Inviting the Name In with Keith Johnson (Open Door Series Part 6)

In Part 6 of the Open Door series, Keith Johnson speaks about “Inviting the Name In”. Throughout history both Jews and Christians have allowed fear, anger, and circumstances to separate them from God’s name. But our heavenly Father said He would bless every place where his name dwells. Johnson examines two “Gittites” who interacted with God’s name — Goliath the Gittite who cursed it, and Obededom the Gittite who received the Name into his home. Johnson exhorts Christian listeners to be ambassadors of the name, and for the sake of the Jew first, to proclaim it to the world so that the house of Israel may be blessed and restored. Be like Obededom, “the Gittite who got it right!”

Transcript

Inviting the Name In with Keith Johnson (Open Door Series Part 6)

You are listening to the Open Door Series with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Keith: Now I’m supposed to speak. And so what I’m going to need to happen is for the Creator of the universe to speak through me. I’m going to need the one who introduced Himself on the mountain at the time of Shavuot to once again introduce Himself personally to His people. It has been very difficult for me to see the response amongst those who call themselves the people of God, one of God’s special ones. It’s been hard for me to be associated with an entire religious movement that will not welcome one of God’s special possessions into their buildings to teach the Bible that they don’t even know about. It’s been hard for me to then be amongst those who call themselves Messianics, who at many times only want the fruit but not the labor.

So for me, after ten years - nine years with my friend, Nehemia, and my 10th Shavuot - I am tired. And that’s probably a good time for the Holy Spirit.

It says “They rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore, He turned Himself to become their enemy. He fought against them.” History is being repeated. The Holy Spirit is being grieved again. Oh, I like that it’s so quiet in here, because I know you all understand that right now, after hearing what I heard with Nehemia, I was a wreck. Michael Rood was holding me up, I didn’t think I was going to be able to stand. But you can just say- Keith, say, “Keith”.

Audience: Keith.

Keith: Have a seat.

Audience: Have a seat.

Keith: Yes, Keith, have a seat. Spirit of the Living God [applause] - stand up and tell somebody the truth. The Scripture goes on in verse 11 to say this, “Then His people remembered the days of old.” And then it uses this wonderful word, Moshe. I love Moses. I love Moshe. I love his very life. I love his very walk. I love that Moshe found himself just being born in the world and found himself amongst the Egyptians. I love that Moshe grew up in the house of Pharaoh. And some of you, if you saw Moshe, you would say, “We can’t listen to him, because he’s in the house of Pharaoh.” But you don’t realize that the Creator of the universe has a plan for the Moses’s of the world that are still in the house of Pharaoh. [applause]

The reason He’s got them there is He’s preparing them, He’s molding them, He’s shaping them, He’s using them, so that one day, maybe nine or ten Shavuots later they’re willing to stand up and tell Pharaoh, “No more.”

And I have to say something. Pharaoh - no more. [applause] The people remember the days of old, of Moshe, and they ask this question, “Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He?” And here it comes, you all. Out of the book that Nehemia reads it says this, “Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them?” Ten Shavuots later in Dallas, Texas, I am telling you right now - the ruakh, the Spirit of God, is checking again. And I hate to say it... Nehemia is up here going through his slides. I don’t know if you noticed, he had about 50 more slides he thought he was going to go through, and then all of a sudden, I looked at Michael and I said, “Here it comes. And Nehemia said, “No more slides.” And I could sense, Nehemia, at that very moment, the Ruakh HaKodesh who was in the midst of our people, your people, because not only do I count, but my friend Nehemia counts. [applause]

The same Ruakh HaKodesh that was hovering over the face of the deep. You know it in the Bible. “Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz, hayeta tohu vavohu vakhoshekh al peney tehom.” And the ruakh was doing what? Merakhefet - hovering over the face of the deep. And in this room, the same ruakh that has been hovering over the darkness, that has been hovering over my friend Nehemia, that is hovering over Yisrael, that has been hovering over places, asking, “Are you going to stop grieving me?” That Holy Spirit is now hovering. Michael, you will hear testimony of people that are listening to this particular time the entire weekend, and they will say to you, “It was as if the spirit of God came into my house.” And I’m going to tell you why they’re going to say it, because the ruakh is looking again.

Oh, I was so excited when Nehemia told me that he saw Elijah. You know, some of you say, “Theologically, can that happen?” Bump theology for a minute. [laughter] And I love the fact that Nehemia said he slammed the door. But what he really didn’t tell you, since he wants to get personal, is what happened in Smithfield, North Carolina was this - he preached, I got up, tried to do what I was supposed to do. The similar thing happened to me. We got through the message, and what moved me more than anything else was I was standing before a group of people with my Tanakh, this right here. Oh, you might want to get controversial now. In this Tanakh there is no New Testament. Did you know that Yeshua didn’t have the New Testament? [applause]

Now, I know you all are getting nervous and you’re probably going to get texting, calling people, “Oh, here it comes.” No, listen to me now. I was in a church with a non-Messianic, non-Christian Jewish man who was preaching the word of God. And when I stood with the very Bible that I have been trying to learn for the last 10 years, and my teacher has been the Hebrew scholar who helped me understand to read it in its language and its history and in its context, just like Yeshua read it… And I’m in this church and the Ruakh HaKodesh comes into the church, and the first person that the ruakh touched was me. I have to say it that way, because if I tell you what I really think, the first person that was touched... somebody say, “The Jew first.” [laughter and applause]

And Nehemia told me something that I will tell you. You see, we both have a history. We know about manipulation. We know about the game; you all know about the game. Many of you came here and said, “Boy, if they would just have Michael and Nehemia and Arthur, and maybe Dr. Taylor, but the Methodist? Are you kidding me? He’s a Sunday morning preacher.” You all still don’t understand. Just call me Moses. I have been brought up in the house of Pharaoh, and the Creator of the universe, for some reason - and I don’t know why - has decided to ignite me from the inside out. Now, let me tell you a secret. You know who my heart is for? And you might as well look at your neighbor and say, “uh-oh”, right now.

Audience: Uh-oh.

Keith: You see, the Messianic movement says to me, “Hey, we don’t need you. We’ve been there, done that. We’ve been there, we’ve done that. We got this thing. We understand Judaism. We understand Christianity. We’ve got this figured out, we’ll take a little bit from Nehemia, and we like Michael, but we don’t need you.” And you know what, can I tell you something, Messianic movement? I don’t need you. [applause] But I love you. And I am concerned for you, and I want you to experience the Ruakh HaKodesh in your life. [applause]

But let me tell you where my heart is. And I love the fact that the Messianics have invited my friend Nehemia and myself, I appreciate it. Let me say it again, I appreciate it. But let me tell you who my heart is broken for. Those people that are still sitting in those pews, in those churches. And many of you all say, “I don’t want nothing to do with them.” And God is saying, “Why? Are you not concerned for my creation? Do you not remember where you came from?”

How many in the room were born Messianic? Can I not find three? I can’t find three. And the ones that I see that have their hands up are children. Am I right? [laughter] You mean to tell me there are no birthright Messianics in the room? Where did you all come from? Look at your neighbor and say “Pharaoh”.

Audience: Pharaoh.

Keith: And you should be excited that the Creator of the universe has ignited you. But don’t you think for a moment that He doesn’t love them as much as He loves you. [applause]

I am going to try now, and I thank you Father so much that you rescued me, I know my wife must be praying for me. Because I promise you, I wasn’t going to make it two minutes. But now you all get to listen to the message from Smithfield, North Carolina. And I will tell you in advance, so that there are no surprises, we’re not going to do anything to manipulate you. We’re not going to do anything to try to get you to some sort of emotional response. I’m going to tell you right now ahead of time, just so we will know that it is not Nehemia, it is not Michael, it is not Dr. Taylor, it is not Arthur, and it is not me. I’m going to tell you in advance that my Creator of the universe has already told me He is coming. [applause] And let me tell you why. Because since He has it on His calendar, He’s always wondering if His people will put it on theirs.

Look at your neighbor and say, “I got it on my calendar.”

Audience: I got it on my calendar.

Keith: Oh, even those that are listening right now on the internet, you’ve got it on your calendar. You could be out walking, you could be out shopping, you could be out doing anything, but because you heard years and years and years ago that the Creator of the universe called a mixed, say “mixed”.

Audience: Mixed.

Keith: A mixed multitude of people to His mountain, when He called the mixed multitude to His mountain, there was thunder and there were shofars and there was fire, and then the first three words He said were, “Anokhi Yehovah Elohekha.” “I am Yehovah, your God.” Now are you ready to hear what started a worldwide movement?

First Samuel chapter 3, verse 1 says this, “And the word of the Lord was rare in those days and visions were infrequent.” Now, I have done something as a result of my studies with Nehemia. I have decided that if I can read the original language, then why can’t I also make some, what I call, translation decisions? So I have what I call the KJV. Can I get an amen?

Audience: Amen.

Keith: It’s called the Keith Johnson Version. [laughter] Now, the conservative evangelicals get very nervous. They say, “You can’t mess with translations. We’ve got the NIV.” Let me tell you something - my translation is better than the NIV. Okay, that’s a few claps, thank you over there. That’s my amen corner over there in the corner. Here’s what the Keith Johnson Version would say. If you would open up the Bible that Yeshua read it would say this, “The word of Yehovah was yakar, say “yakar”.

Audience: Yakar.

Keith: That means it was rare, precious. And there were no nifratz, say “nifratz”.

Audience: Nifratz.

Keith: That means the word breakthrough. And it says “khazon”, say “khazon”,

Audience: Khazon.

Keith: Visions or prophecies. Literally what this verse says is the word of Yehovah was precious, it was rare, and there were no breakthrough prophecies at that time. Does that not sound like 2011 in our country? Where are the breakthrough prophecies? Where are the breakthrough visions? Where are the people who understand who He is, and who we are, according to His will? Good news; His word is breaking through again.

So we have Samuel, who is sleeping there next to the Ark of Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey. And as he’s sleeping there, all of a sudden, he gets a word that says, “Samuel,” and Samuel does what we normally do. Samuel went to his religious leader and asked his religious leader, “Yes, Lord?” Oh, I wish I had more than the amen corner. I’m hoping that when the ruakh comes it’ll move from just this corner to over here, to way back there, and we might even get the left-handed folks over here. [laughter]

Samuel heard the word, “Samuel,” and he got up even though it was the word of the Creator of the universe, and he ran to the religious authority and he said, “Yes, sir?” And the religious authority was so drunk with sleep and food, he did not realize until the third time that possibly God was calling outside of Him. Oh my gosh. [applause]

And so the third time it happens, Eli says this, “Hey, it’s a possibility that God might be calling you outside of our movement. There are not many breakthrough visions, and the word of Yehovah is rare, and I am the leader. I am the priest. I am in charge of the movement. I am the big dog, I get the big salary, I’ve got the house. I’ve got the car. I’ve got the authority. I’ve got the power. But it’s possible that the Creator of the universe didn’t tell me what He wants to do with you.”

Oh, I feel this now. Oh, I feel this thing now. And so Samuel says, “Okay, so Eli, what should I do?” He says, “The next time when you’re laying down, if He calls you again, say, ‘Here I am.’ Call Him by His name. ‘I’m listening.’” And sure enough, Samuel was laying down at night next to the Ark. Oh, I love the fact that sometimes our Father waits until the night to call us. Oh, I’m so glad that sometimes He waits until your phone is not ringing. He waits until your television is not on. He waits until you’re not checking your email and He waits until you sleep and then He calls you. Oh, and I’m not just talking about the night when we sleep, I’m also talking about the night in our lives. Because there are some of us here that are in night. And He’s saying, “Samuel, Samuel.” And you know what Samuel finally realized? He heard the call again, and he said, “Here I am. Speak, for thy servant is listening.” Can I stop?

Audience: No.

Keith: Oh, I’ve got to stop for a minute, because I’ve got to ask a question, left side. Are you in a position over here that if He calls you by name in the midst of your night, are you willing to say, “Speak, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, for I am listening?”

Audience: Yeah! [applause]

Keith: Can I ask you all in the back? These are the real smart people back here. Nehemia said, “Come forward.” They said, “I’m not going close there, I’m sitting right here. Tell me to move - I’m not moving nowhere.” Can I ask you in the back if it’s night for you? Maybe you had a good meal and you’re sleeping. You’ve watched the NBA Finals or something like that, and you’re sleeping and He comes to you and He says your name twice. Are you willing to say, “Speak, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, for I am listening”? I’m so glad I’ve got the amen corner, because I’ve got to turn this way and I’ve got to say something really radical to three people. I’ve got to say something to Nehemia and Judith and Michael. In the midst of your night, if the Creator of the universe says, “Nehemia, Judith and Michael, are you willing to say ‘Speak, speak, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, for we are listening’”? Why do amen corner get so quiet now? [laughter] “Oh, amen Keith, Oh, get up Keith!” Now it got personal, you see what I’m saying? If He speaks, will you say you’re listening?

Audience: Yes.

Keith: Well, I’m here to tell you all something. Nehemia, He’s coming again. [applause] Michael and Judith, the latter shall be greater than the former. Ready? Are you ready? This one little word that people hate. I-F. If. You all hate that “if” word, don’t you? We want the blessings. Why does He have to put that “if” in there? The latter shall be greater than the former if you keep your ear listening to Him.

When Samuel responded, the Creator of the universe told him what to do. We are here as a result of putting ourselves in a position to realize that we don’t know it all. We don’t know half of it, but we’ve learned to say, “Speak, for we are listening.” What would happen if the people of God were like Samuel? I am convinced that the rare - the yakar - visions would begin to break through across this world.

What’s happening right now? Too many religious games. Too many manmade agendas, too many people that are focusing more on their place of power rather than getting in the power of the One that called them in the first place. [applause] This is where Samuel was sitting, where he was laying… I found a picture. I love this picture. I’m not saying that it’s exactly according to the actual description of the Ark of the Covenant. But I’m going to tell you why this caught my attention. Samuel was laying next to something that had two things at least, and I really believe three. One, the Ark of the Covenant represented the word of God inside the Ark. The second thing it represented was the word of God outside the Ark. For the Bible teaches us that parts of the Torah were inside the Ark, the stones, right? With the 10 words - you guys know about that. But did you know that also they would meet at the Ark, and the Creator of the universe would speak verbally to them? So it represented the word on the inside, somebody say, “word of God”.

Audience: Word of God.

Keith: And the word on the outside, say, “word of God”.

Audience: Word of God.

Keith: Now, let me get controversial. The problem I have with my rabbinate brothers who have decided that they can interpret the written word and put it at the same place as what’s called the oral word. They take the oral word and say when the oral word does not match with the written word, we go with the authority of the rabbi. So here you’ve got Nehemia Gordon at a young age, probably not long after he saw Elijah, who realizes, “Wait, something ain’t right here. Here’s what it says in the oral, here’s what it says in the written. If the oral says the rabbi says, and the written says that Yehovah says; if Yehovah says something that doesn’t match what the rabbi says, why are we going with the rabbi?” And they’re saying, “Hey, don’t mess with the power.” So we sit back and say, “Those terrible rabbis, can you believe what they do? They interpret the word of God, and it’s not clear with the word of God...” Let me tell you who else does that - the Methodists, [applause] the Baptists, the Pentecostals, the Catholics, and I won’t say anything else, but look at your neighbor and say, “It might be us, too.” Shhh. But what the Ark represented was the word of God.

Now, let me give you one little thing before we move on. If you hear something that you say is from Yehovah, and it is contrary to that which He gave unto Moses, you better realize it’s another spirit. Can I say that again?

Audience: Yes.

Keith: No, I need to say that again. If you say, “I heard from Yehovah,” and you open the book and it does not match – “If it does not fit, you must acquit.” [laughter] Here’s the problem that I have. And I’m going to tell you, I’m so glad that this is the last thing that I have on my schedule for right now. I’m going to pour myself out to Him today. I’m waiting to find more people like my Jewish friend Nehemia who says this, “Is that in the word?” And this is why some people hate him. Because he doesn’t go with what is spoken that is contrary to what is written. God is not a man that He should lie, nor son of man that he should change His mind. Does he speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill? If He wrote it and He said it, they will match. Can I get an amen?

Audience: Amen.

Keith: Let me go now to the issue. We’ve got the Ark. Now, I don’t know if you guys know it or not, but if we take a picture of that Ark again, one of the things that’s most amazing about this Ark - there was actually a third thing. Not only the word that was on the inside, not only the way it was spoken on the outside, but what they called the Ark.

Go, if you would, to Second Samuel 6:2, it says this, “Then David arose with the people to Ba’ale-Judah.” Now, that is interesting, Nehemia. Is that possible? That these two words would be connected? I mean, that’s interesting to me. David arose with the people to Ba’ale-Judah to bring up from there the Ark of God,” and here it comes, “which is called by the name.” Did you all hear that? They brought up the Ark of God, which has the written word and the spoken word, which is called by the name. And in case you don’t realize, as my friend says, that they’re talking about the explicit name, it says this, “the very name Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey.”

Now I’ve got to stop you all, and I’ve got to tell you something. I feel the tension. You all are probably sitting and saying, “Now, look, Keith, you’re up here talking about Yehovah, Michael is talking about Yahweh. And let me say it again - Nehemia has already said it - let’s put aside pronunciation for a moment. But if Michael will let me get him in a room for about a day, if he just reads the book His Hollowed Name Revealed Again. [laughter] (In Michael’s voice:) “I received a revelation at the Smithfield revival. This is now the pronunciation of the name.” Can I get an amen?

Audience: Amen.

Keith: The very name Yehovah Tzeva’ot who is enthroned between the cherubim. Now, you guys, here’s where I get really excited. The Ark is called by the name. Did you all hear me? The Ark is called by the name. Did you all hear me? And I can’t get no amens in Dallas?

Audience: Amen!

Keith: Something happened. David, the Jew, wanted to bring the Ark called by the name to the Old City of David. And so as he grabbed the Ark, and he had the priests and he had the procession, and all the people were together, he was walking and praising and singing and dancing. He’s bringing the Ark called by the name to the Old City of David, and something happened. There was a man, though there was clear instruction what not to do, this man named Uzzah decided to reach out and steady the name. Oh, you all didn’t hear me. They were doing everything right. They were praising, and they were worshiping, and they had the Ark called by the name, and Uzzah, as he was walking, decided, “God needs my help.” And he reached out his hand and he tried to steady the oxen that were taking the Ark, and the Creator of the universe looked down and said, “Did I not say?” And struck him dead. And this is where those in my tradition get very nervous, and they don’t like this part of the Bible.

This is why Marcion was so effective. You see, Marcion said, “In the Old Testament it’s a bad God. He’s a mean God, He kills people. But the New Testament is a loving God and He loves to hold sheep.” [laughter] So what happened was this - when Uzzah was struck down by the Creator of the universe, something happened in David’s heart. David - and I have it here for you on the screen - became angry because of Yehovah’s outburst against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez Uzzah to this day. Stay there with me. The next thing that happened is David became afraid of Yehovah that very day, and said, “How can the Ark,” somebody say, “called by the name”.

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: ...come to me? Oh, I hope that some of my Jewish brothers and sisters, some of my Karaite brothers and sisters, some of my Orthodox brothers and sisters, some of my Messianic brothers and sisters who have gone with the tradition that says, “do not deal with the name” will read this verse. Because David became afraid, and David was angry. And as a result, he did something that is radical. Here’s what he did. David was unwilling to move the Ark of Yehovah, somebody say, “called by the name”.

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: You all ain’t got this yet. I’m down here in Dallas, I’ve been waiting for this. You all still ain’t got this. You got this, Karen? Your sister got this? David was unwilling to move the Ark of Yehovah called by the...

Audience: Name.

Keith: You all still ain’t got this. When I say “Yehovah”, you all say, “called by the name”. You all with me now? Left side - you with me?

Audience: Yes.

Keith: The amen corner has been quiet since I bothered em, they didn’t say an amen since. David was unwilling to move the Ark of Yehovah...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: Into the city of David, but David... [laughing] I’m laughing to myself. Me and God, we’re having a party right now. David did something that I’m so glad that he did. David took the Ark...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: One more time, now. Do we have time for this, Michael? David was unwilling to move the Ark of Yehovah...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: Into the city of David, but David took the Ark...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: Aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. You all don’t got it yet. That’s okay. Let me tell you what he did. David said this, “I’m angry, I’m upset, I’m impatient with the holiness of His name. I don’t like this right now, so what I’m going to do is I’m going to take the Ark...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: And drop it off at Obed-Edom the Gittite’s house”. Now, when David stopped at Obed-Edom the Gittite’s house, I can see the procession. Obed minding his own business doing his own thing, and all of a sudden, they hear this (horn sound) and they hear the prayers and the people... Can I just show you what I think they heard?

Audience: Yes.

