Chapter 1: The paradox of faith

Amen. Thank you, David. Okay, here we are at today’s discussion entitled the paradox of faith. I sent out an email to the group earlier this week kind of explaining why I’m doing this. For those of you on YouTube who heard me say last week that today we would to start a lesson on Joseph andor the book of Exodus, that was the plan. However, this issue just kept popping into my brain throughout the course of the day over and over and over again. It just kept hitting me and I don’t know why. I mean, call it the Holy Spirit. Okay, maybe. But I felt like it I should probably teach on this because I don’t know there’s there’s someone who needs to hear this.

You might as we go along here uh feel like this lesson is uh targeted to people outside of the covenant or people who are searching uh people who have these questions in their minds and hearts on a regular basis. That might be the case. That might be why I’m supposed to teach this. But we can’t discount the possibility that some of the questions we’re going to answer today live in some of our hearts. I don’t know. The Holy Spirit knows. Maybe by the time we are done with this lesson, you’ll know that this lesson was for you. Either way, it it caused me to make a shift in the direction that we were going to go today. So, let’s jump into it. The paradox of faith. We’ve talked about this before in the past.

Those who saw, those being the people of Israel, those people in the Old Testament did not believe even though they saw. And the question of exists, why we believe without seeing? Because I think it’s safe to say that those of us alive today, even though we have our own doubts on a regular basis, I would venture to say that we are a much more believing audience, much more believing people than those that came before us. How many times have you heard in the course of your life somebody say or maybe you said it. If all this is so important, why doesn’t he just come out and tell us? You know, I’ve had that question. I’ve had people ask that question many times. And of course, the answer to that is twofold. One, he already did in Yeshua.

But two, the biggest mistake that so many people make as it pertains to their searching uh for God is they’re under some delusion that if they could just see something miraculous or they could just hear something miraculous, then they would believe. And history has proven that to be false. Right? We have 3,000 years of the father doing miraculous things 4,000 years really doing miraculous things and yet we don’t believe or they didn’t believe. So history proves that wrong. So what’s the deal? Let’s let’s try to figure that out. The first thing I want to do is I I

Chapter 2: Questions about divine silence

want to start by answering some of the questions that people have about the validity uh and the divine nature of the word itself. Today’s topic was not something I had originally planned to cover. As you know, my intention was to teach either Joseph or the Exodus. After talking with Glenn number two over breakfast on Sunday, I settled on Joseph, even began working on it later that afternoon. But this paradox of faith would not leave my mind. And I kept circling back to Israel, a people who were profoundly blessed to witness Yehovah in ways that few ever have. They saw the fire by night and a cloud by day. They heard his voice from the top Mount Sinai. And yet, in spite of all of that, they did not believe. Deuteronomy 1. Yet, for all of that, you did not believe. Yehovah, your Elohim. Then I thought about us today.

We have neither seen nor heard what Israel saw and heard. And yet we believe. Why? At some point all of us have wished we could catch even the slightest glimpse of him. How many of us in moments of desperation have cried out for him to reveal himself only to be met with what feels like silence? Moses cried out, “Show me your glory. Reveal yourself.” And Yehovah did, though in a limited way so as to preserve Moses’s life. But he still did it. He still did that for Moses in a way that he doesn’t do for you and I. Why not now? Why do the days recorded in the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament sometimes feel almost unreal? Like something out of a J. R. R. Tolkien novel, a world that we could never enter.

A world that feels a little bit like Lord of the Rings, a supernatural world where God dwelt with man in ways that were real, visible, and tangible. The gap between Israel’s vivid encounters with Yehovah and our walk without sight is a real shift in how he deals with us today. A shift that can feel strange and distant at times, leaving us wishing we could experience even a fraction of what they saw and heard. Yet, despite his silence, we believe. We believe in a way that makes no sense to the world around us. In a world that demands something it can see and touch before it will bow. So why do we believe? How do we hold fast when there is no voice from the mountain and no fire in the sky? And we’re going to try and answer this question here. What’s behind his silence? And again, why do we believe despite the silence?

Chapter 3: The foundation of faith

Add to this the questions that most often come from those in the world, but also secretly live in the hearts of true believers. Questions like, “How can we know that the Bible is from God and not from man?” How can we know that a book written by man’s hand comes with divine authority? What distinguishes the Bible from every other book claiming divine origin? How can faith be genuine when it rests on testimony rather than sight? Why does Yehovah require trust in his word instead of repeated supernatural displays? These are the questions that I hope to answer today hopefully in one sitting and we’re going to do it in kind of a unique way. But in answering these questions, my goal and my hope is to

Chapter 4: Continuity in the scripture

give you hope and not a small amount of faith in him and his word that rest not on what we see but on what he has spoken and faithfully preserved. So again, for you potential YouTube viewer who’s watching our little group here this morning or somehow this found itself in your YouTube algorithm and you’re clicking on it and you’ve wrestled with these things, maybe this lesson’s for you morning. And I hope to to give you hope if even a little bit in

Chapter 5: The role of the mediator

him in in his word. So he speak to the children of Israel saying what we’re going to see here is this uh incredible continuity and symmetry in how he has presented himself revealed himself to people over the years. Speak to the children. I I I saw this phrase. I was reading the book of Exodus and I saw this phrase. Who is saying this phrase? Glenn number two. This would be Yehovah. Yehovah speaking to Moses saying speak to the Isra people of Israel saying so in other words he’s saying here’s what I want you to tell them right Exodus 20:22 then the Lord said to Moses thus you shall say to the children of Israel that’s the topic of this slide you have seen that I have talked with you from heaven So he starts right off the bat reminding them that they have actually seen they have actually heard the voice.

