Make the Omer Count

The Finding Emet radio program focuses on understanding and living the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. The host, Brother Daniel Rendleman, teaches about the importance of making life count and shares a story about attending a funeral. He references Psalm 90:12, which encourages us to number our days and apply our hearts to wisdom. He also discusses the counting of the Omer, a special time in Hebrew tradition, and explains the process of harvesting barley as an offering. The counting of the Omer is a way to mark the days leading up to Shavuot or Pentecost. 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 Rendleman 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 Rendleman, as he helps us find the Emet. So today's teaching is going to be called Making Life Count. Making Life Count. You know, it's important that it counts for something. Our man was at a funeral recently, and hearing the pastor speak about my uncle, talking about the things he had done in his life, things that he was proud of, people that he had touched that he was proud of. His life counted for something. The Navy was there and gave him a proper burial, and it was a beautiful service. In the book of Tehillim, the book of Psalms, chapter 90, verse 12, we are admonished to make life count. We are told to make life count in the book of Psalms, chapter 90, verse 12. So today's teaching is called Making Life Count. He says in Psalm 90, verse 12, to teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Remind us that life is short, amen, so that we can focus on what's important. So I thought we'd talk, we'd start out with some information on aging. I'll never forget my father-in-law's last birthday, we were what, 90, Don? In dog years. It was great. I mean, you know, we lit the candles, and he tried to blow it out, but the fire kept pushing him back. It was, it was supposed to be a joke, never mind. We don't do candles. Anyway, let's talk about aging for a minute. The only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're children, is that right? If you're 10 years old, you're so excited, you can now think about it in fractions. How old are you? I'm 4 1⁄2. You're never 36 1⁄2, are you? You're 4 1⁄2. Going on 5, that's the key. You get into your teens, what happens then? Nothing can hold you back. The next jump and you got the car, you're ready to go. How old are you? Well, I'm going to be 16. Yeah, but you're 13, but I'm going to be 16, the greatest day of our life, 21. Everybody turns 21. The words sound like a ceremony, 21, but when you turn 30, ooh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk, right? You turned 30. He turned 30, so we had to throw him out, just like bad milk. That's no fun. You're just a sour dumpling when you're 30, so what's changed? You become 21, you turn 30, and what happens? You're pushing 40. Put on the brakes, right? It's all slipping away. Before you know it, you reach 50, right, Don? But wait, if you make it to 60, because you didn't think that you would, so you become 21, you turn 30, you push 40, you reach 50, you make it to 60. Now you've built up some speed. Now you're going to hit 70. I mean, haven't you heard somebody say, I hit 70? After that, the birthday thing, you know, it's like you're just glad you hit Wednesday after you hit 70, as far as that goes. You get into your 80s, every day is a complete cycle. You hit lunch, you hit dinner, you turn 430, you reach bedtime. It doesn't start there, you know? When you hit your 90s, you start going backwards. I was just 92. I just turned 92. Strange things happen. When you make it over 100, you start acting like a kid again. Oh, I'm a hundred and a half. I'm a hundred and a half, so we pray that we can make sure that we all reach a hundred and a half. Amen? Aren't we guaranteed? Doesn't it say 120 years? And we cut it short. We cut it short by things we eat and things we do and inhale and all of that, but making our days count is important. Psalm 90, verse 12 says, teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. And one of the times that we number our days is during the time after Pesach or Passover. This is a special time called the counting of the Omer. In Hebrew, it's Omer. In English, it's Omer, so forgive me if we say both. In Hebrew, it's seferat ha-Omer, seferat ha-Omer. So turn with me to Leviticus, Vayikra 23, as we look and see the commandment concerning this. Leviticus 23, and this is the chapter where the holy days are mentioned, the Moedim of Yahweh, beginning with Shabbat, and then Pesach, and then Chag Ha-Matzah, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And on the first day of unleavened bread, in verse 7, it says, in the first day you shall have Amir-chrei Kodesh, a set-apart gathering, you shall do no laborious work on it. Here it says, you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh for seven days. The seventh day is Amir-chrei Kodesh, so the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Chag Ha-Matzot, is seven days long. Then it says, in verse 9, Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, say to them, When you have come into the land which I give you, and you shall reap the harvest of it, then you shall bring a sheaf of firstfruits of your