The "Y" Team

What comes to your mind when you hear the following words of Jesus (Yeshua)? “ You must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect .” (Luke 6:36 & Matthew 5:48) The opening phrase -- “ You must be perfect. . . ” -- has generated many debates over the centuries and caused a great deal of confusion and guilt . The dictionary definition for the word “ perfect ” that comes to most peoples’ minds is usually “ completely free from faults or defects .” Obviously, that’s a high goal to try to reach, but when you add the second phrase – “. . . as your heavenly Father is perfect ” – the goal goes much higher. Did Jesus really expect anyone listening to him to “ be as perfect as God ”? Dr. David Flusser ( Jesus © 1997 The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem; p. 83) places the words of Jesus in their first century cultural and historical setting to unlock the meaning of this very important teaching of Jesus. The best way of translating this saying is: ...

Yeshua’s lesson on anger is clearly linked to the story of Cain and Abel. In his world, rabbis and teachers added their insights to commandments in the Jewish Scriptures to help people obey them. Their insights were called “ fences around the Law .” If a people followed the instructions of the “fences” they would keep the commandment.” Yeshua was a master fence builder. Let’s review the part of the Cain and Abel story that Yeshua had in mind when he built the fences I called Plan A & Plan B in the Part 1. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. [i] Cain and Abel were twins. Cain was born first and he became a tiller of the ground like is father, Adam. Abel is the first shepherd in the Bible. At the appointed time, Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. [ii] This is the first reference to the bringing of an offering...

The “Y” Team is a team, like a football team, basketball team, baseball team, etc. Each of those team’s identities define the primary focus of the game – a ball . In a football game, the focus is always on the football and how the players execute their particular skills in relationship to it. For The “Y” Team , “ righteousness ” is like the ball. At the last practice – click here if you missed it -- we learned about the importance of doing “ acts of righteousness. ” Some of the acts of righteousness Yeshua described in that lesson are these: (1) giving hungry people food (2) giving thirsty people drink (3) giving strangers a place to stay (4) giving people in need of clothing clothes (5) visiting people who were sick (7) going to see people who were in prison Developing your “Y” Team skills requires practice. Just like in any sport, you will probably blow it a number of times , but as you practice you will improve. I can assure you of one fact -- no on...

Beliefs about “ salvation ” are the biggest barriers to open discussions about the differences between different Christian group and about Yeshua , the “ Jesus of History .” This is completely understandable when so much is at stake in the minds of “believers” – literally going to Heaven or Hell! The findings below, published in World Christian Trends AD 30 – AD 2200 by David B. Barrett & Todd M. Johnson (© 2001 by David B. Barrett; William Carey Library, Pasadena, CA; p. 33), surprise many Christians: In 1970 global Christianity had 18,630 denominations/paradenominations. In 2000 global Christianity had 33,820 denominations/paradenominations. Estimates in 2017 indicate there are now probably 40,000 or more. Most of these are Protestant (protest + ant) and that should give those engaged in political protesters a hint as to where "just protesting leads." Paradenominations are groups with religious agendas that specialize in specific areas, i.e., families,...

An important mission of The “Y” Team is “ pursuing opportunities to do love .” For us, love means “ doing concrete actions ,” not “ having abstract emotions, feelings or goosebumps .” Acts of love make lives more Shalom, which is commonly translated “ peace. ” But, Shalom means much more -- “ the completeness   and  richness of living in an integrated social milieu ( totality, health, fulfilled, wholesomeness, harmony, success and happiness . )”  A lot of things go into making life Shalom , from acts of acceptance and belonging to acts that provide the basic requirements for survival ( air, water, food, shelter, medical care , etc .). The key to pursuing opportunities to do acts of love is being aware of the people you encounter in the normal course of life. The opposite of love is not only hate – it is indifference . How many people encounter people in the normal course of life every day that seem to not know they exist? An excellent way to develop yo...

PURSUING OPPORTUNITIES TO DO LOVE!

The “ Y ” stands for  Yeshua , the actual name of the  Historical  " Jesus" . "Jesus" is an English word and the English language did not even exist when Yeshua lived and taught. In addition to that fact, it would be over 1,500 years later that the letter "J" became part of the English alphabet.  Members of  The "Y" Team  engage in learning and skills development options that help them learn more about the values, morals and wisdom principles Yeshua lived and taught --  in order to protect lives, preserve lives, make lives more functional and increase the quality of life for themselves, their families and others . The “Y” Team  is about "saving" people now from the things that are  destroying lives ,  threatening lives ,  making lives less functional  and  decreasing the quality of life  --  not going to Heaven and living like gods forever . Interestingly, Yeshua also taught that doing the things above a...