This Month's Newsletter
This Month's Torah Portion

Note: Shabbat Service & Monday Torah Study Meetings are held at 1705 Lithia Pinecrest Road, Brandon FL, 33511. Go to our home page for map & directions.
 

Dear Mishpocha (Family),

This year's Passover was a huge success, and I want to thank all those who helped. We had over three hundred in attendance and next year we are anticipating at least five hundred. When you are obedient to celebrating the feast of the Lord, there is a blessing that comes with it. We have divine appointments with God and His calendar should be our calendar. We also have to keep reminding ourselves that, when we celebrate the Sabbath and the feasts, it is a rehearsal for what is to come.

Yeshua fulfills the feasts and we just participate in the events. If we were to go back nearly two thousand years ago, Yeshua would have already risen and shown Himself to many witnesses. Once again, Yeshua has fulfilled the Spring Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, First-Fruits) and we are looking forward to Shavuot (Pentecost). Passover is connected to Pentecost because we count up to fifty days, and celebrate the giving of the Torah and the Holy Spirit. We will be celebrating Shavuot as a congregation on June 7th, so don’t miss this divine appointment.

We will be having Rabbi Messer with us on May 10th and the 11th, so mark your calendars. He will be with us for two services on Saturday and one service on Sunday. Minister Russell and Dina will be visiting with us the first part of May along with their new baby girl, Naomi.

Some of you might still be doing some spring cleaning at this time and it feels good to get our lives in order. Once again, this is a time to bloom and grow in the Lord. Yeshua has given us new life in His resurrecting power.

The Father has been dealing with me in the area of values, and I have had to do some self-examination. Do we truly value the things that God values? The word value is defined in the Webster’s Dictionary as "estimated worth." The word value can also mean beliefs or standards. Did you know that God values all of creation? In Genesis 1:31 it says, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” God valued man so much that He created him in His own image (Gen 1:26-27). God values His people called Israel. In Exodus 19:5 it says, “Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession (special treasure) among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine.” If we, as believers, obey His voice and keep the covenant, then we will be a special treasure. Our heavenly Father values His only begotten Son Yeshua. In Matthew 3:17 it says, “And behold, a voice out of the heavens saying, 'this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” We have to ask ourselves a serious question. Do we value the temporal things more than the eternal things?

Shalom, Pastor Nick