Welcome to Nazarene Israel. My name is Norman Willis.

We have been talking a lot in this series about the gift of prophecy. What is the gift of prophecy? How do we prophesy? And why is it so important? What we are going to see in this installment of this video series is that there is a special role that prophecy plays in unifying Yeshua’s body.

Before we talk about the role prophecy plays in unifying Yeshua’s body, first let us recap what we have already learned.

Strong’s Hebrew Concordance
OT:5012. Naba’ ( נָבָא); a primitive root; to prophesy; i.e. speak (or sing) by inspiration (in prediction or simple discourse):
[Without interference by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, or pride (ego)].

As we learned, to prophesy is to speak or sing by inspiration (meaning, by breathing). There are two types of prophecy. One is prediction and the other one is called simple discourse, which just means talking. We will review this in a moment. The way we prophesy is by fully focusing on Yeshua so that we abide in Him, and He abides in us, just as He abides in the Father and the Father in Him.

But this is a real thing. First off, we have to pray for the gift of prophecy because it is a gift and not everyone has it. But if we have the gift of prophecy, then we establish our connection to Yeshua, and then we crowd out everything else. We take every thought into captivity. Then we also take into captivity (or ignore, suppress, push out, whatever you want to say) the lusts of our eyes, the lusts of our flesh, and our pride. Pride will bring to mind a lot of strange thoughts and all of these things will disrupt our ability to abide in Yeshua. If we are paying attention to the lusts of our eyes, or the lusts of our flesh, or our pride, or our stray wandering thoughts, we will not be able to hear Elohim’s voice. So this is an active thing. This is establishing a connection such that we can hear and that is how it is done.

Now, as mentioned, there are two different types of prophecy. As Strong’s defined, the first one is called foretelling, or simply prediction. That is the kind most people think of. That is where the prophet Moshe or Isaiah or Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) will speak and say “Thus sayeth Yahweh” and then they predict that something will happen. That is called foretelling.

But then the second type of prophecy (which is actually much more common) is what is called forth-telling. And that is where we are speaking forth the things of the Spirit, but without predicting anything. This is where Moshe and Aharon go before Pharaoh and say “Thus sayeth Yahweh, “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness”.” They did not predict anything, but they are still speaking the things of Yahweh. They are talking according to the Kingdom of Yahweh; they are speaking forth the things of Elohim. Well this is a very, very important gift. And in fact, it is not possible to unify the body if people do not either have this gift, or respect and pay attention to it. Just as it was in the Tanakh (Old Testament), the people need to pay attention to the words of the prophets.
In First Corinthians, the Apostle Shaul (Paul) presses us to desire this gift, even above other gifts.

Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 14:1
1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

And the reason why is, again, because it is not possible to unify the body without the gift of prophecy. It is not possible to please Elohim without it.

Now, the problem is that not everyone has this gift. And this is why there has to be a structural means of compensating for the fact that not everyone has this gift. We are going to spend a lot of time in First Corinthians in this study’s chapter.

Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 12:28-29
28 And Elohim has appointed these in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?

What is an apostle? An apostle is someone who has the gift of prophecy, and in fact, an apostle should have all the gifts. Now, whether or not he has developed them that is another question. But an apostle should have all the gifts (including the gift of prophecy) and in addition to the gift of prophecy, he should also have the gift of doctrine. To get the gift of doctrine you have to really have a burning desire to establish Yeshua’s kingdom, it has to be the uppermost thing on your mind. That is why Yeshua says “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine.” That is something that pertains to apostles.

What is a prophet? A prophet is someone who hears Yahweh’s voice and then is able to speak according to it. He is able to articulate what he hears.

Now there are other gifts such as teachers, healers, helps, administrations, variety of tongues. Someone who speaks in tongues is able to hear the voice of Elohim, but it does not come out right. It comes out as gobbly, comes out as some kind of junk. That is where you need an interpreter, to interpret the words of the one speaking in tongues so that it can edify. Because everything that Yahweh does has the purpose of building up the body, as we will see later in Ephesians chapter 4.

So, as Shaul asked in verse 29, are all apostles (Obviously not!). Are all prophets? (Obviously not!). Well, this leads to a real problem that has to be solved structurally in Israel.

In Jeremiah chapter 11, Yahweh is speaking to Jeremiah, telling him to instruct the people to obey His voice.

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 11:3-4
3 “And say to them [to the southern kingdom of Judah], ‘Thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel: “Cursed [‘ârar; bitterly cursed, something we absolutely do not want] is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant
4 which I commanded your fathers in the day I commanded them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your Elohim’…”

There are two things here, obeying His voice and doing according to all that He commands us, and then we will be His people and He will be our Elohim.

