The Five-Fold Podcast
Five-Fold ministry for today. In this podcast we will attempt to determine biblical timelines as they correlate with current events. We will examine the offices of the Five-Fold ministry and gain biblical direction for the world today.
The Five-Fold Podcast
Special Episode: A Deep Dive into the Significance of Shabbat for Today's Believer
Have you ever wondered how ancient traditions can breathe new life into our modern faith practices? Join us, Michael Weedman alongside pastors and teachers, as we embark on a spiritual journey through the layers of Shabbat dinner traditions and their astounding relevance to contemporary church life. We'll tackle the common misconceptions about Easter and share the parallels to the authentic Last Supper, enriched by my personal travels to Israel. The insights from Scott and Teresa's Shabbat dinners for lone soldiers in Jerusalem might just inspire you to rethink your own faith rituals.
As we light the Shabbat candles and pour the wine, the episode illuminates the profound symbolism behind these age-old rituals. We discuss how these practices aren't just routine; they're a deeply spiritual act that brings us closer to the holiness of God. From the gentle glow of the candles to the sanctified sips of wine and the hidden secrets beneath the covered challah, every gesture is steeped in significance, connecting us to a higher purpose and inviting us to rest in Jesus, our Lord of the Sabbath.
Approaching Passover, we'll share how our church community is preparing for a special Shabbat dinner that's both a reflection of our roots and a nod to the five-fold ministry's place in today's spiritual landscape. Learn how we weave the humility of foot washing and the intimacy of communion into this season of remembrance. By the end of our discussion, you might find yourself considering how these ancient customs can enrich your own spiritual path, no matter where you are on your journey of faith.
What is happening everybody? Welcome to tonight's episode of the five fold podcast. And this is a special episode uh, not in our normal schedule, so we'll be right back. Oh, good evening and welcome to this episode of the five fold podcast. I'm your host, michael Weidman, and I would like to say thank you for taking the time and joining us tonight on the podcast.
Speaker 1:The five fold podcast focuses on the five fold ministry and the importance of that ministry in today's society. We believe that there is still a need for apostles, for prophets, for pastors, for teachers, for evangelists. They haven't ceased. They're still in operation today and necessary for the success of today's church. So join with us as we dive into this episode of the five fold podcast. As darkness prevails around us, god is shining a light on the radio waves of mankind. A group of diverse individuals from all walks of life have come together to start. Of God and men. Of God and men is a central hub for content creators sharing the hope of Jesus Christ in the form of a podcast. Pastors, evangelists, counselors, school teachers and emergency personnel have all come together to bring you a network of inspiration. Join us as we face all areas of life with the gospel of Jesus Christ. What is up everybody? Welcome to tonight's special video episode of the five fold podcast.
Speaker 1:I am going to do something a little bit different and I'll explain a little bit why. So, as many of you know, march 30th I think it is 30th, 31st okay is the Catholic rendition of the celebration of the death of Jesus correct? Obviously the resurrection, I'm sorry, not the death. The death would be on a good Friday, and then they believe that the resurrection occurred on that Sunday, and somehow it just happens every year that way. Now, we all know I'm not Catholic hopefully I don't think none of you guys are Catholic but we all know Jesus wasn't crucified on a Friday and he wasn't risen on a Sunday. And it doesn't stay the same every year. Days change, calendars change, the days rotate. So the holiday that Jesus would have been celebrating before his death. Whenever they came to the last supper the last supper wasn't just a supper they threw together last minute and celebrated this, this. Oh hey, I'm going to die tomorrow, by the way. So tonight I'm going to go to the garden, I'm going to pray and then tomorrow morning I'll be put to death. That's not. It's not. It's not what happened. They were celebrating, as we all know, passover, now, the Sabbath is the last day. Now depends on what your dialect is in Hebrew If you're going to speak Sabbath or Shabbat, shabbat, shabbat or Shabbat. Whichever dialect you want to choose, it's the same thing the Sabbath day, shabbat. It is the day of rest, the seventh day God created all in six days and on the seventh day God rested. So tonight I want to go over a special episode on a Shabbat dinner, which is what they would have been celebrating on the last supper. During the last supper, they were celebrating the Shabbat dinner.
Speaker 1:Now I've been blessed to go to Israel multiple times now. I love traveling to Israel. I actually have a burden, I would say, of going to Israel. I was unfortunately unable to go to Israel this last year because the dates that we were going to go were in October and everybody knows the horrible travesty of October 7th there in Israel and the war that began there with Hamas. So we were unable to go this last year.
