Armor UP, Warrior

Torah Parashah: Tazria-Metzora

Leviticus 12:1 – 15:33

Armor UP, Warrior

Tazria – Laws of Purity and Impurity.

This parshah starts with laws for new mothers… in regard to niddah and considered impure (tamei) regarding the sanctuary for 40 days of a boy and 80 days if a girl. 

It goes on and talks about tzara’at – that caused the affected person (or thing) to be impure (tamei) and in a state of uncleanness (tumah).  It is not to be identified as LEPROSY – since it was about a person’s skin AND clothes, pottery vessels, and the house.

Metzora: Cleansing of the Leper

If someone was diagnosed with tzara’at (“leprosy”) they were forced to leave the community…  had to cover his face and cry out…

Then it talks about laws for cleansing the lepers.

 

This always reminds me of some of my favorite scriptures:

Yechezkel/ Ezekiel 22:26

“Her kohanim have violate My Torah, and have profaned My Kadosh things: they have put no difference between the kadosh and profane, neither have they shown any difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Shabbats, and I am profaned among them.”

To me, this parashah is about cleaning things up in our lives…

So let’s start that process.

Last Shabbat I sent you homework:

            (These questions come from “Blessed and Unstoppable” by Bill Alsbrooks, and also myself.)

Start to think/pray about these things for your life and profession.

 

1.       What is your vision?

Vision = What a person wants to be.  It paints a powerful and inspiring picture of what the future will look like.

 

2.      What is your mission?

Mission = Why a person exists in the first place.  It should be a clear and concise statement short enough to fit on a T-shirt.

 

3.      What are your Core Values?

Core Values = What a person stands for.

 

4.      What is your slogan?

Slogan= A catchy phrase that effectively describes a person.  It’s a strong tag line that articulates a brief representation of you and makes you more memorable.

 

5.      What are your Long-Term Aspirations?

Long-Term Aspirations = a person’s top outcomes desired for years to come.  It’s more than just goals.  It’s the consequences, results and after effects of actually achieving them.

This might have been very difficult.

 

CORE VALUES

1.       What are your top 7 core values?

2.      What word best describes who I am at my core?

3.      What value do I want to most represent to others?

4.      What are the principles that I most admire in others

5.      What is my life going to look like when I consistently live through my core values?

10.What kind of character do I look for in my friends and associates?

11. What values do I want my friends/ spouse/ children to have?

 

Self-Assessment Questions:

1.      What do I desire most in my life?

2.      Who do I really want to be?

3.      How do I define true success?

4.      What do I want my body to look and feel like?

5.      What kind of marriage/ friend relationships do I have?

6.      What do I want to accomplish in the future?

7.      How can I make the biggest impact with my life?

8.      What would make me feel most alive inside?

9.      What kind of personal relationships am I looking for?

10.How do I want the world to see me?

11. Are my dreams and desires in line with Yah’s Word?

12.What does success really feel like?

13. How can I make the image of my future more vivid and clear in my mind.

16. What area of my life currently has the most clarity?

17.What area of my life has the least?

 

More Self-Assessment Questions?

1.      What makes me feel alive on the inside?

2.      What really sparks my creativity?

3.      What job or profession would I be willing to do whether I got paid or not?

4.      What are some of my favorite topics of conversation?

5.      What was the last thing I can remember doing that I totally lost track of time?

6.      If money wasn’t an issue, what profession or cause, would I get involved in?

7.      What’s my favorite section in the bookstore?

8.      If I could do one thing to change the world today. What would it be?

9.      What would be my top three dream jobs?

10.  If I could start my own business today, what would it be?

11.  What three skills do I posses that I love and enjoy to do?

12.What’s the worst thing that could happen if I pursued my passions full speed?

 

Even More Self-Assessment Questions:

1.      What does having faith really mean to me?

2.      What’s the difference between having real faith and just hoping something will happen?

3.      How will believing in who Yah says I am, change my life?

4.      Who do I know that most represents faith in their lives?

5.      Who are the biggest dream killers and doubters around me?

6.      How do I keep them out of my mind?

7.      Who are my biggest supporters?

8.      Do I fully believe in my heart, I can achieve my dreams?

10.What’s the body language of someone who really believes they can?

