Discovering The Jewish Jesus

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: We are souls that carry a blessing, but we've got to take initiative as souls that carry a blessing just like Paul went to the Romans. He went to them. He couldn't bless them unless he took initiative.

Dustin: When you drive down the road in your car and sometimes you look over and you see a church sign and it says something about gospel, you just kind of move on because you know that has to do with church. But what does gospel really mean? That's what we've been studying as we have been going through the book of Romans line by line.

Our series is titled Exploring Paul's Epistle, the Book of Romans. And we're in chapter one. Rabbi's right here with me in the studio. We're doing a Bible study and we had just gotten to verse five. So we're going to pick up there today and verse five says, "through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for his name's sake." Rabbi?

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Praise God. I was thinking as you were introing today's show when you were speaking of the gospel and we're defining what the gospel is through the book of Romans and how sometimes you drive past a church and it might have even a name of the church called Gospel. So it brought back to me my memory of my first ever church experience.

There I was this Jew who knew nothing about Jesus. In 1978, Jesus supernaturally appears to me in the night. I started telling everybody about it. And a friend of my brother's, it was actually his old girlfriend, had become a Christian recently too. So when she heard that I became a believer, she reached out to me and asked me if I would go to church with her.

I said okay, I was going to church for the first time. It was a Wednesday night service. It was a church service for young people at a place called The Gospel House. So what happened was there was an evangelist there and there were hundreds of young people gathered. I remember I was sitting almost like in a balcony, the second story of seats going up on an angle.

I was up in the air with many other young people. And the preacher, I won't say his last name, his first name was Bob. He was preaching the word and then afterwards he opened it up for comments or testimonies. And I stood up and I started talking about how great God was. And he said, "Just tell me you love Jesus and sit down."

Dustin: So you're brand new, you've got so much zeal, this is your first church service and the pastor says just sit down.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I love God so much, I love his word so much. He gave me the gift of declaring his glory, but it wasn't received well at my first mass gathering.

Dustin: People probably don't know this about you, but you didn't come to faith in a traditional way. It wasn't like you grew up in church and a bunch of people were talking to you and you heard the gospel every week at church. You had an encounter with God and you got radically transformed overnight.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Right, we just received the testimony this week you can recall of a Jewish guy in high school. My high school was a mixed population but very strong Jewish population there because I was in Beechwood which is almost all Jewish. Then later we moved to Pepper Pike which was more mixed.

And I didn't know any Jewish believers in high school. I never even thought about Jesus in high school. I never had met another Jewish believer before I came to faith. But all of a sudden we receive a testimony which was just delivered to me, you were there on Tuesday of this week, and it was from an old friend in high school that also became a believer.

He wrote me and said, "I saw you on television. I remember what happened to you at Ohio State University. It was like you got struck by lightning." And he said, "I was the only one that thought what happened to you was a good thing. Your faith was like a lightning strike, mine happened gradually, but I am now a believer as well."

But you are right, I did come from a non-church background. But the call is the same whether we're a Jew or Gentile. And Paul speaks about this in the first chapter of the book of Romans. He's going to continue on that his gospel is for the Jew and the Greek or the Gentile. And the goal of Paul's gospel, he reveals to us in the verse that you just read, verse five of chapter one, is to bring people to the obedience of faith.

Dustin: And so this is really an interesting term here because...

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: We believe that salvation is by grace through faith alone. In other words, we're not saved by works. This is a standard doctrine that the Protestant church has taken a hold of ever since Martin Luther nailed this treatise in protest to the doctrine of the Catholic Church which was selling indulgences, teaching people that they could earn salvation by works etc.

So we believe as Protestants or as New Testament doctrinal sound believers that salvation is a free gift. That Christ died for us while we were dead in our transgressions and sins. But we also have to be careful and balance that with the fact that saving faith involves obedience.

And so Paul says in verse number five here that the goal of his ministry was to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles. What is the obedience of faith? Number one, it's being doctrinally sound, but secondly it's living a lifestyle that's consistent with the teachings of Jesus.

