Do I really need to go to church?

From the Christian Post at https://www.christianpost.com/news/why-are-millennials-leaving-church-millennials-explain-192845/

Why Are Millennials Leaving Church? Millennials Explain

Nearly one year ago, Sam Eaton, a millennial from Minneapolis, wrote a blog post detailing “12 reasons millennials are over church.” Since then, he has received thousands of hateful and angry comments. But what he wants Christians to know is that that was his love letter to the American church.

“I got a lot of hate for this,” said Eaton, an elementary school music teacher and founder of a suicide prevention ministry called Recklessly Alive. “I love the church like Christ loved the church. I want to see it prospering and I look around and I see my generation has left.”

Eaton was joined this week by two other millennials to discuss his controversial blog post on “The Table” podcast, hosted by Dr. Darrell Bock, executive director for Cultural Engagement at the Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Bock invited them to try to better understand what millennials are thinking and why so many are leaving church.

For one, millennials want to be mentored, not preached at.

“Preaching just doesn’t reach our generation like our parents and grandparents. See: millennial church attendance. We have millions of podcasts and Youtube videos of pastors the world over at our finger tips,” Eaton wrote on his 2016 blog.

“Millennials crave relationship, to have someone walking beside them through the muck. We are the generation with the highest ever percentage of fatherless homes. We’re looking for mentors who are authentically invested in our lives and our future. If we don’t have real people who actually care about us, why not just listen to a sermon from the couch?”

Eaton clarified on the podcast that he’s not advising churches to stop preaching the Gospel to the younger generation.

“But if you’re relying on that to drive millennials into your church, it’s just not going to work because if I’m struggling with fear today, I can sit at home with my sweat pants and find 50 sermons by Francis Chan about fear,” he explained. “Yes, keep preaching but also come around us … teach me how to live these things out.”

Millennials not only want to be mentored but they also want to be heard and valued for who they are in a world that says they’re not good enough.

Another reason millennials are “over church” is that they’re sick of hearing about values and mission statements.

“Stop wasting time on the religious mambo jumbo and get back to the heart of the gospel,” Eaton wrote.

Expanding on that, Eaton said this week that though churchgoers need a common mission, they’re not impressed when the church spends more time talking about the mission statement than putting it into action.

Kat L. Armstrong, executive director of Polished, a ministry for young professional women, believes integrity is a big issue among millennials.

“I think millennials are serious about integrity in a way we’ve never seen before,” she said on the podcast. “Let’s have some integrity behind our words.”

Part of that includes serving the “least of these,” Eaton noted.

While many churches schedule countless “church-type activities” such as Bible studies, social functions and planning meetings, very little time is being devoted to helping the poor or least fortunate, Eaton argued.

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t be studying the Word of God; we should be studying that every single day. You should be in a Bible study … [or] in a small group but if that’s it, you’re kinda missing the point of this book (Bible),” he explained.

“I just don’t know how you can read James or Matthew 25, the least of these, and just go back to your normal American life and not live it out.”

Millennials are also tired of the church blaming the culture for everything, Eaton noted.

Nika Spaulding, director of Women’s Equipping and Curriculum at Watermark Church in Dallas, said the young adult generation needs help interpreting the culture.

“Rather than hearing it’s evil and dangerous, help us interpret it,” she said on the podcast. “That kind of teaching requires nuance … to help you navigate this world that is utterly broken and yet has redemptive value throughout it that we can find.”

The church also needs to start addressing controversial issues rather than avoiding it.

Issues include career, education, relationships, marriage, sex, finances, children, purpose, chemicals and body image.

“We don’t like how the world is telling us to live, but we never hear from our church either,” Eaton, who once struggled with suicidal thoughts, lamented.

“Tell us what the Bible says about these issues and then give us some space to wrestle with it ourselves and let us talk to God about what the Bible says,” he said.

Another big issue millennials have with churches is distrust and misallocation of resources.

