As a child I was raised in the Baptist church. I have fond memories of gospel singings, Psalty children's plays, RA's, and children's church. My childhood was spent going from Baptist church to Baptist church. We could just never find that "perfect" group of people to fellowship with. You know, that's the problem with Protestants - we never know when to stop protesting. Thirteen years ago our Baptist church became spirit filled and was a strange mixture of the Baptist and Pentecostal denominations. We called it a "Bapti-costal" assembly. It was there in the charismatic Baptist church that I began searching for the Hebrew roots of the Scriptures. In my 30 years of life, I can only remember a few sermons that had a true impact upon my life. I have heard many a messages that were pleasing to the ear or really good for the moment, but few messages have really changed me.
I remember one sermon that a Baptist preacher gave. At the end of the message he got really loud and boisterous....
With great expression he said, "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river."
With even greater emphasis he said, "And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river."
And then finally, he said, "And if I had all the pornography in the world, I'd take it and put it into the river." Sermon complete, he then sat down.
The song leader stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, "For our closing song, let us sing Hymn #365: 'Shall We Gather at the River'."
Truth be told, you may or you may not remember this message. The decision is totally yours. Will you allow the Holy Spirit to minister life and love to you today?
Today can be a true day of change for you. It's a day of power! Today, allow the Ruach HaKodesh to minister to you. Place your soul upon the altar and open your spirit to Him. Compared to Calvary our offering isn't much. Y'shua gave His life and His blood for us. He has called us to follow and trust His word. May we be changed into His image today.
This message is called "A Time for Holiness." We will be discussing the Feast of Trumpets and the Ten Days of Awe. YHWH is speaking to you today - whether you have kept the feast for many years or this was your first year. This is a commanded festival during which we are to remember YHWH and be called out of our spiritual sleep and slumber. It is a special time during which the windows of heaven are open to our prayers and the cry of our hearts. Truly, the word CRY is appropriate for this festival day. The Hebrew phrase YOM TERUAH literally means the "day of shouting cries." Yom is Hebrew for "day" and "teruah" is Hebrew for a "loud shrill, shout, cry, and alarm." As we celebrate this day we have been called to CRY aloud. For many, the shofar is a means to such an end. The shofar is one way to shout but it is not the only. We can also raise our voices and shout unto YHWH.
Leviticus 23:23-25, "Yahweh said to Moshe, "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to Yahweh by fire."
Numbers 29:1-6, "On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. As an aroma pleasing to Yahweh, prepare a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bull prepare a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. These are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings as specified. They are offerings made to Yahweh by fire-a pleasing aroma."
Psalm 81:3-4, "Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast; this is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the Elohim of Jacob."
Psalm 98:6, "With trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn-shout for joy before Yahweh, the King."
Tehillim 47:5, "For YHWH Most High is awesome; a great sovereign over all the earth."
Psalm 100:4, "Shout (Teruah) for joy to Yahweh, all the earth."
The shouting on Yom Teruah is to alert us to remember YHWH and His Torah. We are to remember creation. We are to seek YHWH while he can be found and call upon Him while He is near. Begin with the first Feast of Trumpets.
The shofar call reminds us of the original intention of YHWH's creation. We were indeed made in His image to be His likeness upon the earth. The first few words of Beresheet - the book of Genesis remind us of this.
"Jewish tradition believes that Adam was created on this day (Mishnah, San Hedrin 38b). How did they decide that this was the day of the year the world was created? Because the first words of the Book of Genesis (Bereishit), "in the beginning," when changed around, read, Aleph b'Tishrei, or "on the first of Tishrei." Therefore, Yom Teruah is known as the birthday of Adam," source unknown.
Yom Teruah occurs on Aleph b' tishrei - on the first of Tishrei - Hebrew name for this month.
The creation account is the CALL of Yom Teruah. Indeed, the day that Adam was formed was the very first Feast of Trumpets. The perfection of that first Feast of Trumpets is the groaning of all creation - to return to a world without sin and pain. Is that your desire? Do you have a perfect hatred of sin? If not I pray that you will. I hope that this message can reach you were you are and help you attain perfection.
The first Yom Teruah was a day of perfect relationship with YHWH. Adam was unhindered in His fellowship and walked with YHWH in the cool of the day. Take a deep breath and consider the holiness of YHWH and the relationship of that day - the closeness unhindered. YHWH expects nothing less from us today. The Torah is very clear concerning this...
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect, Matthew 5:48
This is a repetition of Torah command in Leviticus 11:44
"I am YHWH your Elohim; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy."
And ye shall be holy unto me: for I YHWH [am] holy, and have severed you from [other] people, that ye should be mine," Leviticus 20:26
"Most Christians think of holy as sinless, but Biblically it means that you have grown in spiritually maturity and that you have an intimate relationship with the Savior - you have been set apart for His service. We are reminded in 1 Peter 1:15-16 that what we say is directly related to our holiness: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy," wrote Rebecca Totillo.
