Temple Sheckles are available in the hallway.

Ask the money changer for more details.

(House Of Our Father)

Welcome to our online Congregation!

We’re happy to have you with us today!

NEWS

We should know in ten days if we have the building in Leavenworth for our meetings up there. Pray that G-d will move on their board so that we can teach the Word of the L-rd to those in that area.

Traditions…

I Cor 11:2 2 Now I praise you because you have remembered everything I told you and observe thetraditions just the way I passed them on to you.

II Thes 2 15 Therefore, brothers, stand firm; and hold to the traditions you were taught by us, whether we spoke them or wrote them in a letter.

II Thes 3 6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

• We’d like to welcome any visitors. • We have visitor cards that you can fill

out then drop into the Tzedika (offering) box when we pass it around.

• No Hebrew class today after the service

• HaYasode Classes on Tuesdays•Tim Hegg last week, was

fantastic.

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy takes out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead."

There is a silence, then a gunshot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?"

“On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and there was

the sounding of a very loud SHOFAR blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.”

Please stand for the Shema and face east towards Jerusalem.

Shema Israel Adoni Elohaynu Adoni Echad.Barukh shem k'vod malkhuto l'olam va'ed.(Remain standing for Hatikva)

Hear oh Israel the L-rd our G-d is one L-rd. Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.

Because Messiah said it is the greatest Commandment!Mark 12:28-2928 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the greatest commandment of all?”29 And Yeshua answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is One Lord:”

We’ll now sing HaTikva (The Hope)

Kol ‘od balleivav penimah Nefesh yehudi homiyahUl(e)fa’atei mizrach kadimah, ‘Ayin letziyon tzofiyah; ‘Od lo avdah tikvateinu,Hatikvah bat shnot alpayim, Lihyot‘am chofshi be’artzeinu,Eretz-tziyon (v)'Y(e)rushalayim.

O-seh Shalom Beem rue-mawvWho yah-seh Shalom aw-lay nu V'al kol Yees-raw-aleB'-eem rue Eem rue Ah- main

Ya-a-seh sha-lom Ya-a-seh sha-lom Shalom aw-lay-new V’al kol Yees-raw-aleSing twice 2X

May He who makes peace in His heights make peace upon us and upon all Israel…Amen."

He-nay maw tove oo-maw nye-eem shevet

aw-heem gum yaw hawd.

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to

dwell in unity

Yoducha Amim Elohim

Days Of Elijah

Meet new people! Let them see that Messianics truly understand community and brotherly/sisterly love. Say hello to old friends… show that you care!

We say the L-rd’s Prayer (Our Prayer) because Yeshua toldus this is how we should pray.We pray so G-d will hear our petitionsand grant whichever prayers are in accord with His will. We also prayIn order to bless Him.

• You can email or hand write your prayers for Salvation of loved ones or healing to Bob and they will then be sent to the wailing wall in Jerusalem to be placed in the wall.

• bobc@nwi.net

• If you have a need for healing or for an un-Saved loved one please raise your hand now and if you like, write it down to be sent to the wailing wall (Kotel) and give it to Bob afterwards.

• Psalms 122…• 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they

shall prosper that love thee.

• Pray for the peace of Jerusalem • Pray for unsaved loved ones

and healings.• Pray for Salvation for the Jewish

people.

• Pray for our government and for Social Security needs.• Pray for Holland and other

countries that anti-Semitic laws will not continue to pass.

• Pastors in Wenatchee to see the truth of HaShem’s Torah and forsake Paganism.• For new Beit Aveinu in

Leavenworth.

• For survivors of crime. • Prayer over our tithes and

offerings.• Messianic Evangelistic group in

Vancouver BC

Pray for RussiaPrayer for today’s messagePray that the UN will be dismantled.

• Any terrorism plots to be foiled• Continued sovereignty of Israel

pray for Netanyahu

•For sister and brother in law of Joann’s

End

This is our opportunity to render untoG-d that which is G-d’s.

Blessing Before The Reading Of The Torah

Gen 18:1-22:24II Kings 4:1-37II Peter 2:4-11

Va Yera Nov. 12, 2011Cheshvan 15, 5772

We’ll read…Gen 12:1-9Is 41:1-13Romans 4:1-12

Gen 12:1 - 17:27Is 40:27 - 41:16Romans 4:1-25

Lech Lecha Nov 5, 2011Cheshvan 8, 5772

1 Now ADONAI said to Avram, "Get yourself out of your country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you.

Gen 12:1-9

2 I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and I will make your name great; and you are to be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

Gen 12:1-9

4 So Avram went, as ADONAI had said to him, and Lot went with him. Avram was 75 years old when he left Haran. 5 Avram took his wife Sarai, his brother's son Lot, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, as well as the people they had acquired in Haran;

Gen 12:1-9

then they set out for the land of Kena'an and entered the land of Kena'an. 6 Avram passed through the land to the place called Sh'khem, to the oak of Moreh. The Kena'ani were then in the land.

