By Steve Cohen. The Apple of His Eye Newsletter PO Box 1649 Brentwood TN January 2019

Transcription

1 I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: ROMANS 11:25 The Apple of His Eye Newsletter PO Box 1649 Brentwood TN January 2019 NEW OPPORTUNITIES COMMON QUESTIONS By Steve Cohen One of the common questions I hear from Christians is, Since it seems so clear to us that Jesus is the Messiah, why do so few Jewish people believe it today? Of the over 16 million Jewish people around the world, it is estimated that fewer than 1% confess that Jesus is the promised Messiah. If truth were determined by majority vote, this would close the question completely and the resolution would be that Jesus is NOT the long awaited for Messiah. But truth is not based on how many believe it, it is based simply of whether or not it is actually true. One should not say that all Jews have rejected Jesus. Jesus was Jewish. His disciples were Jewish. The first followers of Jesus were Jewish. The question for the early church (see Acts 15) was whether or not a Gentile could truly follow the Messiah without first becoming Jewish. The Holy Spirit made it clear that Gentiles do not have to become Jewish. And Jewish believers do not have to become Gentiles. This is the mystery of the newly formed church (Body of Christ) it is one body made up of two distinct peoples, Jewish people and Gentiles. That was the early norm. The first followers of Jesus were integrated tightly in the Jewish community, attending both at the synagogue and going to the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus warned his followers that a tragic time was coming in which the Temple would be destroyed and they, the Jewish believers, should flee Jerusalem when they saw this happening: Luke 21:20 But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, 22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. This led to the split between the Jewish believers in Jesus and the Jewish people who did not believe. It was not over the theological question of the Messiahship of Jesus, but over the political decision to leave Jerusalem in a dire time of need to battle the Romans.

2 The nature of the early church shifted over the first few centuries from being led and guided by Jewish believers to be overtaken by Gentiles. By the fifth century, any Jewish believer who sought baptism was forced to renounce all aspects of Jewish life: As a preliminary to his acceptance as a catechumen, a Jew must confess and denounce verbally the whole Hebrew people, and forthwith declare that with a whole heart and sincere faith he desires to be received among the Christians. Then he must renounce openly in the church all Jewish superstition, the priest saying, and he, or his sponsor if he is a child, replying in these words: I renounce all customs, rites, legalisms, unleavened breads and sacrifices of lambs of the Hebrews, and all the other feasts of the Hebrews, sacrifices, prayers, aspersions, purifications, sanctifications and propitiations, and fasts, and new moons, and Sabbaths, and superstitions, and hymns and chants and observances and synagogues, and the food and drink of the Hebrews; in one word, I renounce absolutely everything Jewish, every law, rite and custom,. and if afterwards I shall wish to deny and return to Jewish superstition, or shall be found eating with Jews, or feasting with them, or secretly conversing and condemning the Christian religion instead of openly confuting them and condemning their vain faith, then let the trembling of Cain and the leprosy of Gehazi cleave to me, as well as the legal punishments to which I acknowledge myself liable. And may I be anathema in the world to come, and may my soul be set down with Satan and the devils. But I digress, back to the question. Imagine this scenario for a moment. The Messiah comes, and all Israel follows Him as their long awaited redeemer. What is the likelihood that they would in turn bring this Good News to the rest of the world? God s plan was for worldwide redemption not just that of Israel. The blindness, in part on Israel, was for a specific purpose: including Gentiles into God s eternal Kingdom! Romans 11:5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. Rom. 11:7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear down to this very day. Rom. 11:11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Rom. 11:25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob 27 and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. God s plan was to redeem all mankind. For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). The hardening of the hearts today of many in Israel was for the dissemination of the Gospel around the world. When the full number of Gentiles has come in (only God knows when that is!) then the blindness will be removed and a massive response by the Jewish people will take place. Until that time, we who are believers are called to engage the world, both Jews and Gentiles, with the Gospel so that the Holy Spirit might convict hearts of sin and plant new saving faith into spiritually dead

