Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR Yahuah’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.

This is Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections–Episode 81–Hebrew Roots Identity Crisis

Calendar

The 12-Biblical Month–Hebrew Calendar

Continuing with my reflections on the topic of Spiritual Warfare and Spirit-Filled Torah Living

With all that is going on in our nation and in the world these days, there is no time like the present to get our act together as self-professing Torah Observant Believers in Yeshua Messiah. Unfortunately, the forces of darkness are overshadowing and over-shouting our message, even the message of the Church–both Christianity and Hebrew Roots have become irrelevant in the world of today. We have not been called to sit on the sidelines and watch the world fall apart and observe people’s lives be destroyed–we have a purpose that we must fulfill in this world. That purpose will also define who and what we are.

Are we fulfilling that purpose?

If Master were to return tomorrow, would we hear Him say to us, well done my good and faithful servant? (Matthew 25:21) Are you satisfied with your walk with Mashiyach? Do you feel that you’ve done all that Abba has intended for you to do?

What is a Torah Observant Believer in Yeshua Messiah and What is He/She Suppose to Do?

Master told the Samaritan Woman at the well that our Creator is a spirit and that those of us who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

In episode 80, I discussed that Master was identifying who the true members of our Faith Community and Movement would be–those who are Spirit-filled and Torah Observant (John 4:23, 24)

“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (NAS)

Communing with Abba from a spiritual perspective as opposed to a mechanical, insincere, rote manner–that includes worship/communicating with Him through the Ruach Kodesh that should be operating in our lives–our hearts and minds renewed such that we worship Abba as an act of pure love and unrivaled reverence.
We are supposed to be living lives that are steered by Yahuah’s instructions–His Torah–which defines the Truth part of this equation.

The life we’ve chosen to live is defined, not in how the world sees and defines us, but in how we commune and interact with our God and how we commune and interact with our neighbor. We’ve chosen to love Yahuah our Elohim with all our hearts, souls and minds and to love our neighbors as we love our selves–thus we’ve chosen to be Torah Observant Believers in Yeshua Messiah, for on these elements–love of Yahuah and love of our fellow man–does the whole of Torah and the prophets rest.
Christianity in part endorses this thinking and encourages its adherents to adopt such a lifestyle. But what does loving God and loving neighbor look like? Loving God and loving neighbor is defined exclusively through Torah. Yet man has taken it upon himself to define what love of God and love of man looks like. Man has dummied-down much of this down to the two sides of love being nothing more than a cognitive-emotional construct that can easily be manipulated and be not of Yahuah.

In order to fulfill this commandment, we must adopt the formula that Master gave the Samaritan woman: operating in Spirit and in Truth–both are required and both are not man-made constructs–they both are purely and wholly of Yahuah our Elohim.

We are thus compelled to adopt a Spirit-Filled-Torah-Life which defines what a Torah Observant Believer in Yeshua Messiah is. Unfortunately, most Hebrew Rooters reject the Spirit side of this equation despite Master insisting that it is a requirement.

Zachary Bauer contends that the Ruach will not be poured out upon Torah Observant Believers in Yeshua Messiah until the time of the Greater Exodus–I categorically reject this thinking and teaching. The absence of the Ruach in our Faith Community is what I believe to be part of the reason why we have such a pervasive identity and purpose crisis and why our Faith community is so scattered and all over the place; why we have so many gurmudgeon and ineffective folks wasting away in our Faith; why we have so much head knowledge on some of the most inane topics and issues but no heart for worship and evangelism; why we are so despised and rejected by not just the secular and Christian world, but even members of our own community.

We don’t know what and who we are because we don’t fully realize what are purpose is on this planet and in the Body of Messiah. We’ve become in many circumstances, as reeds shaking in the wind–putting out a bunch of stuff that has no direct impact or relevance to the lives of those who Abba has placed in our lives. (Matthew 11:7)

Indeed, our meat; our drink should be to do the will (Gr. thelema) of Abba Father as Yeshua told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well:

“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” (John 4:34; NAS)

We should not settle for being nothing more than a group of wacky rebels who’ve decided to reject Christianity and take up a life of Torah–at least that’s what we should be. Yet most of us have done only that. And in so doing, we’ve made ourselves insignificant–irrelevant.

We don’t know who we are and we certainly don’t have a clue what our purpose is. Are we simply to meet together on Shabbat and talk Torah? Are we simply to debate nuances of Torah and bad mouth Christianity? Are we to do anything but occupy till Master returns?

Before one can even entertain such questions, one has to understand just who and what we are and what purpose we serve in the earth and to Yahuah.

* Everything ever created by either Yahuah or man has a purpose and identity. Some identities and purposes can not readily be understood until some set and appointed time.

Like Abba, man has taken on the task of identifying and purposing things, people and events.

* Man determines who we are in terms of other people on this planet
* Man determines what purpose we serve on this planet
* Man determines whether our identity and purpose are acceptable
* But does man’s concepts of identity and purpose matter

* Christianity identifies us as heretics and the purpose that we serve is only to pull or push the true body of Christ off track/to distract; the secular world sees us as having no true purpose but identifies us as right-wing religious zealots who pose a threat to the democracy of this country.

The Christianity has NOT done a good job defining who they are and what purpose they serve apart from the nebulous talking points of being “saved” individuals who are purposed to “win souls” and do “do good things”

Nationally renown Pastor and Author Rick Warren authored “The Purpose Driven Life.”

