Messianic Shabbat - The Harvest Mark McLellan

Passover is the first of the annual holy days of our Father in Heaven. It is a week-long memorial to Him as our Savior and Deliverer from slavery in Egypt which is a picture of our slavery to sin and shame. Passover is fulfilled in Jesus! In this memorial, Jesus is revealed, exalted, and glorified among all who keep it. God commands us to observe it because He loves His Son who accomplished our redemption by His own bloody sacrificial death on the cross. As we keep it, we are kept. It centers us and our children in Jesus the Savior of the world. Happy holy week of Passover!

Easter is the day that approximately 1.4 billion Catholics and 1 billion protestants will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. People ask us every year why we are not celebrating Easter. The short answer? It’s complicated! We do celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus but in a different context and on a different date! As Messianic Jews and Gentiles, we follow the biblical calendar. This is the calendar that God gave to Israel and as members and citizens of Israel (Eph. 2, Rom.11), we embrace and celebrate this ancient calendar with its revelatory holy days. Holy days matter, so join us in this overview of the Biblical calendar and why it is life changing for those who believe.

God is a God of order. He expects all of his children to honor and respect authority. The story of Esther give us a paradigm of how to relate to secular authorities as well as address abuses of power. We learn from Esther, that God gives us authority and power to use for the benefit of the oppressed and persecuted. How we exercise power is as important as the power itself. Join us as we explore the proper use of authority and power through the story of Esther.

We are called by God to influence our world for Him. The great commission outlines how we are to do it. Our national context determines the strategies in accomplishing it. Join us as we look afresh at our great commission and how to best accomplish it at this time, in our national context.

Last sermon, we established that all authority is from God and is to be submitted to for His glory. The question is, what do we do when authorities ask or command us to do something that violates the Word of God? Do we obey or disobey? What would Godly disobedience look like? In the Bible story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, we are given a classic and model example of what it looks like to challenge and resist abusive, civil authority. It is a story of hope and faith amid persecution and civil tyranny. You will be surprised and inspired to see what can happen when we honorably challenge and resist unjust laws and abusive civil leaders.

If there is one area today that is misunderstood by the followers of Jesus, it is the relevance of the Church and the state. More and more believers are checking out of their responsibilities to the Church and the state. It is time to turn around and return to our churches and constitutional republic before it’s too late! We are on the precipice of being uprooted and destroyed as a nation. It is time to return to our churches and constitutional republic before it’s too late!