Your Daily Bread for January 8-14, 2023

Welcome to Your Daily Bread for January 8-14, 2023 by Dr Apelu Poe!

Key Torah Code for this Week: “Terumah” (Offering): Exodus 25:1-27:19.

Basic Principle of Our Judaic-Christian Faith: It is not what our God can do for us; it is what we can do using the power of God’s Word (Torah) that He has blessed us with that will help make this New Year a breakthrough year for all of us.

?“It is interesting that many ancient Creation myths, starting with the first known Sumerian writings state that everything was called into existence with words, that by being named they were created. As Dr Rips told me, it is yet more explicit in Judaism: “The Torah came before the world—first God created the Torah, and then from it, He created the universe.” Again, it is the letters, the language, that is the blueprint of Creation.” 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 followed 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 second week of the Presentation season. What is the Presentation season? The Presentation season is the fourth season of the Christian year calendar with the “Church Anniversary” Sunday, January 29, as its festival. As the name 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 it 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.’

?Before we 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 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 8-14, 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 first 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 of all the things that we’re grateful to God for. Perhaps, none of which is of greater significance to you and me than God’s sacrificial love for us, his children.

I’m sure you have heard people say that the story of God’s sacrificial love did not begin when God created the heavens and the earth which we read about in Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2. There is something that precedes that. There is something on which God’s Creation stories in Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2 are predicated. What is that something? The oral tradition of the Hebrews, or the ancient Jewish people from which our salvation comes, says that for 974 generations before the earth was created and 26 generations after the earth was created (from Adam to Joseph), that’s a total of 1,000 generations, this oral tradition tells us that for 1,000 generations, God has preserved this esoteric treasure with Him in heaven. What esoteric treasure are we talking about? Jesus (God’s Word Incarnate. But when we fell into sin, the Bible says the wages of sin is eternal death. God did not withhold his esoteric treasure, His Word Incarnate but he let His Son, Jesus, die on that wooden cross so that you and I may be redeemed from our sins.

So, what is the point of Jesus’ cross? The point of Jesus’s cross is precisely the vicarious suffering of God’s Son on the cross so that the depth of his death opens for us the way to eternal life. Whoever comes, and whoever believes.?

How do we know that? Listen, again, to the apostle Paul, “Let each of you look not only to his interests but also 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 second benefit that my Torah gift will give to you this week is self-confidence. It’ll help you develop your self-confidence while at the same time getting rid of all the negative or limiting beliefs that have prevented you from becoming the impact leader that God has called you to be. Neuroscientists tell us that self-confidence is one of the most powerful feelings one can embody.

Remember this: moving through life with self-confidence allows you to conquer your doubts, your worries, and your fears and start believing in yourself enough to go after the things that you want. When you believe you are a God-man or a God-woman, not a bad man or a bad woman but a unique person created in the image of God, incorporated in the Body of Christ, and blessed with God’s Spirit, then you will begin to experience high levels of motivation because you deserve to reflect who you are and whose you are. For this reason, your entire attitude changes. Jesus said, “If you have faith as small as this mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree be uprooted and be planted in the seas, and it’ll obey you” (Luke 17:6). Jesus, then, put it this way, “If you believe in me, you can do the work that I have been doing, or even greater works than these because I’m going to the Father” (John 14:12).

The third benefit that my Torah gift will give to you this week is self-discipline. It’ll help you discipline yourself so that you will learn to control your actions and your emotions. Why the need to control your actions and your emotions? Because man is his actions. And, woman, is her actions. Look at the big mess we are in right now because man has failed to discipline or control his actions. Think about Russia’s senseless invasion of Ukraine. More than two decades after he came to power,?President Putin’s grip on the Russian people is finally starting to falter. There is no question that the war in Ukraine has opened up a credibility gap, and for the first time many Russians no longer feel they can trust what their leader is saying to them. Combined with tough economic sanctions, funds being reallocated to the war, and conscription drives across the country, the costs of this vainglorious conquest are becoming more and more difficult for the Russian people. It is no wonder why the apostle Paul asked us a rhetorical question that requires no answer.

