Passover Seder Deliverance Teaching

by | Apr 4, 2023

Passover Seder Deliverance Teaching
Passover 2023
(Click here to download)

The elements needed for this Seder are Wine or Grape Juice; Matzah and Horseradish

Passover is traditionally a time to impart (disciple) the Exodus story to the younger generations of our families members. This teaching is best done around a Passover meal in a home setting.

 

Does Faith in Yeshua-Jesus Steal the Jewish Soul?

by | May 3, 2017

There are teachings in Judaism today that are aimed at keeping Jewish people away from faith in Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah. The teachings say that when a person comes to faith in Messiah Yeshua/Jesus they “lose their Jewish soul.”
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With regard to the Jewish soul, according to Chabad (an orthodox sect of Judaism), Jewish sages have said this about the human soul:  “She” is called by five names: Nefesh (soul), Ruach (spirit), Neshamah (breath), Chayah (life) and Yechidah singularity).
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The Hasidic masters explain that the soul’s five names actually describe five levels, or dimensions of the soul. Hasidic is a term relating to or denoting Hasidism, a mystical Jewish movement founded in Poland in the 18th century in reaction to the rigid academicism of rabbinical Judaism. These are the same people that teach that when a Jewish person comes to faith in Yeshua/Jesus that they “lose their Jewish soul.”  Let’s continue our look at their definitions of the “soul” to try and understand their logic.
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Nefesh is the soul as the engine of physical life.
Ruach is the emotional self and personality.
Neshamah is the intellectual self.
Chayah is the supra-rational self, the seat of will, desire, commitment and faith.
Yechidah connotes the essence of the soul – its unity with its source, the singular essence of God.
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They believe that the essence of the soul of man is literally a part of God above – a piece of God in us, so to speak. They go on to speak of two distinct ‘souls’ that vitalize the human being: an animal soul and a godly soul. The animal soul is driven by the quest for self-preservation and self-enhancement; in this, it resembles the soul and self of all other creations. But, they say we also possess a godly soul – a soul driven by the desire to reconnect with its Source. They believe the divine essence of the human soul is what sets the human being above and apart from all other creations, even the angels. The angel may be more spiritual, but the human being is more godly, they teach.
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So the question is, based on their definition of the human soul, how is it that a Jewish person loses their soul by believing in Yeshua/Jesus as the Jewish Messiah?
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From what we’ve seen many Jewish people are completely secular and completely influenced by the world around them and secular humanism. They may have no interest in anything about God, or Judaism. When those same people come to faith in Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah of Israel they repent from sinful activities and begin to study the Tanakh (the Jewish Scriptures).  They then draw near to God in an intimate relationship. Ultimately they begin to esteem the Jewish holy days found in Scripture as life giving and applicable to their lives. After coming to faith in Yeshua-Jesus as Messiah the same Jewish people that were once alienated from God and the truth of their own Scriptures begin to live their lives in adherence to the Commandments found in Scripture, living a lifestyle of Torah study, prayer and mitzvot (good deeds).
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Their faith, like that of Abraham rests in and looks to the One true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for direction and fulfillment of everything related to their lives.
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And yet when they want to share Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah and the source of their experience of life giving truth, they are accused of stealing Jewish souls.
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Has the engine of their physical life been removed?  Has their emotional self and personality been robbed? What about their intellectual selves? Have they stopped thinking? When they set themselves to follow Yeshua and become His disciples with the seat of their will, desire and a deep commitment and faith in God, how is it that their Jewish souls have been stolen?
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The answer is plain and simple.  They’re not. In fact, at the heart of God’s will for the Jewish People is His desire for them to be a light to the world of His existence, majesty and plans. When a Jewish Person comes to faith in Yeshua-Jesus as the Messiah of Israel they come into alignment with God’s instructions and prophecies as found in the Tanakh (the Holy Jewish Scriptures a.k.a. Old Testament).
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The Hasidic belief that Jewish People lose their souls when coming to faith in Jesus goes against their own teachings of what the human soul is. There’s no logic to their arguments based on their own definitions of the human soul.
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Sadly, their arguments and beliefs stem from their own erroneous beliefs of who Yeshua-Jesus was. He was not the leader of the Catholic church.  He was not a foreign god. He was not an idol and therefore anathema in God’s sight. He was not a mere man claiming to be the Messiah in order to lead people away from God.
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That being said, let’s pray for the eyes of the Jewish people to be open to the truth and for the pulling down of the strongholds of anti-messiah and the religious spirit that keeps the veil over their eyes and hearts, robbing them from the knowledge of the truth and the joy and freedom that comes from an intimate relationship with God as Father – that only comes via faith in Yeshua-Jesus as the Messiah of Israel.
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Faith in Him does not steal Jewish souls; it restores them.

