Chapter 1: Introduction to Jacob

Amen. Thank you, David. Here we are, our final part of the seven churches discussion. Why are you looking at this slide? Why? Well, I wanted I wanted to show you this because this is the title of my next uh lesson slashd discussion uh the gospel according to Jacob. And I’m super excited about it. I I’ve I’ve already started working on it. Was having a a discussion with Tim Snow a couple of weeks ago and we looked at a verse in Genesis about Jacob’s life. And um you know, we did a few months ago, we did a lesson called Becoming Israel. We talked about how our our process that we’re all kind of going through mirrors that of of Jacob as he wrestled with the angel and um alone. He was with the

angel alone. We talked about how that’s all a necessary part of of us taking on that name. As I was talking to brother Snow a few weeks ago, it just dawned on me. I thought to myself, how much of Jacob’s life is typological or a type u of of our experience in the faith. And so I started to look into it. I started to study it out a lot deeper. And to my amazement, it is crazy uh how much our experience that what we’re going through today, the things that we’re coming to understand about ourselves, the way we have come into the knowledge of the ways of the Lord, all these things truly does mirror Jacob in in so many ways. And so, I’m going to be doing

that lesson next week. As I said, I’m pretty excited about it. And we just wanted to kind of give you a a heads up on on what’s coming. But let’s get in to the seven churches of Revelation part

Chapter 2: The church in Thyatira

three. If you remember last week, we left off with Thyatira, right? We didn’t get we didn’t get halfway through it. So, we’re going to have to uh catch back up this morning as we start. We’re gonna we’re going to start there because we kind of left off with Jezebel and the things that she was teaching and what was going on there in that church. So, let’s finish that and we’ll jump on to the other churches. She calls herself a prophetist to teach and seduce. And she it says here in that she my servants commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. Okay. I thought it’d be important that we briefly touch on this. I do have a much broader lesson on this issue um in my list of videos there on on

YouTube. I encourage you if you have questions to go look at it, but I thought we could briefly talk about it here for a moment. It might surprise you to know, to my knowledge, Glenn, you can correct me if you think I’m wrong, that there is no direct commandment in the Torah to not eat things sacrificed to idols. In other words, it doesn’t say, “Thou shalt not eat things sacrificed to idols.” It does however have verses like Exodus 34 where it says, “Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice.” There are verses like this that give a nod to or indirectly tell us

that this is not a good thing. Now, today in 2025, you may not think that this is a very big deal, but it actually is more of a a deal than than you realize. And we’ll get into that here briefly. It’s not just a a matter of diet. It’s not a simple thing. It’s an issue of loyalty and holiness and spiritual participation. And as I said a moment ago, this is a much bigger problem than most people realize. Let me just put it this way. Before I came to a knowledge of the ways of the Lord, this wasn’t even on my radar. I I didn’t even give two thoughts about this issue because like many

people, I believe that it was one of the old ways, one of the things that, you know, doesn’t really apply to me. And so, I didn’t give it much thought. But we should give it a lot of thought. The central issue in eating food sacrificed to idols is that eating what is sacrificed to idols is seen as a form of communion with false gods. And that’s kind of a scary thing. Exodus  warns against being drawn into covenants with idolattors, which begins with social and ritual participation. That sounds innocent enough, right? Having a meal with somebody in a social situation, it’s a little bit more serious when it’s a ritual situation, but social situations sound easy enough, but do you know and are you aware of

everything that’s going on within that social situation? To give you an example, uh I believe that halal is an issue of foods sacrificed to an idol. Now, when you do your research on halal foods, which are very prominent even today, right here in Dallas and other places, it’s going to tell you that no, these animals are not sacrificed to an idol. That’s what it’s going to tell you. But it goes on to say that they are sacrificed in the name of Allah. Now, I don’t know about you, but there’s not much difference between the two in my opinion. And so, as a general rule of thumb, my family and I will stay away from halal foods. Uh we were going to a a local Greek buffet here in our neighborhood on a

regular basis and we were eating their food. Of course, a Greek restaurant’s not going to have pork, so you know, you’re pretty safe with just about everything you eat there at a Greek restaurant. Um, but then one day they changed the labels placed above each item telling you what it is. In the past it would just say chicken or grape leaves or you know whatever. We noticed one day that we went there. My wife caught it actually. It said halal prepared underneath it. And we’re like what the what the heck? And so we avoided those things that said it was halal prepared. Now, were they halal prepared before they changed the

label? Probably. But therein lies some of the teaching from Paul that a lot of people misunderstand if you don’t know you’re eating something that’s prepared for an idol. Then in you’re you’re you’re kind of safe in that regard. And we didn’t know. But eventually, for some reason, they went ahead and they said, “Halal prepared.” We were in Walmart a few months back looking for chicken and again my wife pulled up this pack of chicken and in fine detail it said halal prepared. So it’s it’s more prevalent than we might think in our day and age. Psalm 106 connects the eating of sacrifices to the dead with covenant betrayal. It says they joined themselves to Bal and ate sacrifices made to the dead.

Deuteronomy 32 reveals the true unseen reality. They sacrificed to demons and not to God. And so, yeah, this is a I think a much bigger issue than a lot of people realize. Eating such food is not neutral. It symbolically unites the eater to the demon behind the idol. And as I said, Paul’s teaching on this has been hugely misunderstood. Is there anything weird about the food? Number two, did the food change in any way, shape, or form? Is it poison? No. The food is still food. And again, this is some of the things that Paul teaches about this. It’s not about the quality of the food or whether or not the food changes. It’s a a matter of who this food has been made food in whose

name. And to me, I think that’s still an issue today. And and we’ll have some fun with the comments, I think, uh afterwards on this. Okay. And then the next verse says, “I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality,

