When I began to prepare this teaching, it was this past Sunday night. I was grateful to see the start of this new week, because the one just ended had been rough, due to my husband’s illness. In a similar way, every time I open a blank Word document to prepare to share with you, I get excited. It’s a fresh opportunity to study the holy, written Word of God and to connect with the Living Word, my Mashiach.
Sometimes, I start preparing the weekend before our time together, but not usually before that. And, sometimes, I don’t start my prep until the Monday before Mishkan Katan airs. This week, though, we are forecasted to have some very, very cold weather. So cold, in fact, that I fear my heating system in the basement studio, where I film Mishkan Katan will fail. It is what’s called a “heat pump”, is electric, and if the weather is too cold, it simply gets overwhelmed. I did not want to be in the position of writing down here in frigid temps.
At any rate, as I was studying, I noticed that about 8 years ago I was approached by a web developer, who volunteered to help me make videos of my blog posts, if I would be willing to do that. They’d then play as “shorts” on YouTube. The idea here was to give my blog more exposure. I had been praying that the Lord would give the blog ministry more exposure, and after much prayer and seeking counsel from trusted friends, this seemed to be a valid opportunity. So, taking a deep breath, I went for it.
I had started writing the “almost-daily, devotional blog” back in 2014, over 10 years ago now....wow...and by 2018, hundreds of folks read it each day. Then, covid hit, and my blogging ran off the rails, never quite recovering, honestly. I shifted my focus to sowing into in-person Bible teaching, starting a ladies discipleship group at my congregation in 2021, after we went back to in-person meetings, and of course, assisting my husband with our weekly, in-home Bible study that has met for the past 8 years. Those members have become “framily”. In both of those cases, we began to broadcast those meetings/teachings live on Facebook Live, so that those who could not attend would be able to tune in from home or later.
Then, in early spring of 2023, almost two years ago now, I was approached about conceptualizing and developing Mishkan Katan, for the LAMB Internet TV Network. God used all I just described to lead me to the point in ministry I’m in today.
Now, I surely to hate to hear and see myself on camera. The first time that happened was in graduate school, when I had to watch a video of myself conducting a choir. Appalling, truly.
Another quirky thing about these newer phases of teaching ministry is that I was discussing this type of ministry (in theoretical terms) with a good friend, about two weeks before one of these opportunities came up. Given my loathing of seeing myself on camera, I vehemently declared that I "could never do that!"
God has a sense of humor. Here’s the point. I’m praying about the right person to lead a grief recovery ministry at our church. We have one lady who wants to lead it. She just needs a “wingman”, so to speak. I spoke to a friend at church, a widow, about the opportunity, as the Lord had put her on my heart and mind as soon as our pastor had asked me to try to think of someone. She quickly said, “Oh no, I’m not the person you need.”
But, and this is not directed at her, if she sees this - - we all need to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, as He nudges us, particularly if He nudges in unexpected directions. We sometimes think that our gifts He gives us are all revealed at once. That’s not always the case.
I’ve mentioned to you the past two weeks the interview I did with a secular podcast, about how the Lord has transformed my life during the latter half of 2024, and I posted the link to that video in the comments section of the last two Mishkan Katan teachings, on the YouTube channel. God is really using that video/vodcast to change lives. The feedback I’ve received has been not only humbling, but exhilarating as well, to observe how God is working. He truly works in mysterious ways.
Reminder: when you go to my YouTube channel, the MK vids are on the playlist called “Messianic LAMB TV Network”. There are now 90 videos on that playlist. Our God is amazing.
Allright, you are here to study Scripture, the supernatural written Word of God. Let’s continue our study of Romans today by diving into Romans 10. I don’t normally give such long introductions, but this is a shorter chapter we are studying today. So, I took the liberty.
Here are the first four verses, from The Apostolic Writings, the new translation by Andrew Gabriel Roth.
