This coming week, 16-22 February 2025 (18-24 Shevat 5785), the Bible reading plan covers Mishpatim (Ordinances).

https://thebarkingfox.com/2025..../02/14/weekly-bible-

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off.
#exodus 20:18 Yitro

The people saw the trumpet-noise of God's voice. What an awesome sight that must have been!

The fear of God takes two forms: Fear of God as your enemy and fear of God as your lawgiver. Will you fall away from him or fall on your face toward him?

Why did Solomon have so much to say about parenting and marriage? Because he had so much experience! Age and experience gives perspective, knowledge, and wisdom. Pay attention to your elders. They're not completely ignorant.

https://rumble.com/vd8ymn-prov....erbs-131-parents-jus

Even the respected elders in the Cretian congregations had to be instructed in basic, righteous behavior. If we're really honest, who doesn't? One of the primary goals of every congregation ought to be to transform our culture to be more biblical.

Paul had high standards for leaders in congregations, but he tried to connect with people how he found them. See Titus 2:9, for example. Slavery isn't desirable, but it's real, and it's not necessarily sinful, and so Paul gave instructions for how to live as a slave.

Everyone should aspire to meet Paul's standards for leadership, but if everyone in a congregation is qualified to be an elder, then they're probably not doing their job of making new disciples.
Titus 2:1-12

Happy Prep Day Triumph In Truth family!

Question 370: Should We Pray For One From Whom Ruach HaKodesh Has Departed?

Answer:

Who are you, to assume to judge that such a one has been forsaken by Ruach HaKodesh? It would be a fearful responsibility to act on such a conclusion. Of one thing you may rest assured: if the person is at all concerned about his spiritual condition, no matter how deeply he has offended, that very fact is conclusive evidence that Ruach HaKodesh has not abandoned him, but is still striving with him. When Ruach HaKodesh leaves a man, that man becomes careless and indifferent and has no desire to pray. It is difficult - almost impossible - for us to understand the operations of the Spirit, but you may be assured that the love and compassion and long-suffering of YHVH are infinite. Moshiach said that He would cast out none who came to Him. With such an assurance, no man need wait to try to solve the mysteries of Ruach HaKodesh's work. The practical duty of closing with Moshiach's offer of salvation is the first thing for Him to do.

Question 369: Do Prayers For The Unconverted Help?

Answer:

The most definite Bible passage on this subject is I John 5:16: "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give him life." The words of Paul in Acts 16:31, Thou shalt be saved and thy house," probably mean simply that if all the members of the household believed they would be saved. But we have positive Scripture warrant for praying for our unconverted friends and countless incidents from present day life and earlier times prove that many hearts have been won to Moshiach through prayer. The assurance may not always come that those for whom we pray will yield to YHVH, but sometimes the assurance does come very definitely. Prayer for others should be personal, definite and earnest. S. D. Gordon in his Quiet Talks on Prayer takes the position that prayer for others, offered in the name of Yeshua, has the effect of driving off evil influences from the persons for whom the prayer is being made. It projects the personal influence of the one who is praying to the one prayed for and clears the spiritual atmosphere so that the voice of YHVH can be heard and the power of YHVH felt Just as by talking to a person one may be able to persuade him to listen and yield to YHVH, so by prayer one may influence another to submit himself to YHVH. Most important of all is love. We must love ardently, steadily, those for whom we pray. Love will prevent us from doing things that would mar our influence over them or spoil their conception of the religious life. If our friends know that we love them deeply and constantly our words and prayers will have an almost irresistible power.

Question 368: Does YHVH Answer Prayers?

Answer:

Most assuredly He does, but His ways are not as our ways. We are at best but children in spiritual things. Yet there is nothing in this world so clear and so well attested by Christian evidence, as that if we pray with believing hearts and in the right spirit, He will hear us and do what is best for us. No such prayer goes unanswered. The answer may not be as we expected, nevertheless it will be for the best and to the purpose. Says Professor Denney: "When we pray in Yeshua' Name there is nothing which we may not ask. Whatever limitations there may be, they are covered by the Name of Yeshua itself. We must not ask what is outside of that Name, not included in its promise. We must not ask a life exempt from labour, from self-denial, from misunderstanding, from the Cross; how could we ask such things in His Name? But ignoring this self-evident restriction, Yeshua expressly, emphatically and repeatedly removes every other limit. There is nothing which the Name of Yeshua puts into our hearts which we may not, with all assurance, put into our prayers." In His Name, we can ask with assurance for pardon from YHVH; we can ask to be strengthened in temptation and to be kept from falling and restored when through human weakness we do fall, for we have the assurance that He will not let us be utterly cast down; we can ask for the sanctifying work of Ruach HaKodesh in our lives. We can ask that our material wants as well as our spiritual needs may be fully supplied. But in asking, we must have the faith to lay hold and when we pray with this faith, we shall never pray amiss.

Question 367: Why Was Polygamy Allowed For The Patriarchs And Why Is It Wrong Now?

Answer:

Yeshua, in speaking of certain provisions of the Mosaic Law on the marriage question, said: "From the beginning it was not so." Matthew 19:8. He referred to the original creation of one man and one woman as fixing the moral law that a man should have but one wife. The fact that Abraham and the other patriarchs had more than one wife does not make polygamy right any more than the fact that they owned skives makes slavery right. The Bible is a truthful record of the lives of the people of whom it tells. They did many things that were wrong; YHVH dealt gently and patiently with His people, leading them by a long process of teaching and development toward the full understanding of His perfect will. There was no particular time at which polygamy became wrong, but it was the teaching of Yeshua, more than any other influence, that showed mankind that it is wrong. In the New Testament the love of husband and wife is presented as the highest form of love; it is inconceivable that any outsider or third person, can enter into this sacred fellowship. Polygamy means injustice to women; the plural wives are outsiders, deprived, from the Christian point of view, of real wifehood.

Frequently asked questions and answers

Question 366: Does Paul’s Epistles Contain All That Is Essential To Salvation?

Answer:

It is quite proper to lay special emphasis upon the writings of Paul, because he was especially chosen of YHVH to interpret the life and death of the Saviour to the hearts and minds of men, particularly of those who were not Jews. Furthermore, Paul was authorized to show that the requirements of the Ceremonial Law as recorded by Moses, were done away with by the sacrifice of Moshiach. In this way it is easy to see that the explanation of the salvation wrought by the atonement is of more spiritual value than the precepts of the old Law of sacrifices and ceremonies, which are no longer in force. The tremendous value of Paul's writings lies in the fact that he shows men the practical, immediate way of receiving salvation, not by the keeping of Commandments, but by faith in the crucified Saviour. Granting all this however, it is great folly to say that the other parts of the Bible are unimportant. The Pentateuch is full of flashes of YHVH's presence and YHVH's will, containing holy principles which are eternal and recording the experiences of men who knew YHVH; the historical books show YHVH working in the life of a nation; the poetical and wisdom books give us inspiration and instruction for daily living; the prophetic books give us glimpses of the coming Saviour and are pulsating with direct, personal messages from YHVH to the human soul; the Gospels help us to get acquainted with the Redeemer and to understand the kind of life He wants us to live and His hope for the world; the Acts give us clear pictures of men who were impelled by the power of Ruach HaKodesh and challenge us to let the risen Moshiach work through us as He worked through them; the other epistles are full of spiritual help and the book of Revelation gives us visions of the life to come. All are important; all help us to know Moshiach better; all lead us to YHVH. We must not slight these other books, even while agreeing that Paul is the direct messenger to us Gentiles to show us the way of salvation by faith.