Divine Appointments
When both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Numbers 10:3 NASB
Congregation – What connects the elect of the Lord to the feasts, the place of atonement, the marriage of YHVH to Israel, the assembly of the apostolic times and the worshipping community? One word—ya’ad. The Hebrew verb, ya’ad, “to appoint, betrothe, assemble or meet” is the root of ‘edah (congregation), mo’ed (appointed time or place), mo’ad (place of assembly) and the synonym of qahal, the worshipping community of the apostolic writings. In other words, all of these are based on the idea of God’s appointments.
When the English translations substitute “church” for ekklesia (assembly), they obscure the inherent connection between God’s appointments and the appointed community. They remove the essential historical relationship between the ‘edah of the Tanakh, the mo’ed of God’s festivals and the continuation of all these appointments in the apostolic writings. There are not two congregations of the Lord, the Jews and the Church. There is one ‘edah, appointed by YHVH centuries ago, continuous over the course of YHVH’s purposes and plans, with us at Sinai and with us today. All that the Lord has appointed remains exactly as it was intended when He first used the verb ya’ad to describe His favor toward men.
This fact is especially important in a world where religious sectarianism predominates. God is not the God of 42,000 denominations. Nor is He the God of a dozen sects of Judaism. He is the God of ‘edah, the one appointed fellowship of those who are called to Him. His instructions provide one mo’ad, one order of mo’ed, one qahal. We are called to be in fellowship under His one banner. Our divisions are artificial, human attempts to delineate boundaries of identification. But they are not His and until we act toward each other as ‘edah, we will diminish His name on the earth.
Let us lay down those differences that separate us from each other, remembering that He gives guidance for all who follow Him according to His choosing. Are we so concerned with being correct that we refuse to be a community? Of course we are striving for truth and understanding, but do our present differences prevent us from praying together, worshipping together, celebrating together? If you and I met Abraham on the road, would we pass by because he couldn’t tell us the proper name of the Messiah? Have we insulted the God who calls us when we decline friendship?
What would change in you if instead of arguing theological points you and I simply held hands and offered our lives together to His service? How would your participation with me change if we spent an hour together in prayer? What would happen if you invited me to break bread with you? Is it really so important that we agree doctrinally before we can laugh with each other?
Topical Index: ya’ad, ‘edah, mo’ed, mo’ad, qahal, ekklesia, appointment, Number 10:3
“What would change in you if instead of arguing theological points you and I simply held hands and offered our lives together to His service? How would your participation with me change if we spent an hour together in prayer? What would happen if you invited me to break bread with you? Is it really so important that we agree doctrinally before we can laugh with each other?”
How simple, sweet and significant this could be. One body. Simple pure life.
Unity. A favorite goal of mine. What was that Yeshua said? “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35.
Skip, Today’s Word has the 42,000 reasons why we read you daily. We still have a need for a spiritual community beyond the fabulous relationship that we share between us, surrounded by a small retirement community of active but mostly “traditional” Christian seniors here in central Florida. We have attended their Sunday morning service but there is no soul, no magic, there for us. We would love to attend a Messianic Hebrew service this unusual Passover/Easter weekend but they all seem to be trinitarian, or what one observer describes as “Christian in disguise.” Does such a place exist north or east of Tampa?
If it comes down to it, I am happy to continue with just this great invisible on-line community who make my day, everyday. Shalom Skip and family. I hope you have a great weekend.
Dear George,
Unfortunately I do not know of any Messianic assemblies in the area north and east of Tampa. The “Christian in disguise” issue is a big one. Bob and I know of only one truly Messianic synagogue and we will be visiting it in Jerusalem. Otherwise, I’m afraid those of us in Florida are still living in Babylon.
and sometimes you just have to do the best you can while living in Babylon – even though we would ALL like to be in Jerusalem with you and Bob!!!
What is the name of the Jerusalem congregation?
look here
http://www.netivyah.org/about/congregations/
I was hoping you would say that. I found Joe Shulam and Elhanan Ben Avraham in 08/09 and they have had a big impact in my life. It was the teaching of Elhanan that caused me to stop eating pork and shellfish. Their building is right next to Narkis Baptist Church in Jerusalem. Narkis Baptist, as you probably well know, was the church of Bob Lindsey who worked so closely with David Flusser.
Joe Shulam is a humble man that I much admire.
There are so many following in His footsteps in Florida George & Penny – have you checked out a couple of the online maps? You can find an online map at 119 Ministries (119ministries.com) under Plugged In, Messianic Israel (messianicisrael.com) also has an online directory and you may possibly find a group or a fellowship near you that celebrates Passover. Just a thought.
