Discovering The Jewish Jesus

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: This is why Jesus said, "If you love me and obey me, I'm going to disclose myself to you. I'm going to make myself known to you, and my Father and I will dwell with you," in John 14.

I am launching into season number two of a series that I'm calling, "God's Supernatural Presence." All of us that love God, all of us that have been drawn to the Father through the Son by the Spirit, we have a hunger to experience the Father's presence and Yeshua's presence in our life by the Holy Spirit. David said, "As the deer panteth after the water, so my soul panteth after thee, oh God."

God's presence is so beautiful, so satisfying, so beyond anything that this world has to offer. Those of us that have been touched by his presence, we're just so hungry to be touched again in a profound and in a powerful way. I know in my life, there are certain times that God has made his glory so manifest in my heart that even though some of those times were five, 10, 15, 20 years ago and longer, I still remember those times.

Some of those times lasted like one second, but they were so impactful, so powerful that I never forget them and I yearn for the Father's next touch. In this series, "God's Supernatural Presence," we're talking about how we can enter into a more consistent walk in which we're experiencing his presence in our everyday lives.

We want to experience his presence, but we need to realize beyond our desire and beyond the importance of you and I experiencing God's presence, there's something even more profound and more important. That is, beloved, that we exist for God's glory. When we think about experiencing God's presence, we want to experience God's presence. That's an awesome, beautiful thing that we should all desire. But that's about what we want.

There has to be something in us that recognizes and prioritizes that there's something greater, and that is God's glory. When Jesus came to Earth, his purpose was to bring glory to the Father. God's ultimate purpose in everything that he does is to glorify himself. Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians that we've been saved to the praise of his glorious grace. When we look into heaven, we see the divine beings worshipping him day and night, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty."

We need to understand that the Gospel that was once and for all delivered to the saints was first and foremost about the glory of God. Not us first, not our desires first, not our needs first. These are all important, but what is most important is God's own glory. The reason I'm sharing this with you in this first episode of season two is because if we're going to walk in greater fellowship and a greater experience of his presence, we need to recognize that we're here first of all, not to feel him, but to glorify him.

God is sovereign and he manifests himself to us when he wants to. The glory of God that I've just been talking about, what that actually means is when God makes himself manifest. When we look into the heavens, the heavens declare the glory of God. Why do the heavens declare the glory of God? Because when we look into the heavens, we can see God's glory. We see the infiniteness of space. When we look at the Earth, we see the beautiful mountains, the beautiful rainbows, the beautiful rivers, God's beautiful pine trees and creation.

It declares his glory because it is his presence being made visible or being made manifest. So when we talk about feeling God's supernatural presence, what we're actually talking about is experiencing his glory. He's making himself felt to us. He's making himself known to us. There's an element of this that is a mystery in the sense that God chooses to glorify himself and manifest himself to us when he wants to.

On the other hand, there's a role that you and I play to enter into a deeper, consistent walk in which we'll experience this supernatural presence, his supernatural glory. This is why the Lord said, "Draw near to me and I will draw near to you." This is why Jesus said, "If you love me and obey me, I'm going to disclose myself to you. I'm going to make myself known to you, and my Father and I will dwell with you," in John 14.

Even though God's glory is mysterious in the sense that he's sovereign and he manifests his glory to us, his beauty and his value and how precious and awesome he is, on the other hand, when we choose to love him, draw near, obey him, put him first, then that causes him or draws him or inspires him to manifest himself to us so that we experience his glory on a more consistent basis.

Last season, I talked about some practical things that you and I could do to posture ourselves in a place where God will manifest himself to us more regularly. Number one, I said we need to come out of the world. The scriptures tell us, "Come out of the world, saith the Lord. Draw near to me and I will receive you to myself."

If we're feasting on the things of the world, if we're valuing the things of the world, seeking after the things of the world more than God, we're just not going to be experiencing his presence on a consistent basis. God is loving, he's merciful, he manifests himself to sinners, but if we're going to walk in a consistent realm of experiencing his presence, we have got to come out of the world.

We've got to make a decision to love him more than the things of the world. It's a denying of the flesh. Jesus said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." We have to value him above all else, more than our finances, more than relationships with human beings. So many times, I run into women that begin to attend the congregation. They are single women. They want to be married. They love God. They're pursuing God. They're passionate about God.

Then all of a sudden, some guy comes into their life. Too often, what happens is I see these women that love Jesus, but when a man came into their life, they completely got off course and fell away. The problem was they loved the things of the world more than they love God. That won't cut it. Whether it's material things, whether it's your job, whether it's your family, Jesus actually said, "Unless a man hates his own father, mother, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

We have to value God above all else. If we're going to experience God's supernatural presence in a consistent way, we have to value him. We have to place value on knowing and experiencing him above all else. The Apostle Paul began to brag about his previous life before he met Yeshua. He said he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, from the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day, educated under the leading sage of his day, Gamaliel.

