Living Letters Lamed

This is a radio program called Finding Emet, which means truth in Hebrew. It aims to help people understand and live the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. The program features Brother Daniel Rindleman of Emet Ministries as the teacher. Each Hebrew letter has a specific meaning and message from Yahweh. The program discusses the meanings of several letters, such as Aleph, Bet, Gemel, Dalet, Hay, Vav, Zayin, Chet, Tet, Yod, Chaf, and Lamed. The story of the shepherd who witnessed the birth of Mashiach is also shared. The program is available on the Emet Ministries website. Head coverings are discussed and their significance in Hebrew culture. The importance of shepherds in the scriptures is highlighted. Hello, and welcome to the Finding Emet radio program. Emet is the Hebrew word for truth. This program will help you understand and live the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. The Finding Emet radio program features the teaching ministry of Brother Daniel Rindleman of Emet Ministries. Prepare your heart to receive the Emet, the truth of the scriptures. More audio lessons and teaching articles are available at the www.emetministries.com website. Please visit our site to find all things spiritual, including a free online Bible search program or submit your prayer requests. That's www.emetministries.com or www.findemet.com. CD copies of this teaching are available for free by submitting a request at the website. Let's welcome our teacher, Daniel Rindleman, as he helps us find the Emet. Welcome again to our teaching series on the Hebrew, the living letters, as we've been going through the discussion on the Aleph Bet, the Kadosh Halashon, the set-apart tongue of Yahweh. And as we've been going through these, we've seen how each of these letters is a picture, a letter, a number. It's a message from Yahweh. So that the Aleph was the ox, the Aleph was Echad, it was the unity, it was the number one in the letter, the Aleph, gives us a silent letter. Remember the Aleph is silent, it becomes one with the letters that surround it. The Bet was a second letter, also the vet, and that was a picture of a house or Barakah, blessing. The number two, Gemel, remember Gemel, was the number three. With the Gemel, we talked about service and how the camel was a service animal and such. Then we talked about the Dalet, number four, and the Melet Gavid, the Hay, which means to behold, and the number five, we are to behold the five books of Torah. The Vav is a sixth letter, which is the number six, which means to be joined. The Vavim is Hebrew for nails or hooks that are there. The seventh letter, who remembers what the seventh letter of the Hebrew Aleph Bet is? Zayin, which is a picture of a weapon, Shabbat, and we are called to Zakar Shabbat, to remember Shabbat. We talked about the Chet, everybody say Chet, Chet, which is the Hebrew word for sin. It's also the first letter in the Hebrew word Chanukah, which means dedication. Also the first Hebrew letter in the word Chesed, which is what, grace or unmerited favor. The Tet was the ninth Hebrew letter, which was a picture of a basket, birth pains, the number nine. The Yod was the tenth Hebrew letter, remember we talked about the Yadayim, which is hands. You have ten fingers on your Yadayim, on your hands, and Yisrael being restored, the smallest would be the greatest, the nation of Israel. We recently talked about the Chaf, or Chaf as it is spoken, and we spoke about the glory of Yahweh. Now these teachings are available at www.emedministries.com. As we spoke about the Chaf, we talked about the Kippur, Yom Kippurim, and the Kippah that goes on your head, Yahweh's covering. What's the word for crown in Hebrew? Keter or Keter, that's there. We talked about head coverings, and how some people just don't want to wear head coverings. Some people just don't want to wear head coverings, and how, you know what, when you get to heaven, guess what you're going to be wearing? A head covering, right? Because it says we're going to be given a crown of righteousness, a crown of life, a crown of glory. So those who don't want to wear head coverings are going to be out of place in Shemayim, in heaven. Then we said that Yeshua was our high priest, didn't we agree with that? So what did the high priest always have to do? He always had to cover his head. So if Yeshua would do it, then maybe we ought to do it as well. So this leads us to the twelfth Hebrew letter, which is the Lamed. Say it with me, Lamed, Lamed, Lamed, which gives us the la-la-la-la-la sound. The Lamed, which is the twelfth Hebrew letter, it's also the number 13, excuse me, the twelfth Hebrew letter, it's also the number 30, it's also the number 30. So as we begin, I'd like for you to think about a shepherd for a minute. As we're going to talk about the Lamed, I want you to think about a shepherd. What is a shepherd's job? Shepherd was to keep the sheep safe, correct, was to lead the sheep. To guide them to greener pastures, right? To keep them together at night, he was to watch over them, to protect them from ravenous wolves and problems that would occur. And we know that shepherds have a special place in the Scriptures. We know if we read in the book of Luke that there were some shepherds keeping their flock by night, and these Melachim, these angels, appeared to them and said that behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that today in the city of Dawid, in the city of Jerusalem of what? Bethlehem, not Jerusalem. So I was trying to see if you were listening. In the city of Bethlehem, Mashiach is born, peace on earth, goodwill to men. We think about that at the Christmas time, of course, we know when that occurred during the Feast of Booths, during