Christ comes into those who have trusted in Him to transform them. Even the person who lived a socially perfect life in the eyes of the community is still lost and going to hell if they do not trust in Christ. Anyone trusting in themselves and their own good deeds will not be saved.
I once heard an arrogant Christian express that he was irritated at those people who had big bad stories about how terrible they were before they were born again.
He expressed that he never had a story like that and those who did were just showing off.
This told me that the prideful man who didn't have a big bad story to tell about himself was perhaps convicted that he didn't find anything bad enough in himself to repent from. In fact I never heard this man tell about his own sinful heart.
Everyone has a big, bad story to tell about their own willfulness before Christ transformed them. It is not possible to be repentant when you don't think you did anything bad enough to go to hell.
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"
No one is without a sinful heart, no one is "doing well enough" to be saved because they were so good.
Mark 7:21-23 "For from within, out of your heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly."
Christ made it clear that our thoughts alone condemn us even if we never commit the sin outwardly.
Those who are truly broken over their own sin will have compassion for the broken heart of another person who is repenting. Those who think they are above others with no sin are the ones who are the harshest toward someone who has repented.
Galatians 6:1 "Brothers and sisters, even if a person is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you are not tempted as well."
Those who obey the Bible love to see someone who has repented, because we know we had to repent to be transformed by Christ.
Saturday, April 4, 2026
God Never Intended a Holiday Such as Easter
Amen, Amen!!!!!
Amir Tsarfati
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Shalom from Japan!
When I first came to faith in Yeshua the Messiah, I was lost in a sea of events and holidays I had never celebrated, with names unfamiliar to me. Easter was one of them.
In fact, the modern Hebrew name for it – Pascha – was my biggest riddle. Later, I discovered that it is the Greek name for Passover. In my Jewish Israeli mind, it made sense that since the events took place during Passover, they would be connected to that name.However, when I began to travel in the United States, the name “Easter” kept coming up. “What is this all about?” I asked myself. I went to the books and found that the most commonly cited explanation comes from the 8th-century English monk Bede.
He wrote that:
The name derives from a pagan Anglo-Saxon goddess called Eostre (or Ostara). She was associated with spring, renewal, and fertility. The month in which the Christian celebration occurred was called Eosturmonath, named after her.Over time, when Christianity spread in northern Europe, the celebration of the resurrection adopted the existing local name.
Rabbits and eggs were also later cultural additions to the season, as they represent birth, renewal, and reproduction.
Much of the above may be interesting to see and experience, but to the average Jewish person, adding a new holiday can feel somewhat foreign. So I had to dig deeper, only to discover that there was never any need for a new holiday.
If the purpose is to celebrate Yeshua’s resurrection, then it is already embedded in a feast that was waiting for its fulfillment during that Passover season: the Feast of Firstfruits. It is the third of the seven feasts of the Lord listed in Leviticus 23:9–14.
Verses 11–12, in particular, identify both the timing and the offering:
“He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord.”
Paul the apostle wrote:
“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20)
So here you have it – a perfect fulfillment of an already existing appointed time. No need for new names or additional traditions.
Have a blessed weekend, remembering the real Passover Lamb who was slain and how, on the day after the Sabbath, He became the Firstfruits!
Thankful for His sacrificial death, empowered by His resurrection, and awaiting His return,
Amir Tsarfati
Friday, April 3, 2026
Seek the Holy Spirit and You will not go Wrong
For years, I didn't know that I was raised in a culture that valued people based on what they do rather than on inner character. Man looks at the outward but God sees the heart.
Luke 16:15 "So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God."
Anyone, even an evil person, can do good deeds to impress others while hiding their inner core self.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons God created a salvation message that no one can "do" anything to gain heaven. Our outward actions are not always an indicator of the character of the person.
While it is true that no one is righteous God declared, He is the one who guides and directs us when we are born again.
When we fail and do something that displeases God, it is a sign that there is still sin in our hearts that needs to be dealt with.
For unsaved people, those who were never born again, the focus must be on their sinful nature; as a whole, there is no good in them, even their good deeds are performed for self-interest, and self-promotion of some kind.
For those who have been changed into a new creation, the character has been changed by Christ; He lives in them, and their good deeds count for His glory, not for self-interest.
However, even those who have a new character through Christ can do good deeds God never told them to do; these are not pleasing to God. Only those things we do in obedience to the Holy Spirit will count. All other self-deeds, no matter how good, will be burned away on judgment day because they were done in the flesh and not in the Spirit. They will still be saved because they trusted Christ for salvation, their salvation is secure because it is a free gift without strings but the life is judged based on our rewards not our character.
1 Corinthians 3:14-16 "…14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. 16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?"
1 Corinthians 3:13-14 "his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward."
The good deeds of those who are unsaved will not count at all because their character has not been changed into a new creation, Christ does not live in them, and they do everything for self-exaltation, even if they don't want to admit it.
Far too many Christians worry about their activities as though they have been trained by others to do good things, but instead of seeking Christ for their calling, they throw themselves into the pursuits others think they should be accomplishing instead of seeking the Holy Spirit.
No one else can tell us what to do, they cannot know what God is saying to us, the direction He is taking us personally. Everyone will be doing things as led by the Holy Spirit and some of those things others will not understand.
Luke 16:15 "So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God."
Anyone, even an evil person, can do good deeds to impress others while hiding their inner core self.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons God created a salvation message that no one can "do" anything to gain heaven. Our outward actions are not always an indicator of the character of the person.
While it is true that no one is righteous God declared, He is the one who guides and directs us when we are born again.
When we fail and do something that displeases God, it is a sign that there is still sin in our hearts that needs to be dealt with.
For unsaved people, those who were never born again, the focus must be on their sinful nature; as a whole, there is no good in them, even their good deeds are performed for self-interest, and self-promotion of some kind.
For those who have been changed into a new creation, the character has been changed by Christ; He lives in them, and their good deeds count for His glory, not for self-interest.
However, even those who have a new character through Christ can do good deeds God never told them to do; these are not pleasing to God. Only those things we do in obedience to the Holy Spirit will count. All other self-deeds, no matter how good, will be burned away on judgment day because they were done in the flesh and not in the Spirit. They will still be saved because they trusted Christ for salvation, their salvation is secure because it is a free gift without strings but the life is judged based on our rewards not our character.
1 Corinthians 3:14-16 "…14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. 16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?"
1 Corinthians 3:13-14 "his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward."
The good deeds of those who are unsaved will not count at all because their character has not been changed into a new creation, Christ does not live in them, and they do everything for self-exaltation, even if they don't want to admit it.
Far too many Christians worry about their activities as though they have been trained by others to do good things, but instead of seeking Christ for their calling, they throw themselves into the pursuits others think they should be accomplishing instead of seeking the Holy Spirit.
No one else can tell us what to do, they cannot know what God is saying to us, the direction He is taking us personally. Everyone will be doing things as led by the Holy Spirit and some of those things others will not understand.
Thursday, April 2, 2026
Moving Toward the Tribulaiton When the Church will be Home
The world we are living in today, surrounded by but not crushed we carry on full of joy because we know what is coming next.
Ephesians 4:17-19 "17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more."
Ephesians 4:17-19 "17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more."
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