Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah, and welcome back to the sixth in our series on Spiritual Equipping and the fourth on Ruach (Spirit) and Fire Baptism. I hope you have become aware, as it were, of a new (or perhaps for some, 'renewed') theological 'shape' forming as we set aside our traditions and focus exclusively on how John the Baptist, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) and the apostles saw these things. It's such a big and such an important subject that I have deliberately chosen to spend a lot of time on it, and the more I dig into it, the more questions pop up. The important thing is that at the end of the day everyone can say for sure they have been Ruach (Spirit)-baptised and can testify of it experientially.

Last week we looked at the two essential categories of human being, the carnal or fleshy versus the spiritual. You're either one or the other. It is in the nature of the deviousness of the flesh that it likes to re-arrange these two and make carnal things out to be 'spiritual' in order to justify its continuing existence, and to go easy on obvious fleshy behaviour as if it's inevitable and can therefore be excused to one degree or another. This separation is true of everyone because, with very few exceptions in my experience (and maybe there are more, as I could be wrong), everyone who believes the Besorah (Gospel) message and repents of those sins of which he is aware, tends to hold on - either consciously or unconsciously - to sinful dispositions that he doesn't feel he wants to relinquish quite yet. And that's a reason we are given the second annual moed, appointment or festival of Chag haMatzah (Feast of Unleavened Bread) to remind us that repentance and the removal of sin from our lives is a daily, on-going business, for the rest of our lives.

And though the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament) say pretty much the same thing, they do qualify that we are forensically 'declared righteous' or 'justified' from the moment we genuinely repent and accept Christ as our Saviour at our 'Pesach (Passover) Moment' (when we 'pass over' from being in spiritual Egypt to moving in the direction of what the 'promised Land' represents, or a full salvation), that this is to be understood only from a legal or jurisdicational point-of-view, so that we have access to the Father through the Son in spite of our propensity to keep messing up (i.e. sinning). That's a huge blessing and act of grace on His part but, implied within that generous provision, is the understanding that we must continue to work out our salvation in fear and trembling for the actual reality of our inner condition - the remaining, uncrucified, carnal, fleshy disposition, by daily repenting and overcoming the flesh (Phil.2:12). That's a lifetime's work that is heavily stressed in the Book of Revelation particularly. We have to grow in righteousness by undertaking that spiritual, inward transformation depicted metaphorically as a journey from 'Egypt' to the 'Promised Land', as the first Israel did, which is a type or divine tavnith (pattern) for us to imitate. Your own flesh is 'Egypt' and the fully redeemed messianic life is 'Israel'.

This is something most 'orthodox christians' - Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox and others - find it hard to wrap their heads around because for them it's 'either/or' and not 'both/and'. The reality of our inner condition, if we are honest with ourselves and observe the behaviour of ourselves and others who have been spiritually regenerated or born-again - is that there's an ongoing war between the spiritual, redeemed side (Israel) and the as yet not fully crucified carnal or fleshy side (Egypt). All kinds of interesting theories have been invented by orthodox christianity to explain away this aspect of spiritual reality which I don't want to get into today just yet.

For now let's just be good observers and be honest with the truths we learn from those observations. So, in the first instance, I'm making an appeal to conscience which I am, of course, going to fully back up with the Davar (Word). After all - and this is something I pointed out last week - the Baptism of the Ruach (Spirit) isn't merely propositional theology but very much existential or experiential, and so from now on we have to carefully balance the two. This is risky because it's so easy to be fooled by the flesh masquerading as the Ruach (Spirit) in both our thinking and feeling life, but we must absolutely do it. In other words, we have to cultivate supernatural discernment...which is one of the gifts of the Ruach (Spirit) and why we keenly seek it out.