“Over and over we’ve been told to ‘tithe’ and give 10% of our incomes to the church but where does that money actually go? Millennials, more than any other generation, don’t trust institutions for we have witnessed over and over how corrupt and self-serving they can be,” Eaton wrote.

What millennials want is “painstaking transparency” — such as a document on the church website tracking every dollar, he suggested.

Spaulding noted, “We’re being lectured all the time, ‘you’re living beyond your means’ and then you look at this $5 million debt of a [church] building.”

She said her church has a rule “where if my budget went on the front of the Dallas Morning News, would I be comfortable with that?”

“I think that holds me to a different level of accountability,” she noted. “Would I feel comfortable telling the 20-year-old who gave 10 percent of their $12,000 salary and the 60-year-old who … also gave me 10 percent of their $150,000 salary, am I valuing their contributions?”

According to a 2013 Barna survey, 59 percent of millennials (born between 1984 through 2002) who grew up in the church have dropped out at some point. Over a third said they left because of the church’s irrelevance, hypocrisy and moral failures of its leaders. Meanwhile, two out of 10 said they feel God is missing in church.

Armstrong said she hopes that churches can put “some defenses down” and “take some ownership on this” as they try to bring millennials back to church.

Bock agreed that change is needed.

“How can we preach and teach transformation and then not be willing to change? That doesn’t make sense at all,” he said. “So to be challenged to do better is not something that should threaten the church, it’s something the church should welcome.”

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Consider this. Perhaps if the “church” was being the church instead of simply going to church, as the Bible teaches, more young people might see the validity of gathering together regularly as the Bible instructs.

Hebrews 10:25, Not forsaking the assembling. The broader scriptural context of this verse gives us some valuable clues about the importance of believers in Yeshua assembling together on a regular basis.

What was in the mind of the writer of Hebrew that caused him to place this admonition about assembling together after his discussion about the earthy versus heavenly tabernacle, how Yeshua is our Great High Priest, and how the blood of Yeshua is much more efficacious in cleansing us from sin then the sprinkling of animal blood on the mercy seat in the tabernacle?

What’s more, the writer goes on to talk about the saints boldly entering the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary by way of the blood of Yeshua and being washed by the water of the Word of Elohim.

After this, he admonishes the saints to not forsake assembling together, and so much more so as they see “that Day” (i.e. the day of Yeshua’s coming) approaching.

What does all this have to do with the saints assembling together? It is this: The saints coming together (on the seventh day Sabbath, biblical feasts and any other times) should be a holy of holies experience — the nearest thing to heaven on earth this side of heaven! In as much as the holy of holy, in Hebraic thought, is a prophetic picture of the bridal chamber where YHVH will meet and spiritually commune with his people, by the saints assembling together, they are rehearsing the soon coming reunion between Yeshua and his bride (redeemed believers who love Yeshua by keeping his commandments) at his second coming. This is the larger context behind the admonition to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.”

The Benefits of Being Part of a Local Congregation

Church attendance is plummeting in America. Though roughly 85 percent of Americans claim to be Christian, only a very small percentage of these people attend church services weekly. Those who do, spend only one or two hours a week in church at the most. Even many Messianics or Hebrew roots-type believers have become victims of these trends. There seems to be a lack of discipline about regular church attendance, and many seldom go if at all. For many, church attendance has become a perfunctory ritual; people feel that they need to go to church, but they’re not sure why they do it.  

In Israel in the time of Yeshua and earlier, the synagogue was the heart and soul of each community. It was  the place of spiritual and secular education, prayer, fellowship, and acted as a sort of community center. We see that this was the case among the first century redeemed believers as well.

As many of us return to the spiritual and Hebraic roots of the Christian faith, then perhaps we need to reevaluate the role the local congregation played in the lives of our spiritual forefathers, and what the Bible teaches about this to see if our lives are mirroring the Word of Elohim. If not, then we need to ask ourselves some hard questions as to why so many among us no longer see the need to gather together with like-minded believers on YHVH’s appointed times (the weekly Sabbath and seven biblical feasts).

