Do Problems Make Us Stronger? | Mysteries of the Kingdom

SPEAKER 03 : 0:01

Paul got to the place in his life that he loved going through challenges because he said, when I’m weak, he said, I’m strong. I’m excited today because I just feel breakthrough in my spirit as we begin this series that I’m calling Mysteries of the Kingdom of God. What is a mystery? A mystery is something that has been previously concealed but by the Spirit of God, that which has been concealed and secret becomes revealed. Today, we’re going to begin by focusing on the mystery, beloved ones, of receiving, because breakthrough begins with the capacity and the ability to receive. I’m going to build now foundation upon foundation to impart to you by the grace of God the anointing of Jesus for breakthrough in your life. I speak an anointing of breakthrough over you individually to break into the next dimension of eternal life, to the next dimension of the Spirit, to the next dimension of revelation. But this all begins… with the capacity and the art of receiving. When I say an art, the reason I say art is because, beloved ones, knowing how to receive from God, it has to do with sensing where the Spirit is, because we have to be able to sense the Holy Spirit in order to receive from the Holy Spirit. In other words, people that are not sensitive to the things of God, people that are not sensitive to the Spirit of God, miss a lot in being able to receive and partake of the Spirit of God. You know, the Bible says, to as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God. It begins with receiving. Jesus told us in the Gospel of John, chapter 6, beginning in verse number 58, that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we have no life in ourself. Now, when I say that, unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we have no life in ourself, I know that for some of you, that sounds really almost like kind of turn-off language, eat someone’s flesh and drink someone’s blood. In the natural, it sounds something that repels us. And that’s how the original audience felt when Jesus first said it. In fact, the Jewish people were commanded in the Torah never to drink blood. And here comes God, clothed in the flesh, saying to them, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourself. Of course, many of these first Jewish hearers didn’t realize it was God in the flesh saying it. They just said, this is Jesus. whose father and mother we know. How is he now saying that he came down from heaven and we have to eat his flesh and drink his blood? But beloved one, if you think about this with me for a second, when Jesus was saying, unless you eat my flesh, and drink my blood, you have no life in yourself. If you think about this, it really shows us that the most elementary principle of being able to walk with God, to walk in his power, to get a breakthrough, it all begins, listen now, with receiving. let’s read the scripture together just to put it all in context i’m going to the gospel of john and i’m going to begin there in chapter 6 verse 51 hear the word of god i’m reading now from the new american standard version jesus said i am the living bread that came down out of heaven if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever and the bread also which i will give for the life of the world is my flesh Then the Jews began to argue with one another saying, how could this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died, speaking of the manna that the children of Israel ate in the wilderness. He who eats this bread will live forever.” And so once again, as we stop and consider this verse, what we learn and understand is it all begins with receiving from Jesus. We’re talking, beloved ones, about the kingdom mystery of receiving. And when we receive Jesus into our life, it’s not just the fact that we’re receiving Him one time as our Savior, but in order to live in fullness and in vitality, we have to live in a constant mindset daily of dependency upon Him, of daily, beloved ones, eating His flesh and drinking His blood, of daily partaking in Him through the Spirit. Of course, when Jesus said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourself. He wasn’t speaking, beloved, of something that we do physically. We can’t physically eat Jesus’s flesh and drink his blood. Of course, in the communion service, in the Lord’s Supper, we have the matzah, which is his body, his flesh. And we have the wine or the juice, which stands for his blood. And this is an act of fulfilling the gospel of John chapter 16. In the section of scripture, we’re examining that we’re eating his flesh and we’re drinking his blood, but we do it, beloved, not literally, but this is a spiritual mystery that Jesus is teaching us that we need to live in constant dependency on him, constant looking to him, constant taking from him if we’re going to ever enter into the power that we need to truly break in and break through for the victorious, joy-filled life that Jesus purchased for us by His blood. It all begins with receiving. In the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul elaborates on this mystery as he describes his own life experience. Paul says this, He says, I’d have you know, brethren, that I am burdened excessively, he said, beyond strength, so that I despair, Paul said, even of life itself. Paul was actually saying that my life is so difficult right now. It’s so hard. I have so many things that I’m struggling with. Paul said this, listen, he said that I despair excessively. even of life. What does that mean? It means like, oh, I’m dreading waking up tomorrow morning and having to face the day. That’s what Paul was saying. I despair, he said, even of life. It’s so hard, he said. Paul follows this up by saying, but this happens to me, get it now, church, that I would learn to trust in God. that raises the dead. Now, I want you to think about this with me. What Paul was actually teaching here was God had brought such hardship into his life. He brought problems into Paul’s life, get it now, that Paul could not solve with his own initiative or his own resources. The problems that Paul was facing were of such magnitude that no one could help him. And this is exactly what God wanted to do. God wanted to break Paul down so that Paul’s only hope was to look to God that raises the dead. This is exactly what he said. Why? Because this is how we receive and this is how we get strong. You see, Paul said he would rather boast in his weakness than in his flesh because Paul said, when I’m weak, I’m strong. And so the secret of entering into the kingdom is becoming totally dependent in God. And this only happens when we recognize our own weakness and our need for dependency. This is why the first beatitude that Jesus taught In the book of Matthew, chapter 5, in the Sermon on the Mount, is this. Jesus said, blessed are you, or happy are you, if you’re, listen now, poor in spirit. Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit. for they shall inherit the kingdom of God.” This is a mystery. It’s a mystery. Why? Because in the natural world, in the secular world, who wants to be poor? I mean, you think about poor, no one really wants to be in agreement with being poor. But Jesus was using that word, beloved, in a sense that can only be understood through revelation. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. This is more than a statement that should be put on some type of Christian greeting card to somebody. This is real.

