50 Days of Omer

At Restoration, we have made it a priority to seek God first in prayer. During this season of counting of the Omer, we have decided to do this collectively as a congregation in the days leading up to Shavuot. Together, we want to trust in His power to impact our lives, our congregation, our city, and our world. The counting begins at sundown on Saturday, March 31 and will end at sundown on Saturday, May 19. Follow along in the News section of the Restoration app or on the Happy Rabbi blog. There will be a new post at 8pm PST each night during the 50 days.

The last 10 days we will encourage a corporate time of fasting and prayer, which starts the evening of May 9 and ends the evening of May 19. The conclusion of this season of prayer will culminate in a congregational picnic on the 50th day, the day of Shavuot - Sunday, May 20 at noon.

Rabbi Matt Returns January 6th!

From Rabbi Matt: This sabbatical has been an amazing experience and I am so grateful for the opportunities these three months afforded me and my family. To spend five weeks in Jerusalem with my family was more than incredible. We were able to celebrate both Yom Kippur and Sukkot in Jerusalem and this was a dream come true for me. To take my children to the locations of some of our favorite Bible stories built family memories that we will talk about for the rest of our lives. So many friends in Israel asked “are you guys moving here?” Laura and I responded in unison “absolutely not!” We have have far to much to do in Seattle! I have read several books for the nourishment of my own soul as well the beginnings of writing a book on the Jewish context of Yeshua, Peter, Paul and the New Testament. Writing has been both difficult and fulfilling and will continue into 2018. I can’t thank my friend and partner in ministry, Aybars Uckun, for leading these three months and by all accounts he has done a fantastic job. Our whole leadership team and wonderful volunteers have done such a great job growing our community during my sabbatical. To say I am stoked to return would be too much of an understatement because I cannot wait to get back and lead our Synagogue into the next 7 years. I believe the best is yet to come for Restoration, the great city of Seattle and all that God is going to do through us in 2018. I can’t wait to preach my first sermon after 14 weeks on the first portion of Exodus. Invite some friends and join us on January 6th. Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, see you in January!

Helping in Houston

Restoration Family,

At our Shabbat gathering on September, 2nd, we will receive an offering for Messianic Congregations in Houston. 100% of the money designated for "Houston Messianic Congregations" will go to help people in messianic congregations in Houston. If you would like to give to this fund, above your regular tithes and offerings, you can write a check to Restoration or you  give cash in an envelope and designate it for "Houston" this Shabbat. If you would like to give online or through the Restoration App use "Houston Messianic Congregations" in the drop down menu. Click here to give now!

There are a few messianic congregations in the Houston area and many people have had floods, fires and various other hardships this back weekend with Hurricane Harvey and weather that followed. We can help! Please pray and ask the Lord, how much should I give?

We have joined a growing group of over 11 Messianic Congregations who are supporting our friends in Houston. See you on Shabbat!

Celebrate Yeshua Northwest 2017

Celebrate Yeshua Northwest is an annual mini-conference of Restoration in Seattle, August 25-26. Our goal is to bring some of the best from the worldwide messianic movement and larger Church to help Seattle celebrate Yeshua our Messiah as King, Lord and Savior. We are excited for our lineup this year and Celebrate Yeshua Northwest is a free mini-conference serving the Pacific Northwest. Come and spend a couple days with us!

For more info and lineup of speakers and worship leaders check out our website: http://shalomseattle.com/celebrate-yeshua

Dont miss it!

Last Chance for Passover Tickets

The last chance to buy tickets for our passover seder is Wednesday, April 5th. That means if you are hoping to buy them in person this Saturday (Not an April fools joke) is your last chance!

You can get your tickets online anytime until end of day on Wednesday, April 5th here: 

https://www.eventbrite.com/o/restoration-a-messianic-synagogue-3492160195

Or, you can call the office today (Thursday) or next week (Monday-Wednesday) and Emily Kennedy can help you purchase tickets over the phone. 

Don’t miss out and take this last opportunity to donate a ticket for someone who cannot afford to come. 

This will be the 3rd best seder of all time because the best is yet to come!

Passover Celebration (Two Nights)!

This year we are having two seders. The first is Monday, April 10 at 6:30pm. The second is Tuesday, April 11 at 6:30pm. They are the same event so choose which one you would like to attend and register! Please make sure you are on the night that you would like to register for.

Tickets are available through Eventbrite with the link at the bottom of this event post. Tickets will also be on sale at our Shabbat gatherings every Saturday until tickets are sold out.

Every year we celebrate Passover together with a full sit-down meal. We go through the order of service (Seder) and celebrate all that God has done for His people, Israel, and for everyone from every nation that calls on the name of Yeshua (Jesus).

