Join Rabbi Schneider as he unveils the mysteries of existence through simple yet profound questions that have baffled humankind for ages. This episode delves into the philosophical and theological implications of who we are and where we come from. As false ideologies and societal pressures blur the truth, Rabbi Schneider shines a light on the importance of building one’s identity on eternal foundations, rather than mutable modern constructs. This journey not only clarifies our beginnings but also offers insight into living a life aligned with divine will, ensuring a trajectory towards spiritual fulfillment.
00:00:01 Introduction and Life’s Important Questions
This is Discovering the Jewish Jesus and I’m your host, Dustin Roberts. Today, Rabbi Schneider reveals the answers to life’s most important questions. life can feel like a maze of uncertainty sometimes and we can easily rush through our days we can get caught up in endless tasks and worries and rarely pause to ask questions that really matter beyond the job titles the social media profiles and like expectations that we place upon others there is a deeper identity that is waiting for us to be discovered Today, Rabbi Schneider, he wants to help us go beyond the surface. And you can learn more about this ministry when you visit us online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. But now, let’s get started.
SPEAKER 02 :
Father, we pray that you would use this broadcast to extend your kingdom, Father God, over the earth. Jesus, that you would be lifted up and glorified. You said, Lord Jesus, that if you be lifted up, you would draw all men to yourself. Satan, we take authority over you and everything that hinders. And now, Jesus, we say that you will release your Holy Spirit and release your ministering spirits to bring all those that you’re calling into salvation today unto yourself for your name and your fame. And all of us that are in agreement with this spoke Hebrew and said, amen and amen. Think about the most profound questions in life. Sometimes we’re so busy taking care of the urgent, taking care of the things that we need to deal with on a daily basis, getting in our car, going to work, taking care of children, taking care of grandchildren, focusing on our health and all the things that we deal with on a daily basis. Sometimes we lose focus of what is of primary importance Consider for a moment some of life’s biggest questions. Who am I? I mean, who are you really? Do you know most of us, if you think about this, spend our lives leading our lives through what we’re imagining somebody else is thinking about us? Think about the foulness of that. We ask ourselves, who are we and how do we try to figure out who we are? We try to figure out who we are by imagining what we think somebody else is thinking about us. We don’t even know what they’re thinking about us. We shouldn’t even care what they’re thinking about us. But how much focus and how much energy is placed on imagining how we’re appearing to other people and what we’re imagining they’re thinking about us. Is that what life is about? What does it matter what they think about us? Does that determine who we are, what somebody else thinks about us, a person that’s nothing, that’s going to return to the dust of the earth? And yet many people are trapped in that foul, demonic reality, spending all their time spinning, concerned with what they think other people are thinking about them. And the whole thing is an imagination of the devil. It’s foul. It’s demonic. Break that off your people, I pray today, Lord Jesus. In your name right now, I take authority by the Spirit of God and the Word of God over the deception and the illusion that is shackling your people, that they’re living their lives through the vain imagination of what they think somebody else is thinking about them rather than knowing who they are before you and who they are in your love. So Father, we ask that we would know ourself in your love. You created us. Let us know, Father, who we are in you and let us have peace before you. And so we’re asking ourselves the most profound questions in life. We began by asking, who am I? And beloved, who we are is determined by asking the question, where did we come from? If we know where we’ve come from, which is the second question, then we’ll better know who we are. So the second profound question that I want to pose today is this, where Did you come from? Where did we come from? Of course, we know today that people in the school systems are being taught the theory of evolution, not in the sense of, yes, that there’s been evolution within species. We know that this happens. We’re not talking about evolution in that sense. We’re talking about the fact that children are being taught as even many of you have been taught. that they came from a big bang that happened in outer space. I know I’m preaching to the choir now, thousands and billions of years ago, and there’s no explanation as to why the big bang took place. The thing to me that’s so preposterous about this is God said, let there be light, and there was a bang. I’ve got no problem with the big bang. But the question is people that don’t connect a big bang to God, And I’m not advocating the Big Bang theory in any way, shape, or form. I’m just saying God can use a Big Bang. Maybe when he said, let there be light, bam, maybe there was a Big Bang. But the problem with the people that are hardcore evolutionists that are using the Big Bang theory without it being in relationship to God creating all things, they always have to ask the question, but where did the Big Bang come from? or if they say that life started out as a result of the Big Bang, which then caused a single cell type of a