Turning your Bibles this weekend, if you would, to Numbers chapter 15.

I'll be starting with verse 37 in just a moment.

You know, it's a new year, 2024.

And there's a lot of us who take a good look at the world around us and there's deep concern.

And for myself personally, I just saw the movie, The Sound of Freedom.

Jim Caviezel plays a role in the movie where he's trying to expose and bring to justice those who are participating all around the world in a ring of pedophile, pedophilia.

And you watch it and you know it's based on a true story.

And the more you watch it, the more you ask the question, are there really people this evil in the world?

And is it really so rampant?

that there are people who would take young 5, 6, 7-year-old boys and girls and sell them into slavery?

I mean, is that really possible someone could do that without a conscience or without guilt?

Also this week, the news came out, in fact, this morning, that the names who were associated with Jeffrey Epstein and the island of pedophilia are going to be released.

And it's very likely that some pretty high profile leaders in our world, including presidents, have been involved in that.

Now, to what degree they'll tell us, probably not enough information to make any kind of judgment.

And we know almost with certainty that there will be a lack of justice for these young boys and girls.

So it's easy to look around and think that somehow the world today is worse than it's ever been.

But the reality is the only reason you and I know about these things, these things have been happening from the beginning.

And the only reason you and I know about these things is through social media.

So social media is good in some ways, bad in others.

But we know now, we're aware of what's happening.

We're aware that actually the Bible is true, that the heart of man is wicked in every way.

So I think we come to a time, especially in the West, for those of us who love our country, and we do, we come to a time when we desperately want people to understand the relationship between faith and things like justice and freedom and the sanctity of life.

that culture tends to go from strength to strength when there is a faith system that is ingrained.

And in the faith system would have to be something that treats life as sacred, something that honors character and integrity.

But that faith system, traditionally in the past, I'm not saying that these places are perfect, by no means, no culture's perfect.

Every culture has a sin nature to it.

But there is a sense in which those cultures, those societies that tend to flourish, tend to be attached to a faith system that believes in the sanctity of light, that believes in the sacredness of marriage, that believes in justice, and that injustice should be fought against and justice should be defended.

So because we've arrived at this time in humanity, We have to ask ourselves the question of what's happened, especially as I look around America that I love, and I do love this country, but I have to admit that there's something desperately wicked in the heart of men and women.

And I'm starting to ask what has been the change of the last 30, 40 years to get us to the place that we are now.

And as I've said before, my visit on university campuses, more and more I hear Christ followers on those campuses telling me that they're being taught to hate America.

And they're also being taught to disdain any kind of religious system or faith system, especially Christianity.

And in fact, as Christ followers, they're beginning to be persecuted.

So the question is...

What happened?

And as I've stated in the past, it is necessary not to point the finger and look outward, but to always do some introspection on the inside.

And I remember 20, 30 years ago, hearing Christian parents make statements like this.

They would say, you know what?

I just don't believe I should force my faith upon my children.

And I wanted to look at them honestly.

and say, you know what, right now you're just being ignorant.

Because make no mistake, this world system will force its beliefs and faith on your kids.

So you're either gonna teach them or somebody else is gonna teach them.

There's no neutral ground here.

I've also heard people or young people say, you know, I wanted to become a Christ follower, but the faith that my parents mouthed was never really practiced.

It was almost like faith and life became segmentable.

This is what I do in my life, and this is what I do on the weekends in church.

But what I believe doesn't necessarily match how I live.

And the other thing that I noticed in the last century is that a lot of parents began, Christian parents began to take a cavalier approach to this thing called discipleship.

So it's in that context that I want to read the text.

It's again, I'm in Numbers 15, verse 37 says, the Lord said to Moses, speak to the Israelites and say to them, throughout the generations to come, you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments with a blue cord on each tassel.

You will have these tassels to look at.

And so you will remember all the commands of the Lord that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lust of your own hearts and eyes.

Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God.

I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God.

I am the Lord, your God.

