Join us as Rabbi Schneider delves into the trustworthiness of the New Testament, examining criteria that historians have used to judge ancient documents. Discover how the words and testimonies of those who walked alongside Jesus offer solid ground for faith and understanding. Whether you’re seeking to deepen your faith or exploring these enduring works, this episode is a chance to feel the historical and personal weight of Jesus’ presence, and to consider the transformative power His words have over our lives today.
00:00:02 Introduction to Discovering the Jewish Jesus
Welcome to Discovering the Jewish Jesus. I’m your host, Dustin Roberts. And for the next 25 minutes, we’re going to be looking at life’s most important questions. Sometimes we can feel like just another face in the crowd. But what if I told you that you’re not just a statistic, you’re a unique individual with a purpose and your purpose goes beyond your daily routine. It’s true. Today, Rabbi Schneider, he’s going to explain why God’s not just interested in humanity as a whole, but in you individually. This message is called The Accuracy of Scripture. And if you’d like to learn more about Rabbi or this ministry, go online to our website, discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And now here’s Rabbi Schneider.
SPEAKER 02 :
Father, we bless you today. Lord Jesus, our Messiah, we bless you today. And we pray that you will use this broadcast to bring people to salvation and to cause us to become greater soul winners for you. And all God’s people spoke Hebrew and said, Amen and Amen. We began to say that the most profound questions in life are these. Who am I? Where did I come from? How did I get here? What’s going to happen to me when I die? And what am I on earth for? We said that these questions can really only be answered in the light of eternity. I pointed out the fallacies in getting our identity from this world or in living for the things of this world, because all that’s in this world is passing away. But Jesus said, if you build your house on me, it’s like a man that built this house on a rock. and your house is going to stand, even when the waves come and the storm blows, you’re going to stand because you built your house in the eternal. We talked about that. But I want to move on today, beloved, to dwelling deeper into a subject that I touched on in the earlier broadcast that answers these questions and helps answer these questions, and that is this. Do the words of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament really give us the answers to life’s greatest questions? Does the Bible, the Word of God, really answer the questions, who am I? Why am I here? And what happens to me when I die? Well, we know the Bible begins with these words in the book of Genesis. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Beloved, there is no other way to answer the existence of the universe and the reality of our existence other than the fact that there was a first cause. The Big Bang does not answer the problem of first cause. It had to start somewhere. It had to start with the cause that had no cause, and that first cause is God. The second area that we need to dwell and that I want to dwell in more deeply today is, but does the Bible really accurately record for us what Jesus said? In other words, does Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, when they record for us the words of Jesus, is the Bible an accurate record of what Jesus really said? Can it really be trusted? As I said on an earlier broadcast, no one doubts The literal historical personage of Jesus of Nazareth. Everybody knows, all historians, secular, religious alike, know that there was a literal historical person that walked upon the earth, Jesus of Nazareth. The question was, who was he? And we talked about that. The greatest amount of information that we have on who this Jesus was is the New Testament. But the question is, can the New Testament be trusted? And does it accurately record for us what Jesus did and what He said? Now I alluded to the fact earlier that Ancient historical documents were judged by certain criteria that historians agreed upon. And the New Testament writings, beloved, have the highest credibility in terms of the tests that they passed for being considered a valid, authentic, historical document. Why? Because number one, the New Testament was written by people that actually lived during Jesus’ lifetime. It wasn’t written by people that lived hundreds of years after his death. Alexander the Great, the records that we have of him, were written by people that lived more than 100 years after his life, yet no one doubts the accuracy of them. How much better the New Testament that wasn’t written by people that lived 100 years after Jesus died, but rather the New Testament was written by people that walked with Jesus, that heard what he said, that touched him. In fact, Paul documented the people that Jesus appeared to after he had risen from the dead. And Paul starts out at the grave that Jesus appeared after he had risen from the dead, first to the two women at the tomb. And then Jesus appeared to the disciples, his apostles. And then Paul said this, not only did he appear to the apostles, Not only did he appear to the two women at the grave, he’s not saying this is only symbolic. He’s saying this is real. He really appeared to these people. He said, not only that, Paul said, but he appeared to me. I was on the road to Damascus to arrest, Paul said, any Jew that was believing in Jesus. And while I was on the road, Jesus appeared to me and he blinded me and knocked me off my horse. And I was on the ground blind and I couldn’t see. And I spoke to the one that had blinded me. And I said, who are you? And he said, I’m Jesus who you are persecuting. Now get up and it will be told what you must do for me. So Paul says, he’s alive. He’s real. He appeared to me and the words that I’m giving you, these aren’t fairy tales. These aren’t myths. We’re not making these up. I met Jesus. He spoke to me. But I love what Paul said next. Paul said, not only that, But this Jesus appeared to 500 people that were gathered together in one place all at the same time. And Paul said this, and most of those of the 500 that he appeared to at the same time, he said, are still alive today. And so Paul’s making this historical argument that, no, this Jesus of Nazareth, He’s not a figment of somebody’s imagination. He’s a real historical reality. He’s the God of the universe that became flesh, who entered into space and time and revealed Himself to us. And John said, and of His glory we all received and we all saw. And so, This Jesus, beloved, it’s not the Jesus that we think of when we think of Easter bunnies and fairy tales. No, Jesus is God. And He’s alive, He’s here, He really came, and He’s making a demand on your life and in my life. And He’s saying, unless you repent, you shall perish. He said, unless you believe, Jesus said, that I am He. Who is He? God in the flesh that died for your sin that died for your sin and made a way for you to come into relationship with God and go to heaven. Jesus said, unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sin.
