YHVH's leaders are men of vision

YHVH's leaders are men of vision. That's my title. I hope the message matches the title. If you want to be a man of God, you have to have vision. Plenty of men of God have great visions. It's easy to build their own kingdoms. You know the thing that amazes me, a little side story, I'm sorry it takes more time. You know Moses said to the people, bring in your money, bring in your gemstones and your gold and your clothes and bring in everything we need to build the tabernacle. I got this word from YHVH, I met him on the mountain in the cloud as you know and he gave me these instructions for a magnificent place of worship. He said now I'm going to need you to help me build this. I'm going to need all your gold, I'm going to need precious stones, I'm going to need brass and silver and bronze and linen and I'm going to need skilful weavers and builders and workers. And of course YHVH had blessed them when they left Egypt. He said go and ask the Egyptians for all their stuff. So they went to the Egyptians and the Egyptians were just so fed up with all the things that were coming upon this nation. And now we find that the time has come to leave the country and the 10th plague is about to hit and the first born are going to die. And the people said please Pharaoh, please Pharaoh let these people go. So the people go around their neighbours and say look it's time for us to go, we're going to go in a few days time. Can you give us clothes? Can you give us money for the journey? Can you give us goods? What can you give us as a parting gift to leave your nation from the wrath of our God? And they pile their stuff to them and they go out laden with the riches of the Egyptians. And so then Moses says now YHVH wants to build a place of worship, a temple, a tabernacle and so now I need you to give, to give, to give, to give whatever you've got, gold and gems and silver and bronze and clothing and skilful work. And then he said those who have a heart to work with me. And they did. Those that had a heart worked with them. Same with the temple. And then an amazing thing happened. Moses said stop bringing stuff. We've got more than we need. I don't need any more of your money, your gifts. Hang on to what you've got, we've got enough. You know what? I've never heard one tele-evangelist ever say we've got enough. Never happens. We've got enough planes, thank you, don't need any more. I've bought enough mansions, don't need any more, that's okay. No, never heard it once. Ah, dear me Father. Man can never have enough. The heart of man is just so full of, never mind, I won't go there any further. YHVH's leaders are men of vision. Proverbs 29.18 says where there is no divine vision, some say prophetic vision, people cast off restraint. The blessed is the one who keeps the Torah. Now I've heard this scripture quoted a thousand times. I've heard preachers preach on it many, many times. And they quote this, where there is no vision, the people perish. King James. That's all they say. That's all they say. They leave the other half of the verse out. Isn't that always the case? Cherry pick. And then they turn that into a message of how great their vision is. And you need to follow my vision and I will take you somewhere. I'll certainly take you. But where there is no division, no divine vision, no vision that comes from the heart of God, the people cast off restraint. But blessed is the one who keeps the Torah. If vision doesn't match Torah, it never came from God. Isn't it amazing how the word keeps us focused and our feet on the ground to do things God's way. Elohim's leaders must lead or sheep have no one to follow and they'll live their own spiritual lives their own way, casting off all restraint as to what the Torah teaches. If leaders lead in a way that is not godly, according to the truth of scripture, foundation on the truth of Torah, then people will cast off all restraint and they will live in exactly the opposite way to the truth of the word and they will do their own thing their own way. Like the song we sung, evil will be called good. Truth has fallen in the streets. People are not walking in the ancient paths. Restraint has been cast off and they live their life in a godly way according to their own definitions of what is godly according to the traditions of men. Isn't that tragic? The word is true. False shepherds don't lead properly because they're lawless. They're idolatrous. They're living for themselves and their ministries. They've abandoned Torah and they and their people have cast off restraint as found in the Torah or in the teachings of YHVH and Yeshua. I always say to myself, I'm not going to have a go at the church today but I can never help myself because the word of God is so clear as to what is in his mind, as to what is required of him and it's refused to be followed because they cast off restraint and they do their own thing their own way. Shamelessly. So what does this mean? It means get rid of the law and people will live loose. That's what that verse is saying. The Torah foundations true vision and this is lost when men do things their way. Judges chapter 4 verse 4-10. Now Deborah, a woman who was a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. Now she sent and she summoned Barak, son of Abinahem from Kadesh in Naphtali and said to him, hasn't YHVH, God of Israel, commanded go march to Mount Tabor and take with you 10,000 men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun? Then at the Kishon Torrent I will draw out to you Sisera, a commander of Jabin's army with his chariots and his multitude and I will give him into your hand. Barak said to her, if you are going with me then I will go, but if you aren't going with me I won't go. Surely I will go with you, she said, however no honor will be yours on the way that you are about to go. For YHVH will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. So Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh. Then Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kadesh and 10,000 men marched up after him and Deborah went up with him. 10,000 men against 100,000, not much of a match is it? I can understand Barak saying, no thanks, he wasn't listening to God though. Chapter 5 verse 1 of Judges. The war is over, they've won the battle. Now Deborah writes a song and Deborah and Barak sing it together and I'm sure along with the children of Israel, this is the song. When Deborah and Barak son of Abinaham sang on that day saying, when leaders take the lead in Israel, when people freely offer themselves, bless YHVH. Listen O kings, give ear O rulers, I, to YHVH I will sing. I will sing praise and that second word sing is, I will make music on an instrument with my voice to YHVH, the God, the Elohim of Israel. YHVH, when you came out from Seir, when you marched from Edom's field, the earth trembled. The heavens also dropped, yes the clouds dropped water. The mountains quaked before YHVH. This thine eye at the presence of YHVH, the Elohim of Israel. In the days of Shamgar