Sermon Podcasts: Recent Episodes
Ben David MJC
The preparation of Moses is complete after going from "Moses the Militant" to "Moses The Meek"
Beshalach is the sixteenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fourth in the Book of Exodus. In this parashah, Pharaoh changes his mind and chases after the Israelite people with his army, trapping them at the Sea of Reeds. God commands Moses to split the sea, allowing them to pass, then closes the sea back upon the Egyptian army. There are the miracles of manna and clean water.
Parashah Va’era (And I Appeared) - Exodus 6:2-9:35; In this Torah portion, God tells Moses and Aaron to go to Pharaoh to demand freedom for the Israelites. Pharaoh refuses, and God unleashes plagues on the Egyptians. Pharaoh promises to free the Israelites, but God hardens Pharaoh’s heart. The portion ends with the plague of hail stopping and Pharaoh changing his mind once again.
Parshah Sh'mot - The new Pharaoh does not remember Joseph, and makes the Israelites his slaves. Pharaoh then demands that all Israelite baby boys be killed at birth. Moses’ mother puts her son in a basket in the river, and he is saved by Pharaoh’s daughter. As an adult, Moses kills an Egyptian taskmaster who was beating an Israelite slave. Moses flees to Midian and marries Zipporah. God appears before Moses in a burning bush and tells him to free the Israelites from slavery. An apprehensive Moses returns to Egypt, where he and his brother Aaron demand that Pharaoh free the Israelite slaves. Pharaoh refuses, and God promises to punish him.
Peter knows that his life will soon end, and so his letter includes some of THEE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS he wants his audience of Jewish believers scattered through the wilds of what we know today to be northern Turkey to remember. Among those things is the promise of a type of heavenly reward – “A Grand Entrance into the Eternal Kingdom” – that will await those who endeavor to live righteously. The Lord’s promise is still applicable to all believers today!
People who self-identify as “believers in Messiah Yeshua” comprise about 1/3 of the world’s population today. What does God expect them to do?” This message addresses that question.
Peter recognizes the sinful world around all believers, but not only never lowers the bar for believers, but in this pericope, begins the explanation of why ONLY BELIEVERS will ever be able to live lives pleasing to God.
Would you like to know what the disciples heard and understood when they heard Yeshua's Sermon On The Mount?
Professor Thomas Winder is an Archaeologist and Missionary with a background in Biblical Archaeology and Broadcasting. Holy Land Research Institute He lives in Israel and ministers to the Druze people. He is currently restoring the original “Church of the Transfiguration” in the “high village of Majdal Shams on the slopes of Mount Hermon, Israel where he is “exposing history.”
Peter begins his 2nd and last letter to the Jewish believing community by verifying that he, himself, wrote it, and to whom he wrote it. In addition, it includes a greeting to both Greek and Hebrew readers. But hidden amidst these three common opening items, he states one of the most profound theological insights in the entire New Testament that’s easy to miss.
Peter, a simple fisherman from Galilee, may well be the second most important person in the New Testament next to Yeshua, Himself! Despite Peter’s simple beginnings, the Lord recognized a leadership quality in him which made the Lord choose him to not only receive “the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” but also to “take care of the sheep” when He was gone. In this portion of Peter’s first letter to many of the suffering Jewish believers of that day, he displays the spiritual anointing that the Lord placed upon him to lead those sheep, words from which we can all still benefit today.
That hungry lion is, of course, our worst enemy, the Devil (aka Satan, the Dragon, the Serpent of Old, the Father of Lies, etc.). We’re called to “watch out for him!” This message examines some pertinent scriptures that should help us recognize him when he’s at work in our lives, and what we can do to defend ourselves.
We know that the Great Shepherd will someday return to judge both the living and the dead, but in the meantime, He wants the leaders of the believing congregations to shepherd those congregations in certain ways. This message reveals what those ways are, and becomes an example not just to congregational leadership, but to leaders in all areas of life.
