Rabbi Schneider - Choosing God
Thank you for watching today. Many of you that tuned into this broadcast on a regular basis understand that there truly is a supernatural, remarkable blessing on the Jewish people. I've talked about that in earlier broadcasts. All you have to do is look at all the medical breakthroughs, the scientific breakthroughs. How many people from the Jewish community are leaders and influencers in the world? There's a supernatural anointing on God's first covenant people and we need to take that understanding and recognize that still today there are deep treasures that the church needs that come from the wells of Judaism. In other words, when we study the writings of the Jewish sages, there are great portions of Scripture that they've elaborated on, that when understood can help you and I better understand God's call on our life.
In fact, Jesus said that when a Jewish person comes to Him, they're able to bring four treasures to the church from both the Hebrew Bible and the Brit Hadasha. He actually said every scribeÑand a scribe with someone that made copies of the Torah He said, "Every scribe that becomes a disciple of mine will be able to bring forth treasures from his mansion, things old and things new". Now, the reason that I'm sharing this with you is because one of the things that the Jewish people have brought to the table in terms of their approach to knowing God, is that revelation, that when we read Scripture, there is more meaning than just a surface meaning. A lot of times, as Christian people, we come to the Bible and all we see is one level of understanding. But I want you to consider with me to truly get a hold of the deeper mysteries, to truly swim in deeper waters of Revelation, we need to look deeper than just the surface.
Consider, for example, the scripture that says, "Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but through me". Of course, the surface understanding of that is that Jesus is the way to the Father. That is 1,000% absolutely correct. But when Jesus said, "I am the truth," what exactly is the truth? Is the truth simply that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, ascended to the Father, and is the only way? That absolutely is the truth. But is there more? Is there a deeper revelation of truth that we need in our souls and in our minds in order to be free? You see, Yeshua said in the Gospel of John 8 to His disciples, "If you continue in my Word, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free". In order to be brought into a level of truth, a deeper understanding that would set them free, Yeshua said they needed to continue in His Word. They needed to go go deeper.
I want to suggest today that we need to get beyond just a surface understanding of our faith and the scriptures. I'm reminded of Yeshua in John 18 when He stood before Pilate. Jesus said to them, "Everyone that's up the truth, here's my voice". Pilate response: "What is the truth"? You and I should be asking ourselves the question, "Jesus, when you said that I would know the truth and the truth would set me free, what truth, Lord Jesus do I need to know to be free"? In other words, all of us know believers in Yeshua, that they believe in Him, they're going to heaven, they've received Him as their Savior, their sins are forgiven, but they're certainly not walking in freedom.
Most of the church is still struggling tremendously with accusations from the enemy, and oppression, and we're not living in a spirit of joy, we're not living in a spirit of peace. Many are not living in a spirit of authority and power. So, therefore, that must indicate that there's true that we need operating in our life that we have not yet entered into. We need revelation. This series, once again, is called Revelations That Will Set You Free. Revelation has to do with mystery. A mystery is something that's concealed and that it becomes then revealed. The Bible tells us that it's God's prerogative to be able to conceal a matter. But Baruch Hashem, bless the name of the Lord, you and I as man who's been created in God's image to know Him, we've been given the privilege to discover those things that are hidden.
We've been given the privilege to go deep in God to discover revelation that's hidden so that you and I can enter in to ever-increasing levels of truth and victory. We need revelation. We need more than a surface understanding. We need to understand what reality is. Better yet we need to understand who is reality. I remember in the gospels when Yeshua said to His disciples, "Who do they say that I am"? And we know they said, "Some say Elijah. Some say John the Baptist back from the dead". Yeshua said to Kefa Peter, "Who do you say that I am"? And Peter said, "You're the Messiah. You're the Mashiach. You're the Christ. You're the Anointed One, the Son of the living God". Jesus' response to him was, "Blessed art thou Simon son of John, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven".