But he said all those things he counted as rubbish for the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, Yeshua Hamashiach my Lord. He forsook all that he had in the world, the power, the position that he had as a leading rabbi or sage or Pharisee of his day. He forsook all that that he would know Jesus and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. You may be saying, "I want to feel your presence in my life, God," but if you want to feel his presence in your life consistently, you've got to maybe make some hard decisions.

Maybe there's some things in your life that you're involved in that are not of God. You need to cut those things off, come out of the world to follow him, and then you'll be in a posture where he can drop his glory upon your life in a brand-new way. We talked number one about coming out of the world. Then secondly, I spoke about the concept of stopping from running. Ever since Adam and Eve fell in the garden, mankind has been running.

When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, immediately what they did was they realized they were naked and they began to run. They began to run from God. They were actually running from themselves as well. They were trying to escape a feeling inside of not being right. They were trying to escape this feeling of anxiety and of fear.

The Bible says that right after Adam and Eve ate, suddenly they realized they were naked. They were naked before they ate of the tree, but it didn't bother them. They weren't conscious of their nakedness. But once they ate of the tree, suddenly they felt exposed. Suddenly they felt they had to cover themselves. In other words, they became deeply anxious, deeply insecure, deeply self-conscious, deeply aware that something wasn't right. They tried to run from that feeling, but the problem was they couldn't get away from it because wherever they ran, there they were.

The problem is that you and I are doing the same thing today, even though we may not recognize it. We're trying to get away from this feeling of uneasiness, this insecurity, this anxiety, this feeling of fear that something isn't right. This is the plight of all humankind until they're reconciled with God and made whole in him. We try to run from this feeling by maybe trying to get away from it in our jobs, where some people are workaholics.

Why do they always have to be working? Because they're not comfortable just doing nothing and being alone. They're running, trying to escape the feeling once again that something isn't comfortable within themselves. Some are running to drugs, to alcohol, to relationships, to gossiping, to materialism. They're trying to escape who they are. We have to stop running from who we are and turn and face God if we're going to be made whole and experience God's supernatural presence in our life. This is hard work and it takes discipline.

Guest (Male): This is Discovering the Jewish Jesus, and Rabbi Schneider will be right back. But first, I want to ask you the most important question you could ever be asked. Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? If you haven't invited Jesus into your heart today to lead your life and ask God to save you from your sins, I want to invite you to do that right now.

If you're ready, then I want you to pray this prayer with me. Father God, I repent of my sins and I ask you to cleanse me with the blood of Jesus. I accept Jesus Christ, your Son, as my Lord and Savior. Help me to follow you all the days of my life as you show me how. In Jesus' name, Amen. If you just prayed that prayer, I'm so excited for you. Let us know by clicking "Find Jesus" at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Now, here's Rabbi.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I talked last time about how important it is to practice the art of just being still before the Lord. The Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God." The Lord said in Isaiah, "In quietness and silence, you'll find strength." We need to just have a discipline in our life of just sitting before the Lord.

I remember a dream that I had some time back where the Lord showed me I was sitting at a table across from a man in a very simple room. There was a window that I could see outside, and I wanted to leave the room because I was getting tired of just sitting there. I recognized in the dream that I had been sitting across from this man a long time. Then as I thought about getting up and running, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "No, that man that you're sitting across from, that's Jesus."

I couldn't see his face. I just recognized that he was a familiar friend. And the Lord said to me, "Just keep sitting across from him. Don't try to escape because you want to go do something. Just keep being still, sitting across from him, and I'm going to make you completely whole." You and I need to take time every day just to be still and sit before the Lord. We need to stop running.

I want to pick up today with a brand-new dimension adding onto this. We've talked about coming out of the world. We've talked about being still before the Lord. We've talked about not running, and I want to add another dimension to this. I want to talk now about receiving God's peace. Sometimes we don't recognize how closely related to the Spirit of the Lord peace is. We all want peace. We all know peace is a good thing.

But did you know that the Bible says that the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet? Why does the scripture tell us that it's the God of peace that will crush Satan under your feet? Because peace is the essence of the Holy Spirit. Remember, Jesus breathed on his disciples, and when he breathed on them, he said, "My peace I leave or give to you."

I want to read now for you the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 27, then I'm going to go to John chapter 20, verse 21 and 22. I want you to get how important peace is to experiencing the supernatural presence of God. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."