You can tell the difference between the fleshy (carnal) and spiritual by simply living out the Besorah (Gospel), obeying the mitzvot (commandments) and making honest observations, first and foremost, about yourself, which is where all judgment of human beings is supposed to begin: "Judge not according to the appearance," Yah'shua (Jesus) said, "but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24, KJV). In other words, don't be fooled by the masks and smokescreens thrown up by the flesh to conceal what it's really doing - or as J.B.Philips put it in his paraphrase, "You must not judge by the appearance, but by the reality!" and discovering the reality can sometimes require a lot of spade work, i.e. getting to really know someone through investment of time, because things aren't always as they appear. This is particularly important in the world where lies are heaped upon lies upon more lies upon even more lies in order to conceal the emet (truth) from ordinary people. It's why witnessing is hard and why we actually need the supernatural power of the Ruach (Spirit) to smash through the lies and flesh-created resistance, something that psychiatrists may take years doing or not even succeed.

So you can tell the difference between those who are concerned with the flesh (carnal) and those concerned with the 'Ruach (Spirit)' - it's actually, mostly, very easy if you have invested time in the Scriptures and have cultivated a clean conscience by being honest and are positively responding to conviction because of sinful behaviour. What is their mind forcussed on? What are they thinking about most or all of the time? In this respect, the word 'flesh' (sarx in Greek, and basar in Hebrew, you'll remember) does indeed, more or less, point to the 'physical world' of bodies and outward things. Someone who is proud, or jealous, or slanderous is without a doubt tuned into, and foussed on, the flesh even if the attitudes, and the subject matter they focus on, may be abstract or non-physical rather than concrete and outward. But to live like that, as Paul is at pains to emphasise in Romans 1, is to court and invite death itself, whereas to focus on the Ruach (Spirit) is to have chayim (life) and shalom (peace) which we also spoke about last week (Rom.5:1).

Here's just the introduction to Paul's thoughts on the matter - notice he isn't just talking to Israelites but to Romans and thus to all nations, and indeed ever since the beginning of time whenever, and wherever, humans have been around:

"For the anger of Elohim (God) is unveiled from heaven against all the ungodliness and injustice performed by people who use injustice to suppress the truth. What can be known of Elohim (God), you see, is plain to them, since Elohim (God) has revealed it to them. They are, of course, the things about Elohim (God) which you can't see, namely, His eternal power and deity. But, ever since the world was created, they have been known and seen, in the things He has made. As a result, they have no excuse: they know Elohim (God), but didn't honour Him as Elohim (God) or thank Him. Instead, they learned to think in useless ways, and their unwise heart grew dark. They declared themselves to be wise, but in fact they became foolish. They swapped the glory of the immortal Elohim (God) for the likeness of the image of mortal humans - and of birds, animals and reptiles" (Rom.1:18-23, KNT).

And he goes on in this vein until the end of the chapter so we that can't be left in any doubt. Remember also what Paul said six chapters later when he declared that "the Torah (Law) is spiritual" (which, you'll remember from last week, obedience to which is a fruit of Ruach/Spirit Baptism) and "I, however, am made of flesh, sold as a slave under sin's authority" (Rom.7:14, KNT). The antinomians or anti-Torah folks in large segments of the Western and Eastern Christian communities should also note what the apostle said some verses earlier:

"What then shall we say? That the Torah (Law) is sin? Certainly not. But I would not have known sin except through the Torah (Law). I would not have known covetous if the Torah (Law) had not said, 'You shall not covet (eagerly desire something that's not yours)'. But sin grabbed its opportunity through the mitzvah (commandment), and produced all sorts of covetousness within me" (Rom.7:7-8, KNT).

Understand, first of all, as is common in Paul's writing, that this is poetic language. Neither the 'Torah' (Law) nor 'sin' are actual living entities like men and angels. This is just a colourful personification to engage us at a personal level so that we can form mind pictures of two soldiers in combat to the death and by this means make us realise how serious the issue actually is. In other words, the apostle is saying that the mind characterised by the 'flesh' is bound to be not only hostile to Yahweh but actually incapable of submitting to the Torah (Law) for any length of time or be pleasing to Elohim (God) in the long run. Man, by his own unredeemed efforts, can do neither. However - and by implication - (and in actual fact as we saw last week), the mind characterised by the Ruach (Spirit), which comes through Ruach (Spirit) Baptism with the accompanying, purging and purifying Fire Baptism, does, in fact, submit to, and in consequence of which, 'fulfil' or complete in the individual, the purposes of Yahweh's written Torah (Law). He comes to image it within himself, at least as far as the moral and ethical Torah is concerned. He stops coveting and therefore, in so doing, fulfils the requirement in Exodus 20:

"You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour's" (Ex.20:17, NKJV).

