Jewish Ugandan Children sing “Oseh Shalom “

Beautiful clip of a group of Ugandan Jewish children singing with life, passion, and fun!

Our Family Passover Seder 2010

Lately our family has enjoyed the celebration of Passover together.

If you want to read more about how we adapted this into our homeschool and family life this past week, please take a trip  over to my homeschool blog and read all about our Passover.

Is it commanded for new convenant Believers to keep feasts and festivals?

In our family, we have been learning this year to embrace all that God has for us.  This has recently included the study of the Hebrew/Jewish heritage of our Christian faith.

As this has become of utmost importance to us recently, we have found it a joy to begin discovering the joys of celebrating the feasts and festivals that were originally instituted in the Torah/Pentateuch.

However, the questions remains for some, how can we look back to the feasts of yesteryear and still remain new testament Christians?

The more I study the feasts, the times and dates by which Jews lived, and how God originally mapped out His own calendar with His own instituted feasts and dates to be remembered, I see how far our western culture has come in getting away from that.

Though controversial, I feel that we as a western civilization have replaced many of which was biblical in favor of that which is secular – ranging from the santa clause, the easter bunny, and any other commercialized events which are to me a mixture of pagan and Christian celebrations.

I have always felt this way, but never followed through on anything that would actually CHANGE the way we did things in our own home.  For us, December 25 is still a day we have been exchanging gifts and gathering with family and we always have a wonderful easter celebration with church, family, and friends…

But this year something different has happened in my heart.  I have been stirred toward the remembrance of God’s ways.  Adonai, our Lord, has established a calendar, seasons, dates, times, and He has made it clear in His word (at least in my view), that it is His times, feasts and festivals that are of utmost importance.

So along with our spiritual observance of Christmas and Easter (and not the commercialized versions with santa and the easter bunny/eggs, etc., and rejecting all notions of Halloween), I would like to begin bringing those Messianic elements of our faith into our family which we have neglected out of sheer lack of knowledge.

The more I read about our Messiah, the more I realize that yes, He really was Jewish, and, yes…our Christ followed the feasts…AND …(drum roll please)…all of the feasts pointed to HIM being the Messiah…the more I want to draw closer to my Lord through observing His ways.

That is the pure beauty of the picture God creates in His own calendar.  When we follow His seasons and embrace the ways of God, we can see how that even as New Covenant Believers, it all ties together and fits in beautifully.

So then, I still do have to ask myself…what are those limits for those of us who are new convenant believers/ Christians/followers of Christ?  What makes us distinct from our Jewish Messianic believers who have accepted Yeshua as their Messiah?  If we are one in Christ, why do we balk at the Torah followers and those brothers and sisters who we consider to be “still under the law” although they may have accepted Christ?  Denominations are just as divisive within the Christian community itself.

Somehow, I don’t picture division among Christ’s Believers when we are sitting with Him at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Heaven (mentioned in Revelations).  If I recall, the passage of scripture has us all sitting at one big table  TOGETHER with Him, partaking of a huge feast with our Savior.  I believe He has the grace to determine whose hearts followed after Him, whether they participated in feast days or not, followed Torah or not, followed Paul’s teachings or not…(out of ignorance, that is).  He knows what limited knowledge we may have obtained, but He also knows how true our hearts are toward Him…and that is all that matters to Him.  Even someone on their death bed who calls on the name of the Lord can be saved and enter the Kingdom of heaven at the last minute (though I must say, absolutely no one should be counting on this method  as a back up plan to live ungodly).  But the fact remains, if you’re in at the beginning of the race, or at the end of the race, you’re in.

Our Savior accepts and receives all those who accept and receive Him- Jews, Christians, Gentiles.

So back to my question– are we still new testament Believers when we adapt ourselves to feasts and festivals from the Old Covenant?

Here is something I read from the Prescious Holidays website:

I can’t tell you how many Christians balk at the mention of Torah. Cries of “legalism!” ring out at the suggestion of, say, not eating the shrimp cocktail. Some of the same people who fight for the proud display of the Ten Commandments staunchly resist the fourth.Christians follow Torah. They just don’t know it. They wash their hands before they eat. They keep mildew out of their homes. They don’t think murder is okay under the New Covenant. The division always comes down to dietary restrictions, Sabbaths, and Feast Days–the very things the New Testament addresses as areas of freedom. If you don’t like those laws, you call them legalistic. If you like them, you call yourself Torah-keeping. Both sides feel compelled to force the other to bend to their way. But Torah encompasses so much more than eating and resting and waving a lulav.

