Hello and welcome to Finding the Ancient Path. If you are new here, I’m excited to have you. We’re grateful that you found us. This ministry is dedicated to helping people who are coming out of Babylon, coming out of the world, coming out of religion, and wondering what to do next. We have been blessed with members from literally all over the world, and we’re growing. And to that end, I need your help. This little group started in the living room with just a handful of people, but now we’re reaching people, as I said, literally around the world. And the infrastructure needs to grow a bit. And so, if you feel led to give to this ministry, if you feel blessed by our little group, then I want to give you that opportunity on a monthly basis through being a YouTube member or being a Patreon member or maybe offering a one-time donation on PayPal. Either way, it goes a long way.
And even if you don’t give, I’m just glad you’re here. So, let’s get on to today’s teaching. God bless. Uh, here we are. The full armor of Yah part two. Why am I doing this lesson? Well, I’m not going to tell you why I’m doing this lesson. Because if you’re here watching this lesson and you have not watched part one, then you need to go back and watch part one before you watch this lest nothing really going to make sense. And I explained in that first video why I’m doing this lesson. So you got to go back and watch part one to understand the reason and then you can come back and uh and finish with us on part two. In part one, we talked about the who, so to speak, of Ephesians 6 where we looked at the principalities and the powers and the rulers of the darkness and the spiritual host of wickedness. We broke
those things down, right? We we took a closer look at who they are and identified them. So, we identified the who in our first study, who these individuals are in the cosmic lineup of evil. Paul didn’t use four words to describe one evil as we discussed. He described a hierarchy of spiritual opposition. These are distinct ranks and realms of rebellion under the authority of Satan’s kingdom. Understanding who our enemy is prepares us to understand the nature of the battle itself because the conflict facing the believer is far greater than flesh and blood. Last week after our discussion, brother Baronson David suggested that now that we understand the who behind our need for the full armor of Yahw, it’s time to examine both the what and the why, which I thought was very wise. What exactly is this armor that Paul commands believers to put on? and from what kinds of
spiritual attacks was it designed to protect us? I appreciate that insight and input from brother David and I hope to accomplish that in today’s discussion. So the first thing I think it’s important for us to remember in this is that everything is required. I think one of you even made this that statement in last week’s lesson. It says in verse 13, therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand the evil day and having done all to stand. And and so that’s an important baseline for us to remember as we go forward, the importance of every piece of armor being used all of the time, lest you reveal a weakness in your life. The victory is not found in possessing part of Yahw’s provision, but embracing all of it. Every piece of armor protects a different area of the believer’s life, and therefore, they form a complete defense against the spiritual forces of wickedness. The
believer who rejects or neglects any part of Yahw’s armor should not be surprised when the enemy attacks precisely in the area left unprotected. Most of the world has failed and can fail in armorpiece number one. What is armor piece number one? Ephesians 6. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth. That is the number one area that I believe most of the world either has failed or can fail when it pertains to the armor of Yah. In scripture, girding the waste is always a symbol of readiness, preparation, and action. We see in Exodus 12, thus you shall eat it, the Passover with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. They had to be ready. First Kings 18. Then the hand of Yahw came upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab. Luke 12, let your waist be gerted and your lamps burning. So we see throughout scripture the importance of this belt or this something that you
wrap around yourself when you are needing to be prepared for what’s coming. To be properly gerted is to be properly prepared, ready to go, lacking nothing with a belt that holds all of your tools and all of your weapons. It is the position of readiness, stability, and strength. Without the belt, everything else becomes loose, vulnerable, and ineffective. This is why Paul begins with the belt of truth. If truth is missing, every other piece of armor eventually fails because truth is what holds the entire life of the believer together. In other words, if you are not properly girded with truth, then everything else fails or worse is not even there. And what does Paul say? is this gird truth. Now, if you’ve been a part of this group for any length of time, you know that we have jumped into a lot of great depth this idea of truth. And I think it’s important for our listeners on YouTube to kind of catch up, if you will, and see what the
scripture means by the word truth. In the Christian community, truth is the most subjective word in their vocabulary. Everyone claims to love truth, to preach truth, to have the truth, to defend the truth. Yet few stop to ask the most important question. Who gets to define it? Truth is not ever determined by tradition, denominational statements or creeds or doctrines, popular teachers, church history, feelings, experiences, and certainly not by majority opinion. Truth belongs to Yhovah alone and he gets to define it and never us. Remember what Paul says. Let Yah be true but every man a liar. What are the implications of that verse? Well, I think it’s obvious. He is truth. He holds truth. And none of us do. And we have to wrap our brains around that. Truth is not decided by scholars, denominations, traditions, councils, pastors, rabbis, or popular opinion. Truth is established by Yhovah alone.
When the voice of man conflicts with the word of Yahw, the believer must choose what is written every single time. A soldier girded with truth has already settled the question of authority in his or her mind. Yah’s word is final. Even when everyone else disagrees. before we started this morning, there was some fellowship going on amongst the group where this came up and fresh on my mind as it were because I’m preparing this lesson. I asked this simple question. What’s better in our life, the words I think, I feel, I believe, or it is written. And of course, the answer is it is written. Think about Yeshua as he was opposed by the enemy in the desert. Yeshua never said, “I think, I believe, I feel.” His response was, “It is written.” So, what is truth then? Truth is what is written and nothing else. So,
I thought it would be fun to take a trip through the concordance and see what we can see about what truth is. Because if you’re out there this morning and you’re listening or you’re watching on YouTube, this is something that you can do. You can pull your Bible out if it’s got a concordance in the back or you can pull a concordance up on the internet and just start looking at the word truth and what the scriptures actually have to say about it. Its first mention, as we’ve said many times, is in Genesis 24. And he said, “Blessed be Yah, God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his mercy and his truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, Yahw led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” What’s happening here? This was Isaac’s servant or maybe Abraham’s servant going to find a bride for Isaac. And of course, it led him to Rebecca’s house.
And the first time that we see this word truth appear in scripture is when it talks about whose it belongs to, who gets to own the truth. And I think that’s paramount. I think it’s key for us as students of scripture. When we’re looking at words like truth in our study and we come upon a verse like this, the very first thing that the Holy Spirit wants you and I to know about this topic is who it belongs to. Notice the first appearance of truth is not presented as a philosophical concept. It’s presented as an attribute of Yahw, his truth, his faithfulness, his reliability and consistency in keeping his promises. Well, when you continue on in the concordance and continue to look at what truth is, we see verses like this. Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness and your law is truth. Now question you have to ask yourself if you are of the Christian persuasion is does is that still true?