The Word of Elohim has much to say about the importance of gathering together regularly on YHVH’s Sabbaths including the biblical festivals. In fact, this is key to the spiritual survival of YHVH’s people, which is a crucial reason YHVH commanded his people to do it.

Yeshua told his disciples (and us), that if we love him, we will keep his Torah-commandments (John 14:15), which includes gathering together at his appointed times. 

Yeshua rebuked the religious hypocrites of his day for professing to obey YHVH with their mouths, but for not backing up their profession with action (Matt 15:8). James instructs us that faith without works is dead (Jas 2:26).

Yeshua rebuked the Laodicean believers for professing a faith in him, when, in reality, they were spiritually lukewarm. Elsewhere Yeshua discusses those who have professed a faith in him, who have claimed to have followed him, and who even appear to have done great spiritual works in his name, but who have failed to do the basic will of his  Father by walking in obedience to his Torah. This includes gathering together as a spiritual community on his Sabbaths and feasts. On judgment day, Yeshua will tell these sincere, but sincerely misguided people to depart from him — that he doesn’t know them (Matt 7:21–23)! 

Some Points to Ponder About the Importance of Congregational Life

In the Torah, YHVH commanded the Israelites to assemble weekly on the Sabbath (Heb. Shabbat) and at the seven annual feasts, which are set-apart convocations (Heb. miqrai kodesh) and appointed times (Heb. moedim, Lev 23:2). This same command applies to all Bible believers down through the ages because YHVH’s words and commandments don’t change.

Consider this: How can one properly obey the Torah without assembling weekly on Shabbat and the biblical feasts? To not be part of a congregation (a community of redeemed Israelite believers in Yeshua) and to assemble on YHVH regular appointed times is to disobey the very heart and core of the Torah!

Keeping Torah is a community affair. Those who are independent and act like modern-day Robinson Curosoes and Lone Rangers are not fulfilling the requirements of the Torah. Torah was for the nation of Israel, and Israel was meant to be a united community, not a bunch of scattered, selfish, and narcissistic individuals each looking out for himself and doing what was right in his own eyes irrespective of other members of the community. 

The Testimony of Yeshua (the New Testament) record show us that the first century kahal (church) was a community. The apostles expected that redeemed believers would be attending a congregation each Shabbat (Acts 15:21).

The kahal is like a human body; in fact, it’s the spiritual body of Yeshua (Rom 12:4–5; 1 Cor 12:12–30). All the parts cannot function properly unless they come together. Shabbat and the feasts are YHVH’s appointed times when this occurs.

In Acts 2:42, we find listed the main purposes of the spiritual community of the redeemed. The local congregation is…

  • a place to be taught the apostles doctrine (i.e. biblical truth or the Word of Elohim).
  • a place to be encouraged to remain steadfast in the apostles doctrine (i.e. biblical truth of the Word of Elohim).
  • a place of fellowship
  • a place to break bread (i.e. the spiritual bread of Elohim’s Word and the physical bread of shared community meals).
  • a place to pray collectively, to engage in synergistic prayer (i.e. there many examples of community prayer are found in the Scriptures (e.g. John 17:1–26; Acts 1:14; 4:23ff). Yeshua talked about the prayer of agreement where two or pray agree as touching any matter, and it shall be done, Matt 18:19–20). This was in a  congregational context.

YHVH started his kahal at Mount Sinai (Act 7:38). The community of redeemed Israelite believers is a continuation of that community of Israelites that began at Mount Sinai when YHVH gave the Torah to his people. When the modern saints, as redeemed or one-new-man (Eph 2:11–19) and grafted-in Israelites (Rom 11:25), the Israel of Elohim (Gal 6:16) and children of Abraham (Gal 3:7, 9, 14, 28–29) gather together each week, they are celebrating their eternal and spiritual heritage.