Sukkot. However, I came across a story that I would like to share with you, if that's okay, about the shepherds and about that shepherd who was there that night. It begins, this is the story of the shepherd. It begins, I was just a kid when it happened, barely old enough to be out in the fields with the older shepherds. For the first time, my dad said that I could stay with them all night. I was so excited. It was around the time of the fall festivals and we were tending temple flocks in the fields outside of Bethlehem. I'm sure people would try to save a story I'm telling you took place in December, but that's absolutely nuts because nobody would have had their sheep in the open fields that far into winter. No shepherd could afford to take the risk with ordinary sheep that they would die out in the cold, but the sheep that we were tending were different. They were different than all others. You see, the priest had bred these sheep especially for us to use as sacrifices in the temple. Because of this, the sheep we kept were perfect. They didn't have a spot or a blemish anywhere on their bodies. These were lambs whose only purpose in being born was to die as an offering for the sins of the people. They were very, very valuable and watching them was a very important work. You see, sheep are prone to wandering. Did you know that? And it's the shepherd's job to keep track of them to bring them back where they would stray. We also keep the predators at bay, the wolves that would sneak in among the flock and carry off the weak ones. We're responsible for them. It's our job to make sure none are lost. That's me. I'm a shepherd boy. Well, after dinner one night, we were getting the camp ready and making one last check to make sure all the sheep were accounted for and weren't being distracted by the torch lights and the constant stream of visitors. There were a lot of people heading into Bethlehem that night. Bethlehem was more crowded than I'd ever seen before. You see, the governor had called for a census and everyone in Israel was coming to town anyway for the fall festivals. Now, people who had descended from King David, Melech David, had come to register in Bethlehem. David had lived almost a thousand years earlier, and guess what? He had four wives, so you can imagine how many descendants David had, and they were all coming to Bethlehem. Our little town was filled to overflowing, and some people had given up even trying to find rooms. I bet someone was going to pitch a tent out in our sheep field. Well, that's another good reason this couldn't have happened in the dead of winter. People just couldn't travel then. It was too cold, too wet, too wet to camp in the fields along the way. Remember, some had to travel days from Galilee up north to get here, so again, this didn't happen in December. Well, I remember we were just settling down by the fire when an angel appeared suddenly just out of nowhere. I was terrified. I'd never seen anything like it, but I was only, you know, 15, 16 years old, but I wasn't the only one who was scared. Even the seasoned veterans, the shepherds that had been here many days, were very scared. The angel spoke to us. He said, Don't be afraid. I have good news of great joy for all people. Today in the town of Galilee, the Savior is born to you. He is Mashiach. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. Suddenly the star-filled sky opened up, and you couldn't believe it! A great company of angels, the Melechim, appeared with him, and they were praising Yahweh, and they were saying, Glory to Yahweh in the highest, and on earth peace to men. There's no way I could begin to describe the sound of the angels. A couple of times later in my life, I would hear musicians that rich people hired to help them celebrate when their firstborn son was born, but not even the wealthiest king could have afforded a choir like this one. The music caused us to lift our faces and our hands to heaven. It filled our ears and our hearts. It was by far the most beautiful sound I would ever hear in my life. When they faded away and left us, we just stood there for a minute, and we just looked at each other. Our eyes were filled with wonder, tears of joy streaming down our weathered cheeks of my father and his friends, and they, of course, heard the talk about Mashiach, but none of them expected to see him. And now, not only would we see him, we would be the first to see him. Wow, what lucky shepherd boy. One minute we were finishing up a long shepherd's day, just like always, the next minute we were witnessing the invasion of earth by heaven itself. Eternity and inner time and the son of Yahweh had become the son of man, almost right before our eyes. This had been my first day as a real shepherd, and there would never be another one like that. Mindful of our responsibility, we left a couple of our number to watch the sheep. The rest of us took off for Bethlehem in search of the sign of the angel to look forward to. And sure enough, guess what? We found him on the edge of town. A man with clothing and calloused hands of the working class stood protectively over a radiant but obviously exhausted young woman. She didn't look much older than I was. In the manger before us was a baby, a normal-looking, healthy baby boy. Can this be what Yahweh looks like, I thought? He's just a baby. Like most people, I expected that if I ever saw Yahweh, he'd be a giant warrior king with a huge sword, a menacing look. This baby looked so fragile. Others were beginning to gather around because we'd kind of shouted to everybody else what we'd seen. Now we told them the whole story of what we'd experienced in the field with the angel and all those who had come to see them for themselves. They were amazed. No one in town