Faith & Obedience to the One True God!

Another blog I receive weekly. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Permission to repost granted by author.
More from me at the end!


> TEACHING THE HEBRAIC PERSPECTIVE OF FAITH IN AND OBEDIENCE TO THE ONE TRUE GOD
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> July Update
> What does a lesson in fire building have to do with the current world situation?
More than you may have imagined.
> If you have ever wondered what it sounds like when I try to did myself out of a
hole, this is a good time to listen!
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> VIDEO
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> Torah Commentary
> Pinchas "Phineas"
> Numbers 25:10-30:1
> 1 Kings 18:46-19:21
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> Zeal In The Camp
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> Reading about the Hebrews and their journey through the wilderness has taken on so
much meaning in the past few years. With each passing year it becomes more and
more special to read about their lives. It is not that the accounts of their lives
become more exciting, but as His Day approaches, reading about the lives of the
Hebrews causes me to sit back and allow my own thoughts to wander. I think about
how different their walk was from ours today, but with the differences come so
many striking similarities. Their walk was different because times have changed,
but it was so simular because people do not change.
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> This week we read about people who no matter the blessings of The Almighty in
their lives desired the quick passing pleasure of sin rather than the
righteousness of their Creator. We read about one man who took the bull by the
horns and made a difference. If you look between the lines we also see the masses
called the majority who just sat and watched as spectators on a sideline.
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> The main character in the opening words of this weeks Torah is a man named
Pinchas. He came on the scene rather quickly last week and became the hero of the
day to stop a plague which was sweeping through the people because of sin in the
camp. His heroic efforts cause him to not only take a place in recorded history,
but also brings him and his family into a promotion promised not only for the
lifetime of Phichas, but forever.
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> What was it that brought about the blessing Pinchas would walk in? It is boiled
down to one word, zeal. But what exactly is zeal?
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> Webster defines zeal as "great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an
objective." Zeal is something which is easy to define, but rather hard to teach.
Fact is, I do not think you can teach zeal. You can teach emotions and hype which
last about as long as the passing pleasure of sin, but zeal is another matter. I
have come to the conclusion after years of teaching that there is no way to teach
zeal. Zeal can not be taught, zeal must be caught!
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> Pinchas did not get his zeal from a book. We are not told where Pinchas got his
zeal from. It could have been directly from Moses himself. Or maybe it was Joshua?
There is an interesting thought. Maybe there is more to the man Joshua than we
know up to this point. So far all we know about him is that he stuck pretty close
to Moses most of the time. He was no doubt addicted to the presence of Elohim, for
when Moses left the Tabernacle, Joshua would stay behind. What was Joshua doing
with his time during a normal day though? Maybe he was passing on a zeal he had
not been taught, but rather had caught from his time in the presence of Moses and
of course Elohim Himself. If this is so, it sure paid off not only in the life of
Pinchas, but in the lives of many Hebrews that infamous day.
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> This of course brings us to a question. How is our zealousness today? Do we have
the kind of zealous pursuit of HaShem that causes others around us to sit up and
take notice? Do we have a zealousness that is affecting other people around us?
Are we ever zealous enough about Him for people to notice?
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> A zealous lifestyle will cause you to do things others are not willing to do.
Zealousness will cause you to step out of a crowd like Pinchas or a Judas
Maccabee. It will cause you to do things others are just not willing to do.
Zealousness will cause you to be different from the crowd. Zealousness will cause
you to be admired by some, but not accepted by most. Zealousness will cause you to
be misunderstood most of the time. Zealousness will cause you to loose many
friends, but in the end have the greatest influence on people. Above all,
zealousness for Him will cause Him to be zealous over you. Personally I can not
think of a better reason to desire to catch this wonderful trait of His the
scripture calls zealous. ..
>
> Shabbat Shalom,
> Mike
>

>
> email: hineni@mac.com
> phone: 405 257 6277
> web: http://www.joinedtohashem.org


So - are you willing to be different? Are you willing to do something radical to make a difference in the lives of others? Be zealous for the Kingdom of God! The world will be a better place if you do!