Shabbat Shalom

Candace Long: Good morning and welcome to Shabbat Shalom. I'm Candace Long, your host and producer. In just a few minutes, Pastor Matt will bring us today's parashah, which covers Leviticus 21 through 24 and is a strong, impassioned charge that the Lord gave Moses to give his priests. It is a call to come up higher in moral character and behavior and is summed up in chapter 21 verses 31 through 32, which says, "Therefore you shall keep my mitzvot and do them. I am the Lord who sanctifies you."

We are in a seven-week season right now called Sefirat HaOmer or Counting the Omer, where each of us personally places ourselves in the heavenly process of being sanctified or set apart for God's service. Now just before coming up to my studio to begin building today's program, I took my Siddur, my Jewish prayer book, to pray the Counting the Omer prayer. I first checked the Hebrew calendar and found that today is the 19th day from the second day of Pesach, which begins the count.

And here's what I prayed: "Blessed are you Hashem, our God, Master of the universe, who has sanctified us with your mitzvot and has instructed us to count the omer to ourselves in order to purify us from our evil and uncleanness. Today is 19 days, which are two weeks and five days of the Omer. May the merciful one restore to us the service of the temple to its place speedily in our days. Amen."

Now the prayer tells us that we are sanctified by the mitzvot, by doing it, by literally counting each day to ourselves. Now by doing the mitzvot, we are taught to listen to what we're doing and learn from it. The Mishnah tells us how this grain purifying process was done: "They reaped the grain stalks and put it in the baskets and brought it to the temple court. They threshed it with reeds and stalks of plants so that grains would not be crushed.

They roasted the grains in a perforated copper tube so the fire would touch each grain. Then winnowed it by spreading it out in the court and letting the wind blow over it. And finally, they put it in a gristmill and removed from it a tenth of an ephah called an omer, which was then sifted through 13 sieves." Now these same five processes are at work on each one of us right now during this season. We have been harvested and set apart for the Lord. We are then threshed, roasted, winnowed, and sifted.

So if you're going through a difficult time, this is the season. You are not only being refined, but you are also being shown your ministry gift. Now this heavenly process is beautifully described in Ephesians 4, which reads, "To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Messiah's gift. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the holy ones until we attain to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Messiah."

Now each one of us received one of these five ministry gifts, and Messiah puts us through the process ourselves so we can grow up to the fullness of our gift. We're not there yet, so we're still in the process to learn how to minister to those we are sent to. The evangelist reaps the grain. The pastor threshes it to remove the chaff. The prophet roasts the grain with words that are often hard to hear. The teacher winnows further by throwing everything you think you believe to the wind to separate it further. And finally, the apostle sifts everything over and over again 13 times. So as a grain, you are being purified to grow up into your ministry gift to help others in their process. Glory to God.

Let’s recite the Shema together. Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Baruch Shem Kavod Malchuto L'olam Va'ed. Blessed is the name of his glorious kingdom for all eternity. And the last section: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words which I set up for you this day shall be upon your heart.

And you shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the way, when you lie down and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your arm and as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and in your gates.

Pastor Matt McKeown: Good morning once again, dear friends, and welcome to Shabbat Shalom. The radio program where we explore the Jewish roots of our Christian faith and discover how the Torah still speaks life, truth, and transformation into our lives today. This week, we come to parashat Emor found in Leviticus chapters 21 through 24. And right from the beginning, we encounter a theme that runs all the way through the Torah portion: What does it mean to represent God?

Because Emor focuses heavily on the priests, the Kohanim, those who were set apart to serve in the tabernacle. As we read these chapters, we see that the priests were held to a higher standard: stricter guidelines, greater responsibility, more intentional boundaries. And at first glance, that might seem unfair. Why them? Why the extra weight? Why the additional expectations? But the answer is simple: because they represented God to the people.

And that's where this becomes very real for us today. Because while most of us are not priests in the Levitical sense, the New Testament tells us something incredible: that in Messiah, we are a royal priesthood. That means that this is not just about ancient priests, the Kohanim, it's also about us. Now, let's slow down and really take that in. To be a priest means to stand between two worlds, to represent God to people and people to God.

It means your life becomes a reflection, a visible expression of something invisible. And that's exactly why God was establishing this set of standards for the priests in Emor. Their lives were meant to communicate something about him. So God gives them instructions about how they live, how they conduct themselves, how they approach his presence, even how they handle grief and loss. Because everything they did in their lives carried meaning. Everything they did communicated something about God.

