First let me say thank you to Ray Vander Laan at www.followtherabbi.com and the scholars and authors of www.jerusalemperspective.com for these amazing insights.
It is officially midnight as I begin to write. The holiday of Easter has ended. But, to the Jews of the first century, today’s celebration would not be Easter, but the Feast of First Fruits, and it would have ended around 7 PM or at sunset.
Read the rest www.flocksdiner.com.
Blessings,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 9:54 AM 0 ba-a-a-a
In just a little more than a month, I will be the father of an adult. Yikes!
It's so difficult to believe that the little boy I used to kiss on the toothless gums is now a man complete with facial hair and six pack abs.
Life does go by so fast.
Blessings,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 9:31 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
Jesus’ movement began before Jesus.
That probably doesn’t come as any great surprise. However, it may be surprising to some that the similarities surrounding the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of the Essenes are striking.
Even the behavior of Jesus is often very Essene-like.
Written in historical Jewish writings is the true story of an Essene who walked into the Temple with a herd of sheep. He then stood on top of a crate and yelled, “My Father’s house is a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a market.”
To read the rest, come with me to www.flocksdiner.com.
Be a blessing.
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 6:46 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
I want to know Jesus!
More than anything, I hate simply knowing about him.
During the first year of my active service as a Christian teacher and preacher, I struggled to write sermons. All around the table where I would sit for hours and hours to study and write were literally dozens of well-written books on the subject of Christian thought. However, I found myself unable to share the teachings of the Bible with confidence.
What was I missing?
To read the rest, go to www.flocksdiner.com.
Be a blessing.
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 12:50 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
In my latest podcast, “Malchut Shamayim,” I speak a little about the statement that Jesus made, which is recorded in Matthew 19:24, “…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”
Why a camel through the eye of a needle? Couldn’t he have said, it’s easier for a pig to fly or a spider to eat a horse?
The reason that Jesus used the particular saying of a camel going through the eye of a needle has to do with a common teaching about repentance, as well as a first century rabbinic style of teaching.
To read the rest, go to www.flocksdiner.com.
Blessings,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 11:19 AM 0 ba-a-a-a
Many Christian denominations hold as a doctrine that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the only divinely inspired teachings that constitute the rule and faith of a Christian life.
In Jesus’ day, commentary on the Written Torah, which was only translated verbally through memorization until 200 A.D. was also considered authoritative and divinely inspired.
To read the rest, go to http://www.flocksdiner.com/.
Thanks,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 3:37 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
I have always wondered why we have collective worship on Sunday, and when I ask those I think will know, I always get the same response: “It’s the day that Jesus rose from the grave.”
Based on Jewish studies and research, I have reason to challenge that answer.
To read the rest, come to www.flocksdiner.com.
Fed by Johnny at 7:33 AM 0 ba-a-a-a
WARNING: This may be disturbing to some readers. This article includes news of sexual brutality towards a child.
Monday evening I turned on the television in a hotel room in Gatlinburg, TN to hear something that made my blood boil…toward God. I was so disturbed by what I had heard that I found myself having difficulty sleeping. There were even moments when I wanted to scream out and cry for the misery that had been given to an innocent toddler who had no one to turn to…not even God.
Go to www.flocksdiner.com to read the rest.
Fed by Johnny at 9:41 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
The “green pastures” mentioned in Psalm 23 often give us the idea that God takes us to a place of plenty.
However, the picture that is visualized by the ancient Eastern world is one of an opposite view.
www.flocksdiner.com to read the rest of this post.
Blessings,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 9:08 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
There were many called “sons of God.”
Miracle workers were considered to be close to God and were often referred to as “sons of God.”
To read the rest, you know where to go.
Fed by Johnny at 7:27 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
What good thing must I do to get eternal life?
When a man came to Jesus to find the answer to that question (Matthew 19:16), Jesus response was close to that of Daniel’s understanding of God’s message for Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
To read the rest, click here: www.flocksdiner.com.
Blessings,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 2:55 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
The feeling of being completely dependent upon God is expressed by the phrase, “men began to call on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 5:26b). The act of prayer was developed after the act of giving sacrifices. It is understood by the ancient Hebrews that people had not always understood their true frailty and need for God and all that He provides, hence, prayer began after the birth of Enosh.
To read the rest, come to www.flocksdiner.com.
Bless God,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 9:57 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
Keeping hostages separated is a common practice for terrorists and bank robbers. Congregating gives the hostages an opportunity to unify a plan for escape and/or a take-over.