Chapter 3: Repentance and group sin

and she did not repent.” When I read that, the first thing I I think of is to me this person, whoever she was, she had to have possessed at least some measure of internal awareness that her actions were morally wrong. Right? I gave her time to repent. The only time a person would consider repenting is if they knew at some level that what he or she was doing was wrong. So perhaps deep in her heart she recognized the sinfulness of what she was doing. Yet the allure and the excitement of the act combined with the perceived validation of influencing others to join her may have served to justify her behavior in her own eyes. And as always, brothers and sisters, when we’re reading things like this, I

don’t want you just to put on your historical glasses and look back at Jezebel. I want you to always internalize these things. These things are here not just to give us historical background. These things are here to help us have an insight into our own hearts. So apply this to yourself. You know, and I know, we all know what it feels like to be doing something. Plug whatever you want to into that sentence. Some type of questionable behavior or sometimes outright sin. And you know deep in your heart, you’re aware of the sinfulness of that action. But it’s exciting. And a lot of times sin is exciting. And you seem to be influencing others to join you in that sin. or you are aware

of others who partake of that sin, maybe not with you, maybe on their own, and this somehow justifies the behavior in your heart. Well, he does it. I know she does it, and she’s a believer. She’s a member of the quote unquote church. So, it’s okay. And when you’re doing it together, as Jezebel was able to get members of this church involved in her sin, of course, it was sexual morality. Then it becomes a different sin. There it is. My wife just said it. Origy. And origy is, you know, when we think of the word origy, we think, you know, I’m not even going to say what we think cuz we it’s it’s not good, right? But orgy isn’t sexual only. The true definition of origy is group sin where

you are involved in sin with others on a group level where regardless of the sin it’s an origgy and so again always apply these things to your own life and to your own heart as we go through them and then he goes on to say I will give to each one of you according to your

Chapter 4: Works, rewards, and truth

works people in the grace only camp of Christianity really hate verses like this because grace grace grace you know no works no works no works and there’s some truth to that when it comes to salvation or the moment of your salvation but they really can’t they have a hard time defining or explaining I should say verses like this where Yeshua says I will give each one of you according to your works and although salvation comes by grace grace and faith. Many people don’t realize that there are rewards based on service, based on the quality of your service. We see in Psalm 62, “Also to you, O Lord, belongs mercy, for you render to each one according to his work.” Matthew 16,

the son of man will come in the glory of his father with his angels and then he will reward each according to his works. Now you and I have discussed this word works many times, right David? Do you recall the times that I have tried to teach the proper way of um of rendering this word work in the New Testament? I don’t recall the specific reference, but basically when you say works, we were talking about obedience, right? That’s exactly right. That’s that’s the word to obedience to God’s law. Yes. So when we when we see the word like work uh in verses like this, it’s kind of to the Greek mind or to the

Greek eyes, to the western eyes, it’s kind of a um nebulous word. It’s kind of one of those words. Okay. What does that mean? What what specific work? Well, if you render that word obedience in the New Testament, then it begins to to have a better understanding. So, what is the psalms psalmist saying here in chapter 62? He he will you will render each one according to his obedience. Matthew 16, he will reward each one according to his obedience. And what are these rewards? That’s that’s another question that uh I have come to ask many times as I read things like this. What are these

rewards? Uh what we’ve heard Yeshua’s words, I’m going to go and build you a mansion, right? I’m building you a mansion. Is that my reward? I got a big fancy house. Plan number two. No. No. And Glenn, he didn’t even pause for a second to answer that question. No, that’s that’s not the rewards. Well, the scripture tells us throughout scripture, the incorruptible crown of righteousness in 1 Corinthians 9, authority and rulership in Luke . And before I go on, let’s back up to that incorruptible crown of righteousness and and play devil’s advocate for a moment. Not we’re not going to pursue this now, but in a study of your own, you might, again, I’m giving you a kind of a peak into how I my brain thinks.

The incorruptible crown of righteousness, that’s what it says. If there’s an incorruptible crown of righteousness that say you and I receive as a result of our works or our obedience, is there a possibility of a corruptible crown of righteousness? Can things be corrupted in the afterlife? Not going to answer that question, but a possible subject matter or or topic of of study for you in your own in your own Bible study. So, we get that crown. We get the authority and rulership of the nations. We get these white garments that Revelation 3 says we receive. We get hidden mana and a white stone with our name on it. That’s kind of cool.

hidden mana. I I long for the day someday when I get to eat real mana as was provided for Israel. Uh also we get to be pillars in the temple. What does that mean Glenn? Number two, offices 20 kind of thing. We’re with Christ for thousand years. Offices held. Well, yeah, I think that’s true. I remember back in the day when I was a pastor leading a church uh there were men and women in my uh church that I considered to be pillars of the faith, right? Who were they? Well, they were the more wise, more mature, uh more trustworthy people. Glenn and Joanne Garrison, who’s in this group, were one of those pillars under my leadership there when I was a

pastor in Arizona. And I considered Glenn and Joanne a pillar of the of the of the community. I would lean on them. All right. Is that what it means to be pillars in the temple? Maybe. Or maybe it’s an office that Glenn says that we hold. Yeah. But that temple is the spiritual temple. Glenn says that’s the spiritual temple. Okay. sitting with Christ on his throne in Revelation 3. That fires me up. I mean, can you imagine that moment being invited to sit with Christ on his throne? We’ve we’ve seen visions of this throne in scripture. And it’s mindboggling to think that he will someday invite us to sit with him on his throne. Not like a child sitting on Santa’s lap.

No, this is a child sitting with the creator of the universe. And then it says, “Beget an inheritance in first Peter 1.” What’s that mean? What do you think that means, David? An inheritance. Uh, yes. Will be basically the fulfillment uh maybe of a of a blessing giving uh you know to forefathers. What do you think Glenn? Number two uh inheritance uh re refers to uh what we inherit which same thing that Christ inherited at his resurrection. Uh and it’s you know that you know the son of a king inherits a position through birth. And so this is what you obtain through spiritual birth. Okay. Yeah. I I think I would agree with both of you guys. But but again, my mind wanders at times when I think about this

because I think about the inheritance of scripture, right? When we when we look at all the inheritances that say Israel received in in the land, there were land aotments, right? And what does that mean? that that maybe in the in the new earth that we like them will have land aotments in on the planet. I I don’t know. It’s fun to speculate. It doesn’t necessarily say that in scripture. Yeah. If you’re a human Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then it says that you’re going to receive the bright morning star. Explain that to me, Glenn. Number two, Christ at the end of Revelation, he points out that he is the bright morning star. Yeah. I mean, I I like to think of that.