Speaker 1:And I'm gonna tell you what I have been homesick ever since. I just I Want to go back. I need to go back. It is my desire, my, my hopes, that every year I will be able to travel to the, the land of Israel, and I will Take a group of individuals pastors, ministers, sunday school teachers, whoever it is and we will all experience Israel together, and my, my goal with this is to make sure that Everyone has the ability to experience this at least once in their life. Every believer, I believe, needs to travel to Israel at least once in their life. It will change the way you look at the word of God. It will change the way you read the word of God and the way you understand the word of God. Context really does matter. Culture matters when it comes to context, because in order for you to understand, sometimes, what Jesus was saying, you have to understand who he was talking to when he said what he said.
Speaker 1:So when was I going with all this? Okay, so During that time I was able to meet. I've been able to meet many great people. I've been able to volunteer at Homes for troubled youth in Israel, I've been able to work with different groups of volunteers and things like that, and I was able to meet a family, scott and Teresa. They're they're wonderful people, wonderful people. They have a home in Jerusalem that they open up to lone soldiers, soldiers who Are from overseas, who volunteer to come and serve in the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces. They have no family there in Israel, so on Shabbat, when all of the other soldiers are going home, they open up their home to these men and women to come and to Enjoy a Shabbat dinner on Friday night, as well as to spend their day of rest in their home. Some amazing people and we have been able to spend a couple of Shabbats with them, and every year when I go, I make it a point now To bring our group to the Shabbat dinner and experience a traditional Shabbat dinner in a Jewish setting. Now, scott and Teresa are Christian, their believers messianic. They believe in Jesus Christ, the Messiah right, yeshua Homeshia. They believe in Jesus, but they still host this traditional style Shabbat dinner every week for the lone soldiers and for For those who are there. So there are a lot of things that I realized during this Shabbat dinner that I brought home and I started teaching At the church. We will have a Shabbat dinner so they can experience what a traditional Shabbat dinner is and they can see what Jesus would have been Celebrating, what Jesus and his disciples celebrated every Friday night Everything from the communion.
Speaker 1:The communion wasn't. Here's the thing about communion. A lot of people look at communion and they think, well, this is something Jesus just started at the Last Supper. This is the wine, this is the bread, this is my body, this is my, this is my blood. No, they think, excuse me, they think that that's just something that Jesus started there. But Jewish families, ever since the law of Moses, have been breaking bread and drinking wine every Friday night. They they have been Doing this in observation of the Sabbath of Shabbat every single week.
Speaker 1:Communion is an important part of of our beliefs. Communion is an important part of our faith, but it's not something that was just made up overnight. Everything from the Old Testament, from the time of the Passover lamb, from the time of creation, all the way up until the end of the book of Malachi, when, when the Old Testament kind of closes right and I know it wasn't written in that order that you know it's in you have to understand that when studying the Bible, that you know just because Genesis is first doesn't mean it's the oldest book. Matter of fact, job is the oldest book, but that's, that's another podcast for another time. But everything from the beginning until the end. In actually the book of Revelation, I'll include the New Testament as well. Everything points to Jesus. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's what the entire word of God is.
Speaker 1:And so, with all of these traditions that every Jewish family sits down and and and Celebrates every single week with the, with the Shabbat dinner, those traditions point to Jesus, and so what I've done is I've brought these back to our church and we have began to study these things and we began to Open our eyes to what the tradition is and what it means, and and how we can glorify God in Celebrating these Shabbat dinners. And we don't know, we don't do it every week. I would love to do it every week, but as a church trying to get together every week, you guys know how it is trying to get together with people every week. So what I want to do is I just want to talk for a minute and I want to kind of explain how I do it. Now, this isn't the way every Jewish family does it, but this is the way I've learned, and there's gonna be some people who's gonna disagree with some of the things that I do, and that's fine. If you can show me a better way, show me a better way. Inbox me, email me, call me, text me and and talk to me and say, hey, this is this, is this okay, but this is what I've learned and this is what I've picked up and this is what I've brought back and we have Done together as a church and, I'll be honest, it has been every time we have done this it has been a very, very Spiritual experience and we have we've been blessed. We have been blessed.
Speaker 1:So we start off, of course, the Shabbat. We know what the Shabbat is. The seventh day God rested and he commanded in In the law. He said remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Now, remember that word. Remember doesn't just mean hey, remember this, right, it doesn't mean just just I'm reminding you know, it means To observe it, to obey it, to observe the Sabbath day, to participate in the Sabbath day. So it was a commitment to the people of Israel.
