Discovering The Jewish Jesus

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I was just so discouraged. I had tried everything I knew to do to enter into a greater experience in my walk with God. But nothing seemed to be helping me. Nothing seemed to be working.

We are now in a series called God’s Supernatural Presence. It’s a really critical word because so many people are not excited about Jesus because they’ve never experienced Him. They call themselves Christians because they say they believe the right doctrine, which we need to believe right doctrine. Doctrine is very important. Truth is critical. Truth is the foundation of our faith. But we need to also experience God’s presence.

Jesus said in John 4 that the Father is looking for people that will worship Him in spirit and in truth. God wants us to experience His spirit. He wants us to experience His presence. This is why He sent us the Holy Spirit.

Now, I’m not going to go and review everything I covered. Let me just simply say this. Last broadcast, I talked about the fact that in 1978, I was saved through a supernatural encounter with Jesus. Since that time, I’ve been questing after knowing God supernaturally. In other words, experiencing His presence in my life supernaturally has been my goal.

I want to relate to God rightly. I want to know who He is. We can’t know who He is just in the intellect. The Bible says that we know who God is through the spirit. The scripture says, "Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and neither has it ever entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those that love Him, but these things are revealed to us," Paul said, "by His spirit."

This is supernatural. If you think about the fact that God is spirit, the scripture says God is spirit, and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Now think about this. Those of you that may be struggling just a bit, a little bit maybe skeptical, a little bit maybe defensive, as I begin to talk about the supernatural. Just open your mind and heart for a few moments. Listen to this.

We all agree, those of us that believe in God, that God is spirit. No one argues that. Well, hear me. This series is called God’s Supernatural Presence. Again, some Christians kind of step back away from the word supernatural. They have the position that miracles have ceased. Those that talk about such things are charlatans and scammers.

But I want you to hear me. Spirit, by definition, is supernatural because spirit operates above the laws of the natural. The natural encompasses those things that operate in the natural world by natural law. But spirit is not part of the natural world, and the way the spirit operates is above and beyond the laws of the natural world. That’s why spirit, by nature, is supernatural.

And so, if God is spirit and, by definition, spirit is supernatural because spirit is above the laws of the natural, it’s supernatural. Then that means that our relationship is with a supernatural God, and if we’re in relationship with this supernatural God, then our relationship with Him is supernatural.

And if you’ve been born again—Jesus said unless you be born again. This is not just some rhetoric from some country preacher back in the woods when we speak about being born again. We’re not talking about some type of Christianity. We’re not talking about some strain of Christianity. Jesus said in John 3, "Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is flesh is flesh; that which is spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again."

Jesus is talking about being born of the spirit. We’re born into the world the first time naturally, but we need a second birth in which we receive the spirit. And so, listen, if you’ve received the spirit because you’re born again, if you’ve received God’s spirit, what this means is you are supernatural because God is supernatural. You’ve been born of the supernatural one. So don’t shy away from entertaining and opening yourself up to this, because this is beloved reality.

Now, on last broadcast, I shared with you that because I was saved supernaturally back in 1978—I encourage you if you don’t have my book Awakening to Messiah to get it. It’s really a great autobiography that shows the ways that God is supernaturally making Himself known to Jewish people. Of course, in the case of Awakening to Messiah, me. But Jewish people, the Bible says, oftentimes need a sign.

So I knew that God was real and alive and could be experienced because of the way that He revealed Himself to me back in 1978 and for those first several years. So many powerful, amazing things He did. So that became my goal. I want to always experience Your supernatural reality in my life. I want to know You. I just don’t want to memorize words in my head. I just don’t want to know about You, God. I want to know You. I want to experience You. I want to feel You. I want to be aware of Your presence. I want this to be fulfilling. So that became my goal: experiencing God’s supernatural presence.

And so, as I began to journey out into the Christian world—and by the way, the word Christian just means a follower of the Christ, a follower of the anointed one. You can be Jewish or Gentile. If you’re following the anointed one, the Christ, you’re a Christian. So, as I began my Christian walk, going to churches all over the city where I was living, the sermons all ended the same way. You need to read the Bible more, you need to pray more, you need to witness more, you need to give more money.

