Wednesday, September 23, 2020

40 Days of Teshuva and other new books

 Shalom In Yeshua;

We are in the process of updating our book "40 Days of Teshuva to Yom Kippur" (expanded Edition) for next year's Fall Feasts.  We have added audio to our website to go with the book and prayers to go with the daily readings and will be making some minor edits to the book as well. 

Also be watching for our new series "Sitting At The Feet of Yeshua".  It is a 12 volume Daily Bible Reading and Bible Study for every day of the year. 

To Him be All the Glory and Praise and Honor!

Rabbin/Dr. Deborah Brandt

http://www.deborahsmessianicministries.com


Thursday, August 27, 2020

If My People Who Are Called By My Name

 

Prayer of Repentance for The Body of Messiah

Judgement starts in The House of God.  As servants of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Yaacov and Talmidim of Yeshua The Messiah, during this month of Ellul we need to repent of our complacency and apathy with regards to straying from His command to preach the Gospel and make Talmidim/Disciples for the Kingdom. 

We have become a Church of entertainment and ear tickling instead of people who preach the truth whether people like it or not.   

We need to repent of the "evil eye" of greed and not supporting the true work of God with our tithes and offerings, so that ministries who are teaching and preaching the truth can fulfill what God has called them to do.  There is a remnant that has not compromised and has sacrificed much to train people and reach the lost.  However, their hands are tied, because the God's people refuse to trust God for their needs, and refuse to build the Spiritual House of YHVH.  

God warned Israel many times of the cost of compromise and idolatry, now we as His people are living in a country, here in America where socialism and the loss of our freedom is knocking at our door.  The blood that so many young men have shed from the Revolutionary War until present for our freedom, is minutes from being taken away from us if we do not sincerely repent and return to His Ways, His rules, His Laws/Teaching and Instructions. 

The Prophets of old warned Israel that if they did not repent judgement would come and they would be driven from the land and the blessings.  However, if they repented and returned to the Covenant of Adonai, He would bless them.  Do we take God seriously?  Do we think we can sin and walk in disobedience and get away with it?  Have we mocked and trampled the blood of Yeshua under our feet by turning from His Truth and allowing the enemy to take over?  

Now is the time TO RETURN and perhaps, He will give us more time to finish the work He has called us to do, to prepare the way for Messiah Yeshua's return.

Prayer of Solomon

1Ki 8:30  “So listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive!

1Ki 8:31  If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, then comes and swears before Your altar in this House,

1Ki 8:32  then hear from heaven and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked, bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.

1Ki 8:33  “When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, if they turn back to You and confess Your Name and pray and make supplication to You in this House,

1Ki 8:34  then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers.

1Ki 8:35  “When the skies are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, yet if they pray toward this place and confess Your Name and turn from their sin because You have afflicted them,

1Ki 8:36  then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel. Teach them the good way in which they should walk, and send rain on Your land which You gave to Your people as an inheritance.

1Ki 8:37  “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there be blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar, if their enemy should besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or sickness,

1Ki 8:38  when prayer or supplication is made by anyone or by all Your people Israel—each knowing the plague of his own heart—when one spreads his hands toward this House,

1Ki 8:39  then may you hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, forgive and act, and give to each man according to all his ways, as You know his heart to be. For You alone know the hearts of all the children of men.

1Ki 8:40  Then they will fear You all the days that they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.

Prayer of Daniel

Dan 9:4  “I prayed to Adonai my God and confessed, saying: ‘O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and mercy with those who love Him and keep His mitzvot,

Dan 9:5  we have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have acted wickedly; we have rebelled; we have turned away from Your mitzvot and from Your rulings.

Dan 9:6  We have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our leaders and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

Dan 9:7  “‘You Lord are righteousness, but shame covers our face to this day—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries where you have banished them—because they behaved unfaithfully toward you.

Dan 9:8  Adonai, shame covers our face—our kings, our leaders, our fathers—because we have sinned against you.

Dan 9:9  The Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against Him.

Dan 9:10  We have not obeyed the voice of Adonai Eloheinu by walking in His Torah that He set before us through His servants the prophets.

Dan 9:11  Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your Torah and has turned away—not obeying Your voice. “‘Therefore the curse and sworn judgment written in the Torah of Moses the servant of God has been poured out upon us, for we have sinned against Him.

Dan 9:12  So He has confirmed His words that he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled over us by bringing on us a great calamity. Under the whole heaven nothing like this has ever been done to Jerusalem!

Dan 9:13  As it is written in the Torah of Moses, all this calamity came on us, yet we have not sought the favor of Adonai Eloheinu by turning away from our iniquities and paying attention to Your truth.

Dan 9:14  So Adonai was intent on bringing the calamity upon us, for Adonai Eloheinu is righteous in all His deeds that He has done—while we have not paid attention to His voice.

