Please don't underestimate the power of The Holy Spirit to do a lot of the work Himself...I have been a believer for 25 years (radically changed from an atheist to a believer in a half-hour encounter with the Spirit of HaShem ) without benefit of witnessing or preaching or even reading. He began a work in me last year, leading me to a Feast of Tabernacles celebration, beginning an insatiable hunger in me for all things Jewish. I now have a mezuzah on my doorpost, wear a tallit when I attend my Sunday church and visit my nearby congregation for Shabbat, and have my small group studying the Feast and attending our first Passover seder...all in 6 months! The Lion of Judah is on the move, and many are hearing!

With the Hebrew leap year pushing Pesach a full month behind Easter, I'm using the opportunity to present Yeshua in the Passover to the leadership of a Pentecostal church in the suburban Los Angeles area. The pastor has shown himself as an anomialist, but he is my friend and will listen graciously as I present Messiah and the celebration of our freedom. I am relying heavily on the material in the 'Passover Encounter' booklet and I pray for the Holy One, blessed be He, to use me as an instrument to bring Messianic Torah truth to a primarily New Testament church. I covet your prayers in this area. The service will be a Last Seder service, taking place this Shabbat on 4/26/08.

Chag sameach Matzah!

Bill in LA

We had an enjoyable and meaningful Passover this year. We lit a Yahrtzeit candle for the Master which was truly meaningful to me. We see how each of us are to "transport" ourselves escaping from Egypt (to also include spiritually escaping our personal Egypt), we also included "transporting" ourselves at the time and events of the Master that led to his death. This had a strong and personal impact on me, imagining I was there myself. It gave me new depth.

FFOZ has done a wonderful job in "proclaiming the Torah and its way of life, fully centered on Messiah, to today's people of God." Boaz and Thomas Lancaster exhibit humility, patience, kindness and so many other qualities. I have some book knowledge on Torah, Mashiach, and Judaism (but can also learn more!), however I personally need help with changing the "inner man", steps to treat my wife better, to love more, to have better patience. I know I "should", but don't know "how." Living righteously will help bring clarity, for me.

Shalom mishpacha!

This is just a follow-up regarding the Seder I mentioned in an earlier post. In short, it went very well and was well received by the most skeptical of the invitees. We blew the shofar and lit Yom Tov candles. We told the Pesach story, ate 1st Century matzah, and I appeared in a Biblical tallit from Beged Ivri for visual effect so they could feel as if they had traveled to 1st Century Jerusalem.
I showed them how The Master would have likely blessed the wine and bread. We drank the four cups (using Kedem grape juice because they don't drink wine...) and identified with The Master through the Matzah and Maror. I washed the feet of the Assistant Pastor. We sang Pesach songs which glorified Our King, with everyone clapping and singing together. We had a festive meal from a Kosher-style restaurant to top it off, with Matzah ball soup, brisket, chicken, tzimmes, and Passover cake.
15 people total, and they all want to do it again next year.
Thanks for your prayers!

We started going into churches for Passover last year. My husband leads the seder. This year we rented a room at a Nazarene church, and invited the Pastor - we told him he could bring a total of 20 people (only 8 came). We also had another pastor and his wife join us. (They had come last year and enjoyed it.) We had a total of 44 people in attendance. A woman from the Nazarene church brought her son, who on his own had converted to Orthodox Judaism. When we blew the shofars, he walked out. Apparently, he told his mom they would never do that at a real seder. Interestingly, the references to Yeshua in our introduction didn't upset him. We also had a Christian/Arabic couple. Everyone (except the one who left) told us they enjoyed it, and learned things they never knew before. Several expressed an interest in joining us at our Shabbat study. Some want to know more about the other feasts. In all, it was a good experience!

I led the Seder celebration for the first time this year with my friend Therese "Tee", who lit the candles. She also blew the Shofar, as the only way I can make a sound come out of it is to use a turkey call in my lips. We had two good friends over for the Ceremony, Linda, a friend who used to go to the Messianic Synagogue that we used to attend till the 180 mile round trips were unaffordable, and a very close friend who two years ago was an alcholic athiest. Two years ago, he started coming to Tee's and my Christian music practices, and the questions started coming out of his heart. Within a week, he stopped his drinking, and last year he was baptised in a Methodist Church the week after Easter. Since then he has shown a great curiosity in learning the Jewish roots to the Christian faith, and he was at the Seder as well. Since then, he attends our Sabbath study group, and, by small steps at first, is becoming ever more Sabbath observant.