So right in the text, right from the get-go, we are given commands by the Lord to his people.

These commands, the law to which he refers, is called the Torah, which is representative of the first five books of the Bible.

Torah itself is better understood as a word that reflects instruction.

And this is important because here's the thought.

The first people of God believed that God loved them so much that he would give him his Torah, his instructions.

so that they would know how to live, so that God would say, I created you.

I know how you best operate, so I'm going to give you a roadmap to successful living, health, wealth, and vitality.

And knowing that most people, by the way, were visual, and we talked about how the Old Testament culture was a visual culture, I have a prayer shawl.

And God told them to make one of these.

Now, this is not as primitive as the early ones would have been, but it's kind of based after the same design.

And he told them to take the prayer salt, take the kanav, the border.

The kanav is basically the material, but more specifically, the kanav is the border.

And he said, take the kanav, and he said, attach to them what are called tzitzis.

It's an interesting word.

And on the tzitzis, this extended extension out from the kanav, the border, There were five knots, and the five knots represented the five books of Moses, the law or, again, the instruction that God would give his people.

It was his way of saying that I love you so much that if you live under the prayer shawl, which I'll demonstrate in a moment, if you live under this, then your life is going to be a life of health, wealth, and vitality.

And so Jesus says in John chapter 10 that he came to bring life and life to the full.

So God never wanted to be seen as the big bad cosmic boss, but as a father who loved his children.

And he said, by possessing the prayer shawl, what we call the prayer shawl, anytime you felt that you were being tempted or dragged away from the law of God that is meant to save, not bind you, you're to take the prayer shawl and you're to put it over.

And you're to remember that you are covered in the precept and the law of God.

And as long as you live under this covering, you'll be protected.

You will take hold of the abundant life.

And actually a wonderful tradition developed concerning what we call the Tzitzi.

The borders, the kanav, kanav actually meant, means, it's a word that means wings.

And you can see why, right?

So if you put this over, you can kind of see why, wings.

And the tradition began that God's wings, the kanav, were the places of Shabbat.

altar and refuge.

So if you lived under the law, the precepts of God, then you'd be protected from things like danger and fear and destruction, panic, anxiety, all of the things that are part and parcel to the human experience.

If you take refuge under the wings of the kanav or the tzitzi, then you will be protected.

And that's why I'm protected.

In Malachi chapter four, verse two, we read these words, but for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.

You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

So healing in the tzitzi, healing in the law of God, in the precepts of God.

Again, God gives his law not to be the big bad cosmic boss, but to give you a way of protection.

He knows best how life operates.

He created you.

He says, live under this law.

Now that explains what happens in Matthew 9, verse 20.

We're told, Jesus is going through the streets, I believe, of Capernaum.

And just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years, the scripture says, came up behind him and touched the ground.

edge of his cloak.

She said to herself, if I touch his cloak, I will be healed.

Now, as soon as she touches the cloak of Jesus, Jesus looks around, his disciples are standing there, and he says, wait a minute, who touched me?

And I'm sure the disciples in their mind would have thought, you know, it's a big crowd, everybody's touching you.

But Jesus knew someone had touched him in a unique way.

He knew that somebody believed the text, that somebody believed he's Messiah, that he would have healing in his wings, the border of his garment, the tzitzi.

She's trying to touch the border of the garment because she believes there's healing in Messiah's wings, which means she believes that he's Messiah.

In verse 22, Jesus turned to her, saw her, Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you.

And the woman was healed at that moment.

Now, does that mean there's magic in the tzitzit?

Is there magic in the corners of the kanav, in touching the tassels or the tzitzit of the garment of Christ?

Well, no, of course not.

Because she's not healed until he says you're healed.

But that's exactly what he's done.

He says, woman, your faith has healed you.

And at that moment, the Bible tells us she was healed.

So it's not a magical thing.

It's just the thing that there was the belief that when Messiah comes, he would have healing in his wings, which means...

