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Bible Pathway Adventures
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Issue 3 // Volume 1 // Summer 2018
RECONNECTING TO THE ROOT INSIDE THIS ISSUE…
Editor’s Corner: Follow the Way The Importance of Educating Our Children The Humility of Messiah
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RESTORATION MAGAZINE is published for FREE distribution in the public interest. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without permission. All Rights Reserved. RESTORATION MAGAZINE is published by Restoring the Branches Ministry. Editor & Graphics Designer: Kelly Vonner Cover Image: Dominik Martin @unsplash.com Email: restoringthebranches@gmail.com
Mission Statement The mission of Restoring the Branches Ministry is to reconnect YAH’s people to the root and truth of His Word. We have been called to take YAH’s healing to the nations, remove the stumbling blocks out of the way of His people and teach as well as model the importance of serving YAH in spirit and truth.
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Photo by Trent Erwin on Unsplash
Shalom Family,
The Father has been constantly speaking to me about salvation, in particular, the salvation that He sent to save and redeem His people. As the clay, we tend to diminish the power, wisdom and knowledge of the Creator. Regardless of the knowledge that we acquire, His thoughts will always be higher and greater and beyond what our small minds can truly comprehend. What does YAH require? He requires that we keep His commandments for our benefit. He desires that we worship Him in Spirit & Truth. According to the prophets, He will save by His Spirit and not by power or might. Anyway you turn, obedience is required. Any which way you look, His Ruach (Spirit) is necessary. Either way you spin it, Yahshua, sent by the Source, shows us and is the Way, Truth and Life. We are called to follow His perfect example. I pray we strive to be like Christ, who is one with YAH, in every way. Consider His humility and obedience and then choose life and follow Him. He leads us to YAH. Shalom. Kelly Vonner
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Shalom to all, My name is Saraiyah and I am the owner of Milk N Honey Kids which is an online business dedicated to aiding our people in the process of homeschooling their children. We also provide an array of teaching materials for all ages from flashcards in Hebrew and English to unit studies focused on scripture. We believe in making The Word of YHWH fun and engaging for children, by creating projects that focuses on reading comprehension and retention. We began homeschooling our children about 4-5 years ago. Our oldest son was “diagnosed” with a severe learning disability, cognitive delays, ADHD (Impulsive), and a severe speech impediment. He was given an IEP (Individualized Education Program), and we signed him up for speech therapy at school twice a week for 30 min. He also received speech therapy outside of school 2 to 3 times a week for an hour with occupational therapy. He was then moved to a “self-contained in the least constrictive environment” classroom setting and was seen weekly at an institution called Kennedy Krieger; an affiliate of Johns Hopkins Medical Center (provides inpatient and outpatient services for children with developmental concerns ranging from mild to severe). We hired a tutor to work with him twice a week for an hour, and after all of this we were not seeing any changes nothing was getting better. Our son received these services from the time he was 3-4 years old up until his third-grade year in school. One day, I decided to sit in his classroom because I could not understand why he was not progressing after all the help he was receiving. I sat in his classroom all morning, and as I sat there watching, he sat at a computer with headphones on listening to a story being read to him. I asked the teacher why he was sitting there. Her reply was that he’s learning how to read by listening to the story. I could not have disagreed with her more. I voiced my concerns and called for a meeting which took months to get. We did not want our son to get lost in the school system, and by the time he made it to high school, drop out. Not because of himself (although he will believe it’s himself), but because he never received
what he should have received previously. The classrooms are overcrowded, and teachers spend more time babysitting and correcting behavior than teaching. The system is unbalanced set up for socialization. Many children are overlooked or get left behind because the teachers don’t have time. I was actually told this by a teacher, her words exactly, “I don’t have time to make sure he gets it.” I learned quickly what the system was about and how it is failing our children. Once we put an end to all the services our son was receiving and began homeschooling him, we saw drastic changes. There were many barriers to break through. Our son had low self-esteem, and he developed a passive-aggressive attitude when he did not want to complete his work. If he did not want to do his work he wasn’t forced to do complete it, and he knew he could get away with it at school. We had days where he would cry, and I had to learn to be patient with him. By the end of the school year my son was doing things that specialist said he could never do, and he learned to love the things he despised such as reading. We took our time educating him and built up his self-esteem. As a result, his confidence went through the roof. In our homeschool setting, he doesn’t have to rush. We take our time, and we do not move onto the next lesson until he has mastered what he is learning. The first year went so well we decided to add our other children and have been moving forward educating them ourselves. Homeschooling the children has been beyond rewarding. We have another son who is in 2nd grade and we have been homeschooling him since he was in Kindergarten. He is now reading on a 5th grade level and his arithmetic skills are on a 4th grade level. Our daughter who is currently a 5th grader is completing middle school and high school assignments. Our youngest child who is currently in Kindergarten is reading independently and completing some 1st grade material. Educating our children allows us to be flexible in their education, giving them one on one if they need it. When our children are given labels individuals around the child may began to treat the child as the label that is placed on them. Believing the child can’t do certain things or complete tasks is a hinderance to their growth mentally and emotionally. Those who took part in aiding us with 8
what we thought our son needed was a hindrance to him. They didn’t want to push him to do better or allow him to try new things. They just wanted to treat the problem instead of curing the problem. Educating our children allowed us to cure the problem and close the gap in our children’s education. We teach them where they are and not where someone says they should be. We allow them to make certain decisions in their education and direct it toward a path that is best for who they are. Homeschooling our children gives us the control to monitor and assist our children in the learning
process. Additionally, homeschooling allows us to observe their strengths and weaknesses while permitting us the advantage to help them where they need it most.