SPEAKER 01 : 9:26

You’re listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus. And Rabbi, we’ll be right back in a moment. But first, I want you to know that our desire is to see God move powerfully in your life. And if you have a prayer request, we invite you to submit it online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Our team will prayerfully lift up your request to the Lord, believing with you for God’s guidance and love in your life. Submit your request today. If you like what you’re hearing and if you’re being blessed by it and you want more of it in the future, I want to encourage you to give today. We wouldn’t be able to make this content free and available to everyone unless someone supports us financially. We need people whose heart is for the work of God that he uses this ministry to accomplish. So would you consider helping us continue to share the gospel? Give online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And now, back to Rabbi.

SPEAKER 03 : 10:32

The first foundation to walk in fullness, beloved, is what I’m calling the mystery of knowing how to be dependent on God. And in that dependency, to be a partaker of him and to receive from him, because this is where it all begins. Jesus said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourself. What this means is this, to the degree that you and I are relying on our own natural talents, To the degree that you and I are relying on our own strength, to the degree that you and I are relying on systems and habits and institutions and other people, religious institutions included, to the degree that we’re relying on these things rather than Jesus in true dependency from the heart on the Spirit of God, to that degree, we’re also, beloved, not going to be walking in fullness and power. It all begins with eating Jesus’ flesh, drinking his blood. It begins with being a receiver. It begins by being hungry for him, blessed are those that hunger and thirst. I want you to understand with me, beloved ones, if you are pursuing God and you’re serious about God, if there’s a big yes in your heart to God, if you have said in your heart, God, All I want is you. I’ll give up anything for you. I want you to know God is going to bring you through difficult times because he’s going to want to do in your life what he did in Paul’s life. He broke down Paul’s life so that Paul would become totally dependent on him so that he could be strong in the spirit. I die daily, Paul said. that the resurrection of Jesus, the power of God, might be manifest in me and through me daily. And one of the ways God assisted Paul in this dying process was by having Paul face things in life that Paul could not get through or get over on his own. And in that place of facing challenges that were bigger than he was, Paul was forced to turn to God. He was forced then to be on his knees receiving from God. And in that place, he was made strong in the Lord. So I want you to hear me. The scripture says this, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. The scripture says, know this, beloved ones, that when you’re tested, when your faith is tested, this is God’s will. It’s his way of perfecting you. And so I want to encourage you to be ready, beloved one, to go through challenges and turn the challenges by the grace of God into divine opportunities. Paul got to the place in his life that he loved going through challenges because he said, when I’m weak, he said, I’m strong. In other words, when I’m facing challenges in life that caused me to become so dependent in God, he said, this is when I see God’s biggest impartation coming into my life. Let me tell you one of my favorite passages of Scripture in the Bible. It has to do with Mary and Martha. Many of us know the story. Jesus went over Mary and Martha’s home for dinner. I mean, can you imagine having Jesus come to your home for dinner? And Martha was feeling so, you know, burdened by having to serve him. And I shouldn’t say having to serve him. She wanted to serve him, but she felt such weight of, you know, taking care of the master. She was running all around the house, getting all the meal ready, getting things prepared, you know, scurrying about the home, so focused on getting the meal ready. But Mary was just sitting in awe at his feet. And eventually, as Martha was scurrying all about getting the meal ready, she became frustrated with Mary that wasn’t helping her. And she said, you know, this isn’t right, that Mary’s not helping. And Jesus said to Martha, he said, Martha, Martha, You’re concerned with so many things right now, but Mary has chosen the most important thing, and it will never be taken away from her. What was Mary doing that Jesus said, get it now, church, was the most important thing? What was she doing, beloved one? She was sitting simply at Jesus’s feet, receiving. And Jesus said it was the most important thing. You see, What happens sometimes I’ve found is that people come to the Lord. They get saved. They hear the gospel. They hear that Jesus loves them. They hear that Jesus is knocking at the door of their hearts and he wants to come in. And they invite Jesus in and they’re passionate now about growing in