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SHABBAT MEVAREKHIM /
SABBATH of the BLESSING (ANNOUNCING
ROSH HODESH HESHVAN)
Tishrei 29, 5764 / October 25, 2003
Tishrei 29, 5767 / October 21, 2006
Tishrei 29, 5770 / October
17, 2009
Heshvan 4, 5773 / October
20, 2012
Tishrei 27, 5776 / October 10, 2015
Atah Over Hayom
/ You are Crossing Over Today
SCRIPTURES should be read first
(V.1) “You are crossing
over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than
you”. We have come through the redemption of the Passover. We have been
given a betrothal covenant at Sinai. We have spent our childhood in the
wilderness, learning to trust Yahweh – the Gracious One who provides for His
creation to serve Him. Now it is time to take up the Sword of the Spirit
(Ephesians 6:17), and drive the enemy from our inheritance of dwelling in
righteousness!
There are many groups of
people in this world with the strength of desirability, strength of numbers, and
the strength of pseudo-science behind their doctrines and deeds. We need to
travel a straight course through them, without compromise, without fear.
(V. 6) “Know, then, it
is not because of your righteousness that Yahweh your God is giving you this
good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.” We are easily enticed
by the riches of this world, by the lure of immorality, by the pride of
hyper-spirituality, by the desire for acceptance from others. Then we are so
stubborn: we have our minds made up, and we don’t want to be confused by facts;
or we are determined to go the way that feels best to us, and rationalize away
God’s path.
We constantly deal with
people who go to a certain church be cause their friends are there, or because
they like the “pastor”. Others leave Bible teaching groups because things aren’t
done their way.
Many professing believers
accept evolution doctrine, because it is taught as fact by self-acclaimed
“scientists”. Ballplayers are paid millions of dollars per year by those who get
far more excited about a corrupt “sport” than about God. Christians are sucked
into paying for “alternative medicine” remedies that contradict all real science
(e.g. homeopathy), by charismatic practitioners (who often gain acceptance by
professing Christianity), because they place their faith blindly – by neither
Biblical nor scientific understanding.
Sadly, we often will
neither seek nor hear verifiable facts. We need to get off the “we’ve got it”
syndrome, and continually seek truth. We need to seek and accept correction, and
to learn further truth, we need to practice what we have been shown.
We should be ready to
“cross over Jordan”, into the land of truth and righteousness. But we are
stubborn. God didn’t choose us because of our righteousness. But, like Moses
typified, Yeshua made intercession for us. Now, if we are “of the faith”, we
will display that faith by our walk – by growing in truth and obedience. We must
learn to destroy the enemies of pride, immoral “entertainment”, blind acceptance
of false spiritual and pseudo-science teachers, and compromising values for
personal acceptance.
Moses fell down before
Yahweh for forty days and nights (v.25); Yeshua gave His life. All of this was
for our redemption and sanctification. Let us give heed!
Jeremiah reminds us that
God judges it immoral for a man to take back a wife whom he has divorced and who
has subsequently married another man. Likewise, if we leave God for idols
(spiritual adultery), how should we expect God to receive us back?
The Psalmist is telling
us: We need God to build our spiritual house; it will not last if we do it our
way. We need God to guard our territory; we are unable to do so by our power.
Paul explains for us
(Ephesians 2): We were without spiritual life – living in sin. We indulged in
the desires of the flesh and the mind – but God, in His grace, granted us
salvation: not through any good work of ours, but through a God-given faith that
produces fruit / works / evidence. Even we who were uncircumcised gentiles,
alien to Israel and God’s covenant, were made part of His people and partakers
of His covenant. (V.10) “For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah
Yeshua for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in
them.”
God’s covenant (the
Abrahamic Covenant), of which we may be partakers, is the reason He allows us to
enter the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 9:5), rather than for any righteousness of
ours.
If we have been granted
this faith, if our desires have been turned toward God (repentance), then we
have these great, comforting promises:
Matthew 5
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they
shall be filled. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Matthew 6
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 7
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall
be opened unto you. 8 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds;
and to him that knocks it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom
if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he
give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good
things to them that ask him?
Luke 11
9 And I say to you, Ask,
and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you. 10 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds;
and to him that knocks it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of
you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for
a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a
scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask him?
Readings:
"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King
of the Universe,
Who chose us from among all peoples by
giving us Your Torah.
Blessed are You, Yahweh, giver of the
Torah."
Reader 1*
Amen.
1
"Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today
to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you,
great cities fortified to heaven, 2 a people
great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of
whom you have heard it said, 'Who can stand before the sons
of Anak?' 3 "Know therefore today that it is
Yahweh your God who is crossing over before you as a
consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them
before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them
quickly, just as Yahweh has spoken to you.
Reader 2* Amen.
