for the Christian who wants to know more about Jews and evangelism. July 1999 Volume 11:5759 BY DAVID BRICKNER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Transcription

1 Volume 11:5759 N E W S L E T T E R for the Christian who wants to know more about Jews and evangelism. July 1999 BY DAVID BRICKNER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR We all know how upsetting it is to see a believer turn away from Jesus whether it s denying the faith outright or committing a grievous sin that shows that person s heart has strayed far from the Lord. We wonder, How could this have happened? Often we find that long before a person showed outward signs of backsliding, his or her life had bent under the weight of temptation and sin. Internally, integrity was compromised, leaving the person drained of faith and of the fear of the Lord and open to the deceitful enticements of the world, the flesh and the devil. Have you noticed how the really crucial qualities become clear through testing and trials? Times of pressure and suffering challenge us to live up to our commitments. Like gold refined in the fire, the true nature of one s character emerges when the heat is on. That is especially true with integrity and faithfulness two qualities we ve listed side by side as the seventh of our nine Jews for Jesus Core Values. You can t have one without the other. Integrity describes a state of being while faithfulness refers to an active commitment or course of action. The Hebrew word for integrity has the same root as the word thummim. Remember, the urim and thummim were worn on Aaron s breastplate of judgment (Exodus 28:15), as part of his official High Priestly clothing. He used them to determine God s will, to know what path to take. As believers in Jesus, we are God s royal priesthood. We need to be clothed in integrity in order to function. Integrity implies a certain soundness of judgment knowing what is right and what is wrong and aligning ourselves accordingly fitting pieces of our lives together in ways that reflect what we know to be true. It means knowing the way we should go and holding ourselves to that way. In our postmodern culture where relativism seems to rule the day, it is a struggle to maintain personal and corporate integrity. If integrity is a state of being, faithfulness is the outworking, the feet that move us down the path of obedience to God. The Hebrew word for faithfulness, emunah, conveys certainty or assurance. Faithfulness relies on the promises of God. It means that we will discipline ourselves and build our lives around the spiritual realities that God has revealed in His Word. The converse is true as well; faithless actions demonstrate that our reliance on God s promises has lapsed. Faithlessness results in attempts to meet our own needs or desires in ways that either disregard or blatantly disobey God s ways. When we are full of faith and trust in God, we tend to see things His way; we have a much sharper awareness of how ugly sin is and where it can lead. Like integrity, faithfulness rises to the occasion of trials and testing. Yet the two are also at work in quiet and modest actions that may even seem mundane. Faithfulness is the fruit of the Spirit. It is found in the little things. The ordinary, glamorless paths of faithfulness and integrity lead to God s greater glory. These values should be part of every believer s core. We need to protect and nurture these values, because they certainly will be tried and tested through adversity, temptation, our own human frailty and the general erosion of society s values. If you want a model of integrity from the Hebrew Scriptures, look at Job. In a dialogue with Satan, the Lord said of Job, And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him... (Job 2:3). I imagine there were many strands of Job s character in the weave which God described as integrity. Job was a God-fearing person whose life was marked by a sense of wholeness, a commitment to truth, regardless of other peoples opinions. His integrity shone clear under pressure. He refused to turn from the Lord or continued on page Jews f r Jesus

2 continued from page 1 abandon his commitment to walking uprightly despite the terrible circumstances that befell him. When testing comes, will we as Job, maintain our integrity? Appearances can cover inner erosion for a while, but pressures squeeze and temptations lure and one way or another, the truth of what is within us comes out. King David provides us with another important example concerning faithfulness and integrity. He often exemplified these qualities. We also have a striking record of their absence when it came to his adultery and subsequent coverup involving the death of the loyal Uriah. Yet, when confronted with that sin, David admitted what was true, and he realigned his life, reestablished his integrity and renewed his faithfulness. That doesn t mean that we should take