Sukkot Example

The Finding Emet radio program focuses on understanding and living the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. It emphasizes the importance of studying the history and pagan roots of holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day. Instead, it promotes celebrating the seven biblical festivals mentioned in Leviticus 23, such as Passover and the Day of Atonement. The program encourages active participation in worship, including building a booth during the Festival of Booths or Sukkot. This is seen as a way to connect with the experiences of the Israelites and learn from their examples. 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 request. 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. Let's talk about holidays for a few minutes. The world has tons of holidays. There's a holiday for everything. And every time you turn around, something else is going on, even inventing new ones, like, you know, Grandparents Day, you know, and then there's, you know, Boxer Day up in, what, Canada and Australia, and Martin Luther King Day. And there's, there's Christmas and Valentine's, Groundhog Day, even Boss's Day. And most of us grew up in a culture and a surrounding where we were not, we didn't have to take classes on how to celebrate Christmas, did you? Anyone here ever take, you know, Christmas 101 or Valentine's Day 101? No, it was part of our culture. It was part of our growing up. We were expected to celebrate Christmas or expected to celebrate Valentine's Day or any of these other days. And these are, these are holidays that part of our Christian nation has taught us in today's society, like Halloween. However, the more we begin to study and look at the history of these holidays, we begin to see pagan roots. And, you know, I mean, think about Valentine's Day for a minute. Cupid, that is a goddess of love. Think about that for a minute. Okay, if you go and study, you know, Valentine's Day, you see that actually even the date set has everything to do with Greek mythology. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that wild? So, the world has holidays. While we as Bible believers, we have holy days. I mean, we've got Passover, the Day of Atonement, Feast of Trumpets, they've all been given us as a way to connect to the Holy One of Israel on His time. Not ours, but His. And these are not just Jewish festivals, amen? These are commanded times of worship and no man, everybody say no man, no man has the authority to argue or change what is written in the Torah in the Bible. So, the Bible says you are together on this day. I think it's a pretty good idea we do what it says. Now, there are seven biblical festivals that can be found in Leviticus 23. So, if you'll turn with me there, we're going to look at these for a few minutes. Now, they begin, we can see them in Leviticus 23, Vayikra 23, but we can see them all throughout the Scriptures, including the newer Testament. The Gospels record how Yahshua, the Messiah, the Savior, celebrated these days. And we are called to follow in His footsteps. If He didn't, He put a seal of approval on it, and we are to follow His examples. So, in Leviticus, Vayikra 23, we're going to begin looking at some of these feast days again. And the festivals have literal and spiritual, messianic, and prophetic applications for us that can help enhance our spiritual walk. They're not just given as suggestions. They're not just given as, oh, that's what the Jews did. These are things to help our walk. Amen? To help us. So, let's take a look at Vayikra 23, and let's begin at verse 39. Oh, let's begin, come on, how about a little bit earlier? Let's begin at verse 33. Leviticus 23, 33. So, we see the first day and the eighth day. Verse 37. Verse 38. That tells us Shabbat's not enough. Amen? He gives us a few other great days to celebrate and keep the feast. So, here we read about what's called the Festival of Booths, or Sukkot. In Hebrew, Chag Sukkot. Leviticus 23 teaches us to remember the tests and trials, and remember what happened to Israel in the wilderness. So, if you take a look at Leviticus 23, and keep reading, let's go on down to verse 39. And let's read here. It says, On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you've gathered in the fruit of your land, you shall celebrate a Chag to Yahweh seven days. On the first day shall be a Shabbaton. On the eighth day shall be a Shabbaton. And you shall take on the first day the boughs of Tov Etzim, or good trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook. You shall have Simcha, joy, before Yahweh, your Elohim, seven days. You shall celebrate it as a Chag to Yahweh seven days in the year. This shall be a Chuk Le'olam Vayed, or a statute forever. In your generations, you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Verse 42. You, who? You, shall dwell in Sukkot, in booths, seven days. All that are native Israelites shall dwell in Sukkot. That, why are you going to do this? That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in Sukkot, in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, Mitsrayim. I am Yahweh, your Elohim. So, the very words of Yahweh here, telling us about the festival of Sukkot. And the name of our teaching today is called, The Sukkot Example. The Sukkot Example. This is a message for us that we can apply to our lives and learn about how to keep the feast and a little bit more about that. Here it tells us, starting in verse 39, that on the fifteenth day, you shall bring in the fruit of your land and celebrate a Chag to Yahweh seven days. The first day is a Shabbaton and the eighth day is a Shabbaton. Hebrew, there's a word called Shabbaton. And that word means a little Sabbath. It means like the Sabbath. And all the commandments surrounding the Shabbaton, that surround the Shabbat, apply to the Shabbaton with the exception of one. Where we do not normally cook on the Sabbath, as it tells us in Numbers and other places, and we withhold from cooking on Shabbat, we can cook on the Shabbatons. Because we are to have a Mirchrei Kodesh, we are to have a feast. So to have that feast, you've got to be able to cook, right? It just makes sense. However, Shabbatons should be the times that we take off of work and celebrate and worship. And here's the way I look at that. We have seven feasts of Yahweh. They come around once a year. Once a year opportunity to take a day off of work and just worship. What's so bad about that? Why is that so hard for some people? Now I know sometimes bosses won't let folks, maybe you've used up all your vacation time or this or whatever. I say go for it. Try anyway. Amen. Praise