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Due to recent derogatory statements against the Messianic faith made by a Charlotte rabbi, the Charlotte Observer asked for me to write an article explaining what Messianic Jews are all about. Since that would be a book rather than a short article, I briefly described some of what it means to be a Jewish follower of Yeshua the Messiah. The only change the paper made was to my original title (“Who are these Messianic Jews?”), perhaps in hopes of spicing it up a bit. We hope that you will find this article edifying and encouraging as you use whatever opportunity is available to you to share the Good News of Messiah. 

As I looked in a 'real' Bible (not a Christian one) at the Scripture portions that they said had pointed to Jesus, I had to admit (though not to them) that I could see where they might get such a misguided notion. The more I looked into it, however, the more I secretly found their proofs convincing (though I would not give them the satisfaction of admitting as much). I even met with a local rabbi to get the real interpretation on the portions. Strangely, his explanation made less sense. Finally, after several months, I became convinced that… Oy, He is our Messiah!

Though at the time I thought I was the only real Jew to believe such a thing, I soon found out that there were and are many other Jews, from all sorts of Jewish backgrounds who have accepted the Biblical evidence that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel. (There are various estimates that put the number of Messianic Jews at anywhere from 200,000 to 1.3 million worldwide; there's probably 200-300 in the Charlotte area.). And yes, I also found out that His name in Hebrew is, in fact, Yeshua. 

Ironically, other Christians, who apparently don't accept the authority of Scripture, think that it is wrong for messianic Jews to “insult the Jewish community” by our very existence. We struggle to share the joy and forgiveness that Messiah has given us with a world that increasingly sees any moral absolutes as narrow-mindedness and disrespect for others who differ. But in all struggles, we find God's grace in Yeshua sufficient for our lives. Even in our struggles, we rejoice in Yeshua. At Hope of Israel Congregation, our Messianic Shabbat (Saturday morning) worship services are different than most traditional Jewish and Christian services. 

They are more like celebrations of joy with both upbeat, and subdued Jewish style worship music (with an Israeli style dance team on the side). 
The purpose of our worship is to honor HaShem and to focus the congregation's attention to their full acceptance in Messiah. Since God is an “equal opportunity Savior”, we fully accept Jew and non-Jew alike into the fellowship.  Our Scripture studies come from both the Tenach and Brit Chadashah (Older and New Covenants), with emphasis on the Jewish cultural background of the portions. After all, it was Jewish writers who were inspired to produce both Covenants concerning the fulfillment of God's promises and prophecies.

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