Discovering The Jewish Jesus

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: We need to have peace because peace gives us the ability to discern God's spirit. Without peace, we're not going to be able to discern his spirit. I'm continuing in a series called Biblical Benedictions in the New Testament. Benedictions are blessing bestowed by God upon his people. They often fall at the end of one of the New Testament books, but not always. Benedictions are also associated with the blessing that a pastor or priest will pronounce upon the congregation at the end of a service. We are going directly into the word of God to dig out those benedictions that come straight from the heart of God and are in his word.

I'm continuing now brand new scripture with you, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of God abides forever. Hear, beloved one, the word of God. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's a lot and there's a lot of themes going on in just this one verse. Remember, this is a benediction and a benediction is a blessing bestowed upon you, God's child, from Father himself.

Let's see what Father is saying to his people right here. Now may the God of peace I want to take that phrase God of peace. Do you know almost every single letter in the New Testament begins in this way. Grace to you, get it now, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how Paul begins his letters. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We often times think of God's power. He is all powerful. We think of God's omniscience. He does know everything and we think of all these other essential attributes of God, but sometimes we are not as aware as we should be that God is fundamentally, get this now, a God of shalom, a God of peace.

That's why in order to be led by God's spirit, we need to cultivate peace in our lives. A lot of times we can be, you know, really jerked up emotionally when we have, you know, the worship music playing and you know, the heavy guitars and the drums and we feel a lot of energy and that can be a good thing, but fundamentally, beloved one, listen to me, the Holy Spirit is the spirit of peace. As I said, every single one of Paul's letters begins speaking to the people of God as being people that have been blessed by the God of peace.

Grace to you and peace, Paul says, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's look at this again. 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Now may the God of peace himself We're going to see later that it's the God of peace, listen, that crushes Satan and all demonic power under our feet. Let me concentrate with you on a very specific application of this. Some of you know, I travel all over the world, especially into Africa and Israel, preaching the gospel. What I find, especially in Africa, in so many of these countries in Africa, listen, whose roots are in witchcraft and we've gone to Haiti, a lot of voodooism, what I find is is I start preaching the gospel suddenly without any provocation of my own.

But as soon as I begin to sing in the spirit or begin to preach the gospel, there'll be many, many people that will begin to manifest demons. Again, I'm not trying to conjure it up. It just happens. When the God of peace is released, demons start manifesting that are hidden in these people's bodies. Now again, how do you explain this? You ask yourself, well why have not I not seen that more in America? Is that really real? Beloved, America was rooted in Judeo-Christian principles. America was founded, listen, on the scriptures, but in Africa, their spiritual roots often times have been in witchcraft, voodooism, and other types of idol worshiping.

So they don't have the foundation that we have here in America and that is why I believe we see many more demons manifest there, although I have seen the same type of thing happen in the United States. I start preaching the gospel or I start singing to the Lord in the spirit, demons start manifesting. I mean, if you saw what I see, I promise you you would know that it wasn't made up, that it's for real, that demons are real. I'm telling you the truth. If you saw what I see, you would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that these people that I'm seeing are possessed by demons.

They're foaming at the mouth, they're screaming, they're hysterical, their eyes are transfixed on some horror from another world. They're totally out of their mind. I'll begin to take authority over those demons. Listen, with the peace of God, in the name of Yeshua, in the name of Jesus, and instantly often times their eyes that are crazed, their eyes that are transfixed on some otherworldly being filled with horror and confusion and chaos suddenly clear up. You see their soul come through. You see the love of God burst forth and tears begin to come to their eyes as they're set free.

But how do I minister that deliverance? Listen, I do it by the God of peace. God's peace is what crushes demonic power. And so again, back to our text, God is speaking his blessing over his people and he's speaking his blessing over his people. Get it now as the God of peace. It's important to remember this and it's important to cultivate in our soul, listen, peace. Be aware when you're not in peace and pull back your energy and say to yourself, you know what, I'm not in peace right now, but God, you're a God of peace.

I want to walk in peace. Father, help me to be grounded in peace. You see, you can cultivate peace. God is a God of peace. So in order to walk with God, you and I need to be grounded and rooted in his peace. Once again, to be able to discern the movement of God's spirit in our life, of his leading, we need to have peace because peace gives us the ability to discern God's spirit. Without peace, we're not going to be able to discern his spirit. In other words, if we're all nervous, we won't be able to discern in a sensitive way what's going on around us or within us because we're just bound by the nervousness.

But when we get grounded in peace, we have the ability then to discern what's going in in our own soul, what is happening outside of us and most importantly, God's spirit.

Dustin Roberts: You're listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider and he'll be right back. But first, have you thought about the legacy you'll leave when you're no longer on this earth? Planning for the future, it's an important step in walking with wisdom. So we've partnered with Freewill, a free online tool that makes creating a will simple, secure, and accessible to everyone. I've used it myself and it's really easy and efficient. And this tool, it also gives you the opportunity to make a lasting impact. And if you want to support this ministry, you can include a financial gift to us in your plans to help us share the love of Yeshua with generations to come.

