(Becomimg a Prophetic Church) 3. Israel the Suffering Servant, Part 1, by Art Katz

Greetings in Jesus!After having listened this message given by Art Katz, I came to want to share this with you.Really, I don't know why, I have come now to want to share what I am about to share with you. But I trust that the Lord knows.If you have heard this message by this most excellent brother Art Katz. Perhaps, you may be able to connect what I am about to now share with you, in part at least, with something Art Katz had talked about in this message he gave, if you had listened to this sermon.If you haven't heard the message. Perhaps what I am able to share may help you, even if you haven't heard this sermon.Let us turn now to PSALM 119:67, 71, 75.In the New International Version, those verses read -----------Before I was afflicted I went astray,but now I obey your word.It was good for me to be afflictedso that I might learn your decrees.I know O LORD, that your laws are righteous,and in faithfulness you have afflicted me.Believe you me, if ever a man had to face affliction, it was David.Yet he did not become bitter or discouraged.In fact, looking back on it, he was grateful for it. He realized it had done him good.In his own words here quoted in the passage above, David shares with us two vitually important lessons he learned from his affliction.The first lesson relates to God's motive in permitting us to come under affliction.God does not do it because He is angry with us or has rejected us.On the contrary, it is the expression of His faithfulness. He sees us taking a wrong course that will lead us to our own harm and ultimate ruin, so He sends affliction to turn us back into the way that leads to peace and blessing.The second lesson concerns our response to affliction.David did not veiw affliction as a disaster.Rather, he saw it as kind of corrective medicine. It was something he needed to adjust his life. "Before I was afflicted, I went astray," he says, "but I suffered for it. Now I've learned my lesson: it pays to obey Your word."Are you now in the midst of afflicton?If you are don't fight back, and do not agrue with God. Acknowledge that God is afflicting you in His faithfulness. There is a reason for it. He has a reason. Ask Him what it is!He is seeking to turn you back from something harmful and to bring you into something beneficial.If you are willing to learn from your present affliction, there will come a time when you will look back with graditude on the benefits you have received.Whenever, we go through such times as this, and as often as we do, and I believe we all who are in Christ, who belong to Christ do go through such times. And I believe that we can come through such times more easily if this is our response of trust in the Lord:"Lord, I acknowledge that You have a reason for afflicting me. Help me to learn my lesson."After I have had more time to give more prayerful thought to this message Art Katz gave, the Lord willing. I will post again, and to share my thoughts about some of the things this most excellent brother had to say in this message he gave.In Christ,Jake

Greetings in Jesus!Art Katz's used "Midrash", in this sermon.He used midrash in trying bring more understanding to the truth of Scripture of why Israel must suffer!Midrash is an allegorical interpretation or homiletical application of a text.The interpretation of Scripture, and what happens when we do it, is called hermeneutics. And a persons approach to hermeneneutics, or intepretation, will always be influenced, to a degree, by their world view, their own culture, and the pre-suppositions these things give them.The hearer of is expected to understand that the maker of the midrash is not expounding the plain meaning of the text but introducing his own ideas. I know most Christians have never heard of midrash, this is why I have chosen to share this with you.Also because I received a private message from a dear brother letting me know that he really enjoyed Art Katz's teachings, but by somethings he said, he seemed to have a bit of a problem understanding some of what Art Katz's teaches. Therefore, I wanted to share this in hope that it may would help some who have enjoyed this message given by Art Katz to understand it all the more.One example of midrash being used in the New Testament can be seen in Galatians 4:21-31, in which the apostle Paul had used midrash to help the readers of his day better understand the two covenants. Verse 24 (NJK) Paul said ----"which things are symbolic [Now I make a midrash]. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar." (emphasis added)It is my conviction that the internal evidence of the New Testament demonstrates that Jesus and the apostles employed a Midrashi hermeneutic as evidenced in the manner in which the New Testament often uses and explains the Old.The interpretations used by Jewish rabbis like Jesus and Paul in the first century, were largely based on something called "Midrash."The basic principals of "Midrash" are listed in the original seven points called "midoth" of Rabbi Hillel. Rabbi Hillel was grandfather of Rabbi Gamaliel who was the tutor of Saint Paul in the Pharisaic School of Hillel and who defended the rights of Jewish believers in the book of Acts (see Acts 5:34-39). I just mentioned that as a just by the way is all. Only for reasons I feel some may find it interesting.In Christ,Jake