could stop talking about it. But the woman, she just sat there with her baby as if she was soaking up every detail of the most blessed minutes of her day. Having seen the proof the angel told us to look for, we went back to our flocks, praising Yahweh, giving him glory. We thanked him for letting humble shepherds like us be the first to see the Messiah. Isn't it ironic? Wasn't it that we who spent our lives tending lambs born to die should be the first to see the lamb born to die for the sins of the people? Years later, after I'd grown up, I heard about this prophet named Yahshua from Nazareth. People said that he might be Messiah. I remembered about that couple that had come from there, and I decided to investigate. I walked for several days. I finally found Yahshua by the Sea of Galilee, and as I listened to him speak, my heart filled with hope. I liked how he called himself our shepherd. He promised to keep us from wandering. He promised to protect us from predators who would try to steal us away, and he swore that he'd never lose a single one of us. Just like we promised the owners of sheep that we watched. He was the Messiah. I just knew it. Well, later, I was there in Jerusalem when he was executed. As he breathed his last, I became convinced that I'd see him again, just like he promised. Three days later, do you know what? I did see him, and I knew that all of the angels' promises had come true in the life and death and resurrection of the baby from Bethlehem. He was not the king we expected, but he was the one we needed. He was our Savior and our Messiah. Looking back on that night, I realized that many will never understand what happened there. I was an eyewitness, and I barely understand it myself. But I know this. On that night in Bethlehem, a group of shepherds became sheep, and the Lamb of Yahweh became our shepherd. Now, the story is about the heart of a shepherd who experienced Yeshua in a quite powerful way, I might add, that he was there sending his sheep, not in December, but experienced Yeshua being born. And we think of that shepherd and the job that the shepherd had to have. And when you think of a shepherd, what do you usually think of as well? Shepherd has, what does he use? A gun? A whip? Is he like Indiana Jones? No. We think of the staff that he would use, this shepherd staff. You've seen him on TV pulling people off the side of the screen or that. They would use a sling, maybe. They would use a staff to carry them along. Well, Yeshua definitely is our shepherd. Amen. Yahweh is my shepherd. I shall not want. But yet we also know that we are sheep. And he was the Lamb of Yahweh that took away the sins of the world. So we can see this in the Lamed. So if you will look at what the picture of the Lamed, how it is drawn, it was originally a shepherd's staff or a goad. Is that the right word? A goad that would prod the people along. Push them forward to do what was right. The Lamed itself pictures this probe through the years, it's retained its meaning, it was actually written very much like a J in paleo Hebrew. And come to its meaning in its letter now, it's the only letter that ascends high above the line and way below the line as well with the Lamed, it's the largest of the letters. And of the 22 letters, it is the middle letter, it rises above. And it falls below the Lamed. The Lamed. This is the 12th letter, and it's the number 30, you see, from one to 10, Aleph, Bet, Gemel, Dalet, Hay, Bab, Zayin, Chet, Tet, Yod, it's one through 10. But then the letters start taking on 10. So the. Yod is 10, the Kos is 20, that makes the Lamed what? 30. Makes the Lamed 30. Now, why is the number 30 important? Why is it something that speaks to us today? Well, we know that a priest had to be how old before he could minister. 30 years old. We also know that Yeshua was how old when he went into the ministry. 30 years old. What's interesting that if you go to the scriptures, you'll see that 30 is three times 10. Which denotes a higher degree of perfection. Joseph, we find, was about 30 years old in Genesis 41. And David, when he was made king or so, was about 30 years old as well. 2 Samuel chapter 5, verse 40 speaks to this. So we see Yeshua, who was, of course, pictured in Joseph, was he not? Pictured in King Dawid, was he not? And this number 30, highly symbolic. Because in many places, unless you're 30, you're not really considered to be able to minister. 30 is considered to be this age where the priest could minister. Now, in Hebrew, the word Lamed. Is spelled. Lamed Mim Dalet. Lamed Mim Dalet, Lamed. But we also know that Lamed could also be pronounced Lamad. Not Lamaz, but what? Lamad. Now, why is that important? Because Lamad is a Hebrew for the word teaching or learning. You've heard of the phrase Talmud or Talmudim. Talmud meaning, you know, learning. And Talmudim meaning a disciple or a student. So the word Lamed could be pronounced Lamed or Lamad. Which is the idea and the lesson that we learn from this letter. Learning is like being pricked or pushed in the right direction. Isn't that what learning is all about? When you learn something, when you don't know, you've got a teacher that's helping you. You've got someone that's instructing you. And that's the picture. And that's what we can learn from the Lamed. Now, it's interesting that the word Lamed is actually used in the Hebrew. Now, we don't read the Hebrew. We use the English translations. And so we miss this. But if you turn with me in Deuteronomy, chapter four, verse one, the word Lamed actually appears here. Deuteronomy four says, Now, therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I may teach you, for to do them that you may live and go in and possess the land which Yahweh your Elohim of your fathers gives