This is an interview with Tikkun America leader Todd Westphal. Ben Juster started by asking: Todd, you have been a long time friend and a transformational leader within our Tikkun America family of congregations. It is so good to have you with us share about how you mentor and develop people into a vibrant walk …
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I am writing this on my 50th birthday. There was a time when I was only half that old. I invite you to think back with me as I reflect … I am 24 years old and my not-so-well-thought-out decisions have put 1 me in a desperate situation. I’m a new single parent, but also…
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What are you empowered by? What’s the fuel in your tank? I’d like to suggest that we are designed by the Lord to run on the powerful fuel of joy. Joy can mean a feeling of great pleasure, happiness, rejoicing, cheerfulness, or even calm delight. This is not the caricature of joy where one is…
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As we conclude the season of light and clean up from all of the festive community celebrations, family gatherings, and joyful songs, I consider how important it is that we continue to evaluate our effectiveness of reflecting the light of God to the world. Of course, Yeshua proclaimed, “I am the light of the world.…
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In Acts 6 we get a glimpse into the multicultural tensions within the early Messianic community in Jerusalem. There were two subsets of the Jewish community, those with a Hellenistic (Greek) cultural background and those with a Hebrew background. No doubt there were many similarities between these two groups, but there were also differences, which…
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It was a dark, cold night over in the Atlantic Ocean. Most passengers aboard the Titanic’s maiden voyage were asleep in their beds, excited for their arrival in New York in the days ahead. At 11:40 pm on April 14th, 1912, the now infamous Titanic, despite the crew’s efforts to dodge the oncoming iceberg that…
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The phrase “Restorationist Messianic Judaism” is a moniker for our distinct biblical convictions. When we say “Messianic Judaism” we communicate an alignment with the mainstream of the Messianic Jewish movement world-wide, with a history which extends back to the fathers of our movement in the early 1970’s. The mainstream conviction for this movement even then…
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“Trust in Adonai with all your heart; do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him; then he will level your paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6 CJB When we get that call for ministry, whatever that calling may be, we tend to initially feel a bit apprehensive. We may start to question…
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Cavorting around the room, a little boy bellows with a loud “NEIGH!” and kicks up both feet in the air before continuing his jaunty weaving between the couches and around the coffee table. His sister calmly saunters up to him and loosely drapes a blanket over his back. “ There, there. Now you are tame…
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In part one of my article last month, I began describing how although most believers in Yeshua have no conflict with accepting that Jews were God’s chosen people in the Old Covenant, many today still misunderstand Israel’s irrevocable calling as described in Romans 11:29 and the calling for both Jews and Gentiles together in the…
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