Your Daily Bread for January 22-28, 2023

Welcome to Your Daily Bread for January 22-28, 2023 by Dr Apelu Poe!

Key Torah Code for this Week: “Ki Tisa” (When You Take Up [the census]): Exodus 30:11-34:35.

Basic Principle of Our Judaic-Christian Faith: In order to ensure the success of the task of building God’s house or God’s kingdom entrusted to us, each of us needs to contribute to the work.

“This may be your last chance to make peace, and avoid the horror yet to come. The fate of both the Israelis and the Palestinians will be the same. If you don’t make peace, you will face the End of Days together. Now you must act. I’ll get to the point in a minute.

But, first, let me say Talofa, and Shabbat shalom to you, my friends in the name of “Yeshua HaMashiach” Jesus the Messiah! As they say in Samoan, Malo le soifua manuia! Faafetai fo’i le fai tatalo! Congratulation on your good health! Thanks also for the prayers. May our God always grant us his lovingkindness!

Getting back to the point. If you have been following God’s calendar, which dictates and foretells the events of our lives to which the above quote refers, you will know that we are now entering the fourth week of the Presentation season. What is the Presentation season? Well, the Presentation season is the fourth season of the Christian year calendar with the “Church Anniversary” Sunday, January 29, as its festival. Just as the name itself suggests, Presentation season is a time in which we are called to celebrate Jesus being presented by his parents, Mary and Joseph, to the Lord God for the mission for which he was sent to the earth. The Biblical basis that supports this can be found in Luke 2:22 which says, ‘And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.’

Now, before we take a look at this week’s Torah portion, let me also say “thank you” to all of you, my regular readers. You’re a fantastic community of believers because you take the time to access my teaching on Facebook and on LinkedIn. It is, indeed, a great inspiration for me to see that so many of you around the world have been following my teaching on social media from week to week. I call my Torah gift for you this week “Your Daily Bread for January 22-28, 2023.”

Why am I saying this? Well, for those of you who have been following my teaching, I’m saying this because, as you might have noticed, I have been using this same gift that God has given me for the past 40 years to help guide the destiny of those whose spiritual welfare God has entrusted to me. And now that I have retired from the ordained ministry in July 2021, I want you to have free access to it. My pastoral desire is simply this: For you to be the person God has created you to be. My prayer, then, is that you would be able to live according to God’s time so that you may discern God’s Divine path for your life and how it is that God wants you to live to best receive his blessing and to best shine his holy light.

?Your Benefits from My Torah Gift I Can Give You This Week

So what exactly can you expect from the Torah gift I’m giving you this third week of the Presentation season? Well, the first and foremost is self-awareness. Why self-awareness? Because life transformation begins with self-awareness. To address any concern or any challenges that we face in our life today, we must, first of all, identify what is at heart, the root of those challenges. Without that, we will never be able to come up with an adequate or appropriate strategy that will resolve our challenges. So the Torah gift I’m giving you this week will help you become aware of the fact that although things are not perfect in our world today, we should not lose heart. Why? Because our God is ever able and willing to provide for our needs. How do we know that? Well. Listen, again, to Moses’ testimony, “The Lord, the Lord is a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and truth. He extends his loving-kindness to thousands of generations, placing the merits of the Father to the credits of the children” (Exodus 34:6-7).

The second benefit that my Torah gift will give to you this week is a greater sense of clarity. It'll help you develop a greater sense of clarity so that you will know that our lives turn on the axis of God's hand. How can we be sure of that? Well, listen, again, to Moses' confession of faith, "There is no one like God, O Jesurun, who rides in the sky to your help, and through his majesty in the heavens" (Deuteronomy 33:26). Moses, then, put it this way, "The Eternal God is our refuge, and underneath us are his everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27).

The third benefit that my Torah gift will give to you this week is a deeper sense of gratitude and heartfelt appreciation. It'll help you heighten your sense of sincere gratitude and heartfelt appreciation for what God has done for us sinners when we were destined to die an eternal death. Our God has offered to pay the redemption price through the precious blood of his Son on the cross so that you and I would have life and have it abundantly. It is no wonder why the apostle Paul urges us, saying, "Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who, though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:4-8).

