Jews Developed This Christlike Concept Long Before Jesus - DANIEL LANCASTER CHARISMA NEWS

Jesus did not develop the concept of discipleship. He simply perfected it. (YouTube )

Jews Developed This Christlike Concept Long Before Jesus

11/9/2016 DANIEL LANCASTER  CHARISMA NEWS

Large crowds followed our Master, but Jesus did not seek large numbers of followers. Instead, He wanted a few good men and women. He sought disciples.

The Gospel of Matthew says, "When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain." He went up on the mountain to escape the crowds so that He could teach His disciples. It says, "After He sat down, His disciples came to Him" (Matt. 5:1).

When His disciples saw Him sit down, they came near to Him because they knew He was about to start teaching. The rabbis always taught from a seated position. In the vernacular of first-century Judaism, a rabbi sitting down is the equivalent of a pastor stepping up to a pulpit. The phrase "he sat and taught" appears commonly in rabbinic literature to refer to a rabbi discoursing on a subject of Torah. That explains why His disciples gathered around him when they saw him sit down. It was their job.

Discipleship already existed as a well-established institution within Judaism long before the appearance of Jesus and His followers. All the great sages, the rabbis, the sages among the Pharisees, and the teachers of the Torah had disciples. The Hebrew word for disciple is talmid (תלמיד), a word that simply means "student." The plural is talmidim (תלמידים): students. A disciple's job was to learn everything that his master had to teach.

Disciples memorized their teacher's interpretations, explanations and exegesis of Scripture. They memorized the stories, parables, illustrations and anecdotes their teacher told. They learned to practice Torah by imitating their teacher and incorporating his manner of observance into their own. Disciples kept the Torah the way they learned to keep it from their teacher. A disciple endeavored to become like his or her teacher: "A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher" (Luke 6:40).

After the disciple was fully trained, he became the teacher and passed on the teaching to disciples of his own, who, in turn, when fully trained, became teachers and raised up disciples of their own. They taught their disciples in the name of their own teacher, and his teacher, and his teacher's teacher, transmitting a body of oral tradition as vast as the sea. This was the method of higher, religious education in the days of Jesus.

When the disciples saw their teacher sit down, they knew what was expected of them. They had a job to do. So they stepped forward, and He began to teach.

As His disciples, we have the same job. The teacher is seated. Are you ready to learn? 

Daniel Thomas Lancaster is a writer, teacher, and the Director of Education at the Messianic ministry of First Fruits of Zion (ffoz.org), an international ministry with offices in Israel, Canada, and USA, bringing Messianic Jewish teaching to Christians and Jews. He is the author of several books about the Jewish roots of Christianity, the Jewishness of the New Testament, and he is the author of the Torah Club Bible study program (torahclub.org). He also serves as the teaching pastor at Beth Immanuel (bethimmanuel.org), a Messianic Jewish synagogue in Hudson, Wisconsin.  You are welcome to contact Daniel at outreach@ffoz.org.

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The Costly Path of Discipleship in Israel - Charles Gardner ISRAEL TODAY

The Costly Path of Discipleship in Israel

Tuesday, February 16, 2016 |  Charles Gardner  ISRAEL TODAY

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Messianic Jews

Stories of healing, restoration and forgiveness, along with a remarkable outflowing of love and reconciliation, sounds rather like the gospel accounts of when Jesus walked the land of Israel.

Actually, it’s also the story of what is happening there today, according to a spell-binding new book by British author-journalist Julia Fisher.

What is God doing in Israel? (Monarch Books, $14.99) is a gripping account of the lives of individual Jews and Arabs who have had a supernatural encounter with Yeshua (Jesus).

In each case it has led to a dramatic transformation in their lives. And the cost of their discipleship – whether coming from a Jewish or Muslim background – has been no less demanding than that experienced by St Paul and the original apostles. For there is nothing half-hearted about their faith, with passion undimmed despite painful suffering, especially through rejection by family or community.

Appropriately, therefore, the book is divided into twelve chapters, each dedicated to what I would call a true modern ‘apostle’. Most of the Jewish believers included have been disowned by their families at some point – in the case of Sandy Shoshani it was 14 years before she was reconciled with her father, who subsequently gave his life to Jesus on his deathbed!