In other words, Kefa Peter received a download from Father. God was the one that showed him that Jesus was the Messiah. You and I need to get our antennas up and recognize that we don't want to just go with the flow. We don't want to just go with the crowd. We don't want to be cultural Christians. We want to dive deep in the spirit to receive the revelation that will set us free. I want to encourage you today to understand, beloved ones, God is much bigger than you think He is. The truth is much wider or much broader, much deeper than either you or I realize. God is infinite. He's eternal. His ways are above our ways. His thoughts are above our thoughts. And only those that seek Him with all their heart will find him. Seek ye that may find. So I want to encourage you to have the courage to go beyond cultural Christianity to discover the mysteries of the Spirit. That they will become revelation to you that will set you free.
I want to go through with you now a number of revelations that I believe can bring freedom into our lives. Things that perhaps many of us have not thought about before. Revelation number one we're looking at the deep things of the Spirit is this. We exist within God. Everything exists within God. In the book of Acts 17, we read that in Him, in Hashem, in Father God we live and move and exist. Some translations read, "In Him we live and move and have our being". Everything exists within God. When we confess what is known in Hebrew as the Shema from the book of Deuteronomy 6:4, we declare, "Sh'ma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one". There are many different facets to what the scripture means. Of course, certainly, we're speaking about the fact that there's only one God. But beyond that, what we're also receiving from the Spirit in that declaration is that everything that's created exists within God.
Now, I'm going to say it in a second. We're separate from God, I'm going to elaborate on that, but yet we're in God Everything that he created is within Him. The Scripture tells us that He's upholding everything that He created by His power. He upholds the entire universe, everything visible, everything invisible. Everything is being upheld by His power. Everything is within Hashem. And yet, also, we're separate from Hashem. Let me step back for one second. Everything is within Him. Everything is working, according to His purposes. And yet, although we're in Him, we're separate from Him. Now, of course, I understand. Yeshua, Jesus was sent to bring us into unity with God, to bring us into oneness with God.
Hear me out. In order for true love to happen, two people need to be separate from each other, they need to retain their unique identity. And although they're unique, they choose to become one in a love relationship. But the one is not completely absorbed in the other so that the one that's absorbed no longer exists. In order for true love to exist, there has to be the freedom to choose. And it's only when two people respect each other and are aware of each other's power and each other self that real love could exist. Think about it. If you're married, would you want your husband or your wife to be nothing but a reflection of you? Would you want your husband or wife to have no uniqueness? Would you want them just to be your shadow? Would you want them to have no self that's separate and distinct? No.
The thing that makes love dynamic is when two separate people that are unique choose to come together to appreciate each other and to love each other and to bond together in oneness, and yet they remain as separate persons. Hear me now. You and I exist within Hashem; we exist within God because all of His creation is encompassed by Him. And yet we are separate from Him, called into Unity with Him and oneness with him. And yet in that unity, in that oneness, we still are distinct and separate. You see, Father created you and I in His own image because He wanted a love partner. The Bible tells us in Revelation 19 that those of us that know Jesus, we're going to participate in what is known as the marriage supper of the Lamb. We're going to be involved in a culmination of our relationship to Hashem through Jesus that can only be described as a marriage feast.
Now, in order for a marriage to exist, there has to be two people. We have to understand that God values us, our uniqueness, and He's looking for us to be a love partner to Him. You see, I remember, as a young believer I was afraid to think that anything depended on me and my walk with Father God. I was afraid to think that any of it depended on me. Because I thought if any of it depends on me, I said, "I'm going to fail" because I had no confidence in myself, I had no confidence in my flesh. I thought, "If anything depends on me, in my relationship with you, God, I might as well give up now because I know I'm going to fail". My only confidence was that the scripture says that he that began a good work and you will complete it. My only confidence was that God supernaturally sovereignly saved me.
