 Jesus is the and because of that hope is rising in your life and in the earth welcome to hope today we're so glad that you're with us I'm Anna and I'm here with Cindy and Cory and Cory you've got the guest today what are we in for I do we're in for a wonderful conversation today listen 2023 marks an important year for Israel as it celebrates its 75th anniversary of becoming a nation coming up in just a moment we're going to have a conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Johnson who is the founder and president of Israel today ministries and he's going to be sharing about the significance of this anniversary plus he's going to be offering some meaningful insight into the complexity of Old Testament and New Testament scriptures and how important the link between the two actually is listen this is a very powerful conversation for the fact that a lot of people are very confused between Old and New Testament and when you really don't understand the typology when I say typology that the Old Testament is a foreshadow of what Jesus is going to happen what's gonna what takes place I didn't know that for years and when I began to understand I began to say God was really present in all of this when I thought it was just isolated stories and scriptures so that's something in said you've been talking about covenant tell us a little bit about what God I think like what I love when we have this conversation about the Old Testament I'll be honest I spent a lot of time in the Old Testament more than a New Testament but it's all about the covenants of God and so we have to understand as believers as the ecclesia about the covenant that God has with us and that through Jesus that we are called the bride and you know speaking of like June is a month of we talk about weddings and covenants and all these things I think it is so important in the season that we have a deeper understanding of our faith deeper understanding of what the scriptures tell and foretell about Jesus because it just when it hits your spirit in such a new way and you have a deeper revelation of what God has been doing from the beginning in the end is that you so eloquently spoke at the beginning of the show I think it is now the time in the season for us to have a deeper understanding of who we are in Christ so that we know our identity and we can truly flourish in him yeah that's right I mean it's so cool to think about that God Jesus and the Holy Spirit have always been and so when we read in Genesis about the creation of the world Jesus was there and the the story of Jesus runs all throughout scripture and see God knew and all his omnipotence that humans would fall and that we would need a redeemer a savior and so from the beginning he knew that Jesus would come and die to save you and me like God seriously he's got every detail in the palm of his hands and because of that we have nothing to fear because we serve a victorious God you know that's that's so powerful what you're saying there because if you don't understand in scripture exactly what Jesus did like from the fall from the beginning when we were in you know in the garden right and then you go to the the fall and then you're in the Old Testament and there's all those stories and then Jesus comes with that new covenant if you don't understand that you get stuck in Old Testament law and what happens with a lot of people is they don't understand the forgiving power of God the grace of God and the need of the Holy Spirit and so people are going to be beaten up on themselves over and over so this is some things I want to get into today when we get into this theological conversation because we got to get deep we have to take the time to get away from the emotions of it and really get into the real and grafted word of God so our next guest is the founder and president of Israel Today Ministries which has provided over 218,000 meals to those in Israel who needed the most children Holocaust survivors and families Dr. Jeffrey Johnson is also an author and in his new book Hope Rising Messianic Promise he fuses together Old Testament and New Testament scriptures and shares the importance of how the two intersect with each other. Dr. Jeff welcome to Hope Today. Well it's a delight to be with you Corey. Listen it is an honor to have you today just going through the book and being able to talk to you about some of these deep deep focuses here. We'd love to get into this. Can you tell us what inspired you first of all to not only write the book but what inspired you to get into your studies in general? Just talk about you and who you are. Oh my well thank you for asking a great question. I came to faith was 18 years old under the ministry of a Jewish evangelist in fact by the name of Hyman Appleman and my mother was Jewish. My father was Swedish and I always tell people if you want to know what a Jewish Viking looks like that would be me. But the motivational impetus behind this book is principally because of there's still in this post pandemic world there is still an incredible amount of anxiety and fear and anger all you have to do is drive down the road you know and so that was the impetus behind this and we have received emails and snail mails phone calls saying how this book has encouraged believers who are dealing still with a great deal of anxiety. So that's the reason for the book and what greater hope than messianic promise the Messiah that's our hope lies in is in Jesus Yeshua on the Jeff Jesus the Messiah. You know what you just said a real powerful word right there when you said anxiety and that's something that so many are dealing with today right. So when it comes to scripture what is the anxiety. Can you identify that and then and then share with us how this understanding of clarity helps to destroy that anxiety. Oh my great question. Okay in