Transformed by the Messiah: How to Discover Your True Identity in Christ with Rabbi Jason Sobel

All right, guys. I know that a lot of things are changing probably in your life around the world. And sometimes you're like. You feel like almost like this energy of what's going on. And I believe that is the beauty of transformation. I always tell people, I don't give you information. I don't give you motivation. My job is to give you transformation. And so one person that I can always rely on to have wisdom, like, there are certain people, like, oh, I know. I want to hang out with them on a Friday night. I want to make sure I go to them if I'm, like, really bummed about something. If I want wisdom, I want those people who are known for wisdom. And one of my very good friends, Rabbi Jason Sobel, he is known for wisdom, that Yeshua wisdom. And I believe in a period when you have things shifting, go to those people who can be like those rocks of wisdom, and that's who you want to camp out with. And we're going to be camping out with today in the Crazy Bless Show. Jason, I always love having you with me and hanging out with you. I feel like I am smarter or just spending time in your presence.

Oh, man, I always love being with you. I just love your passion for your. For Yeshua and your desire to see people's life changed. And you always make me laugh and smile. So thank you for having me.

Good. I'm glad I do that for you. Well, I want to talk about transformation because it sounds like a kind of boring word, but when you think about literally changing forms, you know, like, we are becoming something new. And I've heard from so many people lately, and maybe this is, you know, for that person right now who's watching or listening. They're like, man, I feel like God's about to do something. I've heard it from so many people, like, but. But I'm doing a new thing. Can you not now perceive it? Like, our job is to perceive what he's doing so we can be a part of it. And I think it's exciting. Like, this whole journey with Jesus has got to be the most exciting. If someone wants to have a really exciting, challenging, fun life, just sign on for kingdom work because, you know it's always going to be something. Right? But what I want to know from you, what are you sensing and when you think about transformation? I have a book coming out, too. What. What do you feel is the most necessary things that we know about this?

Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people, a lot of followers of Messiah are just happy with salvation and don't understand the fullness of salvation is ultimately about transformation. You can. You can be saved and yet not really being in the process of being transformed. And God saves us not to leave us as we are, but to help us to become everything that we have the potential to be. And we just wrote this new book called Transformed by the Messiah. How the old and New Testament Jesus connections reveal God's intentional story for your life. And one of the things we cover, it's basically on the life of Jesus and how his life forms a model of transformation for ours. And one of the interesting things, and one of the later chapters in the book, because we start with his birth and we end in the book of Acts with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and go through everything in between. But one of the things we talk about is the transfiguration. And what's interesting is that the. In the Greek, the. The word in the. In the original biblical text of the Greek, when it talks about Jesus being transformed, it actually uses the Greek word that we get, English word metamorphosis. So Jesus on the transfiguration had a metamorphosis. So ultimately, the transfiguration was about a transformation. And, and, and what that transformation was was this. So that word metamorphosis we think of like a metamorphosis, we think of a butterfly.

Butterfly. First thing.

Yeah, right. In a cocoon going through chrysalis, it starts as one thing, and when it comes out of the cocoon, it becomes something completely different, which is much more beautiful. God takes something that is one thing and transforms it into something else. That is the same word that is used of Jesus at the transfiguration. And what that Greek word literally means and what it implies is, is when a metamorphosis occurs when one's inner essence begins when, when the. Out. When one's. When the outer form meets one's inner essence. So at the transfiguration, there was an outer change in Yeshua Jesus that revealed his true inner essence. That is transformation. When God brings out what he has truly put in you deep in your. Enter in your. In your inner essence, and that becomes a reality. And people can see that that is the ultimate transformation. That's what Jesus does. He had, you know, he's described by the prophets, no form or godliness that we should desire him. And yet at the transformation, there was the glory of God, the light of God, the majesty of God that was hidden in him. It is ultimately revealed. So his physical appearance changed to match who he Truly was. And there's more to who we are on the inside than the world can see. That. That. That we've allowed to fully be brought forth in our life. And that is the transformation. And ultimately his transfiguration is a picture of ultimately our future because it says when we see him, we'll be like him one day. We'll literally have glorified bodies and will radiate with the presence of God. But until then, there is a something in us that God wants to reveal through us and bring out to the world.

Okay, I gotta tell you this. This is a little. Are you up for crazy today?

