How important is one’s name? What is a name for? What’s in a name? What about titles? What about the one we call our God, our El, our Elohim? (El is the Hebrew term that the scholastic world declares is equivalent to the English word God. Elohim is the plural form of El. Both of these terms are utilized to identify our awesome Creator, as well as false gods.) How important is His name? Let’s begin to answer these questions, hopefully in the order that they are asked.

By Jerry Healan

HOW IMPORTANT IS ONE’S NAME?

  In the modern world we have a tendency to be reduced to nothing more than a number. When I was 14 years old I wanted a job to make some spending money. I had to obtain a minor’s release from my parents in order to go to work, but above that, I had to apply for a Social Security number. (The Social Security law has been changed now. As soon as a child is born, the government wants them to have a SS number.)

  But it was and is very important that my name was associated with my Social Security number. No other person’s name in this world was to be associated with that number. At that time, one’s Social Security was one’s retirement account. Our leaders, of course, have changed the original purposes for Social Security down through the years.

  Technically, no one else in the world has a right to claim the monies that I paid into the Social Security system, but myself, and my wife. My name is still supposed to be the only name associated with that account. My wife has her own number and account, but she can draw a little from my account, however the simple fact of the matter is that our names are the only names associated with those accounts. If there are/were no names associated with our SS accounts, how would the funds be properly collected and disbursed? (Not that we trust the government to properly collect and disburse the funds. History has revealed that governmental disbursement is out of control, and the Social Security system is in danger of total collapse because of their chaotic practices.)

  I have a bank account and a savings account. Those accounts are also given numbers, but not just any name is associated with those accounts. Only my name, and the name of my wife are associated with those accounts. No one else, no other name is to be allowed to write checks, or make transactions on those accounts unless we give them the authority with a piece of paper (check), or debit card number given to them with our signature on it. If there were no names associated with those accounts, how would the funds be collected and disbursed?

  When I was 14, I also wanted to be able to drive a car, so I took Driver’s Education at school, received the required education and experience, took the test, and was issued a license with, you guessed it, my name and a number on it. No one else in the world was authorized to operate a vehicle with that name and number other than myself. If a name was not associated with that license and its number, then how could there be proper identification for authorized use and operation of a vehicle? Besides, the driver’s license is one of our chief methods of identification utilized in this nation (along with our Social Security number). If there was just a number and no name, how could there be any kind of proper identification?

  After graduating from high school, I entered into the U. S. Army. Once again, I was given a number associated with my name. My name and service number are to be associated for my whole life. No one else is to ever have my name and service number. If the Veteran’s Association only had a number and no name, how could I ever have been identified as a soldier, my term of service, or veteran’s benefits?

  Yes, it is true that the world desires to reduce us to a number only, but unless our names are associated with the numbers that we have collected throughout our lives, those numbers would be useless.

  Of course, many people share the exact same names, but I can assure you that the numbers that they have been endowed with down through life will be different. So will their fingerprints, teeth marks, DNA, etc. I am not saying that confusion has not occurred with people who have the same name, of course, it has, but even though people may have the same names, their SS numbers are different, their bank account numbers are different, their driver’s license numbers are different, etc., etc.

  It is important that the name that is given to us at birth, the name on our birth certificates, appear exactly on all documents, such as automobile titles, deeds to property and homes, bank accounts, etc.

  The problem is that most people never think about the importance of names, especially when it comes to the Creator, and Savior. When referring to the Creator, most people will just say that it doesn’t matter, He knows Who I am speaking of, and praying to. But misspell a person’s name, or get their name wrong and many become immediately offended. I have known people whose names are continually misspelled by others and they are continually offended and make every attempt possible to correct the offender until they get it right. They don’t seem to think that we should do the same for the most important Being in existence, our Creator.

  This ministry deals with many people in prison all over the country. Each prisoner is given a number. When we send mail to them, the name and number have to be correct or the mail comes back to us. We can’t send mail to just a name, nor can we send it to just a number. In today’s world, our names are still very important.

WHAT IS A NAME FOR?

