Our reading today on this the first sabbath of the New Year, the first sabbath of the Month of Blossoms, and the sabbath immediately before the feast of Pesach (Passover) is the last verse of that long meditation on the Torah (Law) that is Psalm 119:

"I have strayed like a lost sheep; come, search for Thy servant, for I have not forgotten Thy commandments (mitzvot)" (Ps.119:176, NEB)

And so it was at dawn yesterday I found the davar (word) that Yahweh wanted me to share with you today in this, O so very different, segment of spiritual time, in this, O so very new year, pregnant with possibility and newness of life. To you who are struggling for answers to vexing problems, to you who are alone and in search of companionship, to you seeking a career path, to you seeking a spouse, to you seeking spiritual renewal, to you seeking a job, to you seeking a home, and to you seeking the face of Yahweh, I say this under the anointing of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit): you have your answer, for He is near, and approachable, and ready to speak to you today.

In my searching for a sermon topic this last week, and coming up with no answers until yesterday morning on the very 'day before' the sabbath, I finally understood what Yahweh was doing in, and with, this renewed time. When you are waiting for something new to happen, it rarely happens the way you want or expect. Every dawning is different because time is sanctified by the Creator to bring forth continual newness. We are lost sheep in so many different ways but in particular in the sense that we really don't have too great a grasp of what is going on in the Divine Stream of Events. We come to expect 'this' or 'that' only to discover that Yahweh has intended something entirely different. He comes, not so much with 'more of the same', but with more of His original intent for us. So do not be perplexed by the times, which come and go like the dew of the morning when the sun's rays strike it, but be anxious only to maintain your feet on the Rock that is establishing us in new callings and new realisations:

"He set my feet on a rock,
and gave me a firm footing;
and on my lips He put a new song,
a song of praise for our Elohim (God)"
(Ps.40:2b-3a, NEB)

Now if I am sounding slightly mystical this today, it is true, because the searching and longing of the last week has given way to something very beautiful in my life. I have seen, and I hope you will see too, incredible order and purpose in the apparent chaos that is rapidly unfolding in the world. And we sometimes tend to forget in the whirling movement of matter, whether it be the waters of the sea being tossed back and forth, that there is an orderliness. Every molecule in those heaving waters of the ocean is uniquely constructed. It displays the Creator's signature. The chemist always knows its formula, the physicist its vibration, the biologist its journey into and out of living matter, and the man of Elohim (God) its ordered place. Every drop of water you drink has been a part of someone else's body in recent time and passed back into nature. It is rising and falling under the impact of great currents caused by the gravity of the moon but sometime soon it will become an essential part of some human being's body and be assigned its place.

Yahweh has brought us all to this point of time, in this divine sabbath appointment (moed) for a purpose, if we will be but still a while and listen (Ex.14:14; Neh.8:11; Ps.37:7; 46:10; Zech.2:13). To do that we must cease our tumult and commotion. To do that, we must shift our gaze from the ever changing, formeless ocean and to the shapes that Yahweh is creating now. You and I all too often look at events and despair if they contain any meaning. We think we are prisoners when we are free, and we think we are free to do whatever we want when He has a place for each of us in a Divine Scheme that initially makes no sense because we have no conscious-awareness of it...yet. There is no overall randomness where life is present even though the journey to that place may appear random to us, even weird at times, even outrageous - outrageous because we are so determined to succeed at our own schemes when they are so hopelessly misaligned with Yahweh's. Nevertheless, however wrongly pointed we may be, He prods and pushes, ever so gently, until we are facing in the right direction of the place He wants us to be.