His precepts to us, as difficult as they might be to accept, would bring healing into our lives.

The other thing that developed, another really cool thing, in Matthew 6, verse 5 and 6.

Jesus told the disciples that when you go into the temple, in order that you may not distract or be a distraction to others, enter into your closet.

Now, we think that's kind of a place in the house.

It's not.

Because when you covered yourself like this and you began to pray, that was called your closet.

So Jesus says, don't go out on the streets like the Pharisees and Sadducees and broadcast your prayers.

Go into the temple.

Go into your private place.

Go into your closet so you're not distracting anybody else and begin to pray.

And those prayers that are uttered in silence or in private with God, those prayers will be heard and answered.

Now, here's the question.

All that's a lot of information.

But the question then became, since the Torah, since the law, since the tzitzi, there's healing in his wings, which means or stands for the precepts of God.

The question came, what age did you begin to teach a child the Torah?

At what age did they begin to understand and observe the text?

And of course, this was important to Hebrew parents because to the Hebrew parents, the words of Christ or the words of God rather were the words of life.

So I want to get the words of life into the mind of my child as soon as possible.

So the important question emerged, what age?

What age?

So parents, listen very closely.

From the writings of Josephus, we have this quotation.

Above all, we pride ourselves on the education of our children.

So let me go back and say it again.

They understood that the words of God, if the words of God, the precepts of God made their way deep into the heart and mind of a child, then they would flourish.

However, and this is the key, if the words and the precepts of God did not make their way into the heart and mind of our children, then we were one generation away from being extinct.

The word of God, the precepts of God are always just one generation away if they're not passed down to becoming extinct.

In the Talmud, we read these words.

Under the age of six, we do not accept a child as a pupil.

From six upwards, we accept him and stuff him like an ox with the Torah.

Isn't that amazing?

So I find it interesting.

We usually start school, we have kindergarten, but at age six, we call that first grade.

This begins the first year of your proper education.

So at age six, you entered as a young Hebrew child whose parents wanted to get the words of life into your life.

You entered what we call stage one, which was called Bet Sefer.

Now imagine this.

Jesus is six years old.

His mother Mary's taking him to school for the first day.

There's no school bus.

She walks him on the first day to school with his little Moses lunchbox and his WWMD, what would Moses do bracelet.

And she marches him down to the local synagogue to school called Bet Sefer, which means by the way, house of the book.

And this lasted from age six to age 10.

Now, a lot of cool things happened in these classes, but one of the things that happened that's really interesting, the first day of school, the teacher would have them take out their slate, on which they're going to write and learn, and would have them pour honey on the slate.

And then would tell the children, okay, children, take the slate, and I want you to lick all the honey off the slate that you just poured on, and I want you to lick all the honey off your fingers and hands.

Ezekiel 3, verse 3 says, I ate the words and it tasted sweet like honey.

The teacher would basically say this, children, you start your education and may the words of God be the most exquisite, pleasurable, enjoyable, sweet thing that you've ever tasted.

So as a young child in Bet Sefer, house of the book, Young child, you're taught there's nothing sweeter than the words of God.

There's nothing better that you will ever acquire.

There's nothing more fulfilling, more pleasurable than taking in, learning, and understanding God's word to us.

So children, this is where you're going to find everything your heart desires.

Let me stop there just a moment.

Compare that with how we're raising our children today.

Are we doing exactly that with them?

Are we telling our children this now?

You're going to discover a lot of things and you're going to learn a lot of things, but nothing's going to be sweeter.

Nothing's going to give you more life, health, wealth, and vitality than the words of God.

So from ages six to 10, The little Hebrew children would memorize the Torah.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

Have you read those books?

Especially Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

They would memorize not just the names of the book, but the words found within the books.

Now, a lot of people, when we start talking like this, will say, you know what?

There's no way kids can handle that today.

And I'm telling you, yes, they can.

Yes, they can.

The truth is, it's not a matter of priority for us because we don't see this book as the words of life.

