Shabbat Shalom

Candace Long: Good morning and welcome to Shabbat Shalom. I'm Candace Long, your host and producer. Before Pastor Matt comes to teach today's Torah portion, which begins the book of Numbers, allow me to put the book into perspective.

I want to point out that through Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, God has examined all the people on Earth and chosen one narrow DNA thread of humanity to make himself known to: the DNA lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was a tiny group of 70 people who ended up in Egypt under severe bondage.

God majestically delivered them and brought them into the wilderness, testing them all along the way to prepare them to see his glory, to enter into a marriage covenant, and agree to receive the Torah. Numbers begins with a census of the people. Please notice that God knows every family and every person by name. They are not numbers to him. Our Father knew each of them intimately and what each contributed to building the Tabernacle.

If you are able to access my handout on our main shabbatshalomradio.com page, please click on it and go to page four. There you will find a diagram showing how God arranged his people just as the book of Numbers opens. The people didn't live just anywhere. Each one was genealogically connected to a family which belonged to one of Jacob's 12 sons.

As you see in the diagram, the 12 tribes were arranged in four flagged formations on each side of the Tabernacle. Each tribe had a flag and a banner, and each tent faced the Tabernacle in the middle of the camp. I encourage you to study this diagram. It's life-changing if you can see it because your place in the Messianic kingdom will be found here.

I write about all this in my book, The Levitical Calling. So like me, you will either identify as a Levite, who is passionate about guarding and protecting and teaching the ways of the Lord, or you will be under the oversight of one of the tribes. Closest to God's presence, you see Moses and Aaron and their families on the east of the Tabernacle because the people are heading east toward the land of Israel.

Now as we read in today's portion, the Lord set his Levites apart from the other tribes. In verse 48, we read, and I abbreviate: "The Lord said to Moses, 'Appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the testimony. They are to carry the Tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall tend it and encamp around the Tabernacle.'"

As you're going to learn today, being called as a Levite is a tremendous honor, but the invitation came through severe testing. Remember in Exodus 32, Moses came down from the mountain and found the people worshipping a golden calf, and he was livid. We read, "He stood in the gate of the camp and said, 'Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me.' And all of the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said, 'Thus says the Lord God of Israel, "Put every man his sword on his side and go to and fro throughout the camp and kill every man his brother and every man his neighbor."'"

They did this and 3,000 men were killed. And Moses said, "Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord." I want you to see that this is the level of fierce loyalty that God requires of those whom he calls to guard and carry his ways in the Earth. This illustration is eternal and it applies to us. This diagram represents those I believe Jesus is coming for at the first resurrection. He's coming for his bride, those who have passed every test with unshakable loyalty and have chosen to carry his ways and help Messiah govern the world.

The Torah is our curriculum for kingdom training to teach each of us to do what he has called us to do. Let's recite the Shema together. Shema Israel, 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, my 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. Now this week, we begin a brand new book of the Torah, the book of Numbers. In Hebrew, it's called B'midbar, and that means "In the Wilderness."

Right away, that sets the tone because the wilderness is not just a location. It's a season, a place of testing, a place of uncertainty, a place where things feel stripped down, where comfort is removed, where you're no longer where you were, but you're not quite yet where you're going. And if we're honest, most of us have experienced wilderness seasons. Moments in life where things feel unclear, where the direction is uncertain, where we're waiting, wondering, trying to figure out what God is doing.

And in that setting, this is where the book of B'midbar begins. Now here's what's surprising, because the very first thing that God tells Moses to do in the wilderness is this: Take a census. Count the people. Now think about that. If you were leading a group through the wilderness, you might expect instructions about survival, about finding water, about food, about direction. But instead, God says, "Count them." And this is why in English the book is called Numbers.

But why? Because before anything else, God wants them to know that they matter. Every individual, every family, every tribe. This is not a random crowd. This is a people with an identity, a people with a purpose, a people with value. And that's something that we need to hear today. Because in the wilderness seasons of life, it's easy to feel overlooked, forgotten, insignificant. It's easy to think, "Does my life really matter? Or am I just part of the crowd? Does God really see me?" And B'midbar answers that question right away. Yes, he sees you. Yes, he counts you. Yes, you matter.

