Founder’s Blog
Spreading the Gospel
Bikurei Tziyon, FFOZ's flagship publication, is now called messiah magazine. The new title is easier to pronounce and exemplifies the heart of our focus. Like Messiah Himself, the magazine comes unexpectedly and seems to be running late.
You will notice that we have intentionally chosen not to capitalize the "m" of "messiah" in the title. Somehow it seems less presumptuous this way. After all, we don't want to imply that this magazine is the one and only "Messiah Magazine." Nevertheless, this publication is all about the One we believe to be the capital "M"—Yeshua of Nazareth, our Messiah King. Its articles remain dedicated to speaking about Him and what is means to be His disciples. Each issue takes a fresh look at the Master's life, His call, and His message—the Gospel.
Have you ever wondered what the Gospel really is? When we mention the Gospel, many think it is something that began with the Apostolic Scriptures. But the Gospel message did not appear for the first time in Matthew, nor even in the Apostolic Writings. God "preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham."1 The generation in the wilderness "had the Gospel preached to them just as we have."2 Clearly Moses, David and all the men of faith in the Tanakh possessed faith unto salvation. Thus, the Gospel message must be something older than we think.
What is the Gospel? When we search all four gospels, we never find that Yeshua preached a sermon presenting the Four Spiritual Laws, nor did He ever lead anyone in the "sinner's prayer.� He never shared a tract with a single person. He never asked, "Do you know for sure that you would go to heaven if you died?" He never told anyone, "You need to have Me in your heart." If these cliches were not the message taught by Yeshua and His disciples, what was the message? His message was the Gospel: "Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" What does that mean? It means: Turn your life back from sin because God's rule and reign has already begun through His Messiah! That's the Good News! It means that the King is come. It means that we must submit to the authority of the King, and the way to do that is to turn away from sin and model our lives after Yeshua's. Salvation comes by the grace bestowed upon those who repent. A Gospel message that neglects to state the need for repentance is no Gospel message at all.
Yeshua was preaching repentance. His Gospel was not a sales pitch, and it was not an easy sell—it required a radical life change. It required turning away from sin. Sin is transgression of Torah.3 More likely than not, if our Master was preaching His message in the Christian world today, He would quickly be disregarded as a legalist. He would probably be called a Judaizer. I am certain that He would be told to let go of "the old ways of the Law" and learn to walk in the "new way of the Spirit."
At First Fruits of Zion, we are passionate about restoring the whole message of the Gospel to the Body of Messiah. We want to assist both Jewish and non-Jewish believers to return to the feet of the Master for a fresh encounter with the One they have confessed as Lord. It�s time to take off our theological goggles and to deal honestly with the real Messiah�the man from Nazareth who rebuked sin, hypocrisy and pretense while encouraging true repentance and obedience to the commandments of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
In the last 10 years, 78 issues of Bikurei Tziyon have brought you thought-provoking and ground-breaking articles toward that end. We have unswervingly kept our focus upon Yeshua and the Gospel He proclaimed. After all, the prophets say that when Messiah comes, "the Torah will go forth from Zion."4 As we launch issue 79 under the new name messiah magazine, we are renewing our commitment to that purpose. This magazine will continue to be a main-stay for all who are serious about Messiah and His Gospel.
If you have not yet subscribed to messiah magazine, I would like to invite you to do so now. You can receive an annual subscription for a donation of any size. Please visit our Magazines section for more information.
Endnotes
1 Galatians 3:8
2 Hebrews 4:2
3 1 John 3:4
4 Isaiah 2:3, Micah 4:2
Search in Blogs...
Browse through Blogs
Feeds
Use this RSS feed to track our blogs in your favorite reader.
The FFOZ Blogs RSS Feed
Blogs by Category
- Back Office
- Events and Administration
- Founder’s Blog
- Guest Authors
- Lessons from the Land
- Levertoff Documentary
- Mishlei Musings
- Publications
- Road Trip 09
- Shalom Tour
- Teaching Team
- The Siddur Project
- Torah Club
- Video Blogs
- Site Info Blog
Blogs by Author
- Aaron Eby
- Boaz Michael
- D. Thomas Lancaster
- FFOZ Staff
- Guest Authors
- Media Staff
- Hope Egan
- Seth Dralle
- Toby Janicki
More Recent Posts
- Remembrance and Repentance
- Passover and the Death of James the Just
- Hosting Your First Passover Seder
- Devil's Children
- Vacation Time
- Visit Israel with FFOZ
- A KISS from me to you
- Eating biblically? Let's chew the fat.
- Kosher Sunday School
- Messer and the Messianic Mess
