In New York City this past July,

Transcription

1 A cup of cold water by David Brickner, executive director PHOTOS JEWS FOR JESUS//RACHEL FRIEDLANDER In New York City this past July, our Jews for Jesus evangelistic outreach team handed out bottles of water and cups of coffee, as well as evangelistic literature, to engage people in gospel conversations. The bottled water and coffee cups were labeled Jews for NYC and Brews for Jesus, respectively. It was a fun way to connect with people on the streets. Some people simply received the In this case, a cup of cold coffee, and a smile, in Jesus name beverages and moved on while others stopped to talk. Similarly, for a number of years we ve been giving out cups of hot chocolate to New Yorkers who gather to watch the floats being assembled the night before the Macy s Thanksgiving Day parade... and to Angelenos at the break of dawn as they line up for the Rose Bowl Parade on January 1. The trend has spread to many of our branches, though I think we first experimented with it decades ago with a table near Rockefeller Center with a sign that read Juice from Jesus. I think we gave out grape juice. Why do we do this? I started thinking about it anew when I received an from Karol Joseph, chaplain for this year s New York summer outreach. Asking me to prepare messages for our chapel services while I was there, she explained that the focus of the chapel teaching would be the kingdom of God. She shared, Our hope is that as we seek to proclaim kingdom truths, in both word and deed, God will use us as His ambassadors to seek and save those who are lost. That sounds pretty good and Scripture tells believers in Jesus that we are to live out His love but I have to confess something. I get a little uncomfortable when we start discussing deeds of kindness in the same breath as gospel proclamation. The problem comes when proclamation in word and deed ends up being all deed and no word. To keep our approach really balanced, we need to examine ourselves honestly. We need to check for any feelings or attitudes that might interfere with our willingness to share with others the truths of sin, salvation and the Savior. Deeds of kindness are far more likely to be received gladly than words of truth about Jesus and our need for Him. We all prefer appreciation to rejection, and it takes a conscious and constant choice to prevent that preference from subtly directing our decisions. We also need to guard against assumptions. Many gladly go on short-term mission trips that emphasize deeds of kindness, such as In this edition September 2014 Why give a cup of cold water? onlinextras, Jewish life, humor, prayer prompters Bits from our branches in Budapest, San Francisco, Chicago, DC Campus evangelism Tested for Rosh Hashannah

2 building a school or digging wells. No doubt it s hard work and requires a sacrificial gift of time. The assumption is that our building and digging will lead to a hearing for the gospel, and I m sure in some situations it has done so. But often that doesn t take place at all. I heard of a Jewish ministry whose strategy was to offer to clean the homes of Jewish people in the hopes that this would open a door to witness. It didn t. In the end there were plenty of Jewish people with clean homes but unchanged hearts. In their recent book, Mission Drift: The unspoken crisis facing leaders, charities and churches, authors Peter Greer and Chris Horts document numerous examples of organizations and ministries that lost their way and their essential mission because of the pressures to compromise their message. Often the effort to combine words and deeds leans more and more toward deeds, until speaking the words of the gospel becomes a chapter in the history of that Christian organization. Now I don t think for one minute that by giving away water and coffee or even helping to clean up Riverside Park Jews for Jesus is in danger of drifting from our mission of making the messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people worldwide. Not at all! Nor do I imagine anyone becoming a follower of Jesus simply because they received a cup of coffee with Brews for Jesus on the side from a Jews for Jesus staff member or volunteer. In fact there has been much misunderstanding of Jesus admonition about giving a cup of cold water in His name. Many assume it s talking about reaching unbelievers for Christ. But examine the passage closely: For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward (Mark 9:41, emphasis added; also see Matthew 10:42). Jesus is saying that Often the effort to combine words and deeds leans more and more toward deeds people show how they regard Him by how they treat His followers. In this passage, we are the ones who are supposed to be getting the cold water. I remember one hot day standing outside the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. I was sharing the gospel in song as part of the Jews for Jesus music team, the Liberated Wailing Wall. We were facing quite a bit of opposition, feeling the heat in more ways than one. Suddenly a couple of people stepped out of the crowd and gave us a bag filled with cold drinks. It was an amazing gesture that meant so much to us. That is what Jesus was talking about, and those wonderful people surely have been and will be rewarded by the Lord for their act of kindness to us that day. Going back to my earlier question, why