Gen 12:1-9

7 ADONAI appeared to Avram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to ADONAI, who had appeared to him.

Gen 12:1-9

8 He left that place, went to the hill east of Beit-El and pitched his tent. With Beit-El to the west and 'Ai to the east, he built an altar there and called on the name of ADONAI.

Gen 12:1-9

9 Then Avram traveled on, continuing toward the Negev.(END) Baruch HaShem!

Gen 12:1-9

1 "Keep silence before me, coastlands! Let the peoples replenish their strength! Let them approach; then let them speak. Let us assemble for judgment."

Is 41:1-13

2 Who has raised from the east one who is just and called him to be in his service? He hands nations over to him and subjects kings to him; his sword reduces them to dust, his bow to driven straw.

Is 41:1-13

3 He pursues them, passing on unscathed, hardly touching the path with his feet. 4 Whose work is this?

Is 41:1-13

Who has brought it about? He who called the generations from the beginning, "I, ADONAI, am the first; and I am the same with those who are last."

Is 41:1-13

5 The coastlands have seen and became afraid. The ends of the earth have trembled. They have approached, and now they have come.

Is 41:1-13

6 Every one helps his fellow workman, everyone says to his brother, "Be strong!"

Is 41:1-13

7 The woodworker encourages the goldsmith, the polisher encourages the hammerer; he says of the soldering, "Yes, that's good," then puts nails in [the idol] to keep it from moving.

Is 41:1-13

8 "But you, Isra'el, my servant; Ya'akov, whom I have chosen, descendants of Avraham my friend,

Is 41:1-13

9 I have taken you from the ends of the earth, summoned you from its most distant parts and said to you, 'You are my servant' - I have chosen you, not rejected you.

Is 41:1-13

10 Don't be afraid, for I am with you; don't be distressed, for I am your God. I give you strength, I give you help, I support you with my victorious right hand.

Is 41:1-13

11 All those who were angry with you will be disgraced, put to shame; those who fought against you will be destroyed, brought to nothing.

Is 41:1-13

12 You will seek them but not find them, those who contended with you; yes, those who made war with you will be brought to nothing, nothing at all.

Is 41:1-13

13 For I, ADONAI, your God, say to you, as I hold your right hand, 'Have no fear; I will help you.(END) Baruch HaShem

Is 41:1-13

I believe this portion is a word of the L-rd to many of you here. Many of you have been going through some incredible difficulties and trials and I believe G-d would say to you that He is with you.

Rebbe’s Parsha

Those who have contended with you will not be victorious. Those who have been angry with you, will be put to shame Have no fear, lo Irah, G-d will help you as he holds your hand.

Rebbe’s Parsha

The last few weeks I’ve said a couple times that through this move to the new building and so forth that I felt as if G-d was holding my hand and leading us as a group to where we were supposed to be. Like we were being led out of Egypt to the promised kitchen.

Rebbe’s Parsha

When you go home, I’d suggest reading this Haftara portion again on your own. I think it’ll really speak to you.

Rebbe’s Parsha

1 Then what should we say Avraham, our forefather, obtained by his own efforts? 2 For if Avraham came to be considered righteous by God because of legalistic observances, then he has something to boast about. But this is not how it is before God!

Romans 4:1-12

3 For what does the Tanakh say? "Avraham put his trust in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness." 4 Now the account of someone who is working is credited not on the ground of grace but on the ground of what is owed him.

Romans 4:1-12

5 However, in the case of one who is not working but rather is trusting in him who makes ungodly people righteous, his trust is credited to him as righteousness. 6 In the same way, the blessing which David pronounces is on those whom God credits with righteousness apart from legalistic observances:

Romans 4:1-12

7 "Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered over; 8 Blessed is the man whose sin ADONAI will not reckon against his account."

Romans 4:1-12

9 Now is this blessing for the circumcised only? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say that Avraham's trust was credited to his account as righteousness;

Romans 4:1-12

10 but what state was he in when it was so credited - circumcision or uncircumcision? Not incircumcision, but in uncircumcision!

Romans 4:1-12

11 In fact, he received circumcision as a sign, as a seal of the righteousness he had been credited with on the ground of the trust he had while he was still uncircumcised.