They saw the fire by night and the smoke by day. They saw the Red Sea parting. They’ve seen water come out of a rock. They’ve seen all of these things. And the father was reminding them at the very outset of what he’s getting ready to say in Exodus 20. This is really the go the the giving of the law 19 and 20. You have seen and heard more than 150 times in the Torah. We see some version of these words. You say to Israel, who is the you? Well, in this case, it’s Moses. But you know what? As I was studying this, I thought to myself 150 times, well, gosh, that had to have been Moses and Aaron and all the prophets who uttered these words, right? No.

I learned for the very first time that the only people that have had these words said to them in one amalgamation or another, speak to the children of Israel, say to the children of Israel, command the children of Israel, and any other version of it was only spoken to Moses and Aaron, no prophets. say to the children of Israel is reserved for those two alone. Now, this may not be mind-boggling information for you, but if you’re looking for some hope into how we can trust the word, follow along with me carefully. Every legislative, ritual, moral, ceremonial, and judicial instruction given in Torah that begins with one of these formulas is addressed to Moses and Aaron alone and no one else. The Torah never applies these formulas to anyone else. Not Joshua, not the elders, not any judge, not any prophet, not any king.

It is strictly Mosaic prophetic mediation with Aaron included only when priestly responsibility is involved. What does that mean? That means most of the time this was only Moses having these words said to him and on occasion Aaron because there was priestly responsibility involved in what was being said. So I asked, you know me, I’m always asking why. Why? Why was this phrase spoken to man only given to Moses? In the Hebrew scriptures, the directive speak to the children of Israel and all its amalgamations are used exclusively in the Torah and are spoken only to Moses and occasionally Aaron. This language functions as covenantal legislation instructing the mediator to transmit divine law to Israel. The prophets never employed this formula which blew my mind. Instead, they speak in revelatory or proclamational forms such as thus says the Lord or hear the word of the Lord or return or repent or hear this.

Calling the people back to the covenant that had already been given through Moses. The Torah speaks in the language of instruction. And those, in case you’re wondering, the Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament. The Torah speaks in the language of instruction. The prophets speak in the language of indictment, warning, or remembrance, pointing them back to what was already said. Pointing them back to what was already heard. And hope. We have this verse. God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by his son whom he has appointed heir of all things. So let’s break this down. We move from the father saying to Moses, speak to the children of Israel and then whatever follows was some decree, some law, some instruction, some directive that he would then translate to the people of Israel.

We move from that to the prophets saying, “Hear the word of Yehovah. And thus says Yehovah. So imagine if you will this linear pattern of instruction being given and then the prophets come along and basically reiterate or point people back to what was already given. Well, the natural question that comes up, at least for me, is what did Yeshua say? Did Yeshua ever say, “Speak to the children of Israel.” Or, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel.” No, he didn’t. He had words and phrases like, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And what what was he telling them to hear? He was telling them to hear the very same things that were spoken to Moses and reminded by the prophets. He said things like, “Repent.” Well, repent of what? Repent of the very same things that were given to Moses and the prophets reminded you of.

He says things like, “Follow me.” Follow him how? What did he do? How did he walk? What does First John say? If we claim to believe in him, we must walk as he did. And how did he walk? In accordance to the things given by Moses and reminded of in the prophets. And he says things like, “Go and tell and go and make disciples.” Disciples of what? Disciples of the way. Disciples of all these things that were given to by Moses, reminded of in the prophets. And Yeshua comes along and is basically doing the very same thing. Now, you might look at that and go, “Whooped.” Okay, I haven’t learned much. But for those of you who need faith in the continuity of his word, consider these things. This kind of continuity and symmetry in the scriptures is impossible. Don’t take my word for

Chapter 6: Authenticity of the Bible

1. Do your own research on odds and calculations. Ask AI if you want to see if this type of continuity and symmetry exist anywhere else in any other literature in the world. It does not. Consider the odds. 40 authors, 1,500 years of writing with one consistent storyline. If you strip it down to human factors only, here is what you’re dealing with. You’re dealing with different languages, mostly Hebrew and Aramaic in the Old Testament, Greek in the New Testament. So that’s three different languages right there. Different locations. Egypt, Ana, Babylon, Persia, Asia Minor, Rome. These places are where these documents were written and at different times throughout history. Different roles from shepherds to kings, priests, prophets, fisherman, tax collector, a physician, different genres, law, narrative, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, gospel, epistle, apocalyptic literature.

If you asked, what are the odds that 40 people spread over 1500 years from different cultures with no central human editor would independently produce writings that can be read as a single coherent redemptive narrative with shadows in the beginning and fulfillments in the end? The honest answer is statistically it is astronomically unlikely if there is no guiding mind behind it. And that’s the question we’re trying to answer, isn’t it? Whether or not there actually is a guiding mind behind all of this that makes all of this possible. Otherwise, it would be impossible. Human experience with multi-author projects historically tells us that even with shared language, shared time, and shared editorial control, you always get drift, contradiction, and ideological fracture. By simply appealing to your common sense, the further you spread authors apart in time, space, background, language, culture, the more fragmentation you expect and not unity. How can we prove this?

Is there proof in history that we can turn to? Well, yeah, there is. Think about the Talmud. The Talmud is a vast collection of writings and commentaries and law and instruction that span nearly a thousand years both in Hebrew texts as well as what can be understood as the Christian Talmud. What do I mean by that? All the Christian writings that have been wr written since Yeshua from Spurgeon to all the the ancient church fathers and the theologians that that have come and pretty much formed our theology over the years. That’s nothing more than Christian Talmud. The Talmud’s many voices in a much shorter time window show you constant internal argument about how to understand and live out what was already given. You can’t read the Talmud long too long before you realize the internal arguments going on from rabbi to rabbi, the disunityity on one verse over another.

