ISSUE: #21

MEM

Message

"Fine" was his reply, as he thought of unpaid bills, the threat of losing his job, his sick wife, and their teenage son being incarcerated flood his mind. The look of fear and defeat in his eyes betray his response. Do I press him for a reality check? Can he confide in me to bear his soul? Will I have a comforting word or give him hope in a seemingly hopeless situation?

You cannot give what you do not have. Have you ever been faced with one who truthfully asks you for help or what they should do? Only to find you have no answers. We need to have such a relationship with our creator that He will give us what is needed to help those around us who seek help. We need to come humbly before the source of all blessing to receive so we can give.

There is no greater feeling of despair then not being able to help. The first thing we need of course is a heart (love) for the sick and hurting around us. Ask for the heart of Yeshua (Jesus), to be as He is, ask for His wisdom, compassion, love. When we have that we will be in tune to the needs of others. Then ask how we might help bring glory to His name by serving our fellowman.

We are being called to be priest (1 Peter 2: 9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ) to proclaim Him. A priest stands between man and Elohim (God) to represent the people before Him and to represent Him to the people.

I have been reading a book by Andrew Murray on Intercessory Prayer. Yeshua is our High Priest interceding for us - we are to follow in His footsteps and be as He is. This is a learning process but He gives us His Spirit to enable us to intercede for others as we ought. We are only the vessel; we must allow Him to use us as He wills.

May the Father bless you so you may bless others, to His glory.

Proverb

Proverbs 3:1 My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments; 2 For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you. 3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

Saying

Every situation properly perceived becomes an opportunity… Helen Schucman

Problems are only opportunities in work clothes. Igor Stravinsky

The cure for all the ills and wrongs, the cares, the sorrows and the crimes of humanity, all lie in the one word "love". It is the divine vitality that everywhere produces and restores life. ……………………..Lydia Maria Child

Bible Quiz

1. Who did Yeshua say was like a foolish man who built his house on sand?
2. After deserting Paul, Demas went to what place?
3. At the throne of grace, what may we receive in our time of need?
4. What did Abraham do when he was told that Sarah would have a child?
5. Who recovered an ax-head by causing it to float?
6. Who said, "Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain"?

Hebraic Lesson

The Shofar (Shophar) in Scripture

What is it? A curved horn (trumpet) made from the horn of a ram or other animal.

We find the shofar mentioned many times in the Bible. Let us look at a few examples.

Exodus 19:16,17,19 So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. (The word trumpet in this passage is actually the word shophar when we look into the Hebrew. Here we see the shofar being blown to announce to the people that the Almighty was about to speak to them.

Leviticus 25:9 You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of the atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. (Here we see the shofar is commanded to be sounded on the day of atonement)

Joshua 6:4-5 Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat… (Here we see the shofars being blown as they walked around Jericho)

Judges 7:22 When they blew trumpets (shophars), the LORD set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army… (The sound set fear into the enemy)

1 Kings 1:39 Zadok the priest then took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet (Shophar), and all the people said, "Long live King Solomon".

Psalms 150:3 Praise Him with trumpet (Shofar or rams horn) sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre.

This is only a small sampling of verses in the Old Testament where the word shofar or rams horn is used. It is often translated as trumpet. Let us look at a couple more verses in the New Testament.

(We find from the Septuagint, that the Greek word salpigx is used to translate shophar. I will select a few verses where the word salpigx was used.)

Matthew 24:31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet (shofar) and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other.

1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet (shofar); for the trumpet (shofar) will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

I would say the Bible gives a special significance to the shofar (ram’s horn).

Book Spotlight

By Andrew Murray

Bethany House publishers

Understanding the need of the church today. To come to the place where our work is to ask and receive from our Father what we (I) can give to others.

A life that abides in Christ and is filled with the Spirit is a life committed as a branch to the work of the Vine. It has the power to pray …the "effectual prayer that avails much."

Did you know:

LIFE IN THE 1500'S   IN MERRY OLDE ENGLANDE

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s: These are interesting...

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.  Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, and then the women and finally the children Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

I thought this might be a little far fetched until I visited a restored canal town of the mid to late 1800’s in central Ohio. During the summer the women wore bouquets of an herb with a strong scent. It seems the town was built along the canal which was as an open sewer. During the hot summer days when the rains stopped, the canal became a standing cesspool. The town only had one water well. But by this time, due to scientific, medical and technological advances (350 years after the above account); they had advanced to a bath once a week. Again the whole household took a bath in the same water in what looked like a half wooden barrel with handles. "Careful, ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.’"

Humor

The Washington Post recently published a contest for readers in which they were asked to supply alternate meanings for various words. The following were some of the winning entries:

Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

Carcinoma (n.), a valley in California, notable for its heavy smog.

Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightie.

Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash.

Bustard (n.), a very rude Metrobus driver.

Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon.

Flatulence (n.) the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

Semantics (n.), pranks conducted by young men studying for the priesthood, including such things as gluing the pages of the priest's prayer book together just before vespers.

The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are some recent winners:

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the reader who doesn't get it.

Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very high.

Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.

Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like a serious bummer.

Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a refund from the IRS, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

Bible Story

Preparing to enter Canaan

So Moses assembled the people on the east side of the Jordan, to convey to them their history in the wilderness and the Torah of YHVH. He encourages them to enter the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua and the hand of Elohim. The fighting men from Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh who have been given the land on the east side of the Jordan will join their fellow Israelites to take the land on the west side of the Jordan.

Deuteronomy 1:3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that the LORD had commanded him to give to them…

38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there; encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it.

2:7 "For the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing."‘

3:8 "Thus we took the land at that time from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon

21 "I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so the LORD shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.

22 ‘Do not fear them, for the LORD your God is the one fighting for you.’

28 ‘But charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go across at the head of this people, and he will give them as an inheritance the land which you will see.’

4:1 "Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

2 "You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

3 "Your eyes have seen what the LORD has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the LORD your God has destroyed them from among you.

4 "But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you.

5 "See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.

6 "So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

7 "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our YHVH whenever we call on Him?

8 "Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

9 "Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.

10 "Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’

Quiz Answers

1. Everyone who hears His words but does not put them into practice. - Matthew 7:26
2. Thessalonica - 2 Timothy 4:10
3. Mercy and grace - Hebrews 4:16
4. He laughed - Genesis 17:16-17
5. Elisha - 2 Kings 6:1-7
6. Ruth - Ruth 2:2