grace. But what happens is they get confused because the first message that they heard that brought them into salvation was a call to receive. As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the sons of God. The gist was knocking at the door of their heart. And maybe I’m speaking to you right now. And we opened up and let him in. We received him into our life. But oftentimes what happens after this initial experience is Christians can begin to start going down a wrong track. They begin now, listen now, to pursue Jesus by their works. And they confuse walking with Jesus with their good works. Good works are an overflow, get this now, of receiving him. But what often happens is people begin their walk with God in the right way by receiving him. They receive Jesus into their heart, but they don’t understand that the way to continue to grow in grace is to continue to receive from him each and every day. It begins with being on our knees. And we continue on relying on him, believing him for wisdom, believing him to be our righteousness. But instead what happens, rather than Christians sometimes staying connected to the vine, what happens, beloved ones, is that Christians go immediately from receiving him They go then immediately to trying to run ahead of Him, doing good works, and they become, you know, they become Johnny Appleseed good works doers, and they leave almost receiving from Jesus in the background. In other words, what started out in the Spirit what started out as an act of receiving, they leave that path and they begin instead to try to, you know, go do this good deed, go do that good deed. They’re all good deeds and they’re important, but they become focused on doing good works rather than staying focused where it all began and where it has to continue and remain. And that is, beloved one, in the posture of staying connected to the vine, abiding in the vine, looking to Jesus to be our life source and going deeper and deeper in our dependency so that we actually come to the place in life by the grace of God, we pray, that, Father, we will recognize that every breath we take is a gift of your grace. that Father God, we are sustained by your power and your glory, that we’re protected only by you, that we are absolutely dependent on you because you could take away our life just like this. And what God wants to do, beloved, he wants to help you and I become better receivers. He wants to help you and I, beloved ones, become better receivers. He wants us to become more dependent, He wants us to look to Him as our source. He wants us to draw from Him in a fuller and fuller way. This is a secret, beloved, of the kingdom of God, abiding in the vine, staying connected, Waking up in the morning, thanking God even as we’re waking up, saying to Lord, Father God, thank you for life today. We want to be like Moses that said, Lord, unless your presence goes with me, I will not go. We want to come to the place in life, beloved one, where we’re fearful of actually journeying out into the day without looking to God for covering first. You see, Jesus wants us to abide in the vine. And if we don’t, what’s going to happen? He’s going to discipline us for our own good. We’re going to end up falling on our face in life and being hurt because father, daddy, Abba is going to have to teach us how to be dependent on him. And sometimes if we’re not doing it by the volition of our own will, then what daddy has to do is he has to discipline us to teach us to be dependent on him, to keep us from running ahead of him. So I want to encourage you today. Let your life, let your mourning, let this position of your heart be, first of all, an attitude of receiving, of dependency, of recognizing without God’s grace in our life, beloved, we’d be snuffed out just like this. Father, we love you today. King Jesus, we recognize today that we owe it all to you. We bow our knee to you today, Jesus. And we thank you that you are our life. Your word says, he that hath the Son hath the life. And Jesus, we repent, some of us, of looking to you when we got saved, but not continuing to look to you every day for every breath. We want to abide in you, Jesus. And you said, if we would abide in you, Jesus, that we would bear much fruit. Beloved, when I examine myself under the light of God’s spirit, I’m challenged by the life of Abraham. Abraham entered into the fullness of God’s blessing by surrendering Isaac, whom the scriptures call his only son. What a total act. of surrender and sacrifice. What that teaches me is if I’m gonna enter into the fullness of what God has to me, I also need to live a surrendered lifestyle. The rubber meets the road oftentimes in this area with our finances. Many of God’s children are not fully surrendered to Him in the area of their finances. Beloved, let’s trust Him. Let’s honor him and let’s give him what is due from the first fruits of our wealth. If the Lord is using Discovering the Jewish Years to bless you and you feel the Holy Spirit knocking at the door of your heart to present an offering to Father God through this ministry, beloved, just be obedient. And when you do, you’ll open your heart for Father to pour his blessing into your life.