harvest, you shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh to be accepted. On the next day, after the first day, the Kohen shall wave it. That's called the firstfruits, and you shall offer that day when you wave the sheaf of the land without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering. The grain offering, it shall be mixed, and it goes on to say that. Then in verse 15, it says, And you shall count from the next day after the Shabbat, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven full weeks, until the next day after the last week shall you number fifty days, you shall offer a new grain offering to Yahweh. Then it says, in verse 17, You shall bring out of your dwellings two wave loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be baked with hametz, or leaven. They are the firstfruits to Yahweh, and that brings us to Shavuot, or Pentecost. So we see here what is called the counting of the Omer, and if you look at the timeline, you have in verse 5, it speaks of between the evenings of the fourteenth and fifteenth of Aviv is the Pesach, is the Seder, when the lamb was killed, the blood was shed, that's when Yeshua died, the fourteenth and fifteenth. The fifteenth is the Shabbat, called Chag Hamatzah, the first day of unleavened bread, and we saw that it is a Shabbat. It is called a Shabbat, it is called a day of rest, there shall be no laborious work on it. And then that evening of that Shabbat begins this counting of the Omer, because this is after the Shabbat, after the Sabbath. Now what in the world is an Omer? What are we talking about with the word Omer? So an Omer, or Omer in Hebrew, was a special grain offering, and it was newly grown grain that was harvested, and it was barley. An Omer is a measurement, it's quite literally a gallon or four liters, it's a dry measurement of that. Now the bringing of the Omer sacrifice can only be done when the temple is standing, when the sacrifices are reinstituted, but the counting of the Omer can happen any time. You see the new wheat crop could not be harvested until this day, the first day of counting the Omer, because the condition is that they would go and the rabbis and the leaders there would go into the land of Israel on this day, and they would take a sickle, and they would go into the land of Israel, and they would find some barley, and there in that barley they would begin to chop some of it down, and they would gather literally just several Omers of it together. They would gather bushels and bushels and bushels of this barley together, and they would take a sickle to it, and they would thresh it, and then they would beat it, and they would get it ready to bring to the temple. The next step they would do is they would take it, and they would be there in the, before they got all the bushels together, they would be there in the field, and they would all speak to each other, is this barley? They'd say yes, is this barley? They'd say yes. They'd do it three times. Do you have the sickle? Yes. If you're going to the dentist office, you'd say instrument, scalpel, stethoscope, whatever, if you're going through surgery. That's what they would do. They would do it three times to make sure they were doing it properly. They'd say, is this the right one? Yes. Is this the right one? Is this barley? They would go over and do that, and they'd get these big bushels of it. They would then take it because it was ripened, and they would put it in fire. They would put it in the fire, and because it was ripened, of course, it would burn up, and it would be consumed, and it would be parched with the fire. Then what they would do is they would take what was left of that, and they would throw it in the wind. They would toss it in the wind so that what was left, they could sift through it to get the best grain. They could sift through it to get the best grain, and they would take that grain. They would grind it into fine flour. They would refine it. They would purify it the best that they could, and it would go through 13 times. It would be ground in the sieve. It would be sieved 13 times. It would go through until it was ready to get the best and the purest omer, and they would do all of this to get one gallon or four liters, one omer of this barley, making that measurement. That was the first harvest that was allowed in the spring was on this day, the first day of counting the omer, at the end of the first day of unleavened bread. Now we see here that it is a counting of the omer. Notice that we're going to count up and not down. We're counting the omer until we get to Shavuot or Pentecost. We're counting up to the next feast day, so if you don't count, it's a good chance you don't know when the next feast day is going to be, which is one reason why we do this. Now the story of the omer, what I just shared with you, or the process, reveals a lot about worship and how they did it in the temple, and it has deep meaning for us today. We're going to discuss that a little bit as well. So you would count it, and it says here that you will count the omer, and in verse 15, and you shall count from the next day after the Shabbat, and it says from the day that you brought the sheep of the way of offering, seven full weeks. So you're going to count seven