And the same exists in Christian writings. That’s why we have 40,000 different denominations. So what do we see historically that in a much shorter period of time all we have is disunityity, fragmentation, and argumentation. And yet that’s not what we see in the much broader documents of scripture. Instead, we see complete unity. If you take seriously that roughly 40 authors over about 15 centuries in multiple languages and cultures produced a unified redemptive story with consistent themes, types, covenants, you are forced to admit that this is not how human projects normally behave. And historically, that’s fact. By contrast, when you look at later rabbitic and Christian literature, you see exactly what you would expect from human religious discussion. Debate, disagreement, self-contradiction. So, on a personal note, one of the most pivotable moments in my spiritual walk happened when I studied out the festivals for the first time.

The teaching of the festivals as all of you know goes way back to Leviticus 23 and and earlier honestly it was it was verbalized spoken in Leviticus 23 but it was created in Genesis to see how Yeshua fulfilled the spring feasts in the course course of his passion week literally blew my mind. And it blew my mind because it proves the continuity and symmetry of the scriptures a thousand years apart and longer. So for you who happened upon this video or you in this group who have struggled with questions about how can we trust this document? This is just one thing that I I wanted to start off by showing you. I wanted you to see the impossibility of this.

Chapter 7: Distinguishing the word of God

So, how many questions did we answer? Well, we really answered three of them, didn’t we? How can we know the Bible’s from God and not from man? How can we know that the the books written by man’s hand comes with divine authority? And what distinguishes the Bible from every other book claiming divine origin? Well, I wanted to continue a little bit with this one as we move along here. What distinguishes the Bible from every other book claiming divine origin? Well, follow me along here. The Bible maintains continuity across 1500 years. We just looked at that. Scripture unfolds one unified story from Genesis to Revelation. And no other sacred text, preserves a continuous covenantal arc across so many authors and centuries. Point number two, have you ever seen that image that’s floated around on social media that shows the rainbow colors of connections between all the books in the Bible? Have you seen that? No.

There’s this image floating around online. I should have had it for this lesson, but I I I failed in that. But you can look it up. It’s an image that shows basically the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. And all of the connections from one book to another are all jumping out as an arc to the book that it’s referencing. And it’s all in different colors. And so it looks like this beautiful rainbow of lines showing how perfect the continuity of scripture is. I encourage you to look it up. The Bible embeds verifiable prophecy as structural as a structural feature. The Bible ties its own authenticity to fulfilled prophecy. That’s another big deal. You can actually look in your own Bibles and find out how many prophecies have actually been fulfilled and how many how many years was between them. That kind of stuff gives me hope. in the divine nature of the scriptures.

Other writings contain spiritual teaching or myth but do not anchor their authority in historically testable prediction. Again, this is for you who is looking for this proof. These are things that you can actually look up on your own. Don’t just take what I’m telling you as gospel. You can see this yourself. The Bible presents public Revelation instead of private mystical experience. Sinai, the prophets, and Messiah’s ministry were witnessed events. Other texts depend on one single individual receiving what they call private visions. And we hear that all the time, don’t we, from people that God told me this and God told me that or whatever God they serve, whether it be Buddha or somebody else did all this and showed me, but nobody else, just you. No, the Bible presents public Revelation instead of these private mystical experiences. The Bible integrates multiple genres without losing theological unity. And that’s huge.

You can read through the law, through the history, through the poetry, through the wisdom, through the prophecy, in the gospels, in the epistles, and all the way to Revelation. And each of them reinforce the same world view. Other traditions produce anthologies that do not cohhere doctrinally. So again, another notch in the belt for authenticity. The Bible reveals a God who consistent who is who acts consistently in history. The biblical God Yehovah ties his identity to real events. Creation, Exodus, covenant, exile, return, incarnation, resurrection. Other writings describe deities or principles detached from verifi verifiable history. Again, the stuff that we’re talking about here, whether it be Mount Sinai, who still has its uh top scorched black from the presence of the father resting on that mountain, is verifiable. His resurrection has been verified outside of Christian documents. Other books can’t do that. The Bible preserves moral coherence. Yehovah is consistently righteous, holy, merciful, and just.

Other texts present gods or powers whose character shifts, contradicts, or behaves with human vice. We looked at this just a couple of weeks ago in one of our lessons, didn’t we, Glenn? Number two. You thought I was altogether like you. He says, “No, he’s not.” And and quite honestly, let me just stay here for a moment. I just feel like I have to talk about this. Uh David, um you got your mic on hopefully. I’d like to just ask you, how many times have you either felt or heard somebody say that God seems to be different in the New Testament than he is in the Old? Oh, countless times. As if they’re completely different gods, different character.

Have you Have you felt that yourself? probably initially well not not too much uh but just as as I’ve grown in my knowledge and my understanding I just saw the beauty in the continuity and consistency and that uh those type of perceptions are usually taken out of context or don’t clearly have a a good foundational understanding of who God is. Yeah. And I would say that was the same for me. I never really considered it until some some teacher I I used to respect made that point as a matter of fact that it’s not just my perception that he is different from one covenant to the other. It is a fact and I knew in my heart that that just wasn’t true and and it forced me into my Bible to go figure out whether or not it was true and it’s not true.

There are many people even in the Christian church who believe that he is not consistently righteous, holy, merciful, and just through both covenants. But he actually is when you take enough time to look into it and study it. The Bible shows typology that spans the entire cannon. This is another thing that if you’re wondering if the Bible can be trusted or if it has divine origin, Adam to Yeshua, the last Adam, the Passover lamb to Yeshua, the temple to God dwelling with his people. No other sacred text displays multi-entury typology that consistently resolves in later Revelation. And then finally, the Bible offers a complete redemptive arc. We talked about this a moment ago. From creation to the fall to the promises to Exodus to Messiah to the new creation. Other texts provide philosophy, myth, and morality, but do not present a single complete redemptive storyline. soul.

