Torah Studies for 2012

Torah Studies 2013

Welcome to Torah study! We pray that you will find these studies helpful in your search for wisdom, understanding, and TRUTH. Remember that the goal of the Torah is the revelation of Messiah - and that revelation needs to happen in "me" - in each and everyone of "us". The revelation of Yeshua in me is not about intellect or knowledge - but rather - It has everything to do with the transformation of our lives into His image by the power of His Word. We read in the Psalms,

(Psa 19:7 KJV) "The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple."

We also read in Scripture,

(Isa 8:20 KJV) "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

The law of Yahweh converts the soul and the testimony of Yeshua which is the spirit of prophecy is what gives wisdom to the simple so that we may understand the Law of Yahweh. We need Father's Law and we need His Testimony if we indeed want to become in the image of His Son! The Law and the Testimony is what the Revelation of Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) in "me" is all about!

• Truth or Tradition - By Al Lopez : ( Scriptures Used ) Have you ever wonder what would have happened if Abraham, the father of the faithful, had decided to continue following his traditions, his beliefs, and his religion - instead of obeying the voice of God..........or what about the apostles and disciples of Yeshua - what if they had decided to follow their traditions rather than the truth? What about YOU?

• Shabbat 01-07-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) Review: Principles on how to study Torah - Review of of Gen 1. The New Covenant was made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, a divided house in the flesh – through this covenant all Israel is made one in Spirit for we are one in Spirit in Messiah. (Jer 31:31; Heb 8:8-10). So when we find Israel – who do we find?

• Shabbat 01-21-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) Hopefully by now, we are beginning to understand that the Revelation of Yeshua Messiah goes much deeper than we can ever imagine – and that in fact, contrary to what we have been taught concerning the writings of Moses being abolished, the Revelation of Messiah is in every Word that proceeds from the mouth of the Father beginning in the first verse of Genesis 1 and ending in the last verse of Revelation 22. Always keep in mind that the “Revelation of Messiah” .....

• Shabbat 02-04-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) So, the goal of our study of Scripture is to find the seed – to find the Israel Yahweh calls “My Called” – for Israel is the seed to whom Yahweh gave the Promise of this glory - and with whom Yahweh made all the covenants....

• Shabbat 03-03-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) we learned that the true spiritual meaning of the kingdom of heaven as well as the Garden of Eden has everything to do with location, location, location. The kingdom of heaven and the Garden of Eden have little to do with a physical place........our life is in the process of becoming what we are not yet. It is a journey established before the foundation of the world and fully planned by the counsel of God’s own will.......

• Shabbat 03-17-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) The goal of the Torah is the revelation of my true rest of my true Sabbath in ME – and that Sabbath rest can only be found in Yahweh’s Salvation – which in the Hebrew language is called Yah’shua...What was Yeshua’s testimony concerning the Sabbath rest? What things did He do on Shabbat? That is what I need to find out! Am I a true witness of my Messiah? Am I true witness of His Sabbath rest?

• Shabbat 03-31-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) Passover study. For us, this is perhaps one of the many great examples of how to spiritually interpret Scripture. John the Baptist – a Cohen, a priest of Israel - saw Yeshua coming towards him – but John did not see the man – rather he saw Yahweh’s sacrifice...Yeshua is the Place, where Father chose to place His Name from before the foundation of the world - and since we are His body – we are also the Temple..

• Shabbat 04-14-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) Genesis 2: Man, a Living Soul - part 1. In Scripture we are told there are two Adams, the first being a type or shadow of the second or last Adam who is, was, and will be – Yeshua is both...The first Adam is part of the revelation Yeshua Messiah in me – and if I do not understand what this means then I do not know who Yeshua is. Yeshua became as the first Adam in order to destroy the first Adam in me – to destroy the man of sin that lives in me who sits on the throne of my heart proclaiming to be god. That is what happened in the garden...

• Shabbat 04-21-2012 - By Al Lopez This is a study I did at "Shofar of Judah" - our sister congregation. The goal of the Torah is the Revelation of Messiah in ME - Yeshua is our Sabbath rest part 1.

• Shabbat 04-28-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) Gen 2 - Man a living soul - Part 2. Adam was only a pattern of the last Adam that is, was, and will be! We are all in this journey we call life – a journey that will take 7 days to be completed. And there is one purpose for this journey and one purpose only - and that is to “seek Yahweh” – to seek life. .....Because in the first Adam - from the moment I was conceived in my mother’s womb – from the moment I was born into this world and took my first breath I began the process of dying

• Shabbat 05-12-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) Gen 2 Man a living soul - Part 3.

