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In Touch Quarter 3 - 2017

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

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