Yahweh. What's so difficult about that? I hate for people to miss celebrating the feast days, because it's them that are really missing the experience. Because there's really a lot of fun and the blessings that occur there. This message is not about, oh you better take off work or else. But this message is about the Sukkot example. Praise Yahweh. So instead of being an audience to paid professional preachers, according to Leviticus 23, we are to be active participants in our worship. Amen? Worship, it tells us here, that worship includes building a booth. Not just going to celebrate and have communion. Worship, it tells us, building a temporary hut or dwelling and Bible-based worship, as we see and as we begin to understand Hebraic worship, connects the body and the soul. It's an active form of worship. Hebrew is an action language. When we keep Sukkot by dwelling in booths, dwelling in a sukkah, we step into the shoes of the nation of Israel. Do you see that? We actually do some role-playing. We step into their shoes, and this is a powerful tool for teaching. Listen to this. What happened to Israel, happened for us. What happened to Israel, happened for us. It tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 1-3 and then verse 11, it says, you should not be ignorant of how your fathers were under a cloud and all passed through the sea and were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And all did eat the same spiritual food. What would that be? Manna, right? Now, all these things happened to them for examples for us. And they are written for our warning, upon whom the ends of the world have come. So 1 Corinthians chapter 10 tells us that what happened to Israel, them coming out of Egypt and then the feast days and all the commandments are examples for us. An example is something you look at, but it's also something you follow. Amen? So it's something that you do. In this verse from Corinthians, I don't know a lot of Greek, I don't try to study a lot of Greek, but the Greek word for example here is the word tupos. Tupos, the word for example. And it's from tupos that we get the English word type or model. The events in the desert wilderness were types or models for us today. Everything that happened to Israel, from the brazen serpent to the water from a rock to the manna from heaven is a type and a pattern for future generations. And through these marvels we learn that Yahweh was teaching Israel to trust Him and at Sukkot we begin to actively participate in that. So as we put our sukkah, as we erect our sukkah, our tent, our booth, maybe a cardboard box cut out on the top a little bit and put some tree branches on it you know, whatever. We do this in a way to experience what they did. So it's an example. So we remember that it was the Hebrew people had been rescued from the vicious ruler, Pharaoh right? Moshe had come as their deliverer. There were the ten plagues the parting of the Red Sea, coming across, receiving the Torah the pillar of a cloud of smoke and a pillar of fire protected them and they were on their way to that sticky place, right? The land flowing of milk and honey. The promised land. They were on their path. They had left Egypt heading towards Eden. That's where they were going. But because of the sin and disbelief, remember the ten spies and what happened there? They found themselves in a place unfamiliar and undesired. And how long were they there? 40 years. So Sukkot is a special time for remembering. It reminds us of the 40 year wilderness journey of Israel. There's two days of rest and we're told here, it tells us in verse 42 of Leviticus 23, you shall dwell in Sukkot seven days. That word there for dwell, it literally means this. This is really deep. You ready? It means to dwell. It means to dwell. That's what it means. It means to live and it means to dwell. It means to partake in. And traditional Jews today, there is so many different ways that you could take that word in different Messianic groups. Some take the whole week off work and they go and they camp out in the mountains. If you don't give them that day off of work, they're going to quit their job and just hope they can find another one when they get back. You got some out there that do that. That's not how I quite read it. Okay, that's their prerogative, I guess. But here we see, it says to dwell. And the traditional understanding is, if you can live there, great. But if you cannot, to dwell in it for seven days. That means spend some time in it for seven days. That may mean ordering Domino's pizza, having a pizza delivered to your sukkah in the backyard, having a great time with your family. I've done that before. I usually sleep in, as I said, sleep in our sukkah a couple times during the year. It's a great time for the family and the kids. I mean, welcome to the great outdoors, right? This is a time to get out and to celebrate and to worship. Now, it tells us to do this. It says to dwell in sukkah for seven days. Very clear. It says, why do we do this? So that your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in Sukkot when I brought them out of Egypt. By living in the sukkah, we can remember what it was like by actively repeating. Now, think of Passover for a minute. With Passover, there is the Seder. There is the big meal, and the four cups of wine, and the unleavened bread that we eat, and the keroset, and the moror, and the matzah. There's all the different elements of Passover. Similar to Passover, Sukkot calls us to step out of the normal and remember what Yahweh has done for us. You know, Yahweh is all about reminders. We have the tzitzit, which acts as reminders. We have the kippah, or the head covering, which acts as a reminder. We have the Shabbat. It acts as a reminder. We have the mezuzah on the doors. It acts as a reminder. He knows that we easily forget. Praise Yahweh for that. So, when we walk in the Hebraic lifestyle, we are surrounded all day long with spiritual reminders. There's an article on the EmetMinistries.com website called Spiritual Reminders that goes into more detail about this. You know, the word tells us in Deuteronomy 32.7, it says, this is a good verse to remember and to tell your friends, or your Christian brothers as you're ministering to them. It says in Deuteronomy 32.7, Remember days of old. Consider the years of many generations. We are told to remember the days of old. Not forget what the Israelites did, but to remember it. So, Devarim 32.7. Sukkot is a period once a year to remember and actively participate. Live out the faith. Get out of the four walls of the shul or the synagogue and get out in the great outdoors. Okay? Time of