And all those things are really important to do. But I was doing all those things. In other words, if you were in back of me at the grocery store in line, I would have turned around and witnessed to you. I couldn’t witness to any more people I was witnessing to. I would go buy a Bible, I’d be walking home from the store, and I’d pass somebody on the sidewalk—this was when I was at Ohio State University—and all of a sudden, I’d pass somebody on the sidewalk, I’d start witnessing to them.

What did I do next? I gave them my Bible that I’d just bought. I can’t tell you how many new Bibles I bought. Every time I bought one, I gave it away. I was doing all the things that I was supposed to do as good as I could do them. And yet, still, I wasn’t entering into this experience of feeling God’s presence in my life, of feeling His power, of experiencing His supernatural presence. And I was getting burned out because I was doing everything that the church was telling me to do. I was doing everything that the sermons told me to do at the end of the sermon.

But what happened was I heard a testimony from somebody. And this testimony said that this man met Paul Yonggi Cho on the golf course. Paul Yonggi Cho was pastoring the largest church in the world, over a million people. And this man was saying to Paul Yonggi Cho, "How did that happen? How did that happen?" And finally, he pressured Paul Yonggi Cho so much that Paul said to him, "It’s in the Bible. It’s the Lord’s Prayer."

So this person said, "That’s it. The Lord’s Prayer." And his name was Larry Lee. He developed this tremendous teaching on the Lord’s Prayer. Our Father that art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And so, what he did was he said, "Okay, the first part of coming into this power with God, coming into this presence, coming into experiencing supernaturally is we’ve got to pray the Lord’s Prayer."

So the Lord’s Prayer begins—we all know—Our Father that art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. So Larry Lee broke down all God’s covenant names. Yahweh-Rapha, Yahweh-Nissi, Yahweh-M’Kaddesh, Yahweh-Tsidkenu—these are all the Hebrew covenant names of God. And he began to just praise God in all His names. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. And he broke it down. A tremendous teaching.

When I saw that and heard that, I said, "That’s it." I said, "That’s what I must be missing. That’s why I haven’t experienced God’s presence more. That’s why I haven’t experienced His power more. I haven’t prayed the Lord’s Prayer enough. That’s the answer." Finally, I thought I had found the magic answer.

And so I started praying the Lord’s Prayer for 15 minutes a day. And at the time—this is going back over 30 years ago—at the time, I felt like if I wasn’t talking, then I wasn’t really praying. I couldn’t count it to be prayer unless I was actually talking. So I started out 15 minutes a day. I couldn’t even stop for a second because I thought, "No, no, you said you were going to pray the Lord’s Prayer for 15 minutes. You’ve got to talk for 15 minutes."

So I went through the Lord’s Prayer, started praising God, Yahweh-Rapha, the Lord our healer, Yahweh-Tsidkenu, Yahweh-Nissi, the Lord our victory, Yahweh-M’Kaddesh, the Lord our sanctifier. I would praise God in all His Hebrew names. I would worship Him. I would ask for His kingdom to come in the world, His government to come in my home, in the church I was pastoring. I mean, I went through it. Did it for 15 minutes straight for days. Nothing seemed to change.

So I said, "Well, maybe I need to increase it to a half hour." So then I started praying the Lord’s Prayer for a half hour. And once again, beloved, I want to remind you, at the time I felt like unless I was talking, it didn’t count. So I was just constant talking for a half hour, all the dimensions of the Lord’s Prayer. Nothing happened.

So I said, "You know what? I’m going to increase it to an hour." So now I’m sitting in my study every day, praying the Lord’s Prayer, talking nonstop for an hour. Guess what? Nothing happened. I kid you not. This is a true story.

What did I do next? I increased it to three hours. I’m sitting in my office, praying the Lord’s Prayer, not even stopping for a second for three hours. Nothing happened. I’m like, "What?" Finally, I said to myself, "Well, maybe you’re talking too much. Maybe you should pray the Lord’s Prayer for an hour and a half," I said to myself, "and then just wait on the Lord for an hour and a half because, you know, prayer is a two-way street. You speak and God speaks." So I said, "Maybe that’s what I need to do. I’m going to pray the Lord’s Prayer for an hour and a half, and then I’m just going to sit before the Lord for an hour and a half." Guess what? Nothing happened.