David says your law is truth. You got to ask yourself is that still the case or did this thing called truth somewhere somehow down the line stop being true? I asked that because I was thinking this morning as I was preparing my mind and my heart for the lesson. I was thinking about the the strange dichotomy in so many believers hearts, Christian hearts especially, who can look at a command in the New Testament, say, “Love one another or go make disciples.” And they go, “Yeah, right on. Amen. Truth.” and look at another command by the same God in the Old Testament that says, “Remember the Sabbath.” And their response is, “That’s [snorts] heresy. That’s blasphemous. You’re going to hell.” How How did we get there? Well, we got there because at some point in history, man began to abandon his truth. What does Psalms 1915 say? You are near, oh Yah, and all your commandments are truth. Are they still?
Verse 160. The entirety of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous judgments endures forever. Well, that kind of answers our question from verse 142, doesn’t it? This truth that the law is, this truth that his commandments are, this truth that the entirety of his word is endures forever. So you have to figure that out if you have eyes to see and ears to hear to figure out this strange unity which we’re going to see a lot more of here in a moment between law and grace between law and faith. Psalms 25 says, “Lead me in your truth.” Notice he didn’t say, “Lead me in truth.” No, he said, “Lead me in your truth because why?” Genesis 24, the truth belongs to him and him alone. “And teach me for you are the God of my salvation.” John 17, Yeshua, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. So things didn’t change when Yeshua came along. His word was still truth. His law was still truth. His commandments were
still truth when Yeshua was here. He’s asking the father to sanctify us in that truth. John 14, Yeshua said to him, “I am the way. I am the truth and the life.” So this truth that only the father is and has Yeshua embodies in his entire being. So just in this first slide, let’s take a record here of what we’ve learned thus far. When Paul says, “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth,” this is what he means. He’s not talking about your individual truth. He’s not talking about the collective doctrines of your particular denomination. He’s not talking about what your pastor says is truth or what your rabbi says is truth or what I say is truth. No, he’s talking about that truth, his 16 minutes truth, and everything the scriptures tell us what truth is. his truth, his law, his commandments. And as I said, Yeshua is the embodiment of this truth. The word became flesh.
What word, David? The word of God. Which word of God? The Torah. Yeah. Well, yeah. When Yeshua said these words, the only thing that was considered to be the word of God was the scrolls of the Old Testament. and he is that in flesh full of grace and truth. So here we go in response to David’s suggestion which I thought was totally brill. How will your belt of truth be tested? Tim, do you have any initial gut reactions as to how this belt of truth will be tested? Yeah, I think we’re tested really every day. Um, but we’re not I don’t think we’re we know it all the time. Sometimes we do. I think culture tests us um our family the way we’re brought up until we slowly drift into uh an area in our life where we know it it it violates something major. How are we tested? I think you know all all of the above that that I mentioned. So that’s one of the
ways. I don’t think what I’m trying to say is testing is not just some this huge thing all the time. So, I just feel like um the drift tests us um what people are saying, what we’re being taught. These are some things. Oh, that’s good, brother. Thank you. How will your belt of truth be tested? To me, it’s simple. with the very the very first words that the enemy proposed to Hava in the garden. Did God really say that? For the person who says they follow Christ, the question asked of Eve in the garden is paramount. Every temptation, every false doctrine, every compromise, every act of disobedience ultimately traces back to this single question. Will we trust what Yhovah has spoken or will we elevate another voice, another doctrine or another belief system above his? After all, the reason Christianity has so many thousands of denominations is because ultimately of this question and here is where you will be tested.
Did he really say that? Oh, you believe A, B, and C. Okay, cool. Did he really say that? 19 minutes And how will you answer? How will you know how to answer? twisting. You will not surely die is what the enemy said in response to the possibility of eating the forbidden fruit. No, you will not surely die. The serpent did not deny Yahw’s command cunning. He distorted it because half-truths over outright lies are harder to detect. and halftruths are all most Christians have or they have a truth that they firmly believe in but it has no foundation in his truth. So you’ll be tested in the twisting of his word. And it’s your responsibility as a follower, as a believer, as a student of scripture to determine which of the doctrines you hold to and believe have been twisted. And it’s your responsibility to untwist them. How do we untwist them? We untwist them by going back to what Yahw really said. Amen.
Not how your pastor, reverend, preacher, teacher, rabbi tells you what he said. No, no. What’s actually written? Human tradition. Matthew 15, you’ve made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Truth is attacked when man’s teachings, doctrines, or beliefs are elevated above what is written. And I think it’s a striking thing to take notice of in this verse, Matthew 15, because Yeshua says, “You have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.” Meaning, they have the power to do that, and so do you and I. We we have the power to take away the power of the commandment when we elevate our tradition above it. Scripture that comes to mind is where Paul says they have a form of godliness but deny its power. It’s the same thing. Feelings over facts. Genesis 3:6, Eve saw that the tree was desirable. That’s kind of an emotional thing.
The enemy tempts believers to trust emotions rather than what Yahw has spoken. Or worse, they claim it’s the Holy Spirit moving them to believe something when that something directly violates scripture. This whole idea of certain believers who claim God told them or God said this to them or the Holy Spirit told them or the Holy Spirit showed them this. Okay, I’m open to the Holy Spirit revealing things to us. But if that thing that the quote unquote Holy Spirit showed you in any way directly violates scripture, it’s not the Holy Spirit you’re listening to. The Holy Spirit is never going to direct you, teach you to violate what is written. And so you’ve got to come to grips with the power of your feelings in your life. Something that you want to be true, you will allow to make true in your life. The father has given you that freedom. It will allow something you want to be true to be true. Therefore, confirming your blindness.
No, you’ve got to hold to what is actually written. And this is the worst one of all. I think group think. I don’t even have any notes for it because we’re all guilty of doing it. One of the sisters said in this morning’s fellowship, she never read the scripture for herself. She just let somebody else do it for her. And we’ve all done that. We are all guilty of that. Or at the very least, we’re guilty of wanting to believe something because everybody else seems to think this is right. My whole church seems to think this is right, so it must be right. And so because we want to be a part of things, because we don’t want to be left out, we just jump on it and go, “Yep, this is what I believe.” Even when it directly violates scripture, this is how you’re going to be tested. The breastplate of righteousness, another very subjective word for many, if not most, of evangelicalism. It
certainly was for me. I struggled with understanding what righteousness meant for me many years of my time in the church. I knew that we got our righteousness from our faith in Yeshua, but I really didn’t know. I couldn’t articulate what that really meant. If truth is subjective, how can anyone be righteous according to it? A truth that changes from one denomination to another is not truth at all. It’s opinion wearing the disguise of certainty. Truth must be fixed, objective, and unchanging. Otherwise, righteousness becomes a moving target. And it is. If you go to church a let’s just pick one. If you go to the Church of Christ and you ask them what righteousness is and they tell you and the next week you go to say a non-denominational church or Calvary Church or Lutheranism or whatever and you ask them what righteousness is and they tell you, “Oh,
it’s different somehow.” Why? Because they’ve woven into their definition of righteousness their ideology, their worldview. But you know what everyone is so so certain of? I certainly was. I was certain of my truth. I was absolutely certain. And you’ve heard me say so many times that I was absolutely certain that the law was abolished, that it was nailed to the cross. I preached on it. But I was absolutely wrong. It’s opinion wearing the disguise of certainty. So here’s what I come to understand. Righteousness biblically is twofold. What do I mean by that? Genesis 15:6. We know this verse. We know who he’s talking about. And he, Abraham, believed in Yahovah. And he accounted it to him for righteousness. There it is. The father of our faith. And he’s the father of our faith because his righteousness came from his belief in Yhovah’s words. Right?
