Shalom and welcome to our preparing for Passover online conference. We're so excited you can join us and be with us today as we come to celebrate and worship our king and also explore the relationship between the Passover as we see in the exodus, with God bringing his people, Israel, out of Egypt. And also Yeshua, who came as our Passover lamb, as prophesied and foretold throughout scripture.
Amen. Guys, I love the feast of Passover because it is the feast that is all about our king drawing near to us. It is about how God is coming to our homes, to our doors. But the question is going to be, is, are we going to be ready? See, in the exodus Passover, he came to all the doors of all of Egypt. Some were ready for him and some were not. But a prophecy went forth that a messiah was coming. And in the first century he did. And as he came again, some were ready for him and some were not. But he's coming again on the horizon, the trumpets are going to blow. And the question is yet again gonna be, is your house gonna be ready for him or not?
Amen. Will you have the blood of the Passover lamb over your door? And that's what this festival, this feast day, this Passover celebration, is all about. Remembering Yeshua as our Passover lamb, and also as our messiah, as our redeemer prophesied throughout scripture. Today we will be joined by six incredible speakers from three different continents, America, Africa and the UK. Each will have ten to 15 minutes to share a message on Passover, and then following the speakers, we will have a time of worship and then our live Q and a where you can ask your questions to our speakers. Our speakers include Pastor John Diffendorfer, pastor of Mercy collective in Franklin, Tennessee. Then David Wilbur, author, teacher and apologist, as well as Sarah van Feuren, based in Namibia, Africa, who's a worship artist and author and also a teacher. Additionally, we'll have the Almond House, Jackie and Joe based in the UK. They have a YouTube channel, they have a fellowship, they have a wonderful ministry. We will also have Lisa Hadassah, who will be leading us in worship, and my husband Petey, who will be sharing a Passover message.
Yes, and at the end, we're going to have a live q and a discussion with some of the speakers answering your questions as you send it into the live chat during this broadcast. I also want to say that if the father, during the duration of this conference, lays it on your heart to bring a Passover offering, we would love to be able to bless our speakers, teachers, artists here tonight in their labors among us for this feast. If you'd like to bring an offering, you can go to riseonfire.com partner.
We'll begin this evening with worship led by Lisa Hadassah. Lisa Adassa Oliver's psalmic and prophetic hebraic worship music has sold out auditoriums and reached thousands across the world. Lisa it comes from Cape Town, South Africa, with her husband Bertie and their six children. She's also released multiple worship albums and her music can be found on YouTube. We highly recommend you check her music out. It's definitely been a blessing to both Petey and I, so she will be leading us today in the aaronic blessing. Thank you so much, Lisa, for joining us. Hi, everyone.
Greetings from Cape Town.
My name is Lisa Dassa and I.
Just want to thank Piri and Christina for asking me to be a part of this online conference.
May these songs bless you and may.
You have a blessed pesach.
I don't know. Face marijuana. I don't know. But now Elijah.
Thank you, Lisa. That was beautiful, guys. Stay tuned because she's going to continue leading us on worship throughout the broadcast. Next up, we have our dear brother and friend David Wilbur. We honor him and everything that he does in ministry. He's an author, Bible teacher, messianic christian apologist, and joint CEO of Pronomium Publishing, LLC. He also speaks at churches and conferences across the nation. And you may have seen him at 119 ministries as a teacher as well as at founded in True Fellowship and on inspiring philosophy, we asked David to.
Share what Passover is all about and also practical ways that you can celebrate it with your family. So whether you've celebrated Passover many times or perhaps this is your first time, David will have something for you.
Welcome, David Chag Samek, everyone. Happy Passover. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to share with you all tonight, and I want to thank rise on fire ministries for inviting me to be part of this conference. For those of you who don't know me, my name is David Wilbur. I'm an author and bible teacher. And tonight I want to talk to you about one of the most significant events on the biblical calendar. I'm talking about Passover and the seven day festival of unleavened bread. So I'm just going to give you a basic introduction to this biblical holiday and what it means to christians. And we'll also be going through some ideas on how you can celebrate Passover today. So let's dive in. First, why should we as christians care about Passover to begin with. After all, isn't Passover a jewish holiday? If you're new to celebrating the biblical holidays, you've probably heard this question before from others. Maybe you've asked this question yourself. Well, the truth is, Passover is a biblical holiday. It's one among several other holidays that God commanded his people to observe. And the purpose of each of these holidays is to remember what God has done in the past and to anticipate the fulfillment of his promises for the future. So Passover, for example, commemorates God delivering Israel from Egypt. Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah. You also have days like Yom Teruah which looks forward to when the messiah will eventually return and so forth. So it's true that many people call these holidays jewish holidays, but that's really only because for the most part, Jews are the only ones keeping these holidays. In the Bible, however, God calls these holidays his appointed feasts. And they are meaningful for everyone who follows the God of Israel, whether one is jewish or not. Jesus or Yeshua, he observed Passover too and so did the apostles. In fact, in one corinthians five, Paul instructs the church of Corinth which was made up of both jewish and gentile followers of Yeshua to celebrate Passover. Hence, we should care about Passover because God cares about it its biblical and our messiah and the apostles cared about it. In fact, God commands his people to celebrate Passover as a permanent ordinance. But why does God care about Passover? Why is it so important? Passover is important because God wants us always to remember the greatest story ever told. What is the greatest story ever told? It's the story of the gospel. The good news of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah he died for our sins, was buried and was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures he delivered us from slavery to sin and death giving us new life in him that extends into eternity. Now you might be asking, but wait a minute. Doesn't Passover commemorate the exodus from Egypt? And the answer is yes it does. But I would submit to you that the Exodus is a picture or a model of gods plan of salvation which is fully realized in Yeshua. So the gospel message is taught in the Exodus story. Again, when Paul spoke about the gospel message he wrote that the Messiah died for our sins and was raised in accordance with the scriptures. What scriptures was Paul referring to? Well, he was referring to the hebrew scriptures. The Old Testament. So according to Paul, the Old Testament teaches us the gospel and one place where the Old Testament teaches us the gospel is in the Passover story. How does Passover tell the story of the gospel? First, just as our personal deliverance from sin must begin with recognizing our need for deliverance, so also at the beginning of the Exodus story, we see that Israel recognizes their need for deliverance. Israel is enslaved in Egypt. They are being oppressed and they need deliverance. And so they cry out for deliverance in scripture. Israels slavery in Egypt is not merely a historical event. Its also a spiritual analogy or metaphor for sin. So we could say that Israels slavery in Egypt is a picture of our own sinful condition. Before we came to know the messiah, we were enslaved to our sins. Like Israel and Egypt. We were stuck and had no way out. But also like Israel, when we cried out to God, he heard us. He provided a way out. Gods sin a deliverer, Moses, to rescue Israel from slavery in Egypt. And God sent the ultimate deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah, to deliver all of us from slavery to sin. Heres what God told Moses to tell the Israelites. This is gods promise of deliverance. Exodus six six eight say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord. And I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them. And I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord. This is a beautiful promise. And I want you to notice something. Not only does God say that he will deliver Israel from slavery, he also says, I will take you to be my people and I will be your God. So deliverance does not stop at being rescued from slavery. It also involves a relationship with God. The same is true for us. When we receive the messiah as our savior and Lord, it doesn't stop at being forgiven of our sins. We also become God's people. And we need to then learn what it means to live as God's people. So what does that mean? What does that look like? Well, it means following God's commandments. This passage in Exodus six is kind of like God's marriage proposal to Israel. And as we keep reading in the story, the marriage ceremony takes place at Mount Sinai. Several chapters later. It's there where God officially takes Israel to be his people, and that aspect of his promise is fulfilled. He gives them the marriage contract in the form of the Torah, and Israel agrees to this marriage. And they say, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do in any case. As we continue the exodus StoRy, we learn that moses did go to EgyPT. However, PHArAoh refused to let the israelites go. So God sent plagues upon the land, each of them symbolizing the Lord's victory over the various Egyptian gods. And these plagues CULminate in the final plague, the death of the firstborn. In the land, however, God provided a means of salvation, a way to escape this death. Every household that killed a lamb and placed its blood upon their doorpost was passed over, saving their firstborn from death. And that's what Israel did. They received the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and were saved. The passover meal commemorates this EVent. It commemorates how Israel was saved by the blood of the lamb. So also we are saved by the blood of the messiah, the ultimate Passover lamb, who died for our sins so that we can escape the second death. So let's get into some practical information about how to actually celebrate Passover. First, we observe the feast beginning on the evening of Nisan 14. And we observe this feast by having a meal which essentially begins the seven day festival of unleavened bread. The meal on the evening of the 14th flows into the beginning of the 15th, which is the first day of unleavened bread. Number two, eat the Passover with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Just as a quick note on this point, technically, we don't eat the Passover today because it's literally impossible. The Passover specifically refers to the sacrificial lamb, and this lamb is only supposed to be slaughtered at the temple in Jerusalem. And since there is no temple or levitical priesthood in operation today, we can't have the Passover sacrifice. We can still eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs. We just can't slaughter a lamb for the meal. However, even without a lamb, we can still memorize the exodus story with a meal, which leads to the third point. Number three, memorialize the exodus story and teach it to our children. Traditionally, this is done through the Passover seder. The Passover seder is a structured meal that is eaten in a particular order, and the different components of the meal kind of tell different stories or aspects of the exodus story. Many people use a haggadah, which is a book or outline used to set forth the order of the ceremony. And by the way. If you're looking for a super simple haggadah to use for your Passover seder, check out my website. The one I wrote is very easy to follow along with and it's great for beginners. Not only that, it has an emphasis on Yeshua which leads to the next point. Number four. Remember Yeshua? During the last Supper when Yeshua was observing the Passover with his disciples, he said do this in remembrance of me. Ultimately, he was telling us that this season of Passover is all about him. It's not a coincidence that he died during the Passover season, rose on the day when the first fruits were offered and sent his spirit on Pentecost. The feast days are all about Yeshua and the reason we do them is to celebrate him. That's why as christians, we incorporate the full story of the gospel into our observance of the Passover meal. We are obeying Yeshua's command to do this in remembrance of him. What about unleavened bread? The seven day festival of unleavened bread is attached to the Passover meal. When Israel left Egypt in haste, they didnt have time for their bread to rise and so they had to eat their bread unleavened. God gave us the festival of unleavened bread as a way to commemorate Israels deliverance from Egypt. Heres what scripture says were supposed to do during this time. In the first month, from the 14th day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at evening for seven days. No leaven is to be found in your houses. So there are a few things we must do during the seven day festival. Number one, eat unleavened bread during the festival. What is unleavened bread and why are we to eat it? Well, leaven is a substance that is added to dough that causes it to ferment and rise. Its what causes bread to be light and fluffy. So unleavened bread is bread without leaven, flat and dense. And the purpose of eating this unleavened bread is to remind us of the bread that the Israelites ate when they left Egypt. Number two, don't eat leaven bread during the festival. So basically avoid everything delicious. No pizza or anything like that. Although there are some great recipes for matzo pizza, which is pizza made with unleavened bread. So that might be something worth trying. But in any case, the point of this command is to remind us of the exodus. Number three, before the festival begins, remove all leavening from your house. So anything that could cause dough to ferment and rise any leavened products we are to remove those things from our home. Now what is the purpose of this commandment? Well, in addition to reminding us of the exodus I think God is teaching us a deeper spiritual principle. He is teaching us about sanctification. God saved Israel by the blood of the lamb but after he saved them he brought them to the wilderness. Why? Because although they had left Egypt, Egypt had not yet left them. God was using the wilderness experience to sanctify his people and to remove the Egypt from their hearts. In the context of Passover, leaven is a picture of our old life in Egypt if you will. It's a picture of things in our lives that give rise to sin. Thus the command to remove leaven is designed to teach us to examine our hearts to ask God to reveal anything that we are holding on to that he wants us to get rid of. As we prepare for Passover we should be doing some self reflection as we explore every cabinet in our homes for eleven that we need to get rid of we should also be asking God to search every corner in our hearts to remove any spiritual leaven in our lives. As Paul wrote, cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened for Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And that is what Passover and unleavened bread are all about. So to give a quick review Passover unleavened Bread is a biblical holiday that commemorates God delivering Israel from Egypt. Passover is relevant to christians because it's one of God's appointed festivals was observed by the Messiah and the apostles and tells the story of the gospel. By observing Passover we are reminded of and celebrate our deliverance from sin and the promise of eternal life through the Messiah. We observe Passover by having a memorial meal with unleavened bread and bitter herbs teaching the exodus story and remembering Yeshua the seven day festival of unleavened bread immediately follows Passover and involves eating unleavened bread, avoiding leavened products and removing leaven from our homes as a reminder of the exodus and as a symbol of sanctification. My friends, as you prepare for Passover I hope that this season is a blessing to you. I hope that you will do some self reflection and that God will reveal any leaven that might be hidden within your heart. Anything that gives rise to sin in your life. Ask him to remove that leavening. Ask him to remove those things from your life so that you can be everything that he created you to be. God loves you. He sent his son to save you. And that's what we celebrate at Passover. It's an amazing holiday that reminds us of God's love and what he has done for us. I pray that your celebration will give you a greater appreciation of God's faithfulness and will inspire you to live for him. He has taken us to be his people and he is our God. Bless you all and hag semech.