Dustin Roberts: This is Discovering The Jewish Jesus, and Rabbi Schneider will be right back. But first, we have a free gift for you. If you’re battling heaviness or patterns that you just can’t shake, it may be spiritual oppression. Don’t wait for others to deliver you. Rabbi’s free self-deliverance bundle includes a step-by-step PDF with scripture and an MP3 guide to help you close every door to the enemy and live free in Jesus. Get yours at myfreegift.com/freedom.

At Discovering The Jewish Jesus, our desire is to reach every nation with God’s word. Rabbi Schneider’s teachings are impacting lives, but we can’t do this without your support. Monthly partners help us spread the gospel through radio, TV, and podcasts. So would you consider joining with us today? To donate or partner, visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call 800-777-7835. Thanks. And now back to Rabbi Schneider.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Finally, in desperation, I said, "I’m just going to sit before you, Father, for three hours." Guess what happened? I fell asleep. True story. I was just so discouraged. I had come to the end of it all. I didn’t know what to do. I had tried everything I knew to do to enter into a greater experience in my walk with God. But nothing seemed to be helping me. Nothing seemed to be working.

Finally, beloved, one day, I was sitting at home and the Holy Spirit spoke to me. It wasn’t like I heard Him audibly, even though I have heard the Holy Spirit audibly on several occasions. But it wasn’t like I heard Him audibly, but it was so clear, it was just the same as if I did hear Him audibly. And here’s what the Lord said to me.

He said to me, "The reason you’re not finding Me is because you’re searching for Me on the outside. You’re searching for Me in what you’re doing, as if what you’re doing is going to make you experience Me." He said, "I want you to stop focusing on anything on the outside right now." Not that I wasn’t supposed to pray or read the Bible or give. No, I was to continue to do all those things.

But the Lord said, "I want you to ask me just for one thing." He said, "I want you to ask me to give you revelation of the fact that I’m already in you." See, the Bible tells us that if the Holy Spirit’s not in us, we don’t belong to Jesus. I was looking for God on the outside by what I was doing. But the Lord said, "No, you’re not going to find me by looking to me in your works or in what you’re doing."

He said, "I’m already inside you. I want you to focus on this one thing for this season. Ask me to give you revelation that I am in you." And you know what? I want you to hear me, my friend. From the very moment that I received that revelation—I kid you not—a new and a fresh power came into my life. That was over 30 years ago, and I have never been the same since.

Coming to the understanding that Jesus is already in me completely revolutionized my walk with God. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I have a long way to go. I’m constantly still praying for revelation of the mystery that Christ is in me, that Messiah Yeshua lives inside me, that the Holy Spirit is in me. I’m still looking to get more and more revelation of this reality. But I know it now, and knowing it absolutely changed my walk with God forever.

The problem is that so many of us are not experiencing this power and the sense of God’s presence because we’re doing what I just talked about, and because—listen now—we’re looking for God in material things, in the world around us. But we’re not going to predominantly find God in the world around us. We’re going to first of all find Him within us.

The Bible tells us in the book of Luke, chapter 17, verse 21, this—I’m going to read from the King James Version. Jesus said in Luke 17:21 these words, "Neither shall they say, 'Lo here!'" He’s speaking about those that are seeking for the kingdom. He says, "Neither shall they say, 'Lo here!' or 'Lo there!' for behold," he said, "the kingdom—get it church—the kingdom of God is within you."

The kingdom of God is predominantly and first of all inside us. The Lord does things outside of us. He gives us supernatural signs outside ourselves. Jesus turned the water to wine. We need to be paying attention to what’s happening in our environment because God oftentimes does speak to us from our environment, from the things outside ourselves. But primarily and foundationally and first of all, we need to be looking for the reality of God inside us.

Now, I’m not talking about those that are not born again. I’m speaking to those that have received Jesus, and because you received Jesus, His spirit is now inside you. Yeshua said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And if anyone opens the door, I will come into him and commune with him, and he with me." The witness of the Holy Spirit is on the inside. And we need to learn how to be sensitive to the supernatural reality of the presence of God’s spirit inside us.

You know, so many times Christian people, they’re not aware of the fact—they might say, "Yeah, I believe that," but they’re not aware of it. And so the only place that they’re trying to discern God’s will for their life is by looking at things that are happening on the outside of them. But I want you to know, if you’re only being led by circumstances and you say, "Well, that’s happened, so that must be God’s will," or you feel like God gives you some divine sign.