  Stupid question? Your name is who you are. It is your identity. It is impossible to separate you from your name. Of course, there are those who desire to change their name to something else, which can be done with governmental approval, and submission of the proper paperwork, but their new name is still their identity. If you had no name, it would be as if you don’t exist. Some peoples in other countries do not name their children until they acquire the age of 5 or 6. If that child dies before ever having been named, how do you know, how does anyone know who that child was? There may be a short memory of a child having been born, but not having been named, how can that child ever be identified?

  Let’s take a look at the Hebrew word for “name.” That word is shem, but in the Hebrew it consists of only two characters ~v (that’s shin [v], and mem [m], (Hebrew reads from right to left). Hebrew letters not only serve the purpose for the make-up of words, but they also serve as numbers, as well as hieroglyphics, or pictures, if you will. Actually, the more ancient Pictorial Hebrew that Moses wrote the Scriptures in, are more graphic than modern-day Hebrew. The Pictorial letters for shem (name) would look like this: ms.

  The shin (s) is a picture of teeth, while the mem (m) is a picture of water. With teeth, we consume, eat, or destroy, while water, which is necessary for life, can represent the spirit as Yahshua portrayed in John 7:37-39, or water can also portray chaos when in massive bodies such as flooding rivers and streams, or seas and oceans undergoing violent activity because of storms, etc. Thus, the Hebrew word for name carries the meaning of destroying (s) chaos (m).

  In other words, when you see a person, or persons that you don’t know, you are in chaos, or confusion because you don’t know who they are. But when you learn their name (ms), then that chaos, or confusion (m) is destroyed (s).

  The Hebrew definition of the word shem (ms) is; an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character. In other words, your name marks your individuality. Your honor, authority, and character are associated with your name. Your name is what you are remembered by; it is your memorial, so to speak.

  Did you know that the world is in chaos and confusion as to what the true name of the Creator is? Scripturally, today’s world is presented as Babylon which means confusion, and that is the relationship of the whole world with its Creator today.

  Even among our assemblies that love to proclaim His true name and the true name of the Savior, there is chaos and confusion as to how His name is pronounced.  Even among Hebrew scholars, there is contention as to how His name is pronounced.

  So why should we even begin to try to discover His name? Because every child, every member of the family should know their father’s name. Why? Because they are born into their father’s family, and are inheritors of his name. But does every child know how to perfectly pronounce their father’s name when they are little children? Most children are not perfect at expressing themselves at an early age. Their attempts are generally looked upon with a little humor, but are pleasing, never-the-less.

  However, the Creator’s name, like our own, is for the purpose of destroying chaos, confusion. So many, many people have written to us expressing gratitude for having learned the truth about the Father’s and Son’s names, because to learn their names is a beginning that delivers us from that chaos and confusion.

  Therefore, we can begin to understand that names are for identification. Our name declares who we are. We are our names, our names are us.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

  As stated above, your name marks your individuality. It is your mark, your memorial, that is, it is what you are remembered by, whether you are living or dead. Your honor, authority, and character is associated with your name. If you have done good works, then you have built a good name; a name that is associated with honor, character, and authority. But if you have done evil works, you have no honor, no character, no real authority. You can build a name that is honored, or you can develop a name that is despised.

  Let’s take some Biblical names such as Abraham. Abraham is a name that is loved by most peoples who know the Scriptural texts. Isaac, Jacob, Israel, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua (Yahshua), David, Solomon, Peter, James, John, etc., etc., are names, among many others, that are highly revered and remembered.

  What about names that have brought no honor, authority, or character? What about Sihon, Og, Nabal, Haman, Belshazzar, etc.? These are among the names that are despised and hated in the Scriptures. They are associated with evil and shame.

  There are people in the secular world who have names associated with honor, authority, character, etc. In our country there is George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and many others. Then there are those associated with shame and evil such as John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson among many others.

  Our Creator has built a name that is to be revered, honored, blessed, etc., while the adversary, Satan, has established a name that is despised, and hated. But did you know that more people throughout the whole world know the term, the name Satan than those who know the true name of the Creator and Savior? What a travesty!

  Let me show you something about this word/name Satan. Yahweh is the Creator. Satan is His adversary and therefore, desires to destroy Yahweh’s creation. Yahweh is the author, the giver of life. Satan seeks to destroy life. Yahweh is truth, He cannot lie (Tit. 1:2). Satan is a liar and the father of it (Jn. 8:44).

