Membership Class Message

Rabbi Lanning thank you for your kind introduction.

1. If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you have to want to work towards the salvation and restoration of Israel.

2. If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you have to measure people by the Gospel not Judaism.

3. If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you’re going to need to get a new calendar.

4. If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you’re going to have to get over being a sugar-cookie.

5. If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you’re going to need to get in a circle.

6. If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you’re going to have to like cotton.

7. If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you need to be the A-Team, the Always-Team.

8. If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you need to take the Italian prophet’s test.

9. If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you need to love the Beard.

10. If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah don’t ring the bell.

Rabbi Lanning thank you for your kind introduction.

It's been almost 4.5 since I first came to Beth Messiah and almost 4 years since I took membership class. That is right, even the future senior rabbi was honored to be seated in a class much like this one. I remember a lot of things about my membership class. I remember Rabbi Ron telling a lot of funny and inspirational stories. I remember all my kids were really small and it was a much harder task to get to synagogue then than it is now.

But of all the things I remember, I don't have a single quote to give you from the books that were mandatory reading and I certainly can’t remember the content of much that was said. Keep in mind that I also taught membership classes here at Beth Messiah and most people who did membership classes with me also said they did not have a single quote to give you from the books that were mandatory reading and they certainly could not remember the content of much that was said So, acknowledging that fact, if I can't make this membership class memorable, I will at least try to make it short.

Beth Messiah’s Visions is simply stated, "The salvation and restoration of Israel." I have to admit — I do like it. I love it "The salvation and restoration of Israel.”

Today, there are almost 120 prospective members in this class. That great paragon of analytical rigor, Ask.Com, says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. That's a lot of folks. If the numbers are correct at least 10-15 of those will be Jewish people. But, if every one of you could positively impact the lives of just 10 Jewish people — and each one of those Jewish people impacted the lives of another 10 Jewish people — just 10 — then 1,250 Jewish people could experience salvation and restoration. If those 1250 Jewish people each touched the lives of another 10 Jewish people 125,000 Jewish people would have heard the gospel –that numbers is 50,000 more than the size of the Jewish community of Houston and almost the size of the Jewish community in Texas which is placed at 130,170 people[1]- and within the next few years they kept reaching out to the next 10 it is possible to image the salvation and restoration of Kol Israel, all of Israel.

The salvation and restoration of all of Israel, in Houston, New York, LA, Tel Aviv — think of it — we would need two more buildings just to facilitate the growth of the 10 you will positively impact. Go one more generation of disciples and you can almost imagine the salvation and restoration of the entire Jewish community in the United States and in one more generation of disciples after that the worldwide Jewish community.

If you think it's hard to see the salvation and restoration of 10 Jewish people — change their lives forever — you're wrong. I see it happen every single week. A mid-life project manager named Noe Espinosa connects with two or three of his old friends and two of them are Jewish. He did not even know until he told them he came to Beth Messiah that they were Jewish. He is now witnessing to them and one of them is coming to Passover. A non-Jewish lawyer told his friend who was a Jewish lawyer about this young Jewish Rabbi at Beth Messiah he needed to talk to and now that Jewish lawyer is born-again and I am discipling him. At a baby dedication a Jewish unbeliever came and kept on coming. At the grocery store, Philip Lanning is doing some shopping and runs across a Jewish man and invites him to Beth Messiah, to the Messiah. This story is repeated over and over again, almost every single week.

But, if you think about it, not only are these Jewish people experiencing salvation and restoration by the actions of one person, but their children and relatives who do not yet know the Messiah will have the opportunity to experience the full restoration and salvation of Israel. Generations of Jewish people are being saved by one conversation, one disciple by a singular commitment to see the full restoration and salvation of Israel.

The full salvation and restoration of Israel can happen anywhere and anyone can do it. So, what starts here in this membership class can indeed cause the salvation and restoration of Israel.

So, If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you have to want to work towards the salvation and restoration of Israel.

I am confident that we can see the salvation and restoration of Israel otherwise I would not be in this position. I believe in the ability of this vision to come to pass as much as I believe that when a door knob turns it will open the door. This is no pipe dream, this is the goal, the reality we strive towards each day, each Shabbat, every service we do.