 

And finally, MORE…

1.      Are the words I am speaking in my day filled with faith, hope and love?

2.      Are my words aligned with the Word and who Yah says I am?

3.      Where in my life do I need to be and speak more positive?

4.      Am I declaring daily blessings of health and Yah’s Word over my loved ones and myself?

5.      What level of effort am I using to reach my goals?

6.      Am I pursuing the passions Yah has given me?

7.      How am I putting His Words in my heart?

8.      How am I guarding my heart?

9.      How am I guarding Yah’s Shabbat’s and commands?

10.How am I worshiping each day?

 

How are you working at being more of who Yahuah says you are?

 

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Moshe – born a Hebrew, raised in the wealthiest home in the earth, had to go to the wilderness 40 years…

Abraham didn’t know where he was going…

And if we look at

B’re’shiyt/ Genesis 11:29-30

“And Avram and Nachor took wives: the name of Avram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nachor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Charan, the abba of Milcah, and the abba of Iscah.

30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

If you study this out –

Abram and his brother Nachor married their nieces… the daughters of their brother…

Abram was the oldest so he would have first pick.

Look at verse 30 – oddly just thrown in there

They would have known she was barren because they knew once a girl had her menses she went to the woman’s tent…

So Abram was supposed to have all these children… but he thought of others and chose the barren one.

King David had to figure out who he was… a shepherd boy who eventually became king.

Jehosheba -the daughter of King Jehoram, took the year old son of the King - Joash -And Hid him in the temple for six years… to save his life so at 7 he could become King. 

Luke 13:10-17 – The Bent Woman…

This woman was desperate. 

Bent – some translations say “bent in half”

Certainly, she was in a lot of pain.

This was Yahusha’s last recorded time teaching in the temple.

Since he was teaching – you can be sure – there wasn’t supposed to be any woman in that room he was teaching in.

But  -- she walked in any way!

It takes a lot of strength and courage to go where you are not welcome!

**

Acts 9:1-21  p 787

Shaul – who had the best teacher of his day, and was the best student…was blinded… and had to figure out who he was and what he was going to do…

Daniel – continued to be himself in a pagan land. His friends were thrown into a fire- and had to decide who they were…. Were they going to worship another god or stay true to yah? 

They had to know who they were.

 

~

 

 

**

I think there is something else…

Matthew 18:21-35  p 693

18:34

“And his Master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers, until he should pay all that was due to Him.”

 

I haven’t understood this for a long time. 

But recently I think I get it more.

I mean, - the “master” – delivering “him to the torturers until he could pay all that was due to him.”

How could someone repay what he owed while in prison.

I heard all sorts of things like – his family had to do it etc…

But that is not it.

 

I am listening to “The Secret of Lasting Forgiveness” by Bruce Wilkinson now.

And Pastor Wilkinson suggests people are in torture when we have unforgiveness. 

He is saying that Yah sends people with unforgiveness to the torturers until they figure it out. 

He tells a story – I think it was his great grandparents…

Great grandma had just mopped the floors. 

She was exhausted, but she did it. 

Her husband, Great grandpa, walked in from the field/barns… and got the floors all dirty.

Grandma had had enough.  She went upstairs … and from then on – they never spoke. 

This lasted 25 YEARS until Grandma died. 

They had to in the torturers. 

This had to be miserable!!

Unforgiveness stored in our hearts leads to bitterness and a cold, stone heart. 

These are some things you need to begin to work on….

Forgiveness:

1.       Make a list of everyone who has ever hurt you.

Another way to think about this is to think who you have locked in your heart’s prison.

2.      Think of everything they did to you.

3.       Ask Yahusha to help you let go of these things.

B're'shiyt #17, torah B'har, and Bar Abba

B’re’shiyt - 17  - Torah B’har  - 5-10-2014

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Sh’ma

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10 May 2014 ~ 10 Iyyar 5774

Torah parashah 32 B’har - On Mount 

Vayikra /Leviticus 25:1-26:2 cjb p 139

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Today we are going to talk about B’re’shiyt and then the Torah parashah.