Now, this is something critical and most people miss this. This is something not to be missed. What Yahweh is saying is, if we do not want to be cursed, then we need to obey His voice and we need to do according to all that He commands us.

So the mistake that most people make is that most people say “Oh, well, to do according to all that He commands, that is the way we obey His voice. To do according to everything He commands us.’ But there are two separate things commanded here. It is not the same, He is not repeating Himself. These are two separate things. And in fact, the way we got the commandments that are written down in the Torah, in the first place, was by a prophet who was hearing the words of Yahweh Elohim and then writing them down. So, there is a very special role that the prophet plays within Israel, as ought to be clear. Anyone who is reading the Torah should understand that there is a special role that the prophet plays.

For example, let us take a look at the Torah. This is Parashat Nitsavim in Deuteronomy chapter 29.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 29:10-12
10 “All of you stand today before Yahweh your Elohim: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel,

11 your little ones and your wives–
Also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water-
12 that you may enter into covenant with Yahweh your Elohim, and into His oath, which Yahweh your Elohim makes with you today…

Now, at this point this is at the end of Moshes’ time of being a prophet, Israel has already been formed and they are being called into the covenant as an ordered, organized nation.

At this particular point you have got three separate organs. You have got Moshe with Joshua as an assistant, and he has got the 70 elders. Then you have also got the Priesthood with Aharon who is serving the priests, who are serving the Levites, who are serving the people. Then you have got the 12 tribes of Israel with 12 tribal leaders, who are serving the needs of the 12 tribes. And they are all broken down to leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens. So you have got a perfectly ordered and organized nation at this point and Israel is being called into the covenant as a nation. Let us not forget that.

So, you have been ordered like this and you are being called today before Yahweh, that you may enter into covenant with Yahweh your Elohim, as an ordered people. And that you may enter into His oath as an ordered people.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 29:13-15
13 That He may establish you today as a people for Himself [not as a bunch of individuals, but as a people], that He may be Elohim to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov.
14 “I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone,
15 but with him who stands here with us today before Yahweh our Elohim, as well as with him who is not here with us today…”
[Meaning, also for us!]

This is what He wants, He wants a Kingdom for His Son, He wants an ordered Kingdom for Yeshua.
Our forefathers entered into this covenant even though we were not standing there. So, our forefathers entered into a covenant with the nation of Israel as an ordered nation, not just a bunch of individuals. Not scattered people here and there. But an ordered nation. Let us remember this as we move on.

Now, what does Yeshua want? Yeshua wants a queen.

What kind of a queen? He wants a Proverbs 31 bride who is going to help Him build His Kingdom. That is the kind of bride He wants.

Okay, let us read the great commission.

Matityahu (Matthew) 28:18-20
18 And Yeshua came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. [How much is all?]
19 Go therefore and make disciples [not just believers, but disciples] in all the nations, immersing them in My name [to know why we immerse only in Yeshua’s name, please refer to Nazarene Scripture Studies volume 3],
20 teaching them to observe [to guard; Hebrew: ‘to do’, to Shomar] all the things that I have commanded you [how many is all?]; and behold I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Amein.

And here is something I get all of the time; I try to talk to people about what a disciple is. Okay, so, you had the 4 000 and the 5 000, and the myriads and the multitudes, and the crowds and the throngs. And they all came and went, and probably every single last one of them thought of themselves as being disciples. But they were not disciples because they did not do everything that Yeshua said to do. So out of the thousands that came and went before Him, there were only 12 (and we do not know how many sisters, we could say 12, we do not know exactly). But being a disciple is a rare thing that takes a commitment to want to do all that Yeshua commands us to do.

Okay. Well, what are the things Yeshua commanded us? We see some of the things He commanded us in Ephesians chapter 4. Let us take a look.

Ephesim (Ephesians) 4:11-13
11 And Yeshua Himself [Yeshua Himself commanded this] gave some to be apostles [those who can hear in the Spirit, having the gift of prophecy and also a gift for the doctrine], some prophets [who can also hear in the Spirit and speak according to it], and [in addition to that] He gave some to be evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.
[Why did he give these gifts?]
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Messiah [because you need these gifts to do this],
[And how long is it supposed to last?]
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of Elohim, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Messiah;
[we are not there yet].

Why did he give the gift of prophecy? Because this is what helps to unify the body, this is what brings us together in the same faith. We are going to see. When we do the Fivefold Ministry correctly, this is how the body grows to become a perfect man (or perfect men, to become a perfect body of Messiah to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Messiah).

And people say “Well there are no more apostles, that all ended in the first century. Because there were only 12.” And that is incorrect. As we show in the Torah Government study, there are 22 names, at least 22 apostles, in the renewed covenant. You also had Timothy, Barnabas, Apollos, Titus, you had a lot of apostles in the renewed covenant. There are at least 22 that are named. And then we see apostles and prophets mentioned also in Revelation chapter 18.