Don't forget that there is more to Torah than the moral and ethical mitzvot or commandments - there are also more temporal things, which obviously have a spiritual side too, like the divine moedim (appointments) - the Sabbath, New Moon, annual festivals, Sabbatical Year and the Jubillee Year - as well as health regulations like the food laws, hygiene laws, sexual laws, and so forth, which tend to be ignored even by those like Ray Comfort (whose NKJV Evidence Bible we use) who otherwise correctly use the Torah (particularly the Ten Commandments minus the Sabbath commandment, mind you, like most Protestants) in the way that Paul describes in Romans, namely, to convict people of sin and bring them to salvation. But that's only part of the function of Torah - it isn't just a mirror revealing the soul's status with Elohim (God), important though that is. The rest of the mitzvot (commandments), that have not been fulfilled or permanently removed (like the animal sacrifices and the Levitical Priesthood that administered them), together with the ethics and morals required by Yahweh, establish the entire spiritual rhythm or lifestyle of Elohim's (God's) people in all æons or ages. When reading Paul talking about the Torah, be sure, thererore, that you understand what aspect of it he is talking about.

In living by the Ruach (Spirit) we obey the Torah and thus fulfil it practically, meaning, we are using it in the way for which it was divinely intended in the Community of Messiah as a set of living principles reflecting the Divine Character of Yahweh-Elohim. It doesn't mean we get rid of it - obviously - because when a soul falls into sin and returns to the flesh, he needs to again repent by having the written Torah placed before his eyes and reflected back into his darkened mind and heart, so that with a provoked conscience they can together lead him to repentance and to properly walk along the Derech (Way) of Messiah again, and not off down some turning that leads into sin.

In the same way the Torah has to be written on the heart (lev = mind + heart) supernaturally by the Ruach (Spirit), as Jeremiah testified:

"Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah -- not according to the [old, Mosaic] covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says Yahweh. But this is the [new] covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put My Torah (Law) in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim (God), and they shall be My people" (Jer.31:31-33, NKJV).

So if we have walked in Torah-obedience, and then gone off the way through disobedience, what we have done - if we haven't repented - is erased part, or the whole, of the Torah from our mind and heart (which means our conscience is no longer pricked or troubled since that becomes defiled if too long a period of time elapses) - then we have, in effect, uncrucified the flesh (Gal.2:20,24) and returned to its dominion, power and misguidance. If we do that, then the Torah has to be re-written there by the Ruach (Spirit) by our once again submitting to Elohim (God) and so complying with the covenant lifestyle demanded by Yahweh, by walking in it again (like observating Shabbat). So when Paul, and we, speak of 'Messianic/Christian emunah (faith)', this is what we mean. This same chayim (life) that enables us to walk naturally and joyfully in the Torah also defines our community relationships as well as being that 'clean power' which will one day raise us from the dead in resurrection. So if we walk away from it and remain away from it for any length of time, our memory and conscience at length become, respectively, dulled and defiled, until we forget it altogether. The same can happen to our salvation if we do not guard it carefully [1].

Learning to 'work out our salvation' as we are required to do (Phil.2:12) doesn't mean that we get to go away and forget about the Besorah (Gospel) and then review things some years later. It's supposed to be a daily exercise to make sure we don't lose our Ruach (Spirit)-baptism and, if we are negligent enough, our emunah (faith) and salvation too. So long as we are careful to spiritually micromanage our spirituality and behaviour daily at least once a day, say, when we have a regular prayer time right before we go to sleep, we won't have to trouble ourselves over bigger issues that result when we allow smaller ones to accumulate over time and preciptate into bad behaviour. We can do this simply, quickly, and effectively by following the same seven steps needed to obtain the Ruach (Spirit)-and-Fire Baptism because they form a really effective template for victorious living in Messiah generally. We'll run through these now which I hope will be a blessing to those of you seeking some kind of structure for your spirituality which might otherwise be ad hoc or random in its nature. Bear in mind that there is no particular order or sequence - I just lay them out in a particular order because it makes better sense to me to do so and because this is commonly what happens.

