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!

A Time of Rest & Renewal

A Time of Rest & Renewal

As our past seven years have played out together, I’ve learned of other pastor/shepherds who have hit crisis points in their lives and had to go into crisis mode to address it. While I am not at the point of burnout, I’ve been listening and wanting to learn, recognizing that I am, in no way, exempt from the possibilities that led to my colleagues’ situations.

I have been strongly encouraged by many leaders in my life to consider times and seasons of rest and renewed investment into self, and I want to let you know that I, with the blessing of the staff and board of our synagogue, have decided to take a sabbatical of fourteen weeks from September 23 to the end of December.

Our board has been planning and discussing this sabbatical for the last three years. We have been preparing and seeking God as to how it would work and what it would look like. 

I want to be among you as Rabbi for a long time. Seven years in, I want to at least double our time together. I love you and want to walk with you. The truth for any of us is the truth of my life: we belong to the Lord Yeshua, and we are called to obedience. With that in mind, my life is not my own, but I’ve told the Lord that I would love to stay on mission in his kingdom at Restoration for many more years to come. And we want those years to be healthy. So I take this sabbatical as a release to the Lord for more to come, believing that there is an expansion coming both personally and corporately. 

Here’s the truth: I have so loved walking among you for seven years that I want to do everything in my power to be ready for more.

It has been said, “A ministry sabbatical is a release from the routine of the call for the physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual well-being of the ministry leader.” And I am hoping for God to do more than I can imagine with this time.

It started with my family coming to lead Beit Messiah seven years ago and then our name change and  replanting of Restoration almost four years ago. I have come to love the city of Seattle and I love what God is doing in our congregation. I believe that in this past year our leadership has made some serious strides to prepare our synagogue for unprecedented growth. I am convinced that a time of rest, renewal of relationship with Yeshua, deepening of my roots, time with my family, and time to write will help prepare me for the next phase of ministry. 

What will I do in my time away?

The sabbatical will begin with four weeks with my family in Jerusalem, which will include Yom Kippur and Sukkot. I am very excited for this opportunity for my family to celebrate the High Holy Days in Jerusalem, a commandment in the Torah, and help my family grow in our Jewish identity as followers of Yeshua. Following our time in Jerusalem we will spend two weeks in New York with my parents, which lets be honest is mostly for pizza and bagels.

The rest of the sabbatical will be in Seattle with one trip for Laura and I away from our children and a trip by myself to be with my best friend in Philly. We will not attend Restoration during this time but will participate in a variety of other congregations for our edification as a family. 

For the majority of the fourteen weeks, I will spend the mornings writing a book on the Jewish context of Peter and Paul in the book of Acts from the series I preached recently. I also have several books that I will be reading on rest, spiritual growth, and healthy leadership during the sabbatical. 

There are several leaders in my life that I will remain accountable to during my sabbatical and I hope to have made some serious progress in writing, hearing God’s voice, dreaming for the future, and listening to the Holy Spirit.

What will Restoration do in my time away?

I am excited for Aybars Uckun to lead our synagogue during this time. Aybars has proven to be a faithful follower of Yeshua, a devoted husband and father, a constant encourager, and an excellent preacher of the Word of God. This experience will be an incredible opportunity for Aybars to grow as a leader. Please trust him, love him, and help him serve the Lord to the best of his ability. The board of Restoration along with Aybars will not make any major decisions without me during this time as our budget, preaching, and ministry plans will be set for 2018 before I leave at the end September. 

Starting after the High Holy Days we will begin a year of following the Torah and Haftarah cycle. Aybars will preach three different series through the book of Genesis. When I return in January we will go through the book of Exodus and will continue through September of 2018 going through the Torah readings. If you are not familiar with the Torah cycle, you can look it up on the Restoration app by clicking on the “Torah Readings Tab.” We will also have paper copies of the yearly cycle available after the High Holy Days at the Connect table in the lobby.  

To help Aybars do more than just preach during these 14 weeks, we have invited four local pastors to speak, between series, into the life of our congregation. These four pastors - Chris Manginelli, Matt Elser, Brad Barshaw, and Mike Labrum - are trusted friends and excellent preachers, and they have agreed to speak into the life of Restoration in this season. 

We are better together!