Passover is the celebration of God freeing our people Israel from slavery in Egypt. As a Messianic Synagogue, we also celebrate the death and resurrection of Yeshua our Messiah (both events took place during Passover). There is so much to celebrate because the God of Israel is not only awesome but He is also the Only God!

So, join us this year. If you are able to buy a donation ticket for someone who cannot afford one, that would be wonderful! We do our best to keep the price low for the event so an offering box will be at the check-in table if you are able to help us meet our cost to put on these events.

This is going to be the best Passover ever! Don’t miss out on one of the best events of the year. This is a +1 event, so buy a friend a ticket and invite them to join us!

Buy tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/restoration-a-messianic-synagogue-3492160195

Winter Connect Groups

Winter Connect Groups begin next week and I want to encourage you to jump in and join a group. It is only an 8-week commitment and it will add real community to your life and encourage you more than you can imagine. 

As in past semesters, some of our groups will work off of Saturday sermons. When we write sermons we spend somewhere between 10-20 hours on them, and the life cycle of our congregation functions through our sermon series. It is a great way to connect with people in our community and on a deeper level with God. These are also great groups to invite friends to who don't yet know Yeshua!

3 sermon community Connect Groups:

Mill Creek: Led by Laurie Bachand @ Rick & Cindy Gile’s home - Monday nights @ 6:30pm (begins Jan. 16th)

Edmonds: Led by Chris Hamilton @ Tom & Gisela Fogle's home - Monday nights @ 6:30pm (begins Jan. 16th)

Northgate: Led by Aybars Uckun @ Aybars & Kelly Uckun's home - Tuesday nights @ 6:30pm (begins Jan. 17th)

We have a specialty Connect Group that studies the traditional Jewish readings from the Torah for each Saturday. It is a great opportunity for study and connecting with like-minded people at Restoration. It is very convenient as this group meets on Saturdays in our building following our Shabbat Gathering.

Torah Connect Group: Led by Janet Cothrell after Shabbat Gathering (begins Jan. 21st)

This winter semester we are adding Connect Groups specifically designed for men and women. These groups will use a video-based Bible study and will be totally different in context than the other groups. So if you are able, you can participate in a few different groups in one week!

Women’s Connect Group: Led by Piper Ditzler - Wednesday nights @ 7:00pm in the Restoration Office (begins Jan. 18th)

Men's Connect Group: Led by Matt Rosenberg - Tuesday nights @ 6:30pm in the Restoration Office (begins Jan. 17th)

You can get specific information about each group at our Shabbat Gathering every Saturday, or contact Emily Kennedy in the office at 206.232.0490 or info@shalomseattle.com.

These groups are going to be awesome. You are designed for community and we are better together. Join a Connect Group this winter semester!

When God Makes You Sick

In April, on the last day of Passover, I went to the emergency room with tremendous pain in my abdomen. In all honesty, I thought it might just be the worst gas I had ever felt before or maybe just too much Matzah (#JewishProblems). At first the doctors were not even sure what was happening! After tests and imaging studies, I was diagnosed with Diverticulitis. WebMD describes Diverticulitis this way: 

Diverticulosis happens when pouches (diverticula) form in the wall of the colon. If these pouches get inflamed or infected, it is called diverticulitis. Diverticulitis can be very painful. Doctors aren't sure what causes diverticula in the colon (diverticulosis). But they think that a low-fiber diet may play a role. Without fiber to add bulk to the stool, the colon has to work harder than normal to push the stool forward. The pressure from this may cause pouches to form in weak spots along the colon. Doctors aren't sure what causes diverticulitis. Bacteria grow in the pouches, and this can lead to inflammation or infection.

It was painful. More painful than anything I have experienced in my life. As I was suffering late at night, before going to the hospital, I began throwing up from the pain. While sitting on the bathroom floor I found myself singing. What an odd experience to throw up and sing at the same time. Specifically two songs were set on repeat in my mind, The Love of God by Marty Goetz and Lord Have Mercy by Lecrae. The line in Lecrae’s song is “Lord have mercy and pity on your son from what I once was and what I have become.” 

While the diagnosis was clear, my doctors had no idea why this was happening to me because this condition seemed odd at my young age. With gas and excess Matzah ruled out, I had no clue either! It wasn't until the end of August that I experienced an unexpected revelation.  God made me sick. 

I know, it sounds weird and I don’t like saying it out loud or writing it down. I feel like to some degree it’s against my theology. Please don’t read this and believe that I am saying God causes people to get sick. That would miss the point of the lesson I learned. Some sickness is just sickness. Some sickness is opportunity for us to learn something. 

