This week (August 4) on Shabbat Night Live, we’ve all heard sermons that focus on one verse — but it’s completely unnecessary. The Bible is a story in itself that doesn’t need conjecture and rationale!

Pastor Matthew Vander Els invites us to take another look at the Bible as a single story with repeating themes built on a promise that never fails.

Watch the episode — included in this blog post.

While you watch, consider the questions below. The timeline for each discussion topic in the video is noted on each question. Post your answers in the comments section and let’s get some discussion going!

1. (VIDEO TIMELINE – 16:12) How can I cultivate wisdom from reading the Bible?
2. (VIDEO TIMELINE – 18:22) What is the context of Jeremiah 29:11 and how does it relate to the character of Yehovah and the story of the exiles of Israel?
3. (VIDEO TIMELINE – 20:54) What is the grand narrative that the whole Bible is collectively leading us to?
4. (VIDEO TIMELINE – 21:30) What are some of the risks of looking at the Bible microscopically as a collection of verses or chapters instead of macroscopically as a story?
5. (VIDEO TIMELINE – 22:13) How does the context of Ezekiel’s bread affect our understanding of its meaning and significance?
6. (VIDEO TIMELINE – 26:42) What term does Matthew bring up and Michael uses that defines the biblical authors’ use to connect their stories and experiences of Yehovah?
7. (VIDEO TIMELINE – 29:14) How does the biblical theme of eastward movement relate to the
8. (VIDEO TIMELINE – 30:15) How does the book of Judges show the downward spiral of Israel as they lose touch with Yehovah?
9. (VIDEO TIMELINE – 31:53) How does the story of Noah and the flood represent a new creation and a fresh start for humanity?
10. (VIDEO TIMELINE – 39:10) What are some of the implications of God’s decision to not flood the earth anymore and to leave it as it is?

This week (July 28) on Shabbat Night Live, were sacrifices allowed in places outside of the Temple in Jerusalem?

Steve Siefken offers thought-provoking proof from the Torah that animal sacrifices were indeed sanctioned throughout the tribes of Israel — with one very important condition.

This episode will open your eyes to the truth you’ve likely never considered! 

Watch the episode — included in this blog post.

While you watch, consider the questions below. Post your answers in the comments section and let’s get some discussion going!

1. What is the term that Steve Siefken uses to refer to a priesthood that is not Levitical or Aaronic?
2. What is the term that Steve Siefken uses to refer to understanding God’s intent behind what he said?
3. What was the name of the innermost chamber of the tabernacle where only the High Priest could enter?
4. What are the two types of killing that God prohibited in Leviticus 17:3-4 unless they were brought to the door of the tabernacle?
5. What are the three main routes to Jerusalem that Steve Siefken shows on a map?
6. What is the purpose of studying God’s law according to Steve Siefken?
7. What are the three times a year that God expected the Israelites to travel to Jerusalem for the feasts?
8. What is the phrase that Steve Siefken says is only used for the tithing system and indicates what one can spend their tithe on?
9. What is the name of the system that God built for the whole world and that every nation will go to in the millennium?
10. What are the two groups that make up the dual judicial system of Israel, according to Steve Siefken?

This week (July 14) on Shabbat Night Live, God knows how to party — in fact, He gave instructions on how to do it! He also gave us instructions on how to butcher meat, how to serve it, how to cook it, and even when to throw out the leftovers.

Steve Siefken explains the deliciously practical instructions in the Torah about food regulations, overseen by authorities in the Temple system. 

Watch the episode — included on this blog post.

While you watch, consider the questions below. The timeline for each discussion topic in the video is noted on each question. Post your answers in the comments section and let’s get some discussion going!

1. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 16:00) How does the recognition of the Temple and tabernacle as centers of divinely-mandated food and dietary standards serve to dramatize the controversy over secular influence in these matters that exists today? How does the increasingly aggressive and pre-emptive corporate advocacy about sustainability in health matters contradict the example of the ancient Hebrews?
2. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 20:00) Similarly, how do the passages referenced here from Leviticus underscore both the presence of meat as a permitted food for consumption and the ritual importance of its preparation according to YeHoVaH? How does our present civilization contravene this principle by the animal cruelty of factory farming and the heavy pressure toward veganism and insect consumption?
3. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 24:00) Aside from the latter-day politicization of diet and sustainable health, how do the regulations discussed here indirectly reveal our abandonment of the sacrificial nature of food preparation and consumption in today’s age of abundance? What are some examples from scripture of decadent living by arrogant figures who then receive chastisement over their exploitation of the nourishments that sustain life? 
4. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 28:00) Similarly, how can the commonplace practice of prayer or “saying grace” before meals be said to reveal a remnant of the ancient Hebraic value of a binding agreement or contract within an important transaction? How do the various wordings of this prayer – even those that are parodic – suggest our obligation to acknowledge our privilege of receiving sustenance and our responsibility to utilize it wisely and devoutly?
5. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 32:00) How does today’s corporatization of food – from industrial livestock production and pervasive additives and preservatives to the nutraceutical and pharmacological establishments – provide an arguable example of the ethos behind the dietary laws of the ancient Hebrews? What are some staples of our Western diet that are in effect “polluted in sacrifice”?
6. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 38:00) Similarly, how do current controversies over agribusiness products like genetically modified wheat or high fructose corn syrup reflect an ignorance over the practice of grain inspection that was part of the tabernacle offering? Are believers unwittingly reaping the whirlwind of chronic obesity and drug dependence thanks to our acceptance of Big Food and Big Pharma?
7. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 42:00) How do the Hebrew dietary laws enumerated in Leviticus, particularly those involving the inspection and procedures for utilizing grain, indirectly reveal the scale of commercialization of bread products, all for the apparent purpose of greater health?  How does our plethora of organic, keto, and gluten-free varieties appear almost comic against the sudden popularity of such products as biblically-derived sprouted-grain breads?
8. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 46:00) Similarly, how has the ancient Hebrew institution of the storehouse been overlooked in our secular, consumerist environment that is centered around the franchised supermarket or the generic warehouse? How does the original location as an ancillary to the tabernacle or Temple represent an awareness of our dependence upon the bounty of YeHoVaH through tithing in contrast to today’s indifference to perishability in our throw-away culture?
9. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 50:00) How does the role of the Temple as a depository for the community help to define the temple system as an example of the inextricable relationship between the worship of YeHoVaH and virtually every facet of ancient Jewish life? How has our common post-Enlightenment distinction between the sacred and the secular served to obstruct our recognition of this context for the study of scripture?
10. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 53:00) How is this interpretation further enhanced by the demarcation of the temple as an environment for a range of financial and business transactions involving loaning and repayment? How does the practice of contract ratification through burnt offerings dramatize the inherent seriousness of honesty and integrity in capital management with YeHoVaH as witness and final arbiter?