  Truth is solid, stable, steady, dependable, reliable, etc. Lies sow doubt, chaos, confusion. A liar is not trustworthy. He is unstable, undependable, unreliable, etc.

  Man is made in Yahweh’s image. The Scriptures reveal a most marvelous and incredible future for those who serve Him. Man is conceived and brought forth in a womb. The Hebrew word for womb is beten (nub). The letters are beit (b), tet (u), nun (n). The letters promote the meaning of the word. The beit (b) is the picture of a house, tent, temple, family, etc. The tet (u) promotes the idea of a serpent, or something that surrounds. The nun (n) has to do with a seed, life, heir, etc. Thus the letters to the Hebrew word beten promotes the idea that the womb is a house (b) that protects (surrounds [u]) the life, or seed (n).

  Interestingly, the word/name Satan utilizes two of the same Hebrew characters as the word for womb. Satan is written as nus. Satan, therefore, is the serpent (u) that destroys (s) the seed/life/heir (n). Or He is the enemy that destroys the house that surrounds the seed/life.

  Satan seeks to destroy your life. How? Through deceit and lies which sow chaos and confusion. Therefore, he seeks to make it appear that the truth about the Creator’s and Savior’s names are not important. He also makes it appear that just any other name will do. After all, when we speak of our Creator, Heavenly Father, Savior, etc. he knows who we are talking about, right?

  What is in our names? Our names are associated with our authority, our character. In many cases our names actually describe our character traits. This is certainly the case with many of the Hebrew names.

STOLEN IDENTITY

  One of the problems that we have in today’s world is that of stolen identities. Due to the computer age, and the evil heart of men, it is possible to steal another person’s identity, i.e., their name, Social Security number, charge card numbers, bank account numbers, etc. A thief can destroy one’s reputation in just a few short hours or days. A person can end up owing hundreds of thousands of dollars, have their credit rating destroyed, and their name associated with bad debt, etc., for years, and the cost of re-establishing their name will take a long, hard, costly experience. There are now companies that are doing big business by charging to protect one’s identity.

  But what about our Creator? Did you know that His identity has been stolen? He tells us Himself in the book of Jeremiah, “I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; 27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal,” Jer. 23:25-27.

  Have you ever considered these Scriptures? Have they ever hit home? We do hope that they are hitting home now because the Scriptures also reveal that there is a conspiracy in the earth, “And Yahweh said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore thus saith Yahweh, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them. Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble. For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble. What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest. Yahweh called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken. For Yahweh of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal,” Jer. 11:9-17.

  Both John the Baptist and Yahshua the Messiah called the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians serpents and the seed of serpents, “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Yahweh, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that Elohim is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire,” Mt. 3:1-10.

  Yahshua decreed, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Mt. 23:29-33.

  Orthodox Judaism proclaims that they are the inheritors of the tenets of the ancient Pharisees. The inheritors of the Sadducees in today’s world would be the Kariate Jews. They generally excuse themselves from proclaiming the true name of Elohim (Yahweh) because they claim that it is too holy, unknowable, and unpronounceable (ineffable). But Yahweh proclaims that He personally took His name out of their mouths (Jer. 44). Much of this stems from the Jewish utilization of the Talmud, and the Kabbalah, from which Freemasonry also receives its tenets. Freemasonry also proclaims that the true name of the Creator is unknowable and unpronounceable (ineffable).

  Thus, the door was opened to label the Creator and His Son with names other than the true names. This has caused their identity to be stolen and attributed to other names and titles than those that have been originally inspired as their own.

THE LORD

  The true name of the Creator Yahweh (hwhy) has been removed from the Scriptures and primarily replaced with the term “the LORD.” Has the modern day world done what was revealed in Jeremiah 23, and elsewhere in the Scriptures? Have those who published the Scriptures caused the people to forget Yahweh’s name for Baal?

  Let me show you some interesting things in the Scriptures. We read, “30. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. 31. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. 32.  And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria,” 1 Ki. 16:30-32.

  Now I have left these Scriptures in the format that one reads in the King James version of the Bible (Power Bible). Notice the proper noun (name) “Baal” that is utilized here. In fact, this is an error! How can I say this? Let’s take a look at the Hebrew version of these verses with the same words underlined.

