We’re going to have a lot of reasons; and we do have a lot of reasons to sing and shout and rejoice because we have eternal life abiding in us and because Yahushua has called us out of this dark world into His marvelous light; and so, amein! It doesn’t get any brighter than that when it comes to future, does it? I mean, I was growing up there was a song that said, “The Future is so bright, I need to wear shades”. I mean, our future is so bright, you can’t even begin to imagine how bright it is. In fact, it says in Scripture that the sun will be seven times brighter and the moon also.

So, the level of brightness in the age to come, and brilliance, we’ll probably see colors then we don’t even know exist now. And probably smell and hear things we can’t hear and smell now, because our natural body’s limitations. And just, if we only could only just walk by faith and understand that, no matter what’s going on in this world today, it would be a whole lot easier to deal with, wouldn’t it?

Well, I want to say first of all, I’m expecting to receive, and actually already have received, persecution for even digging into what I’m about ready to dig into today. And this video series, I’m about ready to start, people will think I’m focusing too much on the New Testament. Isn’t that sad. Like I also get accused of focusing too much on the Old Testament.

But you know, those that might accuse me of that are probably ignorant of the fact I’ve done seventy-six videos on the Torah. And a whole lot more than that if you count the other subjects I’ve studied. But the first one was “Precepts and Principles of the Torah”; I did forty videos on that, going through every commandment I could find in the Old Testament laws. And then; that consists about sixty some hours of instruction, right there. And then, I went through that again a second time here in the Ava theater, thirty-six hours worth, called “Footsteps of the Savior”.

So, they just, I’m saying this because I want people that might think this direction, to go back and watch today’s teaching. And I’m going to talk about why the commands of the apostles are so so important. And we’re going to address other things as well.

But our questions are going to be:

1. Do the commands of the apostles hold the same weight as the commands of the Old Testament and of the Messiah?

2. Where did Paul get his doctrines, if he wasn’t among the original twelve that walked with Yahushua three years?

3. Does the New Testament give any new commands? Some people think not.

4. Do we need to have more than one Scripture for a belief or a command, before we’re required to obey it? Some people think you have to have two witnesses.

5. How about do the Psalms and Prophets qualify as Torah, or law?

6. Do we know what it means to cast lots?

7. How can we prove that Yahushua is the Messiah from just using the Old Testament Scriptures?

8. What’s the significance of Pentecost and Shavuot in the Old and the New Testaments?

9. Are we ministers of the Old Covenant, or ministers of the New Covenant?

10. How can we be sure to receive the Holy Spirit? And that’s a real important one right there.

Now, there are those who would say, “Tom, you’re digging into the apostolic writings, you know, and it’s just you know, you gotta make sure that, you know, you don’t misunderstand something”. I understand that, we gotta understand His writings correctly. I’m not gonna claim to be the world’s foremost authority on understanding every word of the New Testament.

But we want to go through it and find Biblical principles by which we can live. Things that are going to impact our daily life; things that are going to change the way we think, or change the way that we live our lives. And that’s we’re looking for because we’re hungering, or pursuing righteousness; that’s our goal, is to pursue righteousness.

So, there are some people who say, “Well, the Torah is our foundation, so we hold those words in higher esteem than the New Testament”. O, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard those words, and I cringe every single time. But I’m going to defeat that argument completely; no, I want to totally obliterate it, actually.

Number two, if anything written in the New Testament isn’t found in the Torah, we are misunderstanding it and/or we are free to disregard it. I’ve heard that too many times as well. And then, Paul seems to be the, for some reason, one where everyone picks on; they say, “Paul’s letters, he’s just giving his opinion, you know, we’re free to disagree with him if we want to”.

And I am going to totally hopefully address those points to the point where there’s no way anyone could possibly believe it’s true; based on a number of Scriptures here.

I’m really concerned about this idea that Torah is only the first five Books. That is not true. Torah is more than the things that Yahweh gave through Moshe. It’s also found here: – Yahushua answered them, – John 10:34 – “Is it not written in your Torah, ‘I said, “You are mighty ones?”’ – What’s He quoting from here? He’s quoting from the Psalms. Psalm 82 verse 6 – I said, “You are mighty ones, And all of you are children of the Most High.” – There is Torah in the Psalms that you have to listen to, you have to obey, you have to heed, you have to you have to follow. Yahushua said so. Yahushua said so.

How about this. 1^st Corinthians 14:21 – In the law it is written: “With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,” says (the Master) Yahweh. – Where is that coming from? I guess I don’t have it up there, but it’s coming from Isaiah 28 in verse 11; that is a Prophet. So there is Torah in the Prophets also.

Now, I know it’s called “the Law and the Prophets”, you know. But what this Prophet spoke, listen. It’s all Yahweh’s word; all of Yahweh’s word needs to be heeded. And Yahushua said—we covered some of this last week, but I need to cover it in today’s teaching because I want to refer people back to this teaching; who may object to me going over the commands of the apostles. Yahushua said in John 15:20 – “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

“They will keep yours also”. That means we are supposed to, just as we keep Yahushua’s words, we keep the words of the apostles as well. And hold it to be in equal value and importance, okay?

And the early disciples knew they were writing commands. Paul said in 1^st Corinthians 14:37 – If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of Yahweh.

1^st Thessalonians 4:1-2 – Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Master Yahushua that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please Elohim;
² for you know what commandments we gave you – Through who? – through the Master Yahushua. – They were just agents through which Yahushua the Messiah would give commandments.

2^nd Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 6 – But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Master Yahushua Messiah, – This is a command coming from Yahushua, it’s in His name, He says – that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition – or paradosis {par-ad’-os-is} – which he received from us.
⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you;

Or, how about this one? (2^nd Thessalonians 3:14) – And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed.