Now, this is where we need to be careful not to misunderstand. These instructions are not about control. They're about representation. Because when you represent something sacred, how you live matters. This reminds me of when I was a teen in our youth group. And whenever we went on a road trip, our youth leaders would say, "Our church name is on the side of this van or this bus. You are representing us, so make sure that we are behaving accordingly."

Let's look at it this way: if someone is representing a company, a brand, or a nation, there are expectations. There are standards. Not because they're trying to make life harder, but because their actions reflect something bigger than themselves. And that's exactly what's happening here. The priests are representing God, so their lives must align with his character. And this is where it connects directly to us. Because whether we realize it or not, we are representing God every single day.

In how we speak, how we act, in how we respond to people, the world is forming an impression of God based on what they see in us. That's a sobering thought. But it's also an incredible opportunity. Now, in Emor, one of the major themes is the idea of holiness in leadership. We've talked about this before. The priests are called to a higher level of intentional living. And again, this is not about perfection. It's about awareness. It's about recognizing, seeing my life carries weight, my choices matter.

What I do just doesn't affect me. It affects how God is seen in the world. And this is something that's especially important for those in ministry. But it's not limited to that. Because every believer has influence. Every believer has a sphere where their life is being watched. And in that space, you are representing something. Now, here's where it gets really practical. Because sometimes we separate spiritual life from everyday life.

We think, "This is my church life," and then there's everything else. But Emor doesn't allow for that separation. Because the priests, for them, everything was spiritual. Everything mattered. Everything was connected to their role. And that is the shift that we need to make: to understand that following God is not just about moments. It's about lifestyle. It's about consistency. It's about integrity.

Now, let's talk about something deeper. Because the priests were not just representing God externally. They were also called to reflect him internally. Their lives were meant to align with his holiness. And that's the foundation of everything in this portion. Holiness is not just about what you do. It's about who you are becoming. And this connects directly to what we've been seeing in the previous Torah portions. In Acharei Mot, we found atonement.

And in Kedoshim, we found the call to holiness. And now, in Emor, we see what it looks like to carry that holiness in a visible way, to live it out, to represent it. And this brings us to a powerful truth: responsibility is not a burden. It's a calling. God is not placing weight on the priests to crush them. He's calling them to something meaningful, something purposeful, something that reflects his presence in the world.

And the same is true for us. When God calls you, when he sets you apart, he places something on your life. And it's not to restrict you. It's to give your life meaning, to align you with something greater than yourself. Now, as we move forward in this portion, we're going to see this idea expand. Because Emor doesn't just deal with priests. It also deals with time, with sacred moments, with appointed seasons, and what the Bible calls the Moadim, the appointed times of the Lord.

And we're going to see that just like people can be set apart, time can be set apart. And that changes how we live, how we structure our lives, how we encounter God in rhythm and pattern. I've told you many times before that my local Messianic Rabbi, Rabbi Dr. Bruce Tucker, says this every week in our synagogue: "God has a calendar and he likes to keep it." Let's look at the appointed times and how God meets us on the calendar.

As we continue in parashat Emor, we move from the idea of people being set apart to something just as powerful: time being set apart. Because in Leviticus 23, we see something amazing. God begins to lay out what are called the appointed times. In Hebrew, we call them the Moadim. Now, the word Moadim is incredibly important because it doesn't just mean holidays. It means appointed meetings.

Now, notice I'm not using the word feasts here because not all of these sacred meetings are celebratory. Some of these meeting times are fasts, but they're all appointments that God is keeping with us. Moments where God is saying, "I want to meet with you here." Now, think about that. The Creator of the universe sets appointments. Not because he needs them, but because we do. Because we are people who live in time. We get busy, we get distracted, we drift.

And God in his wisdom builds a rhythm into life where we stop, where we remember, where we reconnect. And the first appointed time mentioned is one that we might not expect. It's not Passover, it's not Pentecost, it's not one of the big festivals. It's Shabbat, the Sabbath. A weekly appointment every seven days. God says six days you shall work, but the seventh is a Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. One of the appointed times is the weekly Shabbat.

In other words, God is saying stop, rest, gather, remember. Now, this is so important because before God ever gives annual festivals, he gives a weekly rhythm. Why? Because we need regular recalibration. We need consistent moments where we step out of the noise and step back into his presence. And if you look at it this way, they have the weekly Sabbath. The appointed times also have a monthly gathering, the new moon, Rosh Chodesh.