There is nothing quite like a walk in nature to clear our minds of misaligned thoughts. My half-brother was a great mountain-climber in his youth. I knew a number of mountain-climbers and I always thought they were crazy in what to me seemed to be a needlessly dangerous hobby. But we need mountain-tops to get clarity, and getting to mountain-tops requires effort and risk. If you want clarity, you have to be prepared to take risks. To get anywhere significant or important, you have to take risks. The mountain-top will not come to you; you have to go to the mountain-top. But to do that safely, we need a Shepherd to guide us there - the very same Shepherd we seek to meet and consult there! Isn't that ironic? The Shepherd of our souls takes us to a place to meet Him, yet He was by our side all along. Why is that? Why not speak to us in the valley? Because it is only in the rarified, purern spiritual air of the mountain-top that we can finally see and hear Him and understand His calling to us. The difference is the Ruach, the Spirit, in which we bathe. Sometimes we must travel far to discover what was always near.

Nothing worthwhile it attained without a struggle because there is a pull within us constantly trying to take us in a wrong direction that must first be resisted and then ignored. If we stay too long in the valley, it is the negative pull that we only experience. Once in the heights, that negative pull is weakened and another pull - the Divine Pull, which has been tugging at us all along to climb up to it - becomes visible and finally takes the reins of self-control out of our hands. This tussle between the flesh and the spirit is ongoing and will remain as long as we are in these mortal bodies. It is a tussle that enormously frustrates us because there are always two biddings going on at any one moment in time, and so long as we are indecisive about which to choose, we will remain locked in an unyielding and wearying battle. So climb that mountain. There is a pleasant cabin waiting for you at the top where you can settle down and gaze over the mountain-tops until your eye finally alights on to the highest one of all, let's call it 'Mount Zion', where Yahweh lives.

Down on the earth, down in the valley of mortality, a man-made version of 'Zion' is in chaos. I speak now of the Republic of Israel where Yahweh is causing a major division, the kind of division which, though frightening at its front lines because it is violent and frought with danger, is absolutely necessary in every part of Creation if Yahweh's purposes are to be achieved. Once such division was prophesied in Berlin as a picture of this spiritual dividing both because it was unnaturally divided physically in the Cold War and because such a spiritual division would later come even after reunification (OB 279:11-12). There is a battle between what one might call 'spiritually-aligned' Israelis (at least in terms of pointing in the right spiritual direction, even if they are still out in the wilderness of blindness) and the forces of the Antichrist that we have been speaking so much of in our recent Bible course on the Book of Revelation. It's the same in every country currently but this mid-eastern nation is essential to the counterfeit's plot to deceive mankind; and the current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is threatening élite plans with his own attempt to democratise the judiciary. So please pray for him and for the innocents caught up in this power-play. I do not know at this point whether this has anything to do with the vision I saw of a tidal wave about to strike a sea shore this morning (I suspect is it more general) but we need to ever be on the alert in this time of rapid change. Please also pray for Messianic Jews in that country who are coming under increasing persection by the authorities.

We too must wrestle with the contradictions in this probationary world as well as the contradictions within our own souls, until there is a choosing and a proper separation of light and darkness. Once we see the opposites clearly, we must not delay - we must take the risk and choose the right. Things separate before our eyes for the express purpose of our choosing, something that goes on every day and every minute. Some of the choices we make we make are big ones but mostly we are making thousands of small choices. Don't underestimate the importance of the little choices because cumulatively - taken together - they make a major contribution to the energy and dynamic of our choosing when big choices have to be made too. So the littlest of things matter - a lot. No little commandment is unimportant and our attitude toward them does affect our attitude toward the bigger ones. Each right choice, however tiny, establishes our integrity. Therefore do not despise them, or the sensitivity required to keep them in view. They matter in the same way we handle our finances - 'you take care of the pennies (cents),' my mother used to tell me, 'and the pounds (dollars) will take care of themselves.' Do not despise the little things, in the same way that Yahweh does not despise a "broken and contrite heart" as the arrogant man does (Ps.51:17, NIV). You see, the effect of obedience to the little mitzvot (commandments) will be to enable you to obey the bigger ones that will substantially - radically - change the direction of your life.

