Increase in God’s Love | Biblical Benedictions From the New Testament Season 2

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: One of the things that we need to be highly cognitive of, to be aware of, is and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all the people, just as we also do for you. Now, I'm going to start back at the beginning of those two verses that I just read. I want to point out Paul here was asking that the Lord would direct his path towards these saints in Thessalonica. So, I'm going to kind of take that concept of Paul asking the Lord to direct him and make a personal application about that for you and I. So, if you think about what Paul was asking the Lord for, may the Lord direct our way to you. What that tells me is that we can ask God to direct our way. There's so many different decisions and pathways that we could walk through or go through in life. I mean, every day is all about making decisions. Isn't that true? Every single day we are faced with choices from the time that we wake up in the morning to the time that we go to bed at night, we are faced with decisions about which way to go. If you break this concept down in the most fundamental way, we have to make decisions continuously, every minute, about what we're going to think about. You might not even be being aware of what you're thinking about. Psychiatry tells us that most of people's thought processes are controlled by their unconscious mind. And a lot of times our mind wanders to focus on something negative and we're not even aware that our mind has drifted and is focusing on that negative thing. But the Bible says, you know, as a man thinketh, so he is. So, it really begins with what we think in our mind and in our hearts. But we find that Paul here is asking the father to direct his way. May the Lord direct our path. So, I want to encourage you today, beloved one, to ask father to direct you from directing you and being able to channel your thoughts in the right direction, to direct you by giving you the power to have self-awareness so you can see the light and choose correctly. David said of the Lord, in your light there is light. And so for you to choose the right path, for you to be directed by the Lord, it involves being able to see correctly, to see light. But a lot of times what we think is light is not really light at all. This is why it's important to ask the Lord to direct us. The Bible says, lean not on your own understanding, but rather acknowledge him in all your ways, and he shall direct your path. So, it begins in the mind and in the heart. We ask the father, Lord, help me to take possession of myself, that I would direct myself by your grace in the right direction. Sometimes people are spending so much time focusing on the evils that have been committed against them, the sins that have been committed against them. And they're just focusing on this person slighted them and this person did that to them and they get consumed by it. We need to ask the Lord to direct our paths because going down that pathway is not going to lead us into light. It's going to lead us into destruction. Think about what I'm saying here. I'm breaking down a concept. Paul is saying, Lord, I hope that you'll direct my path to these saints at Thessalonica. I'm bringing it way back and I'm taking it into a much more general framework by saying, think about it. Paul was asking the Lord to direct his path. You and I therefore have a model that we can ask the Lord to direct our paths. And the beginning of our path being directed starts in the choices that we make, the pathway that we take as it relates to our thought life because as a man thinketh, so he is. So, we want to ask God for grace that will take the path in our thought life that leads to life, that will think about things that will produce love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, self-control, and all those things that are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It begins, beloved, in the mind. And as a man thinketh, so he is. So, father, I ask for grace right now as we're taking this big, broad subject. Just recognizing, Daddy, that we can ask you for help. That we are not left to do this all on our own, that we need your help and we can ask you for help. Father, I ask you right now for everyone that's listening, everyone under the sound of my voice, Lord. Father, we're asking you for help. Daddy, we need your help to control our thoughts. Father, to direct our thoughts towards those types of thoughts that lead to life. That we can manifest your presence and your goodness and then we can live in divine happiness. Father, we ask you to wake us up. I know that often as we're not even aware of our thoughts. Our thoughts are meandering left and right, backward and forward and we're dwelling on negative things and we don't even realize that we are. Father, we ask you to wake us up and direct our path so that we'll walk towards those things that produce life in Jesus' name. I remember, beloved, years ago in an experience, a vision of the night, I was laying in bed in a little room I call the rabbi's quarters in the facility where I was shepherding a congregation. And in this vision of the night, I was in this house and there were like demons behind me and I couldn't see the demons' physical shape. I could just see that they were there and they were driving me. They were oppressing me and they were causing me torment. And I was trying to run away from the demons. They were behind me pressing down on me and I was trying to run away from him in this house. And I ran into this room in the home and the tormentors followed me there. And then I ran into another room in the home and the demons followed me there. Then I ran into another room in the home. And the tormentors still were behind me. I couldn't escape them. Then all of a sudden, I felt a beam of light from heaven. I felt the gaze of the Lord fall upon me. Suddenly, I became aware that the Lord was looking upon me from heaven. And he showed me that there was somebody in my life that I had ill will towards. And the Lord spoke to me in this vision of the night and he said to me, release them. And right then and there I made a decision to release this person that I had unforgiveness and ill will towards. And immediately those demons, those tormentors left. What happened? The Lord directed my path. He directed my heart. He directed my mind. And when he did and I came into agreement with his light, the tormentors left. And so, father, again we thank you for being our savior through Messiah Jesus. Father, thank you that we don't have to do anything alone. You said it's not by might or by power, but by my spirit, sayeth the Lord. So, Daddy, we humbly submit ourselves to you, ask you to pour forth your help into our life that our paths would be directed towards life and godliness.