So I was just trusting Him to complete the process. And that's absolutely true. I still believe that. But what I came to understand as I began to mature in the Lord was that God is looking for me to voluntarily choose to think about Him, to choose to subject all my choices to His authority. See, He doesn't make me think about Him. I have to get up in the morning and choose to think about Him. He doesn't make me read the scriptures when I wake up in the morning. That's my choice. See, the Bible says His eyes are looking to and fro across the earth, looking for somebody that will be wholly devoted to him or in Him. But we're separate from Him. and He's waiting on us to love Him. We're not robots. And when we love Him, it brings Him pleasure just as when somebody loves you that you care about, it brings you pleasure, somehow Hashem gets pleasure when you and I that have been created in His image with free choice, as unique individuals, when we voluntarily out of our own free will choose to love Him.
You see, listen, this is what makes you and I unique. Of course, the animals were created, right? The fish were created. We'll talk about all that in a second. But the thing that's unique about you and I, about mankind, is we have free will. We have a level of awareness and a sophistication in our thinking process whereas we are described as having divinity within us. Yeshua said in the Scriptures, "Why do you accuse me of blasphemy," Yeshua said, "For saying I'm the son of God? Does not your own scripture, say you're God's"?
Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying we're God. We're not God. We're His creation. But the fact is His divinity is in us. We're created to be His sons and His daughters. We're created in His image. And when you when I that are created in His image, made in the likeness of the Creator, when we that have been given free will because we're created in His image to know and love Him, when we choose out of our own volition to spend time with Him, to talk with Him, to sit before Him in silence just waiting on Him, to put Him first in our choices, to deny ourselves things that we want in the flesh, but because of our love for Him we say no, He sees all that and it moves His heart. And He's a rewarder to those that love Him. So we need to understand that we are separate beings in Hashem, in God, and He's waiting for us as unique individuals that have free will to love Him. All of creation exist in Him.
If there's a separateness and we need to assume the responsibility that our Creator has given us to be accountable for our lives and to recognize there's nobody that can love God for you. You have to love Him yourself. Only you can give Him your heart. Nobody can give your heart to Him, but you. He's waiting for you and I, beloved. And when you and I accept that yoke, that mantle, that responsibility to understand why we're here, we're here to choose to love Him, when we accept that fully and completely recognize that's why we're born, that's why we're here and then live that out, we are brought into unity with Him. Or He remains God, you remain uniquely you as a son or daughter created in his image, you retain yourself, your natural affections and your natural likes and dislikes, the thing that's unique about your personality, you retain that, and He gets pleasure out of you, He rejoices in you, He rejoices over you even as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride.
There's always going to be and yet, there's that unity that takes place in the Spirit through Yeshua. Baruch Hashem. Blessed be the name of the Lord, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. In Him we live and move and have our being. And yet, beloved, our destiny is only fulfilled when you recognize that you're a unique individual with power. And the power that you've been given is the power to love Hashem, to love God. Mystery number two. Revelation number two. When we study the book of Bereshit, the book of Genesis and we look at how God created the world, we see that after everything created, He said it was good. There's only one exception. We're going to go out together to the book of Bereshit, the book of Genesis. First of all, we find in verse 12 of chapter 1 that God created the vegetation.
Let's read the Word of God here. I'm going once again, Genesis 1. I'm going to read verse 12. "The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them after their kind; and God saw that it was good". God creates the vegetation. He creates the plants. And after creating them, what did He say? He said, beloved ones, that it was good. Next, we see God creating the sun, and the moon, and the stars.
Let's go to verse 16. "God made the two great lights, the greater lights to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good". He made the planets the lights, the sun, the moon. After He created it, He declared it is good. Let's look at what happens next. Next, God creates the fish and the birds. We're going to go now to verse 21. "God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the water swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good".
Finally, we find that God created the animals in verse 25. "God made the beast of the earth and their kind, and the cattle after their kind of everything that creeps on the ground after its kind, and God saw that it was good". Now next week, we're going to look what happened after God created man. You're going to see that was the only exception. Why after God created man, did He not immediately say it was good? He said the whole creation was good at the end of the chapter. But there's a pause there and a blank space. We're going to talk about that next week. Be sure to tune in and bring a friend.