SPEAKER 03 :
You’re listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider. He’s going to be right back. But first, I want to let you know that you can watch full episodes of Discovering the Jewish Jesus on Roku television. We have episodes that are filmed in the Holy Land and outreach events from Nigeria and Gulu, Uganda, all sorts of places. Every episode is available to help deepen your understanding of scripture and the Jewish roots of your faith. So search for Discovering the Jewish Jesus on Roku today. Did you know that this ministry is all about preparing the way for the inevitable return of King Jesus? Well, it’s true. And we’d love for you to partner with us in this life-changing mission today. Together, we will change lives, not just locally, but all over the world. To support this team, call 800-777-7835. That’s 800-777-7835. Or you can visit us online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And now here’s Rabbi Schneider.
SPEAKER 02 :
Jesus said, unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sin. Now again, how do we know that? Because the New Testament tells us this, but can the New Testament be trusted? And that’s what I was making the point of, that according to the standards of historians, the New Testament passed all the tests in flying colors of that which can be trusted as an ancient historical document, because it was written by people, listen, that were alive during Jesus’s own lifetime. not people that lived 100 years after he died, people that walked with him, people that talked with him while he walked on earth, people that he appeared to after he had risen from the dead. And not only that, beloved, we have a multiplicity of witnesses, not only Peter, James, Paul, and all the writers of the New Testament, but others, beloved, that Paul was speaking of the 500 people at the same time, as well as people like myself and some of you today that Jesus has supernaturally appeared to. So we do well to pay attention to the words of Jesus in the New Testament, that they could be trusted, that this is a reliable, historical, accurate document telling us what Jesus said. And what did Jesus say? He didn’t teach the doctrine of political correctness today. He didn’t say all roads lead to the same place. He didn’t say that as long as you’re a good person, you can go to heaven. He didn’t say that it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe in me, as long as you believe in God, you’re a good person. No, Jesus said, unless you believe that I am He, you’ll die in your sins. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to God but by me. You see, beloved one, it’s not going to be long before you and I die. And when we do, it’s going to be too late. Because the Bible said it’s appointed for man once to die and then comes the judgment. That when you and I die, it’s over. We’ll have made our decision. And some of you are listening to this broadcast and God is knocking at the door of your heart. The Bible says, if today you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. Because what happens is, when the Holy Spirit is knocking on the door of our heart, when God is beckoning us, come. When we feel the weight of the Holy Spirit on us, nudging us to humble ourselves, to ask God, forgive me, forgive me. I’ve sinned. I need to turn my life over to you. I want this to be a new beginning for me. When we feel God doing that, beloved, if we open our heart and invite him in, Jesus said, behold, I stand at the door of your heart and knock. If you open the door, I’m going to come into you and we’re going to be in relationship together and you’re going to be saved. But Jesus said, unless we open the door of our heart, if we feel him knocking and we don’t respond, if we keep our heart hard, if we don’t yield to the voice of the Holy Spirit, if we don’t soften ourselves to the presence of God and open up and let him in and say, yes, what happens, the Bible says, is that God begins to withdraw himself from us. so that we don’t have an opportunity anymore. In other words, the Bible says God will not strive with man forever. But when men refuse, listen now, to receive a love of the truth, when it’s being offered to them, There comes a point where God will stop offering, He’ll withdraw Himself, and He’ll let that person that resisted permanently become hardened. And the result of that, according to the Word of God, if the Word of God is true, that person will spend the rest of their life, the rest of eternity in hell. Now, I know today hell is not a popular doctrine, but do you know that the Bible actually talks more about hell than about heaven? And as I said earlier, Jesus said straight and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. But broad and wide is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that take it. You see, there’s thousands of ways to be wrong, but there’s only one way to be right. You can be wrong by giving your life over to entertainment. You can be wrong by giving your life over to sex. You can be wrong by giving your life over to careers. You can be wrong by