son of Aneth, in the days of Yael, the highways were deserted. Travellers walked by crooked paths. Villages were deserted in Israel, deserted until I Deborah arose, a mother in Israel arose. They chose new gods, then war was in the gates and no shield or spear was seen among 40,000 in Israel. My heart is with Israel's rulers who offers themselves freely among the people, bless YHVH. She's telling a tragic story, 40,000 men of war there for YHVH and not one of them's got a spear, a sword or anything to enter into fight and war. No, the cities are deserted, people are walking on crooked paths, people are following the false trails of false religions and gods. They're controlled and overrun by the nations around them. And YHVH is saying to Barak, it's time to go out and rid yourself of this enemy that's ruining your lives. And he said, I will not go. And then of course Deborah the prophetess, she challenges him. She said, I'll only go if you go with me. What is God saying? Where are the leaders who will lead? When leaders take the lead in Israel there were none. When people freely offer themselves there were none. And when they were not available YHVH raised up a woman of vision to lead until they came into alignment with God. She would sit under the tree of Deborah. Everybody knew where to find her and everybody knew when they needed help and advice and guidance and leading we can get it from Deborah. Where are the men to give the leadership to this nation and its people? Barak had a job to do but he wouldn't do it. He was being called to move out in faith but he never trusted in himself or his God. Men who are called to lead have to believe and trust in who they are in God and trust YHVH to use them, be with them, equip them and anoint them and enable them to do the job they are called to do. And if they don't what does he do? A woman in this instant had to give the lead and we can see this right around the earth. Women taking the lead when women should never ever be taking that lead. Doesn't mean women can't preach, of course they can preach. Doesn't mean women can't do what men can do, of course they can. Many women can do it as good as men and better than men but that's not God's way, it's not God's plan, it's not the way in which he develops a society and a people of God. It's not the way in which he desires a nation to be run. Reversing the order of his word brings trouble and difficulty and distress and a whole lot of problems socially, politically, in every life, in every home, in every way it opens doors to unseen things that the enemy takes advantage of. And we could name a thousand and I'm not going to name one, but you know what I'm saying. It's not denigrating women, it's not putting women down, it's doing things God's way and then a nation is blessed, then a people are blessed, then a home is blessed, then a business is blessed if we do it God's way. So the women and Deborah this woman is not meant to lead armies. The armies of Elohim weren't hers to lead. His method is men at the helm, taking the responsibility in the areas of life that YHVH says men should be taking responsibility. You know nation after nation, ours included, are struggling to survive because there's not enough children being born. Japan's in big trouble. One thousand more people died, I think it was in the last twelve months, than people were born. Their nation's going backwards. Our nation's going backwards. Every western nation's going backwards. China's going backwards. They're all worried because they cannot keep the population growing. It's getting older and older and older and there's not enough young people to bring in enough taxes to look after the old people that are getting older. So things get into trouble. Homes are run by homosexuals and lesbians. No children, two lesbians can't have children, two homosexuals can't have children unless they do something that is outside of the framework of God's word. It opens the door to all kinds of tragedies and divorce and problems and domestic violence and all kinds of things go wrong when we don't do things God's way. And here we find in this story here they were doing things the wrong way. Why? Because the men would not lead the way they were supposed to lead and take the responsibility and be strong on behalf of their families and their nation and their peoples and give God visioned leadership the way it was meant to be. And churches do exactly the same thing unfortunately. Nothing will be gained, the purposes of Elohim and His kingdom will not be advanced or achieved if men don't move at the command and the voice of YHVH Ruach. If YHVH Ruach is not leading and guiding and raising up men who will move in authority and wisdom and understanding, conviction and anointing, God will never have a people to achieve His objectives in that city, in that church, in that nation. God wants men. Will women support them, run with them, be gifted and talented and powerful and rich? Yes. But men must give the lead if we want God's results and His kingdom to be at work in the way He wants it to work. We have millions of churches and multiple millions of pastors and the world and people's lives just get worse and worse. Where are the leaders who are being moved by the power of the Ruach, who are hearing the command and giving the people of Elohim a vision of God to follow? That's what people are looking for. That's what people are hungry for. That's why people go from church to church to church to church. Because the church is not fulfilling its mandate in the biblical way, the right way, the proper way and their vision is not the vision of God. It's not based on the Word of God. It's not based on Torah. It's based on their own desire to build their own kingdoms and get people sitting on seats, putting their money in their pockets and proclaiming how great they are. God is going to bring all of that crashing down sooner or later. So only what YHVH does, only by following the vision that is God given based on the truth of scripture will bring people out of their churches and out of idolatry into something that is based on truth and righteousness. And of course that's what we're endeavouring to do. We're not our own. We're bought with a price. As soon as we name the name of Yeshua or the name of Jesus we're not our own any longer. If I say I'm a believer in Yeshua as my saviour, if I say I put my hand up for Jesus, you are no longer your own. You've been bought with a price. 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 22 says, For the one who is called in Adonai as a slave is Adonai's freedman. Likewise the one who is called while free is Messiah's slave. You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men. Paul is simply saying in Yeshua we have been set free from slavery to this life and to its sinful passions and we have become slaves or disciples or servants to our Messiah. Paul reminds us we've been bought with a price to serve him and not men. We are not our own any longer. We do not have the right to make free will decisions to do whatever we want, to believe whatever we want, to worship whatever we want. We are not our own. We've been bought with a price. 