do Jews for Jesus give out water or hot chocolate on the streets? It s not a new strategy or an alternative to gospel literature or to initiating gospel conversations. It s not either/or. Those of us who are followers of Jesus want to show His love, and something as small as giving another person a drink is a good way to demonstrate kindness in His name, be the recipients believers or unbelievers. So by all means, let s give out cold water, but let us never do so in place of offering the living water. Giving out water can easily lead to a conversation like the one Yeshua had with the woman at the well, so pray that we ll have many opportunities to point out: Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:13b 14). Remember, the kingdom of God is only truly advanced when the message of the gospel is proclaimed. And though it may not always be perceived as such, sharing the good news of the kingdom the salvation message found through faith in the crucified and risen Savior, Jesus Christ is the greatest kindness of all. 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 ; jfj@jewsforjesus.org; web: jewsforjesus.org; also working in: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom; editor: Ruth Rosen; art director: Paige Saunders; design and illustration: David Yapp; ISSN Volume 1:5775, September 2014; 2014

3 onlinextras This month s online edition at j4j.co/extras0914 includes: train up a child video: 5-year-old-Lilly reads Psalm 1 free download of our Rosh Hashanah broadside Hello Israel, your Holy Land fact-of-the-month So what? to help you apply this month s newsletter to your own life and witness Share our How to Know God website prayer prompters Please pray for: many Jewish people to hear and respond to the gospel at our Rosh Hashanah services all over the world God s comfort and strength for all the Jews for Jesus grieving the loss of our dear colleague and friend, Sean Trank, who died two months ago of lung cancer at age 28; pray especially for Sean s wife Sarah, as well as the Trank and Magnus families God s continued grace as we invest in the next generation of Jews for Jesus salvation for Jon and for an unnamed woman from the Berkeley campus; Mark and Mel from Echo Chat; Bob and Susan in DC (pp. 4, 5) grace and strength for new Jewish believer Barbara in Phoenix (p. 6) You may have friends and family who aren t ready to talk to you about God, but that doesn t mean they won t quietly explore ways to know Him on their own. Our interactive How to Know God website has videos, photos, Scriptures and more to point the way to Jesus. our campus outreach (p. 7) Here s the URL: jewsforjesus.org/how-to-know-god. Link to the site from your website or Facebook page... try tweeting it to your followers or find your own creative ways to use it to share your faith. And don t miss the story of Mel on p. 4 to see how this website is reaching people for Jesus! ROSH HASHANAH, or, as the Bible calls it, the Feast of Trumpets, begins at sundown on September 24. The shofar (ram s horn) is still used to fulfill the biblical command concerning the sounding of the trumpet. Read David Brickner s reflections on this holiday on p. 8, and explore lots more on our website (including fun videos, free e-cards and listings of our branch s high holiday services) at j4j.co/rh2. This month s banner photo: Eryn Black during our New York City outreach. Photo by Rachel Friedlander. /PAIGE SAUNDERS 3

4 New York Sam Rood reports: While logged in on Echo Chat,** I received a chat request from Mel.* He was very interested in what the Bible had to say about the Messiah dying for our sins. He thought that it must be true that Jesus is the Messiah. I asked if he d been able to speak with anyone about this. He said he hadn t and explained that he is nervous and wants to take things slowly. I asked him if it was all right if I gave him a call. Mel preferred to call me, so I gave him my cell phone number, hoping that he was a sincere seeker. Sam doing campus evangelism He called me the next morning, still clearly nervous, and told me that he believed that Jesus is Messiah. He said that Jesus had been on his mind for 30 years. Back in college he had friends involved in Campus Crusade for Christ (now known as Cru) who used to tell him about Jesus, and they made a real impact on him. More recently he saw our video, That Jew Died for You, and started exploring our website. From there he found our How to Know God site and had been closely studying it over the course of a week. I asked if he understood what it means to follow Jesus. He had a New Testament with him (though he said he d never read it before), so we read Romans 10:9 and John 3:16. He was amazed. We talked about the verses, and I explained what salvation means. Mel understood, so I asked him if he was ready to pray and surrender his life to Yeshua. He wanted to take his time and think it over. I prayed with Mel that God would give him wisdom, clarity and courage. Then I encouraged him to read the Gospel of John. A few hours later Mel called again; as he was reading John he became even more convinced. We talked a bit, and I asked again if he was ready to pray. We started praying, but when we got to the part about receiving Jesus, Mel stopped and explained why he wasn t ready. He was very concerned about how his wife and kids would feel. He said that before he takes this step he needs to hear