Tikkun America

0:01 It has been 771 days and there still remain three bodies yet to be returned to Israel. Uh, I think I, I know I've said this before, we can be grateful and thankful that the living hostages have returned. Um, and it seems that the ceasefire is holding for the time being. Um, however, there are still yet three bodies, um, that are being held hostage and, and have yet to be returned to Israel. So I continue, uh, to draw them to mind, lest we forget what happened 771 days ago, uh, in the persecution.

0:47 That has continued since. I would like to invite my friend, Ben and I were talking before, during the beginning of service, Ben er, to come to the stage. He's president of Tikkun America. And I, and I was talking to him, I said, I said, are you a doctor yet, you know, for, for doctoral studies? And he said, no. He said, I would love to go through the program. I just don't wanna do the evaluation part. And I, he said, I love the learning. And I thought, man, that's the same as me. I love the learning. I just don't really wanna be the evaluated on it. Uh, so anyways, Ben, if you don't mind coming to the stage.

1:35 So also would like to invite, uh, rabbi Dr. Daniel Juster to the stage. You know, we have, I guess, I guess it can be said. We have several, uh, father son duos, uh, in the Messianic Jewish community. Yeah, it's a, it's actually, you know, when you begin to notice, it's actually a phenomenal thing when, when fathers and sons can work together for the glory of the Lord and still love each other and yeah. And still love each other. So anyways, Avea sha may our father in heaven, Lord, I thank you for, for Ben and for Dan. And Lord, I just thank you for all of their legacy, Lord that is here to serve you.

2:22 And Lord, I just pray that you would continue to utilize them both, uh, in Israel and throughout the nations, uh, for bringing light and glory to the name of Yeshua, our Messiah. And we bless you in Yeshua's name. Amen. Amen. Well, I'm delighted to be with you. I've been coming here for over 40 years and that is really something to be said and uh, it's a thrill to me to see the congregation moving forward under the leadership a Ari. And it's just wonderful to be in your midst Again. Ben wanted me to bring a few greetings and a little perspective.

3:08 And I will start by saying that my wife asked me a few years ago, when are you going to retire? And I said to her, retirement is not on the radar. However, I'm hoping when I'm 80 years old, I will slow down to some degree and spend less time involved in these very big tasks that I'm still involved in. And I wanted to just mention to you that two of the bigger tasks that I'm involved in, the first one is towards Jerusalem Council two, which I'm very involved, uh, with Marty Waldman in that one, uh, towards Jerusalem. Council two is making great progress. I know that you probably heard of our unplanned, uh, prayer,

3:54 uh, gathering that took place last month. Uh, we want, we canceled the meeting, the, the, uh, TJC two summit in Jerusalem because of the war. And it was probably wise to do that. Many people had plane cancellations and it wasn't possible to pull off what we desired. However many people said, we want to come anyway. We have tickets and we're coming, so let's do something. And because of that, we gathered over a hundred of us at Christ Church in the Joffa Gate and we had an amazing time with scholarly presentations, a lot of responses and prayer, three days that were amazing. And we even had our facility shut down because Vice President Vance was going to the Church of the Holy Slicker.

4:39 And we had to climb through a person's backyard, elevator and gate to get into Christ Church, which was locked down by the Israel authorities to protect Vice President Vance. Wow. And yet we all made it through and we had an amazing time. I believe that we are now in the time of really pressing toward an actual council. And I really want you to hold us up in prayer for that. We're looking forward to the summit a year from now, actually in October, a little less than a year. And we're looking forward to seeing great progress in that the ministries in Israel are doing well. I'm connected to our congregation in Jerusalem led by my son-in-law, a hava Yeshua, and we're working together. So guess what? It's not only fathers

5:26 and sons that can work together, but fathers and sons in-laws. So we're involved in so many levels in Tik Kon in Israel. And then in one more, uh, thing that I want to speak about is the Messianic Jewish Bible College that we started called Jerusalem Bible Institute. We're in our second year, 16 or 17, I'm not sure what it is now. People come in late, full-time students. And um, we're hoping that this will be a Bible school that will be more clear in Messianic Jewish theology and its orientation toward the last days and the Holy Spirit and these things that are dear to us. Um, more actually more like the theology of toward Jerusalem council too in many ways. And we want to see this grow and prosper.