Hitgalut (Revelation) 18:20
20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you set-apart apostles and prophets, for Elohim has avenged you on her!”

Here we are speaking about the fall of Babylon at trumpet seven. We speak about this in the study on Revelation and the End Times. But so, if this is still a future event and there are no more apostles and prophets, how can this verse ever be fulfilled? So we have to have the gifts of apostles and prophets. The only thing is that we have to have the true gifts of apostles and prophets and not the counterfeit gifts which are so common.

Okay, let us continue in Ephesians chapter 4 to see the answer to why we should organize according to apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Why should we identify those who have these gifts and why are they all supposed to work together at one single unified ministry?

Ephesim (Ephesians) 4:14-15
14 that we should no longer be spiritual] children, tossed to and from and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Messiah…

Simply take a look at the Messianic movement today and you are going to see “spiritual children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men”. Take a look at the ministers. And I do not mean to harp on the Messianic ministers, but there are some real tricksters out there. There are a bunch of ministers who are not teaching according to the Fivefold Ministry, nor teaching according to the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. That is what Scripture calls “the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting”. Because, effectively, like it or not, they are not looking to build Yeshua’s Ministry, they are not seeking to build Yeshua’s Unified Kingdom, they are building their own kingdoms. We are going to see that Yeshua considers that as treason.

The sad part is, I do not know any one of them that thinks that they are doing the wrong thing. I have tried to talk to a lot of them, and I do not know any one of them that wakes up in the morning and secretly says, “He he he, I am going to deceive Yahweh’s people!”. But they are not considering the Fivefold Ministry gifts and the need to operate on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets.

But no matter how you slice it, that is what Yahweh calls the “trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting”. Because they are not operating in brokenness, they are not listening when someone like myself comes to them and says, “Hey, what about the Fivefold Ministry? What about the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets?” And you do not get an answer back.

So, what is the solution? The solution is that we need to “speak the truth in love”. And this is a ramez (a hint), this just speaks about the gift of prophecy. Because that is what prophets do. So, Yahweh is truth. The job of a prophet is to hear Yahweh, so you hear the truth from Yahweh, Yahweh is the truth, then you speak according to that truth. And hopefully you speak it in love. And if the prophets will do that, then we will grow up in all things into Him who is our head, Yeshua Messiah.

Now let us back up a couple of chapters. We were just in Ephesians 4, let us back up to Ephesians chapter 2, and we are going to see where the unity aspect comes in.

Ephesim (Ephesians) 2:19-20
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints and members of the household of Elohim,
20 having been built on the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets,
Yeshua Messiah Himself being the chief cornerstone…

The apostle is talking to Ephraim, he is talking to the lost tribes of Israel plus those of Judah who also went into the dispersion with them. He is talking about Elohim’s house; he tells us this house has been built on the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets. Why is that so important? Because it is what provides the truth. We are going to see the true worshipers need to worship both in the spirit and in the truth. So it is the apostles and the prophets who have the gift of prophecy, who are hearing from the truth (Yahweh), and then speaking according to. So there can only be one ministry. Because Yeshua does not have a whole bunch of different ministries. Yeshua has one house, Yeshua has one ministry. And Yeshua’s ministry, Yeshua’s temple, Yeshua’s house, is built on the foundation (the singular, unified foundation) of apostles and prophets, Yeshua Messiah Himself being the Chief Cornerstone.

And people say, “Well I do not want to be part of this!” Well, it is too bad. It says we have to be fitted together.

Ephesim (Ephesians) 2:21-22
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a set-apart temple in Yahweh,
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of Elohim in the Spirit.

So, a temple is not just a heap of stones, it is not just a heap of rubble. You are going to build a temple and you have the stones, right? But you have to order them and stack them in the right way. You have to put the strongest ones on the bottom to bear the weight of the structure. Then you have the next layer of stones, and everything has to be stacked correctly, everything has to be put in the correct place. So that the ones down low can bear the weight, all the tremendous weight, of that structure. And they have to be ordered and organized correctly in order to build a space inside where the people can come in to worship. You cannot find a space to worship within a heap of rubble. You cannot find a space to worship inside with a field strewn with a bunch of stones littered about. That is not what it is about. It is an ordered building, and it has to be built on the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, with Yeshua Messiah Himself being the chief cornerstone.

Now the Catholics have effectively their own temple, okay. But they have not built it with Yeshua Messiah Himself as the Chief Cornerstone, they have built it with the Bishop of Rome (or the Pope) being their chief cornerstone. And that is why their building is going to fall (and great will be the fall of it!).

