faith & my sacrifice to yhvh

8/9/2019 Faith & my Sacrifice to YHVH

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We have different concepts of what faith is and we do not reallyunderstand its true nature. In this study we will look at faith and what itmeans to really believe so that YHVH is pleased with our faith.

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It is impossible to please YHVH without faith and it is one of the most importantconcepts to grasp in order to live a life of faith that is pleasing to our Father. YHVHwill reward those who diligently seek Him. People today diligently seek things andstand in faith so that YHVH can provide for them. This is the wrong way round, wemust seek Him and then He will reward us. Yshua taught the same concept in Matt6:21-22 where He said that we should seek the Kingdom and Righteousness FIRST,and then all the rest will be provided for us. Hebrews talk about a reward that we willattain if we have faith and diligently seek Him, what will we get as a reward?Righteousness means; right standing with YHVH and this means that when we seekYHVH, we should seek the things that pleases Him.

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Very interesting, YHVH is our reward, not material things so if we seek things and tryto attain it through faith, we are not seeking YHVH and we do not please Him indoing so. If you diligently seek Him, then you will find Him because He is the Reward.To diligently seek YHVH is to seek a relationship with Him and to find the things,which pleases Him. It is not about seeking His hand (provision), it is about seekingHis Face (relationship & righteousness). To receive YHVH as our Reward links upwith being righteous so that we can be with Him forever and that is the basis ofSalvation.

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Abrahams response to YHVHs Word was that he sought YHVH through faith, and itwas counted to him as righteousness. This implies that he is in right standing withYHVH and that he attained everlasting life received YHVH as his Reward. The keyis that Abraham sought YHVH and he found YHVH. This is what true faith is!


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Hebrew is an action language and we get Hebrew nouns that describe thingsbut all nouns have root words that are verbs. The Greek mind separates faithfrom an action in the sense of having faith and works as opposites. Accordingto them you cannot have faith if you have works and vice versa, making faith anoun. We have been led to believe this due to our doctrinal influences thatstem from the Reformation and work done by Martin Luther and later on Calvinand his great work and that is very unfortunate and the Word say that we aresaved by faith and not works and this supports it even further.

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People think that we are saved by faith, but we are actually saved by grace, which isa free gift from YHVH, to those who have faith in Him and seek Him diligently. It istrue that if you work to find favour with YHVH for salvation, then it is an abomination,but on the other hand to work in RESPONSE to YHVHs favour is a good thing.

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Work and worship is the same thing. The word for worship is avodah comes fromhe root word avad that means; servant, to work, to create, to make and worshipers.Your every day work is worship unto YHVH if it is in line with the guidelines inScripture. So if you say that works are bad, then you imply that worshipping YHVH is

bad. We do not earn anything obeying the Commandments in our every day lives,that is our response and worship unto YHVH because we are saved. He saves usthough His Grace and we respond with our faith by being faithful in the Truth, livingour lives according to His Commandments in worship unto Him because we loveHim.

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YHVH came to Abraham and presented him with favour. Abraham did not doanything to deserve this and it was a free gift of grace from YHVH. Abrahamresponded immediately through his faith, he was declared righteous. So in otherwords, faith followed grace and is your response of appreciation. We have seenearlier that Abrahams faith was based upon seeking YHVH, we will look at the otheraspects of Abrahams faith that led him unto righteousness.


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The first thing that stands out is that Abraham acted immediately after YHVH spoketo Him. This is a very good example of what perfect obedience looks like, acting onthe Word of YHVH.

The word for faith in Hebrew is amunah that means:literally firmness;figuratively security; moral fidelity: - faith (-ful, -ly, -ness, [man]), set office, stability,steady, truly, truth, verily.

Amunah comes from the root word aman which is a verb that means: tobuild up or support; to foster as a parentor nurse; figuratively to render (or be)firm or faithful, to trustor believe, to be permanent or quiet; morally to be trueorcertain; once, hence assurance, believe, bring up, establish, + fail, be faithful (of longcontinuance, stedfast, sure, surely, trusty, verified), assurance, nursing father,nursing mother, pillars supporting a door entrance., put trust in, turn to the right.