Yeah, sure.

Okay. I thought so. You're always up for a little crazy. All right. My mama went on to be with Jesus about two and a half years ago. It was devastating for me.

Yeah.

I remember one night, and it wasn't. You know how sometimes you'll have a dream and, you know it's a dream, and then sometimes it's like, was that a visitation? Was it real? What was that? Okay. It was one of those. And I saw her come in to. To my room, and I was asleep, and she was so excited. I had just, like, made a huge decision in my ministry, and she was so excited. She's like, come on, get out of bed. We gotta dance. And I. I literally thought I had gotten out of my bed and I was dancing with my mom. But the crazy thing. And I can't describe it. I can't describe it in words. I knew it was her, but her body was. I believe I saw her glorified body. Like, it was shimmering, beautiful and ageless. Does that make sense? Like, it was age. It wasn't an age. And it was like. It was just breathtaking. And I remember seeing that, and I couldn't describe it any other way than maybe I got to glimpse her glorified body. But it was. It was a. It was amazing. I. Twice I have seen that. And. And it was always been a. Like, at the event of, like, making a massive decision or bold move forward. And it was such a blessing to see that because it was so much like, wow, that what we're experiencing now, like, the Bible's right, it's just a vapor. We think this is so permanent, and it is just a little vapor, a little pause in the glorious, like, timelessness, which we can't even understand right now, of what God is doing in us and through us. And when you talk about transformation, I mean that. That glory, that glorified body. But also, I. What you were talking about. Earlier, and I want to touch on this. I just had to share that with my mom. I thought it was so.

Yeah, no, it's beautiful. It's so powerful and true. It was so coming.

It was. It was like, oh, my goodness, she's amazing. It's so glorious. And I've always said, like, there's becoming a Christian. Like, I was raised Baptist, and when you're raised Baptist, like, it's like fire, brimstone, and we just got to get everybody saved, then that's like, where it stops. But I've always understood, like, since I really started studying scripture in Jesus life, that that's the beginning point. Like, once we get our. Our spirit saved, then our soul needs to be Transformed. Like Romans 12:2, and we had to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. And then that beautiful metamorphosis, I believe it shows up in the physical realm. So it's like. It's almost like this pro. This process of the restoration of our soul. I mean, of our spirit. The renewing of our spirit and then renewing of our mind, and then we have a renewed body. Like, the physical side of it. Like, what I'm living right now in the physical realm is a result of the changes that happen in the soul realm around my belief. Because even the disciples, when they came to Jesus, they said, what must we do? He's like, your work is to believe in the one whom the Father sent.

Like, it's hard, but, yeah, yeah. I mean, ab. Look. And the simplest level transformation is being conformed to the image and likeliness of Yeshua, of Jesus. Right?

But.

But for example, look, Moses looked upon the face of God and he radiated the glory of God. There was a physical change in his appearance because of his spiritual encounter with God. And so spending time with God in. In prayer, in meditation, in worship, in His Word, should change us. Right? And I think that's, you know, so. So significant and important to understand that there is something in the physical. That's why people who pray, people who have faith, live longer. It literally, there's a positive effect on our physical being, because the reality is, is we're not physical beings having a spiritual experience. We're spiritual beings having a physical experience. We get it flipped around.

Oh, yeah. Because we're in the world, but we're not of the world. We forget.

Yeah, we're spiritual beings. That's the essence of who we are. It's the inner aspect. And that's what God ultimately, you know, wants to. Wants to bring out. There is more than what Meets the eye to who we are, you know. So in, in this book Transformed by the Messiah, we begin, as we said, with the life of Jesus. That's section one. Then we go into the ministry of Jesus and we begin in the book, you know, which is available now for pre order on Amazon. Just got to put that plug in.

We begin. I'll put the link, guys. Look at the links.

