Word of Messiah Ministries - March Newsletter 2014

Word of Messiah Ministries - March Newsletter  2014

Quick Links:
About WMM
Our Bookstore 
Women's Retreat 2014
Schedule a Speaker 
Upcoming Events:
Passover Banquet 2014 
Feasts of Israel by Sam Nadler
Book 
Buy Now!
Like us on Facebook
Partner with us
Click here to donate
Contact us:
phone: (704)544-1948
Email: info@wordofmessiah.org

The Story of Purim

Every year on the fourteenth day of Adar (March 14) Jewish people around the world celebrate Purim. Purim means “lots,” or the die cast to determine the date of the decree for the death of the Jews (Esther 9:24-26). 
Traditions include the public reading or chanting of the entire Esther Scroll and performing a Purim play (Purimshpil), which tells the story of  Esther. Though the story itself is dramatic, the plays can be quite comical and raucous. The audience participates by booing  and even rattling noise-makers at every mention of the villainous Haman while loudly cheering on Mordecai and Esther, the hero and heroine. Another tradition is baking and eating fruit filled triangle shaped pastry called Hamantashen (see picture above) in Yiddish and it means Haman’s pokets.
The story from the Book of Esther takes place in Shushan, the ancient capital city of Persia. It is here we are first introduced to King Ahasuerus or Xerxes, who ruled Persia 486-465 BCE. In the opening scene, the King is displeased with his queen, Vashti. 
This is because she would not display her beauty by wearing just a crown before the king’s drunken friends. To save face, Ahasuerus decides to replace her with a more compliant, but no less beautiful candidate for queen. 
Enter a Jewish girl named Haddassah, or in Babylonian, Esther. With a little help from her uncle Mordecai, Esther gets the job, and honestly more than she may have bargained for (Esther 2). 
Mordecai not only counseled Esther into the position, but he worked as a guard for the king, where he providentially overheard and foiled a plan to assassinate the king (Esther 3). In the meantime the king unwittingly puts a vicious anti-Semite named Haman into position as his Prime Minister. 
Filled with hatred, Haman decides to rid the empire of the Jews, especially Mordecai who would not bow down to him as was required in Shushan. Mordecai tells Esther to intercede with the king on behalf of her people. Though hesitant, after some coaxing and challenging, she goes to the king and exposes Haman’s plot. Haman is hung on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, the Jews are saved, and Purim is established to remember this victorious event (Esther 9).
While the Jewish people were in Babylon, which were eventually absorbed into Persia, the Babylonians had the writings of the prophet Daniel in their possession. In the Book of Daniel the uniqueness, power and purpose of the God of Israel was revealed to this kingdom: 
“Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One.” (Daniel 7:27)
Therefore because of the historical, biblical and prophetic truth, all plans to destroy the Jewish people are doomed to fail. For as Balaam, when he sought to curse the Israelites as they were marching to the Promised Land, instead he pronounced blessing, “Blessed is everyone who blesses you, and cursed is everyone who curses you” (Numbers 24:9). 
This was first declared by God Himself to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:3).
Notice the text: those who bless is plural, those who curse is singular. The desire of God is to bless many and curse few. When you do not bless the Jewish people you must ultimately fail, for you are contrary to God’s desire and nature, which is love (1 John 4:8,16). 
We are created in the image of God, and we are to be an instrument of blessing, not cursing; of love, not hate. Haman was wrong and ultimately had to fail. The Nazis, the jihadists and all racists are wrong and ultimately will fail. If you hate Jewish people you are wrong, and you will ultimately fail. To bless Abraham is to bless the God of Abraham through faith and obedience. 
When Messiah returns to earth at His second coming He will imprison Satan for 1000 years (Revelation 20:1-3). The return of the Lord depends upon the repentance of Israel. In order for Satan to prevent the return of Messiah, he must prevent the Jewish people from coming to faith in Yeshua.
God is faithful to keep His people by using any ordinary person who will repent, trust, and serve Him. God wants to use you today just as He used Esther and Mordecai long ago. Perhaps this Purim will serve as God’s challenge to you to be spiritually pro-active in life—in your family, community, and congregation. Do not keep silent; rather, share God’s love in Yeshua with others and please pray for us as we are reaching out with the message of salvation. Happy Purim!    