Dan 9:15  “‘So now, Adonai Eloheinu, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made for Yourself a Name to this day—we have sinned, we have acted wickedly.

Dan 9:16  Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, let Your anger and Your fury turn away, please, from Jerusalem, Your city, Your holy mountain. Because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become an object of scorn to all those around us.

Dan 9:17  ‘So now, our God, listen to the prayers and petitions of Your servant, and cause Your face to shine upon Your devastated Sanctuary, for the sake of my Lord.

Dan 9:18  Give ear, my God, and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolation and the city called by Your name. We do not present our supplications before You because of our own righteousness, but because of Your great compassions.

Dan 9:19  Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay! For Your city and Your people are called by Your name.

Prayer of Nehemiah

Neh 1:4  Upon hearing these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days. I prayed and fasted before the God of heaven.

Neh 1:5  Then I said: “Adonai, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps the covenant and lovingkindness with those who love Him and keep His mitzvot,

Neh 1:6  please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant that I am praying before You today both day and night on behalf of Your servants, the Bnei-Yisrael. I am confessing the sins of Bnei-Yisrael that we have sinned against You—yes, I and my ancestral house have sinned.

Neh 1:7  We have acted very corruptly against You. We have not kept the mitzvot, the statutes, nor the rulings that You commanded Your servant Moses.

Neh 1:8  “Please recall the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the peoples,

Neh 1:9  but if you return to Me and obey My mitzvot, and do them, then even if your dispersed people are at the ends of the heavens, I will gather them from there, and bring them back to the place where I have chosen for My Name to dwell.

Neh 1:10  They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great strength and by Your mighty hand.

Neh 1:11  Please, my Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who delight in revering Your Name. Give Your servant success today and grant compassion in the presence of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.

Prayer of Ezra

Ezr 9:5  At the time of the evening offering, I rose up from my self-abasement with my garment and robe torn, then I bowed down on my knees and spread out my hands to Adonai my God.

Ezr 9:6  I prayed, “O my God, I am ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God! For our iniquities are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.

Ezr 9:7  From the days of our fathers to this day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, our kings and our kohanim have been subjected to the sword, to captivity, to plunder and to humiliation at the hand of the kings of the lands, as it is today.

Ezr 9:8  But now for a brief moment Adonai our God has shown us favor in leaving us a remnant and giving us as a peg in His holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes and has given us a little relief in our bondage.

Ezr 9:9  Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage. He has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, reviving us in order to restore the House of our God, to raise up its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

Ezr 9:10  “So now, our God, what should we say after this? For we have forsaken Your mitzvot

Ezr 9:11  that You commanded through Your servants the prophets saying, ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the peoples of the lands. Through their abominations, they have filled it from one end to the other with their uncleanness.

Ezr 9:12  Therefore, do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons. Do not seek their shalom or their welfare, so that you may be strong, eat the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance for your children forever.

Ezr 9:13  “After everything that has happened to us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt—for You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and given us a remnant such as this—

Ezr 9:14  shall we once again break Your mitzvot and intermarry with the peoples who commit such detestable actions as these? Would You not be angry enough with us to destroy us, leaving us no remnant or survivor?

Ezr 9:15  Adonai, God of Israel, You are righteous, for we are left this day as a remnant. Behold, here we are before You in our guilt; because of it no one can stand before You.

 

 

Thursday, June 18, 2020

God's Word Matters - Repentance to God First

In the society we are living in today there is a lot of talk about repenting to people for past abuses and offences towards others.  Yes this is a Biblical principal....

 
Mat 5:21  “You have heard it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever commits murder shall be subject to judgment.’ 
Mat 5:22  But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca’ shall be subject to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be subject to fiery Gehenna. 
Mat 5:23  “Therefore if you are presenting your offering upon the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 
Mat 5:24  leave your offering there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. 
Mat 5:25  “Make friends quickly with your opponent while you are with him on the way. Otherwise, your opponent may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the assistant, and you will be thrown into prison. 
Mat 5:26  Amen, I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid back the last penny! 

However, what about Repenting and apologizing to God for turning our backs on Him?

We wouldn't be in the mess we are today, if God's people in this Country had held fast to Torah Truth and the Words our Messiah Yeshua preached, instead of wanting to win a popularity contest. 

Many feel, well if I am not well known or millions of people are not following my ministry or thousands liking me and following me on Facebook then I must  be doing something wrong.  Popularity is not a measurement for success in God's Kingdom, in fact if you are truly teaching His Word and His principles, you probably will not be popular.  Serving God is not a popularity contest!  In fact if you are truly serving Him, you will not be very popular in the worlds eyes. 

