Prison Weekly March 19th,2005

Va-yikra and Zakhor For the week of March 19, 2005 / 8 Adar II 5765 Torah: Va-yikra / Leviticus 1:1 - 5:26; Devarim / Deuteronomy 25:17-19 Haftarah: 1 Samuel 15:2-34 Restoration of Truth "The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting." (Va-yikra / Leviticus 1:1) The book of Leviticus continues the regulations for the priestly service of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). As mentioned last week, the Mishkan with its priestly service was God's reality invasion into Israelite society. One of its purposes was to show that there was more to life than the natural world around them. Yet the presence of these ceremonies was normal for those days. There was nothing strange about having a special structure built for religious purposes. Offering animals and agricultural produce to a deity and seeing people dressed in ceremonial religious
costumes was common. Therefore the uniqueness of Israel's priestly service is not found in their having such ceremonies, but rather in the truths expressed through the Mishkan�s particular elements and activities. If we examined the ceremonies of other ancient cultures, we would find many things that (at least to us) would seem very similar to those we find in the Torah. These similarities may give one the impression that these other religions possess some elements of truth, which would actually be quite misleading. One of the reasons why seemingly true things can be found outside of God's revelation in the Scriptures, is because all peoples are descended from Noah. While Noah knew the truth, his descendants did not retain the purity of Noah's faith, but instead, due to sin, developed mutations of truth. Therefore remnants of truth - albeit tainted truth � exist in many, if not in all,
cultures. It would take God's penetrating with a burst of revelation through Moses to begin to restore genuine truth to us. Even then, human nature would continue to be drawn to the errors of the surrounding cultures. Only the redemptive work of Yeshua would be sufficient to free us from our continual downward spiral of wrong thinking and effectively bring about a full restoration of God's truth. We must be careful then, not to be lured by those elements of truth that remain within the vast array of religions and philosophies of our own day. The presence of truth outside of God's revelation in the Scriptures often only serves to draw us into ungodly thought and practices. Truth found in unscriptural philosophies in no way justifies those philosophies. Anything that does not agree with God's perspective in the Bible has no place in the minds, hearts, and activities of God's people. We
need therefore to allow the Scriptures to continually confront all human thought. TorahBytes

Vayikra (Leviticus 1-5) Family Parsha Vayikra 5765 A big lesson of Purim is that sometimes things that seem bad are really God's hidden ways of giving us something good. In the Megilla, the Purim story, things looked really bad for the Jewish people. Haman, a terrible anti-Semite becomes the king's prime minister and plans to kill the Jews. Then Esther is forced to leave her home and marry the disgusting and wicked king. But as the story unfolds we see how all these things were really parts of God's hidden plan to bring us great good. We each have our own private 'Purim stories' going on in our lives and can take heart that even when things look dark, God is really giving us hidden good. In our story, a kid goes on a 'Purim trip', but not the kind he planned.

"WHEEL OF FORTUNE "

I felt the thud, thud, thud of the flat tire, and I couldn't believe it. How many things could possibly go wrong for one person in one day? I got down off my bike, whipped the spare inner tube I always carry out of my pack, and got to work. I was upset but not really surprised, because it had just been one of those of days, you know the kind when you get up on the wrong side of the bed and you never find your way back. Actually the day started out really good. I got a call from a couple of buddies and we made up to go into the city and catch the big high-tech expo at the science museum. It was supposed to be amazing. Mr. Shapiro was going to drive us all in his van. The only catch was that we all had to meet at Sam's house because his father didn't want to make a hundred stops, and they were leaving exactly at 2:00, whether we were there or not. No big deal,
I thought. My dad's really cool about these things and I was sure he wouldn't mind driving me across town to where Sam lived. Well that was my first mistake. My father felt really bad, but he had an important meeting already lined up then and wasn't going to be home. It was a problem, but not so bad, since I still had plenty of time to get there by bike. But even that didn't turn out to be as simple as I thought because while my bike was securely locked to the lamp post in front of my house, I had no idea where I had left the key! I finally found the key - in my kid sister's dollhouse of all places! I was late and had to hurry, but I'm in good shape, so it was doable. I kissed my mom goodbye and took off down the road that would get me straight there the fastest way. The only problem was: the road was closed! Just my luck, just that day, they decided to repaint the stripe running down
the middle of the road for the first time in years. I was mad, but when the big traffic cop pointed me to take the detour I wasn't about to argue. It was 1:45 PM, and making it to the van on time was becoming a real long shot. I sped as fast as I could along the winding, bumpy, detour road. Maybe I'd make it after all, I thought. That moment I got the flat. Well between my old leaky hand pump, and the rusty wheel rim, changing the tire took me almost an hour! It was all over. No way would Sam and the gang still be there. I turned around and started riding home - what else was there to do? Everything was just plain going wrong! I got back to my street and could see my house. Hey, why was my dad's car back in the driveway - what happened to his meeting? - and why were he and my mom were rushing out of the house like that? Then my mom saw me coming, and she and my dad started
running fast my way. "Mark! Mark! I can't believe it. Are you really all right?" I didn't get it. How did they hear about my flat tire? Mom looked like she'd been crying. I mean I was pretty disappointed about it myself, but it wasn't SO bad. I tried to calm her down. "It's okay mom, I just got a flat and missed my ride. It's just a little bad luck..." She looked at my dad and gave me a big hug. "Bad luck?" my father said. "Mark, do you know what happened?" I shook my head. My mother spoke slowly. "Mark, the van got into an accident." "What!?" "Your friends were pretty shaken up, but thank God they'll be okay. Everyone else's parents had heard from their kids already, but when I didn't hear from you, I ... I didn't know what to think. So your father rushed home from his meeting and we were just on our way to the hospital to look for you. But now I see we've had a miracle!" Wow. I was too
blown away to even speak. The whole time, all the 'bad luck' I was having was really just God's way of keeping me out of the accident! You can bet I'm going to pay extra attention when they read the Purim story this year. After all, how many people get to live out the story first-hand? Aish.com

