December 16, 2025 • 12 mins
Ever felt like your inner life is louder than your prayer life? We take a fresh look at Hanukkah—the Feast of Dedication—and discover a surprising mirror for Christian practice today. Instead of arguing for legalism or ritual for ritual’s sake, we trace the story of a defiled temple reclaimed for God and ask what it means when Paul says our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.
If you’re ready to evict the noise and tend the flame, this conversation offers a grounded path forward rooted in Scripture, history, and honest self-examination. Subscribe, share with someone who needs a reset, and leave a review telling us: what’s the first idol you’re ready to lay down this week?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Keith (00:00):
Hey, good morning, good evening, good afternoon,
whatever time it is that you aretuning in, uh, we are on day
three of an epic journey, and Ijust want to put out a quick
disclaimer, right?
Um, this whole this whole timethat I'm talking about Hanukkah,
um, and I'm talking aboutJewishness and the roots of our
faith, I just want you tounderstand, um, especially, you
(00:24):
know, if you're new to the faithor or in general, that this is
not me uh calling you to, youknow, practice Hanukkah or
become a Jew or go down any ofthose paths of um legalism um in
regards to salvation.
This is not a salvation issue.
This is merely um just divingdeeper into our heritage as
(00:49):
believers, um, our heritage asas Christians in general.
You know, a lot of times onSunday service in your everyday
church, oftentimes the pastorswill talk about certain
festivals that were had andfeasts that were had, um, and
there's a lot of old language, alot of Hebraic language that's
(01:10):
not often really expounded upon,and we kind of gloss over it.
You know, if you think of YomKimpur or the Feast of Lights or
any of these types of feasts,and you know, how often do you
hear that in a church, uh sermonor service in general?
Um, but yet, you know, wordslike tithing, we use that word,
(01:31):
right?
Even though we find its originin Leviticus.
Um, and and and sometimes, sadto say, a lot of the older
practices, a lot of thelegalistic practices and
observances that we find in theOld Testament are used because
it has an advantage to themodern day church.
Um, and so as we exploreHanukkah, this isn't about any
(01:52):
of that.
This is simply about being ableto partner um with our extended
family, you know, and and wepray that every um you know
Orthodox Jew and Jew alikethat's not of the Messianic
Jewish community that does notacknowledge Yeshua the Messiah
as our Lord and Savior, thatJesus Christ is the atonement,
(02:14):
he is the Kaporah, right?
Like those that don't know Jesusyet, we pray that they do.
We pray that they that they cometo know who he is so that they
too can receive salvation, andthat is, and they can kind of
break free from a lot of thelegalism that they live in and
hopes for salvation and in hopesfor the Messiah.
(02:35):
The good news is the Messiah hascome, right?
He is risen, right?
Like as American Christians, aswe celebrate Christmas, we're
celebrating this idea thatChrist is born, our Savior has
come, and we hope that ourextended family, when I say that
because you know we're graftedin um to God's chosen people, we
are called to be the light.
(02:55):
We are called to now, you know,represent and serve as
ambassadors to the kingdom ofheaven.
What a great responsibility.
And so another thing I realizedum with talking with the wife,
you know, is just that in inyour Bible it might not even say
Hanukkah.
Hanukkah in you know is the inHebrew it means dedication,
(03:16):
right?
So this would be the feast ofdedication as it might read in
John 10 for you.
Um in today's verse, uh today'sreading that every Jewish
believer and every MessianicJewish believer out there that
read it today is in November isin Numbers chapter 7, 24 through
35.
And it says, On the third day,Elob the son of Helen, prince of
(03:39):
the children of Zebulum, hisoblation was one silver platter,
the weight whereof was a hundredand thirty shekels, one silver
bowl of seventy shekels, afterthe shekel of the sanctuary,
both of them full of fine flour,mingled with oil for a meal
offering, one golden spoon often shekels, full of incense,
one young bullock, one ram, andone male lamb a year old for a
(04:02):
burnt offering, one male of thegoats for a sin offering, and
for the sacrifice of peaceofferings, two oxen, five rams,
five male goats, five male lambsa year old.
This was the oblation of Elub,the son of Helen.