Well, there’s this Deuteronomy 6. It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all these commandments before Yhovah our God as he has commanded us. So, which one is it? In the Christian world, they’ll tell you it’s the first one. You can’t have both. But biblically, we see the unification between righteousness by faith and righteousness by obedience. The difference is which one are you depending on for your salvation? If you depend upon your obedience for salvation, then all of Paul’s letters is meant for you. And that’s the distinction that so many fail to make. Christianity believes that if righteousness can and is credited through faith, then righteousness cannot also be expressed through obedience. That’s basically what 99% of Christians believe. In fact, to them, obedience, especially to Old Testament law, is heresy. Scripture never creates this conflict.
And the funny thing is, the ironic thing is it’s in the New Testament in which Christians have put all their faith where we see this unity. James 2, faith by itself, if there is no works, and remember in the past I’ve told you anytime you see works in the New Testament, it’s talking about obedience. Therefore, faith by itself, if it’s not does not have obedience, is dead. Period. Dead. Romans 3. Do we then make void the law because of our faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we uphold the law. Romans 2. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. How in the world can Christianity see these three verses and not understand the unity between righteousness of obedience and righteousness in belief? Blindness. And I’m hoping that lessons like this for some of you out there, if nothing else, plants a seed. That would be awesome. But for some others, it could
be more. It could be a wakeup call where you finally see this for the first time and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I always believed A, B, and C, but I can clearly see here that my A, B, and C wasn’t altogether accurate, the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness is the breastplate.” Because faithful obedience to Yahw guards our heart, protects the inner man from the corruption of sin, and leaves the enemy with little ground for accusation. Ironically, this one verse that best describes this unity is the verse that most believers like to use to oppose the unity. Ephesians 2, the favorite verse of all Christianity. For by grace you’ve been saved through faith. Amen. Yes, we have. Not by works or obedience. Amen. True. Lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Messiah Yeshua for good works. What? What? Wait, what? Paul says in this one verse, “You weren’t saved by your obedience. You
were saved to be obedient, which Yahw prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” So the one verse that so many use to free themselves from biblical obedience, let’s just put it that way, is the one verse that condemns them. You were not converted. We are not converted. We are not saved. Nor do we ever say that we are saved because of our lawful obedience. No, we are not. But we sure were saved for the purposes of being lawfully obedient, those good works, the breastplate of righteousness. So how will your breastplate of righteousness be tested? Simple. Via your resolve and your surrender. Your faith will be tested through your surrender to Yahw. Your obedience will be tested through your resolve. What does that mean? Well, let’s look at obedience. Our obedience can be tested when obedience, true obedience, lawful obedience, embracing the Shabbat, embracing the food laws, embracing the festivals cost you your relationships.
And they have and they do. Matthew 10, he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And there it is. Arguably the two most important people in your life, can and will disown you if you pursue this course. And if you do interrupt your course because of your love for mom and dad, you’re not worthy of him. or your wife or your children or your church parishioners. So that breastplate of righteousness is going to be tested when obedience costs you your reputation. John nine, the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that Yeshua was Messiah that they would be put out of the synagogue. How many of us fear that? How many of us did fear that? Well, I can tell you a lot of people have. I’ve I’ve heard you share it. I’ve heard your testimonies and I know for a fact that right now there is someone who is listening to this who says, “Oh yeah, if I start believing this, I I won’t be welcome in
my church anymore.” And we know that feeling my wife just said, as do many of you. your fear of being put out of the synagogue, your fear of being put out of the church, of losing the fellowship, of losing the friendship of the people that you know inside that church or of losing your reputation. I can tell you that in my 35 years of um being in the church, I think it’s safe to say that I had a reputable reputation, a good one, servant in the church for many years, planted churches, rose up to become a pastor, taught, respected. But the moment I was kicked out, people started hearing that I was a Judaizer, that I was putting people back under the law. I didn’t fear that. My wife feared that if we’re honest, because she’s very protective of my reputation. But are you, how concerned are you about that? 33 minutes
About getting labeled this way. Your breastplate of righteousness will be tested. What about faith? When you’ve passed the above test and now you’re alone. That’s the big one. You’ve passed all these obedience tests. You stood the ground and you were cast out of the synagogue. you were cast out of the church or you left on your own because you just couldn’t tolerate it and now you’re by yourself. And here’s where your faith is going to be tested. When circumstances seem to contradict the promise, that’s hard because you’re doing all these things for him and you’re making all these decisions for him and you’re making all these sacrifices for him, but all of a sudden I’m in the desert. The circumstances seem to contradict his promises. They do seem that way initially, but it gets better. 1 Peter 1, in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if it need be, you have been grieved by various trials 34 minutes
that the genuiness of your faith. Okay, stop right there. Peter’s talking about faith, but he’s not just talking about faith by itself. He’s talking about how genuine it is, how real it is, how tangible it is. Because a real tangible genuine faith is much more precious than anything. Though it is tested by fire and it will. It’s in these moments that your faith is being tested by fire when you’re alone, when you’re by yourself and you’re wrestling with what’s right and what’s wrong. But he says that if you hold on, even though we don’t see him, we believe and we have this inexpressable joy. This this verse, these words mean so much more to me now than they did in all of my time in the church because I can honestly say that I understand what Peter means by having this inexpressable joy. Now that I have come to understand the truth of scripture and what’s the the end goal there? Receiving the end of
your faith. That word is talos. It’s goal. Receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. So your breastplate of righteousness will be tested. And never more is faith tested than when you fail, than when you’re disqualified. When you feel that God is finished with you. When you feel like you’re too far gone. When you feel like you’re never going to change. when you’ve exhausted when you think you’ve exhausted Yahw’s patience in your life or when he seems distant or silent that’s when your breastplate of righteousness will be tested shod your feet with the gospel of peace what does this mean well truth is the belt righteousness is the breastplate and peace is the footing A soldier who cannot stand firmly on his feet is already defeated. The peace Paul speaks of is not just an emotion. It’s reconciliation with Yah. That’s how we get our peace. Romans 5. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have
peace with Yahw through Yeshua. We are confident in this. We don’t doubt this. We don’t let Satan whisper in our ears otherwise because we have confidence that we have peace with him through our faith in Yeshua. The Hebrew concept behind shalom is much larger than just tranquility of peace. No, it’s wholeness. It’s completeness. It’s covenant harmony. It’s being rightly aligned with Yahweh. The gospel of peace means the believer stands firmly in the certainty that he has been reconciled to God through Messiah and has been brought into covenant relationship with him. This is why feet are the picture because feet will determine whether you stand or you fall. What does that mean when the rubber hits the road? It means that if any part of your theology contradicts what is written, you are not at peace with him and you will fall. Does that mean forever fall? I don’t know.