organism to come forth, they always have to ask the question, but where did the single cell come from? And to me, the question always begs to be asked, What was the beginning? What was before that? What was before the Big Bang? What was before the single cell? And there’s only one answer for that. Otherwise, the question keeps going on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. What was before that? What was before that? What was before that? What caused that? What caused that? The only way you can stop that type of questioning is with the first verse of the Bible. in the beginning, God, that God is the first cause. And with all the sophistication of this scientific information that’s coming forward, it’s amazing to me how the most simple question of all can be ignored, and that is, where did that come from? It had to start somewhere. There had to be a first cause. It had to start with the cause that in itself had no cause. And that cause, beloved, is God. No, we can’t understand it. We can’t put it in a microscope because God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. And we in our finite minds cannot comprehend eternity, a God who always was. We can’t comprehend that. And what pride there is in us to think that we should be able to comprehend it. What pride there is in the individual that thinks that they should be able to put God in a microscope and be able to explain him. That’s from a person that’s placing himself above God. No, we are the creature, not the creator. And so the only way we can know who we are is when we know where we’ve come from. You know, in my life’s journey, I used to have a lot of contentment years ago as a young person in my athleticism. I was a tremendous athlete in school. I lived it, ate it, drank it, slept it when I was in high school. It was all about becoming state champ in the sport of wrestling that I was in. And you know what? As long as I was deceived into thinking that that was what life is about, I was fine because I couldn’t see beyond wrestling as a 15-year-old, 16-year-old, 17-year-old, and 18-year-old. I just thought I was going to become state champ, and then life was going to be one big honeymoon after that. Life was going to be one big party. But what happened was wrestling ended. And when wrestling ended, my world fell apart. And I realized from that experience that anything that I build my life on in this world is going to end. And if I build my life and get my identity from something in this world, I’m destined for destruction because everything in this world ends. If I’m building my life on being a successful attorney or an successful banker, a successful stockbroker, a successful doctor, a successful whatever your profession is, if you’re building your life on your profession, guess what? It’s going to end. And if your whole identity is based on your profession, if your profession is defining who you are, guess what? What are you going to feel like when it ends, when you’re 65 or 70 and your career’s over? You’re going to be lost, just like I felt when wrestling ended. You’re not going to know who you are anymore. You’re not going to have any sense of value or significance anymore because it was all based on your career. This is why sometimes mothers struggle so much when their children leave home because their primary identity was tied to their children. You see, beloved, I realized back in the 1970s when wrestling ended for me that I needed to build a life on something that was eternal. I didn’t want to build my life anymore on something that was going to one day end. And the way we can build a life on something that’s going to keep growing and never end, that comes when we realize that who we are is based on the fact that God created us for His own purposes. And when we begin to build our life in God, we’re building our life on something that’s never going to end. We’re building an identity in something that’s not going to be taken away from us. That’s why Jesus said, He that builds their life upon me is like a person that builds his house on a rock. Because when life changes and the waves come and the winds blow, you’re going to stand because you built your house on a rock that’s not going to be shaken. It’s not going to be shifted when everything else in life changes. But Jesus also said, if you don’t build your life on me, if you build it on your marriage first, if you build it on your money first, if you build it on your career first, if you build it on your looks first, if you build it on your kids first, if you build your life on anything but me, Jesus, what’s going to happen? You’re going to see. Life is going to change. And when life changed, because you built your house on something that wasn’t permanent, you’re going to be washed away in a flood. And so these profound questions, who am I and where did I come from? Who you are, beloved, is one that was created in the image of God. The book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible says, God created them male and female, listen now, in His own image. He created He them. So you and I were built, beloved, in the image and the likeness of God. Why? So that we could be in relationship with God. That’s who we are and that’s why we’re here. We’re here because God created us. He brought us into existence. And our purpose here, beloved, is to grow in our relationship with them. Jesus said, he that overcomes, he that makes me first and overcomes life, he’s going to sit down with me, Jesus said, in the paradise of God where there are pleasures forevermore that eye has not seen, Jesus said, and ear has not heard. Never has it ever entered into the heart of man, the things Jesus said that I’ve prepared for those that love me.