Keith: I think that Obed was minding his own business, probably sitting back watching television or something like that. Maybe the football game, I don’t know. But then all of a sudden there was a rumbling, and he heard the feet of the Levites walking, and he heard the people singing, and he probably heard something like... I’m not going to do it. You all ain’t ready for that. [audience protesting] Listen to me now. You’re Obed-Edom. You’re in Dallas, you’re minding your own business. All of a sudden, the Jew, David decides he is angry and afraid of the ark.

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: So he says, “I’m going to drop it off at your house.” No, I’m telling you all, you ain’t ready for this. No, you ain’t ready for that. It ain’t time for that yet. No, you’re not ready for that, because if you were ready for that, we would have a second revival in Dallas. If you were ready for that, I’m telling you right now people would stand up and they would say, “I got to have it!” But I know you’re not ready for that. No, you’re not ready for that. You’ve got to sit back down. No, sit back down, church. No, no, no. I’m sorry, you all. I didn’t tell you the whole story. [applause]

He’s minding his own business, and Obed the Gittite who’s minding his own business... all of a sudden Obed hears them probably singing and walking, and he probably hears the shouts and the screams and the yells and he maybe hears the sounds. And maybe, I’m not sure, there was probably a procession. David was leaving, and he was angry. He was afraid, he was upset but he said, “The Ark which is...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: ...ain’t coming to my house.” David the king said, “I am afraid and I am angry. And the Ark which is...”

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: ...ain’t coming to my house.” Somebody say, “There might be Obed-Edom.”

Audience: There might be Obed-Edom.

Keith: There might be Obed-Edom, who’s minding his own business, and then maybe as they’re walking, they hear the singing, and they hear the shouting and the sound of the shofar and maybe Obed-Edom’s wife said, “Hey baby.” “Yeah, what’s up?” “Something’s rumbling in the city.” Maybe she says, “Get up, Obed-Edom!” “What’s wrong?” And maybe Obed-Edom got up and peeked and opened the door to his house, and then maybe Obed-Edom opened the door and looked and saw what was coming, and slammed the door.

Until the king knocked on his door. David the king. And, you know, the reason I’m not going to blow this... [audience protesting] the reason I can’t blow this is then I will be charged with being an old-fashioned revival preacher that is going to use emotion to get you to move. So would you do me a favor? We’re on television right now, and there are people that are judging me and Nehemia, and they’re saying it’s all about emotion, and “all you guys did was use manipulation”. Would you do me a favor and let the people that are in their houses keep standing. But would you all do me a favor? Would you be willing to sit down?

Audience: No!

Keith: Wait a minute, hold on. Okay. Can we do a deal? Can we do a deal in Dallas? Here’s the deal in Dallas. Listen to me. You’ve got to understand something. Listen, this will get your attention. I’m a black preacher [applause] with a tradition of calling people to the altar. And many of my Messianic brothers and sisters who have seen this in churches, in their heart they’re saying “that can’t be God”. Because I still have more of the message, I don’t want you all to end up responding to the call of the shofar, and I can’t get it on tape. So if you just do me a favor... I promise, if you’ll just hold on for a little bit, I’m going to get to the shofar. Would you all be willing to sit down?

Audience: No!

Keith: I’m the religious authority. I just don’t think that this fits within the schedule that we have. I’m convinced that Obed-Edom heard something like this. Are you sure? [applause] I’m not trying to be manipulative. I want to say something, Nehemia. You all, we are not playing. Jew and Methodist have experienced revival and conversion in our hearts. [applause] The conversion that we have experienced is from the father, Avinu, the Creator, the one who made Nehemia and made me. He has decided to send His ruakh, His holy spirit. He has touched the Jew first, and then the Gentile. [applause] [Shofar sounds] [applause]

Now, that was for the people in Dallas that are waiting for the introduction of the ruakh in Dallas on Shavuot. So those of you that just heard it, would you now sit down? Those that are listening online today, tomorrow and until the end of time, you might want to ask yourself this question. Do you want to keep listening? Because my brothers and sisters here really don’t have a choice. We’ve got guards that will not let them leave this room, [laughter] but you can shut the television off. You can shut off the internet and you can say, “I’m not listening to no Methodist and I’m not listening to no Jew. I’m sticking with Eli, my religious authority. David was unwilling to move the Ark of Yehovah...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: Into the city of David, but David took the Ark...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: Inside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite, somebody say “uh-oh”.

Audience: Uh-oh.

Keith: ...the Gittite is not an Israelite! Hold it. Wait a minute. David must be confused. He bought the Ark...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: ...to a Gittite who was not an Israelite. Now I have to testify. I was minding my own business. I asked Nehemia Gordon, and I’m going to tell you guys something - you don’t know the half of who Nehemia Gordon was ten Shavuots ago. Judith knows, Michael knows, and I know. There’s even a story that they used to call Nehemia “the Iceman”. They said that Nehemia’s heart was so cold and so hard, there was some in his own movement that would write letters and said, “The Iceman said...” and this offended Nehemia, and it should have offended him. But I think 10 years ago, they weren’t that wrong. Nehemia had the Litvak in him down to a science. He knew about intellect. He knew about Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ugaritic and he taught me all of it.

But there was something that Nehemia was running from, and it was not Jesus. There’s something Nehemia was running from, and it is not Yeshua. Nehemia was running from the fact that his daddy taught him, and his daddy’s daddy taught him, and his daddy’s daddy’s daddy taught him that we are the intellectual elite, we have the information. But do you know what Nehemia was running from? He was running from the inspiration, so it knocked at his door. And he shut the door. But for ten Shavuots this man has left his place of comfort. This man has stepped out. Oh, you don’t understand, this man has stepped out in a way that you don’t understand.

Let me tell you what he did, and this is why I have to testify. He gave me access to information that there’s not another United Methodist pastor in the world that has gotten that same information. There’s not another United Methodist pastor in the world that has gotten the information and the access to information. And let me tell you why Nehemia did it. He did it because he said this, “I don’t want the information to be my information that you’ve got to come to Nehemia, the great... you know, whoever.” He says, “I want this information to be spread to the world.” So let’s get a Methodist, he’ll do it. [laughter]

He almost told you the real story about The Hebrew Yeshua Versus the Greek Jesus, but I’ll let him tell it at another time. This guy gives me this information, and he says, “I want you to use the information and add some inspiration so that the name can be spread around the world.” [applause]

Now, can I take one little section from this that you guys are going to understand, because I sense the ruakh... What’s my friend’s name over there? You might want to shut that door. Can you shut that door there? Shut the door when you go out, you all. I’m a little bit nervous here. Let’s see if we can keep Him out. Let’s keep the Holy Spirit out. Shut the door please.

Audience: No!

Keith: No, you all don’t want that, because if the Holy Spirit comes in here, some of you might realize that the Holy Spirit is bigger than your movement. [applause] Thank you for shutting the door. Second Samuel 6:11, “And the Ark...”

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: “...remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months,” say “three months”.

Audience: Three months.

Keith: “And Yehovah blessed Obed-Edom and all of his household.” [applause] Whoo! Listen to me. This man’s minding his own business. He’s not even an Israelite. He’s a Gittite, somebody say “Gittite”.

Audience: Gittite.

Keith: There’s another famous Gittite, his name was Goliath of Gat. Goliath was, somebody say “Gittite”.

Audience: Gittite.

Keith: And there’s Obed-Edom the Gittite. Goliath the Gittite decided to fight the name. Can I get an amen?

Audience: Amen.

Keith: Goliath the Gittite decided to curse the God of David. Can I get an amen?

Audience: Amen.

Keith: But Obed-Edom the Gittite said, “Name? Come on in.” [applause] You all don’t get this. I’m going to try to end this quick. “And the ark remained in the house...” Woah. And the Ark...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: “...remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months and Yehovah blessed Obed-Edom and all of his household.” Now, what Obed-Edom could have said was this, “I had a vision, I had a dream, I had an experience.” But you know what we find if we read the Tanakh, the Bible that Yeshua read? We find out why the house of Obed-Edom was blessed. Can I slow down?

Audience: Yes.

Keith: Can I back up?

Audience: Yes.

Keith: Can I wipe the sweat off my head?

Audience: Yes.

Keith: Can I take my jacket off?

Audience: Yes.

Keith: Oh, somebody’s got to listen to the next part. If we open the Bible back to the Torah, we find this verse. Do you see what it says?

Audience: Yes.

Keith: Then why ain’t there revival in this house? You all ain’t reading what it says. Here’s what it says. In some places in Israel...

Audience: No! Everywhere!

Keith: Only with King David in his house.

Audience: No!

Keith: If you’re riding the right denomination...

Audience: No.

Keith: It says, “In every place that I cause My name to be mentioned.” Every English Bible will say, “To be remembered, to be thought of,” but the Jewish Publication Society got it right, according to the Bible that Yeshua read. For the Hebrew word that is used for mention means not only mentioning or remembering with your mind, but mentioning with your mouth. “In every place I cause My name to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you.” Can you imagine? [applause]

You guys are with me, right there. You all understand what I’m going through. You understand what I’m saying. The Bible says this: “In every place I cause My name to be mentioned I Myself will come to your house. [applause] And I Myself will bless you.” Now, I could get so controversial. I don’t want to get controversial. Let me be nice. Obed-Edom was probably sitting in his house, minding his own business. David and the group had gone. He had the Ark which was...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: ...in his house. And being a good Gittite, maybe a little boastful, like Goliath. Somebody came to him and said, “Obed-Edom.” “Yes?” “What was all that ruckus over by your house last week?” Maybe some of the neighbors said, “Did you hear about Obed-Edom?” “No.” “He brought this object into his house.” And then can you hear Obed-Edom? “What do they call it, Obed-Edom?” “Yehovah.” [laughter]

Alright, you all didn’t like that. “What do they call it, Obed-Edom?” “Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey.” Now, I’m going to tell you a secret. Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey is not mentioning His name. Saying the four consonants is not mentioning His name. That is the politically correct thing to do when you have different people with different ideas. You just give them the four consonants. But, you see, Obed-Edom knew that the Ark, which was...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: ...he knew how to call it. So guess what Obed-Edom did? What do they name it? And he called out the name.

Audience: Yehovah!

Keith: Now, have a seat, because I’m almost done. You all, here’s what happened to me and Nehemia in Smithfield, North Carolina. As I’m talking about this, we both realized something. The Gittite got it right. Oh, you didn’t hear me now. The Gittite got it right. When the name showed up, the Gittite opened the door and said, “Come on in.” The Israelite in that situation got it wrong, until someone told David the king, “Have you heard about Obed-Edom the Gittite?” David, being a good Jew, heard about the blessing that fell upon Obed-Edom the Gittite, and David said, “Oh no, the Gittite got it right and I’m going to get it right.” [applause] The Bible says that David decided, “Hey you all, get the shofar, get the dancers, get the singers, get the cart. We’re going to…” somebody say “Obed-Edom’s house”.

Audience: Obed-Edom’s house.

Keith: The Bible says that Obed-Edom was minding his own business for three months. Everything he had was blessed. His coming was blessed, his going was blessed. His wife was blessed, his children were blessed. His money was blessed, his house was blessed. Somebody say “everything”.

Audience: Everything. [applause]

Keith: And then David heard about it, and said, “You know what? I’m not that angry. [laughter] I’m not that afraid.” And what Nehemia Gordon the Israelite has done, he has given the information to the Gittite, and now we both got it right. [applause]

And you know what he’s going to do now? My Jewish brother caused me to get the information and the inspiration, and he probably will never confess this, but as he saw me go forward even without his help, he got a little bit where he thought, “Wait a minute, is it right for the Gittite to have all the fun? I’m an Israelite!” [laughter]

And why am I excited about this? Let me tell you why I’m excited about this. Oh my goodness, I messed up the slide, Nehemia. No, that’s okay. You guys, everything I have is gone. It’s gone. Somebody say “amen”.

Audience: Amen.

Keith: I’m telling you, I’m looking at it - it ain’t there. The rest of my slides are done. The same thing that happened to Nehemia just happened to me! I need a witness. I need one witness. Nehemia, come and look and see if the slides are gone. Are the slides gone? No, I’m telling you. Are my slides gone? No, you want to fix it. No, you can’t fix this, Nehemia. Go sit down. Go sit down! [laughter] I don’t need the slides right now, because I can tell this story.

God has decided to reveal His name in this hour. [applause] God has decided to use Obed-Edom the Gittite if He has to, to get it right. Goliath the Gittite got it wrong, and he ended up face on the floor with the rock, the Migdal Oz in his forehead. But then there was a second chance for another Gittite, and he got it right. [applause]

You all, I’ve taken enough of your time, but I need to do something. I need to read something. I don’t have the slide. If I get it wrong... Nehemia, please. Oh, great gadol moreh... Do me a favor, I don’t need it. You all know what gadol moreh means? Moreh gadol, I’m sorry. He’ll correct me on this. He’s a great teacher, you all. Do you know, this guy was probably one of the toughest teachers I’ve ever had? For a period of years he made me sit down - Alef, Bet, Gimel, Dalet, Hey. Learn the consonants, learn the vowels, learn the accents, learn the Masoretic notes. And then the guy puts me in a situation - brings me to a synagogue and they say, “Oh great, moreh gadol, Nehemia Gordon, will you read the Torah scroll?” And he says, “I’d like my student to do it.” Somebody say “holy ghost”.

Audience: Holy ghost.

Keith: They opened up the scroll and let Obed-Edom the Gittite [applause] get it right, and Nehemia said, “I’ll take it from there.” I was doing such a great job, and Nehemia said, “I’ll step in now.” [laughter] And guess what? That is exactly what I want to happen. The revival that will take place will start with the Jew. [applause] Hey, listen to me. I don’t get invited to my own Methodist churches, and I don’t care. I don’t ever need to speak again after today. Because if my friend Nehemia Gordon stays in the spirit, the Ruakh HaKodesh, the spirit that I see that is indwelling in him, revival will break out. [applause] I’m so appreciative to Michael, I’m so appreciative to Judith, I’m so appreciative to this ministry. And I’m especially appreciative to my friend, Nehemia Gordon, that when I said to him, “Nehemia, you and I will be friends,” and he said, “No, we will not.” [laughter] “Nehemia, you will teach me to read my Torah in its original language, history and context.” And the great teacher said, “No, I will not.” You see, Nehemia is used to shutting doors. [applause] And you can “ooh” all you want, but there’s a whole lot of you that can shut them better than him.

The great thing about Nehemia is that he opened the door for me. I don’t care that his father says I do not count. I don’t care if those in the Karaite movement say I do not count. I don’t care if the Methodists, Messianics and everybody else that’s messed up says I don’t count. [laughter] He knows I count. [applause]

I’m not going to try to impress you by reading it from the Hebrew. I’m not going to give you the Hebrew words, unless I get caught up in the Holy Ghost. Zechariah chapter 8 in closing, verse 23. “Thus sayeth Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey - Yahweh, that have not yet read the book, “Yehovah” - according to my Jewish Hebrew scholar – “Tzeva’ot. In those days, ten men from all of the nations will khazak- in strength. They will grab ahold of the garment, of the ish Yehudi - the Jewish man.” And this is what they will say, according to the prophet Zechariah: “We shall go with you, for we have heard that Elohim is with you.” Nehemia, if you are willing to hang out with some of us who maybe don’t count according to the tradition of your father, if you’re willing to keep the door open beyond just the information, but the inspiration. We heard that the Creator of the universe picked you, and what the Hebrew Bible says, it doesn’t say you singular, it says you plural.

Let me say something. I heard, according to the Bible that I read, that God is still with His people. [applause] And so when I’m in the Old City of Jerusalem, sometimes they won’t talk to me in Hebrew. “Shalom, ma shlomkha?” They’re like, “Speak English, we know you’re an American.” Sometimes they won’t let me in their circle. Sometimes they do things and say things that hurt my feelings. But I heard that the Creator of the universe is with you. And I want to know, as I’m looking in the camera, as I’m looking at you, and as I’m looking at you, can I go with you? Now, here we go, you all. Nehemia said this: “If I ever get another chance, I’m going to keep the door open.” [applause] And people around the world are just hoping that Nehemia Gordon will one day stand up and proclaim - before the Messiah comes - that Yeshua is Messiah. I simply want Nehemia to do what I believe the Creator of the universe is calling him to do - keep the door open. [applause] Lest you confuse my words - not keep the door open so that Yeshua can come in. Keep the door open so that the name of the One who is the Creator of the universe can take over His people’s house. [applause]

I’m going to tell you a secret. If you ask the rabbis, they know the Gittite’s proclaiming the name right. They’re just hoping that the Israelites don’t hear about it, because Eli and his religious group have already determined that they’re going to do something that is opposite the word of God. Because of fear, because of anger, because of circumstance, they have taken the name that can bring blessing to the entire household away from His people, so He said, “I need to knock on the Israelite’s door again. I know a man, I come to him about eight or nine. I’m wondering, if that man, if I knock again, will he open the door and take his information, take the inspiration and tell My people it’s time to get it right?”

Now, Smithfield, North Carolina. Oh! Somebody say “lightning strikes twice”.

Audience: Lightning strikes twice.

Keith: Oh, I feel the Holy Spirit. The spirit of God just touched me. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to make this easy. You all, do me a favor, stand up and turn toward the wall. I want you to imagine that the Creator of the universe is knocking on the door to your house. And He’s saying, “Hey Gittite, you want to get it right?” I wonder. While we’re looking away from me... It’s not me. In fact, I’ll run off the stage. I’m wondering if the Ruakh HaKodesh hasn’t been preparing some people all weekend long for the Smithfield revival revisited. That there are people that are here that are ready to be ambassadors of His name. There are people in this room that are ready to tell the world, against tradition, against the spirit of Eli, the religious authority and the spiritual border patrol, “I am going to get it right because the name has knocked on my door at Shavuot in Dallas, where He said, ‘Anokhi Yehovah Elohekha,’ ‘I am Yehovah your God, and you shall have no other god in my face!’”

So I want to go to the toughest situation in the room. Everybody’s looking towards the wall. I want to ask my friend Nehemia Gordon, if there’s anything I have said today that is outside of Tanakh. Nehemia, anything outside of Tanakh?

Nehemia: No.

Keith: Is there anything that I’ve said that offends you as a Jew?

Nehemia: No.

Keith: Are you ready, Nehemia, again, to open the door to the One who has a plan for your life that is going to change the world? Not Christianity, not the Messianic movement. You can just stay right where you are as a Karaite. You just stay right where you are. Are you ready to be like David? Oh, you said that you come from a place where there’s David in your line. Most of David’s relatives have said, “Stay away from the Ark, which is...”

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: Nehemia, will you take the Ark home with you?

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Come here. Now I’m going to ask a more difficult question. Forget about pronunciation for a moment. Other people that are here that would say this, “I don’t have all the answers, but I’m willing to be in the process of getting them. I am willing to cry out to my heavenly Father, and I am willing to stand alongside an Israelite that’s got it right.”

Don’t move. Don’t do anything. Because, you all, what I need you to do right now is pray. I need you to pray right now. The spirit of God is calling some new Michaels and some new Keiths and some new Judiths and some new Nehemias right here at Shavuot. There are people that are listening to this right now that are being arrested, they can’t move. The Ruakh HaKodesh is doing it again, and he’s starting with my Jewish brother and saying, “Yes, I will not shut the door again.”

Karen, I want you to come. No manipulation, you all. Just stay praying, and as you pray, I want you to imagine that the Ruakh HaKodesh, the spirit of God, the very breath of God, is ready to blow on you. Let it blow now.

Karen: We love you. [Singing].

Keith: My goodness, here comes the spirit. Does anybody’s head feel hot right now, like the tongue of fire? I’m here, but I know something’s happening to me right now. Is there anybody that says, “My head is even feeling hot like a tongue of fire”? Don’t stay in your place of comfort. Turn away from the wall. Come on down here, quickly now. Hurry up. Don’t worry about nobody. Hurry up! Nobody’s looking at you. The Holy Spirit is touching someone back there, I see it. Stay there if you want, but if your feet can’t help it, move from your place of comfort. He’s here. Living. Is there anybody that says, “I’m desperate for Him”? Hallelujah! Those of you that are standing, looking toward the wall, do me a favor. Get on your knees. Just get on your knees out there. Everybody else stay standing. Oh, I’m lost without you. Hallelujah. If you’re desperate, say it.

Those that are out there that are kneeling, you all here that are standing with my brother, get closer, now. My goodness, get closer. We in Dallas, get closer. You all, I just want to do one last thing. Those that are kneeling, stay kneeling, you keep praying. But there’s a verse... and help me with this. In Numbers chapter 10 it says that when the Ark which was...

Audience: Called by the name.