And then there are seasonal Moadim as well. Now, let's be honest with each other. This is something that we struggle with today. We live in a culture that's constantly moving, constantly producing, constantly connected. The idea of stopping, resting, almost feels unnatural. And if I'm being honest with you, sometimes when I am resting, I feel like I'm being lazy because I'm not accomplishing something. But God says rest is not optional. It's holy.

And here's what makes Shabbat unique. It's not just a break from work. It's a shift in focus. It's a reminder that God is in control, God is the provider, God is the center. And when we stop working, we're making a statement of trust. We're saying my life is not sustained by my effort alone. Now from Shabbat, the portion moves into the annual Moadim. And these are powerful because each one tells a story. Each one reveals something about God's plan and each one points ultimately to Messiah.

Let's walk through them briefly. First we have Passover, Pesach. This is the celebration of Israel's deliverance from Egypt. We just went through this on the calendar. The blood of the lamb on the doorposts, the moment when death passed over the houses of God's people. And for us as believers, it points directly to Messiah Yeshua, the Lamb of God, whose blood brings deliverance. Then comes the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And in modern Judaism, these two holidays are sort of rolled into one giant observance.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is seven days of removing leaven, which can be symbolic of sin, a picture of purification, and a call to live differently after deliverance. Then there is a minor holiday, the first fruits of the barley harvest. This is where a declaration is made that everything comes from God. We depend on God for our crops, for what we bring in. And so the first fruits is like honoring God with the first and best of what we have.

And in the New Testament, Yeshua is called the first fruits from the dead, the beginning of new life. Then we move to something that we're in now, we're in this counting up to Shavuot or Pentecost. Fifty days later, originally marking the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. And in the New Testament, on the anniversary of Shavuot or Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2. The law not just written on stone, but on hearts.

Then we come to the fall festivals. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Teruah, the feast of trumpets. A call to wake up, to pay attention, and to prepare. Then Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, which we talked about in the previous portion. A day of cleansing, of repentance, and of restoration. And finally, Sukkot, the feast of tabernacles. A time of joy, the ingathering, a time of dwelling, a reminder that God is with us.

Now here's what's amazing. These are not just historical events. They are prophetic patterns. They reveal God's redemptive plan and they show us that God works in rhythms, in seasons, in appointed times. In other words, in the words of Rabbi Bruce, God has a calendar and he likes to keep it. Now this changes how we think about our lives. Because instead of living randomly, we begin to see that God invites us into a rhythm. A rhythm of rest, reflection, and renewal.

A rhythm of remembering what he's done and realigning our lives with his purposes. Now let me bring this into something very practical. Because you might be thinking, "Do I have to celebrate all these festivals?" Well no, you don't have to, and that's not really the point. The point is God desires intentional time with you. Not just squeezed in, not when it's convenient, but set apart, marked, recognized. And because our heritage has Jewish roots, I think more Christians should mark these times.

Not because you feel like you have to, but because you get to celebrate the things that God has instituted for his people. And since we are grafted into the tree of Israel, into the commonwealth, I think we ought to participate. Now whether this looks like in your life honoring a weekly Sabbath rhythm or reflecting on what Yeshua has done during the Passover season or taking intentional time to pray and reset, the heart behind it is the same. God wants relationship and he builds it into time itself.

Here's something powerful: just like we're called to be holy, time is called to be holy. Which means not all time is treated the same. Some moments are set apart. And when we honor those moments, we experience God in a deeper way. And that brings us back to this great idea. We talked about being set apart as people, now being set apart in time. And together they create a life that is aligned with God.

As parashat Emor continues, we're seeing something powerfully unfolding here. Because in part one, we talked about being set apart as people. Just now in part two, we talked about being set apart in time. But now in this section, we're going to move into something even more personal. Because God begins to show us what it looks like to live in constant awareness of his presence. Not just in the special moments, not just on appointed days, but every single day.

In Leviticus 24, we're given two instructions that might seem simple at first glance, but they really do carry deep meaning. The first is about the lampstand, the Menorah. God tells Moses that the lamps are to be kept burning continually. Not occasionally, not just during certain times, not like when you have a special candlelight dinner with your spouse, but continually. Day and night, the light is never to go out.

Now think about that. Inside the tabernacle, there is a constant flame, a steady light, always burning, always present. And this light represents something powerful. It represents the presence of God among his people. A reminder that God is not distant. He is near, he is present, and he is active. And this connects directly to what Jesus says in the New Testament. He declares, "I am the light of the world."