  The first Adam is only a shadow of the one to come for the first Adam was made of flesh – a corruptible and perishable seed and not of “incorruptible seed through the Word of God which lives and abide forever” (1 Pet !:23). The reason the 7^th day Sabbath rest is still open and is called “today” is because Yahweh is still building Adam –– and this building process is ongoing unto perfection– when the Spiritual man will replace the natural man – when mortality will be clothed with immortality...

• Shabbat 05-26-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) Please take notice that the first Adam was not formed from the inside out – he was not formed in the midst of the garden – but rather he was formed from the outside and then brought in. The last Adam after being born again - is built the opposite way – from the inside out!....East has great spiritual significance in Scripture. It is almost always associated with Glory, holiness, with light and with the first and the last and it is a key for us to gain deeper understanding of God’s Word

• Shavuot 05-27-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) Shavuot is the Dalet, the door between the spring and fall Feasts. One can not get to Sukkot without going through this middle door that holds everything together.....Unfortunately, the many who claim to love Yeshua are trying to climb–up some other way. They want to enter Sukkoth without coming to the mountain - ..So they try to avoid the mountain via the Rapture, via human wisdom, doctrines, and traditions – for they are following the voice of the natural and carnal man who is at enmity with the Law of God. For the natural man cannot accept that..Psa 19:7-9 (NKJV) "The law of the LORD is perfect, converting/reviving the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple." ....

• Shabbat 06-09-2012 By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) Is it possible that there are people – very religious people out there in the world that without even knowing it - are eating the fruit which caused our separation from God? Could it be that the same problem Adam and Eve had in recognizing the forbidden tree and its fruit is the same problem we are having today?....There was no chance that Adam and Eve would have eaten of the tree of life first. They were babies – naked babies at that. The natural man was made of corruptible seed. The results were so certain, so inevitable and so predictable - that Yahweh’s lamb that takes the sins of the world was "slain from the foundation of the world."

• Shabbat 07-07-2012 By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) "...The seed will produce fruit after its kind, and the fruit will contain within itself the very seed that gave it life in the first place. Whatever the seed is - is what the fruit will be....The fruit is nothing more than the reflection of the seed within. This is a very important principle that is completely overlooked and many times is just simply ignored in Christianity. But we need to understand it so that we can properly apply it to our lives and produce the fruit of the Spirit. Every fruit, including the fruit of the spirit is produced by a seed. It is the seed that gives life to the tree that produces its fruit in like kind. In fact, that is what the fruit of the Spirit is all about – the outward manifestation of the seed within – and according to Yeshua, the fruit of the Spirit is the tree of life..."

• Shabbat 07-28-2012 By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) We have learned that pride has everything to do with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – pride is the seed found within the fruit that brings death...we have all worship the beast of our pride that sits on the throne of our hearts in the Temple of God showing himself to be god. And just like Job, the natural man in us wants to maintain his own ways, his own integrity and his own righteousness before Yahweh. And just like Job, one of the hardest things for any of us to ever do is to recognize and to admit that this is true...But doesn’t scripture make it plain that Job was righteous and blameless – how then can he be full of pride?...."

• Shabbat 08-04-2012 By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) As we study concerning the tree of life we will notice something very interesting. Close to the tree of life we will most often than not find a river of water! ....why did Yahweh allowed these two opposite trees to be next to each other? The answer to the 2^nd question of course, is because He loves us and He wants us to love Him in like manner. You see, by definition, love requires that we have a choice, true freedom, including the freedom to love or not to love depends upon the existence of at least two options....

• Shabbat 08-18-2012 By Al Lopez - (Scriptures Used) Genesis 2 - The Tree of Life Part 2. The fruit of Wisdom is humility – just as the fruit of the serpent is pride. The Law of Yahweh is the only thing that can revive and transfom our soul and Yeshua’s testimony is the only testimony that matters - for He alone is the “true witness” of Yahweh _{(Rev 3:14)}. And “to His Law and to the testimony if they do not speak according to this word is because there is no light in them.” And His testimony gives wisdom to the simple? Why?....

• Shabbat 09-01-2012 By Al Lopez - (Scriptures Used) ... The water coming out of the serpent’s mouth represents the serpent’s, doctrines, traditions, and religious practices that are so mixed into our everyday lives and we have grown so attach to them that we are not willing to let them go even-though they have nothing to do with the Word of God and in many cases is opposed to it!...People are so afraid of the wrath of Yahweh (and rightfully so!) that they rather stay hidden in the darkness of Babylon thinking that in this darkness and confusion is where His grace is!....