Keith: ...was ready to set forth, Moses would stand up and he would call the name and he would say, “Arise Yehovah, and let your enemies be scattered.” Sister Karen, I know you’re here. Where are you, Karen? Come here, real quickly. You all, I promise you, just stay kneeling. Michael, do I have a few more moments? Come here, Karen. You all, if we could just do something. Those that are kneeling and those that are standing. I’m going to do something after we do this. Karen, We Exalt You. Can you sing We Exalt You?

Karen: [singing] We exalt you.

Keith: Open your voice, open your mouth.

Karen: We exalt you.

Keith: Oh, hallelujah. Come here, Judith. Hallelujah. Come on, now. Come on, you all, let’s exalt Him. Come on, for the world, now.

Now, you all, we have come to the end of our time at Shavuot. But we now have ambassadors of His name that have come and said, “We will be like Obed-Edom. We will receive His name into our houses with its holiness, with its accountability, and we will also be people that will proclaim His name to the world.”

Audience: Yes!

Keith: Now, I want to say in closing. Yehovah, arise, and let Your enemies be scattered. [Shofar]. Oh, somebody felt something deep in their gut. Just tell them, “Okay, I’m opening the door, too.” [Shofar]. The last days are here. There are more than ten that have grabbed a hold of the skirt, the suit jacket, the tzitzit of the Jew. Now He is getting ready to do something that the nations will begin to proclaim His name.

Audience: Yes! Hallelujah! [applause]

Keith: And now a closing prayer. And I need my Jewish brother Nehemia to come and set God’s name on you.

Nehemia: This is the priestly blessing, Numbers chapter 6. Yevarekhekha Yehovah veyishmerekha. Ya’er Yehovah panav elekha viykhuneka. Yisa Yehovah panav elekha veyasem lekha shalom. Yehovah bless you and keep you. Yehovah shine His face towards you and be gracious towards you. Yehovah lift His face towards you and give you peace. And they shall place My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.

Keith: …are blessed.

Audience: Amen!

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The Name of God in Action with Keith Johnson (Open Door Series – Part 4)

Part 4 of the Open Door Series features Keith Johnson speaking on the Name of God in Action. God is breaking down barriers of tradition and calling Jew and Gentile to search the Scriptures for truth that will allow them to fellowship with His Holy Name. Johnson explains how the Leningrad Codex and Aleppo Codex, the oldest and most complete Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible, reveal the pronunciation and the power of the name that slew Goliath, the name that is a strong tower, the name that is a song on the shofar—the name of our heavenly Father Yehovah.

Transcript

The Name of God in Action with Keith Johnson (Open Door Series - Part 4)

You are listening to the Open Door Series with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Keith: For that which we just heard, and that which we're about to hear, we will have to leave our place of comfort. The Creator of the universe is doing something right now around the world, and people who have a certain level of comfort are being removed from their place of comfort. I know that because it's happened to me, it's happened to Nehemia and the list goes on, and on, and on.

Now that we've made this switch and stretched our legs, I want you to consider something right now, and that is that the Creator of the universe now wants to do something for you. He wants to take away what you're willing to give Him, and He wants to give you what you're willing to receive. He wants to take away what you're willing to give Him, and he wants to give you what you're willing to receive. So, would you do an act of receptivity? Would you just take your palms, like this? Let's stop again, put your palms down. I guess I should be fair to you about what I'm going to ask you to do. It's not fair to have you put your palms like this and then say a prayer, because it just might be that the prayer might be answered and you might say, “Wait, I didn't know the end result.” So, let me explain to you what I'm going to pray.

I only simply want you to put your palms like this if you're willing to let the Creator of the universe take away what He wants to take away, and give you what He wants to give you. Now, I need to warn you. Sometimes He answers the prayer. Let me say it again. If you take your palms, and you say, “Father, take away what You want to take away and give me what You want to give me,” there are times where He'll answer that prayer. And, you know, sometimes He'll do it just like that. I just have to stop for a moment, because in this room there are people that are holding on to some things that they must, say, “Must.”

Crowd: Must.

Keith: ...let Him take. There are other people that are here that have closed themselves to receive what He wants to give them. And so, they must…say, “Must.”

Crowd: Must.

Keith: ...open their lives for Him. So, let's try this, only if you're willing. Take your palms and let's pray. Father, for this opportunity we thank You. We do not take this lightly to be in this city at this time. We do not believe that this is simply just an act of obedience on our part. We believe that You have called us to this place. It is the day before the meeting. Your word says that there was a call for sanctification. Right now, Creator of the universe, take away what You want to take, and give us what You want to give us. In the end we'll give You all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor. You are worthy to be praised. And all the people said together, “Amen.” You may have a seat.

Oh, oh, now look at y'all. Everybody, stop. Everybody, stop. Everybody, stop. Don't move. No, don't move, now. Don't try to get back. Stop where you are. Look around at what everybody's trying to do. What everybody's trying to do is, “Okay, that was good, let me get back to my place of comfort.” Oh, you don't understand. You don’t understand. You don't get to leave that place that was not comfortable. Now, turn around, teshuva. Repent and get back to the spot you were just sitting at. Don't you try. Don’t you try. Don’t you try. Go back to the uncomfortable spot. Some of you are like, “I don't like that, I don't know that person.” It's okay. Now look up here. Look up here. Everyone, just go like this. Palms again. Give me, say, “Give me.”

Crowd: Give me.

Keith: What You want to give me.

Crowd: What You want to give me.

Keith: And take away.

Crowd: And take away.

Keith: What You want to take away.

Crowd: What You want to take away.

Keith: Including my discomfort.

Crowd: Including my discomfort.

Keith: Now have a seat. You all, I'm so excited to be able to share after Nehemia spoke, because many of you may not realize the significance of what just happened. You had a Jewish man who happens to be a Hebrew scholar, who is a part of the Dead Sea Scrolls project. He's got his undergraduate from the Hebrew University. He's got his graduate degree in biblical studies from the Hebrew University. And he just stood in front of you and gave you information that could change your life. However, there are so many of us who have preconceived ideas, that regardless of what we hear, we ain't moving. Can I get an Amen?

Crowd: Amen.

Keith: It kind of reminds me of... You see for me, I like what Michael says, “If you have a dog in the fight...” I never had a dog in the fight. I was minding my own business at a good old fashioned 1,200-member, large church. I was the Chaplain for the Minnesota Vikings, traveling around the world, doing evangelists. I had a great job, great gig, great family, everything’s fine. The Father meddles with me, but you see, I didn't have the baggage that so many people have, so that when I began to learn information, it wasn't about me recreating something, it was about it being downloaded into my life. And once I learned it, there was no choice, I had to embrace it.

So many of us that are sitting here today have been conditioned in our minds in certain ways and in certain areas, so that when new information comes, there's just something in us… If we don't move from our place of comfort, we will be stuck. There will be no stuck-ness this weekend. Jeremiah 16:21 says this, “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know.” That's amazing. The Father said this, “I'm going to make ‘em know.” This time, say, “This time.”

Crowd: This time.

Keith: “I am going to make them know My power and My might.” And then, after that, “They shall know that My name is…” and, of course, we have those four consonants. And I understand the battle over this issue, and I will tell you that I am presently, even as I stand before you here in the state of Texas, in the midst of controversy over the fact that I chose to open the scrolls to the public. When I opened the scrolls to the public regarding these four letters, they kicked me off TV.

Crowd member: Hallelujah.

Keith: Hallelujah? He said, “Hallelujah.” Listen, you all, I did a really radical thing. I thought - and this was really an assumption on my part – I thought truth was more important than tradition. No, I'm telling you. I thought that especially this group of people... And I will tell you right now, some people are a little nervous about me talking about this. The reason I want to challenge you all, in the Messianic community especially, is I think there's an opportunity for the Messianic community to lead the charge in truth if we're willing to break tradition… if.

So, we just had an opportunity to have a legitimate Hebrew scholar stand in front of you and speak the name. Now, I'm gonna get to this, because it's very important. Jeremiah says here, “They shall know that my name is...” and I will leave it right now for those four letters. We all agree on the four letters, Amen? Nobody disagrees with that.

I want to take you back to the Old City of Jerusalem. After I was with Michael for a few days and I met my friend Zakki and we've told you the story about the Torah scroll, the next day, Nehemia and I are supposed to be going to a tour of the Old City of Jerusalem. And what he was planning for us to do was to go under the Old City of Jerusalem into the tunnels. How many of you all have been to the tunnels in the Old City of Jerusalem? It's a very, very powerful experience.

And as we were preparing to go, I asked him the question that I had asked many Jewish people before, “Can you tell me something about the name of God?” And every time I asked this question, I heard usually three responses. “His name is too holy to pronounce. It's too profound for you to understand. It's too powerful for you to know; therefore, you are prohibited from learning it.”

And this caused a great struggle in me, because the year before, though I had spent all of these years involved in regular, good old fashioned evangelical ministry, the Creator of the universe was calling me, bringing me to the Hebrew scriptures, beginning to learn things that I had not learned before. And I kept finding over and over again, in my newly acquainted Hebrew Bible, these four letters, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, 6,828 times in my Hebrew Bible, the Bible that Yeshua would have read. He would have also seen these four letters over, and over, and over. And so, I would ask my Jewish brothers and sisters about this, and I'm telling you, to a person, they said, “No.”

I'm sitting at the Old City of Jerusalem. I ask Nehemia Gordon, who loves to answer questions, “Nehemia, can you tell me about the four-letter name?” “Absolutely, do you have a piece of paper and pencil?” Sounds familiar? What did the Pastor ask Nehemia, “Do you know about the four letters?” And Nehemia says, “Do you have a piece of paper and pencil?” Let me tell you what I love about this. Nehemia has yet to give me simply his opinion regarding this matter. What he has challenged me to do is search the scriptures for myself. And then the blessing was, he gave me the access to the tools wherein I could dig for myself.

But I'm gonna tell you why I did it. I did it for people like you. Because, you see, I am of the opinion that some people would say, giving information to those that are not in control takes away your influence of power. I would say that your "influence of power" is not supposed to be that way, anyway. I believe what the people need is an opportunity to understand it for themselves.

So, as I'm in the Old City of Jerusalem, I asked Nehemia the question. He said, “Do you have a piece of paper and pencil?” I write the Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey. He says, “Well, there are some manuscripts, two specifically, that actually have places… not in every place in the manuscript, places in the manuscript, where the name is written ‘Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey’ and the scribe, and we do not know why, places in not two vowels, but three.” Why is this important? What does this have to do with me?

Well, if you're reading in the Hebrew manuscripts and you come across the name “Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey” with two vowels, that is an impossibility for you to be able to speak. That was them operating by the ban, but for some reason, say, “Some reason.”

Crowd: Some reason.

Keith: ...there were some scribes, say, “Some scribes.”

Crowd: Some scribes.

Keith: ...who got caught up as they're going like this in the Hebrew Bible, and for some reason, say, “Some reason.”

Crowd: Some reason.

Keith: There were some scribes, say, “Some scribes.”

Crowd: Some Scribes.

Keith: ...who decided to add a third vowel into the four-letter name. Why did they do it? Maybe it was subconscious, maybe it was the Holy Spirit, somebody say, “Maestro.”

Crowd: Maestro.

Keith: But they put the four consonants and three vowels so that if you came across it, you'd have to be able to speak it.

Now, I'm sitting with Nehemia, he tells me this story. I said, “Okay, Nehemia.” And he goes on to explain more. Now, I'm living with Michael. Michael is giving me time, freedom to run, do whatever I want to do. I sit there with Nehemia, and he says, “According to the oldest, most complete vocalized Hebrew manuscripts, the name would be...” and he pronounces the name. As soon as he does this, there's a man standing next to us with a tallit and tzitzit, and he does a radical thing that cannot get out of my mind or my heart for the last 10 years.

Now, when I travel, I travel with this gun case. And I've had some situations happen when I go into the airport, where the TSA get a little nervous with a bald-headed black guy with a gun case, and they've asked me questions over and over again. It will go through the deal, and they'll say, “Supervisor.” And the supervisor will come, and as it goes through, the supervisor will stop and ask me what it is. And I love to tell this one little story, because as Nehemia and I are traveling along, this thing goes through the TSA and the lady says, “Supervisor.”

The supervisor comes and all he does is he grabs my gun case, holds it out in front of me and says, “Well?” And I wasn't in the mood to play around with this man, I said, “It's the horn of God.” And the supervisor said, “You mean, like the one they blew when they were taking around the walls of Jericho? I know about that,” he said. “And I'm telling you right now,” he said, “We could have revival right here.” This is what the supervisor said. And you all, I've had so many stories where this has happened.

The reason I'm bringing this is because when Nehemia proclaims the name found in the Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex, and proclaims the name, this man - and we don't know where he came from, who he was - but he blew this horn of God two times. What I will tell you all is, I have been arrested by this sound. I can't get enough of His name, and I cannot get enough of the sound of the shofar. So, before I get started, say, “Before.”

Crowd: Before.

Keith: I want to take you back to the Old City of Jerusalem. Would you do me a favor? Imagine this. You're me, the Methodist. You're at Michael's house, you don't even know what you're doing there. You're just following every single day according to Isaiah, whether you turn to the left or to the right, may you hear the voice behind you saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” Every single day, all I'm doing is walking by the Spirit. All I'm doing is waiting to hear, left or right. All I'm waiting for is, who should I meet? Who should I talk to? What should I say? Where should I go? Come on, somebody. All I'm doing is taking step, by step, by step.

And then I meet this nut who breaks the tradition of proclaiming the name according to the information found in the manuscripts. He proclaims the name. Bow your heads. This is not an altar call. This is simply an opportunity for you to focus for a moment, hearing my Jewish brother proclaim the name and listening to the sound of the two blasts of the shofar. Nehemia, I want you to stand up, if you would. And all I simply want you to do, nice and loud, that the world might be able to hear, according to all of your studies and according to all of the information, and according to the inspiration, dealing with the oldest Hebrew manuscripts back and forth. As we're sitting in that place, all I want you to do is proclaim it the way you proclaimed it on that day, and then I shall blow the shofar.

Nehemia: Yehovah.

Keith: [blows shofar] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know you all caught that last little four notes, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hay. Did y'all hear that? Did that move anybody else? Yud-Hay-Vav-Hay. Can I do that again? Would that be all right with you all? I'm gonna get to the message here. There's something about hearing the sound. I think they tell me, eventually, we're going to hear this sound again. From what I understand in the Book, it says that when they came to the mountain for Shavuot, there were loud blasts of the shofar. One more time. Can I play the four letters, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey?

Crowd: Yes.

Keith: If you're open, put your palms like this.

Keith: [blows shofar] Oh, my goodness. [blows shofar] When I hear this man tell me this information, it begins to cause a great call on my life. I came to Israel for three things which I did not know, to encounter God's time, God's Torah, and God's tetragrammaton, the four letters. Ten years later, I come to find out, when Michael and I are sitting in the office together, he says to me, “You know, Keith, for 10 years, you've been dealing with this.” He said, “For 40, I've been dealing with God's time, God's Torah, and God's name.”

I am so excited to be here today, because I think that what is happening is that we are being put into a situation where we can take our joint efforts to proclaim God's time, God's Torah, and God's tetragrammaton, His four letters, throughout the earth. In order to do that, we have to stay in the place of what I call “a little bit of discomfort.” The other thing we'll have to do is to dig, say, “Dig.”

Crowd: Dig.

Keith: Here's a picture under the Old City of Jerusalem. There are massive stones, you all, I think Nehemia told me 600 metric tons. Some of these stones are under the Old City of Jerusalem that are holding it up. And when I saw that information down there, and I saw the way that this place was built, I thought, “What would it be like if you gave people a biblical foundation for their faith?” So, that is why we came up with the Biblical Foundations Academy, which has published the information for you to have, and inspiration. I want you to say again these words that Nehemia has already taught us. Say, “Avinu.”

Crowd: Avinu.

Keith: Shebashamayim.

Crowd: Shebashamayim.

Keith: Our Father who is in Heaven. And then in the second part, “Yitkadesh,” say, “Yitkadesh.”

Crowd: Yitkadesh.

Keith: Shimkha.

Crowd: Shimkha.

Keith: Now, let me tell you something that I think is really, really interesting. Yeshua is standing in front of these people on the mountain. We've actually been to the mountain where we believe, according to the information that we have, was the actual mountain where he preached. There's an outcropping that's there with this beautiful… like an auditorium almost, where you would be able to speak. I can speak in the language I'm speaking now in the volume, and you can hear it far, far, far away.

He does this radical thing. Why didn't Yeshua say this. “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be My name?” I feel you over there, okay. He went like this, “Oh, boy.” Why didn't Yeshua stand up and say, “Hallowed be My name?” He said, “Hallowed be Your name,” because he understood that His name is holy. What he was also calling the people to is what we call a “call to action” to sanctify the name of His Father. And yet, when you open up your English Bible, you don't even get to interact with this holy name. Depending on your tradition, or your denomination, or your particular group or fellowship, they've already told you, “No, you can't know this name.” Yet Yeshua stands up and makes this radical statement. He says, “May Your name be sanctified.”

When I see that, I'm thinking to myself, “Okay, He could have said anything.” Obviously, after introducing the fact that he's speaking to the Father, the first thing he says out of the mouth is the name, the name is to be sanctified. Your name be sanctified in both Hebrew and Greek. It is "a call to action" and not simply a poetic pronunciation, a call to action.

I want to show you guys a picture. This is Reggie White, and that's Nehemia, I’d say, when he had hair and probably, I don't know, quite a few more pounds on him. Michael’s in the background. I want to call Michael a name right now, it's kind of funny. I don't think he'd be offended by this. Michael does more things that you guys would... You don't even understand the things that he does, the places where he's actually had influence in people's lives and never takes credit for it. Can I say that again? There are things that Michael Rood has done, and is doing right now, that he'll never take credit for. But God has used him.

This picture that's up on the screen of Reggie White and Nehemia Gordon, again, is another result of Michael Rood saying, “Yes, Reggie, come and I will host you.” He's the one who introduces Reggie to Nehemia. Unfortunately, Reggie has passed away, but he was a man of passion, a great football player. He played for the Green Bay Packers, and won the Super Bowl. He loved the name of God. He loved God and he loved the word. He goes over to Jerusalem, and he says to Nehemia, “Hey, Nehemia. I would like to see the Aleppo Codex, this most important Hebrew manuscript, which is connected to every Jewish Bible that we know.” And Nehemia says, “Sure.” He goes over to the museum and shows him a picture of a wonderful little Aleppo Codex. And then, Nehemia tells him something that I'm sometimes so glad he did. Nehemia says, “Well, what you're seeing right now is not the real Codex. The first two pages are real, but everything behind it is simply a fake.”

Reggie says, “That ain't good enough for me. I want to see the original,” that's what Reggie said. Nehemia said, “Oh no, you don't understand. Nobody sees the original. The Prime Minister has never seen the original. The original is in a vault that nobody gets to go to.” And Reggie didn't care, so Nehemia says, “Okay, I'll call, just to show you that you can't do it.” Nehemia calls the museum and says, “Listen, I've got a man here named Reggie White, he plays for the Green Bay Packers. He wants to see the original Aleppo.” “Nobody's seen the original Aleppo Codex, the Prime Minister doesn't see the original Aleppo Codex. Nobody sees it. It's in a vault, nobody sees it.”

An hour later, Nehemia gets a phone call. “Is Mr. White still interested in seeing the Aleppo Codex?” One of the greatest contributors to the Museum is a Green Bay Packer fan. He says that if Reggie will sign a picture, he will take him into the vault. Now, most people don't know this. Most people don’t know this. Mr. Smarty over here, Nehemia, when I called and said, “Hey, listen Nehemia, Reggie White wants to experience the same thing I did. Michael's over there, we're over there.” And Nehemia is like, “Who is he?” “He's a football player.” He's like, “Football? What, he plays soccer?” Nehemia didn't know who he was. I say, “He's a Green Bay Packer.” “I don't know who he is. Okay, he can come,” Not realizing that God was going to use the influence of a football player to get Nehemia to see something that he had dreamt and wanted to see his entire life.

They go into the vault, and there is the Aleppo Codex. Now, you all, there's so much information I could tell you about this. I actually put some in the book, “His Hallowed Name Revealed Again.” And certainly, you can go on the Internet to understand the significance of the crown jewel, the crown manuscript, the Aleppo Codex. But here's one thing that happened. After Reggie comes out of the vault, he says, “I want a copy.” “Well, Mr. White, you need to understand something. We made about 500 copies of these several years ago in the ‘70s, but there are no more left.” An hour later the phone call comes. “We have found 100 unbound copies of the Aleppo Codex.” He says, “I'll take four.” Four. He gives one to Nehemia, gives one to Qadry Ismail, gives one to myself, and he takes one for himself.

