Shalom Saints,
When Arthur said the preparation of this message had already blessed him, I was poised for learning wisdom that I would be able to apply in my life. I wasn’t disappointed! Arthur teaches verse-by-verse so that none of the contextual meaning is lost. What Arthur imparts to us is as close as we can get to what the Saints in the Scriptures wanted to convey to us. There is no microwave, sound bite, or cut-and-paste Teachings going on here! We get the whole story from the Bible and the extras that the Holy Spirt downloads into Arthur during the Service.
Arthur addressed his distractors’ complaints against the length of time to teach verse-by-verse. Arthur is not willing to reduce the messages just to appease people’s perceived short attention spans for sermons. (However, we have longer attention spans for things we want to do!) It is more important to teach the Word in a way that nothing is intentionally left out and the congregation is not left with an anemic faith and truth.
He went on to say that much of the Bible is not taught because it clashes with denominational doctrines. “If we don’t know what is written, we accept what we have been taught.” In those environments, people are taught to believe things that are contrary to Biblical truth.
Read and study for yourself: Complete Jewish Bible (Softcover Book)
When we read the Bible for ourselves and listen to verse-by verse lessons in context, we realize that there are huge discrepancies between what is written in the Bible and what we have been taught. Some may ask if the Bible contradicts itself. No! “The Bible doesn’t contradict itself; it just contradicts some of those messages you have been taught!”
This was a “full-course” spiritual meal. Here is some of what was served up.
- Ignorance is a lack of growth. To combat this, each Teaching Service on Thursday and Sabbath has a Question and Answer session. Arthur said that we may come to Service not knowing or not understanding, but there is no need to leave Services lacking information. It is one thing to be ignorant, but quite another to choose to stay ignorant.
- You can choose to limit yourself to the natural realm, or you can take the limitations off and begin to move in the spirit realm, which we all have been called and designed to do. We limit the Father moving in our lives when we put limitations on ourselves.
- Actions speak louder than words. Some of us are suffering the consequences for ignoring the actions of others and accepting their words.
- The truth requires a response. You can either accept it or reject it. The Father has given us this free will. However, when you become saved, you become transformed, and your life is to be lived to His pleasure, not to your own.
- To be justified is to be made righteous. None of us is righteous by our own accord. We are deemed righteous in YeHoVaH by our faith in Yeshua. The righteous change in us comes from inside out. When we repent, our past mistakes do not keep us from being justified, or made righteous, in the sight of YeHoVaH.
- We do not have a static Statement of Faith. We are constantly learning. As we learn better, we do better.
- How does the Gospel force change? Truth confronts your belief system!
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
- The Gospel Yeshua preached shakes you to the core and forces a response from the hearer.
- The Gospel Yeshua preached reveals what’s in you.
- The Gospel Yeshua preached creates tension in relationships.
- The Gospel Yeshua preached forces you to take a side.
- The Gospel Yeshua preached cost Him His life.
- The Gospel Yeshua’s Disciples and Apostles preached cost them their lives.
- The Gospel Yeshua preached will cost you your life.
- Just as Jason and other brethren, in Acts 17, were treated harshly because of their association with Paul and Silas, Arthur said we will be treated harshly because of our association and affiliation with him and the Gospel Yeshua preached. However, we must continue in the faith once delivered to the Saints.
Learn about the Saints who went before us in Foxe's Book of Martyrs
- Our spirit, as weak as it is in comparison, can grieve and deny the Holy Spirit. You can resist the Holy Spirit and run from the Almighty, but one day, EVERY knee will bow!
Philippians 2:10-11
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
We Can Grieve and Resist the Holy Spirit!
Sharon’s Reflections on the Teaching
I definitely had pictures of past events flood my mind when Arthur said, “The truth requires a response. … You either accept it or reject it.” When my eyes were truly opened to the paganism of Christmas and Easter and the necessity to keep the Feasts of YeHoVaH, I had a choice to make. I could no longer pretend that it was alright to do the decorations and gifts, but just leave out Santa. I could no longer go to Easter/Resurrection services and just leave off the Easter Bunny. At the time, I was in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church that celebrated Easter and Christmas and taught that I would be stepping out of faith if I kept the Feasts. Floyd and I spoke to the pastor and left when he refused to accept the truth written in Scripture. He asked if he could come by our house and speak with us. When he arrived, he had a humongous 3 ring binder containing 100’s of pages of SDA doctrine. We reached a stalemate when I would speak of Scripture and he would flip through the book and read doctrine. After what seemed like a long grueling time, I asked him politely to leave. He was frustrated at his failure to reconvert us and asked if he could come another time to go over a few more things. I flat out said, “No.” I had received the truth and that was that!
Buzz from the Fellowship
I sat with a group of three Saints and the conversation turned to confession and repentance of a former Sunday school teacher. That was me. Another former Sunday school teacher asked me what I regretted the most. I knew that answer! Teaching untruths as truth and not knowing that I was teaching lies. I said that I was appalled that I could have taught the Parables and knew nothing about the Law. I taught on the life of David and had no concept of the Torah. I was strictly teaching from the New Testament except for the commonly known “stories” in the Old Testament (David, Noah, Samson, etc.). My fellow ex-Sunday school teacher laughed and quipped that I was teaching “my own gospel”. I am so thankful that my past grievous mistakes have not prevented me from growing in a relationship with the Father and walking in His truth.
A Brother Saint joyfully shared with me that this was his first “full” Sabbath with us. I was a bit puzzled because he has worshipped with us several times over the past two years. He went on to explain that on previous Shabbats, he had left early and went to choir practice so that he would be prepared to sing in the choir on Sunday mornings. He finally made the leap to “Sabbath only” as the truth he was learning here and reading in the Bible contradicted the messages in the Sunday church. The last straw was that he could no longer be in the choir and sing Christmas songs in this upcoming season. HalleluYAH! Another soul has joined the body of Messiah to live and take forth the True Gospel of the Kingdom.
Until next time… Blessings to You and Yours,
Sharon