Isaiah 58:12

We had our annual synagogue business meeting this past Sunday.  Although such meetings tend to be dry by nature, I have to confess that this one seemed to go pretty well, generally speaking.  Among other things, we voted to move our Erev Shabbat (Friday evening) service time to 8:00 pm, allowing people more time to get home from work and take care of their families before service begins.  We still plan on ending no later than 9:30 pm.  

Also at this meeting I introduced the theme I believe God has given us for 2011.  This year we are to focus on "repairing the breach and restoring paths to rest in" as found in Isaiah 58:12.  What does this mean? 

 A breach is a hole.  Well, it's more than a hole.  It's a violation.  A breach is an unhealthy, unintended break in the integrity of a wall.  There are healthy, intended breaks in walls.  We call these doors and windows.  But when a break occurs where there should be none, this is trouble.  Breaches let in the unwelcome rain and wind.  Breaches can let in bugs and pests of all kinds.  Thinking of walls that used to surround cities, breaches can even let in the enemy and result in the fall of an entire society.  

 To restore a breach means to return to the original foundation, the strong, immovable foundation, laid by Sacred Hands.  To restore a breach means to build upon this foundation with stones that will be able to endure the offense of the seasons and the assault of the enemy.  These stones must be excavated from the earth, chiseled and shaped, and laid in place with much forethought and care.  It requires planning, patience, persistence, and people.

Ah, there's the clincher!  People!  This wall cannot be made by one or two people alone.  If it is to be a strong bastion, a fortress that will resist all that will eventually come against it, it will require a coordinated, prayer-saturated, hard-headed, soft-hearted group of men and women and youth who are willing to work together, forgive each other, and roll-up their collective sleeves.  This effort, to be successful, will need to be supervised by God, led by His Spirit, and coordinated by His appointed leadership.  It will require, from everyone, humility, courage, and LOTS of grace!  The task that lay before us is for neither the weak-hearted nor for those who can't quite seem to make a commitment.

The question before us now is:  can we do it?  Can we pull together and meet this call?  I believe so.  The deeper question is, do you?

On my next blog I'll talk about what it means to "restore paths to rest in".  If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me at phillyrabbi@gmail.com.  Shalom!

And it's raining, and it's raining . . . .

I've noticed something.  Ever since I've started to focus more on prayer and personal brokenness before the Lord something extraordinary, though not quite surprising, has happened:

All hell has broken loose.

I'm not talking about going through a "rough patch" in my life.  I'm talking about literally the demonic forces of the devil rising against me.

They say misery loves company so I hope you will forgive me as I indulge in a litany of events that have come against my family and ministry in the past thirty days:

- Pipe busted in the synagogue fellowship hall, ruining walls and carpet
- Pipe busted under the house where we live, spewing sewage and mud into the house
- Our personal laptop computer died, the very computer we use to broadcast ministry via the Internet
- Our refrigerator at home died, requiring costly repairs which drained our personal account
- My daughter has had a significant and dramatic increase in seizure activity.  She suffers from epilepsy.
- And there's more which time does not permit me to list here.

Please don't misunderstand me.  I am not a superstitious person and I do not look for a demon under every doily.  I have, however, noted an interesting pattern of events in my life since I started to draw closer to the Lord. 

I believe that the devil is remarkably predictable and, if it weren't so painful, his actions and behavior would be almost laughable.  Of course!    I should have expected this and, with God's wisdom, prepared for it!  Of course the devil will attack when we try to draw closer to God!  Of course Satan will try to distract and discourage when we turn our hearts and minds to prayer!  Of course the enemy of our souls will try to bring depression and despair when we lift our spirits to heaven!  Of course!

Why?

Because there is no greater expression of power for a believer on this earth than prayer.  Prayer unleashes God's Spirit.  Prayer brings reformation of our hearts and revival to our congregations.  Prayer strengthens our spirits and deepens our communion with our Creator.  Pray, true prayer, is the single fiercest force we as God's people have against Satan and his angels in this world.  This is why the devil resists us with such tenacity for, while we as God's people may be nonchalant and non-committed in prayer, the devil understands the true power of prayer and trembles!  This is why he begins to rise against us with all that is in his unholy arsenal, because he's scared!

What should be our response when things in our lives begin to fall apart?  Pray!  Storm the gates of Heaven with our supplications!  Intercede on behalf of God's people and those who do not yet know Him!  There is a reason this is called a war, because it is!  Fight!  Dearly beloved, fight with all you're worth!  Don't allow discouragement or cynicism to rob you of prayer!  Repent and pray!  Lift your head from your discouragement and pray!  Mourn and weep before the Lord and pray!  Rejoice before the God of Abraham and pray!  When the sun shines, pray!  When the rain falls, pray!  When you seem to get no answer, pray!  When God feels a million miles away, pray!  Without ceasing, pray (I Thessalonians 5:17) for then and only then will we begin to know a deeper measure of God's power and freedom.

Pray!

When it rains . . . .

A few weeks ago I was doing laundry at home (yes, I help my wife with the laundry. So lives the 21st century man). When the washing machine started draining, a pungent odor began to assail my nose, a combination of wet earth and sewage. A quick inspection revealed this thick stew bubbling up into the bathtub and kitchen sink. Indeed, from that point on, every time we tried to do the laundry, this foul fountain would reappear, filling the house with it's damp stench. After bringing out a plumber we were told that the source of our problem was a busted drainage pipe under the slab foundation of the house. Even as he spoke on and on in complex plumbing jargon that I barely understood, a sense of panic began to rise in me. "This sounds expensive." I thought to myself. My mind began to wander along these lines when I snapped back into reality with his words "$15,000-$30,000".

