Rabbi Schneider - Don't Miss It! Passover Season 2023
Shalom beloved ones! We're getting ready to celebrate Passover, it's really interesting and moving that in Judaism we have to prepare to celebrate Passover. And so there's a ritual that many Jewish homes will go through, where they'll actually go on a hunt through the home to try to locate any little-little flakes of leaven, because Passover is linked with the feast of unleavened bread, where we're only eating matzah, unleavened bread, because when the children of Israel came out of Egypt on the night of their deliverance, 3 500 years ago, they had to obey the Lord instantly to come out of their homes, and follow him, and they didn't wait for the bread to rise. And so this is why during Passover Jewish people only matzah or unleavened bread.
But the point that I'm making is that Jewish people prepare for Passover, they clear all the hametz or leaven out of their home. And so, as we think about Passover coming up, we want to also consider, "Is there something that I should be doing in my own soul, to prepare my heart for Passover, so that I can receive from the Lord everything he wants to pour into me?" And this is something that sometimes it's easier to do than other times, because sometimes you're really feeling like you're connected to God, and you're feeling very passionate, and your spirit's uplifted, but there's other seasons or other years, where you might not so much feel that way. Maybe you've went through a hard time, or maybe you've lost a close friend or loved one or something happen, that you're just not feeling quite as naturally connected.
But the point is: whether we're feeling connected in our feeling, or whether we're not feeling connected, our relationship with God isn't first of all rooted in feeling, it's not first of all within our emotion. It's rooted in our will. And so, I know that in my own life, when I get ready to celebrate God's holy days, whether it be Passover or Yom Kippur or whatever it is, I want to examine myself and say, "Lord, help me to position my soul, so that I can receive everything from you, that you want to pour into my life". Because these holy days are God's gift to us, he gave them to us as a gift. Remember Jesus said, "The sabbath was not made for man..." rather Jesus said, "Man was not made for the sabbath", Jesus said, "But the sabbath was made for man". All these holy days are gifts, so we want to be prepared to receive God's gift, that's my point.
So I would encourage you, as we're getting ready to celebrate Passover this year, to just lift yourself up to the Lord and say, "God, I don't want to miss anything. If you want to give me a hundred percent, I don't want to just receive 10 or 20 percent. So if there's anything I need to do in my life to bring myself into alignment, Father, help me in your mercy and through your grace to do that now".
One of the things beloved is, I'm shifting gears for a second, that I have done over the years during Passover, I give those that are being blessed by my ministry an opportunity to sow to the Lord a special Passover gift, because Passover is one of the three times of year that God's people from all over came to Jerusalem to offer him a special gift. It's one of the Pilgrim feasts, the three times of year where Jewish people came from all over to Jerusalem to present a special holy gift to the Lord.
So, if this resonates with you, and you feel like God's saying to you to prepare yourself for Passover by presenting him a special offering, it's actually a way of drawing near to him, I just want to say thank you in advance for your love, and for your partnering with us in the Lord. And those of you that do saw a financial gift to the Lord through this ministry, Father, I pray that it would come back to them, according to your word, Abba: press down, good measure and running over into your lap. Beloved ones, this is Rabbi Schneider saying to you today: I love you. God bless you, shalom, and happy Pesach, happy Passover to you.