The Assembly Part 1 When I was attending a local church, one of the concerns I had about “house churches” was that they could deviate into error. What was there to keep them from going off the rails and turning into a cult? Mainstream Christian denominations had their statements of faith and hierarchies of clergy to keep their assemblies on their particular version of the straight and narrow, but when one moves out from under these control mechanisms, what do we have to keep

Restoring the Priesthood of All Believers through God’s pattern in the Tabernacle of Meeting - Part 10 Putting it all together – The Tabernacle: God’s pattern of how He wants to Dwell among us, Meet with us and Speak with us How to live out our holy priesthood before God To enter God’s tabernacle as priests we have to first go through the Altar of Burnt Offering and the Bronze Laver. The Altar: 1. Have we been consecrated as priests? Have we repented of (turned away from) our

Restoring the Priesthood of All Believers through God’s pattern in the Tabernacle of Meeting - Part 9 The Priesthood of All Believers Ancient Israel was a kingdom of priests to God . Ex 19:5-6 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant , then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation . These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Is

Restoring the Priesthood of All Believers through God’s pattern in the Tabernacle of Meeting - Part 8 Between the altar and the Tabernacle is the Bronze Laver . Ex 30:17-21 Then יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: “You shall also make a laver of bronze , with its base also of bronze, for washing . You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar . And you shall put water in it, for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. When they

Restoring the Priesthood of All Believers through God’s pattern in the Tabernacle of Meeting - Part 7 The Altar of Burnt Offerings and its Sacrifices When we go outside the tabernacle we find two items in the court of the tabernacle, the altar and the bronze laver. Christ our Atoning Sacrifice The altar is outside the Tabernacle in the courtyard. It is where sacrifices were burned. They are a type and a shadow of Christ who is the actual atoning sacrifice for our sins. Heb 10

Restoring the Priesthood of All Believers through God’s pattern in the Tabernacle of Meeting - Part 6 The Altar of Incense holds the Prayers of the Saints We now move on to the third item in the holy place, the altar of incense (there is also a golden censer of incense in the Most Holy Place). The Altar of Incense represents the Prayers of the Saints . Ex 30:1 You shall make an altar to burn incense on ; you shall make it of acacia wood. Rev 5:8 Now when He had taken the scro

Restoring the Priesthood of All Believers through God’s pattern in the Tabernacle of Meeting - Part 5 The Holy Spirit’s seven lamps light up Christ through the Torah – the showbread whom we are to eat. When we observe the Holy Spirit’s ministries, Isa 11:2 The Spirit of יהוה shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding , The Spirit of counsel and might , The Spirit of knowledg e and of the fear of יהוה . it is clear that He is teaching us … knowledge, unde

Restoring the Priesthood of All Believers through God’s pattern in the Tabernacle of Meeting - Part 3 Yeshua and the Torah… continued The Torah declares the attributes of Christ John 5:46-47 “For if you believed Moses , you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me . But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words ?” John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses , grace and truth came through Jesus Christ . Yeshua brings truth (the Torah) and grace (the

Restoring the Priesthood of All Believers through God’s pattern in the Tabernacle of Meeting - Part 3 Today we’re looking at the attributes of Christ that the Holy Spirit is declaring and illuminating for us on the Table of Showbread. This subject is so vast, we’ve devoted two articles to this topic and we’re still only scratching the surface. Yeshua and the Torah Yeshua is the Way, the Truth and the Life John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “ I am the way , the truth , and the life

Restoring the Priesthood of All Believers through God’s pattern in the Tabernacle of Meeting - Part 2 In our previous article we looked at the Ark and the Most Holy Place, today we’re looking at the Lamps and the Showbread Seven Lamps in the Tabernacle Moses was commanded to make seven lamps in the tabernacle Ex 25:31 & 37 You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flower

Restoring the Priesthood of All Believers through God’s pattern in the Tabernacle of Meeting - Part 1 Wouldn’t it be great to meet with God, have Him speak to us and dwell among us? Have you ever wanted to hear from God? God has given us His model, His way of how we are to meet with Him. He even called it the Tabernacle of Meeting just so we’d know what it was for. This series of articles will look into the tabernacle as God’s pattern for meeting with us. We’ll be looking at

Warning: This article may upset some people… As a believer, would you be comfortable participating in a satanic worship ritual? I would hope you would say “Certainly not,” because God forbids us from doing this. Exodus 20:3-4 “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor ser

Most believers would consider their answer to the question “Are you under the Law?” was pretty easy. It would be “No.” They would reach for Romans 6:14 and rightly proclaim that as followers of Messiah, Paul has clearly stated they are not “under the law.” Rom 6:14 states For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace . (KJV) The vitally important question leading from this is: What does “under the law” actually mean? Given Rom 6:14 i

Today we’re investigating one of the cornerstone teachings of Protestantism, namely that Christ died to do away with the law (Torah or Old Testament laws). This is taught by mainstream Protestant theologians, pastors and teachers the world over. There are only three options regarding the law (Torah): The law is completely done away with and now none of it applies; Some of the law still applies e.g. Thou shalt not kill; All of the law still applies. One of these statements has

There’s a bit of history in this post, but if you can make it through to the end you should be able to join the dots. Antiochus IV Epiphanes (God Manifest) was a Greek king of the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC. His original name was Mithradates (gift of Mithra – the Persian sun god) and he assumed the name Antiochus after he ascended the throne (he clearly had quite the ego!) In 167 BC he invaded Jerusalem where he profaned the second temple and dedica

Anabaptists rejected hierarchical leadership structures, emphasising that ministry was the responsibility of the entire congregation. If Martin Luther restored the idea of the “priesthood of all believers,” the Anabaptists restored the idea of the “prophethood of all believers.” This truth is clearly seen in a Swiss Anabaptist document dated 1532-1534 and entitled “Answer of some Who Are Called (Ana) Baptists: Why They Do Not Attend Churches.” The primary reason they had give

Here is a News Release from Fuller Theological Seminary on Missions “We are profoundly grateful for the heritage given to us by the Jewish people which is so vital for our own Christian faith. We believe that God used the Jewish people as the sole repository of the history centred disclosure of Himself to mankind. This revelation began with Abraham and continued to the Jewish writers of the New Testament. Not only were the oracles of God committed to them (Romans 3:2), but it

If you’re interested in starting/trying a New Testament style fellowship here are some foundational keys to help you get you started. Some of the NT practices have already been outlined in the earlier Reformation articles and you will have noticed they vary greatly to current “church” practice. The format and structure of the NT assembly is fundamentally different to a church service model – hence the need to shift to a “home based” model. Trying to force these New Testament

Continuing on from our last article, we will keep exploring key foundational issues around starting and running a New Testament style assembly. Authenticity Yeshua said “By their love shall you know them.” Living in community with other believers (not in a commune, but regularly going from house to house), will provide plenty of opportunity for spiritual growth. Proverbs 27:17 says “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” Steel sharpens steel

So what was this New Testament Jerusalem like? If we’re heading back to Jerusalem, we need to know what we’re rebuilding… The Assembly Service – When? In New Testament times the believers gathered on the first day of the week – Sunday right? Well yes and no. With a Hebraic foundation, the faith operated on a biblical calendar which means the day starts when the sun goes down the night before (no possibility of worshiping the sun god here). So after celebrating the Sabbath, be