Justin Roberts: You're listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus and Rabbi Schneider will be right back. But first, did you know that we're on X? You can follow Discovering the Jewish Jesus for bite-sized inspiration, Hebrew insights, and updates on our weekly TV and radio airings. It's perfect for staying connected and being reminded of what our ministry is doing to share the good news of the gospel. Search for Discovering the Jewish Jesus on X and join the conversation today. Jesus warned his disciples to guard themselves against being deceived. Friends, the enemy wants to turn our hearts away from biblical truth. So, it is vital that we support those who will uphold uncompromising, scripturally based teaching. And if you believe Rabbi Schneider stands for these things, would you financially support us, help us stand for truth today? Go to discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Now, back to rabbi.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: And then Paul continues in the 12th verse. He says, and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another. So, we're going to focus on these three words, increase, abound in love. And it's all directed towards loving one another. But I love the concept even of the fact that we've been called to a life of increase through the God who always wants to be more for us. Aren't you glad that even if you're 65 years old, 75 years old, 85, 95, or even 105 years old? By the way, if you're 105 years old, would you please write in to our website, to the email address there, or let me know? I want to bless you. I'll personally reach out to you and pray for you, my friend. But aren't you glad that regardless of how old you are, God's got more for you. It's completely opposite from the world. In the world it's like once you reach 40 years old, people tell you, oh, your best days are behind you now. You know, once you're 50 years old, oh, your has been. But remember, Jesus, his first miracle was turning the water to wine. And it was at a wedding and the guests there had already drunken all the wine that the host had served. And they had run out. So, Jesus then blesses the water. He turns the water into wine. The guests drink the wine that Jesus created and they are astounded. They say, gosh, is this good? This is crazy. Usually at a wedding they serve the good wine first. And then once everyone's drunken freely of the good wine they can't tell the difference between the good wine and the bad wine anymore, then they serve the bad wine. You, they said to the host, save the good wine till last. And I believe it's a picture, beloved, of the fact that in Jesus the best is at the end. The best is last. And so God is a God of increase. So, Paul begins here by speaking about this God of increase. May you increase. I want you to know, beloved, there's still purpose for you. I don't care how old you are. There's still things for you to enter into in the Lord that are greater than anything you've ever entered into before. You have to believe that. David said, if I didn't believe that I could experience the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, I'd have no hope. In other words, David, the king of Israel, he had an expectation that he was going to experience God's goodness in his life. And the same is true for you and I. God is a God of increase. We're on the Bible cause an upward call. Paul says he forgets what lies behind and he presses on towards what now? The upward call of God in Christ Jesus. There's more for you. God's a God of increase. Then Paul continues here, that the Lord cause you to increase and get this now and abound in love for one another. And then even continues and says, and for all people. And so we have to understand that we're called, beloved ones, to work out our salvation in fear and trembling. The scripture says, work out your salvation in fear and trembling. In other words, we need to be self-introspective. We need to examine ourselves to see the condition of our soul, to examine the way that we walk. And one of the things that we need to be highly cognitive of, to be aware of, is, are we treating people with love? Are we growing in love? This is what Paul's benediction is, that God is blessing you. He's a God of increase and is blessing over you is that you would increase in love for his people and even for all people. And so we need to be pressing in to become more and more loving. Now, when I say more and more loving, I'm not talking about, you know, touchy-feely, whimsical. I'm talking about initiating acts of love and service. In other words, one of the ways that we love people is through expression, communication. We take the time to call somebody on the phone just to tell them I was thinking about you. I love you. When somebody does a good job, we bless them. You know, what you did, it really blessed me. What you said, it really encouraged me. If we see that somebody needs help with something, we step alongside them to help them, to lift them up. If we see somebody that's discouraged, we pray for them. We lay hands on them. In other words, to abound in love, here's the key, takes action. If we're going to abound in love, if we're going to increase in love, that means we're going to become more and more active in connecting with other people, not waiting for them to connect with us. That's not love. Did you ever hear the expression, if you want to have friends, be a friend to somebody. In other words, if we're going to abound in love, that means we're going to be the ones that are reaching out, initiating, and doing things for people to bless them. And it could be in a million different ways. But I want to ask you, have you become self-activated by the to be somebody that is in the world loving people? If you're just sticking to yourself and your own little castle, your own four walls, that's