worship. Time of thanksgiving. In fact, it tells us in verse 39 of Leviticus 23 that it says, When you have gathered the fruit of the land, you shall celebrate it. This is a time of the fall harvest. And there is a good case that can be made, and it is firmly believed by many, that when the Puritans came over, and they were seeking religious asylum from Great Britain, that what we call the Thanksgiving meal with the Indians was actually them celebrating Sukkot. They were Torah strict Torah keepers. And we'll see a lot of elements of Sukkot has to deal with what happened during that Thanksgiving meal. Very interesting. I doubt there was a cornucopia there. By the way, that goes back to Greek mythology. The cornucopia that budded and all the flowers and fruits came out of it. Guess what? Pagan as can be. More than likely, Thanksgiving was the Puritans celebrating Sukkot. It's a fall harvest. A bringing in the latter harvest. It says, After you've gathered the crops. To celebrate what Yahweh has done in our lives during this time. So it's a time of thanksgiving. A time of celebration and joy. The rabbis of Judaism call it Zeman Simkat-Tenu. Say that again. Zeman Simkat-Tenu. Zeman means the time and Simkat-Tenu means the time of our joy or the time of our rejoicing. It's a time of rejoicing before Yahweh. In verses 39-43 it tells us on the first day to take, this is kind of weird. Okay, let's just be honest here. This is kind of weird. It says on the first day you shall take good trees. You're going to take some palm trees and some thick trees and some willow trees and some fruit and it says to have joy before Yahweh. Now in Hebrew this is called the four species. This is called the four species. This is Leviticus 23 39-43 and these are normally considered to be the palm tree, a branch from the palm tree, a branch from a willow tree, a branch from a myrtle tree and a special fruit from the land of Israel called an Etrog. Etrog. Looks very much like a lemon. Very much like a lemon. It's a little bit bigger. Smells just wonderful. It's got the new car scent to it. It's got the new car lemon scent. It really is. So anyway and it says you are to take these and to have joy with them. And so we are taught that what that means is to do a wave offering. So we take these branches and we just wave it before Yahweh and just bless Yahweh with it. And yes it looks odd and it looks weird but believe it or not, once you experience it, it is not only fun but it is such a blessing because you're doing what has been done for almost 4000 years. So you're rejoicing with the fruit of the land. And you get to sleep outside and build the tabernacle or the temporary dwelling. Now a key theme to remember for Sukkot is to remember. That's a key theme of Sukkot is to remember. We are to remember the 40 year journey of the Israelites. Amen? 40 years going through the wilderness. 40 years Yahweh met their needs supernaturally. They didn't go to work. They didn't clock in. They didn't clock out. And yet they had everything they needed. 40 years Yahweh led Israel to the promised land. He conquered their enemies. They had a cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night. He fed them with manna. He sustained them. Their shoes didn't wear out. Their clothes didn't wear out. They had water in the wilderness. The impossible was made possible as they followed Yahweh. He gave them Torah. He commanded them to build a tabernacle. Remember that? And we see our ancestors if we go back and read especially the book of Numbers or in Hebrew Bamidbar. Let me tell you something. In our English Bible it's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. But in Hebrew the word of the book of Numbers is called Bamidbar. Bamidbar. Everybody say Bamidbar. Bamidbar. And that means in the wilderness. In the wilderness. The word numbers comes from the Greek word as they were taking a census. But much more important than the census that was taking place was how they acted in the wilderness. Doesn't that make more sense than just the book of Numbers, okay? It's not, you know, the book of Numbers does not teach you how to count as we would think. It's all about what they did in the wilderness. So here we see the providence of Yahweh. And at the very beginning they were focused on building and keeping up the Mishkan, the tabernacle. And as the Mishkan would move or as they would move, the Mishkan would move. Remember if you read in the scriptures it says, okay, they would get ready to move. Numbers chapter 10, Numbers chapter 11, it talks about how they would be camped in certain order. And the shofar would sound and they would move in a certain order. And the tabernacle, the Mishkan would always stay where? In the middle. In the midst of the tribes. Remember that for later. They were camped all around it. Now it tells us in Exodus 25.8, Exodus 25.8, it says build me a sanctuary that I may dwell in the midst of you. It says the same thing in Exodus 29.45. Crucial to our understanding of Sukkot is another key phrase here, another key element of Sukkot, first being to remember the second being the indwelling or the dwelling. It's what it means to tabernacle, right? To Sukkot means to dwell with. Crucial to our understanding. You know, the point of tabernacles is not that we go outside and spend hundreds of dollars and build this tent and spend a week outside camping. That's not the point. The point is that we understand that Yahweh tabernacles with us. And the way we understand that is by building a tabernacle or a Mishkan or a Sukkah and experiencing that. You see, with each festival in Leviticus 23, we see a prophetic picture of Yeshua's life. He was sacrificed on Passover, right? He rose from the dead near the first fruits. He poured out His Spirit on Pentecost, right? Remember Acts chapter 2 when the day of Pentecost with Shavuot had fully come? We see that He is returning and bringing about the day of Yahweh on the Feast of Trumpets, that the Bema judgment seat of Yahweh will be near Yom Kippur. Sukkot plays an important part for the end times. It is a major part and during the life of Messiah. Really interesting. Yeshayahu 4610, Isaiah 4610 tells us, Yahweh declares the end from the beginning, right? Yahweh declares the end from the beginning. This is the last festival mentioned in Leviticus 23. Amen? Last festival, right? Well, at this festival of Sukkot, Yahweh is declaring the end from the beginning. From the end here, He is declaring the beginning. Because it was during this last festival of the religious year, you could say, that Yeshua came and tabernacled with us. It was the beginning of His earthly life here