As Jesus said: “No-one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10.29)

Also featured is the more widely-known story of David and Leah Ortiz, whose teenage son Ami was virtually blown apart by a bomb (though he has since miraculously recovered). Perversely disguised as a Purim parcel, the device was sent to the family home during the Feast of Purim, when Jews exchange gifts to celebrate their rescue, by Queen Esther, from a plot to exterminate them in ancient times. The perpetrator of the atrocity, a Jewish extremist, believed the Ortiz family were betraying his people by encouraging them to follow Jesus.

As far as some of the Muslim-background believers are concerned, they have become like hunted animals after deciding to follow Christ, with Julia having to carry out interviews with a great degree of stealth and care so as not to attract attention to these brave men and women risking their lives for the sake of their Lord. Many have been tortured, imprisoned or forced to flee the land.

The shocking irony of it all is that these persecuted believers actually hold the key to peace in this troubled region. Palestinian and Jewish believers are clearly united by their love for Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah; they pray and fellowship with one another and are a powerful demonstration of the reconciling effect of what Jesus did for them on the cross, breaking down the dividing wall of hostility and creating “one new man” out of the two (Ephesians 2.14).

“This is something the politicians cannot do,” said Mazen Naswari, a Palestinian pastor in Jerusalem’s Old City. “This love that we as believers in Jesus share, no matter what background we come from, shows that we can love one another.”

Patrick Radecker was a seemingly hopeless drug addict who lived on the streets for seven years but, with the help of a rehabilitation centre in Haifa called House of Victory, he has been totally cleaned up and renewed, almost unrecognisable to those with whom he used to hang out in downtown Tel Aviv. A Jew whose family immigrated to Israel from Holland, Patrick too has developed a special love for Arabs since he started following Yeshua.

Here is the answer to conflict in the Middle East – all these people, Jews and Arabs, have found peace through the Messiah whom the prophet Isaiah foretold would be the ‘Prince of Peace’. (Isaiah 9.6)

---

Charles Gardner is author of Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com

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Training for Reigning - Kamran Yaraei (former Muslim) - Rick Joyner Video on Prophetic Perspective on Current Events

Kamran Yaraei (former Muslim)

Training for Reigning

Rick Joyner

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Kamran shares that life’s greatest treasures are often the hardest to obtain. Life isn’t easy, but it is worth it. 

Watch here: Training for Reigning - 

with Kamran Yaraei and Rick Joyner 

Video | Prophetic Perspective on Current Events

Rick Joyner and Kamran Yaraei

Rick Joyner: Why is Koinonia So Important for The Great Commission? - The Elijah List

Rick Joyner:

Why is Koinonia So Important 

for The Great Commission?

The Elijah List

Why is koinonia [fellowship] so important when we are talking about The Great Commission? One reason we have failed to fulfill The Great Commission has been our tendency of making converts rather than disciples. 

The Great Commission is to make disciples. If disciples are not being made, then we are failing in our commission.

What a disciple is has been clearly defined by the Lord. True discipleship is rarely found among Christians today. One reason for this is that true discipleship is not possible without koinonia, as we read in 1 John 1:7, "But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship (koinonia) with one another, and the Blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."

As we have covered, this Scripture makes it clear that we simply cannot abide in the light without having koinonia. This is also essential for our cleansing.

I often say jokingly, but truthfully, that we simply cannot mature in Christ the way we are called to without all of the frustrations and irritations of Church life. The frustrations and irritations, the hurts and disappointments, are only a small part of what this experience is meant to be, but they are essential to our development. There are certainly far more positives to experiencing koinonia than negatives, but the challenges help us to mature.

The True Church Life

Either idealism about Church life or rejecting the Church will lead us far from the path of life. True Church life, koinonia, can be one of the most wonderful things we ever experience and one of the most difficult, as is true of any relationship, including marriage. As the Lord taught in the Parable of the Sower, many will depart when testing comes. Many depart from Church, and many are now even departing from marriage when the tests come.

You can never pass a test by quitting.

The breakdown of marriage is related to the breakdown in Church life and vice versa. The same thing that heals one will heal the other as well. The Cross is a vertical post that represents our connection to God and a horizontal one that represents our connection to one another.