The most important of these choices are, in order of importance:

• 1. Choosing Christ - a refusal to choose Him is by choice a default to make a choice for the devil, leading to a journey of confusion and unnecessary suffering;
• 2. Choosing marriage companions - choosing one not willed by Christ is by default a choice for chaos and unhappiness;
• 3. Choosing where on this vast world where we are supposed to live - choosing the wrong place at any moment in time means that events Yahweh wills for you cannot easily happen without considerable struggle; and
• 4. Choosing a career or vocation - choosing the wrong one will mean missing the people He wants you to interact with so you can both bless them, and they you, in your spiritual journey, amongst other things.

You can add to the list. But there are problems with spiritual perception that need to be taken into account. Some choices that seem right turn out to be wrong, and some choices that seem wrong turn out to be right. We can't calculate accurately using our own intellect and experience alone which of these choices is right without the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of true prophecy very much depends on the first of your choices: whether you are going to follow Christ or your own unreeemed carnal nature, which is the spirit of Antichrist (Rev.19:10). Our choices, big and small, are actually always very simple ones. The choices only get complicated and confusing if out first choice was wrong. Therefore always go back to the first choice in any chain of choices in any perplexing situation.

Untangling and understanding all the threads produced by millions of small wrong choices and wrong big choices, retracing the wrong path-taking through mapping, is usually beyond our ken. That's why we are given a Shepherd - actually, many shepherds, some permanent (like Christ and husbands), some semi-permanent (like parents and pastors), and some temporary (like the many passing friendships we make). Who we choose to lead us - and we all choose to be led to one degree or another, even if we deny it is happening and believe we are 100 per cent independent, by the many people we meet who seem more knowledgeable, more experienced, than ourselves - is important. Choose your mentors wisely and don't put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to human counsel.

The trouble is, many of these 'shepherds' are false ones. Scripture warns against such shepherding by those whose worldviews are not biblical and whose lives do not reflect the one Christ ordained for us. More challenging is perhaps the fact that those who seem to have a biblical worldview actually have a worldview that is a dangerous mixture, enabling falsehoods to be hidden under coatings of truth. Little and large poisoned pills are everywhere around. Be sure the Ruach (Spirit) leads you away from these. You'll get the warning signs if you listen carefully. Children are attracted to shiny things as we are to the expensive and fancy spiritual coats that false people wear. Dig deep. Climb the mountain-top regularly for better perspective through consistent prayer. For down in the valley every truth has a counterpart crafted by the devil which he sugar-coats to get us to swallow and be poisoned by it.

Many are the deceptions of the enemy. You only have to consider how wicked men and women use the Bible to justify tyranny. How is it possible to succeed in that? By decontextualising the Davar (Word) - taking it out of its proper setting and trying to fix it it to a false one. The only solution - I repeat, the only solution to that nightmare scenario - is to get to know the Davar (Word) well and apply it daily. You have to know it inside and outside. You have to read it and study it and approach it with prayer so that you can be guided to the parts you need to be reading at any one moment in time, and to those whose knowledge and experience who can accurately expound those parts in depth.

We started with Psalm 119:176 today because that's where I was led do in response to my prayer as to where we should start together this afternoon on this set-apart moment of time. Prior to that my mind had been a completely blank. And if you hadn't noticed it already, today's sermon is a little out of the ordinary, and not what I would usually preach. The revelation came yesterday morning and not sooner because my heart needed to be kindled by other situations, its soil turned and aerated by events and people. You see, when you are in the right place at the right time with the right people, things start coming together because Yahweh uses many sources to cultivate our souls.

And I have been in the Psalms a lot recently, more so than at any other period in my Gospel life. Would you be surprised if I told you that after the Book of Revelation, I have found the Psalms to be the most baffling part of the Bible? You see, as I have been saying now in several assemblies, the Psalms are all about life, living, and the perplexities of both...which is why they are so invaluable. They pull no punches, make no attempt to conceal human weakness (especially doubting), and speak to reality. We have to confront reality. We have to be real or else we are living in fantasy-land - a cloud-cuckooland - where the devil relishes the opportunity to present you with everything your carnal desires could possibly want or be tempted by, usually through people who have their own self-interest at the top of their list of priorities.