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1. Peter says, The false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you. That's in your face to these believers. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies. They will infiltrate your midst. Watch out for them. They will even deny the master, God, who bought them. Bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many, many will follow their immoral ways. Not just sexually immoral. Everything contrary to this word is immoral. And as a result the way of truth will be maligned. What is the way of truth? What we're preaching here is the way of truth. Torah is the way of truth. Torah is righteousness. Torah is truth. That will be maligned. Sabbath is truth, not Sunday. Passover is truth, not Easter. Tabernacles is truth, not Christmas. Clean meats is truth, not pork. The way of truth will be maligned by the false teachers and preachers that want to take over your life and your faith. In their greed they will exploit you with false words and people will be exploited. They'll send their money here, there and everywhere to get a promised blessing that will never arrive. Their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction does not slumber. YHVH is going to bring them to the brink of disaster and he will bring them crashing down. These people that Peter is talking about saying that in their message and in their development of their ministries they will even deny YHVH who bought them through the blood of Yeshua, his son. They have no true revelation or understanding that they are not their own. They are bought with a price. Their teachings are destructive heresies and are in reality denying YHVH their master. Their destruction will be swift says Peter. Be warned they will want to come and take over this fellowship, their fellowships. Anyone who is preaching the truth Peter and Paul are always saying they will want to come and take over. Jude and James all tell us the same thing. John tells us the same thing. Beware, be on guard that people don't come in and try to take you somewhere other than what is in the word. Conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory is part of Christian thinking and tradition so much. People spend so much time on the internet they have no idea what the truth of the word is. They listen to this preacher, that preacher, the other preacher and every other preacher that don't know what truly the word of God is saying to them for their lives to be part of his kingdom. Wherever I go people love these messages. It doesn't matter who I talk to it kind of gets them a bit upset. But that's the word of God. What can you do? We have to be faithful to what is written. I sat in a church meeting this Sunday, very painful. I went to church on Sunday just to hear this guy in Melbourne, I don't know who he was. And of course he quotes the scripture and he elevates his ministry as an apostle. He has this woman who is his prophetess that works with him and they work together. It's just so debilitating. But he says we don't add to the word, we don't take from the word, we keep the truth of God's word. We would never ever add to the word or take from the word. And of course he's running his meeting on Sunday. And where did he get that scripture from? Deuteronomy chapter 4, the Torah. So he quotes the Torah, you can't get it anywhere else, that scripture is in Torah. Do not add to the word, do not take from the word. That's Torah, that's Moses said that. And they quote that scripture but of course they don't quote the rest of the scripture. They don't quote the verses around it. They take it out of its context. And God is talking to Moses, through Moses to the rest of the world, take nothing, add nothing to my Torah. And they quote it as if I'm a Christian, I'm a good, good pastor, I'm running my church according to the word and we add nothing and we take nothing and we teach the pure word of God. Every Christian church does it. They quote the Torah and don't even know that they're violating Torah in the way they're running their meetings. Acts 20, verse 28. Paul says, he talks to the people as he says, this is the last time I'll see your face. Bring all the elders together from around the area before I hop on the boat and disappear. He says to them, take care of yourselves and all the flock of which the Ruach HaKadosh has made you overseers, to shepherd the community of Elohim which he obtained with the blood of his own, Yeshua. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Even from among yourselves will arise men speaking perversions to draw the disciples away after themselves. When I'm gone, I know that there are some people in your fellowships, in your communities, in your places who are going to come in and take over your communities. That's their heart. Therefore, be alert, remembering that night and day for three years, I did not stop warning you with tears. It doesn't get any more clear than that, does it? Yeshua says the same kind of things in Matthew chapter 24 in the end times. False teachers, false apostles, false prophets are going to be just so filling the earth in the end times. Will I find faith on the earth when I return? He's not talking about will I find people that believe in me. He's not talking about that. He'll find millions of people that believe in him. He says, will I find faith, trust, belief in the truth of who I am based on the truth of my word? Will I find people who will stand true to the truth of the word when I return? And he is saying there will be a great falling away of the faith. When I return, it will be like the days of Noah. When I return, it will be like Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Lot. The condition of the world is going to be so bad. The condition of the church is going to be so bad. The condition of preachers and pastors and teachers and apostles and prophets and rabbis are going to be so bad that they will have abandoned the truth of my word. Without a prophetic vision, people will lose their way and their faith and their trust in Torah and follow their own ways. That's the word of Yehovah. Yes. Correct. It's how you live. It's what you do. A bird. It's how you live. But how powerful are these warnings of false visionaries? That people clamber to these people. The church I went to in Melbourne on this last Sunday. The pastor says that one of his prophetic worship leaders was in the air at this moment while I speak. Six thousand feet in the air in an aeroplane. She's heading to Bethel in America. And she's going to spend a week there under intense prophetic teaching of how to worship prophetically. If you have to go to America to get that you're in trouble. And he's an apostle and he can't impart this to his people. A couple of weeks before, I shouldn't be saying any of this, I'm sorry. A couple of weeks before he said, there's a guy, one of our