This week (July 7) on Shabbat Night Live When you think of the Temple in ancient Jerusalem, do you envision a hospital? There was more healing going on in the Temple than we realize, and there’s plenty of evidence of it in the Bible.

Steve Siefken leads us through scriptural references that show us how the Almighty intended us to heal each other.  

Watch the episode — included on this blog post.

While you watch, consider the questions below. The timeline for each discussion topic in the video is noted on each question. Post your answers in the comments section and let’s get some discussion going!

1. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 16:00) How does Israel, in either its ancient or modern demarcation, transcend our current definitions of “nation,” “ethnicity,” or “theocracy”? Has this venerable civilization of people, through its longevity over several millennia, effectually outlived these conventional categories and exceeded the capabilities of the English language to characterize the scope of its identity?
2. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 20:00) Similarly, how do the Tabernacle Offerings demonstrate a comprehensive range of service to YeHoVaH, whether voluntary or compulsory? How does this dynamic between material giving and spiritual appeal serve to acknowledge both the civilizational capacity of the Hebrews and its delimitation?  How has this ritual significance become almost trivialized throughout the growth of denominational religion?
3. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 24:00) How has the Tabernacle’s function as a place for healing of the sick become another casualty of the minimalism and oversimplification of much evangelical Christianity throughout the centuries? How has this important facet of charity been further obscured by the politicization and controversy generated over historical movements like the Crusades or various fraternal organizations that were founded to help the poor? 
4. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 28:00) How does the contemporary distrust of the pharmaceutical industry serve to dramatize the spiritual ethos behind medicinal remedies drawn from nature, in the prescribed manner of the ancient Hebrews? How likely is today’s reflex toward holistic health to encourage a reappraisal and interpretation of the “tree of life” whose leaves are “for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2)?
5. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 32:00) Similarly, how does the breadth of the Hebrew term “leprosy” and the cultural practice of quarantining the sick underscore the general public’s confusion and even hysteria over the official mandates of prevention during the pandemic? How do the references to treatment in Leviticus indirectly reveal the ignorance and lack of personal resourcefulness behind the mantra of “follow the science”?
6. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 37:00) How might our contemporary culture of holistic health also revitalize and redefine the concept of the apothecary as a figure of medical expertise? How does the range of meaning in this term, long relegated to the status of an archaism, demonstrate the importance of anointing as a venerable practice for healing with materials whose efficacy is becoming increasingly corroborated?
7. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 40:00) Similarly, how could scriptural references to the interconnectedness of the human body’s various systems serve to bolster the reputation of such practices as chiropractic or complementary and integrative medicine? Has the skepticism toward conventional medicine that resulted from the pandemic ironically reversed our definitions of “pseudoscience”?
8. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 44:00) How has the ritual burning of incense been poorly understood or trivialized in our postmodern culture? In light of the recognition of its health properties by the ancient Hebrews, what is the ironic common ground of both its utilization in Christian rites of worship and its questionable, short-lived appropriation by the secular pop culture of the 1960’s?
9. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 48:00) How does the ambivalent meaning of epitithemi serve to enlighten today’s believers regarding the inherent aggressiveness of Yeshua’s benevolent gestures of healing during his ministry? How does the absence of this connotation in the phrase “laying on of hands” often fail to remind us about both the constant need for our own chastisement as sinful creatures and the power of YeHoVaH’s love for his creation in the restoration of health?
10. (VIDEO TIMELINE: 52:00) Similarly, how do the various terms used to describe Yeshua’s methods of healing offer distinctions that are lost in tedious and enduring arguments about whether or not these actions constitute miracles that prove his identity as the Messiah? What is the essential difference between therapeuo and iaomai with regard to Yeshua’s ministry as part of the divine plan for our salvation?