Rick Warren’s book and teaching series: “The Purpose Driven Life” for the first time in history put before the consciousness and conscience of Christians around the globe that believers must determine what their purpose is and after determining that purpose, to go forth and fulfill that purpose.His work became one of the most influential extra-biblical works in the history of Christianity and it placed him on the national map as one of the most influential Pastors/Ministers in this country in the past half-century or so.

Rick Warren’s Highly Successful Book “The Purpose Driven Life.”

Regardless what one thinks about Rick Warren and this work, it posed one of the most relevant questions ever posed by any Christian pastor or minister; it actually challenged so-called Christians to take stock in themselves and understand that they were made for a purpose and that each of them has a purpose to fulfill.

There are a lot of crazy ideas floating around out there as it relates to the purpose that Christians serve and their identity.

* Some contend that Christians are God’s replacements of the Jews and to evangelize the world to this end.
* Some contend that Christians are future citizens of heaven who will sing praises to the Trinity for all eternitty.
* Some believe that we are missionaries who are sent to the darkest places on the planet to evangelize the heathen to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, that message; that challenge–has not reached over to the Hebrew Roots Community and Movement, that it is imperative that we come to a firm understanding of who we are and what our purpose is. Failure to understand identity and purpose will result in:

* Our living wasted and pointless lives
* Never fulfilling our God-given potential (not man’s given potential)
* Succumbing to the whims of the enemy
* Becoming misled in our God-given purpose
* Having the mind of the enemy instead of the mind of Mashiyach
* Going after our own agendas instead of Yahuah’s agenda

Establishing Our Identity and Purpose

Who are we? What is our identity?

I’ve heard at least one person in our Faith community preach against boxing ourselves/labeling ourselves, which I believe to be a horrendous mindset to adopt. We’ve been designed by the Creator to identify/to label/ to purpose things–such as Adam in the Garden.

This is how we determine what a thing is and what it’s used for. We are called to discern the difference between the pure and the impure; the holy and the unholy; the good and the bad.
Will not Master label us in the end? The sheep and the goats? Those who keep His commandments and those who don’t? The redeemed versus the not redeemed?

If we don’t define who we are and establish what are purpose is, not just for ourselves, but for the world, then we are no good to Abba.

Establishing Identity and Purpose is vital to our existence

What is our purpose?

Do we know who we are? Do we know what our purpose is? Our focus is too much on Torah. Certainly Torah observance is vital to our walk in Mashiyach, but Torah observance does not define our purpose. We do not define ourselves to the world appropriately. We do not have defined goals and intent that would spell out what our purpose is as Torah Observant Believers in Yeshua Messiah–we are simply a fallen, heretical offshoot of Christianity that seeks to obtain our salvation through the keeping of Torah.

Nothing we say, do or teach, however, defines who we truly are and what our purpose is. The worse thing any of us can do is to not have a purpose in life, especially not have a realized and workable purpose in the Body.

Our Purpose Will Define Who We Are in Mashiyach

* Has our purpose changed since we began as a nation?
* If so, what was our purpose before and what is it now?
I contend that there is no one purpose that defines who and what we are. I also contend that there is at least one over arching purpose that defines who and what we are as a people, but then, there are individualized purposes that define our roles as members of the Body of Mashiyach. I would further contend that those individual purposes are simply off-shoots of the overarching purpose.

The overarching purpose: We are purposed to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6; I Peter 2:9; Isaiah 61:6)

We are to be servants of the Most High God here on this planet; here on this plain: to be lively stones built upon a spiritual house; a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Yah (I Peter 2:5); to be kings unto Yahuah to reign here upon this earth (Revelation 1:6; 5:10); to be holy unto Yahuah (Leviticus 19:2; Deuteronomy 7:6).

 Individual purposes are given to us through the Ruach

Shaul’s purpose was to be a minister and a witness of Yeshua Messiah to the Goyim (i.e., the nations of the world) (Rom. 8:28, 29). Even those who are not Yahuah’s own serve a purpose: in Pharoah’s case, his purpose was to shew Yahuah’s power to to Israel, and that His name be declared throughout the earth (Romans 9:17). Yeshua’s purpose was to destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8).

What is your individualized purpose in the Body of Messiah?

* To exhort?
* To intercede?
* To serve the body as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Messiah (Ephesians 4:11, 12)?

Our Identities Revealed and our Purpose Defined

We are Servants of the Most High God whose purpose is to be a king and priest to the nations of this world and to serve the Body of Mashiyach to that ultimate end which is to glorify the Creator of the Universe (Acts 16:17). Thus when we factor in all that Abba has put forth to us about who and what we are and what are purpose is in the earth, we learn that we are to be Spirit-Filled-Torah Observant Believers/Disciples of Yeshua Messiah.
Our global purpose is to serve Abba Father as a unique kingdom of Priests on and to this earth (as Master is our priest in heaven).

As it relates to us as individuals, we all have unique callings on our lives that we must immediately identify and put into play

Time is of the essence. Master is counting on us to do that which the Ruach leads and equips us to do to the glory of Yahuah our Elohim. The Body of Messiah is also counting on us to build and exhort and share the spiritual load and to carry the message of the Kingdom of Yahuah to a lost and dying world.

How do we then Achieve Such a Purpose and Truly Manifest our Revealed Identity. How do we live out our Identity and Purpose to the satisfaction of Yahuah?

* Do we turn to the Church?
* Do we turn to our Pastors and our Ministers?
* Do we pick out our own purpose and hope that it sticks?
* Do we pray and seek Yahuah’s guidance?
* Do we turn to the Bible?

To Be Continued