Dustin: And that's basically what we're doing here with the gospel is going through the book of Romans so that we can actually come into line with what it really means to be saved, to come into the obedience of the faith.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: James is the one book in the New Testament that really stressed obedience and works. And he said, "You say that you believe. I'll show you my faith based on my works." And he said faith without works is dead. Now this was so difficult for Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant Reformation to digest because he had come out of Catholicism which was so heavy on works.

He rejected it and he said this teaching is wrong, salvation is a free gift of God. So he gets to the book of James and he says, "James says in his book you say that a man is saved by faith alone, James says a man is saved by faith and his works because his works perfect his faith." Martin Luther wanted to throw the book of James out of the Bible.

But James isn't teaching us that we're saved by our own fleshly attempt. He's just saying if your faith is real, it's going to be evident. He said even the demons believe. They believe and tremble, but true faith produces obedience. True faith acknowledges that God is the Lord and we're going to submit to him. That's why Jesus's first words were repent. Turn away from making yourself the Lord of your life and turn to me and obey me.

Dustin: I have to tell this story, Rabbi. My daughter is dating, she's young, she's 18. She's going through the relationships phase of her life trying to find her partner. And she's been talking to different people. And one of the things that I always ask her, I say, first criteria is the person saved?

And sometimes she's like, "Yeah, Dad, they're saved. Look at their Instagram profile, it says I love God or something like that." And I always tell her, that's really nice but when you're with him, does he ever talk to you about God or are you the only person bringing up God? Does he actually go to church? Does he have family members who are saved? Do you see him pray?

Does he talk about the Bible or is it just like a normal relationship with someone who isn't saved? Because if someone is saved, you'll know they're saved by how they act. This goes with exactly what you're saying, either their works back it up or they don't.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Amen. Amen. And that's exactly what Paul is driving at. The goal is the obedience of faith. And Jesus, we just pray right now. We love you, Father God. And I know it's easy for any of us, Lord, to have a blind spot where we sometimes even see the sin in other people but don't recognize the sin in our own life, whether it's pride or gossip or whatever it might be.

Lord, we ask you to save us to the uttermost. We ask you to sanctify us completely. That we would truly be amongst those that have been conformed to the obedience of your son, the Lord Jesus, and are walking by the obedience of faith. Father, we thank you that we can call upon you because you said that you would perfect that which you began in us.

Help us, Father, we ask you for mercy. Complete in us what you begun. You said, Father, that we're saved not by deeds of righteousness which we have done in Titus 3:5, but according to the working of the Holy Spirit in our life by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Father, we reach out to you right now. We thank you for your love, for your grace, for your favor upon us. Amen.

Dustin: Amen. We'll keep going on with our study of Exploring Paul's Epistle, the Book of Romans, chapter one in just a moment right here on Discovering the Jewish Jesus. But first I want to let you know that if you've been enjoying hearing Rabbi's personal thoughts on Romans and you want to hear more of what the Holy Spirit speaks to him, you can and all you have to do is sign up to receive personal text messages from him.

They're straight from Rabbi and all you have to do is text the keyword Rabbi to the number 88777. He sends these special messages out as the Holy Spirit leads and I believe it's really going to be an added blessing and encouragement to your day. And if this series is touching you and you'd like to see it impact others, would you consider giving a financial donation to support this ministry?

Without faithful listeners just like you all listening, we wouldn't be able to broadcast conversations like the one that we're having today. So to donate or become a monthly partner with us, just by visiting our website, discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Now let's jump back into the book of Romans. Rabbi?

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: When Paul continues in his letter, he greets some of the saints in Rome. But as he continues his theological treatise, he goes in verse number 11 and he's speaking to the Romans and he says, "For I long to see you so that I might impart some spiritual gift to you that you might be established." If we pause for a second at that verse, there's some questions that we should ask ourselves. For example, what question would you ask yourself when you read verse 11?