Yeah, we begin with the baptism in, in the second section of the book. And I think there's so much wisdom when it comes to transformation and being transformed. When you look at his baptism for us practically, I mean, think about it for a moment. One interesting thing, and I just want to mention this and then get on the practical thing is this is Jesus says to John, I have to be baptized in order to fulfill righteousness. Which doesn't seem to make sense on the surface because Jesus baptism is a baptism of repentance. What does Jesus need to repent of? He's the spotless passover lamb. And the other interesting thing about that, it uses the word to fulfill righteousness. Well, pretty much in the Gospel of Matthew, whenever that word fulfill is used, it's always talking about Jesus is saying there is a messianic promise, a messianic prophecy from the Hebrew scriptures that I have to fulfill. But yet it doesn't give us a specific prophecy. What is he trying to fulfill? It's a broader type that he's trying to fulfill. He is the second Adam. So he comes to reverse the sin of the first Adam. And this is what we read about in First Corinthians 15. The first Adam was a living soul, the last item a life giving spirit. So do you ever wonder why Jesus had to die on a tree on a cross was which is a tree in Greek. Well, we took from a tree. We couldn't make a repair for that. So God put Jesus back on the tree for you and me. His hands are pierced because our hands took from the tree. His side is pierced because Eve was taken from the side. She led him into temptation. So Jesus dies to make atonement not only for Adam, but also for Eve and his crown of thorns on his head. Why? Because the curse of creation is the ground produced thorns and thistles. He takes the curse of creation on himself to reverse the curse, restore the blessing. In Jewish thought, like we talked about in the book, when Adam repents after he took from the tree, he actually goes into a river and and immerses and prays that God would forgive him and accept his repentance. And that becomes the background for baptism, the Jewish concept of mikvah, and just like creation, came about with the Spirit of God hovering over the water, so new creation, which is symbolized in baptism, the old passing away, the new coming, God washing away our past, is connected to baptism. But what's also interesting when it comes to transformation is this. When Jesus is baptized, it says, God, a voice is heard from heaven. It says, this is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. Think about that for a moment. Why does God declare those particular words, this is my son? I think when we think about it, the lesson that it's trying to communicate is that Jesus in his human form, just like any human being, he was 100 God. He was 100 man. He was going to face a lot of rejection, even at first, by his own family, by his own people. He needed the affirmation and acceptance of a father, of his Father in heaven. And let me tell you what, all of us need acceptance. All of us need that affirmation because that needs to be the root of our identity, because identity is destiny, that we are a child of God. God was affirming him in his calling. And it was. And saying, look, I accept him. Even if everyone rejects you, I accept you. And I had this encounter with God in which I was praying and spending time with God, and the Lord said to me, jason, you are my favorite son. I said, thank you, Lord. He said, when you go out there, I want you to tell people you're my favorite son. I said, I can't do that. They're going to think I'm prideful. They're going to think I'm crazy. He said, jason, they're going to think.

You'Re like John saying, I'm the one that is so loved by Jesus. Like, I love that about him.

Yeah. And. And he's like, jason, you say a lot of things that upset people or bother. So. So that's not really it. He goes. He goes, the reason why, the real reason God said, you don't want to say it, is you don't believe that I could love you enough that you actually could be my favorite son. He said, jason, I'm a father and you're a father, but I'm not a father like you're a father. He goes, I'm the infinite, an eternal father. And you know what that means. I can have an infinite number of number one sons and daughters. He said, who you love more, your older son and your younger son. He said, lord, I love them. I said, lord, I love them with All, Both. Both of them, with all my heart. He said, jason, that's how I love every single child of mine. And, and I realized at that moment our, our identity has to be rooted in this affirmation that we are God's favorite. And, and every one of us can be God's favorite one. But that's the. Has to be the foundation of our identity.

I mean, that's grace. You know that. That's grace. Like so many people think that as Christians, we have to try to not sin. And I'm like, man, you missed the mark. When we know grace, when we know how loved we are, that just makes sin fall off. It's like, it's not like trying to prevent something. It's being too big to fit in something anymore. And when you know that you're loved, like, just like that prayer of, like my prayer is that, you know, the love of God, the height, the breadth, the depth, like, no matter where you go, he's there. That kind of love, which our mind can't even comprehend, but if we could just abide in that rest, in that energy of that kind of pure, immense, inexhaustible love. Not only are you changed, but you can't go back. It's like that just fall off because the presence of God is so big in you now, you no longer. You lose desire. I was talking with this one guy and he said it was the craziest thing. He would curse like a sailor. Like in the morning, he first 10 minutes, he probably said like eight, four letter words, you know, and he said, something happened. When I asked Jesus coming to my heart, I didn't. It wasn't natural for me anymore. It didn't just flow out. It wasn't how I talked. And I was like, that's. It was so weird to him. He didn't try to not curse the love of God available through Jesus. Just kind of, it's like it just melts it away, I don't think. Yeah, enough about it though.

