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Last November, my husband resigned his position as pastor of a small Baptist church in southern Minnesota. In the next few weeks, we’ll be moving our family to a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, to start a new life.
Our move has brought about a lot of questions, so I thought I’d write a post about why we’re making this big change.
Why are we moving?
My husband has loved being a pastor, so it might come as a surprise to hear that we’re leaving our church here — and even more, that he’s not seeking another pastorate at this time.
One of the perks of being a pastor is having time to study and pray (Acts 6:2-4). As my husband has been studying for his weekly sermons and lessons, the Spirit of God has been bringing a topic before him repeatedly.
One of our core beliefs is that the Bible has all the answers we need, for any problem we might encounter, so that we can have life and godliness.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4).
This verse is clear that the answers are in God’s Word, the Bible, because it says that His divine power has given us everything we need, through our knowledge of Him.
Knowledge of God isn’t an arbitrary thing. We should be able to open up our Bibles, search for an answer, and find it. If we don’t have something we needed for life or godliness, it is because we first don’t have a thorough knowledge of Him, as revealed in Scripture.
Several years ago, Kraig and I decided to start in Genesis and read, with the intention of discovering instructions God has given us for life and godliness. It didn’t take long until we discovered a problem.
It felt like much of the Bible just didn’t apply to us!
For instance, a friend of ours was involved in a type of “prosperity gospel,” and she was fond of looking at Deuteronomy 28 for assurance that God would bless her financially if she were a believer. However, it was clear from the context that these words were written as a national blessing to Israel.
“If you fully obey YHWH your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, YHWH your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey YHWH your God…” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2).
“We are Christians, not Jews,” we said, “so these promises cannot apply to us.”
The problem was that we knew that almost the entire Old Testament was written to Israel, not to the Church. It would be taking it out of context to apply the Old Testament’s instructions or promises to us in the Church. Yes, there were principles. Yes, there were some good stories, poetry, and proverbs. Yes, it told about the coming Messiah, but it held very few instructions for us. In fact, as we continued reading into the New Testament, much of that was also written to Jews, rather than to us.
Why did 2 Peter 1:3 tells us that the Bible’s promises would give us everything we needed for life and godliness, when so much of what it said applied to someone else in a period of time long gone?
And as we realized that very little of the New Testament had been penned or was available to believers when Peter wrote his epistles, we were even more frustrated. They didn’t have access to Paul’s epistles. The little we had read that was directly written to the Church and applicable to us today certainly could not contain everything we needed for life and godliness.
It felt like we were taking scissors to the Bible… snip… snip… snip….
This is the topic my husband studied extensively.
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:14-17).
These verses, written by Paul to his disciple Timothy, tell us that the holy Scriptures are the only things that can make us wise for salvation. In addition, only the Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. It is only through the Scripture that we will be equipped for every good work. All of the Scripture is written for our learning and applies to us.
So what “Scripture” was Paul talking about? We came to realize, through our study, that the only Scriptures Paul and Timothy had access to were the Tenach, known to us as the “Old Testament.” Furthermore, the early church spent considerable time studying the Torah, or the Law of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), read publicly in the local synagogues they continued to attend each week.
“For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath” (Acts 15:21).
As my husband preached verse-by-verse through Acts, as well as Psalms, this last year, we became even more convinced that we needed to follow the example of the first-century apostles and early church. We needed to study the Torah and practice what it said in our own lives.
If we didn’t, we would be the worst of hypocrites.
So my husband resigned, and our adventure is just beginning.
What will be different?
Some basic things are changing in our lives.
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore YHWH blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).
This is one of the most major changes we’ve made. It is certainly possible to rest from labor on the seventh day (Friday evening sundown until Saturday evening sundown), even if you’re a Baptist pastor. But the Scriptures also tell us to assemble with other believers on that day.
“There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to YHWH” (Leviticus 23:3).
So the first thing that is changing that we will be resting on the seventh day, but also worshiping with other believers on that day.
This is the most major change, but we also try to eat only biblically clean foods (ie. no pork, shellfish, gelatin, marshmallows, etc. as listed in Leviticus 11), and to otherwise try to live biblically clean and holy lives as commanded in the Torah.
Finally, we have added daily study of the Torah to our home and homeschool, working through the Parashah with other believers week by week. (See sidebar for what we’re studying this week.)
I can smell a lot of upcoming blog posts, can’t you? 🙂
Where are we going?
After much prayer and consideration of many places all across America, we feel that the Spirit is leading us to a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. As of today, I’m not still sure of the exact place we’ll be living, although we’re planning to pack up our truck and go within the next two weeks. We’re sure that God will continue to lead us to just the right place He has planned for us!