HANUKKAH CHALLENGE

by | Dec 6, 2016

 Hanukkah Challenge: Let your light shine…
* Some text taken from “The Real Story of Chanukah” by Kevin Geoffrey – Perfect Word Ministries

Some think the Hanukah celebration is about gifts, light and miracles.  In fact, the holiday commemorates gruesome events and horrible persecution that took place as the Jewish People stood up for God and His Word. Let’s take a brief look at the real story and see what we can learn to benefit our own lives and make us the People God wants us to be.

The time of the Maccabees: 175-134 BC: Seventeen miles from Jerusalem there was a small Selucid outpost in Modi’in.  The Selucid soldiers ordered everyone there to gather and sacrifice a pig on an altar.  Mattathius, a Jewish priest, zealously killed a Jew who agreed to do this.  Mattathias called upon people loyal to the traditions of Israel to oppose the invaders and the Jewish Hellenizers. His three sons began a military campaign that ultimately restored the Jewish Temple and People to the ways of God.

1. How have you stood up for the things of God with people in your life?
2. What can you do in your life to rally people to God’s causes?

During this dark period in Jewish history everything related to the Torah and Temple service, everything that defined and distinguished Israel from the nations would be eliminated.  The goal was for the Jews to forget who they were so the Selucid king could rule the world.

1. How are evil forces working to cause us to forget who we (Believers) are today?
2. What does Scripture teach regarding the truth of who we are?
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This period of history was a nightmare of savagery toward the Jews, who were even killed for studying Torah.  There was a war on Jewish faith.  Sacred scrolls destroyed; Sabbaths and feasts were profaned; Circumcision was outlawed; Altars were built for idols in the temple; Swine were sacrificed on the altar; all who disobeyed the king were killed. Many Jews believed in bowing to  these new ways  as they preferred Greek culture to their own.

1. How do we see a war on Christian/Messianic faith today?
2. How are you bowing to the ways of society because you prefer the culture, over living a holy & surrendered life to God?

During this time Jews were arrested and tortured; whipped and scourged; scalped and maimed.  Their tongues were cut out; their hands and feet lopped off; their skin and hair ripped from their bodies.  They were seared in boiling caldrons, their lives billowed out of them in clouds of smoke, fried away as steam from their mangled bodies.  People praised their Maker while being tortured, and some while being forced to watch their loved ones tormented and made sport of. These martyrs were willing to lay down their lives for what they believed, and yet as disciples of Messiah today we can barely endure a harsh word or a nasty look for the sake of our convictions.

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1. What do we need to do in our lives to prepare us to stand up to unspeakable persecution, including our inevitable demise, with unwavering faith in God’s goodness, and the promise of eternal life?

JEWISH ROOTS OF CHRISTIANITY

by | Dec 1, 2016

JEWISH ROOTS OF CHRISTIANITY
10 SESSION STUDY

CONTENTS

SESSION 1: A Look at the 1st Century Church
SESSION 2: The Removal of the Jewish Roots
SESSION 3: God’s Designs and Plans for the Church
SESSION 4: Understanding Shabbat – The Sabbath
SESSION 5: The Spring Feasts of the Lord
The Passover
Unleavened Bread
The Feast of First-fruits
The Feast of Weeks
SESSION 6: The Fall Feasts of the Lord
SESSION 7: Understanding Covenant
SESSION 8: The Roots of Anti-Semitism
Witnessing to Jewish people: keys & tools
SESSION 10: Jewish Evangelism & the Church

 

Please consider making a donation to Mission Discipleship’s Israel Mandate when downloading this study.
(No gift is too small – whatever you can do to help us would be a great blessing.)

OMER DEVOTIONAL

by | Nov 28, 2016

THE OMER DEVOTIONAL

A 50-day devotional journey to discover your role in the end-time revival of Israel
and God’s plans to gather the Jewish People back to the Land of Israel.

“See, I will gather them out of all the countries, where I have driven them in My anger, My fury, and great wrath, and I will bring them back to this place and cause them to dwell securely. They will be My people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, so they may fear Me forever; for their good and for their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good for them. I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will not depart from Me. “Yes, I will delight in doing good for them, and with all My heart and all My soul I will in truth plant them in this land.” (Jeremiah 32:37-41)

 

Please consider making a donation to Mission Discipleship’s Israel Mandate if this devotional blesses you…
(No gift is too small – whatever you can do to help us would be a great blessing.)