From these two words, amunah and aman we find three more aspects of faith:

o To believe, truth, to be true, turn to the right, trust, put trust in.o To foster as a parent, nursing father or mothero Firmness, stability, steadfast, to be faithful, to build up or support

1. Firstly, we see the basic meaning of faith that everybody is familiarwith; faith simply means to believe and it and that is a build infunction within man; we all believe something, whether it is the truth ornot. The faith described here is defined as believing the truth. So forus to really believe and have faith can only happen when we have thetruth. Truth is defined as the highest form of reality and that is the

truth that comes from YHVHs Word.

Faith also means to turn to the right. What does that mean? Right in

Hebrew means spiritual and Left means physical or fleshly. If you turnto the rightis a metaphor that means, to become more spiritual and tobe less physical or fleshly. In other words, if you have faith that is basedon the truth of YHVH, you will turn to the right or become more spiritualand less fleshly, or you will become more holy and less sinful.

2.The second meaning of faith is nursing father or nursing motherand this relates to our child like dependency to our heavenly Father.This shows the relationship between the one believing and the Onebelieved in. We can interpret Gen 15:6 as Abraham that was caused tobe nurtured or nursed by the nurturing Father. Abraham believed inYHVH and the best way to put this is to say that Abraham placedhimself in the mercy and care of YHVH alone.

It is similar as a child being dependant on its mother for nourishmentand care. How does a child tell a mother I need food? He cries. It is instinctive; achild does not need to learn how to cry. The child does not know what he needs, hejust cries because het needs something and there is someone out there that can giveit to him. He will not stop crying unless he gets that need met, this is the kind of faithwe need to have.


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Is it the crying that causes a mother to provide the need of the child? No, the cryinginvoke an emotion that causes the mother to nurture the child which is build into themothers nature. Is the cry required to nurture the child? No, the mother will nurturethe baby and even defend it unto death. This brings us to the attributes of YHVH asseen in the meaning of faith; He is a nurturing Father. It is His nature to defend andlook after his children and this sprouts from His grace.

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We see this faith of Yshua in Abraham in Gen 22 where he took Isaac his son, tosacrifice him because YHVH instructed him to do so. This faith is obedience untodeath, which is similar to Yshuas faith that led to His actual death. Are you preparedto sacrifice your most precious possessions, your sins, your bad habits that gives youpleasure, your addictions, all the things that you hold dear to your heart, are youwilling to give it to YHVH completely so that He can be your ONLY Reward?

To sum it up:

YHVH approached Abraham first as Nurturing Father, offering him His Grace.Abrahams faith can be summarised as follows; Faith is:

o To seek YHVH first and to seek a relationship with Himo To obey YHVHs Word immediatelyo Believing the Truth seeking the trutho Become more spiritual and less fleshly Become Holy and less sinfulo To have a child like dependencyo To believe like a child without reasoning and questioningo To be stable no matter the circumstanceso To have the faith of Yshua and to imitate and follow Himo To be faithful unto death

Faith is the Hebrew word amunah and consists of an Apeph Mem Nun Heyand we find these letters as symbols in Psalm 1 as well as in this word picture:

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A mountain in Hebrew represents a high place and that is YHVHs standards and

where He is. This relates with the Aleph means origin and represents YHVHthe Father in His High Place of Holiness. He is the origin of life and of His Word andfrom Him flows the water of life. This water flowss down the mountain and is

represented by the Memthat means water or Word, which is Yshua. Thewater is absorbed by the trees that is planted on the riverbank. We are the trees thatfind our nourishment form this water and we bear fruit. Fruit is symbolised by the

Nun that means fruitor fruitful and represents the Fruit of the Spirit. You can onlybear the fruit of the Spirit if your are planted and nourished by the Word and then you

shine your light in this dark world and is symbolised by the letter Hey meanslight.