Now, our job is to build the correct temple on a correct Foundation of Apostles and Prophets with Yeshua Messiah being the Chief Cornerstone. And once again, the way we do that is by us dwelling in Yeshua and Yeshua in us, as He abides in the Father and the Father in Him. So, submission and brokenness is the very first job. Anyone who desires to be an apostle or a prophet, or to have the gift of a prophecy, or to have any of the gifts, the primary job for any one of us is to be broken and submissive to Elohim. Because we have our human, fleshly will. We have the things that we want, and all the things that we want are at odds with the things that Elohim wants. We must fall on the stone and be broken. And that is how we make sure the stone does not fall on us and grind us to powder. We have to fall and be broken before we can then be of service to Him.

Well, we can use other analogies. There are a number of different analogies. The analogy of Yeshua’s body, the analogy of Yeshua’s temple, there is also the analogy of the olive tree where Yeshua is the root. You could also call Him the Head of the Corner or the Chief Cornerstone. But now, consider Him as the root.

Once again, He is what is pushing up the nutrients, He is what is pushing up the water to the rest of the tree. But then again, you still have to have something to bear the weight of the rest of the tree. So now you have got the trunk and we are going to see that that is effectively the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets (or it is also called the Foundation of Apostles and Elders). We are going to take a look at that.

Once again, you end up with a lot of people that say, “I do not understand. I have the gift of the Spirit, so I know I can talk directly to Elohim, and I know He answers me. And I know He talks to me. So why do I need to answer to men? I do not get it.”

It is not that they are answering to men, it is they are answering to men who are broken and who are serving a role in Yeshua’s unified temple. And that is a very different thing. There are a lot of ministries out there where the ministers are not broken, and they are not serving to build Yeshua’s unified temple. But what Yeshua wants is one unified ministry. And, as we saw in Jeremiah, we are commanded to obey Yahweh’s voice, lest we be cursed. And if we cannot hear Yahweh’s voice how can we obey it? Unless we are listening to someone who does hear Yahweh’s voice and speaks according to it. That is the difference and that is the truth.
In John chapter 4, Yeshua speaks to the woman at the well, and tells her the following.

Yochanan (John) 4:24
24 “Elohim is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and truth.”

That is why we need both the Spirit and the correct doctrine, that is why we need to continue to have the gift of prophets and apostles. Because the prophets hear the truth and can speak according to it, and the apostles additionally have the gift of the doctrine. They are able to put everything in order to see to see Elohim’s work done.

Now, they had the same problems in the first century that we have today. People are people. I think we have more of a problem today because the apostles, in a certain sense, had a head start on us. Yeshua was right there, Yeshua set everything up. And then, people being people, things began degenerating almost immediately about 2000 years ago. And now here we are today, 2000 years later, and things are very much farther degenerated. The trick is that it is up to those of us who do love Yahweh, and who do hear according to His voice, to hear the truth and to begin speaking according to it. So that those sheep who hear His voice can then discern what is the true ministry and which ones are the false ones that are effectively serving as decoys.

Qoritim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 1:10-11
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Adon [Master] Yeshua Messiah, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.

Apostle Shaul (Paul) is saying here to be a united body, in agreement of doctrine, without divisions. Most people go the wrong way with this. Most people say, “Well, so what we are going to do then is, we are going to agree to disagree on anything that is important, all right? So, we will all be one lovey-dovey in the Spirit.” And that is where the Ecumenical Movement comes in and that is where a lot of people lose their crowns. Because they forget we are to be one, not just in the Spirit, but we are to be one in the spirit and in the truth. We have to have the correct doctrine in addition to the Spirit.

Shaul says that he is pleading with us that we all speak the same thing. The only way to get that is to operate in the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. He is pleading with us that there be no divisions among us. Again, the only way to get that is to operate on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. To be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. That is exactly what happened in Acts chapter 15 and also in Acts chapter 21, which we are going to take a look at in just a moment. Again, the only way to get that in a real practical sense is to operate on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. Why were there contentions among them? Because they are not hearing Yahweh’s voice, they are not speaking according to Yahweh’s voice, they are not prophesying. They are speaking their own words, not Elohim’s words.

Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 1:12-15
12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Shaul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Messiah.”
13 Is Messiah divided? Was Shaul crucified [killed] for you? Or were you immersed in the name of Shaul? [Was Shaul starting his own ministry? No!]
14 I thank Elohim that I immersed none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 lest anyone should say that I had immersed in my own name.

In other words Shaul is rebuking how the people were saying, “I am of this minister”, “I am of that minister”. And “I am of this rabbi” or, you know, “I learn a lot from this man”. Or “Oh well, I am of Messiah” (but not really). Or even, “Well, I follow all of Scripture, I do not follow any ministry” (but not really, because they are not built together on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets, are they?). So, we had the same situation in the first centuries that we have today. We have a bunch of people that do not hear Yahweh’s voice, and do not know what it means to hear Yahweh’s voice, and then they have their own opinions. Well, what can you do for such people, you know? And this is really a sad thing.

