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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Praying For Baby David and the Del Risco Family!

David Del Risco

Some really difficult things happen to the best people. Today (10/23) is one of those days. Just a week ago (10/16) Nick and Gisela Del Risco gave birth to their third child.  David is a tiny blessing that came five weeks early.  Today, the doctors diagnosed David with Down Syndrome and as is common in children with Down Syndrome they are concerned with what may be heart problems. 

Nick and Gisela are not young and early on they were encouraged to have an abortion.  As their Rabbi I am so proud of them for having the courage to choose life.  We are praying today that God will heal David's heart and that there will not be any further complications.  David means "Beloved of God" and Yeshua is deeply in love with this child as will be anyone who meets him.

Nick just got a promotion at work three weeks ago but is under significant stress in the beginning of a nine-month training.  At the end of the training is a test that will determine if he keeps this promotion.  

Elizabeth and Jonathan definitely know things are not right as their brother is having to stay in the hospital.  Jonathan already has toys set up for his little brother and they all want little David to go home. Gisela is quite a strong little lady.  There is not a more difficult role than the mother who is responsible to nurture, feed and protect this new life.  

Elizabeth, Giselle, Nick, & Jonathan

So, friends, please pray with us.  Pray that God will move in David's life and heal his heart and help him to be strong.  Nick and Gisela were so moved by all the people from our synagogue that have already stepped up and in to help.  We plan to walk this out with the Del Risco family and do our best to take care of them.

We hope together.  We pray together.

Gisela said they named him David and he is already fighting to slay giants and her faith inspires me to trust God more. My prayer is little David will grow and bring massive amounts of joy to his family and our synagogue. 

Today, we choose life for David and the Del Risco family and we choose to seek the face of God and give Yeshua an opportunity to do what He does best.  He weeps, He cries, He hears, He heals, He sees and above all He has a future for this wonderful new life!

Pray with us!


Update: Thursday, Oct. 31st, 2013

In the process of all that is happening for the Del Risco family, Nick lost his promotion at work. At this time, it is not such a bad thing as it removes some stree for Nick and the family.  The Doctors want to wait 6 weeks (from 10/16) to determine the next steps for little David and his heart.  Let's keep praying for the David and the whole Del Risco family.  We are believing God with them for great miracles!

Update: Thursday, Nov. 7th, 2013

I spent some time with Gisella in the hospital today with David.  Great news…the hole in David’s heart is healing on its own.  In fact, it is so small that they are confident it will not be issue.  With that, David will be going home tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 8th).

Please keep praying for David’s health and for Nick & Gisella that God will give them wisdom with all they have on thier plate!  Pray for Elizabeth and Jonathan (big sister and brother) as well!

Update: Wednesday, Jan. 15th, 2014

This Shabbat (1/18/14) we are having a bady dedication for David and his siblings, Elizabeth & Jonathan.  David is doing very well and the Del Risco's have been so encouraged by the love and support of so many!  What a blessing this wonderful family is to our community!

Thanksgivukkah: Pass The Cranberry Sauce and Latkes!

On November 28th of this year we will celebrate an incredible combination of holidays that is being called Thanksgivukkah. Thanksgivukkah is far less common than other combo holidays such as Christmahanakwanzika and Chrismukkah. In fact, for only the second time in history Hanukkah and Thanksgiving fall on the same day on the standard calendar! The last time was 1888 and some are saying the next time will not be for another 79,000 years!  By that time menorahs will probably light themselves and turkeys will most likely be extinct, so, my advice for Thanksgivukkah 2013 is celebrate! Before I give you some tips how, let me tell you some of the history according to Wikipedia.

Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights and Feast of Dedication, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Greeks of the 2nd century BC. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.