congregation, one of our men is coming back from America because he's gone to America to check out a revival that's happening there. He's going to bring back a report on the revival for us. As if that's going to help them have one. I have no idea. But the word of God warns against this kind of nonsense. In the end times people will be chasing knowledge. Knowledge will increase exponentially. And everyone will want to function according to their knowledge base. And their knowledge base will not be on the word of YHVH. It will be based on the traditions of men and the ways of the charismatic Pentecostal evangelical church. And they lose their way. The scripture says they will travel from sea to sea searching for a word from God. And they will not find one. They will not get a word from God that will bring back revival to their church. Or bring back promises and covenants and everything into their fellowship because they went and got someone overseas somewhere that has a big name and a big ministry. And all the accolades and I'll get them to lay hands on me and say a prayer and I'll bring it back. Won't work. God says so in his word. But that's the way the world works. And those, like the Bethel conference, that worship thing, it costs a fortune to do it. People pay hundreds of dollars online, sit in for a few lessons for a week. And that was from smaller churches. From Bethel I wouldn't be surprised if it's like $2,000 or $3,000 minimum. Yep, to go and do that. Yes, plus your airfare, accommodation and all the rest of that stuff. And that's God's way. Bethel, don't ask me to talk about Bethel. One of the biggest music conglomerates in the world. Okay. Die to self and find life. In Matthew chapter 10, verse 34, Yeshua says, Do not think that I came to bring shalom on the earth. I did not come to bring shalom, peace, blessing, prosperity, favour, but a sword. Doesn't the word contradict itself? Of course it doesn't contradict itself. You can make it look like it's contradicting itself, but Yeshua never contradicts himself and the word never contradicts itself. I will not bring peace into the world. That's not the reason I came into the world, to bring peace to this wicked, evil generation. I have come to set a man against his father. A daughter against her mother. A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be the members of his own household. What's he saying? I'm looking for men and women who will stand up for truth in their own household, in their own city, in their own workplace. People who will stand for truth and it will not bring peace. He who loves father or mother more than me isn't worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me isn't worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me isn't worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. A few more people should wrestle with these kinds of scriptures to find out where the true blessing really is. Where the true blessing really is. If you lay down your life for him, you will save it. If you keep your life to do what you want to do your way and placate people who don't want to agree with you, you will lose it. Remember, remember, always remember what it is we must remember. There are things to be remembered that must be remembered. So, remember, your life is not your own. It's Elohim's. You cannot make decisions outside of his word because your life is not your own. Your will must never take precedence over his will. You must never make a decision that is contrary to the one that he wants you to make from his word. Remember, your religion and your faith is not your own. You cannot decide what you believe. You cannot decide what is truth. You cannot decide which traditions are correct. It has to match his word. Your faith, your religion is not your own. Remember, your family is not your own. Your money is not your own. Your business or your job is not your own. Remember, those things are not your own. If we do not make decisions in all of these areas that match God's word, we will lose it. If you serve any of these things or peoples or ways or beliefs, you will lose your life and its calling. I'm not talking about necessarily a physical death, although it could be. But you will lose the life that God wants to give you and use you and move you into his purposes and kingdom for. God has a purpose for our lives. And that purpose and that calling will be lost if we think we have the right to choose how we use it for God. It will be just false, false, false. And you'll do it for the accolades of men and for the own enjoyment of your own calling, ministry or whatever, in whatever church or however it functions. If you put your life first, you'll lose it. If you put your religion first, you will lose it. If you put your family first, you will lose it. If you put your money first, you will lose it. If you put your business first, you will lose it. Never put anything before God as more important than God. My family is not more important than my God. My money and my well-being and how much I do or don't have is not more important than God. I don't work on the Sabbath because I'm desperate to pay a bill. I don't put these things before my God because we will lose everything that we're working for. If we do things our way, in any area of our life, sooner or later we will lose it. Health, life, friends, family, business, everything can be lost in a moment of time. If we do things Elohim's way, God's way, we will be blessed. And if we do things our way, we will be cursed. That's what the scripture says. Do we believe it? That's the question, of course. But that's why Yeshua said, seek first, put first the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. And it's only on this premise that he will take care of our needs in this life. Put my kingdom first. Put my word first. Put my will first. And I will take care of every need that you've got. I will make sure that you are taken care of if you know how to put me and my kingdom first. Can we put our trust in that? That is what this is all about. That is what Yeshua is talking about. He said, if you follow my ways, people will hate you. Sorry. If you stand up for my name, people will hate you. Just like they hated me, they'll hate you too. That includes family, friends, workmates, church pastors, leaders. They don't want to hear you talk about Sabbath or festivals. No, they'll hate you. They will persecute you. They'll put you to death. They'll throw you in jail. That's what they did to the apostles and disciples. They spoke truth and they paid greatly for it. I never came to bring peace but a sword. I came to get a hold of people's hearts who will stand tall and strong and true for me no matter what the cost. Hebrews. People were imprisoned. People were cut asunder with a sword. People lost everything because they stood true to the word and to Yeshua. So, put Yehovah Elohim first and he will put you first. That's worth more than all the gold on planet earth. If we put him first, he'll put us first. If we trust him, he will take care of