Hear My Heart.

In one of the most famous teachings of our Messiah, the “sermon on the mount”, He stops in the middle of charging His followers with the different instructions of life and changes direction with just a few words:

“17 “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. 18 Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah — not until everything that must happen has happened. 19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” Matt 5:17-20

He then continues with charging the people with His instructions. As I read these Scriptures and spoke with good friends of mine about them, we were wondering why Yeshua stopped what He was saying, and said “Don’t think…”; was it possible that people were thinking that they were now free from the Word of God, from His teaching and instructions? The literal translation of the word “Torah” is “teaching and instructions”. He continued with expressing the importance of the Word of God in our lives and the importance of not just teaching it but also applying it to our lives by being obedient and being an example to those who are yet to believe in Him. We see a confirmation of this in what one of his great Talmidim (disciples) wrote:

“14 But you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, recalling the people from whom you learned it; 15 and recalling too how from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which can give you the wisdom that leads to deliverance through trusting in Yeshua the Messiah. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living; 17 thus anyone who belongs to God may be fully equipped for every good work.” 2 Tim 3:14-17 CJB

Shaul (The apostle Paul) is charging Timothy here to continue not only with what he has learned from those discipling him, but also from what he as learned from the Holy Scriptures. He continues on to tell Timothy “All Scripture is God breathed…”.  At the time Shaul was writing, the only Scripture was the Tanach (what is known as the “Old Testament”). He continued to write, “and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living; 17 thus anyone who belongs to God may be fully equipped for every good work.”

Every week in the Synagogues around the world we read what is called the “Parasha” which is the weekly portion from the Bible that is read every year in an orderly way. We have decided to follow this order of reading and to write a weekly Blog about the weekly “Parasha” for two main reasons:

1.    We believe the importance and value of what Shaul said to Timothy in 2 Tim 3:14-17.

2.    We desire to show the people who are yet to follow our Messiah the way to Him through His Word.

I hope that through this weekly devotions we will all grow to know Him more and grow in His grace.

Moran