The fourth benefit that my Torah gift will give to you this week is high levels of motivation. It'll help inspire you so that you will feel energized and motivated to be God's spiritual partner whom God himself has filled with the gifts of his Holy Spirit. How do we know that? Well, listen, again, to God's own words, "I have called by name Betzalel, the son of Uri, son of Hur from the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship" (Exodus 31:3).

The fifth benefit that my Torah gift will give to you this week is self-confidence. It'll help enhance your self-confidence knowing that fierce winds are bound to blow because, like the weather condition, there are certain things in life that we cannot control. Nevertheless, our God wants you and me to know that nothing escapes his providential care; meaning that as long as we put our complete trust in him, God himself will continue to sustain us; God himself will continue to be gracious unto us; and God himself will continue to show us his goodness. Listen, again, to David, the Psalmist, "O let us give thanks to the Lord for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever; let all those redeemed by the Lord say so, whom he had redeemed from troubles" (Psalm 107:1-2).

The Historical Proof that Supports our Need for Your Daily Bread that Sustains Us Spiritually

?Does it surprise you, then, that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, did not forget to remind us about these things? That is why last week you heard Jesus speaking to us, saying, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything that is written about me in the Law of Moses [Torah] and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled…” (Luke 24:44). ). Jesus, then, did something which I thought was quite remarkable and quite extraordinary. He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Jesus said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:45-49).

?Overview Summary of this Week’s Torah Portion

With this in mind, let us look at this week’s Torah portion, Exodus 30:11-34:35. In the Hebrew language (God’s sacred tongue) from which our English Bible translation was taken, this week’s Torah portion is called, “Ki Tisa,” translated, “when you take up [the census],” see Exodus 30:11-12.

To understand this, one has to, first of all, identify the double references in the text. On a superficial linguistic level which is intended primarily for the Jewish audience, the reading focuses on the code “when you take up [the census].” Thus, in the opening part of the reading, we hear God telling Moses that when you take up the census of the people of Israel, then, they should each contribute exactly half a shekel to the Sanctuary. In the main part of the reading, God gives Moses instructions regarding the making of the Sanctuary’s water basin, anointing oil, and incense.

Please note that the “wise-hearted” artisans Bezalel and Aholiav are placed in charge of the Sanctuary’s construction and that the people are once again commanded to keep the Sabbath. However, when Moses does not return when expected from Mount Sinai, the people make a golden calf and worship it. As a result, God proposes to destroy the errant nation, but Moses intercedes on their behalf. Moses descends from the mountain carrying tablets of the testimony engraved with the Ten Commandments; seeing the people dancing about their idol, he breaks the tablets and destroys the golden calf. He then returns to God to say: “If you do not forgive them, blot me out from the book that you have written.” The reading ends with God forgiving the people, but says that the effect of their sin will be felt for many generations. On the mountain, Moses is granted a vision of the divine thirteen attributes of mercy.

Indeed, on a profound theological level, this week’s Torah portion “when you take up the census” has an important message to us, the Church, and the Body of Christ. This message is evident when the portion is interpreted in the context of this fourth week of the Presentation season. And that is, in order to ensure the success of the building of God’s house or kingdom entrusted to us, each one of us needs to contribute to the work. Regardless of how much one tries to build God’s house or kingdom, it will not be considered complete. Because we need the other half to make it a whole entity.

How, then, will we be able to build God’s house or God’s kingdom in a time when more and more people are struggling financially? Answer: By putting our trust in the Spirit of God. Listen, again, to what God said, “See, I have called by name Bezalel…and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship,” (Exodus 31:1-3). It is no wonder why Jesus was able to fulfill the mission of building God’s kingdom for which he was sent to the world. Isaiah tells us, “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord,” (Isaiah 11:2). Perhaps, this is why David when he realized he had committed sin, he begged God, saying, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me,” (Psalm 51:1, 11). Jesus, therefore, reminded us, saying, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,” (Acts 1:8).

Should you be interested in learning more in-depth study of the weekly Torah codes on which our lives turn, Book I, Volume 1 of my III Books Series: 11 Volumes will be coming out soon. It’s called “The Hidden Secrets of the Master’s Mind: How You Can Live with God’s Time.” The book will be published by My Book My Passion Publishing: Home of Experts Insights Publishing & Bestselling Authors International Organization. I would love to keep you updated on that. You can reach me at [email protected] . Also, get your FREE copy of God’s calendar for this 2022-2023 ministry year that will help guide your faith journey.