6:14 And you can learn about that by going on our website, just Jerusalem Bible Institute. If you put that in a search engine, it will pop up and you can connect to us and see what we're doing. You can even sign up. But these are the things that we're involved in. I'm very pleased with the work that Ben is doing in, uh, Tikun America and the 30 congregations that are connected to us in that. So there's a lot going on. I'm delighted to be with you. And I feel that this is one of the ministries, one of the works of God that is very important to me and dear to my heart. So God bless you all. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, Shabbat shalom to you, all

7:00 our wives bring greetings. They're not with us this time. This is my third time to bring a message to this community and you've become very dear. I mean, of course the Waldman family has been dear to us going back decades and decades now, uh, growing up with, uh, the children of Marty and Marlene. But uh, what a joy to be with you in the house of the Lord, the worship. I mean, we can just invite the worship team to come back up and we can call it uh, a day. I mean like there's such a presence of the Lord so powerful. We didn't wanna stop. We are continuing on the series in the Book of Acts today. And when Rabbi Ari asked if I could continue the series,

7:46 you know, when you ask a preacher to continue on in a series, you don't know whether or not that you're gonna hit the right spot and be effective in jumping in. But I just felt, let's do this. Let's go right in and continue with what the house has been studying. And I really felt I got some insights from this passage. So we are going to be in Acts 20 this morning. Acts 20 verses one through 12. And if you can bring up Acts 20 verse one. And I'm reading from the TLV, which I saw that you're using frequently. So maybe we can get that up on the screen. And I'll just start here. It says, after the uproar ended, Paul sent for the disciples.

8:32 And when he had encouraged them and said, farewell, he departed to go to Macedonia. Well, let's set the stage here from last week. Rabbi Ari finished up with Acts chapter 19 and we saw that Paul is getting out of Ephesus after a major upheaval, a major upheaval. See, Ephesus was a mecca of religious and economic activity. They had one of the wonders of the ancient world in their temple to Artemis that had been constructed. And you can imagine there at a whole industry that developed not just the tourism of people wanted to see this wonder, but you have those

9:18 that were making a living off of the temple itself, selling goods and sacrifices. You can imagine walking in the streets and smelling the thickness of the incense that was in the air. The people bustling around. And unfortunately it was a place of sin because Artemis was the god of love, right? And so they had temple prostitutes and it was a sinful place as well. But after Paul's ministry there, it sent the entire city into chaos. How many of you guys have caused some chaos in your lives? Are we chaos messianics?

10:03 I don't know how I would've handled this situation, but the good news of the kingdom confronts the kingdom of darkness. That's what happens. And you might not be like Paul in the middle of this contentious, and he wasn't trying to be contentious by the way. He was just trying to show people that the way that they had been living was not the truth. And he wanted to introduce them to the fullness of the reality of a loving father. But that confronted the works of darkness. The, the whole system of that area was built upon idolatry, false gods. And so when the gospel started changing hearts and people started to warm up to the message, then those

10:51 who are around said, we've got to put a stop to this, or our whole city will be turned upside down. And so eventually the town clerk had to step in calming the mob with a bit of his own political diplomacy. And then God used even the secular authorities, I thought was interesting to protect his servants when it serves his purposes. 'cause it wasn't really God's desire for Paul to be killed and his disciples to be stoned at that point. And so they escaped. So then continuing on in Acts chapter 20, verse two, when he had passed through these parts and given them a great word of encouragement, he came

11:36 to Greece where he spent three months when a plot was formed against him by the Jewish leaders. As he was about to sell to Syria, he decided to return via Macedonia. There's a couple things I'd like you to notice here, Paul, even though we know Barnabas was the encouraging disciple, we know right? That Paul, that Paul and Barnabas, when they traveled together, everybody loved Barnabas. 'cause Barnabas was the one who was uplifting, encouraging. Paul was sometimes seen as the one giving hard messages calling back to righteousness, right? But I want you to notice something about Paul here, verse one. He says, when he had encouraged them,

12:25 and then again verse two, when he passed through these parts and given them a great word of encouragement, there's something so important about being an encourager of the body of one another of our brothers and sisters. And I don't want us to miss the fact that even though Paul was being attacked by first the pagans and then by even his own Jewish brothers, he still found a way to be encouraging and intentional with his friends and those who had come to faith in Yeshua. That really means a lot to me because I think a lot of us have been in experiences where we've had leaders that have an agenda.