Dustin: Well, first of all, he's wanting to be here in person with us and it seems that he can't give us this gift unless he's in person.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Yeah, and there's something that we do when we're together with each other where we cross-pollinate. Because Paul continues there and he's saying not only will I give a spiritual gift to you, he said, "But I'm going to be refreshed when I'm with you." And so I'm just thinking about this concept of a spiritual gift being imparted to the Romans when Paul was with them.

And I'm applying it to our lives today and I'm asking myself, how are spiritual gifts imparted? Many of you that are even listening now have probably taken like a spiritual gifts class or you've maybe read a book on how to discover your spiritual gift. And it's important to understand what is the unique dimension of the anointing, what color of the anointing do you carry?

Some people are just very relational. Some people are more project oriented in the kingdom of God. There's all different types of personalities that are anointed by the Spirit and to understand who we are brings comfort to us and it also helps us to be on point with how we minister to other people.

But I want to particularly focus on this concept where Paul says that he longed to come to the Romans in order to impart a spiritual gift to them that they would be established. So how are spiritual gifts imparted? Number one, spiritual gifts are imparted sometimes through being in the presence of someone that carries a weight of an anointing that can be imparted to you.

For example, if you sit under the teaching of an evangelist for a length of time, you also are going to begin to carry a greater anointing for evangelism in your life. We receive of the gifting of others and then we can begin to walk out a measure of that anointing in our own lives.

So number one, spiritual gifts are imparted where we're in proximity of someone that has a gift to impart. I love this Hebrew term, I want you guys to remember this. It's called a Nefesh Berakha. A Nefesh Berakha. That's exactly right. And what that means is a soul that carries a blessing.

Dustin: Wow. So there's something that people carry and we can't do faith alone. And this is telling us when we're with someone, there's something we receive from the anointing that's on that person, kind of like Elijah and Elisha.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Exactly, it's a spiritual principle. And I also just want all of our listeners today to think about the fact that those of you that are chosen by Jesus, you are a Nefesh Berakha. You're a soul that carries a blessing. You are. And a lot of times the world's not going to tell you that about yourself.

A lot of times because of your faith and your testimony, you're going to be rejected and you're going to hear all kinds of things about yourself or be treated in a way that you feel rejection. When you're dealing with that type of rejection, when people don't receive your gift, when people don't receive you as a person, just remember you're a Nefesh Berakha. You're a soul that carries a blessing.

Dustin: So each of us have value, each of us have an identity in God. We all have something that the Lord has deposited into us to share with others. And so it's very important that we don't just sit at home but we go out, we tell others about the gospel and we fellowship with other believers. Because you have no idea when you go to church or you go to even to your neighbors, you have no idea what it is inside of you that God might want to release to someone else.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Amen and I love what you're saying inside of you. The blessing is inside of you. It's not something that people can see always just by looking at you. Sometimes they can, they can just see God's countenance on your face, the joy, the light, the happiness. But a lot of times they can't see that and it only is imparted to others when you release what's inside of you.

Paul said, "I want to be with you in verse number 12 that I might impart to you, verse number 11, some spiritual blessing, a gift to you, a spiritual gift that you might be established." So Paul was releasing from himself what was on the outside into their lives. And so I say this because I want to encourage my friends and those that are listening right now.

You carry something. You carry a blessing. And the way that you can impart it, the way that you can be a blessing to others, the way that you can make that which is inside you manifest and applicable so that others are truly being blessed by the call of God on your life is to be who God's called you to be. Be a blessing. Pray for people.

I just had a woman today, Dustin, and she performs a service for us here at the ministry and I knew that her son had committed suicide within the last year. And I hadn't seen her in months. And so this was the first time I've seen her since her son who was a young guy, in his 20s, took his own life.