on this planet. During one Sukkot, about 2000 years ago, Yeshua came to Sukkah to dwell with us, with all mankind. It tells us in John 1 14, the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. The New American Standard says, the Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us. Take that Word, and what's the name of this festival? The Feast of Tabernacles. One purpose of Yeshua's coming was to dwell in the Sukkah with us. You see, He came at Sukkot, showing us the promises of Yahweh. Now, how do we know that? How do we know that Yeshua wasn't born on December 25th? Many, many we could spend hours talking about that. I encourage you to go to encyclopedia.com. Look up Christmas. Look up the day, December 25th, and you'll realize that that is a high, holy day of pagan Greek mythology and worship. It's amazing. You'll see that it was decreed December 25th was decreed to be the day to celebrate Yeshua's birth by Constantine the Great in 321 A.D. It was until that time that His birth was celebrated, when we'll celebrate it, during the festival of Sukkot. So, turn with me to the book of Luke, in the Newer Testament, the Brit Hadashah, Luke chapter 2. And we see in Luke chapter 2, a very good case being made. Starting in verse 8, you could start in verse 7 or so, where it talks about verse 7, that she brought forth a firstborn son, wrapped him in a manger in swaddling clothes, right? Laid him in a feeding trough, right? Then it tells us in verse 8, there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Where is this happening? In the same country. What country? Israel. Okay? From biblical times until today, shepherds in Israel leave the open fields, they leave the cold open fields and pen their sheep, starting in the middle of October, and they keep them penned until Passover time. There is no way possible that there were shepherds in the field during December, because even today it's too cold for sheep at night in the land of Israel during that time. So, they don't let them out until the first, it begins about the first frost in October until it warms up in Passover with spring. Now Luke 2.10 tells us, the heavenly messenger said, fear not, I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be to all the people of Israel. I bring you great tidings of great joy, right? Again, the message that the angels proclaim was what? Simchat. What is this a festival of? Zimon Simchatenu, the time of our rejoicing. So, the theme of Sukkot being joy, carries along with the birth of Yeshua. It says that they came to, where was Yeshua born? Bethlehem. In Hebrew, Bet Lechem. Bet Lechem, which means house, Bet of Lechem, bread. They came there, and there was no room in the inn. Now, why is it? Everybody would just, no vacancy sign, you know, they just had the neon no vacancy sign going. There was a Super Bowl going on in the town. Most likely, the reason why there was no vacancy is, remember what was happening. The surrounding circumstances was there a census was taking place. Remember that? The decree went out, and they take a census of everyone. And it was a Roman custom at that time, that whenever they would do a census, which was for the purpose of what? Taxation. They were doing a census to charge people more taxes, was to do it when the country that they were taxing would have the most people in it. The certain time, according to the prevailing customs of the people. Well, guess what? Three times a year, all Israelite families and men were commanded to come to Israel. The first being Passover, the second being Pentecost, the third being Sukkot, or Tabernacles. So again, a very good indication that during this time, that's why there was no hotels, no places to stay. But they had to stay outside in an inn, which could very well be a Sukkah. Not just an away in a manger, more like away in a Sukkah, no crib for a bed. The little Yeshua lay down his sweet head, you know. The stars in the sky look down where he lay. The little Yeshua asleep on the hay. Even that song shows us. Because even today, the Rabbis say, for you to have a kosher Sukkah, you've got to be able to see the stars from the inside. Isn't that neat? Isn't that neat? So we see here, very good indications. A makeshift dwelling. That's what a Sukkah was. A temporary hut. Now, another indication. Did you know that Sukkot is exactly six months from Passover? Exactly six months. If Yeshua's ministry lasted three and a half years, he died on Passover. That would put the time of his birth when, do a little math, Sukkot. The Feast of Sukkot. So again, the theme of Sukkot is indwelling, tabernacling, celebrating. And what's great is when Yeshua ascended, after he was resurrected, after he was killed and resurrected, he did not abandon us. Praise Yahweh. But what did he do? He sent forth the Comforter, the Ruach HaKodesh. And where is that Comforter? Inside us. It tells us, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 9, it says, you, who? You are Yahweh's Sukkah. That would be the Hebrew word there. You are Yahweh's Sukkah. You are Yahweh's dwelling place of the Ruach HaKodesh. Some of us have big Sukkahs. Some of us have little Sukkahs. We all got good looking Sukkahs. I mean, right? Praise Yahweh. Alright. You are Yahweh's Sukkah. So turn to your neighbor and say, I like your Sukkah. There you go. Alright, be careful now. That's right. Praise Yahweh. We all have, we all are Yahweh's Sukkah. We're his house. It tells us in 1 Corinthians 3, 15, know ye not that you are the Beit HaMikdash, or the temple of Yahweh, and that the Ruach dwells where? In a big stone temple in Israel? No. In you. In you. Another parallel. Another type. Our lives are to be similar to the Sukkahs that were built as they were coming out of Egypt. Our lives are to be similar to that. Now the word tells us that this world is not my home, right? We're just passing through. That's a good old gospel song. Philippians 3, 20 says our citizenship is in heaven. Our bodies are temporary dwellings. I've heard it said we live in earth suits. But our real citizenship is in the Shemayim, in the heavens. We are, and we have, come out of Egypt. Egypt is a type of sin. It's a type of bondage. It's a type of religious systems. So let's just put ourselves in their shoes for a few minutes. Israel was coming out of Egypt, which is a type of bondage and sin. We have spiritually left man's ways. We've left the bondage of sin. We've left religion. We've left the ways of the world. Yahweh has set us free. Amen? And just like those coming out of Egypt, we have received Torah. Isn't that what they did? They came out of Egypt, they received Torah, and they were to go to