What determines whether someone is Jewish? Is it strictly ethnic lineage, or is there something else? Is someone a Jew only if they have Jewish parents or grandparents? What if you have distant Jewish heritage? Can you gain or lose your identity as a Jew through conversion? Are Christians spiritual Jews? In this episode, Kevin addresses the confusion and wide range of questions about who the Bible considers to be a Jew, and the eternal importance of that answer.
When believers in Yeshua first come in to a Messianic or Hebraic understanding of the faith, it can be an exciting and spiritually invigorating time. But as you begin to navigate this new, unfamiliar territory, it can also be confusing. Is this a Jewish faith? Is it Christian? Is it somewhere in the middle? And despite having moved on from one brand of religion, you end up just exchanging it for another one, mistaking it for a “true faith” in God. In this episode, Kevin addresses this blind spot that many believers have whenever they begin traveling a new spiritual path, and suggests a way to successfully reach God without religion.
It has been an issue in modern Messianic Jewish congregations basically since the beginning: many Gentile congregants have felt like second-class citizens in part because they’ve heard the often-repeated refrain, “to the Jew first.” In this episode, Kevin looks at the Scriptures to determine if this possible doctrine of favoritism has any basis in Scripture, and, if so, whether it is compatible with the Bible’s call for unity between Jews and Gentiles.
For a full week every year, beginning at Passover, God commands Israel to eat only food made without leaven (matzah) as a reminder of how God brought freedom to Israel and rescued them from their slavery in Egypt forever. In this episode, Kevin helps you to inwardly prepare yourself for the Passover season with a powerful insight into the matzah that will reveal and convict your heart of your true reality in Yeshua.
As Messianic Jews, what should our attitude be toward Jewish tradition? According to some, Paul tells us that we should keep the traditions of Judaism, just as long as they don’t contradict or violate Scripture. But is such an assertion really true? In this episode, Kevin closely examines the teachings of Paul and Yeshua for a Scriptural view of tradition.
Many Jewish and Gentile Messianics are drawn to Chanukah in large part because of how they see Chanukah fulfilled in Yeshua. But what if injecting Jesus into a Jewish holiday isn’t the point? What if the real point of Chanukah isn’t about miracles, latkes and lights, but something far more powerful and fundamental to our faith? In this episode, Kevin explains how knowing the real story of Chanukah will effect not just how you celebrate it, but how you walk with Yeshua in your everyday life.
The Messianic Literal Translation of the New Covenant Scriptures (MJLT NCS) is not just an important Messianic Bible translation that restores its Jewishness. It’s also an objectively excellent, reliable version that uniquely presents and preserves the word of God. In this episode, Kevin picks his five favorite features of the MJLT and explains how they each contribute to making it such a solid Bible version, setting it apart from all other versions of the Bible.
Rosh Hashanah—the Jewish New Year, the Feast of Trumpets. It’s the second-biggest holiday in Judaism, kicking off the high holy day season. Yet sadly, the beautiful and profound traditions of Rosh Hashanah are not found in the Bible. In today’s episode, Kevin takes a Scriptural look at this important day to explain what Judaism gets wrong, the true meaning of the appointed time, and how the traditions have influenced the theology of Messianic believers.
Both Jews and Christians agree: a Jew who believes in Jesus (Yeshua) is now a Christian. So what reason could there possibly be for a Jewish follower of Yeshua not to want to be called a “Christian?” Is he just being disingenuous? Maybe he’s denying his faith. In this episode, Kevin explains both from the Scriptures and his personal experience, how Jews can legitimately believe in and give their lives to Yeshua, yet also retain their biblically Jewish identity—and why the whole world depends on it.
Would it concern you to know that your pastor or rabbi or congregational leader holds heretical beliefs? Well, a few of them actually admitted to Kevin that they did in the 2020 Messianic Leaders Survey he conducted through MJMI. In this episode, Kevin explains some of responses and trends in theological beliefs among Messianic congregational leaders, and how they reveal both good and bad news for the American Messianic Jewish Movement.
a Perfect Word Ministry