Speaker 1:Now, before we go any further way, to say, let me. Let me just address this, because I know there's gonna be a lot of people that say, well, you don't observe the Sabbath day. No, I do, I work on Saturdays sometimes and all these things, and I don't observe Every bit of the laws of the Sabbath day and so on and so forth, and there's a reason for that, because Jesus is the Lord of my Sabbath. He is my Sabbath. I have found my rest in Jesus. Matter of fact, the book of Acts and I'm not gonna get into a whole Detailed thing tonight about this, but the book of Acts, there's only four laws given to the, to the Gentiles. I'm not, I wasn't born Jewish. I Was adopted by the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank you, lord. So, yes, we don't observe the Sabbath day like they did in the Word of God, like they did in the law of Moses, but it is it. There's a lot of types and shadows and a lot of things point to Jesus, and I just want to kind of share that with you.
Speaker 1:Okay, so the very first thing that, that that the Jewish people will do in the traditional Shabbat dinner is they will light candles and and say a blessing over the candles. Now I have this is a replica, of course of an first century candle. This would have been what it would have looked like the the, the liquid, the oil would go in here and you would light your, your, your wick, and it would just burn as such. Okay, this is a no, you don't have to use these kind of candles. A lot of people use just regular Tall candles and a candle stick, and that will light the candles.
Speaker 1:Now, the candles are a representation of the spirit of God, the spirit of God that spoke and said Let there be light. This is a representation of the light of the spirit of God. Now, remember this is something that was commanded to you, moses, in the Old Testament, in the law, to pass on to the people for them to observe weekly. Now a Little bit deeper into that. The candles represent the light of the spirit of God. Look at John, chapter 1. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God, the word was God, and all things were made by him, and without him was not think. One thing made, that was made. He was the light of the world. Jesus was that light, the candle lit. He is our Sabbath. He was that light to the world, that light that shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehended to him not. So the representation of the candles as the first thing being lit is the representation that Jesus, the spirit of God that dwelt within him, the spirit of God that dwells in man today, that spirit is the light of the world.
Speaker 1:And so, while lighting these candles, a traditional prayer and I'm not going to do these in Hebrew, brachata, I don't know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna speak in tongues for you tonight, but I'll read the translation of this and speak it in English so you can follow along. So the prayer, the blessing over the candles would be this Blessed are you, god, ruler of the universe, who sanctifies us with the commandment of lighting Shabbat candles. Now, the whole point of the Shabbat is to remember it, to keep it holy, right, the holiness. It is a, it is a, a celebration of the holiness of God that we worship, the beauty of His holiness. The lightning or the lighting of the candles is a holy thing. It represents the holiness of God, the light of God, the spirit of God, that holy spirit of God.
Speaker 1:So interesting thing to is during the Shabbat, they will bake. On the Friday, they will bake Loaves of what's called challah bread. Ha la, you got to get that. That flamin there, right, ha la bread. Now I'm gonna share a Picture with you real quick. This Is what the ha? La bread looks like, and man on my mouth is watering right now just thinking about how delicious this bread is. I mean, come on, man, just look at it, it's so beautiful, that's, that's the fat kid in me the ha la bread.
Speaker 1:During the time that they're lighting the candles, they would take the ha la bread and they would cover it with with linen, with, with, with a rag, a linen rag for the next part, because the next part of the Shabbat dinner is they're going to fill up a glass, a cup, a shallots, whatever you want to call it with Wine. Or if you're, you know, sanctified and you don't drink wine, you just drink some grape juice, right, they'd fill it with wine. And the next thing they're gonna do is called the Kaddish and they're going to drink the wine. And and it's a sacred time it it talks about the, the wine being the, the, the one that reveals secrets, right, the secret reveal, or the holiness of God. This is the reason why they cover up the, the ha la bread, and I'm getting a little bit Distracted here, I'm sorry. The reason why they cover up the ha la bread is they, they don't want the ha la bread to be, they don't want the bread to be what's the word Jealous? Because they have chosen the wine Before the bread.
Speaker 1:Now, the wine is the spirit, right, the wine of the spirit, the. Jesus said this this is my blood. Drink of this, this is my blood. And then the bread, of course. Now, it wasn't ha la bread that they were eating during communion, it was unleavened bread. Right, it was the, the matzah bread. Then we'll get to that in a little bit.