Torah requires blood sacrifice. Frequent travel to Jerusalem. Confession to a priest. Temple. But–the argument goes–Yeshua (Jesus) is our High Priest who took the place of our sin offering. Yes, but what about other sacrifices, besides atonement? Even setting aside Temple laws (which God did not), you still don’t keep Torah. Torah requires a menstruating woman to live away from others for seven days per month. Not mixing cotton with polyester. Not growing tomatoes next to green beans. Growing out the corners of your beard. Marrying your brother’s wife, if he dies. Communal living. I certainly hope none of the so-called Torah-keeping ever even consider stoning to death their rebellious child.

Torah can not, and never did, impart righteousness. (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:5) If you’re seeking a right relationship with God–whether eternally or temporally, on the basis of keeping the law–you’re in big trouble. You are fallen from grace, alienated from Messiah. (Galatians 5:4).

If you think Torah became obsolete under the New Covenant, however, you’re also in trouble. Jesus said not to even think that He came to abolish the Law. And if you teach others to break its commands, you will be least in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:17-19).

So, what part does Torah play in the lives of New Testament believers? The Law shows the heart of God. In Torah, we see who He is: Resisting the proud and giving grace to the humble. Providing for the poor. Defending the powerless. Gently, personally, lovingly leading.

Torah requires forgiving debts. Not harvesting our entire crop, but encouraging others to freely take the increase of our labor. Revering mother and father. Kindness to strangers. Commitment to family. Worshiping God. Rejoicing. Not talking bad about people. By studying Torah, even in our imperfect ways, we get to know the Almighty a little bit more.

No one, but Jesus, can keep the Law perfectly. That is its weakness. (Romans 8:3) Those of us who received Jesus as Savior and live by faith are no longer under its authority (Galatians 3:24-25). But Christians who truly emulate Jesus obey the Law, because Jesus did. Followers of Jesus display characteristics of radical humility, selflessness, love, kindness and generosity. Just like the Almighty.

Without these tell-tale signs, you can be sure it’s just legalism.

Here is my opinion–and know that I am still learning.  I am still growing in Christ.  But to the extent of my knowledge this is what I know for me and my family today:  we are free.

What are we free to do, or free from?

When as Christ followers we say that the law has been nailed to the cross and we say that we are free from the law, does that mean we must not follow the ten commandments anymore?  Surely we are not stone to death rebellious children or make temple sacrifices.

No…but we are free.  Free to understand who Christ is in relation to the law.

We are free to understand that Jesus came to fulfill the law, not do away with it.

We are free to understand that Jesus/Yeshua became our Passover Lamb, and that our sins were nailed to the cross with Him, and there is no more need for the temple sacrifices any longer.  He has become our Ultimate Sacrifice.

We are free to understand that in the embodiment of Christ lies the ten commandments and the resurrection (both the law and grace).

We are free to understand that all feasts and festivals and laws instituted by God to the Hebrew peoples all have spiritual significance and remain significant even today.

So, then, we are free to place ourselves, as Believers, under the ordinances created by God to the Hebrews, which point to Christ, so long as we understand the purpose for which we are operating in the feasts, festivals, and commandments.

So long as we understand that our salvation is in our Messiah, Christ Jesus (and not in the keeping of ordinances), we may keep feasts.    So long as we are not placing a yoke of bondage on others and so long as we observe feasts with a pure heart in service to God, and not to be seen of men, then we may keep feasts.  Even Paul discusses this (Acts 15).

So is it commanded of us today to keep feasts?  At this point in my journey as a new covenant believer, still learning to embrace our Jewish heritage…no.  I do  not feel it is imperative at all.  I believe as Paul says that just as one may be free to keep feasts, one may also be free NOT to.

“There is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ JESUS”.

So is condemnation a result of not keeping feasts or the ten commandments?

No…condemnation only comes to those who are not in Christ Jesus.

If you are in Christ Jesus/Yeshua the Messiah, and your heart is found in Him…then there is no condemnation to you…because as you learn His ways, you will develop a heart to live for and serve Him with time.  It does not happen over night, nor does it happen with adapting a few jewish or messianic rituals for your family.

Following Torah alone will not save you.  But grace and law work together through the embodiment of our Messiah.  WE must first accept Him and be found in Him.

Then if you do the first part of being found in Christ (loving Him, living for Him, giving all that you have in exchange for a life with the Messiah), then you should begin studying the Word of God and deciding what God is leading you and your family to do about feasts and festivals.

Finding Shalom in the Passover

This week is Passover.