lapses of faithfulness and integrity lightly. David and all of Israel paid a terrible price for his lack of integrity. Still it is important to remember that true repentance can lead to restoration. We at Jews for Jesus would appreciate your prayers for us to be true to this core value of integrity and faithfulness, that each of us would continually be conscious of pleasing God, who sees everything. Faithfulness is not only a matter of morality; it s also a matter of enduring. Summer is always a time of trial and testing as many Jews for Jesus staff and volunteers are handing out broadsides (tracts) on the hot and humid streets of New York, London, Paris, Moscow and St. Petersburg. I m joining them in New York for part of this month and I can tell you, standing out on the streets and in the subways four times a day to hand out gospel tracts is not a glamorous task. It is often mundane and boring and generally uncomfortable though the discomfort seems to disappear when we meet people who really want to hear about Jesus. Campaigns are challenging times and we need you to pray for us to be faithful. We know that God honors faithfulness and will use it to bring about His greater glory as many people come to Christ. Another area where we need prayer for faithfulness is in our families. We need prayer for integrity and faithfulness between husbands, wives and children and for purity among our single staff. But there is another area where we need to exercise faithfulness with our families, and that is in praying for and witnessing to unbelieving relatives. Some have been rebuffed for so many years that it is difficult to be faithful. I am thankful for friends like you who have been faithful in your witness to our people. Recently, I spoke at a Mennonite Brethren church in Reedley California.. Joshua Sofaer, one of our missionaries in Southern California, accompanied me. As Josh gave his testimony he encouraged the people to care and be involved in Jewish evangelism. He said, You may wonder what you can do about Jewish evangelism living here in the central valley. Josh then proceeded to tell about his wife, Annette, and her family, the Morgensterns. Annette s Grandfather Arthur Morgenstern was a doctor in Austria. He escaped Europe and came to America, sponsored by a synagogue in Fresno, where he and his family settled. Arthur was not allowed to practice medicine in America so he got a job selling feed to farmers, most of whom were Mennonite Brethren. One farmer in particular was a committed Christian and a faithful witness. Every time Arthur would call on him for business, this man had his Bible open and would share the gospel. Eventually this farmer s faithfulness paid off and Arthur came to faith in Y shua. His wife and the entire family likewise became followers of the Messiah. Josh concluded his testimony by declaring, It is because of the faithfulness of that Mennonite Brethren farmer that my Jewish wife and I are serving the Lord in Jewish evangelism today. An elderly woman stood up during the question and answer time and said, That farmer that Joshua mentioned was my father. She then recounted the many times she watched her father meet with Mr. Morgenstern and told of the family s joy in seeing him come to Christ. We had no idea that the man Josh cited as an example of a faithful witness had been a member of the very church we were speaking in that evening! All of us can aspire to that kind of faithfulness. Only in heaven where that farmer is rejoicing with that Jewish immigrant will we fully understand how God uses His children s integrity and faithfulness to accomplish His purposes. We will be tested and we will be tried. May God grant us the strength to walk in integrity and faithfulness all the days of our lives. Then, one day in glory, we will see all the fruit that has grown around the core of these values. WE EXIST TO MAKE THE MESSIAHSHIP OF JESUS AN UNAVOIDABLE ISSUE TO OUR JEWISH PEOPLE WORLDWIDE. JEWS FOR JESUS INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS: 60 HAIGHT STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA JULY 1999, VOLUME 11: jfj@jewsforjesus.org; HOME PAGE: ALSO WORKING IN: AUSTRALIA, CANADA, FRANCE, GERMANY, ISRAEL, RUSSIA, SOUTH AFRICA, UKRAINE and THE UNITED KINGDOM; EDITOR: RUTH ROSEN; ART DIRECTION: PAIGE SAUNDERS; DESIGN: DANIELA KOGER 2