the book chapter for example on Psalm 91 and the Psalmist writes that we do not have to hear the arrow that flies by day. And he's not talking about a literal arrow. What he's talking about is demonic force. And Paul echoes that you remember when Paul wrote this on the last day's perilous times will Well the word perilous means implied demonically fears. And in the old estimate the first covenant that cannot or the Hebrew Bible. You know David or Moses who wrote Psalm 91 there's a debate on who it doesn't matter but it's there. He says listen when the bad thing happens what people would do they would run to the temple if they were near the temple they would run to the temple to get behind the walls to get as close to the Shekinah glory that hovered over the Ark of the Covenant behind the Holy of the curtain the Holy of Holies and they try to get as close to the presence of God as they possibly could. And when the enemy came when the plague came when that bad thing came or began to happen. And Paul again dresses that he says listen believer your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit the Ruach HaKodesh the Holy Spirit. We no longer when the bad thing happens when that fear that bump in the night that frightens us we don't have to run to a place to get behind the wall. All we have to do is reach up and say Lord help and he does and it speaks to what Isaiah said that the Lord said he would take you by the right hand. Walk with you as it were. He says do not fear I will help you. Oh it's a powerful powerful reality. So so it's from it's written in the Tanakh and in the New Testament of the New Testament all throughout scripture here God is saying I will help you. You don't have to fear the night. Let me tell you something you are ministering right now. What you are saying you know my head goes back and forth I try not to shout too much but that's the Pentecostal in me but let me tell you that is so encouraging especially when dealing with the understanding of how we approach the Old Testament and then when Jesus came and we had the Holy Spirit the receiving of the Holy Spirit that we are that new temple. You actually said something and I want to quote this you said that you really don't like to refer to it as the Old and New Testament but more so the first and second covenant. Can you explain what you mean by that? Yes sir the the word old implies irrelevance you know it's it's no longer relevant and there was a man and a little bit of church history there in the second century there was this guy a shipbuilder a Turkish shipbuilder named Marcion and he became very popular he had a lot of money a lot of influence and he tried to eradicate the Jewish connection of the the ecclesia the church the assembly that the Lord established and unfortunately he was deemed a heretic unfortunately that teaching has trickled down 2000 years today it's called replacement theology where all the blessings and promises you find in the Old Testament applying to Abraham and all of that now simply applied to the church and in Israel is insignificant it's a teaching today that unfortunately is popular so we it's not old there's nothing old about it it's the first covenant the New Testament is the second covenant that was revealed to us and the old and the new go hand in hand for example you mentioned creation when God created man he blew into his nostrils the breath of life he became a living soul he and you read in in Genesis there where it says we are created in his image both male and female we are created in his image that breath of life the rabbi say was a kiss from God and if you read the song of songs which is a fascinating study and and so forth when you know when you read the bible you get that aha moment you know how you read it a hundred times all of a sudden it made sense to you God kissed you okay that's the idea so God kissed Adam as the word uh breathed into his nostrils of breath of life we are created in his image that means you and I have significant and Psalm 40 verse 17 says that I am poor needy and yet God thinks about me you know how on your iPhone you have pictures of your children your loved ones your grandkids whatever it is on your iPhone if God had an iPhone your picture would be on his phone he thinks about you he cares for you you are important to him and all you got to do is reach up and say Lord I need you and he shows up he's always there but all you got to do is say help and he will wow what you were saying is so healing to so many people specifically believers because I know for me one thing that I had struggled with was this I have to earn it this this transactional relationship with God where oh you know I know he's forgiven me but I don't think he likes me right you know I'm not always doing the right thing so you know those other ones who who fast and they pray all the time you know they have more favor and it's just really not true and Proverbs 4 and 7 says wisdom is the principle thing in all that getting get understanding because the enemy is always trying to confuse us so there is a scripture I want you to elaborate on we're gonna pull that scripture up now and I'm gonna read that that's from Isaiah chapter 41 verse 13 new king James version it says for I the Lord your God will hold your right hand saying to you fear not I will help you Dr. Jeff can you can you elaborate on this understanding oh man you know when I when you read that verse I my mind immediately goes to Peter walking out of the boat on the water to meet the Lord do you remember that story the Lord's walking on the water and and all the disciples in the boat they're like frightened it's a ghost do what you know what are we going to do Peter had the hutzpah the guts to go Lord if that's you let me come from you and so he goes out he walks on the water and in the waves are all