What Are the Benefits of the Being Part of a Local Congregation?

The Testimony of Yeshua (the NT) uses the Greek word ecclessia in reference to the kahal of Yeshua. The word ecclesia refers “to a group of individuals called out from the world that is organized and meets regularly.” This is the meaning of the Greek word.

  • The local kahal is a place to learn the fear of Elohim (Acts 5:11).
  • The local kahal is a place to corporately praise YHVH (Heb 2:12 qv. Ps 22:22, 25). YHVH inhabits the praise of his people (Ps 22:3).
  • The local kahal is a place to learn to walk in love and in the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit cannot be walked out fully except in community where people learn to work out their differences, and to cooperate with each other in a selfless way. It is a place where iron sharpens iron, where people learn to turn the other cheek when offended, and to love others unconditionally.
  • The local kahal is a place to grow and to excel in spiritual gifts (1 Cor 14:12). Within the local kahal, the gifts of the Set-Apart (Holy) Spirit should be at work to edify, exhort and comfort the believers (1 Cor 14:3). Such a rich spiritual infrastructure can only function as believers come together regularly in the corporate setting.
  • The local congregation is a place to share testimonies of answered prayers, blessings, spiritual breakthroughs people have received and other wonderful things YHVH has done (Acts 14:27). This builds up or edifies everyone and brings glory to YHVH. Through public testimonies the evil one is overcome (Rev 12:11) and all are encouraged and spurred onward and upward spiritually.
  • The local kahal is the pillar and ground for truth (1 Tim 3:15). The truth of YHVH is taught and defended within the local congregation, and there YHVH’s sheep are protected from grievous wolves who, if the sheep were outside the group, would be picked off one at a time by the enemies of YHVH Yeshua.
  • The local kahal is a place of spiritual accountability (1 Pet 5:5). There is accountability for a person’s actions and words within the context of a community where people get to know each other intimately. When the saints, in love and respect, hold each other accountable for their actions that are contrary to the Word of Elohim, this helps everyone to overcome sin and to mature spiritually.
  • The local kahal is a place to provoke (Gk. to incite or sharpen) one another unto love and good works (Heb 10:24).
  • In the local kahal, people learn to die to self by sublimating personal agendas and needs to the greater needs of the community. Those who are stronger spiritually learn to hold up, build up and encourage those who are weaker (Rom 14:1). This brings everyone to a higher level of spiritual maturity.
  • The local kahal is a place where people learn to serve one another (Acts 16:1) as they follow the example and admonition of Yeshua (Matt 23:11).
  • The local kahal is a place to help the needy and to support the ministry (Phil 4:15). 
  • The local kahal is a place to receive prayer for healing (Jas 5:14). 
  • YHVH’s desire to add to the local kahal of believers (Acts 2:47).
  • The local kahal is a place where like-minded believers come to support each other in times of persecution, to corporately pray or intercede for each other, and to  corporately discern the will of YHVH with regard to what their response should be toward that persecution (Acts 8:3; 12:1, 5).
  • There is moral support in community. People can help each other when they’re down, and rejoice when their up (Rom 12:15; 1 Cor 12:26).
  • A local spiritual community offers a multitude of counselors. There is wisdom and safety in a multitude of counselors (Prov 11:14). 
  • The local kahal is a place where people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds can learn to love each other unconditionally as equals before YHVH Yeshua.
  • The local kahal  provides a venue and platform for those with itinerate ministries to be able to present.
  • The local kahal provides a place for people to meet and marry.
  • The local kahal can help support and strengthen weak marriages.
  • The local kahal provides a place for the spiritual instruction of children.
  • The local congregation has pastors, shepherds and elders who can marry and bury people, provide counsel, visit the sick, and care for other needs of the flock.
  • Yeshua taught that the local kahal  is a place of arbitration for people to work out and to resolve their differences — to learn to get along and to live in peace (Matt 18:17; 1 Cor 6:1–4).
  • Elders, servants, and leaders are raised up in the local kahal (1 Tim 3:1ff).The “five-fold” ministry is able to function within the local body of believers (Eph 4:11; Acts 13:1; 1 Cor 12:28).
  • The local kahal is a place where ministries are birthed and launched and from which the kingdom of Elohim can be expanded and the gospel message spread (Acts 11:22). Spiritual synergism occurs when like-minded spiritually oriented people share their wisdom, knowle.g. gifts, efforts and resources in helping to advance the kingdom of Elohim. Those who are detached from the local kahal can’t accomplish as much as a group that pools its resources, support, experience and wisdom.
  • As Yeshua is the head over his kahal, so the husband is the head over his wife and family. There is a dynamic inter-relationship between Yeshua and his kahal, and husbands and their families. Paul calls this relationship “a mystery” (Eph 5:32). When Paul uses the word mystery, he is referring to “something that is hidden or is a secret that is confided only to the initiated, and not to the general public.” As one becomes a regular and an active participant in a local congregation, the mystery of how marriage and the family is a spiritual shadow-type of the relationship between Yeshua and his kahal will become apparent. The inter-relationship between marriage, family and the spiritual body of Yeshua—the local congregation—is so important that Paul clearly teaches that a man could not be an elder in the local kahal unless he has been married and has his family in order spiritually. (Eph 5:21–33; see also 1 Tim 3:5 and Col 1:18). Only a man who is married and has raised his children is qualified to be a leader in the local kahal. We may infer from Paul’s statements that only such a man could fully understand this deep mystery, and hence teach it to others.
  • The local kahal is a place for Gentiles (i.e. those who are without God and without hope, Eph 2:12) to be grafted into the spiritual olive tree of Israel (Rom 11:13–24), and for the lost sheep of Israel to regather and be reunited as prophesied (Ezek 37:15–28).
  • The local spiritual community is a place where end-times prophecy of Malachi 4:4–6 can be fulfilled. It is there that the hearts of the children will be turned back to the spiritual fathers of our Hebraic faith, and people will learn the ways of the Torah before the great and dreadful day of YHVH occurs just before the return of Yeshua (Mal 4:4–6).