Now let's go a little deeper, because this census is not just about numbers. It's about identity. The people are counted by their tribes, their families, their households. In other words, they're being reminded of who they are, where they come from, and where they belong. And this is so important because the wilderness has a way of making you forget. Forget who you are, forget what God has said, forget what he has promised. So before anything else, God anchors them in identity. And the same is true for us. Because when life feels uncertain, we need to go back to what is certain. Not how we feel, not what we see, but who God says we are. And in the Messiah, that identity becomes even clearer. Because we are known, called, chosen, set apart. Not because of what we've done, but because what God has declared.

And there's another detail that we can't miss here. The census only includes men of fighting age, those who are able to go to war. Now that might seem just like a logistical detail, but it tells us something very important. The people of God are not just counted. They're commissioned. They're being prepared, organized, positioned. Because even in the wilderness, there is a purpose. And this is something that we need to understand. The wilderness, that experience, is not wasted. It might feel to us like a delay. It may feel like a detour. But the wilderness is actually a place of preparation. God is shaping his people, forming their identity, teaching them to trust him, and getting them ready for what's ahead.

The same is true, brother and sister, in our lives. The seasons that feel unclear, the moments that feel uncertain, the times where you don't know what's next, those are often the places where God is doing his deepest work. He is forming something in you, building something in you, preparing you for something that you can't yet see. And that changes how we view the wilderness. It's not something to get through. It's something to grow through.

As we move forward in this portion, we're going to see something even more powerful, because the people aren't just counted. They're arranged. And they're positioned around the Tabernacle. We could call this section "Positioned Around Presence." And God is at the center of everything. As we continue in Parashat B'midbar, we move from being counted to being positioned. Because after God tells Moses to take a census of the people, he does something just as important. He arranges them. It's not random. It's not chaotic. This is intentional.

I remember as a child having assigned seats in certain classrooms in school. And I always wondered what was the logic that the teacher had behind placing me where she did. But I know in those classrooms there was a reason why she put students in a certain place. And sometimes I think it was to keep people like me and some of my friends away from each other that might have distracted each other during class. With God, it's the same. It's intentional. Every tribe has been given a specific place around the Tabernacle, a specific location, a specific assignment. And again, at the very center of it all is the Tabernacle, the place where God's presence dwells.

Now picture this. You have the 12 tribes of Israel, thousands upon thousands of people. Remember, 600,000 men alone. Now they're not just scattered. They're now organized in a very specific pattern: three tribes to the east, three to the south, three to the west, and three to the north. And right there in the middle, the tent of meeting where God's presence dwells. This is a powerful image. Because if you look at the camp from above, in a bird's-eye view looking down, everything is centered around the presence of God. What a beautiful picture. Their lives were literally arranged around him.

And that's the key idea here. God is not meant to be a part of your life, on the edge of your life. He's meant to be at the center. This is something that we need to hear today. Because it's very easy to structure our lives in a very different way. We put work at the center, family at the center, goals at the center, stress and anxieties at the center. And then we try to fit God in around the edges. But Parashat B'midbar flips that. It shows us that a people whose entire lives are built around the presence of God are exactly where they need to be. Their movement is centered on him. Their identity is centered on him. Their daily life is centered on him. He's not an afterthought.

And this is not just symbolic. It's practical. Because wherever they go, they pack up the Tabernacle and it goes with them. When the cloud lifts, they move. When the cloud settles, they stop. Everything revolves around his presence. Now let's bring that into our lives today. Because this is where it begins to be real. What is at the center of your life? Not what should be—we all know what should be at the center of our lives—but what currently is at the center of your life? What do your decisions revolve around? What shapes your priorities? What determines your direction?

When I was growing up, my dad used to say, back when checkbooks were more popular, "Show me your checkbook and you will show me your priorities." But I think we could say this: Show me your phone and you'll show me your priorities. Show me your browser history. Show me your social media apps, and I will show you the direction of your life, what is at the center. Because whatever is at the center, it's what everything else will align to. And God is saying, "Let me be that center."

Now here's something even more interesting. Every tribe had a banner. I love that. A flag, a symbol. And they would camp under that banner facing the Tabernacle. So every time they stepped out of their tent, what did they see? The presence of God. In every direction they looked, everything pointed back to him. And that created something very powerful. It was a constant awareness, a daily reminder. A life where God was not distant but literally present.

