Chag Pesach Sameach kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah! Before we get underway this afternoon I wanted to mention that this was, and is, our 500th video in the V- or sermon series of videos which we first started making in 2018. In 8 years we have produced nearly 1,000 videos from the many thousands of sermons and articles produced since 1986 when we first began. Not only that but, as if you hadn't noticed, today is 1 April on the Roman Gregorian calendar otherwise known as April Fools day. Why is that significant? Because 1 April 33 AD was the day that our Saviour died on the cross and Satan loves to mock everything sacred that is of Yahweh. I made a video yesterday (SM190) as a sober reminder of these things. If you have never read that article or seen the video you might like to do that.

With those matters out of the way, welcome to this the first annual assembly of the New Year as we orient ourselves for the three Spring Festivals of the Pesach Season otherwise collectively known as the 'Passover Season' and to the first of seven (or eight, depending on your perspective) festivals altogether. Between now and the autumn we are commanded to gather and remember four prophesied historical events that place 2,000 years ago, and three which have not happened but which are imminent:

• 1. Pesach (Passover) which is today;
• 2. Chag haMatzah (the Feast of Unleavened Bread) which spans 7 days altogether;
• 3. Yom haBikkurim (the Day of Firstfruits on which Christ rose from the dead) which is also the second day of Chag haMatzah;
• 4. Shavu'ot (Weeks or Ekatost, wrongly called Pentecost), the day Yahweh gave Israel the Torah on Mt.Sinai in the summer and the same day that He sent the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) 2,000 years ago to mark the empowerment of the Messianic Community (Church);
• 5. Yom Teruah (the Day of Trumpets or Shouting, the Second Coming of Messiah and Resurrection Day of the saints (qodeshim, saints, believers or true talmidim/disciples) in the autumn;
• 6. Yom haKippurim (the Day of Atonements or Day of Judgment) commonly known as Yom Kippur;
• 7. Sukkot (Tabernacles or Booths or the Marriage Supper of the Lamb) which also spans 7 days, like Chag haMatazah; and
• 8. Shemini Atseret (the Last Great Day) which begins the thousand-year Millennium or Reign of Messiah.

All of these annual events, together with the weekly seventh-day creation shabbat or sabbath, the monthly Rosh Chodesh or New Moon which is used to calculate the four sabbaths each month as well as most of the annual festivals, the Sh'mittah or Sabbatical Year every 7 years and the Yovel or Jubilee Year every 50 years - all of these constitute what our Heavenly Father calls His sacred moedim, appointments or festivals - the 12 distinct times we are required to assemble or gather together with Him as a community. Eight of these repeat every year, one repeats every week, one repeats every month, one repeats every seven years and one repeats every fifty years, in what one might call a giant spiral that repeats a sacred story and establishes Yahweh's people in a familiar pattern of living - smaller weekly rhythms, slightly larger monthly rhythms, larger annual rhythms, even larger 7 yearly rhythms and one very large 50 yearly rhythm.

This means that a person living 70 years will celebrate about 4,200 sabbaths, about 850 new moons, 70 of each of the 8 annual festivals, 10 sabbaticals and 1 Jubilee. We therefore observe 4 cycle sets of varying lengths within our human life cycle of about 70 years. All of this gives important structure to life itself. This is the skeleton upon which we build everything else. It is the framework within which we build our spiritual house. Whilst we only have one life to get everything right, we are given thousands of opportunities to repent and change direction in our life - course adjustments as it were - but there comes a time when life's program ends. And I'll tell you this much - the closer you get to the end, the more sober you get. Wise, therefore, is the man or woman who learns to be wise when they are young and makes wisdom a life habit! Far too many people - including believers - treat life like a roulette wheel, gambling with sin and hoping there will be time later to fix things. The thing is, it gets harder to fix the older you get. So don't waste your life! Get right with Yahweh now and stay right!

For those of you who are new to the complete biblical way of life because you have been brought up in a particular Christian tradition (or none at all) all of this may seem complex and daunting. But if you have ever moved home to live in a new country, as I have done four times in my life - from Singapore to Malaysia, to the United Kingdom, to Norway and to Sweden - you will know this can be quite a culture shock, especially if the cultures are radically unlike each other, as between Asia and Europe in my own personal story. If you were born in a particular culture and have lived in that culture all your life, that culture will seem perfectly 'normal' to you even though that culture has hundreds if not thousands, of markers that set-it out from other cultures, countries or lands. Because you have only ever known one country, as is true of some of you in this assembly today, you don't necessarily realise how complex a culture can be. Not only that, but our cultures are constantly evolving - constantly changing - because its foundations are somewhat fluid, especially if it is secular.