The thing about the Psalms is that they are so varied in their moods, just like us. They are incredibly human. But they are also a place where the Divine intersects with our humanity, as in all the Bible, to bring order out of chaos and hope out of despair. The Bible is a cooperative effort between man and his Creator. It bears the hallmarks of both, and we should expect that. And when the two meet, all kinds of interesting spiritual reactions occur. The soft and meditative psalms, for instance, have been used to justify withdrawing from the world altogether into monasteries and nunneries. We're not supposed to withdraw from the world permanently but only for short periods to spend time with Elohim (God). The penitential psalms have been used to justify endless overscrupulous navel-gazing. The celebrations of Creation in the psalms have been misused to express, what one writer calls, "a soggy, romantic pantheism" [1]. Taking Scripture out of context, focussing on only one kind of Scripture (only love, and no law, for instance), leads to abuse of the Scripture. As I keep saying, its a complete Story line and must be read from beginning to end like reading a Saga or watching a TV series, and not just mined here and there for things that appeal to us and then have them restitched to create a new (and false) denominational 'storyline'. If we want to be whole, we have to take the Bible as a whole too, not just the bits we like.

Remember, the abuse of Scripture does not cancel its use. Likewise, don't be so shallow as to reject people because they are imperfect and make mistakes - we're all 'works in progress' - and don't reject Scripture because the badly stitched-together human paraphrase versions of it distort what it really says. The Body of Christ is a mixture of all sorts of people - they are all called to be the allegorical wife of Christ, not just the ones we 'get along' with necessarily. We're all pilgrims on a journey needing continuous ministry, we're all learning, growing, sometimes falling down, sometimes going off in the wrong direction - we are all sheep, and we all get lost in little woods, big forests, parched deserts and in boats on stormy seas from time to time.

We're here to rescue one another as proxies of the Great Shepherd. I was telling a friend the other day that a minister I trust the most and listen to the most is totally unknown by 99.9999999 per cent of Christians. Yahweh's shepherds who are themselves the sheep of the Great Shepherd are mostly unknown because they don't sing the competing and disjunctive songs of the valley but the echad or united heavenly chorus of the mountain-top! They don't advertise themselves as the wannabe 'big stars' do. They don't appear on big, glossy posters in fancy outfits like celebrities and they're not constantly taking selfies of themselves for people to admire. They work in the background, selflessly serving, not seeking the limelight. I personally run a mile from the 'big stars' because most of them are counterfeits. Our thanks and reward come from the invisible Elohim (God), not the noisy plaudits and razzmatazz of men in garish public places or in giant online communities lacking intimacy and soul. It's one-on-one and in small groups that the best things happen.

Every true narrative has a counter-narrative. You all know the story of the Flood and what Noah was called to do. His calling was to rescue a Remnant while Yahweh removed all the rest, compromised by gross sin and wickedness as they were. The other day I came across a counter-narrative created by the devil. In that, the motives of Yahweh and Noah were mixed together and turned upside down. In this satanic version, Noah was the 'Destroyer', taking the place of Yahweh, and his only motive was selfish - to save himself and his family at the expense of millions of innocents. In this version, Noah became the 'bad guy', the Avenger and Destroyer, not the meek and humble servant of the Righteous Elohim (God) bringing deserved judgment to the world.

Every part of the Bible is twistable, and has been twisted over the ages, to make out the 'good guys' to be the 'bad guys', including Elohim (God) Himself. What was the last phrase of today's passage? "For I have not forgotten Thy commandments"; yet such passages of Scripture are used not only by those professing Christians who have forgotten His commandments but who positively hate and revile against them. The psalmist admits he is a lost sheep in spite of being a commandment-keeper. So what does he actually mean? How can you be a commandment-keeper, as we all should and must be, and yet be lost?