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

The fourth 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 knowing that this Judaic-Christian way of life that God has called us to live is not without opportunity cost. Had Jesus not done what he had done, that is, allowing his body to be broken, and his innocent blood to be shed on our behalf, there would never have been any church, and you and I would not be here today. Listen, again, to the author of the Book of Hebrews, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14).

The fifth benefit that my Torah gift will give to you this week is high self-esteem. It’ll help you heighten your self-esteem so that you will not be plagued with low energy vibrations but will have high levels of spiritual consciousness. In 2020 we had a global coronavirus pandemic that affected everyone. It has called each one of us to re-evaluate how we’re living. Many people were asking, Is my life consistent with my values? If not, then what do I need to do? When we fulfil our Divine purpose then we will have high self-esteem to motivate and inspire people to help make this world a better place for all of us. Listen, again, to what God wants you to keep in mind, “I have given you as a light to the nations so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

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 25:1-27:19. In the Hebrew language (God’s sacred tongue) from which our English Bible translation was taken, this week’s Torah portion is called, “Terumah,” translated, “offering,” see Exodus 25:1-2.

?To understand this, one has to, first of all, identify the double references in the text. On a superficial linguistic level intended primarily for the Jewish audience, the reading focuses on the code “Terumah,” translated, as “offering.” Thus, in the opening part of the reading, we hear God calling the people of Israel to take an offering for him by contributing thirteen (13) materials: gold, silver and copper; blue, purple, and red-dyed wool; flax, goat hair, animal skins, wood, olive oil, spices and gems. The purpose of the offering is to build a dwelling for God. In the central part of the reading, Moses is, then, given detailed instructions on how to construct this dwelling for God so that it could be readily dismantled, transported and reassembled as the people journeyed in the desert.

?Please note that in the Sanctuary’s inner chamber, behind an artistically woven curtain, was the ark containing the tablets of testimony engraved with the Ten (10) Commandments; on the ark’s cover stood two (2) winged cherubim hammered out of pure gold. In the outer chamber stood the seven (7) branched menorah, and the table upon which the “showbread” was arranged. The Sanctuary’s three (3) walls were fitted together from forty-eight (48) upright wooden boards, each of which was overlaid with gold and held up by a pair of silver foundation sockets. The roof was formed of three (3) layers of coverings: (a) tapestries of multicoloured wool and linen; (b) a covering made of goat hair; (c) a covering of ram and tachash skins. The reading ends with a brief statement saying that all the vessels of the Sanctuary in all the service thereof shall be of brass.

?Indeed, on a profound theological level, this week’s Torah portion, “offering” has an important message to us, the Church, the Body of Christ. This message is evident when the Torah portion is interpreted in the context of this third week of the Presentation season. And that is, in the beginning of our journey through this 2022 ministry year, God wants us to take for him an offering. An offering from whom? From everyone whose heart makes him or her willing to give. And for what purpose? To make for God a home so that he may dwell in our midst. How do we know that? Listen, again, to our text for this week: The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel that they take for me an offering; from every man whose heart makes him willing you shall receive the offering for me,” (Exodus 25:1-2).

?Question. What are we to do with this offering? Answer: “And let them make me a Sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst,” (Exodus 25:8). In later years, when Israel’s sin resulted in the destruction of the Sanctuary, God remains faithful to them. Unfortunately, they neglected to rebuild the Sanctuary so that God would dwell in their midst. It is no wonder why God himself instructed the children of Israel, “Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it, and that I may appear in my glory…” (Haggai 1:8). Perhaps, it is for this reason that David could not be more excited, saying, “I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows.” (Psalm 66:13). John, then, put it this way, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them,” (Revelation 21:3).

?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.?