Embracing God’s Appointed Time | Encountering God’s Fall Holy Days

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: The church today is broken, weak, and confused because they're not walking in the revelation in the Hebrew Bible. I'm beginning today a special series on God's fall holy days or holidays. When we say holidays, really the foundation of that word is that these are holy days because God is the author of a calendar. So when we have certain days on our calendar that we call holidays, I want you to know that before we had certain days that we called holidays, God had a calendar and on his calendar, he has holy days. So we're going to be focusing on the holy days of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and Rosh Hashanah or Yom Teruah. Before we get into these individual holy days, I want to create a foundation for us today to prepare our hearts to enter in, to open up, to receive and to expect something from God. Let's begin just by opening our hearts and looking to the Father together, asking him by the working of his spirit within us, to prepare us to expect, so that we can receive something from him during his holy days. Because beloved, there's something extra that can be imparted to us when we come into alignment with these redemptive themes. So Father God, we worship you today. And Father, I know that people will be hearing this broadcast at different times, some on YouTube. Father, we honor you and Father, we celebrate the revelation that you've given us in your holy days. And Father, we're not looking just for information today. Father, I'm not trying to educate and Father, I pray that those that are listening are not just looking for an education. But Father, what we're looking for is to come into alignment with you, so that you can impart into us the blessing that accompanies these holy days, as you impart your spirit impartation into our souls as we celebrate your holy days with you. Now, notice what I just said. We're celebrating God's holy days with him because these holy days, we're going to see in a few moments, are introduced to us in Scripture by the Lord through Moses as listen now, God's appointed days. So I want you to hear this. These are not just days that we are celebrating as human beings. More importantly, the Lord called these days his appointed days. We call them Hebrew mikra, his festivals or holy days. So these are God's holy days. We want to come into alignment with that, because as we do, there's something from heaven that's released into our lives. We're strengthened. Jesus, for example, in relationship to God's holy days, and the first of which is Shabbat or the Sabbath. And Yeshua said of the Sabbath that man was not made for the Sabbath. But the Sabbath was made for man. So think about what Yeshua said about the first of the holy days, Shabbat. It happens once a week. Yeshua said, God did not give us Shabbat, the Sabbath so that we would have to follow a bunch of laws because he wanted to oppress us. But rather Yeshua said, God gave man Shabbat or the Sabbath that we could be blessed. The Sabbath was made for man, that we could receive a blessing, that we could receive rest, that we could receive renewal, that we could have our spiritual compass reset once a week by taking a day of rest, disconnecting from the world, disconnecting from technology, disconnecting from working, so we could just be in God's presence and receive from him. In fact, on Shabbat, one of the rules is, you don't go far from your home. God just wants us to be with him so that he can strengthen us and bless us and prepare us for the six-day work week that's ahead. And so the point that I was making, my beloved friend, is Shabbat is a gift. God gave it to us to prepare us to have maximum effectiveness in the world. Now, let me turn to the word of God for a second. The Lord, and this is capped here, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Many of you know by now, this is the way that the English translators put down God's sacred name, which is composed of the four Hebrew letters, Yud, Hey, Vav, Hey, Yahweh. I heard an interesting thought the other day, that a baby's first words when he comes into the world are Yahweh. The baby breathes in, Yahweh. It's an interesting thought that possibly a baby's first words when he comes into the world gasping for breath, taking his first breath Yahweh, is God's holy sacred name. Nevertheless, it's a thought. It's possible. I don't know that to be a fact, but I love that. So hear the word of God. The Lord, Yahweh, spoke again to Moses saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, Yahweh's or the Lord's appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed times are these." So what are God's holy days? First of all, beloved, God's holy days are themes. In the revelation of God's holy days, which he made for man, which he made for you and I to enter into, so that we could walk in fellowship with him, these holy days are the themes of redemption. In fact, Yeshua coordinated his earthly ministry, I'm going to show you in a minute that he did the specific acts that redeemed us in connection with these holy days, with these mikra. So they contain themes of redemption. For example, the first holy day, Passover is the day that Yeshua was crucified on. And what was Passover about? It was the day historically that the Israelites were redeemed by the blood of the lamb. And so again, I want you to understand that these holy days are themes and as we enter into celebrating the Lord's theme, celebrating his holy days, what it does is it tunes us to walk in the substance of our salvation. Our salvation is architected. It's architected. All the themes that are contained in the holy days are the important principles that operate in the souls of us that God has redeemed. Beginning with Passover, but continuing on through all the holy days. We're going to be looking today at Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets. How does the Feast of Trumpets, how does the theme of the Feast of Trumpets help us to walk with God? Because the Feast of Trumpets reminds us, beloved, we're going to see that Yeshua is coming again. So celebrating the holy days keeps us walking in the great truths of our salvation. And we need to be reminded year after year of the great truths of our salvation because if we don't, what happens is we end up straying from the things that ground our soul in the key truths that really matter. There are seasons. There are seasons that we need to be focusing on every year. We need to be focusing on how we've been redeemed by the blood of the lamb. We need to focus on how we died in Yeshua. This relates to the themes contained in the spring holy days. We need to be focused on the other themes of the spring holy days. For example, we find the last of the spring holy days was the feast where Israel first received the law, Shavuot. And the church received the spirit on Shavuot. So by focusing on these great themes every year, we're reminded, beloved, of the things that are most important to us in our walk with God. Instead of falling for the newest spiritual fad. You see, because God's people are not grounded in the themes of our salvation, which are foreshadowed in God's holy days. What they end up doing is going down bunny trails, focusing on the latest prophecy, focusing on the newest book that becomes a fad in the Christian world, and they end up losing their way without even knowing it. Paul talked about it being a different gospel. So once again, my point is is by celebrating, by honoring, by remembering God's holy days, it keeps us grounded in the great truths of our salvation.
