Shalom and welcome to ‘Veahavta Israel’ a Hebrew phrase, which means you shall love Israel. We hope you’ll stay with us for the next 30 minutes as our teacher, Dr. Baruch shares his expository teaching from the Bible. Dr. Baruch is the senior lecturer at the Zera Avraham Institute based in Israel.

Speaker 1:

Although all courses are taught in Hebrew at the Institute, Dr. Baruch is pleased to share this weekly address in English. To find out more about our work in Israel, please visit us on the web at LoveIsrael.org. That’s one word, LoveIsrael.org. Now here’s Baruch with today’s lesson.

Baruch:

What is it that you need? Now, notice I did not say what is it that you want, but what is it that you need? And if you are a believer, the best way to answer that question is that you need a kingdom mindset. That is that you need to see things from the perspective of the kingdom. And it’s only when we have a kingdom perspective that we’ll walk in obedience, that we’ll be used by God, that his glory will be manifested through us, and we will be a blessing to others.

Baruch:

So let me ask you, do you have a kingdom mindset? Take out your Bible and look with me to the book of Mark and chapter 11, the book of Mark and chapter 11. Now, last week we saw that Messiah had entered into the temple and he saw that the temple was not according to the purposes and the plans of God.

Baruch:

And there’s that overturning. That’s what he came to do, to turn things or to transform things into God’s will and what we’re going to see. And we began to see that last week is that the majority of the leadership, many of the people, they did not want that transformation. Why? Because they were not seeking things from a kingdom perspective.

Baruch:

Now, we ended up last week with that one verse, that great promise that we can say to this mountain, remember. Not just any mountain in this context, but the mountain known as the Mount of Olives. You can say to that mountain, be uprooted and be cast into the sea, and it shall be.

Baruch:

Now that is an event that Zachariah talked about. That is going to be one of the key events, which brings about this transformation of this world from the state that we are in today into the kingdom of God.

Baruch:

And the question is, do we want that? Is that what we’re passionate about? Is that what our prayer life reflects? I’m afraid that more often than not, most believers are far from that kingdom mindset. So let’s begin. Look with me as I said to the book of Mark chapter 11, and let’s begin where we left off last week in verse 24.

Baruch:

Now there’s a very important sentence or phrase at the beginning of this verse in the Greek texts. It simply says, “On account of this.” And I’m amazed with how many commentators that they give their interpretation of the passage we’re going to look at today. How many of them ignore that all together? And what we need to understand is that phrase on account of this is central to understanding what Messiah is saying. Because He’s going to make a great promise, but this promise is not a promise in a general sense.

Baruch:

It is not just an open promise about whatever. We have to see that this promise comes within a context. He says, what I promise you is such because of this. It’s dependent upon what we’ve just learned. And what is that, a kingdom mindset. That we, when we pray for the things of the kingdom, whatever we say, when we’re praying with a kingdom mindset, it will be, we should believe it because, he’s going to bring it about.

Baruch:

So look at it again, verse 24, on account of this. And Messiah speaking, “On account of this I say to you, all which pray and ask and belief, he has received.” Now, that’s interesting because I’m praying now I’m believing now and I’ve already received. So you see many English translations put this into the future, but it’s not. It’s the era’s, it is the Greek past. It says, we have already received, how’s that possible?

Baruch:

Well, we can learn some things from our Jewish friends, some of the ancient sages. They teach in regard to rewards. Now, ultimately, where am I going to receive the rewards for being faithful, from being a servant of God? Well, the greatest amount of those rewards are going to be in the age to come in the kingdom. And according to Judaism, all those rewards, God, he knows all things.

Baruch:

And he has given to each person a plan for their life. And not only has he given that plan, but from the beginning of creation, he has taken that plan at all if you were to walk in absolute faithfulness. He has already, and I want to emphasize that, he has already created those rewards for you. Now, Paul, being a rabbi, he would understand these things, he would have heard this things. And that’s why he talks about when it comes to judgment.

Baruch:

And we’re not talking about the judgment, whether someone will be saved or not, enter into the kingdom or not. We’re talking about believers. He says concerning that judgment of believers, that we can suffer loss. Why is that? How can you suffer loss? He says that he’s going to look at all of our deeds and he’s going to refine them with fire. That which is hay, stubble and such, it’s going to be consumed in a moment.

Baruch:

It’s going to what, we’re going to suffer loss. But the things that we have done out of obedience rooted in faith, established by the word of God, we’re not going to suffer a loss. Those rewards are going to be refined and we’re going to receive them in the kingdom.