Speaker 1:But the, the ha la bread on a regular Friday night, not the, not the unleavened bread. But the ha la bread is still a representation of the flesh, right? So you've got the spirit that should be preferred over the flesh, and you have to cover that flesh with something in order for that flesh to not Be riled up. So again, another type, another shadow. So the, the kaddish, the blessing over the wine or the grape juice, whatever you want to do, I will read this Real quick.
Speaker 1:This is the, this is the blessing. Blessed are you, lord, our God, ruler of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine. Blessed are you, lord, our God, ruler of the universe. How has sanctified us with his commandments and favored us and given us in love and favor his holy Shabbat as an inheritance to remember the act of creation, for this day is the beginning of all holy days a Remembrance of the exodus from Egypt, for you have chosen us and have blessed us. From among the nations, you have bequeathed us your holy Shabbat in love and favor. Bless are you, lord, who sanctifies Shabbat. So that is the blessing.
Speaker 1:And then they would sip the wine and they would pass this and share the Kaddish after the Kaddish, the. The next thing that they would do is they would wash their hands. Now, this is one of my favorite parts, because I want people to wash their hands before we start touching anything. Right, we've already lit candles, we've already sipped the wine, the grape juice. Now let's cleanse ourselves, let's wash ourselves. So what they have is a Chalice like this, and you will see these. If you ever go to Israel, you'll see these. When you go to any holy place in the Jewish and Judaism, in the Jewish Religion, you will wash your hands before you go there. Before you go to the Western Wall, one of the most holy places in Jerusalem for the Jewish people, you will wash your hands before you go there. These there's a big fountain sitting outside. You'll see these. You'll wash your hands.
Speaker 1:So what you do is you lift with your dominant hand, you transfer to your non-dominant hand, fill, wash your dominant hand. If you're right-handed, it would be your right hand, of course. One, two, three shake, switch hands. One, two, three shake and Then you will Put the cup down. Why, why the dominant hand? Why? Why do you transfer from the dominant hand to the the less dominant hand and wash the dominant hand first? It's an act of submission. It is showing that our power and our authority has to be transferred, transferred to God, to his authority, to his power. We trust in him.
Speaker 1:Again, types and shadows. So the blessing, the cadish over the After the cadish, we do, the blessing over the hand washing. And this is the blessing. Blessed are you, lord, our God, king of the universe, who has sanctified us with your commandments and Commanded us concerning the washing of the hands. It is a form, a type of a mitzvah right. A mitzvah would be the, the ritual cleansing before you entered into the temple, before we can partake in the holiness of God, we have to cleanse ourselves, we have to wash ourselves. That's what baptism is, baptism. This points to baptism. Before we can, we can rest in Jesus. We have to put him on, we have to cleanse ourselves of ourselves and we have to surrender our authority to him and we have to put him on. Those who are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Speaker 1:There's there's a lot of types, there's a lot of shadows, there's a lot of a lot of things, and when we're we're doing this at the church, we we break these down and we talk about these in depth. Now, I won't do that to you tonight, but this is what we do, and the next thing that you're going to do is you're going to uncover the, the holla bread, right, the holla bread, and you're going to break the bread again. What they were doing they were, they were celebrating the Shabbat. Now they were celebrating the feast of unlaven bread. So they didn't have the holla bread. They had them, the, the Matzah bread, but the holla bread.
Speaker 1:After you, you break it open and you, you say this prayer the. The host does all this. Right. The person leading the father of the house Does all of this and leads his family into holiness. Again, there's another type, there's another shadow fathers, it is our obligation to lead our families by example into the holiness of God. So the prayer over the bread is this Blessed are you, lord, our God, king of the universe, who has brought forth bread from the earth. Notice something in all these blessings and all these prayers, everyone of them start off the same Parachata Adonai, blessed are you God. It is a, it is a first before anything else. It is a, a Declaration that God is the Lord. Blessed are you, lord, our God, king of the universe. You, you've commanded us, you've, you've sanctified us, you've given us these things. So, after the bread is Broken open, it would be shared, right? You take off a piece, share it, take off a piece, hand it out. Take off a piece, hand it out. Everybody would partake in this bread. Same thing with communion.
Speaker 1:Now, the Matzah bread. Let's talk about that real quick. Which is what it is the unlaven bread. Right, it is made in a very, very specific way, and that specific way is important. So this is what Matzah bread would look like. Now, of course, if you're doing Homemade bread, it's gonna look a little different. This is, this is store-bought. I mean, you could make it like this. Obviously people do, but you buy a store-bought or something, it's gonna look like. This looks like a big saltine cracker, right, it just doesn't have the flavor of a saltine cracker. It is made specifically. It is made specifically.