Let me say again, I am not burnt out and I am not leaving Restoration. My desire and prayer to God is that I will be in Seattle, in ministry, for a very long time and this sabbatical is a preventative measure to keep me in ministry for many years to come.

I love you and I am grateful to God for calling me, like Abraham, to leave the land of my fathers (New York) and come to a place I know not (Seattle). It will be difficult to disconnect for these 14 weeks, but I am believing that God will renew me in a fresh way that can only come from disconnecting from the pressures of doing ministry, so that I can be ministered to.  

I invite you to pray for me, as I will continue to pray for you, during this sabbatical. Please be in prayer for Aybars and our board as they take on more ministry in my absence. Also, pray for our community that God will encourage us and renew us for the next season of what we hope will be a time of significant growth. Pray that we will see many people, Jew and Gentile, come to know Yeshua and learn what it means to become fully devoted followers of our Messiah.

As a side note, I am hopeful that the NBA and the Supersonics will return to Seattle soon after my sabbatical, and we can all join in prayer for that! Can I get an “Amen!” (don’t try to crush my dreams).

This I know for sure: the best is yet to come for our synagogue, and more than ever, we are better together! I love this family that God has given me and I can't thank you enough for your support in this time of rest, renewal, and writing. 

I preached a message called "Pause" on rest in which I read this statement you can listen here: http://subsplash.com/restoration/v/ecmhgsb

In Yeshua, 

Matt

Proverbs 9:10

Romans 11:36

Register for Celebrate Yeshua Northwest

Celebrate Yeshua Northwest (CYNW) is a free annual mini-conference of Restoration in Seattle, serving the Pacific Northwest. Our goal is to bring some of the best from the worldwide messianic movement to help Seattle celebrate Yeshua our Messiah as King, Lord, and Savior. The conference includes three messages with a focus on Romans 9, 10, and 11, and what God is doing among the Jewish people, the body of Messiah, and the messianic movement. Come and spend a couple days with us - click here to register!

Want to know more about our guest speakers and worship leaders?! Click Here

See Schedule for weekend 👇🏽

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25TH @ 6:30PM-8:30PM

Worship with Misha Goetz, blessings for Shabbat, and a message from Rabbi David Rosenberg. Doors will open at 6:00PM. 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 26TH @ 10:30AM-12:00PM

Shabbat Gathering featuring Jennifer Dillavou & the Restoration Band and Rabbi Matt Rosenberg. Doors open at 10AM.

6:00PM-8:00PM

Worship with Nate Benjamin, a message from Wayne Hilsden, and Havdalah. Doors will open at 5:30PM.

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!

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!

Texas, Ambitions and God's Will

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Joseph, one of Jacob’s twelve sons, in Genesis. God gave Joseph some dreams and those dreams included all eleven brothers and his parents bowing down to him. With great confidence, anticipation, and with great immaturity, Joseph told his father and brothers all about the dreams. Like Joseph, I probably told too many people all about my dreams and ambitions from an early age.

Joseph's Dream by Martha Stern

At the same time, I was getting kicked out of conferences, camps, doing a lot of detention in school and my dad was getting a lot of phone calls which started with, “Hello, Rabbi Rosenberg, you need to come and pick up your son, Matthew.” Never malicious, always loving God— but ever stumbling over myself and my hyperactive body which moved faster than my brain could warn me of the consequences of my actions. I have always felt that God has called me to speak into the lives of thousands of people and for the first time in my life God is actually making it happen.

Ethiopia w/JVMI

In 2014 I went to Ethiopia with a group of eight young leaders, Jewish Voice Ministries International and Rabbi Jonathan Bernis. It was a forever life-changing experience. While in Ethiopia I had dinner with Pastor Wayne Wilkes. Wayne is probably one of the most encouraging people in the world, and at the time of our dinner in Ethiopia, he was not a pastor. He was just a guy who has been around the block a few times who wanted to encourage a young preacher. As a result of our meeting in Ethiopia, Wayne, who has since become the Pastor of Jewish Ministry at Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas, asked me to speak at Gateway’s Messianic service about Hanukkah.

