Who are the people of God? Who are the ones that are His witnesses? Who are the ones that declare His glory, His mercy, His salvation? Who are those that He will gather from the four corners of the earth? When God’s word speaks of the Children of Israel or the Kingdom of Israel do those terms exclude any of us who believe in the Creator God? Why would it be important to identify yourself as one of the Children of Israel or even as a Child of the Promise? Do those terms apply to all who believe in the work of redemption accomplished by the Son of God?

Galatians 3:28-29 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. and if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

We believe in the same God - the same Creator; the same Savior! We are saved the same way - by faith. We are all called by His grace and mercy. We read the same Word that He has given for instruction in righteousness. We are of the same family- grafted in (Rom.11:17) or natural born children of Abraham, the father of our faith. Abraham, who set the example of believing what God said to him despite physical circumstance, of patiently enduring even those things that tested his faith. Abraham, the man to whom God had made a promise - to make him the father of many nations! We are Children of that Promise because we have faith like Abraham, we believe like Abraham who believed despite any physical evidence to the contrary.

Romans 4:16-22 | …but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. He (Abraham) did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Galatians 3:26, 29 | For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus… And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise

 I would like to challenge my brethren. What is your faith based on?

Abraham based his faith on God. Abraham did not allow even the evidence of his or Sarah’s physical bodies to sway his belief in God’s promise. Abraham believed the WORDS of God as the truth his faith and his life were founded on. Do you follow the example that Abraham set for his family? Do you believe the word of God or do you believe a man’s opinion of God’s word as the foundation of your faith?

Romans 10:17 | So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We are a family. All of us that believe in the work of Jesus. All of us who have the faith of Abraham. All of us who believe in the salvation received through Yeshua’s-Jesus’ death and resurrection! All of us who believe in and worship the God of Creation.

Acts 13:26 | “Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent.

Ephesians 3:14-15 | For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

Genesis 28:14 | Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed..

So what separates us?!

I’m going to get just a little snarky here. As a whole the world we live in is going downhill fast. When judgement comes upon us, you will not be judged for another person’s beliefs, actions, opinions or words. You will be judged for what you do, think and believe! Examine your faith and see if it is based on what a man tells you or if it is based on what you read (hear) from God’s word - what God tells you. How many times have you used a “study Bible” or Chumash filled with commentary and notes from other sources? How often have you read a verse then checked that commentary for opinions someone else has included into God’s words? How many times has commentary explained away the plain and clear truth in God’s words? How often have you listened to a sermon that was based on a scripture that became distorted by the explanation of the teacher? A very good example is found in the commentary concerning Jesus’ words in the book of Matthew.

Matthew 5:17-20 | “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

The teaching of the mainstream church tells us that we do not have to be obedient to the instruction of God. We are talking about the instructions that God gave to a people who had been enslaved for generations and had no idea how to behave as a free people. We are talking about the instructions that have come directly from the mouth AND the hand of God. We are talking about the Law that formed the very foundation of the nation that God built. It is also the foundation that so much of the United States Constitution is based on!!! We are told that those “old” commandments have been done away with. Please open your eyes and ears and tell me just how the word fulfill means “done away with” instead of magnify. Please use your own mind to think with! Jesus had just spent more than a few words in the preceding verses in Matthew 5 to expound on and magnify the commandments.

John 14:15, 21 | “If you love Me, keep My commandments. …He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Exodus 20:6 | …but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Revelation 14:12 |  Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

definition of doctrine - : something that is taught. : a principle in a system of belief.

What you believe is your personal responsibility. Will you allow another person’s opinion to outweigh the word of God? Will you allow another person’s words to lead you into error? Are the doctrines (or agreed upon opinions) of the church”fathers” more important than the words of our Savior? What are you going to say when on Judgement day you stand in front of the Holy God and He asks you why you felt that you did not need to be obedient to HIS instruction?!  I’m sure that conversation would sound eerily similar to the one held in the Garden of Eden.

Who gave any man, woman, priest, pastor, rabbi, church, synagogue or any created being the authority to dismiss or change what God has called holy? The Catholic Church actually boast that they have the authority to change the very words of God especially in regard to Sabbath.

“Ask [the Protestant] why he keeps Sunday, and not Saturday, as his day of rest, since he is unwilling either to fast or to abstain. If he reply that the Scripture orders him to keep the Sunday, but says nothing as to fasting and abstinence, tell him the Scripture speaks of Saturday or the Sabbath, but gives no commandment anywhere regarding Sunday or the first day of the week. If, then, he neglects Saturday as a day of rest and holiness, and substitutes Sunday in its place, and this merely because such as the usage of the ancient Church, should he not, if he wishes to act consistently, observe fasting and abstinence, because the ancient Church so ordained?”