And I.

Enough about it.

No, well, I. But again, it comes back to the Father at the baptism was affirming Jesus's true identity as his only begotten Son. We underestimate the importance of identity and the affirmation of our family in heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that lives in us. Because here's the thing, identity is destiny. And I think a lot of times people don't experience transformation, victory, breakthrough, because first they have the wrong identity. And I know a lot of believers who are like, they think they're spiritual because they're like, woe is me. I am the chief of sinners. I am such a wretched sinner. Listen, a sinner is something I was before I was saved.

Amen.

Sin is a sinner is not my identity. My identity in the Lord is as a son. Your identity in the Lord is as a daughter. I am not a sinner by identity. I am a son. Or you are a daughter by identity. Sin is something I do. It's not what I am. Okay, so, but if you think that is what you are, you fall into that identity. You're going to live that identity, right? You're not going to have victory. So you have to understand, yes, I will never be sinless. I will sin less because I have the Holy Spirit in me. And I'm empowered by God to live for him. But I need to, I need to understand that reality. And, and then on top of that, so that's who I am. But then, you know, we talk about in the book, the story that when my son, one of my sons was young, he wasn't super coordinated and he was doing karate and I would go and take him to karate, and every time he did something messed up or make something, he was sensitive, he'd look at me to see my reaction. And I always encourage him, encourage him, like, it's okay, you made a mistake. It's okay, you can do it. You got this. Don't worry about it. Just keep going. And eventually he became a black belt. But if I would have come be like, man, you really suck. You're embarrassing the family. You ought to just give up and quit. You just don't have the coordination for this. He would have quit and he never would have become a black belt. It would have destroyed his, his, his self esteem, his identity. And so we need to understand that God the Father, Yeshua, the spirit is rooting us on. Just like he was cheering and affirming Yeshua at the baptism. God is cheering for you. He is for you. And therefore there's nothing you can't do.

Right? Right? He's not mad at you. He is madly in love with you. Like, that energy, I remember, I love, just, just carry. And some people would think it's prideful, just like, hey, I'm his favorite. But I remember, like, I would just always be so excited. Like, man, favor goes before me. Everything works out for me. It always turns out great. And I started thinking, do people think I'm prideful? And I remember when I was praying about that, just like when you were thinking, oh, that Sounds kind of prideful. God told me you're boasting in me, boast in me. And so I would just like, yeah, I am full of favor. Everything works out. I would be boasting in the. In the Lord. And I remember this one time, Jason, I just gotta tell you the story. You'll love it.

Yeah, yeah.

We were waiting to get. We wanted to go see a hockey game. And so I think we had all seven kids with us, right? No, no, no. We had five of the kids and. Well, such a small number, Right. We had five kids with us, so all seven of us. And my husband went up there to the ticket stands, like, I need seven tickets. And. And they're like, oh, we just sold out. He was like. He turned around. He's like, we can't go. And I'm like, yeah, we can. Because God loves me so much. He's going to make sure we get in there.

Right?

As soon as I said that, this guy taps me on the shoulder. He walked up, he's like, hey, do you guys need tickets? And I said, yeah. He's like, I got seven of them. I was like, thank you so much. And I. My husband's like, every single time, I'm like, you got to get some of this favor. It is dripping off me. And there are these people like, who wants this favor? It's dripping up. Someone better get this paper. And he's like, you are not only a public embarrassment, but I love it. There's something every. Everywhere we go, when you walk in that identity, I am so loved that even if it doesn't work out, it's still working out. That kind of confidence, you know?