My husband and I are right where you are and so desire to have fellowship with others who love Yah and love others and want to obey Him by worshiping on His Sabbath and His Feast Days . We live in the Panama City Area so if you ever come this way please email mail us and let’s fellowship together. Clayton and Tammy Fink. tammysproclean@gmail.com Shalom
“We are called to be in fellowship under His one banner. Our divisions are artificial, human attempts to delineate boundaries of identification.” Yep. We are trying to put asunder what G-d hath joined together. Kinda like the adopted kids insisting that they all continue to be called children of another father, but that can be sorta risky don’t ya think, and what about the inheritance that is reserved for the children of light? Grafted in MEANS cut off all those Other vines! Oooohhh, why do we have words? The obvious can feel so redundant to say, and the stuff that don’t make no sense is impossible to argue with!
I am still riding with Warren. He said “I suspect that the only way to find ourselves is to chase down our Maker.” It’s really about identity, isn’t it? We don’t know who we are! The point I see over and over in what Skip writes is that a ‘person’ in the singular DOES NOT EXIST. Our very identity is a function of those around us. We are defined in our very essence by others! I am human, according to the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord’s Prayer, by those who I admit into the Fellowship. How do I do that? By forgiving them! That’s how! I have to let the person I am judging become a complete person again, in a very profound way, if I decide to forgive them. Judging TAKES from someone their humanness and very identity as a person away. Judging diminishes them in their essence, and this is why judging is such a power over others. When I forgive, I am giving them back themselves. “Father, forgive them, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO” is handing back personhood to someone who was throwing that humanity away through their actions. To judge is to cut someone off from the community, which effectively cuts them off from their very identity as a human being! When I admit that, because of extenuating circumstances or because I can relate to why somebody did something, like I can see that they did not understand, or whatever, I am admitting that they are HUMAN again, and letting them be such next to me again. I am handing them themselves back again when I forgive them, because I am holding an essential piece of who they are. When I forgive or otherwise decide to quit JUDGING others, I let them back off the hook of fracture from their identity that they have to look to me for. BUT, there is a side benefit to this! When I let others be human, I then gain access again to the part of my identity that THEY hold. Those who I ‘let off the hook’ then become those who hand me myself. What a concept! Only Heaven could have dreamed up such a way to get the children to get along! LOL!
I was thinking about the water issues out West a few days ago. The rugged pioneers who rushed west of the Mississippi ended up with private ownership of everything to do with their precious land. Water, soil, minerals, (probably sky, too!): everything. Meanwhile, back at the ranch in the East, where you had land laws based more on communally held rights, such as commonwealth (“common” spaces) areas in the middle of town, and very strong understandings about water rights, in particular, we still have water spats, like the perennial one between Georgia and Tennessee about the Tennessee River, and the like, but my personal right to have access to whatever water that flows past my property is protected several ways. Others upstream cannot pollute or otherwise deny my right to use it, nor can I do any of that to those below me. NOR can anyone, including whoever owns my property, ever sell that right out from under me. Why? Because no one person ever ‘owns’ that right!
In the Land of Israel, the laws that were created to protect the families’ rights to their land were created for the families to hold those rights in common. You could lease the family holdings out, but you could not sell them. That protected not only some members from other members selling their homes right out from under them, it even protected them from themselves, as they could not sell their and their children’s homes out from under themselves, either. Ironically, the rights of the individual were best protected by NOT LETTING THEM HAVE THEM, but instead keeping them communal. The water problems of the West are, also ironically, only problems to the extent that private individuals had the ability to do whatever they pleased with them, so they, at one point or another, sold them out from under the land that needed them. Now, the land itself is crying out for the injustice.
To summarize, the rights of the individual seem to be best protected by keeping those rights in the commonwealth. The best way for me to be a person is to let others define me. The only way, as Warren says, for me to be who I am is to find myself in Him, and where does He reside on this planet? In a Body! When the Father prepared a Body for His Son, it wasn’t something that could be counted in the singular! He becomes perfected in that Body when that Body lets Him off the hook of singularity and off the hook of fracture, and off the hook of remaking Him in our own fractured, singular image, too. Hurray for One! And He isn’t going to be coming back for us until we ARE us! Hmm. Back to that forgiveness thing….
So many times I have wanted to post…and then read the comments and then said to myself…well, they’ve said it all – I don’t need to add anything to this 🙂 … and did the same thing this morning, but then ended up coming back to re-read the comments and had to add my 2cents…whatever it’s worth.