Again, the sad part is that I do not know anybody who does this on purpose. I do not know anybody who does this intentionally. But you have a lot of people in the Messianic Movement today that do not have the gift of prophecy. I do not know if they have prayed for the gift of prophecy and just have not received it, or if they have not dedicated themselves sufficiently, or they have not fallen on the stone and been broken sufficiently. I do not know what the problem is. People are people, of course. But apparently in the first century we had the exact same problem as we have today. Except today I believe we have it to a much greater extent. And that is that.

He says, “I am of Shaul”. Okay. Well we are supposed to imitate Shaul, but only in so much as he imitates Yeshua. And this is what happens. People listen to this minister or that minister but then do not go on to imitate Yeshua, in a very real way, which is what is required. And if we are not able to do that, then at the very least, we need to unify on a Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. So that there is ‘one unified ministry’ and we all preach according to the same doctrine with no doctrinal divisions between us. Is Messiah divided? No! So, why is Yeshua’s body divided? Shaul is saying that no, he was not running his own ministry. Okay. Because we do not want to start our own ministries, that is prohibited. We are all supposed to work together at Yeshua’s ministry.

Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 1:16-17
16 Yes, I also immersed the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I immersed any other.
17 For Messiah did not send me to immerse [meaning to immerse people into his own sect], but to preach the Good News [of ‘the’ Kingdom, Yeshua’s Kingdom! Very important!], not with wisdom of words, lest the cross [stake] of Messiah should be made of no effect.

There is one unified kingdom that needs to operate on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. What makes the cross (stake) of Messiah of no effect is when we do not go on to build one single-unified ministry based on one single foundation of apostles and prophets. That is what is missing in the Messianic Movement today. We can see the beginnings of this fragmentation happening in the first century.

So then we take a look around us and this is exactly what we see. We see, you know, “I like this teacher”, I like Saturday Night Live Ministries”, or “I like Passion for Part of the Truth Ministries”, or you know, “I Dial 9-1-1 When I Have an Emergency”. All these different ministries that are not Yeshua’s Ministry, they are not the Israelite sect of the Nazarenes of Acts chapter 24, verse 5 and Acts chapter 28, verse 22. More to the point, they do not speak in favor of the Fivefold Ministry, and they do not operate on the single unified Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. Therefore what you effectively have are counterfeit ministries.

Now I am not speaking anything negative about these men, because with the ministers that I know, I do not know any one of them that knows that they are doing something wrong. I do not know any one of them that is purposefully setting out to do the wrong thing. I do not believe any one of them wake up in the morning going, “He he he, I am going to go mislead Yeshua’s sheep”. But they are not hearing and obeying the need to operate on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. And this is exactly the case. We see the exact same thing happening in Acts chapter 15. There is a need to have no divisions between us.

Ma’asei (Acts) 15:1-2
1 And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moshe, you cannot be saved.”
2 Therefore, when Shaul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Shaul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.

Okay, now Christianity goes the wrong way with this. Christianity says that this is according to the Torah of Moshe, and that is not what it says here. It says unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moshe, you cannot be saved. So who this really is, this is a bunch of either One-House or Two-House Messianic Jews. They are Talmudic, Rabbinic, Messianic Jews, as we show in the Nazarene Israel study as well as in Torah government and in other places. They are of what is called the sect of the Pharisees who believe. Now if you go to the land of Israel or even the United States you can see these kind of believers. They are they are literally Talmudic Rabbinic believers. They read the Talmud, they call themselves Rabbi or they will call someone else Rabbi, and they believe literally that things need to be done according to the traditions and the teachings of the Rabbis. And one of these traditions and teachings of the Rabbis today is called the giyur (גיור‎), which is the gentile conversion process. Back in the first century it was called the Custom of Moshe, or the Tradition and Teaching of Moshe, in other words, how you come into the Covenant of Moshe. So what they are really saying here in verse 1 is that unless you submit to rabbinic authority, you cannot be saved.

Well of course Shaul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them because Yeshua was very against the rabbis. This is something I can never understand, how you can have someone in today’s world that calls Himself a Messianic rabbi. I simply do not understand it. Once again, we are talking about the doctrine. When Yeshua says, “But be you not called Rabbi”, and people start looking for every excuse in the book to call themselves Rabbi. It is one of those things. Yes, if you look hard enough, yes, you can find ways to find excuses to get around doing what Yeshua said to do. But that is what you are doing. You are excusing yourself from doing what Yeshua said to do.

