Discovering The Jewish Jesus

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: You need to look at the little things in your life that you might have given yourself excuses for, that you might have justified. But at the end of the day, when you put those things under a microscope, it boils down to stealing. To understand if it's ever okay to steal, we have to understand why God gave the commandment, Thou shall not steal in Exodus 20 verse number 15. We're going through the 613 laws of the Torah and giving contemporary application for our lives today as followers of Jesus. You see the prohibition against stealing, the command not to steal is given to us because we're not only recognizing that there's an injustice that's done to the one that we're stealing from, but there's an injustice that's done to God who created this one.

That's why the Ten Commandments begin with the words, I am the Lord your God. So when we consider whether it's ever okay to steal, soon as we can make excuses and justifications, well for example, my boss is making so much money, the company that I work for is making so much money that it really won't hurt them if I misuse the company credit card, which by the way happens. I have a family member that had a great employee. This employee was making so much money compared to probably 99% of the other opportunities that would have been available for them.

But unfortunately, it was discovered that this employee of my relative was misusing the company credit card and my relative had to let them go. It was very sad because I really liked this individual. But this person that used the company credit card probably thought to herself, you know what, this company is making so much money. It won't hurt them if I take this credit card and buy a few things for my own personal use with it. But we have to recognize again, my friends, that stealing is not just an offense against the one we steal from.

It's an offense against the Lord, our maker, who created us in his image and gave us the law. It's an offense against the God-given imprint within all humanity. And so the Lord said, Thou shall not steal. And although it was originally given in the context of property rights, there's a moral imperative within it that should speak to all of us today. Even such thing as employees taking extended lunch breaks that are more than they're allotted, spending so much time in the bathroom perhaps to use their phone and get away from the office. All types of ways that employees can steal from their employers, whether it be taking home office supplies.

We all have to look at ourselves and be willing to be vulnerable to the Holy Spirit and say, are my stealing in some way, Lord? I think a lot of God's people don't realize that when they call in sick and they say, oh, I'm sick today and they're really not sick. Isn't that kind of a way of stealing? It's lying. It's stealing. So we have to really look at ourselves and be committed, beloved, to walk in truth and to let the Holy Spirit sanctify us. And what I have found in my life, whenever I have made that decision to walk in truth, to not lie, to not steal, to not take shortcuts, to not do the easy thing, even though it feels like I'm going to lose something by doing what's right, God always blesses me and he prepares me for the next season of breakthrough.

And so we have to take this command once again given to ancient Israel in the context of property rights and apply its moral imperative to our own life and make up our mind, beloved, that we're not going to steal. And you need to look at the little things in your life that you might have given yourself excuses for, that you might have justified. But at the end of the day, when you put those things under a microscope, it boils down to stealing. And so if God's seeking to you right now in this, I hope that you can receive this word and make a decision and say, Lord, I want to live clean.

I want to live before you righteously and without offense. And beloved, as you make that commitment and repent, get cleansed of all sin, God is going to bless you and continue to honor you and exalt you in the spirit and in your relationship with Yeshua. Finally, I want to point out that the book of Exodus chapter 22 verse 4 underscores the importance of this mitzvah not to steal by commanding the one that stole to pay back the one they had stolen from double. And this command to recompense the one that was stolen from double acted as a deterrent to keep people from stealing.

And it also spoke to the one that did steal about the seriousness of their actions. As we continue to dive deep into God's laws, we examine another one of the Ten Commandments. It's found in the book of Exodus chapter 20 verse 16. It's the prohibition against bearing false witness. Now many of us, we've heard the term false witness, but we've not really thought deeply about what it means to bear false witness. Well, this command was originally given to address a legal setting. But in reality, as we dig deeper, it applies to so much more in terms of its moral imperative on our life today.

If the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him just as he intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. So the Lord took this so seriously that the one that was bearing false witness, the one that was seeking to slant the narrative, the one that was bearing false testimony to bring down somebody else, to destroy somebody else, when they were found guilty of bearing false witness, the evil intention that they had towards that one that they were bearing false witness for was to come back upon the one that spoke falsely so that that evil intention would come upon their own lives.

Very very serious and very very heavy. It's a serious thing before the living God to try to tear somebody down by gossiping, lying, slanting a story, creating a narrative that's to our own benefit without speaking the whole truth. These are very serious types of bearing false witness that many of us, if not all of us have been guilty of at one time or another. Again, this command to not bear false witness originally applied in a legal setting in ancient Israel. The moral implication of it puts a heavy demand, beloved, in the positive sense of the word, a heavy yoke of holiness for us to strive to live up to upon our own lives.