the promised land. That's what they were commanded to do. They were never commanded to go wander around for 40 years. That was not Yahweh's plan for them. That's what happened, but that was not Yahweh's plan for them. We are very similar to this group. We've received Torah. Amen? And we're kind of like the first Israelites coming out of Egypt. We struggle with Torah. We don't know exactly how to do it, when to do it, you know, where to do it. We struggle with when to worship and all the details of it. Because at that time it was all new to them. Amen? So here they are coming out of bondage. Can you see the parallel? Coming out of bondage and then moving towards, receiving Torah, moving towards the promised land. Now, I want you to get something really important. The Israelites were not in the promised land during the wilderness journeys. Yet, they obeyed Torah as if they were there. You follow me? Even though they weren't in the land, they obeyed the precepts and commandments of Torah as if they were there. Many commandments that we read about in the Scriptures are dependent upon, it says, when you're in the land Yahweh your Elohim gives you. Right? And so a lot of those commandments don't necessarily pertain to us in that extent. Yet, we learn, listen to me now, we learn how to behave in the land by obeying in the exile today. You follow me? We learn how to behave in the land by obeying in exile today because we don't live in Israel. So the more mitzvot, the more commandments that we keep now prepare us for the time that we'll be there. Whether that's in the world to come or in this life now. Our Torah keeping today prepares us when we will live in the land. And each time we call upon Yahweh, each time we make a Hebraic choice, each time we decide to keep Shabbat or the feast days, we are looking to the promised land, the new Yerushalayim. And we are practicing, we are pretending like we're already there. Do you see that? That's powerful. Every time we learn a new Hebrew word, we're one step closer to regaining the promised land, Eretz Israel. Now I want to share with you all a very key concept. I want to share with you all something very important. A very key concept to go along with the rest of the teaching. In our desire to keep the faith entrusted to our ancestors, in our efforts to obey Torah and the lifestyle intended for believers, we need to be careful and we need to be cautious not to fall into the same error and sins that they did. Many people are quick to rush when they get an idea of who they are as Israelites or they want to learn the Hebrew roots, they just jump in to keeping Torah. And what ends up happening is they repeat many of the same sins and errors that our Israelite brothers did. Or they fall into the sins of Judah, where they don't say the name Yahweh. Or maybe they go crazy on different calendars. They do this or they do that and they fall into some of the same sinful areas. In our desire to live as Israelites, we should learn from our forefathers and not repeat their mistakes. Amen? I want you to get that. This is very important. But as we reclaim our Israelite identity, we should not repeat their problems. You don't have to make all the mistakes yourself. You can learn from someone else. Praise Yahweh for that. History repeats itself. And as you are like those coming out of Egypt and receiving Torah for the first time, the tendency is to repeat their sins. Just makes sense, doesn't it? We don't have to learn from our own mistakes. We should learn from some of theirs. Sukkot is a time of joy. It's a time of indwelling in the Sukkot, remembering Yeshua's birth, remembering the 40 years of wilderness wanderings. I want you to get this. It took one night. How many nights? One night for Yahweh to bring Israel out of Egypt. It took 40 years to do what? Get Egypt out of Israel. Now why is it we think over a couple weeks, a couple months, or a couple of years that we're going to be conformed to His image? Or we're going to get all this Torah down? Or we're going to get all the Hebrew down? Let me tell you something. We are on the journey. And if each day we take another step towards that journey, that's what we are supposed to be doing. Not taking steps backwards, but taking steps forwards. It's not a matter of, have you arrived? Because let me tell you something. You've not arrived and I've not arrived. The question is, have we left? Have we left Egypt behind? Not a question of, have we gotten there yet? Because we're not perfect. The Rabbi's not perfect. The elders aren't perfect. You're not perfect. I'm not going to keep Torah perfect. I'm going to hurt your feelings. I'm going to do things that will offend. And people around you will do that because we are on a journey towards the Promised Land, the heavenly Yerushalayim. And just like those coming out of Egypt, we are going to make mistakes. But we need to be careful to learn from some of theirs. These were 40 years of testing and trials. You think your life is bad? What if you had to spend 40 years of being tested and tried only to be killed off before you go to the Promised Land? Think about that. 40 years. But let me tell you what else they were. They were 40 years of miracles. 40 years of supernatural provision. They might have been 40 years of tests and trials, but they were also 40 years of total dependency upon Yahweh. They might have been 40 years of bad times, we could say, but they were 40 years when they were fed by the manna and clothed and protected by the direct hand of Yahweh. And even though we struggle with keeping Torah, even though we struggle as the Israelites did, it's going to be our children who are going to inherit the land. It's going to be our children who are going to grow up knowing the name of Yahweh, knowing the feast days, knowing the Torah. That's why it's so important here. So they learn, amen? That's why it's so important that we teach our children because they are the ones to inherit the land. We might not be that generation, but our children may be. Yet even with divine providence, with the Israelites, even with the miracles, after miracle after miracle, the Israelites did not experience Yahweh's perfect will or Yahweh's best. Remember they had mountains and valleys, they had plagues, they had problems, they had healings, they had victories. We must be careful and we must be cautious. This is important. Write this down. As Yahweh brings us out of Egypt and he gives us his Torah, that we don't inherit Israel's sins as well as their laws. And one of the biggest mistakes we make today, one of the biggest errors prevalent in Messianic movements, the area I believe that