If you will humor this senior rabbi for just a few moment, I have a few suggestions that may help you to be the kind of member at Beth Messiah that sees the full salvation and restoration of Israel.

All of these little marks have been learned during my time in the messianic movement, almost 19 years - I can assure you that it matters not whether you have been in the messianic movement for a month or 20 years, if you were born in a secular Jewish home or orthodox Jewish home. It matters not your gender, your ethnic or religious background, or your social status.

Our struggles to bring about the full salvation and restoration of Israel are similar, and the tools or marks to overcome those struggles and to move forward the mark inch by inch— closer and closer the salvation and restoration of Israel — will apply equally to all.

I hope that whether you become a member at Beth Messiah or just stay a friend of Beth Messiah that what I will say today will hopefully be of value to you and motivate you to see the full restoration and salvation of Israel.

You already have heard the very first mark of a member at Beth Messiah: If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you have to want to work towards the salvation and restoration of Israel. So indulge me for a few moment as I give you the remaining nine little lessons on what it means to be a member at Beth Messiah, to bring about the full salvation and restoration of Israel.

When I was in Richardson, Texas attending Seminary at Dallas Theological Seminary the few Jewish students that were on campus regularly fellowshipped together. You know, keeping the tribal unity and spirit. A good friend of mine, a Jewish guy from the Ukraine, was taking Aramaic with me. Granted these were graduate level language courses and the workload was exhaustive and the Professor was tough. The final exam would require us to translate a very old and rare Aramaic text. We would have two hours to translate the Aramaic into a word-for-word English translation and then explain in detail every verb, adverb, noun, pronoun, adjective, clause and sentence. Looking back, I often wonder why I put myself through this torture and even payed for it.

My good Jewish friend from the Ukraine and I decided to study together for this exam. We would meet at my home one day and his the next. I was not keeping Kosher. I grew up in a Jewish home and I have said it from the Bema but I will say it here: we were barely Jewish and rarely Jewish so keeping Kosher was never a big deal in our house. That is true for most every Jewish home.

So, for lunch that day I made BLT’s with the good, thick, salty pork bacon. I did not think much of it. I prepared lunch and me and my good friend sat down, blessed the meal, ate and resumed studying. The next day I went to his apartment for study and lunch. When I walked in his apartment, to my surprise, my friend kept a strictly Kosher home. Two sets of plates, complete separation of milk and meat, it was Jewish people call Glat Kosher.

I was embarrassed. I would have never knowingly fed pork to any Jewish person that I knew kept a strictly Kosher diet. I was blushing and I apologize to my friend repeatedly for my crime.

He stopped me though. With a smile he said to me, “Michael, do you not think I know what bacon is? Do you not think that I know what I ate was pork bacon and that it was the ‘good stuff.” He continued, “Michael, I keep strict Kosher because that is what I was raised with and it is what I know. But you are my brother in Messiah. I would never break table fellowship with you over food. What was I going to do, refuse to eat? Ask for another dish? Take the bacon off my sandwich. Why would I make you feel ashamed in your conscious? The Messiah not food is all that matters.”

If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you have to measure people by the Gospel not Judaism.

Almost 20 years ago now, I took my first job in ministry. I was a part-time youth leader at a church not to far from here. I have told you already that when I grew up our home was not deeply religious, Chanukah was an important holiday for us. Not just because of the gifts and the eight nights but because it was our “hero story.” Judah the Macabee and a group of rebel fighters facing down an empire. That is a great story.

So even though I was working in a church, I would celebrate Chanukah at home privately. My senior pastor discovered that I was Jewish and that my wife and I celebrated Chanukah at home. He called me to his office and strictly warned me, “Michael, we don’t celebrate Jewish holidays anymore. We celebrate Christmas and I don’t want you telling people that you celebrate Chanukah and definitely don’t tell our youth!”

I suppose the look of utter shock spurned him on to continue saying, “Michael, if Jesus were here today he would not celebrate Chanukah with the Jews he would celebrate Christmas with the Christians.” Now I make no claims to being the sharpest knife in the drawer but I knew that did not sound right. I thought that Yeshua would at least attend both. And, He would probably at least have something important to say to each group on both Holidays. And, I knew there was real good biblical support for him celebrating Chanukah in Jerusalem but nothing about Christmas.