Again, we never make judgment calls on people’s eternal condition as believers, but I know you can’t stand. I know you’re not happy in your religious experience. You are lacking. You feel something is missing. And it is because in your theology, there’s things that contradict what’s written. And when that happens, you cannot have your feet shaw with the gospel of peace. Now consider everything and everything that challenges your peace or that challenges your security in Elohim. Think about all those things. What kinds of things? Let’s talk about it for a second. I I want to hear from you and I want to hear from David. I want to hear from Tim. Consider everything and anything that challenges your peace or challenges your security in him. What would it be? I think that it’s um in situations where you possibly desire to do something, have some goals, aspirations, dreams, wishes, and you are relying totally on
your own powers, right? And then you start questioning whether you can actually achieve that or not. uh and that conflict between what can you achieve and the goal that you desire type of thing, right? It kind of robs your peace and relying on your own powers. Okay. I was going to say the thing that I was thinking about kind of echoes in like Isaiah 32:17 where it states that the result, you know, the outcome, the result of living a righteous life is is peace uh and quietness and assurance forever. So, I’m I’m just saying that the guilt or shame is is what is what really or um something in discord within us because we’re not in righteousness. This is what takes away uh peace. In in my opinion, and Isaiah 32:17 says we can be assured when we live righteousness that we have an unshakable peace.
Okay? She said that you know when your [clears throat] health is challenged or when the father is silent seemingly silent in the moment that these things can challenge your peace challenge your security in him and everything that all of you just said is absolutely true. There are things that are always going to challenge this peace. How do we overcome that? Well, obviously now we’re going back to resolve. We’re going back to faith. We’re going back to absolute trust. in your position. Now, should we always just blindly trust that we’re always good? No. Because we see scripture that where Paul says you have to test yourself, you know, to see if you’re still in the faith. And and we’re doing that. We should do that joyfully, gleefully, willingly, and make corrections as we go along. Repentance. Praise God for repentance. But you don’t shut down, say, if you fall into sin.
or if you do something stupid and that’s where we can go sometimes because we’re accused by Satan. Now, John 10, we’re going to talk about this for a second. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life. Okay, we’re talking about this peace that we have as a result of eternal life been given to us, having been justified by faith, as Paul says in verse one up there in the top. So Yeshua says, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father’s hand.” Amen. That 42 minutes gives me peace, right? That should give all of us peace as it pertains to our faith in him. But there is a something here.
What is the something that I see? How many of you have heard me say over and over and over again, I see equations. I see dead people. No, I see equations in scripture. What is the equation I see here? And this is important because this is the condition of this. I give them eternal life. Why does he give them eternal life? Because they hear his voice. He knows them and they follow him. And that should give us peace. But there was something that something else jumped out at me in this verse that I cannot afford to ignore. John 10, I know them and I give them eternal life. Obviously, did I say John 4, John 10? I know them and I give them eternal life. This is obviously paraphrased version of the verse. I know them, I give them eternal life. Compare this to this. I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. So I asked this question. What was the qualifier from John 10 above that we just looked at?
I know them and they follow me. And I give them eternal life. This is important for you viewer on YouTube watching listening Christian. Why? Because Yeshua was not lawless. He did not teach the 12 to be lawless. And if you are lawless in your faith, you are not at peace, nor are you in peace with Yahw. because you are following a lawless Jesus and not a lawful champion word made flesh Messiah. And that’s going to be a deciding factor as to whether he looks at you and me and says, “Oh, I know her. I know him.” or no, I don’t I don’t know this person. The shield of faith. Many people spend years believing certain facts about Yahw while never actually entrusting themselves to him, going so far as to truly rely on his provisions in their faith, his protection and his leading. And history has shown us that this cannot happen when you are surrounded by provisions and protection and the leadership of others in your life.
That’s why it’s so hard for people in the west to truly understand certain biblical concepts because we are always for the most part surrounded by provisions. Grocery stores, convenience stores, places that sell clothes, family that’ll give us clothes, Goodwill and Salvation Army that will give us clothes. We’re always there’s there’s pro you know in the west we have provisions literally coming out of our noses and we have protection too right we have our family members our neighbors we’re surrounded by this and I just think that history has shown that as long as we have these things in our life then we don’t really truly understand the kind of faith that the scriptures tell us it’s a handicap for us genuine faith often begins where human support ends when a person is finally compelled or even forced to depend on Yahw alone. That’s when you know your your shield of faith is really being tested.
But even if he does not, for me, this is one of the most incredible important verses, phrases, words in all of scripture, Daniel 10, Daniel 3, sorry. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, what are we talking about here? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedneo. If we are thrown into the blazing fire, the Elohim we serve is able to deliver us from it. But even if he does not, we will not serve your gods. Even if he does not, and my belief is, my conviction is you cannot truly wield the shield of faith until you have this kind of resolve. You must truly be okay with his no, even if you cannot understand his no. And I’m afraid for too many, faith never gets beyond the no or the silence or in those moments when your failure is going to help you more than your success will. You just don’t see that. And you have to have a heart, a spirit of resolve that is okay with the no. Father, we’re
praying for all of these things. Plug in whatever that is. Someone’s health, someone’s future, your health, your future, your finances, your whatever. Plug it in. We’re praying for all these things, but you have to be okay with the no. And you can’t say you have a shield of faith until you get there. And that no doesn’t rock your world somehow. Oh, we prayed and laid hands on this person to be healed of cancer, but they died. Did that affect your faith? If it does, then you don’t have a proper shield of faith because in your heart, you’re not okay with the no. You’re not okay with the failure that’s ultimately going to help you more than the success in that moment will. But you don’t know that. Only he knows it. And the enemy will wield his own sword against you in this as we know. He reminds you of all the reasons why you deserve the no, why you deserve the silence, why you deserve the failure.
and you stop believing, if even for a moment, you begin to read his promises in scripture with the slightest bit of pessimism. And over time, pessimism turns into true doubt. And your but even if he does not turns into you won’t, so I won’t. You have to have a shield of faith. And we’ve all heard, we’ve all read Hebrews 11 until we were blew in the face. And at this moment, there are some of you listening who could quote this verse right now. Right? What is the verse now? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, but the evidence of things not seen. We know the verse. What we miss here is the fact that these people in chapter 11 are not those who had amazing mountain moving faith. That’s how the churches have presented it for a thousand years. Oh, you want something, you want to accomplish something, you have to have their faith. That’s how it’s presented. But that’s not what Hebrews 11 is about.