Yeah. When you're a daughter, son of the King, you walk in that favor. And. And I think the reason why I feel the urgency to talk about transformation and. And the life of Jesus is because I think people see it. But I don't always know if we grasp the full weight of where we are at this point in history. We are in the greatest transition maybe the world has ever seen. And it's a transition, but that trend. But in that. With that transition, there is a transformation. When you talk about what's happening with AI and where we're going and how the world, in five years, the world will not be as we know it. That's how fast change is coming. People's careers, people's jobs, how technology is going to be integrated into our life, the merging of man and machine and the integration of these things, like everything as we know is changing at a Rapid place pace. On top of that, we're so influenced by what we see on social media, what we see on tv. And really there's an agenda out there to transform us, meaning, conform us to the image and ideal of, of where the world wants to take things. So if we don't know the biblical understanding of who we're supposed to be, our identity, and, and what, what we're supposed to look like, and what are the priorities and, and what our life is supposed to be revolved around and what true transformation is from a biblical spiritual perspective. There are, there is the world looking to define you, and whatever define you has power over you. And that definition is about identity. The world is trying to even change the identity of what it means on the most basic level, what is a male, what is a female, you know, all these sorts of things. Okay, what, what, what, what is acceptable, what is not acceptable morally, all these sorts of things. And so I think that this definition we have is identity. And as power. And so the power comes. Like we're saying, we know we're sons and daughter of the king, but I think another aspect of what this definition and what brings about this transformation is the call to discipleship.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And we have to, and we have to make a decision. Are we going to be disciples of TikTok and Instagram and of celebrity influencers, or are we gonna be a, or are we gonna be a disciple of Jesus? Because let me tell you, Jesus might have many fans. If he, if he had a fan page today, he'd be hugely popular. Yeah, but he does. But, but the number of followers are small in comparison to the number of people like, oh, I like Jesus. He's a good guy. He was a prophet. He was this, that, right? He calls us to be disciples and disciples are made. And he was a rabbi, right? Jesus was a rabbi. They called him Rabbi Rabboni. So he made disciples in a very specific way, like a rabbi. There's the call, the context and the content of discipleship. We get more into this in the book Transformed by the Messiah. But I want to say something briefly about the essence of discipleship. You know, listen, when I was young, when I was a teenager, I loved to play basketball. My life revolved around basketball.

Dude, I played basketball in high school too. We got it. We gotta play. We gotta play either your court, my court, but we're gonna play basketball soon.

Yeah, and, and listen, I'll never forget, right, I'll never forget that there was a commercial out there. It was a Gatorade Commercial. And the slogan was, I want to be like Mike. And it was like Michael Jordan. MJ the goat dumping from dunking from half court. Listen, I wanted to be like Mike. I wanted to be like MJ. I bought the sneakers, however. 100 something dollars, right?

I know you never dunk from half court. Don't even listen.

But. But I did have a basketball hoop in my backyard. And because I wanted to be like Mike and dunk, I had to lower it because we know white men can't quite jump. So I lowered. It was a lower bowl hoop, right? So I lowered the hoop and I would stick my tongue out. Michael Jordan.

You did not. You did not.

Yes, Jason.

I'm going to have to somehow scrub that image from my mind, and I don't think I can. Rabbi Jason Silva, with the tongue hanging out, going in for a dunk on a fisherman price.

It was just lower. It was right. Why do I say that? That's the essence of discipleship. Discipleship is about imitation. I don't want to be like. I don't want to be like Mike. I want to be like Messiah. I don't want to be like Jordan. I want to be like Jesus.

Yeah.

That's why Paul writes, be imitators of me as I also am an imitator of Messiah. First Corinthians 11:1. Discipleship is about imitation. Listen, there's a story of a famous rabbi who was in bed with his wife, and they were being romantic. And all of a sudden he heard a sound from underneath his bed. He looks under his bed and he saw one of his disciples. And he yells at him. He says, what are you doing underneath my bed? He says, rabbi, it's a matter of scripture. It's a matter of Torah. I have to learn, right? That's taking it too far. Nope. No one, no one should hide.

You don't need to imitate someone that much.

You don't have to go that far. Okay? But the word for disciple in Hebrew and Greek literally means to be a learner. Discipleship is about being a learner. You can't say you love God. You can't say you love your spouse. You can't be a lover in the spiritual. In the spiritual or in the natural. If you're not a learner. We need to be learners. Learning in order to live, which is about imitation.

Dude, dude, that is so powerful. I love it. And that is just learning. First of all, I love the boldness of. Hey, you know what? If you're confused, just be like me. Yeah, that kind of boldness, that kind of confidence in your identity, where it's like, I am following behind Jesus. My prayer is always. I don't want people to see where God stops and I start. I want. I want that to. That abiding to be so tight that it's just that voice that regulates everything, directs everything, just like Jesus said. I'll do anything unless I see my Heavenly Father do it. I don't say anything unless I hear my Heavenly Father say it. And I think there's such a piece there. And you're so right about this time of making disciples. I. I honestly think that's where the remnant is going to be understood and acknowledged, in the ones who are truly expanding the kingdom of God here on earth, as is in heaven. And I am all for it. I. We could talk about this for hours, and I think we need to. We just need to have like a. I don't know.