Romans 4:1-12

This happened so that he could be the father of every uncircumcised person who trusts and thus has righteousness credited to him,

Romans 4:1-12

12 and at the same time be the father of every circumcised person who not only has had a b'rit-milah, but also follows in the footsteps of the trust which Avraham avinu had when he was still uncircumcised. (END) Baruch HaShem!

Romans 4:1-12

So we see very clearly from the first part of this portion that Avraham was saved by what? FAITH.

Rebbe’s Parsha

What’s commonly taught is that the people in the Old Testament were Saved by works but then Jesus came and now we’re Saved by grace.

Rebbe’s Parsha

This doctrine they teach leads to a belief that the Old Testament is done away with. In fact it leads to the belief that there is such a thing as an “Old Testament”.

Rebbe’s Parsha

There’s no Old and New Testament. There’s the Tanach (which is what they call the Old Testament and there’s the Brit Hadasha (Renewed Covenant). The word Old implies it’s not of use today. It’s just as much needed today as it was before Yeshua came.

Rebbe’s Parsha

Baruch atah Adonay Eloheynu melech ha'olam, asher bachar-banu mikol ha'amim, venatan-lanu et torah-to.Baruch atah Adonay, noten hatorah.

Blessed are You, LORD our God, king of the universe, who chose us from all the peoples and gave to us His Torah. Blessed are You, LORD, giver of the Torah.

• Bob and Teresa will be leading Shabbat School today! The Youth

& Children are dismissed• unmute mic for video!

The NazerenesPart 2By Rabbi Stanley

(slide) So today we’re going to look at the name of the Nazarenes. Where it came from, who used it and what it should mean to us today.In doing so we will be discussing at length Nazareth and the Galilee region.

The earliest documentary evidence we have to the word “Nazarene” in referencing a person is in the Brit Hadasha (Renewed Covenant/New Testament).

This reference used is concerning Yeshua and we see it used quite a few times. (slide)For example in Matt 2:23, 26:71; Luke 18:37; John 18:5,7, 19:19; Acts 2:22, 3:6, 4:10, 6:14.

So if the word is used this many times… shouldn’t we know what it means? Yet in most Churches today, they have no clue what the word means and that’s a real shame.

(slide) In Greek, the word is pronounced Nazoraios. But that doesn’t do much for us because it’s a transliteration from the Hebrew word Notzereem.

(slide) Now in this day and age you’ll see it transliterated and pronounced different ways. Some say N’tzereem some say Notzreem but it’s all the same word in Hebrew.

So what does it mean? To answer that particular question we have to look at Luke 2:39, that’s the real key verse that will give us some answers.

It’s talking about Yosef (Joseph) and Miriam (Mary) and it says… (slide) 39 When Yosef and Miryam had finished doing everything required by the Torah of ADONAI, they returned to the Galil (Galilee), to their town Natzeret (Nazareth).

The word Nazarene comes from this word Nazareth so we now need to know what Nazareth means.So we’re going to study today a bit about Nazareth

Nazareth is usually painted as some kind of dump only fit for shepherds and peasants but I’m going to show you a very different picture. I’m going to show that first century Nazareth was one of the best places to live in all of Israel.

Just to give you an idea of what’s commonly taught, let’s look at what Bible Commentators teach concerning Nazareth…

(slide) Mathew Henry… “Nazareth was a place held in bad esteem, and Christ was crucified with this accusation, Jesus the Nazarene.”

(slide) The IVP (InterVarsity Press) Commentary says “Nazareth was humanly insignificant”.Another prolific writer James Snowden writes… “Thus the first hostile judgment that fell upon Jesus was that of prejudice against His origin…

(slide) An obscure hill town up in a provincial district was no fit place for a prophet to come from. The village was not even mentioned in the Old Testament, and would all the glowing visions of the prophets and great hopes of the nation…

(slide) find their fulfillment in so obscure and despised a place?”Another writer says… Although the reasons are not entirely clear, the New Testament bears witness that Nazareth and the Galilee region in general were not looked upon

(slide) favorably by Jews outside the area. Nazareth was despised by many Jews.”

It may seem like I go off on a rabbit trail here as I go into some detail concerning the region, but you’ll see it’s imperative to understand Nazareth and that area so we can understand the word Nazarene. So let’s talk about Nazareth.

What we do know is that it was a fairly small town. I’ve been there many times and the (archeological) digs there suggest that it wasn’t as big as many of the other towns in Israel.

