Jewish holidays and festivals

Yet again I find myself drawn to the idea of celebrating Jewish feasts. While listening to a CD over the weekend it was pointed out that the weirdness around full moons cannot really be understood without the context of the feasts of the new moon. But, without observing those holidays, an academic understanding will only be book learning.

So, the outgrowth of this is to try and track down a reliable, fairly straightforward book on the festivals. There are a few online, but, I don't have a lot of money to put into new books about something tangential to my walk. I really want to fill out the details, but, there are lots of more fundamental things that come before an answer to a question like this.

If anyone has suggestions on a good book, let me know.

Crisis of action

I tend to be a patient person, although that seems to be waning as I get older, but, I find myself at a loss recently when struggling with an issue. At the end of Mark 16 are these verses:

14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Now, I can easily dismiss things on lots of grounds. For instance, I can read this and say these "signs" were something the apostles were demonstrating, but, it's certainly not something I should feel expected to do. But, when I read verse 20, it says disciples, not apostles. So, that one goes out the window.

So, the reasoning goes, if disciples of Christ are confirmed by the signs that accompanied his word, what am I to conclude from my life? I see two possibilities: 1) the Gospel is wrong and these signs are not necessary to confirm the Lord working with me, or 2) I am not doing what the Lord said. Since I believe the Bible, I will have to go with option 2: I am not doing what the Lord said. And, it saddens and angers me.

Lord, help me to know what to do. Teach me how to go into the world and preach the good news. Help me understand what you really want. And, if it is this simple (which I think it is), make me a preacher and teacher of the good news in the fullness of your love, power and Holy Spirit.

How to replace the counterfeit with the real

I once heard that cigarettes are a substitute for the Holy Spirit. How? Well, people get similar physical responses from smoking a cigarette to what occurs when the Holy Spirit falls on them. Okay. Fair enough. So, my next question is: if we see people in bondage to some counterfeit, are we supposed to pray that the Holy Spirit would meet their needs? I know freedom is a key pray (deliverance), because without that we are only patching a sinking ship. Nonetheless, are the vices people indulge themselves in indicative of how the Holy Spirit needs to be ministered to them? Are people's sins a way to approach them? If so, Lord, tell me how?