Now this connects you and I directly to the New Testament. Because what we see physically in the wilderness becomes spiritual reality in Messiah. Through Jesus, through Yeshua, God doesn't just dwell in a tent at the center of a camp. He dwells within us. The presence of God is no longer just external. It's internal. And that changes everything. Because now the question is not "Where is God in the camp?" The question becomes, "Is he at the center of my everyday life?"

Now let's take this one step deeper. Because not only were the tribes positioned around the Tabernacle, the Levites were placed directly around it. They were set apart, given a specific role to guard, to serve, to carry the Tabernacle. And this shows us something very important. The closer you are to the presence of God, the greater the responsibility. Because proximity brings purpose. And that's something that we see all throughout Scripture. Those who are close to God are called to reflect him, to serve him, to carry his presence.

And again, this connects to us today. Because in Messiah, we are brought near. We are invited into relationship. We're given access. But with that access comes calling. Years ago in a superhero movie, there was a wonderful quote that I love saying to teenagers to this day, and that is, "With great power comes great responsibility." We have a calling to live differently, to carry his presence, to reflect his heart.

Now here's something beautiful. Even though the camp is structured, even though everyone has a place, there's still unity. Different tribes, different roles, different positions, but one center. That's a powerful picture of the body of believers. We're all different. We all have different gifts, different callings, different assignments, different talents. But all of us are centered on the same presence. And when that center is clear, everything else begins to align.

Now as we move on to the next part, we're going to take this even deeper because B'midbar doesn't just show us structure. It shows us calling. Specifically, the calling of the Levi'im, the Levites. And we're going to see what it means to be set apart for service and how that connects to our lives today. So in part one, we were reminded that in the wilderness, you are counted. And in part two, we saw that our lives are meant to be centered around God's presence. Now in this part of our lesson, we're going to come to a group of people that show us what it means to be set apart for purpose: the Levites.

Now out of all the 12 tribes of Israel, one tribe is treated differently, the tribe of Levi, or Levi. They're not counted in the same way as the others. They're not assigned a position in the outer camp. They're not numbered among the fighting men. Why? Because they have a different calling. God says that the Levites are to be set apart to serve in connection with the Tabernacle. They are responsible for carrying it, for caring for it, for protecting it, and for assisting in the work of worship. In other words, they are entrusted with the presence.

Now this is a powerful shift. Because while the other tribes are counted for battle, the Levites are set apart for service. And this teaches us another important lesson: not every calling looks the same. Some are called to lead in visible ways. Some are called to serve in quieter ways, behind the scenes. Some are called to build, some are called to protect, but every role matters. No one role is more important than the other. And in the kingdom of God, there is no less important position.

Here's something even deeper. God says that the Levites are taken in the place of the firstborn of Israel. Because originally, the firstborn of every family belonged to God. They were set apart as a reminder of deliverance from Egypt. But something happened: the sin of the golden calf. And Jewish tradition tells us that no Levite, no one from the tribe of Levi, participated in the sin of the golden calf. And so the plan shifts. And now God takes the Levites as a substitute for every firstborn male. They represent the people. They stand in their place. It's a substitution. And it introduces here a powerful principle: substitution for the sake of service. One group standing in for another, one group carrying responsibility on behalf of others.

And again, this points us forward because this is exactly what we see in Yeshua. He becomes the one who stands in our place, the one who carries what we could not carry, the one who serves on our behalf. But here's where it connects to us. Because through him, we are now called into that same kind of life. A life that's not just about receiving, but about serving.

Now let's talk about what the Levites actually did. Because their work wasn't glamorous. They dismantled the Tabernacle when it was time to move. They carried its pieces and objects of furniture throughout the wilderness. They set it back up again. This was physical work, repetitive work, often unseen work. But it was sacred because it was connected to the presence of God. And that's something that we need to understand. What makes something sacred is not how visible it is. It's what it's connected to. You can do something small, something behind the scenes, something no one else notices. And if it's done in connection with God, it carries eternal significance.

Now this challenges the way that we often think. Because we tend to measure importance by visibility, by recognition, by impact that can be seen. But God measures differently. He looks at faithfulness, at obedience, at willingness. And the Levites show us that. They weren't necessarily in the spotlight, but they were essential.