As we have seen, and as John the apostle makes abundently clear, "Everyone who keeps sinning is violating Torah - indeed, sin is violation of Torah" (1 Jn.3:4, CJB/JNT), or as a typical Protestant Greek-based New Testament puts it, "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness" (NKJV). Sin is Torahlessness or Lawlessness. And you will recall from last week what Paul said: "the carnal mind (flesh) is enmity (hostility) against Elohim (God); for it is not subject to the Torah (Law) of Elohim (God), nor indeed can be" (Rom.8:7, NKJV). Actually, the exact word used here is an archery term - hamartia in Greek, and chatta in Hebrew - and literally means, 'missing the mark' or 'missing the target', and specifically, the 'bull' or 'bull's eye'. Sin, then, is missing the mark which is breaking the Torah or as an Aramaic translation puts it, "perpetrat[ing] iniquity, because iniquity is sin" (AENT). In Judaism this is correctly termed "chet (sin)" and "chet (sin) is averah al haTorah (transgression of, disobedience to, the Torah or Law)" (OJB). So no disagreement there as to what sin is but rather typically Protestants and others tend to slide over the implication of what "lawlessness" actually is, for by it most would have you believe it is some violation of the extra-biblical creeds. Again, no disagreement that the author of "lawlessness" or "Torahlessness" is the Anti-messiah or Antichrist who is "according to the working of" the Adversary, haSatan or Satan (2 Thes.2:8-9). I remind you of all of this so that no one will dare to claim to be 'Baptised of the Spirit' who is willfully Torah-disobedient because clearly such are still under the influence of the "spirit of antichrist" and therefore of Satan.

So when redemption does come, and when this Scripture is fulfilled in you through your emunah (faith) in Christ:

"Blessed are those whose Torahless (Lawless) deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh shall not impute ('reckon' - NRSV) sin" (Rom.4:7-8, NKJV),

Repentance is abandoning Torahlessness by not returning to it in any shape or form. In Hebrew it is called making teshuvah, in Greek it is called metanoiete which literally means 'change your mind!' - change your thinking, align your heart with your thinking, and then live Yahweh's prescribed Torah Lifestyle, not half-heartedly but enthusiastically and completely - morals, ethics and temporalities. The Kingdom of Heaven cannot approach you until you have repented - changed your mind - about your old anti-Torah lifestyle, whether as a former unbeliever or a lawless Christian living only part of the Torah mandated upon you by your particular denominational tradition. Don't make excuses by creating categories and then saying certain categories are unimportant. You don't - of shouldn't - do that with your country's Traffic Code rules so why would you do it with Yahweh's torot (laws)? You might say speeding in a built-up area is more serious a matter than parking badly but you know what? I have known cars get hit and badly damaged from poor parking. As John the Baptiser preached: "Repent (make teshuvah), for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" (Matt.3:2, NKJV).

John the Apostle said:

"My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) the righteous [One]. And He Himself is the propitiation (reparation, 'the sacrifice that atones' - KNT) for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His mitzvot (commandments - i.e. the Torah). He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His mitzvot (commandments), is a liar, and the emet (truth) is not in him. But whoever keeps His Davar (Word), truly the ahavah (love) of Elohim (God) is perfected in him. By this we know that we are [perfected, matured] in Him" (1 John 2:1-5, NKJV).

In other words, faithfulness to the Father's mitzvot or commandments (the Torah) and faith in Christ perfects us in His love. The change of mind that authentic repentance demands is to be firmly resolved with the intention of never changing your mind back to unbelief and disobedience, so that you will not be unstable or double-minded by changing your mind - you will never take your thinking back to the lawless place where it was before you believed. For as the apostle James said, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways:

"A person who doubts is like a wave of the sea which the wind blows and tosses about. Someone like that should not suppose that will receive anything from Yahweh, since they are double-minded in everything they do" (Jas.1:6b-8, KNT).