Where will we go to church?
We view the next few years as a time of learning. One of the first things we’d like to learn is more about how believers in the first century worshiped. We are actively trying to learn Hebrew, to do a lot of reading on various kinds of Torah-observant congregations, to study how to effectively start a church, to learn new worship songs, and to learn how to properly celebrate the Sabbath and feasts.
Are we leaving the ministry?
Yes and no.
Yes, because it’s rather hard for a Baptist pastor to find a job as a pastor of a sabbath fellowship! 🙂
No, because we believe that all of us are “ministers,” seven days a week. So we aim to continue ministering in whatever way we can, wherever we live.
And no, because we wonder if maybe God will allow us to start a new church somewhere, someday. Maybe even in the Twin Cities! But in the meantime, we have much to learn….
How will we live?
For years, my husband and I have been wondering what it would be like to live entirely by faith. My husband is a pastor, so it’s not easy to just switch careers and find a new job in just a few weeks’ time.
Nevertheless, my husband has been applying for many kinds of jobs, in education, in management, and even in coffee shops! So far, he hasn’t found one.
That’s okay. As I’ve said before, our work is never the source of our income; God is the source of our income!
“”Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:25-34).
I’ve had my moments of panic over the last few weeks — and I’m sure I’ll be tempted to worry again in the future. (You can pray for me!)
But on the other hand, it’s really exciting to actually do what we always said we believe. Our goal is to live by faith, praying about our needs and being thankful for what we have in the meantime.
We’ve been working to start a web-design business, so if you’re really worried about us, just visit our website and hire us! Or refer us to a friend! LOL!
So the Adventure Begins…
I’ll keep blogging about all of this, as we continue with this move and into the months ahead. I’ll share what we’re learning and tell how God is providing.
“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:8-10).
We’re employed by the King of Kings, in training to be better ambassadors for His kingdom. We’re citizens of a another country, and we have our King’s promise that He will never leave us or forsake us.
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for YHWH your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:7-9).
How about you? Will you also follow Him?
“If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15).
Let me know how I can help!
Shalom Anne ~
We are very excited about this adventure that you and Kraig are embarking on. We too made the decision to walk down the ancient paths of Yahweh Elohim (God) eight years ago and we have learned more than we ever expected. His Word is so rich and full of life, even in Leviticus – who knew? Celebrating and observing His Biblical Feast days and the seventh day Sabbath have been a tremendous blessing to our lives.
We know that you are walking in His will and we are lifting you up in prayer. We know too that He will lead you and provide because His word says that: God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Num 23:19
We are expecting and watching to see the good things that He has for your family in this new chapter of your lives. His word also says: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isa 55:11 He has plans for your lives and they are good plans and He will see that that are fulfilled if you stay close and walk with Him.
Much love to you all,
Avi and Posey Salem
Glad to see you blogging again – I’ve missed your posts! I’ll be excited to read about your journey.
We too have recently begun a new church journey – we have left our church to join a family-integrated church, which (as I’m sure you know!) is quite different than a normal Protestant church. It is a journey! We’re also out of work at the moment, so I too am having to suppress mini-panic attacks. 🙂
Cheers!