If you saw this book as truly the words of life to give your child health, wealth, and prosperity, I promise you, you would find a way.

If you truly believe that, you would find a way to get these words into your children starting at age six and beyond.

But besides that, I've heard six-year-old children singing songs by Britney Spears.

And I know she's old news, but...

I've heard six-year, seven-year-olds mouthing words to songs that are so fast, and yet somehow they've made their way into their memory.

And it's because in the age of six, seven, eight, nine, ten, these are the formidable years.

Your kids learn and absorb everything.

So by the age of ten, You would have completed Betsefer.

The best of the best students would continue on.

By the way, one of the other practices they did is little children would wear, remember the phylacteries where you would take scriptures of verse and you would bind them to your forehead and to your wrist?

Well, the children wouldn't necessarily bind them to their forehead, but they would always have scriptures on their wrist, bound to their wrist.

I just wonder what would happen today if we had our kids six to 10 years old walking around with little bracelets that were scripture rather than something that is a little bit of a miracle.

either material or something that makes absolutely no contribution to the spiritual health of their lives.

So after you graduated from stage one, you went to stage two.

When you were 10 years old, it was called Bet Talmud.

And in Bet Talmud, you would memorize the rest of the Hebrew scriptures, all the way to the Italian prophet Malachi, right?

No, all the way to Malachi.

So think about this.

By the age of you would have memorized the entire Hebrew text, all the Old Testament.

Wow!

When I went to seminary, I was in Cincinnati Christian University, and right across the street, you could actually walk over a bridge and arrive at Hebrew Union University.

And the first time we took a tour, I wanted to go there because I wanted to see the Holocaust Museum, which was also quite reputable.

When we walked over, we saw and displayed this huge, big Hebrew Bible.

I mean, it was amazing.

And the guide explained to us how students, before they got into Hebrew Union Seminary, had to memorize the Hebrew Bible.

That was one of your entrance requirements.

You've got to be able to sit and memorize and recite the entire Old Testament.

And the reason is, is because when they began their education in seminary, the class...

was designed to discuss the words and the meaning of the Old Testament.

And I remembered listening to him.

talking about how they learned at Hebrew Seminary and the difference the way we learned at Cincinnati Christian Seminary.

So I had a professor by the name of Dr.

Johnny Presley, great professor, but he would create tension in seminary, some kind of tension, and then he would give us the Bible answer, explain it to us, and then when we had exams, he would restate the tension, give us a chance to answer and solve the tension based on the things that we had learned.

So basically, if you're doing math, you're going to have to do math.

He would say, what is two plus two?

And we would say four, right?

But you would do it in essay form.

In Bet Talmud, rabbinical teaching, their method's completely different.

Because- If you could answer a question with another question, it would show two things.

It shows one, that you really understood the material or the question, and then two, that you'd taken the information to the next level.

For instance, if I'm being quizzed on something in the Old Testament and I'm in well, let's just say I'm in Bet Talmud or Hebrew Union Seminary.

If the question is what is two plus two, I'm not going to say four.

I'm going to say what is 16 divided by four, which is also four.

I'm going to answer a question with a question.

And that means that I truly understand what's happening, at least in philosophical terms in the text.

That also explains Luke 2, verse 46.

After three days, they found him, that is Jesus, in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.

So they asked Jesus a question, and he does so with another question, and the answers in the questions he's given them show them that he is very well-versed in the Old Testament.

Now, Jesus, how old was he when this happened?

He was 12 years old.

Twelve.

And he was in what school?

He was in Bet Talmud, question and answers.

In fact, most Jewish girls by the age of 13 were not only betrothed, now it doesn't mean they were married, it just means they were promised engaged.

But they were also, by the age of 13, in Bet Talmud.

Even girls, that's right.

So it should be no surprise that when Mary hears the news that she's going to bear the Christ child, that she breaks out in Psalms and minor prophets.

I mean, the Magnificat is amazing.