Father Stephen Keenan, in his Catechism from 1898

They specifically tell you that there is no place in scripture that tells us to stop keeping the seventh day Sabbath and start keeping Sunday. They have dismissed God’s Plan of Salvation laid out in the Sabbath and the Seven Festivals of the Lord and instead advocate observing Easter and Christmas instead.

the strange perspective of Channakah -Antiochous conquered Israel and told them to NOT observe sabbath, dont circumcise, dont follow torah. dont keep holy days, eat pig, no temple/sacrifices.  council of n

Just a little note here - do you have any idea what the leaven of the pharisees that Jesus refers to actually is? When you study it out you will see that the pharisees did the very same thing that the church fathers did. The leaven or “what puffs up''“ is their pride in thinking that they know what God thinks!! They added to and took away from God’s words with their own opinions!!!! Both groups are just more than a little presumptuous. Our Creator warns us several times about adding to or taking away from what He has said.

Deuteronomy 4:2 | You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

Proverbs 30:6 | Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 | I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.

Revelation 22:18-19 | For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

The teachings of the mainstream church and the church “fathers” tell us of replacement theology. These teachings hide the truth of the Two Houses of Israel and the foundations of our faith. The teachings of rabbinical Judaism add many burdens to His word and separates us into enemies because it is their opinion that the Messiah hasn’t come yet. We have lost our identity and we are confused because of the doctrines of men.

So what is it that separates us?!!!

God’s family includes all of those who believe in Him and the One He sent as Savior. God knows each person who is a member in His family. No other person can say that you are or are not a child of God! You are who God says you are!!! Those who hold faith with Him regardless of what church or synagogue they attend or even if they attend none - are His Children. His covenant with Abraham includes all of us as one family! Many nations but one Kingdom and the name of that Kingdom is Israel! When He scattered Israel into the nations He sowed the seeds of future Believers. We are grafted in or born of Israel. Our Father considers all of us as His children. Again the challenge here is to read the words of God instead of the doctrines or opinions of men! God defines HIS Family! His words to us promise a great harvest of believers to join our family through the Tribulation. All of His family will be gathered up in this end time Tribulation Exodus.

While we are on the topic of opinions (personal doctrine) let us examine how often our personal opinions can cause strife in our family. Do we try to define another person with our own words and beliefs? Do we manage some one else with our opinions? Sometimes we act indeed like squabbling siblings! The overwhelming need to “fix” someone else is destructive to our family. Everybody has opinions either loudly spoken or silently held or some where in between. I’ve heard a saying that helps me keep my own opinions in check. “Opinions are like armpits. Everybody has two and they both stink!”

Romans 14:4 | Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

It is of little matter if we consider ourselves as Christian or Messianic. We can all be led astray by endless discussion. Unless we are grounded in the clear understanding of God’s words we can separate His words into a multitude of our own opinions. Seek out teachers who do not add or take away from God’s words. Seek out teachers who take seriously their responsibility and the admonition of personal accountability. Above all we need to realize that the Holy Spirit will lead us into truth and we are accountable for how we respond to it.

There are so many flavors of Christian and Messianic believers. When we read scripture and seek to hear the truth that God is speaking we often hear from the viewpoint of previously heard sermons, lessons and teachings that we have learned in the past telling us of another’s interpretation of scripture instead of God’s truth. We are taught from scripture but we are not taught scripture. How do we learn to hear with clean ears? How much of what we believe is supposition based on what we were taught by anybody’s opinion? We have to be willing to let go of everything (as well as our own opinions) we were taught and learn to simply read and believe the words God is speaking to us. Our eternal life is founded on the reality of our personal relationship with God and  our personal responsibility of believing the truth spoken by the Source of Truth! Not a personal opinion. Not any person has the right to re-word what God has said! How do we get to just God’s word and not anybody’s opinion? You can not have a personal relationship with the Messiah based on somebody else’s words or opinions of how to do it! No other person can teach, speak or pray you into a personal relationship with God. Organized religion can not teach you how to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. No religion will get you into the Kingdom of God.

WAKE UP!   WAKE UP!   WAKE UP!   PLEASE!

Jeremiah 2:13 | For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And carved themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

We often prefer the teachings of men instead of the presence and leading of the Holy Spirit to understand God’s word. It is so much easier to let somebody else be responsible than to be responsible for ourselves. We have ever been uncomfortable with His personal presence.

Exodus 20:19 | Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

We are saved by faith! What is your faith in? God’s Word or man’s explanation of His word? Are we people of faith? A people so utterly convicted of God’s love that even death cannot persuade us otherwise. Do we bless others with our testimony? What is our testimony based on? Is it God’s words or people’s opinions of His words? We are a people blessed with the God given freedom to choose. We are all given the opportunity to work out our own salvation. Each of us individually will stand before God’s throne and be asked the question - Who did you believe? Who were you listening to? We can not find salvation in a man’s opinion of God’s words. Read and believe what our Messiah Savior is saying to us! 

LUKE 6:46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?

All those things that the enemy of our souls has used to deceive and divide us will be sorted out as we walk through the Tribulation Exodus to become fully His people and His witnesses. The Savior knows whom He has chosen and He pursues you, calls you and saves you! The Savior will lead you according to His promise.It is not our efforts or even our opinions that save is!  We are saved by the good pleasure of His Will!

Eph.1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 

God has promised that He will gather us from the ends of the earth and restore us to the Kingdom of His dear Son.(Col.1:13) His kingdom that is overflowing with righteousness and peace. His Kingdom that is based on truth!