On the fourth day, Elizar, theson of Shador, prince of the
children of Reuben, his oblationwas one silver platter, the
weight whereof was a hundred andthirty shekels, one silver bowl
(04:24):
of seventy shekels, after theshekel of the sanctuary, both of
them full of fine flour, mingledwith oil for a meal offering,
one golden spoon of ten shekels,full of incense, one young
bullock, one ram, one male lamb,a year old for a burnt offering,
one male of goats for a sinoffering, and for the sacrifice
of peef offerings, two oxen,five rams, five male goats, five
(04:47):
male lambs, a year old.
This was the avalation ofElizar, the son of Shador.
Why am I reading this?
Whew, this camera's kind ofheavy.
Um a couple of reasons.
Again, that's what every Jew isreading around the world right
now.
And as believers, as we tap inand lock into, you know, Jesus
(05:09):
was a Jew, right?
Like Yahshua was his name,right?
When we lock into some of thethings that he celebrated, some
of the things that that hefocused in on, and it's just
kind of cool to dive into thathistorical reference point.
But, you know, today, one thingthat God pressed heavy on my
spirit to kind of talk to usabout is um, you know,
dedication, feast of thededication.
(05:31):
We are dedicating the temple,right?
Now, granted, Maccabees had umovercome the the Greeks in that
time, and um they had you knowthe Greek king at the time, the
Antioch or whatever his namewas, he had um he was
sacrificing all types of weirdthings in the temple.
Like he was basically beingblasphemous in every area
(05:51):
possible, right?
And when the Maccabees camealong and revolted against that,
they took back the temple andthey turned it back holy, right?
And so the dedication that yousee in Numbers by Moses when
they were dedicating thetabernacle, right?
This is the standard dedicationto consecrate the temple.
Now, interestingly enough, wegot some New Testament text that
(06:15):
I want to dive into today.
This is in we're in 1Corinthians chapter 6.
Now, we know in Corinthians,Paul is going in on the church
of Cornet for some of the thingsthat they had gotten into and
the things that they were doing.
But I really want to highlightin verse 16, going down to verse
(06:37):
20, it says, Don't you know thatyour body is a part of the
Messiah?
So am I to take parts of theMessiah and make them parts of a
prostitute?
Heaven forbid.
Don't you know that a man whojoins himself to a prostitute
becomes physically one with her?
For the Tanakh says, the twowill become one flesh.
But the person who is joined tothe Lord is one spirit, run from
(06:57):
sexual immorality, every othersin a person commits is outside
the body.
But the fornicator sins againsthis own body.
Or don't you know that your bodyis a temple for the Holy Spirit
who lives inside of you, whomyou receive from God?
The fact is, you don't belong toyourselves, for you were bought
at a price, so use your bodiesto glorify God.
(07:19):
Wow.
Let's tie the parallel.
So we're celebrating Hanukkah,Jews, right?
We as Christians, we'reacknowledging Hanukkah, we're
learning about Hanukkah, we'relearning about the rededication
of the temple.
Our bodies are now because webelieve in Jesus Christ, because
(07:42):
we've accepted Yeshua theMessiah as our Lord and Savior,
and we've come into an agreementwith him on these things, the
Holy Spirit is poured outamongst us, and now the temple
resides inside of us.
Now every believer who professeshis name, the temple, is you.
The temple is is now thedwelling space of the Holy
(08:03):
Spirit, which convicts you andcorrects you and teaches you and
reproofs you and educates you onall things that you need to know
about living out this faith.
And so it's the light ofdedication, it's the feast of
dedication, dedicating thetemple.
How can we as Christians, howcan we as believers in our faith
(08:26):
now respond to this message andto respond to this thing that's
happening across the world rightnow?
Well, we can look at our temple.
We can ask ourselves have wetaken up idols and residence
inside of our temple?
Are we putting things inside ofour temple that is taking away
from God's holy space?
Are we doing things in general?
(08:47):
Are we living a life in generalto where the Holy Spirit's voice
has gotten muffled because ofall the other many lowercase G
gods that we have in our heartsand that we have have we have we
built up inside of our ownbodies?
Right?
We can go to the macro.
The church is commonly referredto as the body of Christ.
(09:11):
Hmm.
So the temple is within thechurch.
How many idols are there?
How many things have beenpostured up?
How many things have taken placethat that was belonging to the
Holy Spirit and now is our isour guiding light?
What's guiding us in our day?
Is it the word of God?
Is it the promptings of the HolySpirit?