Traditionally, the weak have been identified as the more legalistic Jewish followers of Yeshua, and tensions have centered on Torah’s holy days and food restrictions. Likely, neither assumption is correct. Identifying Paul’s audience in Rome is key to unlocking the epistle’s profound message.
If God truly loves His people, why does He let them – and sometimes even cause them to suffer? Finally, we have a Scripture that answers this question.
If you knew that ‘the end of all things is near,’ what would you do? In this portion of his letter, Peter addresses this very question, and his answer may surprise you.
How does God protect his people? He creates boundaries in many ways including national borders, tribal borders, and of course the heavenlies. Spiritual warfare is the biggest battle we face and in so doing puts all of on the front lines.
Coming to faith in Messiah is the key to eternal life. But are there other things that God now expects us to do. What are those things? Peter addresses that very question in this week’s portion of his first letter to the believers spread throughout the northern region of what, today, we call, Turkey.
Did you know that there are more Lament Psalms than any other type of Psalm? One commentary gave this possible explanation; There being more psalms of lament than any other type of Psalm reflects the messiness of life, the suffering and sadness. However, The Lament Psalms typically move from lament to praise, from grief to joy. Let’s look at Psalms 42 and 43 together.
Have you ever wondered what was meant by the biblical phrase in 1 Peter 3:19-20a, “He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison who were once disobedient”? The same event appears to have been included in the famous “Apostles Creed,” Article 5, which says that, after the Lord was crucified, dead, and buried, “He descended into Hell.” This message will attempt to explain what Peter might have had in mind when he penned those perplexing words.
If we’re believers in Yeshua, we’re called to share our faith with the world around us. In today’s text, Peter gives us the simplest formula in all of scripture for doing that very thing effectively.
Have you ever wondered about the reliability of the Hebrew scriptures which were written over 3,400 years ago, copied by countless different scribes, and translated into English so that we can read them and, hopefully, understand them? If someone asked you, after all of that human handling, WHY they should believe that this Hebrew bible is trustworthy, what REASONS would you give them? This study answers that question.
Is Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) just another holiday? Or is there something more to it? What did Yeshua mean when he said: "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Yeshua stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" Where do Yeshua's words and the Festival of Sukkot meet and why is this important to us today?
God tells us that the Holy Day we commonly call “Rosh HaShanah” (“New Year”) has absolutely nothing to do with a new year. In Leviticus 23, we can see that it is a “reminder” of something, but scripture never explains what it is a reminder for. Also, there is enormous prophetic significance in this Holy Day; but of what does it prophesy? Both questions are answered in this message.
How can believers in Yeshua maintain a righteous lifestyle in a very unrighteous world? The apostle Peter presents powerful instructions to do just that in a way which will also cultivate community.
In 1 Peter 2:11, Peter begins the body of his letter laying down a long series of instructions by which believers are expected to live DESPITE being rejected, ostracized, and persecuted by the community in which they have been forced to live. How would you handle this situation if you lived there?
As part of his effort to encourage the Jewish believers in northern Turkey who were being persecuted for their faith, Peter informed them of God’s theretofore unknown activity of building a SPIRITUAL Temple of “living stones” consisting of resurrected believers, with Messiah Yeshua as the resurrected “Living Cornerstone.” The implications of this surprising announcement are nothing short of astonishing!
Living” and “stone” are essentially antonymous, so what did Peter mean when he spoke of believers as “living stones?” How can something as dead as a stone ever be described as “living?” Was he thinking of unbelievers as “zombies,” i.e. the living dead, or did he have a very different thought in mind? The answer may surprise you!
In his first letter to believers scattered across the area today we call northern Turkey, Peter clearly commands them to “conduct yourselves in FEAR during the time of your stay on earth.” But many times in the bible God tells us to “be holy, for I am holy.” Does God really want us to live in constant fear about what He will do to us if we fail to live up to His holy standards?