us. If you lose your life to God and his kingdom, you will live in the blessings and the promises of the covenant that binds us to the altar of his kingdom. What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of life? You hear that question asked a lot of times, don't we? What is the meaning of life? And there's a thousand different answers to the meaning of life depending who you ask. But we were put here on this earth to love Elohim, to serve Elohim and his kingdom. For this purpose we were born. That's the meaning of life. To love him. To serve him. To honour him and his kingdom. To put him first in all things and his name to be lifted high and his blessings to flow in because of it. That's life. Yehovah declares that we will be punished seven times for our sins. That's horrific. Seven times. Leviticus 26. We'll read it for you. It doesn't get much focus or attention so we might as well just look at it. Verse 14. But if you will not listen to me nor carry out these commandments if you reject my statutes and if your soul abhors my ordinances so that you do not keep all my commandments but instead break my covenant then I will do the following to you in return. They're not very nice words are they? I will do the following to you in return. I will appoint terror over you wasting disease and fever that will dim the eyes and cause the soul to pine away. Reflect on that. You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will eat it. I will set my face against you and you will be routed before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you and you will flee when no one pursues you. If you in spite of these things will not listen to me then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins of not keeping my commandments. I will break your pride of power I will make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze also your strength will be spent in vain for your land will not yield its increase nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit. If you keep walking contrary to me and will not listen to me then I will multiply the plagues on you seven times like your sins. I will send the wild animals among you and wild animals are Gentile armies which will rob you of your children destroy your livestock make you so few in number that your roads will become deserted. That's what Deborah was singing about earlier. Now if in spite of these things you will not be chastened by me but walk contrary to me instead then I will also walk contrary to you. I won't hear your prayers I won't do anything you ask me I will strike you I myself seven times for your sins. I will bring a sword upon you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant and you will be gathered together inside your cities. I will send the pestilence among you and you will be given into the hand of the enemy. When I break your staff of bread ten women will bake your bread in one oven and they will bring back your bread by weight so that you will eat but not be satisfied. Yet in spite of this you will not listen to me but walk yet if in spite of this you will not listen to me but walk contrary to me then I will walk contrary to you in wrath so I will chastise you seven times more for your sins. How often do you have to keep saying this? You will eat the flesh of your sons you will eat the flesh of your daughters I will destroy your high places cut down your altars of incense I will cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols and my soul will abhor you. Listen to that church talking about you you idolatrous idol practisers and pagan observers. I will lay waste your cities devastate your sanctuaries I will not smell your soothing aromas I will make the land desolate and your enemies settling there will be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations I will draw out the sword after you so your land will become a desolation and your cities will become a waste. Then the land will enjoy its Sabbath all the days of its desolation while you are in the land of your enemies then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbath as long as it lies desolate it will have rest and that rest which it did not have from your Sabbath when you lived on it. Now of course people say well that's for Israel that's not for Israel it's for the planet earth everything written in this book is for all humanity every man, woman and child comes under this covenant. Seven, why seven times more? Because seven is the number that speaks of completeness perfection, fulfilment and it tells us that we will pay the full price for our sins of disobedience until our punishment is fully and perfectly has completed its job and brings us to repentance and the restitution of all things has done its work either now or in the future seven times more will I punish you for your sin. In other words my punishment will be full and complete and it will take over your life until your punishment is complete and you bow your knee in repentance to me and every tongue confesses that I am who I say I am. That's seven times punishment that's the imagery around what he is saying. It will begin now and be completed or fulfilled in the future. Hard times will come upon those who walk in disobedience to his word and that punishment, that judgement those things going wrong in life the destruction of businesses and families and lives and children out of control and governments becoming despots and diseases and pandemics coming in and taking over our lives. He says that is because of sin in the earth and that will continue and increase until it's completed its job. People cry out climate control, climate control all the scientists are saying this is the way to deal with it. No, this is the way to deal with it. Turn back to God. Walk according to truth and God's favour and blessing will come upon our nations. But it's not going to happen because they don't want to listen to the truth of God's word. What is the greatest commandment in the word of Elohim? Love your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength. Matthew 22 I'll read it for you just so we know it's true. You're not misquoting it. Matthew 22 verse 34 that the Pharisees when they heard that Yeshua had silenced the Sadducees gathered together in one place and testing him, one of them a lawyer, asked Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Torah? And he said to them you shall love YHVH your Elohim with all your heart or with all your soul or with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Finish there, don't read the next verse please. Just another one of those verses that the church doesn't like to quote. It'll say, oh yeah, we follow the truth of God's word and we love our neighbours as ourselves. That's the only commandment he gave. Love God and love your neighbour, that's it. And they leave the last verse off. The entire Torah and the prophets hang on these two commandments. What's he talking about? So Yeshua, when he says the greatest commandment is love Elohim with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind, etc, etc. He's