Here we need to be careful. You see, I have already phrased my questions to get you to think in a certain way. I asked, playing devil's advocate, "How can you be a commandment-keeper, as we all should and must be, and yet be lost?" Understand that I twisted the meaning of the Scripture - in this case deliberately - as a teaching point, though most do this sort of thing unconsciously because they are reading in things that aren't there. They are viewing Scripture from a preconceived perspective using a lens usually crafted by theologians and Bible teachers with an axe to grind. The psalmist isn't saying he is a commandment-keeper, in the sense that he is faithfully keeping all the commandments, is he? He knows he ought to be, he wants to, but has failed to. This reminds us of Paul somewhat, doesn't it? (Rom.7:14-25), and he admits that he is "a slave to Elohim's (God's) law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin" (Rom 7:25, NIV). The Psalm says, "I have not forgotten your commands" (NIV), just forgotten to do them - or deliberately ignored them (we're not told which). Indeed, we have potentially committed another sin and that is to take the verse in question out of context.

How so? Well, Psalm 119 is long for a reason: it was written in praise of the Torah (Law) which so many Christias repudiate and attack as being something that Yahweh has 'done away with' in Christ on the cross, twisting or misunderstanding the teaching of Paul who was speaking of the severe penalties for breaking the Torah which we may now forego through repentance and faith in the atoning blood of our Messiah to wash away our sins. When you read, sing, pray or say Psalm 119 out loud, you are acknowledging the validity and necessity of our Heavenly Father's rules. All of them. You can't possibly quote it and use it corectly if you are in denial of them or any part of them.

The Psalm is divided into 22 sections, each section corresponding to one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, starting with Alef (the equivalent of the Greek Alpha or our own 'A') and ending with Taw (the equivalent of the Greek Omega, the modern Hebrew Tav and our Latin 'Z'). Verse 176, which I read to you at the start, is part of the Taw (Omega or Z) section. Reconsider its meaning now as I read all the verses to you of this section (I will use the Jerusalem Bible, which is based on an excellent French translation):

"Yahweh, may my cry approach Your presence;
let your Davar (Word) endow me with perception!
May my entreaty reach Your presence;
rescue me as You have promised.
May my lips proclaim Your praise,
since You teach me Your statutes (chuqqim)
. May my tongue recite Your promises,
since all your commandments (mitzvot) are righteous
. May Your hand be there to help me,
since I have chosen Your precepts.
I long for You, Yahweh, my Saviour (Deliverer),
your Torah (Law, Teaching) is my delight.
Long may my soul live to praise You,
long be Your rulings my help!
I am wandering like a lost sheep:
come, and look for Your servant" (Ps.119:169-176a, JB).

That's where the Taw, Omega or 'Z' section ends. The last part of verse 176 is a summary of the whole Psalm and is tacked onto the very end: it reads:

"No, I have never forgotten Your commandments (mitzvot)" (Ps.119:176b, JB)

"I have wandered away like a lost sheep; come and find Me, for I have not forgotten Your commands (mitzvot)" (v.176, NLT).

This is is the cry of repentance by one who knows, and loves, the mitzvot (commandments) but has failed to always do them. He hasn't forgotten what they are - he knows them well enough, and cherishes them. But much of Christendom has forgotten them because they have ignored them because they don't like them; and because they don't like them they have sought to explain them away as 'for [back] then' and 'not for [right] now'. They have let their false tradition mentally edit them out and so recontextualise Scripture (a polite way of saying 'twist' Scripture).

So the first order of business is knowing our Father's commandments (mitzvot) and teaching, don't you think? Without even knowing them you can't even begin to do what Psalm 119 talks about. That's what the summer Feast of Shavu'ot is all about which is what the coming Spring Festivals, which are all about centering in Christ, are preparing us for. What is Shavu'ot? The Feast of Weeks or Ekatost (better known as 'Pentecost'). What do we remember 'Pentecost' for in the Christian tradition? The endowment of the Ruach haQodesh or Holy Spirit that propelled the Messianic Community (Church) into the world for which the talmidim (disciples) had so earnestly and patiently waited.