1 Corinthians 7:17-21: "Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, let him walk in this way. I give this rule in all of Messiah’s communities. Was anyone called when he already had been circumcised? Let him not make himself uncircumcised. Has anyone been called while uncircumcised? Let him not allow himself to be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing—but keeping God’s commandments matters. Let each one remain in the calling in which he was called."
This sermon explores the Bible's lessons on teachability. We will dig into some of King David's life as we search for answers on a subject that may challenge you to think about your life and your relationship ti God. Some questions we will cover: Are we teachable? • What does it mean to be teachable? • What can we learn from Scripture about Teachability? • What/Who does God use to teach you? [e.g. parents, friends, co-workers, bosses, family members, enemies, former friends, spouse, children, situations, failures] • Do others perceive you as teachable?
If we’re truthful with ourselves, we know we constantly fall short of God’s standards in our lives. Yet, 1 Peter reminds us that we MUST BE HOLY, for God is Holy! Can we ever do that? Is it even possible?
1 Peter is a letter that deals with persecution of believers. How is it, then, that Peter tells us “even the angels are eagerly watching!” Watch and find out what makes THEM rejoice while BELIEVERS are suffering!
Believers in Messiah have been persecuted for their faith ever since Yeshua’s first Coming, and yet they did more than just survive, they thrived! Listen to what advice the apostle Peter gave them that enabled them to do that, and how that advice still applies to us 2,000 years later.
The book of 1st Peter was written by one of the first apostles Yeshua called and the very first person to recognize that Yeshua was the Messiah.
Paul’s “2nd” letter to the Corinthians is filled with arguments calling for changed behavior on the part of the Corinthian Congregation. Now, in the final chapter, Paul switches from arguments to warnings. But his summation reveals something else entirely. Come and hear the heart of a true Apostle!
In this next-to-last chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul reminds the Corinthian congregation of his undying love for them, even if their love for him sadly may have faded. But what message for us, today, can we glean from how Paul handled this potential rejection?
God wants to bless us, but He may first have to make us suffer. Of course, none of us wants to suffer, yet we all want God’s blessings, but God actually can and does use sufferings in our lives for our benefit.
Paul comes to the climax in his defense of his apostleship and decides to reveal one of the most mysterious experiences in the entire Bible, a round-trip to Paradise!
There’s a dark cloud of anti-Semitism growing around the world, including here in the U.S. Haman wanted to destroy all the Jews, but God intervened and turned sadness into joy, fear into rejoicing!
Seeing Greatness in Yeshua's Humanness? Steps to Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospels.
When Paul first came to faith in Messiah on the way to Damascus, the Lord warned him “how much he must suffer for [His] Name’s sake” (Acts 9:16). In today’s scripture, we will see just how seriously God meant those words and see the outworking of that divine warning in the life of one of His most devoted servants.
2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” But in addition to godly insights and instructions for righteous living, Scripture also contains discussions about false teachers. Is it possible, therefore, that God can teach us useful things from such teachers?
Paul had founded the Corinthian congregation in 51 CE and taught there for 1 ½ years, then he left to continue spreading the gospel. After he left, “hucksters” came in and elevated themselves above Paul and his teachings. Now, Paul is about to return and deal with those infiltrators who have created conflict both within the congregation and between Paul and the congregation. In this set of verses, Paul reveals a divine perspective on handling conflict.
It’s the fall of 57 CE, and Paul is fighting to regain the trust people had in him when, with the Lord’s help, he first launched the Corinthian congregation 6 years earlier during his 2nd missionary journey. But he recognizes something that perhaps none of the Corinthians yet recognize that is absolutely key to winning this fight. Find out what that key is that Paul knows and others don’t!
In this final section of 2 Corinthians that deals with the financial “collection” for the believers in Jerusalem and Judea who were suffering because of the famine that was then hitting the land of Israel, Paul delineates the blessings that God promises to those who give to His work. Hear not only what God promises to give you in return for your contributions but why trying to out-give Him is a fool’s errand.