I think this begs a question. Yeah, am I living a life worth imitating?

Dude? And that's when we grab the mic and we drop it. That is so powerful because that. That turns the camera on yourself. Not in a selfish way, but it's just like, you can't look at the Word and walk away and not be changed. The word is a mirror. And if you're looking in the Word, he will tell you where those places are. That look, this is not leaving a. A pleasant impression. Everything about this, everything about us should bless. And I love that. That one. Yeah.

Yeah. Like, when our kids look at us, no, we're not perfect. We'll never be perfect. But do they see things in our lives that are worth imitating how we do we love? Well, when our co workers, do they see something in our life that they're like, wow, I'd really like to be more like that, you know, in some way.

You know, I think this. I think people, when they hear this, they're like, yeah, I want to get there. But I don't think it's about getting there. It's about knowing who you are in that space so that everywhere you go, you like. One of my things. I say every single day is everywhere I go. And everyone who enters my circle of influence is radically transformed by the power of God within me. So that begins to be my identity indirect. Whether I'm going grocery shopping, whether my husband laughs me, he's like, it is dangerous to go out in public with you because I will have prayer session in aisle four at Walmart, you know, because everywhere you go, if you're carrying that Presence. His eyes are looking to and fro to see where. Where does my love need to make an impression out in this world today?

Yeah. You can just pick one or two things. Like, I want to be more of an encourager. I want to be. Or I'm going to be an occur. Or whatever those. Whatever those things that is naturally put in you that you have an inclination for. You know, I'm saying just, I want to.

I want to see. I want to see with your eyes. Like, I remember someone was talking about elevator pitches. And I'm sorry, but I. I teach sales and elevator pitch is just something I will never, ever teach. I think those are so selfish. And I tell people the best elevator pitch is, hey, my name's Hannah. What's your name?

Yeah.

Find out about people, learn about people. Stop trying to promote yourself and learn how you can be a blessing. Because God's our promoter.

Absolutely.

If we can show up as he is in this world, then he opens the doors that we couldn't otherwise. With the best elevator pitch in the world. There may be someone in the elevator who needs a touch of grace right now, who needs some mercy, who needs some love, who needs to know that they're not forgotten.

Yeah. And I think that ties into. So you have the call to discipleship. Be like Jesus, imitate him, Imitate godly people. You have the context of discipleship, which is community. And I think that's key. Right. You can't. You can't be transformed alone. It says iron sharpens iron, meaning there's at least two pieces. Right. It's like relates friendship, marriage, children. It's sandpaper for the soul or iron sharpening iron. You need other people to smooth out those rough edges in you. We need community. And that's why Hebrews is not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as is the matters of some, but exhorting one another and so much more so as you see the day approaching. So the more we see, the closer we return. Come to the day of the return of the Lord. The more we need community and relationship. And that doesn't mean just going to church. It means real relationship. And that goes into what you're saying about the elevator pitch and all that. Because one of the things God said to me, more important is your net worth, is your network of relationships, your relationships and your community. Community will open more opportunity for you because people know you like you're saying. They see who you are. You support them, they support you. You encourage them, they encourage you. That's so important. And Then there is the content of discipleship. And the content of discipleship is known as the yoke. Every rabbi had a yoke. The yoke was his teachings, and the yoke was the way he lived out those teachings. Learn to live like the rabbi, to pray, to study, to live God's word. And Paul was a rabbi. He says, imitate me as they imitate Messiah. But that's the background to the verse. Come to me, all you who are. Who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That's what he means when he says my yoke. He's talking as a rabbi. He's saying, my teaching, my. The spiritual practices that I'm showing you, they are not burdensome. They are not heavy. They are not going to weigh you down and exhaust you. Actually, they'll free you and they'll bring rest for your soul. Soul. And when you think about what a yoke is, a yoke joins two animals together to accomplish a task when. In terms of farming. And so I think the question that we again have to ask ourselves is, who are you yoked to?