Conclusion: “Forsake Not the Assembling of Ourselves Together…”

Our ancient forefathers, the children of Israelites, were part of a nation. They weren’t lone rangers! They came out of Egypt as a nation, trekked through the wilderness as a nation, built the tabernacle as a nation, worshipped YHVH as a nation, and entered the Promised Land as a nation. Israel was also a family comprised of tribes that collectively were called “the children of Israel.” They were also a congregation or kahal (Acts 7:38) who were called out of this world (or Egypt), and were given a divine calling and a common purpose (to worship and obey YHVH by following Torah) and a common destiny (to enter the Promised Land and to be the light of YHVH to the nations). 

The glue that held this community of families together was the Torah, and the cornerstone of the Torah was weekly (seventh-day) Sabbath and the annual biblical festivals. The axiom is true that says that the Jews didn’t keep the Sabbath as much as the Sabbath kept the Jews! Without the Sabbath and feasts, the Israelites tended to drift away from YHVH and his Torah such that the rubric “and every man did what was right in his own eyes” become the norm in Israel to describe their spiritual declension toward Torahlessness, idolatry and general spiritual lukewarmness. A quick review of the Book of Judges will confirm this fact. 

Can one properly observe the Sabbath and feasts and be Torah-observant without being part of a community? Affirmatively no! Leviticus 23 is very clear on this point. The Sabbaths and biblical feasts are divine appointments (Heb. moedim) when YHVH’s people are commanded to suspend their worldly routines and meet together with him. Furthermore, these days are also called set-apart (holy) convocations (Heb. miqrei kodesh) or literally “a set-apart time when YHVH’s people are called together” to meet with him and each other (Lev 23:2). This was the “church” in the wilderness to which Stephen makes reference in Acts 7:38.