Blessings from Israel

How thankful I am for the prayers of those who prayed for our recent ministry trip to Israel. We started out traveling to Karmiel in the Northern part of Israel and were blessed to be part of  one year celebration of a new congregation plant. What an encouragement to meet an Israeli couple, who had recently received Jesus as their Savior and were growing stronger in their faith. 
We reconnected with some of the core members as well as meeting individuals who were new to the fellowship since our visit a year ago. Please pray for the leader and his wife to have the Lord’s wisdom in all the challenges they continue to face with a new congregation. After our weekend visit to Karmiel, we returned to Netanya, the location of Israel College of the Bible, where I taught a weeklong intensive course on Messianic Congregation Planting. We used the book Establishing Healthy Messianic Congregations as the text for this seminar.
Teaching at Israel College of the Bible
Just to give a little background, Israel College of the Bible, is a four-year college, and over the past few years the student body has grown to approximately 100 students with their own commuter campus. They are not only concerned with the ancient stones of the past, but are in Israel to join God’s building project with His living stones of today—Israeli Jews and Arabs, and his people from every nation and tongue. ICB Faculty, both full-time and adjunct faculty, has a wide array of expertise and disciplines, most notably in the areas of Bible and Theology, Jewish Studies, Biblical Geography and Culture, Archaeology, Practical Ministry, and Leadership and Counseling. 
Teaching the Congregation Planter’s course was wonderful and challenging at the same time. I taught for 35 hours, instructing the students to develop a congregation from vision to birth and then to leadership development. The students in the class were from all ages and various communities in Israel that included, Russian Jews, Ethiopian Jews, native-born Israelis, and Arab Christians. 
We focused on the Messianic approach, meaning Messiah-centered, and not a form of legalism or keeping the law. Furthermore, we discussed portions from Romans in regards to God’s plan for Gentile believers to make Israel jealous thru the mercy that He has shown to them (Romans 11:11; 30-31). The classes at times grew lively with discussions. As the week progressed, we sensed growing unity and commitment to see Messianic congregations established, developed and reproducing. I'm now working with two of the communities to address the issue of illiteracy that hampers their outreach and discipleship and I look forward to coaching several planters over Skype. What a joy to know that there will be more congregations planted in the Land to Messiah's glory.
I'm blessed to say that I have a new friend, a bold Arab Christian, congregation planter. We've already sent him additional materials to assist in his discipleship ministry in his new congregation. 
Many of the students were pleased to receive the Hebrew edition of our discipleship book, Messianic Discipleship to use in their congregations and one-on-one discipleship.
During the week all the sessions were translated simultaneously into Hebrew by a young woman, who did a phenomenal job. She was able to do simultaneous translation, while taking notes at the same time! It was a privilege and a blessing to be there and may Yeshua get all the praise, and may all Israel be saved, Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs alike. Thank you again for your prayers and support.

Women's Conference in Israel

Teaching women is one of my greatest joys and I am grateful for the opportunity I had in January to lead an all day women’s conference in the greater Tel Aviv area, based on my recent book, Eternally Desired. 
The women who attended were single missionaries and wives of missionaries. I asked my friend Joan, who helped lead the conference to share her thoughts about the conference. Joan and her husband have ministered in Israel for 31 years and are involved in planting a local congregation in Netanya.
From Joan: After reviewing the material in Miriam’s book, Eternally Desired and even watching some of the videos online, Anne and I decided that this teaching would help women, especially those who are ministering in Israel both singles and those who are serving alongside their husband. As we planned, our common desire was to build up and encourage the women coming to the conference. 
So this past January we had a lovely, sunny, Israeli winter, sweater-weather day. The quiet, pleasant facility was the perfect central location for approximately twenty women who came both from the local vicinity as well as from more distant locations. Held in the normally bland meeting room without much ambiance, some very gifted “room transformers” turned it into a stunning venue.
Miriam presented the core teachings of this day-long conference, an encouraging series of messages based upon the motif of Jewish wedding customs. Her series, “Eternally Desired”, focused on our loving groom, Yeshua, who chose us as His bride and for whose coming we all await with eager expectation before the great wedding celebration. 
For me personally, I always enjoy refocusing on the big picture. As an energetic and impassioned speaker, Miriam colored the picture beautifully, using memorable illustrations and bursting into phrases of songs to further illustrate her points. How good it is to internalize how much He loves each of us, and how good to be challenged to use our lives well as we eagerly await His return. 
We’re thankful for the Lord’s help in every detail of the conference and for using this conference in the lives of the women who attended. We are continuing to receive good feedback that so many of the women were encouraged, challenged and blessed by our time together. As Miriam’s friend for many years, I enjoyed the opportunity to sing together once again and to work together in the Land ministering to women. It was a special and fun day! We hope that in the future there will be more opportunities for these types of conferences to take time apart and be built up as women in the Lord.

Messianic Women's Retreat in May 2-4, 2014

Join us for our 14th Annual Women's Messianic Retreat, May 2-4, 2014 at the Springmaid Beach Resort in Myrtle Beach, SC.The theme of the retreat is Transformed by His Glory. Click here to learn more or download brochure. 
-------
Word of Messiah Ministries
PO Box 79238
Charlotte, NC 28271 United States
-------