so perfectly clean. He chuckled and said by the time he gets to TX, his destination also, something will happen. It seemed to be a rather constant vigil to keep the whites white! Little did I expect that before we landed I would be the cause of sprinkling my black coffee on his leg and sleeve when the stirrer to my coffee cup flipped out while reaching for the stewardess.  Needless to say I felt horrible.  A napkin and some water lessened the damage but not altogether.  But that's not why it was meaningful.

The first announcement from the pilot was that aboard were two Seaman officers who were escorting the body of a "fallen warrior" back to his family.  He said the names of the officers and I asked my seat mate if he was one of them. "Yes ma'am," he said. He seemed quiet, even sad.  I asked if he knew the man personally. He did. He was one of his men. I asked if he died in action. "No, ma'am," he said, shaking his head slightly. As we talked He shared how this young man died. Men see action in Iraq or somewhere in the Middle East, but then come home and something useless happens. This was one of those times.  This young man of 21 had car trouble. He pulled over to the side of the road and walked around his car and a tractor trailer hit him. Now Seaman Rodney (I don't know his last name) was escorting the body of this young man back to his parents, a task Rodney had never done before but volunteered for as he had evidently been fond of the young man.

As we spoke briefly off and on, I told Rodney that I had written a book about people who had died and had gone to heaven but Jesus sent them back to tell people of what heaven - and He - are really like.  I could see by his response that he knew the Lord, which he confirmed. He also believed that the young man did too (I asked this first or wouldn't have told him the rest). As I shared a little of the unhindered joy in heaven and how there is no sadness there whatsoever, the one in heaven would surely not want those they loved on earth to be in sorrow when they are in such joy, peace and love in the presence of the Lord.  I shared this, I told him, so that perhaps it would help him in his own grief but perhaps he could share some of this with his family. I told him I would probably blog this story and gave him my name. Since you're reading this, please say a prayer for this young man's family, and for Brother Rodney and his co-officers - and for any who have to bring home someone's loved one this way, a task few of us reading this would experience.

Rodney has been in the Navy for 18 years. I asked him if he had noticed any difference in the last few years in the Service.  He shook his head back and forth just slightly enough to let me know things are not what they were.  He told me of how this generation of young men and women do not have the idealism or the discipline of his generation. He seemed somewhat sad about this too.

As we approached the Atlanta terminal the pilot asked everyone to remain seated until the Navy Officers deplaned first in order to escort the body which was unloaded before the luggage. I once saw such an event in the Philadelphia airport and it was quite moving, a flag draped across the casket. I shook Rodney's hand and said a quick prayer that God would be with him in all he was called to do. As he and his fellow officers walked down the aisle toward the front of the plane to exit it, a crescendo of applause began for these men who serve to guard our nation.  Though only I and the officers knew the uselessness of his death, others on the plane likely imagined he died in military action overseas.  But what difference does it make. We are all in this life and death thing together. We all can have sympathy for a family who lost their loved one. We all can have respect for men like Rodney who seemed to me a man who reflected the dignity of the Navy I had known when young men my age then had in the service years ago. 

Now boarding for Austen.  Later.