Okay. So certain men the sect of the Pharisees, who believed the Rabbinic Messianic, came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “unless you submit to Rabbinic authority, you cannot be saved. Unless you are circumcised according to the traditions and teachings of the Talmud, you cannot be saved.” Well Shaul and Barnabas had no small dissension in dispute with them, and so what are they going to do? Because they could not come to an agreement. They determined that Shaul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders. To the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets, to ask this question. If you would like to read more about this topic I would encourage you to read the Nazarene Israel study, and also it is in Torah Government. We explain what actually happened in Acts chapter 15.

Well, a lot of people would like to believe that the renewed covenant was written in a vacuum, and that we can understand the renewed covenant without understanding first century Jewish culture. That is not the case. In the first century you had a thing called the Sanhedrin, they still have it today. The Sanhedrin is also what is called the Beit Din or the Beit Din Gadol. It is the Large Court, or the Large Council, and this is basically what Judaism uses for their Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. This is what we see in Acts chapter 15. We see Shaul and Barnabas going up to Jerusalem to consult with the council, with the Beit Din Gadol, with the Nazarene Sanhedrin. They are going to consult with the Council of Apostles and Prophets, here called the Council of Apostles and Elders, about this question. And they did not only do it in Acts chapter 15.

So, this is the thing. Christianity likes to believe that a bunch of guys got together in a room and just had a big discussion and then everyone, because everyone has the Spirit, realized the truth and then it was obvious to everyone. Well, that is not the case. That is not how it went. So, we do not like to use the Greek word Sanhedrin. But there is such a thing called a Beit Din, or Big Council, Big Court. And we use that model because that is exactly what was used here in Acts chapter 15, and again in Acts chapter 21.

In Acts chapter 18, verse 18, the apostle Shaul shaved his head in Cenchrea because he had separated his Nazarite vow. Then for three chapters he proceeds on to Jerusalem so that he can arrive there at the day of the Pentecost. He arrives in Jerusalem and Shaul and everyone are greeted gladly. Then it says that on the following day Shaul went in with them to Yaakov, who was the head (also called the Nasi, or the president, or the prince) of the Beit Din Gadol. He was the Nasi (head) of the Sanhedrin and all the elders were present.

Ma’asei (Acts) 21:18
18 On the following day Shaul went in with us to Yaakov, and all the elders were present.

Once again, we see the Council of Apostles and Elders. We see the Council of Apostles and Prophets, the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. And these are men who are taking every thought into captivity, they are connecting with Yeshua. Them in Yeshua and Yeshua in them, Him in the Father and the Father in Him. They are being broken, continually broken. They are pushing aside their own thoughts and they are listening for what it is that Elohim has to tell them. That is the goal, that is the job of any prophet or any apostle. Because it is no longer about what we think. Now it is about how Elohim directs us through His Spirit. And that is how we get true unity. By being unified in His Spirit and through His Spirit.

And that is a very different thing to the situation the apostle Shaul was decrying here in First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 10

Qoritim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 1:10
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Adon [Master] Yeshua Messiah, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

You can see this happen all the time in the Messianic Movement today. You can see, “Well, I like this teacher”, or “Well, I follow that pastor”, or “I really like his studies”, or “You know, I get really good gleaning from this Messianic Rabbi”. And then somebody else pipes “Well, I follow Yeshua”, or “I only obey the Scriptures”. But they do not really. Because the Scriptures tell us to unify and to have one single ministry, Yeshua’s Ministry, which needs to be founded on the foundation, built on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. And if it is not, then what it’s actually doing is setting up competition for Yeshua’s true global Kingdom. Because that is the goal. That is the whole point of the exercise, to establish a Kingdom for Yeshua. And if we are not establishing a single unified Kingdom for Yeshua, then we are setting up competition for Yeshua’s single unified Kingdom. And Elohim will not treat that nicely in the day His Son returns. That is something we do not ever want to be found doing, giving competition for Yeshua’s Kingdom.

Well you see people on Facebook all the time. ‘We do not need a Kingdom’. ‘We do not need a Foundation of Apostles and Prophets’. I had one brother and I will never forget. I think I told this in another video. I explained all these things to this one brother, what it is we are supposed to do, the importance of the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets, how the Fivefold Ministry gifts are all supposed to work together. And he is just like “Man, that just sounds like a lot of work!”. How do you explain to someone who claims to be sold-out, dead-in-the-flesh, on-fire, loving Yahweh his Elohim with all of his heart, all of his soul, all of his might, and he is like, “Man, that just sounds like a lot of work!”?

You know, there is going to be a huge destruction. When we read the prophecies, the vast majority of Ephraim is not going to survive, and the vast majority of Judah is not going to survive. We do not want to be those people. We want to be the ones who are in His will and in His favor because we are doing His work and have true love for the brethren. That is what we want.