Now here's something else that we need to see. The Levites lived closer to the Tabernacle than anyone else. They were positioned around it. They were constantly near the presence of God. And that proximity shaped their lives. Because when you're close to the presence of God, you're changed. Your perspective shifts. Your priorities realign. Your life begins to reflect what you are near. And that's true for us. The closer we live to God's presence, the more our lives begin to reflect him.

Now let's bring this more into our lives today. Because this is where it becomes real. What has God called you to? Not what someone else is doing. Not what looks impressive, not what gets attention, but what has he placed in front of you? Because your calling isn't random. It's intentional. And it may not look like someone else's calling, but it doesn't make it less valuable. In fact, when you step into the role that God has given you, you are fulfilling something that only you can fulfill. Now here's the key: Calling is not about position. It's about purpose. It's about saying, "God, whatever you've given me to do, I will do it faithfully." And when you live that way, your life becomes an offering.

As we continue in Parashat B'midbar, we now move into something that ties everything together: movement. Because this is not just a people who are counted, not just a people who are positioned, not just a people who are called. Let's remember the purpose of the wilderness. This is a people who are on a journey. They're not meant to stay where they are. They're moving from Egypt toward the promised land. And in the wilderness, one of the most important lessons they must learn is this: how to follow God's lead.

Now we've already seen that the camp is centered around the Tabernacle. Everything revolves around God's presence. But how do they know when to move? How do they know when to stay? How do they know what direction to go? The answer is simple and powerful: God leads them. In the wilderness, God's presence appears as a cloud by day and fire by night. When the cloud lifts, the people move. When the cloud settles, the people stay. That's it. No maps, no GPS, no long-term itinerary. Just a constant dependence on God's direction.

Now think about how challenging that must have been. Because as human beings, we like clarity. We like plans. We like to know what's next. But the wilderness doesn't work that way. The wilderness requires daily trust. It requires learning to live without having to figure everything out. It requires learning to say, "God, I will move when you move, and I will stay when you stay." And that is not easy. Because sometimes God says, "Stay," and we want to move. We want progress. We want change. We want things to happen. But God knows what we don't. And he knows when we're ready. He knows when the timing is right. He knows what needs to happen before the next step.

And sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is stay. To remain where God has you. To trust that he's working even when it feels like nothing is happening. And then there are other times when God says, "Move," and that can be just as challenging. Because it requires faith. It requires stepping into the unknown. It requires leaving what is familiar. And here's the key: Following God means being willing to do both. To stay when he stays and to move when he moves.

Now let's bring this into our lives. Because this is where this part becomes real. Where is God leading you right now? Is he asking you to stay in a place that feels uncomfortable? To remain in a situation that requires patience? To trust him in a season that feels slow? Or is he asking you to move? To step out? To take a step of faith? To leave something behind and follow him into something new? Because walking with God is not about controlling the journey. It's about responding to his direction.

Now here's something important. The people didn't decide when to move. They didn't take a vote. They didn't follow their feelings. They followed his presence. And that is the lesson. God's presence is the guide. Not circumstances, not emotions, not pressure from others. His presence. And this is where it connects so beautifully to the New Testament. Because Yeshua says, "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me." That's the relationship. Not just knowing about God, but listening, responding, following. And this is something we grow in: learning to recognize his voice, learning to discern his leading, learning to trust his timing.

So remember, in this Torah portion, we learn that you are counted. You are centered around his presence. You are called. And you follow his lead. To stay when he stays, to trust his direction. And now we put it all together. Because the truth is, the wilderness is where God prepares you for your purpose. Every one of us has wilderness seasons. Times when we feel things are unclear, where we don't have all the answers, where we're waiting for direction. It's easy to feel lost. But B'midbar reminds us that you're not lost. You're being led. God is present. God is leading. God is working. The people of Israel didn't get to the promised land by figuring everything out. They got there by following, step by step and day by day. My friends, this week may you walk with clarity and confidence in God's presence, and may your life reflect the God that leads you through the wilderness and into every promise. Shabbat Shalom.