No, it’s not the hall of faith. It’s the hall of salvation. Those who yielded their shields correctly by faith, showing itself through their resolve and through faithful obedience to the ways of Yahw even though they constantly failed. All of them. You have to change your the way you look at verses like this. They attained the goal of their salvation, of their faith. Salvation not because they could do amazing things with their faith, not because they could walk on water or move this mountain. No, it’s because they yielded those shields correctly by living their life in faith. 51 minutes When you talk about faith, uh there’s also this element of trust, right? not only faith in and trust in who God is, but also trusting in in two things. Number one, in his love for you, right? And his desire for what is good for you. Uh right. And so when he tells
you to do specific things or particular things happening, you need to have that faith and trust that it is done for your own good. Number one, right, as a possibility. There’s two two potential uh ways to uh or two potential um uh ways that you need to look at at specific circumstances. One is that what is happening is for your own good even if you don’t see it right or you don’t see it immediately. And the second thing has to do uh in similar to what uh they said there in Daniel is that what is happening may be part of that God is using you for that particular purpose which is a lot bigger than than who you are. Right? So, so the element of of trust here as you have faith in him, trust in his love for you uh as well as trust in what is happening is for ultimate glory of God is is very important to keep that perspective. Amen. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. So, the helmet of tra the helmet of salvation, the helmet represents confidence in Yahw’s saving work. We’ve talked about that a little bit already. Confidence in his promises. confidence in the resurrection and confidence in the final victory of the kingdom. And in battle, the helmet is the most closely inspected for fault. And that’s true even today in military circles. Uh you know, as we know, the world’s military has armor. They have things that they wear on their bodies at all time when they’re going into battle. But I tell you what, the thing that they want to know is the most sound is the thing that’s covering their head. It’s the most closely inspected for faults. 2 Corinthians 13, examine yourselves as to whether you’re in the faith. Test yourselves. We always have to have the humility to do this. Hebrews 3, for we have become partakers of Christ. If we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast
to the end, our confidence in what? Our confidence that he is able, like Daniel said, to do what he said he would do. And he is able to keep me faithful if I have the heart to do it and to put him above all else in my life. And then we’re going to break this down. on the sword of the spirit which is the word of Yah. Holding the sword is not simply owning a Bible. We know that the sword of the spirit according to Ephesians is the word of Yah. We know this. Uh if you can see behind me right now, I have a shelf of 10 12 different Bibles sitting right there behind me. How important is that to Yahw? It’s not. He doesn’t give a rip. Because having a sword isn’t just about owning a Bible. Holding the sword is not having some of your favorite verses memorized. Holding the sword is not holding to onethird of Yah’s revelation. That one-third being what? The New Testament. No, here’s a verse that anybody that comes from my congregation,
like David, like Tim, could probably quote verbatim because it was so often preached. And it’s shocking to me that it was and how much we missed of this verse and others like it that we’re going to look at here in a moment. For the word of Yah is living. Which word? Again, the only thing he had was the Hebrew scriptures, right? Yeah. The word of God is living, not dead, not crucified, not abolished, not done away with, not put away. It’s living right now. And guess what else it is? It’s active sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It’s a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. What else? Second Timothy 3, another verse that everybody in my congregation knows by heart. All scripture. Okay, stop. Which scripture? The Hebrew scriptures. The only thing they had is given by inspiration of Yahw and is profitable for what? Doctrine.
There it is. Christian, there it is. Believer that the scripture all of it is profitable for doctrine. How dare you say that, Ed? [laughter] How dare you say that we should fashion a doctrine after what the Old Testament says? I didn’t say it. Paul did reproof. That’s rebuke, correction, instruction, and righteousness. Wait a minute. Now we’ve come full circle. Remember in one of our first slides, we looked at the unity between faith by belief and faith by obedience. Well, here Paul’s talking about it again. The Hebrew scriptures have life and are profitable for, beneficial for instructing me in righteousness that the man of God or the man of Yah may be complete, thoroughly equipped. Brother, sister, Christian who’s watching this, you are not complete. You are not thoroughly equipped because you reject Torah. You reject the authority of the Hebrew scriptures. Am I saying that? No.
Paul is, the New Testament is, and more importantly, the Holy Spirit is. You have to come to grips with that or you will never be at peace. And I’m just going to say it. At the end of the day, it could cost you eternally. So, how will this be tested? Well, whenever error confronts truth, whenever tradition confronts scripture, whenever culture confronts scripture, whenever emotion confronts scripture, whenever fear confronts scripture, and certainly whenever group think confronts scripture, these things will be tested. The helmet of your salvation and the sword of the spirit. We must we have to we must be like our Messiah when these things happen and they will happen. What should be our response? It is written. Started with it. I will end with it. It is written. Those are my thoughts. So that’s my lesson. I’m sticking to it. But I’m open to your thoughts, your rebukes, whatever
you think I said was wrong or incorrect, your input, all of it. You know, I am. I welcome it. I’m so grateful that you stuck it out. I know this was a hard-hitting lesson. Um it may not necessarily be all for the ecclesia, uh but I’m I’m hopeful that some things in there were. And um who wants to go first? Let’s see. Brother Phillips got his hand up first. when uh we’re having kind of a bounce around in the chat here and I just wanted to to bring it when we were in the old walk and we talked about love. Did we love the father? Did we love Jesus? It was always a feeling. And when we’re in the new way, we learn that love is how do we love him is by following his commands. So there’s an action. 1 hour There’s a it’s not a feeling. And I think the scripture tells us that our feelings can lead us astray pretty often. And so what I’m asking for is maybe in the future a deep dive into the word peace because I’m guessing that
peace is not something that I just feel if we follow sort of the the logic of the thing. Maybe peace is something that we do or is expressed in a certain way in a more measurable actionable break sense. So, that’s all I wanted to mention and hopefully we’ll find more answers on that. Well, thank you, brother. Appreciate it. Yeah, I’ll put that on my list. Okay, Christine. Well, amen, Phillip. I think the Holy Spirit is moving because um I’ve been, you know, listening through the whole through the whole message. Unfortunately, today I couldn’t be on camera the whole time. But some notes that I wrote down is first to respond, Ed, to the question that you asked. You know, what robs us of our peace and you know defining peace biblically, right, as the shalom that we feel um in our inner world, right, in our relationship with God and how we’re walking and our faith and what we know. And I think for for me personally and even for our