Wow. Wow, right? Because you know what? It reminds me of that of being on a tandem bike with. Yeah, it's really, really strong. And you don't have to pedal. You can kind of pretend like you're pedaling. Like, when we're. When we're yoked with Jesus, he's like, it's going to be so much lighter because I do the heavy lifting. I love that.

That's right. We're. We're yoked to him. And, you know, again, it's no joke to take the wrong yoke. Right. You. If you are.

Dude, I've been. I've had that wrong yoke. It is so pressing and uncomfortable, and you have to make it happen. It is all on you, and you got to figure it out. And all the things I don't like.

And again, we have to understand is that this is so practical, because what applies spiritually to being yoked to Jesus? But again, truly understanding Jesus in a relational way, not a religious way.

Yes, Lord, yes.

It's so important, understanding Jesus and the empowerment that comes by the spirit and the true freedom that we have in him. Not a religiousness, but a relationalness that he wants with us, an intimacy that he wants with us, a friendship that he wants with us, the joy that should come from these things. But then what we have to understand is that that's why we pray on earth as it is in heaven, because all these spiritual things are applicable in every aspect of our life. So again, we have to ask ourselves, right? Am I living a life worth imitating? But we have to ask ourselves, am I yoked to any wrong people or things? Because you could be unequally yoked in an unhealthy relationship. Maybe it's a friend that is. Is a negative influence on your life. Maybe it's a family member. You know, maybe you're yoked professionally with the wrong business partner or in the wrong career that you're not doing what you really created to do. Again, if you're. If you're in a relationship and it's not a marriage relationship, am I, when it comes to dating, is this person someone on the same spiritual level? To be honest with you, I find, and I understand it's a challenge because the truth is, oftentimes there's a lot more spiritual, godly, mature women in the church than there are men. Okay? But that doesn't mean you settle, right? So, woman, if you're not married and you're looking for your life partner, you're looking for your. Your. Your. Your spouse, okay, don't, don't, like, don't marry someone who is so spiritually below you and not in the same place unless God is very clear to do it, it's not a good idea. You're unequally yoked.

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That's a word, dude. That is such a word. And people are thinking right now that, like, this there is something that I have allowed to get in to be yoked to that I didn't realize it was there. Like, people just think it's a marriage saying, no, this is, like, relationship thing, and we want to be yoked or.

Idols or unhealthy things. Maybe what's defining me is my work. Maybe what's defining me is my possessions. Maybe what's defining me as my level of physical fitness, my body image, whatever that is, if it's not Jesus, it's not good.

And the thing about idolatry is it's so sneaky. Like, it is so, like, so under the radar, you don't even realize it. God spoke to me about idolatry, and I'm like, what? He's like, no, there is still, like, you are still clinging a little bit to this, and I still see some tendrils that we have to pull back. And it's just so sneaky. You don't realize. And here I think this is the litmus paper where what do I stress out about what is. And you can say, oh, my marriage or my money or this thing that is your idol. Because, because the thing that stresses you is this source could be cut off.

Yeah. And what gives him a sense of identity, a sense of value, sense of self worth, sense of security, which is why people stress out about certain things. Because if you're, if you're. So if your source of security and identity is in your money and that begins to go. Or if it's in your look and as you get older and that's begin to fade, or if it's in your children and they're getting ready to move out and you're being, becoming an empty nester. If all those things, those things are all part of our identity and they are good. But if it holds the primary defining place, that's it, that's the issue. It's not, of course I'm a father, that's part of my identity. You're a mother, that's you're a wife, husband. These are all parts of ripples.

You. And it defines you. You just found your idol.

Right. So. Right. That's it. And, or if it's my job or if it's my money. So what's interesting, like, and, and I love this. Like, so Jesus enters into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

Yeah.

And he comes in riding on a donkey. And look, every detail. This is what this book is about. Going into the details, connecting the old and new.

I cannot wait to get my hands on this.

