Journey through Scripture, Growing in Understanding

Warning this post is very personal and I am writing it for my children and grandchildren.

In years to come I want them to know why we, Jeremy and I, taught what we taught, and believe what we believe, and live how we live.

There are lots of Bible passages to look up and study.  This post may need to be read and reread and pondered on for many days, or years.

This is our story and our journey, we do not claim to be experts or perfect followers of Christ, but we are seekers of truth.

May our journey bless those who read this story.

Several years ago, we began learning about the Biblical feasts outlined in Leviticus 23, and God spoke to us and said, “make the Bible the foundation of your homeschool.”  We found a Bible study that was very simple, and took us through the Bible, and we used it to teach all school subjects.  We had already learned a lot from God’s Word from other Bible studies, and we had stopped celebrating the Catholic holidays. We read about Biblical feasts, and we decided to act them out.

The next year after we read about the feasts, we moved to Pennsylvania, and while we were there, God made an opportunity for us to dig deeper into His Word. We learned more about His feast days, and we were invited to a Passover Seder.

We knew nothing about what a Passover Seder is, and when we got there our plates were set in the traditional seder style, and we thought this was the whole meal.  Some crackers, a little dab of this and a little dab of something was on our plates.

We had come ready to eat a Passover dinner that included lamb, bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and other side dishes.  So, we came hungry for dinner. After the long traditional seder Haggadah was read, the host rolled out a cart full of turkey, potatoes, sides and even a dessert.  We all laughed because we had eaten so much matza thinking it was the only food.

The next year when Passover came, we studied it out and decided to keep it at home as a family.  We read all the scriptures we could find on Passover, and we made our own Haggadah.

It was simple and it focused on teaching our children what God told Moses to tell the Israelites to say to the children when they asked about Passover.  Again, we used our Bibles, and we tried to stick as close to what it commanded and described as possible.

We had moved back to Michigan and soon our friends, the Elliott’s moved to Michigan too.  The next year they invited us to their Passover dinner table.  We enjoyed learning from their more traditional Haggadah style of the meal, even though it was much longer than ours, and it seemed to us a bit more Jewish.  Afterwards, we began learning more about our Hebrew roots, and we began really desiring to do Bible things in Bible ways.

Now that we had been through the Torah annual cycle a few times, and the feasts a few times, we began learning and listening to others teachings on them.  We would be very diligent to take those things that were taught, and study them out.

For a short time, Dad and I, became very passionate and overly zealous to share what we were learning with friends and family, but we didn’t always do it in a kind and gentle way.  Sometimes, this zealousness came across as judgement and/or confusion.  Over the years, we continued to study the feasts, God’s Word, and seek His guidance through the Holy Spirit.

We have come to the conclusion that we believe that all scripture is indeed God breath and useful and beneficial, but only when understood in context, time, and relevance.

We are disciples of Yeshua, our Messiah.  We seek to follow Him in as best we can.

So, here is some scripture that we want to share with our children and grandchildren in regards to how we should walk out Scripture.

• First, remember that ALL SCRIPTURE IS INDEED God BREATH.

 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,  so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

This does not mean we apply every passage of scripture just as it is written.  Many times scripture is written to specific people, in a specific place and time.  Those passages are written down and given to us to teach us about God’s character and how He wants us to live in fellowship with Him and His people.

•  We must always ask ourselves in every decision: Am I applying the greatest commandment, and the golden rule in this situation.
  • Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets?”
  • Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and with all your mind and Love thy neighbor as thyself.
    Matthew 22: 37-38

Read Matthew 7 and 22

We must first be followers of Messiah, we must ask ourselves, “What would Yeshua do?” 

The answer to what Yeshua would do is easy to find.  All we have to do is read the Gospels.  So, we take time every week to read through the Gospels, just like we read through the Torah every week.  When we read the teachings of Yeshua, we see that He taught the people the greater understanding of Torah.  He expounds on it and shows the people how to live with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  I would love it if you would take a minute right now to read Matthew 5 through 7, and Exodus 20.

• The ten commandments are for all God’s people for all time.  These are the standard by which we are called to live.  Read Deuteronomy 5-6
•  The Holy Spirit is given to us as a teacher and guide.
  • But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26
•  Study the Word, don’t just trust others teachings, do your own work.
  • Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
    2 Timothy 2:15

Read 2 Timothy 2

But, be very careful to not get in disputes about non essential matters.  Trust Yehovah to teach you, and to guide you.  If a matter is uncertain or unclear do not get in debates or disputes with others about it.  If you feel certain you are right in a matter then walk it out in obedience, and trust God to reveal it to others in clarity.

• God is not a God of confusion.  He wants us to understand the essentials and walk in them.  Always remember that all scripture was written to specific people, and we must first read and understand it from the basic plain meaning.  We can not take it out of context, we can not make assumptions about what is not written, we can not apply it to ourselves before we understand it in context.

Ephesians 4

The bottom line is: To be a disciple of Yeshua, we must study the Word of God, and ask important questions:

Who is this written to?

When was it written?

Why was it written?

Is it for all time?  Is it for a specific time?

How does it apply to me today?

Not every command in the Torah is for all time.  Not every word written by Paul is a law/command to us today.

Does that mean the principles can’t have application for us today?  Of course not,  but we must consider how.

When our family first realized that we had missed so much of the beauty found in the law of the old testament, we became passionate to apply it to our lives, and we became Torah all the time.  We were hungry for its foundational truths and teachings.  As we continued to study God’s Word in whole, both old and new testament as one, we began to grow in our understanding of our Creator and Redeemer, and His Word.

Written by ktmom15