saying, he interprets that and he applies that by saying, if you love me, obey my commandments. So if we are to love him with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind, how are we going to define that? How are we going to prove that we love him with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind? How are we going to demonstrate? As Brendan said, it's a verb, it's something you do. How are we going to demonstrate that love? That's what we need to know. And Yeshua answers the question. If you love me, keep my commandments. John says it several times over. Yeshua taught it in the upper room. In Revelation it's mentioned two or three times. Love me, if you love me, keep my commandments. That's true love, obedience to my word, obedience to my teachings, obedience to Torah. That's love. It's the greatest commandment. He also said, you must put my kingdom first. You cannot separate the kingdom of God from the word of God and its king, Yeshua, who taught all the laws that must be lived by in his kingdom. You can't have a kingdom if it doesn't have rules and regulations. You can't have a kingdom if it doesn't have citizens in it. He said, if you're a citizen of mine, then it's because you obey my laws. It's because you put my kingdom first, my laws first. You put me first. Put my kingdom first. Love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. That's the people I want in my kingdom, running things for me for the next 1,000 years on earth when I return. So, when it comes to the Ten Commandments, the greatest commandment also happens to be the first commandment. Correct? The first commandment is love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. So, what is the second greatest commandment? What did he say there in that passage? Love your neighbour. And so, where does this, love your neighbour as yourself, where does this fit in the list of commandments given by God? It's the tenth commandment. Do not covet, do not desire anything that is your neighbour's. His possessions, his animals, his wife, his slaves, his maids, anything. You must not do the wrong thing by your neighbour ever. Love your enemy, love your neighbour. If you see your neighbour's horse, donkey, cow fall into a pit, you help him out. If he is in need, you look after him. It's the tenth commandment. And so, I call these two commandments the bookend commandments. You've got the first commandment and you've got the tenth commandment. The greatest commandment and the second greatest commandment. The first and the tenth. The bookend, the rest of them in between. There's eight more commandments between those two. And those two bookend all the rest. So, Yeshua said on these two commandments, all the rest of the commandments hang on them. And everything the prophets taught hang on those two. So, whatever the prophets taught, whatever Moses taught, whatever Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, Habakkuk, Ezra, any, everything they taught will not contradict those two commandments. They will teach you how to love God and how to love your neighbour. You will have a perfect world if you follow those two commandments as they are explained by Moses and the prophets. They will teach you how to keep those two commandments because the law hangs on those two. Isn't that amazing? It's so easy to follow. Don't tell a lie. Don't commit adultery. And all of these things got strengthened under Yeshua's ministry. It's very straightforward. So, the entire Tanakh, that is the Tanakh is from Genesis to Malachi. If you're reading it in the Jewish way the books are placed, it's from Genesis to Chronicles. And so, the entire Tanakh understood, interpreted and kept as the fulfilment of these two commandments. If I say Yeshua taught me to love God and to love my neighbour as myself then that means I have to keep everything Moses said. I have to keep everything the prophets said. And to break one of them is to be guilty of and to be condemned by the law as one who is not walking in love. So, if we break the law, it says the law will come and condemn you. The law will judge you. And if we're not walking in love either to Elohim or our neighbour then we've broken the law. If we covet something that is not ours we broke the law. If we want to act and lie to get out of trouble we've broken the law. We don't love God, we don't love our neighbour. If we are a false witness and a false testimony because it suits what I want to get out of this we don't love God and we don't love our neighbour. We've broken the whole law. Yeshua said he never came to abolish the law. He never came to get rid of, to remove the law. But to live the law out fully and perfectly as required by our Heavenly Father. That's why I come, to live it fully, righteously, justly and truly according to the will of my Father. That's what I come to do. Not abolish it, not to get rid of it but to live it to the full, fulfil its purpose. But Christianity tells us we can get rid of everything between those two. Including most of the stuff taught by Moses and all the prophets. We can get rid of 90% of that and the rest just becomes nice little illustrations for my sermons. Lots of good stories in there for me to sermonise about. They say that they are Old Testament and not for today. No such teaching in scripture but that's what they're adding to it. And they erroneously say Yeshua nailed all of that stuff to the cross because He righteously lived them out fully. He paid the price for those sins and now we don't have to live them out. For His blood covers our sins. His righteousness becomes our righteousness. So we don't have to keep what Yeshua says that we do have to keep. But we do have to keep. That's lies. Because we need to beware of false teachers, false apostles, false prophets who are going to twist the words of scripture to suit their doctrines. We have to keep the law. We have to be righteous. We have to walk as Yeshua walked. Yeshua was righteous. We have to be righteous. Walk as He walked. Do as He did. Live as He lived. Obey what He obeyed. That's righteousness. If grace has done away with the Torah, the teachings of YHVH, because Torah means teachings of God, then why did He bother giving them in the first place? We are told that the law is what is going to be used to judge us when the books are opened. Can't escape that. If God only gave the law to this little group of people, the smallest nation on the planet pretty much, all of these laws and all of these covenants, and they're not meant for anybody else, what a waste of time that was. He knew that they weren't going to keep them and they were going to fail. So what was the purpose of them? Christianity has lots of answers for that. Won't take the time to go into them. Abraham, our father, he meets Melchizedek. I'm finishing with Melchizedek. So if Abraham is our father in the faith, then we have to go back 500 years before Moses to see what this is all about. What we call the New Covenant was formalised in this meeting with