That’s also why the apostle John could boldly say (1^st John 4:6) – We are of Elohim. He who knows Elohim hears us; – He is who? The apostles, us! – he who is not of Elohim does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

If anyone tells you, “You don’t have to listen to the words of the apostles”, that my friends, is a spirit of error! That’s how important it is.

Yahushua says (Luke 10:16) – “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you – What? – rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” – What did He also say? He said, “You have one that condemns you, Moses whom you trust, for he wrote of Me” (John 5:45-46), right? He’s talking to the Pharisees. They were rejecting Yahushua because they rejected Moshe. So if you reject the apostles, then you reject Yahushua and you reject Moshe. That’s how serious it is! That is very serious.

Listen, if you think that Yahushua didn’t give us the Torah also, He just happened to use Moshe to do it, right? He was the One that was the Word of Yahweh in the Old Testament, right? Our heavenly Father gave His Word in the Old Testament; our heavenly Father gave His Word in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; our heavenly Father gave His Word in Romans, Book of Acts, 1^st Corinthians down to Revelation. The person through which He speaks is not the issue; the issue is whether or not He speaks.

And so, think about John chapter 21:25. He says – And there are also many other things that Yahushua did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amein. – So, there were more things that our Savior did and said that were never written down in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And so, how are you going to learn what those were; unless you listened to the ones who were with Him for three years, right? So, that’s how you find out.

So, now, for whatever reason, Paul seems to be one picked on the most. But we know, 2^nd Peter 3:14-16, it says – Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;
¹⁵ and consider – What’s our salvation? How spotless and blameless you are? No. – that the longsuffering of our Master is salvation– as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, – So Paul was given wisdom; remember that. –
¹⁶ as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, – What things? These things; that our salvation doesn’t come through our righteousness but through what Yahushua did for us. – in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, – If you’re not taught, that means you’re not taught in the rest of Yahweh’s Word. And that’s why you’re also unstable, because you’re not yet taught in the true words of Yahweh. And so people twist those writings to their own destruction – as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

Now, if I said, “Well, they persecuted Greg over here, just like they persecuted the rest of the believers”, what’s that tell you? Greg’s a believer, right? So, if they twist Paul’s writings like they do the rest of the Scriptures, what’s that tell you? Paul’s writings are Scripture. And we have to obey them. Otherwise we could be in danger of twisting things to our own destruction. Very serious!

So, if their writings are Scripture, and I know they are, then the same Spirit that inspired the Torah, as given through Moshe, can inspire Torah as given through Paul, Peter, James, Jude, all of them; Luke; the same Spirit. It’s the same Spirit, that’s all I need to know. Is it the same Spirit? Yes it’s the same Spirit, so that’s all I need to know.

He who rejects them, will reject the Messiah also. And we see that happen; people reject Paul, next thing you know they’re rejecting Yahushua too, right? The same Spirit leads to both conclusions.

So, look again 2^nd Thessalonians 2:15 – Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold – To what? – the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. – Traditions? I thought tradition was bad! (2^nd Thessalonians 3:6-7) – . . . in the name of our Master Yahushua Messiah, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to – What? – the tradition . . . – What’s he talking about when he says ‘tradition’? It’s so serious, that anyone who doesn’t follow their tradition would be outcast; they would be shunned; they would be told we’re going to withdraw from you, you have to go somewhere else.

Why? Why was that so important? See, Yahushua’s name is invoked here. In other words, it’s done in the Messiah Yahushua’s name. There is paradosis {par-ad’-os-is} of men, and there is paradosis, that’s the Greek word, paradosis that comes from Yahushua. Instruction that comes from the Messiah Yahushua. These are not traditions of men that you can just cast aside.

So, where’s Paul getting all this stuff? He wasn’t with Yahushua three years, where is he getting everything? Where’s he getting it from? Galatians 1:15-17, he says – But when it pleased Elohim, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,
¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,
¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia . . . – Arabia!? He didn’t confer with flesh and blood, he didn’t confer with the apostles, he went to Arabia. What’s in Arabia? What’s so important that’s in Arabia? Sinai! (Galatians 4:25b) – for this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia . . . – Same book he said what was in Arabia.

So, I think it appears that Paul says, “I’ve got a lot to unlearn, I gotta go talk to Yahweh at mount Sinai”. And off he goes, and he’s like, “What happened? What’s what’s going on?”, you know. He didn’t want to confer with anyone. He knew Yahushua talked to Him directly, he wanted to keep on listening to Him. He thought, “Well, what better place to go than where the Torah was given in thunder down and given, so I’m going to go to Sinai”.

And so, maybe this is one reason why his writings are just so deep. He spent some time there in Sinai, or in Arabia. And look, the Greeks were deep thinkers, and he had to be able to answer their questions. If he’s going to go out and talk to these philosophers and all these guys that think so deeply, he’s got to better answer the tough questions. And so, Yahweh, you know, gave Paul intelligence to match wits with them; but it’s the wisdom from Yahweh that’s going to cast down their arguments, not one’s intelligence.

So the obviously is more to the paradosis of the early believers, than just a commandment idea or doctrine of men, no. These things are so important, given by the apostles, that anyone straying from them was cut off; you’re not even among us. That’s how serious it was!

And so, unless you want to reject the Scriptures, you’re going to have to accept the paradosis of the apostles. In spite of this, I know, there are people like they’re okay with some things, you know. Some things that are new. But in fact, there are some people who say, “Well, if it’s new at all, it can’t be something you have to follow”. Well, listen.

Yahushua says (John 13:34) – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” – He couldn’t have given that in the Old Testament, right? I mean, love one another as this coming Yahushua is gonna, no He just says “Love one another; as I have loved you”. That’s a commandment; “A new commandment” He says “I give to you”, all right? That’s a new command.