So, you talk about the Messianic and it is like “Well, we are just sharing the Good News on Facebook, we are sharing memes and we are we are giving thumbs up!. We are subscribing! Okay, let me ask you, is it building Yeshua a single unified Kingdom worldwide? And is this Kingdom built on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets? And if not, what are we doing?

But you have the “But, but, but I do not want to belong to an organization!” There was this one minister, you know. And I am listening to some lecture of his. He stands right up in front, he just says, “I am not affiliated with any other ministry” and the crowd is just like Yay! Everybody is so happy because he is not affiliated with any other ministry. They are just so happy because his ministry is not built on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. Everyone is so happy because he is not helping to build Yeshua’s global unified Kingdom. He is proudly disconnected from the rest of the body. He is a hand; he has no knee to the foot. He is a hand, and he has no need of the brain. He is a hand; he has no need of the heart. He is a mouth, and he has no need of the stomach.

It is just like; how do you get through to these people?

I do not know. hopefully you make videos and hopefully the one in a thousand who truly loves Yeshua hears and understands, and the rest of them are going to go to their destruction. Because that is what Yahweh says. “Cursed is the one who does not obey His voice”, and this is what His voice is saying to us today. That we are supposed to be forming one single unified Kingdom for Yeshua. We are supposed to be investing our minas wisely to build a Kingdom for Yeshua.

And that is not what most people are doing. What most people are doing is they are seeking entertainment and fellowship and that is all. They are meeting in someone’s living room, they are reading the Torah portion, they are having a shared meal. And they are like “Yay! We have fellowship!” But they are not building Yeshua’s single unified global Kingdom, according to true doctrine on a right Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. And the reason why is because they do not hear Yahweh’s voice and they do not have enough sense to listen to those who do.

So what we have in the movement today is a bunch of Messianic leaders, teachers, rabbis, pastors, and all sorts of things building separate ministries. And the problem here is that in Scripture, according to Yahweh, separate belief sets are equivalent to separate nations. The way Yahweh looks at things, separate beliefs are separate nations. He is not so concerned about our genetics. That is not the main thing. There is a genetic component, we talk about that in the Nazarene Israel study, it is not the main thing. The main thing is that we all have the same belief set. And let me just say to complete that thought, every family, every nation, every clan (as we explain in the Nazarene Israel study) has at least some of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s genetics. But the thing is what Yahweh looks at.

For example, Ruth. Ruth was a Moabitess; she was not an Israelite. But she is in King David’s lineage. She is in Yeshua’s lineage. Because her belief was right. That is what Yahweh looks at. So a single belief is a single nation. Technically, the sect of the Sadducees, that is a different nation than the sect of the Pharisees. And then we get into the whole Babylonian thing where you create Babylonian nations based on democracy, and you have different religions inside of that. And that is a whole separate nightmare, we explained that in the Revelation study. But in Scripture a nation is defined as a single doctrine, a nation is a single belief set. That is how Yahweh looks at things. That is why Yeshua asks when He returns “will He find the Faith on the earth?” Most versions translate “will he find faith on the earth?”, it actually says “will he find the faith on the earth?” And the Faith that is on the earth utilizes the Fivefold Ministry doctrine, built on a unified Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. Because if the organization is built on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets who (by definition) hear Yahweh’s voice, then the rest of the body who is not able to hear Yahweh’s voice can still obey Yahweh’s voice. And thus they do not fall prey to the curse.

What kind of curse? This is what you have got in the Messianic mess.

You do not have a Foundation of Apostles or Prophets. You have some false apostles, and you have some false prophets who are building their own kingdoms. They are building their own ministries. And once again, you have got a heap of rubble. There is no way to enter in for worship, there is no true unity. That is not pleasing to Yeshua, that is not what He wants.

Well, Yeshua speaks to the false prophets in Matthew chapter 12.

Mattiyahu (Matthew) 12:30
30 “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”

He is talking about His single unified Kingdom based on a single Foundation of Apostles and Prophets, with a single doctrine. That is what He is talking about. And if we are doing something other than that it is effectively treason. We are effectively setting up stumbling blocks for the unaware. Do not get eaten by the wolves, you have got to be smarter than the wolf.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 18:20
20 [Yahweh says] “But the [false] prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speak in the name of other [false] Elohim, that prophet shall die.”

He is not just talking here about prediction, but any prophecy. Speaking according to the things of Elohim, speaking according to the things of the Kingdom, forthtelling or foretelling. Meaning if he gets it wrong, or if he is not complete, or if he is setting up a different ministry, or if he is setting up stumbling blocks for the unaware, or if he speaks in the name of other false elohim.