Amen. David, thank you so much for sharing that. Brother sisters, this is absolutely a feast of self examination. When Yeshua was at the Passover table, he said, as David said, do this in remembrance of me. Talking, of course, of that moment of communion with them, partaking in the bread and in the wine. And yet, for us to be able to partake in his body and in his blood, we have to make sure that we do not partake in him unworthily, as Paul writes. In other words, we make sure that we have done introspection as we approach the Passover table. And that is, I want to submit, we are going to be having a bit of that bread and wine participation at the end of this latter end of this conference. So if that is something that any one of you who are watching or interested in doing, there's going to be opportunity for that. So somewhere in the midst of all of this, you can go get your bread and get your wine ready for you guys, if that was what you desire. I also want to let you guys know that David has a book called a Christian Guide to the biblical feasts. And we really love it because it's really great introduction to anyone who's new to any of this about, you know, how do I learn the basics of the practicals on how do we approach the feast days so highly recommend that. Check that out.
And, you know, just thank you again so much, David. It was excellent. Just what it reminded me of is our first time I celebrated a Passover with my family as a kid. It all began. My mom was reading Leviticus 23, and she realized that, like, oh, my gracious, all these festivals. Wow, God, can I celebrate these too? Am I allowed to? I'm not jewish. And that's when God told my mom, you know, Leviticus, chapter 23, verse one, these are my appointed times. They're his appointed times. So, yes, if you follow the God of Israel, then you can keep these festivals. Anyway, so that began our journey of how do we keep the Passover? How do we keep this? What does it look like? So we literally sat down at the table, we opened up our bibles. We knew we were supposed to have the unleavened bread, so we had some matzah. We knew we were supposed to have some bitter herbs, so we had that. And we didn't know we were allowed to eat a dinner. So we had our bibles, we had our matzah, and we had our bitter herbs. So as children exchanging our chocolate Easter bunnies for some matzo and bitter herbs was a little anticlimactic. But God, I could just imagine him just laughing but smiling on us as we tried our best, as my mom was trying her best to just honor him and learn more about this festival.
Right, guys? So make sure that, you know, as you approach this, you know, yes, there's, there are some basic things that we should do, but really, it's very simple. And so make it simple for you and your family, especially if you're starting out. And, you know, also enjoy the time. Make way for the fun of it, for the enjoyment of it, especially for the kids.
Oh, yeah. And there's lots of fun things you can do with your kids. Like, I mean, just look it up online. There's things you can do for the plagues with your children. The ways to make it fun. Fun as you are recounting the plagues that we see in the Exodus story, you can make cool dessert items, cool food items. I have seen people put, like a spread on their table with like, you know, Moses and the people of Israel walking through this, the Red Sea with like, anyways, it's cool. Look it up online. Make this the festival fun for your family and for your children, because again, this is a celebration. All right, next up we have Pastor John Diffendorfer, pastor of Mercy Collective, based in Franklin, Tennessee, which is a congregation that is focused on loving God and loving others, as Yeshua loves focusing on the truth of the whole word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. John Diffenderfer is also the author of the Marriage Commandments, and he teaches at churches, Bible studies seminars and conferences worldwide. So we're excited to be joined by John. Thank you so much for joining us, John.
Hey, everybody, I'm John Diffendorfer. I'm the pastor at Mercy collective here in Franklin, Tennessee. And it's a blessing to be with you guys today. I'm excited for this event. I'm excited for what God is going to do in the spring feasts in your life this year, every year this season is just such a gift. We get to pause and behold the lamb of God in new ways every single year. But this year in particular, there's just such a heaviness in my heart, because so often we just rush past the cross, we rush past the resurrection, as though all of those things were just a means to an end. But this is the greatest expression of love that God has ever shown, that he gave his only begotten son who could come to earth and die in our place. And so in all of this, like, if you've been walking with the Lord for a while, you perpetually realize the depth of those actions that he took. And then, even in the book of Revelation, we see this lamb standing as though he had been slain. And that really is what our faith with this gospel that we believe in, this is what it's all about. So if these feasts, if this moment doesn't fascinate your soul endlessly, then I don't think you've properly beheld the lamb of God. So in Passover, there's this story that's existed since the time of Moses. It's really this really profound but simple gospel message. It's that a lamb dies so that we can be with God. That's it. That's the whole story. It's that something other than yourself would pay the price so that you can be free, so that you can be delivered, so that you can walk through the water, so that you can come to the fire of God. And all of this is the story that we've all experienced in the cross and in our own salvation. But it's something that we have to walk with him every day in. And really, the message of scripture from the garden of Eden all the way through the end of it, is this constant statement from Yahweh where he says, I am the one who dies so that you can be close to me. I am the one who will humble myself. I am the one who will bear the burden. I am the one who will empower you. I am the one. He's constantly making these statements, and it's so important, especially as we get into Passover and the feasts and this gospel message that's laid out for us for thousands of years, to understand that he is the price that was paid for our freedom. We bring nothing to the table, but he sets it for us anyway. And in revelation five, we get this verse, and a lot of times we read it in worship. And we understand it in part, but every piece of this is so important, revelation five nine says, and they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed or purchased people from God, people for God, from every tribe, language and people and nation, and you made them kingdom and priests to our God. And that really is the entire gospel. That is the entire point. That is the message of scripture. It is the work of this lamb of God on behalf of humanity so that we can come into perfect fellowship with God. And it's a concept that I think a lot of times we understand theologically. But the problem is God is not a concept. Yeshua is not a concept. He is a being. He is a person. He is an endless I am being. And so just understanding it theologically and understanding it doctrinally, like, that's good, but that's not the point. The point is that we come into this fellowship with him. We understand that it's all because of his sacrifice, because of what he's done, that we have this access in this relationship. Colossians 113 says, he's delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And so in this, there's this piece that we have to understand, especially in the Passover story. And a lot of times we talk about it and we use the theological language about it, but we don't really understand it, and we rarely, like, internalize it. But it's this concept of redemption, and it is everything. Redemption really is central to the entire story. And redemption is not just this idea that, like, something that is wrong is made right. And it's kind of how we use redemption nowadays. We'll talk about a movie and talk about how it was redemptive or the story was redemptive. But redemption from a biblical concept is more literal. It means what the word means, to redeem something. To redeem something is to provide deliverance at a price. And that's really profound, to understand that it's not just freedom. It's not just something wrong being made right. It's something wrong being made right at tremendous cost. And that's what we experience in Yeshua. So there's a theologian, an anglican priest, Fleming Rutledge, and she writes that in the death of Jesus, we see God himself suffering the consequences, consequences of sin. That is the price when christian teaching falls short of this proclamation. The work of Christ on the cross is diminished to the vanishing point, becoming nothing more than an exemplary death to admire, to venerate, perhaps even to emulate, but certainly not an event to shake the foundations of this world order. And this is the issue. This is the issue in so many of our religious and theological and faith based exercises we find ourselves in, is a lot of times we reduce God to the vanishing point. And in particular, we reduce Yeshua Christ to the vanishing point, where he's so far away from where we currently are, that we see all these other things as so big and so important. And we really dive into things that are good. We dive into things like the feasts and the Sabbath and acts of righteousness and service and forgiveness and deliverance, and all of these things that are good. But somewhere, way off in the distance, we lose sight of him because we've pushed him so far to the vanishing point. The issue is that he's still there. We just can't see, see him. I think if you're doing an analysis of your life, like maybe this is the easiest way to diagnose where you are, the largest thing in your life is the thing that you're closest to. Everything else is closer to that vanishing point. And the problem, of course, is that when he is the one who's beyond the vanishing point, or just right at the edge of it, he's become so small, we really have to recenter ourselves and understand that it is the. The cross and it is Christ. It is Christ and him crucified. That is the cornerstone of everything. He is the entire point. All of those other milestones and markers on our journey of faith, every one of those is a message pointed straight to him. Even the Father in heaven. When you read the gospels, the few times that there's this voice from the sky speaking, all that the father talks about is he says, this is my son. This is my beloved son. Listen to him. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Even the Father in heaven, his message is the son, his. And so in all of this, like, we have to make sure that Yeshua is central. He's not an option. He's not a theological concept. He's not a construct. It is him. And what he did on that cross that changed everything. We can't breeze past it. He's not a means to an end. It's not just the door. He's also the reward. He's also the end of it all. He is the beginning and the end. In second Titus, or in Titus, I should say Titus 213. It says, we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Yeshua, the messiah, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, to redeem us from all wickedness. And that word wickedness means lawlessness. And it's to purify for himself a people that are his own, eager to do what is good. All of these stories, the apostles constantly talk about the same thing. They constantly emphasize the price that was paid. They understood it probably in a more visceral way than we do. The expense and the scandal of the cross. The scandal of the cross is the immeasurable value of the price that was paid for sinners and slaves. It's that the God of the universe took on flesh, suffered and died for us, and then all of this is for our redemption. He literally bought us with his life. It's the new covenant in his blood. It's the new covenant in his life that we exist. And so again, we see this message. It's that God is the one who dies so that we can be close to him. It's sacrificial love on a level that we probably can't comprehend in our humanity. But it's true. He gets all the credit. He did all the work. He set the table and brought us to it. We are redeemed and we are his. That's it. And this concept of redemption is just echoes over and over again throughout the Bible. It's this idea that he has purchased us. In one corinthians 619, it says, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, spirit within you, whom you have from God. You are not your own, so you do not belong to yourself, for you are bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. The appeal of Paul is that you don't get to own yourself any longer. You are not in control of yourself. You do not have authority over yourself. The sacrifice of Yeshua, and so the natural result of that is we're going to glorify God with that, because that was all that he wanted all along. And so I think in this, there's this message that we need to explore in our hearts every single day. And if we belong to God, have we truly internalized that? Or are we still holding things off the altar? Are we still living our lives as though they belong to us? So questions that I think we should ask is, like, what are we holding? What am I holding as my own? Is it my children, my marriage, my business, my career, my money, my time, my talents, my gifts? What am I holding that I still think is mine, apart from him. And it's not just the good things. What about our wounds? What about our trauma? All of these are things that he has bought that he paid the price for. My sins aren't even my sins anymore. They're his. He's already suffered the punishment for them. He already took them all. And the reality is, you know, we live in this world where everyone's obsessed with things like their trauma or whatever, but it's not your trauma, it's his. If we could understand that, it would reframe how we approach so many of these conflicts and struggles in our lives. You know, we talk to people, and as a pastor, I talk to a lot of people about their lives and their histories and what's going on in their family. And, you know, you hear conversations, people will be like, well, you won't understand. You don't know what my father did to me. You don't understand what my mother did to me. You don't understand my family history. Yeshua answered all of that. He said, who is my mother? Who are my brothers? And so the question for us, like, if we're coming with these problems and these fundamental traumas in our lives, and we're saying, well, my father did this, who is your father? And has your actual father ever shown you anything other than love? Has the everlasting father not laid down his life for you? Does he not own you? Has he not literally bought the farm? And if we could understand this, it would change everything. You know, we hold onto a life oftentimes that is not him. We say we have this kind of approach in our minds where we think, like, well, this much is me, and this part of what I have is for him. And that's the wrong approach. He either owns all of you or he holds none of you. And if he's bought you, if he's truly bought you, he owns all of you. So if you are in Christ, you do not belong to yourself. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. It's no longer your life or your children or your husband or your wife or your resources or your gifts. Everything that you think you are belongs to him. And that really is this message that we see throughout all of scripture. It's that God has paid the price he's made, the way he's done the work necessary, and all he wants from us is our participation. We get to live his life. And so there's so much anxiety and fear in the world, and it manifests in a lot of different ways and a lot of times we try to mask it. But one of the central commands of scripture is, do not worry, do not be afraid. He is all powerful and he's always good in one Peter. And it's also in Exodus 19 and deuteronomy seven. There's this promise that kind of encapsulates this Message from Passover through the book of revelation. But it says, but you are a chosen race and a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, not a people for your possession. You do not possess you or your church or your family or anything else. We are a people for his possession. That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. You are possessed by God, and that should give us tremendous hope, because he takes care of his own. He is the provider, he is the healer. He is the comfort, he is the strength, he is the wisdom, he is the gift, he is the reward. Everything else is just a distraction. The same message, of course, repeats throughout scripture endlessly. But Isaiah 43 one it says, but now thus says Yahweh, the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I've called you by name. If we could understand that he has actually redeemed us, and that doesn't mean he just made us better. He didn't come just to make bad people good. He bought us. He owns us. He has total possession of your life. He says, I called you by name. You're mine. And the promise immediately follows. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you through the rivers. They will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you'll not be burned or consumed. For I am the Lord, your God, the holy one of Israel, your savior. If we could understand that, if we could understand that that's what took place on Passover, that's what was foreshadowed in Moses Passover. That's what came to fulfillment in Yeshua's Passover. That is the Passover that we all experience. It is the purchase of our eternal lives from the slavery of sin into the kingdom of our Lord. In that, there's tremendous freedom. We can let everything else go, let every fear and every anxiety fall, because you are owned by a God who loves you. So I pray that this Passover season, this feast season, as you go through it, is just saturated with a sharp awareness of how much you mean to him. The price for something is determined by what's paid for it, values determined by the price paid. And so if the God of the universe is willing to shed one drop of his blood for you, you have immeasurable value. There is a purpose, there is a sacrifice that he made for you. Just accept it and walk in his love. Thank you.
Thank you, John, so much for that. It is absolutely essential for us to never lose focus about what all this is really about. So I think for many of us, when Yeshua came to our lives, it shook the foundation of our world. And I guess the question is, is that still happening for you? Is he still shaking the foundation of your world? Is he still the one who owns you? Who you've, when you came to me said, lord, take all of my life, give it. I give it to you. I want to live a crucified life. Is that so? Still true? Today we see in revelation that warning of do not lose your first love. And he says, I will remove your lambstand from you. So let's all watch and be careful that we don't take our eyes off of him in the excitement of all the things about him. See, theology is about a person. Theology is not just about concepts as John talked about. It's about the person of Christ.
Yeah, that's like what Paul says when he says that the Jesus, Yeshua, is the telos of the law. Sometimes translations say the end of the law, but it is translated the goal of the law. All of scripture points to Yeshua, to Jesus, to what he came to do, as we see in Passover, his crucifixion, his resurrection. But also, of course, as we know, he is coming back, he is coming again. And so we need to remember as we enter into this feast day, what is our relationship with him? You know, is it a lot of head knowledge again, studying theology, important, learn about him, but don't have that at the expense of getting to know him on a personal level.
Amen. John, thank you so much. We really love you and Melissa. Many blessings to your household. Next up, we have the almond house. Almond House is from the UK. Joe and Jackie. And you may know them from their almond house fellowship YouTube channel. They have many edifying teachings, beautiful Torah portions, especially that they give their heart is basing their ministry on love, the foundation of the whole Bible as it stands today, from Genesis to revelation. Guys, we love you. We thank you for joining us here today.
Shalom PD and Christina Shalom, thank you for inviting us on your show. And for those who are tuning in new online, my name's Jackie. And this is Joe and we're from the Almond House Fellowship. And if you're wondering why we've got a little bit of a funny accent to total win, it's because we're based in England on the Wirral. And we would just like to say, first off, we really appreciate everything that you're doing. PD. We love these online conferences that you bring in, all different people from the messianic walk, the scattered Israel remnants, as we like to call it. Oh, man. It's a true privilege.
It's a true privilege. So thank you guys. We really appreciate this and we hope that this blesses all people watching.
Thank you. And just to begin with, then, when you emailed us, you asked us to bring a word on how to spiritually prepare for Passover. Now, it made me quite smile when you sent this email because we have the seven appointed times of ya, starting with Passover. And as prophetic as it may be, the Passover meal and all the significance within that, it's often overlooked that there is a preparation for this first moedim, for this first appointed time. So I love that you asked this question for us to get into it.
And it's funny because we were actually in preparation for Passover ourselves. So hallelujah.
And we know that this time leading up to Passover and Passover itself, we don't go out and get alarm ourselves and we don't sacrifice it. We're not in that time period anymore. However, just as ancient Israel did do these things, it was all pointing to a more spiritual significance. And that spiritual significance hasn't went away. It still applies to us today. And we love to observe what we can within these feasts because we believe they bring spiritual blessings as commanded in the word of God. Now, I just like to say, one thing to note with the Passover is that before we can even calculate where this all begins, is that there must be a change of season. You see, we see in the biblical year, we go from a dark, wet and cold time, which is winter, to spring, which is new life, warmth, blossom, light. And when we start this appointed time of Passover, and leading up to that preparation, the children of Israel are commanded to go out and seek and look for a Passover lamb and to bring it into their home on the 10th day of the month and then on the 14th day of that first biblical month. That's a killer. And that's where we have the Passover observance. So what is the significance with bringing the Passover lamb into our homes? Because we can't physically do that today. However, is there any applications that we can draw from the word with this? Because funny enough of all times that we're going live today, if you are following the jewish calendar, this is actually on the 10th day of the month, the 10th of Nissan, the 10th of Aviv. If you follow that calendar. I'm not going to get into calendars. Don't come at me in the comments. But if you do believe or if you are following the jewish calendar, it's the 10th of the month. So this is significant. If you're tuning in now, this message has got to be for you, because at this time, ancient Israel, thousands of years ago, would be bringing this land into the home. So why is this significant? Well, in two Timothy, we read, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, rebuke and encourage with every form of patient instruction. Now we are in this season. The appointed times have come back round again. The great clock in the sky has ticked. The new year has begun. And now today we're on the 10th day, and we are commanded to bring the spotless lamb in. Now, the lamb, as we know because we have the complete scroll, is all about Yeshua. It's a type and shadow of Yeshua. John the Baptist, referring to Yeshua, said, behold, the lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. Peter. Peter, the guy who the founding church started upon in the new covenant, reads Yeshua as a lamb without spot or blemish. He refers to Yeshua as the exodus lingo. We see. And then Paul said, for Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. So the disciples of Yeshua knew the significance of the Passover lamb and relating it to our messiah. Our messiah. So, yeah, thank you, brother. We have. We have. And this should now start painting a picture of what we're looking for here. So leading up to Passover, we must choose our lamp today. We must choose our lamb. We must choose to make Yeshua a priority in this season. You know, otherwise, we're just going to miss out on these spiritual blessings that yah has in store for us. You know, yah wants to bless us. He wants to aid his children in every way. And this is one way what we believe we can truly fulfill this. Now, what's fascinating within all of this is that when Yeshua rode on the, the donkeys colt into Jerusalem at the triumphal entry, what did they all say to him? They all said, hosanna. Hosanna. Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Now, why is this significant well, I believe in scripture. You can back they from the Passover in the gospel accounts to find out that when he entered into Jerusalem, it was actually the 10th day of the month. The same time that we read in the book of Exodus where Israel commanded to select the lamb. So as Yeshua was coming in, they was all selecting him as the lamb, as the Passover lamb. As we read, he is described of in the word of God. Why is this significant? Well, if you're hearing this message today, choose your Passover lamb this day. Don't choose this counterfeit Jesus who has blue eyes and blonde hair and white skin. This Jesus who was conformed to the world. The Yeshua, who we follow is a Torah observant, messianic, Passover keeping Lord abiding mashiach. He kept the law perfectly. And we read in the scriptures that Paul states, there are many Jesus. But when we start to understand his character and build a relationship with him, we realize that this messiah observed the feasts. Let us not only select our messiah Yeshua, but let us not deny him. Because remember, as he rode into Jerusalem, although they called him savior in that moment, they later denied him at the cross. Let us start this biblical new year. Let us start this spring by bringing the lamb into our home. Because we need to recognize that the feasts are all about him. All about him. Let's read two colossians. Let no one judge you with regard to a festival which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one judge you with regard to a holy festival. To all about Yeshua. And once we realize this, we recognize all the appointed times about him from start to finish.
