EASTER SERVICES

Join us for our Palm Sunday service on March 29th at 10:30am. Our Good Friday service on March 29th at 10:30am. We will have snacks and fellowship afterwards! Our Easter Sunday service will be March 31st at 10:30am. Come & join us as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus!

EASTER VIDEOS

READING THROUGH THE STORY OF PASSOVER

In 1956, Cecil B. DeMille released his epic three hour movie entitled, The Ten Commandments. It is the story of God’s deliverance of his people Israel from bondage and slavery in Egypt. The biblical narrative used by Mr. DeMille comes from the book of Exodus (with a little Hollywood license) to tell a story so grand and so powerful, we still talk about it today.

This year during our Easter celebrations at CFG we are going to honor that story because the Christian faith is rooted in that story. For years Christian Gentile believers have focused on the arrest, trial, execution, burial and resurrection of Jesus our Savior. This focus has not been bad or wrong, but in my humble opinion lacks some of the depth and connection to what God the Father was doing that day when allowed His son Jesus to be the Passover lamb.

In essence my friends, just like many Jewish fathers had done in Jesus’ day, our Father, the Father of all mankind took his lamb to the priesthood in Jerusalem. The priests (Pharisees) tested the Lamb to check for any blemishes, and though there were none in the eyes of the Father, they rejected the Father’s offering but still did to the Father’s lamb what they did that week with the lambs of all the other father’s in Israel. The broke him, they bruised him and they sacrificed him on a Roman cross. To the Father in Heaven, they did exactly what he had hoped they would do – sacrifice the Lamb, God’s lamb who would satisfy and appease his wrath so that from that moment on, there would be no more need for animal sacrifices.

This truth is rooted in the Exodus Passover story, and you and I as Gentile believers need to see it, honor it, value it remembering that our salvation and Savior (Messiah) came through the house and line of Israel. We need to understand that God has not finished with Israel, the nation he raised up through Abraham, established as a nation (even through slavery), delivered as a nation from that bondage, and established through the lines of the kings. God is not done with Israel and we need to know this truth and pray for the salvation of the House of Israel.

This salvation is two-fold according to scripture. It is first of all spiritual at the heart level that all men would come to faith that Jesus is God’s chosen, “…lamb who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29,36). This was announced by John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus as prophesied by Malachi (Mal. 3:1-4). And secondly, this salvation is literal at the Second Coming of Jesus who will rescue the earth from a horrid global leader we only know today as the ‘antichrist’ who will oppress the globe and seek to kill all of Israel. Through the story of the House of Israel we are to understand our faith in Jesus is both spiritual and literal.

This guide is to help with your Bible readings for Passion/Passover week (April 2-9). It is a reading and prayer guide meant to tell the story of Passover and inspire your faith for what Paul the Apostle called the unity of the faith through, “…one new man” (Eph. 2:15). Though spiritually God sees one new man unified at the cross, literally and in the nature of mankind, Jew and Gentile believers live in what we call in modern terminology a “blended family.”

In this season of Easter/Passover I believe it’s time to begin building our theological foundations regarding Israel. Through the Passover narrative we will review God’s plan for Israel as promised to Abraham (Abrahamic Covenant) and David (Davidic Covenant) and how the Passover fits into these promises. I want us clear according to scripture that God has not replaced Israel with the Church. That the story of Israel is a profound mystery worthy of our attention and prayer.

This reading guide is focused on several readings that will tell the story of Passover. As you read through the scheduled plan, ask Holy Spirit to speak to you and reveal to you his heart for Israel. The mystery of Israel is an impartation of revelation that comes from the Lord. I want our congregation and the individuals in it to carry God’s burning heart for Israel.

To God our Father, Israel is one of the most deeply personal and highly emotional subjects on his heart. End times prophecy tells us that all political entities (nations, ethnic groups, NGO’s, presidents and prime ministers, etc) will abandon Israel to the Antichrist. According to end-times prophecy only one group of people will NOT abandon Israel in its hour of need – the praying Christian church. We need to know this and be prepared for the cost of such a truth.

MY PRAYER FOR YOU:

Father, in this season of Easter/Passover, reveal to us your heart for Israel. What do you carry Father in your heart for your people Israel? Show us, open your heart to us…share with us your burning passion for Israel. Open our eyes to your son Jesus the Messiah, let us see what you see and feel what you feel when we, “Behold the Lamb!”

PRAYER MEETINGS

Join us over Zoom March 25th to March 28th from 6:30-7:30pm

You are invited to a Zoom call starting Monday, March 25th morning and ending Thursday, March 28th evening, the night before Good Friday. Use the button above for the evening calls.

• The Wednesday evening meeting will be at CFG church in person and we will pray for Israel.

• In each evening Zoom meeting we will focus on the narrative of that day’s readings, talk, discuss, ask questions and then pray.

• Each day’s reading comes with questions for consideration.

READING SCHEDULE