Passover and the Christian – Why Passover is Important to Christians

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

list, I figured we'd play a little game because it might be a little bit more fun and not as dull. Right? Who wants to play a game? Okay, the game is: which story is it in?

Two Stories, One Thread

And for our first part of the game, we're going to do an easy one. Which story has an arc in it? The flood story or the Exodus story? If you've gone here more than a couple months, you know the answer. And the answer, of course, is both. Both of them have an arc—an ark in them. Like, what are you talking about? Where did the ark roll in on the Nile with all the animals pouring out of it, right? So here's what's neat: the Hebrew word for ark, used in Genesis 6, is the word teva. And it's only used in one other place, in one other story in the Bible, and that is in Exodus chapter 2, where Moses is placed in a basket, right?

I think we have the verses. We can compare them. Yeah. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood. Make rooms in it and coat it with pitch—that's what Noah was commanded. And that word for ark is teva. The only other place in the Bible, the only other story where that word is used, is Exodus 2, when Moses' mother took him and placed him in a teva. There are other words she could have chosen, or the biblical author could have chosen, but teva—rarely used word, very unique word. And oh look, she put pitch on it as well. Maybe it's coincidence, or maybe the biblical authors here are working together, trying to link two stories together to actually tell you a single story in the story of God.

Maybe there's something about the story where God is going to bring forth a new creation, He's going to take someone, put them in a boat, and through this person, the remnant of the righteous are going to go through a new creation, right? The waters come up, they come back together, then they subside, then dry land comes out. This is the story of Noah. It's God redeeming humanity again, and now we have this same little clue in the Exodus, except it's not Noah getting into a boat to overcome the chaos waters that typically bring death and were bringing death. No, he's in an ark with pitch so that he can be saved from the waters and so that the remnant of righteousness and God's plan will be fulfilled and the story will continue.

You see? You're still with me. How are we doing? Was that too much? Okay. A lot of stories of the Bible are like, what are those things? So a long time ago in an elementary school around the corner, we used to have these things, and we called them projectors, but they're not the type of projectors that we have today. They were these monsters with wheels on them. And one of them would always stick, the whole thing. Yeah, and the transparency paper.

Remember those of us who—yeah, it feels so weird to say—we had projectors and you put transparency paper on them. And you could tell stories through different layers. So you'd have one transparency paper that has Noah on it, and then you'd put another piece of paper over it with the ark, and you'd have Noah in the ark, right? This is how the Bible is. All of the stories are like transparency paper, and they all connect, even though individually they tell their own stories. The same thing is here.

Stories That Mirror Each Other

How about this one? Which story has a dragon in it, or which story did the water split and dry land appear? We'll take that one. Which story did the water split and dry land appear? Both. Both. All three. Yeah, he's starting to get the gist of that. There are three. There are three. That's good. All three stories. You have the creation story, of course, when the chaotic waters are there. They're tohu vavohu— not life-giving water, but deep depths where nothing can survive. God speaks. The spirit goes over the water, which is also the breath of the wind. Water split. Dry land comes out. We have the same thing in the story of Noah.

Noah lands. He sends a dove out. The dove goes across the waters, comes back, and the dry land has appeared. The waters go down. Recreation. And then, of course, you have the Red Sea incident in the Passover, in the Exodus story, which is pretty cool. They go to the Red Sea. They're trapped. What's going to happen? Here we go. Chaos waters. Death. Once again, how are we going to get across it? And then the Ruach went over and through the breath of God. Just like in the creation story and just like in the recreation story of Noah. And here we're having it in Exodus, which is also kind of a creation story because a new people are being born.

And a new world is about to emerge. And this people has a job to go and to be the blessing to all nations, to be the light to the world. So it is kind of a creation story. And I think that's why these stories sync together so well. How about the dragon? Dragon. Love it. Which one has a dragon in it? Yeah, I know. I've thought about putting some slides in to trip you up. But yeah, the answer is yes. The answer is yes. Both stories have a dragon in it.

The Word Behind the Story

Now, where is the dragon in the Exodus story? Well, it's in Exodus 7. Remember when Moses took his staff and he threw it down and it turned into a dragon? And then it ate all the other dragons that the magicians produced. My Bible says snake. It says snake. It doesn't say big lizard tongue thing dragon. It's not serpent. It's not the word for serpent. It's the word tanin, which is, if you look it up in a lexicon, a dragon. It's a water monster, sea monster, dragon, big dragon. That's what the word is. And the reason why the word is there is because a few chapters earlier, remember when Moses was in the wilderness and God told him, hey, put the stick down, and he did, and it was a test?