Let me ask you a question as you consider, have you ever borne false witness? When we understand that the deeper ethical implication here is that we must not speak something that is falsely making somebody look bad for our own benefit. When we think about that, let me ask you a question. Have you ever shared a narrative about what happened between you and somebody else that really wasn't the full truth? You only told part of the truth. You told the part of the truth that made you look good. But you didn't tell the whole story in speaking about what your responsibility may have been in the situation.

I think we've all been guilty of that. We talk about something that has happened to us or some type of relationship that we were in and we share that scenario with somebody else, slanting the story so that we look good and the other person looks bad. We need, beloved, to guard our hearts. Often times when people are acting like this, they're not aware that the reason that they're doing it, the reason that they're bearing false witness is because of their own jealousy, is because of the evil in their own heart. And we need to be aware when impulses come up from within our hearts that are not coming from the right place.

The Bible says that we need to guard our hearts because from our hearts flow the essence of life. And the truth is is that all of us within us have the capacity to do good or to do bad. In Judaism we call it the good inclination and the evil inclination. So all of us have the ability to act on the good inclination within us or the evil inclination within us. But the New Testament tells us that we by the spirit are to be putting to death the deeds of the flesh. When I speak about the flesh, Paul listed the deeds of the flesh, competitions, jealousies, strife, impatience, hatred, all those are acts of the flesh.

So when I speak about flesh, I am not just talking about eating and sex. I am talking about motives that have to do with a more spiritual composition. We need to watch our heart and make sure that when we are talking about somebody else that we're not bearing false witness, that we're not painting a bad picture about them because for some reason they heard us or because we're jealous of them or because they've offended us. Beloved, let's not bear false witness. Because when we do, we not only release a curse on the person that we're bearing false witness of, but we also, beloved, bring a curse upon ourselves.

Because what we sow we will reap. The Lord said, Thou shall not bear false witness. Let's judge our own hearts and in so doing guard our mouth so we're speaking life rather than death or bearing false witness. And in so doing, beloved, by making a commitment to speak life and not death, to speak well of others and not evil of others. In so doing, we ourselves will be blessed and strengthened in God's in his spirit and be brought more and more into his power and into his glory. You and I have been given the power to overcome.

Let's recognize those intentions of our heart of hatred and jealousy and envy which would prompt us to bear false witness. Let's recognize those intentions in our heart, those evil motives. Let's put them to death under us, not giving them place and instead choosing to overcome evil with good. And as we do, my friends, we will be blessed and empowered in the Holy Spirit of God.

Dustin Roberts: This is Discovering the Jewish Jesus and Rabbi Schneider will be back in a moment. Did you know that you can receive direct communication from Rabbi? Sign up for text messages today. He won't bombard you with messages, but he'll send encouraging words and updates for special live shows as the Lord leads him. It's easy to join. Just text the keyword Rabbi to the number 88777. That's Rabbi to the number 88777. Did you know that the Shofar is a biblical instrument that's used to announce God's presence and we would love to send you one when you become a new monthly partner.

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Rabbi K.A. Schneider: As we continue to dive deep, beloved ones, into the laws of the Torah, I want to cover the principle of not coveting. We've all heard the word coveting. It's important that you understand this because to feel rich in the Lord, you have to guard your heart against coveting. So let's examine exactly what coveting is. We're going to the book of Exodus chapter 20 verse 17 from which we get the law, you shall not covet. Hear the word of God. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Coveting, beloved, is desiring something that doesn't belong to us. It's desiring something that belongs to somebody else. And we need to guard our hearts because coveting is something that takes place internally. Stealing that we covered in another law is something that happens in the external realm. We physically take something that is not ours. But coveting is something that happens in the recesses of our heart. The 12th century Torah sage Rabbi Ibn Ezra provides commentary on this law. And here's what he he tells us that a peasant refuses to covet the princess because the peasant knows that the princess is beyond his station in life.

Because the peasant knows that he can never have that princess, he doesn't put his heart's intention towards her because he realizes what a waste of energy and how foolish and pointless it would be. Likewise, beloved, a wise person, you and I today, we recognize that what our neighbor has, that what our fellow employee has, that what somebody else down the street has, that what another family member has, it's not wise for us to covet that because it's not ours to have. Instead, the Bible tells us we need to learn the secret of being content with what we already have.

