What do we believe?
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We believe that:
- Yeshua (Jesus’ original Hebrew name) is the promised Jewish Messiah and Savior of humanity. He’s the divine Son of God, King of Israel, Messiah for all.
- God’s commandments, the Torah, are a guide for Yeshua’s disciples today.
- God’s restoring His commandments to Jews and Gentiles.
- Yeshua’s disciples have a high calling to reflect God’s character: kindness, hospitality, generosity, patience. Our lives ought to produce visible and tangible good fruit.
In many ways, modern Christianity, for all it’s contributions to the world, has missed an important part of God’s word: the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible. While Christianity has effectively abolished God’s commandments by rendering them obsolete, we acknowledge Messiah and his apostles kept the Torah and the early believers were zealous for God’s commandments.
Torah, God’s solid moral compass and foundation of our faith, gives Messiah’s disciples a guide for holy living. It’s for this reason we honor God by keeping his commandments.
How do you differ from other Messianic congregations?
In a number of ways:
- We believe God’s commandments apply to both Jews and Gentiles. Gentiles, when accepting Yeshua, are grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel, are no longer heathen gentiles, but first-class citizens of God’s kingdom, no longer foreigners to the covenants God made with Israel.
- We aim to help people grow closer to God. Our faith should produce good fruit. If a man has a stringent Torah observance and deep knowledge of the Scriptures and near perfect theology, but doesn’t produce a righteous life in practice, then he is worse off. What’s more important is good fruit: kindness, long-suffering, generosity. Selflessness. How you treat other people. Servant attitude. Slow to anger. The characteristics of God evident throughout the Bible should also characterize God’s people. At Tabernacle of David, we aim to make you grow closer to God and reflect more of God’s character.
- We believe God has brought the Gentiles into the Messianic movement. The existence of many gentiles in the Messianic movement is part of something bigger. We believe God’s restoring Israel — physically in the land of Israel, and spiritually through Messiah — and part of that restoration is turning Jews and gentiles towards God’s commandments and towards God’s Messiah, Yeshua.
- We’re pro-unity. We’ve seen so much division among Messianics and Christians, usually over trivialities. We believe it’s time to move beyond squabbling over smaller theological issues and do the work God’s set before us, to grow in Him, and to live righteously according to His commandments as we look ahead to Messiah’s return. To this end, we encourage cross-congregational meetings, groups, and co-sponsored events among the congregations in the Twin Cities. We encourage brothers and sisters in Messiah to put aside the nitpicking and theological squabbling that has too often defined us, and turn towards one another as family in Messiah.
- We’re Spirit-filled! We believe in the importance of waiting on the Lord during worship, listening for his voice, letting God speak to His people, letting worship be a time of heartfelt thanksgiving to God. Too many Messianic congregations have relegated the move of God’s spirit — the very thing that started the Messianic movement — to the back seat, replaced with more religious tradition and Judaism-emulation. At Tabernacle of David, those things take a back seat to God’s spirit, and we think that’s the way it ought to be.
What does the name Tabernacle of David mean?
The name Tabernacle of David comes from the Scriptures:
Ya‘akov (James) broke the silence to reply. “Brothers,” he said, “hear what I have to say. Shim‘on has told in detail what God did when he first began to show his concern for taking from among the gentiles a people to bear his name. And the words of the Prophets are in complete harmony with this for it is written,
“After this, I will return;
and I will rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David.
I will rebuild its ruins,
I will restore it,
so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
that is, all the gentiles who have been called by my name,”
says Adonai, who is doing these things.-Acts 15, referencing Amos 9
What Ya’akov HaTzadik (James the Just) saw so long ago — gentiles coming to faith in the God of Israel through Israel’s Messiah — has come into its fullness today as members of every nation and every people have come to Israel’s God through Israel’s Messiah.
Tabernacle of David desires to foster this gathering of Jews and Gentiles in order to serve God, serve the Messianic community, and join in the restoration of all things:
- The Torah restored to its rightful, honored place in the lives of Yeshua’s disciples
- The Jewish Messiah restored to the Jewish people, resulting in resurrection life
- Restoring the identity of Yeshua’s disciples as citizens in the commonwealth of Israel
- The restoration of Messiah to Jerusalem; the physical return of Messiah in Israel which the Scriptures affirm
Tabernacle of David is comprised of Jews and Gentiles from all walks of life, of various ages and backgrounds, who call Tabernacle of David their welcoming home.
Our congregation began 10 years ago as a home Bible study that quickly outgrew homes and eventually found its home in Burnsville, Minnesota. We meet in a church building that offers a sanctuary for worship and teaching, a kitchen for oneg meal, and children’s rooms for young kids during the service.
Tabernacle of David exists to promote God’s Kingdom through obedience and faithfulness to God through holy living, by his commandments in the Torah, and through the guiding light of Messiah.