I mean, what does that when when we’re given the bright morning star, as Len accurately said, Yeshua himself is the bright morning star. And we and we get that. Well, what does that mean to me? It means unfettered access to him, fellowship with him. Christ is also the mana from heaven. Christ partake in. And that’s the mana from heaven. L says it’s it’s crazy how all of these things loop around and then tie back into each other in scripture. I love the way that scripture does that. But I also think there’s going to be real mana plan gives me a snide little smile. Uh okay. Um then it goes on to say now I say to you in the rest of Thyatira that

as many as you do not have this doctrine. What’s the doctrine he’s referencing there? the doctrine that lived within the church through Jezebel. So there was not just the overarching doctrine that the church held to that being who Yeshua was and what he came to do and our obedience to him, but there was sub doctrine. There was a there was something hiding under the surface that some of the members embraced. Now you and I know we’ve talked about this that Paul says there must be factions among you, right? To show who was approved. So in any healthy church, there should be some people who have a little bit different twist on their understanding of scripture. Certainly Glenn and I are great example of this.

There are there are times that Glenn and I see things a little differently as it pertains to this verse or that verse. Is my belief heretical or is Glenn’s belief heretical? No, we’re not talking about embracing heresy here. We’re talking about just different takes on certain things or different understandings on different things that those must exist so that the man who is approved can be revealed by the Holy Spirit. That’s not what’s going on here in Thyatira. This was a dark thread, a dark doctrine that had found its way within the body proven by the number of people who had embraced it, who were in this sin. And he says, as many as do not have this

doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan as they say. So, I wanted to camp on that phrase, the depths of Satan, as they say. What is Yeshua saying here? He’s saying that there’s a there’s a saying out there that there is some deep knowledge not accessible to your average believer, not known by your average believer. And there are the depths of Satan. And I think I think I’m going to take a moment to camp on this for a reason. This is more than likely a mocking reversal of what the heretics likely called deep truths or deeper knowledge ornosticism which is a word that we know well from scripture. Deep spiritual truth that ultimately is not found in scripture.

How does that manifest itself today even within the Torah pursuant circles? Syncratism. Explain. Syncratism is where where you take the truth uh of God, complete understanding of of God’s way, but it’s corrupted by whatever baggage we may have brought in to our understanding as truth. And so we’re kind of synchronizing it. I think that the all of the churches in uh Revelation 2, the common denominator between Balum and Jezebel and you know all three of the churches in Revelation 2, the common denominator is spiritual infidelity. You know, and that was through bringing in false beliefs and and so it wasn’t, you know, 100% truth. Now you’ve got something that’s infected by Satan.

Okay. What part are the truth? You want to add to that, David? I just want to say even within, you know, Jewish faith, there are different levels and and even when people are interpreting the Bible, there are different levels. There’s this acronym called Pesh which talks about, you know, the different levels of of interpretation and meaning that is embedded in the scripture. And I don’t know if this this is what he’s referring to over here, but the the lowest level if you will or the deepest level is called sod, which means secret, right? And so there is potentially also reference to this secret truths that are hidden that are

only revealed to a select few. And that’s not to say that, you know, there isn’t potentially some truth into that, that people are given specific uh revelation and have a deeper understanding. But that’s just whatever jumps to me at this point. And I don’t know if that’s the reference here or not. Yeah. Um, how how do I see this rare its ugly head in in the Torah pursuant communities? Well, I can’t tell you how many times in a month I get an email from somebody who wants to give me deeper understanding of this or that. A lot of times it surrounds the calendar or when the Sabbath begins or, you know, it doesn’t just I’m just picking those

two off the top of my head and they want to they want to show me they want to prove to me that there’s deeper things here that not everybody understands. And you know, as I’ve said in the past, taught in the past that we shouldn’t always shut down things like that. We have to always test them. And I do and I have and I find that these things that many people say just don’t have a basis in scripture or at the very least someone has read a scripture or tried to define a Hebrew word when they don’t speak the language. They’ve heard somebody else in some other lesson say this word means that and it’s just not right. What are these things? Are these things just exeetical errors by well-intended members of the body?

Maybe, sometimes, but other times they can be tears, but they they can be planted within the the the body to deceive. And so, it’s our responsibility always as a as a as a believer to test everything. Yeshua calls these teachings what they really are in this verse, the depths of Satan. Not deeper truth, not deeper, but deeper deception rather. And many are led astray by them. You You always have to test everything that you embrace through scripture. 1 Timothy 6. Oh Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust. Avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. Look at that verse.

There are some out there who think they have knowledge uh deeper knowledge than you on one topic or another and they are desperately trying to get you to believe it. How do how do you know a person like this? Well, it’s because it’s all they talk about. They don’t really talk about any other topic other than what they are so certain that they know. It’s their one thing. And the Bible says it’s profane. It’s babbling contradictions. Colossians 2, Paul again, beware lest anyone cheats you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men to the basic principles of the word and world and not according to Christ. And then he says this, “But hold fast what you have till I come.”

And I thought, and maybe this is just me, but sometimes words like this from Yeshua often confuse people. I can remember being a young believer reading verses like this and asking myself, “Well, what do I have? And how do I hold fast to it until he comes? What do I have? And what does he mean hold fast till he comes? Well, in the context of this scripture, in the context of this church, what did they have? Well, the opening verses tell us that they had works, which is what, Glenn? Obedience, right? Obedience, service, faith, and patience. Now, to me, that’s not a bad list. I I mean, again, if Yeshua said positive things to me regarding my obedience, my service, my

faith, and my patience, I’ I’d be fired up to a certain degree, right? And this is what Yeshua is saying they have to hold fast to until he comes. Those those are pretty basic. Those three thing or those four things, works, service, faith, they’re pretty basic for the average believer. Well, what what does Peter say? Add to your faith virtue. And to virtue knowledge, to knowledge, self-control, to self-control, perseverance. To perseverance, godliness. To godliness, brotherly kindness. through brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound or increase, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of your Lord Jesus Christ, your Lord Yeshua HaMashiach.

So yes, are these four things basic? Yeah, they they they are. But we are called to constantly add to these things. These are a great building block. And another thought here, even though they are basic building blocks, Yeshua said, “If you hold fast to those things, when I come and you overcome, I will give you power over the nations.” Which to me is awesome because we all know that within the body of Messiah there are those who are super strong in the faith they there are people that we look up to. They they have added to their faith virtue and knowledge and self-control and perseverance. We love these people. We look up to these people, but they are not indicative of the entire body of Christ.