How about this Scripture (Deuteronomy 12:32). It says – “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.” – Now, you shall not, you shall not. If Yahweh wants to, He can do whatever He wants. He can give you a new commandment today. He can say, “Wayne, or Greg, or somebody, you go off and you go off to Uganda and tell them people about Yahushua”, right? He can give a new commandment any time He wants to. It can be to you, it can be to all of us, it could be to a congregation.

So, there’s all kinds of things He can choose to add on His own, it’s His own prerogative. So what’s prohibited here, is any man adding to, any man taking away. Yahushua told us a lot of new things. He said, “Judge not that you be not judged”, that’s a new thing. How about, “Don’t cast your pearls before swine”, that’s a new thing. So you know, He told us. How about this (Luke 22:19) – And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” – That’s a command. “Do this in remembrance of Me”, that’s a new thing, they weren’t doing that in the Old Testament days; they weren’t sitting down at Passover and partaking the body and blood of Yahushua, in those days.

How about these? We quote these all the time.

(1^st Thessalonians 5:17) – pray without ceasing, – that’s a new one, How about

(2^nd Thessalonians 3:13) – But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. – there’s a new command. Or

(Colossians 3:17) – And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Master Yahushua, giving thanks to Elohim the Father through Him. – That’s new. Or

(Romans 12:10-11) – Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving Yahweh; –

I’ve never met anyone that complained about these ones. I don’t know why they don’t have a problem with these.

Where they usually have a problem, is when you start digging into 1^st Corinthians chapter 11. It starts talking about head coverings and stuff. (1^st Corinthians 11:2-5) – Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the paradosis (traditions) just as I delivered them to you.
³ But I want you to know that the head of every man is Messiah, the head of woman is man, and the head of Messiah is Elohim.
⁴ Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.
⁵ But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head. – Now, we’re not supposed to dishonor Yahushua, right? So we better know what He’s talking about here. My belief is, He’s talking about literally a covering on top of the head, okay? I got a whole teaching on that topic.

But look. If it’s new, and even this is the only place in Scripture where the head covering principles are given, a lot of people will say, “Well, that’s only one place, find me a second one, find me a second Scripture”. Well, I can find you a second one in the Torah, where the woman had to uncover her head before the priest, symbolizing her going directly to Elohim, her husband could not cancel this vow, this oath, she was about to give. And so, you know, there’s things there in Torah about head coverings.

But either way, here’s one that’s never been repeated ever since then. (Exodus 35:3) – “You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.” – That’s not anywhere else in Scripture, only in Exodus 35 verse 3. Are we free now to kindle fires on the Sabbath day, because there’s only one Scripture? No.

How about this one.(Deuteronomy 22:5) – “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to Yahweh your Elohim.” – And that’s actually only in this one Scripture here. Are we free to cross-dress and promote drag queens? No.

Just because there’s one Scripture, doesn’t mean that you are now, “O, where’s the other one”. Okay. Yahweh don’t need two witnesses, He’s not a liar, okay? He doesn’t need two. If He says it once, you do it. That’s it. He said it we believe it, that settles it!

And so, I could go on with all kinds of examples in this. But everything in Scripture is Torah. What is Torah? Torah is teaching, right? That’s what Torah means; Torah means teaching and instruction. There’s, you know, teaching and instruction can be found in the first five Books, can be found in the Book of Judges, can be found in the Book of Psalms, the Book of Proverbs, you can find instruction and teaching there. You can find teaching and instruction in Isaiah in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Minor Prophets; find teaching in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, 1^st Corinthians, Romans, Acts, that’s all teaching; it’s all Torah, brothers and sisters, it’s all instruction, it’s all teaching.

And we have to be aware of people that say, “O, you don’t have to do that part”. It’s the same old lie going back to the Garden of Eden. Traditional Christianity, when you present something in one part of the Scriptures, called the Old Testament, what do they go, “O, hath Elohim said? You don’t have to do that, that’s done away with”. And then those who judge Christians for doing that, you point a New Testament Scripture out and they’re going the same thing, “Hath Elohim said? You know, that’s all, that’s not you know, blah, blah, blah”. I don’t care what you say. He said it! Period. You do it!

I don’t care what your excuses are, what your reasonings are; I don’t want to follow that same old trick that got Adam and Eve into trouble—“O, you can disobey that, you will not surely die”. You see, it’s the same old lie, it’s just reversed, the other side of the coin.

And so it really really grieves me when I hear this diminishing of the Word. And so, serpent, the serpent is subtle man, he finds ways to get you coming and going.

And how about we quit calling it Old Testament–New Testament? Let’s call it the Bible, call it the Scriptures, call it His Word. Quit the, you know, splitting the Word up in the different sections that you obey or don’t obey; and just open the Word with a humble heart, and seek to be instructed, and seek to be changed. And if any of you have questions about how reliable our Scriptures are, I do have a study called, “The reliability of Scripture”. EliYah.com/scripture

So, why don’t we cease from the, “out with the old, in with the new mentality”, or “I want the old, forget the new mentality”? Let’s just open the Book of Acts and see what our Father has to teach us. How about that?

The Book of Acts was written by Luke; and the apostles have a lot to teach us. If we have a teachable spirit hungering and thirsting for righteousness, there’s a lot that they have to teach us; and they’re very very practical in their words, they spell it out very well. Whereas the Torah kind of gives us principles and basic precepts, Yahushua applied that in terms of principle and broader ways, and we find the same thing happening with the apostles. And I would suggest it’s pretty prideful and arrogant to think you know better than they did, when they walked with Yahushua for three years. We don’t know better than they do.