That's not just poetic language. That's a declaration. He is saying, "I am the constant light. I am the presence of God among you. I'm the one who brings clarity, direction, and life." But here's where it gets even more personal. Yeshua doesn't just say, "I am the light." He also says, "You are the light." This is so interesting. In other words, that same light that is in him is meant to shine through us. And that brings us back to the Menorah.

Because just like the priests were responsible to keep the light burning, we are called to carry that light into the world. Not just in church, not just in spiritual moments, but in everyday life. Let's be honest: it's easy to let the light dim. Life gets busy, distractions come, pressures build, and before we know it, we're not as aware of God's presence as we once were. But parashat Emor reminds us the light is meant to be continual.

A steady awareness, a daily connection, a life that remains lit. Now right alongside the Menorah there's something else: the bread of the presence. Twelve loaves of bread placed on a table before the Lord. Always there, always fresh, always set before him. Now this might seem simple, but it carries deep meaning. Because bread represents provision, sustenance, life. And the fact that it's called the bread of the presence tells us something powerful.

Because God's presence is not just about light. It's about provision. He's not just the one who reveals. He's the one who sustains. And this again connects directly to Yeshua, to Jesus. Why? Because he says, "I am the bread of life." He is the one who satisfies. He is the one who nourishes. The one who sustains us at the deepest level. So here we have two powerful images: the light and the bread. The presence of God that illuminates and sustains.

The presence of God that guides and provides. And Yeshua says he is both. The light of the world and he is the bread. Both of these are meant to be constant. Not occasional, not temporary, but ongoing. So let's bring this into our lives because this is where it becomes real. To live in the presence of God is not just about having a powerful moment in worship. It's about cultivating a daily awareness. It's about living with the understanding that God is with me right now in this moment, in this conversation, in this situation.

And when that awareness level becomes real, it changes everything. It changes how you respond to stress. It changes how you treat people. It changes how you make decisions because you're no longer living disconnected. You're living in the presence, in this moment. And here's something powerful: the priests were responsible to maintain the light and the bread. But the source of both came from God. They didn't create the light. They didn't produce the provision.

They simply maintained what God had established. And that's the same for us. We are not the source. We are the stewards. We don't generate the presence of God, but we cultivate awareness of it. We don't create the light, we carry it. We don't produce the life, we receive it. And if you think about it, this takes the pressure off. Because sometimes we feel like we have to make something happen spiritually.

But what God is calling us to is something simpler and deeper. Stay connected. Keep the light burning. Keep the awareness alive. Stay in his presence. Now as we move forward into our next part, we're going to see something shift. Because Emor ends with a moment that is very different. It ends with a story, a situation involving someone who dishonors the name of God. In Leviticus 24, we're told about a man who in the middle of a conflict speaks the name of the Lord in a dishonoring way.

He blasphemes, and the situation is brought before Moses, and the response is very serious. Because in scripture, the name of God is not just a label. It represents his character, his identity, and his presence. Because in the ancient world, your name is not just who you are. It carries weight. It's your character, not just your physical identity. So when God reveals his name to Moses at that burning bush, "I am who I am, I will be what I will be," he's revealing his nature, his eternal existence.

So when someone dishonors the name of God, they're not just misusing a word. They're treating lightly the very identity of God. His name is to be honored, respected, revered, and held with weight. Now let's bring this into our world today. We live in a culture that treats God carelessly, flippantly. Over time, even in a way that can desensitize us. But Emor calls us back. It reminds us that God's name, God's character, God's identity matters.

Here's where this becomes personal: as believers, we carry that name. We carry that identity. Think about it: when you identify as a follower of Yeshua, when you say you belong to him, you're carrying his name, his identity, his character into the world. Your life becomes associated with him. Your actions reflect on him. Your words represent him. Just like on the youth trip with the name of the church on the side of the van.

It's not just about who you are. It's about whose you are. And this is where everything comes together for us as believers. Because in the New Testament, we're told that we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. That's not just symbolic language. You're called to represent God. Not just in church, not just in spiritual moments, but in everyday life. Now, I want you to catch this. This isn't about putting pressure on yourself. This is just about doing what God has already called you to do: to represent him in this world. So as we close today, remember: you are set apart and you are called. May your life reflect the one that has called you and set you apart, brother and sister. Shabbat Shalom.