But we have to be careful when reading various commentaries concerning it when they use such verbiage as (slide) “a small, uncultured unimportant village with a bad reputation” or

(slide) “a tiny insignificant hamlet in the first century.” HarperCollins Bible Dictionary describes Nazareth as “an insignificant agricultural village.”

True, it wasn’t a large town, but it was far from insignificant, uncultured or suffering from a bad reputation.

The first thing we want to know is that Nazareth was on two major trade routes and within walking distance to one of the most booming cities in all of Israel at that time. (slide)

Nazareth was and is a beautiful place, it overlooks the Plain of Esdraelon. It’s a magnificent area.

It was beautiful in the first century as well. You may know the plain of Esdraelon by the name “Jezreel Valley”. This is where Gideon fought against the Midianites and the Amalekiltes. You remember when Gideon went to fight with them and G-d told Gideon he had too many men.

He originally had 32,000 men but he ended up with 300 men to go and fight the opposing armies.Then G-d told Gideon to circle the Midianites and the Amalekiltes and have his men all blow their Shofars at the same time.

They did that and the Amalekiltes and the Midianites woke up startled and G-d gave the enemy a spirit of confusion and they started killing each other. They all panicked and fled.Now, back to Nazareth…

Even though commentators say such terrible things about Nazareth, and make it out to be a dump, Nazareth is actually one of the most beautiful places in all of Israel.

(slide) bible-history.com is correct when they write, “The little town of Nazareth was one of the most beautiful places in all of Galilee.” (slide)

Like I said, Nazareth was also close to some major trade routes. Caravans passed through as they traveled to the south and to the east. Just outside of Nazareth was the main road from Egypt to Damascus, a road over which even the Roman legions frequently traveled.

This road was also called the Via Maris. It’s a very famous trade route. Let me show it to you on a map… (slide)

So you could see on this map all those ancient main roads (the Via Maris goes back to the bronze age) and these roads went by very close to Nazareth and through Galilee to the various nations.

It’s quite easy to call Galilee the Galilee of the nations (slide) with these major trade routes going through it to various nations.Now think back to the teaching we did on the de-Judahization of the Galilee and we looked at Matt 4:15 which says.. (slide)

The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The word for Gentiles in Hebrew is goyim. That passage should be translated as Galilee of the Nations. Not Galilee of the Gentiles.

Do you see it starting to come together a little for you. (slide) There was no Galilee of the Gentiles, there was a Galilee of the nations. (The word for “nations” and “gentiles” is the same in Hebrew… goyim.

(slide) That passage in Mathew is quoted from Is 9:1 which says… (slide)

(slide) Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea,

(slide) beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. See, it was translated correctly in the Old Testament! Most translators change it in the New Testament in order to Gentilize it so it will better fit their own personal theology.

Because of that simple mistranslation of the word Goyim, we ended up with a whole bunch of writers incorrectly believing that the Galilee region was populated with Gentiles when it wasn’t.

Many people from various nations caravanned through it, but they didn’t live there.We want to remember this as we learn more about Nazareth

Now keep these trade routes in mind as we go on…2 miles from Nazareth was a city named Sepphoris. In Hebrew it was called Tzipori which means birds because it had many varieties of beautiful birds in that area.

These birds all came to the sea of Galilee from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and all over the region. The sea of Galilee is a fresh water lake. It’s not salt water, so the birds all made it a stop over on their migrations.

So these wonderful, exotic birds some coming clear up from Africa, were all over the place. Just imagine how beautiful that would be.

Sepphoris was a major city. In fact Herod Antipas made it the capital. He fortified it and it was considered (slide) “the ornament of all Galilee”. (slide)

It was quite large….

As the caravans came though the two major trade routes, they all stopped in Sepphoris and sold their wares and spices and no doubt shared stories of what was going on in the parts of the world they had just come from.

Also being only two miles from Nazareth, Sepphoris would’ve been the best place for Yosef, Yeshua and His brothers to go buy supplies and to find employment.

There were lots of wealthy Jews in Sepphoris, we know this because the digs there have turned up many houses with Mikvas (baptismals) in them which was a sign of the affluent.

How many houses with Mikvas? One excavator said this… “We have houses, each with its own private ritual bath.” there were a lot of Mikvas there and thus a lot of wealthy Jews.

Only the wealthy could afford to have a Mikva right in their own home and we see many such houses in Sepphoris. Again, that whole area is beautiful and very attractive. The Talmud Yesrushalami says… (slide)

"Sixteen miles all around Sepphoris is a land flowing with milk and honey" – Jerusalem Talmud.