As our family prayerfully prepares for this signficant time of the year, I am cleaning and cooking– but better yet, praying for a deeper revelation of who Christ is.
And during my Hebraic roots search I am learning so much that I didn’t before realize our savior, Yeshua (Jesus).

I have been a King James/New King James reader all my life.  With time I began to see the value in reading the same passages of scripture in different translations.  One of my newest favorites is my Complete Jewish Bible.

As I read through the bible (Complete Jewish Bible), I see a slightly different view on who Jesus was and what He actually did – teaching His talmidim (disciples), healing the sick on Shabbat, forgiving sins, burning with zeal and anger over the temple being turned into a marketplace…

I could almost see the scenes play out in my mind. I felt present as I read through the entire book of Matthew, then Mark.

I saw Jesus tell the little girl “Talita cumi, arise”.

I could almost see the look on Peter’s face when his mother in law got out of her sick bed and began serving the disciples and Yeshua.

I could almost see the woman who wouldn’t stop bleeding touch the fringe of Yeshua’s tallit- the hem of His garment. And when she did…immediately she felt His power and virtue flow through her body and stop the continual flow of her blood disease.

I could nearly see woman with the alabaster box pouring out expensive perfume on Yeshua’s feet, worshipping Him and crying over His soon to be burial, as the P’rushim (Pharisees) looked on with disdain and judgmentalism. Jesus accepted her offering and blessed her name to be remembered for all time.

Jesus sat across from the temple offering and watched people place their offerings in the temple offering box one day. He noticed that the rich placed loads of coins into the box. But He accepted the offering of the woman with only one mite, who had given all she had. He blessed her offering as the one given with her heart. I could almost see this.

This Passover season as I think about how that Yeshua- Christ Jesus- became our passover, I am amazed at how when He brought the Israelites out of Egypt and “passed over” their homes that had the blood of the lambs on their doorposts…that He is showing us today how that He Himself has become our ultimate Passover.

He causes iniquity to pass over the hearts and homes of those who cling to Him, and protects us from the plagues of the world. He saves us with a mighty and great salvation, bringing us out of bondage and completely out of Egypt. He lights the way with His cloud of fire and shines light on our path with each step we take, leading us safely out of the world and into His way of righteousness, blessings, and peace.

Belonging to Christ is not something to be taken lightly and irreverantly.

We don’t walk in His true blessings simply because we have the material posessions this world offers. The nicest house, car, and closet full of clothing will not and can NEVER compare to the blessed richness of the SHALOM/peace that only our Savior Yeshua, Christ Jesus, our True Passover, brings.

A song about Jesus

This song amazes me! Jesus is SO beautiful! As I remember Him this Passover week, I cannot help but to think on Him more, talk about Him more, listen to Him more, commune with Him more often.

When I think of all that He has done for us, I cannot help but to wonder how much we are giving Him back in terms of our committed hearts.

Our Jewish Jesus

Next week is Passover week…and I cannot help but to think about all that Christ Jesus/ Yeshua our Messiah has done for us.

It never ceases to amaze me how that our faith is deeply rooted in Jesus’ experience as a Jewish man while on earth.  As believers in Christ, we shouldn’t forget the roots of our faith, and that we were engrafted into the olive branch as Gentiles, but now as a very integral part of the tree itself.

It is my prayer that the following videos will help you to see, understand, and not forget that the Jesus we serve was a  Jew and that Israel is His land.  Everything we do, say, or think in this era is VERY important– the time has come upon us to begin making choices, as believers in Yeshua- Jesus Christ.  Decisions which will effect our friendships, our relationships, our neighbors, and our government.

It will not only affect the situations and people surrounding us – it will also effect others’ outlook and opinion of us — and for that, we must be ready.

Don’t forget our roots.

Don’t forget who Jesus is.

Don’t forget WHY you are following Him to begin with.

This Passover, let us remember how God allowed the plagues to pass over the Israelites .  God’s protection is over His people – and He doesn’t change.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

A Purim Feast

Our family has been studying our Hebrew heritage lately –from a Messianic viewpoint.  I am enjoying this very much and have really gotten plugged in to Robin Sampson’s homeschool materials and her blog.  I also purchased her book on A Family’s Guide to Celebrating Biblical Feasts.

I wrote an entire blog post about how our family did just that this weekend.  We learned about Esther and Mordecai and Haman and how God’s people were saved from being destroyed…everything that the celebration of Purim is about.

Read about our journey as we joyfully discover learning more about biblical holidays.  Click here to read all  about our Purim Feast.