SPEAKER 03 :
you’re listening to discovering the jewish jesus with rabbi schneider he’ll be right back but first did you know that thousands of years ago god gave his people a powerful blessing that captured his heart for them and this ancient benediction it offers love protection and peace you can discover how the ironic blessing can transform your life with our free bundle including a pdf and mp3 teaching Claim your free gift now at myfreegift.com forward slash peace. We are so thankful for everyone who gives a financial gift of support to this ministry. And perhaps today is the day that you decide that you would like to deepen your commitment to discovering the Jewish Jesus. The best way to do that is to sign up to become a monthly partner at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. or you can call us at 800-777-7835. Together we can help others prepare for Jesus’ return. And now let’s get back into the second half of today’s message.
SPEAKER 02 :
So are you living your life for the world? Are you always looking around at somebody else wondering what they’re thinking about you? Are you always looking around wondering how you look to somebody else? Wondering what impression you made on somebody else? Are you living your life, beloved ones, through the vain imagination of what you think somebody else is thinking about you? Now, these are the profoundest questions in life. People can run from these questions. They can ignore these questions. They could try to laugh these questions off because it makes them nervous and they don’t want to deal with them. But the question begs to be asked still. And I want to ask you, where are you going to go when you die? Where are you going to go when you die? Who are you? Where did you come from? And where are you going to go when you die? That’s a reality. We all die. Where are we going to go when we die? Is it just over? Do we just cease to exist? Is it like we never were other than the memory that other people have of us? Or is there a part of us that continues on even after our heart stops beating and our mind stops working? Is there more to us than the physical body? The Bible teaches that man has a soul and that the soul of man will continue to live when the body dies, when the body disintegrates. And I want to challenge you today, beloved, with this. If what I’m going to share with you today is wrong and yet you believe it anyway, you’ll be nothing but a person that’s better off from having received God, received the gift of His Son, and living a higher quality life as a result. But if what I’m telling you today is true and you reject Jesus and you die and end up going to hell as a result, it’s going to be the most catastrophic mistake you could have ever made in your entire life. You see, Jesus said that he was the only way to God. If when we die, we either go to God or the place that the Bible calls hell, And if the only way to God is through Jesus, you would do well to pay attention. And you could not do your friends and loved ones a bigger favor than by telling them about God’s gift of salvation to us in His Son, the Lord Jesus. I’d like to try to explain it this way. If we lead a life on earth that is for ourselves, if we lead a life on earth and we’re not living our lives for God, we wake up in the morning, we don’t think about God, we get dressed, we go to work, we do our thing, We’re trying to get the most we can out of this world. We’re indulging ourself in the best that this world can give us, the best foods, the most money we can make, the greatest types of what we feel are going to be fulfilling experiences, and we just go out trying to fulfill all our own desires. What happens is when one leads a life like that, that’s on a trajectory, it’s on a path that is not Godward, but it’s opposite of Godward, it’s selfward. It’s bent on fulfilling that person’s own desires. It’s bent on fulfilling that person’s own lust. It’s bent on fulfilling that person’s own indulgences to try to satisfy themselves with the things of the world. than submitting themselves to God. What happens is when that person dies, the motion that their soul was on in this world which was away from God, the motion of their soul just continues when they die in that same path and it just keeps on carrying them farther and farther away from God after death. And Jesus described it as a place in the New Testament of outer darkness where he said there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth. So let me say it again this way, the soul that dies that’s not in relationship with God, that doesn’t know Jesus, the soul that’s died, that’s in a trajectory away from God because they never bowed their knee to God and made Jesus the Lord of their lives. When they die, their soul continues along that same direction. Jesus said that they end up in a place where there’s outer darkness and gnashing of teeth, separated from God forever, trapped in darkness where there’s no longer any satisfaction at all. You can’t get satisfied in the outer darkness. You can’t eat your hunger away. You can’t be involved in sexual experiences that will make the lust go away. You can’t fill your soul, beloved, which that which will really satisfy because the soul was meant for divine relationship with the one that created it. And so a person that doesn’t live their life on earth to be in relationship with the one that created it, God, above all else, when they die, their soul just goes the same direction it was in on earth and they end up being projected, being