There is so much that goes to my inner being in this message, so much that stirs my soul, so many key words that feel like a cold icy blast of northern air slapping my face! CHURCH….CONGREGATION….ASSEMBLY….COMMUNITY….RELIGION……………..> ONE <
Each word invokes a myriad of emotions and memories as the words float in and out of my consciousness. As I try to nail them down they even merge together….and then I realize, I so wish that is how they would really be … merged into one.
Having gone through the last several years of division within the nucleus of our family over control issues (his, mine, ours) concerning church/community/fellowship/congregation and coming to the end result of disaster in relationships because of such needs to be right….this TW's lays it all out in perspective so easily and so clearly.
Each and every one of us have 'differences' of opinions. Each and every one of us have our own idea of what IT is to look like as we follow after Him. All of us want truth and understanding – but in wanting that – we think that 'our' truth is the only truth and 'we' are the only ones who understand that truth. And 'each' of us have a different piece of that truth and understanding. But when we get to the place…that oh so important place….of knowing the REAL truth – that we DON'T know it all – and we come to the REAL understanding – that we will NEVER understand it all – THEN we can come together as community. THEN we are able to lay down our differences, or maybe even enjoy our differences and learn from each other!! THEN we can break bread together, laugh and pray together….then…we can sing together as we hold hands and go forward to reach that final goal, in our differences!
I know I'm ready to lay down my differences. To let you believe what you believe, and to finally be at peace with what I believe. To listen with open ears and a willing heart – to REALLY listen and not simply listen to formulate an objection….to not try to change your course or correct your differences but to see if the Holy One has something to say to me in your words. It is actually very freeing, very liberating. My path is clear – and it simply, as Skip so adequately says, is to follow HIM according to his choosing. So much freedom in that.
Thank you Skip for allowing us to share here what your words 'say' to us. what a blessing.
I appreciate your work in my struggle to understand the Scriptures but today’s word confuses me.
“Our divisions are artificial, human attempts to delineate boundaries of identification. But they are not His . . . Let us lay down those differences that separate us from each other, remembering that He gives guidance for all who follow Him according to His choosing.”
I think I understand that you are saying not to let certain difficult and debatable differences separate us but I think your statement above, taken out of context, could lead to misunderstanding. I thought God purposely made Israel’s differences artificial to define them as “holy” or set apart, and to especially associate them, and them only, with and for the unique purposes of Him. Is not keeping the Sabbath and Holy Days and circumcision completely artificial? To go to an extreme, are we, or the ancient Israelites, to hold hands with the popular Baal worshipers and have lunch with them after they have sacrificed their children in the fire? I think not, but where do we draw the line? Once again, is not the definition of holy to set apart (separate) ourselves from others for the purposes of our God? Or, do I misunderstand?
Yes, my questions exactly. Aren’t we called to be separate? …to not do as the pagans in the land? I understand that love is key, I also understand that there are people we are not to associate with…Psalm 1-Blessed is the man… and Paul’s instructions also. How does “love” play into or against those scriptural instructions?
But there is a big difference between OUR divisions and the separation that GOD initiates.
Yes! Please help me understand that difference.
Think of the things YHVH asks of His people so that they live distinctively different lives. Shabbat. Dietary laws. Relationships in business negotiations. Limits on punishment. Education. Social obligations. Sexual obligations. Ritual purity.
Ask yourself how many of these are the sources of OUR differences, or whether our divisions arise from all kinds of theological assumptions and dogmas not necessarily related to the practical instructions for living found in Scripture.
Then you will see what I am trying to communicate.
How crystal clear is that, Skip? Thank you for that list! This is a sharp relief that I can see!
I can see that the things on that list, even if they may not look like it at first glance, result in a greater ability to be closer to others. They are things that are designed by their very nature to accomplish people who can relate better. People can feel safe in the matters of sex, health and cleanliness, in business and in a common body of shared knowledge (very important, by the way) with each other. The social mores also are clearly spelled out and agreed upon, so no one gets confused signals, either. Everyone also knows what is going to happen if someone steps over the line, too. No autocrat gets to make up his or her own unique way to scare or manipulate or favor others into doing it ‘their’ way. Oh, boy. That sounds like stuff we have already hammered out in successful societal structures for millinia. What does that leave at the end of the day? Oops. The Sabbath. Again.
Well said!
Well put, and crystal clear, as Laurita said. It is the interpretations of man that stand in the way, that creates division, whereas YHWH gathers unity.
Shalom.