Nevertheless, my senior pastor scheduled brand new prayer meetings each of the eight nights of Chanukah and guess who he appointed to be leader? The new part-time youth leader. I suppose he thought that would bring an end to my practice. The problem is that he did not realize the Jewish day starts after sunset so when I returned home to my wife after the prayer meeting, after sunset she would have the latkes ready, the chanukiah out and we celebrated right when we needed to.

Our Holy Days starting with Shabbat and extending to the Fall Feasts – Rosh HaShannah, Yom Kippur, Sukkoth, Simchat Torah – and the Winter/Spring Feasts of Purim and Passover and the summer feasts are important to us. We take time off from work while everyone else is working. We worship while others are out playing sports. Why? These days matter to us and to my people, to all of Israel.

They are important because God gave us these feasts to celebrate Him and to commemorate the Messiah as the ultimate fulfillment of each and everyone of them. They are not ever going to go away. I believe we will be celebrating them all in the Kingdom of Messiah, at His Table and we should celebrate them here.

If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you’re going to need to get a new calendar.

Just for a second I would like to borrow an illustration from the military to make a very important point. It comes from the training that a person must endure to become a member of the elite Navy Seals.

Several times a week, the instructors line up their candidates and do a uniform inspection. It is exceptionally thorough. The hat has to be perfectly starched, the uniform immaculately pressed and the belt buckle shiny and void of any smudges. But no matter how much effort you put into starching your hat, or pressing your uniform or polishing your belt buckle — it is never good enough. The instructors always find "something" wrong.

For failing the uniform inspection, the student has to run, fully clothed into the surf-zone and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of his body is covered with sand. The effect is known as a "sugar cookie." The student then stays in that uniform the rest of the day — cold, wet and sandy.

There are many a student who just cannot accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. That no matter how hard they try to get the uniform right, it is unappreciated. Those students don’t make it through SEAL team training. Those students don’t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform.

No matter how well they prepare or how well they perform they still end up as a sugar cookie. It's just the way life is sometimes.

I think Rabbi Paul would agree that sometimes you end up as a sugar cookie in your best attempts at keeping the Torah and Jewish tradition:

(, TLV)

Romans 7:17–25 TLV

So now it is no longer I doing it, but sin dwelling in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me—that is, in my flesh. For to will is present in me, but to do the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do; but the evil that I do not want, this I practice. But if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I doing it, but sin that dwells in me. So I find the principle—that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I delight in the Torah of God with respect to the inner man, but I see a different law in my body parts, battling against the law of my mind and bringing me into bondage under the law of sin which is in my body parts. Miserable man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—it is through Messiah Yeshua our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself serve the Torah of God; but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin.

I think Rabbi Paul is saying stop thinking you can perfectly keep the Torah because when the Torah comes to measure you up guess what, you are going to be taken down to the surf-zone, rolled around in the sand and become a Sugar-Cookie. You will not do it perfectly but that does not mean you stop striving, it just means you realize that you will never do everything perfectly right. That is the power of sin inside of us. If you don’t get that, then you will never get how Beth Messiah can be such a large umbrella for people from all backgrounds at all different points on their walk with the Messiah and a life of obedience.

If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you’re going to have to get over being a sugar-cookie and move forward.

A few weeks after I met the Messiah, God did something amazing for me. You see I had been living in drugs and addiction from the age of 11 until almost 21. 10 years of drug abuse and addiction. Then I met the Messiah and everything changed, He took from me what I could not give up on my own and He set me free. He saved me.

After He saved me, cleansed me and set me free there was something else He had in store for me. It was something I did not see coming. It is not something commonly practiced in the Jewish community, at least not the one I was familiar with.

God provoked my heart to get into a circle. It was a discipleship class called “Master Life.” A 24 week commitment that established firmly what it meant to be a disciple. I got into that discipleship circle with a group of other guys from all racial, social and economic backgrounds and I grew leaps and bounds because I was in a circle with a group of other dedicated disciples.

Listen, it is important for you to attend service each Shabbat. To participate in liturgy, in worship, to hear the message being preached from the Bema but let me tell you something that is very, very true. I am going to tell you this with no apology.

You grow better in circles than in rows. When you are in the row, in the pew, in the chair it is a one-sided conversation. You to God, God to you, the Rabbi to you, the Worship Leader to You. In a circle, what we call in Hebrew a Chavurah, the conversation becomes multi-dimensional. You and God and a person on the left and the right.