not love. I mean, one of the biggest challenges of the young generation, they don't want to talk to anybody. They just want to text people. They don't want to be bothered with having to talk to somebody on the phone. I remember someone that I knew, they said, oh, no, I know that person's going to call me. It wasn't that they hated the person, they just didn't want anyone to call them. They didn't want to have to take the time to connect with somebody on more of an intimate basis as opposed to just texting where so many things are falsehoods and people are misunderstood and they create fake faces. No. Loving is communicating. When the spirit of God fell on those first believers in Acts chapter two, he fell on them. Listen now, beloved ones, as a tongue of fire. Why did the Holy Spirit come to the church as a tongue? A tongue is a speaking oracle. A tongue speaks. Loving people involves speaking into their lives. And so I want to encourage us to understand that the blessing over our lives, the blessing that God is pronouncing on us is that we would increase and abound in love for one another and for all people. And this means that we have to be people of initiation. We have to be initiative people. We have to be active people. We have to be in action to love people. We can't just build a fortress around our lives going to work, or many people even working from home, in a little wall around themselves, not doing anything to love anybody. Just taking care of themselves. But beloved, this is not the life of the Lord Jesus who came into the world to seek and save the lost. It's not the heart of the father whose soul of the world that he gave his only begotten son. I want to encourage you and I today to be more initiative in loving people, going out of our way, even if it's uncomfortable, to bless people. To smile at them, to say hello. In a world that is now you sit on an airplane and you say hello to the person next to you, they look at you like they're mad, like I would you how could you invade my space and say hello to me on the airplane? Leave me alone. It's crazy. It's a crazy world, but we are lights in the darkness. We are lights shining in the earth. We cannot let the devil stop us. We cannot let hate stop us. Even if we're being misunderstood, let's love. And as my wife Cynthia always says, and let's love well. May he establish your hearts without blame and holiness before our God and father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. And so Paul is declaring the blessing over us that our hearts would be established in holiness and that we'd be ready to receive the Lord Jesus who is coming soon and quickly. Amen and amen. I know in my heart that when I'm able to sacrifice something to the Lord, whether it's an act of obedience, whether it's denying my flesh, whether it's in my finances, I know that when I choose to sacrifice myself to him, it brings me into a sense of feeling connected. What's really interesting is that the Hebrew word that is translated sacrifice in English, the Hebrew is korban. And not only does korban mean sacrifice, but the literal root of it means to draw near. So, what's the point? When we make a sacrifice to the Lord, when we sacrifice our lives to him, what happens is we are brought near. We draw near to him and as a result he draws near to us. I want to encourage you. Be faithful to the Lord with your finances. Make a sacrifice to him. And when you do, beloved ones, out of love and with right motives, the result will be is that you'll be brought near to him and experience his blessing.
Justin Roberts: Amen. And to support the ministry, visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call us. Our number is 888 my rabbi. You can also mail your gift. Our address is Discovering the Jewish Jesus, PO Box 777 Blissfield, Michigan 49228. And today we also have a free gift that we would really like to send you. It's called 18 Messianic Prophecies from the Hebrew Scriptures. It's a bundle that includes a written teaching and an MP3 audio guide from rabbi that will walk you through prophetic passages that reveal Jesus throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. When I first learned about these prophecies and I could see it for myself how Jesus fulfilled them in the New Testament, that gave me so much more confidence in God's word, knowing that Jesus was there from the very beginning of scripture. So, I want you to get yours today free because I believe it'll bless you. Get it at discoveringthejewishjesus.com forward slash gift. That's discoveringthejewishjesus.com forward slash gift. Resources like these, they're available because of listeners like you who help us bring the gospel to the world. And when you support Discovering the Jewish Jesus, you help us put biblical teaching in front of people who would never hear it otherwise. So, I want to thank you for helping us. Your generosity, it helps us share the gospel. And if you haven't given and you want to, give at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Now, here's rabbi to share God's blessing over your life.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Blessings trump curses. And in the book of Numbers chapter six we find the ironic blessing that God commanded Moses' brother Aaron, the high priest, to speak over the children of Israel. There's power and blessing, beloved ones. So, take part in receiving father's blessing upon your life today. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. And now in Hebrew. God bless you and shalom.
Justin Roberts: I'm your host Justin Roberts and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Are you willing to reach out and love others even when that love may not be returned? Tomorrow Rabbi Schneider challenges us to become a blessing to the people God places in our path right here on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.