It's just one Old Testament quote after the next because she would have been familiar with it even at age 13.

Now, another important note, let's keep going here.

Each rabbi in the day of Jesus, there were hundreds of rabbis, they would have a certain way of applying the text of the Old Testament.

There would be considerable agreement on what the text meant, but the application would vary.

In other words, here's what the text means, but how do I apply that into my everyday life?

So one rabbi might come along and say, you know what, to keep the Sabbath means this, this, and that.

But another rabbi might come along and say, well, yeah, it means this.

I take your point, but I think it also means this, this, and that.

So each rabbi would have his own particular set of rules and regulations that were to be lived out.

if the Torah was the Old Testament, the first five books of the law, were to be upheld in one's life.

And that particular set of rules and regulations would be called his yoke.

Now, that's Y-O-K-E, not Y-O-L-K.

We're not talking about the middle of an egg or Y-O-L-K, rather.

So the yoke, Y-O-K-E, is the wooden harness that allows two animals to work closely together side by side.

And the reason a rabbi's yoke was called yoke, because you were to take the precepts, and his particular applications into your life, and they were supposed to work together in yours.

So when you follow the rabbi, you would take the rabbi's yoke upon you, his understanding of the Torah, the biblical precepts, principles, and how to apply them pragmatically into your life.

You would apply that into daily living.

Now the main rabbi, our rabbi, Jesus, he says this in Matthew 11.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

So time out just a moment.

How is Jesus' yoke easy?

And of course, you and I know that because Jesus tells us that those who love God will do his work.

But the work of the Father is what?

To believe in the one he sent.

So in all the other rabbis, there's a long list of do's and don'ts to become holy or righteous.

But our rabbi Jesus says, everything that needed to make you holy and righteous has been done or will be done on the cross of Jesus Christ.

Our rabbi says, I am about to become the sacrificial lamb that takes away the sins of the world, past, present, future.

So my yoke is easy.

And that is believe on me and the things that you need that I will and have provided.

Now, If you're the best of the best in Bet Talmud, and you've already graduated from Bet Sefer, now you are in the elite class, Bet Talmud.

By the age of 14, you've memorized the entire Old Testament.

You can enter into intelligent discussions.

So you're the Harvard or the Yale or the Princeton of scriptures.

Otherwise, you got to go back to UCLA.

I know that's not going to sit well with most of you.

But then guess what happens?

You go to stage three, bet midrash.

Now at the age of 14 or 15, you present yourself to the rabbi.

It's a big day in the life of a Jewish child.

so you say to the rabbi, rabbi, I have come and I want to be your disciple, your talmid, your student or apprentice.

The rabbi would say, okay, have a seat.

The questions and the answers would begin.

Let's give you a little test here.

Let's see if you're the best of the best.

And it starts with the basics.

Like the rabbi might say something like, on what day of creation did the earth bring grass?

And of course you and I know that's day three, but you wouldn't say three.

You would say, what is the number of days Jonah remained inside the great fish?

You would answer the question with another question.

At that point, you would graduate to the more difficult.

The rabbi would quote a passage of scripture.

This is very interesting.

And then ask you a question related to the passage, not that he quoted, but to the passage above the one he quoted.

And your answer...

would somehow involve the passage below the one the rabbi quoted.

And this would go back and forth, back and forth, to test your knowledge of the Torah, of the law of God.

Now, why this hermeneutical sparring?

Rabbis, their purpose, their purposes, were to perpetuate their particular teachings.

And they needed gifted students to be able to do that.

So he asked, does this student have what it takes to perpetuate my teachings and spread my yoke?

throughout the communities of Israel.

And so there would be a series of rigorous questions.

How many times a particular word was used in the book?

What does this verse say about this topic?

Or if you're really advanced, quote a verse, then ask the student, not what the verse has found, but what does the verse just above this verse actually say?

So it goes on and on.