But, dear friend - and perhaps you didn't know this or had forgotten it - these first Christians or Messianics were already grounded in Yahweh's commandments (mitzvot) before the spiritual outpouring at 'Pentecost', they were already living them to the best of their ability...and like the Psalmist, and Paul, failing whenever they tried to do so in their own flesh. And this is the main point: no true 'Pentecost' can happen without first a grounding in the mitzvot (commandments) of the Torah.

True tongues, amongst one of many things, cannot happen without a foundation of commandment-keeping. Anyone who repudiates this foundation will receive a false anointing - guaranteed! They will do as the Pentecostals and Charismatics do 99.99 per cent of the time - speak gibberish under the influence of false spirits instead of supernaturally speaking the Davar Elohim (Word of God) in known foreign languages for the purpose of evangelising unbelievers. Instead, they speak nonsense, like the 'woke' postmodernis folk do in search of self-gratifying sensationalism; they do it for selfish personal edification which isn't what Yahweh gave tongues for: they were given to Christ-trusting, commandment-keeping believers to convert unbelievers. Period! That's it, nothing more. So He won't give me the ability to supernaturally speak fluent Russian just so I can enjoy hearing myself supernaturally speaking Russian, either in the privacy of my own prayer closet or in the presence of a congregation of Amazonian tribes people! What would be the point of that? So why would He enable me to speak gibberish, which involved the utterance of meaningless sounds? Yahweh is an Elohim (God) of Order, not of chaos. He does nothing superfluously.All speech was created by Him to be spoken to be understood viâ ears and the brain. If I came up to you and started saying, 'Yabbab-dabba-dooby-do' over and over again, what would be the point, even if you sang it to a pleasant tune? That is the stuff of mental assylums.

So do as an Anglican friend of mine once did who, unable to speak a word of Chinese, went to Communist China in the days when Mao was still alive to smuggle Bibles and was given the true gift of tongues so he would witness the Gospel to the Chinese who knew no English at that time in the 1970's. He spoke fluent Mandarin under the true anointing...not for his own pleasure but for the unsaved lost in sin! HalleluYah! So until all this false tongue-speaking is repudiated, and there is a whole-hearted return to the mitzvot (commandments), with the same mindset as the Psalmist who adored the Torah consisting of intelligible words strung together to give meaning and enable communication, like Paul who said it was qadosh (holy, set-apart, pure - Rom.7:12), those who practice such lawlessness can never become part of the end-time Remnant because they will be deceived by those false tongue-promoting demons time and time again, and rail against those who love and practice Torah in Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus) as the apostles did. It is the very thing which they believe validates their faith (gibberish tongues) that is keeping them in bondage, making them blind and ignorant. It is such a stumbling block to so many lovely people who adore Christ, and I know many of them personally.

The whole demonic package must be utterly and totally repudiated and abandoned or there will be no forward movement for them spiritually. They will be stuck in their ways no matter how many worldly doctoral qualifications they have. Yahweh never puts new wine into old wineskins, let alone a compromised of damaged wineskin! If you are sill imitating the ways of the fallen church by speaking gibberish under the influence of spirits, or whatever false thing you delight in, you can never receive the Sukkot Anointing that we await and which is starting to trickle in because the false spirits in you will block or quench that Ruach (Spirit) as it seeks to enter you. It's a golden calf that needs smashing so the real gift can be selectively given to the few called to thus witness. And yes, I know, there are those amongst us and out there who do not believe me because these junk tongues are such an integral part of their lives, but that is part of the deslusion they are in. And I will not stop preaching against this dirty counterfeit. Do it the biblical way or not at all. Better to be silent than the mouthpiece of demons.

