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It appears that some in the Corinthian church mistook the liberty that we have in Messiah for license. In this they had descended into debauchery. Paul writes against this in the strongest of terms, telling the church to expel those who engaged in flagrant sin.

Y'shua's disciples ask Him to teach them how to pray. That means that prayer is a skill that can be taught. The Lord's Prayer, the Friend at Midnight, the Unjust Judge and the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

In Leviticus, God tells Israel to be holy because He is Holy. In the subsequent verses, He gives them laws on the basis of His own authority. The explicit purpose of these laws it to differentiate Israel from the nations that they are to destroy. The reason for those nations' destruction is that they practiced all of the abominations that God forbids. So too, our society has degraded to the point that we have made all of the forbidden abominations commonplace.

As Paul writes to correct the hubris of the Corinthian church, he compares himself and the other Apostles to builders working on the living Tabernacle. In this, he directs merit away from himself and toward God where it rightly belongs.

This set of parables emphasizes the cost of entering the Kingdom of God. Several people desire to follow Him but have things to do before they can begin. Others are encumbered by the things of the world. The Good Samaritan, the Rich Young Ruler, Zacchaeus.

Speech is important.. It can either build up or destroy. In the Torah, leprosy is twice associated with negative speech. This indicates that Biblical leprosy is a physical manifestation of a heart condition. Although Biblical leprosy no longer manifests, a person's speech still can expose his heart condition.

The first four chapters of the letter deal with divisions in the church caused by intellectual pride. Since Paul had planted the church, they had heard the teaching of others and factions had formed. Each of the teachers mentioned were perfectly sound but perhaps each had said things differently. in their inexperience and pride, members of the church had seized on stylistic differences and elevated them to the level of doctrine.

During His final journey to Jerusalem, Y'shua told a series of parables. These parables are arranged as a chiasm. The first and last element of that chiasm concerns a noble who goes away to obtain a kingdom. His subjects try to stop him from becoming their ruler. He also leaves resources with his servants and expects an accounting upon his return. His servants are rewarded or punished according to what they did with the master's resources while he was away.

Mark chapter 1 contains an outline of Y'shua's entire ministry as well as that given to His apostles after His resurrection. The outline boils down to: preach the Gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons. Demons are barely mentioned in the TANAK but have almost 100 references in the New Testament. What changed? What does that mean to us today?

After having described the often unpleasant process of character development, the author returns to the theme that this world is not our permanent home. Rather, there is a better and permanent home for those who are disciples of Y'shua.

The 50 days between Firstfruits and Shavuot is a replay and a rehearsal of the process by which God takes us from slavery to liberty in Him. For the Israelites, it was literal slavery in Egypt. For us it is the slavery to sin and the flesh. Liberty is not learned over night, it is a process that takes time.

Faith is the spiritual quality that allows us to act in the present. Since the future is unknown, we must have faith that the thing we are about to do will have the results we want. This especially applies to our relationship with God. He has promised certain things and we are to live our lives in the trust that those promises are reliable.

Nations, like people have a life cycle - birth, growth, productivity and death. For Israel, Passover was its birth. Since then it has gone through several life cycles, always being reborn because God has had His hand on them. The United States, like Israel, was also explicitly formed on Biblical principles. We are now undergoing a civilizational crisis. Pray that the current turmoil represents birth pains.

The sin offerings made in the tabernacle were only for unintentional sin and had to be repeated annually, because the people's hearts were not changed. Under the New Covenant God's law will be written on hearts of flesh instead of on tablets of stone. Thus, the offering Messiah made with His own blood needs only to have been done one time, since those cleansed by that offering will have had their hearts circumcised.

The Gospel accounts after the Resurrection are different. Each one gives added instructions for the believer while we await His return. Taken together they form a complete mission statement for the believer - what to do, where to do it, what resources are available, etc.

The Covenant made as Sinai was defective in that one of the parties - Israel - was unable to live according to its terms. That made a New Covenant necessary. Although God's terms are the same for both covenants, the new one is to be written on the heart instead of on tablets of stone. The New Covenant like the one at Sinai must be ratified with the blood of a sacrifice. In this case, the blood was that of the Messiah.

