From the desk of Steve Shultz:
This season of Passover begins tonight. Below is an update from Chuck Pierce and his friends Martin and Norma Sarvis who live in the Holy Land. It's an excellent read on Passover festivities and their value. Whether you celebrate the Passover Season or not, remember our brothers and sisters in Israel and pray for them.
Pray for Israel, remember that it is the Apple of God's Eye: Zechariah 2:8, which says, "He who touches you, touches the apple of His eye."
By the way, we have an Israel Tour coming up in September. You can join me, Kim Clement and Wendy and Rory Alec from God.tv. Hope to see you in Israel with us in September! Details also in itinerary below.
Please remember us in your giving this year. We are a FOR-PROFIT organization, therefore, your contribution will NOT be tax-deductible. What you are doing is helping us take the prophetic word around the world. Simply go to: https://www.elijahlist.com/donations/donation.php and make a quick and easy donation today.
?
 |
NEW!
What is God Saying For 2011?
by Chuck Pierce, Dutch Sheets, Kimberly Daniels,
Denny Cline and Steve Shultz
Entire 2011 Elijah List Conference Teaching Set
|
?
?
Chuck D. Pierce:
Passover Begins Tonight! AND Prayer Update From Israel
Dear Friends and Israel Supporters:
I am so grateful for all of you who pray for the shalom of Jerusalem and the Lord's purposes for His covenant people. We are so grateful to have regular updates to help focus our prayers for the land and people of Israel. Below is an update from Martin and Norma Sarvis on preparing for Passover.
Blessings,
Chuck D. Pierce
Prayer Update From Israel from Martin and Norma Sarvis
THIS EVENING BEGINS PASSOVER AND THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.
"Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed, Messiah, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
This evening Jews around the world will be gathered round tables in obedience to the command in Exodus 12:14, "So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance."
They will have cleaned leaven from their homes (12:19) and will begin a week of eating only unleavened bread. The word "Pesach" (Passover) comes from verb "lifso'ah" which means "to skip". Literally, when the scourge went through Egypt, those with blood on their doorposts were "skipped" the judgment which came upon the rest of Egypt. The meal is celebrated at a seder table.
"Seder" means "order" (in modern Hebrew, "b'seder" means "O.K." ? literally, "in order"). So the seder table is an "ordering", both through reading and having a meal, of an account of what God did on that occasion. During the course of the meal, most families are guided by a book called a Haggadah. This word actually means "the telling" and is taken from Exodus 13:8, "And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'"
Although the book contains remarks by revered rabbis here and there, it is primarily a straightforward account of God's deliverance of His people, Israel, from bondage in Egypt. And it is interspersed with wonderful psalms and passages ? many of which reference God's salvation ("Yeshu'ah") and coming Messiah. At the heart of the "telling" as it has come down to our day is an addition called Afikomen. It comes from a Greek word, meaning literally "that which comes after" or even "the One who came".
At the beginning of the seder three pieces of matzo are placed into a three-fold pocket ? but the piece going in the middle is first broken. Part remains in the pocket, and the other part, the Afikomen, is hidden. At the end of the seder children will seek for the Afikomen, and the one who finds it will be given a redemption-price reward. Then all the participants eat a portion of the Afikomen for dessert. Modern-day matzo is unleavened, pierced and striped from the heat in baking. According to the Mishna, the Afikomen is a substitute for the "Korban Pesach" ? the Passover Sacrifice which was the last thing eaten at seders during the First and Second Temple periods.
PLEASE PRAY:
? For Light to shine over seder tables around the world, to reveal the Truth of the "Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world" ? who atones for and takes away the sin of the world. Who may be found by all who seek, and whose finding brings Life, and Nourishment and Joy.
? For God's protection over Israel during this holy week when children are out of school and many families are out and about enjoying the holidays.
Crossing Over into the New! A Passover Memoir
Below is a reprint of a special account written by Norma Sarvis for the Passover Update two years ago:
Because I grew up in an observant Jewish home, I have many clear memories and images of Passover seders past. But the strongest impression I have is that it was a time for the "new" and a time for "shifting".
A few days before the seder we were busy putting away all the "old" in our kitchen. We covered or placed in storage all dishes, cookware, tableware, glassware which had ever touched leaven. We brought out the "Passover dishes" and set them in a special place. We cleaned and scrubbed the refrigerator and the oven. We threw out all bread, flour, pasta, cookies, etc. that had been made with any form of leaven. We were cleansing our home of "the old" so that we could move into "the new". Yet, during these in-between days we ate on paper plates and did not yet use our special dishes.