In a way, this is an extension of the first step to repent of all known sin but this time we're zooming from the details and onto on the 'big' sins by looking at conglomerations or clusters of sins that are not so easy to see in isolation because they get submerged in a bigger slough of filth. I am speaking principally of all unsavory attachments, any and every type of occult bondage, all habitual bad behaviour, all sin, and all worldly folly. Most people know what these are in their lives and, of course, so does Yahweh, since there is nothing that can be hidden from Him, and He will expose and disclose all in the end (Lk.8:17). From the child-sacrificing devil-worshippers to gangsters, child-traffickers, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, torturers, rapists, peddlers of hardcore pornography and habitual criminals of divers sorts, you are dealing with major conglomerations of sin.

Now although Torah makes clear distinctions between different kinds of sin - which is why there are different penalties for offenders, from capital punishment, to lashing and to fines, because some sins are more evil than others - it nevertheless allows no one to suppose that so-called 'minor' sins can be casually dismissed either. Remember that Christ died for all kinds of sin and for all kinds of sinners. Sin harms everyone in one way or another, and sin was paid for through suffering by Messiah on the cross. Even as it is written:

"He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of Elohim (God) was manifested (appeared, was revealed), that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:7-8, NKJV).

The rich - think of all the millionnaires and billionaires in the world today, especially among the élites, and especially those corrupted by their wealth, people who are in a privileged position to help the less fortunate - these folks come in for a special condemnation if they abuse their wealth:

"Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of Yahweh-Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just (righteous); he does not resist you" (James 5:1-6, NKJV).

If you want the Ruach (Spirit)-Baptism you have to be done with any and every type of idolatry, inwardly and outwardly. Physical objects that are idolatrous, burn, especially things connected with the occult and that includes much evil music. Why would you want demonic clutter in your home and especially in your soul when it will not only block the entry of the Ruach (Spirit) but drive the Ruach (Spirit) away? Your body was designed to be a Temple of the Ruach (Spirit), not a temple of idols.

To the one already Ruach (Spirit)-baptised, Yahweh said through Paul:

"Do you not know that you are the temple of Elohim (God) and that the Ruach Elohim (Spirit of God) dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of Elohim (God), Elohim (God) will destroy him. For the temple of Elohim (God) is qadosh (holy, set-apart), which temple you are [individually and collectively as the Body of Christ/Messianic Israel]" (1 Cor.3:16-17, NKJV).

"But he who is joined to the Master is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) who is in you, whom you have from Elohim (God), and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify Elohim (God) in your body and in your spirit, which are Elohim's (God's)" (1 Cor.6:17-20, NKJV).

And don't, for example, think that Yahweh's Kashrut Torah laws are 'minor' for who are you or I to judge? Don't ever be tempted to cut corners. Have you never read what He said about these things and the consequence of disobedience? This is a messianic prophecy which gives a detailed account of the Second Coming so it concerns not only the past but also the present and and future:

"'Those who ... eat the flesh of pigs and rats and other abominable things -- they will meet their end ('will be destroyed' - CJB) ...' declares Yahweh" (Isa.66:17, NIV).

Paul told the Thessalonians to "turn[] to Elohim (God) from idols to serve the living and true Elohim (God) (Yahweh), and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Yah'shua (Jesus) who delivers ('rescues' - NIV) us from the wrath to come" (1 Thess.1:9-10, NKJV). Here we have the three signs or marks of true conversion:

• 1. Turning away from idolatry;
• 2. Serving Yahweh; and
• 3. Waiting for Yah'shua (Jesus) to return.

By this means we will be delivered from the Final Judgment or "wrath to come" for the ungodly, unrepentant sinners, not only then but from other judgments and calamities, as we walk in obedience with Him. What delivers us is that we are spiritually regenerated:

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Ruach (Spirit) is ruach (spirit). Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again'" (John 3:6-8, NKJV).

Why is this desirable? Well, for one thing, as we also discussed recently, we will be less and less troubled by sin, for again John said:

"No one who is born of Elohim (God) will continue to sin, because Elohim's (God's) seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of Elohim (God)" (1 John 3:9, NIV).