you. The word Lamed is actually used here. And what's interesting here, it is it is the word for hearken. It is the word for to listen in your English Bibles. It actually says, Now, therefore, Lamed, O Israel, listen, O Israel, be pushed, O Israel, towards the statutes and the judgments which I give you and do them. And do them. So when we consider this, Yahweh is pushing us towards commandment. So what is Yahweh's Lamed? It's the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit. Because Yeshua said that the Ruach would lead and guide us into all truth, not some truth, but what? All truth. So when we look to the Lamed, we can see it's a picture of the Ruach and pushing us towards probing us towards wisdom and knowledge. In Proverbs, chapter four, verse one, it says, Here you children, the instruction of the father, attend to no understanding. I give you good doctrine. Forsake not my Torah. It says that wisdom lifts her voice in the street, crying out. Yahweh does not want us to be pushed around by every wind of doctrine. He wants us to be rooted and founded and grounded and yet allow the Ruach to move us towards his will and his way. Lamed could also be spoken as L'mud. Lamed, Lamed or L'mud, it could also be spoken as L'mud, which in Hebrew means learner. So there's a connection between the teacher and the student. If a Lamed means to listen and it means to teach and L'mud means to learn. Did you know this, Karen? When you teach, you learn. The teacher knows the subject best, does the teacher not? The teacher studies and prepares and gets ready and then presents. So therefore, if a teacher spent more time on the subject, then the student has. That's why it's important that we learn to teach Torah. We learn what the Torah says. And there is a connection here between the teacher and the student. Indeed, don't you think we should learn in order to teach? Doesn't that make sense? If you just want to learn and fill your mind with knowledge, what does 1 Corinthians say? Knowledge does what? It puffs you up. But when you learn to share, when you learn to do, you're choosing the better. Let's look at Ecclesiastes chapter 12. And we'll see this more clearly. Ecclesiastes or in Hebrew, Kol Heleth, chapter 12, verses 11 and 13, verse 11, the words of the wise are as goads, it says in Ecclesiastes 12, 11, the words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies which are given from one shepherd, verse 13, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, fear Elohim, keep his commandments, this is the whole duty of man. Look again, it says the words of the wise are as goads, like a cattle goat, pushing and probing like a stick. The words of the wise are like that. Well, guess what the Lamed is a picture of, of a goat, of a shepherd's calf pushing and says the words of the wise, who is the wise? What is wisdom? It's Torah. So the words of Torah are like goads which are given from one shepherd. How many shepherds? One shepherd. Then it says this, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. All of Ecclesiastes can be summed up in this last sentence here. What is the purpose of life? Why are we here? To fear Yahweh and keep his commandments. This is the whole duty of man. How do we fear Yahweh? How do we keep his commandments? We are to listen to the words of the wise and respond. Now, how do you listen to the words of the wise? How do we listen to it? We've got to find somebody that's wise in Torah and listen to them and soak it up like a sponge. The Lamed is a picture of Yeshua. All the Hebrew letters are, Amen, pictures of Yeshua. You see, the Lamed is a picture of our teacher, the shepherd and the lamb. It tells us in the book of John that Yeshua was the word made flesh. What word? The Hebrew word, the language, the alephbet, made flesh. And one of the most interesting verses in the scriptures that Yeshua said is Luke chapter six, verse 40. Read this with me. A student who is fully trained will be like his teacher. Let's say it again. A student who is fully trained will be like his teacher. That's prophecy. That's true. He's saying that when you are fully trained by a teacher, by someone who is teaching you whatever it is, you're going to be like them. That's what they call an apprentice. Isn't that right? If you go and you're someone's apprentice, if you're shadowing them, if you're learning to do it just like they do, then hopefully the goal and the purpose of that is to be just like the teacher. And the power of the Lamed is to show us this relationship between the teacher and the student. So what can we learn from this Hebrew letter that has the L sound, that is the number 30? We can learn this discipleship dynamic. Listen to this. One who studies Torah in order to teach is granted the ability to study and to teach. But one who studies Torah in order to do is granted the ability to study, to teach, to observe and to do. So according to this quote, the greater commandment is not to study Torah in order to be a rabbi. The greatest thing you can do is to study Torah in obedience so that you can obey it. Then you're going to be able to teach it. You're going to be able to study it. You're going to be able to observe it. And you're going to be able to do it. Not many of you should be teachers. That's what it says. That's what the word says. Why? Because there's a greater responsibility there. Sometimes I don't like that greater responsibility, but it's there. So what should we learn? We should learn Torah, Nicholas, in order to do Torah. And then when the time is right, when we can teach, when we can study, when we can observe, when we can do it, we'll be able to. This is discipleship. This is the principle of taking what you know, working with one or two people or maybe 12 