There it turned into a serpent in the Hebrew, turned into a snake. But here, you're supposed to go with the story. It's the same story. But here, Moses finds himself in the courts of Pharaoh. And last time he threw the stick down, it turned into a snake, serpent. This time in the story, he throws it down and it says it turns into a tanin. Now, you're not supposed to think that it turned into an actual tanin, I don't believe. You're supposed to understand, okay, this is the snake story, but there's something here. Why did they use the word for mythological sea monster, which is what it is, in this story?

I mean, if that's the case, this is Godzilla-level fight going on in the courts of Pharaoh. Well, because tanin is mentioned various other places throughout the prophets in the Bible, and it's almost synonymous with Leviathan. It's that type of animal.

The God of the Hebrews vs. Other Gods

And the one thing about the God of the Hebrews that is far different than the gods of Babylon and Canaan and the neighboring countries, nations, is all of the other nations also talk about this Leviathan-tanin type of creature in their creation myths. See, in the Babylonian story, the creation story, and in Canaan, the lead god had to defeat Leviathan—a serpentine deity that was over the chaotic waters in Babylon. That's who it was. Yom, if you will. The same concept. And in Canaan, the same thing. And so in all of these other stories throughout history, all of these neighbors have this one thing—this antagonist in all of their creation stories, this chaos monster that is a big dragon water monster thing, Leviathan-tanin—and it's an obstacle we have to overcome in order for the gods to create. It's a hindrance to them. They have to fight it. They have to take it out. They have to defeat it in order to even continue their creative work.

No Obstacle for Our God

And when you open up Genesis chapter 1, guess what's mentioned in our creation story as well? In Genesis 1, it says that God created them in the water. It's like his pets, like it's no big deal. He created all of the fish in the sea, all of the large sea animals, and the Ta'anin. He created them. They're his pets. There's no obstacle here. Our God doesn't have an obstacle in the way of his will in creating things. And so I guess I just wanted to point out that there is actual polemic in the Bible. Biblical authors throwing shade on other creation stories from around the world to show that our God's bigger and better and badder—you're scared of the big Rottweiler. His is his pet. It's the Titanimus' pets. So yeah, there is a dragon. And the word for dragon is in Exodus 7 when he throws the staff down. And Ezekiel 29.3 mentions a dragon. And coincidentally, he's speaking about Pharaoh as the great dragon that causes this chaos in the waters. Same motif, same theme, but here's a mention of a dragon.

Dividing Light from Darkness

Which one has God separating light from darkness? Which story? Yeah, it's both, right? You remember Genesis 1? God separates light from darkness. That's kind of a sign of how he's dividing things up and creating the world, bringing things forth. See, we always read it as poof. Oh, he's just speaking all these things into existence, and they're just appearing, and that's cool, and that's awesome, but the way Genesis 1 reads in context— what you're supposed to feel or how they understood it—wasn't simply bringing stuff from nothing. Yeah, he did that. All the gods could do that. This God of the Bible...

Not only took things he created, but managed them and separated them and brought order to them so there's no more chaos. He brought shalom to all of the pieces of creation that he did bring into existence. And that's a big deal. And so here we have light and darkness being separated. And then he also does the same thing, or that's emphasized in the story of the Exodus, one of the final plagues, the plague of darkness, Darkness came upon all the land of Egypt, covered it for three days. No one could see anything or move around. Yet all the Israelites had light in their places where they lived. I'm trying to imagine it, right?

And I'm like there's a flashlight above just where their little town. I don't know. It's neat. People, it's so dark you can't even see the light over there. Multiple, multiple layers.

God Walking Through the Pieces

Did God split something into pieces and walk through it? Pieces. Now we know the Abrahamic covenant, right? Genesis 15. You guys familiar with it? God tells Abraham, listen, take all of the zoo. Just go and get all of them. All these animals. He makes a list. And now I want you to kill them. But not only this, I want you to cut them all up into pieces. And I want you to separate the pieces. Make a path between the pieces. I will say it. It is bizarre because I'm unfamiliar with that scene taking place. But it's an ancient story, right? And so Abraham is doing this and he cuts them all and then the Lord puts him to sleep.

