⁣Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness...
Romans 4:4-5 ESV

Forgiveness of sins and eternal life are gifts of God, granted by his grace alone. Nobody can buy or work their way into eternal life. Eliezer, Ishmael, and Isaac make a great illustration of God's plan.

Eliezer was Abraham's chief servant. He worked for Abraham his whole life, helping him build his wealth and watch out for his family. If Abraham had died without children, Eliezer would have been his heir according to the traditions of man. He was a faithful servant, but his inheritance would have been the wages of his own efforts.

Ishmael was Abraham's firstborn son according to the flesh. However, he was also the son of a slave. If Abraham had not had another son by a free wife, Ishmael would have inherited God's covenant as Abraham's firstborn, displacing Eliezer, in accordance with the laws of both man and biology.

Isaac was a child of promise, conceived through miraculous intervention. Sarah's time in Abimelech's house might cast a shadow over Isaac's right of inheritance as Abraham's biological son, but God's decree overrides anything man might do. Isaac inherited the covenant promises of Abraham because God intervened and made it happen, apart from any natural or man-made law, and Abraham believed him.

This is an image of our salvation, which is granted by divine intervention according to our belief in God's promises.

See also Genesis 15:1-5 and Genesis 17:15-21.

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
Add me as a contact on MeWe at https://jaycarper.com/mewe
Follow me on Gab at https://gab.com/carper
Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/americantorah/

⁣More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:11 ESV

Joy is commanded throughout the Torah. This is what the book of Deuteronomy has to say about the oppressive, burdensome sacrificial system:

ch12 - You shall eat your sacrifices before YHWH your God and rejoice before him.
ch14 - You shall eat there before YHWH your God and rejoice.
ch16 - You shall rejoice before YHWH your God.
ch26 - You shall rejoice in all the good that YHWH your God has given to you and to your house.
ch27 - You shall rejoice before YHWH your God.

God's Law is only burdensome to those who keep it in order to earn their way into God's favor. That will never work. His commandments bring a level of fulfillment and peace that can't be found anywhere else, but it is only through the reconciliation purchased by Yeshua that we can ever achieve that joy. Any other path leads only to disappointment and heartache.

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
Add me as a contact on MeWe at https://jaycarper.com/mewe
Follow me on Gab at https://gab.com/carper
Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/americantorah/

In this week's Torah portion named "Vayischlach" (..and he sent..) we see the familiar story of Jacob's wrestling match as well as his reunion with his brother Esau, and the death of Rachel.
We're going to focus on Jacob's name change this week and how it mirrors our change through Yeshua. Do you know who you are in Messiah Yeshua? What you call yourself has a lot to do with how you walk in the blessings that are yours.
Come dig in with us this week.

⁣Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:20-21 ESV

God didn't give Moses his Law in order to create sin where it didn't exist before, but to magnify the sin we were already committing, so that nobody could deny it. Once we are made aware of our sin by the witness of the written commandments, we are also made aware of our need for God's grace.

Adam's sin brought death to all men, and that corruption leads all men to sin, subjecting them to the power of sin and death, which is the power of the Law to condemn. On the other hand, Yeshua's death enables God's grace to forgive our sin, releasing us from the Law's power to condemn, but not from its power to teach us right from wrong.

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
Add me as a contact on MeWe at https://jaycarper.com/mewe
Follow me on Gab at https://gab.com/carper
Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/americantorah/

⁣Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
Romans 6:8-9 ESV

What does it mean that Christ was raised from the dead? Can he have a physical body in Heaven? What exactly is Heaven?

The Common Sense Bible Study crew wades into some deep waters in this video while I repeatedly say "I don't know".

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
Add me as a contact on MeWe at https://jaycarper.com/mewe
Follow me on Gab at https://gab.com/carper
Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/americantorah/

⁣What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
Romans 7:7 ESV

Reference also, James 2:8-13, Leviticus 19:13-18, and Exodus 20:13-14.

Paul plainly and strongly asserts that we are not to continue in sin once we have been saved by grace. We are not beneath the Law, but we are to live in agreement with it, because the Law tells us what sin is. Not just the ten commandments, but the whole Law, because as James explains, the Law is indivisible. If you break a commandment in Leviticus 19, it is just as much a sin as breaking a commandment in Exodus 20.

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
Add me as a contact on MeWe at https://jaycarper.com/mewe
Follow me on Gab at https://gab.com/carper
Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/americantorah/

This week's Torah portion was about the garments of the High Priest. Our High Priest (Yeshua, a priest forever. after the order of Melech Tzeddik) wears the same garments. And not only is He our High Priest, He is also our Great Shepherd. What do shepherds do? They protect the flock.
This week's teaching is about what we need to be protected from.