In Genesis 11, the "Tower of Babel" is a story about people plotting and planning a take-over. God commanded that people are to multiply and spread out upon the earth (Gen 1:28), but the people of the earth had devised a plan to stick close together.
To read the rest, come to www.flocksdiner.com. Your meal is waiting.
Blessings,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 5:02 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
Paul teaches at length on the subject of speaking in unknown tongues. He makes it clear that if a person can speak in the tongues of men or angels, but doesn’t love, that person is nothing but noise (1 Corinthians 13:1).
To this day, the teaching of unknown tongues and tongues of angels is brought up often among Christians. The meaning of this has been debated for centuries, and especially since the rise of the charismatic movement of the church.
Unknown toungues are easily understood to be foreign languages or languages foreign to the teachers and readers of God’s Word.
The important question, at least for me, is: What is the language of angels?
For the answer, go to http://www.flocksdiner.com/.
Blessings,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 5:10 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
There are many Christian denominations that place restrictions on what God has provided. Additional restrictions are seen as more godly, and some forms of asceticism are generally respected as honorable to God.
I have heard preachers teach that we should not only devote ten percent of our assets to the work of God; we should devote one hundred percent. Maybe those preachers missed reading Jesus’ warning to those who did just that in Matthew 15:3-9. Jesus clearly taught that a person can attempt to honor God by his or her excessive self-denial, and actually be practicing disobediene to God.
For the Jews of Jesus’ day, “Total abstinence was not considered a virtue” (Abraham Cohen, Everyman's Talmud, 232).
Read the rest at http://www.flocksdiner.com/.
Blessings,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 1:10 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
Over the last few years, I have learned a great deal about the blogging world.
Whenever I post an article, I am always aware that there will be those who agree with my research and reflection, and there will be those who disagree at many levels, to include the down-right ticked-off-at-me.
Fortunately, I learn from my agreeable brothers and sisters and those who want to tar and feather me. In fact, when folks don't agree, I am challenged and privileged to dig deeper or even change my perspective based on new information shared by others.
Please feel free to post a thread on the Coffee Talk Forum at www.flocksdiner.com, even if others may call you a heretic. We can't learn and grow if we are afraid to share our deepest beliefs and philosophies.
Many blessings,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 2:44 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
Isn’t it true that life can be very cruel? Not all of us experience the same form or measure of cruelty as others, but all of us know the feeling of being hurt. As believers, we are instructed to forgive and love others as we would have them love us.
What if that was actually easy? What if we could all detach ourselves from the pain of the past? What if every painful experience was like a bruise; it showed up, hurt for a while, and finally went away without a trace of its existence ever to be seen again?
The ancient sages taught that hurting others could be likened to a sword or an arrow.
Come by www.flocksdiner.com to read the rest. I've saved you a seat.
Blessings,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 11:14 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
I am so grateful for you and for all that you do to encourage and support this ministry. I pray that you are all doing fantastic as you seek out God’s will for your lives.
It is hard for me to believe that almost 7000 of you stop by the site to read and listen. We have become a very large internet campus family as Flock’s Diner continues to cross the web-sea.
Hopefully you are blessing God by what you are learning and sharing.
The next step is to get feedback from you. Flock’s Diner now has a Coffee Talk Forum where you are encouraged to share your own thoughts, fears, doubts, and celebrations in order that others may be able to grow from your words. With an average of 900 individual people every seven days, and almost 7000 individual people in the last four months stopping by, I know that we can all share something that will help others to grow.
Thank you for your willingness to minister to me and others at Flock’s Diner.
I eagerly await your comments on the blogs and your discussion topics and comments at the Coffee Talk Forum at www.flocksdiner.com.
Be a blessing,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 6:38 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5, NIV)
My doctor asked me, "Who are the meek?" My guess is that when someone asks this, they want to know who is going to get the planet and all of its stuff.
Let's dig.
There are a couple of interesting points that are often overlooked or unknown by Christian readers and teachers of this verse. The Replacement theologian will quickly dismiss the fact that Jesus is speaking to Jews, while the empathetic pastor will quickly share that all of those who allow themselves to be abused without retaliating will be greatly rewarded in the afterlife to make up for their lack in this life.
Matthew Henry teaches in his commentary that "they shall inherit the land of Canaan, a type of heaven." Hurray for Mr. Henry. However, Mr. Henry is only partly right, at least according to David Stern the writer of the Jewish New Testament Commentary.
As Stern points out, Jesus is quoting Psalm 37:11 to remind them of God's promise...
To read the rest, I have saved you a seat at www.flocksdiner.com.
Blessings,
Johnny
Fed by Johnny at 8:59 PM 0 ba-a-a-a