around him but he's walking on the water and and he sank so would I I mean wouldn't that freak you out though all the waves he's walking on the water and what you hear in the sermons is oh ye of little faith you know okay now as a grandparent you know uh you tell your grandkids don't stick the thing in the socket you know uh you know on the wall you know the plug on the wall and of course they do and they get zapped and you go now I told you not to do that and I and you hug them and you love them you're okay that is what oh ye of little faith means but what we don't hear now this is the awesome parkour what we don't hear about now the Lord reached out his hand just like the prophet Isaiah said hold Peter up on the water what you don't hear in the sermons is this that Peter and Jesus walked on the water to get back into the boat and you know and I know there was a conversation there it's not recorded for us but I would have loved to have heard what the Lord said to Peter but he walked back on the water to get back in the boat the Lord says I got you Peter I got you and you mentioned earlier about not feeling worthy and you're trying to Lord you know listen there are days we do this better I don't know about you there are days I do this better and there are days I oh man you know you would not be proud but you know what's beautiful Lamentations 3 says that when the sun comes up in the morning his grace and mercies are renewed do you remember as a kid you're playing hide and seek or something and it didn't go your way and you say let's have a do over let's have a do over you know what's beautiful about the Lord when you have a day that you don't do it so well you get to have a do over tomorrow morning when the sun comes up and his mercies are renewed and you pray Lord help me to do it better today help me to follow you better today that is grace that is mercy oh my I get excited about that you're talking about being a Pentecostal man I'm going to shout here too you know what I'm saying you know it's you know God loves us so much and I don't know how much time we have but if I can share one more thing yeah sure and also please tell us about your organization and how it's been helping as well oh okay and yes and that's that's the the reason I do all these things right the books speaking churches and colleges universities and all of that is to bring an awareness to the hearers that Israel a country of nine million people has 1.1 million of their children living in poverty Chamon Perez spoke to that in 2015 but not many leaders come forward with that 1.1 million children living in poverty in poverty and about one in three Holocaust survivors living in Israel are also living in poverty that comes to around 50 000 or so so we provide meals and educational material for specifically for the children to have them to learn to read write and so forth Bible related material and so the Lord has enabled us to provide well over 200 000 meals and in Israel this earns you the right to speak because I always ask why do you do this and we're able to share why and in a loving very gentle way to share the story of Mashiach and it works for it works so this is what we do at the end of the day this is why I get up in the morning this is my passion to feed those children and to feed the Holocaust survivors wow that is so powerful I just I feel the presence of God really in this conversation with truth and sharing and I feel that kindness you said you're a grandfather as well so I can feel that grandfather kindness that you have as well can you elaborate about the 75th anniversary for Israel and talk about that a little bit oh my goodness Israel's nothing less than a miracle when you realize that for 2400 years Jewish people have been scattered throughout the whole world and the the first covenant the Tanakh the Hebrew Bible the prophets say one day that Israel will come back will be restored and it's a progressive restoration the land promise to them goes from Egypt to the Euphrates up to Lebanon down to the southern part of Israel they don't have all the land yet but in the 1890s a guy by the name of Theodor Herzl said we need a land and he began the first Jewish Congress as it were in Basel Switzerland but since that time World War I World War II the Holocaust 1947 the UN says we're going to draw boundaries 1948 Israel became a nation listen it's unprecedented in human history after 2400 years of people that were scattered all around the world have gone back to the place they started and that is a miracle and Yeshua said Jesus said you know when you see these things happen but the redemption is near wow that is so incredible the the understanding the history the scripture the relevance what you are doing is healing people and healing a nation by bringing truth because you know the enemy he's always trying to create so much confusion by really rearranging scripture and taking pieces out of it that people may not understand and I love even in your book how you expound on the breakdown of the Hebrew and the Greek to really understand the original context of scripture and what God was really saying we know the term lost in translation and that can easily happen Dr. Jeff thank you so much for joining us today it was just a wonderful time talking with you you're doing great ministry and I pray pray God's special blessings over you your family and everything that you're doing for the kingdom well thank you so much Corey Corey Anna Anna Sydney what a delight to be with you guys this morning Shalom blessings upon you as well my friend thank you blessings upon you as well thank you wow what an amazing time we have with Dr. Jeff hey stick around we're gonna have some ministry after this break your cornerstone television t-shirt where'd you get it I am so glad that you asked you know this is an exclusive offer