Welcome to our Sabbath gathering. We like to read the Scriptures all week long, but we also like to get together for fellowship on the Sabbath. We like to study together, but we also like to enjoy each other’s company, and lift each other up in Him. We try to be here for each other, in Spirit and in truth. So mostly we are a group of friends who love to sit around and talk about our Creator, His Son, and His word. We hope you will join us.

 

We gather on the seventh-day Sabbath at 1:00 PM, and on the third day of the week (“Tuesday”) at 6:00 PM. We usually begin about a half an hour after we open. We will be happy if you would please join us as often as you can.

 

Contact: Norman Willis, servant@nazareneisrael.org

 

 

 

It is a real blessing to read the Bible, and it is a real praise when someone reads it. However, everyone seems to get different things out of the Bible, and it can be difficult finding a group that believes similarly to you. If you don’t agree with everything we say, then we still want to know you, but we thought we should put a short packet together, so you can know if you believe like us.

 

We believe the Messiah is our perfect example, and that He set an example for us to emulate. We know we will never be as good as He was, but we believe we are supposed to try.

 

 

It is difficult to live up to the same standard the Messiah and His apostles did. We all have emotional issues, but we feel it is important to try to emulate our Messiah’s love for our fellow men. Really loving our brothers is the most important thing, but we also believe that there are some specifics. Since the Messiah liked to meet with His spiritual brothers and sisters on the seventh-day Sabbath, we meet on that day also.

 

 

Lots of people think the day of worship was changed to Sunday, but we don’t see that in the Bible. We will be glad to talk about that, if you want. However, what we see is that we were told to remember the seventh-day Sabbath as a day of worship and rest forever, all the way back at the time our Creator Yahweh (“Jehovah”) gave the Ten Commandments to Israel.

 

 

You will probably hear us using the original Hebrew names a lot. We like using the original Hebrew names, especially for our Creator (Yahweh). We like it when people call us by our real names, and so we believe He probably does as well; and it has also been suggested that maybe the Third Commandment tells us to use His real name, as the word “vain” means something different in Hebrew, than it means in English.

 

 

Certainly we should not curse, or use Yahweh’s name in a negative way. However, in Hebrew the word “vain” means something like “let it lie desolate, or unused.” So when we use a substitute for Yahweh’s name (like “God” or “Lord”) we are letting His name lie unused (or desolate). In Hebrew His name is spelled יהוה. No one really knows for sure how this name is pronounced in English, but most scholars agree it is something like “Yahweh, “Yahuweh,” or “Yahuwah.” We believe it is important to honor Him by trying to call Him by His name, pronouncing it as best we can.

 

You will probably also hear us calling the Messiah by His Hebrew name, “Yeshua” (or “Yahushua”). While some people want to call Him “Jesus,” since we know His name is Yeshua (or Yahushua), we feel it is better to call Him by His real name (just as we like to be called by our real names). I would not like it if someone knew my name, but called me something else, and I’ll bet you are probably the same way. But that is just to let you know why we use the Hebrew names.

 

We also see that it was the Apostle Shaul’s (Paul’s) custom to go into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

 

 

In the synagogues in Shaul’s day, there was a “ruler of the synagogue” so that things would be organized, and remain orderly, but if any of the people (such as Shaul) had something to share that would benefit and edify the people, he wanted them to have time to share.

 

It is also interesting that Shaul continued to go into the synagogues so many years after Yeshua’s ministry. The Christian Church teaches that Shaul went around “planting churches,” and that the only reason he ever went into the synagogues was to convince the Jews to convert to Christianity, and go into his new churches. However, that is not what we see written in the word. Rather, what we see is that Shaul continued to self-identify as an Israelite, and he tells us that Elohim had not cast away His people whom He foreknew.

 

 

Sometimes people have been taught that Yahweh did cast away His people, but this is not what we read. The only time we read that Shaul ever set up a separate place of worship was when the ruler of the synagogue in Corinth refused to believe on Yeshua, and opposed him. Shaul then went and set up a temporary assembly next door, where a man named Justus lived. But then the ruler of the synagogue (Crispus) and his family came to believe on Yeshua as the Messiah.