Candace Long: You can hear Pastor Matt teach the Torah every Saturday morning from 6:00 to 6:30. Now normally Families Under Attack with Rezhane Morrison would air next, but Rezhane is ministering internationally for the next four weeks, but she will be back at the end of May. As I was considering how best to fill this time slot, it struck me that most of our programs target regular churchgoers who want to reconnect with our Jewish roots. But what about pastors and ministers?

How are they dealing with this move of God? I've put together a short Kingdom Ready Pastor series so pastors can share how they were led to return to Torah study. Coming up next is part one of my interview with Pastor Matt McKeown, our very own. As an ordained Torah teacher, Pastor Matt's teachings are tremendously popular. Now many of you may know that he is the International Director of Ahavat Ammi Ministries under Rabbi Itzhak Shapira.

But what you may not know is that he is also the Senior Pastor of a Christian church in Florida. Let's welcome him back. I'm Candace Long. I want to welcome you to a special Kingdom Ready series to respond to the incredible move of God that's taking place right now where the Father is leading many of his people to reconnect with the faith of our fathers through dedicated Torah study. And it has struck me that most of our attention on Shabbat Shalom is focused on what churchgoers are facing and the struggle in loyalties between the traditions they're used to and learning the ways of Judaism.

But we have been leaving out a very important group, and that is the number of pastors and minister leaders who also sense the Lord stirring them to return to the Torah and not knowing how to be responsive to his leading because of their church's expectations. And I can only imagine what a difficult time that may be for many. So in this special Kingdom Ready Pastor series, I'm interviewing pastors who have made that shift and are willing to share their stories. And today we begin a two-part interview with our very own Torah teacher on Shabbat Shalom, Pastor Matt McKeown, who is Senior Pastor at First Church in Holly Hill, Florida.

But he is also an ordained Moreh Torah, which means he's ordained to teach the Torah. And he also serves as the International Director of Ahavat Ammi Ministries under Rabbi Itzhak Shapira. Pastor Matt, I want to thank you for being willing to share your story with us.

Pastor Matt McKeown: So I was—I began my ministry career, professional ministry, in 1998 as a youth pastor. My wife and I were youth ministers for over a decade. And as a part of my responsibilities in youth ministry, I've always been a bi-vocational pastor. And part of my responsibilities were to lead worship. And I went on a trip with my father because my dad is also a pastor and he was the senior pastor of our church for 32 years.

Which is interesting because in our denomination, the United Brethren in Christ, you're assigned to the church that you go to. So we didn't—we didn't just make a choice that I would follow in my father's footsteps at the same church, but I basically sort of took over for him, but our denomination assigned me as the next pastor after he retired. And so I was not only in ministry with my dad, but he was my boss.

So he and I went to a Promise Keepers pastors conference in Arizona back in, I think, 1999. And in that conference, the keynote speaker said something very interesting. First of all, there were, I believe, over 50,000 pastors in attendance. It was in a giant football stadium and it was a wonderful event. Our church was very involved in that movement called Promise Keepers years ago. But this was specifically a pastors conference, and everyone was given a book called "My People Shall Be Your People," written by Don Finto, a wonderful man who has been a great friend to the Messianic Jewish movement.

And the foreword was written by Michael W. Smith. Now, I've always been a musician, as you are a musician, and I was interested in this book simply because the foreword was written by Michael W. Smith. I was a big fan of his music. And in that book, it really was opening us up to the idea of Christians coming alongside the people of Israel. And the keynote speaker at this conference said, "Pastors, go back to your cities, find a rabbi, and start a relationship."

Wow. And that was a very curious thing for him to say. I had never thought about meeting a rabbi or anything like that. And so I did the only thing that I could think to do, and that was I looked up a local synagogue, which in our area happened to be an Orthodox synagogue, a Hasidic synagogue. And went there, knocked on the door, and said, "I'm a local pastor and I was just at a ministry conference and I was told to meet a rabbi and start a relationship." I just was very out there with it.

And the rabbi was not—he was not mean, but he said "thank you" and shut the door. Suspect. Yeah. So I didn't know until much later that if you are a non-Jew and you want to learn the Torah and you ask a rabbi to teach you these things, the tradition is he shuts the door on you. And then if you come back, then he shuts the door on you. And if you come back a third time, he only shuts the door one more time.

Then he knows you're serious. There's a tradition of coming back three times. Wow. And I didn't know about this tradition. So I was a little discouraged and went away from there thinking, "Well, how am I going to do this?" Well, it just so happened that there was a young man in our youth group at the time that was dating a girl that was the daughter of the rabbi at the local Messianic synagogue.