Or is it the news?
(09:31):
Is it social media?
Is it whatever's trending?
Is it what is it whatever thething is for the day, right?
Sometimes we get so caught up inour day that the voice that we
hear most is the self-voice,right?
It's it's the voice, it's we'vebecome our own gods.
We've taken place in our insteadof our own temple.
We've shut down the HolySpirit's convictions and said,
(09:54):
yeah, but I'd rather.
Yeah, but I'd rather do X, Y, orZ.
I'd rather spend my money onthis, I'd rather watch this and
do that instead of listening tothe soft, gentle voice that is
of the Holy Spirit.
Remember, his burden is easy andthe yoke is light.
And we've traded that for ataskmaster called the world.
We've traded that for ataskmaster called the flesh.
(10:16):
Because the flesh isincessionable, right?
Like it's never quenched.
You will always need more,you'll always want more, you'll
always have this desire thatsays that you're unfulfilled,
right?
And the spirit says, my burdenis much easier than that.
Why would you choose yourself?
Why would you chooseself-government over the fact
(10:36):
that that I'm the King of Kingand Lord of Lords?
That I can I can tell youexactly what you need to do in
your day and how to do it.
Why would you choose the harder?
And so that's just something tothink about today, right?
As we reflect again on whateverJewish believer is doing,
whatever per whatever you know,messianic Jew when they're when
(10:59):
they're celebrating and and andremembering, you know, um the
feast of dedication, right?
Or Hanukkah.
And then we look internally toourselves and our temple.
Is there a rededication thatneeds to happen?
Does that dedication need tohappen by force, like the
Maccabees in this instance?
You know, I I would like toargue that in the word it says
(11:22):
you'd rather enter the kingdommaimed than not at all.
Maybe some things need to be cutoff.
Maybe some things need to beviolently overc over overcome by
way of the Holy Spirit.
You won't be able to do it byyourself.
You won't be able to do it ofself-will, because if we could
do it and rededicate it by forcewithout any help, then we
wouldn't need God, right?
(11:43):
But our helper, the greatcounselor, the Holy Spirit, is
there to help us overtake andovercome all the many lowercase
G guides that we've set upinside of our temple.
His resting space, his placethat's supposed to be holy, his
place that's supposed to bepure, his place that's supposed
to be continually beingperfected in pursuit of
righteousness.
(12:04):
That's where we're at.
So I will see you guys tomorrow.
Dwell on that word, and I praythat you guys have a blessed and
wonderful day.
Hey, good morning, good evening, good afternoon,
whatever time it is that you aretuning in, uh, we are on day
three of an epic journey, and Ijust want to put out a quick
disclaimer, right?
Um, this whole this whole timethat I'm talking about Hanukkah,
um, and I'm talking aboutJewishness and the roots of our
faith, I just want you tounderstand, um, especially, you
(00:24):
know, if you're new to the faithor or in general, that this is
not me uh calling you to, youknow, practice Hanukkah or
become a Jew or go down any ofthose paths of um legalism um in
regards to salvation.
This is not a salvation issue.
This is merely um just divingdeeper into our heritage as
(00:49):
believers, um, our heritage asas Christians in general.
You know, a lot of times onSunday service in your everyday
church, oftentimes the pastorswill talk about certain
festivals that were had andfeasts that were had, um, and
there's a lot of old language, alot of Hebraic language that's
(01:10):
not often really expounded upon,and we kind of gloss over it.
You know, if you think of YomKimpur or the Feast of Lights or
any of these types of feasts,and you know, how often do you
hear that in a church, uh sermonor service in general?
Um, but yet, you know, wordslike tithing, we use that word,
(01:31):
right?
Even though we find its originin Leviticus.
Um, and and and sometimes, sadto say, a lot of the older
practices, a lot of thelegalistic practices and
observances that we find in theOld Testament are used because
it has an advantage to themodern day church.
Um, and so as we exploreHanukkah, this isn't about any
(01:52):
of that.
This is simply about being ableto partner um with our extended
family, you know, and and wepray that every um you know
Orthodox Jew and Jew alikethat's not of the Messianic
Jewish community that does notacknowledge Yeshua the Messiah
as our Lord and Savior, thatJesus Christ is the atonement,
(02:14):
he is the Kaporah, right?
Like those that don't know Jesusyet, we pray that they do.
