The Matzah of Purity and Truth

As Passover approaches, Jewish families around the world will soon be cleaning the leaven from their homes and remembering how Adonai set them free from slavery in Egypt. With all the leaven removed, only unleavened bread—matzah—is allowed to be eaten. The matzah is a tangible sign and an ever-present memorial during this season, so that all the generations of Israel will know “what Adonai did for [them]” with His strong, mighty hand (Exodus 13:7-9). But for followers of the Messiah, this memorial also serves to remind us of an even greater freedom, while the command to remove the leaven reaches further and deeper.

Read more

/by

Are Messianic Gentiles 2nd Class Citizens?

It has been an issue in modern Messianic Jewish congregations basically since the beginning: many Gentile congregants have felt like second-class citizens in part because they’ve heard the often-repeated refrain, “to the Jew first.” In this episode, Kevin looks at the Scriptures to determine if this possible doctrine of favoritism has any basis in Scripture, and, if so, whether it is compatible with the Bible’s call for unity between Jews and Gentiles.

/by

What Can Passover Teach You About Your Identity In Messiah?

For a full week every year, beginning at Passover, God commands Israel to eat only food made without leaven (matzah) as a reminder of how God brought freedom to Israel and rescued them from their slavery in Egypt forever. In this episode, Kevin helps you to inwardly prepare yourself for the Passover season with a powerful insight into the matzah that will reveal and convict your heart of your true reality in Yeshua.

/by

Should Messianics Keep Jewish Tradition?

As Messianic Jews, what should our attitude be toward Jewish tradition? According to some, Paul tells us that we should keep the traditions of Judaism, just as long as they don’t contradict or violate Scripture. But is such an assertion really true? In this episode, Kevin closely examines the teachings of Paul and Yeshua for a Scriptural view of tradition.

/by

God of Love, Pt. 1

What Is the Good News of Yeshua? (Part 20)

At long last, the people of Israel had returned to their homeland, now a broken and castaway nation. Though they managed to rebuild both Jerusalem and the House of God, they nevertheless remained under the thumb of external subjugation, governed by a succession of warring, foreign empires. Under the influence of their ungodly occupiers, many of the people held onto and adopted foreign customs alien to the will and word of God. They spawned the corruption of their own priesthood, endured the installation of puppet kings, and formed competing segments of a new legalistic, Temple-less Jewish religion—a religion that had been imported from their excursion into exile. The kingdom of Israel—the nation of God’s covenant people—was barely more than an empty shell.

“But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son (having come from a woman)…” (Galatians 4:4, mjlt)

Read more

/by

God of Revelation

What Is the Good News of Yeshua? (Part 19)

Over the course of nearly half a millennium, the kings and kingdoms of Israel underwent sweeping and turbulent change. The nation split itself in two, and each separate kingdom was plagued by their own sin and recurring foreign subjugation.

Yet even while God’s covenantal people were managing to almost completely forsake their set-apart purpose, the voice of the God of Revelation had not been silent. In the midst of such grave disobedience and completely avoidable upheaval, God continually raised up admonishing prophets to also foretell the restoration of the kingdom—indeed, of the entire world—through the coming Son of David… the one and only Messiah. Read more

/by

Messianics Are Missing the Point of Chanukah

Many Jewish and Gentile Messianics are drawn to Chanukah in large part because of how they see Chanukah fulfilled in Yeshua. But what if injecting Jesus into a Jewish holiday isn’t the point? What if the real point of Chanukah isn’t about miracles, latkes and lights, but something far more powerful and fundamental to our faith? In this episode, Kevin explains how knowing the real story of Chanukah will effect not just how you celebrate it, but how you walk with Yeshua in your everyday life.

/by

God of Redemption, Pt. 2

What Is the Good News of Yeshua? (Part 18)

Rejected by both His people and their king, God nevertheless remained faithful to His covenant and to His plan of reconciliation and salvation for the world. Despite the people’s treasonous intentions in demanding a king, God would redeem their evil plea by establishing a king in Israel with a heart both for righteousness and for Him. From the sons of a lowly shepherd, Adonai would choose His true champion. To correct the people’s mistake in King Saul, the God of Redemption would restore Israel’s kingdom in David. Read more

/by

5 Great Features of the MJLT Messianic Bible Translation

The Messianic Literal Translation of the New Covenant Scriptures (MJLT NCS) is not just an important Messianic Bible translation that restores its Jewishness. It’s also an objectively excellent, reliable version that uniquely presents and preserves the word of God. In this episode, Kevin picks his five favorite features of the MJLT and explains how they each contribute to making it such a solid Bible version, setting it apart from all other versions of the Bible.

/by

God of Redemption, Pt. 1

What Is the Good News of Yeshua? (Part 17)

Following the death of Moses, it would be his successor Joshua who would finally bring Israel into the land. With the tablets of the testimony before them, the people set off on their divinely appointed campaign to conquer and resettle their ancestral home. Through obedience to God, miraculously falling walls (Joshua 6:12ff), physics-defying celestial events (10:12f) and five years of fighting, the land promised to Israel’s fathers was theirs… mostly. God had dispossessed the previous occupants because of their wickedness, giving the land to His covenantal people (Deuteronomy 9:4-6, cf. Leviticus 18:3ff). And Israel served Adonai for all of Joshua’s days, and for all the days of the elders who outlived him… Read more

/by