Now gibebrish 'tongues' is but one of a whole gammut of false practices and teachings that the Torah-believer is compelled to throw out - that those who operate in the true spirit of Psalm 119 will throw out. Even the greatest and most brilliant New Testament/Pauline scholar alive (in my view), the Anglican historian N.T.Wright, who has inspired me and taught me so much, and whose book on the Psalms was a springboard for this sermon, is stuck in this 'private prayer language/tongues'-thing and has a huge blind spot regarding the importance of practical Torah-living in the New Covenant. His brain has not saved him from this delusion. Being a scholar, as the Scribes were in the New Testament, does not guarantee your necessarily being on the right track in everything. Indeed, scholars can be amongst the most deceived because they often worship their grey-matter ahead of Elohim (God). Yahweh turns a blind-eye in the days of our ignorance and does not count our lawlessness as sin, but if we are serious about what I have been talking about today, we cannot walk around in this spiritual stupor any longer - not now, not in this time of penultinmate judgment and restoration, with eyes covered over by a thick veil preventing saved souls from realising what their heart wants most of all: to serve Yahweh faithfully in the fullness of His Ruach (Spirit).

What I have taught and preached and lived for the last 30 or so years has stirred up rage in the camps of the traditionalists who have sought to blacken my name and cancel my ministry at every opportunity because they do not like Yahweh's sabbath laws, His marriage laws, His financial law, His calendar, His dietary law, and a whole host of other divine principles that are anathema to ordinary Christians but which David thought about "all day long" and "loved". Do you admire the Psalms and the faithfulness of David (the blot of his adultery with Bathsheba, murder or her husband and several other terrible sins notwithstanding, for which he repented the rest of his life)? Do you appreciate this love he had for Elohim (God) and his genuione repentance as represented in the Psalms? Do you want to have a love and faith as he?

Then you must understand, admire and imitate David the sabbath-keeper, David the kosher-keeper, David the polygamist (if that's your calling), David the warrior, David the steward, David the beloved friend of Elohim (God) whose Name the Messiah proudly bore - the 'Son of David' [2] - you have no choice but to if you say you profess a love for the Davar (Word), if you are at all serious about doing what is right and being part of the Remnant to which everyone is called but few are chosen. Do not make apologies for him in areas of his life that require no apologising for: his sins are all exposed in the fullness of the day, so do not add to his sins by repudiating that which Yahweh says is good and wholesome, by falsely claiming that Yahweh has changed His mind about parts of His Law - fulfilled parts in Christ, yes, absolutely, like the Levitical system of animal sacrifices - but removed parts, never! You would hate it if someone accused you or being a sinner for observaing the Sabbath and not observing Saturdays or Sundays as the fallen churches do, so don't add to someone else's grief, especially when he is not alive to answer for himself, because that is lashon hara - the evil tongue!

To be sure, there are some things hard to understand in the Torah but that is because of our own imperfection, not any imperfection in Yahweh's Torah which Paul says is holy and perfect, and which Christ upheld to the last jot and tittle (Mt.5:17-20): He came to complete or fulfill the Torah, not remove it. Indeed, He added to it in order to make it complete, as when, for example, He said:

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder,' and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire'" (Matt.5:21-22, NKJV).

So don't ever accuse Yahweh or Christ of being anti-Torah or lawless because that is what the devil is (2 Thess.2:8-9)! Yahweh can never do wrong or make mistakes so don't you ever dare accuse Him of that just because you don't understand or like something He has said or done, or because you don't want to walk in His ways. Do not dishonour Him! Do not blot His character before others and give a false witness! Don't do what the Calvinists do and accuse Him of being the author of evil; but rather fall on your face and repent - change direction! It doesn't matter what the current culture thinks about His mitzvot (commandments) either, be it secular or 'Christian'. Unbelievers and churches are not appointed as judges over the Davar (Word). Ever.