Diana
Diana, I will lift you up in prayer, that God will supply richly and fill you with peace. There are many readers on here who are in your shoes. (((hugs)))
Anne, I was reading brother Norman’s recent biblical, studies and sent him a message also .. but I have been troubled with my mix of faith and worship.( I certainly know my savior who is the spirit that resides in me .BUT) as I am a son of a Baptist pastor , but god has always seemed told me it was alright to seek him and truth with out attending the Sunday morning worship but having worship at home mixing and ..searching gods truth through his word, , I find myself popping up at different worship centers , and most the people are good but seems I always end back here at home reading and praying… I know god will take care of you and your family … vey nice family I might add.. I have recently felt I burden in my heart god talking to me through prayer , I live in western ky on the Tennessee line, , I will continue to come to your blog.. to read and read brother Normans , messages… please pray for me and my family … I have two girls and a son, and my wife, they are all at Sunday worship as I send this mail today …I also would like to hear from you about the coming rapture .. that I feel is very close … very soon ..here is a short message that I sent…. I want to obey god as a disciple would have not just a CHRISTAIN , but more living for him solely and nothing of this earth, and the evil that men has corrupted it with.. thank you and please in your time give me your vision and spirit led opinion .. praying for you all…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………(I have studied much on this subject, and recently read the study brother Norman did….could I get bro, Norman’s reply to my interpretation please pass this on… I believe , Christ , Jesus ( Yahweh) will come with a shout and raise the dead that is dead in him, and they be changed in a moment, in a image like him(Jesus), as he was to the disciples’ on his resurrection on the third day…and appeared to them the breaking of bread of last supper???? I believe after much prayer and seeking gods truth, and spirit, that the rapture is on us.. as of this day, interment .. Yahweh … has gave us .. his people (saints) knowledge, .. as he told us in the bible, there will be signs in the moon, stars … what does brother norm think of the studies of tetrads? that only happen on Jesus times all things are marked and timed. his catching away will happen on or around the feast of trumpets?, this generation … this decade some time.. then the seven year tribulation, Daniel seventh week, brother Normans study speaks of many raptures or catching away… I am sure there will be many ascends, to and from heaven , but if you don’t accept Jesus as lord now today , the spirit of Yahweh, you have little or no chance later to ever reside with Christ our lord , there is so much too this area of study but with the time and simple message I am sending to brother Norman , I hope you see my spirit lid way that jesus has given me…Christ our king lord of lords the most powerful king is returning soon , real soon , he has burdened my heart , … it is here, please don’t take me as a wacko…. but I believe jesus is coming with a shout … very soon … for his BRIDE, and for a little while be in his wedding chamber, until the tribulation is over … please give me your comments … and again I pray for the ministries. and brother Norman daily.. thank you all for your outreach… your brother in Christ Monty
Always a time of excitement and encouragement and adventure as someone ( whole family) steps out in faith to fully surrender to what the Holy Spirit is leading them into! A blessing to hear of a new season of growth for you and your family ! The unity that you display in this post about the changes is monumental! Grow and learn– and love! God be with you!
Anne, Thank you for sharing your journey and I appreciate you willing to share what will come accross your path in the future also. It is encouraging to see you step out in faith. You will be blessed, our Father is faithful!
Hold on to these very words you posted here, for there may be times of doubt and even anxiety. Know that He has set a course for you and will provide for you. Hold on to your faith and each other!
Much love and blessings and I shall continue to pray for you all!
Your post was such a blessing and an encouragement to trust the Father in providing and leading. We will keep you in our prayers and as the Father brings Matt and me to mind, please pray for us. ” We view the next few years as a time of learning. ” I have found that we need to look at the rest of our lives as a time of learning on this walk…it is indeed a journey. Don’t fear questioning ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you’ve ever been taught…I am learning that.
Be blessed.
Cindy
Beautiful Anne, this is exciting. We too have learned so much from a book called Celebrating Biblical Feasts and a Hebrew class taught by a mom in our Homeschool group. I had a conversation with a Jewish young man in my home who is hesitant to follow Jesus because his family would reject him although they aren’t observant Jews either. When he heard we were celebrating Passover he asked why, after all we don’t have to. No, we get to, I rreplied all joyously. Ours is the gospel of grace. Having received the faith and the promises, having only the burden of abstaining from food sacrificed to idols, from blood,from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality (Acts 15:29) we can rejoice in obeying the scripture through the power of the Holy Siprit. It is all there for us, Law and Gospel!
I will be looking forward to hearing more as God leads and provides.
YAY! I think I found you as you began your journey. I just knew you would find your way back to your roots! We attend a charismatic messianic congregation in Thornton CO. Just as regular churches vary in style, so do messianic churches. I am so you are following Yahweh’s leading. PRAISE HIM!!!!!
Anne,
God has lead me to your blog! He works in mysterious ways! My husband and I have 4 kids, we homeschool, we follow the Saturday sabbath, as well as the holy feast and festivals! We have felt for a couple months that it was time for us to move and felt that this was Gods plan for us but worried about all the “unimportant” matters! I read your post to my husband afterwards, we prayed and ask God to please guide us to our next journey! Sometimes it is difficult to know if you are following Gods plan or your own! Thanks for sharing your journey, you have help to change our thoughts back to what’s most important, Gods will!
Anne,
I am excited for you. We left church behind about 12 years ago to observe His Feast Days. It is not easy especially since 1 and 1/2 years ago we moved cross country to a place that has no messianic congregation. If I had not been well grounded in the Feasts before we moved, I could see how easy it would be to go back to the church world. I miss dance and tambourine worship terribly.
I know you have been on this journey for a while now and this was what made me purchase your history curriculum. Like many others it starts with the Bible at the beginning but I knew I would not have to wade through a lot of church doctrine that I would then have to re explain why we don’t see things that way. I get enough of that already from our co op.
