Discovering The Jewish Jesus

--Rabbi K.A. Schneider-- God is going to speak to you in your dreams at night. We can receive assurance and affirmation about our lives and about our relationship with God by paying attention to our dreams.

Bless the name of the Lord. The word of God is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword. The Lord is speaking to us in the scriptures today about dreams. Some of us have not realized that one of the most important ways that God has spoken to His people from the beginning of scripture all the way through the New Testament is through His people's dreams at night.

I know in my life many of the critical decisions that I have made, I've been able to make with confidence because the Lord showed me what to do in advance through a dream at night. I want to move forward today and say that sometimes the Lord will give us a dream about our future so that when the future arrives, when the future becomes now, we'll know what to do.

I think for example, many years ago, right before I got married, so this is going back 30 plus years ago, I had a dream. And in this dream I was in the attic of a home. And it was a very simple attic, it was dark up there, there was a window on this side and a window on this side. And myself and some other people were standing against the back wall of this attic.

Suddenly, from this window streamed into the attic, a spirit of life and it was all the colors of a rainbow. And as soon as I saw this, again, I was against the back wall along with some other people. As soon as I saw this beautiful spirit of life flowing like a river, come into that attic, I immediately moved away from the back wall, approached this beautiful spirit of life, followed the spirit out to where it had come into the room from, stuck my head out the window from which he had flowed into the room from. And when I looked out the window, beloved, everywhere was color. It was an eternity of color.

I opened my arms up in the dream. I said, come and live inside me. And then immediately I heard the word eternity in my soul, deep, deep, deep down in me. Instantly then the dream shifted. I found myself looking out the other window, the window that was on the other side of the room. It was just chaos, all kinds of stuff just floating across the window. I won't go into the interpretation of that at this time.

Then bam, the dream shifted again. In the third and final phase of the dream, I was walking down a street, just at peace. And as I was walking down the street, I came up to a car wreck. And as I approached the car that had been in the wreck, there was an African man, and the back door on the passenger side had flung open, which is where he was sitting, and his body was half laying out of the car and half of him was still in the car. He was still whole, but the door was flung open and half of him, his upper torso was on the street, and his waist down was actually still inside the car.

And when I came up to this African man, I looked at him and he was badly burned. And without thinking, without ego, without trying to do anything, I very simply and authentically just stuck my hand out towards him. And then those colors that I had asked to come and live inside me in the first phase of the dream, those colors came out of my fingertips, came onto the African man's body and healed him of his burns. And then the dream was over.

Now, that happened over 35 years ago. But when it happened, I knew that it was a dream from God and I knew that God had called me into a healing ministry to the African. At first, because I had never been to Africa, I thought it just pertained to African-Americans. But then what happened was, less than 10 years ago, I got a call from somebody in Haiti asking me to come down and minister in Haiti.

I preached the gospel in Haiti and literally saw thousands of people running forward to receive Jesus as their Messiah. And the Haitians are made up mostly of Africans that had been taken there to be slaves. And so the Haiti population has African roots. And from there, I just saw God begin to open the doors, opening up places for me to travel into Africa. We've been to many, many countries there, as many of you know, I can't even count them all.

But the Lord showed me over 35 years ago in a dream that when these opportunities presented themselves in Africa, I should go through those doors because he had given me a healing ministry to the African. God will sometimes show you your future in advance in a dream, so when your future arrives, you'll be ready and you'll go through that door.

And some of you right now perhaps can relate to this. You'll think about something the Lord showed you about your destiny way before your destiny came, and the reason he showed it to you was so that when your destiny did come, you'd be able to go through that door with confidence.

Beloved, the point that I'm making in this series is that God speaks to His people in dreams. We need to be listening, we need to be paying attention, and we need to take the appropriate action. It's one of the most common ways scripturally we see God speaking to His people from the beginning of the Bible, from the Torah, all the way through the B'rit Chadashah, the New Testament scriptures.

Sometimes we can receive comfort from HaShem, which is just a Hebrew way to say God. We can receive comfort from God through our dreams in a way that far surpasses the comfort that any human being could ever give us. Especially when we're going through hard times in our life.

Let me say that again. All of us go through difficult seasons in our life. Do you know that when you're going through a difficult season in your life, when you commit yourself to prayer especially, I believe God will oftentimes speak to you in a dream to comfort you in that season and give you confidence?

Let me show you scripturally an example of this. I'm going to the book of Bereshit, the book of Genesis. I'm reading chapter 28, verse 10 through 16. Now, in this portion of scripture, Jacob was fleeing for his life. Remember what had happened? He had tricked his father into giving him the blessing. Remember Jacob dressed up in Esau's clothes and he stole the birthright. And when Esau found out what had happened, he was going to kill Jacob, so Jacob had to flee.

Now, when Jacob had to flee, I want you to imagine, it wasn't like today where you can move from Atlanta to Los Angeles and it's no big deal. You make friends right away. You go to different places where you can find people and develop relationships and it's easy to go from one city to another city and basically to reacclimate. I mean it's relatively easy. It's still difficult always to do that, but compare being able to do that today and how often it's done versus what that would have been like in the ancient biblical world where your whole family was in one location. Your whole life you had been in that location.