When he comes home from Israel, he says, “Keith, I've got a gift for you.” And he walks in, you all, and I don't know if you've ever seen it. Go to the interview that Michael and I and Nehemia did. We actually brought the Aleppo Codex which the other television station says it will not show the public. I will say this, I had brought the same Aleppo Codex, the Leningrad Codex, into a Texas television station, put it on top of a table, was about to teach about the very name found in that manuscript. And the week before they show the public that particular episode, they canceled it. And let me tell you why they canceled it. Because they were afraid of the information. Can I say it again? Because they were afraid of the information, because if I give the information to you, and you take that information for yourself, all of a sudden, we've got conflict with the tradition.

How many of you all know, I'm tired of tiptoeing around the tulips of tradition? Now, here's where God works. Let me tell you where God works. They kicked me off the television station where I was going to be sharing the manuscript that my friend, Reggie White, brought from Jerusalem, so you could see the information for yourself. And when it happened, I said to myself, “Oh Father. You've got to be kidding me.” It was just time to give the information and they canceled it at this moment. My interpretation, can I give you my interpretation? My Father in Heaven said, “They're not worthy of this information.” Why? Because it's more important to them to deal with tradition than with truth. And what the Creator of the universe is doing in this hour is, He's breaking down the barriers of tradition. He's beginning to move in places where He does not normally move. He's starting to call people from the east, and the north, and the south, and the west, and He's calling Gentiles and Jews alike. And this is causing a stir deep down in the bowels of the religious police. The spiritual border patrol is not happy that we continue to cross borders, giving information and inspiration where they have not given us their authorization.

Somebody say, “We don't need your authorization. We've got the One that created the borders, and He's told us to break the borders.” You all, I'm telling you something. God is doing something right now that we should be able to take our ears and perk them up and say, “Father, is it possible that you're going to move me from my place of comfort?”

You all, the night that Nehemia told me about this information, I went back to the apartment. I stayed up all night looking through every single page of my Hebrew Bible, until I found a place where the four letters were there with the three vowels and an accent. Now, you gotta be saying, “Wait, what does that matter?” What it matters is, if I don't see that, I can't proclaim it according to those manuscripts. I spent all night in Michael's apartment, looking, looking, looking. And it didn't matter to me what time it was, and then I found it.

The first place in Genesis 3:14 in the Leningrad Manuscript, which is the oldest, most complete manuscript that every English Bible that's in this room is based on, the Leningrad Manuscript. Here's the good news, you all. In 1975, in 1985, in 1989, in 1990, we don't have access to the Leningrad Manuscript. In 1991 Maestro tells Gorbachev, “Open up the museum, that they might be able to proclaim My name.” In 1991, glasnost comes and the Leningrad Codex is all of a sudden photographed, so that I can go on Amazon today, get it, and bring it into my house. All of a sudden, my friend, Reggie White, who goes over to see Michael and Nehemia gets a copy of the Aleppo. Somebody say, “Two witnesses.”

Crowd: Two witnesses.

Keith: I'm looking at the information, y'all. And I'm thinking, “Okay, this is easy. Let's simply give this information to the people.” What I didn't know is, I didn't realize just how much of a fight it was to break people out of their tradition. But I'm still fighting, because I think His name is worthy for a little effort on our part. I want to show you something, you all, and just bear with me here. After I show you this, we're actually going to start the message. This is from the book of Ezekiel, say, “Ezekiel.”

Crowd: Ezekiel.

Keith: A page from the Aleppo Codex itself. And what we find is something that goes against the scholars' statement regarding what happens with the name regarding vowels. What the scholars will tell you, and many people who have never studied it for themselves, they will tell you that the name Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey is replaced with the vowels from “Adonay,” say, “Adonay.”

Crowd: Adonay.

Keith: Now, that is a great theory, it makes sense. However, what do you do when you've got Adonay right next to Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey? In the English Bible, what it says is, “Lord God,” so what they want you to do is they give you "Lord" for “Adonay” and they give you "God" for “Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey.” So, what we do is we go in and we search the manuscripts and come to find out a secret. There's not one place in the entire manuscript, where the exact vowels of Adonay are ever, say, “Ever.”

Crowd: Ever.

Keith: ...placed into the four consonants, “Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey." Now, you all, I am not up here just preaching. There's actually information that you can deal with in the book. But the reason I have to give it to you is I want to show you something, if you go back to that slide. Right here, you guys, is the word “Adonay,” say, “Adonay.”

Crowd: Adonay.

Keith: Here are the four letters, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey. Now, what you notice is this is a vowel, this is a vowel and then on the top there's a vowel and there's an accent. That little dot on the top is the kholam, say, “Kholam.”

Crowd: Kholam.

Keith: So, what this scribe does - and we don't know why - the scribe is writing along, writing along, and all of a sudden, the scribe decides to put all vowels in the consonants. Now, what's even more interesting is in the Leningrad Manuscript, which is the Bible I carried to Jerusalem and did not know what was in my possession... Sounds like some of you. Some of you do not realize what is in your possession. I'm carrying the Leningrad Codex with me to Jerusalem. Nehemia says, “Well, let me see your Bible. Oh, it's based on the Leningrad, the name is right here.” I come to find out, if I can just go back to my little vision. I have a dream, there's a scroll flying over my head. I go to Jerusalem and I find a Torah scroll. I bring it to the apartment. Nehemia opens it up to Leviticus chapter 23. And how many days is it between Pesach and Shavuot? Can somebody say “50?”

Crowd: 50.

Keith: Guess how many times the name has full consonants, full vowels and an accent in the oldest complete vocalized Hebrew manuscript in the world?

Crowd: 50.

Keith: Did y’all hear that? Fifty times where the scribe got caught up and said, “I just can't help myself. I must break the ban. I've got to go against the rabbinical ban. I've got to deal with the tradition. Kick it out,” and oops, there it is, boom, “Yehovah.” Fifty times in the Leningrad Manuscript. Let’s move on. You all, get your Bibles, let's move on.

Something really interesting happened on my last trip, when I met with Nehemia in Israel. We were dealing with a very interesting process with each other. And simply what it was, was this. We had been confronted with what I call the “spirit of Goliath,” say, “Goliath.”

Crowd: Goliath.

Keith: Goliath was from Gat, say, “Gat.”

Crowd: Gat.

Keith: ...which means he was a Gittite, say, “Gittite.”

Crowd: Gittite.

Keith: So, Goliath the Gittite had gone out before the people and he had taunted all of the armies of Israel. Nehemia and I were all of a sudden faced with the spirit of Goliath, and we had this radical idea. Let's go to the place where David battled Goliath. Now, in Israel, one of the most beautiful things about being there is you can actually go to Biblical spots, places where, when you're reading your Bible, you can physically go to those spots, and it's an amazing experience. This particular spot that I'm going to show you is called the “Fortress of Elah,” Fortress of Elah. It had only been discovered in, I think, 2009, so over the last couple of years not many people know about the Fortress of Elah.

And so, usually what people would do is they’d go to another spot not far from the Fortress of Elah, to go to the brook where they believe David grabbed the five smooth stones. When this was discovered, they had to move from their place of comfort to a new spot. Nehemia was able to find with his GPS and his connections, where this was. And so, Nehemia and I go up to the Fortress of Elah, and I wanna show you something about this. Right here, you all, is the city gate. This is the spot where the one named David would have walked out on his way to go face Goliath. Say, “Goliath.”

Crowd: Goliath.

Keith: Next picture, this is the Valley of Elah. On the other side you've got the Philistines. On this side you've got the Israelites, and they would go down into the valley of Elah, and they would have their battle. So, what Goliath would do is he would come down and the Israelites would be on the edge there, and Goliath would come down and he'd begin to taunt them, and push them, and taunt them. And it says that the Israelites would run from where they were and scurry back into the fortress of Elah.

Now, you all know the story in Samuel. David, the one who came, decided after he heard this information that he wanted to be the one to battle Goliath. Something interesting about this. I'm going to show you a picture. I found a picture of a young man, we thought, “Oh, I bet he's around the age of David, maybe, and maybe he looks a little bit like David.” But then I did something really, really radical. How many of you all think that according to what we understand, David was like, 10, 11, 12 years old? Come on, raise your hands, a young person, 13 years old? How many people 13, 14? Okay. 15, 16, 17? Okay, excellent. 18? How many say he's 18?

Let's try again. Who says he was 10? Raise your hand. 11, 12? Raise your hands. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18? Okay, we're getting close. He was a young man. So, I'm reading the Bible, and I'm thinking to myself, “Let me check a little context.” I come to find out in the chapter before the 17th chapter of Samuel, that there's a part where Saul is looking for someone to do what? Come and play the harp. And then one of the servants says to Saul, “I know a man who is a mighty man of valor, a great warrior who plays well.” Saul brings him into his service, and we find out at the end of 16 that David did such a wonderful job, not only of playing, that Saul made David an armor bearer. Do you think a 10-year-old was an armor bearer? I don't think so. David had already fought. In fact, we find out in the scriptures that David says, “The reason I'm not afraid of Goliath is because I've already been trained with the lion and the bear.”

You see, some of us right now in our present battles, are being prepared for the real battle. David understood this, and so, David was being prepared for the battle. And then, something happens. David is about to go to fight Goliath, and what he does is, after they go through this big discussion back and forth, he says, “Listen. I cannot go in your armor, for I have not tested it.” That's what he said. “I have not tested, I have not tried, so I'm gonna have to go with my own armor.” He figures his armor, he goes down into the riverbed, and he grabs five smooth stones.

Now, what I love about studying Bible stories and adding historical information, geographical information, is that there's so much that can be learned. Nehemia and I are there, looking at where David actually was, where he fought Goliath. We go down and we see where the stones are, and then Nehemia does this radical thing. He says, “Let's ask the question, where did these stones come from?” We end up coming to find out that the stones came from this place. This place is actually called “Migdal Oz.” Say, “Migdal Oz.”

Crowd: Migdal Oz.

Keith: Now, if you're driving in Israel and you see Migdal Oz, you might think, “No big deal.” But if I show you the next verse, you'll understand the significance of David being prepared to fight Goliath with the smooth stones. The stones from Migdal Oz started up there very rough, and a great current of water would come and wash the stones down, and the stones would clash against each other. And as they're clashing against each other, they would become smooth. Say, “Smooth.”

Crowd: Smooth.

Keith: But when we come to find out about Migdal Oz, we go to the Bible and we realize something really interesting. Well, here's a picture I should show you. That's Nehemia. Nehemia is down in the valley and he's thinking to himself, “I should get some of these smooth stones for my friend Keith.” And so, look at the great servant that he is. He's down there and he's picking up the smooth stones, and he only charged me $2 per stone. Where did those stones come from? The name of Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey is a strong tower. Say, “Migdal Oz.”

Crowd: Migdal Oz.

Keith: The righteous run into it and are safe. Imagine David. I wish I could preach this for a minute. The stones come from Migdal Oz. They have clashed together. They've been made smooth, and David decides on his way to go fight Goliath, he's going to pick up stones from Migdal Oz. I wonder, if David might have known where the stones come from. I wonder if David might have known, “Hey, listen. I understand, Saul, you want me to wear your armor. But I would rather just take myself a little bit of Migdal Oz to battle Goliath.”

David is on his way, no armor, but he's got stones from Migdal Oz. And what does he do, you all? He goes out, and Goliath begins to do what he loves to do, and that he's even doing right now. And I took my jacket that has my little pointer, so you're gonna have to get that. What does Goliath love to do? Goliath loves to taunt. And there are Goliaths in your life right now that are taunting you. They are pushing, and they are spitting, and they are doing this, and they are doing that. And what is happening is people are beginning to, what I call, “scurry back up,” scurry back up into their place of safety.

When are we going to believe that what we've got is greater than Goliath? When are you gonna believe that who you know is greater than Goliath? When are we going to find more Davids that are willing to stand up, go out and face the giants of our life?

Let me tell you why he had the confidence. His confidence was not in himself. He had had an encounter with the Creator of the universe. He had been anointed already as king. He had whooped some bears and he had whooped some lions. And I want to stop and say something. Some of you have been in what I call some of the “fights of your life.” Some of you have been in battles where you're just thinking, “Man, are you kidding me? I just got out of one and you got me in another?” Some of you are sitting here and saying, “Father, when are You going to finally be saying, ‘I'm preparing you? I'm preparing you for the real fight.’” Because I'm gonna tell you something, people. There's a real fight that's coming, and God needs a remnant of people that when it is time for us, can I say this? When it is time for us to stand up and be the people of God, we're willing to stand in the name of the One who can whoop Goliath. It's coming, you all. The fight is coming, and what I'm afraid of is that there aren't enough people that aren't afraid. I've learned something. If I trust in Him, even though sometimes I've got a little fear, I will be all right.

So, what happens? Goliath does something. Goliath comes to David, and I want you to see the screen here. Goliath comes to David and he does this. He curses David, and if you open up the English Bible what it will say in 1 Samuel 17:43, “Goliath cursed David by his Gods,” in English. “Goliath cursed David by his Gods.” Keep it up there for me, if you would. If I open the Hebrew Bible, I find this. “Goliath cursed David by his God.” So, what Goliath really did is he cursed David's God.

Did you hear what I said? Goliath cursed David's God. And at that point, I'm imagining the Creator of the universe up in heaven. And before that, maybe he's just letting David do his thing. You know, whoop the bear, whoop the lion, but then all of a sudden, the Creator of the universe hears Goliath curse God. And then he kind of said, “Wait a minute, hold on now. This is a story that I can have proclaimed even in Dallas, Texas, if it's told right. That when I heard Goliath curse me, I whooped Goliath.” And how did he whoop Goliath? You all know what it says. Here's what it says.

David says, “You come to me with javelin, with spear, and with sword, but I come to you in the name that cannot be proclaimed.” Oh, I come to you in the name that the Rabbis said I can't say. Oh, I come to you in the title that they put in the English Bible. Somebody say, “David didn't say that.”

Crowd: David didn't say that.

Keith: David didn't say, “I come in the name Hashem.” David didn't say, “I come in the name of Adonay.” David didn't say, “I come in the name of the Lord.”

Crowd: No.

Keith: David read the book that Yeshua read. Can I open up the book? I'm gonna get my shofar here in a minute. I can't see nothing. I'm telling you guys right now, I've gotta put on my readers, if that's alright. Just take a break, you all, if you would. Just take a break with me, if you would. Here's what David says.

He says, let’s see here. “You come to me.” I’m reading the book here. It says, “And David said unto the Philistine, ‘You come to me with sword, and spear and javelin.’” Then he says in Hebrew, “Ve'anokhi ba elekha beshem Yehovah tzevaot elohey ma’arkhot Yisrael.“I come to you...” hold on, somebody. He says, “Ve'anokhi ba elekha beshem Yehovah tzevaot.” Can't you hear? Goliath is like, “Oh, my goodness, I done woke up the name. I thought I could just curse Him the way I wanted to curse Him, and now He's brought the name into the battle.” David called upon the name, Yehovah, and from then it was over. The Philistine only had one choice. He was going to take it in the forehead and fall face down on the floor, because the Migdal Oz knocked him out.

Oh, my goodness. I understand something. I'm gonna tell you what I understand. I understand that some of you here have been in churches where you heard the preacher jump and shout. And you heard the singing, and you heard the yelling, and you heard all that. But can I tell you something? This preacher ain't making this up. This preacher has found this information. It has inspired me to a place. Oh, I'm still the nut. I could still cut a rug. But now, what I'm doing is I'm opening up the book that Yeshua read, and I can't help but preach it to you. Do you understand what I'm saying?

I’m gonna end this way. What is the Methodist Pastor doing in Dallas for Shavuot? What is he doing hanging out with Michael Rood? What is he doing hanging out with Nehemia Gordon? What is he doing hanging out with Arthur Bailey? What is he hanging out with Dr. Karen Taylor? I'm only doing one thing, following my call.

The foreigners who joined themself, Isaiah 56, to Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, to minister to Him, can I say something to you? I want to tell you something that might be offensive. I'm not preaching to you. I'm ministering to Him. You gotta hear me now, you gotta hear me. You all, I appreciate your faces. Some of you are looking at me like, “Where did they find him? Isn't he the Methodist Preacher? My goodness.” And I can see some of you that are struggling, saying, “No, I won't. No, I won't. No, I won’t.” Hey, do me a favor. Don't look at me. Hear what I'm saying from that book. I want to minister to Him.

And if I minister and serve Him, and He says, “And to love the name Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast to My covenant.” What is He saying? Time, Torah, and His name. Time, Torah, and His name. Until I die, I'm glad it's on camera, time, Torah, and His name. That's all I want to talk about. Time, Torah, and His name. And why do I want to talk about time, Torah and His name? Because when the foreigners came to Israel to take them out, there were three things they told the Israelites, you can no longer do. No more time, no more Torah, and no more God's name.

I'm willing to fight the Goliaths of the life, to tell them I'm willing to stand against Goliath and say, “You can curse me by my God? No way.” I will not come to you in my own strength. I will not come to you with my seminary degree. I will not come to you with my Methodist background. Hey, I hope they're listening to me. I will not come to you with what I used to do. I want to come to you in the name of the One that is amazing. He's awesome. He's magnificent. He's available. He's able, He's willing, and He's moving right now.

So, I'm gonna end by turning it over to my 10-year friend, Michael Rood. This guy has done something radical. He got me back on TV. Thank you, Michael Rood. He is letting me share this information with the world. Now, I'm gonna tell you about it because I have to. When this book was written, it was written with the help of 500 people from around the world, 226 pages, notebook after notes after notes, over 600-plus scriptures in the back. And what I love more than anything else, in the back of this book is a CD where you can take 80, say, “80.”

Crowd: 80.

Keith: ...different names and descriptions from the Bible that Yeshua read and proclaim them in the Hebrew tongue. People are praying in His name. People are walking in His name. People are believing in His name. People are bringing it into their devotional life and into their churches. And people are starting to say, “You mean to say the name is available?” You all, Michael has done what the other TV station wouldn't do. Michael said, “Hey, they kicked it out of there? I'll take it here.” Now, Michael Rood and Abby, they've got the book. Can I get an Amen on that?

Crowd: Amen.

Keith: Now, this is the last thing I'm going to say before I turn it over to my friend, Arthur, and to Michael. Well, it's almost the last thing. Because I'm kind of mad from two nights ago. Who was here two nights ago? We had met ahead of time and Michael said, “We're gonna split this half and half. Nehemia is gonna get half, and you're gonna get half,” and I got five minutes. So now, Michael, I need the time that you were going to give me that Nehemia stole. Can I get an Amen?

Crowd: Amen.

Keith: No, no Michael, I'm right on time. Now, here's what I want to tell you guys that's even more radical. Even the “Rood Awakening” can't handle what I'm telling you right now. Even “Rood Awakening” could not handle this right here. What I have in my hand is that which was banned from TV. I have it in my hand. And so, it's not at the bookstore, unless Abby gets a change of heart. But right now, it is available. Not here, after Shabbat, if you want, go to hishallowedname.com and you can get that which is banned from television, that hopefully will be put back on television when I find somebody that's got enough guts, like Michael. Amen?

Crowd: Amen.

Keith: Now, to close…Wait a minute, hold on. What did you say, Abby?

Abby: [inaudible 55:00]

Keith: Did you ever see a preacher run? That's good business on your sense. Now, don't go to hishallowedname.com. Michael Rood will have this, which is now available in Charlotte. It will be there, you all. If you get both things, I bet you they'll even give you...Somebody say, “A discount.”

Crowd: A discount.

Keith: Now to close. I gotta tell you the last thing and I'm done. Go to the slide. You guys, Nehemia only told you half of the story. This is me in Egypt. Now, he likes to take credit that it was all about me copying Nehemia, but I want to give him a secret.

The reason I wanted to go to Egypt is that when I open my Bible, I see Egypt too many times. And I didn't care that Mubarak had just been kicked out and it was dangerous. I'm not afraid of danger when I'm walking in purpose. When I'm there with Nehemia and he's the one that says, “You know what? If he goes by himself, he might end up having more stories than me. I better go with him.”

So, here's what we did. I'm almost done, Michael. Here's what we did. We go into Egypt. Nobody is going into Egypt the week after Mubarak gets kicked out. Everybody is leaving Egypt except for me and Nehemia. In fact, it was so bad that the man that was supposed to do the deal, you know, the person that's behind the booth, he wasn't even there. He was out taking a nap somewhere. They're thinking, “Nobody's coming into Egypt except for Keith and Nehemia.”

We go into Egypt. I will not bore you, but something happened to me also. Here's what it was. As we're in Egypt, we're here, the same picture that Nehemia showed. We're there by the water and I'm out and I'm praying. And there's nobody on the beach. All I hear are the Muslim prayers. That's it. Nobody else is there except for me and Nehemia. Then he and I do something really radical. He walked up the mountain. Last time I said, “No way,” because I'm carrying the backpack because he feigned that his neck was hurt. And he said, “Keith, I can't go unless you carry the backpack.” So, guess what I did? Somebody say, “Keith is smart.”