Like I can’t tell you how many people have ended up getting divorced because they felt attracted to another person. And then all of a sudden, something happened in the material world and they thought, "Oh, that was the sign that God was giving them that they married the wrong person and they’re supposed to leave that person and go marry this person." You know, all of a sudden they’re thinking about this person they’re attracted to, and they turn their radio on and a song comes on with that person’s name on the song.

No, if you’re being primarily led by the circumstances and by what you consider to be supernatural signs that are taking place in the outer world, you’re going to go astray. You’re going to be deceived because the enemy also works in the outer world.

Remember, Pharaoh’s magicians had the staff that they threw on the ground and it turned into a snake. The devil can also counterfeit signs. We’re going to look at this in a second. We need to first of all be being led by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. If we’re going to experience in a greater way the supernatural presence of God, we need, beloved, to come into the revelation that Jesus—hear me now—is already inside us.

Right now, I want to pray for you because so many of you are so connected to the outer world. You’re so connected to your smartphone. You’re so connected to Facebook. You’re so connected to the materialism that’s around you. You’re so running all over the place for everything that you’re completely cut off from experiencing the reality that Jesus is in you because you’re connected to the outer world.

God wants to bring you back to Himself, and if you belong to Him, the place that He is first of all, my friends, is in you. Yes, He’s in heaven, but He sent the Holy Spirit to live in you. Beloved, this is a critically important message. God’s going to use these words to transform many of your lives.

Beloved, I say this with authenticity before the Lord. Discovering The Jewish Jesus is one of the best and most important ministries that you can partner with on the earth. We are reaching the world with the gospel, and more precisely today, we’re reaching Jewish people with the gospel, which is the mandate of the church.

Paul said, "To the Jew first and also to the Greek or to the Gentile." By partnering with Discovering The Jewish Jesus, you’re being used to create breakthrough in the world for Jewish people to be reached. We are broadcasting right now in 97% of the homes in Israel that have television sets, as well as a big portion of the entire Middle East. Beloved, this is the work of the church.

James said faith without works is dead. In other words, for this application, we might agree that it’s important to reach Jewish people with the gospel, but we need to follow up agreement with that by doing something. By you becoming a monthly partner with this ministry, you take a step forward and be part of God’s steps on the earth to reach around the globe to gather in a harvest of precious Jewish souls.

As I said in the broadcast, when Jewish people come to faith in Him, that creates the spiritual climate for the Lord’s return. There’s not a more important time to reach Jewish people than right now, when antisemitism is growing, when Jewish people are feeling shaken, when they’re looking for answers, when they’re looking for hope. Now is the time, I believe more than ever before, to bring the good news of the Jewish Messiah Jesus to them, and you can be a part of doing that by becoming a monthly partner today.

Dustin Roberts: Thank you, Rabbi. And friends, to partner with us right now and to reach Jewish people, visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call us at 800-777-7835. And now I want to tell you about a brand-new book from Rabbi that I think is a great way to absolutely change the way that you experience God’s presence. It’s called The Mystery of the Tabernacle. It’s a brand-new book, and what if I told you that the ancient structure of the tabernacle, the one that God told Moses to build in the wilderness, is actually a prophetic blueprint for intimacy with God?

I’m telling you, this book dives into how every piece of furniture, every sacrifice, and every detail points directly to Jesus and reveals how you can experience God’s presence right now today in your life. If you want to purchase a copy of The Mystery of the Tabernacle, go to our website discoveringthejewishjesus.com and click on the store tab to get your copy today. And now here’s Rabbi to wrap up with God’s special and sacred blessing. Rabbi.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Blessings trump curses. And in the book of Numbers, chapter six, we find the Aaronic blessing that God commanded Moses’s brother Aaron, the high priest, to speak over the children of Israel. There’s power in blessing, beloved ones. So take part in receiving Father’s blessing upon your life today.

Yevarekhekha Yahweh veyishmerekha.

Ya’er Yahweh panav eleykha veyikhunekha.

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 ones, His peace. 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. Join us again when Rabbi Schneider explains how the Messiah is working in and through you right now. That’s Wednesday on Discovering The Jewish Jesus.