Shabbat shalom and welcome to the first sabbath of this tenth month. We are in the midst of the 'flu season which as you can see I am down with on top of everything else and I have to say I am as much surprised to be here as I know you are. I had intended to write a piece and publish it online later but I felt strongly impelled not only to talk to you about a completely different subject but to make a live recording too, the first I've made in at least a month. This will be a series entitled, The Way of Faithfulness. I don't know how far I will be able to get into this series before I am called for my operation but I will do what I can and resume again when I am sufficiently recovered.

I can just picture the talmidim (disciples) sitting down and listening to Yah'shua (Jesus) preach. Whenever I have theological perplexities I always pick up a red-letter Bible and I read Yah'shua's (Jesus') - and only Yah'shua's (Jesus') - words. I find I never get confused listening to Him speak. There's nothing complex or sophisticated about the Saviour's words. There's no fancy theology in them. He gets right to the heart of matters. I always find an anchor for my soul reading them. He doesn't relate personal experiences because He is the explanation of everything we experience. He doesn't struggle to make Himself clear as we do or one of the apostles like Paul might have. He is clear and concise, no gargantuan Pauline sentances! And if He needs to convey something potentially complex, He uses parables and make everything relatable. True, they are sealed to those who do not have the Ruach (Spirit) but those who share that Ruach (Spirit) are able to relate.

When you're fighting for your life you cut away all the junk. You just do. When you are staring death in the face, everything reduces to just one word: FAITH - what or who you believe in or trust. The spectre of death forces most to be honest. You see your sin with exaggerated contours. No pretending in death. "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come," Yah'shua (Jesus) said, "but woe to that person through whom they come" (Luke 17:1, NIV). I dare say we have all been the devil's instruments at times in our lives. Therefore Yah'shua (Jesus) sternly warns, "so watch yourselves" (Luke 17:3, NIV), and explains that the crime is so serious that it would be better had they never been born - effectively. He doesn't say who the people we specifically sin against are - He just calls them "little ones" (v.2) by which I assume He means innocent people, gentle people, kind people, those who didn't know better, those not so worldly-wise as to know how to defend themselves. And, of course, small children are a prime example.

The remedy is straightforward but not at all to the liking of the flesh:

"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him" (Luke 17:3-4, NIV).

After all, we're all guilty of the crime. We all deserve to be cast into the depths of the sea with a millstone around our necks, aren't we? Not always, obviously, but there are times... All we can do when we are on the receiving end is to forgive...again, and again, and again, seven being the number of completion, and by using it, Yah'shua (Jesus) means an pretty large number.

This teaching greatly troubled the apostles. They realised what the core issue was. And so they asked Him with, what I imagine to be, urgency in their hearts:

"Increase our faith!" (Luke 17:5, NIV).

Why do they need faith? Because they lack power. They lack the practical side of faith - emunah, in Hebrew - which is the kind of trusting that leads to the empowerment needed for affirmative and positive action. How am I going to to be empowered sufficiently to be able to keep on forgiving the one who abuses me, especially when I am innocent of an accusation? A false charge leaves such a bitter taste in the mouth, an aching in the stomach as though you've just been punched there.

Yah'shua's (Jesus') saying you can't avoid this in life. In fact, He makes it plain that it's going to be such a common thing - being assaulted that way - that your only way of not being broken-hearted, crushed and shutting-down is to forgive again, and again, and again. This is the default of mortal life though you may desperately seek a way to hide away completely from people who would do this to you. You can avoid the bad places but some will always find their way into your space - you can bet your bottom dollar that the Enemy will make sure.

But then, you see, you're doing it too - to others. It doesn't matter how carefully you pick the people you want to be with they're going to do this to you, and you're going to do it to them. And it doesn't have to be some big thing for it to hurt - the 'little ones', the innocents - are tender-hearted and vulnerable and can get hurt by such small things which the less tender wouldn't even notice at all. But it's the 'little ones' who are 'chief stock' of the Kingdom. Yahweh toughens these up but not in the world's way of making them unfeeling and hard like flint. He makes them immune without desensitising them. They can't be provoked or triggered because Messiah is in them. They don't belong to themselves any more. They just have too much shalom (peace) and simcha (joy) in Yah'shua (Jesus) to be phased. And that, friends, is the solution to all the 'snowflakiness' that is awash in this dysfunctional world.

No wonder the apostles asked, "Increase our faith!". After all, the Saviour did say that only the forgivers could themselves be forgiven by Him (Mt.6:12; Lk.11:4; 1 Jn.1:9).

If we are lacking in power and effectiveness it is because we lack faith. So here is a question for me and for you: How vigorous and vibrant is your faith? Is your faith just something you 'hold' or is it something that holds you? Do you believe Elohim (God) or do you just believe in Elohim (God)?

I interact a lot with sceptics and atheists as a scientist online. Scientists have to be sceptical to do good science yet there are plenty of scientists who are men and women of faith. You might be tempted to think that science and spirituality are diametrically opposed disciplines. In a sense they are but they are also complimentary. Actually, the Bible tells us to be good scientists. Paul said, "Test everything. Hold on to the good" (1 Thess.5:21, NIV) and "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves" (2 Cor.13:5, NIV). John said, "test the spirits to see whether they are from Elohim (God)" (1 John 4:1, NIV). Life's laboratory seems to be to be especially busy for the diligent talmid (disciple). There is just one thing to be exceedingly careful about, however: "Do not put the Yahweh your Elohim (God) to the test" (Luke 4:12, NIV). We can reason with Him, yes (Is.1:18) - we can discuss things openly, but it must be respectfully done. Elohim (God) doesn't need testing because He is reliable - always. But of course we do test him, and usually regret it.