Come. And then, I suppose, another application there, Jack. If we're inviting Yeshua into our home as the lamb, and they had to inspect the lamb for blemish, well, we can read the word, and we can literally see how Yeshua was blameless and he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, but opened on his mouth. So another application would be getting into the gospel accounts at this time, rereading the Passover account of Yeshua, inspecting your lamb for blemish and seeing that he is perfect, precious, magnificent, and he is the lamb that we need to choose. And it's funny how you mentioned there about the lamb, bro. It says in scripture that they follow the lamb wherever he will go. So in the lead up to Passover, we have to follow Yeshua's footsteps. It's really important that we get in our minds the mindset of the first century. And we track and map out our master as then we can slot into the story ourselves and we can really then frame in our mind what was taking place then and how we can have application for our lives. Today we go on tour with Yeshua in the moedim. And it's like being on tour with Yeshua as we go through the moedim. It's in his footsteps, quite literally. So what was Yeshua doing in the lead up to Passover? Well, he was preparing for the jewish banquet, as we know, but he was also preparing for death. He mentioned this multiple times in the lead up to Passover. He was preparing for death. So how do we do that then, as believers today? Spiritually, how do we prepare for death? Well, we can become living sacrifices for our God. We can crucify the old nature, crucify the flesh. We can pick up our cross and follow him at this time, we can execute worldly passions and our slaughter should be one of lusts and sin. We get leaven out of our temple, out of our house, which is another application. What did Yeshua also do during this time? He went into his father's house and he cleaned house during the time in the lead up to Passover, which was the time when all leaven had to be removed from all the dwellings. So he goes in as the priest, doesn't he? And he. He cleans the temple. He cleans his father's house, which again is another application of unleavened bread. We have to get the leaven out of our houses. But we always preach. Look, if you've got the bread out and you fed the crumbs to the pigeons, don't think that you're in good steed with the master. If you've still got idols, religiosity, sin or carnality in your life, these things have to go. It could be an idol, like a device and that you just consumes your time, energy and effort. If there's something that's possessing the gateways or breaching one of the gates of the temple, it's got to go. And Yeshua, he went in and cleaned house at this time. So please don't think, yeah, I've got the bread out of me house and tick the box. If you've still got all these other things that you need to sort out, we have to get them big problems out of our lives because that is what Yeshua is looking for. It says in the word that he made a whip of quotes. I just love that he made a whip of cords. Wow. Which is an emblem of his authority and his momentum and his ardor. It's a symbol of his zealousness, lit with righteous indignation. He wanted that out. And we need to be the same. We need to drive out the merchandise, the material things of this world, drive it out during this sacred time. So impulses should be made low, like the unleavened wafer. We should be following the lamb wherever he goes, following in the footsteps of messiah, inviting him into our home, preparing our hearts, making ourselves humble and low. Let us be like that unleavened wafer, made low in humility, crushed down, made low. And let us be partakers of the bread of affliction, as the scripture speaks in sincerity and truth. What does Paul say in one corinthians five? Let us keep the feast not with the leaven bread of wickedness and malice, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Let us keep the feast with sincerity and truth. It's paramount. So let us clean house with righteous seal with ardour, like our master. And let us keep the feast with sincerity and truth. Let us strip back the world. Let us make ourselves low. Let us retain and renew, as you said, this is a time to renew, didn't you, Jack? So let us renew our vows with our bridegroom as we sit down and observe this passover. So we want to bless you all out there and thank you very much for listening to us and how we prepare. And we're just sharing this with you and we hope that you can glean something from it.
I love that brother, about removing the yeast steel leaven from the homes. And even though we do that physically, it's all pointing towards the spiritual side of removing that sin. And it just come to me. Israel was told to bring a lamb into the home. Okay, bring a lamb into the home. So when we're removing the yeast, the unleavened, let us not forget to bring the lamb into the home also, because without Yeshua, all of this is pointless. Second Timothy again, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. And we just really love Passover. We have a real affinity for it because I like to call it the gateway feast or the gateway appointed time, because this appointed time introduces you to the sabbath, to unleavened bread, to first fruits. It kick starts the messianic walk so that second Timothy scripture couldn't be any more true. Preach the word, be ready in season. And it all starts to make sense. Then all these appointed times and his messianic walk that he takes in his ministry. So in this time, when we begin to recalibrate, although we may still be in Egypt, the world which we know Egypt was a picture of the world. It is time to invite Yeshua, the spotless lamb, into your home. And let us reapply his blood on the doorway on the entrance of our home, the gateway of our home, remembering that we have been redeemed through his blood. And as the children of Israel left Egypt, through the blood, through that bloodstained daughter of the Passover lamb, Yeshua yah has given them another chance, another season, another year to repent. And it's the same for us. We've been given another opportunity as a nation, as an individual, as a household. Remember, the lamb was told to be brought into the household. Let us leave this world behind. Let us leave Egypt behind at this time and draw near to him. Let us leave the bondage of sin and focus on him, the passover lamp to kickstart our biblical year, moving into these seasons.
Beautiful, brother. I just love that the Lord, his mercies renew all the time. And as we move into this season now, let's focus on bringing that lamb in, getting the leaven out, and bringing that lamb in. So thank you, everyone, for listening. We hope that what we've shared today can help you and your preparation, but that's over. Thank you, PD, from our house to your house. Shalom.
Shalom, guys. Thank you so much. You know, our. The Passover lamb, he is coming back as a lion. Amen. And he is coming back to cleanse the threshing floor. Just like you mentioned how he cleansed the temple in the first century, he is going to come and cleanse again. And I guess what we can see Passover as is. As an opportunity for us to. To make sure that our houses and our lives are cleansed so that as we judge ourselves, we would not be judged. As we now prepare ourselves, we would be ready.
Right?
I love what you guys had to share about how Yeshua was preparing for death as Passover approached and how we are also to prepare for death. I mean, what does Yeshua say? But to pick up your cross and follow me? And as we're cleansing the leaven, as you said correctly, it's not just the physical leaven we're talking about. It's pointing to the spiritual leaven. You know, if you can keep your feast days and your sabbaths, God said this in Isaiah, you keep these things, but you have blood on your hands. Sorry. I'm not happy this. The physical needs to go along with the spiritual, Yeshua needs to be priority. And Yeshua is calling us to, you know, come to him. Let him wash you clean. Bring the things in your life that you need to surrender, that you need to lay down distractions or idols that you've raised up in your life that need to be thrown down. This is that time of cleansing, that time of starting fresh.
And let our worship to him and our observance to him, not just be a lip service. Peter, at the Passover, he told the messiah, I will die for you. I will do anything for you. I love you. But yet, of course, when Peter was faced with the proposition of that persecution that may lead to death, when they asked him, are you not a follower of that messiah, of that one who's now being crucified? And Peter, he denied him in that moment. So it's easy to say, but let us be a people that really inwardly ask the father, lord, change us, give us boldness, give us strength, and let us truly surrender. Let us not live for ourselves. Peter thought that he had surrendered everything, but he actually hadn't yet. So when we partake in Passover, let's truly surrender.
And I'm just going to add this really quick, too. Of course, as we're celebrating, preparing for Passover, this is that season as a reminder, like, hey, this needs to happen in your life. But let us not only do it at this time of year either kind of like, there's a sabbath, but we shouldn't only worship God or speak to God on just the Sabbath. Speak to him, worship him, read his word all week long, all year long. These are important things that you need to be considering and putting and implementing into your life all year long, every day of your life. Because again, we know our king is returning. He will be coming back a second time, and he will be looking for a bride who's made herself ready.
Amen. Jackie Jo. Thank you, guys. That was a beautiful presentation. We appreciate you so much always joining us here. Next up we have Sarah von Feeden. Come on, american. Say it with me. Funfeeden, right? I know. Unfeeling. There we go. All right, so Sarah is an author, teacher and worship artist living in Namibia, Africa. Her books, Shema and the Priestly bride and her harvest school curriculum have been bestsellers and featured in stores around the country and online. Sarah has been writing since she spent twelve years old worshipping the Lord. I've just witnessed her life and ministry for many years now, and it's just been so amazing. So I can't wait for you guys to hear what she has to share. Sarah, thank you so much for joining us here tonight.