For someone like me who's been around for over 70 years this can be profoundly disconcerting when you pause to consider how things once were and how things are now. You don't notice the changes so much when you are young and so this tends not to trouble you. It's only as you get older that you find yourself craving the order, certainty and stability that may have existed when you were a youth. It's only as you get older that you can compare and contrast, and begin to see the strengths and weaknesses of your own particular national culture. And what's particularly confusing and disturbing is when a culture loses its foundations and seems to be wandering around aimlessly, and people no longer know who they are.

We here, particularly in the West but really everywhere now to different degrees, are the guinea-pigs of a great liberal, socialistic experiment known as 'multicuturalism' in which the attempt has been made to blend all cultures into a single global culture. This has caused major culture shock and psychic instability because having a family, clan, tribe, and national identity is the way Yahweh designed us human-beings to live - four differenjt safety nets, as it were, a bit like the four cycle sets we've been discussing. Growing up as a Briton (as I did), or a Norwegian or Swede (as the rest of you here did), or an American, Canadian, Brazilian, South African, Mexican, Kenyan, Russian, Chinese, Malay, or in one of 195 countries of the world, gives you an essential identity, however temporary - a framework on which to build your life. We have that temporary identity in a world that is constantly changing, because this world system, as it exists, is temporary.

Yahweh has ordained different nations and their cultures which are the sum total of all the choices made by the inhabitants of each nation over the timespan of that nation's history - choices for good and choices for evil. I can look at my own country and I can see cultural strengths and weaknesses. All cultures are mixtures of the two, of things worth imitating as a Christian and things to be fled from. In every country I have lived in I have absorbed traits and behaviours which I consider worthwhile and biblical. And though I am ethnically Anglo-Norman-Irish, I am culturally Eurasian, and have picked up ways of being that I like from not only the countries I have lived in but ones have visited only briefly too, so that over time I have become my own unique mixture, as have you. But I was once much more Asian or British than I am now. I have since picked up Scandinavian traits that I like. You may not be aware of who or what you are, but you are nevertheless the sum total of your attitude and behavioural choices, for example. That makes you similar to others in many things but also uniquely different. These choices are both social and religious (and irreligious), all of which overlap and combine into the fascinating kaleidoscope called personality or character.

So to remind you: Yahweh views national identity as temporary and this is because 'reality', if we can call it that, is constantly changing in this fallen world. Were a Swede from the 18th century to be teleported into 21st century Sweden he would be utterly lost. He would find some things that he recognised (what one might call uniquely 'Swedish markers') but so much would be foreign too. Even his Swedish language will have changed. He might be forgiven for initially thinking that some things were the same (like the state Lutheran Church many of whose buildings from his time are still around) but once he had got to know modern Swedish Lutherans better, he might begin to wonder if he had stumbled into an entirely different church denomination. He would for sure be shocked. For apart from a few outward things like buildings, clergical vestments, liturgies, hymns and the like, he would find your 21st century Lutheran person an entirely different spiritual species to himself. I know this to be true because the Anglican Church I grew up in was completely different to the woke Anglican Church of today even though the buildings, hymns and book of common prayer are much the same, giving the illusion of continuity because of our tendency to preferentially judge according to outward appearance (Jn.7:24).

I could make other comparisons by bringing someone from the ancient Aztec culture of South America and he or she would probably think he was in heaven or hell...or both. He might suffer a complete psychological breakdown from cultural shock. You get what I am saying - those of you who watch the old Star Trek TV series will know what I am talking about. This is the stuff of fascinating Science Fiction movies which I know some of you, like me, enjoy because they get us to think about who we are and what on earth (or in space) we are doing. We were created - designed - to want constancy and familiariy. We crave recognisable cultural markers in our lives to give us certainty and stability. Children desperately need that. They need a stable home life where change is not too rapid. What we grow up in therefore profoundly shapes us, something governments alas know only too well which is why modern ones want to remove this shaping from parents and give it to the state and their institutions like schools where they can shape us in their own élitist image. They have, unfortunately, largely succeeded.