The Bible stands alone among all writings ever claimed to be divine because it uniquely combines historical continuity, covenantal unity, fulfilled prophecy, public Revelation, moral coherence, and a redemptive storyline stretching from creation all the way to when we get our new bodies. No other sacred text replicates this structure or demonstrates these features. Now before I move on, I’d like to just ask Glenn number two your thoughts if any on the stuff that we just presented. David, your thoughts on the stuff that we just presented. Do you find that this could be helpful for someone seeking these answers? Do you have your thoughts that totally um are different than mine? I don’t have any thoughts that are different than yours.

I would say that it is a a common belief in and that that the God of the Old Testament is mean and vindictive and punishing and and that the God of the New Testament is kind and forgiving. etc. And you know that’s that’s because people don’t know the word and so it’s just misunderstanding. Um yeah that’s I I don’t have any more to add to it. It is it is a common thing. you know, you you you’ve put forth a a very logical u proof of scripture, but uh and you touched on the historical proof, but you know, the prophecies u you know, Cyrus in particular, but just a whole lot of other prophecies and they’re they’re obvious fulfillment. I mean, calling somebody that hadn’t been born by name to bring back the second temple, that’s that’s pretty strong stuff.

So, the all the evidence is there for those that that are called and and are willing to look at the evidence. Amen, David. Yeah. I mean, I think all the stuff that you mention here is very powerful evidence for those who are, you know, have a tendency to be more analytical like myself. This could be very this is definitely a compelling very compelling uh case. Um, another dimension and you know it, this is something that may be potentially a little bit more sub subjective although for me it’s it’s been very powerful is the fact of the um the evidence at least that I see both in my own life and the lives of other people uh related to the application of things in the Bible, right? and taking those things and putting them into practice and seeing the outcome. Right? And in Psalm 34, it says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Right?

If you taste his word, if you put it into practice, you see the outcomes in your own personal life, in the lives of people around you. And I think that for me has also been a very uh powerful witness to uh why this has to be something divine because it’s consistent. It’s not like oh you have some they had some good pearls of wisdom here and some good thoughts there. It’s it’s consistent that when you follow God’s word, God’s commands, at least in my experience and what I’ve seen around me, it goes well for you. Okay. Amen. Well, I wanted to get that stuff out of the way uh before we kind of moved on to more matters of this

Chapter 8: Faith and evidence

paradox of faith and uh and start to answer this question here. How can faith be genuine when it rests on testimony rather than sight? That’s basically what we do as believers. We we rest on testimony rather than sight. What is the testimony? Well, the testimony is what was written, right? the the stories that we see in the Bible, the the things that were taught in the Bible, these are all things that happened, as we said last week, in the past for our instruction. And and so as a believer, our our faith rests on this testimony rather than sight. So the question begs itself, is that genuine faith then? And I think it is because I think too many people connect faith to proof. But that’s the mistake that a lot of people uh make. They they think that faith is somehow combined with proof. So I show this image on the screen.

What are we looking at? We’re looking at the crucifixion. What notable thing about faith happened at this moment? It was the thief on the cross. who turned to Yeshua and said, “Remember me when you enter your kingdom.” How much did he know? How much proof did he have? Anything that we can say in that regard would be subjective, right? We don’t know. For all we know, this thief had no interaction with Yeshua at all in the course of Yeshua’s ministry. He was just a dirty, rotten, scoundrel thief who ended up on the cross. So he had no proof and yet he extended this request to be remembered. That was faith in its purest form. An acknowledgment of the possibility of salvation having no foundation for it, having no reason to believe it was possible. It’s an amazing question when you think about it. Genuine faith is not belief without evidence.

It is belief grounded in the trustworthy record as the testimony that God has provided through those he chose, empowered, and commanded to speak. Everything that I have shown you thus far are, and here here we get into this paradox issue. Everything I’ve shown you thus far are solid reasons why you could put your faith in Yehovah and his word. But these reasons are a belief as a result of some kind of evidence. Do you see the paradox there? These are all solid reasons why you could put your faith, but this the fact that you have those reasons alone is evidence.

And and so the questions I’m wrestling with and I think many people wrestle wrestle with is can we have the faith of the thief on the cross or we forcing ourselves to have a belief as a result of some kind kind of evidence because the testimony that I spoke of earlier that we rest our hope on is just hearsay. At the end of the day we were not there. We did not see the things that Israel saw. We did not hear the things that Israel saw or the gospels for that matter, the things that the people saw with Yeshua. And that’s all hearsay. And yet we put our faith in it almost blindly. And that’s kind of where I want to go. Many of have accused believers as having a blind faith. And I asked this question. Is this accusation a valid one? Let’s just be real and honest here.

David Glenn, do you think it’s a valid accusation that we believers today have what can be called a blind faith? Because everything that we put our faith in is hearsay. It’s stuff in the past. It’s the stuff that’s written. And that’s kind of a blind faith if you personally didn’t see it. You personally didn’t experience it. So the question is, is this accusation a valid one? No, no, no. But it would be like a personal testimony to to miracles in my life. Save that for for when we talk. Okay, David, what about you? No, it’s it’s a it’s informed. It’s not blind. It’s based on understanding, based on Revelation, if you will. My answer is yes and no. And I think for the same reasons you guys are struggling to answer this question. Many people begin their journey with having a blind faith. The thief on the cross did.

