The Parable Series – Cursed

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

Do you ever find yourself searching for something bigger than you? For a community to be a part of? A place founded on truth and love. A place to worship the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and the Son of God. Welcome to Founded in Truth, where we're more than just a fellowship. We're a family, so welcome home. Shabbat Shalom. Shabbat Shalom. The title of this message is a little dramatic, but that's okay. Cursed. We're going to be speaking about cursed people today and people who are not cursed. And what happens when a cursed person encounters the arms of Yeshua—and what is the result of that.

The Blessings of the Dawn

But before we dive into that, we don't read too much liturgy here, do we? No. Not too much. I really enjoy the blessings over the children. And I enjoy some liturgy at times, especially when it might help the message. So I'd like to read over some of the morning prayers in Orthodox Judaism this morning. And these prayers have their roots as far back as the 3rd or 4th century BCE, but were officially adopted into Judaism sometime around the 2nd or 3rd century AD. And so if you don't want to participate, that's fine. Just stay seated. No big deal. If you would like to participate in just some of these prayers, please stand.

And how we're going to do this— we're just going to go through them. I'm going to have them on the screen, and I'll speak them. We'll just make it easy. You just say amen after each blessing. And they're going to go something like this. Like I'll say, "Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who gives the rooster understanding to distinguish between the day and the night." Right? And that's a good blessing. Thank you, God, for the days that we have and that your creation cries out to your order in them. And then we would all respond by saying amen, unless you don't agree—then you don't say amen.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who opens the eyes of the blind. Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who releases the bound. Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who straightens the boat. Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who clothes the naked. Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who gives strength to the weary. Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who spreads forth the earth above the waters. Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who guides the steps of man.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who provided me with all of my needs. Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who girds the Jewish people with might. Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who crowns the Jewish people. Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who has not made me a Gentile. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who has not made me a slave or to work a job that is beneath me. Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who has not made me a woman. Blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who removes sleep from my eyes and slumber from my eyelids.

And blessed are you, Lord our God, sovereign of the universe, who has sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us concerning the words of his Torah. Amen. You can be seated. I loved how the enthusiasm of the amen would shift depending on the blessing. And some of these blessings, we may be very excited to—yes, amen. And then others, we may be like, "Hey, wait a second."

When We Read the Bible

This section of prayer is called the Blessings of the Dawn—morning prayer, still prayed today in Orthodox Judaism. Of course, it is 2018 and decades have gone by where many communities— Jewish communities—have looked at these prayers that have been around officially in Judaism since the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. and are rooted actually in the concept and the display and the arrangement found in Greek petitions around the 4th century B.C. And reformed and more conservative Jewish communities have changed several of these blessings, specifically the one revolving around gender. And they've taken it and they've made that the commandment. Instead of it saying, "Thank you, God, who didn't make me into a woman," they've changed it to "Thank you, God, who has made me who I am."

And among the Orthodox community, the men still say and praise God for making them the man and not a woman. But if you're a woman and you want to participate in the morning prayers, then you would simply say, "Thank you, God, for simply making me who I am." While your husband would say, "Thank you, God, for not making me her." As we continue this series—and I wasn't sure how long this series, the parable series, is going on. I mean, everyone's to the point now. I wonder what we're going to dive into this week. I bet it's the parables because we've been six or seven weeks in a row. This has been a long series.

And I really didn't know how long the series was going to go for. I really just kind of opened the door and the Father has continued to wow me with the simplicity and the brutality of the words of our rabbi, Yeshua, when he speaks. And his sayings and his stories are told. And I hope that is the same result for you when we read the words of Yeshua. I hope that the words are doing something for you like they're doing something for me. That when we read over them, it's not simply letters on a page or maybe they stick out because they're red. That they would actually pierce through your soul and cause you to think and ponder and say, "Wow, did he really just say that?"

When we read the Bible, we need to realize one thing, or two really. One, I am not God, and I am not the author of this book. And when we understand, when we realize these things, we can experience the freedom in Christ and the love of God and the grace of God in our lives unrestrained by what we want the Bible to say. Does anybody hear me? Does anybody understand? Anybody ever read the Bible sometimes and is like, "I didn't want to say that, turn page?" That doesn't fit in my theological box that I have molded based on the rest of Scripture. I mean, we read all this Scripture right here, and this is supposed to happen.

The Messiah is supposed to do this, and he's supposed to say this. He's not supposed to talk to those people, and he's surely not supposed to condemn those people, and he's not supposed to heal those people before these people. And why would he even approach that person way out there? When there are other people, I feel like he should probably approach first way over here. This book, the Bible, that you hold in your hands is a book filled with stories, poems, myths, parables, love, war, violence, peace, and restoration. And it's a testimony of who our God is. And it's an amazing, amazing library that we hold in our lap and in our hands.