We receive an awesome newsletter on a quarterly basis, called Messianic Jewish Issues, produced by Kevin Geoffrey, founder of Perfect Word Ministries. Kevin was formally with First Fruits Of Zion, but left to start Perfect Word.

In his most recent newsletter Kevin dealt with a topic that is crucial to Messianic Jews - that of feast-keeping. There has been, through the years since the modern-day expression of Messianic Judaism was birthed, great confusion about how to 'keep' the feasts of the Lord. There has also been great judgment in the Body as various ones have compared what they are doing to observe the feasts as opposed to what others are doing. Some have felt they were superior, while others felt inferior. The Scripture tells us that we should not be engaging in such comparisons with one another. After all, none of us hold the standard to which others should attain. Only HaShem holds such a standard.

Kevin has graciously given me permission to share this article with you. It's part of his question and answer section. I felt his handling of the issue was so important that it needed to be shared with the wider community, not just those who might be subscribers to his newsletter. This article is reprinted from Messianic Jewish Issues, Spring 2012, ©2012 by Kevin Geoffrey. Published by Perfect Word Ministries, Inc. www.PerfectWordMinistries.org All rights reserved. Used by permission. The text of the article follows:

"Q: I'm really struggling with the feasts. I love Shabbat and studying the Torah, but for some reason I ... don't feel a drawing to keep the feasts, other than to study them at their time and season. I've prayed about this because I don't want to be disobedient to the Word ... Thanks, Kevin.

A: Perhaps it will help to look at this issue from a different perspective. When ADONAI instituted the annual calendar for Israel's feasts and appointed times, He based it on the Land's natural agricultural and seasonal schedule. Passover, for example, is in the Spring, at the beginning of the harvest season; Shavuot is at the end of the spring harvest going into summer; Sukkot wraps up all the harvesting in the Fall.

Now imagine that you are trying to keep these feasts according to this seasonal schedule in, say, Australia. If you don't at first notice that you're not in Jerusalem, and that there is no functioning Temple in Sydney, you'll surely notice that the weather is a little bit off - in fact, exactly the opposite from the Land of Israel (because Australia is in the southern hemisphere). This means that, from an Australian point of view, Passover is in the Fall, Shavuot is near winter, and Sukkot is in the Spring. It's backwards!

How about this example: Sukkot generally falls in early October. The sons of Israel are commanded to live in Sukkot (temporary shelters) for seven days. The temperature at that time of year in the Land is in the 70's and 80's-beautiful weather! Now let's swing around to the other side of the planet, and just a few latitudinal degrees north to Anchorage, Alaska. You've built your sukkah, and you're settling down inside the flimsy structure when you realize there's a bit of a draft ... it's about 40 degrees (during the day)! Not exactly an authentic Sukkot celebration, is it?

Here's what we need to understand: we can't divorce feast-keeping from the Land and the Jewish people. It's one thing for believers in Yeshua to remember these days, even to memorialize them in ways that honor and conform somewhat to the instructions of Scripture. But we must not imagine - nor attempt to convince others - that by doing so, we are literally obeying God's Word. Nothing in Scripture ever indicates that Australians are to harvest wheat in June, or that Alaskans are to rejoice for seven days in igloos!

The Torah stands forever, yet there are no Scriptural prescriptions for the people of Israel - much less believers in Yeshua from among the nations - to keep the Torah outside its divinely-given context as the constitution for a united, distinct nation in the Land. While Torah's teachings are profitable for all, feast keeping was not designed for the individual, but for the people of Israel as a whole community."