children um what has robbed their peace and in the beginning our peace was the awareness that what we had what we thought was peace wasn’t peace and it was the awareness when we could most people who claim that they feel a peace like all of us right now feel more peace than we did before but likely we’ll learn in the future. Oh my gosh, there’s more we didn’t know. And suddenly now this peace is going to feel a little bit not like peace. And I know that that has been what has tripped up um a lot of the people in our world is well now how do we how do we know that that’s peace? And and so I agree with Philillip that it’s really important to um one accept that none of us have arrived to this place of all knowing that we are in full, you know, full shalom, right? Like that we should be striving for the peace, right? And and operating under the grace and assurance of his mercy that we don’t know
everything. Um, so I do I do believe and that you and I have talked about this that there should be a deeper study on what is peace. Are there different types of peace in the Bible? Is it one peace? Um, it’s my understanding that there’s one. It’s the one that transcends all understanding. And I know that that is very difficult to feel. Um, I am very close to a young believer who is striving every day on her hands and knees trying to feel this peace as she wrestles with abiding in God’s law. And the reason why she struggles with feeling it is because she’s come to the awareness that all these years that she thought she was walking in his peace that she was lawless and is kind of rallying. And so maybe the as we study outpiece, we can have maybe even um a sidebar of how we how we can um identify with these people and help them come along and get over get past the pain, embrace
um you know the unknowing of because peace can feel different to so many of us. Um anyways, I hope that made sense. It absolutely does. Thank you, Christine. I’m gonna add peace to my list for sure. Uh, okay. Brother Garrison or and or Joe, you’re up next. Shabbat shalom. Shabbat shalom. Joanne and I, we come from the same background as uh Tim, David, Christine, and Ed, maybe others on here, too. And uh the scriptures that we would teach was all scriptures God breathed and useful. And it’s funny now that we consider the Torah as all scriptures also. Um it we’ve learned so much more as far as obeying the and following the the festivals. uh because Yeshua and and Yahw are teaching us that what they’ve done for us and also what’s to come and it’s preparing us. It’s just given us this uh u an idea of of how to prepare ourselves
for the the coming and and uh we’ve kind of missed the boat when we were just teaching the New Testament all scriptures. Uh we didn’t even consider the Old Testament. So, um, thanks for the lesson. It was really good. Okay. Amen. Thanks, Lynn. Okay. Who’s up? Looks like, uh, Catherine. I don’t think that’s Catherine in the picture, though. I don’t Yeah, something tells me that’s not Catherine. It’s my wife’s email account. I’m a first time visitor to your group, but I’ve been listening to you for a couple of months and um wanted to uh participate. But I was wondering Ed if you could uh revisit the helmet of salvation. Um and uh maybe go a little bit deeper on the my my thought of the helmet of salvation has been thought life and uh in the context of armor. You know we’re also looking at the context of um
warfare. So we struggle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, dominions, world forces of wickedness in heavenly places. And then also the the taking every thought captive and casting down strongholds and lifting, you know, vain imaginations that lift themselves up against the knowledge of God. So I was wondering if you could take us a little deeper into um salvation, the helmet of salvation and its connection to correct understanding, correct thought life. Um if you could take us there a little bit. Well, I I mean, I’m so I’m I’m both happy and not happy that you brought that up because um I my lesson was getting to be very long. And I had to trim some things down lest we be here for another 40 minutes just talking through the lesson. Uh, and unfortunately that that page where I talked about the the helmet of salvation was one where I trimmed some things. But I can say this, everything
that you just said is absolutely important when considering the helmet of salvation because it’s it’s in our head that the enemy u questions our salvation or causes us to reconsider our salvation or causes us to um not stand on a scripture or another or to disobey a a scripture or another. Captivating our thoughts. All those things are absolutely true. You you asking me to go deeper and you pretty much just said everything that I would have said in my lesson. So yeah, all those things are are very true. And by no means anytime that you’re what you’re new here. By no means anytime that I teach on a topic am I ever doing it exhaustively. That’s for sure. Because I I’m I’m not that kind of person who knows everything obviously. So, we can talk about it amongst ourselves here in the fellowship as to what that means to you or what it means to another person when you consider the
helmet of salvation. I the point I wanted to make in that area wasn’t so much all these other things that you’re pulling into it, which I agree with, but just more of the certainty of our our salvation and having peace in in our salvation. Does that make sense? Well, yes, it does. Um I I think one of the the the challenges we’re confronted in this uh path of the ancient path, returning to the ancient path is my wife and I entered this probably I don’t know 10 years ago or whatever. And we haven’t considered ourselves any more saved as a result of this new understanding. But now that we have this understanding, we realize that the Sunday Easter Christmas church was a vain imagination. It was a stronghold that prevented us from knowing God as deeply as um he wants us to know. Um so I look at I look at strongholds a lot differently now. And you know, we we’ve I’ve heard in your conversations with
people, you know, it’s not our place to judge the salvation of others. you know, if they’re still in the Sunday Easter Christmas church. My wife and I are stuck out here in the sticks. I’m in this little community way out in the trail. We have nobody. We actually go to a Sunday Easter Christmas um Thursday night home fellowship just for Bible discussion. But I I guess my challenge is um or my question is um how far can one go into vain imaginations and still have the helmet of salvation? Well, there there in lies the $65,000 question, right? And one that we have all pondered and considered. As a matter of fact, uh I’m sorry, brother. Your name’s not Katherine. What is it? [laughter] I’m sorry. I’m Jim. Yeah, I’m Jim. 1 hour, 10 minutes Jim. Okay. Um I’m not sure. I don’t think you were here in the fellowship before we started, but this the questions that you’re asking were things
that we were discussing then in that moment. Um what how far do the imaginations go with man before salvation is uh questioned? Well, again I think my my most basic answer to that would be our responsibility as followers as believers is to follow what is written and not in interject our own minations into the scripture, our own worldview, our own doctrines. Unfortunately, historically, that’s all we’ve done forever. And I don’t think it’s going to stop. Matter of fact, I think the closer we get to the end, it’s going to just increase. You know, the enemy is going to ramp that stuff up. And so you’re right in in saying that we I I believe that it’s not our responsibility to make comments on or make judgments toward someone’s eternal salvation because that judgment belongs with Yeshua and Yeshua alone. And it’s dangerous waters when we begin to point
fingers at people and say, “Well, because of A, B, and C, you’re not saved or you’re going to hell or however you want to put it.” We can do everything that we possibly can in our love to warn people to be that um that that watchman on the wall and to communicate things that we’re seeing in scripture that are right there plain for every eye to see. But unfortunately, we live in a world of blindness where the truth is literally not able to be seen unless the individual is seeking him with all of their heart, soul, strength, and mind. So that kind of puts us in a in a sticky wicket when it comes to answering your question, right? So I don’t know that I know I give you a solid answer to that. maybe just my my best shot at uh explaining, but Samuel is really good at articulating these kinds of things and his hand is up. Let’s see if Samuel has anything to say in this regard. Shabbat shalom, brother Ed. Shalom.