I know it’s speculation, but we have to assume for the moment that this guy didn’t know who Yeshua was. And so he had this moment of blind faith. I I did. I when I started this journey, I had a blind faith. I can remember I was six years old. My sister came home from a some kind of Christian camp and she started talking about eternity. I was six years old. I know zero about the Bible, zero about God. All I was hearing was what she was telling me about this God and how he was going to give us life eternal. And it freaked me out as a six-year-old. I cried. But I can also tell you it was at that moment that I first became aware of this God that I couldn’t see, I couldn’t hear. And that was the moment when I think my journey of faith began.

Now I I I was a mess in between then and by the time I actually came to the ways of the Lord. But that’s when it began. And I could tell you honestly it was a blind faith. It didn’t stay blind. Why didn’t it stay blind? Well, it didn’t stay blind because Yehovah himself provides Revelation. David, that’s something you just mentioned. understanding and evidence in his works, his word, his spirit. In the biblical pattern, faith may begin blind, but it’s sustained and matured by God’s self disclosure. What does that mean? Well, we see in John chapter 20 this interaction between Yeshua and Thomas. And he said to them to him, Thomas, because you have seen me. Because you have proof. That’s another way of saying because you have proof. You have believed. Blessed are the are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his of his disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. So these things, this testimony that we keep referring to was written that you, who is the you, anybody else that would read it. Glenn number two, me, David, you 2,000 years later. These things are written so that you may believe in the thing that you can’t see. So in this in this whole little paragraph here, we see the paradox. Thomas, you believe because you’ve seen blessed are these people later on who down the road who won’t have the benefit of seeing what you see and and yet believe. So there’s that initial blind faith. What? Where? What? Where? Where is initial blind faith?

The people that are believing what is written in John 20:31. That’s the initial blind faith. You and I at some point in our journey decided that we were going to believe in what we were reading, believe in what was written. Not because we had any proof. We just decided this sounds important enough for some reason that I’m going to put my belief there. I’m going to believe that belief because of what was written, not because of what you’ve seen. This is where so many of us begin the journey of faith blindly. And that’s okay. For those of you who are in the faith, that shouldn’t stop there. You shouldn’t live there. It’s okay to start there. But what happens next? And this is really for you who’s searching for these answers. Psalm 119:30, the entrance of your word gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. What does that mean?

At some point you decided that you were going to read what was written. You were going to read this testimony from the past of all things pointed toward the future and the entrance of his word into your life gives light. Glenn, number two, there’s a famous passage, maybe you know it by heart, that the word of God never comes back empty or void. Yes. It always does something somehow. And so the entrance of his words gives light which does what? It turns something on in our hearts. It gives understanding to my simple mind. If even the in the smallest issue, maybe it’s just a proverb you read one day, but god darn it, it made so much sense. He is supporting that initial step

Chapter 9: Nurturing fledgling faith

of blind faith which goes on to answer the questions why we believe without seeing. The father does not leave your blind faith unsupported. As Psalm 119 says, he will give understanding. Well, how does he do this? Let’s by let’s start by looking at the verse above. His word gives light. It gives understanding. When a person begins to read his word, they cannot walk away from it without seeing the inherent wisdom in what was read. Even if they were defiant, even if they never ended up being called or responding to the call, the inherent wisdom is obvious. But for the openhearted, when you realize the wisdom, you begin to see the value in what is written. Once you have embraced the value, your journey of faith has begun. And the process of moving from blind faith to substantiated faith begins to grow.

I have always said and I’ll say it again right here that and I’ll just talk to you Glenn number two or you Joy who’s sitting across from me. If the father had downloaded into your brain and your heart everything that you were going to be taught and learned and all the ways that your faith was going to grow in the course of your life all at once at that moment of convers you couldn’t handle it. You just couldn’t handle it. It’s like me having a newborn and at that very moment of their birth, you just downloading their entire life into their memory and into their heart and all the pain and the growth and the joy. It would be it would be overwhelming. And so that’s why we always say that journey, the faith is a journey. Faith is built. It’s built. Yes. And we I don’t think we’re even going into that part.

Maybe you should have a part two. But yes, your journey of faith has begun and the process of moving from blind faith is substantial. It begins to grow. It’s got it’s it’s in its infancy process. John 17 or John 7:17 says this, “If anyone wills to do his will, then he shall know concerning the doctrine.” So again, this is kind of aimed at you who might be searching for these answers. If anyone wills to do his will, what does that mean, David? Makes a decision, makes a commitment to follow God’s commands, God’s word. Yes. Yes. Then he shall know concerning the doctrine. Concerning what doctrine? His Bible’s doctrine. Right. So here we see our father supporting your decision to look at him to search search him out. So it goes from this curiosity for some it did for me.

I was curious about the festivals to reading to looking at the testimony to seeing value to setting your will to understanding and trying to show you the process viewer of how we arrived at our faith. Why we believe without seeing. There might be another step in here and that is also the the experience that’s happening during the ders the version that kind of this feedback loop that provides and and strengthens these things along the way. I think there’s a step that precedes curiosity. Uh Glenn, what’s the step that precedes curiosity? Being called. Being called. I know Glenn is really big on this idea of being called. And I think and I think for for good reason which is an aspect of this that we aren’t going to look at too much today because we covered it so much in the previous lesson.

Um but yes there there has to be this calling where the father is you know sensing your heart knowing something’s there and putting things in front of your eyes to awaken you. So yes that’s true. But why is he doing this? Well, he’s supporting all of this. He’s He wants to be known. He He He wants you to know these things. So, I ask, how does he support this fledgling blind faith? Well, we see things like this. Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God and the expanse of heaven shows the work of his hands. Why did he do everything that he did did? Why did he make the universe the way he did? Why? Why do we have stars and planets, suns and moons? They are there to declare to the glory of God. They are there to make you and I ponder just how big he is.

