MEM

The Apostle John was indeed a man of unusual character. He was able to sense the importance of concepts. He analyzed all the events of his contact and instruction from Messiah and presented what he understood to be what is necessary for rounding out our relationship with our Savior.

When reading the account about Nicodemus in the book of John, beginning in chapter 3, we encounter an unusual conversation. Note Yeshua’s comment to Nicodemus:

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;
2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

How do you get from Nicodemus’s statement to the Kingdom of God? Simple, Yeshua’s message from the beginning was about the Kingdom
(Mark 1: 14-15 …Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.").

Going on in John 3:

5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Nicodemus was confused, what was Yeshua trying to say?

7 "Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

10 Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?

Yeshua gave Nicodemus the point of His declaration.

14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; (Numbers 21:4-9)
15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

It seems that Nicodemus came to Yeshua under cover of darkness; Yeshua was telling him that those who have evil deeds like the darkness; they hate the Light. So if you want to enter the Kingdom of God, you must come to the Light, repent (be changed, have your evil deeds extinguished, be born again) and believe in the Son to have eternal life.

There is the need to come to the Light, to be born of the Spirit, and manifested deeds that come from Elohim. This requires us to believe.

Looking up Believe in Strong’s we find:

Interesting that Believe here is a verb denoting an action.

Yet Strong’s says believe is taken from the word Faith:

So to believe requires faith to have a relationship with Elohim regarding the salvation we have in Yeshua that will allow us to obtain eternal life in the Kingdom.

Going on in Strong’s we find faith is taken from the word Persuade:

To believe is more than just saying, "I believe!" Looking at the words we should first be persuaded to do something to have faith that Yeshua redeemed us that we might have a relationship with the Father. Then believe His promise of eternal life; the entrance into the Kingdom of God. It is to be persuaded, to have confidence in, to listen, to obey, to yield, and to comply with; to trust, to have assurance, to be committed to His way, His leading, His word. In other words we must be born of the Spirit, which is the grace of Elohim, to empower us … so that his (our) deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.

Undoubtedly Nicodemus took what Yeshua told him to heart; he became a disciple of the Light. He openly defended Yeshua and was ridiculed (John 7:46-52) and he helped care for Yeshua’ body after His crucifixion (John 19:38-42).

May we be persuaded to seek the truth and come to the Light to have our evil deeds eradicated, to be born of the Spirit and believe that … God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life; and then … enter into the kingdom of God. Blessed be YHVH!

Speaking of wisdom and life:

Proverbs 3:18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her…

Proverbs 8:35 "For he who finds me finds life And obtains favor from the LORD.

Proverbs 10:16 The wages of the righteous is life…

Proverbs 13:14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life…

Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD leads to life…

It is evident that one must trust, believe, hold in high esteem YHVH the source of wisdom and life.

To love what you do and feel that it matters - how could anything be more fun? Katharine Graham

We live now and will for eternity if we believe in Yeshua and are born of His Spirit. As evidence of this, our life in Him, should be filled with good deeds today, we should be filled with purpose, a zest for the love of Elohim and for mankind. That is what produces real joy; could anything be any better than that.

1. In Matthew 24:27, with what natural occurrence is the coming of Messiah compared?
2. What book gives the account of the Israelites’ departure from Egypt?
3. Where was Yeshua led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil?
4. In which city were the disciples first called Christians?
5. Under what conditions would Jeroboam and all Israel serve Rehoboam?
6. Who was Laban’s sister?
7. Who said, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?"

In our pursuit of humility:

His (Yeshua’) humility was simply the surrender of himself to God, to allow Him to do in Him what He pleased, regardless of what men might say of Him or do to Him.

It is in this state of mind, in this spirit and disposition, that the redemption of Christ has its virtue and efficacy. It is to bring us to this disposition that we are made partakers of Christ. This is the true self-denial to which our Savior calls us, the acknowledgment that self has nothing good in it, except as an empty vessel for God to fill. Andrew Murray

When we hear the good news of the gospel of the Kingdom of God we need to realize a mighty change has to take place in our life. In all humility we must empty our selves of our way and be born again; filled with His Spirit. To have a relationship with our Creator – nothing else matters.

"Most Important List"

The most destructive habit ________________ Worry

The greatest joy _________________________ Giving

The greatest loss ________________________ Self respect

The most satisfying work _________________ Helping others

The ugliest personality trait _______________ Selfishness

Our greatest natural resource ______________ Our youth

The greatest "shot in the arm" _____________ Encouragement

The greatest problem to overcome __________ Fear

The most effective sleeping pill ____________ Peace of mind

Somebody actually gave me a nice compliment on my driving today. They left a little note on the windshield: "Parking Fine".

I know I married Miss Right. I just didn’t know her first name was Always.

You know you’re grown up when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.

Families are like fudge; mostly sweet, with a few nuts.

Sign on a plumber’s truck: A FLUSH BEATS A FULL HOUSE.

Don’t be pessimistic. It won’t work.

The goal in life is to die young as late as possible.