3 Jews for Jesus founder Moishe Rosen gives answers for: What to say when they say... After all my parents have done for me, how could I allow myself to believe something that would hurt them so much? They would be devastated if I believed in Jesus. One of the Ten Commandments is to honor your father and your mother and, throughout the Bible, we find that a certain respect and obligation is due to one s parents. Nevertheless, we cannot allow ourselves to close our minds to what might be truth as a way of fulfilling that respect, that obligation. It is right to try to please our parents by acting responsibly and lovingly. At the same time, each person is responsible before God to do what is right, whether or not it lines up with certain things we have been taught. If Jesus is true, it is right and responsible to believe and follow Him, even if our doing so offends those we love very much. God is the ultimate Parent and God has been the ultimate Provider to avoid or neglect Him and what He wants in favor of pleasing our earthly parents is clearly wrong. It is God who commanded us to honor our parents, and if He is calling on you to believe in Y shua, He will certainly see to it that the right thing is done. Besides, who knows but you may be the very instrument He wants to use to bring your father, mother and others in your family into a loving, saved relationship with Him. Please pray for: God s grace on our Jews for Jesus staff, that each of us will win the day-to-day challenges to maintain faithfulness and integrity boldness for this year s Halutzim participants, and that they would enjoy seeing the sights, evangelizing and having fellowship with one another in New York City (p. 7) newish believer David in Israel, that he will grow strong in the Lord and continue in his desire to be a faithful witness, especially to unbelieving family and friends (p. 6) daily faithfulness, health and enthusiasm for this year s Campaigners (p. 4, 5) protection for our Paris office and that God will continue using the vandalism incident to further His purposes (p. 8) continued spiritual growth for Jewish believers Rose, Miriam, David and Lynn (p. 8) salvation for Evelyn and Sam (p. 8) more opportunities to minister to the Jewish people of Nezhin (p. 8) 3

4 CAMPAIGN STORIES (A lunch time locale for Campaign conversations.) A s you pray for our 1999 Summer Witnessing Campaigns, we thought you might enjoy seeing proof of the power of prayer from last year s Campaigns... Re: our weakness and God s strength From Donetsk in Ukraine Valeriy B. had reported The most blessed days in my life have been those spent on the Campaign. Every day was a good lesson to me. I encountered many difficulties and quickly found I could not cope with them in my own strength. Yet the Lord gave me strength and victories and poured out all kinds of blessings on me when I trusted Him. I d like to share the joy I experienced one day as I led a Jewish woman named Valentina in a prayer of repentance. After she had prayed, her eyes filled with tears, her heart was overflowing with exuberant joy and she was moved by the Holy Spirit to praise the God of Israel. In the twinkling of an eye, she had become a different person a child of the living God. Praise the Lord for His wonderful works! I see this Campaign as a beginning for me to serve the Lord in a new way, and I don t want to stop when the Campaign ends! Ed: Valeriy Bolotov is not a staff member with Jews for Jesus, but he is one of our Co-Laborers in Messiah (a.k.a. CLIMs, Co- Laborers are a special corps of people who volunteer a minimum of ten hours a month with Jews for Jesus). He, and another CLIM from the Donetsk Region, have continued to hand out broadsides and visit with Jewish people who are interested in hearing more about Jesus. Re: answered prayer to combat discouragement Kate A. had reported, I was feeling a bit depressed about a particularly bad day on Campaign. I hadn t given out many 4 tracts and I was spit on three times. The following day I told God that I was discouraged and that I needed His peace. I asked Him to send someone to lift my spirits. As the Lord led me, I walked up to a man and began talking to It had been three years since I d taken part in one of our New York City Summer Witnessing Campaigns, and there seemed to be more opposition than I recalled from previous summers. For example, I was handing out tracts at the 14th Street/Union Square subway station when a man named David showed up wearing a yellow T-shirt. His bright shirt and logo identified him with a particular antimissionary organization and as was his practice, he began to counter-leaflet us. Basically, he was trying to hand out his pamphlets to people who were taking ours particularly those he thought might be Jewish. Certainly, people have every right to hand out whatever literature they please, and sometimes opposition actually piques people s interest in what we are doing. I had to admire our opponent, who was trying his best to keep up with my colleague, Natalie, and me. While I was handing out broadsides, a Christian named Leon introduced himself to me. He was familiar with Jews for Jesus and had some encouraging words. He even offered to help hand out some tracts since he was early for work. I thanked him and then asked if he might like to help