At every turn, the apostolic writers emphasize the continuity of this spiritual community. From its very inception in the upper room, the “New Testament church” was a united community that met on the Sabbath and annual festivals. The Book of Acts is an historical record of this. The early redeemed Jewish believers were spiritually empowered together on Pentecost, prayed, broke bread, received spiritual instruction, sang, worshiped and suffered together (Acts 2:42; Eph 5:19; 1 Thess 5:14). Paul likens the community of believers to a human body comprised of various interdependent and indivisible parts that can’t exist independently and expect to fulfill the purpose of glorifying Elohim, manifesting the light and love of Yeshua to this world, and otherwise, edifying, comforting and exhorting one another (see Eph 4:11–16; 1 Cor 12 and 14). Brethren, these activities occur when redeemed Israelites assemble together on YHVH’s appointed times: the Sabbath and biblical feasts.

What’s more, please consider this important point. The broader scriptural context of Hebrew 10:25 gives us some valuable clues about the importance of believers in Yeshua assembling together on a regular basis. What was in the mind of the writer of Hebrew that caused him to place this admonition about assembling together after his discussion about the earthy versus heavenly tabernacle, how Yeshua is our Great High Priest, and how the blood of Yeshua is much more efficacious in cleansing us from sin then the sprinkling of animal blood on the mercy seat in the tabernacle? What’s more, the writer goes on to talk about the saints boldly entering the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary by way of the blood of Yeshua and being washed by the water of the Word of Elohim. After this, he admonishes the saints to not forsake assembling together, and so much more so as they see “that Day” (i.e. the day of Yeshua’s coming) approaching. What does all this have to do with the saints assembling together? It is this: The saints coming together (on the seventh day Sabbath, biblical feasts and any other times) should be a holy of holies experience — the nearest thing to heaven on earth this side of heaven! In as much as the holy of holy, in Hebraic thought, is a prophetic picture of the bridal chamber where YHVH will meet and spiritually commune with his people, by the saints assembling together, they are rehearsing the soon coming reunion between Yeshua and his bride (redeemed believers who love Yeshua by keeping his commandments) at his second coming. This is the larger context behind the admonition to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.”

Additionally, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews foresaw a time when believers would forsake the assembling of themselves together—presumably on the weekly Sabbath and feast days—and he warned against our doing this. In fact, the author admonishes the people of YHVH to be more dutiful about getting together as the day (of Yeshua’s return and judgment) approaches. 

Do you believe that we are living in the end times and that the day of Yeshua’s return is imminent? Do you want to be obedient to the commands of YHVH as revealed in his Torah (YHVH’s instructions in righteousness)? Do you want to be an active, growing and life-giving part of the spiritual body of Yeshua? Do you want to face the perilous times ahead alone, or with a community of like-minded people at your side? Then forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhort one another, and so much more so as you see the day [of Yeshua’s return] approaching (Heb 10:25)!

 

11 thoughts on “Do I really need to go to church?

  1. I wish there were like-minded believers around us to assemble with-but there aren’t and we are not in a position physically to head a home based gathering but I would rather keep His holy days at home with my hubby than go to a “church” (circus) Now regarding people leaving the churches, I have heard people say “there’s something missing in the church.” could it be Someone is missing in the church? We have tried sharing our faith and newly learned truths since coming to the Hebrew roots of that faith “once delivered to the saints” but they don’t want to hear it 🙁

    • Hi Carol

      sorry to hear you don’t have community around you to share these assembling times but I am so glad for you that your husband is following.

      We are in the same situation and initially it was me on my own for 3 years after I left church when God called me out to see His Words of Life instead of denominational interpretations that mocked God’s Words of Life.

