First mentioned in Ephesians 2 “ONE NEW MAN” is a term that has been thrown around quite a bit for at least a decade or more and carries with it any number of definitions. Some will say the ONM is a completely new iteration of a man that has never been seen before on the face of the earth. Others will describe him as a Jewish believer who can’t be distinguished from any other Gentile believer in any other church in the world, or a Gentile believer who prays, dresses and worships like a religious Jew, and so on and so forth. Ephesians 2:14-18 are the verses commonly quoted to support the variations on this theme, but where can I actually go to experience the reality and substance of what the Apostle Paul was speaking about to the saints at Ephesus?
Fortunately, I have a great answer to this question! Come join me, Paul Wilbur, and my friend Curt Landry of Curt Landry Ministries and House of David in Fairland, Oklahoma for an awesome time of worship, prophetic teaching and ministry, as we experience the reality of the One New Man today. Yeshua (Jesus) went about the Land of Israel teaching and demonstrating the Kingdom of God. He never mentioned denominations, and He warned about divisions and pride. He preached the Kingdom of God, honored and manifested the presence of the Holy Spirit, and taught with power and authority.
In Acts 15 the apostles were presented with a huge problem that needed to have the mind of God. The problem? Many Gentiles were wanting ‘in’ on this New Covenant being presented to Israel. They saw the power to save, heal, deliver and empower people to live godly lives in a very perverse and wicked world, and they wanted someone to open the door. The report of Peter’s vision on the rooftop and the outpouring at the house of Cornelius spread like wildfire and the world was not going to be left behind! So the question went begging for an answer, “what do we do with all these Gentiles who want in on the covenant promises to Israel? Do they convert to Judaism, should the men be circumcised, should they become obedient to the Law of Moses?” When the apostles gathered to pray and seek the will of the Holy Spirit on this issue, they basically received the definition of the One New Man. Paul further defines this in Ephesians as a wall of separation that has been torn down, inviting us all, Jew and Gentile to worship, pray, eat and serve together without judging each other or expecting us all to look, sound, smell and worship as a rubber stamp household of faith.
Today we are dealing with the mirror image of that first century question, only the shoe has been moved to the other foot! In a Church that has been largely dominated by believers from the nations for the past 1900 years, the question is; “what do we do with all these Jews who are coming to faith in Jesus Christ? Should they be forced to eat in a manner they don’t believe is right for them, should they give up their convictions about the Law of Moses, should they cease to celebrate those ‘Jewish feasts’, just how can we worship together when they sing in Hebrew with minor keys?” Does Jesus like being called Yeshua, and does the Holy Spirit rest of them like He does on us?
I could expound further here, but I would rather have you experience the answers to these questions and more. Come and worship with us and enjoy the presence, power and fullness of the King of the Jews and the King of the World. The One New Man is alive and well, and we are experiencing a manifestation in Oklahoma!
I look forward to personally greeting you there!
Shalom and grace,
Paul Wilbur
About Paul Wilbur:
Paul’s musical history reaches back to the mid-seventies when he was a young college student studying to be an opera singer and cantor before a born-again experience took him in a radical new direction. He started Harvest, an early Jesus Movement band, and subsequently formed Israel’s Hope, dedicated to bringing the message of the Gospel back to the Jewish people.
Paul’s ministry with Israel’s Hope would quickly come to define his life and music. In 1990, he signed to Integrity Music and released Up To Zion, a groundbreaking album in the Messianic Jewish movement. It was followed by a string of acclaimed releases, including Shalom Jerusalem and Jerusalem Arise, and a virtually non-stop international touring schedule. His concert ministry would in time take him to every continent on the globe playing before huge audiences in far-flung locations ranging from South Africa to Singapore, Kuwait to Honduras, France to the Philippines and beyond. And he would go on to perform in virtually every Spanish speaking country on the planet, including recent concerts in Cuba.
Along the way he came to realize that God had called him and his team to a truly global mission field. “We had to take a cross-cultural, multi-lingual approach almost from the beginning,” he explains. “The heart of worship is communication, from our hearts to God. You can’t expect people to reach out to God in a language they can’t understand. Our goal quickly became to carry the music, message and ministry of the Kingdom to the nations in their own language.”
Music is the universal language. It’s an old saying that’s being echoed and amplified around the world in the extraordinary musical ministry of Paul Wilbur. For over forty years, in thousands of concerts and recording projects that have reached millions across the planet, Paul’s distinctive songs of praise and worship always get to the heart of the matter about matters of the heart.
Whether he’s leading worship before crowds of thousands in the Middle East, singing to packed soccer stadiums throughout Latin America, or bringing his anointed Messianic message directly to the people of Israel, Paul speaks a language of melody and meaning that reaches far beyond cultural, social, and political borders to touch people directly with the love of God.
Paul Wilbur has performed and recorded in a total of six different languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Hebrew and, most recently, French. New releases, including 2005’s The Watchman, 2008’s Paul Wilbur Live and 2010’s acclaimed Desert Rain, were often recorded in a variety of languages. A busy touring schedule, which takes Paul and his group around the globe upward of 250 days a year, likewise highlights concerts performed in indigenous languages.