That would include Nazareth just 2 miles from it wouldn’t it?How about that? Maybe Nazareth wasn’t all that bad a place to live after all. Let’s continue to learn some more about Sepphoris, this grand city just 2 miles from Nazareth.

(slide) PBS Frontline wrote this… “Sepphoris was known as the jewel of the Galilee. It was one of the capital cities of the Galilee and it's the first capital of Herod's son, who was an independent client king of Rome during the lifetime of Jesus....

(slide) Sepphoris is a beautiful, wealthy city. It's a Jewish city. But like most wealthy Jewish cities in the Greco-Roman period, it's architectural statements are done in Greco-Roman idiom.

(slide) That doesn't mean that it's Greco-Roman culture. No more than we would think that Thomas Jefferson [was] because Monticello has elements of Greek architecture.”

This is two miles from Nazareth.With all this building going on, what a perfect place for a builder to find work. We’ll talk about that shortly.

So Sepphoris was full of Jews yet it had some Greco-Roman culture as well. It wasn’t void of other cultures. When one went to the Palaces or courthouses etc. they would see some of the most beautiful paintings and mosaics that Greco-Roman culture had to offer. (slide)

One of the mosaics there is today called “The Mono Lisa of the Galilee” this is a picture of it…(slide)

(slide) One writer tells of it in these words… “the artistry that depicts it in stone is so delicate, so exquisite and so painterly.” The entire mosaic included 1.5 million stones in 28 colors.

The city also had it’s own colonnade (a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature.) (slide)

(slide) Josephus wrote that “Herod also built a wall about Sepphoris (which is the security of all Galilee), and made it the metropolis of the country.” (Ant. 18.02.27)

(slide) In another of his worksJosephus speaks of Sepphoris as one of “the greatest cities of Galilee” (Life 346),

So you can see it was a city full of beauty and culture and which would’ve employed only the best craftsmen. Even though much of it was done in Greco-Roman motif the vast majority of builders were indeed Jews from the area.

Jews like Yoseph (Joseph) and Yeshua.

Let’s talk about what kind of work Yosef and Yeshua did. They weren’t lowly carpenters. That’s a gross misrepresentation of who they really were. There was very little wood in Israel then as now.

The houses were made of stone not wood. And the word they translated in the New Testament as carpenter is (slide) “tekton” in Greek. Tekton in Greek can also mean “general contractor”.

The Greek word tekton, translated ‘carpenter’ has the root meaning of ‘artisan,’ that is, a skilled worker who works on hard materials suchas wood or stone or even horn or ivory. A metal smith also could be described as a tekton.

But the tekton in first century Israel was more then just an artisan. They had to wear many hats. These skilled workers in today’s world would be considered general contractors and many were even architects. Even in the KJV Greek lexicon it says this…

(slide) Definition a worker in wood, a carpenter, joiner, builder,

a ship builderany craftsman, or workman the art of poetry, maker of songsa planner, contriver, plotter an author.

To just translate it as “carpenter” leaves a lot to be desired.We have to remember that Yosef was a prince and we’ll explain that in a bit.We have to remember that Yeshua attended Yeshiva to become a Rabbi.

Think back to the Talmud 101 series. Do you remember that a Rabbi wasn’t someone who only mastered theology. He also had to master science, art, literature, and music if he wanted to be a cantor.

A Rabbi wouldn’t have even selected Yeshua for a Yeshiva if Yeshua wasn’t a student of promise. Rabbi Hillel one of the greatest Rabbis of all time picked Yeshua personally to come and study at his Yeshiva.

(slide) Rabbi Hillel knew of this young man. You know how I know that? Matt 2:1 After Yeshua was born in Beit-Lechem in the land of Y'hudah during the time when Herod was king, Magi from the east came to Yerushalayim

(slide) 2 and asked, "Where is the newborn King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." 3 When King Herod heard of this he became very agitated, and so did everyone else in Yerushalayim.

(slide) He called together all the head cohanim and Torah-teachers 4 of the people and asked them, "Where will the Messiah be born?" 5 "In BeitLechem of Y'hudah," they replied, "because the prophet wrote,

(slide) 6 `And you, Beit-Lechem in the land of Y'hudah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Y'hudah; for from you will come a Ruler who will shepherd my people Isra'el.'"

You can bet that Hillel was there! Yeshua didn’t just appear at Hillel’s Yeshiva. Ancient writings tell us that each boy was hand picked by the Rabbi himself.