Then he has this terrifying vision of God. And God is essentially saying, yep, I'm going to do this. You're going to promise your offspring will be numerous, fill the earth. And then God walked through the pieces of the animals, right? Now, I'm going to say both because the Exodus also has a very similar incident with him walking through pieces of stuff, kind of. Matt, you're trying to pull one over, okay? You've been stretching all these connections. A couple of them were good, I know. But this is too much because he split the sea, right? He split the water. But come on, Matt, he didn't chop the water up into pieces, okay?

Like, I know it congealed on the walls, and if you wanted to say you could take it, but he didn't cut it up into pieces. And you're right. I don't think there's a way you can cut water up into pieces unless it's frozen. But nobody informed the author of Psalms 136 of this. Because we see that he appropriates that word, pieces, parts, that's used in Genesis 15 and imposes them on the Exodus story in his poem. Here's Psalm 136, where it basically goes into God splitting and dividing the Red Sea into pieces before traversing through. And it's a celebration of God's goodness and redemption. A later biblical author, likely exilic, maybe before or maybe post, understood there was a connection between these two stories. So he changed the words in his psalm to depict a similar incident that occurred with Abraham and God.

One Story with Echoes

Now if there is a connection between God walking through animal parts, making a covenant with Abraham, and Exodus, why would that connection be there? Well, it's because of this. During the covenant, this is what's said. And the Lord said to Abraham, know for certain, after he walked through these pieces, know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there. And they will be afflicted for 400 years, but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. What is God speaking about here to Abram?

He's talking about the Exodus. He's speaking about the Exodus and the covenant he's going to make to Abraham and what's going to happen next. So these animals are split down the middle. God walks through them and then speaks about the Exodus, where at the end of it, the sea is split down the middle. It says that God went through it, right? Cloud and torch. And this is why. Just as a little hint, a little foreshadowing of what's going to take place. Because that's the thing, the story of Abraham is about bringing forth a people that would unleash the blessings of God into the earth. That's Abraham, that's the Abrahamic story, that's Abrahamic promise.

Abraham is the rescue mission from the first 10 chapters, first, say 11, 12 chapters, yeah, of the Bible. That's the rescue mission, is the Abrahamic story. And that's what it's all about. Your descendants will come forth and I will work through them to fix this, to fix creation, to fix humans. And the story of the Exodus and Passover event, of course, that's also about God bringing forth a people that would unleash the blessings of God onto the earth. That's the whole purpose, right? I think that's why these connections are here. Because this is the story, right? This is the story. That's the story.

Oh, in the Exodus account with the Red Sea, what did God manifest himself as at the sea? You remember? What was the theophany, if you will? Yeah, it was a smoky cloud and big fire, right? That's funny because the same thing happened with the Abraham incident. Genesis 15, 17? There we go. So when God went through, it says, So there was a big smoke and a big fire going through the animals. As he tells Abraham, for 400 years your ancestors are going to be slaves, and then I'm going to overtake the nation. And don't worry, you'll know, wink, wink, when it happens, right? As the connection is here. So that when you read Exodus, you'll remember the Abrahamic covenant.

And you'll remember what's happening. And you'll remember that the story is still flowing forward. And the mission has not died. The mission is still continuing. And that's awesome. That's awesome. Super cool. What does he say to Abraham at the beginning of this chapter? Genesis 15, 7. He said, I'm the Lord who brought you out of the land of Ur and the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.

In Leviticus, he tells Israel, he says, I'm the Lord our God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. Still continuing the story because it's one story that has echoes all over the place.

Hearing the Cries of the Innocent

Back in Genesis, not long after the covenant, God heard a crying out from some cities near the Dead Sea. You guys remember? Sodom and Gomorrah. And here's what it says. Genesis 18, 20 tells us about the character of God or one of these attributes. It says that God did what? He heard the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and their sin. It says, I'm going to go down and I'm going to see if what they've done justifies the cry that has come up to me. He's hearing the cries of the innocent, the cries of injustice. Things are happening in this city that people are crying out, and it's coming to the ears of the Lord, and he's going to go down and see.

And we forget about it until we read chapter 3 of Exodus, and we see something very similar. God's speaking to Moses, and he says, listen, I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt, and I've heard them crying out because of the slave drivers. The last time God came down to hear the cries being cried out, He saw there was something that needed to be fixed and his wrath was poured out, right? When we come across Exodus 3, you should have that type of excitement because we've been through this before. God's going to come down. He's seen, he's heard. Last time there was fire and smoke and salt people.

