Impossible Odds (Episode 3)

This week (May 26) on Shabbat Night Live, it’s difficult to truly understand Yeshua’s love without understanding what it means to be adopted — to have all the rights, privileges, and freedoms of a member of a family that we don’t belong to.

Rodney Thompson helps us grasp what it means to be grafted in by sharing his own story of being forgiven and brought into the family of YeHoVaH.

Watch the episode — included on this blog post.

While you watch, consider the questions below. The timeline for each discussion topic in the video is noted on each question. Post your answers in the comments section, and let’s get some discussion going!

1. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 14:00) How can the prophecy in Malachi 4:4 be viewed as a relevant, if not ominous, warning to both believers and skeptics in our contemporary world? Are there any legitimate latter-day Elijahs who have provided us with convincing evidence from scripture that anticipates our need for urgent repentance and reform before we invoke the wrath of YeHoVaH?
2. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 18:00) Similarly, why is the imperative construction of this verse – “Remember the Law of Moses” – particularly applicable to both the faithful and the lukewarm in light of today’s culture of death and the material avarice which sustains it? Is it fair to state that our world has reached a point of spiritual ignorance that is more dangerous than forgetfulness or outright rejection?
3. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 22:00) How can the current state of affairs regarding faith and spirituality in a hostile world be viewed as a result of the refusal to recognize the continuity between the narratives of Moses and Yeshua as a standard that must be followed? How do many current pop hymns like those of Marty Haugen or Dan Schutte express an egalitarianism that essentially rejects the notion of “following the rules of the house” with regard to sin? 
4. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 26:00) While controversies over the “true meaning of Christmas” are likely to continue between secular materialists and believers, Easter has seemingly taken on a more threatening aspect for the forces of agnosticism and unbelief in our Western world.  Why has this holiday been so aggressively criticized over the past decade by advocates of atheism and even vulgarized toward children by powerful commercial interests?
5. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 30:00) Similarly, how has our society become decadent by failing to recognize the notion of adoption as a valid social practice that ultimately derives from the divine premise of the faithful as YeHoVaH’s children? Why has the evil practice of abortion become so insistently promoted as the sole alternative to unwanted pregnancy?  And how does this represent Satan’s campaign of destruction toward the intact family?
6. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 35:00) What are some examples of a latter-day recognition and rejection of syncretism throughout the Christian world? How does this coincide with revelations of financial and sexual corruption among many clergy or denominational figureheads?  Is this likely to remain a short-lived, reactionary phenomenon, or is this a manifestation of a genuine and widespread search for truth among seekers of salvation?
7. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 38:00) Similarly, how does syncretism reflect our fallen human weakness for pagan influence in worship and belief? How can the practices described here be tenably viewed as our own unwitting attempt to unify and reconcile large groups of antithetical forms of worship in our evangelism rather than to demarcate and adhere to a formidable standard that challenges the vague conceit of a diverse and permissive religion for all peoples?
8. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 42:00) What are some typical examples of the “Jonah Complex” in the experiences of many believers who face stubborn dilemmas in their evangelism and faith lives? How does YeHoVaH often challenge us with unexpected evil that we must confront, or compel us to recognize our own failures of discernment with his seeming silence?  How has Jonah become an enduring exemplar of the renewal of faith following persecution?
9. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 46:00) How do the closing verses of Galatians 5 constitute a similar challenge to all who accept and profess the truth of Yeshua, especially in a world that is increasingly fraught with narcissism, division, and threats to personal freedom? How is the cultivation of self-control a particularly significant virtue as part of an apostolate?  How does its absence serve to exemplify a failure to “walk in the Spirit” rather than pay mere lip service?
10. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 50:00) What are some contemporary examples within both faith communities and the greater world of the remnant influence of the Law of Moses, even among those citizens and subjects who profess no ethnic, cultural, or spiritual affinity with the Hebrews?  How does this suggest a yearning, however inarticulate, for a transcendent standard amid a global environment that is increasingly hostile to the notion of such intangible concerns as spirituality?