What?

Please understand that my family and I live in a small residence attached to the synagogue where I serve. I immediately called the synagogue insurance company. "I'm sorry Rabbi Fuller but we don't cover plumbing problems outside of the building which includes things under the foundation." Panic time again.

A few days later I was walking into the synagogue when I was greeted by undulating waves of water gently flowing out of the fellowship room, through the hallway and into the foyer where the sixth great lake was rapidly forming. The culprit ended up being a blown pipe which, after much wrestling with the powerful spray and fumbling with a shut-off valve, I was able to turn off. I rushed out and borrowed a large wet-vac from a friend and, while my wife was trying to suck Lake Michigan into a plastic barrel, I was once again on the phone with our insurance company. Turns out they WILL cover this one.

When things like this go wrong, there is a temptation for us to turn to God and ask "why". God is all-powerful, right? He could make the pipes in our aging building work just fine if He so desires. Yet, instead of Divine intervention we immediately assume Divine neglect. I don't believe that such an assumption is fair. We so frequently cry out to God for justice when it is often us who are guilty of being unfair to God. When the sun is shining on our lives we casually thank God and go our way. When a little rain falls (or stinky water flows) we rapidly point our finger at Him and wonder why He hasn't been doing what we perceive to be His job.

God is God. He is not as interested in our comfort as He is in our completion.  He is truly in charge of all things and if we are experiencing challenges of any kind it would behoove us to remember that there is a reason for the suffering not the least of which is to provide us an opportunity to grow in Him. True, such knowledge may be of little comfort, but it is truth nonetheless. It's also good to know that the rain never falls forever. Eventually, the sun will come out and the clean-up begins. Thank You, God.

Now, I hope you'll excuse me. I have some cleaning to do.

What do you think?

I'm sitting here at the computer getting some work done while outside the snow has already started to fall . . . again. This is like the 3rd or 4th snow we've had in the last couple of months! Oy vey!

So I had the following question and wanted to present it to you, dear reader, to get your feedback.

Does God know everything? What do you think?

I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Missing in Action

Recently, the Lord has been dealing with me about prayer. It's probably a sad truth that most of us don't pray as frequently as we should. I know that I fall into that category. But God has been convicting me, not only about my responsibility to pray, but also about the profound Power we can access when we pray. Leonard Ravenhill, one of the great Christian pioneers of prayer in the early and mid 20th century, once said that sermons move men, prayer moves God. I can't help but believe this is true. I'm learning that many of the challenges I'm facing have their solutions found only in much prayer and supplication before God. I find that, when I pray, I'm a better person and tend to interact with greater grace toward myself and others. I find, too, that repentance and true prayer often go hand in hand, a journey that leads to shalom (peace). These are valuable lessons indeed!

Good weekend . . .

This last Friday evening we had a guest choir sing at the synagogue. "The Voices of St. Mark" from St. Mark AME Zion Church blessed us with music and ministry. Now, I must confess, I love gospel music. That might sound strange coming from a Midwestern Jewish man but there is something about gospel music that lifts my soul and encourages my spirit. I could listen to it for hours and sometimes do! My personal passion for gospel music is not what drove me to invite the choir, however. There is a deeper motivation . . . .

Above everything else, I want to see my brothers the Jews come to a saving revelation of the Messiah Y'shua (Jesus). The Bible tells us that the Jewish people are to be driven to jealousy, and witnessed too, by the Gentile believers (see Romans chapter 11. Good stuff in there). This is the calling of the Gentile believers, to reach the world with the saving Truth of Y'shua, to the Jew FIRST, then also to the Gentile (Romans 1:16). The calling of the Jewish people is to be a light to the Gentiles (Exodus 19).

Let me clarify something here and, in so doing, address some concerns that have come to my attention. I am not trying to turn Beth Emanuel Messianic Synagogue into a "church". I am not trying to "Christianize" Messianic Judaism. Why did I invite a Gospel choir? Why did a Christian pastor come and speak at our Saturday Torah service? Because, according to the Scriptures above (and many others), we as Messianic Jews are part of the global Body of Messiah and, as such, need them as much as they need us. Taking it one step further, the Gentiles have an anointing from God to reach the Jewish people with Messiah! (see the Scriptures referred to above). The stronger bonds we as a synagogue have with our Gentile brothers and sisters in Messiah, the more they realize their Biblical obligation to reach my people! The more they reach my people, the more the Jews will become born-again (John 3). The more Jews find their true identity in Y'shua, the more they live out their calling to be a light to the Gentiles and the more the unbelieving Gentiles will get saved! As Rabbi Paul wrote in Romans, "If the falling away of them [the Jews] means the salvation of the Gentiles, what shall the restoration of them [the Jews] mean but life from the dead"!

So, we will continue to reach out to the Jewish people while at the same time ministering to our Gentile brothers and sisters about their calling. As we strengthen these bonds, we will have a greater impact on the Jewish community. Pretty cool how God planned all of this out, huh?

Introduction

Shalom! My name is Troy Joseph (Yosi) Fuller and I'm the Senior Rabbi of Beth Emanuel Messianic Synagogue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

First, I have to admit a bit of wonder at our current digital age. Through this medium I am able to share with you thoughts and concerns and keep you abreast of the ongoing hope and heartache that is ministry. I plan on updating often and look forward to sharing with you this journey called Messianic Judaism. Be warned, however; Messianic Judaism, like every other move of God throughout history, can often be challenging and is just as often misunderstood!

I hope our times together will be both a blessing and encouragement. Thank you, dear reader, for taking the time to peruse these pages! I look forward to sharing with you in the coming days and months!