      It is a difficult slog at times and quite lonely without the stimulus of community seeking the same goal of perfecting ourselves in Messiah.
      Aren’t we blessed so much by this online ministry that Natan and Sandi are called to do!.

      Our Father blesses each of us & knows our tests and trials. Enjoy these beautiful days of the Feast Season. Have Simchah together and much Shalom sister.

      One day there will be no more tears and we will all be praising together!
      Love in Messiah
      FJ

      • Shalom Natan

        did try to respond earlier but it has gone to hyperspace I think.

        At present we have no-one here with us but it is early days yet. I think Abba is helping my husband and me become more solid in our relationship with each other THROUGH His Word as it has been a torrid few years.

        We are just beginning.

        This year we have made a commitment to celebrate together with more understanding and humble hearts and we will be going to Colorado for Yom Kippurim and Sukkot.

        I have kept in contact with a Sister on e-mail after reading a book she wrote about healing and faith that touched me a lot.

        I asked her earlier in the year about a place she may recommend for us to go and worship in community as I thought it would be a step forward together for us and a great encouragement.

        I was also keen to go to USA so the issue of which day is the actual biblical 7th day would not be a barrier which I will find in Australia until it is completely resolved in my heart. I don’t want to disturb others who are just coming out of Sunday worship and confuse them with how I have discerned what is the 7th day because of the dateline unless Abba desires me to more directly.

        Graciously we were invited to stay with them and celebrate within their community and have been able to watch online to find so much of the understanding aligns with where Abba has taken me.

        I have not been on any holiday with my husband for the 3 years because of my faith stance and we came very close to separating over my following of God’s words, allbeit imperfectly but with great desire. We have both been humbled a lot by our loving Father.

        This trip began as a beginning of reconcilliation with some fear from my husband if he will be able to be around ‘ God Stuff ‘ for so long but we are trusting for good. Originally his desire was to make it more a holiday in Hawaii which is one of his favourite places with a tack on Sukkot for me but El has been working on us both and there is an expectation of seeking and following developing.

        We will be breaking our travel both ways; there & back but I don’t want to break fellowship with Messiah and will be guarding my heart to be in the world but not of it ,whilst still being grateful for the good things He gives; to use them appropriately being the goal. Please pray with me for that.

        I am not sure if we will be able to travel like this again as my husband is 75 & a pensioner with some health issues and I am a lot younger & need to work ( I am a house cleaner) but am hopeful we will be disciplined financially and blessed for tithing to travel more to be in community…

        Thanks for your efforts. I don’t always say everything I think either and need to learn how to approach with an attitude of love differences if they are important. Like I said it is early days for me and Abba is working on my personal inconsistency and double heartedness. I pray I will be willing to listen to the His voice and grow in discernment, to live out the little and the big truths He wants us to do.

        Love in Messiah to all
        FJ

  2. Hello dear ones; in Messiah .I can totally comprehend everything Carol & FJ. MENTION..
    I too & my family ,husband & 2 sons have come out of the Sunday ( Constantinian church…that celebrate Easter & Christmas …& some even mention mother & fathers Day …etc….of course in America there r holidays such as Thanks giving etc…

    We first discovered the word Sabbath..(early 2003) ..the true 7 th day one ….however most believers especially in Sunday keeping churches …see The GREGORIAN calendar as being the one believers in Jesus follow…hence to them Sunday is sabbath,..or as they say entering Jesus Sabbath rest… …
    I agree we should enter his Sabbath rest …( totally ) just not the Sunday one which came into being after the early ECCLESIA congregation ceased to exist as it was & Rome took it’s form of religion to many corners of the earth…thru Europe England etc..

    It is just so hard for some of them to see !! Even when you show them the true historical facts..re all of the above…traditions of men r hard to forsake & leave behind…that’s where the battle is .begins …

    one past Senior Pastor of a big church where we live & attended for a while back in 2001 wrote a letter to my husband saying the Feasts etc… & I quote from the note he typed to my husband : re Feasts of Israel – a subject which most of God’s people are totally ignorant of, & also one that most ministers neglect, & have no care for. We are robbed of so much of the Word with “self- help ” and “motivational preaching.”

