Sermon Tone Analysis

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.