That is not friendship of the kind Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David enjoyed with the Father. Friendship with the world is not friendship with Elohim (God). It is hatred of Him (Jas.4:4). Do you think they were ignorant? No more than us, I venture to suggest - the nevi'im (prophets), at least (and David was one of those), who saw into the future and understood the coming Kingdom of Messiah even though it was afar off for them. Many of them knew far more than we do still! How many of us converse face-to-face with Elohim (God) as Abraham and Moses did even though too many presumptuously say 'God told me this' or 'God told me that' or to presumptuously claim, 'I'm in the Throne Room' when they are listening to their flesh and spouting gibberish? Please, a little more humility! A little more broken-heartedness and contriteness. Let us never bring an accusation against Yahweh or His Davar (Word) as the devil and his servants do continuously in their gross wickedness.

So here I stand, for which I make no apology, and here we are - still - and our day - Yahweh's Day - has finally arrived. Yahweh loves all those who name His Name and want us to enjoy His fullness; but the fullness cannot come until we cease being full of ourselves and wearing the straightjacket of the traditions of the elders of the fallen churches. Yahweh weeps for fallen ministers and their deceived flocks (Olive Branch 111). Now is the time of final choosing. In two days' time, under the Old Covenant, the Passover Lamb was selected for sacrifice. It's qualifications were, amongst other things, that it be unblemished, as Christ our Passover Lamb was unblemished and free from all sin (Heb.9:14). To qualify for the the true Remnant - the Bride - and be so selected for priesthood service, is this presentation of the soul as unblemished through the blood of Messiah. We can't cleanse ourselves but we can trust and love Yah'shua (Jesus) we can love the Torah as David did, and we can be in a continuous attitude of prayer as Paul was.

The qualification is, as always, purity. And that means being free of unclean spirits and being filled with the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). And I don't mind admitting that this last winter I have been wrestling with that issue myself and finally laying aside old sin issues at the depeest levels with the kindly aid of debilitating illness. So some really serious choosing is to be made in the next few days if we are to enter into the seven-fold Ruach (Spirit) of the Spring Festivals, the Alef or Alpha of the prophetic Psalm 119. I am going to read that portion to you now to end my presentation today and ask you to seriously weigh yourself against it, and especially those who wish to join with us in the Passover Meal in six days' time:

"Ah, how happy those of blameless life
who walk in the Torah (Law) of Yahweh! How happy those who respect His decrees,
and seek Him with their whole heart,
and, doing no evil,
walk in His ways!
You Yourself have made Your precepts known,
to be faithfully kept.
Oh, may my behaviour be constant
in keeping Your statutes (chukkim).
If I concentrate on Your every commandment (mitzvah),
I can never be put to shame.
I thank you from an upright heart,
schooled in your rules of righteousness.
I mean to observe Your statutes (chukkim);
never abaondon me" (Ps.119:1-8, JB).

Please carefully and prayerfully read through Psalm 119 this week. Its is key to what Yahweh is doing now. Bathe in the Davar (Word), prepare yourselves to meet Him at Pesach (Passover). Do not gamble with your salvation by treating lightly the mitzvot (commandments) of our Heavenly Father, by letting your torches run out of oil (Mt.25:1-13; OB 207). Seek the Ruach (Spirit) in purity and truth, enter the festivals season with thanksgiving with a heart full of expectation. For Yahweh's promise is sweet to the palate, sweeter than honey to the mouth (Ps.119:102). Let us obediently carry out the rôles He has assigned us, for the real arrogance comes in refusing our vocation by assuming we know better than Elohim's (God's) purpose in putting us here. So no arrogance, false piety pretending to be virtue! Just embrace your calling, however much the world may hate you for it, no matter the cost, for the reward is utterly worth it! Have a blessed day of rest, and until we meet again next time, Shabbat Shalom! Amen.

Endnotes

[1] N.T.Wright, The Case for the Psalms: Why They are Essential (Harper One, NY: 2013), p.50
[2] Matthew 1:1,20; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9.15; 22:42; Mark 10:47-48; 12:35; Luke 3:31; 18:38-39; 20:41