1 My Brothers, the desire of my heart, and my intercession with Elohim for them is that they might have Life.
2 For I bear them witness that there is in them a zeal for Elohim; but it is not according to knowledge.
3 For they do not know the uprightness of Elohim but seek to establish their own uprightness: and therefore they have not submitted their souls to the uprightness of Elohim.
4 For Mashiyach is the goal of Torah for uprightness to everyone who believes in him.
This past Shabbat I had the opportunity to share a meal with AGR and his lovely wife, in our home. After dinner, as we sat around the fire and talked. You can imagine, we talk about theological topics. This very thing is one we discussed. Paul, who dearly loved his kinsmen the Jews, used the example of the 1st century Jews to make a crucial point. The Jews who were not followers of Yeshua were very, very zealous (passionate) about following the O.T. Law, prophetic writings AND their own man-made, rabbinical traditions. These traditions/interpretations/Oral Law had developed in the years following the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai, but especially so during the 400 years between Malachi and the first century CE. Along the way, the traditions, which were passed down in the writings of the rabbis and codified in the Mishnah around 200 CE, began to “trump” if you’ll pardon the use of the colloquial word the authority of the written Hebrew Scriptures, the divinely inspired word of God. In other words, the “commentary” eclipsed the truth. In so doing, the Jews to whom Romans 10 referred believed that this would earn for them righteousness, that this would be “credited to them for righteousness" The same is still going on today. And, like in that day, it is similar today in those circles, Yeshua’s place in the redemptive process is given a back seat. But, although zealous, their fervor, their heart-fire was not aligned with the truth revealed in Yeshua HaMashiach. We see this in Yeshua’s sermons. When you read in the Brit Chadasha that Yeshua said, “It is written...” He was referring to the holy, written Hebrew Scriptures, the Torah, the Prophets, the Poetry, etc. When He said, “You have heard it said...” He was referring to the rabbinical rulings which had been put into place OVER the truth of Torah. By ignoring Yeshua’s Way, and seeking instead to earn their own way to God, they were zealous, yes, but in the wrong direction! As verse 4 says, Mashiach is and always has been the goal of Torah. His ways are the only path to uprightness. HE is the Way, the Truth and the Life, as the apostle John told us in John 14:6.
AGR has a footnote to verse 4. It’s footnote #99, and here’s what it says:
“The Aramaic word sekah can mean either “goal” or ‘end”. It has been badly translated into Greek as “end” as in “end of the Law”, when context demands that Mashiyach is the goal of the Torah. The Torah was working its way to get to the Mashiyach so he could explain its true meaning and application. This is very similar to what Paul teaches in Galatians 3 and 4, and which also gets taken out of context, that Torah instructs us to recognize the Mashiyach without losing its authority in the process.”
Now, that is not to say that there is nothing of value in the Mishnah, Talmud, etc. That’s not what I'm saying. What I’m emphasizing here is that it does not rise to the level of Scripture, nor does it negate or overrule Scripture, either the Hebrew Bible or the Brit Chadasha.
Despite my earlier admonitions of being open to new opportunities, I need to balance that out with you a bit. As followers of Yeshua, we need to call on the Holy Spirit's wisdom and discernment as we exercise our zeal for Father Yahweh and the kingdom of Elohim. "All that glitters is not gold.", as the saying goes. In other words, just because something looks good or sounds good or seems good doesn't guarantee that it IS good. We do not want our zeal, our passion to please Yeshua, to become misdirected.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time" points out the importance of prayer, studying the Bible and seeking wise counsel. In the same vein, "following one's heart" is a perilous path, because we know the Scripture teaches that the human heart is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). Our hearts are generally not to be trusted.
This reminds me of the pastor who told the story of the adulterous man who came to him for counseling. "God told me it's His will for me to leave my wife and marry this woman", the man said to his pastor. Well, God told him no such thing! God does not lead us down paths that are contrary to His revelation of Himself in His written word. That man was "following his heart", and it was going to lead him down a path to ruin. When we choose to act in opposition to God's word, we always are the worse for it.