full weeks, which is 49 days, all right, 49 days, until the next day after the last week shall be 50, and that is the day when the wheat was harvested, the wheat was harvested, and it was brought in, baked with bread, presented before the priest, and they had these two huge loaves of bread that they would do a lave offering with, they were like gallon-sized loaves of bread that they would do a lave offering with at Shavuot. That was verse 15 and 16, 15 and 16. So they would count these days, they would count up to Shavuot. Now we know that on Pentecost or Shavuot is when Yahweh descended upon Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 19 and gave the Torah to Israel, and in Exodus 19, you can read this, and you can see, number one, in the third month when the children of Israel had gone forth out of the land, 40 days from the first month is when the giving of Torah occurred, 40 days, excuse me, 50 days, pardon me, 50 days from the first month when the giving of Torah occurred, it was in the third month, it says in Exodus chapter 19, when they had gone out of the land. So you've got them coming out at Passover, you've got them counting this Omer 50 days, and it just so happens on that day, they end up where? Camped at the mountain, camped at the mountain at Mount Sinai, which was the exact place where Yahweh had spoken to Moshe through the burning bush. And they get there, and Yahweh says, prepare them, have them come to me, and you can read through Exodus chapter 19 and see this in detail, what happens? What happens there? Now, we also know that in Acts chapter 2, what happened? What happened in Acts chapter 2 on Pentecost or Shavuot, the giving of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit fell from the Shemaim. Now, there are those that say or teach, and it's the Karaite movement and other groups that say it's on Sundays. The Christian church teaches, Pentecost has got to be on Sunday. It goes back to sun worship. It goes back to all of that, all right? And there's people out there that make different sayings on it, or they get all upset or this or whatever over that, and people can divide pretty much over anything, as we all know, especially calendars or so. However, in the Hebrew, it's very clearly the day after the Sabbath, so there's no waiting of a week. So, let's say you have Passover on Saturday, First Fruits is on Monday, then you'd have to wait a whole week to begin counting, which means a whole week of waiting and waiting and waiting. Number one, that's not what occurred in the Scriptures, and it's not what occurred in Joshua. So, turn with me to Joshua chapter 5, verses 10 through 12, because we want to clear this up. It doesn't always fall on a Sunday. But, see, the idea that it falls on a Sunday, of course, is popular with the church because they believe, you know, Jesus rose on Sunday morning, right, he had to get up for the sunrise service, therefore, 50 days later would be Sunday, oi. To me, it's pretty clear in Joshua chapter 5, verses 10 through 12. So, getting ready for Pesach, and they've had Pesach, and here it says, in Yahoshua 5, chapter 5, verse 10, And the children of Israel had camped at Gilgal, and kept the Pesach on the fourteenth of the month in the evening in the plains of Jericho. So, when do they keep Pesach, in the fourteenth of the month in the evening, just like we should. Then it says, in verse 11, And they did eat the old corn of the land on the day after Passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn on the same day. Verse 12, And the manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the old corn of the land, neither had the children of Israel manna any more, but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. Now, this is, for me, it's concrete proof that the first fruit of the wave offering had to be the day after the annual Shabbat of Aviv 15, not the day after the weekly Shabbat, because it says here that they did that. Unleavened grain is forbidden until the first fruit wave offering. Does everybody understand that? So, how could you go through seven days of eating unleavened bread, if it was forbidden to eat unleavened bread during those seven days? Does that make sense? Because it was forbidden to eat until that wave offering, they couldn't even harvest it. It was forbidden to eat it until that day, so if the wave offering was done on a Sunday annually, Passover fell on a weekday, as it often did, Joshua here calls all of Israel to violate Torah. I don't think he did that. I think he had a good teacher, Moshe Rabbeinu, and that it tells us pretty clearly here that they did eat of the old corn of the land on the day after Pesach, unleavened cakes, parched corn on the same day, and the manna ceased. By the way, the manna was in what measurement? An omer, an omer of manna each day, it says there that it ceased. Now, during the counting of the omer, during the counting of the omer, we see that these are not normal days. These are not your average days of the week or average days. Now, to understand this a little better, I want to give you the Strong's definition of omer or omer. That's Strong's number 6016, and it means a sheaf, a dry measure, a heap. That's where omer is, it makes sense, right? It's from the root word 6014, which