I don't know what's going to happen. So we're prepared. This is the bigger story. What's going to happen? It's happening again, right? Noah was chosen to preserve the remnant of the righteous in a corrupt world. And he goes through the waters and he comes out the other side and he brings forth a new humanity as a rebirth. That's why there's such a big connection between Noah and Moses. And why creation and Exodus? Why are there so many little fingerprints of the creation story in the Exodus story? Because they're both the same story, ultimately. God is creating something new. God is creating something great.

And God is in control, and justice will be served. And in this story, hope should exist because with that hope, we know that everything is going to be okay. No matter what the story looks like, no matter what the details are, no matter who the bad guys are, no matter where it is, no matter what time it is, it's the same story. It's the same story that's going on in your life right now. You may find yourself in a position where maybe you were somewhere where you were flourishing in life and all of a sudden now you're not. Now there's chaos. Now there's death and grief and mourning and pain. What happened?

That is the story of the Bible. And the rest of the story goes something like, I am coming. I am here. Have hope. I'm in control. It's going to be okay. Story of the Bible. Love it.

Passover as Story

Passover. When we come to Passover... Many of us are intrigued if we've been believers for most of our lives. But many times, we recognize Passover for what it is, a very Jewish thing. It's a very Jewish event. And you're right. It is absolutely 100% a Jewish event, a Jewish thing to do, a Jewish tradition. But what else is 100% Jewish? Jesus. Passover is a staple in Jewish heritage. And the reason why is, like we just explained, it's a staple in the story of the Bible. It's the story that occurs only 62 chapters in the book so that it sets a standard. It sets an orbiting point. And it's the story of a people that went from enjoying wealth and prosperity of the land to someone deciding that they wanted to have more power, and then everybody's affected negatively as a result.

It's a Passover story. And then a people are redeemed and reborn because God chose to fix it. And we do Passover annually, like many other believers do Passover or Seder. It's funny because most Christians in the world, or I should say the Catholic and Orthodox I know—that's what the resurrection celebration every year is called, formally, formally in the denomination of the creed. Some people say Easter, but formally, it's the Paschal service. It's the Paschal Mass. It's the Passover Mass that they're celebrating. So yeah, Christians all over the world celebrating Passover a little bit differently, sometimes a lot differently, because the early Christians understood that Passover was extremely important.

An over-summarization of why we have the Passover Paschal service in Greek Orthodox or Catholic service on a Sunday, but everyone else on the Hebrew calendar is doing Passover during the week or whenever it falls. And the reason why that happened, if you've ever wondered, is because whenever you get a bunch of religious people together that are really excited about God, we disagree on stuff. And there was a disagreement early on in Christianity, about 150 years in, I think. Surprise.

The Eastern and Western Disagreement

And the disagreement came down to—which is more important? The fact that Jesus died for us or the fact that he resurrected? Can't we just leave them both up there? Why do we have to make one lower than the other? So Christians in the East, they said, we think that Passover is a celebration and he died on Passover, so we should still celebrate Passover on the right day. And the more prominent Christians of the West in the empire said, yeah, that's awesome. But the fact that he resurrected is the whole thing about him conquering sin and death. He died, and that was a big issue. That's redemption for us, paying the price, standing in the way, giving himself over to sin and death and the evil of the world that is coming for us.

But then the resurrection, that's a big deal. And so they said, we're going to do this. We're going to move Passover from whatever day it falls into the week, and we're going to celebrate it the first Sunday after, which is Resurrection Day. And that's the underwhelming and oversimplified history of why we started celebrating Passover, the Paschal services on Sunday. Now, a lot of evolution has taken place since that, but that's generally it. A lot more, but that's the basis. A disagreement. We think this is better. This is a better way of doing things. But Passover, we celebrate it every year. And it's the framework of the Bible.

Mankind is flourishing in wealth, prosperity. Someone decided they wanted power, and it ruins it for everyone. That's the story of the garden. That's the story of Cain and Abel. The story of the Tower of Babel. Sodom and Gomorrah. Same thing. It's Jacob's story listening to the voice of the woman before he deceives. And no, that's not a slant towards women. I'm just saying it's a biblical pattern. It's something the biblical text was used because of the story of the garden. And Jacob's mother who enticed him, helped him. It's supposed to be an echo of finding any way possible to justify grasping at power at the expense of others.