 Back to Articles INDEX

Do you think about Yahweh’s kingdom? As much as Yahshua talked about it? I guess we all think about it sometimes.

Do we think about our position there? Yahshua told his disciples that they would be important rulers there, each one ruling over one of the tribes of Israel. That leaves a lot of other nations to be ruled. You could be a ruler over a city or a nation. It is possible, but only if you meet one important requirement.

By Elder Tom Schattke

THE CHILD

  Any one of us can learn a lot about Yahweh’s kingdom from a little child.

  There is an important principle about the Kingdom that holds VERY TRUE for each of us.

  Along with love for one another the humility of a little child is an important foundation principle of our faith.

  The vivid and startling truth is that each of us must HAVE AN ONGOING project to change our personality to make it like the personality of a little child. Just like the top goes down on a convertible, we have to let our pride and any arrogance go down and we have to be changed and converted into humble individuals. Can you be a convertible believer?

  How humble do we need to become?  Like a sweet, obedient, little child. That’s a giant step!

  In scriptural history humility has been a key to many epic, historical, life-changing events. Some positive and some negative.

  Three of our scripture lessons about humility are drawn from the time of the Exodus from Egypt.

  HUMILITY was a major factor in the destruction of the great Egyptian culture and society at that first Passover in Egypt. Here we are talking about the humility that Pharaoh refused to show before Yahweh.

Exodus 10:3  And Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “So says Yahweh, the Elohim of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to HUMBLE YOURSELF before Me?   Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.’”

  I think Yahweh still likes to see his people come out and serve Him.

  Just as the lack of HUMILITY in Pharaoh brought about the destruction of Egypt, the great Humility of Moses was an important factor in the success of that prophet. Remember that Yahushua was the prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18). This is another way in which they were alike - their humility.

Numbers 12:3  Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men on the face of the earth.

    Moses was able to follow Yahweh in everything because he didn’t think he knew it all or that his way was always better. He just wanted to do whatever Yahweh desired and help the chosen people. He was able to encourage the Israelites because he loved them and was one of them. These same feelings were a part of the character of Yahshua the Messiah.

    Lack of HUMILITY caused the children of Israel to spend an extra 40 years in the wilderness. That was a lesson for all of us to remember. At the end of their 40 years Moses told them this:

Deuteronomy 8:2 “You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your Elohim led you these forty years in the wilderness in order TO HUMBLE YOU, to prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”

    What Yahweh was looking for in Israel was courage, faith, and fearlessness - not what we usually think of as humility, but they just did not have it. Would 40 years of wandering around on a diet of manna help with your humility? Would you like to find out?

    What makes HUMILITY to be of interest to EACH ONE OF US, is that Yahushua said that if we do not have it, we will NEVER enter Yahweh’s Kingdom! Is that important to you?

  This is unexpected, and even amazing to me.

  Each child of Yahweh is intended to be a leader in Yahweh’s Kingdom – Kings and preists.

  What a requirement to impose for leaders - that they must be humble like little children!

  Let’s look at the scripture:

Matthew 18:1-4  At that hour the disciples came to Yahushua, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?”

2  And Yahushua called a little child to Him and set him in their midst,  3  and said, “Truly I say to you, Unless you are converted [CHANGED] and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.   4  Therefore whoever shall HUMBLE himself like this little child, that one is the greater in the kingdom of Heaven.”

    Yes, an essential key to enter Yahweh’s Kingdom is HUMILITY, and Yahushua says it is a change we have to make within ourselves. That means we can do it. Yahushua is not going to require something that may be impossible for some of us. Every person Yahweh has called is capable of making the change to become more humble!

  We are not intended to make it into the Kingdom on our natural humility that we were born with or that we may have had as a child. As we grow up we lose that childlike humble attitude. Somewhere between the terrible twos and the troubled teens we become proud and arrogant. As we mature further and begin a relationship with Yahweh, we recognize that these attitudes are not Yahweh’s way. We are supposed to be working on changing from the proud way we have become, to the HUMBLE WAY Yahushua tells us we need to be.