For a few weeks prior to this revelation each of the leaders at Restoration came to me and in different conversation and all essentially said the same thing to me: “You don’t listen. When you do listen you are only hearing what you want to hear so you can persuade me to what you want me to do.” If one leader says something you think about it. If two leaders say the same thing you pray about it. If all your leaders say the same thing it is probably God trying to get your attention. So, with the encouragement from my mentor, I took a test from Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and the results said, “You don’t listen. When you do listen you are only hearing what you want to hear so you can persuade me to what you want me to do.” Dang it. So, after all this I am getting in my car after a great workout and clear as day I hear the Lord say, “I made you sick.” I respond with, “why would you do that to me?”  To which, as clear as if I was before the Lord, He said, “It was the only way you would listen to me.”  Then there were tears. a lot of tears.

I don’t know how you feel about God speaking out loud. I don’t know if you have ever heard Him speak to you. Maybe you think I am crazy. I’m okay with that. Maybe you think God making me sick is ridiculous and I would say that, until this happened, I probably would have agreed with you. I am not saying sickness is from God. I am not saying this happens to everyone. I don’t know how often God works this way. There is also a danger that we would be gripped by fear and begin to believe that anything bad that happens to us is from God. It’s not. Fear is not from God. Here is what I know, I wasn’t listening. To think that I would try to persuade God, to what I want Him to do rather than listen for what He wants me to do, makes me sad. I want to listen better. To God, to my leaders. Of course the danger of being this transparent is that people have the tendency to look back and say “you weren’t listening to me either.” Or in conversation people pull out this blog and say “you are doing this to me, right now.” I get all that. I also believe that God wants to our experiences to encourage someone who may be going through the same kind of thing. 

It’s interesting because in the beginning of January of this year I started taking my health seriously. I starting going to the gym four times a week and I am eating better than I had before. Aside from the time I was recovering from being sick I have maintained these lifestyle changes all year.  I have changed a lot of things in my life because of this encounter with God. Reflecting back on this whole experience I realize this was a test from the Lord. When we talk about God testing Abraham in Genesis we recognize that He wasn’t testing Abraham to see what he would do. God knows. The test is for us. Honestly, it was faith building, even in serious pain I gave God glory and didn’t blame him for my pain. I worshipped Him and knew He was with me and was aware enough to hear is voice in my pain and recovery. Not just hear, either, but respond. Please don’t believe I am some kind of spiritual super star. That would miss my whole point in writing about this experience. It’s about how awesome God is not about me. 

You might say, “If God loves you why would He hurt you?” This is an important question. The writer of the book of Hebrews gives a great answer:

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:7-11).

It is because God loves me so much that He would take such drastic measures to speak to me. I am quite confident that, for many years to come, 2015 will be a year for me to reflect back on knowing that God refuses to leave me. My passion in life is helping others know that no matter what you do, no matter how far you run from the God who created you, no matter if you claim to not believe in Him at all—that same God will never leave you. He waits, patiently. He inserts Himself into your story and uses the events of your life, good and bad, to point you back to Him.

So, are you listening even in your pain? Can you hear His voice? What is God saying to you in the midst of pain?

Light Up The Darkness

On this first night of Hanukkah I wanted to share with you the message that I gave at Gateway Church in Dallas at their Messianic service earlier this month. It was such an honor and joy to be apart of their service.  I spoke about Hanukkah and how we can “Light Up The Darkness.” It’s a perfect message for us tonight (Dec. 16th) and for the week of Hanukkah. Don’t be afraid of the Darkness. Light Up the Darkness!

Click here for the link to my message at Gateway Church and Happy Hanukkah!

The Meaning, Mission & Values of Restoration: A Messianic Synagogue in Seattle

At Restoration, a Messianic Synagogue in Seattle, we want to do our part so that God may show Himself to all people. Paul, writer of most of the New Testament, who was a trained Rabbi and devout Jew, wrote in his letter to the Romans, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Romans 1:16).

The simple explanation of the Gospel is that God sent His son, Yeshua, to offer Himself as a sacrifice that would pay the penalty for humanity’s sins. Yeshua, after being put to death, rose from the dead three days later, and defeated death as a punishment for sin. If one believes in Yeshua, they can find the forgiveness of their sins and the ability to live with God forever after they die. God’s desire is for every human being on planet earth to understand this message.  

Our synagogue’s mission is to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Yeshua.

Yeshua is not just a good teacher, Rabbi or Jew who said wise things. He is the “visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) and we want to follow Him and the things He has asked us to do. The word “become” is very important because it speaks to the never-ending process of developing into better followers of Yeshua, along with learning and understanding the things of God. The name of our synagogue, Restoration, speaks to the idea that God is always, consistently, calling people to return to their Creator and find restoration in all that God has made them to be, both Jews and Gentiles.  This is reflected in a three-step process that we want to lead everyone through: Worship. Connect. Serve. 