Shalom. Dear friends. It's my honor this year to be a part of rise on the fires pass over conference. And yeah, when PD and Christina contacted me and asked me to be a guest speaker, I really excitedly went to the father's feet and asked him what it is that's on his heart for me to share during our time together. And as I was waiting on the Lord, he showed me a vision in the spirit which I would like to share with you. What I saw was a wooden table with a cup on the table. And I stood closer to the table to look into the cup to see what is inside. Because I was curious what this cup was all about. I picked it to the cup, and when I looked into it, I saw that it was completely empty. And when I saw that, I heard the word of the father speak to me. And he said, this cup was the cup of suffering. And when the son drank from this cup, he emptied it completely. He swallowed the bitter waters of suffering inside of his bruises and his wounds opened up the well of life, from which flows a river of water where you can find rest. I want you to tell my children about this cup, because you too will come before this cup, and you will have the choice whether your suffering will be one with the suffering of the son, or whether you will bear it alone. Remember, the finished work is a choice. When you do not choose to enter into it, you miss the son. He is the door. And as the father was speaking this word to me, he also gave me a scripture in Isaiah 53. And you can go and read the whole section in Isaiah 53, because it speaks of the suffering that the son went through as the lamb. And this explains in the scripture to us what he went through to empty our cup of suffering. So I'll just read a small portion of the scripture, and you can go and read the rest. So it says here in verse seven, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who will declare his generations? For he was cut off from the land of the living and for the transgressions of my people, he was stricken. And so we know the story of the gospel. We know the suffering that Yeshua went through to pay the perfect price for us in order to empty our cup of suffering. And as I was reading this scripture, I was thinking of a time in my own life where I was going through a season of suffering, where I struggled to appropriate the suffering that Christ went through for me to my own suffering. And, you know, it's easy that when we go through seasons of suffering and hardship, that we struggle to connect with the father. Sometimes you just go into this mode where you just try to get through it, and you look at the battle and you look at the circumstances and you become weary. And it's during those times that we need to become one with the son's suffering. And the question is, how do we do that? So I want to share with you a little bit my own story. It was a few years ago that we were going through a season where we were getting quite battle weary. My son was still very small when he developed eczema on his feet, and it was very severe. And along with that, he would also get these allergic reactions where he would just be completely covered in hives from his head to his toes, and he would itch and scratch and be very discomforted during those times. And it would happen frequently. And also the eczema during the night times itched so much. I remember some nights having to hold his hands while trying to get him to sleep again so that he would not scratch himself until he bleeds. And the areas on his feet where the eczema was so severe got infected a few times. And I remember during that time, it was about three and a half years that this carried on. I remembered really at some stage becoming quite battle weary and negative because we were trying every tool that we knew. We prayed, we tried to deal with any generational issue and try to figure out what was the root cause of why my son was experiencing this. And we really tried to deal with this and to address this according to whatever needed to be addressed, for it to be resolved. And we prayed. We sought the father's face. We asked him to reveal to us, to give us revelation as to what was triggering the allergic reactions so that we can address that. We really tried to figure it out, but we just couldn't figure out what it was. Was it something he was eating? Was it something that he was exposed to from the outside? And we just couldn't get to it. And so we were seeking abbasid wisdom to show us, because he is all wisdom, and we know that when you ask him, he can reveal it to us. But no breakthrough came, and we were really tired. I remember being really tired in that season of a lack of sleep for three and a half years, feeding him so frequently to just try and comfort him. And, yeah, I was. I was really battle weary. And it was during that season at the end, where we had a Passover event one evening at. On the farm at the conference area, and it would just be a night of worship where we would just come together and just worship the father. And I remember a few hours before the event that my eldest daughter Eva, was getting a fever and she was getting sick. And I was contemplating, am I gonna go? Am I gonna stay? Am I gonna go? And I decided, I'm just gonna go and make a bed for her next to me and so that she can just be there and rest while we just go to worship. And I remember that night when we went and in worship, as I started to pray, I just remember saying, lord, I'm tired. I'm so tired. And, yeah, I don't know if you've had seasons like that in your life where you just come before the Lord and you feel that there's just nothing, there's nothing to offer. You almost feel too weary even to worship because you're just tired on the inside of prolonged seasons where you seek the father and just no breakthrough comes and you question, why? Am I missing something? Is there something we're unaware of? And you just go into this mode of trying to fix things and trying to resolve things, and slowly but surely, your intimacy with the Lord gets affected by this prolonged season of suffering because you ask yourself the question, why? Why is it so difficult? Why is breakthrough not coming? And this is exactly where I was at, as I was just telling the Lord that I'm tired and soldiers coming before him, but feeling that I have nothing to offer. All that comes up out of my heart is these questions of why. And, you know, I have this teacher portion of my spirit where I like to understand things because when I understand them, I can teach them easily to people. And if I don't understand things, I just have this blockage in my way of processing things. And so this teacher portal proportion of my spirit struggled to understand this season and struggle to understand why it's so prolonged when Yeshua died by his stripes to brought healing for us. And we're seeking the father. So why? Why isn't this breakthrough coming? And it's at this point, at this evening where the father spoke to me. And I would really like to share with you what he shared with me, because it really profoundly changed my inner state regarding what I was going through in this experience. I was seeing how I was sitting inside of a threshold. I was sitting with my back against the threshold, and this threshold was dripping with blood. And Yeshua was sitting with his back against the other part of the threshold, and we were facing each other in this threshold. And as we were sitting there, I was crying, and the tears were flowing, and Yeshua was wiping away my tears as I was crying. And then he held out his hand to me and he was feeding me with Hyssop out of his hand. And I remember it being so bitter to the taste in my mouth, but as it went inside of me, it was as if I became one or experienced an intimacy with Yeshua in the suffering that he went through. And as if. As if I could relate with him in a different way than I could before. Before I had gone through this suffering. And I realized that as I was going through suffering, I could really become intimate with him in an area of my life where I could not become before. And I started seeing the season that I was going through, actually, as a blessing for me to get to know a part of the father that I haven't been able to in previous seasons. And as I was sitting there and just having this beautiful oneness with him in this threshold of suffering, I just sat there and I didn't speak. I didn't sing. He didn't speak to me. We just sat there. And I gazed into his eyes.
Just.
I could not take my eyes off of him. And as I was gazing at him for a long time during the whole evening, I could just experience how he swallowed up the suffering that I experienced. He swallowed up all the questions, all the whys, all the lack of understanding. He swallowed up. And all that was left was peace. And I just experienced how his spirit just led me to become quiet on the inside that I didn't have to, you know, keep on praying and asking Abba and seeking and, you know, is it this or, you know, seeking him and inquiring of him, but that I could become quiet in my prayer life and just gaze on him and thank him that he is my healer. Thank him that I can go through the suffering with him, becoming one with him in it and not bearing it alone and carrying it, going into this I'm going to fix it mode and I'm going to figure it out mode, but instead just being with him in it. And I experienced that I missed that during the season because I was so focused on the end result of my son being healed that I missed cultivating the oneness with Yeshua in the suffering. And I experienced him saying that we should not waste our suffering because sometimes we will go through prolonged seasons and we will have questions and we will have lack of understanding. But there is an invitation for us there in the threshold of suffering to meet with him. And so I'd like to speak into the suffering in your life, because I don't know what you're going through, what your season of suffering might look like, but we all go through them because they're there to shape us and to mold us. But, yeah, I want to speak into there where you might feel, you know, and ask the questions and say, I thought by now I would have been healed, or I thought by now I would have been married, or I thought by now I would have had a baby. I thought by now the breakthrough would have come. I thought by now I would have been healed. And there, where you're still waiting, still in the process, I want to encourage you to not waste your suffering and to go into this place, you know, we go into all these different kind of spaces in our inner state when we go through these things. But to really meet with him there in the sharpness of your season, to sit with him there where you might feel like, you know, where you might feel like he's four days late, like with Lazarus, but that you will just stay with him there and cultivate a patience in your suffering, to trust him so that he can swallow up whatever you're experiencing in his wounds, swallow it up in his stripes, because there things shift. So it wasn't long after that, it was a few months after that where my husband started getting wisdom from Abba, recording what was triggering my husband's or my son's allergic reactions. And we made some changes in our diet. We needed to change some things. And not long after that, the eczema disappeared completely to this day, and he did not have an allergic reaction again. And, yeah, it was so beautiful for me to realize that the breakthrough is there where we are with the sun, where we are one with him. And we need to learn to cultivate that oneness with him in the hardships that we go through, even when we don't have answers and we don't know what to do, and even there, where we struggle to get strategy from Aba ala to know what is the next step. So, yeah, I want to bless you with this. I want to bless you on this Passover with sitting in the threshold with the son and cultivating that intimacy with him there. So I bless you that after your suffering, that the God of all loving grace who has called you to be one with his glory will personally and powerfully restore you and make you strong. May he set you firmly in place and may he build you up. Shabung.
Thank you so much, Sarah. That was beautiful and absolutely amen to cultivating that intimacy with Yeshua in the midst of and especially in our suffering and in our trials, because we all experience, like you shared in your story. Thank you so much for sharing that. Just what you guys went through with your son. But how that pushed you to press in even more. You know, it's we see in scripture, when life goes really well, it's easy for us to sort of, well, forget God. Maybe not intentionally, but life is going great, right? But it's when we're in the. The belly of a whale, it's we're in those darkest moments that we realize, oh, my gracious, I need help. And there's only one who can give me this help. So for those who are listening, whatever trial, whatever struggle you're going through right now, the things that Sarah mentioned or something different, continue to press in to the father because he is there. He hears you, he sees you. He has never left you or forsaken you, but just spend that time with him. So that even as Sarah mentioned, that there is that intimacy in the suffering, even in the suffering Yeshua himself experienced, that you are doing this together. You're not alone. He is there, right by your side, holding out his hand like he did to Peter as he was swallowed up by the waves, Yeshua was holding out his hand. So take Yeshua's hand. Even when you're in the midst of asking all the questions. Why? Why, God? Why in the stillness? Take his hand in the waves, in the storms, take his hand. Our final speaker tonight will be PD, as he shares how to avoid the mistake that the disciples made at the Passover table with Yeshua. And then after PD, we will have another short time of worship led by Lisa Hadassah. And then finally, our live Q and a with our speakers. So get your questions ready to send in to the live chat on this video. Next up, PD.
Such an honor for me to join you here tonight. I hope that this conference is a blessing to you. After this teaching, we are going to partake in the body and blood of the messiah through the bread and the wine. If that is something that you and your family would like to join us in. Get the bread, get the wine ready, and then at the end of this, everyone who desires to join from all over the world during this conference, you can join us. We invite you. I would like to zoom in to a moment at the Passover table of our Messiah. See, when he had his Passover with them, he made a proclamation, and he says that this Passover feast that's been kept for thousands of years by Israel, he says, do this in remembrance of me. And he had the wine stating, this is the blood of the new covenant that is spilt for you. And he had the bread saying that, this is my body that was broken for you. A moment that is very serious, a moment that gives them the opportunity to partake in what he has done for them. And yet something incredible happens. Just moments later, we see that a dispute arose at that very table, just as they conclude with the bread and the wine, and the disciples find themselves in an argument about who is the greatest. You know what's interesting? At this Passover table, they weren't looking at the lamb. They were looking at one another. And I want to submit that in this season right now, many people who are believers, who are disciples of the Messiah are at risk of also sitting at his Passover table looking at one another instead of looking to the lamb. We've got the greatest ministry. Well, at least we've got the hebrew name of God, right? But we've got the Holy Spirit. Oh, we've got a bigger church. At least our church is more sincere. Well, we've got the best doctrine. Well, you guys still believe in the pre tribulation rapture. At least I know when he's actually coming. At least we don't believe in all that eclipse mess like you guys. We the greatest. No, you're not. Look, stop it. Look, some. Some of these things are really interesting. Some of them are even worth talking about. But my question to you is, what are your eyes sat on at the passover table? Is it on who is the greatest? Or is it on the one who is the greatest? You see, the one who is the greatest. He didn't compete with them. He wasn't dragged into their argumentations. He was just silent for a while. And the irony is that they who were arguing about who is the greatest knew nothing about what was about to transpire, that which only he who was the greatest knew well. So while they were arguing, they all were missing the greatest prophetic fulfillment that was ever foretold, that was about to happen to the very messiah in the room. You might look at this and say, well, you know, I don't argue that way. I don't tell other people that I'm better than they are. But see, to argue who is the greatest is something that starts in the heart. We think we are superior to our brother or to our sister because of what we know, think we have or control. But the Messiah, he took a child, put the child in the midst of them, and he said, truly, truly, unless you turn, unless you repent and become like a child, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. And whoever humbles himself like this child is going to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So I don't want you tonight to just partake in the Passover. And yet in your heart, you're full of pride. The irony is really that the messiah was putting a child in the midst of them because they were all really as children. See, for him to tell us we need to be like a child is actually him telling us, you are a child. We are actually as little children in comparison to whom our father is the one who says, my ways are not your ways, they're above your ways. See, we don't understand all of his ways. He comes and he tells us, I am not of this world. And the reality is we don't even understand much of that world that he is from at all. We appear merely for a hundred years like a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away forever. And while he's been around eternally and will be around eternally, and he comes to die for us. But of course, no, you're superior to your brother. That's the point that you want to make. Those are the thoughts that you want to think. He's saying, I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the greatest. I am the alpha and the Omega. You are all like children. Become humble and see yourself for who you are. Your child, your brother, your sister next to you are their children. You guys are all trying to figure it out. You guys are trying your best to worship me. Some of you've got some mistakes under the others of you've got other mistakes, and you're all trying to grow together. And and that doesn't mean that there isn't a place for accountability. That doesn't mean that there isn't a place for brotherly, sisterly love. Correction. That doesn't mean any of that. However, who is the greatest at the Passover table? Luke 22 25 and he said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest and the leader as one who serves? For who is the greater one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. He is saying, I have not called you to be a ruler. I have called you to be a servant. And in your servanthood you will best imitate me, because he who is the greatest, he is the one who serves. What then does that mean regarding us who are not the greatest? How much more are we to serve one another? And so our king is coming to say, put away all rivalries, stop seeking to become the greatest, seek to become servants. Because in this coming kingdom that is coming and is upon us, whoever desires to be the greatest will in fact be the least. What does that mean? I don't want to be the least in the kingdom of God. And so if me exalting myself over my brother or my sister by my knowledge and what I know and can do and all these things means that I will be the least in the kingdom of God, why does it help that I build my religious kingdom here on earth? But in my boasting, I will become a least before my father in heaven for eternity. And so, yes, it is good to do your best for God. It is good to even be inspired by our fellow brothers and sisters, to be cheered on by one another. But he recognized that he has given you your portion and he has given someone else their portion. You have your strengths and they have their strengths. You have your weaknesses and they have their weaknesses. You have your calling and they have their calling. And so kingdom success isn't by building the biggest thing we can build. He's not calling us to build some capitalist kingdom of God on earth. No, his kingdom is upside down. It doesn't work like the ways of the world. And so he is not pitting his children against one another to see, well, who's going to end up at the top, who's going to build the biggest thing? Yes, let's try our best in worship of him. But see, as long as we're going to be comparing ourselves to see who is the greatest, am I as good as my brother or my sister sitting next to me at the Passover table? As long as we do that, we are going to invite depression into our lives because we feel depressed when we don't measure up to others. We become jealous because of the blessings of others, or we feel all the pressures to be someone whom we are not. God has made you who you are, given you your portion so that you can be the best you in Christ, as he has called you to be pacifur is all about how Christ has paid for us to be accepted before the father, for us to be clean and whole. Psalm 37 one says, fret not yourself because of evildoers be not envious of wrongdoers for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb some of us not only compare ourselves to one another to see who is the greatest but we even compare ourselves to those in the world as the psalmist describes as the evildoers. And we grow weary because of that we ask God, why is it going so well with them, yet they're doing all of these evil deeds and God is saying, this is my body that was broken for you this is my blood that was spilled for you. See, we have to find contentment in him. We have to look at his sacrifice and his love poured out for us and imitate that sacrifice for us to be a living sacrifice and for us to pour out our love for others recognizing that he has justified us by faith and so he is going to deal with the world, he is going to deal with all of mankind but at the passover table, I want to just come to him and be like father when you come to the day where you need to deal with me oh Lord, let my heart be pure o Lord, let my life not be full of leaven but let it be unleavened full of sincerity and full of truth and so in this moment now I would like for us all to get our glasses of wine and the bread and if you would desire and if the spirit is convicting you I invite you to partake with me in.