5 Evangelistic parades a fun way to be up front about the gospel! him. In the end, he prayed to receive Jesus! Within an hour-and-a-half, I prayed with two more people who also received Jesus! Plus in that amount of time, 12 people gave me their names and addresses to receive more information, including three Jewish people. Praise God! Ed: Kate has since become an outreach worker with our Israel branch! Re: God touching those we least expect From Garrett Smith, I was at the Rockefeller Center Subway Station. A fully-garbed middle aged Hassidic* Jew approached me and took a tract. He looked sincere, in another way. I pointed out our yellow-shirted friend and explained that he didn t think Jews should believe in Jesus. I asked Leon (who is not Jewish) if perhaps he would want to share the gospel with this man. Leon was delighted at my suggestion and for the next 30 minutes, he explained from the Jewish Scriptures why Jesus is the Messiah. Our opponent wasn t able to distribute his pamphlets and after about 20 minutes, he came over to me and said, Leon is really good. He knows the Scriptures very well. He walked away again with Leon following close behind. Finally, David decided to leave and Leon came over to me. I thanked him and mentioned that our Campaign would be continuing for the rest of July. I asked if Leon would be willing to let others from his church know about needy people like David so they could share the gospel as they ran into them and he said he d be happy to do so. I praise the Lord for people like Leon. Perhaps, you would like to help in some way. If you happen to be in a city where we have an outreach, keep an eye out for us. Maybe you can minister to our opposition like Leon did! Rob Wertheim, missionary so I asked him who he thought Jesus is. He said, I believe a little. I was shocked! I clarified, Do you believe He is the Messiah? Maybe, he replied. I asked if I could send him some information. He said he couldn t receive anything in the mail. But when I offered to give him a New Testament, his eyes lit up. He took it and some other literature I had, put it in his coat and hurried off. I wonder, what did God do to get his attention? *An ultra-orthodox Jewish sect; Hassidic Jews are very observant and live in tightly knit communities. Re: we just need to keep praying From Aaron Abramson, I met an Israeli Jewish woman on the street near Macy s. She was interested in the Messiah Jesus and wanted more information. Another woman started yelling curses at me and spit on us. The first woman was intimidated and took off. I followed to tell her that she shouldn t be dissuaded by anyone if she thinks that Jesus is the Truth. She agreed and gave me her name, address and phone number. The next evening, she called our office and prayed to receive the Lord! Ed: We need to continue in prayer for this woman who we ll refer to as Debra. She continued meeting with us for discipleship and fellowship for a while but recently dropped out of sight. The last we heard, she had a new job, a new place to live and a new live-in relationship (they are not married). At this point, we don t have a phone number or address to reach Debra, so pray that God s love will draw her back, not to us but to Himself. This is one of the heartbreaks of ministry, but we know the story is not over yet. Re: Campaign fruit a year later! Kate Fryer reports from Paris, A Jewish woman named Sabrina C. took one of our tracts during the 1998 Campaign. She then contacted us over the Internet explaining that she felt guilty because she thought that she might believe in Jesus. We have been praying for her quite regularly and reaching out to her over the past year. She has recently professed faith in Jesus! Her boyfriend, Giles (who is not Jewish), is now very close to accepting Jesus as well. 5

6 I t used to be that my life would begin each Friday at noon. That was when my last class was over and I was free to do what was then most important to me: find the hevreh (gang, group of friends) and plan our weekend. We all wanted to have as good a time as possible during that treasured day-and-a-half of free time! My thoughts were far from God I doubted that He even existed. As time went on, the weekends with the parties and the drinking and the discotheques seemed to be more and more of a drag; when I began to think about what I was doing, it all seemed artificial just stupid games that I really did not want to play. I realized my live-for-the-weekend lifestyle would never give me true happiness, could never satisfy the deep longing I felt. That longing was to have something or someone that would give my life meaning. My name is David. I was born 18 years ago in Kazachstan. I had just finished the third grade when my parents announced that we were all moving to Israel. For a nineyear-old, the thought of leaving everything and everyone I knew to start a new life was not too comforting! But once in Israel, I made lots of friends and was surprised by how fast I fit into the scene. I felt that Israel was truly my home. Friends became all important and eventually we looked for enjoyment in the types of