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Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Now may the God of peace himself, get it now, sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete. So I want to focus on this word here, sanctify. God is speaking a blessing over us and he's saying the God of peace sanctify you completely. I love this because I know in my own life, beloved ones, I need to continually grow in being sanctified. Listen, salvation is a free gift from God. Being born again, coming into a saving relationship with God takes place in an instant as soon as we open our heart and receive Jesus instantly.

We now stand before him saved. In other words, our sins are forgiven. We're going to go to heaven because of what Jesus alone did for us. Salvation happens in an instant, but sanctification, listen now, is a process. We become more and more sanctified as we step out of the old man, as we more and more step out of the old nature, as we more and more learn how to move by the spirit and not by the flesh, as we gain more and more discernment so that we can discern between what is God and what's not God and choose him.

As we do this, we grow in sanctification. And if you're honest with yourself and if you have self-awareness, you can tell that over the years things that you didn't even discern were not of God. Now that you're older, now that you've matured, you're able to discern wow, I used to think that way and I wasn't even convicted about it. I didn't even know it was a wrong way of thinking, but now that I've matured, now that I've grown in grace, I can see that that thought pattern that I once accepted and thought was normal, I see now that that was not of God.

You see, sanctification works along with maturity. And the Bible tells us that through maturing we gain the ability to discern the difference between good and evil. Again, beloved one, sanctification is a process. Now I don't know about you, but I know that for me I have a great need to be more and more sanctified. As much as I love God, as much as I've pursued God, as much as, you know, I've done to try to apprehend, am I still realize I've got a long way to go, still such a long way to go. But the good news is that the God of peace is sanctifying me.

It's a long journey. My experience has been that when I first encountered Jesus back in 1978, I just prayed, God, what is that one thing I need to do? What's the one thing I can do, God, that will get me to the top of the mountain so that I'll just do that one thing? You know, like Abraham when he offered up Isaac, he did that one thing and as a result of that, God blessed him. So my thought process was, what's the one thing, Father, I can do that will just put me on top? But what I've learned over the years is that it 's not just one thing.

It's every day putting one foot in front of the other, choosing to obey him all day long. Every single day, thousands and thousands of thoughts go through our mind. We're constantly having to make the decision as to what thoughts we're going to receive, what action we're going to take. So my experience has been is that becoming sanctified, getting to the top of that mountain is not done through obedience to just one act, but it is done progressively as we choose God's way, which is often the hard way every single day. That's why Jesus said if we're going to be his disciple, we must pick up our cross daily.

And what does it mean to pick up the cross? It means to choose him rather than ourselves. And so I say to you today that the God of peace is at work in our life and he's sanctifying us. It's a mystery because on the one hand, we are choosing to obey and it's so hard. Remember, before Jesus went to the cross, he said, Father, if it 's possible, let this cup pass from me because he didn't want to go to the cross and it was so grievous, it was so difficult for him to choose to obey.

The Bible says he sweat and it was like drops of blood. So on the one hand, you and I too have to strive just like Jesus strove to obey and chose the Father's will rather than his own way when he said, but not my will, but thy will be done at the end of that prayer. So you and I every single day have to labor in the spirit to choose God 's way. It seems like we're the one doing it, but in actuality, God is the one that's at work in our life and we are choosing, listen now, to cooperate with him.

And so there is this intermingling of the God of peace that is sanctifying us. He's accomplishing in us and through us what it pleases him by his spirit that he doesn't do this, beloved ones, listen to me, without our cooperation. And so when we cooperate with the Lord, we're pushing forward in this process of sanctification. He's the author and the finisher of our faith and yet along the way we really have to struggle to choose to follow him and obey him. Paul said, I work harder than you all. I'm laboring, Paul said, harder than everybody.

So Paul was speaking about his own labor to follow God to complete the purpose that God gave to him on earth, the assignment of spreading the gospel. Paul said, I labor more than everybody. But then he said, but not I, but Christ within me. And so once again, God is sanctifying us. We're moving forward, we're being cleansed, we're growing, but God doesn't do it apart from us. He does it through us and with us. God and you and I, us in him and him in us. Let's continue on here. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete.

Now for me this encourages me to believe God, listen to me, for divine wholeness all my life, spirit, soul, mind, and body. And so there's something about turning 60, at least there was for me, that's like different than all the other birthdays I 've ever had. I mean, I've never thought of myself in any way as, you know, anything but youthful, but somehow when you turn 60, it kind of like shifts your paradigm a little bit. I mean, you realize at 60, you know, you're moving in to a different phase of life. Now I want you to understand, I'm not surrendering to a spirit of antiquity, but I'm just saying there's a bit of a paradigm shift that at least happened to me as I turned 60.

But I'm not surrendering, listen now, to just getting old and you know, having my life fall apart because Paul says here, may the God of peace, listen to me, preserve you, complete spirit, soul, mind, and body. So even though I'm aging, I'm trusting God to preserve me, spirit, soul, mind, and body. I can't stop the fact that I'm aging, neither can you. But what I can trust God for and what you can trust God for is that as we age, he will preserve us. You know, Moses, for example, was still full of vigor when he passed away as were all the patriarchs.