Dustin Roberts: You're listening to Discovering The Jewish Jesus and Rabbi will be right back in just a moment. But before we continue, have you followed us on Facebook? There you'll find powerful short videos from Rabbi that are filled with biblical wisdom and lots of encouragement. You'll also get weekly updates about our TV and radio airings, so you never miss an episode. Just search for Discovering The Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider on Facebook today.
Dustin Roberts: We're so glad that you're here and our prayer is that this program that it blesses you right now and in this moment today. And you know, we couldn't share this message without the support of listeners like you through radio and podcasts. And if the Lord is putting it on your heart to support this ministry, call us at 800-777-7835. Visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Thank you for your support and now back to Rabbi.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Many Christians don't understand how these Jewish, they think of them as Jewish holy days are important to them. Well, let me remind you, my friends. God did not call these Jewish holy days. He called them his holy days. And if you're a Gentile believer, you've been grafted in to the Commonwealth of Israel. These holy days were first given to Israel of course, but they're not just Jewish holy days. They're God's holy days and you, my beloved friend, have been grafted into these holy days because you were grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel when you put your faith in Messiah Jesus, who's the King of the Jews and the savior of the world. You know, I have a neighbor and some of you can relate to this. Some of you are so trying to get clear in your own mind about this. But I have a neighbor, he was just sharing with me yesterday that when he tells people about me, he says, yeah, I have an interesting neighbor and you know, he's preaching this this this message on the Jewish Jesus. And he said, everybody that he's ever shared that with has kind of shaken their head, no, no, no. It's either one or the other. It's either Jesus or Jewish. You can't have them both. He said, the only person that ever recognized that it's the same thing, that we're talking about the Jewish Jesus, that Yeshua was the prophesied Messiah that was revealed to us in the Torah and the prophets. My neighbor said, "The only one that ever got it was the most sincere Christian that he knew." All the other Christians that he knew, when he began to talk about the Jewish Jesus, they said, no, no, no, you're either a Jew or you're a Christian, it can't be both. Why would it be that so many Christian people can't receive the revelation that comes to us through the holy prophets, through the Torah, through the Jewish Jesus. Why do so many that call themselves Christians when you begin to talk to them about God's holy days, when you begin to talk to them about Shabbat. Why do so many Christians block it out and disregard it? The reason is, beloved, they're stuck in what Paul calls a spiritual stronghold. It's a stronghold of religion. It's a type of thinking where one thinks something is God because he was educated religiously to believe a certain way. And because he was educated to believe a certain way, and believed that the way he was educated was true. A person will block out then new revelation which can actually save them and bring them deeper into the truth. See, this is what happened to the Pharisees of Jesus' day. Why couldn't they receive Yeshua? Because they were stuck in a spiritual stronghold. They were stuck in a construct of thoughts in their mind that they thought was God, but the thoughts that they believed was God, their religious thoughts actually prevented them from receiving true revelation. And all of us need to be careful that we don't let pride keep our heart closed from receiving new truth. It's not only pride that keeps us from receiving new truth, it's fear that keeps us from receiving new truth, even laziness. We just don't want to deal with processing new information. So some of you that may be hearing this message, this is new to you. And you could be lazy and just say, you know what, I don't want to take the time to investigate what Rabbi Schneider's teaching. You could be lazy, or you can have pride and it affronts you that I'd be sharing with you something that you don't know. And so you'd say, no, I'm I reject that. And you have hatred for it just because you don't know it because of religious pride. Because perhaps you're stuck in a religious stronghold. Paul told us to cast down every stronghold that exalts itself above the knowledge of Christ. Cast down every thought Paul said, that exalts itself above the knowledge of Christ. So if Jesus is wanting to bring new revelation to you and I, if he's wanting to draw us deeper into him, if the Father is trying to draw us deeper into his spirit and deeper into the river through new revelation. Let's not let a thought that exalts itself above the truth to keep us from that new revelation, rather let's tear it down. You see, Jesus, listen carefully, friend, said this. He said, "Every scribe," and a scribe was a Hebrew teacher. A scribe was somebody that knew the Torah and knew the Hebrew scriptures and taught the Hebrew scriptures to others. Jesus said, "Every scribe that becomes a disciple of mine will be called greatest in the kingdom of God." Now think about that statement as it has relevancy for your life and my life today. Jesus said, "Every scribe." All the Jewish people he said of his day, that knew the Torah and became a disciple of his and taught others the Torah, through the knowledge they had in him, would be called greatest in the kingdom of God. What does that say? It says that when you receive the knowledge of the Torah, as a disciple of Jesus, you're