Crowd: Keith is smart.

Keith: I hired a camel. You guys, I want to close with this. We get to the top of this mountain, and what I love about what Michael is going to do tonight, he's going to share information with you about the real Mount Sinai. But can I tell you something? So many of you are just like the Egyptians that are saying this: “But I'm very comfortable on the mountain that we call ‘Mount Sinai.’ I'm very comfortable with the pronunciation I've always known. I'm very comfortable with the information I've always had. I'm very comfortable with the tradition that makes me comfortable.” But God is saying, “We're gonna have to move from our place of comfort to the real Mount Sinai,” not only with the information about the mountain, but the information about His name.

As I got to the top of the mountain, I heard three words. I had trekked up to the top. And as I'm looking across the mountain, I heard my Father say this. If you put the slide up, He said this. “You have learned.” Father, teach me to love what You love. And Yehovah, teach me to hate what You hate. Ten years later, I only heard three words. “You have learned.” I’ve learned to love what He loves. And for those of you that judged me ahead of time because you heard I was a Methodist Pastor, don't be fooled. I've learned to hate what He hates. Can I get an Amen on that?

Crowd: Amen.

Keith: And my simple prayer is this. Three opportunities, time, Torah and His name, pick a door. Pick a door. I don't care which door you pick. You want to pick time? You want to pick Torah? You want to pick His name? Get on the other side of the door and your life will change.

Tonight, after we get a chance to see this movie and see this information…You all, it's a special thing. Tonight, if you're with your wife, tell your wife, “Hey honey, sanctify.” With your kids, “Sanctify.” Friends, “Sanctify.” Call friends, tell them, “Get to Dallas, get to the hotel.” If there are people in the city, call them. People who are online, “If you can get here, get here.” Because I will tell you something and will not take it back. Yehovah has it on His calendar to meet with us in Dallas.

I want to close with this. I simply want to blow the shofar as a sign to awaken what is in you that needs to be awakened. And if you feel it, and if you hear it, and it awakened something in you, do not be slack. Respond.

Keith: [blows shofar] Thank you, Father, for Your goodness and Your grace. Thank you for Your faithfulness. Thank You for the fights in our life. Thank You for how you've prepared us. Now help us to be ambassadors of your name, that we'll be like David, that we'll kneel down in humility and get our five smooth stones, that we might face the one who curses our God. Take the name and put it into his forehead, that he might fall face down. We bless You. We thank You. We glorify You, and we magnify You on behalf of Your name, Yehovah, which is holy. We thank You, God. And everybody say it together, “Amen.”

Crowd: Amen.

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The Name of God with Nehemia Gordon (Open Door Series – Part 3)

In Part 3 of the Open Door Series, Nehemia Gordon explains how the name of God, sacred to both Jews and Christians, has become hidden by time and tradition. Beginning with Roman persecution forbidding Jews to speak the name through rabbinical adaptations, translation errors and other misunderstandings, the one and only name of the Lord was superseded over time by titles—like “El Shaddai,” or “Adonai”. As the exiles of Israel and the others joined with them to return to the Promised Land, the name of the Lord Yehovah is again being sanctified and exalted.

Transcript

The Name of God with Nehemia Gordon (Open Door Series - Part 3)

You are listening to the Open Door Series with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Nehemia: All right, thank you very much. It’s great to be here in Texas, and I'm gonna continue talking to you a little bit about the Hebrew origins of the Lord's Prayer. I really only touched on a very small part of it, and even after this presentation, it will be a very small part of it. There's so much deepness and richness once you get into the Hebrew.

Over here, I have a picture of another manuscript of Hebrew Matthew. Before, we saw one from the British Library; this one is from Florence, Italy. And here, we can see the second line of the prayer. It starts, “Our Father in heaven,” and then it says in Hebrew, “Yitkadesh shimkha. Say, “Yitkadesh.”

Crowd: Yitkadesh.

Nehemia: Shimkha.

Crowd: Shimkha.

Nehemia: And that's really a powerful statement, because in English, we usually translate that, “Hallowed be Thy name.” What does that really mean, “Hallowed be Thy name?” It's kind of like this vague statement, “Your name is holy.” But when you look at it in Hebrew, and in Greek, the Hebrew and Greek here are identical, it means literally, “May Your name be sanctified,” which grammatically is a call to action. And Keith is gonna talk more about that, I won't steal his thunder. But “May Your name be sanctified” is a call to action. It begs the question, if we're sanctifying the name of our heavenly Father, what is His name? What is the name of our heavenly Father? And that's what the prayer is, too, our Father in Heaven.

About a year ago, I was speaking to this group of charismatic prayer warriors. And some of them were praying in tongues, and they were all over the place. And one lady was praying with Hebrew names; she was calling upon the Father using various Hebrew names. And when I was presenting on this, I said, “Okay, I'm going to pick on her and ask her, ‘What, ma'am, is the name of our Father in Heaven?’” And she said, “Well, is it El Shaday? Is it El Elyon?” And she threw out a whole bunch of titles; those are beautiful, wonderful titles of the King of Creation, but He only has one name. And that is a name that He gave and revealed to Moses when Moses asked the exact same question, “What is the name that I should tell the Israelites? You've appeared to me in the burning bush, said, ‘Go to the Israelites,’ and I'm gonna say, ‘The God of our forefathers has appeared to me.’ I need to be more specific.”

And why is that? Because their forefathers worshipped lots of gods. It says that when Terakh and Nakhor, the fathers of Abraham, were across the river, they had many, many gods. And in Egypt there were many, many gods. There was Ra and there was Ba'al from Canaan. There were more gods than we could possibly count.

So, Moses, when he appears before God at the burning bush, he says, “God, what name should I tell them?” And the answer comes in Exodus 3:15. God says, “Thus shall you say to the children of Israel,” and then we have this four-letter name. And as Keith says, when we get to this name a lot of people will shut down, they'll say, “There's controversy. I don't want to deal with this, because there are different opinions on how to pronounce this name.” In the earliest Hebrew manuscripts that have vowels, it's written “Yehovah.” Some people say it's “Yahweh” or “Yahuwa.”

And I've actually been invited to speak at some places, and they’ve said, “We want to hear you speak. You have so many things for us that we need to hear, but only if you pronounce the name, ‘Yahuwehi,’” or some other pronunciation. Everybody has a theory out there, and a lot of them will say, “If you don't pronounce it this exact way, then you have lost your salvation. Lake of fire for you, if you don't pronounce it our way.” And I'm not coming up here and telling you, “You have to pronounce God's name this particular way, or that particular way.” I say, search it out for yourself, study it for yourself. Keith Johnson has a great book he'll talk about, “His Hallowed Name Revealed Again,” an amazing book, it goes into some evidence. But at the end of the day, you need to work it out for yourself, in fear and trembling, with prayer and study.

Again, I've said, based on the earliest Hebrew manuscripts I pronounce it “Yehovah.” If you want to replace that with “Yahweh,” knock yourselves out. God said to Moses, “Thus, you say to the children of Israel, ‘Yehovah,’ or ‘Yahweh,’ the God of your fathers has sent me to you. This is My name forever. This is My memorial for every generation.”

Now, how do I know this name is still relevant today? And again, I don't want opinions or theories. Based on this verse, how do I know that the name is still relevant today in the 21st century? Because maybe that name was only relevant for the answer that God was giving Moses at that very moment. Maybe what he was saying to Moses is, “Right now, when you go to the Israelites tell them this name, and tomorrow I'll have some other name.” How do I know it's still relevant today, based on the verse? It says forever. Are we still in forever?

Crowd: Yes.

Nehemia: I think we are, to the best of my knowledge, last time I checked. And the Hebrew phrase "forever" is actually two words, “le'olam.” Say, “le'olam.”

Crowd: Le'olam.

Nehemia: We translate this "forever,” but what it literally means is “the universe.” And what you're saying when you say "le'olam" is, “for the duration of the universe.” As long as heaven and earth continue to exist, this will be true. That's what "le'olam" means. And he's saying, “As long as the universe continues to exist...” And after it ceases to exist, it won't really be of much interest to us, because we'll be dead, and so will all of our descendants. “But forever, for the existence of the universe, this is My name forever and for every generation.” And we're still in every generation, the last I checked, as well.

Now, when I was studying this with Keith, he kept asking that same question. He said, “I shook the tree, nothing fell out. How do I know this is relevant for my people?” And we looked in scripture to find the answer; don't want opinions. And here's what we found, many verses, but this is one in particular. Psalm 148 11-13. It says, “Kings of the earth, and all peoples.” Say, “All peoples.”

Crowd: All peoples.

Nehemia: “Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of the earth, both young men and maidens, old men and children, let them praise the name of Yehovah, for His name alone is exalted, his glory is above the earth and heaven.” This is in my Bible, as a Jew, and this is in your Bible as Christians, Messianics. This is in all of our Bibles.

Now, if you look in a lot of your Bibles, you won't see this, though. You'll see that in place of the name, “Yehovah” or “Yahweh,” it'll say, “LORD.” Now, why is that? And a lot of people will ask me, “Why isn't this in my Bible?” Now, this is the title page of the original 1611 King James Version, as it actually descended down from the clouds of heaven. That's how it was written, right? No? Oh, that's what I was told. Anyway, this is the original 1611 King James Version, the title page. And if you look here, you can see the biblical world as it was understood by the translators. Over here, we have Aaron with the breastplate and Moses with the 10 Commandments, the tablets. Up here is the lamb, what does that represent? You sound not sure. Okay, up here is this bird, this dove, what does that represent? And up here, the Father in heaven up in the clouds, it says “Yehovah” in Hebrew. This is an enlarged picture of it. It actually says “Yehovah” on the cover page of the 1611 King James Version.

So, somebody tells you, “Well, it doesn't appear in my English Bible. In my Bible, it only says ‘LORD.’” Tell them, “In the original one from 1611, it had it on the title page.” Now, it is preserved in seven places in the King James, and in those verses the translators decided, “If we write here ‘LORD,’ it won't make any sense.” For example, Psalm 83:18, “That men may know that Thou whose name alone is Jehovah...” And remember, if you're aware of this, in 1611 the J was interchangeable with the I, and it's actually spelled six times with a J, once with an I. So, they would have read this as “Yehovah” back in 1611, which is pretty close, a different nuance of pronunciation. “That men may know that Thou whose name alone is Yehovah, are the Most High over all the earth.”

Now, here they realized, if we write "the LORD,” it'll change His name and it won’t make any sense, which is exactly what many translators have done. Like the NIV, which is, of course, the Nearly Inspired Version, we said, they've written "the LORD.” And most translations have replaced it with "the LORD,” changing the eternal name of our Father. Now to be fair, what they did is they wrote it in capital letters. And if you read the introduction to your Bible... Who here reads the introduction to their Bible? I mean, we could barely get people to read the Bible. The introduction, most people don't read it. There's a saying in Hebrew, “A few righteous men in Sodom.” So, we've got a few righteous men in Arlington here, but most of you are not reading the introduction and I don't blame you. And so, I think it's actually kind of misleading. But they do tell you if you read the fine print, that it originally is the name “Yehovah,” or “Yahweh,” the tetragrammaton they call it, the four-letter name. And that four-letter name, which in Hebrew is four letters, Yud, say, “Yud.”

Crowd: Yud.

Nehemia: Hey.

Crowd: Hey.

Nehemia: Vav.

Crowd: Vav.

Nehemia: Hey.

Crowd: Hey.

Nehemia: That's the four-letter name of the Father. It appears in the Hebrew Bible, in the Old Testament, 6,000...Say, “6,000.”

Crowd: 6,000.

Nehemia: 800.

Crowd: 800.

Nehemia: And 28.

Crowd: And 28.

Nehemia: 6,828 times. That’s in my Bible, on average, seven times per page, depending on the size of your font and everything. But seven times per page is a lot. It's about 1,000 pages. That's actually more than all the titles put together, more than “Lord,” and "Lord" actually legitimately appears as “Adonay” in the Hebrew. “Adonay” is the Hebrew for “Master,” or Lord. It appears, “Elohim,” “God,” “El Shaday” appears, “El Elyon,” “Most High God,” I'll talk a little bit more about that tomorrow. And those legitimate titles appear less altogether than the name of the Father Himself, 6,828 times. Now, that's obviously an important name, isn't it? I would think so. Sounds important. He likes to hear His name. He says it a lot.

Now, the reason we don't say the name and you see it in our English Bibles, is our English translators learned how to translate Hebrew from Jewish Rabbis. And the Rabbis taught them a tradition I was raised with, that whenever you see the name of our Heavenly Father, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, which appears in the Hebrew text… It's not missing from the Hebrew text.

You know, I'll hear from a lot of people, “Oh, the Jews came along and removed the name from the Bible.” No, 6,828 times, that's not removed. What we were taught is whenever you see that name, to read it as "Lord,” as “Adonay.” So, that's tradition, that's not scripture.

Now, there's an older tradition, one that predates this tradition I was raised with. It goes back probably to up until the middle of the 2nd century. And this is recorded in the Mishnah, the writings of the early Rabbis. They say, “A man is required to greet his fellow using the name.” Now, I don't quote this as an authority that we're required to do this today. What I'm saying is that this was their original Jewish tradition, that predates the tradition of not speaking the name, the one that most Jews today will be familiar with. Now, this tradition that the Rabbis talk about here, that a man is required to greet his fellow using the name, they didn't pluck that out of the thin air. They tell us that they took this from the Book of Ruth, 2:4. And there it says, “Behold, Boaz was coming from Bethlehem. And he said to the harvesters, ‘Yehovah be with you.’ And they said to him, ‘Yehovah bless you.’” That was the greeting in ancient Israel. When someone was coming, you blessed him in the name of Yehovah, in the name of what we later translated as "LORD.” Does that sound familiar from anywhere, to bless someone who comes in the name of the Lord?

And actually, in the New Testament, when Yeshua comes, arguably there's a dual meaning there, that they're blessing him in the name of the Lord as he's coming, in the name of His Father, according to the New Testament, “Yehovah.” And he's also coming, according to the New Testament, in that name, as well. So, the New Testament says, is that right? It says there, “He came in the name of His Father,” which is a pretty neat trick if he never uses that name. How do you come in the name you never speak? I don't know. So, this earlier tradition predates the ban on the name that we're familiar with, that I grew up with. I was taught, whenever you see those letters, read them as a different word.

This is a tomb in the Galilee. How many people have been to this tomb in the Galilee? One man? What is the name of this tomb, who's buried here? You don't know. And you probably weren't actually there. Keith was there. This is the tomb of a Rabbi named Hananiah Ben Teradion, or Hanina Ben Teradion, according to some pronunciations. It's actually on the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. It's not marked on any maps. It's not a secret where it is, but you have to really dig to find that information. And the Rabbi who’s buried in this tomb is a Rabbi who was executed by the Romans, he was martyred. He was actually burned at the stake.

We're told by the rabbinical sources that this Rabbi was taken and he was wrapped in a Torah scroll, and they put wet tufts of wool between him and the Torah scroll to slow the burning, and then they lit him on fire. And why did they do that, according to the Talmud? Because he spoke the name of the Father the way it is written. Whenever he came upon the name, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, and he was teaching in public, he would proclaim the name, “Yehovah.” And the Romans in the time of the Hadrianic persecutions, which ended in the year 138, banned the speaking of the name.

The tradition not to speak the name comes from shortly after that. And what happened is, the Rabbis realized, “If we keep speaking this name, we're going to be put to death.” Now, whatever you say about the Rabbis, one thing that we're very good at is adapting. They saw a threat and they said, “Okay, the Romans will kill us if we do this. We're going to do something similar, as best as we can do. When the Messiah comes, He'll drive them out of Israel, and we'll be all fine.” And they thought that would happen next week, or next month, or next year. They didn't think we'd be here 1,600 years later, or 1,800 years later, still waiting for that, for the Messiah to come and reign as the flesh and blood King over Israel.

Another famous example of that is the calendar. The Romans came and abolished the Sanhedrin, forbade the Jews to proclaim the monthly sighting of the new moon. And what did the Rabbis do? They said, “We'll adapt. When the Messiah comes next week, He'll restore the original calendar, or next month or next year. Until then, we'll follow this approximated calculating system.” There are Rabbis in Israel to this day, or in modern times, who say, “Whenever the Messiah comes, may it be today...” they pray every day, “May it be speedily in our days, we will restore the biblical calendar.” So, this method of adapting is what brought us the ban on speaking the name. No one ever thought it would last forever. And the Rabbis knew it wouldn't last forever because of this verse in Zacharia 14:9. It says there, “Yehovah shall be King over the entire earth, and on that day Yehovah will be one,” say, “One.”

Crowd: One.

Nehemia: “And His name will be one,” say, “One.”

Crowd: One.

Nehemia: “And in that end time, all mankind will call upon His name.” There's another verse like this in Zephaniah 3:9. It says there, let me read it from the Bible. I don't have a slide for this. Zephaniah 3:9, it's a powerful verse. Zephaniah is one of those little books hidden away here. Oh, here it is. Zephaniah 3:9, I'll read it to you from Hebrew. It says, “Ki az e'hefokh el amim safa berura likro khulam beshem Yehovah le'ovdo shekhem ekhad,” “For then I will turn the nations to a pure tongue.” And that's a Hebrew expression, “A pure language,” it means. “To all call upon the name of Yehovah to serve Him.” And it usually is translated, “With one accord.” It literally says, “With one shoulder.” It's describing an image of all mankind gathered together, serving Yehovah, standing shoulder to shoulder, calling upon His name, in that pure language, the original language, the language from before the Tower of Babylon.

If you read in the Torah, you can see very clearly that original language is Hebrew. You know, we see all these names of people. Remember, Yeshua and Yoshia? Yeshua, “He will save,” in Hebrew Matthew. You have that throughout the first 10 chapters of Genesis, people who are named things that only make sense in Hebrew. Adam, Eve, Seth, all these people's names are Hebrew names. The original language will be restored when the Messiah comes and sits on the throne of David. Can I get an Amen?

Crowd: Amen.

Nehemia: Okay. The Rabbis admit this. It says this in the Talmud. It says, “This world is not like the world to come.” When the Rabbis say “the world to come" in this literature, they're talking about the reign of the Messiah here on earth as a flesh and blood king. They say, “In this world the name is written ‘Yehovah’ and read ‘Adonay.’” That's the tradition I was raised with, that started in the 2nd century. “In the world to come it will be one,” say “One.”

Crowd: One.

Nehemia: “Written Yehovah and read Yehovah.” And what's the proof for this? How do they know this? They quote that verse from Zachariah, that's how they know His name will be one. I want to share something that happened with the name. This is when Keith and I were traveling around South Africa. Can we see the slide? Here I'm standing in front of a place called Khayelitsha. Say, “Khayelitsha.”

Crowd: Khayelitsha.

Nehemia: This is what they call a township. Say, “Township.”

Crowd: Township.

Nehemia: This is a place in South Africa that Keith and I were not supposed to go to. We were not supposed to be there. We were traveling around, speaking at these nice middle-class venues, and all of a sudden, Keith has this burning desire to go and meet with the people living in these townships. These townships, they're very poor places, by and large. Khayelitsha is a place of 400,000 people living in these shacks with tin roofs. And we were told by some of the folks that in the winter it gets cold, and they heat their houses with kerosene. And they're living in wooden shacks with tin roofs. And sometimes, there’ll be fires that just sweep through whole areas of it, burning up people, and burning up their possessions, and killing people. I can't even imagine what it's like to live there. They have outhouses, and when you're there you smell what that means. You know, seeing it is one thing, seeing the picture, but smelling it, that's really the experience.

Well, Keith wanted us to go to Khayelitsha. And I said, “Why on earth would I want to go to Khayelitsha?” That's not on our itinerary; we had a very tight itinerary. In fact, the lady who organized our itinerary over there in South Africa, she said, “What would you like to do, besides speaking? Would you want to go to Kruger National Park or various other things?” I said, “Any spare time we have, let's fill it up with more speaking venues. I'm not a tourist, I got plenty of tourism in Israel. I'm not going there to see the sights. I want to speak.”

So, we were there for something like I believe, 16 days, and we had, I believe it was 14 venues. It was insane, I actually completely lost my voice. Well, so Keith wants to squeeze in the middle of this some township that I’d never even heard of. And he didn't have a particular one he wanted to go to. He just said, “We need to get to one of the townships, see how the real people live.” We were sitting, I remember, one evening in this home and I had... what you all call, when you go to Mexico, you Americans call this “Montezuma's revenge.” I came to call this in South Africa, “Shaka Zulu's revenge.” You know what I'm talking about, right?