Melchizedek. What we call the New Covenant is everything that is written in what is called the Old Covenant. The Scriptures don't make those distinctions, but religion does. There's no such thing as the Old Covenant that is finished and the New Covenant that takes over the Old Covenant. That's not found in Scripture. That's just Christian terminology. I can explain that but I won't take the time because we're out of time. But I've done it many times before anyway. So this is the only appearance Melchizedek makes when he has this encounter with Abraham. And this must be very important. So what happened? Melchizedek, King of Salem, comes out to meet Abraham when he's coming back from war with the nations that had come and taken over Sodom, Gomorrah, cities around. Lot was captured, his wife, children, all their goods, animals, people from all over were captured by these kings and their armies. Someone comes and tells Abraham these kings have been at war and they've captured your nephew Lot and they've taken all his family and goods and off to their country. Abraham musters up his army and he's going in pursuit of them. And of course we know the story, he wins. Genesis chapter 14 if you want to read it. But then he's coming back and they shared bread and wine together. Isn't that amazing? And then Melchizedek blessed Abraham and that was a message and a declaration to Abraham that from his seed would come a saviour who would restore life eternal to all mankind through his shed blood and his battered body. So here comes this regal man king of Salem and he's got some bread and wine and he offers it to Abraham. And this story is amazing in the word of God. Who would expect something like that to happen when you're coming back from war? So Melchizedek was Messiah Yeshua. Making a promise through Abraham that he will come again in an appointed time to give his life, to shed his blood, to give his body for a nation that would come out of Abraham's loins which would be named Israel. He's saying to Abraham, the Almighty called you out from your family, from your home, from your religions to a place that you did not know because as he promised in chapter 12 that in you and your seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And here is this man that appears in front of him called King of Salem, King of Righteousness, King of Shalom, King of Peace and offers him bread and wine as he's journeying home. Salvation was going to come through this nation that comes forth from the loins of Abraham called Jews, Hebrews. And by this one that was standing before him as the pre-incarnate Hebrew Messiah I will come and redeem your people and in the shedding of my blood the wine and in my body being crucified, put to death I will bring salvation to your people. And of course the story is all there. Your people Abraham will go into captivity for 450 years. But I'm going to bring them out of there, turn them into a great nation and from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would come forth this nation and they will go into captivity and bondage not just once to Egypt but again and again. And I'm going to come back Abraham and I'm going to redeem your people and I'm going to shed my blood on the soil of this land for your people. All of that truth is built in to this encounter with Abraham. It's a prophetic promise to the nations of the earth that in Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed through the Messiah that came from his loins and to the one who gave him bread and wine on that journey to establish this truth and understanding in Abraham's mind and to pass that on to his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob so that that truth would be carried through to the ends of the earth forever and ever and then strengthened and solidified in Moses who brought them out of bondage. And the story is all written there in this symbolic form of what was going to take place. Until Melchizedek arrives on Passover and he brings out the bread and the wine and he says I will not drink this again until I drink it anew with you in my kingdom. That is when I come the second time. My blood will be shed boys. My body will be given. My life will be broken for you because I'm coming back again to establish a kingdom and I'm going to drink this cup afresh in 2000 years time. Amazing stories all pictured in the word of YHVH. And so what happened next? You know what happened next? Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. Can't leave that out of the story. Gave him a tenth of everything. He had beaten the armies. He had gathered all the women and children and people that had been captured. He defeated those kings and took all of their goods and their animals and their sheep and their cattle and their gold and their silver and everything. Abraham gathered the lot. And now he's heading home. And here he is with Melchizedek. Melchizedek gives him bread and wine. Melchizedek then blessed him. He prayed a prayer over him and he said, YHVH Almighty has given you great victory this day and has blessed you as the father of all things spiritual, good and salvation from this world. God has blessed you in your victory. And then he gives him a tenth of everything that he had. So, he paid him tithes in recognition and honour that all he had accomplished and the victory that he had won and the goods that he had gathered was because of YHVH's blessing. That's what's in the picture. Isn't that a beautiful picture? Abraham was saying, I'm not my own. I've been bought with a price. Father has blessed me, given me great victory, prospered me in this victory. And now I'm giving back to him that token that says yes. Thank you Father, I trust you. Thank you Father, you blessed me. Thank you Father, everything I have won in this victory is because of you. Here's this portion back to you in honour of what you have done for me. Now, we are expected to do exactly the same thing as Abraham our father did. Are we not? That is, eat his body and drink his blood. And when YHVH said that to all the crowds that were with him that day he said, you must eat my body and drink my blood. That upset a lot of people. Many of his followers stopped following after that day. And he said to his disciples, will you leave too? They said to him, who else has the words of life eternal? We must keep following you even though we don't understand this saying of yours. We must follow you, we trust you. Eat my body and drink my blood. He is saying, I said this to your father Abraham. I am Melchizedek that met with him and now I am saying the same thing to you as I said to him. I am the fulfilment of your father Abraham's encounter with me that day. Then pay tithes on everything we earn or receive as a sign of our faith and trust in the Almighty who blesses us with everything we have. Isn't that the teaching of scripture? Isn't that Deuteronomy chapter 8? He says, when I make you rich, when I bless you, when I give you jobs and houses and land that you never ever worked for and I give you crops and fields and fruits and vegetables and wheat and harvest that you never worked for. He says, don't think that you did that in your own strength and capacity and then say, I am rich and well off and I am, no, you make sure that you understand and realise that's how I blessed you or you will lose the lot. Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek in recognition that every blessing that came his way was because of God. And when we do the same, we do what Torah teaches us. We do what God asks of us. We do the least, the lowest common denominator is our tithe and offerings. And whatever he asks of us is his. We are a new covenant people. If he asks everything of us, we give him everything. He says, leave your family, leave your home and leave your job and give all your money to this, this, you do it. He doesn't say that really if ever to people. I've seen a lot of stupid people do it because they think they should and send themselves and their families into bankruptcy. No, pay your tithes, give your offerings and God will bless us more. We have proved this over the whole of our lives for 80 years. My parents taught me this when I was knee high to a grasshopper. We would get tapenth pay as kids for the work we did around the house. Two pennies. You're not old enough to understand what two pennies are. We would give, then they said you must tithe. So then they gave us thrupenth a week, which is three pennies. They said now you keep two and you give one to God. So we would put one in the plate at church and we'd spend two at the lolly shop as fast as you could say Jack Robinson. But when you are taught these things you live by these things and you trust YHVH to always take care of you. We in social terms were as poor as church mice. The pikes in Ballarat were like rabbits. We bred well had cousins and there were six, seven kids in our family. One died and my cousin had about ten and so it went on. The pikes were known to have lots of kids and holes in our pants. But we were happy. We were well looked after by our parents. We loved church. We grew up knowing God in a Pentecostal way until God brought us into the truth of this. But if we honour the word God honours us. God has said keep my commandments I'll bless you. If you don't keep my commandments you'll come under a curse. That's the way we've lived. It's the way I've raised my family. It's the way my family lives. It's the way my grandchildren live. And God has honoured us every step of the way. Every step of the way. We've gone through some hard times. We've gone through times when we've had absolutely nothing in the cupboard whatsoever. God has always honoured and brought us out of it and blessed us because we stayed true to Him no matter what. God is true to His word if we're true to Him. If we lose our lives for Him we gain our lives. The truth of His word. So when we put all this together we are to recognise and honour that Yeshua gave His life for us and we're to give our life to Him. The tithe symbolises my faith and all that I am and have is because of you. So where does my life belong? Where does my tithe, my time, my talent, my gifts, my faith, my worship belong? In the family and the community in which YHVH Ruach has placed us and called us into. That's where it belongs. All of that is called loving God first and our neighbour as ourself. It's the narrow path of blessing and who'd want to be on any other road than the pathway of blessing instead of the wide path of cursing. So let me finish on this note. Yeah. If anyone belongs to a church that doesn't put the commandments of God first and His kingdom then get out of there as fast as you can and do nothing to support it because you can't become a partaker of its sins and its judgments and its sins. And its judgments are coming. God's judgments will begin with God's people. That's what He says in His words. Not the unbelievers of this world. Judgment begins first with His people. Those who name His name. We cannot afford to be partaker of their sins as we see in the seven communities of Revelation Yep, I see good stuff but I see bad stuff and the good stuff doesn't outweigh the bad stuff. And if you don't listen to what the Ruach is saying and you overcome and repent I'll remove you and you'll become part of the falling away. And if you're doing your own thing at home and living off the internet then join a body of messianic believers such as us. I'm saying this for the people that will see it on TV. The world is full of people who cannot get off the internet. I've been communicating with a messianic congregation in America and this congregation doesn't have any meetings. The pastor teaches them from his studio over the airwaves and that's his congregation. As good as that is to get teachings that are messianic it doesn't teach the people to become a body of believers coming together to fulfil the truth of scripture. You cannot be a body when you live hundreds of miles away from each other. Watching the internet or this pastor as your pastor, as your leader teaching you scripture but you've got nowhere to put your talent, your time, your energy, your gifts, your anointings into a body of people the way it was meant to be and is taught in the word of God. Yes, he gets all their money but he doesn't bring them together week by week to be a Sabbath leader and that is happening over and over again throughout the world and it makes people easy pickings for Satan when things go bad and wrong. They are not a community that knows how to live as community. There are a lot of isolated people in their homes that don't have a true community understanding, bonding, togetherness and that's what we find in scripture. Read Romans 12. Yes, that's very true. Yes, yes, very true. Yes, that's right. Yes, yes. Well, Heavenly Father, we just thank you that as you Kira reminded us today our thoughts are not your thoughts. Our ways are not your ways. Your ways and your thoughts are higher than our ways and we can do things our ways but it doesn't necessarily please you and it doesn't necessarily bring blessing without rebuke and discipline. So, Father, we pray, keep us on the narrow way. Keep us on the pathway that is according to your will and pleasing unto you. And, Father, we pray that you will bless us as a congregation of your people, small as we are. We are answerable to you. We are responsible to you and one another. And we pray, Father, that you will cause us to grow, to replace those that we've sent away. Again, we pray the prayer. Father, replace those that we've given into your kingdom purpose and enlarge us and grow us that we may continue to fulfil the calling upon our lives and achieve the objectives that you have set before us. Father, we pray for more and more like-minded people who love you with all their heart and all their soul and all their mind and will work with us in loving one another. We thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you for this Sabbath day. We thank you for this opportunity to be part of your kingdom purpose. Amen. Amen.