Hillel went on to become the head of the Sanhedrin. The ultimate place of power within all of Israel and the Diaspora to the Jewish people. A very smart man. Of course he picked Yeshua! What if this boy wasn’t just a child of promise but THE Child of Promise?

I think He knew!!! Remember… one of Rabbi Hillel’s best students, Rabbi Gamaliel defended Yeshua’s Disciples in Acts 5 saying… (slide)

38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

I tend to think Gamaliel knew too. A Rabbi and his Talmid were very close. They share a lot of intimate ideas and thoughts. I would bet you if I were a betting man that Hillel shared his suspicions with his Talmid Gamaliel.

Think about this…Hillel worked with Yeshua for years in his Yeshiva, you think he didn’t have suspicions??? You think he didn’t see something special? We know that Yeshua showed a remarkable appitude for study when He was young.

There’s a story of him at the temple when he was a little boy stunning the Rabbis of Jerusalem with His understanding of Scripture. I suspect Hillel he even told his good friend, Rabbi Shammai about this lad.

Not only were he and Rabbi Shammai good friends, Rabbi Shammai was his vice president of the Sanhedrin. Rabbi Shaul, Paul defected from Rabbi Hillel’s school to Rabbi Shammai’s school.

It’s quite possible that Rabbi Shammai and Hillel had talked to Shaul about this sect after Shaul had gone on a rampage against the followers of Yeshua. Just something to think about.

What we can know is that Yeshua had the best education that the Jews had to offer. The Royal Yeshua Son of David. He was skilled and educated.

That’s what Yeshua and Yosef were, they weren’t just carpenters. And because they sometimes did have to work with stone they were probably quite strong. Not this weak, wimpy looking Jesus we see in all the paintings. Yeshua was buff. He probably wasn’t very tall, He was a Jew, but He was a stocky Jew.

When Yeshua was growing up, all the work they needed was only 2 miles away. The vast constructionproject in Sepphoris that Herod Antipas launched lasted throughout the entire lifetime of Yeshua.

That’s how much building was going on there. It was just starting when He was a baby. Great place to settle down for a contractor. Matt 2:22 says… (slide)

22 However, when he heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Y'hudah, he was afraid to go there. Warned in a dream, he withdrew to the Galil 23 and settled in a town called Natzeret, so that what had been spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he will be called a Natzrati.

While in Sepphoris Yeshua would’ve been exposed to all the various caravans coming though and selling their wares and spices.

He not only would’ve learned about the cultures of the various caravans that came through as those in Jerusalem eventually did, he’d have learned it first, before those in Jerusalem did. He was in the know before the others were in Judea.

Various Rabbis from other countries in the north would come to teach as well as study in Jerusalem. All the latest teachings that would’ve come down from Tarsus or Damascus, huge learning centers then.

Yeshua would’ve heard them taught at the Synagogue in Sepphoris before they reached Jerusalem.It was only 2 miles from His house.

Living in Nazareth, he didn’t have to deal with the big city life all the time either. He could retreat to His home tucked away in the peace and quiet of His quaint town.

Kind of like Wenatchee. We’re close enough to the big city of Seattle if we want anything, but we’re far enough away that we don’t have to deal with the problems of big city life.

Nazareth was the Wenatchee of Israel!And where did this town, Nazereth come from? Nazereth, Natzereth… the word itself means “offshoot”. Like the offshoot of a branch from a tree.

(slide) Is 11:1 says… A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.This is a well known Messianic prophecy. Jesse was the father of King David whose line would produce the Messiah.

I would suggest to you that Nazareth, the town, was named by Yeshua’s family. Yosef and Miriam (Mary) were of the royal line, Yosef a Prince and Miriyam a Princess with hopes of being related to the Messiah of Israel. Little did they know, it’d be their son.

I would suggest that Nazereth was their own little area with just family. Not even really a town, but more of area designated for royalty of their caliber.

This would explain the lack of the name Nazareth in Josephus’ records where he names all the towns of Galilee but Nazareth is nowhere to be found in that list.

Skeptics say it wasn’t on that list because Nazareth didn’t exist in the first century. I believe the Gospel accounts are true and it did exist, it just wasn’t the same as a town, it was more of a place for the Royal Family to settle.

There was enough extended family there to have enough men for a Synagogue. You need ten men to have a minyan. There was a Synagogue there and Yeshua taught in it just as the Brit Hadasha recounts.

Nazareth did grow a little later on. We know by the time of the Bar Kochba revolt in 132AD (only 40 years after Yeshua) that some of the priestly families became displaced.

Both the Mishna and a marble inscription found at Caesarea Maritima says the 24 priestly families were absorbed.