So, (Acts 1) – The former account I made, O Theophilus, – This is Luke speaking. – of all that Yahushua began both to do and teach,
² until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,
³ to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of Elohim.
⁴ And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
⁵ “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Now, as we dig into the Book of Acts, you should know that actually about forty-seven percent of what’s called the New Testament consists of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the fifty-three percent are the writings of the apostles. And so, we’re really only about halfway through this thing. And we see here that Yahushua gave them a specific command saying, “Stay right here in Jerusalem until you get baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

And verse 6 – Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Master, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
⁷ And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
⁸ “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” – So we talked about this one last week, actually. –
⁹ Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
¹⁰ And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
¹¹ who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? – I know I would be, wow look at that! – This same Yahushua, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

So, just so happens, on the Mount of Olives where they were all standing, that’s for Yahushua; it says He will be setting His feet on the Mount of Olives, splitting it in two, and the remnant will flee through the mountain valley; back in Zechariah chapter 14. And He coming with clouds.

¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey.
¹³ And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James.
¹⁴ These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Yahushua, and with His brothers.
¹⁵ And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said,
¹⁶ “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Yahushua; ¹⁷ for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”
¹⁸ (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.
¹⁹ And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.)
²⁰ “For it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it’; and, ‘Let another take his office.’ – So they’re familiar with the prophecies of the Messiah Yahushua spoken of in the Psalms. –
²¹ “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Master Yahushua went in and out among us,
²² “beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”
²³ And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. – So there were men who were with the disciples, from the baptism of John even to the time He was taken up; and one of those two actually was going to be chosen; there may have been others but at least two. So –
²⁴ And they prayed and said, “You, O Yahweh, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen
²⁵ to take part in this ministry an apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”
²⁶ And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

So, notice they had to cast lots to make that decision. What does it mean to cast lots? What does it mean to cast lots? Now, some people say, “Well, they didn’t have the Holy Spirit then, so they had to cast lots, they couldn’t figure out what the Spirit was saying”, and all that. They had the Holy Spirit. (John 20:21-22) – So Yahushua said (to them again), “Shalom aleichem (Peace to you)! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
²² And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” – They had received the Holy Spirit before Acts chapter 2. But they were baptized with the Holy Spirit; in other words a full immersion, a full immersion, a baptism into the Holy Spirit there in Acts chapter 2.

So, they had the Holy Spirit but they still chose to cast lots. And for that reason I really don’t have a problem with casting lots; except nobody knows what it is. Scholars can’t figure it out, archaeologists don’t even know; everyone’s trying to take a stab at it. No one really knows what was casting lots? Why would it fall into a lap? What what is this? Was it like rolling the dice? I mean, what what’s it all about.

I really don’t think it’s like rolling the dice, or flipping a coin. And it’s because it has to involve some kind of some kind of supernatural something, I mean, rather than random chance. I would suggest it’s probably more like something, I don’t know, let’s say the coin lands on head thirty times, heads thirty times in a row. Now, that like a one in a billion chance that could ever happen, okay? That’s probably yeah, Yahweh definitely had His hand in making sure that coin fell where it was supposed to go. If you come up with something like that, that would probably be the closest thing to casting lots, as I can think of. Because the Scripture says (Proverbs 16:33) – The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from Yahweh. – I don’t really know what they were doing to make it do what it did. Now, I thought I read a Scripture somewhere where the lot didn’t work. In other words; and I don’t know where it is, I looked for it and looked for it, I spent all kinds of time trying to find it yesterday, and could not find it; but somehow they cast the lots and they couldn’t come up with a decision. I’ve had it, you know, I found the one in 1^st Samuel where, you know, Jonathan’s there and trying to figure out what to do, whether to attack or not, and what to do; and they couldn’t get an answer from Yahweh.

So, other than that, I just I don’t really cast lots myself. I flipped the coin a few times because I couldn’t make a decision, I flipped the coin, whatever. It doesn’t matter one way or the other, we’ll just flip the coin.

But you know, something like this, you’re going to choose the twelfth apostle you want to take that office, I mean, it’s you don’t want to just flip the coin for that, right? I mean, you want to be something more solid than random chance. So, all right.

So, going into Acts chapter 2.
¹ When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
³ Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues – other languages – as the Spirit gave them utterance.
⁵ And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. – They have come to Jerusalem to keep this feast of Pentecost. Which, if the disciples weren’t feast keepers what were they doing there anyway, right? –
⁶ And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
⁷ Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?
⁸ “And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? – So some were born in –
⁹ “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
¹⁰ “Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
¹¹ “Cretans and Arabs– we hear them speaking in our own tongues – That’s the foreign language in which they were born. So they’re hearing these guys speak Greek, they‘re hearing them speak Libyan, all these other languages, Egyptian; they’re all hearing the disciples speak in that language in which they were born. It’s like they were speaking, and they don’t even know what they’re saying, but these guys know what they’re saying or maybe they didn’t know what they’re saying. But maybe they were speaking in Hebrew, but they were hearing it in Greek, or they’re hearing it in Egyptian, or they’re hearing it in whatever they were hearing it in. But that was the miracle of the day of Pentecost. And so, they were able to hear in their language what? – the wonderful works of Elohim.” – So it was not an unknown tongue, okay? It was known to the men that were there. I don’t know why the King James adds in italics the words “unknown” in different places, okay.
¹² So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” ¹³ Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.” – Of course, there’s gotta be jokesters in every crowd, right? –
¹⁴ But Peter, – responded to these men by saying; he actually responded to the mockers – standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.
¹⁵ “For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
¹⁶ “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
¹⁷ ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says Elohim, That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
¹⁸ ‘And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
¹⁹ ‘I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
²⁰ ‘The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh.
²¹ ‘And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of Yahweh shall be saved.’”