The service happens once a month and the two previous speakers were Dr. Michael Brown and Rabbi Jonathan Bernis. My thought progression was, “What?! Ok, Lord. Whoa, that’s crazy! That’s heavy company. Crazy! Ok, let’s do this! Whoa! Crazy!”

The Messianic service at Gateway brought over a thousand people and I spoke about Hanukkah and how God wants to use us to Light Up The Darkness (watch the message here, December 2014).

Preaching At Gateway Church

After meeting and talking with many people after the service, I went back into the green room to get my things. I stood there by myself and said to the Lord, “That was awesome, thank you for this opportunity.” The Lord said back to me, very clearly, “You did good, son!”

Selfie During My Message at Gateway

For maybe the first time in my life, I did not question whether it was Lord. I didn't have the internal struggle over whether I was just trying to make myself feel better about myself or if the Lord really spoke to me. I heard Him. He was proud me. And that is the real reason I do what I do: For Yeshua. For His kingdom. To help people who are far from God come closer to Him.

Look, I’m a Rabbi. I’ve been preaching, teaching and encouraging people for the last ten years (and more before it was my job). Sometimes in the midst of all that we are doing for God, we forget why we do it. What an awesome reminder I received from the Lord that day in Texas at Gateway Church.

I want to make Him famous. I get mixed up sometimes with dreams of my own fame, with the greatness of my own name. But, I am reminded that all I have is from the Lord. His desire is for me to use everything He has given me to make Him famous. Among my Jewish people. Among the nations. Everywhere. Everyone.

In all the things that I am seeing God do with me, the moment I heard God’s say, “You did good, son!” was worth everything to me. I am in awe of all God has done in 2014. In my family, my marriage, my children, at Restoration (my synagogue) and all that He is doing.
I want to stay in awe of God. It seems to me that is the only place worth staying. I
have nothing without Him. To know that God is proud of me is worth more to me than likes on Facebook and Instagram. It’s worth more that the opinions of my colleagues, contemporaries, family, friends and congregation. In all honesty, its hard to believe
that and most of the time the opinions of other people are what I am striving for. I want everyone to be proud of me and think highly of me. But I want what God thinks of me to be the most important to me.

So, I’m asking God to make His approval enough. I don’t ever want to get wrapped up in positive or negative opinions of me. I want to be wrapped up in what God thinks of me. God approves of me. Not because of what I do, but because of who I am in Him and His son, Yeshua.

And guess what? If you turn your heart towards Yeshua, He approves of you, too!

I am confident that 2015 is going to be the best year ever! For me, my family, Restoration in Seattle, Messianic Judaism, and the greater body of Messiah. God is willing and able to do more than anything we can hope for and imagine. It doesn't mean 2015 will be without pain, hurt, and obstacles. But, it does mean that through whatever we go through God will never leave us or forsake us. He wants to walk with us through everything this new year brings.

At Restoration we opened 2015 with a preaching series through Pastor Steven Furtick’s book, Crash The Chatterbox. This series is the perfect way to start the year because it will help us hear God’s voice clearly and focus on the individual and corporate assignments that He has called our community to. We have been encouraging Restoration to buy the book for deeper reflection. (listen to the series here).

Even though we are all going through different things or have different dreams and goals, God has a hope for you and wants to make your dreams come true in 2015. Everything you have been through, all of the good and the bad, play a part in who are and who are becoming. Our mission at Restoration is “to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Yeshua.” We never really arrive, we are constantly becoming more fully devoted to Yeshua. As our devotion increases, we see God reorganize our dreams and ambitions to fit His dreams and ambitions for us.

Neverland - Andy Mineo

Rapper Andy Mineo has a song called Rewind. It is currently one of the theme songs of my life. It goes like this:

People think we’re different

We’re all the same

I got a little drama in my life, you got a little drama in yours What you do with it, it’s your choice

Cause I’m looking at my past through the rear view mirror

Thanking God I made it through

I am in awe of all that God is doing in me and I know that He wants to do the same for you! He wants to make your dreams come true. This is your time. You can make God famous and have the best year of your life. You can hear God’s voice clearly and move forward in all that God has called you to do with your life.

Just pray this simple prayer: “God I want to make you famous. I want my life to be about you and not about me. I want you to use me however you see fit to bring you glory in 2015!”

He won’t ignore you. He will answer. I know because He keeps answering me.