Worship 

We believe that God is One and yet three-in-one: Father God, Yeshua the Son, and the Holy Spirit— and He alone is worthy of all adoration, veneration and honor. You were made to worship the One True God. Worship is recognizing who God is and who you are in Him. Worship is the first step in becoming a disciple of Yeshua. We worship Him together on Shabbat, during the holidays and in every event. 

Connect

Everyone belongs in the family of God. Part of belonging is connecting to community. We believe you can’t do life alone and that you need community around you during the week to thrive. 

Serve

Serving in the congregation and using our gifts and talents is important for every follower of Yeshua.  One way we demonstrate God’s love is through volunteering in our synagogue and in our community. 

This three-part process is just that, a process. As we gain more understanding, we then lead others through the same process. We are always learning more about what it means to worship God, connect with others, and serve our community.

Every congregation has values that make them distinct. Restoration is not in competition with other Messianic synagogues or Bible-believing churches in Seattle. We are on the same team with any congregation that is leading people to Yeshua and believes that He is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one can get to God expect through Him.  We have six core values and they are what we care about most at Restoration. 

We Reflect the Jewishness of Yeshua

We choose, to reflect the Jewishness of our Messiah, Yeshua. We are unapologetically a synagogue and unapologetically worship in a Jewish context. As a synagogue we worship on Shabbat, meet for Biblical Festivals, keep varying degrees of Kosher, and sing in Hebrew and English. Some wear kippot and Talliot.  We do not believe that we are right about everything and that everyone else is wrong, or that others are in sin for not being more like us. We partner with other Messianic synagogues and churches that share a love for Yeshua and people finding Yeshua.

Everyone Belongs in the Family of God

Really, everyone. Jew and Gentile, male and female. Everyone. The family of God is big and God put us in our physical families so that we can find His family. All of us belong to the same family and worship God together. At Restoration, Jews are Jews and Gentiles are Gentiles. There is no need for Jews to become Gentiles or Gentiles to become Jews. Every person, with their family background and history, is called to be a representative of their people in the Family of God. God wants people from every nation, every tribe, every language and we mean to reflect that in our synagogue.

Every Setback is a Chance to Comeback

We are all sinners and all fall short of the glory of God. That is the power to the story of Yeshua. His love is not measured by your goodness. Every time we sin, every time we fall short, every time we have a setback, is an opportunity for us to return to God. This is reflected in the Biblical idea of Return. God is always calling people to return to Him, Our Creator. We run, we turn away, we fall into sin and things that are opposed to God, but in His grace and mercy He says, “Comeback, return to me!” (Hosea 14:1, Joel 2:13, Zechariah 1:3). 

We Are Irrationally Generous with Our Resources

We realize that, for many, giving seems irrational. God has given us so many resources, including money, gifts, talents, and time. We believe it all belongs to God and that He wants us to be irrationally generous with those resources. For us, we give of our money because God gave it all to us and it really all belongs to Him. 

We believe everyone should tithe to the community that they belong to. Tithe literally means “a tenth” and above our tithe is called offerings. In the Scriptures, the definition of offering is what you give after you tithe. You cannot give an offering unless you already tithe. 

Restoration currently gives 11% out to non-profits in Seattle and Israel, and we plan to increase our giving. Because we want as many people as possible to hear the message of Yeshua in its Jewish context, we give it away! Our sermons will always be free. Our Restoration App for smartphones and tablets (iOS, Android, Windows, Kindle Fire) will always be free. 

We Demonstrate God’s Love Through Service

God’s love for us is demonstrated in the giving of His son’s life for ours. As an expression of God’s love we want to serve our synagogue community, Seattle (our city), America (our county), Israel (Homeland of the Jewish people), and the world. We give of our time and talents to our synagogue because we believe together we can change the world.

You Can’t Do Life Alone

Actually, you can do life alone, but it is not a part of our original design. We were made for community. Contrary to the typical American dream, our lives are not just about us. Our lives were designed by God to be shared with others. We choose to live in community with others. We choose to not do life alone. We choose to let others into our journeys, into our hurt, and into the joys of life. We choose to share this messy life with others. And we believe that God wants to speak into our lives through community. 

Want to know more, visit us at ShalomSeattle.com!

Honoring Both Sides of History

Messianic Judaism has an identity problem. From the late 1800’s until the 1970’s, the most used term was Hebrew Christian. People then shifted to a newer, more theological name: Messianic Judaism. Both terms represent an attempt to bridge a gap between two histories—Jewish history and Christian history.

Over the past 2000 years, Jews and Christians have been on opposite sides of history. Persecution, pogroms, forced conversions, and the Holocaust have all contributed to a rift between the two world religions. There are still many that believe Adolf Hitler considered himself a Christian, and many Jewish people think that Hitler was a follower of Jesus (See “God & Hitler” by CBN).  This misconception is so common that Jews for Jesus produced a video for YouTube called “That Jew Died For You.”  On the website, thatjewdiedforyou.com, Jews for Jesus explains that, “Jesus has often been wrongly associated with the perpetrators of the Holocaust. In reality, he is to be identified with those who were the victims. As a Jew, if he were in Europe at the time, Jesus may well have suffered the same fate of the six million who perished in the concentration camps.”