Baruch:

So that’s why he says, if you have a kingdom mindset, that you can pray, and those things that you’re praying realize that they’re already been created. God has already brought them into a kingdom reality. So once again, he says here in verse 24, “On account of this, because of the kingdom. I say, all which pray and ask, believe that you’ve already received and it shall be to you.” Verse 25, “And whenever you stand praying … ” Now that’s important, and here again, most of the commentators just ignore the fact that it says, whenever you stand praying.

Baruch:

You say, well, what difference does it make whether I stand or sit? Well in Judaism, there is a very important prayer. It’s called the Amidah. That word means standing. In fact, that prayer is the foundation, it is the basis of all the prayer services in Judaism. Meaning everything before that prayer is preparation. Everything after that prayer is wrapping up the conclusion. It is the key part of our prayer life with Hashem in the synagogue.

Baruch:

And that’s why he says, “Whenever you stand praying.” Now, a Jewish individual, and it’s so sad today that so many believers they think well understanding the Jewish background, understanding what Judaism may be able to offer about a passage. Things having to do with Israel and Jerusalem. Well, those things have been set aside, they’re no longer important, or really?

Baruch:

What we find is that they were very important to Messiah. And if you’re wise, that which is important to Messiah is going to be important to you. So look again at verse 25, he says, “And whenever you stand praying …” Now, someone who knows Judaism knows that this prayer called the Amidah or Shemoneh Esrei.

Baruch:

The word Shemoneh Esrei, means 18 because there’s 18 paragraphs. There’s 18 specific things to pray for. So when he talks about, when you pray in the kingdom mindset, these are the things that are recorded in this prayer, the Amidah, the Shemoneh Esrei, the standing prayer, are what you should be praying for and what are they?

Baruch:

Well, I wrote a list of them down. The first thing that we know about the Shemoneh Esrei is that number 18, when you write 18 in Hebrew, it spells the word life. So it’s a prayer of life, but how the rabbis interpret it, and the key and the context of that prayer is life in a kingdom sense, a kingdom life. So the first thing that we pray is about the resurrection, why? Resurrection is that transition from this age to the age to come into the kingdom.

Baruch:

Now, the next thing that a person should pray for, and there’s an order in this prayer, and I’m going through it right now is what’s called Bina or understanding. In fact, there’s three words, Bina, Chokhmah, Vaadat. Understanding, wisdom and judgment.

Baruch:

And what it means is this, that we should pray that God would grant us wisdom and understanding and knowledge to be able to put truth into action, to be wise enough, to know what knowledge that we’re supposed to utilize in a given situation. So we pray for understanding.

Baruch:

And the next thing is repentance. That is this, when I have a godly understanding about my life, when I see things from God’s perspective, the first thing that I’m going to be inclined to do. God is going to convict me with my personal need for repentance. And that’s the next thing we pray about, understanding that leads to a repentant spirit. And part of repentance is what we read on next. And that is a prayer of forgiveness.

Baruch:

See, one of the things that gives us power to repent is the power of being forgiven. There is a power when we stand before God confessing our sins, or as we see in the book of James, when we confess our sins to one another, there’s going to be a response from God. There’s going to be that power to truly live out a repentant life. And we see the next thing as a reminder of redemption, that forgiveness is available because of God’s redemptive work.

Baruch:

What’s another aspect of redemption? The next thing that we’re called to pray for as we go through this list is healing. That is to say this, that God issues forth redemption, and one of the outcomes of redemption is healing. And then it says the word [foreign language 00:11:53], which is, we might translate it a yield of the land, a bountiful harvest.

Baruch:

So we’re healing to produce fruit. We’re healed in order to do great things for God. The next thing that we see here is the gathering up of the exiles. That God is going to bring people back to the land of Israel. That he is going to position us where he wants us to be. And then the next part of the prayer is known as din, which is judgment. That there’s going to be after gathering up the exiles, there’s going to be a day of judgment.

Baruch:

And there’s two parts of this paragraph on judgment. There’s a prayer for those who are heretics, that is those who rejected God’s truth. And there’s also a judgment, this is what we talked about earlier, rewards. There’s going to be a judgment for those who have been justified. That is those who have been made righteous by God’s grace. And then the building up, we pray for the building up of Jerusalem. So here again, it is impossible for someone to be kingdom minded and have no interests in Jerusalem.

Baruch:

What did David pray? David prayed, “If I forget Jerusalem, if I fail to exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy, may my right hand lose its skill, may my tongue cling to the roof of the mouth.” Meaning I won’t want to do anything and I won’t speak anything. That’s what happens when we lose sight of God’s plan, his purposes, when we lose sight of that, God is going to render us powerless and speechless for the things that belong to him.