There are those within the body who someone like that might look to and go, “He’s barely hanging on.” And in my past, in my church past, we might have called these people weak, spiritually weak. And yet, that’s not how Yeshua sees it. If you’re somebody out there watching this on YouTube right now and you’re trying to be obedient, you’re trying to serve, you have a little bit of faith, and you have a little bit of patience, that’s not a bad thing. Don’t let yourself get caught up in the incessant comparing yourself to someone that you might think is a spiritual hero. Because when you do, you end up feeling like doodoo, no pun intended, because you don’t match up in your eyes.

And yet Yeshua is saying, “No, these these things are good. Hang on to that obedience, that service, that faith, that patience. Hang on. If you can hang on to that, if all you have in your strength is to hang on to that, you’re going to have power over the nations.” Now, if you can add to your faith these other things, awesome. But don’t compare yourself to another brother or sister. Compare yourself to the word of God. Okay, now we’re done with that church.

Chapter 5: The church in Sardis

Let’s move on to Sardis, the dead church, the angel of the church in Sardis. Right? These things says he who has seen who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. Again, he says, “I know your works.” We talked about this in part one. He does know the things that are going on in your life. and know your works. That you have a name, that you are alive, a reputation, that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. Not only are you dead, but you have other things that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before Yahw.

Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Hold fast and repent. So here he’s talking about not just holding fast to the little things they had. No, now he’s calling them to hold fast to what you received and were taught because you don’t have the four basic things that the previous church had. Now he’s calling you back to remember the things you were taught. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I come upon you. You have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall

be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life. What does that mean? Garments are righteous acts. Okay, Glenn says white garments are righteous acts and he is correct. But I will not blot out his name from the book of life. What does that mean? The time of judgment. Okay, means your name is written in the book of life, but you can mess it up. Dang it. There it is right there. For all of you people who say you once you get saved, you can’t lose it no matter what. Garbage. You can if your name is written in the book of life life that means what? That means you’re doing pretty awesome. If it’s blotted out, you’re not.

Which means your name can be removed from the book of life because you didn’t overcome. You didn’t keep the white garments which as Glenn correctly said are your righteousness. No, just to expand on that, we constantly hear, you know, he mentions here several times the concept of holding on fast and perseverance. If if you are once saved, always saved. If that concept were true, why do we need to persevere? Why would that matter? Why do we need to consistently run the race until the end if we’ve already been given salvation at the point that we, you know, have repented, been baptized, right? There is absolutely now. Does that mean you’re working your way to salvation? No, that’s not what that means.

You are, you are staying faithful all the way through. You’re finishing the race. Now, built into that faith is your obedience. There’s no question about that. But it should not be misunderstood that we are working our way to salvation. That’s not what he’s saying here. You’re growing in grace and knowledge. Growing in grace and knowledge, as Glenn says. Yes. Thank you both. So, let’s talk about this for a moment. Your reputation. For me, this can be challenging. It is challenging. It’s so easy for any of us, whether as individuals, groups, or entire churches, to get swept up in the hype of what

others say about us. slowly accepting it as truth instead of continually measuring ourselves against the standard of scripture. Give you two examples of this. When my wife and I stepped out of the ministry back in the day, um we were going to move to the state of Washington where David and Christina are now. and we were going to um plug ourselves into that church. And we had heard at this time in our life that this church was probably doing the best spiritually of all churches in the body because we were part of a global fellowship. We literally had churches around the world. And this one church boy had a reputation of being on fire, being super mature. And we were very excited to move to this church. When we

got there, we found that not to be the case on many levels. And it was a disappointment. They had a reputation of being A, B, and C. But in these areas of A, B, and C, they were the exact opposite according to our experience. And it wasn’t just us. The argument could be made. Well, you were just bitter. No, this wasn’t just my or my wife’s perspective. We were seeing other people expressing these things. That’s one example. The second example is a little bit more personal. Many times in a month, I would probably say at least twice, sometimes three times in a week, I get emails from people who have watched our discussions online on YouTube. I got one just yesterday.

And in these emails, these people inevitably say, “I so love your lessons. I love the way you teach. You have a very disarming way about you. Your voice, the way you teach, you’re this. You’re so that. You’re humble. Blah blah blah blah blah blah.” The list goes on. And although I am always grateful for such encouraging words from another believer, by the way, you doing that is just obeying scripture. So I’m not saying not to do it. I have to be super careful to never allow any of these kind things that people are saying to begin convincing me that I’m somehow all that in a bag of chips. It’s a trap and I have to constantly keep myself centered because it’s not about Ed Doss. It’s not about me.

It’s not about anything other than him. And if if any point this becomes about the Ed Dos show or whatever, I’ve lost my way. If I’ve stopped continually measuring myself against scripture and instead of believing what other people say about me, then I’ve lost my way. And this doesn’t just happen to people like me who have a more public presence. This can be about you in your own individual life where you keep hearing somebody say this about you or that about you and somewhere down the line you start thinking yeah I I guess I am pretty awesome. No, no, it’s a trap. And and this is the reputation that this church had of being alive to who who who who was saying they were

alive? All these other people on the outside, right? But Yeshua knows the truth. He knows who you really are. And that’s what keeps you centered. Yeah, you can say Ed Doss is A, B, C, and D. But you know what? There’s somebody who knows the real There’s somebody who knows the darkness in my heart. There’s somebody who knows what I am capable of outside of him. And the church had lost that ability. They had lost that truth. And that’s scary. That’s a scary thing. That’s what was going on here with this dead church. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. This is what I’m talking about.

Paul was the second greatest speaker alive in my in my belief. He he was second to Yeshua in his ability to communicate, his ability to preach, his his understanding of scripture. But you know what? He was still concerned about being disqualified. And we ought to have that humility. For the rest of this letter, I wanted to focus on these words that you just saw flash up on the screen. To the church in Sardis, be watchful. Again he says if you will not watch he says I will come upon you as a thief and he talks about defiled garments. This is an interesting thing because we we know from this and other scriptures that the Bible says he will come like a thief.

And if we don’t understand the Hebraic background, lineage of this language, then then we’ll just come up with all kinds of ideas as to what he’s trying to say here. For a long time as a young man, I used to believe that what he was saying was that Jesus is going to come back in the middle of the night while I’m sleeping, right? because that’s kind of how it sounds. No. In ancient temple practice, the supervising priest or temple captain would make unannounced nighttime rounds and any guard found sleeping could have his garments burned with live coals from the altar. Now, what does that mean? That means the priest or the temple captain if he found a guard, a temple guard sleeping in the

middle of the night, he would go grab a hot coal and put it on his garment. Now, was this just burning a hole in his garment? No. This would catch his garments on fire. And when the guard awoke, he would see that his garments were on fire and he would start disroing. He would start casting off his clothes to get these burning clothes off. It was humiliating punishment known among the priests. The practice gave rise to the imagery of a sudden unexpected visitation from someone they called a thief in the night. This is all recorded in the Mishna in the J Jerusalem Talmud. I have references there for you if you want to look it up. It’s not just uh a story, but it’s actually true.