We are currently doing a Study in "The Scroll of the Prophets" (so called Minor Prophets, but there is nothing minor about them).  People think that being called a "Prophet" is such a glamorous title, when in fact the true prophets in the Bible were not popular and there was nothing glamorous about their job, in fact their message of repentance was not a popular message, even though it was a message that was meant to bless them, not hurt them.  They were charged with the duty to speak exactly what The Almighty YHVH told them to speak, nothing more and nothing less.  In fact if you are speaking the Truth, you probably will not have a 'Mega" Church because people are easily offended by truth.   We are afraid that if we bring correction, people will get offended so we rather tickle ears then tell them what they want to hear, instead of what they need to hear.  That was not the message of the Prophets that God told them to speak. It was a message of repentance for turning away from His truth and mixing idolatry with worship of Him.  

Personally I am thankful for people who brought correction into my life.  At first it hurt, however I knew they were speaking the truth and that because they loved me they were not afraid of the speaking correction to me.  

We see a pattern in the Prophets...

God said obey Me and you will be blessed, disobey me and this is what will happen, the curse will come.  Read Deuteronomy 28.  He already warned His people Israel what will happen if they turn away from obedience to His Torah (Torah means in Hebrew, Teachings and Instructions) and choose idolatry instead.  This message of obedience applies to all, both Jew and Christian regarding how His people are to live. 

His people sin and God waits patiently for repentance.  When His people do not repent, he sends a Prophet to speak about judgement to come if they do not turn from their wicked ways. 

The message is simple, repent (T'shuvah - Turn back to God) and I with not bring about the judgment, however if you do not repent, here is what is going to happen. 

Here we see God's true mercy,  He gives us all a "window of repentance" because He loves us.  However, if the message of repentance fails to bring about change, then the judgement He has promised comes.   We are seeing this in America today.  His "Church" is more concerned about things then people.  We have become more concerned about how popular we want to be vs being willing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel/Besorah of Yeshua.  This is why we are seeing what is happening in America today!   When we refuse to walk in God's order and refuse to live a life that is pleasing to Him, we have mayhem and confusion. 

Since this pandemic has started a small group of us from our Congregation have been meeting daily when possible to pray and intercede for repentance in our Homes, Congregations and America for offending God. 

• 1 Kings 8:30-40 • Daniel 9:4-19 • Nehemiah 1:4-11 • Ezra 9:5-15 

God showed His mercy that even when His people were sent into exile, He made sure that He sent the righteous with them so that they would not forget the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and end up totally assimilating into Babylon.  Note the prayers of the righteous above, they also included themselves in the need to repent, they said "We have sinned", "We have done wrong" "We deserved this punishment".
If we are truthful with ourselves, we ALL need to repent, including spiritual leadership.  Why should God bless us when we continually spit in His face and refuse to obey His Word?  Are we truly Disciples of Yeshua as the first Century Assembly of Messiah was?  Are we willing to suffer for speaking His Truth?  Read "Foxes Book of Martyrs" before you answer that question. 

Hear the Words of Joshua, they ring true today as well!

Choose Whom You Will Serve
Jos 24:14  “Now therefore, fear Adonai and worship Him in sincerity and in truth. Get rid of the gods that your fathers had worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and worship Adonai. 
Jos 24:15  If it seems bad to you to worship Adonai, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve—whether the gods that your fathers worshiped that were beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will worship Adonai!” 
Jos 24:16  Then the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake Adonai to worship other gods! 

We see generations latter, that His people forgot what they had promised to do and God had to send judgment in order to save them from total destruction. 

Are we hearing by what we are seeing today happening in America, or have our hearts been hardened and become arrogant thinking, we are America, we will not be judged?  Really?  Our forefathers in Ancient Israel thought the same thing.  They thought because of their Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob meant that it didn't matter what they did.  However, they forgot the "If" clauses. 


 Blessings for Obedience
Deu 28:1  “Now if you listen obediently to the voice of Adonai your God, taking care to do all His mitzvot that I am commanding you today, Adonai your God will set you on high—above all the nations of the earth. 

Curses for Disobedience
Deu 28:15  “But if you will not listen to the voice of Adonai your God, to take care to do all His mitzvot and statutes that I am commanding you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: 

Have we become so arrogant that just because our Nation's motto is "In God We Trust" that this protects us from God's righteous justice to be withheld when we have literally taken His Word out of our Government and Homes?  

If we Trust God, then we should Obey God's Word, then we would not be in the mess we are in today, staring in those who call themselves "Christians" and have put their stamp of approval on what God calls evil.  

I pray for His mercy on this land for the sake of the Righteous, for one reason only, that we may finish the Work He has called us to do and that is proclaim the Besorah/Gospel of Messiah. Read Matthew 24. 

Shalom In Yeshua
Rabbin/Dr. Deborah Brandt