Are you new to the Bible? Would you like to understand it better? If so, tune into these programs which serve to help the new believer in the Messiah.
Latest Podcasts in Biblical Basics
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 65 (No Place for Chickens Part Two)
Prayer makes you think.
For instance, who was better prepared for what happened after midnight in the Garden of Gethsemane, Yeshua or his disciples? Why?
Apparently, Peter needed to go to bed with the chickens, and by the time the cock crowed three times the next morning, he’d denied Yeshua and run away. Just hours before, Peter didn’t imagine such a thing were possible.
An often-quoted proverb helps us to understand the inner process of prayer:
“As a man thinks within himself [b’nafsho], so is he…” (Pr 23:7)
“B’nafsho” is “in his soul.” The soul is defined as a bundle of appetites, emotions, desires, and intellect. The soul thinks. We don’t usually hear the beginning or the end of the proverb, though. The beginning of the proverb is:
“Do not eat the bread of a selfish man or desire his delicacies…”
The rest of the verse is:
“…he says to you, ‘Eat and drink!’ But his heart [lev] is not with you.”
The heart is sometimes seen as the mind, interconnected with the soul. Even scientists understand there is a “heart brain” that communicates with the head brain. In context, the proverb warns us that in spite of the generous words he says, a selfish person’s silent soul and heart think the opposite and wish that you would not accept.
The connection between prayer and the proverb is that it is possible to pray one thing with the lips, yet not to really believe it or want it to come to pass. It is possible to pray one thing and think the opposite. Yeshua struggled in this like we do, yet he prayed the perfect solution in the Garden of Gethsemane:
“Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done.”
Mark Call – Double Parsha “Behar/Bechukotai” teaching from Shabbat Shalom Mesa
This was either the week where average Americans began to awaken to the fact that what was once their country has been successfully invaded, or that it was in fact, conquered long ago. And it is also the week where the regular Torah portion gives us a stunning...
Torah Teachers’ Round Table – Tanakh Edition – Ezekiel ch 35
This week the Torah Teachers explore Ezekiel chapter 35. Notes: From Ken's comment on the Greater Exodus - Jeremiah 16:14-15
Now Is The Time with Rabbi Steve Berkson | Are You Saved? | Part 11
Contrary to the vast majority of those who twist the writings (2 Peter 3:16) and teach that “works” are no longer important or necessary, Rabbi Steve Berkson brings us to the understanding of why “works” are important. Take advantage of new teachings every week. To...
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 64 (No Place for Chickens Part One)
Thanks to the availability of rabbinic reference books, most people now understand that the rooster crow in Jerusalem wasn’t likely on the Temple Mount. When Yeshua warns Peter that he will deny Yeshua by the third rooster crow, the meaning is likely referring to the official Temple trumpet blowers, who signaled the Temple’s daily activities from special posts on the Temple Mount. To this day, you can view the tumbled stone on which they stood, which was found lying in the rubble at the base of the Temple Mount in 1968.
It is forbidden to raise fowl in Jerusalem because of the “Holy Things”, [fowl may bring impurity in to sacrificial items] nor may priests raise them [anywhere] in the Land of Israel because of [the laws concerning] pure foods. (Mishnah Bava Kama 7)
On the other hand, the rooster was used to signal the trumpet blowers when it was daylight, which was especially important on feast days with so many to accommodate in the services. Where was this rooster? Perhaps just outside the city walls, in which case, he would be easily heard.
The Temple was no place for chickens.
Now that you are called into covenant of royal priesthood with the Holy One of Israel, a little Temple sent to the nations, there’s still no room for chickens. There’s no room for a people too afraid to obey the Word.
The appearance of Yeshua as the conqueror in Revelation is one of authority, and his feet are bronze, just like the bronze sea of the Temple. Seas in Scriptures often represent the peoples. The washing of water by the Word is what Yeshua sacrificed himself for on the altar. It is also what a royal priesthood is called to do. No chickens.