We pray that they that they cometo know who he is so that they
too can receive salvation, andthat is, and they can kind of
break free from a lot of thelegalism that they live in and
hopes for salvation and in hopesfor the Messiah.
(02:35):
The good news is the Messiah hascome, right?
He is risen, right?
Like as American Christians, aswe celebrate Christmas, we're
celebrating this idea thatChrist is born, our Savior has
come, and we hope that ourextended family, when I say that
because you know we're graftedin um to God's chosen people, we
are called to be the light.
(02:55):
We are called to now, you know,represent and serve as
ambassadors to the kingdom ofheaven.
What a great responsibility.
And so another thing I realizedum with talking with the wife,
you know, is just that in inyour Bible it might not even say
Hanukkah.
Hanukkah in you know is the inHebrew it means dedication,
(03:16):
right?
So this would be the feast ofdedication as it might read in
John 10 for you.
Um in today's verse, uh today'sreading that every Jewish
believer and every MessianicJewish believer out there that
read it today is in November isin Numbers chapter 7, 24 through
35.
And it says, On the third day,Elob the son of Helen, prince of
(03:39):
the children of Zebulum, hisoblation was one silver platter,
the weight whereof was a hundredand thirty shekels, one silver
bowl of seventy shekels, afterthe shekel of the sanctuary,
both of them full of fine flour,mingled with oil for a meal
offering, one golden spoon often shekels, full of incense,
one young bullock, one ram, andone male lamb a year old for a
(04:02):
burnt offering, one male of thegoats for a sin offering, and
for the sacrifice of peaceofferings, two oxen, five rams,
five male goats, five male lambsa year old.
This was the oblation of Elub,the son of Helen.
On the fourth day, Elizar, theson of Shador, prince of the
children of Reuben, his oblationwas one silver platter, the
weight whereof was a hundred andthirty shekels, one silver bowl
(04:24):
of seventy shekels, after theshekel of the sanctuary, both of
them full of fine flour, mingledwith oil for a meal offering,
one golden spoon of ten shekels,full of incense, one young
bullock, one ram, one male lamb,a year old for a burnt offering,
one male of goats for a sinoffering, and for the sacrifice
of peef offerings, two oxen,five rams, five male goats, five
(04:47):
male lambs, a year old.
This was the avalation ofElizar, the son of Shador.
Why am I reading this?
Whew, this camera's kind ofheavy.
Um a couple of reasons.
Again, that's what every Jew isreading around the world right
now.
And as believers, as we tap inand lock into, you know, Jesus
(05:09):
was a Jew, right?
Like Yahshua was his name,right?
When we lock into some of thethings that he celebrated, some
of the things that that hefocused in on, and it's just
kind of cool to dive into thathistorical reference point.
But, you know, today, one thingthat God pressed heavy on my
spirit to kind of talk to usabout is um, you know,
dedication, feast of thededication.
(05:31):
We are dedicating the temple,right?
Now, granted, Maccabees had umovercome the the Greeks in that
time, and um they had you knowthe Greek king at the time, the
Antioch or whatever his namewas, he had um he was
sacrificing all types of weirdthings in the temple.
Like he was basically beingblasphemous in every area
(05:51):
possible, right?
And when the Maccabees camealong and revolted against that,
they took back the temple andthey turned it back holy, right?
And so the dedication that yousee in Numbers by Moses when
they were dedicating thetabernacle, right?
This is the standard dedicationto consecrate the temple.
Now, interestingly enough, wegot some New Testament text that
(06:15):
I want to dive into today.
This is in we're in 1Corinthians chapter 6.
Now, we know in Corinthians,Paul is going in on the church
of Cornet for some of the thingsthat they had gotten into and
the things that they were doing.
But I really want to highlightin verse 16, going down to verse
(06:37):
20, it says, Don't you know thatyour body is a part of the
Messiah?
So am I to take parts of theMessiah and make them parts of a
prostitute?
Heaven forbid.
Don't you know that a man whojoins himself to a prostitute
becomes physically one with her?
For the Tanakh says, the twowill become one flesh.
But the person who is joined tothe Lord is one spirit, run from
(06:57):
sexual immorality, every othersin a person commits is outside
the body.
But the fornicator sins againsthis own body.
Or don't you know that your bodyis a temple for the Holy Spirit
who lives inside of you, whomyou receive from God?