Here’s Peter. Went from an ignorant fisherman saying, “O depart from me, I’m a sinful man”, to being a leader and one through whom which Yahweh spoke. He’s the one that advised everybody, “Hey, Scripture says let another find his office”, so they did that. He’s the one that stood up and said, “This is a prophecy; is fulfillment of prophecy”. Yahushua never talked about this prophecy in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This is something the apostles learned from Yahushua; that was going to happen. And he explained things to them that are not written down in former accounts. And so he says –
²² “Men of Israel, hear these words: Yahushua of Nazareth, a Man attested by Elohim to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which Elohim did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know–
²³ “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of Elohim, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
²⁴ “whom Elohim raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
²⁵ “For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw Yahweh always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
²⁶ ‘Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
²⁷ ‘For You will not leave my soul in (Hades), – The Hebrew reads “Sheol” {sheh-ole’} – Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. – In Hebraic understanding, a body sees corruption after the third day. That’s why Martha “So Master, it’s the fourth day now, he begins to stink”, right? Begins to see corruption, begins to see decay. And so Yahushua was raised on the third day, did not see corruption, did not see decay. –
²⁸ ‘You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’ ²⁹ “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he’s both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
³⁰ “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that Elohim has sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Messiah to sit on His throne, ³¹ “he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Messiah, that His soul was not left in Hades – Sheol, the grave – nor did His flesh see corruption.
^{32 “}This Yahushua Elohim has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
³³ “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of Elohim, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. – Being exalted at the right hand of Elohim, how does he know that? –
³⁴ “For David did not ascend into heavens, but he says himself: ‘Yahweh said to my Master, “Sit at My right hand, – Sit at my right hand, that’s how he knew. Sit at my right hand. –
³⁵ Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’
³⁶ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that Elohim has made this Yahushua, whom you crucified, both Master and Messiah.”
³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” –

What I want you to notice first of all here, is that Peter just proved that Yahushua was the Messiah; to the Jewish people, and they received it immediately. How did he do that? He used the Psalms. (16:10-11) – For You will not leave my soul in Sheol . . . – This is the Psalm of David here, “You not leave my soul in the grave”. Well, David’s grave was with them in that day, so who is this guy? Who’s the one that David’s speaking of? That they don’t – see corruption. – That’s proof that the Messiah would be resurrected on, you know, on or before the third day. And he said –
¹¹ You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. – So He was going to be raised from the dead and be at Yahweh’s right hand. And so, then he quotes Psalm 110:1-4 – Yahweh said to my Master, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make your enemies Your footstool.”
² Yahweh shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! – So what’s the Messiah supposed to do? He’s supposed to rule, right? –
³ Your people shall be volunteers In the day of Your power; In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth.
⁴ Yahweh has sworn And will not relent, “You are a priest – Not just a priest, a ruling priest after – forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” – Melchizedek was both king of Salem and priest. And so, he’s pointing these Scriptures out, which there’s no way to explain it, except it be Yahushua the Messiah was raised from the dead. And they were witnesses of that resurrection. And I’m sure the word went out, and people knew they saw, they saw the Messiah.

And so, us today, we live in a culture where we just assume Yahushua is the Messiah. But what if that wasn’t the case? What if, what if a Jewish man asked you, “How do you know He’s the Messiah?” What are you going to say? “Well, Paul wrote about that in the Book of Romans”. It’s not going to work, it’s not going to work. How are you going to prove it? You’re going to have to, you’re going to have to dig into the Old Testament and prove He’s the Messiah; from your own knowledge and your own study, in which you can go through those Scriptures and prove that that’s the case. And I think that, because so many of us really haven’t done that, some of us have been susceptible to fallen to the lie He’s not. And I’ve seen people fall away into that, sadly. Very sadly.

So, if you’re talking to a Jewish man, where do you start if he asks you, “Prove to me that this One you call the Messiah, Yahushua, really is the Messiah?” What are you going to do?

Well, I can’t use New Testament, yet; how am I going to do this? Well, there’s one Scripture every Jewish man believes is a Messiah prophecy; and that’s Isaiah chapter 11. So, you can start with Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1 through 2 – There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a branch shall grow out of His roots.
² The Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh. – And on down into verse 10 it says – “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, – same guy – Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him . . . – So who is this Man, who is the Son of David, and whom upon Whom has the Holy Spirit and stands as a banner; which by the way, the Hebrew word for “banner” here is the same word translated “pole” upon which the serpent was raised. And that’s why Yahushua said, “As the serpent was raised, so shall the Son of Man be lifted up on a pole”, on a banner, on a “nāsas” {naw-sas’} in the Hebrew; “nēs” {nace} I should say, in Hebrew. And so, this is actually prophecy of His crucifixion, if you look deep enough. But you don’t have to go there yet. Gentiles are going to seek this guy, all right?

Now, compare that to Isaiah chapter 42.

¹ “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, – Now pay close attention, this Man is called Yahweh’s Servant. – My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; – We just read that what? The Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon Him, right? – He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. – What do we see back here? He is the place where the Gentiles are seeking Him. Why? Because He’s bringing them justice. So He’s going to bring justice. Actually the Hebrew word I think there might even be “ṣāḏaq” {tsaw-dak’} meaning “righteousness”. ¹

So – His delight is in the fear of Yahweh, – Isaiah 11:3 – And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
⁴ But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. – The rod of His mouth, breath of His lips, He slays the wicked, all right?

Now, go to Isaiah chapter 49, here we have another one. (Isaiah 42:4) – “He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands – these are Gentiles – shall wait for His torah (law).” – That’s what we’ve been studying the last forty segments. Yahushua is Torah. So, go back here, (Isaiah 11:4) we see He is judge, He’s a judge of the poor and decides with equity for the meek of the earth. What do we got here? (Isaiah 42:4) He is establishing justice and He’s issuing torah, okay? Same guy!

