B.E.S.T. Shabbat

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. - Rev 12:11 KJV To listen to the audio-only version click below  Have you ever thought… What’s holding me back? What’s holding me captive? Could it be, FEAR? More specifically the fear of DEATH For many of us, just the word death or the discussion of death invokes emotions and fears in our hearts. For some we begin to feel anxious and worried. For some we want to run, hide, avoid the conversation all together. The images of death presented bring a sense of finality, incompleteness, hopelessness, despair and the like. These images are what is in our hearts which empowers the “fear of death”. I believe the Lord wants us to walk in freedom and liberty facing death all day long however experiencing eternal life. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. [We are] hard-pressed on every side

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God Day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. (Rev 12:10-11 NKJV) To listen to the audio-only version click below  Last chapter, we began to look at how to overcome evil in these days. This verse tells us of 3 main strategies that believers use to overcome the accuser of the brethren. Accusation is the main method of the enemy. When you accuse someone of something you bring the voice of your experience to someone in authority in this case the authority is God Himself. As we mentioned a couple of chapters back, the throne of God today is in the heart of believers. "Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My F

"“Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." Joh 5:24 (NASB) To listen to the audio-only version click below  Death and the fear of death are ubiquitous in the human experience. Mortality frightens most of us even though it is common to all of us. Death shows us how weak we are and how vulnerable we can be in our human vessel. All of us must deal with death and the fear of it on our own terms. The atonement of our Messiah was enacted through His death. The writer of the ancient set of letters written to the Hebrew people in the dispersion, tells us: "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." He

"And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil one;” Mat 13:37-38 (NASB) To listen to the audio-only version click below  Last chapter, we began to look at the parable of the sower and the times that we live in. One of the keys to successfully navigating difficult times is coming to terms with the strategies of the kingdom of darkness and the power that is available to us when we align with God and His Word. Yeshua used the parable of the sower as the master template for all His teaching. "And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?" Mar 4:13 (NASB) Parables are unlocked by a shift of perception. Yeshua calls this shift, seeing: "Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born-again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”"