Mission Updates: Greetings Saints in His Perfect Peace, Well Friday is a day I look forward to. The Sabbath will be upon us and we gather our little group to hear the Word, fellowship, pray for one another, eat together a wonderful time. This is after we care for the homeless and poor, somthing everyone should do as Messiah said to Love one another as He loved us. he gave His life for us......As the Sabbath draws near please keep our little Mission in your hearts when you pray. And consider giving anykind of donation to help the poor. If not our mission then go out and do it your self....there is the poor everywhere you look. Do it with a glad heart. Yes I noticed the Mission bills are coming in and gas is going up. So pray about a helping. Also pray about a donation to the
food account. Remember the Wichita Mission is roughly 60 miles from our doorstep to the Mission so we can always use gas donations..... Yes the people need blankets and we need food badly for food boxes..........Clothing, medical supplies, Money for large print Bibles.......also I am in need of a computer or laptop...... You haved a Great Sabbath.........and when you have your Sabbath meal or as you enjoy you home, your roof over your head or you drive across a bridge think of those outside shivering, cold, no where to go, no TV to look at, hardly light to read, stomach shrinking from lack of food. No clean clothing, dirty socks, shoes rotting off, and wondering where the people the Bible talks about and why they do not come help them. When you do not help them it's like not helping Yeshua...do not take my
word try His.....Really any kind of donation and prayers will help........ Matthew 25:31 ^{31When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came
unto me. 37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee
an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. The LORD bless thee and keep thee;The LORD make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee;The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee shalom. (peace)Bemidbar (Numbers) 6:24-26 In Yeshua's Name, Bro. Dan, Pastor of Messiah's Branch Shalom In Yeshua Our Messiah, Friday was a little different as the children were out of school so we got to go early with Pastor Dan. I gave them chips and sauce
and Kathy began to make the egg sandwiches. I believe she made a total of five dozen. We served many dozen donuts along with a variety of milks,ice tea & water, an coffee. I had a few errands to run for supplies and Bibles so Pastor Dan an I did have a little time together during the day. We picked up ten more large print Bibles but have a need for more so pray about weather your suppose to help with these Bibles getting out to the poor. Saturday's paper had on the front page that Boeing (the major air line plant) will be giving out 8000 lay off notices this week so that tells us many more people will be coming for help. We made fried chicken (cheated in a box) with scalloped potatoes, peas and bread-n- butter for dinner and we had the same for our Sabbath meal before service. Everyone loved it in fact we had almost as many go plates as we had first plates. I decided to start a dance
class for those who want to learn Messianic dance on Wednesday nights from 8pm to 9pm at the Mission. I plan on asking an instructor whom I know used to have a dance studio come and teach but if she is unable to do it we will still have the class. Pastor dan bought me a dance video so we will use it if we are unsuccessful in having the teacher come. I'm unsure of the date we will begin but it will be in the very near future within the next few weeks. The bills are beginning to come in now and gas has soared to over 2.00 a gal most places are between 2.05 an 2.09 we always have this need. We have the funds for the April newsletter it will go out on time Friday April 1st. We ask that everyone PRAY about supporting these works Yahweh will supply all the needs as these works are for Him we just ask that you seek Him and find out if your a vessel He intends to use. We need MEN'S clothing Lg,x
lg everything from boxers to t-shirts,You would not believe the way T- shirts go when we receive then there is a GREAT need so if you have some you no longer wear Please consider dropping them off at the mission on Tuesday or Friday or mailing them to us. We also need cold remedies there are a lot of the people who have caught colds from being outside during the long still very cold nights just pray about helping and be lead by Yahweh amen.Thank you all who have helped in one way or another we love you all times are only going to get worse as we are in the end times just as our Bible warns. Remember to hold us up in your prayers when you pray and stay in His Word Shalom Remember to listen in on both Pastor Dan's radio programs and pray about supporting them this month marks the year anniversary for American Voice Radio. More on the Mission next update: love sisterlinda Mark 9:23,10:27}

Last weeks answer:Romans 5:1-11 1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being
now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Find this Passage: 1 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. 2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. 3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. 4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. 5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. 6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat
things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. 7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. 9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Purim March 24 - March 25, 2005

The Holiday of Joy -- dress up, drink and be merry while remembering how the Jews of Persia narrowly escaped annihilation thanks to the bravery of Queen Esther

During the holiday of Purim, we read the book of Esther twice - it is a peculiar bible story, the only one where God is not mentioned.

Shalom sisterlinda, family & Messiah's Branch Mark 9:23,10:27

 

     Shalom sisterlinda Messiah's Branch    

  Mark 9:23,10:27