I see her for the first time and she showed us what she had to show us and afterwards I said, "Can I pray for you?" And because I know she's not a Christian, I wanted to ask permission. And she said yeah, so I just prayed for her, tears were coming down her face. But what would happen if I wouldn't have asked to pray for her?

She would have walked out of here, there wouldn't have been tears coming down her face. Only God knows what he did for her but I'm hoping and praying that he deeply brought healing to her which is what I prayed for. So we are souls that carry a blessing but we've got to take initiative as souls that carry a blessing and go to people just like Paul went to the Romans. He went to them.

He couldn't bless them unless he took initiative and all of us need to walk in our call.

Dustin: He said, "I long, I'm longing to come to you that I can impart something." If you're listening to Rabbi right now, maybe this is resonating with you and maybe you haven't shared your faith with someone recently or maybe you just haven't been vocal about the gospel that's inside of you.

I want to encourage you that you have a purpose and there's something unique and special about you. And I just want to encourage you today as you've been listening to open up your heart to the Lord and allow him to speak to you about how he might use you in someone's life today. Be looking today and throughout this next week for an opportunity where you can release the life that God has put on the inside of you.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Amen. Dustin, what you said ties perfectly into the next verse I want to cover. So Paul goes to verse 16 in Romans one now and he says this: "For I'm not ashamed." Why don't people share their faith? Because they're ashamed. They're ashamed of identifying themselves with Jesus.

They hear the world talking about Christianity, putting down Christians, they don't want to stand up for Jesus because they'd be ashamed because of the rejection. But Paul says here and we should all take this to heart, Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

So why would Paul say I'm not ashamed? Because obviously he could have been ashamed. The reason he stated it, beloved ones, is because he realized that he needed to stand up and not be ashamed because of the shame that the power of darkness was trying to put upon him. Specifically coming from many Jewish people whom he was coming out of, a Jewish community where Jesus was by and large rejected and so on and so forth.

He was dealing with the same spirit of intimidation, fear, and shame that we face today in modern times but he made up his mind that he was going to stand up and speak. "I am not ashamed of the gospel."

Dustin: And this is not just anywhere in the world that he was going to where people would easily receive him. This is Rome where people believe that this is the center of the world at the time where thought and... we credit Rome with a lot of our beliefs today of Western philosophy that we believe here in America.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Absolutely, it's like going to New York City and being in Times Square and you've got all these different thoughts and all this stuff and 90 plus percent or whatever that number is, not about the gospel. But Paul stands up in the midst of that and says I'm not ashamed of the gospel, it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written: "the righteous man shall live by faith." So the gospel teaches us, hey, we can come into relationship with God just as we are based on what Jesus has done for us and all we need to do is believe. Someone asked Jesus, "What should I do to do the works of God?" and Yeshua said, "Believe in him whom the Father has sent."

And so I want to encourage you today, my friends, to fully give your life to Jesus. And if this ministry's been a blessing to you, I want to ask you today, would you financially partner with us? It's only because of friends like you that believe in the ministry, that are being blessed by the ministry, and that are supporting the ministry that we can continue to preach the gospel around the world.

When you support the gospel, beloved ones, it's going to come back to you pressed down, good measure, and running over into your lap. And the scriptures tell us in one of John's letters that men that go out for the sake of the truth should be supported by the church. So I want to ask for your financial help today so that we can continue to preach both on air, on television, radio, and on the ground all over the world. Dustin, will you share with our friends today how they can participate?

Dustin: Amen, absolutely. We're not ashamed of the gospel here at Discovering the Jewish Jesus. And if the Lord is leading you to give today, you can give online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. You can also call us at 800-777-7835.

Thank you so much for listening today and being a part of this ministry. Your contributions really do make a difference and for your gift today, we'll send you our latest newsletter. Once again, you can give online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And right now, here's Rabbi Schneider once again to speak a blessing over us before we close.

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.

Yevarekhekha Yahweh veyishmerekha. Ya'er Yahweh panav eleykha vikhunekha. Yissa Yahweh panav eleykha veyasem 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.