All your relatives were in the same location. In fact, it was the only place that you ever knew. And now you have to leave that place, that geographical area that you were born, that you were raised, everything was familiar to you there, all your relatives were there. You have to leave that place to go someplace that's completely unfamiliar, where you have no contacts, you have no relatives or friends. That's what was the case with Jacob.

He's fleeing for his life because Esau was going to kill him. He's in the middle of nowhere, doesn't know where he's going to end up, doesn't know where he's going to land, has no comforters around him. He's in fear and he's totally lonely. And in that state he goes to sleep one night.

I'm going to pick up now once again in Genesis 28, verse 10 through 16. Then Jacob, then Yaakov, departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place. He had a dream and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac and the land of which you lie. And I will give it to you and to your descendants.

Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.

Now I want you to think about that. Jacob woke up as a result of the dream. What did he say? He said, surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not. How did Jacob find out that God was with him and was with him in his circumstances in the now? He found out, beloved one, through the dream that God just gave him.

When he laid his head on that rock and he saw a ladder ascending from heaven to earth with angels ascending from earth to heaven and heaven to earth right where his head lay, he realized that God was with him, that God was right with him, right where he was. And it took away his fear. He discovered God's presence with him. He discovered that God's favor was on him through a dream he received in the night and he's doing the same thing today in the now for you and I and all his children.

This is why Peter quoted Joel chapter 2 when the spirit of God was poured out in Acts chapter 2 and he said what you're seeing is that the Lord's spirit has been poured out as was prophesied by Joel and the result of that is God is going to speak to you in your dreams at night. We can receive assurance and comfort and affirmation about our lives and about our relationship with God by paying attention to our dreams.

--Host (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. You can get started today at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Just click on our resources and Need a Will tab. It's completely free whether you choose to give to this ministry or not. So check it out today. And for those of you who do choose to give, thank you so much. And now back to Rabbi with the second half of today's lesson.

--Rabbi K.A. Schneider-- Now I shared with you earlier that not all dreams are from God. Let me give you an example of this happening in my own life regarding this particular subject of how the Lord can assure us and comfort us and affirm us by speaking to us in our dreams at night.

I remember years ago, I was in a season of deep pain. And then I had a dream one night, and in the dream, I literally heard an angel speak to me. And you say, well, how do you know it was an angel that spoke to you? All I can tell you is when you encounter the Lord or when you encounter an angel, there's no question as to what's going on. The Bible says that in the day of God's power, man is made willing. You just know.

When Isaiah encountered the Lord in Isaiah chapter 6, he didn't wonder whether it was God he was encountering. It was so powerful. He knew it. And so I can say was the case in this experience. I had a dream and in the midst of the dream, I literally heard the voice of an angel and I knew it was an angel rather than the Holy Spirit. And the angel said to me, remember I was going through a time of deep pain. The angel said to me, you're on the right path. It brought assurance to me. Even though I was going through a deep time of hurt and confusion, that night I knew that I was walking in God's love, that his favor was on me and that I was on the right path.

Let me give you another spectacular example of the Lord speaking to me in a dream at night to bring assurance. And I'm sharing this with you not to boast about my own experiences, but to help you understand how real this is, that it's not just for the people that lived in the time of the Bible, it's for you and I today.

Some years back, I had a dream. And in this dream, I was with my best friend from high school. And he and I were walking to a big baseball tryout. By big baseball tryout, I mean it was a very high-level baseball team that he was trying out for. And I realized that it must have been him that was trying for the baseball team because my friend was a tremendous athlete and I just felt in the dream that I was just with him because he was the great athlete, not me.

So we're walking to this baseball tryout and we get to the coach who's doing the tryouts. And all of a sudden, the coach looks at me. And I'm thinking, well, why is he looking at me? My friend's the athlete. I was kind of a one-dimensional athlete. I could wrestle. That was it. But all of a sudden we get in front of this baseball coach who's giving people tryouts, and the coach looks at me. And he said to me, everything that's happened in your life up to this point is under the bridge. But I'm going to be watching you from this point forward to determine whether I'm going to put you, speaking to me, in the major leagues.

And then the dream was over. So it was kind of an astonishing dream. I keep a dream journal, which I'm going to instruct you how to do that at the end of this series. And I write down the dreams that I have that I think are from God. And so I wrote down this dream, I prayed about it, I didn't know what it meant, but I recorded it. About a year later, I was going through my dream journal on New Year's. I always go through my dream journal around the first of the year to see how God had spoken to me the previous year.

And as I'm going through the dream journal, all of a sudden, I see that dream. I had forgotten about it. And remember, the dream was, the coach saying to me, I'm going to be watching you from this point forward to determine whether I'm going to put you in the majors. So when I read that, immediately I felt defeated. Because I know all the selfish thoughts that I have, the times I can become frustrated, the times that I'm self-absorbed or self-centered, thoughts of accusation that I have.