But here's, but here's something. I love this, right? So why does Jesus come riding into a donkey on Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? Well, of course there's a prophecy. Zephyr, behold your king comes to you riding humbly, riding on a donkey. Okay. Fulfills that prophecy. But there's more practically, what does it mean? The word for donkey in Hebrew is hamor. Okay. It comes from the Hebrew word Homer. The word Homer, literally one of the words for Adam in Hebrew, like atoms that make up matter is that comes from that same root. So a donkey in the Hebrew word for the Hebrew word for donkey represents also the idea of materialism or the physical world. Jesus represents heaven, the donkey represents earth. Jesus riding the donkey is harnessing everything in the natural, everything in the physical harness for the sake of heaven, for the sake of advancing the kingdom and the spiritual mission of why God sent our soul and our spirit, spirit into this world to begin with. So this is. We have, we have to make. We have to understand this, right? So here's the point. Here's the question that we have to ask, right? Jesus rides a donkey. It's. It's harnessing everything in the natural, everything in the physical for the sake of the spiritual. So the. It's about priorities. What is your priority is your priority. Priority. The physical is your priority. The spiritual Jesus in the kingdom. So then again, this is the question we have to ask. Are you riding the donkey or is the donkey riding you?

Dude.

But hold on, excuse my French.

Blowing my mind. I've got like rain juice coming out of my ears.

If you're riding the donkey, I got news for you. You're the ass. Don't be the ass. We're not talking. We're talking about like ass in the terms of like, Shrek. Another.

That's right. That's right. Yeah.

Don't be donkey.

Don't be donkey. Don't be an.

Don't get taken for a ride.

That's why. That's why we focus. That's why we focus on the things that are above and not beneath. That's why everything that is seen comes out of the unseen. And we get that twisted. We get it so twisted, dude.

This goes back to what we just said because what is another name for a donkey? It's known as a beast of bird. It's a beast of bird. Besides.

Yes, yes.

The burden. Right, Right. So if the donkey's riding you, you are going to be burdened. Jesus, says the Jesus come to who? You're weary and heavy. They're burdened. They got the wrong yoke. They got the donkey on them. Right. They're, they're, they're carrying something that they are not meant to carry.

Right.

We also talked about in the book. Think about this. This might blow your mind. I love blew my mind. So think about it. It goes along with this. Why are the streets of heaven paved with gold? Is God just like the ultimate influencer? He's the ultimate celebrity. He's the ultimate hip hop artist. He's just gonna. Heaven is frosted. It's iced out, right? Is it because it's like, we're old enough. I'm sure to remember Robin Leach, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. This is like, I'm a baller. I'm a baller. I got it. Like that is that. Listen. No, listen. The reason why the streets of heaven are paved with gold is that which people worship. Kill for, rob for, lie for still steal for will sell their Soul, some of them for is only pavement in heaven. It. We literally walk on the values of this world. God's kingdom completely reverses the values of this world. Okay? And we have to understand that everything God gives us, yes, it's for our enjoyment, it's to be a blessing, but it has a greater spiritual purpose, which is to transform your life and to use those gifts, abilities and resource sources to transform the life of others as well.

I. Okay, this, this has been. This is gold. We have got. We've been like twice the time because this is so much gold. And I feel like it needs to come with a like, warning. Like, like, do not, do not watch this.

If.

If you are around flammable materials, this will light it on fire. I also think I might call this YouTube. Rabbi Jason Sobel says don't be an ass. I don't know. I'm taking it up. Oh, my goodness. I think we need a part two. It's just too rich. It's too good. Thank you so much. All right, tell everyone again where they can get the book because I need to get it today. I gotta pre order it. Maybe, maybe I get an advanced copy. I need to get this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or. Or so listen, you can get it for sure on Amazon.com. go to Amazon. Transformed by the Messiah. How the Old and New Testament Jesus connection reveals God's intentional story for your life. And listen, I just encourage you, it's coming out in a few months. But here's the thing. If this has impacted you in any way, if you were blessed, here's the reality. If you pre order the book, what it does, it affects the algorithm and it causes more people to be able to see it. Therefore, there's so many books out there. It's one of the hardest things is getting that exposure, getting for people to see it. So if you think learning this stuff, looking at Jesus in a deeper way is important, it would be a huge blessing.

Yeah, I mean, this is a great. We just talked about discipleship. This is a great way to. Great way to practice discipleship. I'm going to pre order it. We're definitely going to drop it in the show notes, so make sure you grab a copy. You're going to be so blessed. Everything you do whenever I hang out with you, I'm just. I'm just so blessed. Thank you so much for being part of this show today.

Thank you. Shalom. Shalom.