This I need forgiveness I need deliverance bind up my wounds heal my hurts break up the fallow ground pite upon the promise well, taper knuckle me inside your holy corpse feed me with milk and honey anoint me with your oil take me in to the place of promise take me to the place of promise this desert journey to straight Yeshua.
Has come to proclaim this is my body that was broken for you do this in remembrance of me Yeshua, I thank you for your body that was broken for me and everyone watching that your body received the punishment that I deserve that you, out of your own accord, your own desire, your own will lay down your life for me and you endured every temptation and trial for me and you did it so that I can come to the father Lord, thank you that this bread, as it represents your body and as I partake in it. It represents how I partake in the sacrifice. We might eat of bread. Yeshua also declared, this is my blood that was poured out for the new covenant. And as we drink of it and as we eat of the bread, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And so, Yeshua, I thank you that you spilled your blood for all of us. I thank you that you were pierced, father. You were pierced in your sight, and his blood came pouring out of your side. For the remission of our sins, for I don't know what it was like. I cannot even imagine. But for I know that it was a terrible moment. And, Father, I thank you that you knew what was coming your way and you went anyway, and you did not. When things got hard, turn away from the mission at hand. Father, I thank you and help us to, when things get hard, not turn away from the mission at hand that you have died for us to enter. Help us to be the representatives in our families, in our schools, in our workplaces, in our ministries. Help us to, when we walk our life out, to walk it out worthily. Before you. In light of your sacrifice, we thank you for your blood that was spilled for us. We may not partake in the blood. Father, I pray for everyone, Lord, who is watching right now, that you would bless and keep them with your presence. That as they partake in you, Father, that they would experience you in this Passover. That, Lord, as they even go to celebrate the feast, to cleanse their houses of leaven, repent of their sin, examine themselves, Lord, that they would find you. They would find themselves being changed more into your nature. That they would find, Lord, restoration in their marriages, restoration in their friendships, as you have called us. Not to think of ourselves as more highly than we ought to think. Help us, Lord, to be humble minded and to serve one another as you served us, even dying for us. Help us to lay our lives down for one another. We pray all this in the name of Yeshua the messiah. Amen.
Thank you, PD, for that message. Guys, this has been such an incredible lineup of speakers. So if this conference has blessed you prayerfully, consider if the Lord lays it on your heart to send in a Passover offering so that we can bless these speakers as they have labored amongst us to make this conference possible. You can do this by going to riseonfire.com partner. Next up, we will be having Lisa Hadassah lead us again in a short time of worship. And then following that, we will close out this evening with our live q and a, with our speakers. So get your questions ready. Send them into our live chat right now. Go to our live chat on the video. Write down your questions and start sending them in.
Like a face full of bright, grim. Behold, I look upon your altar. Is it constant? Will I find my blood applied to the doors of your soul? Will you let me pass over it to you like a faithful bridegroom? Behold, I look upon your altar. Is it consecrated? Will I find my blood applied to the doors of your soul? Will you let me pass over it to you? Behold your high priest. Like a lamp to the Saturn be all your king. This will be drenched in blood beyond your high priest, like a lamb to the slaughter. Beauty or king Israel, be strength in blood. Entering, entering. Pass over the threshold. Entering, entering, entering into my kingdom. Entering, entering. Pass over the threshold. Entering, entering, entering. To my priesthood, covenant people. A royal priesthood, a holy nation. A covenant people. A royal priesthood, a holy nation. Behold, you're a priest to the slaughter beyond your king. Isra be strange in blood. Shema Israel, I don't know. Hai know. Shema Israel. I don't know. Shema Israel. I don't know. I know. Shama Israel Adonai. I'll take you through the fire. I'll take you through the storm. I'll take you through the braces. You'll be purified like gold. Your heart will be tasted. Your fruit will be examined, your soul searched, your eggs wait until you come to know my peace. Hash love. It is mine and I am east. He shepherd me among the lilies. The trumpets awaken love as I seek it, for I am a saint. He adorns me with gold and silver. Cause I am the pride of his desire. You are my rock, rose lily among the thorns. Your vines have tender grapes. Until the day breaks and the shadow flee away. Turn, my beloved. Rise up, my love. My dove. My fair one. Behold, winter aspire. The rain is over. Your flowers appear in the land. It's time for a new song. The voice of the tittle dove will be earned. Let the victory bond little. Let my heart beat for you. The wine goes down sweetly for my beloved. Moving gently, the lips of sleepers. Come, my pomegranate. Let's go forth to the secret place. Let us get up early and visit the vineyard. Let us see if the vineyard is blighted. If the blossoms are open there I will give you my love. I am my beloved. His desire is for me. He's mine. I am in. I seek you, my bellies. Shepherd me. I am yours. Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice, for your voice is lovely. Your face is sweet. I am my beloved. His desire is for me, it's mine I am peace I seek you among the lips. Shepherd me, I am yours. Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice slowly. Your face is sweet.
Shalom, everyone. Wow. What an amazing song. Lisa, thank you so much for that. And also the beginning. You opened up the conference with that blessing. Thank you so much, guys. We are so excited to move into this next section of the conference, the live panel discussion, where we're going to be taking some of your questions that you guys are sending into the live chat as I speak. So if you don't know about that yet, go to the live chat on this video and just type in whatever questions come to mind. Something some of the speakers may have said or something about Passover itself. We would love to see them and engage with you guys on some of those questions. I want to also thank all of the speakers who've been a part of this conference, and I also want to not all of them made it here tonight because some of them are in South Africa, some of them are in the UK. So it's like midnight there right now. But we appreciate what their teachings and they came to do here. So as we move into this panel discussion, insert your questions and let's get then right into it. Christina, do you want to open for us with some of those?
Absolutely. So the first question we have this evening is from anonymous, and this is just to anyone, David, or anyone who would like to answer this. I loved your message about Passover and some of the practical ways to celebrate it. I'm new to keeping this feast, and I have a family with kids ages four to 13. What's something your family has done to make this feast day memorable and fun for kids or teens? So I thought I would just start it off briefly to mention a couple of things that I did growing up for this person who asked this question growing up, I mentioned I shared earlier on that, you know, our first Passover was a bit rough, but as we went along, we started doing different things as kids. We enjoyed dressing up. It was fun to dress up as a Bible character. We watched this movie called the Messiah Prophecy fulfilled. You can look it up. It's available on YouTube. It tells a story about how in the Passover Seder we see Yeshua prophecy fulfilled, mom made desserts and it was fun. And the congregation we went to would have put on plays, but yeah, guys, what do you about you guys?
Um, who wants to go first. Okay. I guess me.
Go ahead.
Yeah. So, uh, I. Yeah, I'm married, have two little kids, seven and five and one on the way. Um, so, congratulations. Thank you. But, yeah, we. So we've done Passover with little kids now for. With Aaliyah for seven years and with both of them for five years. And so, yeah, they. We follow along with the traditional seder that that is something that, you know, not all aspects of it, but we've implemented much of the traditional seder, like searching for the Afi Komen and things like that, just to kind of break up the. The meal and give the kids something fun to do. We usually do prizes, like, so whoever finds the AfI Coleman, they'll get a special prize, obviously, for preparing for Passover. We remove the leaven from our homes, and we kind of try to make that fun for the kids. So something that we'll do is we'll have, like, a piece of bread the day before Passover, and we will break up several pieces of bread and hide them in the living room. Hide them in various spots in the living room. And then we'll have our kids search for the last bit of leaven in the house. And so they'll go and they will find each of the pieces of leaven. And when they find a piece of, they have to call either me or my wife to come and scoop the piece up and do a little dustpan. And then once they find all the pieces, we go out and we burn it all. We wrap it up in, like, a paper towel and we just burn it. And basically, as we do that, we're teaching the kids about what it means to do some self reflection to think about as they're looking for leaven and finding leaven. Think about ways that, you know, they. They might have said something mean, you know, to their brother or sister or whatever, or, you know, try to relate it to sin in some way. And then, you know, we're the ones that come in and get that bread for them. And that's a way to kind of show them that, you know, it's Yeshua, you know, or in this case, their father, who represents the father in heaven, who will come and take that sin from them. It's burned, it's taken away because of the redemption that we have in Yeshua. So those are just some of the little symbolic things that we try to implement, ways to make it fun for the kids. Those are just a couple of ideas that we've tried. I'm sure John has some as well.
Awesome.