13:12 How can they use us to accomplish what their plans for us are? You know, you might have heard God has a wonderful plan for your life and so do I, right? And, and this is the thing is Paul didn't just look at the opportunity to teach as his primary vocation. He looked at a ministry of encouragement. Maybe he learned that from Barnabas or from time in the presence of the Lord, that it wasn't just to bring a word, but it was also to uplift and bring encouragement. So then eventually he arrives in Troas. We'll continue on reading in verse four, Speer of Bea, son of purists accompanied him as well as Aris stares

14:00 and segund of Thessalonica, GAAS of dur and Timothy Ticus and trois of Asia. I want you to notice here that these are folks from all over Asia, Asia minor, Turkey, and Ephesus and other places. These were people who had heard the word of the gospel of the kingdom and then jumped in to start serving alongside Paul. They had become his traveling companions. And so these went on ahead of him and were waiting for them at Troas in verse six. But we sailed from Philippi and after the days of Matzah in five days, we came to them and tro us where we stayed for seven days.

14:47 Verse seven. Now on the first day of the week, we gathered to break bread. How many of you know that the first day of the week doesn't start on Sunday morning, it starts on Saturday evening. And scholars have noted that it's very likely that the, the meetings of the early believers and houses was after they had already gone to synagogue in the morning if they had a synagogue locally in that town. And so they were celebrating a havdalah service together over a meal and then encouraging each other with the word of God, maybe singing some songs in hymns.

15:33 There was even healing and prophecy. There was words of knowledge that were going on. And so Sunday, as the day of worship, might've really been Saturday evening when the believers were meeting in the houses. So this is right after Passover and they were in a home gathering to break bread. Isn't it a wonderful thing to eat? I can tell you, you can gather a good, good crowd if you serve some food. That's like the doorway to people's hearts is often when they're satisfied with food. And then in this context, Paul began speaking with them intending to leave the next day. And so he prolonged his speech until midnight.

16:20 So because I'm planning to leave tomorrow, I've decided that in the words of Paul and in his example, we should stay here tonight. What do you think? We'll stay until the we hours of the morning and we don't even have to worry because of, we don't have a third floor upper room and none of you will fall out windows. But in verse eight it says, there were many lamps in the upper chamber where we were meeting and a young man named Ticus was sitting in a window sill sinking into a deep sleep af as Paul kept on talking. Now I, I, unfortunately, I'm gonna be a little vulnerable with you and honest. I've been in this same position, not in a third story window

17:07 of mind you, but listening to a preacher or a teacher. And I start to nod, not in agreement, but I start to really get tired and it's just, I have to fight myself. Now think about this. You've had this great meal, the, you know, Israel where the whole Middle Eastern region in Troas, it's hot. And even in April, typically when we have Pesach, right? Matsa, it's still already getting hot. It starts to get hot in that area around February, march. And so you start to put this together, he's a young man, he's just had a full meal. He's up till midnight. He had been studying for a final the night before and he's already tired. But the candles are in the room, it's warmth, the thick,

17:55 there's a lot of people crowding in here, Paul, it totally is understandable that he would start to fall asleep. And I find it even amazing that the scriptures themselves contain the story because it's kind of a window into a very human element of of, you know, I could see myself being utic. Now, funny enough, in Greek utic means fortunate. That's ironic because unfortunately as we continue on overcome by sleep, the second half of verse nine, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, fell on him

18:40 and threw his arms around him and he said, don't be upset for his life is still in him. Who does that remind you of? Elijah had a very similar encounter throwing himself on the shulamite, one of his son Elisha as well. And after he went back up and broke bread and ate, 'cause what do you do after you raise someone from the dead? You go back up and have a meal. Does anyone find this so strange when you read the scripture slowly? How funny it is that they just continued on as if nothing had happened. So after he went back up and broke bread and ate, and then he talked with them the rest of the day and until daybreak and then he left.