We are coming into a time brothers and sisters; we are coming into the end-times. Even now we have to be able to see Matthew 24 knocking on the door. So, here we are in the end-times, what are we going to do? Are we going to do what Yeshua says to do? Exactly what He says to do? Are we going to unify on a single Foundation of Apostles and Prophets? Or are we going to do our own thing? We are coming into a time where disobedience is going to be punished, and I believe it is going to be punished with death.

We will talk in another place about the evil error of book sales (for profit). Because book sales causes division, it is not what we are supposed to do. And again, that is speaking a word in His name which Elohim has not commanded us to speak. Because Elohim prohibits book sales in His word. Building separate ministries is definitely against Elohim’s word. And not unifying on the Foundation of Apostles and Prophets is against His word. These people are hirelings, that is how Scripture defines them.

Now, I am sure there are ministers out there that may intentionally mislead people. I have seen Christian ministers in Protestantism and Catholic ministers that maybe I would not doubt this with. But I do not know any of these Messianic rabbis, Messianic pastors, or Messianic leaders and teachers that I would suspect of waking up in the morning and deliberately trying to mislead people. But that is effectively what they are doing. And the way Elohim looks at things is that if we mislead His people, He credits it to us as if we intended to mislead His people. That is why Yaakov (James) says not to be many, not for many of us to be teachers. Because we are going to be held to a much higher standard. But even so, stumbling blocks need to come.

We just need to be smarter than a stumbling block and we need to be smarter than the wolves, and also we need to be smarter than the hirelings.

Yochanan (John) 10:12
12 “But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.”

The hireling is not dwelling in Yeshua, Yeshua is not dwelling in him. How do we know this? Because the fruits are wrong. Because he is not working together to build a single unified ministry based on a single Foundation of Apostles and Prophets. He has got his own ministry, he is doing something else, he is setting up a separate kingdom that is a different spirit. Yeshua is not dwelling in them. Cannot be, because if Yeshua’s dwelling enough in us, if I am in Yeshua and Yeshua’s in me, if Yeshua’s Spirit is truly in me, then I am going to be doing the same things Yeshua was doing.

What is Yeshua doing? Yeshua is building a single unified Kingdom. So am I building a single unified Kingdom based on a Foundation of Apostles and Prophets with the Fivefold Ministry gifts? If so then there is a possibility that maybe Yeshua’s Spirit lives in me. But if I am not building a single unified Kingdom based on a single Foundation of Apostles and Prophets according to the true Fivefold Ministry gifts, there is no possibility that Yeshua’s Spirit is dwelling in me. This is something to think about when either you are looking for ministries to glean from, or if you are a minister yourself. Think carefully about these things, the life you save may be your own.

How many ministries, how many kingdoms are we building? Something to think about.

People ask, what is my advice? My advice is this. The first thing is to ask for the gift. This is a gift that each one of us who can, should cultivate. I do not know if Elohim will give you the gift or not give you the gift. But it is a gift that we should all ask for. Because the apostle Shaul tells us to desire the gifts, but especially that we may prophesy. So we may speak according to Elohim’s word and not according to our own mistaken, erroneous, misinterpretations of Elohim’s word, which is what most of the leaders and teachers are doing.

Once we receive the gift, then we focus on Yeshua, and then use discipline to take every thought into captivity and block out the lusts of our eyes. Do not go looking at women. Do not go looking at cars. Do not go looking at things you would like to have. You stay focused on Elohim. Pray for what you need and let Him bring it to you. Do not let the lust of the flesh rise up, do not think about things that would feel good. Crowd those out. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you!” Do not get caught up in pride. Do not think of things to justify why it is okay in your case, or thinking about how glorious it will be for you, and this and that. Crowd all those thoughts out.

When you are left with discipline, crowding all those thoughts out, there should be an inward focus on Yeshua and Yeshua in you. And you should feel that connection. Him in the Father and the Father in Him. You in Him and Him in you. Then when you do that, just breathe simple inspiration-exhalation. Just breathe and really listen inwardly in the Spirit. When you do that, ask Yahweh to show you which is the single ministry that He has which is teaching the Faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. And hear His voice in that.

We need to remember that Yahweh says, “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant.”

Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 11:3-4
3 “And say to them [to the southern kingdom of Judah], ‘Thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel: “Cursed [‘ârar; bitterly cursed, something we absolutely do not want] is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant
4 which I commanded your fathers in the day I commanded them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your Elohim’…”

What is the covenant? The covenant is to obey His voice and also to do all the things that His voice said to do. That someone who could hear His voice wrote down. And if we will do those things then we shall be His people and He will be our Elohim. And if we will do those things then there will be unity within the body of Messiah. Because we are practicing and developing the gift of prophecy.