3 NanC s Corner Tempted? Then Yeshua, filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, returned from the Yarden and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days of testing by the Adversary Luke 4:1-13 Boy, Satan really has hutzpah! Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12,13 and Luke 4, show the three accounts we have of Y shua in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. His temptations on Y shua, were the same that he used on Eve in the garden: Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food (desire of the flesh), that it had a pleasing appearance (desire of the eyes)and that the tree was desirable for making one wise (pretensions of life), she took some of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her; and he ate. Did Satan just forget that God had filled Y shua with His spirit? Did he really think that he could trick the Son of God as he tricked the woman? We are so blessed by our Heavenly Father to have a Savior, who understands our weaknesses, fears and temptations. We have the same victory, because of His love for us on the cross. We are told in 1 John 2:15 17 Do not love the world or the things of the world. If someone loves the world, then love for the Father is not in him; 16 because all the things of the world the desires of the old nature, the desires of the eyes, and the pretensions of life are not from the Father but from the world. 17 And the world is passing away, along with its desires. But whoever does God s will remains forever. Satan was defeated at the cross. But he is still alive and well. He and his minions are roaming the earth as a lion, to destroy the children of God. He will never have our souls, (referring those of us who have repented and received Y shua as Lord and Savior), but he delights in robbing us of our peace, joy, contentment, strength, sometimes our sanity, to name a few. 1 Peter 5:8 Stay sober, stay alert! Your enemy, the Adversary, stalks about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Notice that the verse says like. LIKE a roaring lion. Revelation tells us that Y shua is the Lion of Judah. Y shua IS a lion! Satan always wants to imitate, fool and destroy. What does he whisper in your ear? I m only sharing (gossip), I have a right to my opinion (slander), smoking won t take me to hell (destroying your temple), another drink is OK with friends (drunkenness is an abomination to the Holy Spirit and destroys your testimony), I can t help being fearful (lack of faith), I am just borrowing this from my friend (theft), its OK to co-habitat, after all we re getting married (adultery) on and on and on. No temptation has seized you beyond what people normally experience, and God can be trusted not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. On the contrary, along with the temptation he will also provide the way out, so that you will be able to endure. 1 Corinthians 10:13 Wow! What a wonderful promise! And God cannot lie (Titus 1:2), so we can either believe He (GOD) will help us and not give us something we can t handle or He is a liar hmmm. Its your choice. Pretty strong, huh. But dear ones, it takes strong fish to swim against the flow and we are in a world of dead fish floating down stream. Abortion, adultery, hate, fear, anger, drunkenness, gossip, discord, etc We need to set an example to all those around us. We need to gain control of our families for godly living. Share the following with your teens, children/ grandchildren and heed it when you come against your pet sins : When Tempted Remember 1. What s the source of this offer? 2. What are the requirements of this offer? 3. What are the consequences of this act? The greatest reason to succumb to temptation is the fear of rejection by others. Don t give in. Don t give up. Pray, read the Bible and stay faithful to the Lord. Blessings and love, from my heart, nanc

4 To the Jew First... PART II Is God Calling You to Serve? In our first article To the Jew First... Part I, Is God Calling You to Serve? (from our November 2018, Apple of His Eye newsletter), we promised an expanded explanation of the Apostle Paul s statement in Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. (NIV) It seems as if Paul is giving the Jews a priority over the Gentiles. But why? From Scripture, let me suggest six ways that the Jews have a priority over the Gentiles. First... The Jews are still and will always be the chosen people of God. God chooses Abraham and his descendants freely from all the peoples of the world to bless with his covenant and promise. We are told in Deuteronomy 7:7-8a, It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers. Second... The Jews have a priority over Gentiles as the guardians of God s special revelation, the Old Testament Scriptures. God gave his special revelation and promises to Israel by Moses and the prophets. Paul in Romans 9:4, puts it like this: They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. Third... The Jews have a priority over the Gentiles in that the Messiah himself, Jesus Christ, came first as a Jew to the Jews. Jesus focused his earthly ministry on the Jews. They had a priority in his work. In Matthew 15:24, Jesus answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So, during his earthly life, Jesus was focused on the Jews. They had priority in his ministry. Fourth... The Jews have a priority over the Gentiles in that salvation is from the Jews. These are the very words of Jesus in John 4:22. Jesus says to the Samaritan woman at the well, You worship what you do not know; we [the Jews] worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. Fifth... The Jews have a priority over the Gentiles in final judgment and final blessing. In Romans 2:9-10, Paul says, amazingly, There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. In other words, the priority that the Jews have, if it is rejected and squandered will result in a priority in judgment. And if they are grateful for their priority and trust in the mercy of their Messiah, then they will go first into the final blessing of God. Sixth... The Jews have a priority over the Gentiles in that Paul evangelized Jews first when he brought the Gospel to a new place. For example, in Acts 13:46, Paul and Barnabas are preaching in Antioch of Pisidia, and the Jews will not listen to the Gospel, so they say, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