Now, there are times that we make "bad decisions", in spite of doing all the right prep-work. We sincerely pray, study the Bible, seek wise counsel and then step out in faith toward God's will. Growing in grace always involves exercising our faith. This is why the dreams God gives us are always "bigger than ourselves". He wants to show His mighty power through us, as opposed to us trying to do "big things for Him" through our own, paltry "strength".
But, sometimes, things don't work out the way we thought they would. We end up saying to God, "What in the world is going on here?!" I believe that is okay! If we sincerely sought God's will in a matter, and did our very best to be obedient, He will use those situations to grow our faith and to bring Himself glory.
I am rather old. Looking back over the course of my life I have made what some would call "bone-headed" choices, even though they were made with a pure heart - - a heart that desperately wanted to please God. I could spend my time beating myself up over the fact that things didn't always "work out". What good would that do? No good. Instead, the biblical response is to trust God with all our outcomes, to trust that He is working out his kingdom plan through us and that He is going to use all our "uh-ohs" to bring Himself even more glory.
Fixing our gaze on the past will only limit our godly zeal in the present. The Devil loves to trip us up with our past "mistakes" (deliberately disobedient ones, unintentional ones or ones that only look like mistakes from our limited human vantage point). Just this past Sunday, a lady in the ladies class was expressing to me that she has trouble believing that she is worth God’s trouble. She is a new believer, but this mindset is not limited only to new converts. This is a tactic of Satan’s he has used for millennia to hinder the effectiveness of God’s chosen ones to advance Elohim’s kingdom. (Remember Moses, who demurred when tapped by Yahweh to lead His people out of Egyptian bondage.) My response to her was that Elohim cared enough about her to die for her, and that if she had been the only one who needed His sacrifice to provide redemption, He would have done it just for her. Look. If we have confessed our past sins and sincerely repented, we must not continue to perseverate on them. They limit our effectiveness for God in the present!
So, I'm zealously walking through ministry doors the Lord seems to have opened and praying that my life offering will be blessed, used for His glory. I encourage you to do the same, bathing everything in prayer, using discernment and exercising that faith....whew! This is why some call the resplendent walk "the Great Adventure". There was a wonderful song by that name, written and recorded by Steven Curtis Chapman. Saddle up, Beloved! Saddle up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVFPjIp6nkk
Allright, moving on to the next few verses. Verse 5.
5 For Moshe wrote about the uprightness, which is by Torah, this way: He who does these things will live by them.
6 But, uprightness, which is by faith, says: Do not say in your heart, ‘Who ascends to heaven and brings Mashiyach down?’
7 Or ‘Who descends to the abyss of Sheol and brings up Mashiyach from the house of the dead?’”
Verse 5 quotes Leviticus 18:5. What does this mean “He who does these things will live by them?” Does it mean that eternal life is earned by doing the mitzvot, the commandments? No. Because you’d have to keep them perfectly, as Mashiach did, and that is impossible with your fallen nature. AGR has another footnote, #100, on this verse. Here’s part of it.
“Obedience to the Torah brings blessings from Master Yahweh and even prestige from the nations.”
Look for reference at Deuteronomy 4:5-6.
“See, I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as YHWH my Elohim commanded me, that you should do thus in the land you are entering to possess. So observe and do them, for that is your wisdom in the sight of the peoples who will hear all those statutes and say: ‘Surely this nation is a wise and discerning people.’.
Verses 6 and 7 are very similar to Deuteronomy 30:11-14, but Paul has substituted Mashiyach for Torah. The former is the Living Torah and the latter is the Written Torah. Both are the Word of God, and in both cases the ending goal is to embrace the Torah that Yeshua lived so perfectly, not to sideline or abrogate it.
Our next few verses are 8-13.