We we know that Yeshua will use these these types of words and languages to make a point, a deeper point. He will use things that they are aware of, that they know of to make a point. And we go to Revelation 16 where he says, “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” And what do we see? We see the exact same words used in Revelation 16 as we see used in the letter to the church in Sardis. Why is he walking naked? He’s walking naked because his garments were cast off. Why were they cast off? Because they were lit on fire by the high priest who caught him sleeping.

Okay. So, does this change our understanding of the scripture? Well, yeah. It it it does a little bit. Yeshua is not going to come back in the middle of the night like a thief. But he is looking for those who are watching and not watching and who keep their garments of righteousness, lest they be naked and see his shame. Okay. Any thoughts on that? Questions on that before we move on? Glend number two. Yeah, I think it relates back to um talking about as in the days of Noah, they didn’t know what was coming. So, it’s it it’s going to come as a surprise. Everybody’s going to be saying everything’s great. Everything’s great and then fame. Okay. Amen, David.

Yeah. just the this the focus and this continued metaphor of outer appearances compared to what’s inside and the inner truth right uh I think that you know you can like you were challenging all of us is is to apply it to our you know to to our lives today and I think with social media for example there is a huge emphasis on outer appearances and uh how you come across and the image that you’re trying to portray And people even build and and put a lot of focus on building that kind of a reputation and image and you know a lot of times for for profit and for gain or for influence or power right uh but again I think it’s you know he he the scripture brings us back to the fact that God sees through

that all right and to remember that keep that at the forefront of our minds that ultimately we will be held to an account, right? And it doesn’t matter how much influence and reputation we have in this current world, that is pales in comparison to uh approval uh and reward from God. Amen. Amen. Okay. The church in Philadelphia, the faithful church to the angel of the church in Philadelphia,

Chapter 6: The church in Philadelphia

right? These things says he who is holy, who is true, he who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one’s opens. No one opens. I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it. For you have little strength, have kept my word, have not denied my name. Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie. Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet to know that I have loved you because you have kept my command to persevere. I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, these are the reference

to the tribulation. Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast to what you have that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of my God. That’s pretty exciting. And the name of my the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, I will write on him my new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Okay, so Philadelphia is doing pretty good, right? Number two, they’re they’re they’re doing pretty good. But I wanted to talk about this. I wanted to ask this. What is the key of David?

Literally or figuratively. Uh you I’m not going to tell you that. You just just answer however you’d like. There there there’s two answers. Okay. Um, literally there was there was a guy who had the keys to uh to everything in the palace and these keys hung on his shoulder and it it was only through that key master uh that doors could be opened and so that’s that’s a literal thing. So the key of David figuratively uh you you can look at the the the key of David as you know David was a man after God’s own heart and set an example. If you don’t understand David’s calling and David’s relationship with Yehovah then you don’t understand how Israel turned into Israel. Okay. And yeah.

Okay. Well, here it here it says that Yeshua has the key of David, right? So, if Yeshua has the key of David, what does that mean? How many of you have heard of Eliakim, the son of Hilkaya? Glenn says, “That’s the guy I was talking about.” Okay. Isaiah 22. Then it shall be in that day, he’s talking to a person called Shebna, who held the key of David. Then it will be in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Pilkaya. I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder.

So he shall open and no one shall shut. And he shall shut and no one shall open. That’s almost a direct quote in the book of Revelation, right? So who was this person? Well, as Glenn correctly stated, the person who held the key of David was somebody who had the direct access to all that the king owned and all that the king was. But there’s some typology here and there’s some foreshadowing that if you read this passage in Isaiah 22, you you you might just miss, right? And I want for those of you in the audience, I want you to learn how to read the scripture in such a way that when you fly when you’re flying through Isaiah 22 and you come across this verse, it it doesn’t just blow

right past you that you you you catch it and you go, “Huh, wait a minute. I’ve seen that phrase before. Where have I seen that phrase before?” and you start doing some digging and you come to understand some things that you wouldn’t otherwise understand. Glenn, did you want to say something? Yeah, I was just reminded the uh several times Paul says uh he’s doing something but a door open to him to go through that door, start churches and all that. So doors are opportunities to do whatever you want to be doing. Amen. Amen. So what do the keys represent? Well, in ancient royal courts, the chief steward or prime minister was entrusted with the key to

the king’s house or treasury. Possession of this large ceremonial key symbolized exclusive authority to control access to the royal presence and his resources. Such keys were offered substantial in size and could be carried on the shoulder. So it wasn’t just a metaphor that revelation was using or that Isaiah was using. It was much like a staff or a scepter which represented the weight of that responsibility. So on the shoulder that phrase it means governmental responsibility. It’s a Hebrew idiom for government or authority that’s often expressed as a burden placed on the soldier shoulder. And we see things like this in Isaiah 9.

For unto us a child is born. The government will be on his shoulder. So again, that sense of governmental responsibility that the person who carried this key had on his shoulder. It was both literal in that the key was on his shoulder and it was figurative in as to the depth or the weight of his responsibility. The phrase communicates responsibility, stewardship, accountability born by a ruler or highranking official. Thus, when Yah says he will lay the key on his shoulder, it depicts an installation of power and responsibility in Eliakim’s role as steward over all of the house of David. And I said, think Joseph, right? That’s a good one. Joseph had this role to Pharaoh in that he was given

authority over the entire a kingdom minus Pharaoh’s throne and kind of stop there. So that was kind of this person who held the key of the king had these responsibilities. So what’s the typology here? The house of David equals the royal household, the throne, covenantal line of David. The key on the shoulder equals delegated messianic authority to admit or to refuse entry to the king’s presence representing total control over the kingdom. Eliakim Eliakim foreshadows the coming Messiah. Would you even think that for a moment in reading Isaiah 22, if you didn’t stop and slow down and dig into that passage, you would never think that Eliakim, this obscure individual mentioned in Isaiah 22, is actually