going to go to the highest level. You're going to go to the highest level. You don't want to be someone that's just stuck in the New Testament without having revelation from God that's given to us in the Hebrew scriptures and what we call the Old Testament. Because Jesus said this. He said, "A person that knows the Old Testament and then becomes a disciple of mine will be like the owner of a mansion that's able to bring forth out of that mansion treasures old and new." So I feel a sense of excitement right now because there's some of you that are listening and you've never really seized this word. You've never really taken a hold of it. Perhaps some of you have heard about it before, you think it's interesting, but you've never really asked yourself, how can I take the revelation in God's holy days? And we're going to be looking during these fall holy days that we're going to be looking at in the season here that we're in right now. I'll be continuing once again with Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets. We're going to be looking at Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Some of us are familiar with these perhaps, but we've never really asked ourselves, how can I apply these holy days to my life? What relevance is there for me? Some of you that are Gentile Christians, you're saying, what relevance for me is there in these feasts that I once thought were just Jewish holidays, but now I'm learning they're not just Jewish holidays. They're God's holy days. So I'm asking myself now, I'm speaking on our behalf, what relevance do they have for me, and how can I enter into them so that I can be brought into greater empowerment in my walk with God? The church today is broken, weak, and confused because they're not walking in the revelation that the Father gave us in the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible is the foundation of Scripture. The New Testament begins by quoting Jesus' genealogy going back to the book of Genesis. If we don't get grounded in the Tanakh, in the Torah, and in the Hebrew prophets, our faith is going to be sloppy. We're going to fall for sloppy agape, greasy grace. We're going to lack the fear of God and we're going to lack power. But God loves you and you're about to be empowered, beloved, in a way that's going to ground you. Perhaps for some of you, you're going to experience a brand new ascension through this series in your walk with God.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Beloved ones, what I love best on teaching about God's fall holy days, is that we understand that they're applicable for every one of God's people today. Not for Jewish people only, but for Jews and Gentiles. And for those of you that are Gentile believers in Jesus, these feasts are extremely important for you, because they teach us of the work and person of Messiah Jesus. Father God wants the whole church to understand the Jewish roots of her Christian faith. This is why Jesus said to the woman at the well, "Woman, you don't know what you worship, we know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews." The Lord has raised me up to teach his church, to teach his people about the Hebraic roots of the Christian faith. I want to ask you, would you support me? Would you become a monthly partner with us so that I can continue to spread the gospel around the world and help the church to understand the Jewish roots of her faith. Beloved, this preparation that God has assigned me to be a part of, it is preparing the world for his return. I want to ask you to make your best donation to the Lord through this ministry today.
Dustin Roberts: Thank you, Rabbi. And friends, if you'd like to present a fall holy day offering to the Lord through Discovering The Jewish Jesus, would you call 800-777-7835 or you can give at our website discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And you know, as we prepare for this special season, I want to encourage you to begin getting your heart ready. Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets, it begins at sunset on Friday, September the 11th and it continues through nightfall on Sunday, September the 13th. And throughout Scripture, God's appointed times were moments for his people to pause, worship, and to also bring him their very best. It's also a reminder that Jesus is coming back and he's coming back quickly. And we know that the shofar will announce his coming. That's why we're focused not only on local ministry, but sharing the gospel globally too. We're preaching at festivals in Africa, broadcasting into Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and all over the Middle East. And it's not just in English. We're making sure people in many of these countries hear teaching in their own native language. So once again, if God is leading you to present a special fall holy days offering through Discovering The Jewish Jesus and to support this work, we'd be honored to have you partner with us. You know, your generosity, it helps proclaim the gospel around the world. We appreciate it and thank you. Now here's Rabbi to speak God's sacred blessing over your life. Rabbi.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: The words from the Aaronic blessing in the book of Numbers chapter 6, verses 22 through 27, helps us to realize how good God is to you and I personally. So receive his blessing into your life and then, beloved one, go bless somebody else in Jesus' name today. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. And now in Hebrew. [Singing in Hebrew] God bless you and shalom.
Dustin Roberts: I'm your host Dustin Roberts and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering The Jewish Jesus. Join us Friday as Rabbi Schneider asks, if God gave the trumpet as a reminder, what is it that he may be trying to wake up inside of you on Discovering The Jewish Jesus.