people, teaching them and showing them, raising them up to be like you. A student, when he is fully learned, will be like his master. So let me ask you a question we're going to discuss for a few minutes. If someone was following you from sunup to sundown and learning Torah from you, from sunup to sundown, how would that disciple be? Would you be proud of what they get? Would you be proud of how they turn out? Because they're going to mirror you exactly. Do you have someone doing that? And if they did, would you be happy with the outcome? We are told that Adam discipled Noah. Noah discipled Abraham. And then, of course, Abraham discipled Isaac and then down to Jacob. That the Torah was passed down from generation to generation. And this is the idea of this allotment. It's a teacher and student relationship. To pass down the purpose of having discipleship is not to have a Sunday school class. Remember that and that is church discipleship training, you ever go to that before? Oh yes, Wednesday night discipleship training. What does that mean? We're going to come together and have a Bible study. That's not discipleship training. That's part of it. Bible study is part of it. But it's the idea of duplicating the exact lifestyle of the teacher. That's what a Talmud does. A Talmud or a student finds a teacher or a rabbi and says, I want to learn Torah, I want to learn this faith, teach me, show me, I'll follow. That's the picture of this. That's the picture that we can see from this. It's a dynamic that has been lost that we need to regain and try to understand. This idea of discipleship. You see, how many disciples did Yeshua have? Twelve, that was it? Well, we know he had throngs of people that would go after him. So is everybody that follows Yeshua a disciple? No. The church is wrong there because many in the church teach that. So the church is wrong there. OK, you have to choose to be a disciple. You've got to want it. You've got to work towards it. So then he had 70. Were those his disciples? Do we consider it? Not at first, do we? So then what about the twelve? He had twelve that followed him for three, what, three and a half years or so. Everywhere he went, he went. Everything he did, they did. And even out of those twelve, one betrayed him. Or did they all betray him? Hmm, interesting. Long before the Savior called the twelve to follow him, there was this pattern of pupil and teacher. Did you know that? And that teachers of Torah were also called masters or fathers, and they would pass down their interpretation. For example, everybody heard of Paul, Saul, Rabbi Shaul? He was taught from Gamliel. It's what it says in the scriptures. Well, guess who Gamliel is? Gamliel is the grandson of the famous Rabbi Hillel. Which founded modern day rabbinical Judaism. Now, rabbinical writings, which is writings of the rabbis, say that the rabbi is actually to be held in greater esteem than your birth father. Here's what it says. Direct quote. Your birth father brought you into this world, but your teacher brings you into the next world. So you had Hillel, there was Shammai, there were great teachers of Torah. The Phageuses, Phageuses. Did you know there's a group called the Phageuses? That's the Pharisees and Sadducees put together. The Phageuses had their own group. So this idea of discipleship is not necessarily a New Testament idea. But it's continuing the pattern. So disciples, this is biblical discipleship. Disciples would learn what their rabbi knew. They would talk like their rabbi talked. They would pray as their rabbi prayed. They would keep their mitzvot just like him. They would stay at the feet of the rabbi and learn his ways. They didn't write down what Yeshua said. Right when he said it. They didn't go behind him with a pad and a pencil writing down everything he said. They memorized it. They memorized it and then they wrote it down. In Isaiah chapter 8 verse 16 it says, Bind up the testimony, seal the instruction among my disciples. That was in the book of Isaiah. So these disciples, these talmudim, would memorize the teachings of their rabbi. They would trust their rabbi. They would walk the south. So Yeshua came into this pattern but he kind of broke it. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 23. We're going to look at a verse. We're going to look at a verse that people throw around a lot. Mattityahu 23. Verse 8 through 10. Matthew 23 verse 8. Matthew 23. Yeshua said, Do not be called rabbi. For you have one rabbi, even the Messiah. And all ye are brethren. And let no man call you father upon this earth. For you have one father which is in heaven. You need to be called rulers. For you have one ruler, even the Messiah. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. There we go. And from this term, from this passage, one passage, people say you can't be called rabbi. Oh, you can't be called rabbi. You shouldn't, never use that title rabbi. That would be, just give an example of how that would have gone across. Imagine someone coming on the scene in modern day Christianity who says this. Let no man call you pastor. Let no man call you preacher. Let no man call you reverend. For you have one pastor and preacher and reverend which is in heaven. How do you think most people in the church would respond to that? They would laugh. They'd say no, no, no. You're crazy. What are you saying? That's blasphemy. First of all, they wouldn't have accepted that. Of him coming and saying to these Pharisees and to these people who were in Judaism, don't use the word rabbi. Second of all, he allowed other people to call him rabbi. He allowed others to call him rabbi throughout the scriptures. So it's not that he said this is a bad word to use. I got an email, gosh, two or three weeks ago. A guy had