The Clarion, Jun. 2022
Welcome
With Pentecost beginning on June 4th at sundown to June 5th at sundown, we want to remember just how important the Holy Spirit is to us, and not just the Spirit of God, but the Word of God, which was also given to Moses on Pentecost, meaning 50, Shavuot in Hebrew, meaning weeks. We have been counting down to Pentecost 50 days since the Resurrection of Messiah or 7 weeks. We have learned by the Sword of the Spirit, that the Spirit and the Word go together, you can’t have one without the other. We hope that you will also take the time to be thankful for the role that each plays in your life.
We hope that you enjoy this sandiegram.
Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, fill my heart with Your love. Let Your Spirit flow through me so that I may show love and compassion to all people. Let me be Your guiding light to bring my brothers and sisters to kneel before You. Let me be Your shepherd in search of lost sheep. Let me bring peace into troubled hearts. Holy Spirit, let me be Your finger to point to the road to Your eternal glory. Let me be Your hands to embrace the sick and the dying so that they can come to You without fear. Holy Spirit, let me be Your instrument to help the poor of spirit find nourishment in the Bread of Life. Holy Spirit, let those who are lost find the path once again to You. Let Your love shine upon us all.
Sandiegram; Holy Spirit/copyright 2010
The Fruit of the Torah
The Torah is the first five books of the Bible. We have been taught that these books are only for the Jewish people. The Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible, which consists of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings all which are called the Old Testament. Today we want to look at the Fruit of the Torah, because Yeshua, not only lived it out, but quoted it again and again, and also from the Tanakh. When the Apostles wrote their letters to their congregations, it was all based on Torah.
John, when writing the Revelation, was all aligned with the visions of Daniel in the Tanakh. What we call old is actually our foundation that everything was built upon, and it all started with the Torah. How else would we have known about Creation, the flood and people like Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses, all of which were a type of or foreshadowing of Messiah?
We must consider the gospels were an account of the life of Yeshua and Acts was just that, the Acts of the Apostles. The rest were letters written to people in different congregations around Asia Minor or present day Turkey, on how they should conduct their gatherings or how to choose their elders, and how they should live as a family, and as an individual, in this new walk of following the Master Yeshua. The New Testament was basically an instructional handbook. This was exactly why they wrote the Didache which was written as a catechism book of instructions by the early Apostolic Fathers, based on the writings of the Apostles.
When we think of God’s Word we think of verses like Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” or Psalm 119:103, “How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
And how about Psalm 19:7-11, “The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much pure gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, Your servant is warned by them; in keeping them there is great reward.”
But I don’t see anything about fruit. So what is the Fruit of the Torah? Well, we find a hint, not in the Torah, but in Ephesians 6:17b, “The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” This vital part of the armor tells us that the Holy Spirit and the Word of God are one. We also see this in the fact that on Pentecost or Shavuot (in Hebrew), that the Torah was given at the time of Moses, and the Holy Spirit was given at the time of the Apostles. Bookends! They go together, the Word and the Holy Spirit. Yeshua is the Word and the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Yeshua. “Yeshua said that He and the Father are one,” John 10:30.
John 14: 9 tells us this, Yeshua said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
John 5:19 says, “Therefore Yeshua answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way.”
Again in John 12:49, “For I did not speak on My own, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.”
Hebrews 1:3-4 tells us, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, to the extent that He has inherited a more excellent name than they.”
So if Yeshua is the Word, (the Torah) and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord, then you can safely say that the work of the Spirit and the work of Yeshua went hand in hand.
Romans 8:9,11 says this, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Messiah ,he does not belong to Him.” “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Yeshua from the dead is living in you, He who raised Messiah Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.”
At the time of the giving of the Torah, the people faltered in keeping God’s Word
because they did not have the Holy Spirit. But we do, and because of that, we can walk in the Spirit, and live in the Spirit, and we can also have the gifts of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit.
Galations 5: 22-23 speaks of this fruit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law or should we say there is no penalty .”
The Fruit of the Spirit can only be who God is. And who God is, is who we need to be like. We need to be God-like , that is what Godliness is. So how do we get the Fruit of the Spirit?
Proverbs 3:13-18 tells us, “Blessed is a person who finds wisdom, and one who obtains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver, and her produce better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are those who hold on to her.”
Every tree has fruit and when we find wisdom in God’s Word it is fruit. Wisdom gives you understanding, and understanding gives you knowledge, and knowledge gives you life. When we live by the Word of God then we are walking in the Spirit as Galatians 5:16 tells us,
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” It is the desire of the flesh that separates us from God as 1 John 2:16-17 tells us, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.”