I, along with many other Messianic Jewish leaders, often hear from people that we are no better than Hitler and are contributing to the destruction of the Jewish people. While I understand the pain in statements like this, the world needs to know that Messianic Judaism attempts to do the very opposite of destroying the Jewish people. The goal of Messianic Judaism is to call our Jewish people, and all people, back to The One who created all of us: The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

In our Messianic Jewish attempt to distance ourselves from the last two thousand years of Christianity, we have unintentionally caused a very real identity problem. In our desire to make a safe place for Jewish followers of Yeshua, we have made statements like “we are not Christians.”

Understand, I am a Jew.

My mother is not Jewish and for many Jewish people this disqualifies me from being Jewish.

My father is a Jew. 

According to the Torah, that puts me in awesome company. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s twelve sons, Moses, Joshua, Obed (grandfather of King David), and Solomon— to name a few— all had a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. While the Rabbis will say each of these women converted to Judaism, that is not something that can be supported by the text of Scripture.

In my own life, because of my parents and heritage, I have often said that I am both one hundred percent Jewish (from my dad) and one hundred percent Italian (from my mom). People would always tell me I am half, or twenty five percent this or that, but I could never figure out which parts of me where Jewish and which parts Italian. So, I just claim the whole thing for both. As luck would have it, both Jews and Italians are often olive skinned with dark hair, very loud, and as the philosopher Derek Zoolander once put it, “really, really, really, ridiculously, good looking.”  

My mixed background got me thinking how do I let both sides of my family speak into my life and life of my children? Certainly, as a Rabbi, my life is wrapped in Jewish practice. As an Italian, my life is wrapped in food (mostly pasta with butter and parmesan cheese).  

There has to be more than that.

Then, in all seriousness, I had this revolutionary thought: I am tied to both sides of history, the persecuted and the persecutor.  The poor and the rich. The Jew and the Gentile. I am a part of both sides of history that will ultimately lead to all flesh seeing, together, The One True God who created us all (Zechariah 14:9).

As a Messianic Jew, I have responsibility not to distance my self from either side of history. While, I don’t typically refer to myself as a Christian, on February 20th, 2014, I posted on Facebook, “If by calling me a Christian you mean Christ follower, I'm good with that. If by calling me Christian you mean non-Jew, that I cannot receive.” I am a Jew. I am a Yeshua follower. You can call me whatever you want. But I take on the weight of Jewish-Christian history as my own.

Not distancing myself from both sides of history means I regard works like Pirkei Avot and the Westminster Catechism as equally important. I don’t agree with everything in either, but both of these texts were written by “fathers” of my faith. 

Fathers come in many forms and Messianic Judaism must come to the place where we recognize people like Rambam (Moses Maimonides) and Martin Luther as fathers. Both said great things. Both said not so great things. Sometimes fathers say terrible things. Still, they remain fathers.

Popes, rabbis, priests, nuns, evangelical Christians, liberal Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Calvinists, Arminiests, Conservative Jews, Reformed Jews, Orthodox Jews, Messianic Jews. 

One crazy history. 

All family. 

We are family for different reasons; some by faith, some by blood. Some are family by birth, some through adoption. Some by heritage, some enter in via marriage. Some with different eternal destinies.  All in need of Yeshua.

All family.

What if instead of trying to avoid the crazy parts of history, Messianic Judaism embraced them? What if instead of worrying about what people may (or may not) think of us—because of our relationship to one side or the other –we just own all of it?  What if we sang Adom Olam and Great is They Faithfulness during the same service?  What if we embraced the messy parts of history and of being Messianic?

Loving Yeshua in life as much as Sean Trank did in death

Sean Trank, a missionary with Jews for Jesus, lost his fight with lung cancer on July 2, 2014. Sean was an incredibly gifted and passionate man of God.

Sean never shied away from controversy when it came to presenting Yeshua to our people. He helped Jews for Jesus develop the controversial, That Jew Died For You video and thatjewdiedforyou.com and created one of my favorite video channels on YouTube, Parsha in 60 seconds.

Watch the videos here: http://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL542B0245EFF8092B

Sean describes his work and heart for Parsha in 60 seconds here: http://parsha60.com/

In a great act of courage Sean, with his brother Aaron, even decided to document his battle with lung cancer in the hope that people would be inspired to know and walk with Yeshua. See it here: https://www.facebook.com/SeanVersusCancer

Pray with me for Sean's family and his extended family at Jews for Jesus. The loss of Sean is a big hit for the whole messianic movement.