8 But what does it say? “The thing is near to your mouth and to your heart”: that is, the Word of Faith which we preach.
9 And if you will confess with your mouth our Master Yeshua and will believe with your heart that Elohim has raised him from the dead, you will have Life.
10 For the heart that believes in him is made righteous; and the mouth that confesses him is restored to Life.
11 For the Scripture says: “Everyone who believes in him will not be ashamed.”
12 And in this, it discriminates neither Yehudeans nor Arameans. For there is one, MarYAH, over them all, who is abundantly generous towards all who call on Him.
13 For everyone who will call on the name of MarYAH will have Life.
The quote in verse 8 is from Isaiah 28:16.
Sometimes, Y'all, the most foundational passages are the most difficult. I've been thinking about this one for days. This morning, lying on my bed in prayer, the Lord brought this 20th c. gospel song to mind. It reminds me of Romans 10:9.
"I once was lost in sin
But Jesus took me in.
And then a little light from Heaven filled my soul.
It bathed my heart in love
And wrote my name above.
And just a little talk with Jesus makes me whole."
Cleavant Derricks1
Then, I was trying to think of what "confess" means. In our modern day, it is most often used to describe admitting to doing something wrong. But, that is just one of the word's meanings. At its most basic meaning, "confess" means: to declare (speak forcefully), to claim, to own. Within the context of Romans 10:8-13, it is used to describe how a person becomes a follower of Yeshua.
Confessing Yeshua as your Mashiach means to speak with one's mouth and claim and own that He is being embraced as the only path to Father Yahweh, the only avenue of salvation, the only way to attain eternal life. Confession must be married to heart belief (not just intellectual belief) in order for the transformation called "salvation" to occur. After all, we can "say anything" and not truly believe it. Or, we can say we believe something and have only an intellectual belief. The Bible testifies, after all, that the demons of Hell have an intellectual belief in Yeshua as the only, unique Son of God, and they shudder because they don't claim or own Him as their Mashiach (James 2:19).
Note that confession which saves eternally involves (vs. 9) speaking truth...the truth that Yeshua is divine, the LORD because He was raised from the dead by Father Yahweh. The accepting of Yeshua HaMashiach as Savior also involves accepting His right to then rule over your life, for the rest of your life. There is surrender in this confession. There is repentance and submission, bowing to the King of Kings. If that surrender does not underlie the confession, then there is no true belief (no faith) present.
There is something other-worldly powerful about the words we speak. Quantum physicists have discovered that the very building blocks of matter react positively and excitedly to positive words being spoken. When negative words are spoken, they slow down and eventually become irresponsive. It's little wonder the Bible says that we must speak and declare our "owning", our accepting of Yeshua. Those spoken words will "matter" for all eternity! (Couldn't resist the pun! ;) )
You might say, "Well, you don't have to actually admit your faith to anyone. There's no need to tell others about it, like admitting it in church or anything..." Watch out, now! What does the Bible say? Look at this; this is Yeshua speaking:
32 “Whoever, then, acknowledges me before people, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever denies me before people, I will deny him also before my Father in heaven.
Matthew 10:32-33 (NET)
Pretty clear, isn't it? If you meant it, you will declare it. It's got to be both "in your mouth and in your heart" (vs. 8)
Like peas and carrots, peanut butter and jelly, confession and belief go inextricably together. You can't have salvation without righteousness (vs. 9-10), because you can't have belief without confession. And, this is how you become converted, how you become part of the Bride of Messiah, how you receive the spirit of Father Yahweh into your heart. This describes faith; this deconstructs the concept of salvation. Admit your sin and your need for a Savior. Believe in your heart that He is the only one who can save, because He is the LORD whom God raised from the dead. Receive Him into your heart forever. Confess - - declare it to be so.
It's really as simple as that.
"Just a Little Talk With Jesus" was a popular song in mid 20th c. gospel music. You can hear the late Rev. Derricks sing his composition here:
This is his confession.