The education system and the 'village' have largely replaced parents nowadays whose rôle has largely been reduced to feeding, clothing and sheltering their offspring. This is both unnatural and unhealthy, and whilst no parent is perfect, Yahweh has given them the rôle of shaping their children within the context of having an individual identity in Christ and citizenship in the Kingdom of Elohim (God) which are eternal, unchanging, constant and above all safe. At the same time, for reasons most of you know, life has to do with learning through contrasts (one of the purposes of mortality), nations are where we are supposed to learn and grow. We have been told to respect national governing authorities (Romans 13), however imperfect, because they have an important rôle to play in protecting us. They bring a necessary measure or order and stability. At the same time we have been warned against nationalistic idolatry. The important lesson to take away from all of this is that salvation in Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), in conjunction with Torah-obedience, creates a new universal identity, no matter what country you come from or from what time period, that transcends ethnic and national boundaries. It is the identity we need for eternity because of the way it shapes our very spirits. Because of these we know how we are supposed to be individually and culturally, for which we were designed by the Creator. No other system comfortably 'fits' us and where there is discomfort, it is our own cultural programming reacting to Yahweh's.

One of the purposes of the biblical festivals and the rest of the mitzvot (commandments) is to enable us as human beings, who have been saved and supernaturally transfofrmed by Christ, wherever we are from and from whichever age in earth's history, to participate in a covenant relationship with Elohim (God). Yahweh has His own calendar and way that He wants us to conduct ourselves morally, ethically and spiritually in our lives that is distinct and separate from the way the world lives its life. Torah is that revealed blueprint. At the same time, we are expected to live in the world system operating it's own calendar and pursuing it's own way of life and that creates problems and challenges. It makes for an unavoidable tension. The easy thing to do would be to just 'go with the flow' but the price for doing that is a loss of our heavenly identity and, if we let that identity go completely, a loss of our salvation too.

That, inevitably, means we have to struggle to preserve what is holy against a relentless tide of unholiness. But recognise too that in a multicultural society such as we live in in the West, clashes in culture will occur anyway as one culture strives to dominate the other. It's not like it was in my parents' or grandparents' day when Britain had its own pretty uniform culture that was easier, in most respects, to navigate as it was mostly what one might call 'Christian' and different interpretations of Christianity managed to coexist reasonably well. Today we don't have that luxury. So whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, you face a struggle and must learn to stand your ground with grace whoever you are surrounded by. Thus the home, and the local messianic community or church, become spiritual pillars for a sense of well-being. The sabbaths, new moons and annual festivals are an important part of that structural stability. While the world has its confusing, ever mutating stories, Yahweh's Story - and therefore Ultimate Reality - remains constant. He does not change (Mal.3:6; Heb.13:8; Jas.1:17). Ultimate Reality does not change or contradict itself in any way. We always have a reliable reference point, a meridian of Truth.

One of the most essential rôles of Passover is to anchor Yahweh's people in the Story - their Story, our Story - of a supra-nation called Israel - not the counterfeit in the Middle East that I spoke about in my New Year sermon but the New Covenant heavenly Nation of Overcomers that is not yet fully here and therefore still "not of this world" in a literal sense (Jn.18:36), the old Covenant attempt at manifesting it having spectacularly failed because of sin. But it will physically come, and it will have a physical location, a visible government, a set of torot (laws) or National Constitution, and be filled from the bottom to the brim with the fullness of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). It's Navi (Prophet), Cohen Gadol (High Priest) and Melek (King) will not be elected into office by any citizens or be appointed by other men, but will descend from Heaven from the Presence of His Father Yahweh with the New Jerusalem as the resurrected 'Passover Lamb' Himself, and as the Final Moed or Appointment of the terminus of the present æon or age: Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). He will reign for a thousand years on earth and then hand all authority back to the Supreme Being, our Heavenly Father, Yahweh-Elohim (1 Cor.15:24-28), when Heaven and Earth are fully merged together (Rev.21-22). What a glorious day that will be! HalleluYah!

