#selah32

[kizmet32]

@timmifuk recently called me up to help turn this Building into a giant boom box for @thesoundstudiotoronto down on Queen St. And if any of you know me from days of old you know I love me some Ghetto Blasters. Always a special treat whenever I get to paint with my 32 crew mate from way way way back one of the original members of this group of extraordinary peoples. Even though life gets hectic and busy sometimes as we navigate and traverse through this weird realm, with some friends it’s like time never passes. Also @thesoundstudiotoronto came up with the concept and if you are lucky passing by this mural at night you’ll see it come fully alive with the projection and wizardry. Last 3 pics are from 2004-2007 when @timmifuk aka Ekwal went by the name Selah for a minute. #kizmet32 #ekwal32 #selah32 #kizmetgabriel #kizmet #Toronto #boombox #ghettoblaster #torontograffiti #streetarttoronto (at Parkdale) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjSvYfkAB_b/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[christianmenatwork]

The End or the Means-Selah32-CMAW108

What You'll Hear:

S

The End from the Means

The Election - is Trump winning this election an end or a means, have you fallen in love with Trump and he's the end, is he a means to the end of his policies that you agree with, but are his policy preferences an end or means, if the "end" we're pursuing is God's Will and the advancement of His Kingdom, are conservative policies perfectly in line with His will?, what is God's will?  We can learn from teachers whether it's your favorite pastor with a TV or Radio Ministry, a teacher of Conservative Ideas like Dennis Prager or Rush Limbaugh.  But are these teachers an end in themselves or a means to the end of us learning truth, and are they best source of learning truth consuming most of our time and energy, or should we prioritizing reading God's word and spending time with Him in prayer as being a better source of the truth than any teacher we listen to,

let's now talk about work - is work an ends or a means?  I believe it's unique in that it's both, it is an end in that God gave us work as His first action after creating man, so that He intends work to be a part of His plan for our existence here on earth, but can also serve as an end to other means including providing for family, loving others, serving God,

being healthy, my target is 160-165, was at 190, made significant changes in diet and exercise and got to target, have since fluctuated and am currently at 175 which is the result of getting sloppy in some areas and making corrections to get back to target, are my behavior changes the end or the means, they are certainly the means, is my weight the end?  No, it's so that I have more energy and my body is healthier since it's not managing extra weight, glorifying God by treating my body as the temple of the Holy Spirit and I'm glorifying God,

Another example - we're now in a Messianic Congregation, following the Torah, Christianity has erred by dismissing the Torah, recognizing we're not saved by following the Law and we're saved by grace, but it's still God's will for us to follow the Law, am I following the Law as an ends or means, it's a means, Jesus said "If you love me, keep my commandments" I follow the Law as a way to show God I love Him, I'm learning in a class about Jewish History, after Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Jews were expelled, there was a movement to create a new form of Judaism which rejected "The Way" or what we call "Christianity", and they started treating the Oral Torah as scripture equal to or even above the written Torah, they created the Talmud in two parts, the Mishnah is a commentary on the Torah, the other, Gemara, is a commentary on the Mishnah, or you could say a commentary on the commentary, even during the time of Jesus the Pharisees were treating their traditions of men as equal or above the written law, as I read scripture, I believe that Jesus didn't blast them for following the Law, but because they were treating their man-made rules as scripture, the Oral Torah were boundaries to give more definition to how to keep the Torah, for example the Torah says Honor the Saabath, the Oral Torah specified how to keep the Saabath, this is not bad as long as they are still treated as boundaries not the Law, we shouldn't be going right up to the line and see how close we can get to the Law without breaking it, 