Paul is trying desperately to raise money to help the believers in Israel during an intense famine that threatened to destroy the “mother congregation” where faith in Yeshua had begun. They needed help badly, and Paul reached out to all the new congregations he had started to help. Asking for donations is always a touchy thing to do. How did Paul navigate this situation – what reasoning did he use – to win the day?
Paul started the Corinthian congregation in about 50 CE on his 2nd missionary journey. He stayed there to teach and strengthen the new disciples for about 1.5 years. After he left, problems developed there and that congregation almost died. But someone other than Paul came to assist Paul and without him, the congregation might well have gone under. Who was this mysterious person?
When a famine swept through the Roman world, Paul went outside Israel to raise money for the needy believers in Judea. He justified this by saying, “Those who have plenty can share with those who are in need … that there should be some equality.” That sounds a lot like socialism. So, was Paul a socialist or not?
Paul recognized that the disciples in Jerusalem needed financial help, and so he led the charge to raise money to support them. Did that make him the creator of the first “GoFundMe” campaign?
Is Chanukah a Jewish or a Christian holiday? What was YESHUA doing in the Temple at the Feast of Dedication, also known as Chanukah?
Bet you didn’t know that the Bible teaches us how to write better emails, especially critical ones, eh? Well, if that’s something you’d like to learn about – or something you’d like FRIENDS OF YOURS to learn about, listen to what God’s word teaches about this very subject!
This week's sermon covers the Creation from another perspective - the Pre-Creation and into Day 1. Beginning with the Gospel of John and moving back and forth between both the Old and New Testaments, Robb will step through events leading up to Genesis Chapter 1 and into the Creation event. From the Proverbs to Job, through the Psalms, and into the New Testament, he will examine the deep mysteries of God's beautiful work - Who was there and how did it happen.
If you feel like your life is full of ups and downs, you’re not alone. Even the Apostle Paul felt that way at times. So how did he handle it, and what advice does he have for you?
One might say that the theme of the entire Bible is God’s desire for a relationship with mankind, a relationship which began immediately after He first formed man and cautioned him not to eat of the fruit of just one tree in the Garden lest, “on the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die” (Gen 2:17). In 2 Corinthians 6, Paul reminds us of God’s desire for a restoration of that relationship by doing something that seems so simple yet is so rarely done.
How could a letter from Paul to the Corinthians written some 2,000 years ago possibly remain so relevant to our situation today? Find out the astonishing insight this letter offers to our current political and social circumstances and the implications for our future.
Last week, we learned that faith in Messiah is a “Come as you Are party, but not a Stay as you Were party.” But what kinds of changes did Paul expect of all disciples of Yeshua? Hint: The change was so transformative that it changed Paul’s own life dramatically after he came to faith in Messiah. As we continue our study in 2 Corinthians, find out what changed for Paul and what should change for all believers today.
If you’re a believer in Yeshua how do you respond if someone asks you, “What’s nu in your life?” If your answer is, “Oh, not much,” then you may have missed a life-changing message God has for you.
We often hear that believers are justified by faith, and that “justified” should be understood as “just as if you never sinned.” If that’s the case, then wouldn’t you expect that, since believers are totally forgiven for all their sins, they never will face “judgment?” What does the bible really say about this question?
“Simchat Torah” means “Joy of the Torah.” It is a holiday created by the rabbis. But since the Torah is a collection of God’s laws, isn’t “JOY of the LAW” actually an oxymoron? How can a bunch of LAWS ever really be JOYOUS? Find out why the rabbis can rightly call it, the “JOY of the LAW!”
The Jewish community sees Yom Kippur as the end of a season of self-examination and re-establishing broken relationships, neither of which is bad, but there is much more significance to this Holy Day! It is also Prophetic, and has remarkable prophecies that can and will be drawn from Scripture.
In his on-going defense of God’s calling upon his life, Paul reveals one of the most amazing promises anywhere in the Scripture!