a confirmation from God. I m still waiting to hear back from Mel, because he said that he would rather initiate contact and that he wants to take all of this slowly. Please keep Mel in your prayers. Budapest Avi Snyder reports, One of our faithful volunteers, Istvan, brought a Jewish atheist named János to our Yom Kippur service last year. Istvan started as a volunteer with last year s Life from the Dead Budapest campaign. He took part in a training class I conducted on one-on-one evangelism and began accompanying me on visits as a translator. Eventually he began meeting with János on his own, which was the plan. János brother, also not a believer, came to make a video bits from the BRANCHES of the service. However, he failed to film the very end of the service, because he was busy praying to receive the Lord as the invitation was given! After subsequent meetings, János also prayed to receive the Lord. A year later, János still comes regularly to our monthly Havurah meetings as well as to Kata s Shabbat dinners/bible studies every other Friday night. According to Istvan, János is reading the Bible day and night. It is amazing to see his transformation from atheist to Jewish believer in Jesus. Please pray for fruitful High Holiday services in Budapest as well as our other branches around the world! Washington, DC David Liebman reports, Stephen Katz, the North American Director of Jews for Jesus, introduced me to David getting a contact Bob.* Stephen had been meeting regularly with Bob for quite some time. At first, Bob professed to be an atheist. However, by the time I met him, he was not only open to the truth of God s existence, but to faith in Jesus as well. Since then, Bob has continued to move closer to faith in Him. Please pray that God would move strongly on his heart as fear and other obstacles seem to stand in the way of a commitment. Please also pray for his wife Susan* who, for many years, has been struggling with illness. A recent accident has made matters worse as Susan has had to face more intensive rehabilitation. Pray for my wife Rachel and me to be an encouragement to her as well. San Francisco Rob Wertheim reports, It has been seven years since Sandy and I moved to the San Francisco Bay area where I lead our local Jews for Jesus evangelistic work. Just as there are micro climates in the area (weather can change drastically in the space of a few miles), so it is when it comes to evangelism. Within a two-hour period, I ve been able to distribute 500 broadsides (i.e., gospel tracts) and have meaningful conversations at San Francisco State University. When I go broadsiding at UC Berkeley on the other side of the Bay, I may hand out 200 broadsides in the same amount of time, and the apathy and lack of tolerance on the campus are palpable. Yet there have been some good interactions at Berkeley as well. While handing out broadsides across the street from the campus, I saw a young Jewish woman wearing an Israeli military sweatshirt. By the time I registered this, she had walked by. However, a few minutes later, she walked past me again and this time I was able to engage her in a brief conversation. She told me that one of her relatives is a Jew for Jesus (though not on our staff). She didn t seem open to the gospel, but I mentioned that we have a weekly Shabbat dinner attended by some college-age students and that we would contact her about it if she were interested. The next thing I knew, she started attending the dinners pretty regularly. Though she still does not seem very open, she s been motivated to take public transportation from Berkeley to San Francisco and back, so I think there must be some interest there. Please pray for her to become more open to the gospel. Recently, I met an older Jewish man, Jon,* on the campus. He attended UC Berkeley many years ago and regularly uses their library. I would venture to say that he is a scholar. We spoke briefly, and when I asked him if he would be willing to meet over coffee to chat more, he agreed to see me later that day. We met at 5 P.M. I asked Jon about his background, listened, and shared my testimony. Then I opened up the Scriptures to Isaiah 53 and let him read the entire passage. When he was finished, I asked if it sounded like anyone he could think of and he said, Jesus! I explained that this was one of many passages in the Jewish Scriptures describing the Jewish Messiah. Before we parted, I asked him if would be open to meeting again and he said yes. Please pray that we will be able to meet again and that he will open his heart to Yeshua. Chicago Heather Drake (just before moving to join our Florida branch!) reported, I met Mark on Echo Chat. He is a Conservative Jew who is very curious Heather doing online evangelism about Jesus. He was checking out our website and was excited to talk to another Jewish person about Jesus. He said he had a New Testament and wanted to talk more later. He asked if there would be someone to talk to him when he was ready. I told him we have staff and volunteers around the world, mostly Jewish, who would be able to talk to him when he returned. He replied awesome. Please pray for Mark s salvation and healing (he recently had surgery). *not their real names ** Interested in volunteering to help us in the Echo Chat chatroom? Go to: jewsforjesus.org/join/net 4 55