The water flows to the ocean and the ocean represents the nations. As the river flowsto the ocean, people pollute the water and the water is mixed with all kind ofimpurities as it flows to the sea. In the same way we see that the Word of YHVH ispolluted by mixing the further you move away from the Mountain (YHVH) and thecloser you get to the sea (world). If you want the purest form of the water you need toclimb up the mountain to get to the origin (Aleph) of the river. This is what Holinessis; to climb the mountain of YHVH so that we can have a close relationship with Him,so that we can lift our standards and drink from the purest form of the Word that isnot mixed and polluted by man.

We have seen how Faith is an action and how we need to act on the Truth and liveout the faith of Yshua as a child. We will now look at the relation between faith and

your actions described in the Brit Chadasha (NT) that is your sacrifice unto YHVH.

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We are the holy priesthood and have to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable untoYHVH. What are these sacrifices and what do they look like? We see in Rom 12 thatit involves our bodies and in 1 Peter 2 we see that it is spiritual of nature, somethingnot form this world. The Priests offered up grain, fruit and produce of the land, as wellas clean animals that were both freewill offerings and sin offerings. Offering is theHebrew word minchah that mean gifts that you present as an act of worship andsacrifice is the word zabach that represents sin sacrifices that are presented toYHVH to cleanse us and to make us acceptable so to approach YHVH and presentour gifts or minchah.


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To fully comprehend this concept of our offerings and sacrifices we must bring today,we need to go back to the beginning to the story of Cain and Abel to study theacceptable and unacceptable offerings and sacrifices unto YHVH so that we canknow what to bring as an acceptable gift of worship according to YHVHs standards.

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Why did YHVH accept Abels offering and not Cains offering? Whatwe know form the book of Genesis is that YHVH cursed the groundwhen man fell into sin but He did not curse the animals. The offeringCain brought was from the fruit of the ground and thus made theoffering cursed as well. The Hebrew word for Cains offering is the word minchahthat is normally grain of fruit and that is a bloodless offering.

Abel brought a lamb and is described as a Minchah that is a bloodless offering, howcan this be? We find the answer in the Book of Hebrews:

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Firstly we see that Abel brought the sacrifice by faith and it was a greater sacrificethan Cains. The words used to describe this simply means it was MORE than Cainsoffering, and Elohim testified of his gifts, which is plural. This implies that Abelbrought more offerings than Cain who only brought an offering from the produce ofthe ground. Abel brought an offering from the produce of the ground, a minchahwhich was a bloodless cursed offering, and he brought a sacrifice in the form of alamb.

Why did he bring a lamb? Abel understood the need for blood to sanctify his cursedminchah or bloodless offering, so that it may be acceptable unto YHVH. Cain knewthat his offering was cursed but it did not bother him and he brought an unacceptablecursed gift of worship unto YHVH, and thought it would be acceptable. We cannotdetermine what is acceptable to YHVH, He determines this in His Word and we mustobey Him and not mans ideas. I think it is not a matter of Cain not knowing, I think hehad an attitude of rebellion and did his own way. We see this attitude of rebellion inthe Church today where man set the standards and people do not know the Word toknow what is acceptable and how to live out their faith unto Him.

Instead of making it right by bringing the blood offering of a lamb,he slew his brother and presented Abels blood instead. YHVHwas not pleased and cursed Cain and he left and lived at the eastside of Eden.

We know that we need to present sacrifices that are acceptableunto YHVH and we know that our sacrifices are gifts of worshipand an expression of our faith unto Him. We have also learnedthat worship is related to every day work.


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Worshipis the Hebrew word Avodah that comes from the root word Avad thatmeans; servant, to work, to create, to make and worshipers.

So everything I do is worship unto YHVH if I do it in line with theWord, which is an expression of my faith. This is in line with what Paulsaid in Rom 12; that we need to present our bodies as living sacrificesand through our actions, not to conform to the world but do things thatare acceptable unto Him. This is 100% in line with what we havelearned about being faithful in the Truth, expressing the faith ofYshua. This means that our everyday actions are gifts or offeringsof worship unto YHVH if your actions and words are in line withYHVHs Word.

