Parasha Noach (Noach)

From Rabbi Jack...

Something that Ellen often says to me when I'm doing stuff in the kitchen, and of course making a mess, "Look at the big picture." She means that I should not only be considering the food preparation but also looking ahead to the cleanup. Yes, I tend to be focused on what I am doing without considering the mess I'm making, which she eventually has to clean up, hence "the big picture." Let us face it, the kitchen is the wife's domain.

At times none of us see the big picture in our lives. We tend to focus on the minute, the hour, or the day, rarely taking into consideration where God is leading us and what He wants us to see or where He may be directing us (the big picture). We are all too often so focused on ourselves and the here and now that we fail to consider what God is seeing and what He is focused on. Every decision we make has the possibility of affecting our friends and especially our families, so we always need to see the big picture. Yes, we are so fixated on our daily lives, getting and spending, that we are neglectful of the big picture.

I am sure most have heard the saying; "Can't see the forest for the trees." Well often in our relationship with God, we are so focused on what we want (the trees) that we do not see what God wants (the forest).

Ezekiel {37:1-3} {37:1} "The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. {37:2} Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed, they were very dry. {37:3} And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" So, I answered, "O Lord God, You know."

Ezekiel was narrow-focused. What he saw was a pile of disjointed dried-up bones scattered over a valley, but God was seeing the big picture. God was seeing the children of Israel, a spiritually dead, dried-up nation, ready to return to life. All that was needed was for Ezekiel to see the big picture and prophesy to the bones and they would live. Never let the trees in your life obscure the forest of possibilities God has for you.

Hi Ellen here…

I know many people have "father" issues and I am so sorry because this could be the basis for the choices we make in life. My dad was great! Not that he did not have his own problems, but I remember the good. When I was a teenager, he gave me very wide boundaries and left me to make many of my own decisions…sometimes good and sometimes bad. My dad credited my good decisions and also acknowledged my bad and my consequences were way less than they should have been. In addition, he…and I do not know how he did it, knew where I was always, and made sure I returned safely. Sounds like a Father we all share as Believers…yes, our Heavenly Abba.

What is on my heart today is that I do not think every person who has received Yeshua as their Lord really knows how much He is our Abba! He watches over us, He directs our path, He gives us more chances than we deserve as we repent and continue to come to Him in surrender. Our Abba is here with you, and He is here with me; all we have to do is ask. My dad is not with us anymore but I think of him every day and thank God for the time we had together. Our Heavenly Abba is always with us…come to Him today and His embrace will surround you.

Yours in Messiah Yeshua, "…while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Messiah Yeshua." (Titus 2:13)

Rabbi Jack & Ellen

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Parasha Commentary

Sermon of the week "In The Beginning, God"

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Parasha B'reshet (Genesis)

From Rabbi Jack...

Proverbs 13:24 "Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them."

Most often we quote this passage of scripture when we are justifying disciplining our children or when we are correcting someone for not disciplining their children. But do we realize that this verse could be speaking to us? How many times have we read in Scripture about God disciplining His children; both Israel as a nation and individuals, for the purpose of, "not sparing the rod and spoiling the child." Sure, we can quote this passage of scripture as we justify our actions or as we correct/judge others, but have we applied this scripture to ourselves and accepted and learned from the "rod" God has had to apply to us?

Many of us are going through hard and difficult times in our lives. Have we ever stopped to think that perhaps what we are experiencing is God's "rod" carefully disciplining us. God's love for us as His children far exceeds our comprehension of what love is. So, we need to remember the rod God had to use on Moses, sending him to spend forty years in Midian or the rod He had to use on Joseph in sending him into slavery or the rod He had to use on Aaron, King David, Peter, John and Paul. All the people I mentioned received God's "rod" and grew from it; becoming a better leader, a humbler brother, a committed Priest, a devoted King and bold apostles. It is one thing to receive God's rod and grow bitter like King Saul, but it is a far greater thing to receive God's rod and grow better from it like King David.

God disciplines us so that we will change and He prunes us or that we can produce more fruit. The spirit is always going to be waring against the flesh, which means none of us while on earth are going to be spared God's "rod"!

Hi Ellen here…

How great is our God!!! During Sukkot Yeshua tabernacled with us symbolically for seven days and then an eighth day. Our glorious Abba gave us one more day because He loves us so much. I am not saying that God is not with us every day but I think it is important to speak of the eighth day.

Of course, we had great services with all our Zoom family but more so, it was such a joy to see those who gathered together in fellowship. Guess what? Abba gives us this same opportunity each week…Sunday! On resurrection day, which was a Sunday then, Yeshua broke through sin, disease, torment and so much more on the eighth day as He resurrected. Do you see that each time the sun sets on Shabbat and we all say Shavua tov, 'have a great week,' we enter into the eighth day (Sunday), once again. It is a symbol that we can face another tension filled week with great anticipation, to break through all the sin, disease and torment in our own lives.

Sunday here in Israel is Yom Rishon, meaning the first day of the week. If we begin another cycle to the next Shabbat that is what it is…but if we remember the Shabbat and walk into the next day as the eighth day then we are able with the help of the Holy Spirit to have break a through!

Yours in Messiah Yeshua, "…while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Messiah Yeshua." (Titus 2:13)

Rabbi Jack & Ellen

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Parasha Commentary

Sermon of the week "The Sukkot Journey"

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Parasha Sukkot Chol Moed

From Rabbi Jack...

Luke {5:4} "When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down your nets for a catch. {5:5} Simon answered, "We have worked hard all night long, Rabbi, and have not caught a thing! But if You say so, I'll let down the nets. {5:6} They did this and took in so many fish that their nets began to tear."