Mark Call – Parsha “Emor” teaching from Shabbat Shalom Mesa
Join Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa Fellowship for a two-part look at parsha "Emor" (Leviticus/Vayikra chapters 21 through 24). And this time the parsha contains references to a lot of things that don't even exist any more, which - as we will see - make it all the...
Torah Teachers’ Round Table – Tanakh Edition – Ezekiel ch 34 concl
The teachers complete the study of Ezekiel, chapter 34, including a look at what might be called the "Greater Exodus," still yet to come.
Now Is The Time with Rabbi Steve Berkson | Are You Saved? | Part 10
In part 9 of “Are You Saved?”, we read through James (Ya’akov) chapter 2 and now understand that faith/belief and works are intertwined so that one without the other cannot exist. In this lesson, Rabbi Steve Berkson takes us to the book of Hebrews, chapters 11 and 12...
Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 63 (The Foot Festival to Straying or Sealing)
It doesn’t take long to learn about Passover and Sukkot, but Shavuot? What, exactly, are we supposed to do? There is a lot of celebration, storytelling, camping, and general hilarity during our bookend feasts of Passover and Sukkot, but I’ve had more than one email or student question concerning Shavuot and what to “do.” Just eat dairy products? Just stay up all night reading Torah? That’s it?
No, no, that’s not it. Shavuot forms the axis of the foot festivals. They are called foot festivals because these are the feasts that Israel was expected to walk to three times per year. The more fortunate could ride donkeys. As we listen for the footsteps of Messiah, then where else should we listen the most closely? Yes, the foot festivals.
Two most important themes of Shavuot are the bringing of the firstfruits of the wheat and commemorating the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
Our working text in the Footsteps of Messiah comes from Song of Songs Chapter 4:1-5. In past newsletters, we related these two symbols, a flock of goats and clean sheep as the nation of Israel come up from her two washings, the crossing of the Reed Sea and the three-day washing to prepare for the visitation at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah. The goats represent the Israelites descending from “Mount Gilead,” or the “Mount of Witness,” symbolizing Sinai, where they witnessed the Words in fire, smoke, hail, and rain:
How beautiful you are, my darling, how beautiful you are!Your eyes are like doves behind your veil; your hair is like a flock of goats that have descended from Mount Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep which have come up from their washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost her young. Your lips are like a scarlet (shani) thread, and your mouth is beautiful. Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate behind your veil. Your neck is like the tower of David, built with layers of stones on which are hung a thousand shields, all the round shields of the warriors.Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle that graze among the lilies.
The goat’s hair formed a covering for the Tabernacle: “All the skilled women spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun, in blue and purple and scarlet material and in fine linen. All the women whose heart stirred with a skill spun the goats’ hair.” (Ex 35:25-26)
After the “mount of Witness,” the Israelites begin to work under the inspiration of the Ruach HaKodesh with Betzalel and Oholiav. As an aside, it is a given within the ancient Jewish way of viewing the Revelation at Sinai, that the offer of the Torah was made to the other 70 nations on earth as well as to Israel. Out of those 70, there was a remnant who desired the Torah, yet only one nation that unanimously, and with ONE VOICE replied, “We will do and we will hear.”
Mark Call – Double-Parsha “Acharei Mot / Kedoshim” teaching from Shabbat Shalom Mesa
Join Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa Fellowship for a two-part look at double parsha "Acharei Mot/Kedoshim" (Leviticus/Vayikra chapters 16 through 20) -- and another of those portions that is not only filled with a variety of interesting instructions and...
Torah Teachers’ Round Table – Tanakh Edition – Ezekiel ch 33 into 34
The teachers continue the study of the Book of the prophet Ezekiel into chapter 34.
“Come out of her, My people” Show ~ Mark Call weekly
This week special guest David Justice, co-host of the Drive Time Friday show, joins Mark to talk about a subject both of them turn out to have been studying for years: the corporate 501c(3) IRS-approved 'church.' If you've ever wondered why "there's no power in the...