Story of Achan, story of David and Bathsheba, King Solomon's entire story, the story of Jeroboam. It's Israel's story. That's their story. Going into the land and accumulating power and wealth and then doing the exact same thing that Pharaoh did. Exploiting other people weaker than them for profit. And then being sent away from their good land into a land that is not their home where they are forced to do the bidding of a people that are more powerful than them and they can't escape. They're not allowed to leave. They can't move. They're being exploited, oppressed, taken advantage of, and they can't do anything about it.

The Pattern Repeats

But remember, remember, the Passover story. A people stuck against their will in a land that was not their own. So many connections put into the stories here in the literature of the Exodus, linking it to the creation story, the recreation story. And I think it's trying to impress one thing on you as the reader. It's that the Creator is being revealed as synonymous with the Redeemer. The Passover story. The Israelites were prospering in Egypt. And during this time, the leadership of Egypt had some bias toward them because it was Joseph and it was his people. And Joseph is ruling over Egypt and the Israelites are flourishing until one day when a king arose that knew not Joseph.

And he saw how many and numerous the Israelites were and his concern was about power. And his concern was escalated because he turned it into a national security threat and he started killing all the male children. Who else killed the children and justified doing it over losing power and national security? That was King Herod. A lot of other people in between. So a battle ensues in the story of the Exodus. And what's it say? We know that God's wrath is going to be poured out on the animals and the people, but who else? Because in Exodus , it mentions someone else. It says, "On the same night I will pass through Egypt, the Passover night, and I'm going to strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all of the gods of Egypt.

I am the Lord." It's kind of a neat detail.

God Fighting Principalities and Powers

So you're telling me that the Passover is a story about God fighting principalities and powers and not against flesh and blood. God begins to pour out the plagues that strip Egypt of its perceived structure of power, that it lords over others. And he also strips the Israelites of their chains and slavery as a result. And in one final plague, the plague of the firstborn, God says he's going to strike the Egyptians. But how he does it, the Hebrew here is strange because when you read this section of Scripture about God speaking about what's going to happen, I'm going to pass over you so you don't die, and the firstborns are all going to be struck.

When he's speaking, the Hebrew is strange, the way it's worded, because you're not sure who is doing the actual striking. Is it God or is it the destroyer that he's allowing to come in? And, of course, we can resolve that by saying, ultimately it's always God. Yes, but it's just interesting, the way it's phrased here. And so the final plague is the death of the firstborn. It gives a nod towards Pharaoh's massacre of the Hebrew children. And then the story goes on again, mentions this destroyer. Now some of our Bibles say the angel of death. It just says destroyer. It's personified destruction. It actually says the plague of destruction as if it's a person.

That's a WWE wrestling name. And he's going to allow this plague of destruction to come in and destroy every firstborn. And then God tells the Israelites to do what? Take a lamb, kill the lamb, and do what with it? Eat it. And then you put its blood on the doorposts of your home. And when God sees the blood, God is going to stand as a bodyguard at your door and will not allow the destroyer to enter into your home. You will become passed over. Keep going. This home has the sign on it. And how does God know who his people are? Because of the lamb. He knows who his people are because of the blood. The blood is the vehicle for their redemption and their freedom and their rebirth to become the people they were always destined to be.

And God allows death and evil to come upon the evil and death of Egypt. And it seems that God reveals his wrath by allowing evil and death that we manufacture and consume to do what it does best.

That's the thing about the Bible, or what God says about God's wrath—what the Bible says about God's wrath—is we're always looking for lightning bolts when we entertain sin in our life, when we go through seasons of corruption or darkness, or we hold on to that sin, or we keep it close, or whatever. Or maybe we just like being a jerk to people. But that's the thing. When you hold on to sin in your life, we act as if I can hide this from God, and if I hide it well enough, I won't get a lightning strike, right? Is that kind of the perception? Like if I keep hitting it because no one else sees it, God doesn't see it, and we're constantly looking over our shoulder for that lightning strike, but as long as we keep it tucked away. And that's not how it works in the overall story of the Bible.