I remember being so excited during this season. I loved the anticipation of the "shift". Not that it came easy ? it involved lots of work to clean and put away and get ready; it involved my father's tears as he ground fresh horseradish the day before the seder meal; it involved going to a dairy to get fresh milk in new bottles (this milk had touched no pasteurizing or homogenizing machine so that it too would be totally new). Then there was the ordering of special foods from the nearest city. My mother cooked for days before the seder to get it all ready.
My favorite event in the entire seder was helping my father (who led the ceremony) wash his hands three times. I brought a bowl of water to the table with a ladle in it. He would take the ladle and pour the water over his hands at designated times. I would stand there and hold it for him. When I think of this, two things come to mind. First, my dad had to humble himself to allow a child to help him wash in front of the entire family. But, secondly, to come to this time, it was essential that it be with "clean hands". In order to shift to the "new" we need both humility and purity. To move in pride is not to move forward. Neither will we really progress forward with the "old" still on our hands. Both of these will drag the past into our future. But with humility and purity we can move into the new without the garbage of the past.
Then, of course, came the great food, music, wine, and laughter even as we remembered the story of being delivered from slavery into freedom. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
During this Passover season we want to wish you the blessings of humility and clean hands, of hearts and eyes shining in anticipation of crossing over into your NEW. We wish you laughter and music! We wish you the abundance of God's table!
This Week's Torah Portion
From ancient times there has been a weekly portion (Parashah) from the first five books of Moses (The Torah) and an ending (Haftarah) from the Prophets read on the Sabbath in synagogues around the world. This portion is given a Hebrew name drawn from the opening words of the Torah passage. An illustration of this practice appears to have been recorded in Luke 4:16 where Yeshua (Jesus) arrived in the synagogue in Nazareth and was asked to read the portion (Isaiah 61) from the Prophets.
We have found that in perusing these weekly readings, not only are we provided opportunity to identify in the context of God's Word with millions of Jewish people around the world, but very often the Holy Spirit will illumine specific passages pertinent that week in our intercession for the Land and people of Israel. All texts are those of English translations of the Scriptures.
DURING THE WEEK OF PASSOVER, THERE ARE READINGS EACH DAY IN THE SYNAGOGUES. WE HAVE PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING LIST FOR THE USE OF THOSE WHO DURING THE COURSE OF THE WEEK MAY WISH TO READ FROM SOME OR ALL OF THESE PASSAGES.
Day 1 (Tuesday 19 April): Exodus 12:21-51; Numbers 28:16-25; Joshua 3:5-7; 5:2-6:1: 6:27.
Day 2 (Wednesday 20 April): Leviticus 22:26-23:44; Numbers 28:16-25; 2 Kings 23: 1-9; 21-25.
(Wednesday ? the day after the Passover Sabbath is the day on which the Ceremony of First Fruits would have been performed, Leviticus 23:9-14. It is also the first day in the "Counting of the Omer" to Shavuot ? the Feast of Weeks, Leviticus 23:15.)
Day 3 (Thursday, 21 April): Exodus 13:1-16; Numbers 28:19-25.
Day 4 (Friday 22 April): Exodus 22:24-23:19; Numbers 28:19-25.
Day 5 (Sabbath, 23 April): Exodus 33:12-34:26; Numbers 28:19-25; Ezekiel 37:1-14.
Day 6 (Sunday 24 April): Exodus 9:1-14; Numbers 28:19-25.
Day 7 (Monday 25 April): Exodus 13:17-15:26; Numbers 28:19-25; 2 Samuel 22:1-51.
Day 8 (Tuesday 26 April ? for countries outside Israel): Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17; Numbers 28:19-25; Isaiah 10:32-12:6.
It is customary in many places that the SONG OF SONGS be read during the Passover season, sometimes in the synagogue, sometimes in homes after the Seder meal or preceding the beginning of Shabbat.
PESACH S'ME'AH!! ?Joyous Passover Blessings to each of You!
Martin and Norma Sarvis, Jerusalem
Submitted by Chuck Pierce
Glory of Zion International Ministries
Email: chuckp@glory-of-zion.org