Colossians 3:12  Therefore, as the elect of Yahweh, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with tender feelings of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, patience,  13  forbearing and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against any. As the Messiah forgave you, so you must also do.

    Paul presents a picture of a believer dressing himself in these essential garments as he (or she) talks with the Father to begin each day. Yahweh will hear and support those who seek humility.

  This is an ongoing project for each believer!

    What is not part of Humility?

  HUMILITY is the opposite of pride but it does not mean confessing our sins in public. Our sins must be confessed and repented of before Father Yahweh.

  It is not saying you are less than or worse than you are.   That would be lying.

  Humility is not being presumptuous.

  It is not just pretending to be humble but congratulating yourself internally for fooling people.    Of course Yahweh cannot be fooled.

Philipians 2:3  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves.

    Strife is: Angry or bitter disagreement.  Vainglory is:  Excessive pride in oneself or one's achievements; excessive vanity. We don’t base our actions on strife or vainglory.

    A humble person certainly does not need to keep talking about how bad he is.  He just does not boast or brag or talk about how good he is.

  Part of being humble is certainly being submissive to the will of our Father Yahweh.  Habakkuk 2:4 is quoted in the NT because it links salvation to faith:

Habakkuk 2:4  Behold, the soul of him is puffed up, and is not upright; but the just shall live by his faith.

    But notice the first part of the verse. The prophet is contrasting pride to faith. Truly, he is contrasting pride to salvation as Yahushua did in Matthew 18!

  This personality trait is truly BASIC to our future as Yahweh’s children. By ‘basic’ I mean that it is essential and also that it must be a part of our core being. Humility has to be as much a part of our nature as faith, hope, or love. It has to be firmly imbedded deep in our heart and mind.

  We’re going to look at three areas of Humility:

The first is humility in the life and teachings of Yahushua the Messiah.

The second will be our own individual humility.

The third will be the part of humility in the congregation of Yahushua’s followers.

  1. Yahushua’s Humility

  First we’ll look at Yahushua as our example. His example was given for our instruction.

  Torah commands us to correct our brother when we see that he is sinning,

Leviticus 19:17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart: you shall in any way rebuke your neighbor, and not allow sin upon him.

    This is difficult to do but Yahushua had a way of bringing sin to someone’s attention without being too direct so as to hurt the person or cause him to reject the message. We can learn to do this too if we have humility and love.

  Yahushua’s name itself proclaims his mission to help people keep from sinning. The angel told Joseph:

Matthew 1:21 “And she shall bear a son, and you shall call His name Yahushua: for He shall save His people from their sins.”

  Yahushua didn’t save us only by dying as a sacrifice for the sins we have committed. He also showed us how to obey the full intention of Yahweh’s laws. By his instruction he helps us to keep from breaking the heart of each law of Yahweh. That is an even better way of saving someone - to help them keep from sinning in the first place. That’s much better than fixing it after they have sinned.

  An example of this in Yahushua’s life can be found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 where Yahushua explained the true meaning of several Torah passages so that people could know better how to avoid sinning. He talked about the full meaning of commandments not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to bear false witness, and not to hate others, but to forgive. All these teachings are to help us keep from sinning.

  Another example is when Yahushua was with the man who said he had done all the commandments since his youth. Yahushua was gentle with him but soon made his sin clear to him. That story is in Matthew 19:21

  Yahushua’s humility is clear in the garden prayer where he says, “Your will be done.”

  Yahushua also showed his submission to the Father by telling people, “I have been sent...” rather than standing on his own authority. He only wanted to be known as the Father’s agent.

    John 5:30 “I can do nothing of My own self. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father who has sent Me.”

    John 6:38 “For I came down from Heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.  39  And this is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all which He has given Me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day.   40  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes on Him should have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day.

    Did he think others were better than him? In a sense he did not. Remember we said a humble person could not lie by saying he was no good. Yahushua certainly understood that he was a powerful person through the power of the Father.  And he surely understood that he had wisdom and real brilliance through the Holy Spirit of the Father. He also made sure to stay righteous to fulfil his mission.

  But Yahushua did esteem you to be more valuable than his own life. He was very willing to painfully sacrifice his life so that you can live.   That’s just a really short version of the longer story about Yahushua and our salvation.