    As for Christmas & Easter – both Pagan & Romanistic things that carried over into Protestantism & commercialism. Ah well- he says: have to give it over to God. Can’t seem to break these pagan traditions….& to this day they really don’t want or care to change… what a falling away from the true word of our Elohim.

    we as a family gave up Sunday first ..as Father revealed ; then we gave up Christmas & Easter in 2003 …..& the father led us by his Spirit. So a lot of years have passed.
    He just led us , as he revealed one truth he showed us another. Until we came into an understanding of how Yeshua is prophetically in the Feasts… The True Appointed times..
    It can be like you r a small fish swimming upstream against the flow… But the eternal benefits will be much greater because of our obedience to the Father & truth.

    There is one Messianic congregation in Melbourne Australia where We live …Jewish converts & other believers…they helped us to understand the Feasts..etc..but we fellowship with like minded believers in their home a family with grandchildren as well.
    We rotate fellowship between us …if we can’t get to their house or visa versa we just celebrate with the 4 of us..in our home…and as FJ. types this wonderful blog Hoshana Rabah has been such a blessing.

    • Shalom Christine

      the road may be lonely but as we come up bearing our sheaves of grain (the fruit of our lives choosing righteousness in Him) more and more join to sing! How wonderful for your family to be unified in greater truth than the usual Christian worship that forgets and adds. May be go on in love to grow in the Spirit more and more in the Most Wonderful Truth our Saviour!

      There may also be a Perth based community remembering El’s Sabbaths too that I found on Fbook through some work that Skip Moen did as a presenter of Hebrew thought and concepts to challenge Greek thinking & interpretation of the Bible.

      And also congregation on the Gold Coast too. I don’t have the address information to hand. ( I am still learning to discipline the way I order information & as you may have experienced there is a lot of information and what to keep is not always easy to figure out.)

      May you have a blessed time over this Season of Repentance and drawing nearer still in Joy.
      FJ

      • Thank you Natan & F.J. I am so encouraged by being able to type a word or two & I feel like I have Fellowship even though i can’t hear your voices…( I do know what Natan sounds like but FJ. thank you for acknowledging my comment/reply & Blessings to all of you ; every single person who reply’s with a comment on the Hoshanah Rabah blog…may we all be found worthy in this season as we meet with Yeshua, thru his purchased blood he paid in full for all of us..

        .WHAT A BLESSED HOPE WE HAVE IN OUR SAVIOUR…MAY HE HEAR OUR HEARTS CRY IN THIS SEASON OF SEEKING HIM & TURNING OUR HEARTS TO REPENTENCE EVEN DEEPER.

        Love to you all in Yeshua, sincerely The Chapman Family.

  3. There are many of us who have no community to worship with. I live in a remote area and I attend a small local church occasionally because I know I need to BUT I find it almost repulsive observing the usual rituals and traditions that don’t resemble scriptures at all and I find it very difficult to listen to teaching and preaching that I now know is not true.

    I am a senior citizen with health problems and live in a granny pod on my daughters property so starting my own fellowship isn’t a solution.

    Please understand that some of us don’t have a choice… I am praying that will change and I believe ABBA will send me someone to worship with! In the meantime I am thankful to have online fellowship with like-minded believers and I am trying to slowly teach my local family and friends that there is more to the scriptures than just the New Testament!

  4. Shalom Cindy you have a cyber community and Abba knows it and created a good use for it to feed you. ( A bit different from so many wrongs ways the web is used ) May you be blessed in this season of repentance and May our Great King send you flesh and blood companionship that hungers and thirsts for truth in love, so you can sing up a storm together.
    Love & Blessings FJ

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