The Shofar Newsletter
THE SHOFAR Newsletter of Bet Yeshurun Messianic Assembly
Good News for the Assembly of Bet Yeshurun
No. 1311 / Dec. 12, 2021
2021-22 Schedule of Gatherings
12/13 Praise & Worship Services 1:00 pm
12/16 Yom Peguim (Celebrating the winter season leap day) 1:00 pm
12/17 Chodesh (Celebrating the 10th month of the Divine Year) * 1:00 pm
12/18 Praise & Worship Services 1:30 pm
12/20 Praise & Worship Services 1:00 pm
12/25 Praise & Worship Services 1:30 pm
12/27 Praise & Worship Services 1:00 pm
1/1 Praise & Worship Services 1:30 pm
1/3 Praise & Worship Services 1:00 pm
1/8 Praise & Worship Services 1:30 pm
1/10 Praise & Worship Services 1:00 pm
1/15 Praise & Worship Services 1:30 pm
1/16 Chodesh (Celebrating the 11th month of the Divine Year) * 3:00 pm
* High Holy Day (Like Sabbaths, a day of no work)
2021-22 Schedule for Reading the Bible in One-Year
Brit Cha’Dasha; MattithYahu (Gift of Yah) Gospel of Matthew
12/16 - Chapters 1 – 4 12/17 - Chapters 5 – 6 12/18 - Chapters 7 – 8
12/19- Chapters 9 – 10 12/20 - Chapters 11 – 12 12/21 - Chapters 13 – 14
12/22 - Chapters 15 – 17 12/23 - Chapters 18 – 19 12/24 - Chapters 20 – 21
12/25 - Chapters 22 – 23 12/26 - Chapters 24 – 25 12/27 - Chapter 26
12/28- Chapters 27 – 28
Brit Cha’Dasha; Marqos (Defence) Gospel of Mark
12/29 - Chapters 1 – 3 12/30 - Chapters 4 – 5 12/31 - Chapters 6 – 7
1/1 - Chapters 8 – 9 1/2 - Chapters 10 – 11 1/3 - Chapters 12 – 13
1/4 – Chapter 14 1/5 - Chapters 15 – 16
Brit Cha’Dasha; Luqas (Illuminating) Gospel of Luke
1/6 - Chapter 1 1/7 - Chapters 2 – 3 1/8 - Chapters 4 – 5
1/9 - Chapters 6 – 7 1/10 - Chapters 8 – 9 1/11 - Chapters 10 – 11
1/12 - Chapters 12 – 13 1/13 - Chapters 14 – 16 1/14 - Chapters 17 – 18
1/15 - Chapters 19 – 20 1/16 - Chapters 21 – 22 1/17 - Chapters 23 – 24
Brit Cha’Dasha; Yochanan (Yah has Favoured) Gospel of John
1/18 - Chapters 1 – 2 1/19 - Chapters 3 – 4 1/20 - Chapters 5 – 6
1/21 - Chapters 7 – 8 1/22 - Chapters 9 – 10 1/23 - Chapters 11 – 12
Tabernacle Invitation
Interested in joining Bet Yeshurun Assembly? Please contact Pastor ObadiYah by email, telephone, mail, or in person at a gathering of Yahushuah’s Body.
Harvest Workers
(John 4:35-38) “Do you not say, 'There are still four months, and then comes the harvest?' Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields for they are already white for harvest! He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others labored and you have entered into their labors."
This is another article in a series for Bet Yeshurun Assembly (BYA) on the Messiah's commandments, words, and sayings. In the above passage He speaks to disciples about a great spiritual harvest of souls. Yahushuah spoke similarly to 70 disciples that were sent on an earlier mission: (Luke 10:2-3) The Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.”
Let's go back to the start of the apostle's testimony to check on where He said those opening words. It's Samaria! (John 4:1-5) Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Yahushuah made and baptized more disciples than John (though Yahushuah Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee, but He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Smith's Bible Dictionary explains “Samaria” means “watch mountain,” and was a region north of Jerusalem in a basin-shaped valley that was encircled with high hills near the edge of the great plain bordering the Mediterranean. Centered within the valley on a long flat top of a steep hill was a city called ”Sychar.” In Hebrew, its name means “drunken.” (Strong's Concordance) Many Biblical scholars believe it likely was the site chosen by Omri for the Kingdom of Israel's ancient capital called Shekem.