⁣For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:5-8 ESV

What does it mean to live according to the flesh? To live according to the spirit? How does living according to the flesh lead to death? How does the spirit lead to life? And why are you completely incapable of pleasing God on your own?

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
Add me as a contact on MeWe at https://jaycarper.com/mewe
Follow me on Gab at https://gab.com/carper
Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/americantorah/

⁣Sorry about the strange audio effect at the end of the video. I'm not sure what happened there.

Romans 8:18-23 ESV
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Several places in Scripture talk about how Creation longs for the day when God judges the world and everything is restored. Paul and John tell us that Creation won't just be restored, but will be resurrected and glorified just like us. The end is a mirror image of the beginning, but bigger and better!

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
Add me as a contact on MeWe at https://jaycarper.com/mewe
Follow me on Gab at https://gab.com/carper
Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/americantorah/

Are believers supposed to observe Passover or Easter to commemorate Yeshua the Messiah aka Jesus the Christ?
This message is available in print at https://firstcenturychristiani....ty.net/bible-topics- where you will find many more resources about the faith once delivered to the saints.

Dance music for those young at heart.

"King of the Universe - A" is the first AI generated song created for TTN.

Vote for this video with your "thumb".

Learn Real Christianity from Scratch. This is the first message in a series to help people with little to no education about Christianity or the bible get started. Historically, Christianity is taught by comparing the doctrines of denominations. The reality of the 21st century is that half of the population has no foundation in a church setting at all. This is a great place to be because new believers can learn real Christianity without having to sift through the last 1900 years of bad doctrine!
In this message, I explain why Christianity matters at all. This is not a hobby, an academic exercise, or a money making opportunity. Oh, no. Christianity matters because we want to attain eternal life. The only religion that offers this is real Christianity. The key to eternal life is to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is what the Apostle Paul focused on in his evangelistic work throughout the western world in the first century.
To attain eternal life, we must know Jesus Christ. Jesus, whom I call by His Hebrew Name Yeshua, is not just a man who showed up in the first century with a bunch of new teachings. He is the ultimate Messiah and Son of God. He was explained and prophesied about throughout the Old Testament, and this is where most of His teachings originate. The Old Testament was the only bible they had in the first century. It was also only available to the general population in synagogues.
This message, available above in video and below in print, explains how to begin to learn real Christianity. This is not hard if you choose the right bible and understand what you are reading. I explain some very basic information that will help you on your path to understand who Jesus is, why He came, and how to attain eternal life.
This message is available in pdf at https://firstcenturychristiani....ty.net/learn-real-ch

⁣⁣A rock song telling the story of Yeshua's temptation by Satan in the wilderness.

Weighing the Evidence: avoiding key pitfalls. The second message in the series about learning real Christianity from scratch.

This message begins with a recap of the first message titled Learn Real Christianity from Scratch. If you haven't started with that one, I highly recommend it. It's available here https://firstcenturychristiani....ty.net/learn-real-ch Key information is to begin your studies with the NASB95 version of the bible. This translation is literal, readable, and remarkably true to the original texts while removing as much doctrine as humanly possible. You can read about this translation at this link https://www.blueletterbible.or....g/bibles/preface-to-

Learning when the books of the bible were written, by whom, and what else was going on in the world at the time gives you great insight. This context helps us to learn the scriptures the way they were intended to be read. We should also avoid reading the chapters and verses. This is remarkably important because those were added over 1000 years after the New Testament authors died. The people who added the chapters and verses are just as removed from the first century Christian or Judean culture as we are today. Weighing the evidence of scripture requires us to consume scripture within the culture it was written (as much as possible).

Weighing the Evidence

A key pitfall to avoid is falling into the trap of creeds. Christianity today is a system of memorized doctrines. The folks who do this don't even realize it because it's taught from the moment a person begins to talk. Those of us raised in mainstream Christianity are taught it's biblical. But the way we learn this is to memorize a doctrine with proof texts rather than reading the scriptures and arriving at conclusions. These messages about learning real Christianity from scratch are intended to teach people who have never been indoctrinated how to avoid that trap. Frankly, if the doctrine is true, you'll get there soon enough!

Understand this path we are on is a long path. It's a journey. You are not saved by doctrine and you are not in a rush. Imagine if you could have another lifetime with your earthly father. Would you rush through it like you did the first time, making immature mistakes, or would you slow down and savor your time with him? Obviously it's the latter. Being born again is our chance to learn about our heavenly Father. We need to come at this like children, but children who know we have a new lease on life. Take your time on this journey and weigh the evidence along the way.

This message is available in print at https://firstcenturychristiani....ty.net/weighing-the-