Okay, so I'm there in South Africa and I'm suffering from Shaka Zulu's revenge. And I'm sitting on the couch, and I'm holding my stomach and I'm moaning. And Keith says, “We need to go to one of the townships.” I'm like, “We drove three-and-a-half hours, and spoke for three hours, me two-and-a-half hours of it, and I'm ready to go to sleep.” And the man sitting there whose house we were in, he said, “Well, you guys are driving back tomorrow morning to Cape Town to catch a flight, and I happen to know a Christian Pastor who lives in one of the townships.” And Keith said, “Tell me more.” Well, the man said, “It's a small little township, 400,000 people living in tin shacks.” He didn't tell us that part, we found that out later. He said, “It's a little township called ‘Khayelitsha.’”

Now, when he said “Khayelitsha,” this man, everyone in the room was muttering and talking, and they were having these conversations, it went dead silent. There was dead silence. And there was one woman there who grew up in Cape Town. And she said, in her thick Afrikaans accent, “You just go to Khayelitsha and they kill you.” And I'm thinking, “This is probably not a place we want to go to. I don't think we should be going there.” Of course, that only encouraged Keith. You couldn't have said anything more to encourage him.

So, we make the phone call, and we're talking to this Pastor in Khayelitsha. We have a flight out at something like 9:30, or 10 am. We're supposed to meet him at the entrance of Khayelitsha at seven in the morning. We can't go into it ourselves, because if we take a wrong turn, we're dead. I mean, this is not a place you want to get lost. He meets us at the entrance, and he takes us. And finally, we get there and he's telling us how his church was built. He actually lived in the back of his brick church, in his tiny little room with his wife and children, in one little room. And he was one step above his neighbors, because they're living in the tin roof shacks made of wood. So, he has actually brick outside. And he's telling us how the bricks were donated, and the mortar was donated by a second person. And a third person came and mixed them together and helped him build the place. I mean, it was poverty you can't even imagine.

And he's telling us the story and he's so excited and animated. And finally, he says, “Well, tell me about you guys, where are you from?” And I start to tell him, “I'm from Israel. I've lived there since 1993, blah, blah, blah.” He says, “Whoa, stop. Did you say Israel?” I said, “Yeah, I live in Jerusalem, Israel. I have since ‘93.” He says, “Do you speak Hebrew?” And I said, “Yeah.” Remember, this is a man who is what's known as a “Xhosa,” which is one of the 11 tribes of South Africa, 11 languages of South Africa. And this Xhosa man is asking me if I speak Hebrew, and I said, “Yes, of course I speak Hebrew. I've lived in Israel for many years.”

He starts to tell me, he says, “About seven years ago, I had a dream. And in that dream,” he says, “I saw four Hebrew letters.” Now, if you tell someone in English, “I'm thinking of a four-letter English word,” you're thinking of a cuss word, right? You tell someone in Hebrew, “I'm thinking of a four-letter word,” what do you think of? You think of the tetragrammaton, the four-letter name. That's the first thing that came to my mind.

And I'm thinking, “Could it be that God gave this dream to this African Pastor, a Christian Pastor?” Remember, I'm Jewish. Christian Pastors, as I understand the universe, are not supposed to get visions and dreams, certainly not of the Hebrew name of the God of Israel. What is going on here? And I say to him, “Can you write down what you saw?” He said, “No, I cannot write Hebrew.” And so, I said, “Okay, bring me a pen and paper, and I'll write it out and maybe you can recognize it.” He brings the pen, and I start to write out, “Yud,” say, “Yud.

Crowd: Yud.

Nehemia: Hey.

Crowd: Hey.

Nehemia: Vav.

Crowd: Vav.

Nehemia: Hey.

Crowd: Hey.

Nehemia: And I show it to him. And he looks at it, and he says, “Well, that's kind of what I saw.” And as he says that, he's actually writing it in air letters. And I'm thinking, “Why can't he recognize it?” He's actually writing it out right in front of me. What's going on here? And Keith, who's been silent the whole time, he's very patient with me. He walks over, and he looks over my shoulder, and he gives me that look, that quintessential Keith look, like, “What? Ma zeh?” And he says, “Nehemia, I can read Hebrew and I can barely read what you wrote.”

Now, it's true, my teachers always complained, I've always had horrible penmanship. So, Keith runs out, he actually leaves this little brick church, I don't know where he's going. He runs outside and he comes back, and what is he carrying? He's carrying a copy of his book. And I came to call this book his "little study,” ‘cause when he originally wrote it, it was essentially a study that he did really for himself. And he calls me up and he says, “Nehemia, I've done some research on the name of our Heavenly Father. Would you look at this little study I've done?” Or maybe I called it "little study.” I think I did. Over time, this study has grown to where now it's over 200 pages, and it's really a monumental masterpiece. You must get this book. Here is the cover. And he shows this Pastor the cover of his little study, and on it he sees these beautiful Hebrew letters. And without hesitation, the Pastor, what did he say, Keith?

Audience Member: “That is what I saw.”

Nehemia: He says, “That is what I saw. Those were the four letters.” Now, if someone was telling me this story, remember, I'm the skeptic, and God isn't supposed to be revealing His name to Christian Pastors. I would doubt this story, I'm totally honest with you, if I hadn't seen it for myself. And more than anything, it was seeing the look on his face. He was clearly recognizing something he'd seen before. And this happened, I'm like, “What's going on here?” You know, what you did up on the mountain, okay, I could forgive that. I can forgive you, God, because I'm a Litvak, after all. But why are you revealing your name to a Christian Pastor? What are you doing, God? You're out of control. Get back in the box. What are You doing?”

And what this has made me realize is the God of creation is bigger than the boxes that we've created for Him. And He's continuing to touch people's lives around the world with His name. Things are happening that I can't even believe. I'll talk tomorrow about Smithfield. I want to look at this verse in Acts 2:21. It says, “And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Now, this is a verse that appears as part of the scene in Acts 2, which is what's known as the “Pentecost event,” that is the Shavuot that happened 2,000 years ago. You all know what I'm talking about. And this is part of Simon Peter's Pentecost sermon.

And in the context of that sermon, 50 days…I guess, 53 days after that fateful event, what does this mean when he says, "the Lord?” What Lord is he talking about? And we could probably have debates from now until kingdom come. And the people on this side of the room would say, “When he says ‘the name of the Lord,’ he means Yeshua.” And the other side of the people would say, “He says ‘the name of the Lord,’ he means the Father.” And how would we ever know? I mean, really, we would never know. We could even start entire denominations, you know, that's what they do. They'll take the most obscure thing and say, “Okay, because we can't understand this verse, and we have our truth that we’ve received, this is where we're gonna draw the line as our denomination.”

And if we think about this, what does this mean, we really would never know, if we only had this verse. But there's another verse, and that's a verse in the Book of Joel. And if you have a good reference Bible, you already know the answer, that Peter was not only quoting this one verse, he was quoting an entire section from the Prophet Joel. And in the Prophet Joel, what he says, there in Acts it says, “And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” In Joel it says, “And it shall come to pass to whosoever shall call the on name of Yehovah shall be saved,” Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, the tetragrammaton, that four letter word. That's the name that it says in Joel.

Now, when Simon Peter’s saying this in Jerusalem on Pentecost, on Shavuot, in the Feast of Weeks, presumably he's speaking in Jerusalem next to the Temple, in Hebrew. That was the language of discourse in Israel, and certainly, it would be the language in the synagogue and when you were giving sermons. And if he's reading Joel, Joel's already in Hebrew, he doesn't have to even translate it. So, if he's reading this in Hebrew in the Book of Joel... And remember, this is 100 years before that other Rabbi was put to death, burned at the stake for speaking the name of Yehovah in public, burned at the stake by the Romans. The Romans martyred him, not the Rabbis.

Now, what would Peter have been saying in the 1st century, 100 years before that Rabbi died? Presumably, he'd actually be quoting Joel verbatim, word for word, with the name “Yehovah.” Now, how can we know for sure? And I guess we can't ever know for sure, unless we go back in time. But here's a clue, and I think it's a powerful clue. This is a page from the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is actually from a Dead Sea Scroll from a place called Nakhal Khever. Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls come from where?

Crowd: Qumran.

Nehemia: Qumran is a city on the shore of the Dead Sea. There are several other places where they’ve found scrolls, some of them from different periods. The ones from Nakhal Khever were placed there in the year 135 during the time of the Bar Kokhba uprising. That was an uprising against the Romans. It was part of the whole Hadrianic persecutions. Here in this Scroll, which is actually of Zachariah 8:23 through chapter 9:2. We could probably stop for a minute and talk about 8:23, that's a very important verse. What does it say there in 8:23 of Zachariah? Someone read it.

There, it talks about how 10 men of all the languages shall grab hold of the Jewish man. Is that right? Okay, that's for another sermon. Here in this Dead Sea Scroll, what I want to talk about is the name. This is in Greek, the Greek translation of the Book of Zachariah. And here, there are two words on the page that appear that are not Greek words. Does everybody see those words? You don't have to be a Greek scholar to see these words. It appears here and it appears here, and that is the name “Yehovah” written in what's called “Paleo-Hebrew.” Paleo-Hebrew is the original Hebrew script that was used before the Babylonian exile. When the Jews came back from Babylon, they gradually replaced the original Hebrew script with what we call in Hebrew the “Assyrian script.” That was the script used to write Aramaic, the language of the Gentiles. And when they wrote Hebrew, their Hebrew was heavily influenced by Aramaic, and they even used the Aramaic script to write their language. But when it came to the name of the Father, they wrote it out in Paleo-Hebrew.

Now, why did they do that in the Septuagint? For a number of reasons, but primarily because this name was considered so holy, it couldn't be written out in this Greek language, that they decided to write it out in the original language. And the problem came about when Gentile scribes came along, ‘cause remember, this up here, this is a Jewish copy of the Book of Zachariah in Greek. Most of the copies we have of the Book of Zachariah in Greek are Gentile copies from about 200 years later. And almost all of those have replaced the name “Yehovah” with what by then was standard Jewish tradition, where instead of Yehovah they said "Lord.” And in Greek, the word for Lord is “Kurios.” Say, “Kurios.”

Crowd: Kurios.

Nehemia: And Kurios is a very curious word. Not my best material, I admit this. So, this word “Kurios” replaces it in most of the manuscripts of the Old Testament in Greek, except for a handful of them, about five of them. And in those handful, it actually has the name of Yehovah written not in Paleo-Hebrew letters but in Greek letters. Now, how did they do that? Let's look and see what they did.

They had the name, Yehovah, and they said, “We can’t write this in Paleo-Hebrew letters. No one on earth will know what this is. We've got to replace it with Greek letters.” And they said, “Well, this kind of looks like a Greek letter, and so does this.” What is this actually? If you read it right to left, this is “Yud-Hey-Vav-Hay. And they said, “Okay, the hey looks like what Greek letter?” What Greek letter does it look like? It looks a little bit like the Greek letter pi, like we use in mathematics to this day, 3.14. And so, instead of the two heys, they wrote pi and pi. And they didn't know what this was, the vav, or what that was, the yud. And in place of those, they decided, “Okay, after every consonant in Greek, we have to write a vowel.” And the vowels they decided to write were the Greek letter iota or ayota, you may know that as. So, they ended up with pi iota pi iota. And this word in Greek is pronounced “peepee.” No, I'm serious, “peepee.”

And there were actually several manuscripts of the Old Testament in Greek, where it says, “And peepee spoke unto Moses saying, ‘Thus sayeth peepee to the Prophets.” Even in Greek this sounded utterly ridiculous, and they said, “We've got to get peepee out of our Bibles.” And eventually, they said, “Okay, the Jews have now, under Roman pressure, decided to replace Yehovah with Lord, with Adonay. So, we’ll write “Kurios,” this curious word that replaces it.

Now, that's a fact that that happened in the Old Testament, ‘cause we have the documents to show it. What happened in the New Testament? That's speculation. You know, I try to stay away from speculation. But certainly, we see that happening in the Old Testament, and I think it's reasonable to suggest that it may have happened in the New Testament. Either way, even in Greek, what was written in Peter's words was probably the word “Yehovah” in Paleo-Hebrew, in the original Greek of Acts, which of course we don't have. We have copies, of copies, of copies from 200, 300 years later.

Okay, I want to talk about this really quickly. I'm going to try to end early, to give Keith a little bit of extra time, because I took so much of his time before. But before that, I want to talk about why I think it's so important. You know, Yeshua preached this message, teaching people to sanctify the name of the Father. And when I first started going out with Keith and was talking about this, I had no intention of talking about the name. I thought, “Well, everybody knows about the name of Yehovah, I don't need to talk about that.” There are so many other things. I mean, there's a powerful message of reconciliation, actually, in the prayer, “Forgive us the debt of our sins as we forgive the debts of those who sinned against us.” There are so many deep messages there just in that section, that the first time I preached on this, it was on that topic. And I didn't even mention this whole issue of the name.

And the reason I decided to share this thing on the name is something in this passage in Isaiah 56. And here, to understand this passage, we have to put ourselves in the mindset of the Prophet. We have to go back 2,700 years. Isaiah preached in the 8th century BC. He was very active during the time of the Assyrian invasions in 732, 721 and 701. Those were the three invasions. He preached before those invasions and after those invasions. His message, he would stand up in the public square, get on top of a soapbox, and he would say, “Thus sayeth Yehovah.” And that's how this prophecy opens. So, let's try to put ourselves back 2,700 plus years in the time of Isaiah, and hear his words, “Thus says Yehovah, ‘Keep judgment and do righteousness, for My salvation is close to coming, and My righteousness to be revealed.’”

By the way, what's the Hebrew word for “salvation?” Actually, the Hebrew word for salvation is “yeshu'a.” You might think that's splitting hairs, but it's an important difference. Yeshua is derived from this word, but the word is a slightly different word. “My salvation, yeshu'a, is close to coming and My righteousness to be revealed.” And then it says, “Blessed is the man who does it, and the son of Adam who grabs hold of it. He who keeps the Sabbath from desecrating it…” I'm reading from the Hebrew, “and keeps his hand from doing all evil.”

Now, if you were a Jew, and you were walking by in the public square and you heard the Prophet standing on the soapbox, preaching these words, would you think this applied to you? Presumably, you would, there'd be no question that this applied to you. But what if you were a Gentile in Jerusalem at that time? You were one of those eunuchs of the kings, who were the ambassadors from all over the world. Jeremiah talks about these ambassadors as the way he spread his message to the nations. He would preach to them, they spoke Hebrew, and they would then go out and convey the message all over the ancient world.

In Isaiah's time, if you were one of those men, those Gentiles sent by your king to Jerusalem, or if you were a merchant who had settled in Jerusalem, and you heard the Prophet speaking these words, would you think it applied to you? You'd probably think, “Well, he says ‘man’ and he says, ‘son of Adam,’ and it's true I'm a man. And it's true I'm a son of Adam, but he talks about the Sabbath and the covenant. And we know from Exodus that the Sabbath is the sign of the covenant between the God of Israel and the people of Israel.” And so, you might say to yourself if you were a Gentile in the 8th century BC, hearing Isaiah, “That doesn't apply to me. He's speaking to the Jews, not to me. He's speaking to those people who have a covenant between their God and them. Although I, as a Gentile, may believe in the God of Israel, I have no part of the Sabbath or that people.” And many people apparently thought that, because the very next words in verse 3 is Isaiah addressing those Gentiles. What it says in verse 3 is, he says, “Let not the son of the Gentile…” and the word there is “nekhar,” say, “Nekhar.”

Crowd: Nekhar.

Nehemia: Nekhar they translated “stranger” or “foreigner,” that's the Hebrew word for Gentile, undisputedly. “Let not the son of the Gentile who joins himself to Yehovah...” and the word for joining there, it's very interesting. It's the same root as the word “Levite.” If you look at the reason for the name Levite, look at the origin of it in Genesis. It has to do with Leah joining herself to her husband. Here it's speaking about the Gentiles who join themselves, who Levite themselves, say, “Levite.”

Crowd: Levite.

Nehemia: Who Levite themselves to Yehovah. “Let not them say, ‘Yehovah has surely separated me from His people.’” ‘Cause that's what many of them were thinking, “I don't really have anything to do with that God.” Or, “Even if I join myself to that God of Israel, I'm not really part of His people. I'm a separate category, I don't belong to His people.” He's saying, “You must not say that.” He then talks about the eunuchs; we'll skip over that for the sake of the children and go to verse 6. In verse 6, he says, “And the sons of the Gentiles who join themselves, who Levite themselves…” Say, “Levite.”

Crowd: Levite.

Nehemia: “Who Levite themselves to Yehovah to serve Him, and to love the name of Yehovah, to be His servants, all those who keep the Sabbath from desecrating it, and grab hold of my covenant.” And this is one of the reasons, this verse, that I decided that I need to go and include this part of Yeshua's message of sanctifying the name.

And it was really something that happened, now we're coming on two years ago, when Keith and I were speaking over, I believe it was in Colorado. And Keith had talked about the name and I had sort of mentioned it. And then, we were sitting in the home of this man afterwards, who was our host there. They usually don't put us up in these nice hotels like they do here, we're usually in people's houses. We're in this man's house. Keith was sitting there in the living room with him. I was in the dining room, munching on a bowl of shredded wheat, which I like to eat after my presentations. I'm sitting there and I'm chomp, chomp, chomp, and Keith is talking to the man back and forth, and they're talking about the name. Now, this man is what I would call -- and I hope this doesn't offend anybody -- but he's what I call a “Jewabe.” Have you met some of those people, a Jewabe? A Jew wannabe? And I'm not saying that to insult him. I guess, I'm being a little bit obnoxious, but what I mean is he loved God, he loved the God of Israel. And being a Christian, he realized, “Okay, Jesus is a Jew. I want to be like the Jews.” Just like that messianic Gentile I met all those years ago, this man wanted to be like the Jews, and he emulated the Jews in all kinds of ways. The man was in his 70s, and at his messianic congregation they did a bar mitzvah for him.

Now, you have to understand. A bar mitzvah, from where I come from, is what you do for 13-year-old boys. So, this man in his 70s is doing it. Okay, I'm sure for him that was very moving and beautiful. It sounds strange to me, but I could see from talking to him, and hearing him, that he loved God as much as I love God. And he's sitting there talking to Keith, and he says, “When I came into this whole thing of the Hebrew Roots, they told me, ‘Never speak the name ‘Jesus.’ Jesus is an evil name. Only call Him Yashua.’” That's what he was told. I'm not saying that. That's what he was told.

And one day he's thinking, and he says, “If I'm supposed to call the son ‘Yashua’ ‘cause that's His true name,” so they told him, “what should I call the Father?” And he went to his congregation leaders. And he said, “You told me to call the son ‘Yashua,’ what should I call the Father?” And they said to him, “You don't need to know that name.” And I remember, he’s sitting there and he says this to Keith, “They told me I don't need to know that name.” And Keith says, “It's in your Bible in Hebrew. I wish I could just show it to you.” And the man said, “But they told me I don't need to know that name.” And Keith says, “But I wish I could just show it to you.” And the man said, “They told me I don't need to know that name.” And Keith said, “I wish I could just show it to you.”

And I'm eating my shredded wheat, and I'm thinking, “Oh God, Keith, just go show it to him. Your Bible’s in the other room, just do it.” And then, the man got up from his own couch, and he was about to walk out of the room. He was about to walk out of his own living room. And I saw the fear in his eyes, the fear of being confronted with the name that his leaders had told him he didn't need to know, and he shouldn't know, that it was dangerous for him to know, that he needed to stay away from and avoid. And when I saw that, it broke my heart. It made me think of this verse which speaks about the son of the Gentile who joins himself to Yehovah, the one who loves the name of Yehovah. That's what it says in verse 6. “Who grabs hold of His covenant and keeps the Sabbath.” That someone like that would be told not to love the name, to fear the name of the Father, it broke my heart. And I realized, when Yeshua taught the multitudes and intended this message to go forth far beyond the Galilee, and He taught them to sanctify the name of the Father, he had an intention there for that name not to be hidden, not to be suppressed, not to be feared, but to be sanctified. Can I get an Amen?

Crowd: Amen.

Nehemia: Well, the prophecy doesn't end here. In verse 7, it says, “And I will bring them to My Holy mountain and I will make them rejoice in My house of prayer.” This is the most famous verse in the Bible, am I right, just about, in the Old Testament. “I'll make them rejoice in My house of prayer, their burnt offerings and peace offerings shall be accepted upon my altar, for my house should be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Say, “All nations.”

Crowd: All nations.

Nehemia: That phrase, “A house of prayer for all nations,” I mean, this whole congregation is named after it. It's one of the most famous verses in the Bible. Most people stop reading here. They got to the famous verse and we're done. But the next verse is the key verse to me, and this is verse 8.