Even though there were symptoms in their body that showed that they had aged, their eyes maybe had grown dim, still there was a vitality that they had. They were preserved. And I have a great friend, some of you have even seen her on my broadcast. I've shown a picture of her. She's a Jewish believer. Her name is Agnes Koweski. This woman is 90 years old almost, yet every time Cynthia and I spend time with her, she's like a little girl. She brings out her little journal that she's been journaling all these years, talking about still being sanctified, still repenting.

I mean, she's been a believer for like 50 years, but every time we meet her, she's got this fresh spirit. Her body looks old, but inside she's like a little girl because God has preserved her. There's something about her that can't be explained other than the everlasting life and youthfulness of God himself that lives within her. And so, beloved, I say over you today, may God preserve you as you look to him, spirit, soul, mind, and body complete. And that's what the scripture says here, complete. May you be preserved. Get it now, listen to me, complete.

You might ask yourself, what does that exactly mean? But you know, this world that we live in is a dangerous place and there's a lot of things that can happen to us along the way that if we're not preserved by God, some of those things that we go through and some of those things that happen to us can end up taking something away from us and we can end up finding ourselves getting weaker and and becoming discouraged and some people end up and they feel defeated, but that's not what the scripture promises us. That's not what God's purpose is.

God wants to preserve you complete that even though the outer man is decaying, the inner man is being renewed day by day that you're being preserved, my beloved one. Complete. And finally, this scripture ends by saying, and this is God's blessing upon your life and his desire for you. Listen to me until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. And so within this benediction is the light shining on the fact that Jesus is coming back for you and I soon. Often times we're so focused on what's going on right now, we have to wake ourselves up to realize it's not just about what 's going on right now.

Jesus is coming back soon. That's the last words that he spoke to us in the New Testament. Behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to each one according to what he has done. So I want to encourage you today, beloved ones, as we end today's broadcast, look up for the coming of Jesus. Remind yourself that Jesus is really coming back, that everything is going to change. And not only is he coming back, he's coming back for you. And as you set your sights on his coming, as you set your sights on him, God is going to continue to sanctify you, spirit, soul, mind, and body.

He's going to preserve you through life, no matter what you go through, and you're going to continue to go up the mountain getting stronger and stronger and stronger until finally, beloved, as you speak your last breath or Jesus returns, you're going to be the strongest you've ever been in your life because of the power that's working within you. This is Rabbi Schneider saying, I love you. More importantly, God loves you. Shalom. If you're being blessed by my teaching, beloved, I want to humbly ask you, would you consider financially supporting us? The truth is it costs money to do what we do.

The television, the radio, the prison system, everything that we do costs money. And we can't do what we're doing without people that love the ministry and believe in us and believe in what we're doing. So I just want to once again say to you, if you just feel the Holy Spirit just knocking on the door of your heart to make an offering to the Lord through discovering the Jewish Jesus today, just be obedient. That's all I ask. Yeshua promised that everything that we do unto him will come back pressed down, good measure, and running into our lap.

Thank you very much for your love and support.

Dustin Roberts: To support the ministry today, visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call 800-777-7835. You can also send your gift in the mail. Our address is Discovering the Jewish Jesus, P.O. Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan 49228. And now I want to share part of a note from James in Minnesota. I hope you'll be blessed by hearing how your gift is having an impact. James wrote and told us that when he first heard Rabbi Schneider, he wasn't sure what to expect, but as he kept listening, something began to click. James said that Rabbi's teaching helped him see how the old and New Testaments fit together as one story and how the prophets, disciples, and apostles all point to the faithfulness of God.

James also shared that the more he listened, the more he looked forward to the program each and every day. He said the teaching has deepened his understanding of scripture, brought joy to his heart, and strengthened his love for both the Jewish people and the truth of God's word. James, thank you so much for taking the time to write into us. Notes like yours remind us why this ministry matters and that encourages us and everyone else who gives. It helps keep Rabbi's teaching on the air and it helps us reach people who are hungry to understand the Bible more clearly.

And if you'd like to support Discovering the Jewish Jesus today, visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call 800-777-7835. That's 800-777-7835. And you know what, you can also share your testimony with us just like James. You can do it on our website discoveringthejewishjesus.com. We'd love to hear how God is using this ministry to bless you. If you want to share, that's discoveringthejewishjesus.com and then click on our ministry and submit your testimony tabs. And now here's Rabbi Schneider to speak God's blessing over your life.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: In the Old Testament book of Numbers, we find a blessing God speaks over his children through Moses and Aaron. It carries the idea of favor and expression. Open your heart to the spirit and the word today and receive Father's goodness into your life with confidence. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. And now in Hebrew God bless you and shalom.

Dustin Roberts: I'm your host Dustin Roberts and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Rabbi Schneider explores biblical benedictions and how God equips us even when we feel inadequate tomorrow on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.