It is in circles, in chavurot (the plural for chavurah) that friendships are forged. That needs are met. That a community of people help one another in trying times and in dark times. And, celebrate with one another when a child is born, a daughter or son has a Bat Mitzvah, a child graduates or gets married. It is in circles that discipleship takes place. It is in circles, chavurah, that true community and fellowship happens.

If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you’re going to need to get in a circle.

I have a good friend here today that is cotton farmer. He has got his entire life invested in cotton. You could say he has bet the ranch on it. I have been blessed to get to go out to his property and have him explain to me and my family how he does his job: plowing the fields, planting the seeds, waiting for just the right moment to reap the harvest. Everything on his property is all about cotton.

So I asked him a few days ago. Michael, what would you do if you looked up one day and saw somebody out planting artichoke seeds in your cotton fields? What would happen if somebody did that?

Well Michael is a solid believer in Messiah and he said very matter of fact, “Oh, I would stop him dead in his tracks. If those seeds took root it would not only damage the fields but it would tear up all my equipment that is designed for cotton, not for artichokes. It would cripple my livelihood because I don’t know anything about harvesting, or storing, or selling artichokes.” You see my friend Michael is a cotton farmer, he sows seeds that produce cotton, he buys machines that help him to accomplish that task and that task only.

At Beth Messiah, we also are planting cotton. Well, the Rabbis, are responsible for the seed planting spiritually speaking. We don’t hand that task off to a stranger or a member or ministry leader. The Rabbis know the field and know the seeds that we are planting in our field. If someone comes in trying to plant another kind of seed, we will stop them for the same reason that my friend would stop it at his farm.

One thing we Rabbis are always planting are seeds that will produce the salvation and restoration of Israel. We are not planting church seeds but messianic seeds. We are not planting orthodox Judaism seeds but messianic seeds. We are not planting Hebrew roots seeds but messianic seeds. We are planting seeds that have our Jewish identity and will produce blossom and fruit for the salvation and restoration of Israel.

In our Chavurah program, we give seed packets to our chavurah facilitators. Those seed packets are our curriculum. We have a curriculum online for our facilitators to choose from and each year we also ask our facilitators to specifically plant certain seeds in every chavurah. Why? As Rabbis we recognize that it is in important crop that needs to get planted and bloom at CBM.

In our worship, in our ministry environments we are seed planters. We have specific seeds we plant and we have spent a lot of time acquiring the staff, the resources, the materials for the production of these seeds, these crops, this harvest and not another.

Please don’t come to Beth Messiah so you can sew your own seeds no matter how good you think they are. You will be working against the farm, working against the farmers and destroying all that we are trying to build up.

If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you’re going to have to like cotton.

Growing up in the 1980s one of my favorite sitcoms was the A-Team. The A-Team revolves around the four members of a former commando outfit. Each person on the team was different and unique from the next but despite their differences they never abandoned one another. Despite how crazy each person was on the team they continued to lock arms and accomplish missions.

My good friend and Shamesh (deacon) Joe Hollar told me one day, “You know Michael I just discovered something amazing.” I said, “What is that Joe?” He said, “I just realized that whether I like it or not, try to avoid it or not, I will always be somebody’s weirdo. Somebody is always going to think that I am a little strange.” He went on and said, “We are all somebody’s weirdo and we all just need to get over ourselves.”

That is what the A-Team really was, each one of them was somebody’s hero and somebody’s weirdo. Together, they were a team. Together they were strong, together they made a difference.

At Beth Messiah you are going to meet all kinds of people, all kinds of team members. Some are outspoken, some barely speak at all. Some know more Torah than all the Rabbis put together, some don’t even know what Torah means. Some are prayer warriors and some are Oneg junkies. Some are sacrificial to a fault and others are zealous for the salvation of Zion.

Here is the thing, this is the most loving, loyal and committed groups of families in any synagogue that I have ever known or church for that matter. Our people don’t have to be asked to take a cup of soup to the sick in our body, they do it without thought. They don’t have to be asked to do a baby shower for new mom or second time mom or third they do it because we are family. They don’t just stay loyal during the good times, they stay committed when it darkest and hardest. They don’t throw in the towel when somebody is battling through a sin in their life, they lock arms and help to muster up strength to overcome.