come and visited with us. He sent me this email and he's like, well, y'all just keep doing what you're doing. He said, but I have serious issues with the title rabbi. I have one rabbi and that's Yeshua. Haven't we heard this before? Right? I have one rabbi and that's Yeshua. Well, so my question to that person is, do you say daddy? Do you allow your children to say daddy? Do you allow someone to say father? Because in the same passage where it says don't call someone rabbi, it says don't call them father. You can't pick and choose. So if he allows people to say father, then you have to allow them to say rabbi. Does that make sense? Okay, so what was Yeshua saying? Yeshua was not banning people from being called daddy or rabbi or abba. The terms father and rabbi are acceptable for a believer to use to designate relationship and authority. What he was saying was this rabbi system of having fathers as your rabbi, of having masters as your rabbi, ends with him. Let me give you an example. Go into an Orthodox, Hasidic synagogue. Go into a deli owned and operated by Hasidic Jews, Orthodox Jewish people. What do you see on the wall? The picture of Rabbi Skneerson, the last Chabad rabbi. There are parts of Jerusalem you can walk down the road and buy pictures of him. They memorize his words that he said. They quote him. More than they quote Torah sometimes. Yeshua said, that ends with me. This idea of memorizing what the rabbi says and knowing exactly what the rabbi says and doing exactly as the rabbi does ends with me. No longer were they to make disciples of their own names. They were not to look to other rabbis as the final source. Yeshua is a rabbi. What did he say? You have one teacher, the Messiah. Remember in 1 Corinthians when Paul said, Oh, some are of Paul, some are of Apollos. He says, No, we're all of Yeshua. Then he said later, Oh, I'm glad that I didn't baptize any of you in this town. For some are baptized in this name or by this person. But no, we are to be baptized in Yeshua. We have one teacher. His halakha is what we are to proclaim. Pirkei Avot, which is some of the writings of the Jewish sages says this, Provide yourself with a teacher of the Torah. Get yourself a companion and judge all men on the scale of merit. What does that mean? Find someone, submit to them, learn from them, and do what they did. But don't consider yourself, Oh, I'm a disciple of Rabbi Daniel. I'm a disciple of Johnny Come Lately. I'm going to follow this person around. If they're speaking within two hours away, I'm going to go see them. The local leader provides accountability, teaching, fellowship, encouragement, and training. But you know what? A local friend could do that as well. What am I saying? What I'm saying is, Yeshua is the head. If you have a local assembly, then the leadership there should be submitted to the head. The body should be submitted to the leadership. But we all work together to submit to one another. You're not Talmadim of Rabbi Daniel. Rabbi Daniel does not deserve all that honor and glory. Yeshua does. Yeshua does. We submit to Yeshua. And we submit to each other as we submit to Yeshua. The Bible makes it clear that we are to follow Yeshua as He said in becoming disciples. What did He say? Luke 14, 27. Let's look at verse 26. And if any man come to Me and hate not his father, his mother, his wife, his children, and his brothers and sisters, and his own life, he cannot be My disciple. He cannot be My Talmadim. Unless you hate those of this world that are not following Yahweh. Whoever does not bear his own stake and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Unless you bear of a cross, bear of a stake, sacrifice yourself, sacrifice your desires, sacrifice your wants, you will not be His disciple. You will not be His disciple. In the Great Commission in Matthew 23 it says, Go ye into all the world. Go ye into all the world. And the church is taking this to mean go out into all the world. The church is taking this to mean go out into all the world and get everybody saved. Matthew 28, verse 18 and 19 and 20. Yeshua came and spoke unto them saying, All authority is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Father, the Son, and the Ruach, teaching them to observe all things which I command you. So what are they supposed to do? Go ye therefore and teach all nations. How much teaching have we been doing lately? It says teach all nations. Yeshua is the head rabbi. We are to point people towards His teachings but we are to go and to teach. The purpose of discipleship is to become like the teacher. The disciples, we think of the twelve disciples, their goal was to be like Yeshua, to memorize His words, to do as He did and then to share that with others. Every student that is fully trained will be like His teacher. Luke 6.40 Do you know what? Discipleship requires discipline. How many of us have a scheduled study time each day? How many of us are disciplined to study each day? Not five minutes before I go to bed, but a specific time to study the Word each day. John 15.8 Herein is my Father esteem. My Father is glorified. My Father is happy that you bear much fruit and you will be my disciples. So if we're His disciples we should be bearing fruit. If our fruit is rotten, that's probably because we're not His disciples. If we've got worms, it's probably because we've not been very fruitful. We've not been very faithful. We've got to bear fruit. How do we bear fruit? By abiding in Him. John 13. 