Baruch:

And then finally we see after the prayer for building up Jerusalem, we pray for the faithfulness. We pray about the house of David, Messiah. That God might establish Messiah his king in this world. And then it’s a prayer for a righteous prayer life, for godly worship, for thanksgiving. And the last part of this prayer is the 18th, which is a pray for peace.

Baruch:

A prayer for peace, meaning that all things would reflect the fullness and the completion of God’s will. Let’s go back to verse 25, when he says, whenever you stand praying, here’s the context, these things. It’s not, and many people error and they think that this is a carte blanche.

Baruch:

I can pray for that Rolls Royce, I can pray for that mansion, I can pray for whatever, because I’m a child of the King. That’s not what God’s talking about. I mean, if your mind is interested in an expensive car, in a mansion to live in, in the finest clothes, you’re far removed from an individual that has a kingdom mindset. So what do we see? Well, he tells us. When we have a kingdom mindset, you know, the first thing we’re going to do? We’re going to have that forgiving spirit.

Baruch:

He says, “When you stand praying, forgive, if you should have anything against another in order that your father who is in heaven will forgive you your sins.” Now, I like that because it says your sins referred it’s without limit. Doesn’t matter what sin. He says, when we … There’s a power, remember we’ve talked about this. There’s a power to forgiveness.

Baruch:

And when I forgive another freely, doesn’t say that that person came, that he begged me for my forgiveness, that he made amends, that he confessed his sin towards me. No, just forgive them. Why? Because if you fail to forgive, God says here, it’s going to hinder your prayer life, and the power that forgiveness brings and she’ll bring into your life, verse 27.

Baruch:

Now in verse 27, we go back. Remember, we’ve talked about it. There’s been an emphasis on a location, the temple. And we read in verse 27, “And again, they came to Jerusalem. This is Yahshua and his disciples. And they entered into the temple and he walked.” So they all come in, but the emphasis is upon Yahshua. And notice what happens. It says, “And also came to him, three groups of people, the high priests, the scribes and the elders.”

Baruch:

And it’s not a just occurrence that these three groups are mentioned here. It’s very important because the high priests were those chosen leaders by God. In fact, the leaders’ leader, the scribes were, and we talked about this the experts in understanding scripture, and the elders were those who are chosen by the people. So it’s not an accident, it’s not a coincidence that these three groups are mentioned. I imagine here’s the disciples. They’re around Messiah Yahshua and he has done what he did the day before in the temple.

Baruch:

Casting people out, overturning those tables with the money, all in it, making a whip in another scripture and driving them from that place, that would get around. And now the leaders of Israel, those leaders who were appointed by God, those leaders who were experts in their knowledge of scripture, and those leaders who were chosen by the people. What we might say, the three branches of government all come together right there that day and they’re not pleased with Messiah and what he did.

Baruch:

And what do they ask? Well, a question. They come before him, this group verse 28, and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who has given you authority that you should do these things?” So they wouldn’t know the basis of why he does what he does. Why he did what he did in the temple.

Baruch:

Now, we could probably answer that very, very easily because he has given us the background. We see not only that day when he purify the temple, but we know something else, everything that he did, everything that he said, what’s the normal currents in the gospels?

Baruch:

He says something, he does something. And then appears a scripture, a scriptural foundation. The reason, the biblical reason why he said or did what he did, nothing’s changed here. Messiah when he did those things, he gave the scriptural backdrop. He provided them the biblical truth on why he did it.

Baruch:

Now, these leaders, they were trying to intimidate him, they were trying to entrap him, and notice Messiah the son of God, he doesn’t fall prey to that. He doesn’t let others define him. He doesn’t let others take him away from what he’s called to do and notice his response, verse 29.

Baruch:

But Yahshua and don’t miss that word. Remember, we’ve talked about it often. It means in contrast to something. They were trying to take him one place, but he was going to go a different place. Verse 29, “But Yahshua said to them, I will ask you one word.”

Baruch:

Now what’s important is that word in the biblical language. There are two, three, four words that Messiah could have chosen, but he chose this one.

Baruch:

And this word, the word logos is where we get the English word, something logical. So understand what he’s doing. It’s not a tick for tack. What he’s doing is this. He is saying, well, I need to ask you a question first, because you need to understand something before you can perceive and appreciate my answer to your question. So it’s very important that we see how the scriptures bringing this about leading up to what he’s going to do.

Baruch:

So he says, first, I will ask you one thing, one word, a logical question. And if you answer me, I also will speak to you on what authority I do these things. So he’s agreeing, but there’s a stipulation. And what we need to see a necessary stipulation, so that they can appreciate his answer, verse 30.

Baruch:

Now in verse 30, he only speaks one thing. He turns to immersion or baptism. Now, immersion or baptism it has a primary purpose. And that is to bring a change. It relates to bringing a change in the status of something. And what Messiah is telling them by beginning his question with baptism is that he’s telling them you need to change.