19:26 And so they took the boy away alive, greatly relieved. So this is so fascinating to me because if it was almost like the breakthrough of the kingdom into the reality of their situation while at one place incredible and astounding was also normal. Have you thought about that? That the breakthrough of the kingdom in power was normal, that was so normal in fact that it didn't empty the city with people coming out and saying, oh my goodness, this young man was dead and now he's alive. No, the group that was with them went back upstairs, continued their meal and continued to hear the teaching of Paul.

20:16 But I think that there's some lessons that we can learn for today just about the kingdom from this very short story selection from Acts chapter 20. Number one con, continuing on from last week, we know that it was through chaos that Paul exited Ephesus. And the first thing that I want us to understand is that the gospel still disrupts the world's idols still. And you might be, you not, might not be like a Charlie Kirk or someone who is breaking through on a megaphone with a certain truth that causes an uproar. But I'm telling you, wherever the kingdom of God encroaches in on the kingdoms of darkness,

21:02 there is going to be a contention, a fighting against that. And so as a people, we have to recognize that just because there is chaos in the world does not mean that the kingdom is not breaking through. Actually the opposite could be true, is that when the people of God fight against the kingdom of the enemy, we should expect to see chaos and confusion. And then there will be many who are awakened to the kingdom and it's reality in the midst of that. So we either materialism or false emphasis on nationalism or self worship, whenever we proclaim Yeshua as king,

21:47 we will confront the false gods of the culture. Are we willing to let the gospel disturb our comfort zones and transform our priorities? It's a question. I know that I tone down things that I say 'cause I wanna be a nice guy to my neighbors, to things that I have very clear standards on. But because of, I want to see if maybe there'll be a, an avenue. You know, I don't know, where's the line? Are we willing to let there be a little chaos by taking a stand? And this is the question I think this passage presents for us. But even though there might be practical ways

22:34 that God calls you to be a megaphone and to take a stand, we have to recognize that our war is not against people. It's not. And I think that we can sometimes become competitive in our debates and start to look with animosity on the messenger that we're fighting. But this is where I want to caution us, because Paul says himself, though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly or carnal, but through God, they have power for the tearing down of strongholds. So we want to tear down false arguments

23:20 and every high-minded thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Who are we really defending? Not ourselves, not a principle, but we are giving glory to God and His name when we take a stand for truth Number two, the kingdom should be relational. Paul was not interested in just delivering sermons. He was interesting in connecting to hearts. And if I, I wish I was here next week. 'cause the next part of Acts chapter 20 is like Paul's farewell before he goes into Jerusalem and he knows that he's going to be persecuted.

24:05 Some people have debated about the prophets who came and bound Paul be, and they said, well, Paul shouldn't have gone because if they were prophesying that he would be bound and and thrown in prison. But no, I think that it was just to confirm what Paul already knew in his heart, that he was supposed to be a light in Jerusalem, even in prison, and then eventually going all the way to Rome. But this last part of Acts chapter 20, I won't steal the thunder too much, but it's like the way that he says goodbye to the people that he's poured his life into sometimes for two years at a time, sometimes for months. But he built such relationship that they were pained and begged him not to go.

24:50 Whereas a preacher who just has given a message, you don't have that same kind of reaction. And so I want us to know that we need to be a relational people. Don't just try to preach at people without stepping into their world and trying to meet the needs of their heart. We see this in the life of Yeshua modeled so powerfully because with compassion he healed people and then told them the truth. Go and sin no more. The kingdom grows through faithful transmission of one's life, influencing other lives through our love, through our model, through our example.

25:36 And this is exactly what AV Shaul did for his disciples. Number three, God's power still raises the fallen in this modern culture. We might doubt whether God still moves in miracles around the world. Do we doubt that? I remember when I was here last year, we had a prayer for healing and several people were experiencing a powerful move of God to heal. I have testimonies now that I am recording, that the Lord has moved in healing and that I have witnessed personally. But do you know that there are people who have documented with, with precision healings around the world?