34-35 A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you. Verse 35 By this all men will know if you are my disciples, if you have love to one another. So how does the world know if we're His disciples? By the knowledge of Torah? No. It's by how we love each other. How we love each other. Turn over to Luke chapter 14. Luke 14. Verse 26 If any man comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his stake and come after me cannot be my disciple. So how much of his stake, how much of your stake, how much of his execution stake have you been bearing? Are we His disciples? Should we be? Yes. Luke 9. Let's look there. Luke 9. 23 through 25. And He said to them, if any man will come after me let him deny himself, take up his stake daily and follow me. For whoever shall save his life shall lose it but whoever shall lose his life for my sake, him shall save it. Let's go back. If any man will come after me, are we following Yeshua? Have we made a decision to follow Yeshua? Yes. So then the next question is are we denying ourselves and taking up the stake daily? Everybody say daily. Every other daily. Everybody say daily. Every other weekly. Everybody say daily. Every other monthly. Everybody say daily. Every once in a while. Daily. Daily. That means every day. Taking some time to study to build our relationship, to love one another, to reach out and follow Yeshua. Follow Him. I love this quote. It says, let your house be a meeting place for the wise. Sit amidst the dust of their feet. Drink their words with thirst. Isn't that beautiful? My place, my house is not a meeting place for the wise. I'll tell you that right now. You call my house, it's like the nut house, head nut, talking right now. How's it going? It's like Grand Central Station. The insane asylum. And that's on a good day. Yet this says, let your house be a meeting place for the wise. What should we be using our houses for? To allow people to come and sit amidst the dust of their feet and drink their words. To have teaching and home fellowship. Breaking of bread. There are days where I wish we didn't have a building. Because we miss so much by not having home fellowship. But then there are days where I wish you know, we had a bigger building. But there's something to be said for home fellowship and breaking of bread and it says here, sitting at their feet. Well, guess what? This quote goes right along with Luke chapter 10. Verse 39. And Mary, Martha had a sister named Miriam who sat at Yeshua's feet and heard his words. Sitting at the feet and hearing words like children sit down to hear a story and the father's reading a book. That's the idea of how we are to be with teachers of Torah with each other. Abolishing one another, edifying one another. The call of the great disciples is to make disciples. The call of the great commission is to make disciples. This is key. So let me ask you, how many disciples have you made? And if people were to disciple after you or to be a lamed after you, to be a learner, how would they turn out? How would they turn out? So what can we learn from the Lamed? We look at this letter. And it's interesting because if you look at the Lamed, it's the letter of Yeshua being this shepherd's staff. But also, all the Hebrew letters are made of other letters. And we see here, it's made of a kaf and a vav. Kaf and a vav. The rabbis tell us that the Lamed is made of a kaf and a vav. The kaf is what number? Number 20. The vav is what number? Six. Add those together, the kaf is equal to 20. The Lamed is equal to 26. Why is 26 important? Because the sacred name of Yahweh, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, is 10-5-6-5- 26. That we are like Yahweh, Yeshua, when we disciple others. When we are involved in Talmudim and being disciples. Here's a challenge. The Lamed challenge. You ready for this? If each believer in Yeshua were to take one person and disciple them for six months. One person and disciple them for six months. We could reach the entire world for Yeshua in less than 13 years. Because you disciple one person in six months. And then they disciple one person in six months. And then they disciple one person in six months. And everyone would continue this pattern, this discipleship pattern that Yeshua brought about, pointing people to Yeshua, teaching them the Hebrew roots, teaching them Yahweh's true name. We could reach the world in less than 13 years. The Lamed teaches us that the pattern of true spiritual growth, the path of reaching the heart of Yahweh in people is reaching out. Look at the Lamed. It's high. It reaches. That's the idea of this letter. That's the purpose of this letter. I'm going to prove it to you. The Torah says in Luke chapter 6 it says that a student when he is fully learned will be like his master. The Koran shows Muhammad breaking every one of the Ten Commandments. If you were to read the Koran about Muhammad, you would see that he broke every one of the Ten Commandments. Guess what? His followers are doing the same in the world today. That is proof positive the Lamed principle works. This idea of shepherding, not shepherding 25 or 30, but shepherding one. Edifying the body, coming together at homes and worshiping together. Building each other up. Many Messianic groups have done themselves a disservice. Right, Brother Gregory? What they've done is they've taken their Sunday worship service and they've moved it to Saturday. They've changed around some of the words. They don't do the readings out of the Lutheran book of worship anymore. They follow the Torah readings schedule and nothing's changed. I truly believe that the restitution, the restoration of all things, includes a homesteading of worship and a discipleship dynamic of raising up people. I truly believe that. It's to be like our teacher, Yeshua. I know I'm a great guy, but don't try to be like me. Right, Maggie? Right. Don't try to be like Rabbi Daniel. Strive to be like Yeshua. That's what we should do. That's what the Lama teaches us. Teachers touch the heart and mold the life of the