But, God knows what He is doing.

He wants to push us.

He wants to encourage us.

He wants Sean's life to be living reminder of the life, death and resurrection of Yeshua.

He wants us to blog better. Use social media smarter. Make videos. Tell stories. He wants us to find new ways to make the name of Yeshua famous among our Jewish people and every nation on this earth.

At the memorial service for Jhan Moskowitz, my dad encouraged his generation of leaders to fill the void that Jhan's death left. 

In my generation nobody has been better than Sean at using technology and social media to make the case that Yeshua is our Messiah. We, our generation, will all have to fill the void that Sean's passing has left us. To work harder and find more creative ways to use the tools of this generation to reach this generation for Yeshua.

It's our turn. To honor the memory of this great servant of Yeshua by giving glory to The One Sean loved the most, Yeshua, Jesus, the Jewish Messiah.

I want to love Yeshua as much in my life as Sean Trank did in his death. In Judaism we say, "zikhrono livrakha" or "May his memory be a blessing."

May Sean Trank's name and memory continue to lead our Jewish people to Yeshua, who died so that we may find life.

Passover: The Season of Our Freedom

It's about that time again.  Spring is coming.  New life springs up.  Flowers bloom. The sun shines (only for a few days in Seattle).  And Passover arrives.  It has always been my favorite time of year (except when Passover falls on my birthday and I can't have cake)!  Of course Passover is the retelling of Israel's exodus from Egypt; it is about freedom from slavery and oppression. Passover is also a reminder every year that God's promise to never leave or forsake His people, Israel, remains intact. 

One of the traditional names for Passover in the Hagaddah is z’man cheruteinu, the “season of our freedom.”  I love the word "our".  Judaism is very much about "us" not "I". It is about "we" not "me".  What God does for one, He does for all.  What God offers His people, He offers to Kalal Yisrael (all of Israel).  The focus is on the corporate experience of the people and the God we call "Our God".  Traditionally we are encouraged to treat Passover and the exodus from Egypt as our having personally been there.  For us, it is not just something that happened in the past.  But it is about freedom that we have been given and that has been experienced by "us", together.  As we left Egypt together, we also followed the very presence of God, a cloud by day and fire by night, through the wilderness, together.  

This season of freedom is a concept heard in Exodus 6:6-8 when God promises to free us from Egyptian slavery:

6 “Therefore, say to the people of Isra’el: ‘I am Adonai. I will free you from the forced labor of the Egyptians, rescue you from their oppression, and redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am Adonai your God, who freed you from the forced labor of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov — I will give it to you as your inheritance. I am Adonai.’” (CJB)

During our seder (meal/celebration) we say a blessing over four different cups (one cup, filled four times).  The four cups come from verses six and seven:

• The Cup of Sanctification – based on, “I will free you”
• The Cup of Plagues (Deliverance) - based on, “I will rescue you”
• The Cup of Redemption – based on, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm”
• The Cup of Praise – based on God’s statement, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God” 

As a Messianic Rabbi and Jewish follower of Yeshua (Jesus), these four statements are seen with deeper significance in light of all that Yeshua did during Passover when He was thirty-three years old.  As an observant Jew Himself, Yeshua was in Jerusalem for Passover.  It is during this "season of our freedom" that Yeshua has a meal with His disciples (a Passover seder). He is betrayed, arrested, put on trial, sentenced, put to death, and rises from the dead.  All of this is during the preparation for and the celebration of Passover! 

Of course, none of this is a replacement of the original context of Passover; rather it is an amplification of how awesome the God of Israel is!  God is so invested in our freedom and in giving us new life that He has done everything He can to clear the way for us.  It is why God's name receives an addition following the story of Passover.  In the giving of the ten commandments at Mt Sinai (exodus 20:1), the first commandment is "I am Adonai your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery."  God freeing us from physical slavery and bondage becomes a part of His actual name.  In the rest of the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures), God refers to Himself as "The God who brought you out of the land of Egypt." What He did becomes a part of Who He is or at least how His people recognize Him.  

In the same way, John says of Yeshua, "Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes:

"6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. 5:6-8, NIV)

In Yeshua, Who God is and what He has done are one in the same.  During this awesome season of freedom God has given us the opportunity to be free from sin and death itself.  And this not just for the Jewish people, but it is for everyone and anyone who calls on the name of Yeshua our Messiah.  For Yeshua, our Passover Lamb, offered Himself freely as a sacrifice so that we can live with Him forever -- even past this life on earth and into the rest of eternity.  That is a free gift that should not be passed over!

Chag Pesach Sameach! (Happy Passover!) May you come to know the One who formed you in your mother’s womb so that you could experience the freedom that only knowing Him brings!