5 Beyond campus outreach by Bruce Rapp Little did Bruce know that reaching out at Arizona State University would lead to a Brooklyn-born bubbe s* salvation. But that is just what happened... So am I now a born again Christian? I smiled and said, Yes, and you are also a born again Jew. Bruce at Arizona State University But let me start from the beginning. In early March I was sharing Yeshua on the campus of Arizona State University when a woman approached me and told me she was a Jewish believer in Jesus. Jan** wanted to tell me about her mother, Barbara.** Barbara grew up in a semi-religious Jewish home in New York City where her mother was on staff at Yeshiva University, a private Jewish college. Barbara s health has been declining these past few years and she is struggling with kidney issues. As Jan shared her grief over her mother s illness, she told me how she has shared Jesus and the message of eternal life with her. However, her mother was not responsive to her attempts to discuss these things. Jan asked if I would be willing to call her mother and chat with her, which I was glad to do. During my first conversation with Barbara we discovered that we grew up in the same neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. We began to reminisce about Nathan s hot dogs in Coney Island, delicious knishes in Brighton Beach, and enjoying Italian ices in the heat of the summer. We talked about how attending High Holiday services and being involved in our synagogues was a part of our lives. As we began to talk more about our God, Barbara asked if I was one of those born again Christians. She made it clear that she didn t want to discuss Jesus and was just fine with her Jewishness. Although she was adamant about this, she was open to meeting with me again so we could share more stories of life in Brooklyn. Once again, we met for coffee, but not even fifteen minutes had gone by before Barbara brought up Jesus. And once again she asked, So are you one of these born again Christians? I explained that I am Jewish and will always be Jewish, but I believe in the Messiah Yeshua, the one the prophet Isaiah wrote of. I pulled out my Bible and turned to Isaiah 53. When I asked her who she thought the prophet was speaking of, she looked at me and said, Sounds like Jesus. When I told her Isaiah wrote this around seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, she was amazed. As time went on, Barbara and I continued to meet weekly, reminiscing about good food and laughing about Jewish life in Brooklyn. Each time I would guide our conversations to more serious issues such as life, death and eternal hope in Yeshua. Barbara and I became friends and God used me to speak into her life. During one particular conversation about Yeshua, Barbara went silent, and I then told her she doesn t have to stop being a Jew by accepting Jesus as her Savior. Barbara was still silent. I then asked if she would like to have the hope that her daughter, I, and many other Jewish people have in Jesus. Barbara said yes, and we prayed together for forgiveness of her sins and for Jesus to take His place in her heart as Lord and Savior. After we prayed she asked me, So am I now a born again Christian? I smiled and said, Yes, and you are also a born again Jew. Please pray for Barbara; she believes her days are numbered here on this earth. Pray that she would grow stronger in her new faith in Messiah Yeshua. That she would not falter, but grow as a born again Jew. * Bubbe is a Jewish word for grandmother, and may be taken literally or simply as a term of endearment. ** Not their real names 6

6 Pray for our campus outreaches this fall! Please pray for our outreach to college students worldwide, and also for these more specific requests: Florida Heather Drake and her husband, Doug, have just moved from our Chicago branch to our Florida branch. Doug has joined us as a new missionary trainee, and Heather brings her missionary experience, specializing in young adult ministry. Heather says, Two campuses I ll be focusing on are Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and Florida International University in Miami. Please pray for favor in this new work as I look to build a young adult community in south Florida! Co-laborer Ron Mcdevitt adds, Please pray for our ongoing campus ministry to the Jewish students at the Florida Institute of Technology. We are seeking to broaden our ministry there this semester. Please pray that the Jewish students I ve been witnessing to will get saved and that we will reach many more this year. North Carolina Another Co-laborer, Wayne Dunham, says, Appalachian State University, better known as ASU, is a public, coeducational university located in Boone, North Carolina. Student enrollment is close to 20,000. My prayer request is to find Christ-followers with an evangelistic heart to assist me in handing out broadsides and sharing the gospel on campus. Please pray the Holy Spirit will move in a mighty way to open hearts and ears to hear and receive Jesus. California Rob Wertheim says, I always look forward to the fresh new faces in the new year! Pray that as we encounter students for the first time this new semester, they will be free of preconceptions and open to the gospel! We focus mainly on San Francisco State, San Jose State and UC Berkeley. Alan Bond adds, Last semester Rob and I also visited Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, after noting their Jewish emphasis week. Pray