Now, verse 8, I'm going to publicly share that this is a verse I don't believe. Uh-oh. Michael, you took a big risk. It might have been a mistake, I don't know, but this is a verse I do not believe. And let me read it to you and I’ll tell you why.

It says, “Thus says Lord Yehovah who gathers in the dispersed of Israel. ‘I will gather others unto those who I have gathered.’” And I don't believe this verse. I believe that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. And some people think I'm nuts for that. They think, “Oh, what are you talking about? It was billions of years.” I believe with every fiber of my being, that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, six literal days. That's what I believe, laugh at me if you want. But I don't know it for a fact. It's a belief. And why don't I know it for a fact? Because I wasn't there.

And I believe that God took my ancestors out of Egypt and gave us the 10 commandments on the anniversary of this day, 3,500 years ago. But I don't know it for a fact, ‘cause I wasn't there. This verse I don't need to believe, because I've lived this verse. And what I have up here is actually something I stumbled upon by accident. It's a page from… Can we get the slide? This is page from a ship's manifest, from the USS Mauritania. That's the name of my great-grandfather, and he was listed on the ship's manifest when he arrived at Ellis Island. I had no idea that he even went through Ellis Island. I actually had a 12-hour stopover in New York, and I said, “What am I going to do all day? I don't have any money. I'll go to Ellis Island, that's cheap.” And I end up there in Ellis Island, and there's a computer, and I go and I look up his name just for kicks, and I find it.

And I realize that this is the fulfillment of this prophecy. It talks here about God gathering Israel from the four corners of the earth. And I realize that I've literally been gathered in and privileged to walk the streets of Jerusalem, to breathe the air in Jerusalem. For 2,000 years my ancestors wandered the globe. They were on boats from this country to that country. Nowhere was their home, and finally, after 2,000 years, I get to live this prophecy. I don't need to believe this prophecy, I've lived it.

And I also realized at that time that if my ancestor hadn't been on this boat, I wouldn't be here today. The rest of the family who was left behind in Europe, they're all dead. I actually went to Yad Vashem, Israel's national Holocaust Memorial, and I typed in the name “Gordon.” I get a lot of people who say, “Oh, you're of Scottish ancestry, because you're Gordon.” But Gordon is actually a famous name of Lithuanian Jews.

And I was curious, how many Gordons were killed in the Holocaust? They actually had the names of about half the people killed in the Holocaust, three million names at Yad Vashem. You can go and type it in. I think you can even do it online. And I typed in the name "Gordon" there, and it gave 1,000 names, and then it stopped. It said, “We only give 1,000 names. You have to click for more results to get more.” I thought, “If he hadn't been on that boat, I just wouldn't be here today.” And so, it's a literal fulfillment of this prophecy, that He gathered me in from the diaspora, just like he promised 2,700 years ago.

I mean, when he said this 2,700 years ago, when Isaiah preached these words in the public square in Jerusalem, my ancestors hadn't even been exiled yet. They said, “What is this guy talking about? He's crazy. He gathers in the dispersed of Israel? We're here in Jerusalem. We're gonna defeat the Assyrians, we're gonna win and then we'll defeat anybody else who comes.” And then they were scattered twice, and then gathered back in like He promised.

And the reason that this is so powerful, I think, isn't just that He gathered me in and saved me and my entire family from the ovens of Europe. But I'm seeing all over the world, Keith, gathering in those others. I'm seeing on every continent, he's gathering people, and people who can't explain it. They shook the family tree, and nothing fell out. There's no Jews that they know of in their ancestry, but something's burning in their heart and it wasn't bad pizza. It's burning in their heart, and they know that the God of Israel is calling them to His covenant, and they can't explain why. And it's this prophecy. He said, “Just as I gather in the dispersed of Israel, I will gather others unto those who I have gathered.” This is what we're seeing all over the world.

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Discovering Common Ground with Keith Johnson (Open Door Series – Part 1)

Open Door Series Part 1 features Keith Johnson speaking on the topic of "Discovering Common Ground." Johnson relates the fascinating beginnings of his prophetic friendship with Nehemia Gordon. A dream led Johnson to Jerusalem in search of a Torah scroll and ultimately to an encounter with Gordon, who taught him to read the sacred text in its original language, history, and context. The duo’s unique partnership illustrates the “mixed multitude” that stands with Israel and the God of Israel as the people fulfill their destiny as a light to the nations.

Transcript

Discovering Common Ground with Keith Johnson (Open Door Series - Part 1)

You are listening to the Open Door Series with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Keith: It is such an honor to be here.

The reason I'm mostly honored is that the Creator of the Universe is once again calling us back to His mountain. And something amazing happened at His mountain. He called a mixed multitude of people out of a place of bondage to a place of freedom. What I love about this meeting here today is that I sense there are people here that know Egypt. There are people here who really understand Egypt. How many of you all would raise your hand and say, “I've been to Egypt”? The good news is this - we are coming out.

But here's the shocking thing about what the Creator of the Universe is choosing to do. He's deciding to use people, places and things, that those that are in the place of what's called "false power" do not know and do not understand. He's choosing to call people in ways that are not normal to the normal folks. He's doing something that I call unique. Now, the reason I know this is because it happened to me. And now, 10 years later, I'm laying in my bed this morning, and He's saying to me again, “Keith, I'm at it again. I'm orchestrating, I'm pulling together, I'm bringing together a beautiful symphony.”

And what He did for me is that He took me to a place called Colorado Springs. And in Colorado Springs, He took me up to a mountain called Pikes Peak. And as I was on the mountain called Pikes Peak, I said a prayer that radically changed my life.

The prayer was simply this: “Father, teach me to love what You love.” And I'd like to tell people that I should have stopped right there. But I added a second half. I said, “And teach me to hate what You hate.” And He raised His hands. And He began to do this. And He began to show me the things that He loved, and then He showed me the things that He hates.

A year later I find myself sleeping, again. And I had a dream, say "dream". And in this dream, there was a scroll flying over my head. And there was a lady's voice that said, “If you can tell me where the scroll will open up, you win a million dollars.” I quickly said, “Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 3.” The scroll came down, it opened up and immediately I woke up and heard this voice: “I have not changed My appointment with you to be in My city for Shavuot.” I don't even think I really understood what Shavuot was.

I woke up, went downstairs, told my wife Andrea. I said, “Andrea, I've been called to Jerusalem for the time of Shavuot in historic times, Pentecost, and I must go.” Now, something happened to me very deep. It was a deep passion that I had for that last year while I was trying to relearn Hebrew, because in seminary I had learned Greek and I'd learned Hebrew, but I was trying to relearn Hebrew, and as I was trying to relearn Hebrew, I had come across Psalm 119, and I said that's where I'm going to try to learn it in Hebrew. And I'm in Psalm 119 for a year. But there was something deeper. I had a passion to own my own Torah scroll. You all, I would go so far as to say this - I had been given vision to receive my own Torah scroll. Now, I've learned something, and I like to say it everywhere I go. Whenever… say “whenever”.

Crowd: Whenever.

Keith: Come on y'all, it's Shabbat. Say “whenever”.

Crowd: Whenever.

Keith: “The Creator.”

Crowd: The Creator.

Keith: Sing it. Say “whenever”.

Crowd: Whenever.

Keith: “The Creator.”

Crowd: The Creator.

Keith: “Gives vision.”

Crowd: Gives vision.

Keith: “He always.”

Crowd: He always.

Keith: “He always.”

Crowd: He always.

Keith: “Gives provision.”

Crowd: Gives provision.

Keith: So I have a vision to own a Torah scroll. The problem was, I didn't win the million dollars. I called all sorts of people and I told them, “Hey, I've been called, I want to own a Torah scroll. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.” And people told me over and over and over again, “You cannot have one. You are a gentile, even if you had won the money, no Jew is going to sell you a Torah scroll.” And so, basically, they convinced me, I thought, that I couldn't. But they didn't convince me to the point where I decided I was going to bring an empty suitcase with me to Jerusalem.

The problem I had was, I didn't know anyone in Jerusalem. All I knew is that the Father was calling me to be there, but somebody say “whenever”.

Crowd: Whenever.

Keith: With the vision came provision. I called my friend Hardy Nickerson. Hardy Nickerson used to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He knew some friends in Florida who knew some other people who knew some other people who knew Michael Rood. Now, Hardy said this to me, “Keith, if you're going to go to Jerusalem, do not go on a tour. Find someone that lives there that you can spend time with.” I said, “Okay.” Now, I said, “Hardy, would you like to come with me?” He said, “Well, I haven't been called to that.” [laughter]

It happened to be in around 2002, I believe it was, just after 2001. You guys know what happened in 2001, and everything that was happening in Israel. The State Department said, “Do not go to Israel, it's not good for you to go to Israel, it's not a good time for you to go to Israel.” The time that I'd had the dream was right around the time of Passover, there were major problems going on in Israel. They had the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, who had the hostages, and the list goes on and on and on.

But he did say to me, “Keith, I bless you as you go. Find someone that lives there.” He knew friends who knew my friend Reggie White. Reggie White and I have been very, very close friends. Reggie knew Michael Rood. And through the grapevine someone said, “I know what we’ve got to do. Keith’s kind of nuts, let's call Michael Rood. [laughter] Michael won't be afraid of what's happening here.” They called Michael over the phone and said, “Michael, there's a man that needs to come and visit you in your house.” Michael said, “No problem.”

And that was just about it. He invites me to come to his house. So I come with my empty suitcase. Michael doesn't ask me for anything. I come in, I meet him, I talk. He has food there, we're eating, we're fellowshipping, we're doing what we're doing. He says, “Whatever you feel like you need to do, you do.” So every day I would walk in the Old City of Jerusalem. One day I come across this man named Zaki. Say “Zaki”.

Crowd: Zaki.

Keith: Zaki called himself an Arab Christian. And I said, “Zaki, listen, I have a phone number of a man who supposedly owns Torah scrolls. The problem is, if I call the number, which I can't even figure out how to call it in Israel, the people don't speak English.” He says, “No problem.” I said, “Are you willing to work with me on this and go where I need to go to look at these Torah scrolls?” He says, “No problem, I will go with you where you need to go if you will go with me where I want you to go.”

Now you all, Michael, I've never told this story. It's taken 10 years to get his permission. Michael said this to me when I was in his house, “You have the freedom of Jerusalem, just don't go to the West Bank.” Makes sense to me. Right, Michael? He said, “Just don't go to the West Bank.” Where did the Arab want to take me, you all?

Crowd: The West Bank.

Keith: And I had to make a decision - either Michael or the vision. I decided I would go with the vision, and then eventually Michael would catch up. Can I get an amen on that?

Crowd: Amen.

Keith: See, some of you guys have vision and there are people in your life that just ain't quite with your vision right now. But if you - come on, somebody - will keep doing what He calls you to do, I might take 10 years, but Michael's right there with the vision that God gave me. Amen? It might take 10 years, but God will not be unfaithful.

I went with the man to the West Bank. He took me to Beit Lechem. You know Beit Lechem? Bethlehem. And I was there, and there was nobody on the street, no tourists on the street. I could tell you stories. I mean, I'll tell you some stuff that is sensational, but I want to move on. But if you want to eat lunch with me later, I’ve got some stories. Don't just think Nehemia's got all the stories, okay? I’ve got some stories!

The guy takes me to the West Bank. We're there, we're spending time, we're walking in the streets. There are no tourists there. The church had just been released from this hostage situation. We're walking around. Finally, we get done, we get in the car, I hand him the phone number. He calls the phone number, on the other end of the phone there's a young man speaking perfect Hebrew. Now, he also could speak Hebrew. He spoke at least three languages. Do you guys know if you speak three, you're trilingual? If two, you're bilingual. And if you're one, you're a Methodist American. [laughter] I couldn't speak anything other than English. I couldn't have communicated with the young man, but God, say “God”.

Crowd: God.

Keith: …grabbed an Arab man. Is that possible?

Crowd: Yes.

Keith: To help me fulfill His vision. The Arab man drives me in silence. He talks to the boy on the phone. The boy tells him where he lives. He gets off the phone, the Arab man's face changes. He says, “It is not safe for me to take you where we need to go. This place is called Ma'ale Adumim. It is a Jewish settlement,” is what he called it. And I'm thinking to myself, “Now, you just took me to the West Bank. Get in the car, because we're going to Ma'ale Adumim.”

We get in the car, we go to Ma'ale Adumim. The man who owns the Torah scrolls is Jewish. He happens to be out of town in Greece. He has a friend from South Africa staying at his house watching his family. The Arab man and the Methodist pull up into Ma'ale Adumim, and the white South African meets us. We pull into the place, we look at each other, I’m thinking, “Uh oh, something's happening here.” He takes us into the apartment.

When we get into the apartment, there are one, two, three Torah scrolls. When I see the Torah scrolls, my heart begins to leap. I'm thinking, “You’ve got to be kidding me, I'm so close.” The phone rings. It happens to be the man who lives in Greece - the Jewish man. He calls on the phone. The friend from South Africa tells him, “I have two people here,” an Arab and a Methodist, “they're here to look at the Torah scrolls,” and the Jewish man says, “Let me speak to the man on the phone.” I talk to the Jewish man on the phone. He says, “Do you see the three Torah scrolls?” “Yes.” He says, “Do you know which one you want?” I'm thinking, “Yeah, the one that fits in my empty suitcase.” He says these words: “Take the scroll home, we'll talk about the price later.”

[Crowd cheering]

Keith: The Arab man says to me, “It is a holy book; we must take it home immediately.”

I had never heard anyone call a Torah scroll a holy book. You all, I had been to the seminary, the cemetery, whatever you want to call it. I'm an ordained United Methodist pastor. I've been in ministry for 20 years, I've read and I have preached and I have taught. I have never heard any of my colleagues call a Torah scroll a holy book, but an Arab man says it's holy.

[applause]

We put it in the back of the car. We drive to Michael's house. Michael has set up a meeting with me to meet this man named Nehemia Gordon from the Hebrew University. Now, at this point, I'm thinking one thing. “Do I really have time to meet Nehemia Gordon from the Hebrew University? I just got a Torah scroll!” Then I'm thinking to myself, “Wait a minute, what happens if this guy, Nehemia Gordon from the Hebrew University, could help me with my Torah scroll?”

So we go to dinner, Michael sets up the dinner. And the same thing that happened last night happened at dinner; Michael and Nehemia talked the whole time. [laughter] That's alright. But at the end, they let me speak. And so, at the end, I tell Nehemia Gordon the story. I said, “Nehemia, I've been called here, I had a dream. Here’s a situation, I got a Torah scroll, it's at Michael's house, would you come and see it?” And he kind of hemmed and hawed and he said later to me he thought I simply was nuts. Another good old-fashioned Christian who's been duped, nuts. He's got a fake Torah scroll and he wants me to come and let him… Okay, I'm going to show him something.

So Nehemia Gordon comes with Michael Rood to Michael's house, and he walks up the stairs and he sees the Torah scroll. Now, you all, I think we have here... let's see. No, it is not there. We have there, and that's okay, it doesn't need to be there. We have even better than that, we actually have an actual Torah scroll. But what was interesting about this particular Torah scroll that I selected is that the words on the outside of the Torah scroll, beautiful red velvet, were words from Isaiah, which were a prophetic statement that said people like me will come and get the Torah and bring it to the world.

[applause]

So we walk into Michael's house. Nehemia comes up, we see the Torah scroll, he says, “Do you know what these words are?” And he begins to tell us what the words are in Hebrew. After that, we take the cover of the Torah scroll off, we unroll the Torah scroll in Michael's house, and I say, “Nehemia, would you be willing to read the Torah scroll?” He said, “No problem.” As Nehemia begins to read the Torah scroll in perfect Hebrew, I listen in perfect English. No clue what he's saying, he's reading in Hebrew. Michael's there, I'm there, a few other people are there. I said, “Nehemia, what is it you're reading? He says, “I'm reading here in Leviticus chapter 23 about the holiday of Shavuot.”

Okay, you didn't get it. A black man and an Arab man went to a Jewish man's house. [laughter] Well, a white South African man let us into his house. There were one, two, three Torah scrolls. Let me back up a little further. I had a dream, and in the dream, there was a Torah scroll flying over my head, and at the end of the dream, the Creator said, “Meet Me in My city for Shavuot”!

[crowd cheering]

Now, what I love about Maestro, what I love about Maestro... I have told this story. But you know, as I'm telling this story in the presence of my friend, Michael, there is something that is happening inside me, because Michael was there. And as Nehemia is reading Leviticus chapter 23, I start doing my shout and I start doing my dance, because I'm thinking, “Maestro is working it out again. He's brought a Jewish man to help a Methodist man understand the Torah scroll in Michael Rood's house!”

I say to Nehemia, “Nehemia, you and I are going to be friends.” He said, “No, we're not.” [laughter] I said, “Nehemia, you're going to teach me to read the Torah scroll.” He said, “No, I will not.” He's watching me singing and dancing and shouting. Now you all know where Nehemia got that from. [applause] I'm singing and I'm dancing and I'm shouting, and Michael's over there looking at the moon - what is going on?

The next day, Michael had worked it out for me to be with Nehemia in the Old City for a tour. And over and over again I'd walk with this Jewish man. And as I would walk with him, something happened that was radical. I'd ask him a question, he would answer. However, he would never answer the way that we used to answer in the church. “Well, I think the Bible says blah, blah, blah.” He would sit down and open up his Bible and read the verse. Now, this happened two or three times, and finally I peeked over his shoulder, come to find out that what he was reading was all in Hebrew. This caused me great angst. I'm the Methodist pastor. I'm the one from seminary. I'm the one who's got his eyes open. Why, God, would you have the Jew being able to read something that I can't read?

And I'm going to tell you what happened. After a full day with Nehemia, it is the only argument I have ever won with him. I decided, “Nehemia, you are a part of God's vision, you will fulfill God's vision in my life, you will teach me to read my Torah scroll,” and somebody say, “it happened”.

Crowd: It happened.

Keith: Ten years later, Nehemia and I are traveling around the world speaking, preaching and teaching. And something really interesting happened. As we were going through our studies together, we actually came up with an entire curriculum, where I would learn Hebrew first in the Tanakh. Then Nehemia did something really interesting, you all. And you know, Nehemia doesn't talk now like he used to talk. Ten years ago, Nehemia was a very, very astute, very strong, not of many words. And so, he calls me on the phone, he says, “I've heard from some people that you as a Christian, all you want is my soul. So therefore, we're going to have two rules. The first rule is - I don't try to convert you, and you don't try to convert me.” I said, guess what? “No problem.” Then he says to me, “The second rule is this - no Jesus stuff, no New Testament stuff, only the Tanakh.” And I'm thinking to myself - sounds good to me. Now, why would I say it sounds good to me? Because the Bible that Yeshua read is the same Bible that Nehemia was reading.

Thank you, man of God. You all didn't get excited about that? Let me say that again. The Bible that Yeshua read when he went into the Temple were the Hebrew scriptures, looked just like that. And they have bound that Bible into a book called the Hebrew Bible. Now, I'm going to tell you a secret. I hope the people online don't get offended, but since you're a part of the orchestration of the Creator of the Universe, I'm going to tell you a secret. Yeshua did not read the King James Version.

Crowd: Amen.

Keith: I didn't get enough amens on that.

Crowd: Amen.

Keith: Can I tell you another secret? He didn't even speak English. [laughter] I'm going to tell you something really radical. He didn't even have the Nearly Inspired Version, the NIV. He read the Hebrew text, he read the Ketuvim, he read the Torah, he read the Nevi'im, he read the Tanakh. That is what the word of God was that he had. And Nehemia said to me, “None of that New Testament stuff,” and I said to him, “No problem.”

Then something happened. Nehemia calls me on the phone, about four years later, and he's got this real quiet voice. “Keith?” “Yes, Nehemia?” “I would like to suspend one of the rules.” Did you hear me? The Jewish man called the Methodist and said, “I'm going to suspend one of the rules.” Which rule do you think I thought he wanted to suspend? I'm remembering again - the four spiritual laws, I'm ready, I'm going to get him…

He says, “I would like to study with you the New Testament.” Now, you all, I'm going to tell you something. I was more excited about that rule being suspended than the other one. And let me tell you why. If Nehemia doesn't suspend that rule, you don't get changed. If he doesn't suspend that rule, people around the world aren't being changed. If he doesn't suspend that rule, we stay in the Tanakh and maybe we never get to talk to you. Because when he suspended the rule, he said, “Keith, I have access,” Michael talked about it last night, “to the Hebrew Matthew in Hebrew, and I would like to approach Hebrew Matthew the same way that we approached the Tanakh.”