Few have suffered as much for the Gospel as the apostle Paul. Yet despite the enormous opposition that he faced, he managed to persevere against the “resistance” that surrounded him.
The Apostle Paul has a lot to say about our day to day struggles as believers. We know he met every challenge head on...sometimes suffering and sometimes overcoming. He never gives up on the journey and relates Yeshua's death to our lives. This might be best observed in verse 12, when he says, "So then death works in us but life in you." What are we doing to die to ourselves everyday so that we might accurately reflect the life and the gifts we have received?
We all run into headwinds when we try to share the gospel. In our study in 2 Corinthians this week, we’ll see how Paul explains what to do to overcome “the resistance.”
This week, we complete the study of one of Paul’s most difficult passages in all of his letters, the passage comparing the glory of the “old covenant” to the glory of the new covenant. Come and see how careful textural analysis shows what this passage is really saying.
As our study of 2 Corinthians continues, we come to one of the most challenging texts to unravel in all of Paul’s writings, i.e. his comparison of the glory of the Mosaic Covenant with the glory of the New Covenant.
This week, as we continue our study in 2 Corinthians, Paul begins to address the basis on which we depend in order to serve the living God, a new basis which was not available to us before. What is this new basis and how do we apprehend it as we progress in our walk with the Lord?
In 2 Corinthians, Paul carefully defends himself against attacks that have developed behind his back at a congregation he had planted just a few years earlier. Paul’s major concern, of course is not defending himself but the message that he brought and that the new believers embraced. Come and learn how to strike a godly balance between humility and courage.
We live in a world that often tells us, “perception drives reality;” but does it? What does God say about that? How does God want us to perceive ourselves, and what difference should that make in how we live our lives?
Rav Shaul (Paul) continues to instruct the Corinthians on completing the congregational discipline spoken of in 1 Corinthians. What does Paul teach is necessary to avoid being "outwitted" by the divisive schemes of HaSatan?
In this passage, Paul shows us how we can follow Messiah’s example of raising ourselves up best by humbling ourselves. Listen and learn the lesson that may change the way you respond, henceforth, to those who challenge your faith in Yeshua.
What was going on in Corinth that prompted Paul to write what we think was at least four letters to the new congregation at Corinth? This week, we will begin to see and understand the reason that Paul wrote his letter we call Second Corinthians.
What can events at the Cross and Israel's desert journey teach us about God's faithfulness? Join us to examine concurrent themes of split rocks and living water from Exodus through the Gospels.
What happens when life events and the Bible intersect? This week's sermon examines the verse in Leviticus that represents a basic theological model for our beliefs. Even then, how can we apply this to our lives?
We continue our study in 2 Corinthians and uncover multiple reasons why God permits even those who know Him and faithfully serve Him to suffer afflictions in this world.
A concise and yet thorough look at the State of Israel beginning with her biblical foundation, moving through her formation as a modern State in 1948, coming forward – miraculously – to her existence today, and looking to God’s glorious future plan for her in the years ahead!
Anticipating next week’s celebration of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, we see in Scripture that the giving of our Torah occurred at the time of this holiday. It was also on this day that God poured out His Ruach haKodesh upon the newly forming community of Messiah. Significantly, Yeshua taught that God seeks those who worship Him both in spirit and in truth. Both are essential for a vibrant meaningful service to the LORD!
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 - Rav Sha’ul, better known as the apostle Paul, begins his letter by admitting that all believers will suffer for their faith – a message that no one wants to hear. But then he presents a godly way of handling it!
2 Corinthians 1:1-2: "Paul, an emissary of Messiah Yeshua through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To God’s community at Corinth, with all the kedoshim who are throughout Achaia: Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah." (TLV)
Rav Shaul (Paul) in 1 Corinthians 5:7 declares that we in Messiah Yeshua are in fact Matzot. So as "doers of the word," how then do we live like Matzah? The Scriptures have much to say, and it's a high bar that is set for us. Also watch for the important "twist" at the end of this message!