And thank you for for the lesson and thank [clears throat] you for allowing me to share. Um several things really quickly. I think you touched on something very important with respect to the word shalom and that it doesn’t properly align with the word peace. I think our word peace and our understanding of peace short changes the Hebraic understanding of what shalom is. [clears throat] Yes. And I think what gets to the heart of our issue especially here in the west is everything is based in emotion and feeling. Everything has to be felt. Everything has to be felt. That’s not where will is. Will is not about emotion. Submission is not tied to how you feel. It is what you do. Submission doesn’t begin with you getting everything that you want and that you’re seeking. It’s submitting to the will of the father and the son and accepting shalom within the decision, the trust. I I would if you think back to when you were a child and
you on a long trip with your children or even if you’re a parent and you’re on a long trip with with your with your um with your children in a car in a van. You’re driving and they’re fast asleep. Why? Because they have an abiding trust that you’re going to provide and do what’s right for them. It’s not questioned. It is accepted as fact. And that is the type of connection we need to have with the father where where I counsel people. You have to find comfort in the discomfort because submission is going to mean you’re going to be placed in very uncomfortable situations. So many people lose their way on the walk because they don’t have the feeling of salvation. They don’t feel saved. They don’t feel loved. But you see it right there before you in black and white in the scriptures. It says it. And this goes to the brother’s question. How do you know if it’s a vain imagination or if it’s truth? Stay in the word
first and foremost. That means everything from Torah to Revelation. Stay in the word. And then if you have a thought and it doesn’t correspond to what you see that’s written, then you know it’s a vain imagination. It’s not that hard. And then the next thing you have to do once you are steeped in the word is to build yourself into a Hebraic framework or thought process where you’re not looking at things from a henistic point of view which is what we tend to do in the west but heically being able to embrace that and a lot of that is achieved by submitting to the ruachesh submitting to the set aart spirit and trusting that the father is going to guide you through this process. because you have made the decision, the decision to walk in his ways, even if you don’t know what all that entails.
That’s why when you look in the book of Acts and you look at the instructions that the Jerusalem council gave for the for the Gentiles who were newly coming in, okay, give them these four basics and then when they go to the synagogues on Shabbat, they’re going to learn the rest of what was given to Moshe. But the most fundamental things are these. So you you focus on the most fundamental and the two most fun fundamental. Love the most high with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your might and love your brother as yourself. Meaning you want for your brother what you would want for yourself that is good. You seek to do good by your brother, by your sister, even by your neighbor because you don’t carry enmity and hatred towards anyone. But again, get get out of the field space. Get into the submission space and keep everything on those pillars of the
word. Align it with the word. Stay in there. Read it consistently and constantly. And I say this with all true feeling and emotion and will. Shalom. Shalom in the fullest sense of it. Thank you for allowing me to share, brother Ed. Amen, brother. Thank you. Your comments are always welcome. Okay, Jeff and Bri, 1 hour, 17 minutes hello. Shabbat shalom. Thank you for this teaching. This has been both of these teachings have been excellent. Um gosh, I have so much to say, but I’m going to try to keep it short. Um so to touch on the the peace um I’ve noticed in my own experience my personal walk the more that I walk in accordance with the father’s word the more internal peace that I feel and it’s a peace that like Messiah said the world’s not going to give us but but I also with that the the trouble from the world increases so it’s like this I I can’t really fully put it into words but I think that some of you
will understand what I’m saying or all of you. It’s it’s hard to put into words. He does give you this peace knowing that you’re in right standing with him. That doesn’t mean I’m perfect or any of us are doing it perfectly, but it’s it’s something that nobody can take from you and that the world cannot give you and it’s in here. It’s it’s it’s and it’s not quite like Samuel was saying, it’s not even really quite an emotion because it’s it’s a spiritual thing. Um, but I wanted to share I watched this really good documentary recently this and he was speaking on site and to kind of piggyback off of what uh well I think you said your name is Jim said about the helmet and thoughts and all of that um to have the mind of Yeshua. What does that even like what does that mean? Right? And he explained and I’m going to get a little scientific for just a second. He was talking about sight and he explained I did and I didn’t know
this till recently. our physical eyes when the light hits it and we see images, they’re actually upside down. And I thought, whoa, I didn’t know that. But your brain, without you even consciously aware of it, flips the image and you see things right side up. And so it made me think of how when we fell all the way back in the beginning, our vision became upside down. Our spiritually speaking, even everything’s upside down. And it takes having Yeshua in your mind to be able to see in the straightly to be able to see right side up in the spirit. And I thought that was such a cool thing. And it brings me to Luke I’m just going to read it. Luke 4:18 says, “The Ruach of of Yahw is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering the sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.
So, it’s only through having Messiah can our sight be restored to be right side up. Um, and then one last little thing, cuz I I I didn’t know this until just this past year, maybe. I did not know that the very last um healing that Messiah performed was when he restored the ear from the soldier that Peter, you know, Peter cut his ear off. And spiritually speaking, I think that is such a beautiful like revelation to know that his very last miracle was to was he restored hearing. So that’s all I got. I just wanted to share those few things and thank you for Oh, sister. I love that. I love all of those analogies. That’s that’s giving me more fodder for my own lesson. I think that would be amazing. So, thank you. Thank you. Okay, let’s see. Looks like uh Travis is up. Shabbat shalom uh brothers and sisters. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I’ve been following your channel for quite some time and uh I see you out here in this
arena fighting the good fight and um through your teachings I have learned a lot as well. Um so thank you brother Ed. Thank you. Of course. Amen. And uh if it be appropriate toward the end, I would just like to say a short prayer. And uh I really really appreciate your teaching today. Thank you. Amen, brother. Of course. You’re welcome. And yeah, we’ll have you close us out in a word of prayer when we’re done here. For sure. Uh okay, let’s see. Um Jim, you have spoken. We’re going to put you on hold just for a second because I know you want to respond to what you’ve heard. Let’s hear from William and Dana first and then you can go. Make sure your mic’s on, William. There you go. Jab shalom. Shalom. You threw a curveball at me. You jumped ahead to me. [laughter] That’s okay. You know, we’re we’re to be prepared in season and out of season, right?