Romans 1, what may be known of God is evident. For God has shown it to us. Since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. So again, he wants us to understand his nature, his omnipotence, his glory by the things that are made. And we can do that by spending 30 minutes watching some wildlife documentary. My wife loves those shows because they show you the amazing work of God’s hands and how everything works the way it does because of him. Those things are support for a person’s fledging fa faith. Look at the screen. The picture on the screen, the man standing on the beach looking out at the vast ocean considering the life that lives just underneath its surface.

And then Job says, “Who shut the sea with doors when it burst forth and issued from the womb?” When did that happen? that happened at the at Noah’s Ark. When I made the clouds its garment in thick darkness, its swaddling band when I fixed my limit for it for what? For the water. And I set bars and doors. When I said, “This far you may come, but no farther. Here is where your proud waves must stop.” So, I’m standing on the seashore asking myself, why does the water stop here? I mean, that’s a lot of water out there. What’s stopping it from just overflowing this entire continent because of this? Because the father decided where the oceans would stop. He He’s doing all this thing, all these things to support your fledgling faith. Be it blind when it starts. It doesn’t stay that way.

Your young faith, which began as a blind faith, is like a plant, but Yehovah himself waters. He causes you to consider the earth, the ocean, the stars, the intricacy of the human body, all of that that points to him. However, you have to allow to continue this journey of faith, this journey of discovery. It can’t just be a one-time thing. And and sadly, that’s what it is for a lot of people. Remember the the parable of the seeds, the sewer. These things land. These things are put in our hearts, but for all kinds of reasons, we just don’t continue. We don’t pursue it. Proverbs 2, if you cry out, that’s that’s a condition. If you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek it as silver and search for her as hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

Why am I putting this here? For so many people who ask the question, why do I have faith in things that I have not seen? Because I have come to understand certain things that you have not. I cried out for discernment. Glenn, David, Super Samuel, Paul, Lori at some point cried out for discernment, sought the truth as silver, and searched for answers for as they were hidden treasures. And then he allowed us to understand certain things that we didn’t before and we found the knowledge of God. So I could answer your question in one verse. Why do I believe without actually seeing for this reason right here? But it’s conditional. You have to set your mind to it in your pursuit of Yehovah. He desires a partnership in which you seek him as the highest priority of your life. And in response, he grants understanding.

As you continue in faithfulness, he reveals more of himself over time, allowing faith to mature into knowledge through sustained pursuit and obedience.

Chapter 10: Understanding divine silence

And I want to end here. But what’s the what’s the reason behind his silence? Oh, before I go here, Glenn, number two, I I want some I want some feedback. I want maybe your thoughts. or David, maybe your thoughts on if someone was to ask you to explain to him or her, why do I see all this audible, and visible proof in the Old Testament that we’re supposed to be putting our faith in, this testimony that we’re supposed to be putting our faith in, and yet he is silent today. How would you answer them? If if you’re if if you know the word, then you you can clearly see that all the physical, visual, audible proof in the world doesn’t cause believing. You know, like in in ancient Israel, you know, you’ve got somebody that believes and sacrifices to to Bahal and then their life goes well.

So instantly other people start copying them and then Bahal worship you know rises to the top. M um even after the fall of the first temple u you know Jeremiah writes of of you know the ladies that refused to just abandon their sacrificing to the queen of heaven even I mean they just they didn’t know um the reason behind his silence is that if if you if you’re oneonone one relationship with Yehovah and he unlocks your mind to read his word and then you begin to see evidence everywhere that supersedes that’s more that’s more more proof than a you know a magic show of some kind. It’s deep. Amen. David I don’t think that God is silent. I mean he is continuing to work obviously.

Uh it’s just that it’s uh you know and and and I think it relates to what Glenn is saying here is that you once you well I guess God reveals things to us right it’s kind of was it with uh Elisha when his eyes were open and he got to see all you know the the all the horses and the you know the armada of God there that he couldn’t see. Um it’s through this growth and understanding uh and through Revelation that you get to see God working. But that is not evident to everyone around us, right? I mean there’s big things that are happening and it’s the question of whether we attribute them to God or not. That I think is also a big thing. Events are happening.

The question is, do people consider that an act of God or do they, I don’t know, consider it something that was man-made or some natural super or some natural uh disaster occurrence that happens? Amen. Good stuff. Okay, so I opened our discussion with one of the greatest questions of our time. A question that’s plagued believers at every level of faith since Yeshua left us. The question being the one that I just asked. Amos 8, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Yehovah. They shall wander from sea to sea, from north to east. They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of Yehovah, but shall not find it. Amos is talking about hearing the audible words of Yehovah and seeking the word via Revelation of a prophet here.

Both of which are coming to an end according to Amos’s prophecy. And we are now living in this era where the hearing of the words of 1 hour, 1 minute Yehovah audibly are gone. hearing the voice of a prophet seeking the words of Yehovah are gone. And this doesn’t reflect an absence of his presence as David said, but a completion of his Revelation until until Yeshua would come to show us what living by faith looked like, right? Because it could be argued that that’s what Yeshua did. Well, it was one of many things that he did, but he showed us what living by faith looked like. What was once mediated through visions, voices, and prophets has been fully disclosed, testified, and sealed in Christ.

In this present age, Yehovah calls his people not to seek fresh prophetic words or some fresh prophetic insight or Yeshua speaking directly to you in some vision, but to trust, obey, and live by what has already been spoken. And he didn’t leave us alone, right? John 14, the the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Jeremiah 31, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. So we have these promises that his Holy Spirit will teach us and that his law will be written on our hearts. These stand as his ongoing testimony that and the means of his abiding presence among those who are under covenant until Yeshua. That’s that’s an important little two words there. these these things that the Holy Spirit will teach us.