Many believe that Thanksgiving goes back to a celebration of the day in 1621 at Plymouth, Massachusetts. But, from the time of the Founding Fathers until the time of the civil war, the date Thanksgiving was observed varied from state to state. The final Thursday in November had become the customary date in most U.S. states by the beginning of the 19th century. Thanksgiving was first celebrated on the same date by all states in 1863 by a presidential proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. It wasn't until December 26, 1941, that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a joint resolution of Congress changing the national Thanksgiving Day from the last Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday. 

For the first time in a long time and for the last time in a long time to come, the convergence of the earliest date for Hanukkah on the Jewish calendar and the American date of Thanksgiving gives us a once-in-a-lifetime chance to celebrate Thanksgivukkah.  

Nine-year old Asher Wientraub
& his Menurkey

People are going crazy for Thanksgivukkah. You can buy Thanksgivukkah T-shirts; you find special Thanksgivukkah recipes (whose not excited for latkes & cranberry sauce?!) and you can even light a Menurky. That's right, a nine year old boy raised $48,000 on Kickstarter to make menorahs shaped like turkeys just for this special year. But, don't order too late (ours is on its way); it will only work this year!

Thanksgivukkah is all over the news and Stephen Colbert is concerned that Hanukkah is stealing Thanksgiving's thunder. But the beauty of this day is it's a one-time event and these two holidays fit so well together. Hanukkah is a time of rededication to God. As the Temple was rededicated so we take time to rededicate our lives to following Yeshua. Thanksgiving is time to thank God for all that He has given us in harvest, in family and friends, and for living in such a wonderful country where we can worship in freedom.

So, this year, on Thanksgivukkah, eat latkes with cranberry sauce, play dreidel with family and friends while the candles of your Menurkey burn bright, enjoy turkey and Sufganiot (oil fried donuts for Hanukkah), sit at a big table with your favorite people and all kinds of Fall decorations everywhere. Above all, thank God for seasons like these that remind us of God's promise to never leave us, His people, Jews and Gentiles, men and women of every age. This Thanksgivukkah let's celebrate the awesomeness of God Who sent His son, Yeshua, to be a light to the world, and Who instructs us, His followers, to rededicate ourselves to God and be thankful for all the blessings in our lives. That is the meaning of Thanksgivukkah.

The Happy Rabbi

Here is proof that I am happy all the time.  My daughter, Emma (7), wrote about me in her homework for this week.  "My Dad is happy all the time" and it is usually true except for the times it is not.  I am a big believer in the idea that meanings of name matter.  It comes from the traditions of the Bible in which children were named based on what happened during pregnancy, birth, or a prophecy concerning their future decisions and life.  

When my mom was pregnant with me, a woman in the church (before Messianic Judaism) they were attending came up to her, put her hands on my mom's belly, and said "This will be a happy child."  So my parents named me Matthew Asher.  Matthew means "God's gift" and Asher means "Happy".  So, together, my name means God's gift of happiness.  My normal disposition is happy.

I have many years of pictures with the same happy face and I am teaching the next generation the ways of the happy face.  I love being happy.  I have found that in the many circumstances of life there are all kinds of attempts to steal my happiness and joy.  There are critics that don't like what I do, how I dress, my love for comic books, my love for movies, my love for God, etc.  There is a whole spiritual realm that are the enemies of God that would love to see me depressed, sad, complaining and frustrated. There are some that say I shouldn't be so transparent and live my life so publicly. There are a variety opinions of how I should live my life.

So, here it is: I am happy! I can't help but be happy because of the grace and mercy of God on my life. I can't help but be happy because I have a beautiful wife, Laura, and God has given us three awesome kids.  I can't help but be happy because I don't deserve anything that I have in life; yet, God saw fit to give all of it to me. I can't help but be happy because I serve an amazing congregation, Beit Messiah, in a super awesome city, Seattle. I follow Yeshua (Jesus) and I am happy because He gave His life for me so that I could follow Him with all of my heart, soul and strength...and He deserves all credit, glory, and honor for anything good that I am or do!

Here is the new theme verse for my life:

1 Timothy 1:15-16

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Messiah Yeshua came into the world to save sinners –of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Messiah Yeshua might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life.”