So for the next few years, all we did was study Tanakh and the Hebrew New Testament Matthew. Then it happened - we come across a section in Hebrew Matthew that changed our lives. It's called the Lord's Prayer. Say “Lord's Prayer”.

Crowd: Lord’s prayer.

Keith: In Hebrew, the Avinu. And as we're reading this particular part of Matthew, and we're studying it, we realize it is unfair for us to keep it to ourselves. We have to share this information with the world. And then the second thing happened. We had some folks who like the King James Bible, and if you open up to Amos chapter 3 verse 3 you will see this verse. We had Jews call Nehemia and Methodists call me and say these simple words, “According to the Bible, you two should not be walking together.” Amos 3:3 says this, “Can two walk together, lest they be agreed?”

And you know what? They were right. If we're reading the King James Bible, there are some things that Nehemia and I do not agree on. For example, he wants to wear a pink tie. I say it's a bad mistake. [laughter] He and I have traveled together, we've been in the same hotel room together, there are some things that he and I just don't agree on. So according to this verse, we shouldn't be walking together. That's what they told us. So we did a really, really radical thing. We opened up the Bible that Yeshua read, together. We turned to Amos 3:3 in his translation, and here's what we see: Amos 3:3 in Hebrew says this, “Can two walk together without having met one another?” Do you see the difference? Now, I could go into depth on the Hebrew word. You know, it's the same word for mo’ed, you know, “meeting”. Come on, say “meeting”. Meeting together, and what we decided is that we would meet together on the common ground of the same Bible that Yeshua read. That was our meeting place.

So this became the place for common ground. You all, it absolutely changed our life. There's a verse I want you to go to in Matthew 22:37. And here's what it says. Now, I'm going to go back to the days when I used to be a good old fashioned Methodist preacher every Sunday morning preaching, and there'd always be a small percentage of people in your church that actually read the Bible. Can I get an amen?

Crowd: Amen.

Keith: And many of you here today are those people. Because as you read the Bible, you started saying, “Now, wait a minute, I've got a question about this and a question about that.” And if you're a good Methodist pastor, what you usually say is, “Well, you need to pray about it,” or “we'll talk about it another time.” But when people begin to ask the kinds of questions that you ask, it can become a problem, especially if you as a pastor have not prepared yourself in the text that you're trying to teach.

Now, let me stop with a little commercial. I will probably get in trouble with this. For two years I have been traveling with Nehemia to messianic congregations around the country, and even different parts of the world. I thought that the Messianics would take the approach of adding a little bit of the Christianity and adding a little bit of the Jewish side of things, and that they would at least from the Jewish side study the word in depth in its original language, history and context. Do you know what I have found? I have yet to find very many messianic preachers, or teachers, who study the very book that Yeshua read. And yet, they say, “I am rabbi, I'm in charge and I'm large, and I've got this, and I've got that.” And I'm saying, “How can you teach the people if you're not interacting with the text?”

Now, this is why you guys are probably not going to let me back this afternoon, because let me say something. If somebody is trying to give you information, and they're trying to give you inspiration, and they can't show you where they got it and show you how they got it, and you can't read it for yourself, tell them, “Sorry, not interested.”

This is what's happening right now in the religious movement. There are too many people that are focusing on the “tions”, you know - the denominations, and the “isms”, you know - the isms. All these sort of things that have nothing to do with this.

Turn to Matthew 22:37. And I'm just going to give it to you from the English, and it says here, “Jesus said after asking the question, what is the most important commandment, Jesus said this, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” M-I-N-D, Matthew 22:37. Now, if I do something radical - and this is what I did love about Michael when I met him. He would take his Bible and he would have different versions of his Bible, and he would ask, “Why does this verse not match with this verse?” And he would go in depth asking these questions. So I did the same thing with Matthew 22:37. I looked in Mark, and I looked in Luke, because supposedly Mark and Luke are looking at the same thing that Matthew is looking at, and they should actually quote it exactly the way that Matthew quotes it. But something happens that is what I call “an uh oh moment.” Say “uh oh”.

Crowd: Uh oh.

Keith: Mark 12:30 says this, “You shall love him with all your mind and with all of your strength.” Luke 10:27 says, “You should love him with all your strength and with all of your mind.” Luke switches it, Mark switches it, they both add words to supposedly what Yeshua spoke. That's a problem.

So what happens? The Creator of the Universe, He's called Maestro, He tells the Litvak Jew, Nehemia Gordon: “Nehemia?” “Yes?” “I'm going to need you to study Hebrew Matthew. There are some issues that can be answered, that cannot be answered by those in the movement, because many of those in the movement have not taken the time or had the access to the information that could answer these questions.”

So what do we do? We study the entire book of Matthew, we come across this verse, and something very powerful happens. We go to Hebrew Matthew, and we see this. That in Hebrew Matthew, what Yeshua was doing, he was quoting exactly what verse? Somebody tell me.

Crowd: Deuteronomy 6:5.

Keith: Excellent. He was quoting exactly Deuteronomy 6:5. So what is Mark doing and what is Luke doing? What Mark and Luke are doing is looking at the Hebrew Matthew and saying, “there's a word there that we're not sure what to do with.” And so what both Mark and Luke have done is they have added their interpretation to a Hebrew word that is very difficult to translate. And you already know what this word is. Go to Deuteronomy 6:5 and it says, if he's quoting exactly from the Hebrew Bible, he would say... and this is in English, you all, we’ll get later into the Hebrew. It says, “You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your me'od.” Say “me'od”.

Crowd: Me'od.

Keith: Come on again, say “me'od”.

Crowd: Me'od.

Keith: Now, everybody in here knows me'od. You know these verses, you know in Genesis chapter 1 it says, “And God created in the day one,” and He says, “and in the end, it was good.” What is the word for "good" in Hebrew? Say, “tov”.

Crowd: Tov.

Keith: And day two, He didn't say anything. And day three, He says it twice, say, “tov tov”.

Crowd: Tov tov.

Keith: In other words, He looks at it, He says, “It is good.” Day four, He looks at it and it is... Come on, you guys, work with me now! Day five comes and He looks at it and it is...

Crowd: Tov.

Keith: And day six He was so excited after making the animals, He made you and me and He said, “It is tov me'od.” “It is very good.” So what was Yeshua quoting? Simply what was given to Moses. “You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and all of your very...” Say “very”.

Crowd: Very.

Keith: All of your... say “very”!

Crowd: Very.

Keith: “All of your everything you have.” This is why Mark said it should be mind and strength, and this is why Luke said it should be strength and mind, and then Nehemia does a radical thing. He says, “Keith, these manuscripts we have, there's one that's very interesting.” Now, the actual discovery was done by a man named George Howard in 1980 of the Hebrew Matthew. He had six manuscripts. He said, prophetically almost, “Somebody will find more than the six manuscripts.” Who is it? Nehemia Gordon. Nehemia ends up going in and finding over 20 manuscripts of Hebrew Matthew. He takes me, when I go to Jerusalem, down into the basement, I was the only Methodist there. I had gotten to the place now where I was able to read some of the information, and it just blew us away.

We get to this particular manuscript called the Breslau Manuscript. Say “Breslau”.

Crowd: Breslau.

Keith: Here's what the Breslau Manuscript is, and you guys can see this. Right here, you see that? That's the Breslau Manuscript that actually quotes exactly from Hebrew, Deuteronomy 6:5. “And you shall love,” and this right here is Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, “your Elohim with all your heart with all your soul, and all of your…” right there is me'od. Say “me'od”.

Crowd: Me'od.

Keith: What is very powerful about this particular manuscript? It is a manuscript that has a very interesting history. Let me stop again. The Hebrew says, word for word, what it says in Deuteronomy. Mark and Luke are simply saying, “We don't know what to do exactly with the word me'od,” so they add an extra word. All of a sudden, we have an answer for a textual difficult situation. But when we look at the manuscript, we find out that this manuscript, the Breslau Manuscript, comes from this place called Breslau. And this manuscript ended up being in a particular library during the time of Hitler.

Now, what Hitler decided on the Night of the Broken Glass is to go in and break shops up and take antiques and take all these things. One of the things that they took when they went in to destroy Breslau was the Breslau Manuscript. It was being kept amongst the Jewish community in Breslau. Did you hear what I said? Hebrew Matthew was being maintained in a Jewish community in Breslau.

Hitler says, “Go in there and get everything you can.” And one of the things they got was the Breslau Manuscript. He said, “Take it to a place called Prague,” which is going to be the place that he's going to make what's called the Museum of the Extinct Race. Now, let me tell you something, you all. Hitler had a plan. His plan was this: “I want the goods from the Jews, but I don't want the Jews.” Can I say it again? “I want the goods from the Jews, so I can put them in a museum and say, ‘Look, it is the Museum of the Extinct Race,’ but I want to extinguish the Jews.”

Now, you all, I've got to stop for a minute, because I am disturbed by what I consider to be anti-Semitism even amongst those who say they love the Jews. Nehemia won't say it, but I've got a man in the room, Michael Rood, who's got enough guts to invite me and Nehemia here and let you know that right now there is anti-Semitism everywhere you look, including, but not limited to, the Messianic movement. “Oh, we want the goods from the Jews, but we don't want the Jews. Of course, unless we can convert them.” Which is exactly what Martin Luther said. Martin Luther said, “I love the language of the Jews. I love the Jews, and I love everything about their doing.” And he went through a transition till all of a sudden, he went with the four spiritual laws. And the Jews said, “Uh-uh, we're not going to take it.” And then guess what Martin Luther said, “I hate the Jews. I hate everything about the Jews. I want the Jews to be wiped out.”

I'm going to tell you something, I've become like Michael. Do you know a Lutheran Church let me come and preach, and I told them the story about their Martin Luther, that Martin Luther became at one point one who loved the Jews, but once he could not convert them he became anti-Semitic and he hated the Jews. And guess who was used for validation for what he did? Hitler used Martin Luther! Now, y'all are getting real quiet, and I don't blame you, because I'm telling you what's real. Anti-Semitism exists. So what happens is Hitler says, “Okay, it's going to be at the Museum of the Extinct Race. I want to extinguish the Jews.”

I will tell you where I'm at. I am so blessed. I am so excited. I am so moved. I am so joyful that Hitler is extinct, and Nehemia is still here. [applause] I'm never going to be popular with the religious institutions. You know, you all, I fly under the flag of United Methodist Church because it works for me. It works for me. But the Methodists don't know what to do with me. “What are we going to do with a guy who keeps hanging out with this Jewish guy preaching about a prayer that Jesus...” And they don't realize, Methodists don't know - Jesus was a Jew. Shhh.

“The word is good. The message is good. It's all good. If he would just leave the Jew out, we'll let him in.” And so, I've had some movements that have said, “We'll invite him, but we won't invite you.” Others say, “We'll invite you, but we won't invite him.” But somebody say, “Michael's got guts!” [applause] We're not popular right now. We're not on the front of the Messianic magazine. We're not being talking about by all the Messianic leaders. They're saying, “Ah, something's wrong with these two. Nehemia might be dealing with people getting away from Yeshua. What about this other guy? He's a Methodist, he's a pagan Christmas-celebrating, we don't know what he is.” They got me making all kinds of, say “assumptions”.

Crowd: Assumptions.

Keith: They're making assumptions about us, and what we've decided to do is this - wherever we are invited, we will go, up until this weekend. I haven't told Nehemia this. Nehemia, I'm about to make a huge declaration today. And I’m going to take my time. Can I take my time? Michael, can I?

Michael: Yeah, we took yours last night. [laughter]

Keith: Amen. I'm going to take my time. For two years Nehemia said we would go everywhere we were invited. We said wherever we are invited, we will go. And he has been in charge of, many times, the itinerary. And he's not a very good logistics guy with itineraries. He has put me in places that I know I should not be. We have been in situations that I know we shouldn't have been. We were just two weeks in Smithfield, North Carolina. I'm going to tell the story right now. The only reason Nehemia invited me to Smithfield, North Carolina, is because he was preaching for nine hours, and he thought, “I can only speak for eight. I need at least Keith to give me an hour.” So he says, “Keith, will you come with me to Smithfield, North Carolina?” “I don't know where Smithfield is. I don't know anything about Smithfield. I don't understand Smithfield.” So what Nehemia said is, “Yeah, we'll be speaking in Raleigh on Friday night and Saturday, then Sunday morning, we're going to go to Smithfield, North Carolina. And then in the afternoon, we're going to hang out with the people, at the pastors, at their house. And then in the evening we're going to speak again.” And I'm thinking, “Man, this Jew, he doesn't understand, he's an Israelite. He doesn't realize, he doesn't even understand the logistics of this thing.” And sometimes, you all, I just have to tell you, sometimes I get mad at Nehemia. He puts me in situations that aren't comfortable!

So we go to Smithfield, North Carolina, to the International Christ Outreach, I think it was called Christ International Outreach. And we're at this church Sunday morning, and what happens is, Nehemia lets me get up first, and then he speaks. And then in the afternoon, we're sitting with the pastor in his house. And as we're sitting there, and his lovely wife, Sheila, has made us food, and now I'm feeling okay. Okay, Nehemia, it wasn't bad. Nehemia is upstairs sleeping. I'm talking to the pastors, and the pastor reaches over, and he says, “Hey, I want to tell you something. Do you know right now where you are?” He says, “Right behind the church is the former house of the grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.” [laughter] He says, “Let me tell you something else. They used to have a sign that when you came into Smithfield, it said ‘Welcome to Smithfield, Home of the Ku Klux Klan.’”

And I'm thinking, “Oh my god.” Because even though he said it was the former house of the former grand dragon, I'm assuming the grand dragon had kids. You can't tell me just because he's dead there ain't no spirit of Ku Klux Klan in Smithfield, North Carolina. I'm thinking, “Oh, my goodness, and we’ve got to go back tonight!” Now, I hope that y'all know the story. I'm going to tell you the story. When we pulled up to the church, there are five men waiting for us. One man comes around, he opens up and shows us his badge. He says, “I just wanna let y'all know I got your back, I'm packing.” [laughter] I'm thinking, “For what?” Now, after he tells me the story, I'm looking for him! I went in the church that night saying, “Where is he?” You all, we get there. And as we're there, God begins to do something. He begins to do something. I stood up in Smithfield, North Carolina and prophetically said these words. “What is happening this day in Smithfield, North Carolina will span the globe.”

[applause]

Now, let me tell you something. I'm about to end this thing. I speak these words. I say, “You all, there's something happening. Here's a Jewish man who is not a Christian, who is not a Messianic, who is standing up in a Sunday morning church, preaching from the Bible that Yeshua read. Then they let the Methodist who gets up and preaches from the Bible that Yeshua read.” And then the Ru'akh HaKodesh came into the church! [applause] And after I had said the words about revival, Nehemia says to me in the car, “Keith, this is the Smithfield revival.” You know why? Because he and I were changed.

I walked out of dinner last night, I come outside, and Nehemia says, “Somebody’s here.” I look and see - here are the pastors from the Sunday morning church from Smithfield who've come to this event. And all I want Gene and Sheila to do is stand up for a second. Where are you? Excellent. Would you all give them a hand? Stand up, stay there. Gene and Sheila, God is calling you. You are a part of His great symphony. He has ignited even as He did what He did in Smithfield, North Carolina, He has ignited your heart, man of God, He has ignited your heart, woman of God, and together you're about to see things that you've never seen before in your ministry.

[applause]

You see, I'm going to say something more radical, and Nehemia thinks he's going to speak, I'm not going to let him speak the whole day. I'm going to say something more radical. Some of you that are sitting here have decided that God can't work with pastors in the Sunday morning church. Some of you that are sitting here, because of your own experience, you have discounted the possibility that the Creator of the Universe can do what He is doing through them. I want you to look at them and say this: “I'm sorry.” God can do what He wants to do, when He wants to do it, and how He wants to do it. And He's decided to be the orchestrator for an event in Dallas, Texas, where we're going to prepare ourselves - I'm about to let you sit down - we're going to prepare ourselves, you all, for a meeting. But in order to do that, we've got to sanctify our hearts, our minds and our spirits.

Now you may be seated. Let me close with this. For 10 years, you all, I've been dealing with this issue of the story of this verse. And it wasn't until after meeting with Michael that I finally had the courage to do what I knew I was afraid to do. Let me tell you what I was afraid to do. I finally decided to study the verse that the woman told me the scroll was going to open up to.

Now, let me tell you why I didn't want to study the verse. Because Ezekiel is a tough book. I'd rather just be with Nehemia and tell the stories and do all this wonderful stuff. Well, as a result of meeting with Michael, I opened up my Bible and I found something radical, you guys. Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 3. And if we read it in the English, it simply says, “The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar and there the hand of the Lord came upon him.” Why did I not want to study that verse? Because I was afraid. I said, “Father, this is a good thing, and You've done what You've done in my life, and I appreciate that.” But whenever I'd look at the verse in English, I said, “I don't think I want to look at that verse in Hebrew. There might be something there that's going to cause me to even be pushed a little bit further.”

But after meeting with Michael, after the beginning of the Smithfield revival, the Creator of the Universe called me to look at Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 3 in the language, history and context of which it was preached.

So here's what I saw. If you look at this particular verse, and you open up this book, that is what you would see. The first thing I did when I was looking at this verse was the first two words. The first two words are very unique. It's the only time in the entire Tanakh where these two words are used exactly like this, in the entire Tanakh. And then after those two words, there's another word, which I understand, and then there are those four letters. Now, I might as well tell you guys right now… look at your neighbor and say “controversy”.

Crowd: Controversy.

Keith: When I see those four letters, if I look at the English and I say, “Lord,” I move quickly. When I look in the Hebrew Bible and I see Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, I have to slow down. 6,828 times, it's twice in this verse. His name, His personal name, which He proclaimed to the people prophetically, which will be proclaimed in the last day, and He's waiting for people now to begin to proclaim His name. But when I read these first four words, something really radical happens. It says in Hebrew this, “Hayo haya.” Say “hayo haya”.

Crowd: Hayo haya.

Keith: Let me back up for a second. Is Karen here? Where’s Karen Taylor? Would you do me a favor, just stand to your feet real quick. I want you to do something, Karen, if you would. I want you to imagine that you're singing the first two words in Ezekiel 1:3, and the words are this: hayo haya. Just sing those two words.

Karen: [singing] Hayo haya.

Keith: Hallelujah, have a seat. The next two words are connected. The next two words are devar, and then immediately it goes into Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey. Now, here comes the controversy. If I read it in the Hebrew, it sounds like a song. If I read it without tradition, if I read it about what the popular pronunciation is, if I read it without all of the controversy, and I read it according to my Hebrew Bible, it goes something like this: hayo haya devar Yehovah. Did you hear that? Karen, help me. Stand to your feet. Hayo haya devar Yehovah.

Karen: [singing] Hayo haya devar Yehovah.

Keith: One more time. Hayo haya devar Yehovah.

Karen: [singing] Hayo haya devar Yehovah.

Keith: Amen. You're getting close, sister. By the end of the weekend, you'll be ready for that verse. There is a rhythmic, there is a melodic thing that's happening even in Ezekiel 1:3. [singing] Hayo haya devar Yehovah. And then it goes on and He says to Yekhezkel, which means God strengthens. Say “God strengthens”. This is his name. So then it says he's a Kohen, and it goes on to the last part. I'm going to end with this, it says, “And upon him there was the yad of Yehovah,” the hand of the Creator of the Universe.

You all, I have been struggling, I've been battling. I told Nehemia - publicly I'm telling him this - no more “everywhere we're invited”. The only place I'm going is where I'm sent. Hear me, man of God. Two years I went with you wherever you wanted me to go. But from now on, I will only go where He sends me, and I will only go with the yad, the hand of Yehovah upon my head. And I am convinced, you all, that there's something happening right now. He wants to strengthen His people. He wants to lead them. He wants to guide them. He wants to move them. He wants to shake them. He wants to call Jew, he wants to call Methodist, he wants to call Messianic. He wants to call you, He wants to call me, He wants to call whoever is willing to hear His call, because He's putting together a beautiful symphony!

Is there somebody in the house that'll say, “I can be used, I'm willing to be used. Make me a French horn, make me an oboe. Make me a timpani.” Is there anybody that would say, “I'm willing, I'm willing, I'm willing?” Hallelujah! So hear the word of Yehovah. He's looking for a people that are willing to be strengthened by Him.

Now, I would like to do something. Everyone stand to your feet. This was just the warmup for the real show. Nehemia is going to speak, then we're going to break, then Nehemia is going to speak, and then I get to really finish what I really wanted to say. But what I want to do in all honor, I want to have you do something for me. This man, Nehemia Gordon, is being persecuted by his own for being here with you. I've been on the phone with Nehemia, talking to people that are leaders in his movement, saying, “You’ve got to explain to us what he is going to do there.” And here's what we have decided. We are going to do His will His way.

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