Yeshua is speaking about a supernatural peace that he's leaving with us. He talked about this peace being the remedy for fear. He said, "I'm going to give you peace," and then he said, "Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid," which tells you and I that we have to keep fear and anxiety out, and we have to receive the peace that Yeshua has breathed upon us that he left us.

Let's continue this same theme. I'm going to the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verse 21 and 22. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you as the Father has sent me, I also send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and he said, "Receive the Ruach HaKodesh. Receive the Holy Spirit." I think that's phenomenal that Jesus said, "Peace unto you," and then he said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

As he released his Spirit, what he was releasing was peace. Peace is the foundation of having authority. Unless we're in peace, we have no power. Love is rooted in peace. Peace is rooted in love. And so it's important to begin to develop discernment so that we can stop spirits that would cause us to be anxious, so that we can stop spirits that cause us to run, so that we can keep spirits that would take away peace from our heart and mind.

We shut the doors to those spirits because we recognize that God's Spirit is a spirit of peace. Unless we're abiding in peace and receiving God's peace, we're not going to be able to consistently experience his presence because his presence is a presence of peace. Jesus said, "My peace I give to you." Then he breathed on them and he said, "Receive the Ruach HaKodesh." So if we want to receive the Ruach HaKodesh, we have to receive peace.

I want to pray with you right now that God will strengthen us and establish us in his peace. Father God, in Yeshua's name, we can talk about these things, but we know to receive these things is supernatural. We think about Peter and how you said to him, "Who do you say that I am?" and when he answered back to you and said, "You're the Messiah," you said to him, "Blessed art thou, Simon, son of John, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."

Father God, we come and ask you right now to sovereignly and supernaturally strengthen us and bless us with peace, with the very peace of the Sar Shalom, the peace of Jesus the Messiah. We ask you to strengthen us by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead in our inner man. Strengthen our soul, gird our mind, Father, I pray, in peace.

Father, in Jesus' name, breathe on us afresh once again with the same word that spoke over those first apostles: "Receive the Holy Spirit. My peace I give to you." Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you today for the gift of peace, and we ask you, Abba God, strengthen us mightily in the Sar Shalom, the Prince of Peace, Jesus the Messiah. Father, we love you. We glorify you. We ask you to strengthen us in the experience of your supernatural presence.

We are facing such chaos in the world around us. The only hope left for people is the God that created the world, and you and I are his ambassadors. We are the ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I are Jesus the Messiah's ambassadors. We have to do something to prepare the world for his return by preaching the Gospel.

When you support me and Discovering the Jewish Jesus, you are literally taking part in preparing the Earth's atmosphere for the coming return of the Lord Jesus. Jesus said when the Gospel is preached to the ends of the Earth, then he will return. People more and more are recognizing that they can't hold on to anything outside of themselves, that everything around them is unstable, that systems are falling apart, that governments are collapsing, economic systems are collapsing.

People's moral code is collapsing. The only thing that's sure is God himself who is our rock. I want to ask you to support me as I continue to preach the Gospel of King Jesus around the world, declaring this reality and this truth. You see, Jesus is counting on you and he's counting on me. We're his voice piece. We're his mouth. Jesus said, "You shall be my witnesses." Would you be faithful? Would you support me and support Discovering the Jewish Jesus? Your financial help makes a big difference and is effectively being used to spread the Gospel.

Guest (Male): Amen. We're so grateful for your gifts of any amount. As the Lord leads you to support this ministry, just visit us online at our website, discoveringthejewishjesus.com or give us a call. Our number is 800-777-7835. Right now, I want to tell you about a brand-new book from Rabbi Schneider.

I believe it's going to absolutely change the way that you experience God's presence, and it's called "The Mystery of the Tabernacle." It's an ancient structure that God told Moses to build in the Old Testament. It's actually a prophetic blueprint for intimacy and relationship with the Creator of the universe. Every piece of furniture, every sacrifice, and every detail, it points directly to Jesus.

It also reveals how you can worship God in a fresh way right where you are today. If you'd like to purchase a copy of "The Mystery of the Tabernacle," then just go to discoveringthejewishjesus.com and click on Rabbi's books. Now, here's Rabbi to wrap up with God's special and sacred blessing, first sung in Hebrew and then spoken in English.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: In the book of Numbers, chapter 6, the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over his people. The Lord said, "When you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them." Receive the impartation of the Lord's blessing.

Yevarekhekhah Adonai ve-yishmerekha. Ya'er Adonai panav elekha vi-hunneka. Yissa Adonai panav elekha ve-yasem lekha shalom.

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. God bless you and Shalom.

Guest (Male): I'm your host, Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Join us again tomorrow when Rabbi Schneider reveals why taking a Shabbat rest is healthy. That's Tuesday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.