When the Tabernacle in the wilderness was completed Moses had the Levites present an accounting of all the gold, silver and bronze used in its construction - down to the shekel. Moses was perhaps the most powerful and trusted human in the world because he spoke with God face to face. The fact that such a man as Moses felt it necessary to give a public accounting sends a strong message that it is vital for all those in positions of public trust to be honest and transparent in their handling of public funds. This speaks to the corruption being uncovered in our government today.

Having established that Christ is not an angel, but is the human son of God, and that He is able to understand our frailties, the writer then goes on to establish His priesthood. In this, since He is not a descendant of Aaron, the writer must use a different priestly order; that of Melchizedek.

Being made in the image of God, people have the ability to be creative. In building the Tabernacle in the wilderness, many things were specified by God because deviation would have compromised His message. Other things, however, were open for interpretation by the artisans who worked on the project. In allowing this, Israel became more than passive recipients of God's provision. They could now be active contributors to God's purposes.

Just as God rested from His work in creation, there is a rest available to the people of God. This rest is from fear and striving to be good enough to merit salvation. Once we trust in Him, we may enter His rest. This is in contrast to the wilderness generation who were not able to muster that trust and so perished without entering the land.

Between smashing the first set of tablets because of the Golden Calf and ascending the mountain again to get the second set, Moses spent 40 days in the tent of meeting outside the camp. What was the purpose of that time and what did Moses accomplish? (The song referred to is "The Family of God.")

The writer first establishes from the Psalms that the Christ is not an angel and is, in fact, the Son of God. He also establishes that He is fully human and has experienced what all men experience - including death. As one of us, He is able to understand what we go through and treat us sympathetically.

The Hebrew word 'beged' means both clothing and betrayal. This duality is important because we use clothing to communicate - status, sexuality, position, power, etc. Realizing that clothing can lie and betray is an important part of navigating in society. The High Priest's vestments are thus a statement that can either be true of the man or false. So too with others who wear the robes of authority.

The retuning exiles, having completed the Temple and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, have fallen into cynicism because the Messianic age has not started. They see the wicked prosper and wonder what the benefit of walking with God really is. God answers.

In Exodus 25, God tells Moses to request contributions of materials to build the Tabernacle from everyone "whose heart moves him". In this, God gave Israel the gift of being able to contribute something instead of merely receiving. The act of giving allows one to participate in what God is doing in the world. As such, it is a great gift.

Written after the Babylonian exile, Malachi tells of returning Jews and their priests who have the form of temple worship without either reverence or enthusiasm.

After the ten commandments, God gives several chapters of detailed statutes. These laws are intended to implement God's view of how a good society should behave. Following those laws is for our own good and does not generate blessings. Rather blessings come from a relationship with God. We know from history that that relationship can be damaged to the point the He will withdraw those blessings. Similarly, there are two competing visions for the United States. Proponents of each vision are attempting to enact laws to shape society toward their vision.

The new heaven and the new earth where God finally dwells among men. The New Jerusalem and homage of the nations. The tree of life restored to man.

In the Decalogue both the first and the tenth commandments forbid alien gods. The first commandment is obvious - thou shall have no other gods before me. The tenth - thou shall not covet - not quite so much. Why, then does Paul equate covetousness with idol worship?

At the destruction of Babylon, all of heaven rejoices that justice has been served and God has taken vengeance on the great whore who has deceived the nations. The arrival of the King and His reign over the earth for a thousand year. The Great White throne.

When God took Israel out of Egypt, He did not take the short route to Canaan lest the people change their minds and return to Egypt. Instead, He took them into the wilderness beyond the point where they could return without dying of thirst or starvation. In this sense, He burned the bridge back to Egypt so they had no choice but to continue on to freedom. So too, many of us have bridges that need to be burned so we can move forward to be what God desires.

After the seven bowls of wrath, we get the fate of Babylon, the spiritual capitol of the first beast. This is the imperial city of the great world government that is arrayed against God and His people.

In the Olivet Discourse, the master entrusts three of his servants with his resources and then goes on a long journey. Two of the servants double his money, the third simply holds and returns it to him upon his return. It would be an error to assume that God's standard is 'double my money' or you're going to be rejected.

After the three angels broadcast their messages to the whole earth, the earth is reaped. First the good harvest which would be gathered to God and then the wild grapes which go into the winepress of God's wrath. That is followed by the seven bowls of the wrath of God.

The Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and 25 describes what will happen at Christ's return. In that briefing, there are four parables describing what He expects His followers to be doing while He is away. These parables cover four different subjects. It is important to notice that everyone in each parable is a believer and that each parable describes the case where some of those believers are rejected.

Two beasts, one rising out of the sea and the other out of the earth. The first beast represents human government that demands fealty from all people to the point even of worship. The second beast is false religion which lends the first beast legitimacy. The 144,000 and the final notice from God to all the earth that He is the only one to be worshiped.

Comparing Matthew 24 with Revelation 13 and 14, it is obvious that there are still things to come from an eschatological perspective. The first beast represents human government and the second a human religion that gives a spiritual imprimatur to the bestial government. The Scriptural purpose for telling us these things is to provide perspective on how we should be living as the end times approach.

When God's two witnesses have been raised from the dead, those who are capable of giving Him glory do so. Then the seventh trumpet sounds and heaven's reoccupation of the earth begins. At some point Satan is expelled from heaven and embarks on a persecution, first of the Jews, and then of all believers.

As David lay on his death bed, he gave his son instructions to kill Joab, the commander of the army. The events that made that advisable were set in motion years earlier by the sin of David himself. When David committed adultery with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, he used Joab to cover up the crime by killing Uriah. That led to a sequence of events that almost cost David his throne and did result in the death of two of his sons. God forgave David, but He did not vacate the earthly consequences.

Now that the Lamb has been authenticated as the rightful King of the Earth, the trumpets herald His coming. At His first advent, He came in peace riding on a donkey. This time He comes on a white horse to conquer. In that sense, the trumpets can be looked upon as an artillery barrage preparatory to an invasion.

Hope and faith are different. Hope is what we use to set the goals in our lives. Faith enables the bringing of those goals to fruition. As we face a new administration, there is reason for hope.

Once it was determined that the Lamb was worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, the unsealing process began. Since the scroll represents the legal title to the earth, as each seal is removed, there is a corresponding reaction on the earth. The first six seals seem to be sequential in time and then there is an out of sequence vignette where the 144,000 are sealed.

We study the events around Hanukkah because there is nothing new under the Sun. In the behavior of the Greeks, the Hellenized Jews and the faithful Jews we can see all of the things that are going on today.

John is invited into the Heavenly Throne Room where he sees God and the Lamb. The arrangement of that heavenly venue is mirrored in the stellar constellations. The ceremony John witnesses is the delivery of a sealed scroll to the Lamb - the only one in creation who is worthy to receive and open it.

The Genesis stories of Jacob, Joseph and Judah feature repetitions of similar incidents. For example, Jacob deceives his father by wearing Esau's clothes and bringing him a meal of goat instead of the venison he was expecting. Later his own sons deceive him by bringing him Joseph's coat stained with the blood of a goat. Is this merely cosmic retribution, or is God doing something else?

Letters to Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. These churches form the second half of the chiasm described in last week's recording. Discussion of each church's strengths and weaknesses.

Christ dictated letters to seven churches in Asia Minor. These letters correlate with the seven Kingdom Parables in Matthew and with Paul's pastoral letters to seven churches. While these were seven actual churches active at the time of John's vision, there are other ways to look at the letters. The symbols used in the letters appear elsewhere in the TANAK.

The story of Jacob's flight from his brother and stay in Haran is one of character transformation. He begins as a bit of a "momma's boy" who is willing to take advantage of both his brother and his father. At the end of the story, he is a man of substance who voluntarily reconciles with his brother and symbolically returns the blessing he had stolen 20 years earlier.

Discussion of end times perspectives and why the Tanak can provide context and commentary on the symbols in Revelation. Chapter 1, the Risen Lord. His explanation of the lampstand and the seven stars.

The world is a difficult and often dangerous place. It is easy to focus on one's problems and become ungrateful. That is what happened to Esau when he despised his birthright. Learning to look for the good in every situation can radically improve your attitude and your situation.

As the wall was completed, the leadership of the returning Jews formally renewed their covenant with God preparatory to a dedication ceremony for the wall. After that, Nehemiah returned to Persia for a time. When he returned, he found that the Jews had already backslidden. They were working on Shabbat, not giving the Levites their portion of the tithes and continued intermarriage with the pagan inhabitants of the land. To top it off, the priests had moved an Ammonite into the Temple.