Find out, through prayer and study, the kind of life Yah'shua (Jesus) led and then seek to imitate it, not by following the instructions of men but by following the mitzvot (commandments) and teachings of New Covenant Torah in the Scriptures. Do you remember the passage in 1 John 3:4 we read? Here's another version of the same verse: "Those who sin are opposed to the Torah (Law) of Elohim (God), for all sin opposes the Torah (Law) of Elohim (God)" (NLT). Or to translate this literally: "Everyone committing sin is also committing anarchy; for sin is anarchy" (Snyder). In other words, Torahlessness leads to anarchy. Torah-obedience leads to order, stability and shalom (peace).

We express this anti-anarchistic, Torah-abiding spirit, spontaneously, naturally and joyfully, through the New Birth we just looked at, and this is what the Scriptures tell us what that looks like both in the present and in the long term:

"And this is [Yahweh's] mitzvah (commandment): to believe in the Name (Character) of His Son, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), and to love one another as He commanded us. Those who obey His mitzvot (commandments) live in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us: We know it by the Ruach (Spirit) He gave (has given) us" (1 John 3:23-24, NIV).

Self-control is absolutely essential if you are going to cultivate and nurture a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father through prayer, complete obedience, devotion, loving others and good works. These things don't just 'happen' - that is what I mean by being intentional about everything you do, say or think. You have to be self-disciplined to channel your will into His. This is what it means to be a disciple - a talmid - one who is under the discipline of his or her Master, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ).

We talked last week about the Kingdom being an Order, didn't we? - the Melchizedek Order. It isn't chaotic, it isn't anarchistic. Just as you need self-discipline to achieve anything worthwhile in this world, you also need discipline to develop a joyful relationship with Yahweh so that you can hear Him, respond to Him and enjoy Him. That process is called cultivation and it's no different from cultivating a garden. You have to weed out all the junk in your mind and heart so that when you are baptised in the clean, pure Ruach (Spirit), Elohim (God) will find your soul prepared and ready to be filled completely, and not just in part. You have to prepare a Way for the Ruach (Spirit) just as John the Baptist spoke about preparing a Way for the Master. It is through the Ruach (Spirit) that the Master Yah'shua (Jesus) dwells inside you.

You know, Yah'shua (Jesus) could appear at any time and has told us to always be prepared. And even if He doesn't return physically in my lifetime or yours, we're still going to meet Him when we lay aside our body in death and pass into the next realm. Again, John the Apostle tells us:

"And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of Him" (1 John 2:28-29, NIV).

How do you know whether you have been born again or not? You do what's right, spontaneously imitate His character and do His good works - Torah works of righteousness. It will be because He is reshaping you in His image, bit by bit, burning out the dross through repentance. Paul said to the Ephesians:

"For we are Elohim's (God's) masterpiece (handiwork). He has created us anew in Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus), so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago ('to be our way of life' - NRSV)" (Eph.2:10, NLT).

In other words, you weren't made to 'do your own thing' but to do what He planned for you all along. So if you want to be Ruach (Spirit)-baptised and -filled, you need to make a decision: are you going to live your life for yourself or for Him? Are you going to live the life He wants you to live or the one you want? This is a major fork in the road of your life and all have to choose it, including those who already claim to be Christians/Messianics.

Yahweh has commanded us to assemble with true believers - fervent, born-again, Ruach (Spirit)-baptised believers - at His moedim or set-apart times: at the weekly sabbaths, at the monthly Rosh Chodesh assemblies and the seven annual festivals, and at the correct times (using the true Calendar). Additionally, and most importantly, we are to worthily partake of the Master's Supper. If there are no other believers around in your area for you to fellowship with, it is the sacred responsibility of the head of the household - the husband/father - to preside over these things, to make sure that his family is nurtured. But you should still try to find fellowship with other Christians or Messianics in addition to doing these things even if they believe differently, and to do so wherever possible. Communal nurture is essential. If there is no congregation near you, then the husband/father should either start one or pray for one until it comes to you. Move to where Yahweh tells you to go and He will order all things even if there may be long waiting periods. Breakthroughs occur when you least expect them and sometimes being alone in the wilderness is all part of preparedness.