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B’re’shiyt -17th teaching

B’re’shiyt 1:4 

p 19 in study guide….

B’re’shiyt 1:4  

“Vay-yar’ Elohiym ‘et-ha’or  kiy-tov  vay-yav’del Elohiym beyn ha’or  uveyn  hachoshek.”

“And saw  the light, that it was good: and divided God between the light from and between the darkness.”

VAY’YAR - 

Comes from the root ra’ah = resh - aleph - chet

Ra’ah = to behold, see, to understand, perceive

= “We perceive and understand our world through trust in His way, not what we see around us.”

• used to express idea of someone using their eyes to see something….

..... but more importantly it refers to...... to understand something!

“seen” = something being taught = perceiving something, understanding something

B’re’shiyt 42:21 cjb p 48

obviously they didn’t really “see” it… they perceive and understood 

Psalm 8:3 

“when i consider” 

  Psalm 52:6  “the righteous also shall see thee and fear thee.

Mark 8:17-18 …  not seeing and hearing in person… but “getting it”

ET ha’or = when God perceives and understands the light…

= “the light, the Aleph-Tov”

ET = defines the direct object, and we have a sigaul vowel and we have a m’keph  - and a hyphen or dash.. which is using the ET to point to the object of what he saw = LIGHT.

Kiy-tov  = he saw that it was good.

~

the gematria of “the light” === is equal to “ b’torah” or “in the Torah!”

Both “The light” and “B’Torah” = 613   which is the number of commandments.

613 = the number of commandments

~

Kiy-tov = 

Tov =  that which is good, well,  a pleasing benefit to man …

“In The Torah “ = the numerical value of “The light”

Prov 6:23 “for the commandment is a lamp and the Torah is light”

Kiy-Tov = and it was good.

Kiy = kof-yod = conjunction tied to tov

= YHWH saw the light and understood.

• First use of the light being good.

- First use of the word Tov in Word

Tov means “good and well and pleasing in our Bibles”

Examples of how Tov is used

List of things YHWH declares to be TOV / good = study guide p 20

Tov:

Yesha’Yahu /Isaiah 5:20-24 cjb p 443

Ra = to crush and break into pieces - something scattered.

~

In Hebrew  all words referring to TOV =  something being good... all share the etymological background of TOV

Tov = complete and useful

as opposed to RA = resh- ayin

= translated primarily as wicked and evil = to break something into pieces.

Good / tov also refers to ways of God, and EAST

~

Esther 10:3 cjb p 1097

“welfare” = tov

Job 36:11 cjb p 1036 “prosperity” = tov

There is a direct association between obeying God and things of the East and doing good. :)

Tov = used 201 times in Brit Chadashah

of those 201, - 116 = directly tied to your works… good works.

• Isn’t that interesting - in the Brit Chadashah!...

**  **  **  ** 

Torah parashah 32 B’har - On Mount 

Vayikra /Leviticus 25:1-26:2 cjb p 139

Before we start... the Torah Parashah i want to share something exciting i learned this week... You know how Yah works....  

i have been learning about forgiveness at a new level... 

and then i learned this....

Turn to Mattityahu 27:21 cjb p 1260

This is when Yahshua is before Pilate and there are two prisoners and one is going to get released and the other will be crucified...

Mattityahu /Matthew 27:21 cjb p 1260

“‘Which one of the two do you want me to set free for you?’ asked the governor.  ‘Bar-Abba! ‘ They answered.”

We’ve all heard this story before... but not with much depth...

According to the writings of Josephus…. Bar-Abba’s first name was Yahshua.

And it is POSSIBLE that Bar-Abba was a son of one of the Cohen HaGadols / High Priests....

That would make Yahshua Bar-Abba the son of religion (mans religion).

Another way to say this is  - that would make Yahshua Bar Abba the son of rebellion.

Now consider what this means....  on this trial day… It is the question of the ages….

…. YHWH creates a situation where man gets to choose between killing the Son of the Living God - and His ways...  