That’s right. So, um I was just kind of piggybacking on what you were sharing about the the pieces of armor and the last thing that uh was said in verse 18. 1 hour, 22 minutes It says praying at all times with prayer and supplication in the spirit. And you know Yeshua even said that um like demons, some of the demons couldn’t come out by pray unless by prayer and fasting. Prayer is one of our powerful offensive weapons. Um, and it’s preparing us for even for our day. Like to this morning before I even got up, I was praying, you know, that the father would reveal some things to me that I needed to see. And I was getting some things in the word. And I’m very grateful for the word, the set aart spirit that leads us and guides us into all truth. And I guess if if anything like pointing back to you know Shagrat and Bendigo, it’s always amazed me how like they were okay even with you know having to die in
the furnace is that we we do have to be okay with the father’s final word and that trust. I believe that trust is what does the the miraculous and we are to walk in belief and that’s a huge part of it that walking in belief is that knowing that the father is in control that he has an outcome already planned and we just submit to that and you know Yeshua said you will do even mightier things than these things that we he was doing you know through the belief and through um disobedience and obedience is so huge because you know when Yeshua says he’s talk these people are saying you know didn’t we do all these mighty things cast out demons in your name um they’re talking about all these things and he says away from me I never knew you workers of lawlessness so there’s there is that unity between you know um belief and obedience that That’s the love.
And anyway, this message, I really appreciate it. We really appreciated it today. Um, we’re very grateful for that. Thank you. Well, amen, guys. It’s great to see you as always and thank you so much for your comments. Okay, let’s see. Go ahead, Jim. We’ll have Jim share and then we’ll have somebody named Brothers and Sisters in the Lord. I assume that’s what that means. You can share last because we’re running short on time. and then we’ll have Travis uh close us out with a word of prayer. So, go ahead, Jim. You’re up. Okay. Well, I was just um I I think I may have cons fallen upon a uh um a distinction that is new to my thinking as Samuel was speaking. And um that distinction is that there the vain imaginations that are collected within our our skull cavity may be protected by strongholds and that there may be a difference between these two things because the stronghold of the Sunday Easter Christmas paradigm
prevented me from seeing the truth in God’s words. I thought I was doing the right stuff. stronghold protected my vain imaginations. And so as I was in the word as a Sunday Easter Christmas churchgoer, I’ll just shorten it to the SEC um not not the Southeastern Conference, but um [laughter] the SEC um stronghold prevented my eyes from seeing and created vain imaginations that I was living in. And I would have I would have sworn up and down that I was doing this right. Yeah. So the stronghold seems like that has to come down first before we can encounter the vain imaginations that we have in our in our thinking. And the second thing that I wanted to comment on was the distinction and the tension that seems to be consistent throughout the word of God between eyes and ears. I mean, if you look all the way back in the garden, um the word of God said,
“Don’t eat the fruit.” And the hearing the the ears were open, but she was challenged by the visual. She saw the beauty of the the fruit, that it was desirable, that it was good. And you see this tension between seeing and hearing throughout the Bible. And um I was thinking of what the the woman I don’t see her name up here right now, but she was talking about how maybe in the fall our vision got flipped and we are living in the upside down. And so that um [clears throat] tension, you know, and it’s not it’s not see O Israel, you know, it’s it’s here, O Israel. And so I I I think that there’s 1 hour, 27 minutes something that’s worth um meditating upon that and um aligning our lives to the word of God and not what we see happening being practiced by the people in our lives that may be Christians or whatever. I
guess this is where most of my tension is right now. So I just wanted to comment to that and uh and bless you guys. Shabbat shalom to everyone here and thank you. Not just meditate, but you, like I said, you’re giving me ideas for future lessons. So, thank you, brother. Okay, brothers and sisters is up next. Make sure your microphone is turned on. It’s just sister right now. Am I sideways? Okay, you’re upside down. [laughter] You’re upside down. No, don’t be upside down. Don’t drive and be upside down. Be right side up. And your make sure your mute’s back on. So, make sure your mic is turned on. This speaks to what I just said. I’m just saying my mic was not on. I’m sitting here talking to you guys. I’m like, I’m in an upside down world. Shabbat shalom. [laughter] Hi, everyone. It’s just the sister and the Lord here. Um, I’m just now arriving at our destination.
Something that came to mind was the the talk of trust and the talk about uh what causes us to lose our peace. And you know, there’s a lot of scripture that’s spoken of that we hear is it’s literally turned into like cliches. But lately, the Lord’s just been saying, “What what do I really mean in that?” Like, let’s let’s ground it and get a deeper meaning. Um, and one of the scriptures was about trust in the Lord with all your heart, right? Lean not to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. So, if we’re looking at our life and we’re wondering why is it that um sorry, phone call, why is it that our path is crooked? So, if we just go a step back further, it’s like, okay, what did I do? What what am I doing that I’m not acknowledging the Lord? Like, in all of my ways, where am I not
acknowledging him? And and again, we go further back. Am I am I trusting him with all my heart? Oh, that’s probably why I started lean on my leaning on my own understanding. And then further back, it’s like, do I really trust the Lord? Because by my actions, I’m not really showing that. And what I’m feeling is now I don’t have his peace. And um you know, I just was meditating on that for a while for a season. And then this woman, it was just amazing how God speaks through other people and helps us in our journey. But she said to me, she says, “You need to stop uh you need to let go of your expectations of God.” And I was like, “What? What are you saying?” And she said, “On how he’s going to do it.” And I was like, “That’s it. That’s it right there.” We lose our peace a lot of the times because we’re not willing to
let go of how we’re going to how we believe he’s going to do it. So, I just wanted to share that. Um, amen. Blessings and shalom to everyone. Thanks for having me. Amen, sister. That that is awesome. Yeah, we like to pray that God does things, but we also like to tell him how to do it. So, I appreciate that very much. Okay, guys. Let’s have brother Travis uh close us on a word of prayer and uh we’ll we’ll have a great Shabbat. Go ahead, brother. Certainly, Brother Ed. Dear heavenly father, y’all father, you cause us to remember your law, to seek to do it and to return to your ways and your ancient paths. According to your word and according to what you’ve decreed, you’ve imu immovably legislated that when this is when this happens, you will gather your people again. I pray that you gather the remnant of your people out of the nations unto yourself to be to be made whole under your righteousness and salvation. I ask
this in your name’s sake because you have spoken it. I ask this to be [clears throat] brought in remembrance before your throne by and through Yeshua Messiah. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen, brother. Thank you. Okay, guys. Shabbat shalom. Thank you for hanging out with us today. Hope you have a great weekend. See you next time. Shabbat shalom. Shalom. That was great. [laughter] Shalom. Shalom. [laughter] Shalom. Shabbat shalom family. Shabbat shalom everyone.