Speaker 1:Now, one of the interesting things about the Shabbat dinner is this when they use the, the matzah bread, they will Take the three pieces of the bread, they'll put them together and, of course, they'll be unwrapped in their linen. They'll take them, they'll open them, they'll break them. Now, the way it's prepared, just real quick. This is, this is a Passover Meal, right, this is a Passover example. The bread has to be striped, cut, right, you take the knife, you stripe the bread because it has no yeast and has no lay in it. All, right, it's, it's, it's not gonna rise. So, in order for it to cook thoroughly, in order for it to cook to two completion, you have to slice it. And then, after you slice it, right, you have to pierce it.
Speaker 1:So, jesus, the representation and I'll get into this in a minute he was Bruce for iniquities. Right, he was, he was, he was whipped, he was slashed, he was sliced with that cat of nine tails. Not only was he sliced, he was also pierced For our iniquities. Right, he was pierced. And so this bread, which is the Passover bread, the body of Christ, right, he said this is my blood, this is my body. And it matter of fact in the scripture, in the book of Matthew, when he talks to me, says if you don't do this, you have no pardon me. You have no pardon me if you don't recognize what is happening at Passover, if you don't recognize the fact that Jesus is dying for your sins, if you don't recognize he was striped, he was bruised, he was pierced. If you don't recognize him, you have no part in him. So the cool thing here? Just interesting. Let me get back on track. I'm. I'm going way over tonight and that's, that's just an explanation video.
Speaker 1:Okay, this Bread. They have three pieces. They take the middle one out, they break the middle one. They take the broken one, they put it inside a piece of linen, they wrap it up and then they hide it in the house. Now they hide it in the house and at the end of the night, which ever child finds that hidden bread, brings it back, gets a prize. Now, we were created in the image of God, right, we have body, mind and spirit. The body of Jesus. The body was broken for us and the name for this actually means resurrection. It was broken for us. He was buried and three days later he rose. He was resurrected. This is what the rep, this is the pointing, this is what this is. Thank you, it's amazing to me, honestly, it's just amazing to me. I'm moving forward.
Speaker 1:So there's three courses to the Shabbat that we use. Okay, the first, of course, that we do is kind of like an appetizer type course, will do a Garden salad or an Israeli salad, which it's so simple to make. You take tomatoes, you cut them up. You take cucumbers you cut them up. You take bell peppers you cut them up, put them in a in a bowl together. You take olive oil, put it on top of it. Lemon juice, put it all over it. Salt pepper, shake it up. That is amazing, it's delicious. Okay, it's, it's delicious.
Speaker 1:A salad served at every meal in Israel. Hummus, hummus, we have hummus whenever we're doing this. All of these, these things together, we, we, we have for the first course of that meal. Then we'll have some sort of soup, and Matzah ball soup is phenomenal, phenomenal, it is very good. And then, after the soup, will have a main course. Usually people like a fish, any kind of fish, or anything like that. They'll have the fish and stuff like that and these three courses are done and, of course, at the end you've got to have dessert of some sort. I mean just some kind of sweets, something like that, and the kids will find this Last pizza piece not pizza last piece of Matzah and they will receive a prize for finding that.
Speaker 1:Now, again, this is just the way that we've done it here. It's a process and Everything has a purpose. There's a reason during the time of eating. It's not a free-for-all, it's not a buffet. People aren't going up and getting their own plates. The host that the father serves the family, the host usually serves. He'll dish out the soup, serve it, dish out the food, serve it. It's a, it's a representation that we must deny ourselves right and serve others. Everything has a purpose and With Passover coming, passover begins.
Speaker 1:Give me one second. I think it's the 22nd, passover is 22nd of of April, passover begins. So our church, our church, will actually do a, a Shabbat dinner that week as well, just to to recognize. We'll probably do some Foot washing and communion during that time as well. But you know, we're old-school like that. We still do that old thing called foot washing and all that good stuff. This is just a little example of what we do and I thought, since it is coming up on Passover, that I would share a little bit of that with you, but nonetheless, love you all. I pray you have a great day and God bless. Hey, I want to say thank you for joining us tonight on the five-fold podcast. I pray that you've been blessed and that you have enjoyed what you have heard. Join us every week as we release new content Concerning the five-fold ministry and their place in today's church. You don't want to miss this the five-fold podcast. God bless.