for further opportunities there this fall with some of our younger colleagues. Jesse Danziger is one of our newer missionaries in Los Angeles, where our office is just across the street from UCLA. Jesse first connected with Jews for Jesus as an unbeliever, through Rob Wertheim s campus outreach at City College and San Francisco State. Now, just a few years later, Jesse asks prayer, that students would be open to challenging their worldviews. New York Melissa Moskowitz says, Brooklyn College s student population is one third Jewish. One of our staff, Sam Rood, has been doing evangelism there and has a Bible study for seekers. We d love to see some of those seekers connect with the believing young adult community we already have been establishing in Brooklyn, particularly through our weekly Shabbat gatherings. We also recognize the wisdom of partnering with other Jewish ministries in the area to reach the campus; pray that this combined ministry would result in much fruit this fall. Illinois Micha Cohen: We in Chicago love doing outreach at Northwestern University and University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), as well as the University of Chicago. Please pray we Giselle on the Berkeley campus find some good soil out there while we sow gospel seed! UIC is one of the few campuses where we can hand out tracts inside, too, so we can go there all year. Australia Bob Mendelsohn: University begins in March here in Australia. So the University of New South Wales will be in third term this month (September) and that s a big focus for us in the Sydney branch of Jews for Jesus. We appreciate your prayers to reach the students here. 7

7 Getting tested for Rosh Hashanah by David Brickner We eat apples and honey, honey cakes and sweets, all to wish each other a sweet New Year for Rosh Hashanah. Yet, Rosh Hashanah actually signals the beginning of a time of testing spiritual testing. The blast of the shofar (ram s horn) associated with this holy day calls us to a period of self-examination known as the Days of Awe. This is to prepare us for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. At this season we test ourselves to see where we stand in our spiritual lives. We must examine our hearts to see if we are truly living for God as we should. If we discover sin in our lives (not too hard of a hunt for me), we need to repent of that sin and turn towards the Lord, seeking forgiveness and restoration. But we can also find ourselves being tested by God in this season. Testing is a fact of life. From the womb to the tomb we endure various kinds of tests. For some, life seems to be a constant test. Many wish for the time of testing and stress to be over for good. But God intends His testing to be a blessing that strengthens our faith and draws us closer to Him. God knows how to design a test that goes straight to the heart of a matter to accomplish His exact purposes. Throughout Scripture we see that God tested His people. Look at Abraham. It is traditional at this time of year for Jewish people to read the Akedah, which means the binding of Isaac. Take encouragement from the fact that not only did Abraham endure the test (willingness to give up his only son), but as a result of passing that test, he received the precious promises of God: Because you have done this thing... blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore... (Genesis 22:16b 17). Not only did Abraham endure the test, but as a result of passing that test, he received the precious promises of God Today we all benefit from Abraham s faithfulness faithfulness in the midst of great testing. The binding of Isaac was a prefiguring of Yeshua s (Jesus ) passion and suffering, as well as of His death and resurrection. It was predicted concerning the Messiah that God would test him in this way: Yet it was the LORD s will to crush him and cause him to suffer (Isaiah 53:10). We can only imagine the struggles Jesus endured, knowing what lay before Him. He told His disciples in advance of the emotional toll this test was having on Him. My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death... (Mark 14:34). Our Messiah Yeshua endured a horrific test on our behalf. But because He endured and passed this terrible test, we who trust in Him stand forgiven and cleansed of all our sin. We have a hope that will never fade, a confidence of our eternal life with Him in glory. Our Day of Atonement came about when we trusted Messiah Jesus to be our Redeemer and Savior from sin. Now we can come before Him with the assurance of His grace each and every day of our lives. Still, it doesn t hurt to pause to reflect and test our hearts. Perhaps this season is a good time to do just that. Our confidence in God s forgiveness doesn t preclude us from being tested, and it may be that some are enduring difficult trials even now. The good news is that God promises to be with us and to help us endure, even as He helped Abraham and our Messiah Jesus to endure. Lamentations tells us, Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD (Lamentations 3:40). Are you being tested this Rosh Hashanah? Don t fear the test or try to avoid it. Instead, look for the blessing and find out what God intends to do through the test in your life. That kind of trust will help to make for a sweet New Year. This article has been edited for space considerations. See full article at: j4j.co/rtrh