I was out planting bulbs… daffodils, crocus and muscari, in my garden and had a great revelation. Okay, perhaps it wasn’t that great and magnificent in the grand scheme of the world, but it gave a physical example to the message that I had heard last Sabbath. It was about hope and what the meaning of hope is: To look forward with confidence and expectation to something good that will happen. Often we say that we hope for something but don’t really expect that it will happen. Like when we look up at a stormy sky on the way to the beach and say, "I hope it doesn’t rain". When in actuality we are just wishing that it wouldn’t despite the 70% chance of rain forecast. We don’t expect the outcome to be positive. While I was putting the little brown bulbs in the ground, I realized that I was hoping for beautiful flowers early next spring. I am expecting beautiful flowers next spring because my hope is placed in the knowledge that if I put the bulb in the ground, water it and let it get cold, Yahweh will cause it to grow into beautiful flowers. Yahweh is my hope. I am expecting wonderful things.

(in more ways than one)

The keeping of the estate had its ups and downs like any other job. Bill followed Van around the properties again and again. It seemed as though Van was studying the lay of the land to get a feel for the possibilities of their productiveness. Each evening Van would instruct Bill on the finer points of law and rights. He showed Bill how to determine the quality of the ground and how to find the best potential use for it throughout the estate.

Van seemed to be hard on Bill as he tested him again and again on what he was being taught. That was not all; Van would set him and Mabel down each evening for a Bible study. Often the oil lamp had to be lit as the study would last into the dark hours. This was not a burden for Bill or Mabel, they loved God’s Word and Van had an excellent teaching voice as he spoke with authority. Van taught them things they never heard in their Sunday Church. He opened the Scriptures to them from the Old as well as the New Covenant.

Bill and Mabel were instructed about the whole Bible. How it is all God’s Word. That what was written still applied today; none of it is done away with. Van carefully explained how all the Commandments needed to be applied to have a relationship with their Creator. Night after night the young couple drank in the teachings as they were pointed out to them from the written Word.

The very first thing they were taught and put into practice was the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week set aside by the Creator as His special time. A time of rest and worship, of singing, of teaching, of reflecting on the Creator and His creation. Van showed them in scripture how Yeshua (Jesus) kept the Sabbath, as did the Apostles. Van did not keep Bill or Mabel from attending their Sunday keeping church. Sunday night after the chores and other task were done Van would quiz them about what they learned at their church and how Scriptural the teachings were. He was teaching them to question man’s customs and traditions in light of what Scripture taught. Van tried to instill in them moral and ethical traits from the Word; and that their lives needed to reflect the working of God’s Spirit in and through them.

Week after week Bill and Mabel grew. They were able to recognize the hand of God in their lives and in others. They practiced and memorized Scripture. They learned to pray with fervor and joy. They were learning how to put God first and how to love others. They looked forward to their study time with Van with great anticipation.

Van taught them how to apply what the Scriptures said about their work. How they were to be responsible for the land and the animals. How to be wise stewards with Mr. Hargrove’s goods. How to be fair and just in dealing with the other tenants according to YHVH’s teaching.

In all this the long days on the land from sun-up to almost sun-down were spent in putting up fences along the boundaries, stopping erosion and water run-off. They repaired some buildings while tearing down some. They built a new barn for horses and farm machinery. They purchased beef cattle and put them to pasture. They tilled the ground and hand sowed hay seed and grains.

Van advised Bill on how to keep good records and checked over the monthly reports he sent to Mr. Hargrove.

An opportunity came up to have a business man set up a saw mill on one of the streams next to a large stand of hardwood trees. Van, Bill and Mabel prayed for wisdom and asked for direction about the mill. They discussed the potential good and or drawbacks. All indications were positive. Soon a contract was drawn up concerning the time, the selective cutting of trees, the percentages of sharing in the profits and the responsible accounting of all transactions.

This turned out to be one of the profitable ventures in which Bill was to be involved. He was able to show a profit that was used to develop other ventures on the Hargrove Estate. More beef cattle were purchased and put on the Smith section of land and part of the abandoned area. Fencing was put up to keep them from entering the fields of grain and hay.

As the year progressed they started mowing and putting up hay. By this time Mabel was stronger and healthier. She was able to handle the horses as they pulled the wagon for harvesting the hay. She also became a better cook by learning what foods were fit to eat from God’s Word. Doc. Benson had made a couple of more calls and gave Mabel a clean bill of health. In fact he was impressed by her healthier life style and her zeal for life. When he asked Mabel about it she promptly replied, "The Savior made all the difference."

As Mabel continued to grow stronger she made it a practice to visit the Smith place once a week. Mrs. Smith would teach her about cooking, sewing, raising chickens, milking cows, making butter and caring for new born animals. In return Mabel would bring her purchased items from town like cloth, salt, tea and coffee. In their conversations Mabel would share with her about what she was learning from the Scriptures, whenever the Smiths would ask; especially when they could see such a change in this young lady’s life.

Next time: Time to go it alone.

1. Lighting - Matthew 24:27

2. Exodus

3. Into the desert - Matthew 4:1

4. Antioch - Acts 11:26

5. If he would lighten the load Solomon had placed on them - 1 Kings 12:3-4

6. Rebekah - Genesis 28:5

7. Peter - Matthew 18:21