The original term "holy" or "perfect" is the Hebrew word "Kadosh."
If you have been in the Messianic faith for any amount of time, this is a word that you have no doubt heard before. Most know the song "kadosh" as an anthem of worship. Yet, the word "kadosh" is so much more.
The term means to be "sacred, holy, saint, set apart"
I believe this simple definition has caused more pain and hardship upon believers than it's helped. A lot of people just get "weird" in their quest to be "set apart" and "kadosh."
Essential oils, holy garments, organic diets, certain Hebrew words, home schooling, "correct" calendars, and tassels all set us apart from the world in no other way. At the core these items are holy - they can be found in YHWH's word. BUT they can also become weapons against us.
Kadosh does not mean WEIRD. It doesn't even mean set apart from the world. What this word is trying to teach us is that we are to be set apart IN the world. We not to become reclusive believers who stay away from others in an effort to remain "holy." Nor are we to constantly rebuke others who do don't do things our way. We get so wrapped up in having our doctrines and beliefs RIGHT that we offend any who live contrary.
We have been called to be "in the world but not of the world." We have been told to "come out of Babylon and touch not the unclean thing." WELL, as the book of Acts teaches - people are not unclean. The story of Peter falling asleep and dreaming of clean and unclean animals was used as a lesson to him and the first believers that there should be no distinction between Jew and Gentiles. Salvation has been granted for all. The Torah is for all of mankind. If we get weird or reclusive or offended at others then we will never accomplish Y'shua's call to "seek and save the lost sheep of the house of Israel." If we refuse to fellowship with people because their Torah keeping or their theologies are different then we are NOT being kadosh - we are being rebellious. There is a difference.
Kadsosh is from the root word "kadash" Which means: " to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate." The Strong's Dictionary expounds on the idea by explaining that kadash is to, " to be set apart, consecrated, to be hallowed, to show oneself sacred or majestic, to be honoured, be treated as sacred, to be holy, to set apart as sacred, consecrate, dedicate, to observe as holy, keep sacred, to honour as sacred, hallow, to consecrate, dedicated, to set apart, devote, consecrate, to regard or treat as sacred or hallow, to keep oneself apart or separate, to cause Himself to be hallowed (of Elohim), to be observed as holy, to consecrate oneself."
Notice here the terms "consecrate, observe, dedicate, honor, hallow." The common definition of "kadosh" is "set apart."
This definition can hurt us more than it can help as many take it to mean ELITE. Ohh... I am kadosh and you are not. We can talk the talk of being set apart but this has nothing to do with YHWH's holiness. Truly being holy means to be untainted from the world. It means to set an example in word, thought, speech, morals, love, and devotion.
The messianic movement has built a theology around being set apart. We have built a fence a fortress around our theologies. People thing that holiness is having the right doctrines. We have allowed our search for "knowledge" to become a sin. I can not tell you how many Messianic believers I have met who KNEW the TORAH and the deeper things of YHWH and yet they showed NO fruit in their moral life. They would gossip, lie, cheat, mislead, and abuse people in a minute. True holiness is walking blameless before YHWH and helping those in need WITH THE RIGHT doctrine.
I had a conversation with a Messianic believer recently who told me that even though she uses the true names, keep the Shabbat, eats kosher, and wears a head covering - she believes that she was closer to YHWH when she was in the church. The daily walk in the spirit had been replaced with sorry about other stuff.
Religion that Elohim our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27
Remember that YHWH is holy. He is Holy. His love, desire and passion is for us to be holy - to be like him in character and actions and thoughts and deeds.
Kiddish is the distinction made on Friday nights as the Sabbath is beginning. The Kiddish is the prayer over the traditional cup of wine that is consumed on Friday night and feast days. It is called kiddish as it should remind the believer of the sanctity of the day. The Rabbis have noted that the Sabbath begins with the cup of joy. This distinction of sweetness is what makes Shabbat special. We are to be the same sweetness to the world. Our set apartness / our kadoshness should ATTRACT people to us. Our witness should be drawing people to Y'shua in us. We should not be repelling people away!
The word Kadosh is also found in the term Kiddushin.
This is a special Hebrew word that you may or may not be familiar with. The betrothal time during a Hebrew wedding is called "KIDDUSHIN" This is the time during which a man and woman are engaged. This is also the Hebrew word for marriage.
In biblical times, an Israeli bridegroom propose to beloved by offering the Kiddush cup. If his chosen accepted his marriage proposal, she sipped from the cup and was now betrothed and promised in marriage to him.
In a Hebrew wedding the KIDDUSHIN is when the man is preparing the home for his new bride. He is working hard to provide and prepare their mansion. Such symbology is easily recognized for anyone familiar with the Newer Testament. The preparations are being made for the wedding and the woman and man are getting their lives straight before the ceremony.