student. Did you know that? Let me give you an example. When I was growing up, I was in school and I had this teacher. I was on the fourth, fifth grade. I just fell in love. I mean, I literally fell in love. I had a crush on her. We'd play around and we'd laugh and we'd joke. I wasn't a very smart kid, but I just had a lot of fun. I knew how to make my way through. I was in fourth grade, I guess. She taught me math. She taught me science. Both classes. She touched my heart. I really felt like, because of that, I wanted to become a teacher as I went through school. A teacher or a politician. Being a rabbi. Close enough. To mix between the two, right? I did. It came to pass that on Halloween one year, I proposed to this teacher. I asked her to marry me. You see those spider rings that kids get at Halloween? I said, Miss Caldwell, will you marry me? This was fourth grade. She said, yes, I will. Then my birthday came up. We did all the pagan stuff back then. My birthday came up, and we had a mock wedding. She came to my birthday party, and they threw rice and everything. So I consider her to be my first wife. Even to this day. She's now my children's principal at the school. That's right. We have a special relationship. But you know what? I wanted to be like her. I wanted to do things that she did. I liked the fact that she was strict. She was fun to be around. And there was a bond between us. That's the idea of discipleship. Of having a bond. And growing that bond. But that disciple has to be willing, amen, to have someone and grow them in the Torah. This is powerful. If you look at the Torah scroll, the very first letter in the Torah scroll is the bed. It begins with Barah, Elohim, Alef-Tav, Ed, Hashemayim. Yahweh created the heavens and the earth. Be'er Sheet. In the beginning. The first letter is the bed. The last letter is the Lamed. If you go and look at the Torah scroll, the last letter is Lamed. What does that spell? Lamed bed spells live. Heart. But the Torah is to be on our heart. It's to be in our heart. That's what Yeshua said. Now today, in Hebrew, the Lamed is used as a prefix to connect words. We say Lachayim, which means what? Talayf. Lamelech means to the king. Kadosh LeYahweh. Holy to Yahweh. The Lamed is used to connect. Do you see how a student and a teacher are connected at the heart? And connected at the heart of Torah? That's the purpose of the Lamed. That's what we can learn from this letter. It's this connection of the heart. Let's turn and we'll finish in Psalm 119. And each of these verses begin with the letter Lamed. Lamed. Forever, O Yahweh. What's forever? Le'olam v'ed. O Yahweh. Thy word is settled in heaven. Baruch Hashem, right? Thy faithfulness is unto all generations. Thou hast established the earth and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances, for all are thy servants. Unless thy Torah had been my delight, I should have been perished in my affliction. I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me. I am thine. Save me, for I have salt thy precepts. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I will consider thy testimonies. I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceedingly broad. Forever, O Yahweh, the word is settled in heaven. And if it's settled in heaven, then it should be settled in our minds. Yahweh's word is true. And what did He say? He said, Go into all the world, making disciples, teaching men all the things that I've taught you. Which is Torah, and it's forever settled in heaven. So if there's a promise in Scripture, if there's a blessing in Scripture, it is settled. And Yeshua said that nothing is going to pass away until heaven and earth pass away. Le'olam v'ein. Hebrew phrase for ever. The Lament. This picture of the sheep, of the shepherd. And we began this teaching with a story about a shepherd who was there when the Lamb of Yahweh came to the earth. And then he followed Yeshua. And then we talked about how the disciples followed Yeshua. And how the Lament is a picture of the number 30, the number of service, the number of priesthood, the number of Joseph was 30, and David was 30, Yeshua was 30. And the Lament is that tallest letter. It reaches out. It's made of the Kaf and the Vav. It's the number of Yahweh that we can be like Yahweh when we disciple, when we teach, when we show others. I asked you during the teaching, what if you were discipling someone, and as it says in Luke chapter 6, a student who is fully learned will be like his master. What if someone's faith that you were discipling was just like yours? Are you happy with the outcome? Or would you like to see something different? We are disciples of Yeshua, and we have to make sure that we are picking up the execution state daily and following Him. So accept the Lament challenge. Find someone. And disciple them for the next six months. Teach them what you know. Let your house be a meeting place for the wise. Build other disciples. And as we do that, we are fulfilling what the Lament says. We are fulfilling the verse, the letter of the Lament. It's a living letter, and it's living in our hearts and in our lives. Thank you. Thank you again for listening to the Finding Emet radio program. Please visit our website to learn more about the Emet, the truth of the scriptures. Search the Bible, submit your prayer request, or read an article on various subjects. The website is www.findemet.com That's www.findemet.com CD copies of this teaching are available for free by submitting a request at the website. Or write to us at Emet Ministries, 1310 Trent Street, Newberry, SC 29108 That's Emet Ministries, 1310 Trent Street, Newberry, SC 29108 Thank you again for listening to Finding Emet with Daniel Rendleman. May you find the Emet. May the truth set you free.