pointing to the Messiah to whom ultimate authority is given to Yeshua. Yeshua. So he who has the key of David, that’s Yeshua, who opens the door and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens. And Glenn number two says, “Amen.” Okay, now let’s look at this briefly. You have little strength. I’ve kept my word. have not denied my name because you have kept my command to persevere. The Philadelphia believers likely had limited influence, limited resources or even limited numbers compared to other churches. And despite this these lacking resources and prominence, they still kept his word and did not deny his name. He says, “Hold fast to what you have that no one may

take your crown.” And I asked the question, what are the implications of those words? Just like we said earlier, the crown can be taken. Exactly. If you don’t hold fast to the little that you have that the crown may be taking, not holding fast, not enduring, not persevering, allows another to take your crown. And I ask Glenn number two, who is the one taking the crown? Yeshua. Oo man, you’re on fire today, Glenn. Number two, you must had a great prayer time with the Lord this morning cuz you’re nailing all these questions. Yeah. Uh let’s look at Luke 19. Take the minor from him. Give it to him who has 10 minus. For I say to you that to

everyone who has been given from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away. Who’s doing the taking away here? It’s Yeshua. 2 John 1:8. Look to yourselves that we do not lose the things we’ve worked for. Again, the things you’ve worked for can be lost, but rather we want that full reward. 1 Corinthians 9, but I discipline my body. It’s a verse we already looked at. That I myself should become disqualified. So, who takes away your crown? Well, the same person that gives you your crown, Yeshua. And he’s saying, “Hang on. Even if you have little strength, if you’ve kept my word and you’ve not denied my name, you’ve kept my command to persevere.” Why is he commanding that they persevere?

Because there’s going to be times in your life when the only option seems to be giving up. Stop trying. Wave the white flag. Surrender. There are going to be times in your life when in your estimation you have but a flicker of flame burning inside of your heart and you just feel like giving up and snuffing it out. When Yeshua is saying, “No, the flicker is enough. Don’t give up. Don’t stop. And I made this commitment 35 years ago when I declared that Yeshua was Lord. I made a commitment to man and to him that if nothing else in my life, I would never give up. I would never stop. No matter what happened to me, no matter how far I fell, no matter how deep into sin I got,

the one thing I told him I would never do, and that would be give up. And that’s what I want to encourage you this morning with as well. Make that commitment. He who has an ear, let him hear.

Chapter 7: The church in Laodicea

And finally, the church in Laodicea, the lukewarm church. To the angel, the church in Laodicea is right. These things says the amen, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know your works that you’re neither hot nor cold, cold nor hot. I wish you were either one of them, hot or cold. But because you’re not because you’re lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and do not know that.” You have no idea that what in reality you’re wretched, you’re miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Poor, blind, and what, Glenn?

Naked. Yeah. What does naked mean? No robes. What does robes mean? No righteousness. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich and white garments that you may be clothed. The shame of your nakedness, because they were burned off because you weren’t watching, you weren’t paying attention, may not be revealed. and anoint your eyes with eyes out that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasen. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne. As I also overcame and sat

down with the father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear. The spirit says to the churches, Luke warm. Let’s talk about this for a moment. Again, Yeshua uses things about their life, their culture, everything to make points. Lea had no natural springs. The city imported water via a southern aqueduct system using underground stone pipes and inverted siphon to bring water to the Baspinar spring roughly 8 km away. By the time this water reached the city, it was lukewarm, sediment fililled, and unpleasant to drink. It was neither refreshing nor hot, rendering it effectively useless for drinking or bathing. And this is an actual image of this aqueduct system that they’ve discovered. Blow away to me

when you look at that picture that even back then they were making things like this to bring water into their land. But what was Yeshua doing? He was using their knowledge, their daily experience of dealing with lukewarm sediment water to make a point about their spiritual condition. So now we know why Yeshua chose to use these descriptions of their condition. As was his practice, he drew upon familiar places, circumstances, and customs to drive home his message. And what was the message? You’re not what you think you are. Because you say, “I’m rich and I’ve become wealthy and have need of nothing.” You’re no. What you think you are is not the case. They’re lukewarm.

But what does this look like in real life? Pretty much all the churches today. Okay, let’s look at it. As usual, we know this person. We may have been this person. Man, if you’re watching this on YouTube right now, you may be this person. And I want to encourage you to be open to the possibility that you are this person. You are a member of the lukewarm church. because you rely on your outward wealth and comfort. As we saw a moment ago, you say you’re rich, you’re wealthy, you have need of nothing. And by the way, this could be descriptive of just about every believer in the United States. In comparison to someone like Sushio in India or ASF in Pakistan, we are rich and wealthy and have need of nothing.

But but all the churches think they’re right. They think they’ve got the correct doctrine. Well, of course they do. They all think they’ve got the right doctrine. There’s no way in God’s green earth that in 2,000 years they have gone astray. No. In reality, they’re wretched, miserable, poor, and blind. What does this mean? What’s the modern equivalent? You measure your spiritual health by your material prosp pro prosperity or maybe your status or maybe it’s your church position. You’re a leader in the church. You’re an upstanding member. You’ve got such and such authority and you’ve measured your spiritual health by these things.

or in the days of my old church, you measured your spiritual health by how many people you were bring to the faith. If not too many, then you weren’t doing very well spiritually. This is how we this is what we do. Instead of measuring yourself against biblical holiness, what obedience actually means and faith, you lack genuine zeal, the modern equivalent, you’re content to attend church. you’re happy. You don’t want to listen to what anybody else has to say about what may or may not be wrong about your current worldview. You’re just happy to be a part of a great church. You don’t really pray earnestly. You don’t really seek his will.

You rarely step out in faith. In fact, faith is just a word that you hear in church. It’s just a church word. you’re happy in your church situation. Don’t touch my doctrines. This is something I put in my book. My doctrines I’m happy with. Don’t touch them. You’re comfortable with your tradition. You’re comfortable with your routine. You avoid discomfort. You avoid sacrifice. And there is zero risk in following Yeshua. Luke 9 says, “Daily self-denial is required to follow him.” Luke 14 says we have to make a conscious decision to give up everything to follow him. You’ve not done this. You just joined a church. You signed up. This looks like a great group of people.