If the rabbi decides this student is the best of the best, that UCLA was far beneath the student's capacity, that he was the cream of the crop, and he was far more capable of spreading the rabbi's yoke than the rabbi would simply say these words to him.

Come, follow me.

come, follow me.

And at that point, you would leave your family, you would leave your occupation, you would leave the family compound, you would say goodbye to your father's business, you would leave everything behind, and you would begin to mimic and imitate, do all the things the rabbi did.

You would talk like him, walk like him, live like him, whatever he did, and in whatever manner he did it, you would follow him.

And out of this, a phrase was born.

And I owe this phrase to Rob Bell.

And it's, well, I don't owe the phrase to him, but he's a great man.

He's the one that gave me the insight in this.

Many years ago, a phrase was born out of the experience, may you be covered in the dust of the rabbi.

So the rabbi comes to town and the Talmudim, those who are walking in the dust of the rabbi, they try to keep up with him.

They're eating like him, praying like him, saying profound things just like him.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie Hoosier, one of the best movies of all time, Gene Hackman is talking to one of the players and he says, the other player on the team is killing us.

I want you to guard him so close.

I want you to guard him so close.

At the end of this game, I'm going to ask you what flavor of gum he's chewing and you'll know it.

And so this is what it meant to be a disciple, to walk in the dust of a rabbi.

You followed him everywhere he went, and you were so close to him in your actions, your beliefs, your applications, everything about the rabbi, that the dust of the rabbi's shoes would be flung up onto your clothing.

You're walking in the dust.

You're so close.

You're in the dust of the rabbi.

Now...

It's interesting in Matthew 4, verse 18.

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew.

They were casting the net into the lake, for they were fishermen.

And what did Jesus say?

Come, follow me.

And I've got to confess, you know, you see this scene in the movies, and it almost makes it appear that Peter, James, John, and other disciples had never heard of Jesus or seen Jesus.

And it's like Jesus is like Crocodile Dundee.

He just walks up and says, follow me.

And they're kind of under some, you know, days.

Okay, we will follow.

Well, that's ridiculous.

The chances of Peter, James, John, all of these disciples, Simon, of knowing who Jesus was and listening to his teaching long before they decided to come follow him, the reality is they would have known Jesus.

They would have listened to his teachings and they would have dreamt of one day, perhaps, perhaps even Peter himself.

which is why Peter says, go away from me, I'm a sinful man.

I do not deserve to walk in the dust of the rabbi.

But according to Jewish tradition, Peter would have been elated, absolutely elated.

When I was a little boy, Steve Garvey, the first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers, my hero.

And I can imagine Steve Garvey coming through my little town of Elizabethan, Tennessee, and he stops by and sees one of my baseball games, and he comes up to me and he says, follow me.

I can see that you have what it takes.

Now you're gonna walk in my dust.

I'm gonna teach you and train you to everything I know.

And one day you're gonna play first base for the Dodgers.

You have to understand in this culture, it's far more significant and far more intense than the...

illustration I just gave you.

And Peter's father, Simon's father, and Andrew, their father would have said, you know what?

The rabbi thinks my sons are worthy of walking in his dust.

He actually believes, Rabbi Yeshua, Rabbi Jesus, actually believes that my sons have what it takes.

This is the proudest day of my life.

We read in Matthew chapter four, verse 21, going on from there, he saw two brothers, James, son of Zebedee and his brother, John.

They were in a boat with their father, Zebedee, preparing their nets.

Jesus called them and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Nothing in the text after that, the Zebedee files chapter 11, that nothing in the text says, please stay.

You know, it's gonna sink my business.

There's no way I can do this without you.

No, imagine.

The father, Zebedee, when he arrives home, he says to his wife, sweetheart, the kids aren't with me.

I can see that.

What have you done with them?

Honey, the rabbi.

thinks our boys can be like him.

Man, if that's Zebedee, if you're Zebedee, you're going from door to door in your little insula in your neighborhood and you're making the announcement.