(slide) And one of those places is named as Nazareth where the family “Happitsets” was settled.

In order to be a place for the priestly family to reside, it had to be a place of wealth and influence. (slide) You can read more about that in the Israel Exploration Journal 1963By Michael Avi Yonah

Some of you may know some of Avi Yonah’s work in the… (slide)

So Nazareth is mentioned in the Mishna and on an inscription in marble and yet these critics say it never even existed.Not only did it exist, it was a place of beauty.

One Commentator in another work described Nazareth as a “rat hole”. How much would you like to bet me that that commentator has never stepped foot in Israel? I’m absolutely sure of it.

Many a myth can be dispelled if you have lived in the land. If a commentator has NOT lived there you can understand how their ideas can be wayyyy off.

Their theology can be downright absurd. Even a two week tour isn’t going to tell you everything. It’ll sure help…

But even after the 19 years I lived there, I was only scratching the surface. There’s so much to know and learn in Israel.

So, now that we know that Nazareth was beautiful, we can dispel any false beliefs that are taught that Nazareth or someone from Nazareth, a Nazarene, would be a word that could be used as a disparaging remark.

(slide) Encyclopedia Biblica says this… “The term Nazarene is a term of contempt and Jesus of Nazareth was a contemptuous title”.

I disagree on both counts. Yet you find this negative attitude towards the terms pervasive in Christian literature.You can even go online and Google “Nazarene disparaging term” and you see all kinds of misinformation.

While we’re talking about the internet btw, I’m sure everyone knows this, but just in case… unless you’re enrolled or participating in a Messianic Yeshiva or Messianic classes online…

the internet is a great tool for studying theology (you can get various commentaries and so forth on the net), but it should never, never be your theological education. It can NOT substitute for a good education.

If you’ve gotten or are getting your Messianic education from the internet other then from a good school, your theology is going to be very distorted. I just wanted to put that out there.

There is more proof of the existence of a first century Nazareth. You see, we have to prove a Nazareth existed in the first century or there’s no Jesus the Nazarene.

If there’s no Jesus the Nazarene there’s no sect of the Nazarenes, you see where I’m going with this?

(slide) In 2004 in Nazareth, under the house of Elias Shama, a Roman style bath house was discovered and was dated by Jewish archeologists to of all time periods… the first century.

See, there is ample proof of the existence of Nazareth from outside sources and extra-Biblical works.

So why do so many teach that Nazareth was some kind of hole in the wall? Most of it stems from one comment in the New Testament.(slide) John 1:46 46 Natan'el answered him, "Natzeret? Can anything good come from there?" "Come and see," Philip said to him.

Well, it must be a terrible place then. If you’re one who doesn’t believe in taking various things into consideration like Biblical archeology, history and the geography of

Israel then yeah, it could seem like Nazareth is a terrible place if you only take the words of Scripture into account and nothing else.

I often times hear people tell me, “If it’s not in the Bible then I don’t believe it”. My response to that is, ok then you don’t believe in plastic, modern surgery or the automobile. None of those things are in the Scriptures.

Sometimes they’ll snap back, I’m talking about things in the Word of God. Ok then explain to me what a legion is without stepping outside of Biblical reference. The word legion is in the New Testament, explain to me what it is. You can’t! You have to use outside sources sometimes.

Sometimes I reference the Talmud and people will say to me, “I don’t believe anything in the Talmud”. Well that’s too bad. The Talmud tells us of rooms in the Temple that we wouldn’t have known even existed without it. Parts of the Talmud were written by eyewitnesses in the First Century.

There’s a resource you shouldn’t throw away.Back to Nazareth. So why did Natanel say that nothing good came from Nazareth. Could have been a number of reasons. He might have had a bad experience there. (slide)

Maybe there was some family rivalry? Natanel was from Cana…

There could’ve been many reasons why he didn’t like it. Could’ve been personal taste…Some people love California some people hate it.

Natanel could’ve simply been jealous because he wasn’t allowed to live there. He might have thought the Royal family to be too hoity-toity. Who knows…

But the anti-Semitic commentators have tried to connect Nathaniel's statement to a disdain not only for Nazareth but of all of the Galilee region. Which as we’ve seen in the teaching the de-Judaization of the Galilee is completely unsubstantiated.

So the name Nazarene came from the town of Nazareth which meant an offshoot referring to the Messianic prophecy that the Messiah would be an offshoot of Jesse, the father of King David.

(slide) Yeshua became known as the Nazarene Matt 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

So, which was spoken by the prophets… someone please tell me in which of the prophetical books is that a quote from?