means omer, omer, which means a heap, to gather, to bind, sheaves, or to chastise, or to chastise. Now, like a person who reaps, a righteous person who goes to the wicked and reaps burning coals upon them through righteous deeds, like a person who acts in righteousness to the wicked and thus heaps burning coals upon them, the time of counting the omer is a time of deep introspection. It's a time of renewal. It's a time of chastisement. It's a time of pruning, because remember when you prune something, it's so it has more fruit. Amen? It tells us in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6, that Yahweh chastises those whom he loves. These are not times of punishment. These are not times of hatred, but these are times of preparation. Now, why is that? Because during the 50 days leading up, you know, after Passover, they were leading up to the giving of Torah. In Hebrew, again, these are called seferot ha-omer, seferot ha-omer, leading up to the giving of Torah. So, for us to receive a new revelation of Torah, for us to receive a new or a renewed gift from Yahweh of Torah, it was the next day, they fall in line like dominoes. So, again, they didn't wait for a Sunday. It doesn't say they stopped and waited for a Sunday in Joshua chapter 5. It says that the very next day, they kept going, Joshua chapter 5, what we just read. So, they didn't wait for a Sunday. They didn't wait for a Sunday to start counting. Ephesians, the week went through is symbolic for us. Amen? And we're all learning. We're all getting there. Amen. Hallelujah. Ephesians 4, verse 14. So, we should no longer be children tossed around and carried away with every wind of doctrine or teaching by the tricks of men and human cleverness, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the working of every member, doing its share, causing growth to the body, building itself up in a chava. So, in every part of the body, it says, is to be knit together, and it says here, to supply, you know, what it can, causing growth to the body. So, each of us plays a part in the body. Amen? Amen? Each of us plays a part in the body. It's to humble ourselves, it says right here. Not wait for Him to do it. I don't want to have to wait for Him to humble me. Amen? We need to humble ourselves. And it tells us in Isaiah, chapter 41, continues this same theme here in verse 14. Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel. I will help you, says Yahweh, and your Redeemer, the set-apart one of Yahweh. See, I make you a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth, and you shall thresh the mountains, beat them small, you shall make the hills as chaff. You shall fan them, the wind shall carry them away, the whirlwind shall scatter them, and you shall join Yahweh and shall glory in the set-apart one of Israel. But the days of counting the Omer are days of the humble will be exalted. They're days of humbling ourselves before Yahweh. They're days of coming to Him and worshiping Him, days of seeking His face. In the book of James, chapter 4, verse 10, it reminds us of this as well. There we go, right after Acts. James, chapter 4, verse 10, speaks of this, and here it says, Humble yourselves in the sight of Yahweh, and He will lift you up. So the days of counting the Omer are days of humbling ourselves. We've got to be open. We've got to open ourselves to Yahweh to move in our lives. We've got to be open to correction. We've got to be careful, during the days of Omer especially, that we don't seek to judge others in the sense that we look down upon them, that these are days of introspection on ourselves, amen? We can always look at others and find fault. You can look at me very easily and find fault. We can all look at Maggie and find fault. However, this is a day, days of looking to ourselves and cleansing ourselves for the preparation of Shavuot, because if you study Pentecost, Shavuot, you will see that it's very much like a wedding feast. It's like a Hebrew wedding that's taking place, so we're preparing ourselves for that. So number one, the sickle came and it humbled it. It took the tall barley and it cut it down low, amen? But number two, the Omer was parched in the fire. It was totally consumed and parched in the fire. Now, we know that in Hebrews, the word says that our Yahweh, our Elohim, is an all-consuming fire, amen? He is an all-consuming fire. Well, in Psalms, Tehillim chapter 12, verse 6, it tells us here, the words of Yahweh are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of the earth, purified, how many times? Seven times. The word of Yahweh is purified seven times, so like a fire, the word of Yahweh during the days of counting the Omer are going to purify us and prepare us for what is coming, the coming work and move of Yahweh that is here upon our lives. It continues the same theme, Zechariah chapter 13, verse 9. In Zechariah 13, verse 9, it says, and I will bring Bethsaida, the Hebrew prophet said in Malachi chapter 3, verse 3, and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as he's always doing, he's purifying us so we can offer him that offering made of righteousness. That during this time, the trials and the tests that we face are to help our faith. Now, many times we just pray, let this be gone, and many