A rabbi thinks that my boys have what it takes to become Talmudim.

Over and over again, they've left with him.

They've devoted their lives to him.

They hope to become just like him.

And he believes in them.

He believes they have what it takes.

Now, listen carefully.

Here is the essence of the gospel.

Yes, we are saved by grace through faith.

You've heard me say that probably a million times.

Once you've had the revelation, once you've had your eyes opened, you know that salvation is by grace through faith.

that his yoke is easy, his burden is light, and it's light because he's born for you.

He did for you what would be too difficult, impossible to do for yourself.

And then second, when you were baptized, Listen now, you died your old way and you agreed that you're going to live for Christ.

And your life after your baptism is very simple.

And it is that you are now walking in the dust of the rabbi.

And if that is not your intention, Jesus said, you are not worthy to be my disciple.

If you put your hand to the plow and you think this is gonna be tough and you go home and you leave, Jesus was very clear, you're not worthy to be my disciple.

And someone who walks in the dust of the rabbi, you take his precepts and his meaning, not the meaning of the world, not the meaning of society, you take his precepts and his meaning and his application into your life and you perpetuate it.

Your life becomes so close to Jesus, your rabbi, that it's difficult for some people to tell the difference between you and him.

You meditate on his word.

You live his way.

You are his disciple.

He is your rabbi.

His sexual ethic becomes yours.

His view on marriage becomes yours.

His take on mercy and forgiveness become yours.

You are as sacrificial and as generous with your resources as was your rabbi, Yeshua.

You are walking in the dust of the rabbi.

And that's why the Bible says when it comes to discipleship, listen now, that many are called, but few are chosen.

That the way indeed is narrow.

That there will be some who put their hand to the plow, but they decide to turn back because it's too hard.

That's why others will follow Jesus to a point, but when a line is crossed and when they feel like Jesus requires too much, they will refuse to walk in the dust of the rabbi.

However, there will be those who say, you know what, my way is not working.

This world makes no sense.

This world is wicked.

This life is ending for sure.

I need something eternal.

I need objective truth and meaning in my life.

And when it comes to this rabbi Jesus, I need something eternal.

I'm all in.

This world seems so foolish to me.

So much corruption and injustice.

But you know what?

I choose Jesus.

I'm changing my direction.

I'm following this guy, not just in a few areas of my life that I choose, but in every area of my life that he has chosen for me.

I'm going to die to myself.

I'm going to walk in the dust of the rabbi.

Now listen, it is a new year, and I'm asking all of us to make a Jesus resolution, and that is to walk in the dust of the rabbi and to get serious about it.

One and all has been given a dream and a vision, and we're going to pursue it with everything that we have.

You know, you're going to pursue it with everything that you have.

Let me just go to the side just for a moment.

A quote that I often read from Hitler goes like this.

I want to raise, he says, a generation of young people devoid of conscience, imperious, relentless, and cruel.

No conscience.

I want to raise a generation with no guilt no matter what they do.

I want them to be imperious.

That means to assume a power and authority without any kind of permission.

So they're going to be a law to God and to themselves.

I want them to be cruel.

I want them to just be, continue to engage in cruelty without ever stopping.

He says, I want them to be.

relentless!

to keep going over and over and over again with cruelty, with murder and hate and injustice.

And he did in one generation.

He was able to train a whole youth movement who would murder without guilt, take power over what they consider to be tarnished races, who would treat everyone with apathy and disdain, anyone excluded from the German race.

And they were relentless about it.

He did it in only one generation, which is amazing.

But that's the point.

When a child comes into this world, the formative years enable them to absorb so much information.

And God understood this well.

There are influences everywhere that are going to be speaking into their mind.

And your capacity to set this child on the path to health and wealth and vitality is enormous.

So while Hitler said, I want to raise a generation of young people devoid of a conscience, imperious, relentless, and cruel, I say, we want to raise a generation of young people who know God, follow his precepts, and walk diligently in the dust of the rabbi.