One thing that taking up our cross means is that we must have both of these in our lives. Of course, our connection to God eclipses the importance of our connection to one another and must always be kept first. But if we have this and keep it first, we will also have the other. As John also wrote, we cannot love God who we do not see if we do not love our brother who we can see (see I John 4:20-21).

So, what can we do to promote koinonia in Church life? First and foremost, we must seek the presence of the Lord above all things. What good is the most glorious temple if God is not in it? Then we need to pursue relationships, not just wait to be pursued. Barnabas had to go and get Paul. Then they needed to get in the right place before either of them could get released into their own ultimate calling.

In those days, this was a supreme effort. It must have taken months for Barnabas to travel to Tarsus and then back to Antioch. Today it is hard to find those who will drive more than thirty minutes to church. What makes something a treasure is that it is either rare or difficult to obtain.

Koinonia is one of the greatest treasures we can have in this life. It is not cheap or easy to find, but it will be found by those who value it enough not to give up on its pursuit. 

The city that God is building, that which Abraham sought, and all true sojourners seek, is built on Jesus with koinonia.

Seeking the presence of the Lord is far more than seeking His blessings, which so much of the present emphasis of church teaching is based on today. He will bless many things He will not inhabit. When He says that wherever two or more are gathered in His name He will be in their midst (see Matthew 18:20), the word "gathered" does not mean merely occupying the same room or space.

It is where they have been "assembled together" like the parts of a bicycle have been assembled together. This is why we are told to "not to forsake the assembling together" (see Hebrews 10:25). This is not just a warning not to miss meetings, but to not fail to be assembled together as we are called to be.

(Photo via Stock.xchange by Timo Balk, edited by Tawny Nelson)

To build a Church where there is actually Church life, koinonia, we must do things to intentionally promote interchange between members. This can include small groups, church fellowship dinners, mission trips, and various other activities. However, gatherings that really lead to koinonia will center on the presence of the Lord. All others can be helpful in getting to this, but just gathering together for activities can fall far short by themselves.

In every spiritual pursuit, we must keep in mind this principle: Between the place where we receive the promise of God and the promised land, or the fulfillment of the promise, there is almost always a wilderness that is the exact opposite of what we have been promised. This wilderness is meant to prepare us for the promised land. Do not be shaken when you start to pursue koinonia and the opposite seems to happen with relationship challenges breaking out everywhere. This is just a sign that you are indeed on the path.

Rick Joyner
MorningStar Ministries

Email: info@morningstarministries.org
Website: morningstarministries.org

Rick Joyner is the founder and executive director of MorningStar Ministries and Heritage International Ministries and is the Senior Pastor of MorningStar Fellowship Church. He is the author of more than forty books, including The Final Quest, A Prophetic History, and Church History.

He is also the president of The OAK Initiative, an interdenominational movement that is mobilizing thousands of Christians to be engaged in the great issues of our times, being the salt and light that they are called to be. Rick and his wife, Julie, have five children: Anna, Aaryn, Amber, Ben, and Sam.

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J. Lee Grady - 6 Mentors Who Can Help You Grow Spiritually

J. Lee Grady - 6 Mentors Who Can 

Help You Grow Spiritually

CHARISMA MAGAZINE March 2014

God doesn’t want us to live in isolation. I realized many years ago that I desperately need people in my life in order to fulfill my purpose. My parents invested in me, and so did teachers, coaches, employers, pastors, role models and good friends. I am not self-made, and neither are you. Any success we have achieved is the result of someone taking time to instruct, encourage or correct us. That’s humbling!

Mentorship is a basic biblical principle. The book of Proverbs opens with an exhortation to listen not only to parents but also to the “words of the wise” (Prov. 1:6, NASB). Moses mentored Joshua, Naomi mentored Ruth, and Elijah mentored Elisha. Jesus spent most of His time teaching a small group of disciples. One of those, Peter, discipled his spiritual son, Mark (1 Pet. 5:13), who in turn wrote the Gospel of Mark based on Peter’s testimony.

The message of Christ is best transmitted through the process of mentoring. But this art has been lost in today’s church—partly because of family breakdown and partly because our celebrity-obsessed culture values self-effort and instant results. Mentoring is too slow for most of us because we prefer the overnight sensation. God’s kingdom is built through a tedious process we don’t have the patience for.