 

 

It does not say what happened then, but they probably all went back into the regular synagogue. And we see that Shaul continued to talk with his Jewish brother until the very last, saying he had done nothing against either his people (the Jews), or against the Jewish customs.

 

 

The Jews did not see Shaul as someone who had come to replace the nation of Israel and its customs, but only as a member of a “sect” (or a part) of Israel.

 

 

The word “sect” has bad connotations today, but it only refers to a “section” (“part”) of something. For example, Catholics, Protestants, Greek Orthodox Christians and Independents are all “sects” within Christendom; while in modern Judaism there are several different sects:

 

1.    Orthodox Judaism (Phariseeism)

2.    Conservative Judaism

3.    Reform Judaism

4.    Karaite Judaism (Sadducees)

 

In the first century, these were the main Jewish sects:

 

1.    The sect of the Pharisees (Orthodox)

2.    The sect of the Sadducees (Karaites)

3.    The Essene sect

4.    The Nazarene sect (believed on Yeshua)

 

The Pharisees identified Shaul as a ringleader of the “sect” (or “party”) of the Nazarenes.

 

 

Notice that Shaul did not deny he was a Nazarene. Rather, he said that while the Pharisees called the Nazarene “way” of life a “sect” (KJV: “heresy”), he still believed everything that was written in the Torah (the Laws of Moses), and in the Prophets.

 

 

Shaul never called himself a Christian, or a “spiritual Israelite.” Rather, he continued to think of himself as part of the nation of Israel. The apostles were all just Israelites who accepted Yeshua as their Messiah. They continued to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, and the original Israelite festivals. This is because the Messiah said not to think He had come to do away with any part of the Torah (Law), or with any of the prophecies over Israel, but only to fulfill part of the prophecies.

 

 

Sometimes Christians say that even though the Messiah said not to think He had come to do away with the Torah or the Prophets, that really He did come to do away with them. We are told this is because He said He came to fulfill part of the prophecies. But if you are in a marriage, and your marriage is fulfilling, does that mean your marriage is now over?

 

In contrast to what Shaul said, Christianity teaches that the Torah and the Prophets are done away with. This belief first shows up in Mark 9:38.

 

 

The phrase “does not follow us” means that they did not believe the same things that the Messiah and His apostles believed. That is, they did not believe what Yeshua had said, not to think that He had come to do away with the Torah and the Prophets, but that if we break even the smallest part of the Torah (the Laws of Moses), that we will be considered least in the kingdom of heaven.

 

However, people don’t like laws, even when they come from Yahweh. Most people find it easier to accept the idea that they can have eternal life if they do not have to obey any laws, than if they do have laws to obey. For this reason, Christianity grew much faster than the original Nazarene Israelite faith; and this is why Yeshua tells us that when He returns there will be “many” who do wonderful things for Him, but do not keep the Torah.

 

 

The Greek word for “lawlessness” is “a-nomia,” which literally means, “without the Law” (of Moses). We know this can only refer to the Christians, because only the Christians are a “many,” who call Him “Lord,” prophesy in His name, cast out demons in His name, and do many wonders in His name. Thus, even though love is the most important thing, Yeshua tells us that if we want to show Him that we love Him in truth, then we need to keep His commandments.

 

 

One of the great secrets of Scripture is that those who follow the Messiah are really part of the lost tribes of Israel, who are being called back to the nation by the working of His Spirit. Originally there were twelve tribes in Israel, but after the reigns of Kings David and Solomon, the ten northern tribes broke away, and began keeping false worship (1 Kings 11-12). Various prophecies tell us that Yahweh would disperse these lost tribes for thousands of years, only to bring them back to the nation of Israel in the end times. These lost tribes are called the house of Israel (or Ephraim).

 

 

Whether they realize it or not, those who follow the Messiah and try to keep His commandments are of the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Ephraim). This is also why the apostles write to these lost tribesmen.

 

 

Remembering that the tribes who were “scattered abroad” make up the Dispersion, we see that Kepha (Peter) also writes to the lost tribes of Israel.