Young, happy, singing a lot of cool songs. And I signed me up. I want to be a part of that. But you never made any decision to give up your life to follow Yeshua. You’re happy with your church experience. Glenn, yeah, I’ll just point out that you can be a um a Torah terrorist. You can be very phariseical. You can you can be very very obedient and completely miss the point like the Pharisees did. Yep. Amen. Let’s move on. We’re kind of running late here. Uh, you have moral indifference and compromise. Titus . You profess to know God, but in their what? They they deny him. Words, which is what? Obedience, right? They profess to know him, but in their obedience, they deny him. Modern

equivalent. There is no clear distinction between your life and the world. You excuse sin. You avoid difficult teachings on scripture. You value tolerance over truth thinking it keeps the peace in your church. Okay? That’s what moral indifference and compromise means. In my book, I have a part in there about being set apart. And that’s the argument that I made in that chapter. Mhm. You are not distinguishable at all from the world. You drive the same cars, wear the same clothes, eat the same food. The only thing different about you and the world is that you show up to a building every Sunday and Wednesday and spend a couple hours there. David, I I just put in, you know, also celebrate the same holidays, honor.

Yeah, celebrate the same holidays. That’s true. All this is true. This might be you, viewer. Spiritual blindness. Revelation . You don’t know. And that’s the scary thing. You’re wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. But you don’t know that. That to me is the scariest thing. You think you’re awesome. You think you’re doing great spiritually because you go to this awesome church, but you don’t know that in reality, you’re in trouble. The modern equivalent, you’re unable to recognize personal sin or personal apathy because you’re too busy comparing yourself to others instead of the word of God. You trust in your past experiences.

I prayed this prayer once. I asked Jesus into my heart once or I had this mountaintop experience once and you trust in that while ignoring present obedience. I I know this is strong but it’s only as strong as Yeshua’s words to the church in Leadya. The door is closed to intimate fellowship with Messiah. And he says these famous words here in Revelation 3. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Viewer, listen to me. This is not a salvation scripture. He is not standing at the door of your heart waiting for you to invite him in. Church has taught you that. That’s not what’s happening here. This is him waiting for you churchgoer to repent and to walk as he walked. That

is what he’s saying in Revelation 3. 1 John 2. Now by this we know, not we guess, not we suppose, by this we know that we know him. This is a litmitness test that John is giving us here. If we keep his commandments, he who says, “I don’t I know him. I know him. Jesus is Lord.” But you don’t keep his commandments, you’re a liar, and the truth is not in you. You’re not just misguided. Again, these are this is one of those things that Yeshua gets to say, that an apostle gets to say that I might not want to say, but it’s still true. You say you have faith. You say you believe. You might say Jesus is Lord, but you disregard his commandments. The Bible says you’re a liar.

And not only not, you’re not just misguided. There is no truth in you. You may go up to church every Sunday and every Wednesday, but according to the Bible, there’s no truth in you. Even though you’re faithful to your congregation, whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. How did Yeshua walk, David? In works and obedience. In works and obedience to what? God’s commands. The word. The word made flesh. The Torah. The Tanakh. We can’t disregard that. Believer, Christian. You can’t you can’t justify you can’t change the words of this

statement and put in there what you want to believe. No, he walked in obedience to Torah. Why? He had to become the spotless lamb. Why? To save you from your sins. And he who says that, “Hey, follow him and they don’t walk as he walked.” Liar. No truth. So today, and we’re coming into an end here, guys. Today, this trap has caught many believers who claim to be of to to not be of the world, yet cannot seem to separate themselves from the benefits that the world offers. We drive the same cars. This is my my book. We wear the same fat clothing, live in the same posh homes, eat the same food, pork, shrimp. And besides the fact that

we show up to church once or twice a week, we are indistinguishable from the world around us. And this is what lukewarm looks like. If we claim that we are set apart from the world based on the fact that we don’t sin as the world does. I don’t steal. I don’t cheat. I don’t chew. I don’t date girls who do. We have strayed from the ancient path. Avoiding sinful worldly pleasures is only a tin tiny aspect of what it means to be set apart. It means embracing all of what the father teaches, commands, and desires for those that would call on his name and not just the teachings from the back of the book, that being the New Testament. Thus, we see how early tradition and idolatry infiltrated the

young church who just years before were bearing their martyrs like Adam, Israel, the kings, and the prophets. They were quick to deviate from the ancient path. And again, I ask you, reader, viewer, how far do you think we’ve drifted in 2,000 years? We have to pay attention to the letters of the churches. And just very quickly, there are many of those many people who believe that the seven churches aren’t just real bodies of believer, but they are actually prophetic of the quote unquote Christian church today. and each one represented by a certain period of time, a certain era of time. Not going to go through this, but I do want to put it up there for you to see uh what each one of these churches would

represent in the history of the church through time and let you make your own decisions. If this is true, then le to saya we’re we’re we’re at the end, right? We’re close. And if you want to talk about this in future lessons more so, we we can. That is the lesson. And sorry it went a little longer than normal, but I knew it would. I didn’t want to have a part four. Glenn warned me I wouldn’t finish in time, but let’s let’s open it up for some thoughts, discussion, questions. Go ahead, Luke. Shabbat shalom, everybody. Um, Revelation 2:9. This is going back to last week’s lesson. I know your works

and tribulation and poverty, but you are rich. And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Yehudam and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. To me, that encapsulates pretty much everything that we talked about last week and this week. If we are not living the way the the Jews or Israel was prescribed to walk, we are of the synagogue of Satan. That’s not according to the Talmud. That’s according to God’s laws. So anyway, just that’s it. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, brother. Appreciate you. Okay, Matt. Make sure a quick just a quick comment. Um when you were speaking earlier regarding the key of

David, we actually see the ultimate authority of the Messiah during the millennial reign where he declares that the east gate of the temple is open only on new moon and Sabbath and is closed the rest of the days. And so I just wanted to point that out that we actually see it in effect in scripture. Thank you. Appreciate your insight. Uh let’s see. Paul and Lori, just a really quick question getting back to um halal. Um, we see packages with both halal as well as kosher um, markings on them. What do you do? Kind of I’m sorry. Go ahead. Uh, which do you just leave the package there? No. Uh kosher is a word that’s been um hijacked I think by several people least

of which is not the rabbis. There is biblically clean there is biblically kosher if you want to use that word and then there’s rabbitically kosher and and um and not only that but other other people other nationalities other religions even will use the word kosher. Um, and so just because it says kosher, it usually is indicative of the way it was slaughtered. The animal was slaughtered in a in a in a way that falls within rabbitical guidelines. Um, but if the if it says halal anywhere on the package, I’m not buying it. That’s just me personally. Yeah. Okay. We leave it there, too. It’s just that it was seemed a contradiction.