26:22 Michael? Um, Michael Kaiser has done a thousand page two volumes, huh? Oh yeah. Craig Keener has done a thousand page two volume set documenting miracles around the world because where the kingdom is, the power of God breaks through. And it is a tremendous compliment to the gospel of evangelism. If you have the Lord prove the power of the testimony, then many people come. Yeah. Have you ever asked yourself why did these towns get emptied when Yeshua was walking through the galley? It's not because they knew who Yeshua was necessarily, but they had heard the testimony of their neighbor,

27:09 their friend, their coworker who had been healed by Jesus. And they said, come and see. That's powerful. Do you know that you will have people come up to you, not because of they know you, but because of someone else, that you have taken the time to reach out with love, with healing and with power. And that's how the kingdom of God will grow. Number four, the people of God are marked by spiritual hunger. Spiritual hunger. When was the last time you lingered in the presence of the Lord? We were lingering a little bit this morning

27:54 as we were singing the King of Glory in Yeshua just magnifying his name. But do you ever sit in your room, in your chair and listen to worship and just linger in his presence? 'cause you're hungry for a connection, you're hungry for intimacy. Or do you listen to those who are able to preach and expand on the word of God? And it opens up in new ways to you, but how long are you willing to stay and listen? See, because of we are in such an information rich culture, it is too easy for us to think that we've heard it all know it all, have done it all, and be just like Utica nodding off to sleep.

28:42 But the people in that room were hungry. 'cause Paul, they recognized had something that they needed, which was the truth of the Word of God exploding alive in their own hearts and in their minds to be connected to the full story of what God was doing from creation until now bringing restoration. But we need to be a hungry people. And we have so many distractions. You know, we have a joke in our family that you always have to be aware of the enemy's devices. And the joke is that the devices nowadays are our phones and our laptops, our iPads and our computers. Because if they're so distracting that if there is a device

29:30 of the enemy that is taking our kids, that are taking our time doom, scrolling through things, we've lost our edge to be a passionate people pursuing the word of God in truth. So we need to be a hungry people, stir our hunger. I think this is a great prayer to pray to the Lord, stir our hunger, oh God, that we might be a people that is on edge, really wrapped in listening and wanting to connect and wanting a relationship with you. I'll conclude with this. See, acts 20. And this passage is not really a travel log story of Paul. And he went here and he did this, and he went here and he did that.

30:15 But it was a window into the life of the early Messianic community. These things were happening around the believers, and they're recorded so that we can understand the things that we should be pursuing in our life to represent God in the earth. Amid persecution, upheaval, long journeys, the Ruak Kodesh was still breathing life into the community, igniting faith, raising up disciples who would carry the message of Yeshua to the ends of the earth. Paul's ministry reminds us that the kingdom is unstoppable.

31:02 It may shake the world's systems, but it also revives the fallen, unites the faithful and fills the hungry with life. May we too be awakened to this power of the kingdom. The message I'm ending with the title is Awakening to the Kingdom and its Power. Remember that the kingdom in its power is not an end goal. It's through your intimacy of relationship with Yeshua that the power is revealed. We don't seek his power, only we seek intimacy with God, intimacy with his son. And through that intimacy, the Lord will break through to make his name glorious and all the earth. Amen. Let's all stand together

31:50 and then I'll invite Rabbi Ari to come back up and close. Abba, thank you so much for this, uh, passage of scripture that gives us kind of a peek into the vibrancy of the early community of faith. And I pray, father, that Baruch Hashem and those gathered here as families would be a hungry people desiring for a closer relationship with you and to know more of your word. I'm thinking of the Psalms in one 19. It says that the word of God is sweeter than the honey from a honeycomb. And if we desire that sweetness, and we're gonna find a way to pursue it, I pray, father, that Baruch Hashem would be a place marked by the intimacy with you and one another,

32:35 and also with the power of God for healing and transformation. Bless this community Lord. Let your spirit rest on this community in practical ways to meet the needs and then for them to be a light in their neighborhoods, their workplaces, their schools. Thank you Father God, and Yeshua, his name. Amen. May The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

33:58 In the name of our Messiah, Yeshua Shalum.