....or the son of - man’s religion (because remember by the 2nd Temple period - Hebrew faith had gotten all messed up with traditions of man) - The son of -man’s religion - also known to YHWH as REBELLION.

and they - the Jews that day…. chose to give life to the son of Rebellion - religion of man.

It might also interest you to know that Yahshua Bar-Abba was a leader of the insurrection against Rome (Remember Rome was persecuting Jews)... 

….Bar-Abba was doing what many thought was right….

…… but it was not right in YHWH’s eyes.

Consider this picture:

The idea goes on with the fact that when Yahshua HaMashiach stood before Pilot... Bar-Abba was in prison... probably within ear-shot of this whole production... 

...But Bar-Abba probably would not have heard what Pilot was asking... he would have only have heard the crowd....

So what Bar-Abba heard from his prison cell was....

....”Bar-Abba.”

“Put him to death on the stake! Put him to death! Put him to death on the stake!  His blood is on us and on our children!”

And so Yahshua Bar-Abba had to be convinced he was a dead man.... 

Just like we were….dead men … in our sin

......Until the guard shows up at his cell and releases him.

Romans 6:23 cjb p 1408

“For what one earns from sin is death.”

It is said that Yahshua Bar-Abba was one of the persons at the foot of the stake of Yahshua HaMashiach...

.... that Bar-Abba went there ....  knowing that it should have been him on that stake.... not the Mashiach!

It should have been us on that stake... not Mashiach!

If this is so - Yahshua Bar-Abba was one of the first people to really have a deep and intense understanding of forgiveness and grace.... that could have been Bar-Abba on that stake.

That should have been Bar-Abba on that stake.

That should have been you and me on that stake...

So i am thinking i didn’t really understand forgiveness very well...

Let’s go back to Torah...

Vayikra 17:10 cjb p 129

“When someone from the community of Isra’el or one of the foreigners living with you eats any kind of blood, i will set myself against that person who eats blood and cut him off from his people.”

Vayikra 18:3-5 cjb p 130 

“You are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Egypt, where you used to live; and you are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Kena’nan, where i am bringing you; nor are you to live by their laws.  You are to obey my rulings and laws and live accordingly; i am YHWH your God.  You are to observe my laws and rulings; if a person does them, he will have life through them; I am YHWH.”

= Implying that if you don’t observe YHWH’s laws and rulings - you will NOT have life

Vayikra 18 cjb p 130... sexual sins... 

18:27-28

“for the people of the land have committed all these abominations, and the land is now defiled.  If you make the land unclean, it will vomit you out too, just as it is vomiting out the nation that was there before you.”

Vayikra 19:8 talks about anyone who eats a sacrifice on the 3rd day... will be “cut off from his people”.

Vayikra 20:2-3 is about anyone who sacrifices a child to molekh - is to be put to death

Vayikra 20:9 “A person who curses his father or mother must be put to death”

Vayikra 20:10 “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, that is, with the wife of a fellow countryman, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.”

Vayikra 20:11 “The man who goes to bed with his father’s wife has disgraced his father sexually, and both of them must be put to death.”

20:12  “If a man goes to bed with ihs daughter-in-law both of them must be put to death.”

20:13 “If a man goes to bed with a mans as with a woman, both both of them have committed an abomination; they must be put to death”

20:14 is about death

20:15 is about death

20:16 is about death

 verses 17, and 18 are about being cut off from their people

20:27 is about death

D’varim /Deuteronomy 21:20:21 is about stoning rebellious children

D’varim 21:22 - is about death

D’varim 22:21 is about death

D’varim 22:22 is about death

    22:25 is about death

    24:7 is about death

and we could look at D’varim chapters 27 and 28 and talk about the curses and the blessings...

The entire concept is - sin is punishable by death.

“For what one earns from sin is death...”  Romans 8:23 cjb p 1408

Death.

Okay so now we have Mashiach - HE died for my sins - so i don’t have to....

but i thought i still deserved to be punished. 

you know - of course i wasn’t going to hell.... but that he redeems us... so we don’t have to be in that place of punishment.

BUT HE took that punishment... I don’t have to continue to remind myself what a sinner i am... because i have been forgiven... 

He took the punishment.