All things, all understanding, all peace, all remembrance comes with the law and his words that are written on our heart for those of us who are under covenant. So, I will say to you who may be listening, watching, and you’re not under covenant. You never made the decision to make Yeshua the Lord of your life and thus walk as he walked. You’re not going to understand this. You’re not going to understand Glenn number two or Ed Doss or David Baronson when we talk to you about faith. It’s just not going to make sense until you begin your journey, until you respond to the call. He didn’t leave us alone. And and because he didn’t leave us alone, this gives us reason to believe him during the silence, during this supposed silence. And I think what David said is very true.

You know, we’re not hearing his voice, but as believers, we can all attest to the moments in our life when we knew he was undeniably doing something, undeniably present and working on our behalf. And then Luke 18 says, when the son of man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? And that is the question. What kind of faith is he looking for? Is he looking for the faith that moves mountains or is he looking for the faith of the thief on the cross has decided to put his faith in this man? I quoted this passage earlier on. I said we’d get to it. Faith is the realization of things hoped for. Now, your version may say something like faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. However, that’s not the Greek.

The Greek says, “Faith is the realization of things hoped for.” So, let’s break that phrase down. My faith, your faith is the realization of things hoped for. Meaning what? How do you how do you put that in words we can understand? Things that turn that come to life, that comes to reality. Yes. The confidence of things not seen. In other words, we we have absolute confidence that the things that we cannot see, the things the testimony that we hold to that we put our faith in are not only real at this moment will become even more real for us in the future. 1 hour, 6 minutes Is that a good way of saying it? Glenn number two. Yeah. And and that scripture is is followed with example after example after example of all the the people of faith before us. Yes. So I don’t know who needed to hear that.

I don’t know if it’s any of you or anybody who will be watching this in the future. I think this is the kind of a lesson that if it doesn’t necessarily land on your plate u that you save and send to people who you know do have these questions and are wrestling with some of these things that it might help them. But either way, let’s get your thoughts, your two cents, your opinion on all of this. I’d love to hear your rebuttals, your corrections, your comments, your rebukes. As always, I welcome them all. Yeah. I I just wanted to um Hello everybody. Um I just wanted to point out that I I think that one of the challenges that a lot of people that are turning to Christianity have is they don’t really grasp the fact that we have one mediator between us and Yehovah. and that is Yeshua.

A lot of people in in my life that consider themselves Christians, they look to a priest as their mediator, another man. They look at a hierarchy of priests as a mediator. They look at a minister and they they think that they have to feed on God’s word through a minister telling them what the word says. And I think it’s it’s just important to point out that that u if you’re trying to go through a human mediator, uh you’ll you’ll never get there. You get there by reading God’s word and God opening your eyes to understand it and and depending and having faith that Yeshua is your mediator, that God is your father. And like a dad, he wants you to grow. He wants you to learn. He’s there for you. Um, you don’t need a mediator. That’s all my comment was. Amen. Okay, Luke. Yeah. Uh, faith. Yeah. Faith and belief.

Um, you know, I considered myself a truther since, you know, uh, the early. I was looking for truth. I had read the Hindu vades. I had read the Quran. I had studied at a Buddhist monastery. and I was looking for truth. Um, my practices were pagan in the fullest sense. Um, anyway, I read the Bible from cover to cover and I wasn’t moved by it. And a friend of mine told me, he’s like, “If you really want to get something out of the Bible, before you open it, pray a little prayer. Say, “Father in heaven, please reveal the truths to me of which you wish me to understand as I read your word.” Amen. So, I read it again and I got all the way through and then I got to Ephesians 2 1 through five and I had my bubble popped as I like to call it.

I probably balled for a good five hours straight. I never cried so much in my entire life over anything. And it was like my eyes were opened to to to my own self, to who I was, to who I was being, the way I was carrying myself through the world, and the possibility of a better and I and this whole new world was now in front of me. It it took me a good I would say week to get my head around the experience that I had just had and I didn’t read the Bible for that whole week. I was just literally so shaken by what had happened. Uh there’s no words for it. Anyway, I’ve read the Bible from cover to cover several times since then, and it just never fails to blow my mind.

The change that happened in me, the change and the change that is continuing to happen in me that is continuing to happen. It it just it I am so grateful. I am so grateful. grateful. So, so so full of gratitude that so full of gratitude. I was called out of the world. I mean, I was I was Wow. Anyway, um I believe that faith and belief are synonymous in the word. Uh the word I believe he gives me Revelation every time I open believe he gives me Revelation every time I open his so when I witness to Amen. Well thank you brother appreciate that people. Yeah. All right. Yep. Thank you. Yeah. Yep. Thank you. Thanks Luke. Okay let’s see. Ray Flowers Shabbat shalom. Uh this was a great question. something that I’m struggling with and we are hearing ourselves repeat really bad video. I don’t know if we’re all catching that.

Are you catching that on your end? Go ahead. Anyway, um the believing without seeing is what I’ve often struggled with. And another thing that comes to my mind is so many people praying to who they say is God and all believing different things. We all read the word and we all come with different conclusions. It’s very frustrating at times. But one of the things you put up on there in the very last slide that caught my attention and this is what I’ve often thought why we don’t hear him audibly anymore is because I believe that Christ was Yeshua was the final prophet that he was going to send. And then that Amos prophecy that you put up, this is why we’re getting the famine of his word. We’re not hearing him like we did in the past. That’s my understanding currently. So, I really appreciated those two verses that you put up there.