giving your life over to another person. You can be wrong by living your life trying to please other people. You can be wrong a thousand different ways, but there’s only one way to be right, and that’s to live your life and for me to live my life for Jesus. So right now, I want to give you an opportunity, if God’s knocking at your heart, just to say, Jesus, I feel you. This is true. Forgive me of my sin. I receive you. Come into me and save me now. So if you’d like to repeat after me now, let’s just do that. Lord Jesus, I sense that this is your Holy Spirit speaking to me. I turn to you now. I ask you to forgive me of my sins. Thank you for dying for me. I acknowledge you died in my place on the cross and I receive your gift of forgiveness, your gift of salvation. Please forgive me now. Wash me of my sins by your blood. Come into my life by your Holy Spirit and save me. Thank you, Lord. Amen. Now, if you just prayed that prayer, beloved one, I want to encourage you to call a pastor somewhere, look in the phone book under evangelical churches or Bible-believing churches, call some churches up, say, do you believe that the Bible is literally the Word of God? Look for a Bible-believing church. Make an appointment with the pastor. Tell that pastor what you did. Tell that pastor that you want to start living your life as a committed Christian, or if you have friends or family members that are committed Christians, call them and start following Jesus. Do something immediately to begin to put into practice the commitment that you just made to the Lord. Start attending church on a regular basis. Start giving your finances to God. Start serving God’s people in the church. Start living your life as a Christian. Start reading the Bible. I want to encourage you to start reading in the Gospel of John and just read straight through. I don’t know if it’s a chapter a day, two chapters a day, whether you’re going to be so hungry you’ll read the whole book at once. But read the Bible at least a couple chapters every single day. Start moving, beloved, into this new life and old things are going to pass away for you and all things are going to become new and Jesus is going to bless you. He said, seek first the kingdom of God and everything else shall be added unto you. Oh, my goodness gracious. Father God, we that know you repent of not being greater soul winners. Father God, of letting loved ones that we know that don’t know you, letting them, Father God, go to hell without ever witnessing to them. So, Father, I pray that you would put a great spirit of courage on your people that are watching this broadcast right now, that they would begin to tell their friends and neighbors and loved ones about you, Lord Jesus. Amen and amen. What do you think of Jesus? I got this concept, beloved, from a dream that God gave me that he was showing me how we need to be witnessing to people and how imperative it is. In this dream, I found myself in a room. And in the room, beloved, was a simple couch. I was sitting on the couch. There was a lady sitting next to me. I couldn’t see her face. And the next to the lady on the other side of the couch was this big guy about probably 6’3″, 200-something pounds. And I had my head leaning on this lady next to me. And I felt like after the dream was over, the Lord was telling me it was just a symbol of being secure in relationship. You know, David said in one of his Psalms that he had stilled his soul like a child at rest on his mama’s knee. You know, God is predominantly obviously revealed in the New Testament as Father, but within God’s nature are also the feminine attributes. In fact, in some of God’s Hebrew titles, we have him revealing himself to us in the feminine. For example, when he revealed himself to Moses, and all God’s goodness passed by, and the Lord proclaimed his name to Moses, and the Lord said, I am Yahweh God, compassionate. And that word for compassionate, which is the first word that the Lord used in describing himself to Moses, actually comes from the Hebrew word rachum, which is a feminine word. It means mercy. And so predominantly, we refer to him as our father. But within God is both the male and female natures. So in this dream, getting back to the dream, I had my head leaning on this woman. I couldn’t even see her face. I think it just meant securing the relationship the way a young infant is secure in its mother’s arms. And then I turned to the man that was sitting on the couch and I asked him this simple question. What do you think of Jesus. Immediately, the dream shifted. I found myself in a second room. I’m sitting on a couch, and there’s a young woman in the room, about 23 years old. And I say to this woman, listen, beloved ones, the same question. I believe that God Himself, by the Holy Spirit, gave me the question. I said to her this, what do you think of Jesus. And she answered and said this, well, I know he said a lot to the church, but he never said anything to me like about being boyfriend, girlfriend. And I know that sounds strange when I say that to you. And then the dream was over. And