Candace Long: You can hear Pastor Matt teach the Torah every Saturday morning from 6:00 to 6:30. Families Under Attack with Rajan Morris will return in two weeks. But coming up next is part one of an interview I did with Dr. Stephen Coyle, a pastor I've gotten to know whose story fascinated me and I wanted to learn more. Dr. Coyle was a Southern Baptist pastor for 37 years, but in 1992 he had a divine encounter, so to speak, whereby the Lord invited him to embark on a journey of discovery to learn the ways of our Jewish forefathers.

As you're going to hear, Dr. Coyle's pastoral style is gentle, warm, and laid back. God did not rush him to do something radical. Never in a million years did he imagine himself ending up establishing and growing three Messianic congregations and spending 12 years after retirement creating a vibrant prison ministry teaching the Torah to inmates. I'm Candace Long. I want to welcome you to a special Kingdom Ready Pastor series to respond to what God is doing right now, leading many of his people to reconnect with the faith of our fathers through Torah study.

And today's focus is on the number of pastors and ministry leaders who also sense this return to the Torah. So in this special series, I'm interviewing pastors who have responded to this calling and are willing to share their stories. Today, I'm talking with Dr. Stephen Coyle, who grew up in a Christian home and felt called into the ministry as a teenager. Eventually graduating from seminary with degrees in Masters of Theology, Doctor of Ministries, and Doctor of Theology, and for many years pastored Baptist churches in Louisiana and Georgia.

But during the first decade of the 21st century, he began to feel this internal shift that we've been talking about on Shabbat Shalom. So much so that in 2010, the denominational Baptist church that he pastored officially changed to a non-denominational Messianic congregation. Now before I bring Dr. Coyle on, let me say that this interview is not intended to challenge existing denominational churches. Rather, I believe that many pastors are feeling this shift back to our Jewish roots. They're either seeing it in their congregations or something is stirring inside of them and they're struggling with how to process it. Dr. Coyle, I want to thank you so much for being willing to share your story with us. Let me give you the first question to start the ball, and then I'll pass it on to you. Tell us first a little about your background and your initial sense of calling into ministry.

Dr. Stephen Coyle: Thank you so much, Candace, for allowing me to be on your program here today. And I look forward to our conversation and our time of sharing here today. For me, in my life, I grew up in a Christian home. My parents were Southern Baptist. That's our Christian background. And the reason for us being a Southern Baptist, my paternal grandfather was a Southern Baptist pastor. And so my father obviously grew up in his father's home and church. And he met my mom, who was attending their same church together.

And so then World War II started. My father went off in the Navy in the Pacific and was in World War II. He comes back home, him and my mom get married at that time and stay in the Baptist church. And when I was born, I grew up in a Baptist church. That was something that was part of our life: Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night services, revival services, prayer meetings, whatever was going on at the church house, the Coyles were there.

The whole thing. We did it. So that was what I grew up in. That was my life. And at a very early age, I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And then as a teenager, I felt the calling to be a minister, entering into the gospel ministry. And so that was me. That was my life. And I saw this as when I was called to be a preacher or minister, it started right then. And so I would go with the deacons from our Baptist church to a jail ministry. And so they would take me into the jail, I would sit there and witness to the inmates, and then every now and then they would turn to me and say, "Steve, all right, it's your turn. You get to preach today."

And so there I am. I'm a teenager standing up there in a prison preaching to these inmates. And so, yeah, that was something that was part of me. I just did that all through high school. I was a young preacher boy, you know, as they would call me. "There's the preacher boy."

Candace Long: Let me lead you into this next phase here. You said in various church history courses and New Testament classes in both college and seminary that you began to learn some things about Christianity that are not taught in the average church. So that was a time then where would people kind of say, "Well, Steve, you were just being led astray by these liberal college professors here." What was happening?

Dr. Stephen Coyle: Yeah, after high school, of course I go on to college and at college worked on my Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible. One of the classes that I took was church history. And I learned some things that my Baptist pastor had not preached about. He was a good pastor, no, I'm not going to criticize him in any way. But he had somewhat of a narrow focus of his area of preaching ministry. And it didn't include any real history or background information about Christianity and the church.

But in these church history courses that I took, it was a real eye-opener for me, a learning experience. It was interesting to learn about the various things that took place because my idea of church history was the New Testament, you know, when I read the book of Acts, that was my history book for the church. And so what took place in the second and third and fourth centuries concerning Christianity was well, it was all new to me.