Those of us who came to salvation out of the world system face a unique set of challenges, which is not to say that those raised in Torah-obedient Christian households don't face their unique set of challenges too. We all of us have adjustments to make that will affect the quality of our lives. Even those raised in Christian families, though definitely having advantages over those who are not, still have to make a choice for salvation and Torah-obedience for themselves, and I'll not pretend that's any easier. As I mentioned, Christian parents and churches aren't infallible. Each and every boy and girl, man and woman, has to make choices in respect of their personal relationship with Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) that involve struggles and adjustments. No one is excepted and even though some seem to have had seamless, effortless journeys, know that is not actually so.

There are reasons why some are born in Christian homes and some are not, and these are related to our personality (and I am thinking primarily of that personality we start our life journey with) and therefore those tendencies in us which Yahweh foreknows. Your birth circumstances are therefore no accident. Moreover, these birth circumstances are not just for individual growth but are also related to our calling here in mortality to not only find salvation ourselves but to be what the navi (prophet) Obadiah calls "saviours (or deliverers) on Mount Zion" (Obad.1:21, KJV). Just as in adulthood we may, after being saved, be 'sent' into some mission fields, so too are we 'born' into certain mission fields, however appalling they may be sometines, like marines sent to save a desperate situation (often at great personal sacrifice) so that we can later identify with the lost and sufferings of the inhabitants of that birth culture or environment, so that like Christ - who took on fallen flesh to rescue all mankind - we can be used to rescue others in their particular circumstances (and they, us, too) - who might otherwise be permanently trapped and without hope. Having a perspective of preexistance and being called before our birth, like Jeremiah, does some way help us to understand some of the many otherwise perplexing 'why's' and 'wherefore's' of our birth and other circumstances. Truth told, we won't know the full picture until later, and must walk in faith and covenant love.

I felt it important that I say these things to you this year to start off the Passover Season because the world is radically changing, and will continue to do so in many unpleasant ways as in the fallout from the present Iranian (and now Middle Eastern) and ongoing Ukrainian Wars which are threatening to spread even further afield. We need, more than ever before, not only salvation (the most important thing) but also the structural stability of our Torah Way of Life.

I don't need to tell you the story of the Passover now because we shall be rehearsing it together this evening, as we do every year, and as hundreds of generations have told it during their Passover Haggadahs. If you are new to this work and would like to know more, I will leave a link to the liturgy of the memorial service we shall be participating in this evening:

Passover, then, is the root and foundation of all the festivals, it is our 'national story', as it were, that is based on truth, reality and contains sound principles for life. It tells the story of how our ancestors left their old world of bondage in Egypt in order to journey into Yahweh's Kingdom, and reminds us that it too involves decision-making, struggles and overcoming. Central to this festival is the unblemished Passover Lamb, the blood of which sprinked on the doorposts of our homes saves families from destruction, itself a prophetic picture of our Messiah, who was sacrificed for us that He might purchase for us eternal life and be raised to immortality in the promised New Heavens and New Earth. This is the central message of everything and we learn it in the first of the divine annual moedim or appointments. As we work our way through the eight festivals over the next 7 months, we rehearse the story in ever greater detail, deepening our spiritual roots as we choose to walk in that story ourselves, taking on the identity of Christ and becoming Messianic Israel that is both our eternal security and simcha (joy). It is a map for life, revealing a divine tavnith or pattern for shalom (peace), simcha (joy) and security. It is very much 'home' and a reminder of the kind of life we had before we were born and the kind of life promised to us in its fullness when Christ returns.

Therefore the Passover Season, the Story it tells, and what that means to us, is very much our spiritual foundation, consisting as it does of three separate annual festivals - Pesach, Chag haMatzah and Yom haBikkurim, and two sabbaths (the first and last days of Chag haMatzah), and therefore four types of lesson to be learned! This is concentrated instruction rooted in specific days ordained by the Creator for us to assemble, worship and receive instruction. Every year we learn something new by walking in this pattern if we choose to immerse ourselves in it. There are lots of articles on our website stretching back a quarter of a century that record our own journey as Messianic Evangelicals which the older folks here are passing down to the next generation for their edification. It's our gift to you and our offer of sacrifice to our Heavenly Father, so please pass the website on, so that many may be blessed.

With that said, I wish you a very blessed Passover and look forward to seeing you at sunset for the Passover Meal. In Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.