Jewish people believe that: - Judaism is a healthy religion. - Judaism doesn't see the world as intrinsically evil, denounce marriage, or call for self-renunciation.
There are many unusual things about the Book of Esther, the most widely-mentioned one being the fact that this book is the only book in the entire bible that nowhere mentions God. While He, Himself, is never mentioned, His handiwork has is unmistakable. Yet, there are other revelations about God and the way He works that even an astute reader may miss when reading and even studying it in detail.
Do Jewish people need a middleman...to reach God that is? Individually, any Jew (or Gentile for that matter) can cry out to God for help and access to God, but only Yeshua can grant access to the Throne of God. John 14:6 says that "I am the way, the truth, and the life, nobody comes to the Father except through Me."
Why did God permit the Nazis to brutally murder so many Jews simply because they were Jews? How could a loving God allow this to happen, especially to His chosen people? What sins had the Jewish people committed that could possibly justify such a punishment? Why didn’t God intervene? This sermon examines some of the religious and secular Jewish community’s proposed answers to these agonizing questions as well as what the Scriptures tell us.
Psalm 110 is the most frequently quoted Messianic passage in the Brit Chadasha. In Matthew 22:41, Yeshua discusses with the Pharisees the greatness of Messiah. He is both the divinely appointed eternal Priest after the order of Melchizedek and the Son of God enthroned at the right hand of the Father. So why do Modern Rabbinic scholars want to dispute the Matthew account, and what is the importance of Yeshua’s role as our eternal priest?
An honest review of rabbinic history combined with a careful examination of the text of Isaiah 53 both prove that this passage is all about the Messiah, NOT the nation of Israel as one hears so often today.
Isaiah 53 is the clearest prophecy in the Hebrew scriptures of what the Jewish Messiah would encounter during His first appearance in Israel some 700 years later. It also has become the most controversial prophecy in the history of the Jewish community. This sermon will begin to unwrap the mysteries that surround the meaning and application of this stunning biblical text.
Robb winds up his three part series on whether or not the Jews are expecting a divine Messiah. He examines the man born with a demon preventing him from speaking. Does this event fit the model of the three messianic miracles?
One of the most common objections voiced by traditional Jewish people against faith in Yeshua is that, “Jesus Abolished the Law (the Torah)” therefore He cannot be the Messiah that the Christian community claims He is. Furthermore, historic Judaism teaches that the Messiah will strengthen the ways of Torah, not abolish them! So, which side is right, and why?
We will study the three Messianic miracles as performed by the Messiah Yeshua Himself. This week we will learn about the man Born Blind. Was it possible to give sight to a man in this condition? Robb will answer that question and more.
This is one of the most popular yet controversial topics that arise during outreach discussions with pre-believing Jewish people. Come and hear how you can be prepared to respond in a wise and effective manner so that you will “always be ready to give an answer to those who ask you for a reason for the hope that dwells within you."
Is Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, actually divine? What is His nature and where might the serious student derive such scriptural support for His being God in fleshly form? According to Dr. Michael Brown, Judaism has never had one, official universally accepted set of beliefs concerning the Messiah, but it is true that traditional Jewish teaching does not speak unequivocally of a divine Messiah. Jewish tradition often describes a highly exalted Messiah as well as a pre-existent Messiah, so much so that Jewish scholars have sometimes spoken of His nature as "semi-divine." Does the Scripture argue otherwise?
Critics often argue that Yeshua was cruel and harsh, especially to Gentiles, and undisciplined in His observance of Biblical law. But did He really violate Torah instructions when He cursed the fig tree? And was He really being cruel and uncaring toward the non-Jewish Canaanite woman who sought deliverance for her daughter? In contrast to these “undisciplined” negative views, the truth reveals a powerful message that encourages our faith in the trustworthiness and love of our Messiah.