• Shabbat 09-15-2012 By Al Lopez - (Scriptures Used) As by one tree sin and defilement entered the garden and death through sin, and so death came to every tree in the garden for they all sin! All the trees in the garden were envious; they all became prideful so all the trees of the garden were given over to death for the whole field had been defiled by mixed seed....We already know that this flood that - was, is, and will be - has to do with water or words coming out of the serpent’s mouth. That is why Yeshua says in Mathew 24 the most important sign of His second coming is “deception” – deception from within is the flood that will carry the many away!

• Shabbat 09-29-2012 By Al Lopez - (Scriptures Used) Yeshua who is “heir of all things” - is revealing His Father, Himself, and His Kingdom to us but the revelation spoken in, through, and by the Son does not come in plain clear Hebrew or plain clear Greek or English – rather this revelation is being given to His people in a parable – in “dark sayings of old”....I will suggest to you that the reason we seem to find so many paradoxes in scripture is because “…the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” We are all natural beings in the process of becoming a spiritual being. But to the natural man in us spiritual things are foolishness - they make no sense for they contradict each other! The natural and the spiritual are two completely different and opposing kingdoms. So last Shabbat I also suggested that to understand the Torah of Yahweh as spoken - in, through, and by, the Son - which is all spiritual - is imperative we make a change of kingdoms - from the Physical to the spiritual.

• Shabbat 10-13-2012 By Al Lopez - (Scriptures Used) The Apostle Paul is possibly the most controversial Biblical figure found in the Scriptures – and is considered by both the Synagogue and the Church to be the founder of the new religion of Christianity. And his letters have been used by both the Synagogue and the Church to proof their respective theological positions....At times, Paul seems to be strongly advocating one thing – at other times he seems to be expressing his strong disapproval of that same thing – the letter to the Romans and to the Galatians being a good example of those writings – which many people think - have overwhelming and irreconcilable contradictions with the rest of Scriptures....

• Shabbat 10-27-2012 - By Al Lopez - (Scriptures Used) In last week’s lesson we began to recognize the challenges we face in trying to understand the complexity of the Apostle Paul the man, and of his writings. And although this was not by any means a detailed and comprehensive study of Paul’s life and message - I hope that it helped you realize the importance of studying his writings in context - as one complete unified and absolute thought. When we do so, we will realize that Paul’s gospel – his message, is not different than the gospel of the other Apostles, or prophets or Moses as we have been lead to believe – but rather, the continuation of the same gospel given back in the Torah.

• Shabbat 11-10-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) If we believe Paul when he says he “imitates Christ” then Paul is saying that he knows Yeshua and that he is in Him for he is walking as Messiah walked – in complete obedience to God’s commandments – and yes, that includes the 7^th day Sabbath – not Sunday – and dietary laws, and the Yahweh’s Appointed Times. If Paul says he is “imitating Christ” but is not obeying what Jesus Christ obeyed then Paul is a “liar, and the truth is not in him”. And every time someone says that Paul cancelled or abolished the law whether for Jew or Gentile not only are they refusing to see and hear what Paul says concerning himself imitating Christ – but they are in fact calling Paul “a liar, and that the truth is not in him.”

• Shabbat 11-24-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) - I think that in today’s Church culture where the word “lawlessness” is the new definition for the word “Grace” - to tell a follower of Jesus that in order to abide in Yahweh’s love he needs to obey God’s Law - is like telling him that in order to stay healthy and have life - he needs to have cancer – obviously, a contradiction in terms. The enemy has confounded the soul, the “nephesh” of Adam so that man can not understand the light....

• Shabbat 12-01-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) ...Today in this study, we will look to what the phrase “under the law” means according to the apostle Paul and how this phrase has been twisted by the enemy to mean the opposite of what Paul intended. Since we already know that Paul believed “everything that is written in the law and the prophets” _{(Acts 24:14)} -, we can be absolutely sure that he believed what it says in Proverbs 6:23, “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light;…”. If the law is light, the law of opposites would dictate that everything that opposes the law is darkness.

• Shabbat 12-22-2012 - By Al Lopez (Scriptures Used) ....On the other hand, Christianity would say; “the source of holiness is Jesus Christ”! – And this is true. But what Christianity fails to see is that Jesus Christ has a name no-one knows except Himself – and His name is called the Word of God (Rev 19:12-13). His Name is called the Word of God for a good reason. And if Judaism rejected Yeshua as Messiah, Christianity has striped Yeshua from His identity as The Word of God and in doing so has also rejected Him. For as we learned from Scripture - the only way for me to know that I know Yeshua, to know the Word - and to know that I abide in Him is to obey the Torah. For anyone who says “I know Him” and does not obey the commandments is a nothing more than a liar (1 John 2:3-6)!