And I was not aware that there was a Messianic synagogue around. I don't know that I was aware of Messianic Judaism as a movement necessarily, but in high school, I went to a Christian high school and in high school, my Spanish teacher was Messianic. And while she was grading papers, she would play old recordings of a Messianic band called LAMB that was very big in the '80s and '90s. And so I was familiar with a little bit of this music.

And at the school that I was attending, since it was a Christian school, we had a chapel service every week. And some of the music that we sang for chapel was Messianic Jewish music. I just knew that it was in a minor key, sounded kind of Jewish, and it was very exuberant. One of the very first songs that I ever learned that was a Messianic Jewish song is a song called "Trees of the Field," written by Rabbi Stuart Dauermann, who is still around. He lives out West.

And I didn't know that this was written by a Messianic Jew. We just sang it in chapel. And I loved that sort of minor sound. There was a longing in that music. So I had had a little bit of experience with the music of the Messianic Jewish movement. But when I found out that this young man was dating the daughter of the Messianic rabbi, I went and I met with him and started visiting there from time to time.

But what really changed it for me or what really sort of got me on the path of really studying these things was a conservative Jewish couple that came into my recording studio in the early 2000s. And they recorded two albums with me completely in Hebrew. They were albums of Jewish liturgy done in a modern style. And I didn't know any Hebrew at the time. I just knew that this music had a sound that I really felt like the Spirit was in it.

And I began talking with them and they said, "We know that you're in ministry, we know you're a pastor, and we just want to tell you there's nothing new in the New Testament. It is renewed." Now, these were not believers, but they knew about the New Testament and knew about the ministry of Jesus, of Yeshua, and they said, "There's nothing new in the New Testament. Now go and study." And that was their challenge to me.

And we began to have many good conversations over the year and a half or so that they recorded those two albums. That really began a journey that was probably back in 2003, 2004. And that's when I really began to dig and to study. And then in 2015 or late 2014, I had been watching Rabbi Shapira on YouTube and seeing his journey and I was really enthralled with his teaching. And I thought, "I really pray, Lord, help me meet this man somehow."

And it happened that he was going to be in Orlando speaking at a Messianic congregation and I traveled there. It's only about an hour away from me where I live in Florida. And was able to meet him and I had heard that he was starting a school. And if I wasn't the first student that signed up for his school for his Messianic Jewish Yeshiva, I was definitely within the first half a dozen. Because we were signing up before it was even opened.

We were calling and asking him about it in late 2014 and it didn't start until the spring of 2015. And I’ve been a part of that Yeshiva, graduated from there after five years, and was ordained by that ministry as you mentioned. And then began working with the ministry and traveling all around the world. I've been to 20 countries so far as our school has students in, I think, 50 countries. And I am set to travel to a couple different places in the summer. One of the places is going to be Hong Kong and mainland China. And I'm supposed to at some point this year travel to Pakistan to work with some of the underground churches there that are curious about Messianic Judaism.

Candace Long: What are you seeing about this movement? I mean, because Shabbat Shalom, it’s interesting you said about 2004, something was stirring in you. That was exactly the year that I had a prophetic dream. And in the dream, my fingernails had Hebrew letters underneath each nail. But some of the nails were broken and in the dream I was looking for a rabbi to repair them. Then shortly after I met, probably about a year later, I met Rabbi Michael Washer and became mentored by him. So it’s interesting that around that same time, are you seeing this movement that is growing, that is hitting not only churchgoers but also ministry leaders like yourself?

Pastor Matt McKeown: Absolutely. I really think that this is just evidence of us being in the last days. This is a sign, I think, that we get from Zechariah chapter 8 about 10 men from the nations grabbing a hold of the garment of a Jew and saying, "Let us go with you because we know that God is with you." So I really believe this is a prophetic thing. It used to be I could say in the old days, in the beginnings of this stuff in the early 2000s with me, it used to be that people thought this was weird in the church or fellow pastors thought it was just a little off. But more and more we see mainstream Christian ministries, pastors, leaders, learning about Shabbat, learning about the tallit, learning about various things that are part of the Jewish roots of our faith. And I really feel like it's part of a last-days revival that has got to happen. And I'm excited about it. I'm really energized by what I'm seeing.

Candace Long: When you started feeling this pull, did it threaten your church members?