So I was learning about these things. And something that I saw was that what I read in the New Testament and then what I looked at as a Southern Baptist, there was a gap. Not just the gap of time from the first century to the 20th century at that time, but there was a gap in what those early first-century believers were like in their ministry and what I saw in the ministry of our Baptist church today. And so that was something that began to grab me and say, "Wait a minute, what's taking place here?" Because I realized that there was a real difference in the faith and practice of the early church believers and what the faith and practice of what we were doing as a denominational Christian church today. And so that difference in the beliefs and the ministry was something that jumped out.

Candace Long: Looking back on it, we can see that the Holy Spirit was pointing these things out, but you were a young man at the time. Did you have a mentor that you could go discuss this with or was this all internal with you and the Lord?

Dr. Stephen Coyle: Not at that time, having a mentor. It was just pretty much me and the Lord, I guess you can say, with what I was learning. Of course I talked with the professors, they were the ones explaining to me what the church history was like and how Christianity had moved forward and developed over the years. So yeah, it was just mainly from their input that I was gaining this kind of information. I wasn't, I guess at first, I was learning this information and then began to kind of get a little frustrated, maybe, would be a word I could use.

Because I learned about the Church Fathers. I never knew there were Church Fathers, you know. And so all of a sudden I'm reading about Justin Martyr and Irenaeus and Tertullian and Clement and Origen and Augustine, and these were the Church Fathers who did their teaching, they came up with doctrines and theology that was not Hebraic. Back in that second and third century, the New Testament was being written, and so they were reading the letters and reading the what would become the books. But they didn't have a real background in the Hebraic understanding of Scripture.

They were Romans, they came out of paganism. They had never read the Old Testament like you would think they should have. They didn't understand the real Hebraic kind of life and practice, faith. And so they developed their doctrines out of just reading the letters, the gospels that they were getting copies from. They hadn't compiled the New Testament like we have today. So they were kind of getting bits and pieces of things and then from that they developed their doctrines. And wow, some of the stuff they were coming up with was...

Candace Long: Yes, very anti-Semitic.

Dr. Stephen Coyle: There you go. What we would think of as heresy today, but for them it was a growing thing.

Candace Long: But they would think that we were heretics today.

Dr. Stephen Coyle: That's it! You better believe it. What happened to y'all? They didn't have a real appreciation for their Hebraic faith and practice. And so they didn't like the Jews very well. And so then they didn't connect with their Jewish believers and followers in Jesus. This is what was so crazy. I mean, we're talking about Peter, James and John and Paul, they're all Jews who believed in Jesus. But now with the next generation of Jewish believers in Jesus, these Gentiles who believed in Jesus didn't connect with them. And that was starting to become clear to me at that point.

Candace Long: Now were you pastoring at this time?

Dr. Stephen Coyle: No, I was still, I finished through college and this was all ruminating in me as I entered into my pastoral ministry. That was just sort of that learning at that point and didn't do anything with it. You learn it and then when you go to that first church that you're going to pastor, you're so absorbed in trying to make sense of what you're doing here as a pastor in your first church that those kind of things kind of just, I put it on the shelf, I guess you can say, and just became a what I thought I was trying to be the best Southern Baptist pastor I could be.

Candace Long: What struck me about your story was that you said, "I wanted to follow Jesus and be like him." And that was your focus. So from what I'm gathering then, you were convicted about this anti-Semitic part of our church history, which none of us knew at the time. I was brought up in basically nothing. We went to church twice a year, Easter and Christmas. So I knew nothing. So you wanted to follow Jesus and become like him. And was that basically what your personal track and your personal goal was when you became a pastor?

Dr. Stephen Coyle: As a young fellow, you're idealistic. And you have this idea, this vision of the way you think your ministry should be as a pastor. But personally, as I read the New Testament and I saw what those early believers were like, I said, "Okay, Lord, I want to be like them. I want to just read this New Testament and whatever they did I want to do, whatever they were like I want to be like them in whatever that meant. That's what I wanted in my personal life."