So when I saw that the coach was going to be watching me, and I knew that the coach was a symbol of the Lord, and when I read that he was going to be watching me to determine whether he was going to put me in the majors, as I reviewed my dream journal, I didn't think I had a chance in the world. I felt totally defeated. I said, there's no way I made it. There's no way he's promoting me to the majors. I didn't even have a prayer.

But in desperation, I have to admit, sometimes I'll do this, I'll say, Lord, I don't recommend this and God certainly doesn't have to speak this way. I'm just being authentic with you. Sometimes in desperation, I'll say, Lord, if you're saying this, then let my finger land on an X. And if you're saying this, let my finger land on a Q.

So it's certainly not a foolproof method, but occasionally God condescends to speak to us in to meet us in our own humanity. So I say, Lord, if I made it to the majors, let my finger land on an X and if I didn't make it to the majors, let my finger land on a Q. Again, I just randomly opened my Bible. So all of a sudden, I'm ready to open my eyes and see that my finger landed on the Q that I didn't make it. And all of a sudden I look where my finger landed. It didn't land on an X, it didn't land on a Q. Beloved, it landed on the word major.

I was blown away. The question was, Lord, if I made it to the majors, let my finger land on an X, if I didn't make it, let my finger land on the word Q. I put my finger randomly in the Bible, it lands on the word major. I was blown away. I said, oh my gosh, I didn't even realize the word major was in the Bible. So I use a New American Standard Version. I went to biblegateway.com, typed in the word major. How many times is the word major in the Bible? It says three times. I look up the three times that it's in there. Two of the three times it wasn't the word major, it was the word majority.

Only one time out of approximately 750,000 words in the entire Bible is the word major used. One time out of 750,000 times. How do that whole incident come about? It came about when the Lord spoke to me in a dream that he was going to be watching me to determine whether he was going to put me in the majors. Then he confirmed it to me almost a year later that he did, and I was blown away because I don't feel like I deserve it or that I made it or that I'm, you know, God is so much more tender to you and I than we realize. He's so much softer than we understand.

David said of the Lord, your gentleness has made me great. Beloved, God set that all up from a dream. God encourages us and affirms us just like he did Jacob through our dreams at night. The question is, beloved, are you and I paying attention? Will we hear? Will we take notice? Will we write our dreams down so we don't forget about them? And will we review them so we can get the full benefit from them?

I'm going to be praying for you at the end of this series that Father God will open your ears and help you better hear him in your dreams at night.

I think one of the greatest things that the Lord is doing through this ministry is using Discovering the Jewish Jesus in a huge way in the earth. To prepare the Gentile church and to equip them to share their faith with Jewish people. In fact, Paul said in the book of Romans that he magnified his ministry to the Gentiles because he said, through Gentile believers, his own people would be reached.

And so Gentile believers being equipped to share their faith with Jewish people is a huge part of God's redemptive purposes. So I want you to know, every time you sow your finances into Discovering the Jewish Jesus, you're sharing, you're sowing seed into good ground that is right in God's redemptive strategy to prepare the world for King Jesus's return. Maybe you've never presented an offering to the Lord through this ministry. I would humbly ask you today to open your heart to the Lord and consider doing so. And if you feel the Holy Spirit knocking at the door of your heart to move forward with this, just be obedient. And because of you, we're making a difference.

--Host (Dustin Roberts)-- Amen. And you can respond to Rabbi today by giving a gift of any amount. Just give us a call at 800-777-7835. And if it's easier for you, I want to encourage you, go to our website and you can donate there as well. You'll find us online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com.

And you know, Rabbi has a passion for reaching Jewish people with the gospel. It's just so close to his heart. And you may have heard us mention this before, but right now we are engaged in our most ambitious outreach in Israel ever. Through digital advertising and also billboards and strategic media placement, we're bringing the message of the Messiah to millions of Jewish people in Israel. And you know what? We're seeing real fruit. Jewish people are awakening to Yeshua HaMashiach, and they're discovering who Jesus is because of friends just like you who understand the urgency of the moment.

We received a testimony the other day from a Jewish orthodox young man. He received Jesus as his Messiah and he said it was because he had heard Rabbi Schneider talking about how you could still be Jewish and follow Jesus. In fact, I would say following Jesus is the most Jewish thing you can do. And you know what? It's incredible how God is using Rabbi and this ministry to reach people for his kingdom. So if you'd like to be a part of this outreach and you want to give a special offering or just support this ministry each and every month by becoming a partner, give us a call at 888-697-2224 or visit our website. It's discoveringthejewishjesus.com.

And now here's Rabbi with God's special and sacred blessing. Rabbi.

--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.

Y'varechecha Adonai v'yishm'recha. Ya'er Adonai panav eilecha v'yichuneka. Yisa Adonai panav eilecha v'yasem l'cha shalom.

God bless you and Shalom.

--Host (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 continues to explain how you can discover the meaning of your dreams. That's Wednesday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.