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Have we truly counted the cost? Do we understand the expectation of the Most High YAH? Do we truly grasp the role that Yahshua (Jesus) the Messiah plays as the Mediator, High Priest and Right Hand of YAH. Our obedience should reflect that understanding. Our reverent fear of YAH should bring wisdom and understanding, and understanding with our hearts should cause us to return to the ways of YAH and be healed. Unfortunately, we lack healing because we don’t want to return. We have deemed our way as truth and life. We daily reject the bread from heaven, the manna of life. We have proclaimed that we don’t need a teacher and that our feeble way of thinking is more than enough. We lack the humility of Messiah because we are full of pride and arrogance. Christ’s humility was evident through His obedience. Let this mind be in your which was also in Yahshua, who, being in the form of YAH, did not consider it robbery to be equal with YAH, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8). At times we downplay to power of YAH and fail to comprehend the obedience of Christ. Just as Christ’s humility was evident through His obedience, so should ours be if we desire to walk as our Teacher walked. Yahshua is the chosen Teacher from the Source of all things. He fully acknowledged and believed the Source, who raised the Him from the dead. We must understand that YAH didn’t raise us up from the muck & mire of sin (lawlessness) and death to dwell in disobedience. His Word is infallible and worthy of our attention, and if we are living a “whole-book theology”, then we cannot shy away from the expectations of the Father. Christ didn’t raise himself from the grave. He waited on the power and provision of YAH, the Source. “… but He whom YAH raised up saw no corruption” (Act 13:37). Praise YAH that He raised our Salvation. In our effort to walk as Messiah walked and to follow Him as He followed and obeyed YAH, as true disciples, we too must allow the Source to raise us as we die to our flesh and the
lust of this world.
“...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of HIm, the eyes of your understanding be enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe, according to the work of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And YAH put all things under Yahshua’s feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:17-23). We must have faith in the power of YAH, and we must always be mindful of the obedience of Yahshua, Jesus, our Lord and Messiah. If we are called to obey our earthly parents, how much more our heavenly Father. Yahshua completely surrendered to the will of YAH; we have been called to walk as He walked. Therefore; we have to completely surrender as well. The mind of Christ in us is one that says “Thy will be done” over my own. It is one that says Your way is not only better but perfect and flawless. For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on YAH, they shall inherit the earth (Psalm 37:9). Yahshua was the firstfruit of this inheritance and so much more. Consider how He walked and follow Him. YAH raised Him that he would never see corruption. That is the seed in us.Yahshua is our salvation from YAH, the redemptive power to redeem us from our lawlessness, vain actions and deeds. By humility and the fear of YAH are riches, honour and life (Proverbs 22:4). The fear of YAH is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility (Proverbs 15:33). Humility requires a careful watching over one’s life, analyzing our actions by the word of YAH and 13
example of HaMashiach. The humility of Yahshua carried purpose. He obeyed YAH out of love, trust and humilty. Keeping the word of YAH is what allows His love to be perfected, entirely without flaw or defect, in us. We are called to walk as He walked. Our obedience increases our ability to point others to the Way, Truth and the Life. Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty (1 Corinthians 15: 12-14). Since we know this to be true, that Christ was indeed risen from the dead, we further establish the power of YAH. The power and wisdom that raised Messiah is that same power and wisdom that created all things. The same power that established season and times in which to worship Him. The same power that gave us just and fair instructions to follow. Yahshua, salvation sent from the Source, fully embodying the Spirit of YAH, paid the wage for our sins though He was blameless. To consider YAH’s way and will to be higher than our own is good, but to actually make life-changing applications is best. We can never get away from obedience. Christ’s actions prove that YAH expects more than lip-service. He wants our word, thought and deed to be perfectly aligned with His Word. Let that mind be in us. Shalom. Seek YAH, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of YAH’s anger. Zephaniah 2:3
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The Source YAH, Av, The Father But I make it personal so I say Avi He who loves me And I love Him That’s where my obedience stems YAH, Avi Total & complete Perfect, righteous Character Calling us to be better Than the day before So we strive for more— More than the things of this world. We stand in His truth On His Word In His Righteousness. Right living Right speaking Rightly cleaving To the one who sent Salvation Make it personal —Yahshuati Now apply it and obey The Shepherd is calling the sheep to no longer stray. Now make it righteous and keep his commands Don’t see them as demands but for our benefit He commands and changes not So that is why we stand and are not consumed
Jacob, It’s time to wake up and make up Return, Repent, Come back We lack because we lack facts The Source is calling us to no longer be appalling. By His Ruach He will accomplish this Israel, by His love unfailing, He will cease our wailing. Return, Repent, Come back—The Source sent salvation to mend what we cracked....by sending Himself. By Kelly Vonner 15
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