I Should Be Ashamed of Myself

I am embarrassed of myself.  Many of my issues in my youth came from the fact that I never experienced embarrassment. When dared to do something, I would simply do it. And most of the time I was never embarrassed. And seriously, in many cases, I really should have been.

At 35 years old, I am embarrassed by some behavior, thoughts, actions and speech that I find in myself. I have written before about what God is doing with me in terms of no longer believing that my version of Messianic Judaism is the right one. I used to believe that everyone should live like me. I used to believe that if people really understood the Bible they would see it the way I do. I have realized that there is so much more to agree on than disagree on and that a lot of the issues I thought were non-negotiable are actually negotiable. So, I have moved from the realization of these attitudes in my own life to a place of embarrassment. 

I am not saying there are not things that are right. Truth is truth and there are some issues of theology and belief that should be agreed upon for those who say they love the God of Israel and the Bible.  The Bible is the perfect, inspired, final authority of God. There is only One God. The One God is the creator and sustainer of everything that exists.  The One God exists in three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God made promises to Israel (a.k.a., the Jewish people) that He will never break. Yeshua, the son, is both fully man and fully God. Yeshua physically died, in our place, for our sins. Yeshua physically rose from dead after three days. Yeshua is the judge of the living and the dead. Apart from believing in Yeshua there is no salvation only eternal judgement. Yeshua will return to earth for those who trust in Him. Jewish people are born a part of the family of God but need Yeshua to live with God into eternity. Gentiles join the family of God by believing in Yeshua and equally need Yeshua to live with God into eternity. These are non-negotiable.

Scripture is careful to point out what is clean and unclean, sin and not sin, holy and profane.  These issues are considered non-negotiable as well. There is so much more that is negotiable and can vary depending on interpretations.  How we interpret certain texts of the Bible should not keep us from treating people who believe the same non-negotiable’s as brothers and sisters.  Yet, we fight, argue, divide and become embarrassed by some family members who read scriptures with a different interpretation. If fact, we don’t even want to claim some people as family members at all because they are so embarrassing.  We don’t want people to think we are like them. We believe they give “us” a bad name because of their choices.  We believe that the people we are trying to reach with the message of Yeshua will not turn to Yeshua if they are exposed to these people.

The Truth is no one has cornered the market on Truth. I am embarrassed that it has taken me so long to not think so highly of myself and that other peoples interpretations failed to match mine in importance. I love Jews for Jesus, Chosen People Ministries and Jewish Voice Ministries International. I love the other Messianic congregations in Seattle, Beit Tikvah and Beit HaShofar and their Rabbis. I love the MJAA, and the UMJC. I love FFOZ and Lederer. I love Jewish believers who are a part of churches rather than Messianic synagogues. I love what makes us all different and yet all the same. I love the Church too. I love North Seattle Alliance Church, Cedar Park Church, Mars Hill Church and The City Church. I love Rick Warren, Andy Stanley, Jud Wilhite, Mark Driscoll, and Judah Smith. I love Catalyst and The Global Leadership Summit.  I love that I am a part of something so much bigger than myself. We are not in competition with other Messianic synagogues or churches in Seattle. We are all working toward the same goal: to see Yeshua glorified and worshiped the way He deserves in our City. God uses all kinds of crazy things, events, conversations and people to reach all kinds of people!

I want the Lord to take away my embarrassment and give me a sense of awe and joy because I belong to the family of God. The One God who created the heavens and the earth knows my name. He is not embarrassed of me or my brothers and sisters in the family of God. There is so much more at stake than me and my reputation. I am not the defender of Messianic Judaism, Christianity, the Church, Israel or the body of Messiah. It’s God's reputation that matters. And my embarrassment of my brothers and sisters in Yeshua only hurts His reputation and I want to make Him famous!

For more on this listen to my message called Connect from the series The Reality of Restoration.

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The Man Who Gave Me His Synagogue: Leadership

Me & Paul Stein - Passover 2011 at Beit Messiah

The best people in life are those who not only say they believe in you but give you an opportunity to become what you are called to be and then support you with everything they have.  Truth be told there are not a lot of people in the world like that.  For me, other than my parents, that person is Paul Stein.  Paul has become a spiritual father for me.  He heard me speak in 2006 at Messiah Conference (International Conference of the MJAA) and came and spoke with me following my, first ever, adult class.  I had been in youth ministry for a few years and my dad gave me opportunities to preach but this was the first time I spoke with original material to a group of adults on a national level.

Following the class, Paul asked me if I would come to Seattle and speak to his congregation.  He offered to pay for the flight, hotel and food while I was in town and I felt like a big shot!  In 2007, I came to Seattle and spoke at Beit Messiah (now Restoration).  The Stein family wined and dined me and even took me to a Seattle Mariners game on Sunday.  It was a great trip.  I went home to New York and back to working with my parents.  By 2008, Laura and I knew that it was time to move on from working with my parents and begin to experiment and try some of my ideas for reaching my generation with the Gospel of Yeshua.