And then, and only then, will we be able to take back our communities and take back our world and take back our nation.

And it starts with one church at a time getting serious about what we're doing and how we're training the next generation and what we're pouring into them so that they can walk their entire lives in the dust of the rabbi.

When we embark on this journey, and we're going to, we have to have every individual, every member to play a part in this journey.

That we all would seek to raise a generation of people who would walk forever closely in the dust of the rabbi.

That they would go against the grain of culture and live with a biblical worldview that honors marriage and sexuality and the sanctity of life and ultimately God himself.

That they would stand on the truth of God's word and seek to bring life and justice back into the public arena.

That they possess a heart of compassion for the less fortunate.

A heart of gratitude for all they possess and a heart of passion to reach those far from God.

And most importantly, that they would possess a deep understanding in the words of the late Chuck Colson with Prison Ministry Fellowship, our hope is not in who governs us or what laws are passed or what great things we do as a nation.

Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people.

That's where our hope is in this country.

That's where our hope is in this life.

We are embarking on a journey.

This starts today.

We are going to transform this community by transforming the next generation to do exactly that.

And in order to accomplish that, every single person at one and all, connected with one and all, must be involved.

Because the Bible method is not merely parents teaching their children.

It's the older women teaching younger women.

It's the older men teaching the younger men.

It's coming together in a form of discipleship.

A commitment where every member, not just a few, not just 20%, 30%, 50%, but every member makes a commitment, a Jesus resolution, to walk forever in the dust of the rabbi.

So can I ask you, and there's more to come in the next three messages in this series, but for now, can I ask you?

You cannot walk or you cannot teach the next generation to walk in the dust of the rabbi if you're not walking in the dust of the rabbi yourself.

Unless the dust of the rabbi is all over your clothes, unless you are covered in the dust of the rabbi, you can't teach somebody else how to do the same.

And so I'm asking you, to make a resolution in 2024, the Jesus resolution, and to come to a point in your life and just simply say this, enough is enough.

I believe with the current events that we're witnessing that the end could quite possibly be near.

Now, nobody knows, and I definitely don't know, and somebody who tells you they do, they don't know.

But I can tell you this.

You need to live as though it is because it could be.

This is the time to draw a line in the sand.

Stop making the excuse of COVID.

Do you know how many people get out of the habit of gathering together with the people of God?

People, you never thought that that would happen, but suddenly it became too easy.

Of course it did, because walking in the dust of the rabbi is difficult.

But nobody puts their hand to the plow and then turns back.

Could call themselves worthy of being Christ's disciple.

Come on now, it's a new year.

Get back into church.

Get back into the word.

get back into community, get back into generosity and make those things non-negotiables.

This is where we are.

And I believe that as a whole church, in every individual, if we will make the commitment, whatever it is that has been in our life, pre-2024, whatever the addiction, whatever the things that's destroying us, whatever is not representative of the teachings and applications of our rabbi, Jesus, that we decide once January 1st hit, we decide that we're putting the past behind us and we're reaching forward toward the mark.

And we're going to take serious the word of God, the people of God, discipleship, and we're going to create a movement at San Dimas.

and at Rancho, and at Upland, and at Westco, and around the world, a movement of where people say enough is enough.

Enough is enough.

I'm coming home.

I'm gonna walk in the dust of the rabbi, and as a result, I'm gonna become a world changer beginning first with my own community and friends.

Father, thank you for today.

Thank you for this message.

I pray that it goes out.

it would weigh heavy on the hearts of people.

That those who hear this message and know that they have never been all in with Jesus, that today would be the day.

that they decide they're going to follow Jesus, no matter how difficult, no matter how counterintuitive the culture.

They're going to follow him in every way, in every precept, in every application, trusting that his way brings life and that there's healing in his precepts, in his wings for all those who would live under his protection.

Give us the grace to receive your gift and to be all in, to make the Jesus resolution to follow you for the rest of the days of our lives.

In Christ's name, amen.