activities described earlier. Last August, a group of us traveled to the shore of the Sea of Galilee to attend an annual music event called the Festival of Love. The gathering loosely commemorates the biblical account of the Benjamite men whose solution to the shortage of wives is described in Judges 21. The book of Judges tells how everyone did what was right in their own eyes, and so it is during this festival, which begins at 8 PM and lasts until daybreak. Somehow I felt out of place that night and left all my friends to sit alone in the dirt, away from the crowd. Suddenly I heard a guy say something about Y shua (Jesus), a name I hadn t thought about for some time. I wanted to hear what 6 was being said, and when a couple of other guys replied by scorning Y shua, it really bothered me. I turned and said, Don t say that about Y shua, he is a good person. The one who began the conversation left those who were mocking and came over to talk to me about the Messiah. I explained to this man that I had once visited an Orthodox church before my family came to Israel. I remember feeling drawn to Y shua, but I didn t really know why. It was there by the Galilee, that this man I had never met before explained to me for the first time that God loves me and that He sent the Messiah to atone for my sins. These sins, I learned, were what kept me from knowing God but I could know God if I accepted Y shua as my Savior and Lord. At the end of the conversation the man asked me if I wanted to receive Y shua right there. Without hesitation, I said, Yes, I want to invite Him into my life. So there at the entrance gate to the Festival of Love, sitting in the dirt, I opened my heart and prayed. The place was not important God sees the heart. He immediately overwhelmed me as I sensed His love and His Holy Spirit being poured out on me. For me, it truly became a celebration of real love! I knew that my life had to change. I began meeting with the guy who had introduced me to Y shua, reading the New Testament and the Hebrew Scriptures. As I read, I felt close to God and knew that this was the truth it was what my heart had been longing for all along. I understood that God demands a holy life so I began to struggle with sin. But God helped me and continues to help me. Y shua now means everything to me. Day by day, my desire is to serve the Lord all my life by sharing the gospel with the people of Israel. David s mentor introduced him to us and we are excited to be able to invite David on a summer program that will introduce him to other young Jewish believers in Jesus who want to share the gospel with our Jewish people worldwide. You can read about that program, Halutzim, on page 7.

7 (Annette and Josh Sofaer) H alutzim (pronounced ha-lootz-eem) is Hebrew for pioneer. It is also the name of a Jews for Jesus program to develop young pioneers who will help us make the messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people worldwide. We bring ten teens to New York City for two weeks of evangelism, seeing Jewish sites and talking about what it means to be Jewish and a Christian. It is quite a trip! We are meeting many young, capable Jewish believers who are eager for opportunities to serve God. For example, sixteen-year-old Jeremiah came to us from Canada. Both of his parents are Jewish believers in Y shua (Jesus) and Jeremiah is pretty strong in his faith. Still, the thought of New York City can be daunting to those who have never been there. When Jeremiah arrived in New York, he seemed convinced that a mugger would be waiting for him the moment we walked out of the hotel! He was also scared about going out on the streets to hand out gospel tracts but most people are, especially the first time. During our training time, I explained what to expect during street evangelism and then we did some roleplaying. Jeremiah wanted to know, What if someone just comes over to you and smacks you right in the face? I told him that he had been watching too much television! But it is surprising how many people we meet who seem to think that New Yorkers are continually assaulting or being assaulted. The first time we went out to do evangelism Jeremiah didn t have any meaningful interactions. A few hostile passers by yelled at him and one person tried to ask him for directions, but apart from that not much happened. Jeremiah was understandably discouraged. 