The Tower of Sin

God unleashes wrath at many points in time, but how it happens isn't just a lightning bolt. God allows us to build the tower of sin and wickedness in our life, knowing that physics work. And he allows us to build this tower brick by brick until it grows so large it begins to sway. And eventually it becomes so top-heavy that it implodes on itself. And I believe this is an example of that. You're going to build a system and structure based off death and destruction, and death and destruction is what is going to implode inside. Same thing when God is going to unleash his wrath onto Judah. There's no lightning bolts. You rose to power. You wanted to play the game, the worldly game of power and corruption and empire. Okay, you can play it. There's another player on the map. His name's Babylon. There you go. Babylon's coming in to destroy you. And if you had just been obedient and not tried to build this empire that is not of the kingdom of God, this would have never happened.

God Allows Evil to Crumble

God allows evil and death and sin to crumble in on itself. And the Israelites leave behind a place of grief and mourning to advance into the wilderness to meet their God. And so they come to the Red Sea. Pharaoh's army is right behind them. And then his breath, his ruach, spirit, blasts out and the sea splits and the dry land appears. That's the story. That's the Exodus story. Almost sounds too simple. And it's interesting because when we get to the New Testament, we see Passover.

The Gospel Accounts of the Last Supper

And of course, the main place for Passover in the Gospels is where? Where do we see Passover happening? Yeshua is with his disciples at the Last Supper, right? They're in Jerusalem for Passover. It's the Last Supper. And we have four different retellings of the Last Supper. John never really mentions it as the Passover as far as the meal. And Matthew, Mark, and Luke all claim that this is the Passover meal. We're eating it. This is it. But across all four of them, even the ones that say this is Passover, we never see a lamb mentioned. Like if Jesus was really doing Passover with his disciples, you've got to kill the lamb. It's a sacrifice. It's a Paschal peace offering. You have to kill it. But with this specific offering, what else do you have to do with it? You've got to eat it. Where is it? I guess they're not fulfilling the commandments and they're breaking Torah. It's a joke. Where's the lamb if they're truly eating the Passover offering?

The Lamb Sits at the Table

See, when they sit down for Passover, Yeshua tells his disciples, he says, don't just simply remember the Passover as it's commanded to do. Don't just stop there. From now on, I want you to remember me when you partake in it. And then he breaks his bread and he says, "This is my body broken for you. Eat my flesh." Why would he even joke like that? Come on. Why would you even joke like that? Eat your flesh? And that's an appropriate question to ask. Until you realize that's why there's no lamb mentioned in the Passover meal with the disciples of the Last Supper. Because there is a lamb, and he's sitting right there in front and center of the entire story.

He's the lamb. He's the lamb. Remember, in order to participate in the Passover event, you had to eat the lamb, the Paschal offering. That's the requirement to partake in the festival of freedom. And here Yeshua is appropriating the Passover story and turning it into the future eschatological hope that is promised in Jeremiah. In this little room, probably dark, with a bunch of guys and Yeshua, the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah are coming into fruition. And that's so exciting. That is the story of the new Moses who would come and enact a new Passover that would lead to the last exodus. And this would free all mankind from slavery forever, as the prophets tell us.

A Festival of Freedom

And so, why is the Passover important to a Christian? Because it's a festival of freedom. The festival of freedom. It's a story of freedom. It's a celebration of that freedom and that hope. And for believers, we know the freedom lies in the love and the grace and the mercy and the justice of Yeshua HaMashiach, King Yeshua, King Jesus, the true fulfillment of the Passover, the one who reigns and rules forever and breaks the chains. And so, please stand with me as we conclude in worship. And if you need prayer for any reason this week, or we need prayer for someone else, we have a prayer team on either side of the stage. You can participate in that and take advantage of that. Yeah, I hope that in the coming weeks leading up to Passover, that we take a moment to reevaluate what the story is actually about, what it actually means for believers like us, and allow us to have the strength to audit ourselves before participating once again in the remembrance of who our King is. Amen?

The Light of the Kingdom

That when people see us, that we would have the light of the kingdom. That people would feel the love of Yeshua. And that we would have the conscience and the mindset and the vision to be able to respond to that. As ambassadors of the new Passover. As ambassadors of the greater exodus. We thank you, Father, in the name of Yeshua, we pray. Amen. Let's sing the Shema. Shema. Israel. Adonai. Elohim. Adonai Echad, b'vuxet kevor ma'ahohed. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Blessed is the name of his glorious kingdom for all eternity. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance toward you and give you peace. In the name of Yeshua, our Sar Shalom, our Prince of Peace, we pray. Amen. Shabbat Shalom, family.