And so as a pastor, that's what I would begin to try to convey to my congregation. And so I would preach to them and teach them and share with them and I would talk about the New Testament, you know, and everything, and every now and then I'd say, "Let's be like them. Let's do it like them. Let's follow what we learn here in the Scriptures."

Candace Long: You wrote, "So we would evangelize the lost, pray for the sick to be healed, cast out demons, be baptized in the Holy Spirit, exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit." Now did you get any pushback from your congregation when... because this is the way Jesus lived.

Dr. Stephen Coyle: That's right. It didn't sound very Southern Baptist, does it? That's true. Here I am a Southern Baptist pastor wanting to follow the New Testament. And when I started, of course Southern Baptists were focusing on evangelism. That's big for Southern Baptist. We're going to teach people how to be good witnesses, soul-winners, and reach the lost, baptize people, grow a church. We could do that.

But then when I started bringing in the idea of when somebody came and they were sick, like on Wednesday nights, we'd have our Wednesday night prayer meeting and we would have a list of those who were in the hospital or home sick or whatever. And I would zero in on this a little more specific and say, "Now, we believe that God has the power to heal people. He did it in the Scriptures, that's what we see Jesus doing. Let's pray for these people to be healed now."

The idea of spiritual warfare, man, I had people coming to me that had all kind of personal problems, and I wanted to pray with them and see if we can break down these strongholds in their life. Then we talked about the Holy Spirit. Baptists didn't talk about Holy Spirit very much back then. You mention it, but as far as being filled with the Spirit, having the gifts of the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit, that wasn't really preached very much, and I started doing that. And so yeah, I was kind of bringing some what I thought was biblical truth out in my ministry that was a little different, because I wanted a genuine and biblically based faith and practice. That was me.

Candace Long: And so the others that were a part of the church, they were used to Southern Baptistry. Were they giving you grief about that or were they just so responsive to what you were teaching them?

Dr. Stephen Coyle: Yeah, I would have my deacons in particular, they're the elders, the leaders that have been there for quite a while. And they would come and say, "You know, our former pastor never said anything about this." And I said, "Well, okay, we are reading it in the Scriptures." I'd always use the Bible as my foundation, you know, it wasn't just something I came up with. But I knew I had to be tactful and so I was. I tried to be very tactful and present things in a way that made sense, that was scriptural and biblical.

And look, on those Wednesday night prayer meetings, we'd get a testimony: "You know, grandma got healed! We prayed for her and we went to the hospital and she was coming home. She got healed!" And when people started getting healed, that said, "Yeah, let's pray for the sick." And then when a little teenage boy who had been on drugs got delivered from his drug addiction, mom and dad would come to church and say, "You know, here's our son. He was on drugs and we prayed for him and he's delivered from this." So when they started seeing these answers to prayer, it kind of made sense. That made it easy.

Candace Long: Let's move ahead to the time in 1992. You said was a real turning point in your life. Talk to us about that.

Dr. Stephen Coyle: 1992, I was in my church, it was a Baptist church, it was in the first week of March 1992. I can remember that. I was in my office, my study, and I was preparing my sermon for Sunday. That coming Sunday, we were going to have the Lord's Supper. And so I was thinking through my thoughts related to the Lord's Supper and I was reading out of Luke chapter 22. Jesus was going to meet with his disciples in the upper room and they were going to have what we call the Last Supper.

And I was reading verse 15, and I'm going to read it: "And he said to them, 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.'" Now I've read that verse many times. I'd taught our, used that verse in our Lord's Supper. But this time, the Holy Spirit brought my attention to the word "Passover." And I suddenly realized that Jesus and his disciples were not about to have the Lord's Supper. They were going to have a Passover Seder.

And I thought, "Okay, what is a Passover Seder? Why were they having a Passover Seder? What's the purpose of a Passover Seder?" So that began to kind of move in me and so I then started researching and my research brought me back to Leviticus chapter 23. This was my journey of discovery. I read that chapter, which includes a chronological listing of the annual festivals that God gave the nation of Israel.

And the first one was, well actually the first verse there talks about Shabbat, Sabbath. Then it goes to the first annual festival, which is Passover. And so I began to read about Passover and about these festivals. These were the feasts of the Lord. That was another thing that stood out. I had been taught these were the feasts of the Jews. They were feasts for the nation of Israel. But it's the Lord. The feasts of the Lord. It was God's idea. God gave these feasts to us.