5 In other words, just as God chose Israel and revealed Himself to Israel and sent the Messiah and Savior to Israel so that salvation is from Israel, so Israel must become a priority in mission outreach today! With Israel a priority in mission outreach today, IS GOD CALLING YOU TO SERVE in engaging the Jewish community with the message of Y shua as Messiah? If so, then let us repeat ourselves again and ask you to please prayerfully consider the various role(s) available to you: 1. Be a Prayer Warrior for the Apple of His Eye Mission Society. We all know that any mission outreach, including that to Jewish people, depends upon the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of the people. We need people to commit to pray diligently for the Spirit to grant receptive hearts. 2. Be a Donor Warrior for the Apple of His Eye Mission Society. For all of you who have been able to support the AOHE, and the Roegners specifically already, we are truly thankful! Regular, sustainable gifts of any amount are our lifeline. We give God thanks and praise that we can report we currently sit at 40% of our sustainable needs. If you would like to become a partner with us, please click on this link: Be a Volunteer Warrior for the Apple of His Eye Mission Society. Once we reside in Israel on a more full-time basis, we would love to have you come to Israel to volunteer with us as we boldly declare Jesus as the Messiah, and urgently equip others who believe in Jesus to do the same! Contact us so we can add you to our volunteer warrior list. In His service... and yours, Bob and Kristi Roegner robert.roegner@appleofhiseye.org ( ) kristi.roegner@appleofhiseye.org ( ) Steve Cohen and Bob Roegner Praying for the Jewish People at the Western (Wailing) Wall in Jerusalem!

6 Kristi Reogner Toi Powell Izabela Cormier Bill Lapp Nancy & Steve Cohen Debby Wilson Richard Powell Al Schade Vivian Ernst Robert Roegner Kathy Graham Randy Duncan FOR YOUR PRAYERS... FOR THOSE WHO SERVE WITH US :

7 The Apple of His Eye Mission Society, A RSO of the LCMS, has been serving the Lord in witness among the Jewish people since Each day, each witnessing interaction, each step is bathed in prayer and underwritten by individuals and churches like yours who join with us in urgently reaching the lost before it is too late. This year our budget, apart from Israel ministries, is $360,000. Your gifts sacrificially given over and above your regular church giving helps us move forward and plant Gospel $350,000 seeds in the lives of those who do not yet know Y shua. We seek to make it as convenient as we can for you to support us: 1. By going to our secure web site giving page: 2, By ongoing donations via credit card by calling our Brentwood Tennessee administrative center to set up: and ask for Chris 3. By mailing your gift to: The Apple of His Eye PO Box 1649, Brentwood, TN By Including us in your estate planning 5. By sending a text to our secure site (see the next page)

8 Now you can give a secure donation to The Apple of His Eye by text message using your cell phone. The process for making a donation is as follows: Gift amount (over $3.00) Designated fund for the gift: General Fund Steve Cohen Nancy Cohen Bob Roegner The Israel Fund Open a blank text message Enter in To field Enter $ amount and fund name in message field Send text and wait for system reply with URL to mobile donation page Complete informational fields on mobile donation page and submit donation A text message will confirm the donation