We're back from Sukkot and meeting at our normal time today. I'm speaking on how to pick a bible in the 21st century today. Live at 1pm central through our YouTube channel or in person in North Kansas City!
https://www.youtube.com/@firstcenturychristianity
"Blessed are keepers of judgment, doing righteousness in all times."
אַשְׁרֵי שֹׁמְרֵי מִשְׁפָּט עֹשֵׂה צְדָקָה בְכָל־עֵת
Ps 106
What do we expect in the afterlife? If we think about that, we might think of going to heaven. Maybe we will, but probably not in the way we expect.
https://thebarkingfox.com/2025..../10/18/bringing-life
What do we expect in the afterlife? If we think about that, we might think of going to heaven. Maybe we will, but probably not in the way we expect.
https://thebarkingfox.com/2025..../10/18/bringing-life
BIBLE STUDY --- THE SAVIOUR
SHABBAT BREAKER?
FEASTING OR FASTING?
From Luke 5:33-39
The Pharisees were often critical of Yeshua. On one occasion they complained to Yeshua that His disciples were feasting while they and John’s disciples were fasting. [We often pray and go without food, and so do John’s disciples,] they grumbled to Yeshua. [But not Your disciples! They keep on eating and drinking while we do without!] [Would you fast at a wedding party?] Yeshua asked. [Wedding guests don’t wear long faces and go hungry in the presence of the bridegroom. So why should My disciples do this when they are with Me? When I am gone, there will be time for fasting.] Then Yeshua gave this example: [No sensible person tears up a new coat to make patches for an old one. If he did, he would ruin the new coat and make the old one look older than ever. Neither does a person pour fresh wine into old wineskins, for they would stretch more and burst, losing the wine and ruining the wineskins. It is much better to put fresh wine into new wineskins. Of course, anyone who knows the good taste of old wine will want his fresh wine to age. He is sure to say that it is better when aged.]
AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA
From John 5:1-18
After His discussion with the Pharisees, Yeshua left with His disciples for Jerusalem. The occasion was a religious festival, which Jewish men were required to attend. In Jerusalem, by the Sheep Gate, there was a pool surrounded by five arches, called The Pool of Bethesda. From time to time, an angel came to stir the waters, bringing healing to the person who entered the troubled waters first. The pool was crowded with those who were lame, blind, and paralyzed, waiting for the waters to move. One man had been sick for thirty-eight years. Yeshua knew this when He saw him. [Do you want to get well?] Yeshua asked. [Of course,] the man replied. [But I have no friend to put me into the water when it is troubled. While I am struggling to get in, someone else gets ahead of me,] [You may get up now,] Yeshua said. [Roll up your mat, and walk!] Immediately the man did what Yeshua said. He rolled up his mat and began walking. Since it was the Shabbat, the Jewish leaders believed that no work should be done, not even carrying a mat. [You know that it is against the Law to carry your mat on the Shabbat,] they told the man. [But the One who healed me said that I should,] he answered. [Who told you that?] they asked angrily. The man did not know who Yeshua was, and he could not see Him in the large crowd. Later, Yeshua found this man in the temple. [You are well now,] He said to the man. [But if you don’t change your ways, and stop sinning, you may find yourself in worse trouble.] When the man left Yeshua, he hurried away to tell the religious leaders that it was Yeshua who had healed him. Because of this, they began to plot against Yeshua, calling Him a Shabbat breaker. [My Father is always busy doing good,] He said. [How can I do otherwise?] Now the Jewish leaders were anxious to kill Yeshua because He had not only disobeyed their Shabbat Laws, but had called YHVH His Father, putting Himself on a level with YHVH.
COMMENTARY
THREE POOLS: THE WATER SYSTEM OF JERUSALEM
Rainfall in Jerusalem was slight, and the city was far from the sea and miles from the Jordan River. An adequate water supply was a problem. There were a few springs in the surrounding area, but they were too far outside the city walls to provide water for daily use. It was simply not practical to carry heavy jugs of water for long distances. The ancient Israelites brought the water to the city in another way. They built channels to carry it from the springs to the city. Large pools were dug to hold the water, and earthenware tunnels and pipes buried underground carried it to other parts of the city. [Running water] as it is understood today did not exist, but the precious liquid was available to everyone. When Herod was king, he built a long tunnel or aqueduct that brought water to Jerusalem from a spring south of Bethlehem. It ran through his citadel and the adjoining palace before it emptied into the public pool. Located outside the citadel’s towers and called the Towers’ Pool, it is fed by the waters of that spring to the present day. Herod provided the inhabitants of Jerusalem with another important source of water when he built the temple. The walls of the temple platform were constructed to work like a dam. They blocked the course of a brook that ran through the valley of Bezetha. Instead of flowing past the city, the water collected in a pool just outside the temple. The Pool of Israel, as it came to be called, was the largest of the pools formed from the Bezetha Brook. It was used as a source of water until well into the twentieth century, when it was found to be contaminated, and was drained and filled in. The Pool of Bethesda was located not far from the Israel Pool. The Gospels describe it as near the Jerusalem sheep market. Surrounded by elevated porches on all sides, its waters were used to wash the sheep that were to be brought to the temple for sacrifice. When the pool was no longer used for this purpose, it gradually filled with the silt, rubble and debris that accumulated over hundreds of years. The ground level around it rose in the same way, and the pool was gradually buried and was lost for centuries. But fairly recently, the Pool of Bethesda has been rediscovered. The place where Yeshua healed the man who had been sick for thirty-eight years is now sixty feet below the surface of the ground. It was found beneath the ruins of an ancient church-built hundreds of years ago to mark the location of the pool.