 

 

So if the Messiah said that He was only sent on His first trip to the lost sheep of the northern house of Israel (Ephraim), and if the apostles write to these lost tribes, then this would also explain why there are no gates for Christians in the New Jerusalem, but only for the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

 

In Acts 11, many “gentiles” were being given the gift of the Spirit, and in Acts Chapter 15 the apostles were debating how these lost tribesmen could come into the synagogues, and learn more about the Torah. It was ruled that they could begin coming into the synagogues if they would only abstain from four things: idolatry, sexual immorality, meat from strangled animals, and blood.

 

 

Yahweh tells us not to add anything to His laws, or to take anything away.

 

 

Not even the apostles have the authority to add or take away anything from the Father’s laws (i.e., with regards to the worship), but the apostles were not making up anything new. They were simply summarizing some of the more important parts of the Torah for those who were new. That is why Ya’akov specifies that Moshe has had many who “preach him” (i.e., read from the Torah and the Prophets) each week in the synagogues since ancient times. If the new believers would just keep these four basics, then they could come into the assemblies and learn more.

 

So the idea is that those who already have His Spirit can come into the assemblies and learn more from the Torah, the Prophets and the writings of the apostles if they abstain from idolatry, sexual immorality, from meat that has been strangled, and from blood. There are various interpretations as to what those things mean, but the one that seems to be the biggest issue in the modern day is sexual immorality. We understand the marital covenant to be sacred, and that it was intended to be a life-long union between a man and his wife. According to Scripture, any kind of sex outside of a life-long union between a man and his wife, or any kind of wrongful divorce is sexually immoral.

 

 

Marriage is a sacred institution. In other studies we show that if a woman who has been put away for adultery remarries, then the covenant between her and her husband is broken, and he is no longer responsible for her. However, if she has not remarried, even though he may put her away (divorce her) if she is sexually immoral, she continues to be his wife, and he is to pray for her all his days. The goal is that they be restored to a healthy and happy marriage, both for the sake of their own vows before Yahweh, for the sake of any children they may have, and for the sake of society.

 

The issue of divorce and remarriage is very complex, and it can be extremely emotionally painful for some. Our purpose is not to judge anyone, but to help teach on Yahweh’s standards, so that those who want to do the right thing before Yahweh can do so, and also so that the next generation can be brought up in the way it should go. If you are divorced and have remarried, and then have later come to faith in the Messiah, there are sometimes when you should simply “remain in the calling in which you are called.”

 

 

We understand that relationships can be complex. It is not always helpful to break up existing marriages, and try to go back and recreate old ones, especially if one of the old partners is not a believer. If your situation is difficult, we can help you to understand what Yahweh’s word says on this matter. We won’t ask you to believe anything just because we say it. Rather, what we want is for you to study these matters out for yourself, and let the Father’s word minister to you directly.

 

We believe nothing is as authoritative as the words of the Father and Son, or the words of the prophets (while they were speaking Elohim’s words). This is because the words of Elohim are higher than the words of man.

 

We hope you will place the Father’s word first in your life, and that you will please ask us questions about any part of our faith which does not make sense to you. We are happy to study things out together, as fellow students of His word.

 

Please feel free to bring a dish when you come to our gatherings, as sharing food (“breaking bread”) is a very ancient and friendly Israelite custom. However, we ask that you please bring food that is in keeping with the clean food laws of Leviticus 11. All meat should be from “clean” animals (animals which have a cloven hoof, and which chew the cud). Examples include beef, lamb, and goat. Birds should not be raptors (birds that eat other birds), but chicken, turkey, duck, and game hens are all good). Fish must have both fins and scales (e.g., salmon, halibut, cod, trout). Shark and catfish do not have scales, while shrimp and lobster do not have fins and scales. We also try to eat as clean as we can. Food does not have to be organic, but please lean in a healthy direction (so to speak).

 

If all of that makes sense to you, we would be greatly blessed to have you join us for the Sabbath. We like spending time with our friends, and reading and studying Scripture.

 

May Yahweh bless you and your family.

 

In Yeshua’s name,

 

Amein.