That doen't mean there won't be struggle or disappointment along the way. Two thousand years ago, as now, there was a lot of apostacy because there were many false voices seeking to draw away the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) from the true Assemblies of Yahweh. Yahweh knows the disappointments we have had over the years and how tough it has been to continue in comparitive isolation. The Remnant must learn to deal with not only a hostile world but also hostile believers, both nominal and apostate.

John the Apostle wrote:

"Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Anti-messiah (Antichrist) is coming, even now many anti-messiahs (antichrists) have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us" (1 John 2:18-20, NKJV).

Part of the cohesiveness and maturing of a congregation depends on the willingness of the members to be obedient to the ordinances of baptism and partaking of the Master's Supper (Lord's Supper) to name two of the most important ones, the latter of which in particular has many sacred promises attached to it when it is partaken of worthily with clean hearts, otherwise, we're told by Paul, we eat and drink condemnation to ourselves if we take the elements insincerely (1 Cor.11:23-32). Again John says:

"Then Yah'shua (Jesus) said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no chayim (life) in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal chayim (life), and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him" (John 6:53-56, NKJV).

Now these two passages are easily misunderstood if they aren't read carefully and prayerfully. It is the sacred duty of the Pastor of a local assembly and the Family Cohen/Priest and Patriarch of the home (the husband/father) to guard the Master's Supper with all diligence. We don't have time to go into it now though we shall definitely be coming back to it at some time in the future, but for now I would like to invite you all to read Section 6 of the Olive Branch which I recently wrote a commentary to as it is an extremely important revelation about this subject. Please take a look at it if you can. There are other chapters that go into greater depth [2] but will examine these another time too. Right now I just want to keep the 'big pucture' of Ruach (Spirit)-Baptism clear without cluttering it with too much information otherwise it becomes hard to process.

Finally, when you have seriously thought about and done all of the above, there but remains one thing for you to do - and that is to ask Yahweh to baptise you in the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) and to keep on asking Him until He does! But before you do, you need to remember and understand one very important thing, and it's this: as a faithful born-again, baptised Torah-obedient talmid or disciple of the Master Yah'shua the Messiah - as we discussed at the begtinning - who is daily repenting of missing the mark or sinning, you need to be aware of your identity as the citizen of a nation or country that is governed by Law (Torah) and a Priesthood - the Melchizedek Priesthood....to which you are all called if you will purify yourself according to the mitzvah (commandment) (2 Cor.7:1; Jas.4:8) in His purifying Ruach (Spirit) (Tit.2:14; 1 Jn.1:9).

Let us read what the apostle Peter has to say about this and then we'll end for today:

"But you are a chosen generation, a Royal Priesthood, a qadosh (holy) nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of Elohim (God), who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9-10, NKJV).

"Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly (carnal) lusts which war against the soul (spirit), having your conduct honourable among the Gentiles (unbelievers), that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify Elohim (God) in the day of visitation" (1 Peter 2:11-12, NKJV).

Keep on intentionally seeking, keep on asking, keep on living in total expectation of receiving your promised bequest. The Ruach (Spirit) Baptism could come at any time if you are doing as you are supposed to be doing, as we have discussed today. Therefore, as it is written in the Torah:

"You shall fear Yahweh your Elohim (God); Him alone shall you worship, to Him you shall hold fast...!" (Dt.10:20, NRSV).

Let us pray this prayer by Jackson Snyder which I have slightly adapted:

Devoted Ruach, by whose breath
Life rises vibrant out of death:
Come to create, renew, inspire;
Come kindle in our hearts Your fire.
You are the seeker's true resource,
of burning love and living source,
Protector in the midst of strife,
The giver and the Queen of Life.
In You, Yah's power is shown,
To us Your varied gifts made known.
Yours the tongue and Yours the ear:
Teach us speaking; help us hear;
Flood our senses with Your light;
In common love our hearts unite.
Your power the whole creation fills;
Confirm our weak, uncertain wills.

Until next week, be inspired, be filled, be anointed by the presence of Yahweh! Amen.

Endnotes

[1] See the Once Saved, Always Saved (OSAS) website
[2] Also see Sections 73 and 275 in particular

Acknowledgements