4
"Do not say in your heart when Yahweh your God has driven them out before you,
'Because of my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land,' but
it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh is dispossessing
them before you. 5 "It is not for your righteousness or for the
uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but
it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh your God is driving
them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which Yahweh swore to your
fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 "Know, then, it is not
because of your righteousness that Yahweh your God is giving you this good land
to possess, for you are a stubborn people.
Reader 3* Amen.
7
"Remember, do not forget how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the
wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at
this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. 8 "Even at Horeb
you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was so angry with you that He would
have destroyed you. 9 "When I went up to the mountain to receive the
tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh had made with you,
then I remained on the mountain forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor
drank water. 10 "Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone written by
the finger of God; and on them were all the words which Yahweh had spoken with
you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.
11 "It came about at the end of forty days and nights that Yahweh gave me
the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
Reade
4* Amen.
12
"Then Yahweh said to me, 'Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom
you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside
from the way which I commanded them; they have made a molten image for
themselves.' 13 "Yahweh spoke further to me, saying, 'I have seen
this people, and indeed, it is a stubborn people. 14 'Let Me alone,
that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will
make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'
Reader 5* Amen.
15
"So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with
fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16
"And I saw that you had indeed sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made for
yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which Yahweh
had commanded you. 17 "I took hold of the two tablets and threw them
from my hands and smashed them before your eyes. 18 "I fell down
before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor
drank water, because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was
evil in the sight of Yahweh to provoke Him to anger. 19 "For I was
afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which Yahweh was wrathful against
you in order to destroy you, but Yahweh listened to me that time also.
Reader 6* Amen.
20
"Yahweh was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron
at the same time. 21 "I took your sinful thing, the calf which you
had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until
it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from
the mountain. 22 "Again at Taberah and at Massah and at
Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked Yahweh to wrath. 23 "When Yahweh sent
you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, 'Go up and possess the land which I have given
you,' then you rebelled against the command of Yahweh your God; you neither
believed Him nor listened to His voice. 24 "You have been rebellious
against Yahweh from the day I knew you.
Reader 7* Amen.
25
"So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and nights, which I did because
Yahweh had said He would destroy you. 26 "I prayed to Yahweh and
said, 'O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You
have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a
mighty hand. 27 'Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their
sin. 28 'Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say,
"Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised
them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the
wilderness." 29 'Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance,
whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.'
"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King
of the Universe,
Who in giving us Yeshua, the Living
Torah, has planted everlasting life in our midst.
Blessed are You, Yahweh, giver of the
Torah."
______________________
"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King
of the Universe,
Who selected good prophets, delighting
in their words which were spoken truthfully.
Blessed are You, Yahweh, Who chose the
Torah, Your servant Moses, Your people Israel,
and the prophets of truth and
righteousness."
Jeremiah 3:1-2
Reader 8* Amen.
1
God says, "If a husband divorces his wife and she goes from him and belongs to
another man, will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely
polluted? But you are a harlot with many lovers; yet you turn to Me," declares
Yahweh. 2 "Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see; where have
you not been violated? By the roads you have sat for them like an Arab in the
desert, and you have polluted a land with your harlotry and with your
wickedness.
Psalm 127 (To be sung.) A
Song of Ascents, of Solomon.
1Unless
Yahweh builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless Yahweh guards
the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. 2 It is vain for you to rise up
early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His
beloved even in his sleep. 3 Behold, children are a gift of Yahweh; the fruit of
the womb is a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the
children of one's youth. 5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
they shall not be ashamed, when they speak with their enemies in the gate.
Eph 2:1 – 3:6
Reader 9* Amen.
2:1
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you
formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of
disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of
our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in
mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when
we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Messiah (by
grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated
us with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua, 7 so that in
the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness
toward us in Messiah Yeshua.
Reader 10* Amen.
8
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may
boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for
good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. 11
Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called
"Uncircumcision " by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the
flesh by human hands-- 12 remember that you were at that time
separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Messiah Yeshua you who formerly were far off have been
brought near by the blood of Messiah.
Reader 11* Amen.
14
For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the
barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the
enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in
Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16
and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having
put to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who
were far away, and peace to those who were near; 18 for through Him
we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you
are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints,
and are of God's household, 20 having been built on the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Messiah Yeshua Himself being the corner stone,
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a
holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together
into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
Reader 12* Amen.
3:1
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Messiah Yeshua for the sake of you
Gentiles-- 2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's
grace which was given to me for you; 3 that by revelation there was
made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. 4 By
referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery
of Messiah, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the
sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in
the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and
fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Messiah
Yeshua through the gospel,
"Blessed are You, Yahweh
our God, King of the Universe,
Rock of Ages, righteous
throughout all generations.
You are the faithful God,
promising and then performing, speaking and then fulfilling,
for all Your words are true
and righteous.
Faithful are You, Yahweh
our God, and faithful are Your words,
for no word of Yours shall
remain unfulfilled;
You are a faithful and
merciful God and King.
Blessed are You, Yahweh our
God, Who are faithful in fulfilling all Your words."
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