Baruch:

And baptism always revolves around a biblical change. A change that only truth can make. And that’s why when we are baptized in faith in Messiah, one should not be immersed unless he has responded to the truth.

Baruch:

He’s received Messiah. So it involves this change. Are they willing to make a change? Are they willing to respond to the truth of God? Now it’s just not any baptism, it’s whose baptism? John’s. And John’s baptism we see this, we read it earlier on in the book of Mark, it is a baptism of repentance and that word repentance simply means a change in direction.

Baruch:

He’s telling them you’re going in the wrong direction. You need to repent. You need to turn, you need to understand the baptism of John. And therefore, before they can understand that baptism of John, they have to understand the source of it, the authority of it. So look again, verse 30. He says, “The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from man?”

Baruch:

Meaning did he just do it on his own, or was he anointed to do it? Now, we know when John was immersing at the Jordan river, Messiah came to him and John says, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” So that was a statement that he was the anointed one, that he’s that suffering servant, that he is that one who is going to be Israel’s savior. And in order for part of salvation is this transformation, this change.

Baruch:

So he asked them, the baptism of John, was it from heaven? Was John right? Was he anointed by God in this position, this calling? Or was it just of himself. And answer me, verse 31. And they reason, now it’s that same word logic, but a different form of it. They were trying to be very logical about well, if we say this, what’s the outcome. If we say this, what’s the outcome.

Baruch:

Now, what does that say? Well, it tells us that they were not saying what’s truth and I’m going to respond to it. They didn’t care about truth. And that’s the problem. So they were discussing among themselves saying, “If we should say from heaven, he’ll say to us, therefore, why did you not believe him?” And they don’t want to believe him, but they have to answer the question.

Baruch:

Is it from heaven? If it is, then they need to believe him. If it’s from what, if it’s from man, well, they could take that option, but they didn’t, why? Because of the fear of the crowd, because everyone acknowledged that John was a prophet. They saw a sincerity, a genuineness about him. He wasn’t someone who wore expensive clothes. He wasn’t someone who’d dine on the delicacy, but rather he was a man that was sold out for the things of God.

Baruch:

In fact, because of corruption that was going on in the temple, he left his service as a priest. He went down to the dead sea area and there he called Israel to repent, to be transformed. And he pointed to Messiah Yahshua as the key, the foundation for being able to make that transition, and the one who would make the transition for the world and bring about the establishment of the kingdom.

Baruch:

So, they were in a quandary. If they say, well, he’s from heaven, the Messiah would say, “Why didn’t you believe him about me?” If they say of man, well, then the people would be disagreeing with them. And they were very concerned about keeping the support of the people. So what happens? Well, they answer Yahshua and they said, we do not know, and that’s a lie. They did know, but they wouldn’t confess it. They wouldn’t respond to the truth.

Baruch:

And let me tell you, if you’re unsure about something and you pray, God, I want to know this. God reveal yourself to me. Is the gospel truth. Did you really say this? Did you really do this? Messiah’s faithful. The Holy spirit would work if you ask a sincere question, God will respond. But when truth, when you are confronted with truth and you are unwilling to respond, what happens?

Baruch:

God will get very, very quiet. He will move very, very far away from you. And that’s exactly what Messiah said. “When they said, we do not know they were lying and Yahshua answers them and says, Neither will I say to you, by what authority I do these things.”

Baruch:

So let me ask you again, are you concerned with the truths of scripture? If you are, the truth of scripture is going to make you kingdom minded, and when you’re kingdom minded, just like that, prayer called the Amidah, those are going to be the things that we’re concerned about.

Baruch:

Those are going to be the things that we’re praying about. And those are the things, the various things that God wants to provide for his people, so that we can be assured we need not doubt, but we can be assured that God’s going to move to bring them about. Where?

Baruch:

Well, we might have a foretaste in this age, but ultimately all those things, that healing, those gifts, those rewards, all those things that we talked about, ultimately are going to be ours in the kingdom. Why? That we should have a passion for the kingdom, that we should want to press to the kingdom, just like Messiah was pressing on into Jerusalem when he left Jericho. So let me conclude by this. Are you kingdom minded?

Speaker 1:

Well, we hope you will benefit from today’s message and share it with someone else. Please plan to join us each week at this time and on this station for the radio edition of LoveIsrael.org. Again, to find out more about us, please visit us at our website, LoveIsrael.org.

Speaker 1:

There you will find articles and several other lectures from our teacher, Dr. Baruch. These teachings are in video form. You may download them or watch them in streaming video until next week. May the Lord bless you and our Messiah Yahshua, that is Jesus as you walk with him. Shalom from Israel.