⁣For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”
Romans 15:18-21 ESV

Why was Paul so intent on preaching the Gospel where nobody else had been? To avoid building "on someone else's foundation"? This sounds like he's treating his ministry as a competition, but when you realize that he saw himself as fulfilling the prophecy he quotes in this passage, his statement takes on another character. It wasn't a competition, but a great blessing from God, and he wanted to honor that blessing with his whole being!

Thumbnail background image adapted from an original work by Cristiano64 at https://commons.wikimedia.org/....wiki/File:Claudio_41 under CC 3.0 license.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

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⁣We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
Romans 15:1-3 ESV

Who are the strong and the weak? What does it mean for the strong to "bear with the failings" of the weak? It most definitely does not mean that those who have rejected the Law of Moses should be patient with those who are still trying to keep the commandments. That's exactly the opposite of Paul's meaning. Paul was not an antinomian nor even a metanomian.

From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).

This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.

Follow me on Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@AmericanTorah
Send me a friend request on The Torah Network: https://social.ttn.place/jaycarper
Follow me on Twitter: https://jaycarper.com/twitter
Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/americantorah/

Messianic Torah Portion Vaera (I appeared) chronicles the beginning of the Exodus. In our study, we parallel the plagues of Exodus with those in Revelation 6 and contrast the purposes of each set of plagues.

The recent history of time keeping can make it very difficult for us to understand how those who wrote the books of the bible kept time. When you stop to think about it, can you even relate to how we kept time just thirty years ago?

⁣Wild Branch Community read and discussed Exodus 7:19-8:19 and the first three plagues of Egypt.

God doesn't send plagues just to make people suffer. His discipline is always instructive and for our ultimate good. He sent plagues on Egypt to show Egypt, Israel, and the whole world just who he is, who they are in relation to him, and who their false gods really are.

Pharaoh could have saved Egypt at any point, but he valued his own pride and position more than his people. God disciplines those whom he loves, and that discipline almost always spills over onto the people around you, especially those for whom you are responsible. God's love language is obedience, but submission to God doesn't just show love for him. It shows love for your people.

Wild Branch Community is a home fellowship of Torah-observant believers in Texas between Houston and Austin. Find out more about us at https://WildBranchTX.org.