I would just say, like, it's the feast of unleavened bread and it's the feast of Passover. So a surefire way to win the hearts of the children is to make it delicious. So this is not the time to stay on your health kick. This is not the time for raisins and such. Like, make it delicious. Let them cook, let them make desserts. Let them figure out how to make things that are unleavened that are delicious. So let them plan the menu every night if you need to. Like, whatever it takes to get the kids excited about it. And all the other suggestions are great, but ultimately, like, if the kids don't enjoy it, then we haven't even fulfilled the commandment that Passover was intended for. The whole thing is designed so that our kids will understand what God has done.
So it's a celebration.
Yeah.
Don't ignore the kids. Bring the kids. Let them lead the way.
On that note, a great thing to try. Speaking of food is matzah pizza. That's something that we like to make every year, is we have the kids help us make a matzah pizza.
I've heard matzah crack is really good. I've never actually made it, but I've hear a lot of people.
You can put chocolate on just about anything and make it delicious.
Exactly.
And really quickly, to add to what you said a moment ago, David, what my family also did is we would write on little pieces of paper, things that we wanted to repent of. And so we'd all have these multiple pieces of paper. And then after we've written the things down, we'd go outside and we'd burn it. And it was fun as kids. There's a bonfire and you get to throw paper in and see the fire go whoosh. But it was also that moment of reflection for us as kids to be like, okay, this is a serious thing. We're also repenting before our father. Yeah. So awesome.
Amen.
There's another question that someone asked that's connected to some of that which was mentioned. This is from praise Yahuwah. And he said, okay, I've learned the Passover cider is not biblical. It's a true jewish tradition. So now I am confused. Right? So, you know, there's that debate. Some people feel that they don't want to touch anything regarding the Passover Seder, that it is merely jewish tradition and to be stayed away from. What do you guys think about that?
Well, I think that. What is the command? What is the primary command of Passover? It's to memorialize the Exodus, right? That's what the law states. You know, you're to do this in remembrance of the Exodus and of Yeshua as we get into the New Testament. But it's to memorialize the Exodus. And so the Seder is a tradition that developed that does that. You know, it's just a way of memorializing the Exodus. Now, you don't have to follow along with the traditional Seder. You don't have to implement all of the various aspects of that. But especially if you're starting out, following along with a traditional seder is a great way to fulfill that aspect of the commandment, which is to memorialize the exodus. You could come up with your own seder, though. You could come up with your own way of having a meal that memorializes the exodus. And so there's nothing inherently wrong with tradition. Tradition is only wrong if you're following it at the expense of actual commandments. And in my opinion, there's nothing about the seder that takes away from any of the actual commandments. That's what Yeshua condemned, of course, in Mark seven is they were implementing traditions at the expense of explicit commandments. So that's the only problem when. That's the only time I can think of when tradition is a problem, or if, or if it's just tradition for its own sake, if it's not meaningful, but if the seder is meaningful, and if it facilitates connection with the Lord, if it's a way to bring the family together, and if it's helpful to memorializing the exodus and fulfilling the commandment, there's nothing wrong with tradition.
That's great, David. One thing I want to add also for there's a lot of people who may be watching this, who are brand new to this. This is the first time they've ever heard of past or being celebrated in such a manner. And I think for some people, it can be very overwhelming, the moment as when we're introduced to anything new. What do I need to do? Big question. And, you know, when we dial it back to what is the simplicity of the command? It's very simple, and I would recommend anyone who desires to learn about the seder and so on, don't let it become a burden. Don't let it become an overwhelming thing. Again, it's like David said, it is tradition. So it's not a command. It's not something you have to do. It's something that can just make the day more meaningful as you grow in this understanding of the feast days. But if you're just starting out and it feels like a lot, just go to the Bible, start simple. I would also recommend that.
And I'll just add to that really quick. You know, we have Yeshua himself actually keeping certain elements, traditional elements. There is the washing of the hands, which is a portion of the Passover Seder. But Yeshua took it a step further and washed his disciples feet. And then we have the traditional element of singing a Passover song, which is from the psalms 113 through 118. And after the last supper, the Passover meal, it says that. And they sung a hymn and they went to the, you know, the garden of Gethsemane. They would have sung those psalms which were traditionally sung. We don't see that, of course, in Exodus, but we see this, that a traditional element Yeshua and his disciples did do. So tradition isn't bad. But again, like David said, that it should not replace the father's commandments.
Right. They had wine, too.
Exactly.
Yes.
Right. Next question. If there's nothing else anyone wants to add. Okay. John Philip asks, do you all rid your houses of eleven?
Yes.
Yeah, we do, quite literally. And it's kind of a perpetual debate. You know, one thing messianics and hebrew rooters love doing is arguing about messianic and hebrew rooter things. So there's probably a million different ways to do it. And some people argue about whether or not they're doing it sufficiently or whatever. But, yes, we try to be intentional about it. In our household, we get rid of anything that would cause bread to rise. So that includes yeast, baking soda, baking powder, those kind of things. Different people have different standards that they consider to be leaven. We kind of take that word in its english version, at least very literally. So we go a basically eight days, but at least a week without trying to consume those things. And we quite literally get rid of them. We don't just put them in a cabinet and not touch them. But. But certainly, like, the. The crazy thing about the leaven piece and that that's a commandment is that it is actually scientifically impossible to remove leaven, which is kind of the point. I think the illustrative point of removing the leaven is that, like, you can just take bread dough and if you sat it on a counter for five days, it would eventually ferment and rise because there's actually leaven in the air. And so in that, there's this lesson that I think we shouldn't get so obsessed with. Like, oh, we got to get the carpets shampooed and we got to get the air ducts cleaned out and like, all that kind of stuff. Like, there will always be a degree of leaven in your house that's not going to remove you from God's people. But we do try to be intentional, as we do with sin. We try to guard our lives, make the proper steps necessary to keep things as righteous as possible. And so we do it kind of literally, I guess, in our household.
Cool. I mean, that's good. Awesome. There's another question. Is there anything you want to add, christina?
No, that's good. I can read the next question. This is for John. Many of my friends have recently stopped keeping the feast days, stopped keeping Sabbath, stopped eating clean, because they've seen divisions and disunity within the hebrew roots movement. And then they now believe it can't be of yah. This breaks my heart, but I've seen the same issues, and I'm conflicted. I still believe the Torah is for today, but why is there so much pride and hate in a movement that should be all about loving God and loving others? The greatest commands of Torah?
That's a big question, and I think it's something we all grieve over and something we've all walked through. And it's also probably important to preface any discussion about that by pointing out that that's not just a messianic problem or a Torah problem. That is something that unfortunately exists in every stripe of faith. There are Baptists who walk away from their baptist church and go to other denominations. There are Pentecostals who walk away from their faith and go to other groups and settings and everywhere in between. And the issue really, that I think is important for everyone to acknowledge is that generally the problem is not the commandment or even the doctrine or the dogma of any one particular group. It's usually the hearts of the people that are offensive. And so, like the question was asked, it's like when people see this lack of the Holy Spirit, they see the lack of love, they see the lack of the fruit of the spirit in any group. It is understandable that they would say that this isn't, you know, the. The end result is not as advertised. And so they try to find something else. But it's important for us to understand that there is a flaw, if you will, that rests in the heart of every person. And there's a serpent in every garden. And so even those things God has said is true and good, like the garden of Eden, there's still a serpent in the garden. And everyone has to keep themselves from that, no one else can do it for you. And so it is tempting, I understand, and it's heartbreaking when people go to that extent. But it is tempting to look at sin in certain groups. Or look at people who aren't operating in the spirit, or look at people who aren't loving or whatever it is that's your pain point. And then kind of run in the opposite direction. But the presence of a serpent doesn't mean that the garden is not good. And in the same way in every church and every group and every ministry, like, there is sin, there is flesh, there is demonic influence. There's all sorts of things that can cause us to harm ourselves and harm one another. But that doesn't mean that the truth of scripture is not still true. And it doesn't mean that the ways of God are not still good. So we have to walk that fine line, but really empathize. And I think we all can empathize with people who are just really struggling and hurting.
That's good.
Amen. Amen. John, just do me a favor. Go to your browser and just refresh it. Yours. We have. We have your audio, but your screen is frozen.
Gotcha.
Thanks. But I mean, to all you said.
And that was so good.
Yeah. No more spiritual warfare. Father, I thank you for freedom, Lord. I thank you, Lord, that we will not have any more technical difficulties. Support. Amen. All right, cool. Next question is, why does Jesus refer to leaven as a bad thing when he compares it to the Pharisees, but then use it as a good thing when talking about the kingdom of God in Matthew 1333. Right. Matthew 1333 is. He told them. It's written. He told them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened. Right. So the question is, this is the word leaven here is used in a positive light. It's talking about the kingdom of heaven is like leaven. But now we're talking about Passover. And it sounds like leaven is this bad thing we need to get rid of. So is there. What's going on here? When we're thinking about Passover, there's a certain theological context, right. There is a teaching that has been given to us regarding what that leaven represents. The teaching of the Pharisees. The leaven of the Pharisees. The leaven is this agent that causes bread to puff up. And in a similar way, we as people can puff up and with pride. Right. And yet now we see Yeshua talks about this kingdom of heaven being like eleven, but here we see the context being a slightly very different. Of course, he's talking about all of these different things, about how the kingdom is the smallest of seeds. He speaks of when he speaks about the grain of a mustard seed. That's how the kingdom of heaven is. But then when it grows, it becomes a place where birds of the air can come and make nest and branches and things of that sort. So in the same way, God is depositing in all of us his holy spirit, really, that is his kingdom gift to us. And it rises up in us as something that becomes freedom and life in this world. That is how the kingdom of God is flourishing in this world. That's why Yeshua said, it's good that I'm leaving, because I'm leaving your holy spirit so that you can become my ambassador, so you can proclaim the gospel, so that you can set the captives free and continue the work that, well, he came to begin. So leaven in context of Passover. Yes. We rid our lives of it, and then, yet we see also there's this call for us to have the leaven of the kingdom of God. Amen.
Amen. Yeah, yeah. I would just add to that that leaven bread is part of the sacrifice for Shavuot. And so, yeah, I mean, symbols, the same symbol can be used in both positive and negative ways. We see that even with a lion, right. Yeshua is called the lion of the tribe of Judah. You also have Satan called a lion in one Peter five. He prowls around like a roaring lion. And so the same symbol can mean different things depending on the context. It doesn't have to be a one to one thing all the time. And so, like, just. Just to reiterate what you said, petey, it all depends on the context and how the symbol is being used in that context. And in the context of Passover, the Passover season, there is a certain symbolism associated with leaven that's not always the same meaning elsewhere.
Amen. That's good, brother. Thanks for sharing that.
We have another question, and this is for David. I grew up being taught that the biblical feast days were only for the jewish people, and that to celebrate them as a gentile was nullifying Christ's sacrifice and placing myself under the law. I've since realized these feast days are all for God's people or for all God's people. But how can I best share this with my family and my friends? What would you recommend for that?
Well, I did a teaching I guess the. The quick answer would be to check out a teaching I did. It's a video on the 119 ministries channel called is the Torah for gentiles, too? And basically, that teaching is devoted to that topic entirely and goes through the evidence. The short answer is that in the Torah itself, we see non Israelites, non native Israelites, if you will, observing the feast days, observing the Sabbath, you know, passover and so forth. And so the Torah assumes and commands even that non Israelites, non physical descendants of Jacob, would be participating in these festivals with the native born Israelites, with the physical descendants of Jacob. Even in Exodus twelve, we're talking about unleavened bread and the commands to remove the leaven from your homes. And even in exodus twelve, it explicitly mentions the stranger or the sojourner, who is a non physical descendant of Jacob. It commands him explicitly that he is also to remove the leaven from his home. And it even comes with the threat of being cut off from the people if he does not do that. And so, yeah, the threat of being cut off kind of assumes that you're part of the people. Otherwise, you cannot be cut off from the people. So there is. There's already an assumption in the law itself. And when we get to the New Testament, we see Yeshua. When he says in Matthew five, what does he say? I did not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them. Then he goes on and says that his followers will do and keep even the least of the commandments of the law. And then in Matthew 28, he says that his disciples are to go and make disciples of all nations. But he doesn't stop there. He says that they also must command their disciples that they make from all the nations everything that Yeshua commanded them. Well, one thing that Yeshua commanded them was, you know, when Matthew 519, when he urges them to do and teach even the least of the commandments. So those are, I guess, some proof texts, if you will. And also one corinthians five as well. You know, Paul explicitly says, therefore, let us keep the festivals. And he's writing to a mixed congregation of both Jews and gentiles in one corinthians five, therefore, let us keep the festival of Passover. So I guess that would be the answer. Just go to the word. You know, just demonstrate in the word that, no, these are not exclusive to physical descendants of Jacob. And this is consistent all throughout the Bible, even in the Torah itself. These commandments are not exclusive to the physical descendants of Jacob. And this message is consistent even through to the New Testament.
Absolutely. Absolutely. That actually follows through with a question that we had received from John Phillip, who had asked, and I think you actually just answered it, David. But maybe you can give those verses you shared again. He said, do you all rid your house of leaven? And then he had a follow up question. Follow up on that. Is that biblical or traditional? Not saying if it's a bad tradition. We were discussing if we were going to do it tonight. And so you gave some verses where it is commanded to get rid of the leaven. Could you share those verses again?
Yeah. That is in exodus twelve seven days.
Starting in verse 15.
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you should. On the first day, you shall remove leaven out of your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened from the first day until the 7th day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. This commandment is repeated again in verse 19. For seven days, no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land, you shall eat nothing leavened in all your dwelling places, you shall eat unleavened bread. So, yeah, it is a commandment to remove the leaven from your homes and to abstain from leavened foods during that seven day festival. And that is a command that explicitly applies both to Israel, to the physical descendants of Jacob, and to the sojourner, the person who is not a physical descendant of Jacob, who aligns himself by faith to the God of Israel, who worships the God of Israel, who joins the people of Israel in following the God of Israel. That commandment is for him as well.
Absolutely. I think we're trying to get John back. I thought we were working on PD over there.
That's fine. No, it's fine. Last questions. Is there anything, Christina, that you have caught your eye? Do you want to.
Yeah, I have another one that I guess if John is able to join or David, whoever. So this question is, I heard that the plagues God brought against Egypt were specifically against the pagan gods of Egypt. Do you think in the second exodus we'll see God bring plagues against the pagan gods of our modern world?
Yeah. Well, I'll jump in. As things get worse, as it's been prophesied to occur in the last days preceding the second coming, as things get worse, the judgment of God is going to increase upon the world. And so, similar to the plagues upon Egypt, upon pharaoh and those with their hardened hearts against God. That is a prefigured picture, if you will, of what's going to likely happen. We're going to have the hardened hearts of kings of this world, of people who are anti God and who hate God and hate his people and the judge. The plagues, we see some of them, we see judgment events that are very similar to the plagues that occurred with, in the exodus story upon Egypt. That will happen. That's written in the book of revelation. And that will. That, I believe, at least, will likely happen probably to a bigger degree. And we see that there will be tribulation like there has never been before. And I know many people have different eschatological views on this, but I believe that that refers to the coming tribulation, that there's going to come a time where the world is going to face the judgment of God, and things are going to be difficult for believers and unbelievers, by the way. And yes, we can expect also then God's right hand of deliverance, that he is going to split, cease for us, and he is going to take us to a place of refuge in the midst of it. That doesn't mean there isn't going to be hardship. Israel had hardship in the wilderness, right? They had many different trials that they faced. They had many tests. And in the same way, that end time generation will likely face tests. So a trying time, you know, I don't. A part of me is like, I'm excited for his coming, but if I take what the Bible says literally, that is also a time that is going to be so difficult that people I know as Americans, if I may, or westerners, you know, we oftentimes think of tribulation romantically. I think we think of it like, oh, yeah, that sounds cool. It's going to be cool to be in the exodus, in this greater exodus or whatever, you know, let's go split some c's and let's come do some stuff. Like, I think when you're there, it's not going to be that romantic. I think it's going to be very difficult. And now is really a time for us and for, you know, to prepare for his coming. And that includes also to prepare ourselves in faith to be able to stand up and believe for the greater things. And that means even in some ways practicing our faith. Now, we can't wait until that day comes to be like, okay, now I'm going to try and pick up a staff and split a seat. Well, Moses was prepared for that moment. And he met the father in the secret place at the burning bush. He trusted that the father was going to use him. And even though he felt very weak himself, he laid down his own weakness and put faith in the father strong. So we all should, in this time in our lives, all be looking for, Lord, prepare me to be a person who can be like Moses and who can be like Yeshua, who could lead God's people in the times of trial. So, yeah, I don't know if anyone wants to add anything to that.
That's good.
We see certain things in the book of Revelation that are kind of reminiscent of the Exodus. We see frogs, we see other things. But I can't remember everything at the moment, but there's a lot of relations and correlations there that are quite interesting. But, yes, we have another question from Christopher Cain. For David. Given the events and timeline of Yeshua, should Passover and unleavened bread start on the same day or adjacent days?
I'm not sure I understand the question. Can you?
Let's see. So I think he's asking if Passover and unleavened bread start on the same day, or if unleavened bread starts the day after the Passover, that first day.
Right. So, traditionally, and I think that this is what the Bible says, too, Passover. The Passover is a meal. So the Passover is a meal that is to be on. You're to eat it on the evening of the 14th. And so the 14th of Nisan. The first day of unleavened bread begins the 15th of Nisan. And so in the Bible, days began at evening. And so you would have the Passover meal on the 14th, pretty much afternoon, late afternoon, going into the evening. And so the Passover meal would actually flow into the first day of unleavened bread. So that's my understanding.
Yeah.
Awesome.
I would agree with that.
All right, we probably have room for one more question, Christina.
Sure. We have. Well, John Philip asked a question, and his question is fellowship. He makes this part first. Fellowship is so important in our faith. Walk and being a part of the body of Christ always come from our church on Sunday. Should we continue to do both Shabbat and church? And so I can even just jump in on that. In God's holy word, the Sabbath is given for man to rest, to come into his presence, to worship him. But we are allowed to worship him on any day of the week. And every day of the week, one day is the Sabbath, and that is the 7th day that God made in creation, but we are allowed to. And it would be a wonderful thing if we get together with believers on any day, every day of the week to worship him. And being at going to a fellowship that meets on a Sunday at church can be, you know, every place is different. Right? So using that discernment but is a great opportunity to be a light to share Yeshua's love and who knows what doors might open from that.
So yeah, yeah, you know, you should do as the father leads you. You should pray about that. It depends on what the fellowship is like. If it's a good church, I see no reason why you wouldn't want to go, right. If this is a biblical church, in other words, and when I say biblical church, I know that's a. Many people have many different opinions. I think many people are like, if they don't keep the Sabbath, they are holy, then I don't want to fellowship with them. Well, I'm of the opinion that I want to be in the midst of people because I'm allied. I want to be in the midst of people because even if they don't keep a certain commandment or doesn't have a certain revelation that I have, that doesn't mean that I am somehow better and they are somehow worse. It just means that they are seeing something else in a certain area and they are growing in a certain area than I am in the moment. There was a time when I went to a fellowship and let me say, the father convicted me to go to church and, and I, and they had some beliefs, right, that I wasn't keeping in the same way. And, and yet when I went there, I had all these ideas of what it would be like. But when I went, there was like, wow, these people are reaching people of the gospel. They, they are proclaiming Christ and people are becoming to salvation. Like, I'm seeing good fruit and there's even some things I get to learn from these people. And you know, I would really encourage you to, if you have that open door to go to a fellowship, go. And if you have a relationship with them, then be patient with them, have mercy on them. Don't come in with some agenda, come in with the agenda to love them, love them greatly. And in that grow together with them as you have before. There's no reason that you guys can't continue to grow together. And just because we have a disagreement on something doesn't mean that we, we can't fellowship or we can't be brothers and sisters in Christ anymore. We are not brothers sisters in Christ anymore. Only when we're not brothers sisters in Christ anymore. That is, if we have. If something has actually come between us that is worthy of disfellowshipping, that is big issues. That would be something like denying the messiah or an absolute false gospel or something really serious like that. But as for disagreements about keepings of the law, those aren't disqualifiers for fellowship. Right? So let's strive to be in unity with one another and love one another, and that's how we're gonna be a light, and that's how we're gonna reach people. Not by just cutting people off. You know, I understand things happen. I understand bad things can go wrong. I understand people might reject you, and that's sad when that happens. But on your end of it, try and really keep it. Keep your fruits of the spirit on the forefront.
Yes. That's good. I love what Amy with Torah sister said. It's better to be with people who love Yeshua than to be alone. Amen.
That's good.
That's good. All right. All right, guys. Well, thank you so much for joining. David, thank you for joining us. I know you're the last one standing here tonight. Hey, you. Really appreciate you coming on, and, yeah.
It was an honor. Thanks so much for.
For having me.
It was a blessing, and I pray that everyone that tuned in was. Was blessed as well.
Awesome. I mean, and, John, thank you so much. I don't know if you can hear me, but thank you so much for joining us. Well, and helping us answer some of these questions tonight, and also for both of you, for your sermons. And I also want to thank everyone else who couldn't be here, the other speakers and musicians. Thank you guys so much for your participation. Guys, thank you for joining us with this event. We pray that you have an amazing Passover. Father, I pray that your hand of protection would be over everyone listening their household. You would give them discernment and wisdom and guidance and shalom, peace as they go, and see how they can celebrate you in this appointed time. Father, I thank you for your goodness, your grace, your mercy, your forgiveness in giving us, your son, the Passover lamb that dies for our sins. Yeshua, I thank you that you went to the cross with joy. Help us, Lord, to treat people with the patience you've treated us. Help us to love people as you have loved us. Help us to be an example, lord, of that love, and let us be a lie that draws people in to come to know you, to know your gospel greater and deeper. Every day. We pray all this in the name of Yeshua. Thank you all for joining us. Many, many blessings to you and inshalom.