cast, Jesus said, into a place of outer darkness where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth. On the other hand, the soul that bows their knee to the Lord Jesus on this earth is and says, Lord Jesus, come in and save me. I believe, Jesus, that you are the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to God but by you. I believe, Lord Jesus, that you died for my sin, and I ask you to forgive me, and I thank you for dying in my place. And I receive you now as my Savior, and I receive you now as my Lord. And from this moment forward, I’m going to seek to follow you. I’m going to seek to make you the Lord of my life. I’m going to seek to overcome everything, Lord Jesus, to be one with you.” The person, beloved, that prays that prayer and really means it and really puts that into action, their momentum on earth, the trajectory of their life on earth, the trajectory of their soul is now upward. It’s Godward. And so when that person dies, that’s made Jesus the Lord of their life, what happens to that person is their soul continues on the same trajectory, the same path that it was on in earth. They go, beloved, right up to God and into his heaven, into his paradise. So you can understand what happens in death by understanding it in the way of trajectory. If a person is walking away from God on earth, when they die, their soul continues to be brought away from God into a place of outer darkness where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth. If a person’s soul was directed Godward on earth and they were loving God on earth and seeking to please God on earth, making Jesus the Lord of their life, their soul continues on that same trajectory. When they die, their soul goes upward, hallelujah, into the paradise of God. Beloved, I pray that God will make us stronger witnesses. And that if you do not know Jesus, that you’ll get down on your knees right now and ask him to save you. It’s a free gift. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Beloved, I remember over 40 years ago reading in the book of Ephesians that I had been raised up with Christ and was seated with Him there in heavenly places, and that literally changed my life. It brought me from looking down in defeat to looking up, realizing that I had victory in Jesus. And the same is true for every one of us that are His. I want to encourage you today, beloved ones, if you’re being blessed by the Lord through this ministry, to financially support it. The Bible tells us that when Abraham was called to offer up his son and he obeyed, the Lord’s response to him was this, because you have done this thing, Abraham, I will greatly bless you. And, you know, Jesus said to us that when we honor him with our finances, it comes back to us pressed down, good measure and running over into our lap. We’re instructed to financially support the teachers that are feeding us. I want to ask you today in sincerity and truth, if God’s blessing you through this ministry, please honor him with your finances through this ministry so we can continue to reach the world.
SPEAKER 03 :
Amen. Thank you, Rabbi. And friends, I want to encourage you, keep listening because Rabbi will be right back shortly with a sacred blessing. But right now, if the Lord is leading you to financially support discovering the Jewish Jesus with a gift of any amount, then please reach out to us today. You can call us at 800-777-7835. And if it’s easier for you, go online to our website. It’s discoveringthejewishjesus.com, and you can give there. Or you can also send your gift in the mail. Our address is Discovering the Jewish Jesus, P.O. Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan, 49228. And I’d like to share with you now about Rabbi’s revised edition of the book of Revelation Decoded. You know, a lot of people find the book of Revelation intimidating and often confusing. But through Rabbi’s guide in the book of Revelation Decoded, he’s going to help you understand what Scripture really says about the end times and how it applies to our world today. The revised edition of this book, it addresses recent world-shaking events like the October 7th attack on Israel. And Rabbi also reveals how the ancient Hebrew prophets and the book of Revelation, how they together provide a roadmap for understanding the end of days. You’ll discover how the Old and New Testaments work together to reveal God’s divine plan and It’s a wonderful resource. It’s available for purchase at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. You can also request it on the phone when you call 888-697-2224. And if you visit us online or give us a call, would you also consider supporting us when you give? You are helping us share God’s love. and His truth to those who need it the most. Give today, discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call 800-777-7835. Thanks so much for joining us today. And now let’s turn things back over to Rabbi again so he can send us off with God’s sacred and special blessing.
SPEAKER 02 :
In the book of Numbers chapter six, the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over his people. And the Lord said, when you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them. Receive the impartations of the Lord’s blessings.
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 :
I’m your host, Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Join us again next time when Rabbi Schneider explains the accuracy of Scripture. Hear more this Friday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