we, as a body, repeat the sins of our ancestors greater and more than any other area. You don't have to write that down. The area that we repeat the specific sin more than anything else is this. It is not Shabbat keeping. It is not speaking Hebrew perfectly and correctly. It's not those things you really think that they are. It's this. Are you ready? I'm trying to build some excitement here. Are you ready for it? Drum roll please. There you go. The area that the Messianic movement and we as believers as a whole, I believe, repeat the sins of our ancestors the most is very simple. We limit Yahweh. We limit Yahweh. We hold Yahweh back from accomplishing his perfect will in our lives. We stop him from moving in us as he truly desires. Turn to Helam 78. Psalm 78. Psalm 78. And the Psalm 78 is like a primer on Hebrew history. If you need to know Hebrew history, read the whole Psalm 78. It kind of goes through coming out of Egypt. Yahweh giving Torah. Parting of the Red Sea. All the many problems they had. And beginning in verse 38. Let's begin there. Psalm 78 to Helam 78. Starting in verse 38. But Yahweh being full of mercy, Rahamim, forgave their iniquity, destroyed them not many times. How many? Many times he turned his anger away. He did not stir up all his anger. For he remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away and comes not again. Verse 40. How often did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert? Yes, they turned back and tested Yahweh and limited limited the set part one of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. How he worked the signs in Mitzrayim, Egypt, and his wonders in the field. And he had turned their rivers into blood and their streams they could not drink. And he sent forth all sorts of flies. And it goes on and on and on. It tells us here that Israel tested Yahweh. They grieved Yahweh. In verse 41 it says, by their actions they limited the Holy One of Israel. Many of us, I want to tip over a little sacred cow just a little bit. Many of us have an idea about the sovereignty of Yahweh that is not biblical. And I believe this is one of the biggest errors in Christianity today. And here's the error. If it happens, then Yahweh must have done it. It must have been Yahweh's will. Oh, poor Aunt Susie. She was only 42 when she died. It must have been Yahweh's will. Absolutely not. Yahweh is not the cause for all our problems. He's the solution. But not the cause. Let me give you an example of how this works. In a lot of churches today, you pray for someone to be healed. And they get healed. Oh, praise Yahweh. This was Yahweh's will for them to be healed. They don't get healed. Oh, it must not be Yahweh's will. What kind of faith does that take? Right? It takes no faith. It must not be His will. Oh well, we'll try again the next day. The idea that Yahweh controls everything is wrong. The idea that Yahweh is in control is correct. But Yahweh does not control every move you make, every thought you take, every breath you take. Yahweh is sovereign in the sense that He is all-powerful. Not in the sense that He is in control of everything. Let me show you this in the Scriptures. Because the truth is, you are in control. And you can limit Yahweh. 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 9, tells us that it is not His will that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. If Yahweh was sovereign, everybody would be saved. If Yahweh's will always happened, then everybody would be saved. That's called universalism. It's not what the Bible teaches. People limit His salvation power. Amen? Let me show it to you in another way. It tells us in Ephesians 2.8, You are saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves, that any man should boast. It is the gift of Yahweh. How are you saved? By grace through faith. You are not saved by grace alone. Nor are you saved by faith alone. Two parts. You are saved by grace. Grace is what Yahweh's done for us. Amen? What we couldn't do. Yahweh's part, all in everyone. He offers salvation to every person in the world. It is only those who by faith enact the grace that are born again. Agree? Only those who by faith in Yahweh enact the grace upon them. So even with salvation, Yahweh has a part and we have a part. And if it's true for salvation, how much more so for His will in our lives today. Now think about that for a minute. Because that means, you know what? Yahweh didn't call 911. And Yahweh didn't call Katrina and the tsunamis and the bad things that have happened in your life. Sometimes bad things happen. Does Yahweh know about it? Yes. Does that mean Yahweh calls a drunk driver to veer over? No. Did it catch Yahweh by surprise? No. There's something called free will there. Amen? So even as believers, we can limit Yahweh from accomplishing His purposes for us. Like the Israelites who had their journey in just a few days. They could have been in the promised land. How long did it take them? Forty years. Forty years. Yahweh wanted to bless them with the home. He wanted to bless them with the fruitful land where the grapes were bigger than people. He wanted to bless them abundantly over anything they could imagine and yet they stopped the blessing by their negative attitudes and by unbelief. There you go. Because this Sukkot, I want you to learn this lesson. Here's what I want you to do. When you're waving that lulav and etrog, the four species, I want you to take the limits off of Yahweh. Take the limits off. Yahweh can. Everybody say that. Yahweh can. Yahweh is bigger. He's greater. He's stronger than any problem and Yahweh is willing. Yahweh wants to answer your prayers more than you even want to speak them. It tells us in Ephesians 3.20, key verse to memorize, Yahweh is able to do exceedingly abundantly over anything you can think, ask, or imagine. What a powerful verse. But again, don't forget the second part. Read it in context. Turn in your Bible to Ephesians 3.20 and it says, Yahweh is able to do exceedingly abundantly over anything we can think, ask, or imagine according to the power that works in you. Where's the power? In you. So who actually has control? Not Yahweh. He's willing to do it. He is able to do it. So how does it manifest? Through us. It manifests through us. Yahweh can and will do great things, but He needs a person to flow through. Yahweh is spirit. Amen? Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. That's why Yeshua had to come down to this earth to have a to show us the body. And we are the body of Messiah. Yahweh needs a person to flow through. And guess what? He's chosen us. He's chosen Israel. Take off the limits. Build up your faith in a little bit in the idea of encourage yourself. Yahweh can do it. Cancer is nothing to Yahweh. Financial problems are nothing to Yahweh. Family problems, that's nothing to Yahweh. Bad landlords, moody bosses, upset congregations, that's nothing to Yahweh. Amen? Hallelujah! He is bigger than all of that. Don't limit Yahweh. And what does it take? Does it take great faith? No. Little faith. Little faith. The size of a grain of a mustard seed. I want to share with you real quickly three areas that we need to take off the limits. Take off the limits from Yahweh. These are three areas that the Israelites limited Yahweh and we need to learn from their experiences. The first area to learn from is in Numbers 21. Take off the limits from Yahweh. Numbers 21 verses 1-3. It tells us here that the people were not very happy. Verses 1-3 going on down to verses 10, it tells us that they mumbled and they grumbled. They weren't very happy. And the number one area that we need to take the limits off of Yahweh areas that people have limited Yahweh, that stops Yahweh from accomplishing His full will in our lives. I believe the number one, the absolute number one area for the Messianic movement and believers today is pride. Pride. Pride. That is the biggest I believe the biggest demon we face and the biggest problem that we face. It tells us here in verse 5, it says the people spoke against Yahweh and against Moshe saying, why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, neither is there any water, and our being hates this manna, this light bread. They were better than that, right? How dare you bring us out? How dare you read us? Many, many times we see that they spoke against their leader, right? We see them coming against the spiritual leadership that Yahweh put in place. Many times, a big issue of pride is that people think they know it all. Either in different parts of the faith, maybe they've been in the Messianic movement, they've been doing the feast for 12 years. You can't teach me anything, Rabbi. I've got it, right? He can't teach me anything. He's too young or he's too old or he shouts too much or he talks too quietly. There's always somebody grumbling and mumbling against spiritual leadership and the issue there is pride. And I want you to see what happened. Because it says here that they spoke against Yahweh and Moshe. Let me tell you something. When you speak against Yahweh's leadership, you are speaking against Yahweh. What was the result? Because we're supposed to learn from their results, right? It's types for us. It says here, Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people and bit the people and many of them died. If you do not submit to Yahweh's leadership, this is in Numbers 21 verse 6. If you do not submit to Yahweh's leadership or if you speak against Yahweh's leadership or come against Yahweh's leadership what's going to happen? The serpent is going to be able to come against you and bite you and bring death. That's what happened to them. It's a type and picture for us today. We've got to get the pride out. Otherwise, when we speak against Yahweh and his leadership, it's an open door for Hasatan to come in the serpent and bite us. Do you see it? That's strong there. That's strong. If you continue to read on you see that the people made prayers. They begged Yahweh for forgiveness and look at what they had to do. They had to look to the bronze serpent for healing. The thing that brought them pain they had to go back to and look at as they made teshuva. Pride is a huge area that we face because people don't want to be taught. I as a teacher need to remain teachable. Amen? You as a student need to remain teachable. I've not arrived as I said. I'm not in the promised land. Even if I was in Israel there would be even more to learn. We need to keep our minds open and listen to Yahweh and remain teachable. Praise Yahweh for that. Amen? So we see here how they limited Yahweh by their pride. Let's look at Numbers 14 and that tells us about Yahoshua and Caleb. In Numbers 14 it tells us that here what limited them was Yahweh wanted them to go into the promised land. When they went out in Numbers 14 and ten of the Israelites had a bad report, what happened? Their unbelief limited Yahweh. Because they did not believe what Yahweh had said about the land, that it was a good land it limited Yahweh and they had to spend one year for every day that they were out. Forty years. The good report was believed by few. You know that's just the way it goes for us. People want bad news. All you want to hear about is bad news. Give me the told report. Give me the good news. Praise Yahweh for that. They didn't trust Yahweh's word. They didn't trust His word. They didn't trust the leaders. It tells us in Numbers 14 verse 2, the children of Israel murmured against Moshe and against Aharon. And all the congregation of Israel said why are you doing this? We should have died in Egypt. However, we see that Yahoshua said, verse 8, Yahweh delights in us. He will bring us into the land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Yahweh had promised them to take them into the promised land. That's why it's called the promised land. And you know what? If Yahweh's promised you a land, if Yahweh's promised you anything, He's going to fulfill it. But you've got to be willing to step out and to see in the supernatural. All twelve of them saw the same exact thing. Did they not? Two saw in the spirit realm. Ten saw with their fleshly eyes. We've got to be willing to look past what we may see in the natural to see in the supernatural and to see it that Yahweh is able. Don't limit Yahweh by what you see. Don't limit Yahweh by what you hear, by what you feel, by what you taste. Don't put the limits on Yahweh with your unbelief. Finally, in Exodus chapter 32, fear kept them from Yahweh's perfect will. We're not going to turn there, but in Exodus 32 is when they began to worship the golden calf. Now why did they do that? I believe part of it was fear. They thought Moshe was gone. He's been up there for so long, they made their own god. You know, by the way, that golden calf, that's a big god out of Egypt. They made their own god and began worshiping it because of what they could not see. They put something in Yahweh's place. Oy vey. They couldn't see Moshe. They couldn't hear what was going on between him and Yahweh for 40 days and so they made their own god. How many times do we, because we can't see Yahweh moving in our lives or maybe, you know, we don't feel Yahweh's presence one Shabbat, we decide, you know what, I'm going to put something in Yahweh's place the next Shabbat. There are some