Yet I believe we can reclaim biblical discipleship. In fact, I’m convinced the church is shifting radically back to God’s original plan as we reject the program-driven, impersonal, televangelistic one-man show of the past season. Everywhere I go I find people who are hungry for authentic relationships that can help them become team players and mature mentors.

I’ve found six types of mentors who have helped me in my spiritual journey:

1. Distant mentors. British author Charles Spurgeon died in 1892, but I consider him a mentor because I read his books often. The same is true of other dead authors such as Andrew Murray and A.W. Tozer. You don’t have to know a person to receive instruction from them. I’ve never met author Henry Blackaby, but his books, especially Experiencing God, have profoundly influenced me.

2. Occasional mentors. Brother Andrew, the founder of the Open Doors ministry, became a hero to me after I read his book God’s Smuggler in the 1970s. Then in 2004, I had the privilege of interviewing him in his home in Holland. Some of the things he said to me that day still ring in my ears. I may never visit him again, but he made an eternal investment in my life.

3. Supportive friends. A mentor does not have to be 20 years older than you. I have a close group of peers who sometimes gather from four states just to pray for each other. We call this group “the band of brothers.” I am constantly on the phone with a few of them. We share prayer requests and offer advice—and we aren’t afraid to step on each others’ toes if necessary. You need friends like that to survive life’s challenges.

4. Negative mentors. Not everyone you meet is a good example. I have sometimes encountered people in positions of leadership who had serious flaws. Some had prideful attitudes; others had poor people skills; a few had selfish agendas. Rather than allowing myself to become bitter or judgmental, I studied their behavior and determined to avoid doing the same things. I said to myself, “Let this be a lesson. That is not how to lead.”

5. Reverse mentors. You can also learn from younger people. I invest in a lot of Timothys, and they love to ask me for counsel. But I sometimes flip roles and pick their brains. One of the guys I’m mentoring, Alex, is a tech geek—so I know he will have the answer when I have a question about my computer, my smartphone or the latest app. I also get regular feedback from the guys I’m mentoring because I want to know if I’m communicating in a way that is relevant to their generation. Sometimes the best way to mentor is to ask questions!

6. Spiritual fathers and mothers. God has used many different mentors in my life, but there are some who invested in me in a very personal way for a long span of time. One of them, Barry St. Clair, invited me to a discipleship group when I was only 15. He taught me the basics of the Christian life during those Bible studies in his basement, and we have stayed connected for 40 years. This month the two of us are doing a conference together in Atlanta! Barry has been a role model, counselor and spiritual father most of my life, and his investment in me has now been passed on to dozens of others.

If you don’t have mentors, I urge you to find them. If you are fortunate to have been mentored, then pay forward what you have received—and invest in someone else.

J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at@leegrady. He is the author of 10 Lies Men Believe and other books.

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MorningStar/CM Missions "Going Into All The Earth"

Let the Wind take you...into all the world! 

- Jorge Parrott MorningStar/CM Missions

Let's go around the world in 3 minutes to see what the Lord is up to at MS/CM Missions. Hear the Moravian Trumpet call to reach the nations for Jesus Christ. Contact us at missions@morningstarministries.org or visit to learn more at www.eaglemissions.org 

In the video below, Don Potter plays "Come, come, come!"

Jorge Parrot with Barzilians

Anna Marie & Jorge Parrot, Nancy G Daniel

Touching lives in the nations

Using Skype and all means available 

-for the reach of the Gospel

"Leadership Through Love" - More Needed

"Leadership Through Love"

My latest book, 
Steve Martin

The world needs leaders. Oh, there are plenty of men and women who want to have the power, fame and fortune, but how many of them are really leading because they love people and want to serve them out of a heart of true love? 

There simply are not enough good leaders. Especially ones that our sons and daughters can and should follow after.

Several years ago a friend of mine for over 24 years, Indira Persad, spoke these words to me, “Steve, you need to write a book on administrating.” I passed it off, thinking that no one needed to read another book on administrating, or on leading.