The point, we are all different here but we all strive to protect the spirit of unity and the bond of peace. We are all working towards being Kulanu K’Echad. That is Hebrew for “all of us together as one.”

If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you need to be part of the A-Team, the Always-Team.

My mother is not Jewish. I am not at all ashamed of that. I am very proud of my family, the Jewish side and the non-Jewish side. My mother grew up in Goodrich, Texas. She was one of 9 children living in a small house, about 900-1000 square feet big. Only two bedrooms, one for Grandma and Grandpa Coleman and one for all the kids. The kids shared everything and some slept on the couch.

Times were not easy for my mom and her family. Grandma was a school bus driver, worked in the cafeteria and later in life at the VFW hall. Grandpa Coleman worked at the Gas plant, he was the janitor, cleaning pipes, cleaning floors, cleaning toilets.

They did not make much money, barely any at all. But my mom told me that when Grandpa and Grandma would get paid they would right away cash the checks. They did not like banks very much back then.

Grandpa Coleman would take the money and put it on their dining table. The first thing he would do is take out the first 10% for the tithe. You see Grandpa and Grandma Coleman were dedicated followers of the Messiah at a local Pentecostal church. After the tithe, Grandpa would give grandma the money for the bills and groceries. Then, Grandpa would walk with the kids to the Pastor’s parsonage to give his tithe. He would not wait until Sunday, he gave it when he got it.

My mom told me that when she was a child she used to get upset with her daddy over giving the tithe. She looked at that money and she thought, “Why won’t daddy just use that money to buy me or my sisters a new dress from Macy’s?” But my mom was never disrespectful so she never questioned her daddy she trusted him but she was working on a mystery and God started to show her the clues to solve it.

My mom will tell you that even though they could not afford to go and get new clothes from the store that on a regular basis somebody would stop by their little bitty house and give them a roll of fine cloth and fabric. All the girls could sew and guess what, they sewed and made their own dresses. And then, people would just give things to their family at just the right time, even a car once.

My mom told me, “Michael, I did not know it then when I was a little girl but when I got older I solved the mystery, I saw all the clues for what they were. My daddy was faithful to tithe and my heavenly father was faithful to take care of our every needs. Those dresses we sewed from the fine fabric was always nicer and better looking then the newest dresses on the rack.”

She told me, “My dad gave me the greatest treasure ever, the treasure of tithing and I have never been unfaithful to tithe because I have seen from my daddy, way back when we had nothing, how God can take that and multiply it in amazing ways.”

My Grandpa and Grandma tithed because they believed what that famous Italian prophet said:

(, TLV)

Malachi 3:10 TLV

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Then there will be food in My House. Now test Me in this”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—“if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out blessing for you, until no one is without enough.

Tithing is not for Beth Messiah’s sake, tithing is for your sake, for you to experience the financial blessing of God. Honestly, tithing is just the beginning of the blessing. Tithing is just a step there is so much more beyond that.

If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you need to take the Italian prophet’s test.

In my home I have three rules that I enforce with my children. Just three: tell the truth, keep God’s Shabbat and honor your mother. In my house, I give my kids practical ways to obey these rules and know when they are keeping them well and when they are not.

For instance, I have taught all my kids that when it is meal time, any meal time, they are to stand at their chairs until their mother is seated for dinner. Why do I do this? Because my wife is the hardest working person that I know. She is busy non-stop running our home in accordance with , leading CBM’s youth program, our second worship team and the sisterhood. She does a lot but even if she was not doing all those amazing things I believe she is deserving of honor because she is a wife and mother. So my children stand until she is seated and then they seat themselves.

Do you know why my children do this? They did not always do it. Do you know why? As the leader of my family, I told them this is what I believed would show a bare minimum level of respect towards their mother. A simple way to honor God’s command in our house ever single meal. My children respect my authority that is why I don’t have to have a “honor your father and mother rule” because my kids have a very healthy respect for my authority. That is why they stand for their mom because of my authority.

I realize the weight of authority I carry in my home. You see in my house when my wife speaks her words they weigh about 50 pounds. The kids are around her more and so her words carry significant weight with them but they often try her metal. However, in my home – the same is true in most every home I know of – my words as the Father weigh about 500 pounds. So I am very careful with how I throw my words around and knowing the weight and gravity of my authority.