BIBLE STUDY --- THE SAVIOUR
CHANGED LIVES
From Mark 1:35-38; Matthew 4:23-25
Early the next morning, long before sunrise, Yeshua quietly left the house and went to a lonely place to pray. When Simon Peter and some others got up later, they saw that He was gone and went out to find Him. [Everyone is looking for You,] Peter said. [Then it is time to go on to other villages,] Yeshua replied. [I must share the Good News with them also, for that is My purpose in coming to this world.] From place to place, all over Galilee, Yeshua went with His followers, teaching in synagogues and telling the Good News. People with every kind of sickness and disease were brought to Him for healing. The news of His miracles spread over all Galilee, and far beyond. Before long, people came from as far away as Syria to be healed. No matter what the disease or sickness, including demon possession, epilepsy, and paralysis, Yeshua healed all who came. Wherever He went, the crowds followed, with people from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and the regions beyond the Jordan River.
NEW LIFE FOR A LEPER
From Mark 1:40-45
One day, as Yeshua was touring Galilee, a man with leprosy knelt down before Him, begging for help. [You can take this leprosy away from me if You want to,] the man said. Yeshua felt sorry for this man and reaching out His hand, He touched him. [I do want to help you,] He said. [Your leprosy is gone!] Immediately the man was healed. He was completely well again. [You must not tell anyone what I did,] Yeshua said firmly. [Go now and let a priest examine you. Take the offering that Moses ordered in the Law, to prove that you are clean. But don’t linger along the way to talk to people.] The man was so happy about his new life that he went everywhere, telling people what had happened. He created so much excitement that Yeshua could no longer go into the towns publicly. Instead, He stayed out in the countryside, and people came from everywhere to meet Him there.
THROUGH THE ROOF
From Mark 2:1-12
When Yeshua finished His tour of Galilee, He returned home to Capernaum. The news that He was home spread all over the city, and people rushed to the house where He was staying. Before long, the house was filled with people and others crowded around the doorway, trying to get in. Then four more people came along, carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. Because the crowd was so large, they couldn’t take their friend to Yeshua. Then the men made an opening in the roof of the house and lowered their paralyzed friend to Yeshua. Yeshua was pleased that these men believed in Him so much. To the paralyzed man He said, [My son, your sins are forgiven.] This statement irritated some of the religious leaders who were in the house. [How dare He say such a thing,] they thought. [Only YHVH can forgive sins.] But these men couldn’t keep their thoughts to themselves, for Yeshua knew what was in their minds. [Why does this disturb you?] He asked. [Would you find it more acceptable for Me to use some other words? While you’re worrying about words, I will prove to you that I do have the authority to forgive sins on earth.] With that, Yeshua turned to the man on the mat. [You may get up now and walk!] He said. [Pick up your mat and go home.] Everyone was amazed to see the man pick up his mat, which was like a cot or mattress and walk out of the house. [Never before have we seen anything like this,] the people said. They praised YHVH for what they had seen.
NEW WORK FOR THE TAX COLLECTOR
From Mark 2:13-17
Leaving the house, Yeshua walked beside the Sea of Galilee. The crowd went with Him, so He kept on teaching them, as He had done inside the house. Along the way, Yeshua saw a tax collector, sitting in his office. His name was Levi, the son of Alphaeus, and he later became known as Matthew. [Come and be My follower,] Yeshua urged. Leaving his work behind, Levi went with Yeshua and became a devoted follower. Later, Levi invited some other tax collectors and men with bad reputations to dinner. Yeshua and His disciples were also guests. But some of the religious leaders complained to the disciples. [Why is He eating with such people?] they grumbled. Yeshua heard what they said and gave them His answer. [People who are healthy do not need a doctor,] He said. [Only those who are sick. I have come to heal the spiritually sick, not those who are spiritually healthy.]
COMMENTARY
AROUND THE SEA OF GALILEE
Yeshua spent most of His life in the area that surrounds the Sea of Galilee. He grew up in the village of Nazareth, and later moved to Capernaum. When Yeshua began His public ministry, He taught in the synagogues of northern towns like Bethsaida and Capernaum. Most of His disciples probably came from the villages in this northern area. As His fame spread, Yeshua became well-known in the region of Galilee. The crowds that followed Him became so large the synagogues could not hold them, and He had to teach out in the open countryside. Many of the towns and villages mentioned in the Gospels either cannot be found or are uninhabited ruins. Newer towns have sprung up in some places. But most of the countryside around the Sea of Galilee has remained essentially unchanged over the past two thousand years. From the heights that surround it, there is a breath-taking view of the blue waters of the Sea of Galilee. Fishermen still work there, casting their nets into its waters as fishermen did in Yeshua’ time. Away from the Sea of Galilee, in the opposite direction, the fertile plain of Gennesaret stretches out far below. It is easy to imagine Yeshua and His disciples walking through the area and stopping to rest on one of the gently sloping grassy hillsides that surround the Sea of Galilee.
Thought for Today: Shabbat October 18
Often, I hear someone being introduced this way: “This is B…, and he/she works for …” as if where he/she works or what that person does, determine his/her value. Yet, YHVH does not judge us by our success… Our value comes from the fact that YHVH created us and love us, and the Moshiach died for us. Our value comes from the fact that He adopted us into His Family, and we are now His children forever… Get your identity from the Moshiach and not what you do in life, for you are infinite worth to Him!
Last Shabbat!
We matched one day!
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