  We have seen Yahushua’s example of humility. Now we’ll look at how he taught us to be and to become humble.

  Above, we looked at Matthew 18:1-4 where Yahushua brought the example of a little child to the disciples. His teaching was, “Unless you are converted [CHANGED] and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom.”

  Another example comes at Passover:

John 13:12-15  So after He had washed their feet and had taken His garments and had reclined again, He said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?

13  You call Me the Teacher, and Master, and you say well, for I AM.

14  If then I, the Master and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15  For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

    That is a very clear teaching about the humility of a leader. And make no mistake, this goes much farther than foot-washing once a year. It is the leader’s humble attitude every day.  Then, a little later that evening He taught:

John 13:34 “I  give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you, you should also love one another.  35  By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another.”

  Yahushua waited until his last night on earth to give this command.  In that way they had the full example of Yahushua’s time with them. When he said, “Love the way I have loved you,” they were able to understand exactly what he meant. We can gain that understanding by reading the accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I encourage you to spend some time learning from Yahushua at least once every week.

  2. - Humility for Individual Believers

  > We are to be humble as a little child - but of course not a little brat. The child Yahushua is talking about is an ideal child; well taught to be quiet and obedient, helpful, friendly, open and loving.

  > We must decide to be humble. Coming to it by decision will assure that our heart is really in the project. Each of us must consider it and decide if we want to be humble.

  > We must follow Yahushua in his example of humility and act on his teachings about it.

  > Do we sometimes start sentences with “I” ?  “I am.. “I want..., “I deserve..., “I am entitled to..., “By my authority..., I SAID....?

If I get to feeling pretty good about myself I have a sure-fire way to bring myself down to earth. I compare myself not to other people but only to Yahushua and to Yahweh,

2 Corinthians 10:12  For we do not dare to rank or compare ourselves with some of the ones commending themselves. But they, measuring themselves among themselves, and comparing themselves to themselves, are not perceptive.

Proverbs 26:12  Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

What does Yahweh say about it?

Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, says Yahweh.  9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

  We don’t even think the same way as Yahweh, and his thoughts are higher than ours. Humility is definitely in order for us.

Who IS High and Mighty and what the rest of us need to do about that:

Isaiah 57:15  For so says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity; whose name is Holy; “I dwell in the high and holy place, even with the contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”

3. Congregations

  I believe we can say that each congregation has a personality, and this factor of humility is vital to the success of every congregation that has been or ever will be.

> Yahushua and New Testament writers made an analogy of the congregation to a bride. Like a new bride - helpful, sweet and humble. Focused on pleasing her husband and his family.

> A lot of the personality of a congregation comes from the leaders of it.

> Yahushua already told us that only a person who is humble like a little child can ever enter Yahweh’s Kingdom. That was Matthew 18. We have to believe that applies to congregation leaders.

> But not one will enter the Kingdom who is an aggressive bully, who hollers at people, a tough guy, arrogant, drill instructor type, dictator, Rabbi with his man-made rules, a ruler, a boss, or most lawyers and other “suits.”  Someone said we don’t need over-governing, just love-one-anothering.

> It seems like the leader of Yahushua’s congregation may be hard to identify. He probably leads mostly by example and by quiet, loving conversations.

> Only the path of humility that Yahushua followed leads to where Yahushua is now, by the Father’s side.

  Think about this - Would it make sense to follow a congregation leader whom Yahushua says cannot enter Yahweh’s Kingdom?  He would need help, not followers.

  In any teaching situation who is it who learns the most? Isn’t it the teacher? So a leader who takes his job seriously would be teaching this message of essential humility. This is a message of eternal life!

  So, there are some really good reasons for each of us to overcome pride and work on teaching and learning better HUMILITY.

  HUMILITY is VERY IMPORTANT and even ESSENTIAL for us as individuals and as a congregation, together with loving one another.

  This is very much a salvation issue and I hope this message is something you can remember and use to help you reach Yahweh’s wonderful Kingdom. I have just scratched the surface of this topic. I’d like to hear about other messages.

  Yahweh is calling you to be in His Kingdom and He really wants you to be there. If you ask Him then He will surely help you.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Psalm 34:18 Yahweh is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as are of a contrite spirit.

 Back to Articles INDEX

.