From God’s Heart to your words, Skip. I am reminded of Luke 9:49-50, “Rabbi, we saw someone expelling demons in Your Name; and we stopped him because he doesn’t follow You along with us!” Yeshua said to him, “Don’t stop such people, because whoever isn’t against you is for you.” Also expressed in Mark with a little more detail. “Don’t stop him, because no one who works a miracle in My Name will soon after be able to say something bad about Me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Whoever gives you even a cup of water to drink because you come in the name of the Messiah – Yes! I tell you that he will certainly not lose his reward.” Mark 9.
As I said in a previous post-when He reveals Himself more completely to me-a lot more of my baggage will fall away…and everyone else for that matter. If what I say regarding my relationship with Him is completely rejected..I WILL shake the dust from my feet – in other words, I won’t knock myself out to have dinner there-unless, like countless missionaries over the centuries, He may have me stay around just to live out His Love in front of them. However, when speaking of all the people who hold to the Love of God…especially His saving grace through Jesus…I will be there for them…some are in my own family! Not ONE of them understands “where I’m coming from” because all they really know is ritual but I have seen hearts soften as I’ve shared His Love over the years. I’m also reminded of an incident during a worship conference where my son was Director. I had heard stories of witches from the area coming into the auditorium with the crowd in past years, but on this particular night one sat 3 seats down from me. She was not hard to pick out of the crowd-being bold in her choice of wardrobe and obvious “spell stirring” and cursing she appeared to be enjoying. My first thought (honestly)…”Hey! That’s my baby up there!” – but as Holy Spirit calmed me down enough to ask Him how to handle it I knew I was to pray for her..for His Love to cover her-to block her curses and dissolve them and to allow her to experience His Presence. It was interesting watching her reactions as she no longer “stirred” and “cast”…a little like air being released from a tire, until she finally leaned back in her seat with a true smile not a smirk and obvious peace settling over her. She was even turning to ask questions of people around her. I never saw her again-don’t know her story-but I’m sure the Blood of Jesus won a victory over the lying spirit that held her captive that night. I didn’t need to share a meal with her – argue against her – pick a fight – or set a day to go shopping – I just prayed for her as Holy Spirit gave direction. It’s about His Love – all about His Love.
What a powerful testimony to the power of prayer and love Marsha. You saw it in 3-D, technicolour, cinemascope and surround sound. The living Word in action.
Thank you for sharing . I to want to fill His live and Spirit in this way .
It was a blessing to watch, for sure. We have no idea how powerful His Love is when allowed to flow through us…when once we truly-“get it” and become one with that Love-we will see much more of “on earth as it is in heaven”, and more of His prayers will be answered.
Marsha, so many people I know know next to nothing of the world of spiritualism. Their only response to it seems to be that they don’t want to know. End of conversation. I was in a relative’s home where they had taken in a couple of people to stay with them out of pity, and I was also spending the night. The next morning her son-in-law brought her little grandson to stay for a little while. One of these precious lost people took one look at that child, and ran to the back room, coming back with a couple of nondescript, non-artistic pictures, which they proceeded to place one under the child, and the other in front of him, and kept urging him to “look at the picture”. I took one look at those pictures and recognized all kinds of subtle clues, including a symbol that I knew was used to induct people into the realm of spiritualism. I made no move at all, because I do not want to fight that kingdom. I instead started to pray as hard as I could go. The other person got more and more frustrated, and they both finally left. I then proceeded to give grandma a lecture I could tell she had never heard!
I like how you prayed for your person. That is the right way. All people who mess with the darkness are tormented. There truly is no peace for them. Perhaps that was the first time that she had been left alone to just relax and get to enjoy life and be herself in a long time! Rest is good stuff! You know, most people, I daresay, would not have even had the discernment to notice who was really sitting there, or why. This is one of the very important reasons I think we MUST ask for the gift of discernment. We have a responsibility to the lost around us, and one of those ways is to really care where they are at, and to really care about what they need someone to do for them. Praying correctly is not possible if you don’t know why you are praying! Great story! Keep posting! Your testimonies are really helpful to me. Thank you!
Thank you for your sweet encouragement Laurita-It’s a blessing to know one more who understands the Father’s Heart. As you have experienced also, there are many more who don’t understand that “it” is NOT more powerful then Holy Spirit – in “it’s” wildest dreams it can only lose in the end…but His Love makes the whole world silent-and a sweet rest it is. Thank you also for your postings!
Wonderful message in this story . Thank you for sharing. Shalom
How about another community map
Torah to the Tribes
I have see people from Florida also in their community map.
look it up
I fellow ship on line with Tora to the tribes . Do they have a community in Florida?