Oh that’s right, nowhere in the prophets does it say that. In fact the word Nazarene is nowhere in the Old Testament at all. If it was written in another prophetical Book, we don’t have it.

Some people ask me, “Doesn’t the word Nazarene come from the word Nazorite?” No it’s spelled differently in Hebrew and doesn’t even come from the same root word. Nazorite means

“one who has taken a vow”. A Nazorite is someone who has taken a vow so that’s why they call them that.

If Yeshua had been called Yeshua the Nazorite, He hardly could’ve said in Luke 7:34 The Son of man came eating and drinking. Or have drunk wine at Passover or drank anything with grapes. During His ministry, He wasn’t a Nazorite.

Again we have to understand the importance in Judaism in the first century concerning the word Notzereem. Even though Notzereem doesn’t appear in the Old testament, the root of the word does. As we mentioned a quote from Isaiah 11:1 (slide)

A shoot (netzer) will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.So like I said, it was a popular messianic word used even way before Yeshua was born. We do see in Rev 5:5 the term Root of David used to designate Yeshua

(slide) 5 Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.This is specifically talking about Yeshua.

But so far we’ve only seen the word “Nazarene” used to designate Yeshua and not used to designate a group. It’s not until we get to Acts 24:5 that we see it used for people other then Yeshua Himself.

And this is when Tertullus comes on the scene. Tertullus was a lawyer and makes some accusations against Rabbi Shaul (Paul) and he then tells the court who Rabbi Shaul is, he’s a ringleader of the Sect of the Nazarenes. (slide)

The exact words are… 5 "We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect.

Right away Paul is then given the stage and he doesn’t refute being a ringleader of the Nazarene sect so we can safely assume that it’s true. Otherwise he’d have said, “What? No, I’m not a part of this sect!”.

We also want to take notice that Tertullus is acting in an official manner and speaking to the governor and he doesn’t even explain who the sect of the Nazarenes are. The governor was in fact already familiar with this term.

There is zero explanation given as to who they were by Tertullus and yet we’re given the minutia of this conversation. The term “Nazerene” wasn’t unknown or meaningless to the Governer. We know this to be true because we read in verse 22…

(slide) 22 Then Felix, who was well acquainted with The Way, adjourned the proceedings.“This is very important because of this verse we now know that The Way and the Nazarenes are one in the same. It ties it up very nicely for us.

These were not derogatory names called us by outsiders. Yeshua was called “the offshoot of Jesse” (Nazarene) it was a name that the very first Believers gave Him. Then “Nazarenes” was a name they called themselves.

There is something to being the one to define who you are as opposed to allowing the unG-dly defining who you are.

So all the first Believers were called the people of The Way and later on they were called the sect of the Nazarenes. For a time these were even interchangeable as we see in this passage in Acts.

One last point concerning their name…Is today’s Church of the Nazarene denomination a descendant of the original Nazarene Church? No, it’s not. The Church of the Nazarene is an Evangelical Christian organization started in 1908.

The Church of the Nazarene is generally Wesleyan in thought, that being they follow the teachings of John Wesley having emerged from what is called the Holiness movement. The Pentecostal movement also traces it’s origin to the Holiness movement as well.

Let’s summarize the main points.(slide)1. The word Nazarene comes

from the word Nazareth one of the most beautiful and cultured places in all of Israel

(slide) 2. Nazareth was on two major trade routes and within walking distance to one of the most booming cities in all of Israel at that time. That’s why it was called the Galilee of the Nations (Goyim).

(slide) 3. Sepphoris was a wealthy Jewish area where Yosef and Yeshua probably worked as skilled general contractors because of their outstanding education.

(slide) 4. Rabbi Hillel was probably there when Herod called for all the Torah teachers when the wise men asked for Yeshua. Hillel also probably knew who Yeshua was when he hand picked Him to be his Talmid.

(slide) 5. There is both historical and archeological proof that Nazareth did indeed exist in the first century

6. Nathaniel’s comment is not enough to cast a negative image on the Galilee or Nazareth.

7. The followers of The Way and the Sect of the Nazarenes are one in the same people.

Next week, we’ll see what the New Testament actually says about the sect, we’ll examine what some of the Early Church step-fathers had to say about us,

We’ll look at their migration to Pella after the Bar Kochba War and some ancient Nazarene commentary.

We will also take a look at a prayer said to this day in most Synagogues that is said as a curse to the Sect of the Nazarenes. All that and more next week.Also don’t forget Tuesday nights. If you don’t go you are missing out on learning.Let’s stand for the benediction.