I knew when it was over that it was too strange. The whole thing was too strange. What are you saying? And the Lord was saying to me, what was happening in that second phase of the dream is that I was showing you that there are so many people out there, they’ve heard that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. but they never heard, the Lord was showing me, that I love them uniquely, especially, and individually. And that’s what that girl was saying in the dream. Well, I know he said he loved the church. I know that he loves the world generically, but I never heard him say anything to me about being boyfriend, girlfriend. You see, she was wanting an intimate relationship. In fact, it’s a type of relationship that Jesus is calling us to. He’s calling to us, beloved ones, to Revelation 19, to the marriage supper of the Lamb. So God was telling me, when you witness to people, my church, don’t just witness to them generally. Don’t just say that God so loved the world. But when you witness to people, witness to them in such a way that you tell them that I love them. that, for example, if their name is Bill or Mary, you say, Bill, Mary, God loves you so specifically, personally. Bill, Mary, He knows everything that’s going on in your life. And Bill, He’s got a special plan for you. Mary, He’s got a special destiny for you. Mary, God created you for Himself. Bill, God loves you more than you could ever realize. But the only way you’re going to know His love The only way you’re going to fulfill his purpose for your life, Bill Murray, is when you invite him into your life and make him the center of your life. God loves you today. He loves you individually, specifically, and specially. Would you receive him right now? He’s knocking at the door of your heart. Beloved, the Bible speaks of there being a famine on the earth, not for food, but for the Word of God. You know, we’re living in a time where there truly is a famine on the earth for the Word of God. So much teaching and preaching today is based on just making people feel good. But the truth oftentimes is not being taught. I want to ask you, beloved, to support me and to support this ministry. We’re committed to teaching the truth and supporting this ministry, beloved. It ensures that I’m going to continue to be a blessing to you and that you’re going to be used of God and rewarded for building his kingdom on the earth. Beloved, just do what the Holy Spirit tells you to do. That’s all I’ve ever asked. If you sense him leading you to financially support me in this ministry, just obey him immediately. If you don’t, don’t do it. Just obey him, beloved, and you’re going to be blessed. There always is a blessing. Now, Dustin, can you share with our listeners how they can support us and give?
SPEAKER 03 :
I’d be happy to, Rabbi. If you sense the Lord knocking on the door of your heart and leading you to financially support discovering the Jewish Jesus with a gift of any amount, then please reach out to us today. Call us at 800-777-7835. And if it’s easier, you can give online at our website, discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And for those of you who feel called to support this ministry even further, I want you to know about a great resource and our partnership with Freewill. Freewill is an online and intuitive platform that simplifies the process of creating a will. It’s free and it’s user-friendly. And when you use free will, you can ensure that your earthly blessings continue to further the kingdom’s work even after your days here on this earth are done. If you’d like to discover more about free will, I want to encourage you visit DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com. Click on the resources tab and then need a will. You’ll find all the details. It’s free and it’s easy. Once again, thanks so much for helping us extend our message and bring the hope and the healing of the Jewish Jesus to so many people all over the entire world. Once again, our address is Discovering the Jewish Jesus, P.O. Box 777 Blissfield, Michigan 49228. And many people, sometimes they don’t remember that you can also text in your donation. Just type the keyword rabbi to the phone number 45777. We look forward to hearing from you soon. And now let’s wrap up today’s message on the accuracy of Scripture with God’s sacred and special blessing. Rabbi.
SPEAKER 02 :
What I love about the Aaronic blessing is that it did not originate with man. The words actually proceeded from the very essence of God himself. The blessing comes from the book of Numbers, chapter six. So listen to these words and receive the blessing of the Lord into your life today.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with His countenance. And the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. God bless you and shalom.
SPEAKER 03 :
This program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. And I’m Dustin Roberts. Come back next week when Rabbi Schneider gives us some deep revelation from the book of Ephesians. That’s Monday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