people out there, but they got to have their hair curled by a lightning rod from Yahweh every single morning because they got to feel it, right? It's not about what we feel. It's about faith. It's about faith. And because of their fear, fear is an acronym. It stands for false evidence appearing real. That's what fear is. False evidence appearing real. They thought Moshe was gone. Maybe he got raptured or something like that. They thought he was gone. And because of that, they made up their own faith. Pride, unbelief, fear all stop us from Yahweh's best. Let me ask you, what is Yahweh's best for you? What is Yahweh's good, pleasing and perfect will for you? Let me tell you. Real simple. It's for you to be like Yeshua. To be a living sukkah. A living sukkah. To have His presence manifest in us so greatly that we could be like Yeshua. He must increase. I must decrease. To talk, to walk, to act, to live like Yeshua. To understand this, let me tell you. What you're going through today, what I face today, what you face, the trials and tests are part of our journey. Let me say that again. You didn't get it. What you face in life as trials and tests are part of the journey. Your journey is to the promised land. Yahweh's promised you to be there. It gives us a chance and opportunity to learn to trust Him. To get to Egypt out. The wilderness was not the destination for Israel. Eretz Israel, the land of Eden was their destination. But it's so easy in the midst of the wilderness to kind of set up our sukkah and think that's where we're going to be. But remember again, a sukkah is a temporary dwelling. We are only in times of testing and trials for short periods. Because all eternity we're going to spend with Yahweh. So no matter what we face, no matter what trials and problems we face, this too shall pass. Let me tell you something. Israel was not set free from Egypt to be nomads in the sand and nor were you set free from religion and sin or bondage to wander around like a sheep not knowing your head from your tail. Yahweh has a plan and a purpose for each and every one of us. He tells us in the book of Isaiah, I know the thoughts I think about you says Yahweh. Thoughts of shalom and not evil to give you a good hope in the end. We've not arrived, we're all on the journey and we're all at different places. So we've got to have grace. But we're walking towards the same destination. Each time we fulfill a mitzvot, call upon his name, maybe choose a clean food over an unclean food, put on the tzitzit, any commandment, loving your neighbor, honoring your parents, not lying, not stealing. We are taking one step closer in this wilderness journey. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death towards the promised land, towards that heavenly city. It tells us about that upcoming Sukkot in the book of Revelation chapter 21. It tells us about the heavenly sukkah coming down from heaven. Revelation 21. And I saw a renewed Shammayim heavens and a renewed earth. The first heavens and earth had passed away and there was no more sea. And I, Yochanan, saw the promised land. I saw the set-apart city, the renewed Yerushalayim coming down from Yahweh out of the heavens. Prepared how? As a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the heavens saying, See! The sukkah of Yahweh is with men. He will dwell with them and they shall be his people and Yahweh himself shall be with them and be their Elohim. And of a journey to get there has been hard. He says, and Yahweh shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. For the former things have passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, See! I make all things renewed. He said to me, Write, for these words are immense and faithful. He said to me, Kalah, I am the Aleph and the Tav, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that is thirsty of the fountain of the Mayim Chaim, the living water freely. He that overcomes, he that is Israel shall inherit all things and I will be his Elohim and he will be my son. Praise Yahweh. Praise Yahweh. And it tells us going on in that chapter that the city was made in the shape of a cube. It was made in the shape of a cube. Why is that important? Because that's the shape of a sukkah. That's what's coming. That's Yahweh's best for us. The trials and the tests end. There will be no more pain, no more tears, no more sorrows. So this sukkot, let's remember that. No bewilderment journey isn't easy. But our sukkah, our life, our body, is but a temporary dwelling. It's just a picture of the coming time with Yahweh. Amen? And that as we walk as we sukkot through this time we are not to limit Yahweh, but to give him free will and free reign. Because I believe that this isn't just a picture of how it can be one day in the future, but Yahweh's best for us now. Take the limits off. Seek to sukkah, to dwell with Yahweh every day. Amen? Father may it be so. That every day we remind ourselves that we are the living sukkah of Yahweh. 1 Corinthians 3.9. We are Yahweh's sukkah. We are a temporary dwelling of Yahweh's ruach. But there is coming a time in a day Yahweh says, I make all things new. That the pain of this world will just be brushed aside. And we'll inherit the heavenly Yerushalayim. But Father, before that time, you are indwelling within us now through the power of the Ruach HaKodesh. Just as Yeshua came and tabernacled with us, your spirit lives within us. And we are the temple of the Ruach HaKodesh. And that your spirit resides in us to empower us, to encourage us, to give us strength along the journey. This world is not our home. Father, it's hard to remember that sometimes. But your word tells us that once a year during the 7th month, on the 15th day, for the next 8 days, we are to remember by celebrating and by dwelling in booths. And tents. And just little huts. That as fragile as that little tent that we make, that is how fragile life is. But there is coming a great and heavenly sukkah. And there, no wind will knock it down. No rain will make it fall. Father, we thank you for salvation in Yeshua. That we could dwell with you forever. We thank you for that hope. And yet we thank you that by taking the limits off of you, we can experience your power and your presence today. Father, cleanse us. Cleanse us of pride, of unbelief and of fear. And help us to cleanse ourselves of these things and strongholds that would bring us down. May we not repeat the sins of Israel by putting limits on you. By grieving you. Father, it is my prayer and desire that we would not grieve the Ruach HaKodesh. But we would flow in you and walk in you. 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.