times these are to help our faith and to help us go forward with Yahweh. So the things that we faced before Pesach, the things that we're facing now are leading us to Yahweh's purification, to Yahweh's refinement. James chapter 1, Yaakov, Yaakov chapter 1, it tells us in verse 2, my Israelite brothers, count it all joy when you fall into diverse trials, knowing this, the trying of your faith produces patience. Count it joy when we fall into trials. Verse 12, blessed is the man that endures trials, for when he has tried, he shall receive the crown of life that Yahweh has promised to him that loves him. But during these days is a time of trials, the time our faith is tested, but it's also a time to prepare for the crown, amen? So the next thing that would happen, they would take this barley that was cut and it was humbled and then it was burned, they would toss it in the wind so that only the best could be there to separate the barley from the chaff, you could say. And again, as we read in Ephesians, let's go back there in Ephesians chapter 4, now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same one that also ascended up far above the heavens. And he gave some Shechem to some apostles, some Nevi'im prophets, some proclaimers, some Ro'im shepherds, and Morim, teachers, notice that. Some were apostles, some were prophets, some were shepherds, all were teachers. We all teach by what we do, by what we say. We all teach. Verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints, for the mismode of the service, for the rebuilding of the body of Messiah, until we all come into the unity of national and lunar faith full of wisdom of the son of Yahweh into a mature and perfect man according to the same measure, the same stature, the fullness of Messiah himself has. That we no longer be children tossed around and carried away with every wind of teaching by the tricks of men, human cleverness used by those who lie in wait to deceive you. But speaking the truth in love, we may progress and grow through him who is the head of all Israel, for whom the whole body joined and knit together by every joint supplies, according to the working of every member, doing its share, causing growth for the body, building itself up in love. Verse 17, therefore I say to you, and testify in Yahweh, that from now on you conduct your walk not as the Gentiles, the pagans, in the fantasy of their mind, having their wisdom darkened, being alienated from the life of Yahweh through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. The winds of doctrine will sweep us here and there and everywhere. And they are everywhere. You can go online, you can get videos, I mean you can go to the Christian bookstore, you can see the latest, you know, charismatic doctrine or latest messianic ideas or whatever that are out there, that we need to be careful that we're not tossed around, I mean, by every wind of doctrine, but we become as a bereaved and we study the word daily to see if these things are emet, are truth. And again, open ourselves up to Yahweh's emet, to be teachable. We also know that the winds, it says here, the winds that toss the chaff and toss the barley around are a picture of the return of the nation of Israel. In Ezekiel chapter 37, it says, speak to the dry bones, prophesy to the bones that they may live. And it says in Ezekiel 37, verses 9 and verses 4, it says that the four winds moved upon the bones and they were resurrected, they were given life, but it said prophesy the spirit unto them. And so in Ezekiel 37, when it talks about that, again, the wind that's moving around during the time of the counting of the Omer is to give us life, is to move in the spirit of prophecy and to point us to the word, because that's what a prophet does. As we know, the prophet Yochanan HaMetbil, John the Immersion, what did he do? He said, behold, the Lamb of Yahweh that takes away the sins of the world. And finally, in Matthew chapter 24, it tells us, in Metitiahu 24, it says here, Matthew 24, it speaks of the four winds gathering the elect from the four corners of the earth, which is, again, a picture of what Yahweh is doing in our midst, amen? Verse 30, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens, and then shall all the tribes of the land mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the heavens with power and great glory, and he shall send his heavenly messengers with great sound of the shofar, and shall gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other. That's what these days are about, that's what these days are about. Now, the next thing that happened to that barley was that it was ground into fine flour. It was ground into fine flour. It was refined. It was purified. It was made white. Yeshayahu chapter 48, verse 10, also speaks of this, that this is what we're going through during this time of the counting of the Omer, Isaiah 48, 10, see, I have refined you not with silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, even for my own sake, will I do it? But Yahweh is refining us, preparing us, amen, preparing us to receive Torah afresh and anew. And in Gileadah, or Revelation, chapter 3, verse 5, it says, He that overcomes, he that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name in the scroll of