Reflect upon the spiritual picture John's Gospel describes. Yahushuah “needed to go through” a land that was supposed to be occupied by watch men. In His time, however, it was occupied by Samaritans that lived in a drunken state. Some of them were of Israelite descent from ancestors that were exiled in the 8th century BC. When allowed to return to the land, the king of Assyria also sent priests to teach them the Torah that they mingled with pagan practices. (read 2 Kings 17 - 18) They bitterly feuded with their neighbors of Judea (formerly the ancient Kingdom of Judah) with many of their quarrels centered around different interpretations of where and how to worship Elohim. The Messiah's visit in Samaria revealed Elohim's Truth to confused Israelites, including the woman and Samaritans: (Matthew 15:24) "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Read the entire Chapter 4 of John with an eye toward its spiritual symbolism, then reread this account of the Messiah's opening dialogue with the unnamed woman: (John 4:6-10) Now Jacob's well was there. Yahushuah therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Yahushuah said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Yahudim, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Yahudim have no dealings with Samaritans. Yahushuah answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of Elohim, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
In the New Testament, the Greek word translated as “woman” can describe “a virgin, a married, or a betrothed woman.” (Thayer's Greek Lexicon) Yahushuah knew the Samaritan woman had 5 husbands (like the 5 Books of Torah) and her 6th man was no husband (like the pagan traditions of men). In Scripture, women can represent churches and its followers. Now connect the spiritual dots with how this woman: sat by a well of Jacob (the source of living water, i. e. Elohim's counsel); lived among decadent watchmen (absorbed in the world's pleasures); and heard Yahushuah's words at mid-day (“6th hour”) and in mid-summer (4 months prior to the fall harvest). His prophetic words are also relevant to the Betrothed Bride that the Messiah will wed in the latter days: (Revelation 2:2-3) “Then I, John, saw the holy city New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from Elohim, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of Elohim is with men,' and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people. Elohim Himself will be with them and be their Elohim.” (Revelation 22:17) The Ruach and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”
Now consider how both the woman and the disciples focused upon the physical rather than the spiritual aspects of the Messiah's message: (John 4:31-34) In the meantime His disciples urged Him saying, "Rabbi, eat." But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" Yahushuah said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
The Good News? The woman heard His message and testified to many other Samaritans awakening and converting them: (John 4 :39-42) Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, 'He told me all that I ever did.' So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, 'Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Messiah, the Savior of the world.'
Those Samaritans may even have opened other scrolls of Scripture like the Psalms, to hear the following words that sang of a time fulfilled in their life: (Psalm 126:1-6) When YAHUAH brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, "YAHUAH has done great things for them." YAHUAH has done great things for us, and we are glad. Bring back our captivity, O YAHUAH, as the streams in the South. Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.
More Good News? The disciples of old also had an opportunity to obey Yahushuah and help harvest: (Matthew 9:35-38) Yahushuah went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. He saw the multitudes and was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but laborers are few. Therefore pray the Adonai of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (1 Corinthians 3:8-10) “Now he who plants and he who waters are one. Each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are Elohim's fellow workers. You are the field and building of Elohim. . . let each one take heed how he builds. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Messiah Yahushuah.”
Even more Good News for the modern-day disciples at BYA: The time of Elohim's harvest is now! The spiritual fields of today are white even as they were during the time of Yahushuah. Although we may appear like late-comers to His harvest, provided we indeed work in that harvest (even if it's the very last hours of daylight), we'll be compensated with the same reward as the disciples who worked starting at dawn, or through the mid-day heat. (Matthew 20:1-16) "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said, 'You also go into the vineyard and what ever is right I will give you.' So they went. Again, he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. About the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing idle and said, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?' They said, 'Because no one hired us.' He said, 'You also go into the vineyard and whatever is right you will receive.' When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.' When those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed they would receive more and likewise they received each a denarius. When they received it, they complained against the landowner saying, 'These last have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who borne the burden and heat of the day.' But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?' So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen."
Heavenly Father, YAHUAH Elohim, your children at BYA are saying yes to help harvest of spiritual fruit with Your Son and our King Yahushuah.
May our faith be vibrant and grow as we listen and obey. Shalom, Curt
.
Announcements
Praise and Worship/Prayer Session and Men's Meetings are postponed for now.
Thoughts for Meditation
“He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.”
Thomas Fuller (1608-1661)