Yeah. I have one little thing here. Um, going along the same theme, um, I know that they put the halal markings on it and of course we know why they did that. Um, but the the side effect is that they’ve done us a favor cuz now we know how it’s been done. So, we can avoid those. And I think that’s a side effect. That’s to our benefit. And I don’t think no whether they really realize that they did that. But, um, that’s a plus for us. Yep. Daser. Yeah, thank you. That it was Hang on. Glenn’s got a thought. Go ahead, Glenn. Means it was not strangled. It was actually killed in a merciful manner, which is a whole another ball of wax talking about strangling uh you know, eating animals that were strangled.

That’s that opens up another can of worms, which we can which I we talked about briefly in the past, but maybe we should look at it much bigger. David, do you want to say something? No, just referencing Acts 15. Okay. Okay. All right, brother Jeff, go ahead. Uh, first, forgive me. I have Parkinson’s and when I was moving my mouse down there, I guess I double clicked. I wasn’t raising my hand then. Oh, I apologize. It just every time I hold on to the mouse a little too long, I end up going somewhere I don’t want to be. No worries. But anyway, uh, I wanted to comment and hopefully David could, uh, clue in on this, too. The word, and I probably

won’t pronounce it right, the word for fruit in Hebrew, pare, is spelled with a pay, a rosh, and a yod. And the pay means a mouth. The ro or rash means the head, the top or the summit, and the yod is the hand. So the fruit according to teaching uh may be rebbitical and if it is I apologize is that the summit of what you can do and say is what your fruit is. The summit being obviously toward the righteousness of Christ. But anyway, that’s a that’s something about the the letters in the Hebrew that I’ve been studying and I want to make sure I’m on the right track. So, if somebody else that’s into the biblical Hebrew, you know, the ancient pictorial Hebrew, if you will, could chime in, I’d surely appreciate it.

Thank you, brother. David, do you want to respond? No. I mean, the the letters per um those are the correct letters of how do you spell pure fruit? um with respect to taking it and trying to uh find some symbolism or representation of what each letter represents. Um I I you know I think that you know there’s a lot of different practices that come into that. I don’t know if uh necessarily I can find a biblical foundation to that. Um so well I can say I can say in that regard that uh PaleoHebrew or the practice of identifying uh deeper meaning behind each letter is what I would call an incomplete science at this point. Um, I’ve spoken at great length with uh

Hebrew scholars like Douglas Hamp and he’s of the mind that it does not apply across the board with every Hebrew word found in the in the Bible. And so if if it does not apply broadly, then you can’t force an application individually. And so you have to be super careful when you’re dealing with um those who push PaleoHebrew on the text. I think it got its start if I’m not mistaken. Correct me if I’m wrong. I think this whole idea got its start in a book uh about the code. Uh what was the name of the book? Some some some book that referenced a code in the Hebrew text. um that was only visible through uh the Gumatria and or PaleoHebrew.

And so is there some tr some truth to that? You know what? I don’t know. I I’m not um educated enough in this to be able to say without a shadow of a doubt that there is. I would just be careful because in my estimation, it’s it’s um it’s an incomplete science. That’s just my thoughts. Uh, Michael, hi. It’s good to be back again. I’m just thankful for the reinforcing uh uh anction from the teaching. You know, for me that’s helpful. uh and somewhat of a new new as somewhat of a newbie into the Torah movement somewhat. Uh I especially value the um where it was spoken about the um the halal and the making ourselves

distinguishable from the world and even the PaleoHebrew topic we just spoke about. Um, and what I’ve found so helpful is all that influence that kind of takes us away uh like with uh the secret knowledge and you know it can all be done at the expense of um and and mind you I’m jumping around with my speech here because I have a headache. It it it can all be done. Um and and the characteristic of it is is it’s luring us away into a secret place kind of where we get puffed up. We have a lot of head knowledge and we’re forsaking the um community and the relationship being relational uh and gathering with the Lord. And

really the key thing I’m reminded is uh taking up our cross like transforming where the word becomes flesh like you were you were mentioning and um so I’m I’m just I’m just balancing all these things out uh with what you’ve been presenting. Thankful thankful for your presentation. Shabbat shalom. Oh, amen. It’s good to see your uh face here, Michael. It’s great to have you. Um, okay. Well, no more hands are up. Glenn number two, did you want to say anything before we cut it off or or No, Matt. Matt, is your did your hand just go up or is that all? Yes, sir. Okay, go ahead. Yes. Um so with the conversation about halal and and kosher um Paul reminds us that his take is that he doesn’t see a problem

with eating meat sacrificed to idol because he knows that an idol is nothing. However, he does recognize that if it’s going to um destroy a brother’s faith, then he will avoid partaking. And um I know in the the military and in uh different organizations that provide relief, we will have MREs that are specifically listed as kosher and halal. Um, and even though some practices like you mentioned earlier, the halal is offering that in sacrifice to Allah. Still, that is the only way that you can eat something that does not contain other contaminants such as pork and shellfish. Um, and so we need to be careful as we as we navigate this Yeah. Uh, and thank you, Matt. Um, the only thing that I would say is that

Paul’s teaching on this is misunderstood broadly. I don’t think Paul is justifying the practice of eating uh meat sacrificed to idols. How do we know that? Well, because we we learn in the book of Revelation that this is a big issue not just for the seven churches, but on judgment. It’s it’s it’s an issue and these are this is happening under the new covenant. So um maybe we should probably do another lesson on it and uh and and clarify that. But um I appreciate your thoughts and your input. Okay guys, listen. We are we are running long. Uh, if you have more questions about this or you want to um, you know, ask me or Glenn or David or somebody else, send the email, pop it in the chat. Hopefully I I’ll I’ll see

1. But um, next week we’ll we’ll jump into the Gospel according to to Jacob. Looking forward to that. Thank you so much for all of your input, all of your thoughts. Thank you for being here with us on this Shabbat. From my heart to yours, I hope you have a great Shabbat and a great weekend. I love you guys and we’ll see you next time. Shabbat. Shabbat. Shabbat shalom. Thank you. Bye now. Bye. Bye. Thank you. I will go at the end. Shabbat shalom everyone. Shabbat shalom everybody.