life, but I will confess it, his name, before my Father and before his heavenly messengers. That barley was ground until it was white. It was purified and made white, and that's what Yahweh's doing with us. If you go back and look at Exodus chapter 19, as they prepared to receive Torah, they were to prepare, and it said to wash their garments. They were to mikvah, to be cleansed. Finally, what happens to that grain was, it would be ground, it would be sieved 13 times, 13 times to be ready, to be presented as that ephah, as that fine mixture. Now 13, in Hebrew, is another one of those great numbers there, Sister Donna, 13, the gematria of echad is 13, aleph, chet, dalet, 1, 8, and 4 equals, they were in unity. We know that was in the temple, not in the upper room, where the Holy Spirit fell. That's not Acts chapter 2. They weren't in the upper room. Couldn't put all those folks in the upper room, that's a whole other story. However, Acts chapter 2, verse 1, says they were echad, they had prepared themselves. In Exodus chapter 19, verse 2, it says, when they were departed from Rephidim and come to the desert at Sinai and pitched in the wilderness, they camped before the mountain. They were all camped together, but that's the purpose of the counting of the Omer during these days. Their goal is to be one with Yahweh, sephirot ha-Omer. Now, how do we become one with Him? How do we become one with Him? Well, number one, one easy way, or one way that's spoken of in the Scriptures, to become one with Him is by studying His attributes and knowing Him, that each day during the 50 days of the Omer, to spend a little extra time, everybody say extra, extra time, a few minutes, contemplating our spiritual life. What's happening in your life? What's happening in your day? It's refining you, it's making you who you are. Now, we know that psychology tells us there are seven basic emotions that each person has. Seven. Well, there are seven weeks of counting the Omer, and we also know that Judaism has for thousands of years, and the rabbis have taught that during the counting of the Omer, we are leading up to Matan Torah, Hebrew for the gift of Torah, the giving of Torah, the Matan Torah. And the rabbis have taught that the 49 days that we work with the Omer and counting the Omer, we are purifying ourselves. But on the 50th day, Yahweh's giving us Matan Torah, the gift of Torah, and He's purifying us. Remember, again, that just as the nation of Israel waited 50 days to receive Torah, remember that, that we have 50 days to refine ourselves, to correct ourselves, to be mindful of Torah, to work on 49 attributes of Yahweh, 49 attributes of ourselves, because it says we were made in Beth-salem Elohim, made in His image. We were made in His image. That the growth, the spiritual growth during the next 49 days is like a marathon, if you apply yourself. You've got to run the race. Amen? You've got to apply yourself. It will test your strength and it will make you stronger at the very end. That during these days, we are told to study each week as an attribute of Yahweh. Now, there's a teaching on the www.lamentministries.com website called Yahweh's Top Ten. It's audio and it's an article about the top ten attributes of Yahweh. Well, during this time of counting the Omer, the tradition is to reflect upon the seven lower attributes of Yahweh, the three being the mind and the shiach, three up top, and then the seven lower, those equal ten, three plus seven equals ten. So during this time, we focus on those seven attributes and we say, is this me today? Did I do this today? So week one is all about chesed, chesed. Week one is all about chesed. Week two is about gevurah. Week three is about teferet. Week four is about netzach. Week five is about chod. Week six is about yesod. Week seven is all about machut. Now, we could say, study anything you want, but this is something that many Nazarene Israelites and Messianic believers are studying, but Jews have been studying, and this will lead us to a greater understanding of Yahweh and being made in His image. Because each week you're going to look at that seperon, or chesed, okay? So week one, you're looking at chesed, and there's seven days in that week, amen? Because you've got to count 49, that's seven weeks. So each day, you're going to look at chesed. And the first day, you're going to say, how is chesed working in my life? Now what is chesed? Chesed is a Hebrew word for grace, unmerited favor, for love, for kindness. The best way to look at it is selflessness. So tomorrow, the first day of the Omer, starts tonight, we count the Omer tonight, count the first day of the Omer, so that will be tomorrow. We will say, tomorrow, how am I acting with selflessness? How am I acting in chesed? The next day, day two, you're going to look at chesed again, but you're going to compare chesed and gevura. Chesed and gevura, which is week two. The next day, you'll compare chesed and the other attribute. And day three, you'll compare chesed and the other attribute. Day four is chesed and netzach. Day five is chesed and chod. Day six is chesed and yesod. Day seven is chesed and malchut. Now what does that mean to us? Number one, chesed is grace. Am I acting in selflessness today? On week two, we'll focus on