En-Gedi Resource Center

12/15/2025

Knowing more about the Maccabean victory helps us understand why people were questioning Jesus about whether he was the Messiah or not.

The story of the Macabees can bring insight into how attonment, the death of one atoning for others' sins, is viewed in both Christianity and Judaism.

12/08/2025

The Jews of Jesus’ day were longing for a messiah, but for many, Jesus didn’t meet their expectations. What were they looking for, from how they read their Scriptures?
https://engediresourcecenter.com/2019/06/05/jesus-messianic-…kingdom-of-mercy/

12/01/2025

The prayers surrounding Jesus’ birth are full of rejoicing that one was finally coming who would bring consolation to Israel and salvation from those their enemies. What was actually going on that prompted these prayers?
https://engediresourcecenter.com/2019/06/05/reflecting-on-the-first-advent/

11/17/2025

What was expected of disciples in Jesus’ time? Other rabbinic teachers talked about how disciples should “kill themselves” with hardship and sacrifice as they traveled and studied together. What about our calling?

Jesus proclaims that the seed must perish to bear fruit, and we need to die to our desires in order to receive life as it was meant to be.

11/10/2025

A yoke can seem like a cumbersome device, but Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy and light. How so?

Jesus' "yoke," a metaphor of submitting oneself to a weighty task or to the leading of another, had been used in teachings both before and after Jesus.

11/03/2025

Tis the season that many of us sit around drinking Pumpkin Spice Lattes while we watch the leaves change colors. But not for farmers and not for Jesus. When the fields are white with the harvest, there’s urgency in the air – no time to lose! That’s how we as disciples should treat our mission too.

Jesus is saying that our mission has great urgency—like in a harvest, there's much God desires us to do, and we have less time to get it done than we think!

10/27/2025

Kingsway just sent out its email newsletter with what felt like two recent miracles. You can read it at the link. Sign up to get it at KingswayUganda.com.

Classes have been continuing at Kingsway for about hundred students, which is about twice as many as in former years. Since the first floor of the girl's dorm was completed last year, they have a much larger capacity.

10/20/2025

Clarity on the what and the when of God’s kingdom is available to us when we consider Jesus’ first century Jewish culture.

Jesus spends more of his ministry talking about the kingdom of heaven than anything else. Understanding first century Hebrew culture clarifies his teaching.

10/16/2025

Just finished sending out my rare but occasional newsletter with lots of links to recent seminars and writing. If you haven't signed up on OurRabbiJesus.com or EngediResourceCenter.com, you can read it below at the link:

https://preview.mailerlite.com/b4o2s3g2p5/2856819231347971391/v8w6/

10/13/2025

What an ironic picture, which I took myself outside the church in the Garden of Gethsemane! It’s oddly fitting for the fact that Jesus and Paul used irony quite often in their teachings. What wisdom do we need for understanding?

One key to unlocking many difficult Bible passages is to know that Middle Eastern teachers, like Jesus and Paul, loved to use irony to make a point.

10/06/2025

The feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) begins tonight at sundown. At the end of the feast are the prayers for Living Water at the Water Drawing Ceremony. The rabbis said, "He who has had never witnessed this ceremony has never seen true joy in his life!” Would you like to taste this joy? Read more here:

Sukkot focuses on Isaiah 12:3: "With joy shall you draw water from the wells of salvation." But why was drawing water such a joyous thing?

09/29/2025

Do you remember how Jeremiah 17 describes the blessed as like a “tree planted by water…that sends out its roots by the stream, its leaves remain green, and does not cease to bear fruit”? Believe it or not, this is actually the CURSED tree! Find out why in today’s article, “Where’s the Juice?”

A comparison of a person's life to that of the Arara plant. The fruit looks attractive from the outside, but there is no living water within.