SPEAKER 01 : 20:45

Amen. And if God is touching your heart, I encourage you to respond right now by going to discoveringthejewishjesus.com and giving today. That’s our website. And if it’s easier for you, just give us a call at 800-777-7835. And you know, we produce this program and it’s Rabbi’s voice that you hear on the radio and your favorite podcasting platforms. But in reality, it’s you, our faithful ministry supporters who make it possible for us to broadcast Rabbi’s teaching all around the world. We really couldn’t accomplish this goal without you. So we want to thank you, thank you, thank you today. And friends, we want you to know if the ministry’s blessed you, that you can take the next step and partner with us in the mission. You can become a monthly giver to support discovering the Jewish Jesus. We’re looking for people like you who feel that tug on their heart to say yes and stand with us. And as our way of saying thank you, when you become a brand new monthly partner, we want to send you a beautiful, authentic gift handcrafted shofar that’s made in Israel. And the shofar is a powerful symbol of God’s voice, victory, and Jesus’ return. So I want to encourage you, partner with us monthly today and get your shofar. You can partner at discoveringthejewishjesus.com or you can partner by giving us a call at 800-777-7835. And you know, the holy days are right around the corner. you’ll have your very own shofar to be reminded that Jesus is coming back. Now let’s wrap up today’s message with God’s sacred and special blessing.

SPEAKER 03 : 22:33

Rabbi? In the book of Numbers chapter six, the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over his people. And the Lord said, when you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them. Receive the impartations of the Lord’s blessings.

SPEAKER 02 : 22:52

Yevarechech Yahweh vayishmarecha Ya’er Yahweh panavelecha vihunecha Yissa Yahweh, penavei lecha, ve’asem lecha.

SPEAKER 03 : 23:42

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. God bless you and shalom.

SPEAKER 01 : 24:02

I’m your host, Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Be sure to join us next time when Rabbi Schneider shows us the secret of outflow. That’s Wednesday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.