Why Austin?

Tsiyon Tabernacle is a local Messianic Assembly reaching out to Greater Austin and beyond. For those not familiar with the area, Greater Austin is a five-county metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Texas, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. Besides Austin itself, Greater Austin includes Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis also includes the counties of Blanco, Burnet County, Lee, Llano, Mason, and Milam Counties in its definition of the Austin Economic Area. Greater Austin is the 35th largest metropolitan area in the United States, with a population of over 1.8 million people as of the 2012 U.S. census estimate. The metropolitan area is centered around the City of Austin—Located in Central Texas and the American Southwest. With a population of 820,000 people, Austin is the 11th-largest city in the United States of America and the fourth-largest city in the state of Texas. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in the nation from 2000 to 2006 and continues on a path of accelerated economic growth. Austin is also the second largest state capital in the United States. [Source: Wikipedia]

As capital of Texas, Austin strongly supports the State of Israel and has concluded its own cooperative agreements with Israel resulting in increased trade between Texas and Israel. In 2012, Texas exported nearly $1 billion worth of manufacturing goods to Israel. Since 1996, Texas exports to Israel have totaled more than $11.7 billion and Israel now ranks as Texas’s 4th leading trade partner. This is a remarkable figure, given the small size of Israel as compared with many other nations of the world. We believe this positive friendship between Austin and the State of Israel likely translates into a strong interest among many Greater Austin residents in the Hebrew roots of the faith. Yet, while religious denominations of nearly every stripe thrive in Greater Austin, Messianic (Hebrew roots) believers are vastly under-represented in the area. This is where we come in. It is a goal of our local Messianic Assembly, Tsiyon Tabernacle, to bring a greater understanding of the Hebrew roots of the faith to all interested persons in Greater Austin. [Source for figures: Jewish Virtual Library]

Our Beliefs in Common with other Jewish and Christian Groups

There are a number of important beliefs that Messianics hold in common with other Jews and Christians. Here are two of them:

• Belief in the one True God of the Bible, Creator of Heaven and Earth and our obligation to worship Him exclusively.
• Belief in the ethics and morality enjoined upon us in Sacred Scripture, as well as every word from Him recorded in Scripture.

While some may disagree on some of the details, most Messianics, Jews and Christians agree on the overarching principles embodied in these two points. That is not surprising, since Christianity has its roots in ancient Judea, with Christ and all of the apostles having been Jewish.

Messianics agree with most Jews on some other things as well. For example:

• Israel has a unique covenant with the Creator and continues to be His chosen people.
• Keeping appointed worship days such as Sabbath, Passover and Sukkot, as well as keeping the Commandments, are signs that identify Israel to the world as His covenant people.
• Israel has an eternal claim to the Land of Israel by covenant with Abraham and the Patriarchs.

While Messianics agree with many Jews on those things, they agree with many Christians on some things most Jews do not agree with. These include:

• Y’shua Messiah (“Jesus Christ”) is the Son of God born of a virgin, the Messiah of Israel, the Living Word who is both our example and our Life, who died that we might be saved, was raised from the dead, ascended to heaven, there to make atonement for everyone who believes.
• Y’shua poured out the Holy Spirit (the Ruach HaKodesh) on the first Messianic believers on the Biblical feast day known as Shavuot (Pentecost) and continues to pour out His Spirit on all who put faith in Him. His Spirit indwells the believers, guiding them, changing them and empowering them with gifts of the Spirit with which they serve Him.
• The Talmidim (disciples) of Y’shua wrote letters and documents which are collectively known today as “the New Testament.” This body of writing is rightly regarded as inspired Scripture, along with the so-called “Old Testament” – the Hebrew Scriptures, the Tanakh.
• Y’shua commanded believers to gather together in local assemblies, for worship, for fellowship, to encourage and help one another, to bring the good news to others, and to accomplish His purposes in the earth. Y’shua Messiah, as Lord of His people, raises up anointed servants to serve Him and one another in local assemblies of believers.

Our Distinctive Messianic Beliefs

Tsiyon Tabernacle holds certain distinctive Messianic beliefs, which naturally follow from one another. Some of these are:

• YHWH (the Creator’s name transliterated from Hebrew) is eternal and does not change.
• Since YHWH doesn’t change, His Word doesn’t change either. Therefore, it is one harmonious and consistent Word from Genesis through Revelation, all of it expressing His will and all of it relevant to us.
• Since YHWH does not change then His eternal commandments forever remain in force, including the appointed days of YHWH such as the Sabbath, Passover, Sukkot, and the rest.
• All of the prophecies of Scripture express the will of YHWH and must happen as prophesied.
• Many prophesies of Scripture have happened already, including over 450 prophecies of the Messiah that have been fulfilled by Y’shua Messiah.
• All prophecies that have not been fulfilled already must yet be fulfilled, since the Word of YHWH cannot be broken.
• YHWH always keeps a faithful remnant of Israel for Himself.
• It was the faithful remnant of Israel that followed Messiah when He came in the first century. Later, people of other nationalities were “grafted in” among them when they also put faith in Messiah. In this way, the true body of Messiah was and is an expression of the faithful remnant of Israel, while drawn from both ethnic Israelites and ethnic Gentiles.
• The Scriptures foretell that YHWH will gather the faithful remnant of Israel together in the last days. We identify with that remnant of Israel, whether as “natural” or “grafted in” branches of Israel’s olive tree, and we do all we can to facilitate that end time gathering work.

Check us out!

We know you may not have been taught much about the Hebrew roots of the faith so may not know what to expect when you visit us. Relax. We understand that, so don’t put a lot of unreasonable expectations on others. We would simply love to share truth from Scripture with you that has been energizing and exciting for us! When you visit us you will find that our manner of worship is simple and in plain English. Really, most anyone can enjoy our meetings from the first visit. Our emphasis is on truth and love, and our worship is full of the refreshing presence of Messiah. We invite you to come and check us out!

If you would like to find out more about what Tsiyon Tabernacle has to offer check out our Worship and Ministry section at this website.

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