gevura, which means vigor or discipline. So you're asking yourself, on day one, am I in, you know, gevura? Am I walking in, you know, the boundaries, good boundaries that Yahweh has set for me? Am I overcoming obstacles? That's what gevura is all about. Week three is about teferin. That's one word used for glory in the scriptures or beauty. Am I working in harmony with Yahweh? Am I showing, oy, am I showing compassion? Am I making good matches with what Yahweh has given me? Netzach is Hebrew for victory, for endurance, for eternal life, for determination. Am I going to make it? So that week, you're going to ask yourself, am I looking out for immediate gratification or am I looking out for the end, the netzach? What's my ambition? Is my ambition towards Yahweh? The next week, as we look at chod, that's humility or devotion. We know the Hebrew word chodu, it means gratitude, give thanks. Chodu le'yahweh kitov, ki le'alam kathdo, give thanks to Yahweh, he is good, his mercy endures forever. So that week, we look at gratitude. The next week is yasod, in Hebrew, it means foundation. Am I grounded? Am I grounded? Do I have bonding with Yahweh? Am I connected with my fellow believers? Am I going to bond with people this week? That's a week to bond. The next week is malchut, the seventh week, which means majesty, worship. Malchut, we say, baruch atah Yahweh, eloheinu, melech ha'olam, asher kishonu b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitzvotav, b'mitz Each day of the week is devoted to a different attribute. Amen? Each day of the week is devoted to that expression. So here's what you'll do, Melanie. Week one is all about tzed. On that day, on that week, on day four, you're going to look at tzed and netzach. Netzach means victory, endurance, or determination. So you're going to ask yourself that day, Am I determined today to show someone selflessness? Am I determined today to show someone grace or compassion or loving kindness? On week three, which is all about teferet, teferet or compassion or harmony, you're going to be focusing on that. Well, on day 20, you'll look at teferet and yasod. Teferet and yasod. And yasod is bonding. So you can ask yourself, How can I show compassion to someone and bond with them? Because teferet and yasod, how can I show the beauty of Yahweh and bring about bonding or being one with someone? Week six is about yasod, about that connection. So week six on day 42 is yasod and malchut. And that day you can say, Today I need to bond with the kingdom, with the king. I need to worship him because malchut is Hebrew for the majesty or the kingdom of Yahweh. So each day, each week is symbolic. Each day is symbolic inside of that. These are 49 attributes that we can say to ourselves, How am I doing? What am I going to do about this? And we go to count the omer. You can pray. You can study. You can discuss. These are ways of defining the mission. And one thing I would encourage you to do is seek any of these attributes that are either A, missing, or B, that you have an overabundance of. And we know it's okay to be compassionate, but if you have too much compassion, then it runs over. Now we've said before that it took Yahweh one day to bring Israel out of Egypt. It took him 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel. That sounds good, but it's not really right. I want to challenge that. Because it took one day to take Israel out. It took 49 days, the counting of the omer, to bring them to Shavuot, to bring them to Pentecost, it says in Exodus chapter 19, to prepare them as a kingdom of priests. If they would have received Torah that day as the kingdom of priests instead of sending Moshe up there, who knows how the world would be today? But they sent him instead. Remember, that generation, it took 40 years for them to all die off. Not to get Israel, not to get Egypt out of them, it took 40 years for them to all be killed because they did not go into the promised land. Do you follow me? It took 49 days of Yahweh refining them to say, prepare to receive Torah. That's what these 49 days are about. Now remember that the sacrifice offered on the first day of unleavened bread was made out of what? Barley. Barley. Barley in Hebraic times or in the biblical times was used as an animal food. It was used as an animal food. The priests didn't eat it. The people didn't eat it. It was used as an animal food. The sacrifice at Shavuot was what? What was that? Wheat. Remember that? It was wheat. They even put leaven in it. They made the big loaves of bread. At first, with the barley, at the beginning of counting of the Omer, we crave what the animals crave. Follow me here. The Nefesh. We all are like animals and we have a Nefesh. We have a body. We have our soulish desires. Food. Shelter. Sex. Satisfaction. Comfort. Worth. Ease. That's what the animals seek, is it not? And at first we're like that. We're like that barley offering. But then during the 49 days, we mature and we desire what the spirit man needs, which is wheat, the whole wheat of Yahweh Yeshua, the truth of Yahweh, to gather together to receive His Torah on the 50th day, to receive His Ruach HaKodesh. Now it's customary, while you count the Omer, to read Tehillim 67 each night. So I'm going to ask you to do that. Tehillim 67, which