And yet He is called the “Servant”. That’s a big deal because the Jewish people like to say the ‘Servant’ is them, they are the ‘Servant’. But this clearly indicates the Messiah would be the “Servant”. It all lines up with Isaiah chapter 11.

Another place where the “Servant” is clearly identified as the Messiah, is Isaiah chapter 49.
¹ Listen, O coastlands, to Me, – Same people, these coastlands, these people in the coastlands in Isaiah 42. – And take heed, you peoples from afar! – these Gentiles – Yahweh has called Me from the womb; From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name. – We know that happened in Luke chapter 1, Matthew chapter 1. –
² And He has made My mouth – My mouth – like a sharp sword; – Didn’t we just read that? With the breath of His lips He slays the wicked, out of His mouth goes the rod? So – In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, and made Me a polished shaft; In His quiver He has hidden Me.” – And He is hidden from the eyes of many. –

(Isaiah 11:4) – But with righteousness – remember? – He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips . . . – What we just read? He’s got this sword in His mouth. The same Person is being described here Isaiah 49 as Isaiah chapter 11.

(Isaiah 49:3-4) – And He said to me, ‘You are My servant, – Once again, the servants of Isaiah 49, servant of Isaiah 42. He says – O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ – Now, which is easier to say, you’re Jewish or you’re Israelite? Whether you’re a Jew or you’re an Israelite, the point is He doesn’t mean He’s actually a nation of Israel, He is an Israelite. So. –
⁴ Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain; Yet surely my just reward is with Yahweh, And my work with my Mighty One.’” – He is exasperated. Why is He exasperated? Because of what happened to Him, which we’re going to read about Isaiah 53. But first of all (Isaiah 49:5-6) – And now Yahweh says, Who formed Me from the womb to be – What? – His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, So that Israel is gathered to Him (For I shall be glorious in the eyes of Yahweh, And My Mighty One shall be My strength), – this Servant of Isaiah 49 has a job to do, and that’s bring Jacob back in Israel, to gather Israel once again; this Servant of Isaiah 49. –
⁶ Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’” – This Servant is going to be Yahweh’s salvation. Why do you think Yahushua is called “Yahweh is my salvation”? Yahweh saves.

So, this Servant of Isaiah 49, whoever you want identify Him to be, is going to bring salvation to Gentiles. You just say that, people go, “O that’s the Jesus guy”. Listen. This is clearly the Messiah! I mean Paul was the one sent out. By the way, why would Yahweh send Paul, “Go and be a false apostle”? Come on guys. To the Gentiles who are already confused, and lost, and stumbling around the dark? And He’s going to send them a false apostle? People think that you’re crazy. Yahushua would have to be, just mean. Here, I’m going to send them a false apostle. Go believe this liar. I mean, come on. Of course of course it’s not going to be that way. All Scripture is reliable. Okay. Back then, I’m off the soapbox there now.

So this Servant is going to be Yahweh’s salvation to the whole world, not just Gentiles; to the ends of the earth, all right? There is only one Man in the history of the world ever done that; brought salvation.

And so, what’s going to happen? (Isaiah 11:12) – He . . . will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth. – What did he just say Isaiah 49, He is going – To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And restore the preserved ones of Israel; – This Servant. So the Servants of Isaiah 42, the Servant of Isaiah 49, is clearly identified as the Man in Isaiah chapter 11. There’s no way you can say otherwise; it’s describing the same acts, describing the same duties. So, we haven’t even looked into Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and we know what the Messiah is predicted to do. What else is this Servant predicted to do.

Isaiah 52:13-15 – Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. – When we read in Psalm 110, “Sit at My right hand, shall make Your enemies Your footstool”. –
¹⁴ Just as many as were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men; – In other words, He was marred more than any man, He was beaten, they tried to kill Him, they did kill Him and destroyed Him. –
¹⁵ So shall He sprinkle many nations. – These Gentiles, same guy ministering to Gentile people. Sprinkling them, bringing salvation to them. You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth. The sprinkling, this word translated “sprinkle”, consistently all throughout the Scriptures, is a sprinkling of blood. This Man’s blood was shed and He sprinkled many nations. – Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; For what had not been told them they shall see, And what they had not heard they shall consider. – That’s why Paul went and talked to these leaders.
(Isaiah 53:1-6) – Who has believed our report? – It’s already predicted not everyone’s going to believe Him. – And to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? – That’s a whole other study right there, arm of Yahweh who’s at the right hand of Yahweh as Yahweh’s arm. –
² For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
³ He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; – Who’s “we”? Isaiah is a Jewish man, right? That’s who the “we” is. You can’t say this is Israel, he’s saying we’re the ones, we’re Israelite, we’re Jewish people, we did it. You did it to yourself no? They did it to this Man, this Servant right here. Our faces from Him. – He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by Elohim, and afflicted. – Isn’t that true. –
⁵ But He was wounded – for what? – for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, everyone, to His own way; And Yahweh has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. – Think about that.

Now you know why He would be our salvation to the ends of the earth. If our sins laid upon Him He would be our salvation to the ends of the earth; because He is the one upon whom our sin was laid. If our sin was not laid upon us, we get to be considered righteous. If our sins laid on somebody else, we’re righteous, and He is killed; just like it says here. In verse 10 actually it says, “He is, He was an āšām” {aw-shawm‘}; He was a guilt offering for sin; He was a sin offering.

So, this is how it’s all going to happen, and I could I could go on and on, okay? But I have a whole study on EliYah.com/provemessiah. And I’m proving Yahushua is the Messiah, just as Peter did, using Old Testament Scripture along with their testimony of His fulfillment of those Scriptures.

