Fellowship of Believers in Messiah Yeshua
Ministries
Pastors Karl & Rose Ann Lopez
Cookeville, TN.
There are many important reasons why we, as children of God should learn about the Hebraic Roots of our faith. First of all, let me say that when we talk about "Hebraic Roots", we are NOT teaching that we should come under the Torah of Moses, because we are not under the Torah but under grace. We are not saying that one should appropriate modern Jewish worship traditions, such as wearing a prayer shawl (Tallit), or head covering (Kippah), or putting on phylacteries (Tefillim). We ARE teaching the restoration of the authentic Biblical "faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). This faith or the correct word "trust", is the "Trust of Abraham", (Romans4:16) perfected and made available to the whole world by the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ), the Jewish Messiah.
Christian faith, as practiced in far too many places today, does not reflect Biblical Hebraic heritage. In many, if not most places, "Christianity" reflects the influences of non-Biblical belief systems, various human "religious" traditions, and worldly cultures. All around the world, the Spirit of the Holy One (Holy Spirit) is moving upon believers to explore their historic Biblical Hebraic Roots to determine how God would have the Body of Yeshua reclaim this inheritance. This reclaimation includes studying (a very Jewish and scriptural activity) the proper place of the Tanach (Older Testament), including the Torah (Law), in our lives.
This "Abrahamic" trust was, and still is, essentially, "Hebraic". It is not Babylonian, Greco-Roman, European, African, Asian or American. It was birthed by the God of Israel when He made a covenant with the Chaldean, Abram, and "converted" him to the Hebrew "Abraham". Via his son and through Ya'akov's (Jacob's) subsequent conversion and name change, his descendants became known as "Israelites". God eventually established His covenant with the entire nation of Israelites, through the Torah giving ministry of Moses. The divine revelations recorded in the Tanach (Older Testament) give us the foundations of our "Messianic" faith.
The Tanach (Older Testament) along with the Brit Hadasha (Newer Testament) was written by Jewish hands that were inspired by God. These Testaments contain God's commandments and divine instructions for righteous human relationships and spiritual guidelines for establishing and maintaining a personal relationship with God Himself.
When one repents of their sins and receives Yeshua (Jesus) as saviour and Lord, they are grafted into Israel's olive tree and are made partakers of the rich root of that "Jewish" tree. They are made "partakers of the promise" and become "fellow citizens of the commonwealth of Israel". Simply stated, gentile believers, by trust in Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah), have been grafted into a "Jewish" religion that has its own spiritual realities, commandments, culture and world view.
By studying our Hebraic Roots of the Christian faith, we gain a richer understanding of the Bible, of the humanity and ministry of Yeshua (Jesus), and the writing of the Jewish Rabbi and Apostle Sha'ul (Paul). We can gain insight into the forms of worship and community life that the early church practiced, as we understand how the Jewish believers brought their Tanach (Older Testament) trust, traditions, and practices into the church. We can gain insight into how the early believers understood the practical dynamics of living out their trust in a hostile pagan world. We gain vital spiritual lessons as we study the Tanach (Older Testament). We learn about the attributes of God, His nature and His ways with men. These studies will mature our walk with God. We will not be deceived into following a god that is constructed after our own imaginations or human traditions. Rather, we learn how to relate to the God of Israel, as we study His dealings with the Jewish people and their responses to His laws, prophets and judgements. Among many other themes, we gain true understanding of the word "TRUST", without which it is impossible to please God, and we learn the true nature of the covenant and how central this theme is to the purpose of God and His relationship to us.
God, who never changes, has left us a tremendous legacy in the Hebrew scriptures. This legacy, and the ministry fruit it is intended to produce, is lost to us when we fail to study our Hebraic Roots and develop the Biblical relationship with the Jewish people God intends our churches to have.
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Fellowship of Believers in Messiah Yeshua Ministries
Pastors Karl & Rose Ann Lopez
Cookeville, TN.
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