Pastor Matt McKeown: I will say that probably over the last, I don't know, 10 or 15 years, we have—I don't want to say lost people, but we have had people that have told me that this is the reason that they're choosing to go to other churches is that they either didn't feel comfortable with or they didn't resonate with some of the Jewish things that I teach. I pastor a Christian church. It's a Sunday church part of a Christian denomination, it's an evangelical church.

So I do not pastor a synagogue or a Messianic congregation. I pastor a Christian church. And I'm the only person, I think, in our church that I know of that is really practicing a Messianic Jewish lifestyle. But anyone that's been to our church for any length of time is getting this education, this Jewish education about the foundation of our faith because it's how I teach. We still do very Christian things in our service. We do the Christian tradition of Holy Communion. We basically have a Christian worship service.

We sing Christian songs, there's no Hebrew. But in my preaching and teaching, just because it's who I am and it's how I worship the Lord, I approach the Lord in a very Jewish way and in a Messianic framework, and so that's how I preach.

Candace Long: So they’re not threatened by that?

Pastor Matt McKeown: Not the people that are here now, no. I think in the beginning, some people thought, like I think the words that someone used with me was, "I signed up to come to a church and I just feel like it's becoming a synagogue." Which, I mean, anyone who's ever really been to a synagogue when they come to our church wouldn't think it's like a synagogue. But I have tried to be very sensitive to people.

And this is why for my Bible studies that I do that aren't Sunday morning, my Wednesday night Bible study, I do something very in-depth that's called "Unroll the Scroll." It's specifically on the Torah portion and it is very Messianic Jewish. And that is something that people can choose to come to. I will tell you the room that I'm in now, we lovingly call the study. It’s my beit midrash, it’s my house of study. It's set up in a classroom. And right now I have 28 chairs in here and they are full on Wednesday night.

It's growing and growing. In fact, what I have wanted to do is I want to get thinner tables. You know, they make these sort of seminar conference tables that are not as wide as a standard table. I want to get those so I can fit more seats in here. And there are people even from a couple of other churches that are coming to my Wednesday night Bible study because they're curious about these things. So no, I don't feel any resistance anymore because the people that are here now are here because they want that sort of teaching.

Candace Long: One of the things that I have noticed and get feedback from our listeners on Shabbat Shalom is how beautifully you teach the Torah. I mean, you are very gifted in giving a total overview of the Torah portion in such depth. Every line that you say has layers of meaning like the rabbis teach. How did you know that that was a gifting? Was that something that Rabbi Shapira picked up on you? Because that's really how I found you. I mean, I was looking for—I didn't know what I was looking for, but I knew it wasn't something that I was gifted in. But when I heard your teaching, I said, "That's who I want." How did you come to—I'm real big on people learning to find their gifting in the Lord. My specialty is end-of-days prophecies, which I've been studying for over 35 years. So how did you find your gift?

Pastor Matt McKeown: I’m so glad you asked and thank you for those kind words. It really started—so I've always been gifted in the area of teaching. In fact, I felt a call into ministry as a young person. I did a lot of work as a teenager with an organization called Child Evangelism Fellowship where I was a summer missionary for years and would do Bible clubs during the summer that they called five-day clubs. I did that, I was a volunteer in summer camps and taught vacation Bible school.

And when I was in college, I was a volunteer youth leader for the middle and high school students. So I've always had a gift of teaching, felt a call into ministry, and if I'm being as transparent as I can be, I resisted going into ministry. I had a bit of a Jonah experience. I kind of ran from that calling because I think out of selfishness, I saw what my parents dealt with in ministry of it just always seemed that they were dealing with hurt, with people's crises and their broken hearts and their loss of a loved one or someone was in a horrible car accident, and I saw how it weighed on my parents and the way that they carried burdens for people.

And I knew I had a call into ministry, but I thought I could coast by by maybe being a teacher. And so in college, I was an English major. I thought I was going to be a teacher, maybe a high school English teacher or an English professor at college. And it just really wasn't doing it for me in my training. I couldn't teach without making it spiritual. So it just was in me, just ministry was in me. And I knew I had this calling and so eventually I had to really just submit to the Lord and to follow the Spirit's leading into going into ministry.

So I knew that I had a gift of teaching. Really the only two things that I'm good at is music and teaching the Bible. I'm just—I'm kind of a two-trick pony that way. But I do have a passion for it. I really do have a passion for it. My mother told me years ago that she prayed I would become a Bible junkie, that I would really just have an insatiable desire to study God's word.