I will read to you now. Tehillim, Psalm 67. Elohim, be full of Rachamim, mercy to us. Bless us and call the face to shine upon us. Selah. That your way may be known upon all the earth, your saving health among all nations. Let the nations hallel, praise you, O Elohim. Let all the nations hallel you. O let the nations be in joy and sing for joy, for you shall judge the nations in righteousness and govern the nations upon the earth. Selah. Verse 5. Let the nations hallel you, O Elohim. Let all the nations hallel you. Then shall the earth yield her increase, and Elohim, even our own Elohim, shall bless us. Elohim shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. Now what's so special about this verse? Tehillim 67 in the Hebrew has 49 words. Each word symbolic of the days of the counting of the Omer. Each word leading us closer to the giving of Torah, Matan HaTorah. Each day, and if you look at this and you read it, this is a Messianic psalm, is it not? About the return of Yeshua. Let the nations praise you. When are the nations going to praise Him? In the end. In the end of days. The earth shall yield her increase. The end of days. This again reminds us to be more like Him. Remember Psalm 90 verse 12. Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. So we ask ourselves each day of the Omer. We ask ourselves each day of the Omer, are we impacting our world for Yahweh? Finally, counting the Omer is a discipline. It's a spiritual discipline. Spiritual discipline. Everybody say spiritual discipline. Spiritual discipline. Do you have discipline over your days, over your schedules, over your minds? It takes discipline to stay focused on Yahweh. Amen? When we count the Omer, it's focusing on Him more and more and more every day. 2 Corinthians 10 5, take every thought captive to the obedience of Messiah Yeshua. What are we focusing our thoughts on? During the days of counting the Omer, it's a discipline to focus on Him. Finally, the Omer shows us how kind Yahweh is to us. Amen? How Yahweh wants to mold us and make us into B'Tzalim Elohim, into His image. When the Hebrews were in the wilderness, Yahweh gave them manna each day. Remember that? Up to the day we read there in Joshua chapter 5. That is, they began counting the Omer is when the Omer of manna stopped. That every single one of them during the days of the wilderness, the 40 years they were in the wilderness, Yahweh gave them a manna, an Omer of manna each day. So each day, we are to look and say, Yahweh, what is the Omer of manna that You've given me and how can I give You a hodu, how can I give You thanks? Yahweh is meeting our needs. He's refining us to greater holiness. How are we to look to Him each and every day and say, Yahweh, I'm looking to You, I'm seeking You for that fresh bread from the Shemaim. And it's all in preparation for Shavuot, for the giving of Torah. So we said this is what's called making life count. With the counting of the Omer, we count it every evening, usually 30 minutes after sunset, which is technically the start of the day. Amen. And before counting, it's tradition to stand and say the following blessing. Baruch atah Yahweh. Eloheinu melechah olam. Asher t'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu asefirat ha-omer. Blessed are You, Yahweh our Elohim, King of the universe, who sanctifies us with His commandments and commands us regarding the counting of the Omer. And today is hayom yomechad la-omer. The first day, today is one day of the Omer. Yahweh is teaching us to make our days count. This is an exercise in spiritual discipline. Are they going to count for something? So I want to encourage each and every one of you to count the Omer. Let's count it together. Let's study together. And let's seek His face, because Yahweh's got great plans for us for Shavuot. Amen. Bringing us together in unity, giving us a revelation of His Word. Abba Yahweh, we thank You. You took our feet out of mud and mire. You set us up on a solid rock. Father, You have redeemed us from slavery. You set us free from chasetan, from a life of bondage to sin. But as we count the Omer every day, You are continuing to refine us and make us more like You. That is our desire. Father, we lay aside every thought or every doctrine, every idea or whatever that we have, and we just truly seek Your face. We just ask You to reveal Yourself to us. We are open to follow You, Father, no matter what that means. Father, we are open to be refined. Father, we thank You that Yeshua was that seed planted in the ground. That He died, and yet from Him came the resurrection and the life. That during this time, You are refining us to bring forth Your life on Shavuot. Father, help us to prepare to receive Matan HaTorah, the giving of the Torah, afresh and anew. Father, we don't count down waiting on a launch off or a blast off of some space shuttle. We count up looking forward to that day, the 50th day, the day of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. In the culmination of Your harvest time, mold us, Father, make us. Through Chesed, through Gevurah, through Teferet, Netzach, Chod, may we bring forth Your Malkuth in this world. Hashem, Yeshua, we pray. 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, and may the EMET, may the truth set you free.