In 2009, we ended up in Maryland to lead a congregation.  It was quite a difficult year for me professionally.  I was a rookie rabbi with a new group of people in a new place.  We made some great friends in Maryland but it was also the most challenging experience in leading a congregation with such divergent views among the leadership, particularly in supporting a young new rabbi. There were so many things I could have done better there and decisions, in hindsight, I should not have made. As hard times often go though, it was great for our marriage because it forced us to lean more on each other and seek the Lord together.

At the end of ten months the congregation in Maryland did not want to move forward with me as their Rabbi and gave us three months severance.  I let a group of rabbi’s know that I was looking for another congregation and within twenty four hours I received a call from Paul Stein in Seattle. 

Paul didn't want to know much about what went wrong in Maryland and asked if we would fly to Seattle to candidate to lead Beit Messiah in Seattle.  I’m a New Yorker.  I was raised to never leave New York.  Some estimate there are still two million Jewish people in New York most of which need to hear the message of Yeshua. Maryland, between Baltimore and Washington D.C. is about three hundred thousand Jewish people.  Seattle has forty thousand.  My question for God was “why would you take me out of such large markets of need for the Gospel and send me to such a small market?”  God’s answer was something to the effect of “it’s none of your business!”

Looking back on these events now I am astonished that Paul trusted and supported me to lead a community he had been faithfully serving (and really kept together) for seven years. By April of 2010, (the exact end of my severance) Paul essentially gave me his congregation (He would say “The Lord’s congregation”).  He stepped down as leader and after six months he had the entire Board of Beit Messiah resign so that I could establish my own Board and move forward with a team that was my own.  Paul stayed on the Board of the congregation for two and a half years and was my biggest supporter and champion.  He relentlessly encouraged me and pushed me to be myself and try some of the things I had been dreaming of.  He not only gave me a salary but gave me his platform.  He leveraged his influence in our small congregation so that I could begin a process of becoming what God had called me to be.  He had no regard for his own reputation and totally trusted this then 31 year old to run with a vision and direction for our congregation in Seattle. I have come to love the city of Seattle with all my heart. I love living in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.  I have wanted to be  a Messianic rabbi my whole life and never would have imagined living in this part of the country.  But, almost four years into living here I could not imagine it any other way.  

Paul has been through some really crazy things in the last few years including loosing his sister, his mom, having a stroke and also welcoming his first grandchild into the world.  I pray for Paul, Miria, his kids and his family everyday. I don’t say that as a polite thing to say. I pray for Paul everyday and we get together for lunch as often as we can. For me Paul Stein will always be the guy who gave me a shot.  He has become a spiritual father for me because he went all in for me.  He put everything he had on the line for me.  He believed in me for what he believed God would use me to do not because I had a track record.  He is like Paul, writer of most of the New Testament, and I am Timothy who Paul called his “son in the faith.”

In 2012 and 2013, God has opened incredible doors and opportunities for me to MC and speak and MC at many important Messianic Jewish events.  I MC’d the Asheville Music Festival. I was a speaker and panelist at the last two MLR’s with Jewish Voice Ministries in Phoenix.  I spoke at Messiah 2013 on YMJA night. I MC’d a service at the national conference of the UMJC and was the keynote speaker at Jews For Jesus Ingathering East 2013.  Here’s the point.  I have a resume now and it will only continue to grow (God willing).  But, everything I have done so far and everything I will do comes from that crazy moment in 2006 when Paul Stein heard me speak and began praying, even then, that I would come to Seattle.  Everything that is happening for me professionally goes back to the moment when Paul Stein chose to believe in what he saw in me and then put everything he had on this young unproven leader.  

Messianic Judaism needs more Paul Steins -- more old guys that believe in more young guys. Proven leaders who choose to believe that God has good plans for young leaders.  and then…giving them opportunity and support to become what they are called to be.  Anything that I ever do, all opportunities that God gives me from this point on, will be because Paul gave me his congregation, passed the baton, and continues to encourage me…his last email to me this week said, “You are doing a great job. Continue on the path that God has placed before you.  You are strong in the Lord and He will continue to bless the work of your hands.”

Thank you, Paul.  Thank you for believing in me and taking a chance on me.  Thank you for seeing me for what I can be and giving me so many opportunities to succeed.  I thank God everyday for you and pray that so many of my friends will find their own Pauls.  I want my whole life to be about making Yeshua famous among my people, Israel, and every nation under heaven. I thank God for putting you in my life to encourage me and push me to be everything God wants me to be!  

Our relationship is the definition of what our people call L’dor v’dor (from Generation to Generation). Paul, I owe you another lunch this month. I love you man!

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