How do my kids respond to that authority? They love me and respect me immensely. My son who is the heir of my position as father of the family and patriarch to be of our family does not just stand for his mother but he refuses to sit down until his Abba is seated even though I don’t ask it. He respects my authority as his head. He knows that he is being covered by my authority and that a covering and staying covered is important.

I believe biblical authority is important. I also believe that being in submission to authority is important. If you were hear for Richard’s retirement sermon you heard him quote me in a sermon when I said, “I will not let anyone despise my youth as your Senior Rabbi.” He called me right after his sermon and apologized to me because he said he forgot to say one very important thing, “Michael you are 41 and to a 70 year old 41 seems young but not to 20 year old, 30 year old, 40 year old or 50 year old.” He said, “Michael, you need to know this 71 year old is submitted to your authority as the senior rabbi of Beth Messiah.”

I believe there is a blessing that comes from being under authority. We love this passage when it relates to biblical authority:

(, TLV)

Psalm 133:1–2 TLV

A Song of Ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard —Aaron’s beard— coming down on the collar of his robes.

And

(, TLV)

Hebrews 13:17 TLV

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as ones who must give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no benefit to you.

At Beth Messiah, we are an elder led congregation. That means that I am an elder and Rabbi Lanning will be an elder within a year from now. We also have shamasheem – deacons – that support us and work along side of us. And, we have submitted ourselves to the MJAA as an authority and accountability to myself and to Rabbi Lanning. But more importantly, myself and Rabbi Lanning know that we are men under the authority of the true Shepherd of Israel, the Messiah himself.

If you don’t like the age of your elders, the ethnic background of your elders/rabbis or whatever else it may be then please go to a synagogue or church where you trust the leadership. It is really that simple, you need to be in a place where you trust the leadership that God has placed in authority to keep watch over your souls. That is how you will enable us to do our job with joy and not groaning for that will not benefit you or anyone body else in our synagogue.

If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah you need to trust the beard.

Finally, one last illustration from the Navy SEALS that pertains to you being a member at Beth Messiah. In SEAL training there is a bell. A brass bell that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to see. All you have to do to quit is ring the bell.

Ring the bell and you no longer have to wake up at 5 o'clock. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the freezing cold swims. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PT — and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training. Just ring the bell.

It will not be easy being a member at Beth Messiah. You will be tested and tried. You will have friends dis-fellowship you calling you a Judaizer. If you are Jewish you may have family members abandon you and call you a traitor. You are going to be asked to stand with us when anti-Semitism rises all around us. To stand with us as we stand unconditionally for the nation of Israel.

It is not going to be easy. We do things slow around here. No one gets into a leadership position easily or quickly. We go to great pains to make sure that we put up the right people. If you are looking to be the next great Torah scholar, get a platform to preach from, a flock to call your own, some limelight to get into, you will endure a humbling.

People are going to rub you the wrong way. Someone is going to do something or say something that you don’t like. You are going to have to just get over it. You may not like that we are planting cotton in our fields. Don’t ring the bell. Persevere, press on, stay committed don’t abandon the fellowship of the disciples here at Beth Messiah.

If you want to be a member at Beth Messiah don’t ring the bell.

So, I say to you potential members of Beth Messiah if you want to be a member here at this synagogue, you have to want to work towards the salvation and restoration of Israel, measure people by the Gospel not Judaism, get a new calendar, get over being a sugar-cookie and move forward, get in a circle, start liking cotton, be the A-Team, the Always-Team, take the Italian prophet’s test, love the beard and don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

I believe if you will commit to these 10 these things we will see an amazing revival here at Beth Messiah and you will be instrumental in it happening. We will see the salvation and restoration of Israel here in Houston and around the Globe.

Thank You.

[1] Stats on Jewish Community taken from: https://www.brandeis.edu/cmjs/conferences/demographyconf/pdfs/Dashefsky_JewishPopulationUS2010.pdf - see Table 1 in Appendix

[2] Quotes and illustration on the Navy SEALS comes from retired General McRaven’s commencement speech at UT Austin in 2014. You can access the speech here: https://news.utexas.edu/2014/05/16/mcraven-urges-graduates-to-find-courage-to-change-the-world