A while later, in church on Sunday, May 13^th, 2007, (Mother’s Day in the USA), I sensed the Lord speak to me that it was time to write this book. This would be for the sake of those who are now leaders in all fields of work, administrators and office staff in ministries and businesses, and for those who earnestly want to walk in the calling that the Lord has for them in leadership and discipleship training. 

I believe this book will be even helpful to pastors, business owners, and other leaders, to further understand those they lead, and who assist them. 

It will be an encouragement for the "average Joe or Jane", who simply want to do a good job, on the job.

For over 37 years of my life, my position in businesses and church/ministries has been given to being the office manager, the manager, the administrator, the Director of Operations & Finance, or the guy who “wore all the hats and got the job done.”

Often during those years I wanted to be “the man” at the top, the one who called the shots, steered the ship, or set the policies. Or the one who traveled the road and airways, while others sat behind the desk doing the 40 hours instead of me.

But the Lord has clearly shown me that my role was very vital to those who did those things, and though I longed to do what they did at times, they could not have done their job if I was not doing mine. I was to do what I had been gifted and called to do.

Where would churches, ministries or businesses be without the administrators, the directors of departments, or the executive secretaries and administrative assistants? Those organizations who have them know their value. Those who don’t may or may not realize what they are missing.

Read some of these concepts I learned along the way, if you too desire to lead in a godly manner. This is for those who believe they have the gift of administration, and seek to better use it; or for the one who simply works in an office, retail business, or any position where good character and work ethics are desired, and want to improve. This will help.

Take a moment and look over the chapter list below.  Look at which I will be sharing over the next weeks, one chapter at a time. And see what you might glean from some of the words, to make them active in your life. I think you will find some very practical and useful lessons for yourself.

I love to share, what the Lord has taught me, with you. And so, as I call them, following are some “adventures in administrating” – practical and actual situations, joys and sorrows, with persistent diligence, in order to express the gift that I have been given from Him, for the sake of His kingdom.

May the Lord encourage you as you read my thoughts and what has worked for me. I hope the stories and suggestions will impart to you further measures of blessing, for those you support and also to those you give direction to. 

Be blessed in your leading and serving. Faithfully use the gifts that He has bestowed within you, for His purposes in all the earth.

Ahava (love in Hebrew) to you,

Steve Martin

P.S. If you'd like to get this via e-mail, to save each chapter in your InBox, please request with a message to me at loveforhispeople@gmail.com. You are welcome to share this at will. In fact, please do!  Thanks very much (todah rabah in Hebrew)!

Chapter Listings

1.      A Gift for His Purposes

- The Early Years

- On the job training

2.      Use the Tools You Have, But Not the Staff

- Treasure the people, while digging the foundations

- Do unto them as you would…

- Bless and curse not: honor those who serve with you

3.      Right Man (or Woman!) for the Job

- All are created equal – make the most of this!

- If the Shoe Fits, Have Them Wear It

4.      Train and Let Loose

- It IS Who You Know and Are Known By

- Hire To Complement Your Strengths

- If you are weak, then they are strong

- Outsource as needed

5.      Burn Candles At Both Ends? – NOT!

- Rest and Sabbath Days

- Mornings with the Lord

- Trust in Him at all times

- We all are given 24 hours each day 

6.       The Visionaries Need You!

-          They dream it - you make it happen

-          It takes a team

-          Head Won’t Get Far without the Neck

        (or heads will roll) 

7.      Field Trips and More!

- Staff Retreats

- Party Time!

- Birthdays and BBQs

- After Hours

8.      It Doesn’t All Depend On You

- The Lord is the Rock – Not You

- Whose strength  - yours or His?

- Key Staff to Lean On

- Trustworthy managers and assistants

9.      Practically Speaking…and Walking

- Handle each piece of paper once

- File so you can find it!

- Early morning – before the others come

- Take a Break

10.  Meetings – Time-manger or Time-waster?

- Do you really need all those meetings?

- Group or One-On-One?

- Why Morning and Mid-Week?

 - Prov. 24:6 “By wise counsel…multitude of counselors

11.  Acknowledge Him in All Your Ways

- Heart of Thankfulness

- Heart of Worship

- Heart of Service

12.  Another Man’s Vineyard

-          Follow & help fulfill their vision

-          Faithful with another’s

-          Learn and growth until your time

-          The proper way of moving on