So he goes on to say (Acts 2:36-39) – “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly Elohim has made this Yahushua, whom you crucified, both Master and Messiah.”
³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” – What shall we do when we learn He is the Messiah? What shall we do? What shall we do? –
³⁸ Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Yahushua the Messiah for remission of sins; and you shall receive – a precious precious gift – the gift of the Holy Spirit.
³⁹ “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as Yahweh our Elohim will call.” – What a precious promise we have here, brothers and sisters, a very precious promise.

Peter’s command is very similar to Yahushua’s command. This is the first command of the apostles right here. What was Yahushua’s first command? (Matthew 4:17) – … “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – He is at hand; He is the kingdom because He is the King of that kingdom, right? So, Peter began to proclaim how it was possible for that kingdom to be established: you repent and be baptized in the name of Yahushua Messiah.

And so, the teachings of the apostles complements and builds upon the teachings of the Messiah Yahushua, as we saw in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Sometimes they repeat what Yahushua said, other times they build upon His teachings and provide further instruction. So, Yahushua taught the same thing but there’s more detail here in the Book of Acts. –

“Repent – Acts 3:19 – therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, – Why? Because they were laid upon Yahushua upon whom was laid the iniquity of us all. – so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Master – Yahweh –,
²⁰ and that He may send Yahushua Messiah, who was preached to you before,
²¹ whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which Elohim has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” – And that lines up so beautifully.

He will send Yahushua the Messiah, He will send the Holy Spirit, you see. He sends Yahushua the Messiah to dwell in you, right? Well, Yahushua the Messiah had the Holy Spirit, no doubt about it. So, if Yahushua dwells in you, and the Spirit dwells in Him, that’s how you’re able to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you; because no one comes to the Father except through Him. And you’re not going to get the Holy Spirit unless you have Him dwelling in you.

So, same thing is being taught. So, what did Yahushua say? (John 14:15-17) – “If you love Me, keep My commandments.
¹⁶ “And I will pray the Father, – In other words, repent, start keeping the commands. Repent. I will pray to the Father – and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever–
¹⁷ “the Spirit of truth, – Holy Spirit – whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” – In you. So, just what Peter said, Yahushua ha-Mashiach had said before. Yahushua ha-Mashiach said before (Matthew 28:19-20) – “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit,
²⁰ “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; . . .” – Why were they baptizing in the name of Yahushua? Go back and look at the 40^th teaching of the “Commands of the Messiah”. Within the name of Yahushua you have the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So, what Yahushua was teaching is what Peter was teaching. –

(Acts 2:40-42) – And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”
⁴¹ Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
⁴² And they continued steadfastly in the apostlesי doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. – Notice, the apostlesי doctrine was continued in; they continued steadfastly in the doctrine of the apostles. Their doctrine was not theirs, their doctrine was Yahushua’s. Yahushua’s doctrine was not His, it is the Father who put that doctrine in Messiah, and put that doctrine through Messiah in the apostles. And so, three thousand souls were saved that day.

Quite a contrast to what happened during around the time of Pentecost, back in the Book of Exodus in chapter 32. After he had given those commands (Exodus 32:25-28) – Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained – Why? – (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), – They began worshiping a golden calf, so what did he tell them to do? He said –
²⁶ then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on Yahweh’s side– come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to Him.
²⁷ And he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’”
²⁸ So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And – What happened? – about three thousand men of the people – of Israel – fell that day. – The letter kills, right? The law killed them. They have been given the Torah, they’ve been given Yahweh’s law: you should not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything in heaven above, earth beneath, where water is under the earth; because Yahweh is a jealous Elohim. And so, He says do not make an idol out of Me, much less a cow. Okay? But they turned Him into a cow, and they decided to worship Him as if He was a calf; which is ridiculous when you think about it today; for some reason that was a temptation to them in those days, okay? But the point being, because of the disobedience three thousand men fell that day.

But what happened at the time of the Book of Acts? Three thousand men got saved that day. We have here the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Both the Old Covenant and New Covenant were given around the time of Pentecost. Both of them are actually wedding dates, in a sense. The Adam man, you know, Yahweh, Yahushua actually was the one marrying the Adam man in the Old Covenant, which they broke; the new man Yahushua ha-Mashiach now dwelling in us, enabling us to be a bridegroom bride, therefore we are able to be remarried through the death of the old man and the new man rising up; the remnant of Israel.

So, what’s it say in 2^nd Corinthians 3:5-6 – Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from Elohim,
⁶ who also made us sufficient as ministers of – what? – the new covenant, – That’s what we are, we are ministers of the New Covenant. – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. – A lot of those in traditional Christianity like to quote this verse saying, “O, you got to try and get us back underneath that letter again”. No, we are a minister of the New Covenant and of the Spirit; the letter kills but Messiah makes alive through the Holy Spirit. And truth is, yeah, that ministry was a ministry of death because we disobeyed it. We all have disobeyed Yahweh’s laws, all of us have. And so for us it became –
⁷ . . . the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, – And that – was glorious, – In fact – so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away,
⁸ how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? – What’s the ministry of the Spirit? Anyone that turns away from the sin, puts her trust in Yahushua forgiveness of sin, will receive the betrothal gift, in a sense, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Downpayment. So –
⁹ For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, – O – the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. –

I do get concerned sometimes, brothers and sisters, which ministry most people are more interested in: the ministry of condemnation or the ministry of the Spirit. I often hear a lot of condemnation coming from people who do proclaim the Torah. And we should proclaim the Torah, but not with the condemnation!