I am always in the business of asking Yah'shua (Jesus) for an increase in faith and I try to encourage others to do the same. Start there. If you're sincere about this quest, then you need to be reminded of the next foundational emet (truth).

"The righteous ('just' - KJV) [person] will live by his faith" (Hab.2:4, NIV).

Obviously faith is not an option here - this is an obligation. It isn't a matter of personal preference, it's an absolute priority...even for scientists who often deny they live by faith. I guarantee that's impossible. Every single one of them believes in something. Ask the atheistic ones if they believe in evolution and the Big bang and geuss what they'll tell you? Yes they do! They can't prove either using the scientific method so for them these are tenets of their belief system.

Many of the greatest Bible expositors have said that for them the statement, "the just (or righteous) shall live by [their] faith[fulness]" is the greatest and most important one in the Scriptures. It certainly competes with John 3:16 for the first rank. It's been described as the hinge on which the doors of Scripture are opened. Why is this quotation from one of the so-called 'minor' nevi'im (prophets) regareded so very highly? Because it condenses into a single phrase an emet (truth) that is ubiquitous - everywhere - from Genesis to Revelation, and that truth is that the life which pleases Yahweh is the life of faith. Do you want to please Yahweh? Exercise faith!

Let me tell you first of all what faith isn't. It isn't something special which you hold in reserve to deal with difficult or perplexing situations. Yes, faith absolutely becomes important, if not critical, in difficult circumstances, but in its primary sense, biblical emunah (faith) is the underlying principle which governs all Christian/Messianic living, from start to finish.

Emunah (faith) is far more than a channel through which we receive special favours from Yahweh - it is a calling and it is a daily walk. It isn't just a 'force' or 'substance' in spiritual living - it is the focus of it. It isn't just an optional extra; it is an everyday necessity. And so here, then, is the crux - the inescapable issue - that we must first of all deal with by accepting the emet (truth) of it: we live by faith, or we do not live at all. Faith, then, in its primary sense, is not some extraneous thing introduced from without by Elohim (God).

We must live by it or perish spiritually. And, yes, there are plenty of people calling themselves 'Christian' or 'Messianic' who do not live by faith. Like I said, it is one thing to believe in Elohim (God) and another to actually believe Him, because believing Him always leads to action - to a 24/7 lifestyle.

We ought to spend a minute looking at the background of Habakkuk's famous line, "the righteous (just) shall live by his faith[fulness]" (Hab.2:4, ESV), so let's back up to the first chapter, second verse:

"O Yahweh, how long shall I cry for help, and You will not hear?" (Hab.1:2a, ESV)

"O Yahweh, how long must I call for help before You will listen?" (Hab.1:2a, TLB)

The navi (prophet) was confused and frustrated by the ever present evil round about. He could not understand why Elohim (God) did not intervene to restrain the evil nations around him, and was frustrated by Yahweh's apparent slowness in dealing with this issue. Doesn't that sound a bit like us in our circumstances so often? I guarantee every single believer experiences this. And like Habakkuk, after expressing his feelings, we tend to give up trying to reason things out, and instead take a leap of faith. Habakkuk decided to wait, as must we, if we are wise. And what do we next see? We see a result.

What shape does the result take? Well, those who are willing to wait for Yahweh to speak are never disappointed. This is a consistent pattern in Scripture. Have you perhaps forgotten the promises?

"Wait on Yahweh; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on Yahweh!" (Ps.27:14, NKJV).

"Evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on Yahweh, they shall inherit the earth" (Ps.37:9, NKJV).

"But those who wait on Yahweh shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" (Isa.40:31, NKJV).

So would anyone like to hazzard a guess what happened next in the Habakkuk narrative?

"And Yahweh answered me..." (Hab.2:2a, ESV).

When did Yahweh do that? After Habakkuk had indicated his willingness to wait. That's the key. If you won't wait, you won't get an answer. How long must we wait? That depends. Abraham had a long wait until he was 99 for the promise of the messianic heir. Habakkuk did not have to wait long.

What do you need in order to successfully wait? Yes, you've guessed it, patience! And what do we typically have to experience to develop patience? (I know you don't want to answer that one). Oppositions, obstacles, trials, difficulties, frustrations and tribulations. How long do these last? As long as is necessary. If you've having to wait, then in all likelihood there is something you need to fix or have fixed in you.

So, once Habakkuk had indicated sincerely his willingness to wait by humbling himself (that where meekness comes from) and not throwing a tantrum, or sulking, or occupying himself with something unrelated (i.e. wasting time with either lawful or unlawful things which aren't in Yahweh's), or whatever it is you do to avoid what needs doing, then the vision came to the navi (prophet) and he was told that "the righteous live by their faith (or faithfulness)" (Hab.2:4, NRSV), words he was told to inscribe on tablets, not so that he who reads may run, but that he who runs may read! There's a big difference.

So have you been loyal to Yahweh? To your spouse? To your parents? Have you been faithful to your vows and covenants? To your obligations and responsibilities generally? If you haven't, you need to go right back to where you ceased living faithfully because nothing will happen until you sort all that out. Get back on track.

Those who tear through life, never pausing for prayerful thought and consideration, must get hold of this or else they are at the mercy of every wind and circumstance. Are you rushing through life trying to resolve the world's problems? Then stop and get a hold of this:

"The righteous will attain life through trusting faithfulness" (Hab.2:4, CJB).

Yahweh knows what He is doing - so just trust Him. Hold onto that, and never again will your feet slip and slide on the rocky slopes of life. You will be able to say, along with Habakkuk:

"Yahweh-Elohim is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights" (Hab.3:19, NIV).

May Yahweh bless your week and grow your faith. We'll meet again next week, Yah willing, by which time I hope this winter woe will be past and everyone is back again! Amen.