The fact is, you don't belong toyourselves, for you were bought
at a price, so use your bodiesto glorify God.
(07:19):
Wow.
Let's tie the parallel.
So we're celebrating Hanukkah,Jews, right?
We as Christians, we'reacknowledging Hanukkah, we're
learning about Hanukkah, we'relearning about the rededication
of the temple.
Our bodies are now because webelieve in Jesus Christ, because
(07:42):
we've accepted Yeshua theMessiah as our Lord and Savior,
and we've come into an agreementwith him on these things, the
Holy Spirit is poured outamongst us, and now the temple
resides inside of us.
Now every believer who professeshis name, the temple, is you.
The temple is is now thedwelling space of the Holy
(08:03):
Spirit, which convicts you andcorrects you and teaches you and
reproofs you and educates you onall things that you need to know
about living out this faith.
And so it's the light ofdedication, it's the feast of
dedication, dedicating thetemple.
How can we as Christians, howcan we as believers in our faith
(08:26):
now respond to this message andto respond to this thing that's
happening across the world rightnow?
Well, we can look at our temple.
We can ask ourselves have wetaken up idols and residence
inside of our temple?
Are we putting things inside ofour temple that is taking away
from God's holy space?
Are we doing things in general?
(08:47):
Are we living a life in generalto where the Holy Spirit's voice
has gotten muffled because ofall the other many lowercase G
gods that we have in our heartsand that we have have we have we
built up inside of our ownbodies?
Right?
We can go to the macro.
The church is commonly referredto as the body of Christ.
(09:11):
Hmm.
So the temple is within thechurch.
How many idols are there?
How many things have beenpostured up?
How many things have taken placethat that was belonging to the
Holy Spirit and now is our isour guiding light?
What's guiding us in our day?
Is it the word of God?
Is it the promptings of the HolySpirit?
Or is it the news?
(09:31):
Is it social media?
Is it whatever's trending?
Is it what is it whatever thething is for the day, right?
Sometimes we get so caught up inour day that the voice that we
hear most is the self-voice,right?
It's it's the voice, it's we'vebecome our own gods.
We've taken place in our insteadof our own temple.
We've shut down the HolySpirit's convictions and said,
(09:54):
yeah, but I'd rather.
Yeah, but I'd rather do X, Y, orZ.
I'd rather spend my money onthis, I'd rather watch this and
do that instead of listening tothe soft, gentle voice that is
of the Holy Spirit.
Remember, his burden is easy andthe yoke is light.
And we've traded that for ataskmaster called the world.
We've traded that for ataskmaster called the flesh.
(10:16):
Because the flesh isincessionable, right?
Like it's never quenched.
You will always need more,you'll always want more, you'll
always have this desire thatsays that you're unfulfilled,
right?
And the spirit says, my burdenis much easier than that.
Why would you choose yourself?
Why would you chooseself-government over the fact
(10:36):
that that I'm the King of Kingand Lord of Lords?
That I can I can tell youexactly what you need to do in
your day and how to do it.
Why would you choose the harder?
And so that's just something tothink about today, right?
As we reflect again on whateverJewish believer is doing,
whatever per whatever you know,messianic Jew when they're when
(10:59):
they're celebrating and and andremembering, you know, um the
feast of dedication, right?
Or Hanukkah.
And then we look internally toourselves and our temple.
Is there a rededication thatneeds to happen?
Does that dedication need tohappen by force, like the
Maccabees in this instance?
You know, I I would like toargue that in the word it says
(11:22):
you'd rather enter the kingdommaimed than not at all.
Maybe some things need to be cutoff.
Maybe some things need to beviolently overc over overcome by
way of the Holy Spirit.
You won't be able to do it byyourself.
You won't be able to do it ofself-will, because if we could
do it and rededicate it by forcewithout any help, then we
wouldn't need God, right?
(11:43):
But our helper, the greatcounselor, the Holy Spirit, is
there to help us overtake andovercome all the many lowercase
G guides that we've set upinside of our temple.
His resting space, his placethat's supposed to be holy, his
place that's supposed to bepure, his place that's supposed
to be continually beingperfected in pursuit of
righteousness.
(12:04):
That's where we're at.
So I will see you guys tomorrow.
Dwell on that word, and I praythat you guys have a blessed and
wonderful day.
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