And yes, we gotta warn people, if their hearts are not repentant there is condemnation. And Paul did a lot of that too, okay? But in fact, (1^st John 3:4) – . . . for sin is the transgression of – What? – the law. – I mean, the law itself tells us what sin is, that’s why we got condemned, right? In fact, (Romans 3:20b) – . . . by the law is the knowledge of sin. – and – (Romans 7:7) – . . . I had not known sin, but by the law . . . – The law tells us what sin is and what sin isn’t.

And when we as believers, what we’re supposed to be doing, number one when Yahushua says, “If you love Me, because I’ve already shown My love for you, if you love Me keep My commandments”. In other words: repent, stop breaking commands, turn toward a life of keeping the commands, right?

And truth be told, most evangelical Christians believe that you’re supposed to turn away from sin. They just don’t understand what sin is. And they turn away from a lot of things. They turn away from drunkenness and fornication hopefully, idolatry, stealing, lying, and so on. They believe all those things are wrong; when we keep those commands we are keeping Torah, that’s part of keeping Torah. But, they keep a lot of Torah, but there’s some things in Torah they don’t keep. And that’s the things that we have learned. The Sabbath day, the feast days, you know. Their hearts are repentant a lot of times, and they’ve confessed their sins, that what they knew was sin; but they haven’t learned these other things because they’re not taught these things in the pulpits of Christianity throughout various churches. And so, they have the basic message of repentance and faith, but they just don’t understand what they’re supposed to be repenting of.

And the truth is, we all have work to do on that. You personally, I personally, we all got work to do there. There are things in the Word you may not know you’re supposed to be doing, in next five years you’ll start doing. And so, we’re all a work in progress, they are, we are, we all are, right?

So, the one thing I want to unite under, is this banner right here, I love this: Repent and believe in Messiah Yahushua. Baptism is just going to go with that.

Now, I want to zero in on something here. You do this, right here (“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Yahushua Messiah for the remission of sins;”), you do that, and then Yahweh does this (“you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”). You understand? You repent, you put your trust in Yahushua, you get baptized in His name for mission of sins; Yahweh will do something for you. And that is: give you the Holy Spirit. And you don’t have to wonder whether He will or whether He won’t when He says He will. And that promise is a promise. Is to us, because it says to all, not to some, to all who are afar off. To all who are afar off.

So, you don’t have to question whether or not you were called, because if you turn away from sin and you put your trust in Yahushua the Messiah, you can’t even get there unless He called you. No one comes to the Son unless the Father draws Him. You can’t even get to the point where you’re repentant believer in Messiah unless the Father has called you. And that brothers and sisters is a privilege you don’t take lightly. It is an honor and a privilege for our Father in heaven to look upon you and call you into His sheepfold. Don’t ever take it for granted and don’t ever get prideful about it; instead be thankful for it.

And that promise is to everyone. I mean, (Luke 11:11-13) – “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
¹² “Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
¹³ “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” – Have you ever asked Him to give you the Holy Spirit? He wants to give it to you. Have you ever asked Him? I think we’re going to have some baptisms tomorrow. And part of the baptism service, we’re going to ask for the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon the people who are getting baptized in the name of Yahushua ha-Mashiach. I look forward to that.

But if you’ve never asked Him, know know why Yahushua is the Messiah! That’s what Peter was proclaiming, here’s why He’s the Messiah. You need to know why He’s the Messiah. Not just because your mom and dad told you, not just because you read it in 1^st Corinthians or in. . . No, because you know the Torah. Otherwise you’re unlearned and therefore unstable. Just like it says in 2^nd Peter 3.

So, know why Yahushua is the Messiah, and preach repentance and baptism in Yahushua’s name for the remission of sins, so that Yahweh will give to all whom you proclaim these things, the gift of the Holy Spirit. And what a gift that is, brothers and sisters, what a gift. And you don’t get there from here unless Yahushua is sent to you to dwell in you.

Let’s pray. Almighty Yahweh, we thank You for Your awesome awesome Word. I love, love, love how Your Word all comes together as one beautiful sweet unified Word of truth; from Genesis to Revelation. It’s beautiful to behold, it’s amazing to dig into, the height and the width and the depth and the length. But we want to know this Father, Your love, the love of Messiah which surpasses all understanding. We want to be filled with Your Ruach ha-Kodesh, Your Holy Spirit, all to the praise of Your glory. And we want to manifest the fruits thereof: love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, gentleness, patience, self-control, all the good things that come from You, and we desire Your spiritual gifts also, whatever You decide to give to all of us.

Father Yahweh, we love You, we love Your ways, we love Your Son whom You’ve sent, we love Your Word as given through Moshe, as given through those who wrote the Psalms, the Writings, the Prophets; we love the Words Yahushua spoke in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and we love the Words of the apostles, because we love You. We love Your Words, we desire to know You. For truly Yours is the kingdom and power and glory forever. Amein.

Note.

1. Isaiah 42:1 – “. . . He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.”

The word translated “justice” is the Hebrew word “mišpāṭ” {mish-pawt’ } (Strong’s H4941), meaning:

judgment (296x), manner (38x), right (18x), cause (12x), ordinance (11x), lawful (7x), order (5x), worthy (3x), fashion (3x), custom (2x), discretion (2x), law (2x), measure (2x), sentence (2x), miscellaneous (18x).

Some related words:

H6663 “ṣāḏaq” {tsaw-dak’}: justify (23x), righteous (10x), just (3x), justice (2x), cleansed (1x), clear ourselves (1x), righteousness (1x).

H6664 “ṣeḏeq” {tseh’-dek }: righteousness (77x), just (11x), justice (10x), righteous (8x), righteously (3x), right (3x), righteous cause (1x), unrighteousness (1x), miscellaneous (2x).

H6666 “ṣᵊḏāqâ” {tsed-aw-kaw’}: righteousness (128x), justice (15x), right (9x), righteous acts (3x), moderately (1x), righteously (1x).