Candace Long: Well, you and I resonate because we both have recording studios and we have longtime recording backgrounds. You know, I've been in radio since the '70s and have my first and only splicing block. I mean, you know, one of the old splicing blocks with a razor. So I go back that far, but you have a recording studio and I know, being gifted in that way myself, how long it takes to create a Torah teaching. I mean, I know exactly how many pages, how many words my script is going to be, and I count those words, and I've got 400 pages that will never make it into lessons in the latter days because they've been edited out. So I mean, I can appreciate the work that you have done with that. And so I just want to commend you for that because a lot of people don't know what their gift is. You said that some of your church members go to synagogue with you to study the Torah?

Pastor Matt McKeown: Absolute—I am firmly in both camps. Yes. So the way that I—in my relationship with the Lord and my daily worship and practice, it is a Messianic Jewish expression of faith, absolutely. But I'm in an interesting position where I pastor a Christian church inside a denominational structure. And so I serve under a national bishop. And he finds it very interesting, this life that I live, and as a non-Jew living kind of a Jewish life, and finds it intriguing and I've had many wonderful conversations with him over the years about these kinds of things.

Candace Long: So other pastors are not threatened by you in that regard that you're trying to quote "convert" them into Judaism?

Pastor Matt McKeown: No, I think there might have been people way a long time ago that were worried about Judaizing or something like this. But I think if people know me, they know my heart and know that I'm not a part of some cult and trying to do this or that. I think they're more or less intrigued by—because let's be honest, when we go to seminary, so my undergraduate degree is from a Christian university. I have a master's degree in practical theology from a Christian university.

So I have that type of my seminary training. Going from there, went through the Yeshiva and then got the education on the Jewish side. So I think my fellow pastors, since in seminary we concentrate so much on Greek because of the New Testament being written in Greek, I think they find it interesting a Hebrew perspective because we don't—we don't really learn much Hebrew in Christian seminary. We mostly focus on the New Testament. And so I think there's a growing popularity of some of these things.

And I'll tell you what's really helped since the pandemic is the popularity of the TV show "The Chosen." And I'm not sure if I ever told you, but you know Rabbi Shapira and I were consultants for "The Chosen" between seasons one and two. The Ryan and Tyler, the head writers with the creator of the show, Dallas Jenkins, they had never been to Israel. And so Rabbi Shapira and I took them to Israel for a week back in 2020 and took them all around the country and showed them these different things.

There is a move in the Christian church toward curiosity about Jewish things. And I really think that now people are sort of coming to me to ask questions rather than, "Okay, that's him, he does his thing and he's in his own corner over there." Now it's like we have some questions about the Jewish roots of the faith or a tradition in the Bible that we can't really understand. Can you explain this in a Jewish way? I get calls from pastors in my denomination and other denominations all the time.

Candace Long: Do you see pastors that would come to you and say, "I'm sensing the Lord leading me toward connecting, reconnecting with my Jewish background, but I don't know what to do because I'm in a traditional church." Do they admit these things to you? Are you seeing this kind of move?

Pastor Matt McKeown: I am. And I would say though that more what I am seeing rather than people wanting to put Jewish things into practice—and I have to just say that, you know, I can only speak from the perspective of my particular training under Rabbi Shapira and Rabbi Steven Bernstein who has gone on to be with the Lord, may his memory be blessed. With those rabbis and the way that they teach, it is our belief that Christians, that Gentiles, are not bound to the Torah.

They don't have the same legal obligation to the Torah as a Jewish person would. That is our stated perspective. But that we as grafted-in members of the house of Israel can partake in these types of things, but we're not enjoined to. We don't have to. So I think more of what I'm seeing is pastors wanting to reset their faulty theology and doctrine or understanding of scripture, where they might have some anti-Jewish theology. So that I'm really seeing.

Candace Long: If you are a pastor or minister leader who's listening and have a question for this segment, please go to our main page at ShabbatShalomRadio.com and look for the button at the top that says "Email the show." I'm Candace Long and next week I'll continue with part two of my Kingdom Ready Pastor series interview with Pastor Matt McKeown. Join us next Saturday morning from 6:30 to 7:00. Shabbat Shalom.

Remember if you've missed an episode or want to listen to something again, all of our programs are archived at the bottom of our ShabbatShalomRadio.com page. They are arranged by date, hour, teacher, and topic. Coming up in the next hour is Ask the Rabbi, which is always a lively, unfiltered discussion with Rabbi Michael Washer. So stay tuned for the second hour on WEZE AM 590, our media partner for ShabbatShalomRadio.com.