I admit my goal is to not be like anyone who has come before me.  I admit that I like to break "rules" for what a rabbi is supposed to look and act like. I am quite comfortable and confident in my own skin. I like myself. I like the way God made me. I recognize that without Yeshua I would still be stuck in, and defined by, my sin. I am happy because Yeshua has set me free from the expectations of the world around me and wants me to live according to His expectations for me, which is to be awesome and bring Him glory.

Word to the wise: don't try to steal my happiness. It won't work. I'm the Happy Rabbi.

Are you happy? Are there people trying to steal your happiness? What do you do about it?

Don't Have An Easy Fast For Yom Kippur!

As Yom Kippur begins this evening, one of the traditional greetings for Yom Kippur is “have an easy fast”.

Leviticus 16:29-31 says regarding Yom Kippur,

“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work –whether native- born or an alien living among you– because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance."

Denying ourselves is not supposed to be easy. We don’t want an easy fast. We want to have a beneficial fast. We want a life changing fast. We want to understand better what it means to, as Isaiah 58:14 (Haftarah for Yom Kippur) says, “find your joy in The Lord”. We find it by denying ourselves our regular work. We find it by denying ourselves our regular food for 25 hours. We prepare ourselves to allow the atonement that God has freely given through Yeshua to settle in our hearts and minds. We want a life changing fast. We want to be made more in the likeness of our Messiah. We want, this year, to be forgiven. To know we are forgiven. To delight in The Lord, the God of our fathers and all He has done in the person of Yeshua! 

Have a great, awesome, hard, painful, encouraging 25 hours of fasting. So that when we come through it, we can delight in our God together and sound the Shofar again at the closing service on Saturday knowing that God was/is faithful to hear our prayers.

Click here to listen to the series "Back To Basics" for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur & Sukkot 2013/5774

My Version of Messianic Judaism is The Right One!

A few months ago I wrote about how Messianic Judaism needs to change.  Sometime before that I wrote about a "grassroots" event that my congregation hosted in Seattle.  At this event there was a beautiful moment that happened when young leaders from messianic synagogues and young leaders from Jews for Jesus came together and repented for not loving each other and treating each other as being a part of the same movement.  It was, in part, spurred by the life and death of one of the founders of Jews for Jesus, Jhan Moskowitz, who was a man of God who always preached unity in the messianic movement.  We just passed the one year anniversary of Jhan's death and he has been on my mind a lot.  

I was jogging yesterday morning and I began to weep (not that odd for me) because of something the God of Israel has been doing in my heart and mind over this last year.  I grew up with the idea that my version of Messianic Judaism is the "right one."  I would look at other forms of Messianic Judaism or Jewish people that belonged to churches and I would think "If only they would live like a real messianic Jew should. If only they would live like me."  It now seems so painfully obvious to me that my attitude for most of my life has been...well...sin.

This brings me back to my weeping (which, by the way, is difficult to do while jogging!). As we approach Yom Kippur this weekend I am in a place of repentance.  I no longer think my way is the right way. Don't get me wrong.  I like the way the I live out Messianic Judasim and I think there are essentials to what we belive if you are going to call yourself a "Messianic Jew" or a "Messianic Gentile" (Listen to my series at Beit Messiah on this called "Back To Basics").  But, I have come to a place where I realize that there are many ways to walk faithfully with Yeshua the Messiah.  I don't want to judge how other people walk.  Especially amazing ministries like Jews for Jesus who are celebrating 40 years of "making the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue."

I am not the keeper of the best version of Messianic Judaism.  Don't kid yourself, you aren't either. This is a new day.  I recently (October 18-20 2013) spoke at the Jews for Jesus Ingathering East Coast.  I feel so silly for pushing them away because some people are offended by their work. I have believed for so long that my version of Messianic Judaism is better than theirs. Instead, I will move forward, with them, in doing the most important work of making Yeshua known. First to my Jewish people and also to the rest of the nations on earth!