7 That night we prayed together that God would give him victory over his fears. The very next day, Jeremiah was on a sortie (a tract passing expedition) and a man began asking him sincere questions about spiritual matters. Jeremiah was so excited by the opportunity to share his faith. Later he recounted the story to me. I thought to myself, This guy is actually interested! Wow! It seemed to be a turning point for Jeremiah. After that, he had opportunities to talk with others about Y shua and he prayed with a number of people to receive the Lord. It was a great experience for Jeremiah and for me. Pioneers that is what we see in these young Jewish people who are for Jesus. Many who participate are like Jeremiah scared and easily discouraged in the beginning. It s great to watch these young people encourage each other to do the difficult thing in spite of their fears and in spite of the discouragement. And time after time, God rewards them with a wonderful, life-changing experience. Some of them may find God leading them to become evangelists with Jews for Jesus, others might serve the Lord with a different organization or perhaps go into secular work. But whatever they do, and wherever they go, they will know that they have what it takes to be bold for the Lord. jasof@aol.com If you are or know of a young Jewish person who has a pioneer spirit and is looking for a unique opportunity to count for God s kingdom, please contact me at jasof@aol.com. Josh Sofaer, missionary Los Angeles

8 From Paris, Kate Fryer reports, Office worker Michelle and I arrived at the office to find the shop front had been completely smashed to pieces and the Juifs pour Jésus (Jews for Jesus) sign was missing. Neighbours had seen a gang of youths on motorbikes carrying out the vandalism. We were a bit shaken up but getting on with the day s work when the gang came back on motorbikes with music blaring loudly. They began shouting and spitting on Michelle. We shut the office door and they started to smash it down. We prayed and managed to call the police! Praise God, because following the incident, the events were reported in several of France s leading newspapers. Our branch leader, Stephen Pacht, was even interviewed on the Jewish radio station Radio Shalom for the first time! As a result of the attack, thousands of people have had the opportunity to read and hear that there are Jewish people who believe in Jesus! From Fort Lauderdale, Greg Savitt reports, God gave me the joy of helping someone else see a family member come to faith in Jesus. An 86-year-old Jewish woman named Rose prayed with me to begin a new life in Jesus with her daughter, Linda, present. Linda had been planting seeds faithfully for seven years. Our branch leader, Sharon Freeman visited Rose a couple of times to discuss messianic prophecies, then suggested that I visit her. I think Sharon knew that it would be an opportunity for me to harvest where others had sown and watered the gospel seed, and it was a great opportunity to do just that! BITS FROM THE BRANCHES have been separated from God forever! So now instead, death will be like a ticket to heaven? Please continue to pray for Miriam and David as they grow in their newfound faith. From New York, Karol Joseph reports, A Christian named Bernard called our office wanting to know how to witness to his Jewish girlfriend, Lynn. Our office worker Maren invited him to bring Lynn to our Friday night service. I was out of town when they came, but one of our trainees talked to them and suggested that they return the following week so that he could introduce Lynn to me. They did, and I spent time with Lynn after the service. The following week, we spoke on the phone several times during one of those conversations, she prayed to receive Y shua! Praise God! From San Francisco, Robyn Wilk reports, My Saturday morning sortie (tract passing expedition) got rained out, so I went to McDonald s to warm up with a cup of coffee. Evelyn and Sam, an elderly Jewish couple, took note of my T-shirt. Evelyn asked what my mother thought about me believing in Jesus. I told her that though my mom doesn t agree with me about Jesus, she has seen Him work in my life and has witnessed His power. I told her how my mother had gone to church with me and asked for prayer in Jesus name that our relative, Susie, would be healed of cancer. When I told Evelyn that Susie no longer had cancer, Evelyn confided that she herself has cancer. Please pray for Evelyn s healing and for Evelyn and Sam s salvation. From Johannesburg, Jenifer Leigh reports, What a joy to see Miriam and her son, David, grow in their faith! Miriam prayed with me to receive Y shua last November and quickly became involved in a local church. David came to faith through the church and I have watched his knowledge and understanding grow too! Eleven-year-old David is reading through Genesis and is very bright. As we talked about the messianic prophecies he said, So if my mom and I hadn t come to know Jesus we would 8 From Kiev, Leonid Kruter reports, A faithful Christian brother named Mikhail invited me to the town of Nezhin, which is not far from Kiev. A canteen there provides free lunches to needy Jewish people. Mikhail arranged for us to come and speak to those who might want to hear a Bible study. After lunch, ten people remained for the Bible study and four Jewish women came to faith in Y shua. Please pray for our continued ministry to these women and also for our work in this town.