We only present gifts to people we love and we show that we loveYHVH by giving Him gifts that are acceptable unto Him. These giftsare our obedience to His Commandments that is our love-gifts of faith unto Him.

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Without doing His Commandments (Torah), you cannot show that you love Him andyou are doing things contrary to His Word that are the things of this world (Rom12:2). Doing His Commandments is good and pleasing and in His acceptable will.

We see the parallels between this concept and the offerings of Cain and Abel sinceour obedience to His Commandments are gifts or offerings (minchah) of worshipunto Him. If we only do the Commandments we are doing bloodless minchaha(spiritual) offerings/sacrifices unto YHVH. These offerings are cursed because of ourcursed sinful nature and we need to present these offerings with a Lamb so thatthey may be acceptable unto YHVH. We need the Blood Yshua to make our obeyingHis Commandments acceptable spiritual offerings and gifts of worship unto Him.

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People who do the Commandments without the sacrifice of Yshua (accepting HisBlood and His Spirit) will make their obedience a following of a dead letter that kills(mostly Jews). You receive His Spirit after you accepted Yshua as Saviour and HisSpirit is a sign that you have the Blood of the Lamb. The Spirit of YHVH is the Gift Hegave us after we accept Yshuas Blood, so that His Spirit and the Blood can sanctifyour gifts of worship of obedience. YHVHs Spirit will help you to do HisCommandments with the right motive and attitude, just like Abel, and YHVH willaccept it as true faith and worship that pleases Him. So again, it is not by our doingthat we are acceptable, it is only through His Grace and His Sacrifice that our giftsand obedience are sanctified to be acceptable.

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You can only understand His Commandments if you have the Spirit and you will onlydo them with the right attitude of love, if you are born of the Spirit. Two things standout; you cannot do the Commandments without accepting and presenting the BloodSacrifice of Yshua, and you cannot only have a Lamb without any minchah orgifts of worship. Abels offering consisted of both.


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If you only have the Blood of the Lamb (Yshua), then you do not worship Him if youlive a life that looks like the world, not obeying His Commandments. The ONLYacceptable Offering unto YHVH is a blood sanctified minchaha; that is yourobedience to His Commandments and Faith in Yshua. We see the same principle inRevelation:

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When Adam and Eve fell, they were removed from the Garden of Eden. YHVH didthe first sacrifice and used the skins of the animals to cover their nakedness (sin). Inorder to present your offering or gift unto YHVH, you need to be covered by theblood offering of Yshua. We are created to worship YHVH and to present gifts backunto Him.

The City is the New Jerusalem and to gain access to it you must have authority overthe Tree of Life. The Tree of Life represents life eternal inside the City and you gainthat if you do His Commandments and have the Aleph-Tav (Yshua) in your life. Thisis obeying His Commandments, showing your love through presenting true spiritualgifts of worship and obedience through faith unto the Father, cleansed and sanctifiedby the Aleph-Tav, the Messiah Yshua. Then He will give you a reward based on yourworks or mitsvots which are your obedience to His Commandments and acts ofworship and faithfulness. You are saved by Grace through faith and we have lookedat what faith means previously. Those who refuse to follow this way and rather follow

the world, they will be outside the City:

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They will be on the outside, not accessing the Tree of Life (eternal life) and will becast into eternal death. Outside means to be separated fromand they will not enterthe New Jerusalem and will not dwell with YHVH forever.

The scary part is that it is dependant on our actions and our worship as well. Youhave to have Yshua first, to have His sanctifying Blood, so that you can live out thefaith of Yshua, following and obeying His Commandments faithfully, being 100%

dependant on Him to do so. We are to live a life acceptable as Yshuas Priesthood,offering acceptable sanctified sacrifices unto the Father as our reasonable worship.

faith & my sacrifice to yhvh

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