Another illustration of this is in statistics, I've spent most of my career in manufacturing, we've statistically determined 2 levels on either side of a target, control limits and specification limits.  A control limit is a point at which you make a correction, the limit farther out from the target is a specification limit, and when you get beyond that limit it is unacceptable.   For example just for illustrative purposes let's say we need to cook in an oven breakfast cereal at 100deg, we know that if it gets down to 80deg we won't kill bacteria and it could hurt someone so we throw it out, if we go up to 120deg we'll burn it and it will taste horrible.  80 deg and 120 are the specification or spec limits.  Based on past history and some statistic formulas we set guidelines between target and spec limit, for example if get above 100deg or below 90 deg we make an adjustment in the temp of the oven to prevent us from getting out of spec, another statistical rule says even if we don't go outside those control limits but stay too long on either side of the target, for example we have 3 data points above the target then we make a correction, ideal is to be fluctuating on either side of that target, this system was developed because it works and because it's a reflection of how God made the universe, if we apply this to the other examples I've discussed, with health I'm making a significant change when I get over 175 to keep me from getting to an unacceptable weight, just saw documentary about Karen Carpenter and how she died of a heart attack, probably related to how she had gotten to such a low weight and was dealing with anorexia but not addressing it, very sad story, she wasn't making a correction in her life, 

Christian Denominations - I've adjusted my negative opinion about us having so many denominations, my pastor has shown me it's not necessarily a bad thing, they are different ways of applying principles from the Bible, most differences are not salvation issues, they are a means to an end, the problem is when the differences are so far away from our target which is God's truth and God's will, in the same way Rabbinic Judaism has placed the traditions of men above the Law and they have missed Jesus as their Messiah, I would be remiss if I didn't comment on the Holidays practiced in Christianity, I believe History tells us that Christmas and Easter were created by Rome to make the new official religion of Christianity palatable to their Roman Pagan citizens, I believe by basing these holidays on Pagan Holidays they are missing the mark and God did not tell us to do these, I know many of you feel that because your intent is pure then these Holidays are just a means to an end, I respect your opinion on this but respectfully disagree and I encourage you to learn more about the history of these holidays and a good place to start is the Playlist on Pagan Holidays found on the TruthUnedited.com website, we should all be like the Bereans, as described in Acts 17:11 "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so."

Before I finish up, I want to revisit the issue of politics and the election.  I'll just be blunt and say that I believe this election was illegally stolen and Joe Biden is not the legitimate winner of this election.  That's my opinion, it's not proven fact and I don't see how it will be possible to prove it regardless what happens as we move forward with lawsuits, etc. I'm very concerned about the policy changes that will most certainly be coming as a result of Biden/Harris taking office, particularly if they end up taking the Senate as well.  At the same time of all this craziness, I've been noticing a significant increase in opportunities for me to share my testimony and speak into others who are not believers.  Romans 8:12 says "All things work together for good, to those who love God".  If we truly believe that God's will is the end and everything else is a means, we should not assume that a more socialist leaning USA will not in fact be a primary driver toward revival and more people coming to Christ, and if that is the case we should welcome it.  We should also be very careful not to make a savior out of any man including Donald Trump.  As I've discussed in the past, I've been trying to lower my energy invested in politics and I'm using the current situation as an opportunity to accelerate that change in my life. I recently spoke with a man I respect who use to be a political junkie like me but now checks in with the news a couple times a month.  Though that seems impossible for me now, I see the peace in his life and the wisdom from his lips, and say there has to be a connection between his change in focus to the change in his heart.  I want some of that.

  E - James met just got out of jail, age 33, for me it took 3 years to give up on my failed business after I got saved and went back to get a job and stopped running up my debt.  After a series of bad choices, James is now living with his sister and they are helping him get a job in their local area.  It struck me that a job was a natural first step for him to set a new, positive, Godly path for his life.  What a gift God has given us with work and our job and we should praise Him for it everyday.  Please be in prayer for James.

L - ps 37:7-9

A - remind you that my book "Jesus is at Work" is available on Audible.  Still have it as a goal to get it published on Amazon as an ebook or hard copy.  I'll let you know when that happens.

  H

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