Have you made yours?
On to verses 14-15 - -
14 How then will they call on Him, in whom they have not believed? Or, how will they believe in Him, of whom they have not heard? Or how will they hear, without a preacher?
15 Or, how will they preach if they are not sent forth? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of the heralds of peace and of the heralds of good things?”
Paul is quoting Isaiah 52:7 in verse 15. Do you have “beautiful feet”?
In Mar. 2016, I wrote a blog post called "Mobile, Mardi Gras and God’s Mercy.") In it, I gave an argument as to why I do not believe as some Calvinists do in "unconditional election". This is a belief that says people Father Yahweh has predetermined for salvation have no choice in the matter. They WILL come to accept Christ, regardless of what we do or don't do. That teaching flies in the face of our passage for today.
The apostle Paul had come face-to-face with the risen Messiah. What an evangelism experience that must have been! In this passage of his letter to the Roman followers of The Way he emphasizes the importance of evangelism or to put it simply, "sharing the gospel message".
If it weren't crucial, necessary that we individually and corporately (as churches) tell others about Jesus and urge them to accept Him as Savior, why would Paul have emphasized this to the Romans? Why would Paul have, then, dedicated the rest of his life to missions work?
Depending on how you define an "unreached people group", there are between 3,000 to 6,000 of them.
Recent data from the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest denominational mission board in the world, suggests that there are approximately 3,000 ethnic people groups that are not only unreached, but also completely unengaged meaning there is no known active on-site church planting effort underway and few if any know believers. That’s about 290 million souls. To say that a people group is unengaged means there are definitely no missionaries, in all likelihood no outreach, no congregation or fellowship of believers, no Christian materials, and few if any Bibles in these people groups. While it is certainly possible the Lord has supernaturally appeared to and been at work among an unengaged group without outside involvement, this would not be the typical way He has ordained for the spread of the Gospel. He commanded His Bride, His Body to go.
In addition to that, Wycliffe Bible Translators, states that of the 6800 known languages, about 1800 of them have no Bible in their mother tongue. What a stunning translation need!
A huge number of followers of Yeshua want to dismiss this Romans passage as only applying to preachers and/or foreign missionaries. That would be a mistake. It was originally intended for a group of local believers (the young Roman ecclesia) initially. But, more than that, it speaks to each of us. In fact, Paul is issuing an "imperative", a command.
What we tend to do as believers is to insulate ourselves, surround ourselves with those of like mind and keep as far away as possible those who would challenge our beliefs. Well, an untested belief - - one that can't tolerate the scrutiny of others is no belief at all. When we closet ourselves away, our faith becomes increasingly weaker. Even if it takes some knocks and nicks, we need to get our faith out into an unbelieving world.
A few years ago my heart was grieved as my pastor presented an impromptu, short-term missions opportunity in southern LA, where flood waters had damaged many homes. Unfortunately, the trip clashed with prior commitments Hubster and I had made for that weekend. The thing is, though, there are opportunities to share the gospel every day, if we will take them.
Will we take them, fellow Believers? How beautiful are your feet?
The rest of the verses of this chapter reiterate the former theme Paul has already introduced. Here they are, verses 16 through 21:
16 But all of them have not obeyed the message of the Good News. For Yesha’yahu said: “My Master, who has believed our report?”
17 Therefore, faith is from the hearing and obeying in the ear; and the hearing and obeying in the ear is from the Word of Elohim.
18 But I say: “Have they not heard? And behold, their report has gone out into all the earth; and their words to the ends of the world.”
19 But I say: “Did not Yisra’el know?” First, Moshe said: “I will make you a jealous people by a people which is not a people; and by a disobedient people I will anger you.”
20 And, Yesha’yahu was bold and said: “I was seen by those who did not seek me out; and I was found by those who did not ask after me.”
21 But to Yisra’el, he said: “All the day I have stretched out my hands to a contentious and disobedient people.”
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