Simon was a man whose life was the sea; now comes a carpenter and He is telling him how to fish! Yeshua was telling a fisherman with years of experience to do something which he knew, from experience, was hopeless and futile. What Yeshua was asking him to do was totally against all that he normally did. No wonder Simon's first reaction was to question what Yeshua was requesting of him.

This story about Simon is an example of how we can limit possibilities in our lives by limiting God. This is also an example of trust and faith taking over where logic and our earthly experience leave off; where we are pushed beyond the natural and into the spiritual.

What happens when we are confronted with a situation where we have nothing even remotely similar to compare it to? In this Scripture, Yeshua speaks to exactly that situation and the first reaction of the fishermen was hesitation. We are the same! When we feel the Holy Spirit's influence steering us toward uncharted territory in our spiritual lives it is common for us to hesitate. The disciples hesitated as they weighed what Yeshua was asking them to do against their past experience.

Has the Holy Spirit been nudging you to step out in faith into uncharted territory in your spiritual life? Are you going to hesitate and perhaps miss out on something big?

Hi Ellen here…

I want to send you all some encouragement.  Sometimes when we pray or even just sit and talk with the Lord, it may feel as though He does not hear, like He is taking care of someone else somewhere else.  But our God is omnipresent and can hear you in Kenya and me in Israel and everyone wherever they may be all at the same time. 

 

I remember, on one of our earlier trips to Kenya, we were leaving the airport in Nairobi and heading to where we would be staying.  I was not feeling well but did not tell anyone.  We were arriving from Toronto so it was a long trip and all I wanted was some Kefir.  Our host stopped at one of the supermarkets so we could pick up a few things.  In that same mall was a little fresh veggie market with items that were hard to find…they even had some Israeli products…anyway I started to talk to a young lady and found out she was teaching English there but was also from Toronto. Wow, not a coincidence but a God incident!  We then went into the supermarket dairy department and began searching for Kefir.  Kefir is a fermented milk that is a bit tart to the taste but so good for you and I knew that I would feel better if I had some.  Lo and behold the girl from Toronto came over and pointed out where the Kefir was; thank You Lord. Kefir is called Mala in Kenya and it is so good.  You see how the Holy Spirit lined everything up for us!  Our God is so faithful in all things…even in finding me fermented milk so I could feel better.

 

Just a note…pray with us concerning the planning of our next trip to Kenya, very soon!

Yours in Messiah Yeshua, "…while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Messiah Yeshua." (Titus 2:13)

 

Rabbi Jack & Ellen

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Sermon "Tabernacles Brings Joy" 

Parasha Commentary

Sermon of the week "Lesson in humility"

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Parasha Ha'Azinu (Give Ear)

From Rabbi Jack...

After I became a Believer, the hardest lesson for me to learn was that I am not in control of my life, God is. And that is one of the lessons I'm still learning over and over! My life is not my own, and I am now a servant of the Lord Most High. God wants to be in the centre of my life and not on the fringes. Our Creator does not want to be an afterthought, He does not want to be a hobby or someone we dust off and contact each Shabbat and only on Shabbat, in fact, anything short of that is unacceptable to Him. Being the centre means He makes all decisions, and our lives function at His command. God is a loving, kind, merciful and gentle commander, but there is no mistaking it, He is in command. God is all powerful but He is also kind and gentle, however, niceness has nothing to do with power. God uses His authority nicely, but He has the power to do whatever it is He wants and He has the power to do it how and when He wants to.

Some may think there is fatalism in this kind of thinking, that we resign ourselves to receive whatever happens in life, a kind of, "I'm not in charge so why try" attitude, but that's wrong! Knowing that God is actively in control of everything that takes place in our lives is not fatalism; rather it is an active trust in a God that only wants the best for us. It is a trust that God has everything in control despite outside circumstances and appearances and of course despite the outcome. He loves us so much and proved it by incarnating and dying for us as Messiah Yeshua so we can trust, without a doubt, that He will do only what is right and best for us.

Let us all commit ourselves to learning the lesson that we are not in control, putting Him in the center of our lives. We need to learn this today and learn it each day and every day of our lives. That way, we will be encouraged that no matter what state we are in we can be content, calm and confident knowing God is in command!!

Hi Ellen here…

I trust you all made it through Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur renewed and are continuing to anticipate our Lord's return. Remember no one knows the day or the hour but this is a comment for another time. What I want to share with you is something that came to my mind and heart prior to Yom Kippur. I honestly do not mind housework. In fact, I am so happy when I see clean floors and dusted furniture, by the way I have a great prescription for dusting…Israel is so dusty and it works! There is one item, however, that I do not do well and really do not enjoy, and that is ironing. But as this Feast Day was upon us, where we wear white, I had to iron Jack's shirts. As I waited for the iron to heat and poured water into it for steam, I asked the Lord to iron for me because of my dislike for the chore. As I waited, I believe the Holy Spirit spoke into my spirit that our Lord wants us to be wrinkle free because it hurts His heart to apply steam and hot irons to our wrinkles as well! No, I do not mean the wrinkle on our foreheads or around our mouths and do not get me started on the upper batwing arm condition but the wrinkles in our attitudes, the wrinkles in our responses to comments or angry words, the wrinkles in our unforgiving hearts and rebellious thoughts…I could go on! I am using this today to tell you that our God Most High is here for us in the small things and in the big things that put wrinkles into our spirits and He does not tire in ironing out our sin as long as we repent and cry ABBA, help. So, as we begin a new cycle, get ready to be steam ironed to perfection as we continue to look to the Lord for all things.

Yours in Messiah Yeshua, "…while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Messiah Yeshua." (Titus 2:13).

Rabbi Jack & Ellen

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Parasha Commentary

Sermon of the week "Ten days of awe"

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