During a Hebrew wedding a Bridegroom would depart and go back to his Fathers house to prepare a place for the wedding and his new Bride.
John 14:1-3
"Do not let your hearts be distressed. Trust in G-d; trust also in Me. In My Father's house are many chambers; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to make ready a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and catch you up to be with Me that you also may be where I am."
These words above are the same words spoken in the ancient Jewish Wedding rite. Y'shua speaks to His followers as a Bridegroom, affirming to them that He would come to take them to Himself.
Y'shua is the bridegroom and the body of believers is the bride. We are the bride of Christ/Messiah/Moshiach. And we are living in the time of betrothal. We are awaiting the marriage and the marriage supper. During this time we should working to be "kedoshim" or "set apart ones.
It is interesting that all Hebrew weddings begin the same way. The shofar sounds and a person raises His voice in a proclamation to shout "Baruch ha ba b'shem YHWH." The Messiah Y'shua hinted at this when He spoke of the division and dispersion of Israel. He stated
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of YHWH.'" Luke 13:35
In Hebrew this is the EXACT phrase used at the start of a Hebrew wedding. "Baruch ha ba b'shem YHWH" - blessed is He who comes in the name of YHWH.
So, with all of this in mind. The question that I must ask you to consider is... how close are we? It is an accepted belief that Y'shua will return on a future Yom Teruah / Feast of Trumpets. Such an idea is easy to accept when one considers the various verses about the return of Y'shua and the blowing of a shofar....
The day of Yom Teruah is truly prophetic.
Matthew 24:31, "And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."
Luke 21:27-28, "At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
1 Corinthians 15:51-53, "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality."
1 Thessalonians 4:14-18, "We believe that Yahshua died and rose again and so we believe that Elohim will bring with Yahshua those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Yahweh's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of Yahweh, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For Yahweh himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command (Teruah), with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of Elohim, and the dead in Messiah will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Yahweh in the air. And so we will be with Yahweh forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words."
So, once again - how close are we? Could Y'shua return this Yom Teruah? What about next year? 2012? What about 2017? The signs of tribulation are obvious. Earthquakes are on the rise. The economy is in turmoil. The thought of a world dictatorship and a one world currency seem more likely each day. How close are we? Consider that question again - how close are we? Don't dwell on how close we are to the DATE of His return. Instead, ponder for a moment how close you are to HIM. Are you prepared for the return of Y'shua or do you need to clean up some? Is your wedding garment spotless or is it tattered and torn? Are you perfect and holy?
Is your wedding gown full of anger, rage, malice, pain, hurt, unforgiveness, disdain, self hatred or wickedness?
"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of Elohim," Galatians 5:19-21
How often do you raise your voice, gossip, talk about others?
When was the last time you prayed mercy for people who hurt you or did a kind deed to someone who had taken advantage of you?
How do you participate when it is time for worship - do you sit stare or doze off OR are you committed to press through the praise to get your word from YHWH?
How are our wedding garments? Take time right NOW to stop and pray about the condition of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your spiritual life.
For we are betrothed to our Savior now. We must remain faithful to Him by not partaking n the ways of the world and remain separate. With a wedding comes rewards and judgment.
For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Revelation 18: 3 KJV
Our Bridegroom has gone to prepare a wedding chamber for His bride.
Matthew 9:15, Y'shua said, "Can the friends of the Bridegroom mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast."
While we wait for the return of our Bridegroom/King, we need to stay faithful, watchful and spiritually alert. This is the hour to pray and fast!
1 Peter 4:7, "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers."
Luke 21:36, "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."
We are all going through the process of being kedoshim. Our theologies and changed and changed and changed. NOW is the time for holiness. I feel that YHWH is NOW purifying us in our spirits, out attitudes, our souls, our heads, and our thoughts. He has worked out much of the leaven of theological error. Now he is working on our hearts.
Yom Teruah is the first day of the 10 days of awe. ""Aseret y'mai teshuvah" which is the ten days of awe, or the ten days of repentance. These are ten days of soul searching and turning from sins before the day of Yom Kippur. This isn't a time that we sit back and ask YHWH to purify us. NO - we must purify ourselves!!!!!!!
2 Corinthians 7:1, "Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for Elohim."
2 Peter 1:4, "Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
During the next 10 days - leading up to Yom Kippur we are going to be tested. The flame is going to be turned up a few notches. As we begin to purify our garments for Yom Kippur we must apply the bleach and the stain cleaner daily. The next 10 days are extremely important to your holiness and life. The next ten days are times to seek YHWH's kedoshim and desire to be KADOSH.
Let the sound of the shofar today call your heart to YHWH as the bride, in love with the groom and awaiting the time of His return. May we be ready for His return and may His spirit call us to become kadosh.