As we walk in the Spirit, keeping the Word of God, then we naturally are living by the Spirit, and when we are living by the Spirit, and not by the lust of the world, which causes us to sin and be separated from God, then we begin reaping the Fruit of the Spirit, from the tree of life as Proverbs 3:13-18 tells us. So where is the Fruit of the Torah? The next step is God writing His law upon our hearts.
We see in Hebrews 10:15-16 the writer quotes part of Jeremiah 31:31-33, “And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant which I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put My laws upon their hearts.”
“And write them on their mind, Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Remember, Israel could not keep the first covenant because they did not have the Holy Spirit, but with the New Covenant we do, and that is the Fruit of the Torah. We can live a godly life, when we live by the Spirit, and walk by the Spirit, living out God’s Word, His Torah, the Tree of Life. And as we do, we bear fruit, the Fruit of the Torah, the Fruit of the Spirit, and as we bear fruit, we become more and more like God, and as we do, God writes His laws (His Torah) upon our hearts, and we become God’s people.
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Recipe Corner: Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
by may i have that recipe.com
- INGREDIENTS:
- 6 very large portobello mushrooms 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 2 large Yukon gold potatoes (about 1 ½ lbs). You can use any kind you have on hand
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil ¼-½ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp ground black pepper ¼ cup plain unsweetened plant-based milk ( almond, cashew coconut, oat) or some of the potato cooking water
- 3 tbsp capers (you can use olives if you don’t like capers)
- 3 tbsp sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped small (or sun dried tomatoes soaked in hot water, chopped small)
- ¾ cup of store-bought marinara, spaghetti or pizza sauce
- ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese 6 tbsp crumbled feta cheese
- INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
- Remove the stems from the mushrooms, and using a small spoon, carefully scrape off the gills, making sure the mushrooms don’t break (you want to create a cavity for the filling)
- Brush each portobello mushroom top with some olive oil and place the stem side down on the lined baking sheet. Wrap the unpeeled garlic cloves in aluminum foil and place them on the baking sheet next to the mushrooms. Bake for 12 minutes (15 minutes if the mushrooms are extra large)
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Carefully transfer the mushrooms to a large plate, discard any water that may have puddled on them and return the baking sheet to the oven to continue cooking the garlic cloves for an additional 15 minutes. Do not turn off the oven after you take out the garlic
- While the mushrooms bake, peel the potatoes, cut them into 2″ pieces, and place them in a large saucepan with abundant salted water ( at least 2″ of water above the potatoes). Boil for 15-25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender (the smaller the pieces, the faster they will cook)
- Once the potatoes are done, reserve about 1 cup of the potato cooking water and set it aside
- Drain the potatoes and place them in a large bowl. Peel or squeeze out the roasted garlic cloves and add them to the potatoes along with the salt and black pepper
- While the potatoes are hot, mash them with a potato masher or a fork, add the olive oil, and as much of the reserved potato cooking water or plant-based milk needed to get a thick, creamy consistency. Add the liquid a little bit at a time, to make sure the potatoes are not runny
- Add the capers and sundried tomatoes and mix well
- Place a clean piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet you used to bake the mushrooms. Arrange the mushrooms on the baking sheet and fill each one with a heaping pile of mashed potatoes ( the amount will depend on the size of the mushrooms). Pour the marinara sauce, top with mozzarella cheese and crumbled feta, and bake for 15 minutes
Hebrew Corner: The Month of Sivan, The Third Month
The Month of Sivan on the Jewish Calendar usually begins in late May or early June. Sivan is its Babylonian name for the third month. The counting of 50 days which is called the counting of the Omer brings us to Pentecost. During these 50 days counting down to Pentecost, we have been preparing for the giving of the Torah, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. We also saw on the 40th day, the Messiah Ascended into heaven, so that He could send us the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who would help us live out God’s Word. But what is overlooked most often is that this was the time that God entered into a covenant with His people.
Exodus 19:5 says, “And now if you will hear to listen to my voice and you will keep my covenant, you will be more beloved to me than all the nations of the Earth, because the Earth is mine.”
Peter writes 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” Peter, speaking about being built up as a spiritual house in the previous verses, reminds us that we are in covenant with God, and because of that, we must remember that we are His own people, and with that, we are to be a royal priesthood ministering before God’s altar daily bringing Him the sacrifice of praise. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3: 2-3, “You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all people, revealing yourselves, that you are a letter of Messiah, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” This is the third month, this is Shavuot, this is Pentecost, this is a day not only to remember, but to live out every day.
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