In Touch Quarter 3 - 2017
CFI UK's regular quarterly magazine
CFI UK's regular quarterly magazine
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of Atonement (see Leviticus 23:23-43).<br />
<strong>In</strong>terestingly, it is on the joy-filled last<br />
day of the Feast of Tabernacles that<br />
Jesus stands up and declares himself the<br />
source of living water for all humanity<br />
(see John 7:38).<br />
Why these particular questions?<br />
<strong>In</strong> most modern educational systems,<br />
questions posed by a superior are<br />
primarily an assessment tool, a way to<br />
measure what you do or do not know.<br />
<strong>In</strong> the best of Jewish tradition, questions<br />
are used to provoke deeper thinking and<br />
understanding in the student, leading<br />
to responsibility, repentance, and right<br />
living. This kind of healthy, relational<br />
dialectic is designed to train the student<br />
how to think. The learner, in this<br />
paradigm, must go deeper than knowing<br />
about something, moving towards<br />
understanding and wisdom. It is the<br />
way of a parent with a child.<br />
Jesus — who is the Son of our good<br />
Father as Peter’s confession reminds us<br />
(see Matthew 16:16) — understands that<br />
he must leave as part of God’s plan, one<br />
that his men cannot grasp ... yet. He is<br />
wise that in our weakness we are easily<br />
corrupted, proven by the very next thing<br />
we hear Peter say (see Matthew 16:22).<br />
But failure is part of the curriculum, and<br />
the most remarkable part of this story<br />
for me is that in the short time left he<br />
successfully equips his faithful disciples<br />
to navigate the coming storm. “I have not<br />
lost one of those you gave me” (John 18:9).<br />
How does he do this? Or said another<br />
way, what resources does Jesus expect<br />
his disciples to draw from to gain<br />
insight into the core question of his<br />
identity? If you responded, “the Bible,<br />
or God’s word,” then you get a gold<br />
star. But remember, we want our faith to<br />
mature, and for that to happen we must<br />
go beyond merely knowing the right<br />
answer. The heart-level question every<br />
person wants to know is, “What is God<br />
like?” The biblical answer to that honest<br />
inquiry is the only anchor that holds<br />
against the challenges we face in a fallen<br />
world. Jesus came to show us the Father.<br />
The Father reveals himself by showing<br />
us the Son. All of this is a work of his<br />
Spirit.<br />
<strong>In</strong> light of the above, here is my attempt<br />
to answer the question of how Jesus<br />
equipped his disciples. He taught them<br />
that deepening their understanding of<br />
what they know about God requires<br />
the Father to teach them about his Son,<br />
through his word, played out in their life<br />
experiences.<br />
Where did I get these ideas? The same<br />
place Jesus did, from his Father. <strong>In</strong> a<br />
story so critical that Matthew, Mark, and<br />
Luke all record it, Jesus joins John at the<br />
Jordan River to submit to baptism in one<br />
of those embodying-Israel moments, “it<br />
is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness”<br />
(Matthew 3:15). When Jesus emerges<br />
from the water, three big things happen<br />
in succession: there is a dramatic event<br />
in the sky, followed by the Spirit of God<br />
descending on him, concluding with a<br />
voice out of the newly opened heavens<br />
(Matthew 3:16-17). The voice says, “This<br />
is my beloved Son, with whom I am well<br />
pleased” — breathtaking!<br />
At the public presentation of Jesus,<br />
the very inauguration of his ministry,<br />
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob<br />
addressed the “Who do you say that I<br />
am?” question (Matthew 16:15). His onesentence<br />
encouragement to Jesus is a<br />
portal into profound truths that deepen<br />
faith. “This is my beloved Son,” alludes to<br />
Psalm 2:7; “with whom I am well pleased,”<br />
refers to Isaiah 42:1. Psalm 2 is a poetic<br />
reflection on the messianic king in 2<br />
Samuel 7, whilst Isaiah 42 is a prophetic<br />
summation of the messianic kingdom,<br />
the great hope of the Hebrew Bible (Old<br />
Testament). Each of these messianic<br />
texts is a portal into deep truths about<br />
Jesus that shine fresh light on his deeds<br />
and his words. We are to build our lives<br />
on his words, because he is God’s word<br />
made flesh.<br />
CFI-UK REGIONAL LINK PROFILE<br />
Christian Friends of Israel would like to welcome on board<br />
our latest Regional Link – Glynis Brookes – who will look<br />
after York and the surrounding areas.<br />
Glynis is a teacher by profession, latterly<br />
working as an advisory teacher for young<br />
children with Special Educational Needs<br />
(SEN) and regularly delivering training to<br />
teachers and other professionals. She has<br />
held various leadership positions in the<br />
church, preaching God’s word and working<br />
for several years as a volunteer speaker for<br />
Open Doors, a Christian charity which serves<br />
the persecuted church worldwide in places<br />
where faith costs the most.<br />
Glynis writes ‘My road to a personal faith<br />
in Jesus and the unfolding of his word and<br />
purposes has been a journey that has been<br />
exciting and challenging and continues to be<br />
so.<br />
I was raised in a caring but non-<br />
Christian home and had little knowledge<br />
of the Bible or Jesus except that gained<br />
through the occasional assembly or RE lesson at school. Whilst<br />
studying at university I had many interesting, and some very<br />
heated, conversations with the ‘God squad’ (born again believers),<br />
verbally disagreeing with them on occasions about their views, but<br />
quietly gaining interest as I reflected on what they had said – the<br />
Scriptures particularly reverberating in my heart. Through his<br />
word and Spirit, God was working in me. But it took a few more<br />
years, after other key encounters with Christians, before I asked<br />
Jesus into my life. What a turnaround! I became a member of the<br />
‘God squad’ myself!<br />
YORK & AREA – by CFI’s David Soakell<br />
From the earliest days of my conversion I had a strong desire<br />
to know the truth. God’s word became very dear to me. He led<br />
me to Bible College and the years of study there reinforced my<br />
love of Scripture. However, looking back,<br />
my understanding of Israel and his people<br />
at that time remained unclear until slowly<br />
he unfolded his word. Then my love for his<br />
people and understanding of his plans and<br />
purposes became more relevant to me. I<br />
have visited Israel several times over the<br />
last six years, with the last visit being for<br />
an extended 7-week period which included<br />
outreach work alongside some Messianic<br />
believers and visiting key sites in the land,<br />
including those which are of future prophetic<br />
significance.<br />
Standing in modern Israel with the Bible in<br />
one hand, a camera in the other and relating<br />
the two is exciting! As at the beginning of my<br />
journey of faith, I continue to have a desire<br />
to know the truth. The Bible says that the<br />
last days will be ones where deception abounds (Matthew 24:5,<br />
24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10) and I am keen to not be deceived<br />
myself, but also to share God’s word with others as he provides the<br />
opportunity, including his plans for Israel and his people, as well as<br />
helping people to see through popular media sound bites and halftruths,<br />
and to pray for the land.’<br />
If you would like Glynis to speak in your fellowship regarding<br />
CFI-UK, then please email her at:<br />
gbrookes3@hotmail.com or phone her on: 07763 059210<br />
facebook.com/cfiuk twitter.com/cfi_uk 3 rd <strong>Quarter</strong> <strong>2017</strong> • IN TOUCH 7