Hear Paul's words in the book of Philippians chapter 4. I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means. I also know how to live in prosperity in any and every circumstance. And so Paul recognized that there was a secret to being content that was not dependent on what he had. The scriptures admonish us to be content with what we have. I remember years ago for the first six years of my marriage with Cynthia, we were living in a mobile home park. It was the most impoverished, and maybe that's too strong of a word.

Let me tell you a story that will help illustrate the point. My son-in-law now works in the school district that encompassed the mobile home park that Cynthia and I were living in. And when my son-in-law started working for that school district, they gave all the new teachers a tour of all the different geographical territory that would compose the students that we're going to be attending the high school that my son-in-law was teaching in. So my son-in-law is on the bus tour and they're driving around to all the different places of this city where my son-in-law is now teaching and they're showing him the different houses and the different neighborhoods.

And then they bring my son-in-law, last of all, to the mobile home park where Cynthia and I were living. We were no longer living there, but the person that was giving the tour on the bus said to my son-in-law and the other teachers, now these are the most financially disadvantaged students. And that was the students that were living or Cynthia and I were living. But I tell you that story because when we were living there for six years, Cynthia was so content. She would look out the window overlooking the kitchen sink and there was an empty lot next door and she would be talking about how beautiful the empty lot was.

And so this is what the Bible's teaching us here, that we need to learn how to be content because of our relationship with God and because the identity that we have in knowing who we are to him and how valuable we are to him. He knows you so well. He loves you. He affirms every part of who you are. And knowing that will release you from desiring things that belong to somebody else that can never satisfy you anyway. Because listen, a rich man is not somebody that has everything they want. But a rich person, beloved, is somebody that's content with what they already have.

We should not covet. Instead, what we should do is thank the Lord for what we already have. Of course, it's natural to want more. It's natural to want more. But when it moves into the place where it's an unhealthy fixation of thinking we need this or need that to be happy and don't have an appreciation for how we're already blessed, then it falls into the realm of coveting. I remember years ago I had this dream. And in the dream I was lost and I was trying to find my way back home. And I came to a place as I was trying to find the way back home that the path that I was on, it went two different directions.

So I veered off to the right. There was a right path and a path that went straight ahead. I veered off to the right. And when I followed that path down to the right, eventually it came to the most opulent residence I ever saw in my life. It was the finest money could buy. Everything was over the top, opulent. And there was a pool that was surrounded by like marble granite from another country that imported in. And laying on that granite all around the pool, there was a ton of people that were just wasted. I mean like they were strung out on drugs.

And what the Lord showed me there is that ostentatious wealth can never satisfy anybody. So let's not covet things, beloved, that can never satisfy us. Instead, let's be thankful for the fact that we have God, that his grace is sufficient. The true satisfaction comes from the spirit, from knowing who God is, knowing how much he loves us and who we are to him. So let's pray for that revelation because when we get that, we'll truly be thankful and truly be happy. My beloved friend, you have an identity and you have a destiny. And when we come into the fullness of that revelation, we're not going to want anything else.

We're not going to covet because we're going to have everything that makes us satisfied and makes us whole. Thou shall not covet. 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 Gentiles. Yeshua came and he first brought the message to the Jewish people and then the message spread from there around the world to Jerusalem, Samaria, and all the nations of the earth.

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. 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. When Jewish people come to faith in him, that creates a spiritual climate for the Lord's return. 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: If you'd like to stand with Discovering the Jewish Jesus as we reach Jewish people with the gospel, visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call 800-777-7835. And one of the places that you're giving today is helping us focus on is our Israel outreach. This outreach it's personal for Rabbi. God has placed a burden on his heart to reach his Jewish brothers and sisters with the truth that Jesus is the promised Messiah. And right now in Israel, our what if he is right campaign, it's reaching people with a bold question about Yeshua through billboards across the country and digital ads appearing on phones, Israelis are being invited to stop and explore the truth of Jesus for themselves.

Please pray that God uses every message to open hearts, spark curiosity, and cause people across Israel to seriously ask, what if he is right? And you know what, that work, it takes people standing behind it. So if God has used this ministry in your life, would you please consider helping us take that same message to someone else? Visit and support us at discoveringthejewishjesus.com or you can call 800-777-7835. You can also mail your gift to Discovering the Jewish Jesus PO Box 777 Blissfield, Michigan 49228. Thank you for helping us carry the gospel to Jewish people in Israel and around the world.

Now here's Rabbi with the ironic blessing.

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. And the Lord said, When you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them. Receive the importations of the Lord's blessings. 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. Are we too casual about how we present ourselves before God? Rabbi Schneider reveals what that says about our heart Monday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.