Our Passion | Messiah Fellowship Norcal

Our Passion

At Messiah Fellowship, our passion is to share God’s word with anyone who is interested. “… but sanctify YHWH God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. 1 Peter 3:15 Yeshua said, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel, (the good news of the Kingdom, the reign of the heavens), to the whole creation. Mark 16:15

Our Creator’s desire is that our lives will be transformed. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

All this is so His people can become “… a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9

We desire to be available to all who are looking for the God of the Bible, the God of Abrahm, Isaac and Jacob. Our Father is calling His people back to a relationship with Him and His Son, our Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). People are hearing… “Shema ~ Hear and obey, O Israel, YHWH your God, YHWH is one. Love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Our Messiah emphasized that the Shema is the first and greatest commandment. He was asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Yeshua, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: YHWH our God, YHWH is one. Love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31

Another passion we have in our congregation is to teach our children the word of God and to fill our homes with reverence for Him! Observing the annual Holy Days, listed in Leviticus 23, enables us to teach our children the significance of each day in the Creator’s plan of salvation through Yeshua our Messiah. Every Holy Day focuses on Yeshua as our Messiah and reminds us that God our Father is working out His plan to save the world through His Son. “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” II Peter 3:9

We desire to have the same passion Yeshua had when he said, “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because YHWH has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the YHWH’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn…”Luke 4:18, Isaiah 61:1

At Messiah Fellowship, we love passionate prayer and enjoy praise through music. We’ve found that words in song can be a type of prayer. They are closely related.

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16 “…Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. James 5:13 “What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.” I Corinthians 14:15 “…Make a joyful noise to YHWH, all the earth! Serve YHWH with gladness! Come into His presence with singing!” Psalm 11:1-2 “Let the word of Messiah dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16 “…Oh come, let us sing to YHWH; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!”Psalm 95:1-2 “…Praise YHWH! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.” Psalm 147:1 “And David and all Israel were rejoicing before God with all their might, with song and lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets.” I Chronicles 13:8 “Praise YHWH! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens! Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with trumpet (shofar) sound; praise Him with lute and harp! Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with strings and pipe! Praise Him with sounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!” Psalm 150:1-6

At Messiah Fellowship our passion is to glorify God with our entire body.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” I Corinthians 6:19-20

Praise through dance is also a passion at Messiah fellowship! Honoring Him with our bodies is possible through expressions of praise in dance.

Let them praise His name with dancing; Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre. Psalm 149:3 “Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! Again you will take up your tambourines, And go forth to the dances of the merrymakers. Jeremiah 31:4 “Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together, For I will turn their mourning into joy And will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow.” Jeremiah 31:13 “Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing.” Exodus 15:20 “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness…” Psalm 30:11

These are our passions.