I am glad you found a congregation that has love…sometimes they do not as they get so wrapped up in being /Je/w/i/s/h. Can’t wait to hear more and maybe some of your posts will inspire me to get back to my blog. Ever since we moved I feel like the creativity has been snuffed out of me. It was not an easy move and I am not too pleased with the area we are in so all those things contribute to my lack of writing.
But I am excited for you!!
Abrianna, what part of the country are you in? (or email me privately at https://anneelliott.com/contact-us/) One of our goals is to help people hook up with local congregations, and I’ve been making many contacts toward that end. Also, send us a link to your blog, because we’d all visit! 🙂 Praying for you!!!!
Here is a link to my blog:
http://cowgirlyankee.blogspot.com/
Eamiling you about my exact location. Also praying for your move. Moving in the winter in MN can be very tricky. I moved once in the winter and have determined not to do that again!
I am excited for you and your family. We just began our journey down the ancient paths and we are still trying find our bearings.
I wanted to find out how you incorporate the Torah readings, Haftarah and Apostolic readings in your daily homeschool and devotional times. Our children tend to get bored and fidgetty (?sp) when we read through the whole week’s reading on the Sabbath.
May YHWH be with you.
I am definitely planning to talk more about how we’re doing the Torah portion. But for the moment, up in the sidebar of my blog (scroll up), I have the Torah portion broken down into 7 daily readings. I get it at http://www.hebcal.com/sedrot/ They are much shorter. We don’t, at this time, read the Haftarah or NT with the kids, but the older ones (4th grade and up) have individual reading assignments for school, and my husband and I try to read through it on our own. (Don’t always get it done, lest you think we do!) I have mine on my Kindle. 🙂 We also read through the Wisdom books, which aren’t included in the Haftarah. I actually have audio recordings of Psalms and Proverbs on my mp3 player, and I often listen to those on Friday, as I’m cleaning and preparing for shabbat. It’s nice! Oh, another good resource for the kids is http://torahschool.wordpress.com/
Hugs,
~Anne
HalleluYAH! What a step of faith! I had just rediscovered your blog. . .and you quit blogging. I’m very much looking forward to reading. Blessings
Did you receive my email? Gmail says your email address is not valid (grrr) so I had to resort to using Windows Live Mail. If you did not get it please let me know your email address and I will send it again…perhaps from a different email provider.
Abrianna, I’m going to check my spam account now, okay? And my email address isn’t valid??? Big grrr! Would you be able to check how you found that out, so I can investigate it? I use it daily (anne@anneelliott.com) but I am going to check on my end, too. THANK YOU for letting me know! (((hugs))) ~Anne
O.K I think I figured out the problem. Somehow a period was inserted after the .com I just sent it form my regular g mail account and it says it went through.
Hello, Anne 🙂
PJ and I have also been called to a similar faith journey after examining the Scriptures. We left “Sunday church” behind a few months ago and are fellowshipping with a wonderful Messianic congregation in Ft. Myers. It is a very traditional community and we are learning so much. I feel right at home, though. I think I have a Jewish soul 🙂 I’m thinking about starting a blog to write about our journey, and my own insights, struggles and questions as I follow His instructions aomg with the wisdom of the sages who have provided guidance and interpretation of Torah that has stood the test of time.
I will be praying for you as you follow G-d! Be blessed 🙂
HalleluYah! Reading this post gave me “goosebumps”! I found my way over hear from your world history curriculum article that I “stumbled upon” while searching the internet for a good way to teach my children world history, while not teaching paganism. It is SO exciting to witness more and more families being called out of error, and back to His true Way! May YHWH bless your family as you continually seek Him, and walk in humble obedience to His instruction, as also Yeshua, His son walked! Much shalom, Laura
Laura, It is a pleasure to “meet” you in this way! 🙂 Please do keep praying for us. I still have my “moments of panic” like I said in this post. But He is always faithful…
Please keep in touch,
Shalom,
~Anne
Great blog Anne!
The Creator is doing a wonderful work in your husband and he is a lucky man to have a woman like you in his life who will follow him and trust with him that Yehovah will provide for all your needs as you seek Yehovah’s kingdom and His righteousness. His wonderful and eternal ways do not change and His word WILL endure forever. Of course His words are those that were given to Moses and His other prophets; the same word that Yeshua (Jesus), Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude all taught from.
My blog is loaded with things that will assist you in your new adventure.
With regard to your following the Old Testament Kosher laws about food, please tell me how you interpret the rending of the temple curtains at Jesus’ death. What does that signify to you? Thank you, and God Bless.