And then I realized that what he did here was he had four that were designated for the spring and there were three that were designated for the fall. And all of a sudden, they all seemed to connect with Yeshua, with Jesus. Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Firstfruits. I realized they were part of his ministry in that he died on Passover, he was buried on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, he rose from the grave on the Feast of Firstfruits. I mean right there, right on time. He fulfilled these feasts in his coming.

Of course then on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came. The fall feasts, they're about his return. When he returns, he's going to fulfill those fall feasts with his second coming and establish the kingdom. So God used the feasts to really get my attention and understand there's something here that's rich, it's meaningful and powerful. So yeah, starting in that March of 1992, that was a big deal.

Candace Long: That was a big deal. Because the Holy Spirit was saying, I mean that's what happened in my life when he called me to study Judaism. And so it is where the Holy Spirit comes in and you're reading passages of Scripture you've read all your life and then all of a sudden you're seeing a whole something else. So in your story, you began to put these into practice in just for you personally is what I'm hearing in the story that you wrote me.

Dr. Stephen Coyle: I would sit down with my wife, her name's Jeanie. And so I would share these things with her personally. Because we were a team together, we served the Lord together and she was a good pastor's wife. And so I'd share these things. So what we did in our home with my family, I have a daughter and I have a son. And so we started practicing these festivals. We had a Passover Seder at our house. And I remember sitting down with my wife and two children and said, "Okay, we're going to have a Passover Seder." And I had a little book, they call it a Haggadah, and we were read through the Haggadah, we did it all right there.

And so yeah, we started our best from what I could read and learn and what have you. Then we started keeping Shabbat, the Sabbath day, the Saturday, the seventh day. In our home on the seventh day we kept the Sabbath. And so we learned about what that meant. Then I read Leviticus chapter 11 about clean and unclean meat. And so I said, "Okay family, no more barbecue pork." No more sausage, no more bacon. Now my son loves bacon. He said, "Daddy, bacon! I love bacon." And so I said, "Well, this is what the Bible says. We're going to follow what the Lord tells us here." So in my home, this is what we started doing. Not at the church. I didn't bring this into the church at this point. But this is what we were doing at our home.

And you know, I kind of felt as a pastor, a shepherd, the church was my flock. I cannot lead my church, my congregation, my flock anywhere where I have not already gone. And so this has to be real in my life, in my home, before I can then in a way share it and demonstrate it to my congregational flock. So that's how it all really kind of started. It started at my home and my personal life.

Candace Long: But let me ask this before we close. Personally, when you started honoring the days that God had set apart to honor, his appointed times to meet with him, did you feel a difference in your studies with the Bible, in that God's hand was on you in a different way? Briefly sum that up for us, because obviously you would not have gone on and taken it into your church if something major was not happening inside of your spirit.

Dr. Stephen Coyle: That's very true. Well, I realized the Bible is a Jewish book. It was written by Jews, for Jews. And I needed to read it with a Jewish perspective. And so I realized Jesus was Jewish. Okay? And so when I understood the Jewishness of things, that Hebraic kind of flavor began to come out of the Scriptures. And the Holy Spirit began to take that and show that and develop that in me. And I began to see some things and learn some things from him that I had not learned back in college and seminary. And so yeah, that was a very enlightening time for me and I appreciated what he was doing.

Candace Long: Wonderful. If you are a pastor or ministry leader who is 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 Dr. Stephen Coyle. So join us next Saturday morning from 6:30 to 7:00. Shabbat Shalom.

Remember, if you've missed an episode or you want to listen to something again, all of our programs are archived at the bottom of our shabbatshalomradio.com page. They're arranged by date, hour, teacher, and topic. They're also available on oneplace.com. Just put Shabbat Shalom in the search bar. If you'd like to study the Torah with us each week, I invite you to download our weekly Torah schedule, which you'll find at the top of our main page. You'll also find handouts from each of our teachers telling you more about them and links to their resources. Coming up in the next hour is Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Michael Washer. Following him, I will air a review I did of over 80 dreams that I had in 2024 to chronicle what the Lord has been showing me as a Levitical seer. Stay tuned for the second hour on WEZE AM 590, our media partner for shabbatshalomradio.com.