I don’t have to feel guilty any more.

In fact - we don’t have to die any more....  which means we don’t have to feel guilty... if we have done teshuvah...

Yochanan 8:21-37 cjb p 1341

I Yochanan 2:1-17 cjb p 1525

I Yochanan 3:3-10 cjb p 1526

So sin is not punishable by death while on this earth here..  

Why?

Because Yahshua HaMashiach hung on that stake instead of me 

and He died - instead of me.. so that i can be forgiven!!

I don’t have to die any more !!!

He took my punishment !!!

But if i do not teshuvah  - repent and return to Him /the Living Torah.... then my sin will be punished by death when i die.

So let’s go to the Torah Parashah 32 B’har - On Mount

Vayikra 25:1-26:2 cjb p 139

The title “On Mount” refers to that YHWH gave Torah - all the directions on Mt Sinai - even if they all are not printed in the section of Torah right where Moshe came down.

READ:

Vayikra 25: 1-28 cjb p 139

The land’s rest = the Shemittah year = the 7th year... 

The Shemittah teaches us that the primary force in the universe is YHWH, not the ‘law of nature’.

True life only comes when man stops striving for material gain in favor of dedication to growing YHWH/ Torah.

The Chumash says that the command of the Shemittah “guarantees that the year before the  shemittah will produce a crop large enough to last for 3 years.”

3 years!!

Shemittah will do that - it will produce enough food to last for 3 years.

The shemittah also alludes to 6,000 years of history of the 7,000th millennium.  

Can you imagine this?  - gather enough food to last 3 years?.... We are thinking about have a short term supply stored up... but how do you do 3 years??!!

This is all about TRUST isn’t it?

Comes down to what is really important - the heart of the matter...

Our culture doesn’t understand this Torah section, let alone the Shemittah...  The 7 year cycle of rest!

• Well, that is nothing, our culture doesn’t understand the 7th day Shabbat for that matter!!

So because we don’t understand  - we can just sort of skim through the Torah portion... and miss the whole point.

What is the point??

We have to know and remember that Torah is always about relationship.

Torah teaches us through practical day-to-day life instructions how to love YHWH and how we should treat one another. 

Vayikra 25:14-17 cjb p 139

This is about selling property to a neighbor - being aware of how many years are left until the Jubilee and the return of said property.

We don’t get this....  we do not expect him to bring it back in seven years... 

Vayikra 25:17 is  about not taking advantage of one another!

So when we read this Torah portion... maybe we should consider how much we do in life that has someone else’s interest at heart?

How much of what I do and what we decide daily is about ME and how much is about others?

Are our actions positive on the one’s around us or are they negative?

Torah goes on to invite us to consider if the reason we are not to take advantage of one another is because of our fear of YHWH.

I find myself pondering the Word to fear YHWH...

I have often said... “If we really understood Torah - we wouldn’t / couldn’t live like we do!”

I think that there isn’t much fear of YHWH in the land...

There is modern “grace” teachings which say that “all is forgiven and you really need never think about your actions in this life.”

and this idea goes on... that one day we will each stand before YHWH...and simply point to the stake and all my life will be glossed over, erased and forgotten about... “as far as the east is from the west.”

But this teaching doesn’t get the idea that though our sins are forgiven in Mashiach, what we do on the earth with that grace will one day be judged by fire.

Read...

I Corinthians 3:10-15 cjb p 1425

-Note that “he will still escape with his life, but it will be like escaping through a fire.”  

= He escapes with his life - he has eternal life... but there are no rewards because his work is burned up.

Read

Mattityahu 12:30-37 cjb p 1238

We are going to “give account for every careless word”....  we might want to consider the words that we speak... what we agree with and what we disagree with...what we say to others....

~

...Seems to come back to... that age old question... 

Will you choose man’s religion -which is rebellion towards YHWH...?

...or will you choose the Mashiach?

Yahshua Bar-Abba knows what it is to be forgiven... to have someone die in his own place... do we? Do we really get that Yahshua HaMashiach died in my place and he died in your place...

and then he rose again  - so the bridegroom could remarry the Bride!

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AMEIN and Baruch YHWH!!