for the month of June for you to receive this one-of-a-kind ctvn t-shirt you can support and support your favorite Christian television network this summer when you go to barbecues hanging out with family and having tons of fun oh man that is so much fun and speaking of cornerstone television I love their programming especially that hope today show yes we love hope today in all of the programs and you know with your best gift request your cornerstone television network t-shirt when you give this month we have sizes from extra small to six XL it is a hundred percent cotton it is quality and we want you to have this on you today that's right we have one for everyone and you get to represent the station you love with your own logo t-shirt you'll enjoy this wearable reminder that hope happens here as together we spread the love of Jesus every day you know we cannot do it without you when you give you help us to impact Pittsburgh and beyond reaching those of all nations and generations because we know people need to know the hope and the love of Jesus like never before so why don't you give us a call at 888-665-4483 and request your very own cornerstone tv t-shirt that's right you can also give online at ctvn.org slash donate we would love to see you out in public somewhere wearing this t-shirt maybe we'll have ours on too thanks for supporting us we truly do appreciate your support because it enables us to have powerful conversations like we just had with Dr. Jeff and you know one thing Cory and Anna that is just sitting in my spirit I know we were talking about the covenant you know he's saying that you know instead of calling the old test and the new test and it's like it's two it's covenant one and covenant two and I just think about how much he loves us and one thing that Dr. Jeff said that even hearing about in the beginning of Genesis and I don't know about you all but some I feel like there's time after time I just keep going back to the beginning and when you study and you read in Genesis I just feel like the more you study and you read the Hebrew words it just blows up in your spirit but what he talked about in the beginning when that that breath that he breathed into us and I believe the Hebrew what is Neshama that was a kiss who just think about that that in the beginning like God is kissing upon all of us that's how much he loves us like his stamp his mark it's all on us and sometimes he just sit in that revelation Anna and it is just it's like breathtaking I'm just at a loss for words of just thinking about how much he loves us what he's done for us it's amazing Yeah this year I just the prayer of my heart is that each one of us would get a deeper revelation of who our God is who our Jesus is who our Holy Spirit is and how we truly have nothing to fear because of how great God's love is for us and because of how great he is today if you're struggling with anxiety or fear think about that scripture where God speaks and he says fear not I've heard a said that he says fear not like over 350 times in the Bible because there's that many days in the year so every day we need to hear that that he is calling us to rise up to know that we are protected in him that we are rooted in him hidden in him and he has gone before us he is behind us he is all around us and he is clearing the way when there seems to be no way and he will bring his work and his purposes to completion Cory Wow and that is so healing especially to know you know that scripture is really romantic you know some people say oh the book of the songs of Solomon you know that's where the romance is but scripture is really romantic it's a love story about a love that God had for us an intimacy a closeness and then evil gets in between and then his wonderful love is lost in the world and he's searching for us and reaching for us and then he gets into man's likeness he gets into a suit like us he puts it on he gets born he raises up he lives an entire life and then he saves us he takes it all upon himself when many of us feel incredibly guilty and many of us are guilty for the things that we have done God says no I'm going to take all of that on to me and I'm going to let you go I'm going to let you be free that is such love and I know there may be many of you right now who are beating up on yourself about the things that you've done and you don't think that you're worthy of the love of God and that is the trap of the enemy but scripture what it does is it really says no you don't know how much he really does love you it's a ferocious fervent love for you and just receive that love today if you have to watch this again go ahead on the YouTube watch it again let it minister to you because God's love for you is so strong Sid I feel God bubbling inside of you I do I feel it I do so one thing I'm just going to ask because the Holy Spirit has prompted this in my heart and I just like know if Dr. Jeff is still with us and just can we pull him up on the screen to do just like pray us out in Hebrew if he can or just say a prayer so Dr. Jeff can you pray us out we have 30 seconds just pray us out for the show today Sure Father we thank you for this time bless the listeners that watch this speak to their hearts draw them close to you thank you for the gift of life thank you for the hope that rises in our heart because of Shioch bless each one thank you for the gift of life and as always for the gift of eternal life in your name in your shoe how much Shioch we pray Amen we love you have a great day On Tomorrow's Hope Today spreading hope and music as a testament to the glory power and love of God piano artist Kim Dierdorf shares his miraculous story of lifting music an inspirational message that God has a plan and purpose for everyone don't miss Tomorrow's Hope Today Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible