Tag Archives: 2016

Easter and Passover: Is There a Connection?

Passover was instituted by God in Exodus 12. The Israelites were commanded to choose an unblemished lamb on the 10th of the month of Nisan. They had to watch the lamb until the 14th to ensure no harm came to it. It had to be a pure lamb. When the 14th arrived, the Israelites were to slaughter the lamb. Upon killing it, the Israelites were to take the blood and apply it to the doorposts and lintels of their homes. This act of faith, the application of the lamb’s blood, ensured that God’s judgment would “pass over” any Israelite home. The firstborn males, both people and beasts, would be spared.

Around 1500 years after the Passover event, Jesus arrived on the scene. The divinely ordained parallels between the Messiah and the Passover event are fascinating. Knowledge of the Passover story brings appreciation for Messiah’s story. For example, did you know that Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan? Of course, this is the same date that the unblemished lamb had to be chosen by the Israelites in Egypt. Just as the Passover lamb was slain on the 14th of Nisan, so Jesus was slain on the 14th of Nisan. Just as the Passover lamb in Egypt could not have any broken bones, so Jesus did not have any broken bones. None of this is a coincidence.

Aside from dates, there are other ways the Easter event is connected to the Passover event. One way in which the New Testament authors teach is through their use of Passover imagery. For example, in John 1:29 we read about Jesus’ appearance to John the Baptist. John sees Jesus coming towards him and says, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John’s readers were familiar with the Passover. They would have understood the divine weight that John’s words carried.

Another reference to Passover is found in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8. Paul admonishes the Corinthians that their “boasting is not good.” He uses leaven as an illustration for their sin. Leaven is like yeast and Israelites were commanded by God to remove all leaven from their home for Passover. One could not keep or eat leaven. Paul used this concept from Passover to illustrate the importance of removing sin.

Just as Israelites in ancient Egypt had to apply the blood of the unblemished lamb to the doorpost and lintels of their homes, so people today must apply the blood of the unblemished Lamb to the doorposts and lintels of their hearts. If a Hebrew slave chose not to listen to Moses’ instructions about applying the blood to their doorposts, they would have suffered the consequences of losing the firstborn. So today, if someone chooses not to apply the blood of the unblemished Lamb, Jesus the Messiah, they will suffer the judgment of God for their sins, namely death and separation from God for eternity. The blood of the lamb was God’s way of escaping judgment back in Egypt. Not much has changed. The blood of the Lamb is still God’s way of escaping judgment. Have you applied the blood of the Lamb, Jesus the Messiah, for the forgiveness of your sins?

13016592_10153844597884998_732290537_oLevi H., and his wife Stephanie, live in Chicago where they work as Field Ministry Directors with Life in Messiah and he studies at Moody Theological Seminary. As Gentile followers of our Jewish Messiah, they are passionate about sharing the good news of Yeshua with unbelieving Israel and educating the Church about the rich Jewish foundation of our faith.

 

 

My Passover Identity

My favorite holiday is Passover, and no other holiday has shaped me, or continues to do so, more than this one.

Passover first started molding me like a gefilte fish patty (Google it) while sitting around the dining room table in my grandparents home in Skokie, Illinois. I would arrive with my mother and we would join other family members in what is known as the Seder—an interactive ceremony that leverages our taste buds to engage our minds (and hopefully our hearts) with the incredible story of the Israelite exodus 3500 years ago from the bondage and suffering of slavery in Mitzrayim (Egypt). To help us reflect upon our ancestor’s story of deliverance at the hand of a Mighty God, my grandfather led us in reading through a story guide called the hagaddah (we used a free one published by Maxwell House until we eventually graduated to a more sophisticated one with pictures in it).

It was an epic story of bondage and redemption orchestrated by God that was accompanied by an epic meal with beef brisket and matzah ball soup that was orchestrated by my grandmother.

The Passover holiday took on a whole different level of epic in my life when I came to know Jesus as my Messiah and discovered that he also looked forward to Passover. Jesus said to his disciples, I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer (Luke 22:15). Although I doubt it was because of the dinner menu.

In the New Testament, most bible translations take the liberty to subtitle the passage that Jesus and disciples shared the Passover together as The Last Supper. While it was certainly the last meal they would share together before his crucifixion, it was far more than that.  It was an appointment with God, and this particular evening His Son was about to leverage the table to point to the suffering that he would go through to deliver depraved sinners like you and me.

The most important elements on the table were the unleavened bread and the cup of wine. The bread was known by the name God had given it, the Bread of Affliction, and it is this bread that Jesus took, recited the HaMotzi blessing, broke, and said—This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me. The name of the cup that followed the meal is believed to have been known as the Cup of Redemption, which Jesus took, recited the Kiddush blessing, and said—This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you (Luke20:20).

Jesus…afflicted and poured out for me. Why? Because I was a slave to sin and that sin separated me from living the life God had intended for me.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we all have our Mitzrayims that we’re enslaved to.  We all have our “Egypts.” What’s yours? Greed?  Anger? Jealousy? Bitterness? The inability to control yourself?  God sent his Son—The Lamb of God—to pay the ransom to set us free from the penalty and the enslavement that our “Egypt’s” bring.

That is the story of Jesus’ Passover table that his followers are commanded to remember.

But there is more.

The other message Jesus taught at the table that evening is that he is equally as interested in enslaving and molding us into his way of life. He asked a very good question of his disciples—Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? (Luke 22:27).

If your server at a restaurant ever asks you this question, be careful how you answer.

Jesus’ table is not just about remembering the freedom from the eternal consequences that our sin unleashes in our world, but it is an invitation to enter into the life of suffering that Jesus lived through service and sacrifice for others.

This is the story of the Passover table that we must graduate to. Jesus did not just provide a ticket to ride to the other side of Glory, but he invites us into suffering daily with him in his ongoing work of delivering our world from the bondage of sin that entangles and destroys.

Jesus said at the Passover table…You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom (Luke 22:29-30).

Every time we choose to serve and love others, we eat and drink at that table with him. When we choose to be generous, and kind, and forgiving, and gracious, we dine at his table.  When we admit that we were wrong, or choose not to blast someone’s character in a social media post, or give someone a second chance, or sit at a table with other sinners like us, we feast at his table.

This is the Passover table that I’m learning to feast at.

Justin Kron

Justin Kron, National Ministries Representative and eXperience Israel Program Director with Chosen People Ministries, became a follower of Jesus at a young age and grew up with one foot in the Jewish world and one foot in the Christian world, and has subsequently developed a passion to acquaint Christians with the Jewish roots and heritage of the Christian faith, and to become better equipped and engaged in living an authentic faith among their Jewish friends and neighbors.

 

 

Cleansing our Homes & Lives of Leaven

In five days time begins one of the most celebrated festivals of Judaism; that is, Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Easter has come and gone, and perhaps you had the joy of attending a Passover presentation at church, but according to Scripture, the dates of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection coincide with the days of Passover, which on the Jewish calendar falls next weekend. Passover is one of my favorite holidays because the biblical Jewish traditions surrounding it provide so much rich symbolism through which we can learn a great deal about the character of God, how He has chosen to relate to mankind and His incredible plan to redeem us by sending a Savior or Messiah to make the necessary payment for our sin.

As I clean my home of chametz, or leaven, and prepare for Passover to begin, I embrace the tangible reminder to meditate on all that God has done for me and examine my life and heart for areas of sin that also need to be cleansed, as God continues to sanctify me and make my life a clearer reflection of Himself.

Whether you are Jewish or not, I invite you to join me in physically and spiritually removing leaven from your life this Passover. To help us intentionally meditate on the spiritual truths symbolized in Passover, I’ve asked eight respected friends to write a devotional for each day of unleavened bread. Reading them has already blessed my socks off and I’m confident you will enjoy them too! This first wonderful devotional by our coworker, Stephen Arnold, explains the significance of cleansing the home of leaven.

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“Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.” Exodus 12:15 (ESV)

“Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 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.” I Corinthians 5:6-8 (ESV)

The story of Passover is the story of the exodus of the Jewish people out of Egypt. When the Jewish people left Egypt, it says that they left in such haste that their dough didn’t have time to be leavened (Ex. 12:39). Once this unleavened dough was cooked, the result was matzah, which is essentially a large cracker.

While this is the origin of eating matzah on Passover, there is a much deeper significance to why God commanded that no leaven be eaten during Passover. This is because leaven represents sin. The seriousness of this representation is displayed in the punishment for eating leaven during Passover: expulsion from Israel (Ex. 12:15). The person who eats leaven during Passover is essentially saying that he is disregarding the covenant that God has made with His people, and this rebellion has repercussions.

This is why Orthodox Jews go to great lengths to cleanse their homes of leaven. Every corner of their home is cleaned from top to bottom. Even special dishes are used, which are only used during Passover and have never touched leaven. Nothing is left unclean or uninspected. Every book they own is shaken out to ensure that if someone was eating a cookie while reading, no single crumb containing leaven could be found contaminating their home.

This is the point: sin is what separates us from God (Is. 59:2, Rom. 6:23). If sin once completely separated us from God and we have been forgiven through the blood of the Lamb, how can we allow it to continue in our lives once we are cleansed? The act of cleaning out one’s home of symbolic sin should be a huge reminder to clean all sin out of our lives. It may seem strange that some Jewish people go to such extremes to cleanse their homes of leaven, but have we gone to such extremes to cleanse the most spiritually toxic thing from our lives? Have we even taken the time to examine the hidden corners of our lives so we can clean out the filth and be brought closer to our Savior? As Passover is a time of remembering Messiah’s death, burial, and resurrection, may this season be a time of introspection and removal of sin so we can partake of the body and blood of our Messiah in a worthy manner (I Cor. 11:27-32).

Shmueli

Stephen Arnold is a Jewish believer in Jesus and a full time missionary with Chosen People Ministries. He currently serves in Argentina, loving, serving and evangelizing to Israeli backpackers. In the future, we will partner with him to open a new outreach to Israelis in Brazil! 

 

Speak to Their Hearts

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
      – Nelson Mandela

You and I are the ambassadors of the most important message ever entrusted to mankind. It is not a message which we can risk fumbling. It must be proclaimed with every chance we get, with the utmost urgency and accuracy. And we must do all that we can to communicate it not only to the mind, but to the heart.

It is with this deep conviction that BJ and I have enrolled in an intensive Modern Hebrew course at Tel Aviv University for this summer. Although, most Israelis understand English, it does not speak to their hearts. And it is our responsibility and desire to communicate the good news of our Messiah to their hearts. Were we to only speak with them in English, the burden of clear communication and understanding would be on them. And if they are uninterested in our message, they may not make enough effort to fully grasp it. But if we are equipped to share this precious truth with them in their heart language, the burden of communication remains with us, and we can ensure that the message is properly expressed. We are passionate about making the truth of Jesus our Messiah as accessible and easy to understand as possible for every Israeli we meet.

If you share our passion, would you please commit to praying with us that the Lord will provide the funds we need to acquire this vital training? The cost of this course must be paid from funds outside of our Chosen People Ministries account. We must raise $2,500 for the course and related expenses. Thank you for praying and trusting with us that God will provide for this important preparation to come to fruition.

Please continue praying with us as BJ finishes this semester at Moody, and we pursue further treatments for Carissa’s various health concerns. This has been a demanding semester for us, and we are eager for the opportunities and change of pace the summer brings. We are so thankful for the many ways God is stretching, equipping and using us for His purposes, and for your partnership with us in it all.

Kerstetter Chronicles: April 2016

Six wise and experienced leaders sat around the table. They listened eagerly to our testimonies and our passion to share the Gospel with our beloved Jewish people. They smiled with understanding as we described the steps that God laid out before us to lead us here. They said it’s clear we have been called. And they hired us to do our dream job.

After more than a year of serious consideration and prayer, while BJ has worked as a student missionary with Chosen People Ministries, he has been offered and has accepted the role of full-fledged missionary. The position is contingent on his finishing school, so he will continue to work in ministry part-time as he completes his studies at Moody Bible Institute.

Also, as a crucial part of our training, we will spend most of this summer in Israel! We will join a short-term team with Chosen People for several weeks of outreach and humanitarian aid work, based in Jerusalem, folloOutreach Israelwed by four weeks of intensive Modern Hebrew study at Tel Aviv University. During this time we will also try to reconnect with Israeli friends we made in South America. Please pray that God will be working in their hearts before we see them next, and also for the funding needed for this trip. We need to raise $2,500 outside of our Chosen People ministry fund to be able to pay for Hebrew studies and some travel expenses.

Besides our exciting transition with Chosen People, this last month has been filled with outreach and learning opportunities. We celebrated Purim by distributing gift bags of treats and literature to Israelis who work kiosks in the Chicagoland malls. Through that we were able to have some really good conversations. This is a challenging group to connect with, so please pray for follow up opportunities with them.

Also, that week BJ did a wonderful job leading Passover Seders at four churches. And I had the pleasure of leading a Passover Seder for the children at our church here in Chicago! But since Passover is actually in April this year, we are looking forward to celebrating it some more in the coming weeks!

It is an incredible honor to represent you in sharing the Good News of Messiah with Jewish people, and educating the Church about the rich Jewish roots of our faith.

Thank you for the vital part you play in it all!

BJ and Carissa Kerstetter

Five Things I Want My Friends to Know About Purim

Purim is coming up next week! You may be very familiar with the biblical story of Queen Esther, but since many Christians are less familiar with the Jewish traditions surrounding Purim, I asked my good friend, Lea Dickinson, to write up a guest post about this special holiday.

 

 

For those of you, who have never heard of Purim or have been curious to learn, here are five points to give you a quick overview!

  1. Purim, like many Jewish holidays, celebrates God’s preservation of the Jewish people. An ancient holiday that is still being celebrated by Jewish people this very day, Purim commemorates the freedom of the Jewish people in Persia from destruction. Haman, an evil man, plotted to destroy the Jewish people. If it weren’t for Esther’s bravery and her Uncle Mordechai relaying the message to Esther to go to the King, the Jewish people would have been wiped out, much like the Holocaust. We celebrate Purim because we are thankful that we were not annihilated and that God sustained us.

 

  1. Jewish holiday – Jewish calendar. Purim is celebrated every year on the 14th of Adar, which is a Jewish month. On the Gregorian calendar, the date of Purim changes, but on the Hebrew Calendar it never changes. As it happens, this year Purim lands on March 23-24, the same week as Easter, even though you might be celebrating Passover at your church!

 

  1. “The whole megillah.” It is traditional to go to the synagogue for a reading of the whole book of Esther, or as we call it, the Megillah, (which literally means “scroll”) on Purim. It is also traditional as one reads to loudly “Boo” the name of Haman and to shout “Yay!”, when the names Mordechai or Esther are read. The reason we do this is to blot out the name of Haman. Try it with your family! It’s fun!

 

  1. Purim is sometimes called the Jewish Halloween, but it’s meant only in the sense of wearing costumes. Purim is a time of celebration. And what better way to celebrate than dressing up?  Children and adults alike will dress up as one of the characters mentioned in the book of Esther, and those who are less traditional may wear any kind of costume.

 

  1. Hamentashen! It’s not a celebration without food! At Purim, we eat delicious hamentashen, which are cookies in the shape of a three pointed hat (said to be Haman’s hat, or ears, depending on who you talk to) that are filled with a filling of choice. This is a traditional dessert that is always eaten on Purim, and it’s very easy to make! Follow this link for Carissa’s family recipe and try it for yourself! And if you have a Jewish friend, they would be delighted to receive a basket of hamentashen from you next week! Happy Purim!

 

Lea Dickinson

Lea Dickinson

Lea Dickinson has a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations, with a minor in Jewish Studies and Islamic Studies from San Fransisco State University. She and her husband, Mikael, are Jewish believers in Jesus and are passionate about reaching fellow Jewish people with the truth of Jesus the Jewish Messiah. She currently serves as the Evangelistic Coordinator at Shema Yisrael Messianic Congregation in Michigan.

Kerstetter Chronicles: A Very Jewish Gospel

I can still see the amazement and anticipation on their faces, as Carissa explained what it was like for her growing up as a Jewish follower of Jesus. I held my breath, thinking that any second one of the two Israeli guys or the Jewish girl from New York would get defensive or change the subject. But they looked awestruck. They didn’t say a word, or even seem to blink, as she explained the significance of a part of the Passover Seder that has stumped most rabbis for centuries, and described how clearly it points to Yeshua.

We made the perfect team. When she got stumped trying to explain the Trinity, I was excited to put my studies to good use and explain the significance of the Hebrew word, “echad,” (Deuteronomy 6:4) which means “one” but actually indicates multiple persons in one God.

God allowed us to plant many seeds like these ones in a very short time. We were blessed to see 39 backpackers come through the Shelter on the Lake during our three week stay in Argentina. Nearly all of them were engaged in spiritual conversations and accepted copies of the New Testament. Of course, closest to our hearts are the connections we made with numerous Israelis. By watching and working with the incredible team at the Shelter, we learned various approaches to starting spiritual conversations with backpackers, and grew in boldness. In the second phase of our trip, our survey of potential locations in Brazil answered all of our questions and provided all the information needed. Please continue to pray with us as we try to discern God’s will for our location.

Now that we’re back in Chicago, we are more eager than ever to visit Israel to follow up with the friends we made and learn more about Israeli culture and outreach. So, we are again praying about going to Israel this summer! Plans are in motion, and we will let you know when we know if they will work out! (Please pray that they do!)

All of this has given us renewed passion to pursue this ministry, but has also made us impatient to finish our preparations and begin this work. It is more challenging now to stay focused on what God has for us in Chicago, as our hearts long for the work God has in store for us in Brazil, but we have no doubt that this is where He wants us right now and that He will continue to bless our time here.

Thank you for your continued prayer and support. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you!

Blessings,

BJ and Carissa Kerstetter

When it Looks Like Your Missionaries Are on Vacation

It must have crossed your mind. If I were you, and I saw our Facebook posts of perfect sandy beaches, gorgeous mountain hikes and laughing groups of friends, I’d be thinking it. “Am I paying for my missionaries to go on vacation or do missions work?”

We sure wouldn’t blame you for asking. Maybe you’re more gracious than I am, because you haven’t asked. But if you in any way support our work, here’s what you should know about backpacker ministry and why it’s actually important that it looks like we’re on vacation.

Backpackers are tourists. So, if you want to hang out with backpackers, you have to do touristy things. Like go rock climbing or hang out on Brazil’s most beautiful beaches. That’s where the backpackers go, so that’s where we go to talk to them.

Backpacker ministry is living the dream. YES we will go to amazing places and do amazing things with amazing people. YES this means we will get to do what we love much of the time. YES we count ourselves ridiculously blessed. But please believe me when I say… backpacker ministry definitely doesn’t feel like vacation most of the time.

Ministry is hard work no matter where you do it. True, we’re hanging out on breath-taking mountain tops in Patagonia and sipping coconut water on Copacabana, but while we’re in those places, we’re doing much more than enjoying the view. We’re constantly on the lookout to make new friends, actively scouring the area for Israeli shoes (yes, shoes) and conversations in Hebrew. Once we connect with a couple of Israelis or other backpackers, we are working hard to build up that connection and find any way we can to naturally and strategically turn the conversation to spiritual things. This may be the coolest thing we can imagine doing, but it’s anything but easy.

We are not “missionaries.” Yes, that may be the best way to describe what we do on Sunday morning when we share in your church, but when we leave that church building, we avoid the “M” word like the plague. For us to be able to connect with these backpackers, it is absolutely critical that we present the right image to them.

So, when we volunteered at the Shelter on the Lake, we were simply that – volunteers – and part of a team who is passionate about showing God’s love to travellers. To anyone who asked, we said that BJ is studying Intercultural Studies at a college in Chicago and we were on winter break and wanted to visit our friends at the Shelter and do some backpacking in the Andes. We also freely told our new friends that I’m a Jewish follower of Jesus and we both love to talk about our God – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – and celebrate the Jewish heritage of our faith. 100% true story. Just a critically different way of explaining it. And our public Facebook posts must reflect that story.

When we tell people that we want to open a guest house like the Shelter on the Lake, we tell them honestly that it is our passion to bless and serve travelers and show them the love of God and Jesus, His Son.
Pouring into other people – spiritually, mentally and emotionally – is an incredible and exhausting ride. I can’t think of anything I would rather do than this. It is crazy rewarding and uplifting to show the love of Jesus to people who often have only known hurt in His name, and to share with them things about their history, their Scriptures and their God that they often have never heard before. But pouring your soul out like that is exhausting. And it takes consistent committed time alone to rest and be refilled from God’s Word to keep going each day, even if you are going to the beach…

This is Backpacker Ministry

It is the looks on their faces. The picture in their eyes. The future they might have, the person they might be, the fire that might explode from that bright, sparkly glimpse of understanding I see as we talk.

It is walking through the room and hearing bits of Spanish, French, German, Hebrew, and Mandarin as voices chatter and laugh, weaving easily and smoothly from crazy travel tales into Messianic prophecies.

It is not knowing how to answer every question and argument and knowing that the Holy Spirit isn’t limited to the power of a finely-tuned apologetic argument.

It is watching a team of believers from different countries and different backgrounds set aside differences and personal interests to further a singular, eternal goal, and supernaturally function as one body to love and serve a hurting world.

It is seeing guests soften under the warmth of that love and service offered in the name of Yeshua – whose name has long brought them images of hurt and not hope because too often throughout history it has been brandished as a weapon and used to hurt, destroy and divide, rather than nurture, heal and restore.

It is blistered feet, sunburned shoulders and grinning faces after a day of hiking or climbing the crags and pressing deep into conversations about why God allows suffering and how we can know true shalom from God’s Word.

It is the openness of a community of travelers who have already softened their minds and hearts to new experiences, different worldviews and changed perspectives – with the deeply seated hope that maybe somewhere along the way they’ll find an answer that fits all the questions.

It is a simmering pot of soup on the table and the exhausted volunteer in the corner who doesn’t clock out at the end of the day and gives more than anybody really knows, and then gives some more. Because it’s worth it. Jesus is worth it.

It is the tearful, expectant prayers of the team in the back room for every soul that steps through the door and the grace to point them to their Savior.

It is the brothers and sisters around the world interceding for those souls before the Father and praying grace and strength and victory for the feet on the ground.

It is the Spirit of God directing the steps of each traveler and preparing each heart and empowering each word of truth shared.

This is the Shelter on the Lake.

This is backpacker ministry.

This is our heart.