That Amos verse was fantastic. And then I believe Christ was that final prophet. I don’t know if we’re going to get another one like that until maybe the two witnesses. Um so I don’t I think that’s why we don’t see him speaking anymore. He spoke his final time through Yeshua. And that was my conclusion when I got out of this. But um I really thank you for this question because it is a paradox. We see all them speaking and you hear all his he’s speaking to prophets and through Moses and now all of a sudden it’s just dead silence. And I believe this because it was through Yeshua is why we got that final one. But that was my my take on it. And I appreciate this message because it was it is a paradox. Amen, brother. Amen. Okay. Uh David, you had your hand up or you took it down.

Did you want to say something? I’ll go ahead. I wanted to give others the opportunity to speak but yeah I’ll just make it brief. Uh you had mentioned uh you know if this it’s as if this is something or it’s positioned as if it’s something that can be useful for people who are being curious and are in the beginning of their journey. And I find it I just to acknowledge the reality that we’re human and even if we’ve been on this journey for decades, we are still exposed to the world. We’re exposed to attacks and it’s uh very important for us to be reminded uh and and for our faith to be reinforced by these kind of of uh teachings and and facts. uh so that uh so that we can continue to march in strength as well as being effective uh in sharing our faith with others, right?

And being prepared to answer for the hope that we have as the scripture says. So I think it was a very powerful message not only for those that are in the beginning of their journey but to continue and sustain and prop up and hold those that are on this journey as we all are together. So thank you. Amen, brother. Thank you for that. Uh Paul and Lori, that was a great message. Thank you very much, Ed. Really appreciated that. It kind of made me sad though when you brought up um Amos 8 11 to12. Certainly um in the country we’re living in um we’re starting to see this um materialize. our uh government is in the process of passing legislation called Bill C9 um to um condemn the Bible as hate speech portions of it.

So u we’re starting to see some uh denigration of our faith here and uh but um anyway, did you have something to say, Paul? Um Well, a little bit. Um, I was raised Roman Catholic, so that’s like cradle the grave religion and the priest takes care of everything. And we weren’t really encouraged to read the scriptures. And it wasn’t until I actually went to Lor’s church and I was saved one evening and it was like the light just came on. my my life changed and I started reading scriptures and I started reading from Genesis right through right through to the the New Testament and just putting yourself in the shoes of those people that did see the miracles. They did see what God was doing. You seen what um the the people that walked with Yeshua and you know that a lot of these people were sacrificed. They gave up their lives as martyrs.

And for them to do that, they didn’t do it because they didn’t believe. They saw the fact. They believed it. And I trusted in them that that’s the truth. If it’s written in there, that’s what happened. And I’ll go to my grave believing that. Amen, guys. Well, thank you as always. I appreciate your thoughts and input. Um, James Yeah. Hello. Hello. Make sure you turn your mic on everyone. Yep. Okay. Am I being heard? Yes. All right. Great, great, great, great. Wow. Uh, thank you so much, uh, Brother Ed, Brother David, and Brother Glenn, number two. Thank you for the teaching. Uh, it’s again another great, great, uh, teaching today. And um I like where it started. I joined a bit late. So where I joined in was when you were talking about the authenticity of uh biblical prophecy and how you have many cross cross references over you know millennia.

And uh for me that’s one sure marker of um of the authenticity of biblical testimony. Right. And um shortly let me just say that about the matter of whether God still speaks or not. Um I would rather say that um God still speaks but however he doesn’t speak in the sense that he spoke through the prophets and of course finally through his son as the writer of Hebrews said right he doesn’t speak in that way any longer. The cannon is closed, the Revelation is closed, and he has said all what he needs to say to humanity to be wise enough unto salvation, right? But however, God still speaks to us to us through his Holy Spirit from day to day, right? And I can give us I mean, just because we don’t have time, right?

I could give us several examples from my life that I was able to attest it and to test over time by the word of God that indeed it was God that spoke to me in this situation in that situation. Situations that were very specific by the way, right? In fact, one happened that um it was about my mom and God revealed to me very specifically something she did and she got involved with you know before I was born and that led to her salvation eventually. Long story but I just compressed it. Right?

So what I’m saying is this that God still speaks but however I mean to correct the mistakes and the excesses of um the charismatic people you know what I’m saying right God does not speak in that sense of giving new doctrine new Revelation right that is cardinal and central to the one he has given you know that makes us wise unto salvation so that’s how I would like to understand it because if we say god doesn’t speak anymore some people might say okay fine they’re just going to close their ears and close their hearts to some dayto-day things that God might want to communicate with you. Right? So, that’s um I just thought I should throw that in. Thank you very much for the lesson again as always. Thank you. Thank you very much for the lesson again as always. No, brother. Thank you.

That’s very very wise and understanding and yes, I would agree 100%. Okay. Well, guys, listen. We we’re looks like we’re going to end it quite on time today. Uh again, this is a lesson that once it’s posted, you want save the link and send to people who have questions of faith, be they in the faith or not. Uh it’d be super helpful, I think. I pray, maybe, maybe not, but I that’s my that’s my hope. Um but as always, I’m very grateful for all of you and for the time that you spent here this morning with us. and uh pray that you have a fantastic rest of your Shabbat and a great weekend and we’ll be back next time uh very soon. Now, real quick uh note here uh next weekend um my son is being getting married uh and I am going to be officiating that wedding.

So, the chances are pretty strong that I won’t be here to teach on Shabbat morning. Maybe we can convince our brothers, David and or Glenn number two or both of them to put something together in the interim. Uh maybe not. They This is the first they’re hearing about it, so I don’t want to presume that they can cover. Uh but I wanted to let you know that um for for me. So um I will let you know one way or the other what happens. Okay guys, Shabbat shalom. Thanks for coming. Love you all. Have a great weekend. Shabbat shalom. Shalom. Shabbat shalom. Thank you very shalom. Yeah. Shalom. Bat shalom.