Loving the Gospel by David Brickner, executive director

Transcription

1 Loving the Gospel by David Brickner, executive director I recently asked our Jews for Jesus leadership team to be intentional in finding ways to encourage one another, recognizing that we live in an age of cynicism. We agreed that we want to consciously guard against that culture seeping into our own hearts and communities, and to help one another remember that it should not be so among us. We are to be filled with optimism, to pull together with patience and faith, because we believe and trust that God is in the midst of us. He will bring about the very best, not for our sakes, but for His glory. A good remedy for cynicism and most other negative attitudes that can easily creep into our hearts is humility. And there is nothing more humbling than the gospel the news that there was nothing we could do to merit God s love and forgiveness but that in His grace, He made a way through Yeshua, Jesus. Some people find grace a bitter pill to swallow because it threatens to burst their bubble of self-sufficiency, but to really know the grace of the gospel is to love it. A good remedy for cynicism and most other negative attitudes that can easily creep into our hearts is humility. Loving the gospel is not just a matter of devoting ourselves to bringing it to others, but to appreciate very personally each day what God has done for us. It s from our own growing love for God and His gospel that we have something to offer others. We all want the same thing: to see Jewish people saved. God has made it so clear in His Word that we have this in common with Him and that this is the very heart of God s intention for our people Israel. So, we believe together that He s going to continue using Jews for Jesus as part of His plan. But how? In 1 Chronicles 12:32 it says, The sons of Issachar had an understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. That s the kind of understanding we need to seek continually if we want to continue being used by God. Making the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue is not the beginning and the end of the mission of Jews for Jesus. We know that we can t fulfill our calling by merely stating the gospel facts publicly and loudly. There s more to fulfilling our mission than maintaining a high profile with our Jews for Jesus T-shirts and handing out tracts on prominent thoroughfares and college campuses. We continue to do those things, but we are also asking the question: What does the Lord want Jews for Jesus to do in order to effectively proclaim the gospel in our time, in our culture? There is no one answer as far as methods and activities, but there are ways to respond to recognizable culture trends. For example, The high percentage of Jewish people who marry Gentiles has opened a door for ministering to those couples. (Continued on page 2) In this edition April 2016 What does it mean to love the gospel?...1 Announcements, prayer requests and Passover humor...3 Bits from our branches in cyberspace, Washington, DC, Germany and Florida...4 Team-talk from Ukraine...6 God s timing your partnership...7 Sneak peek from our new workbook for ministry to Jewish-Gentile couples...8

2 (Continued from page 1) A large number of Jewish people now live in Berlin, Germany, so we ll soon be opening a new branch there. The Internet continues to be a growing place to meet Jewish seekers. Many Jewish people want to connect with others to affirm Jewish identity, but not within religious institutions so home celebrations of Shabbat, Passover, etc., are becoming more and more part of our outreach. You ll notice mentions of each of our responses to those cultural shifts in the following pages. Sharing the gospel goes beyond handing out a tract or meeting with someone for Bible study. The Great Commission involves making disciples and making disciples includes explaining the gospel, watering and nurturing the gospel seed, and helping people along the path so they can receive salvation through Jesus. God often uses many people in the process. Making disciples also means teaching baby believers about their new life, new privileges and new priorities, including baptism and much more. We re to show them what it means to be part of the community of the redeemed. Our missionaries are committed to engaging Jewish people with the love of God because we want them to be saved; we want them to have eternal life. That means more than escaping damnation. We re not God s insurance salesmen selling policies to get people out of hell. Yeshua said, I am come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10). We want people to begin that abundant life here and now! We want them to be saved from worshiping lesser gods that can never satisfy the true longing of every human heart. We want them to be saved from the lies and dehumanization that tear people apart when they are cut off from the Creator that knows and loves them. Knowing God and daily experiencing His love and forgiveness is the greatest source of human flourishing there is. We believe that. We re committed to human flourishing and so we are committed to proclaiming the gospel. We need the Holy Spirit s power and wisdom to define what it means to love the Lord, love people and love the spread of the gospel in our own context, as the people God has uniquely called us to be in Jews for Jesus. We want our love for the gospel to lead and direct us to do and say things that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, will lead others to a true and lasting love of God and other people and so we come full circle. How far are we willing to go as emissaries of Yeshua, in order that more Jews might believe and be saved and flourish in this life and the next as part of His body? By God s grace, we re willing to go where He leads and make ourselves vulnerable. We re willing to count the cost and to accept the disapprobation of our own people that they might hear and believe. It is the love of Messiah that compels us. Brothers and sisters, this is where we most resonate with the apostle Paul when he said, My heart s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved (Romans 10:1). This is where we should be able to say, I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh.... (Romans 9:2 3). Can any of us say that now? Can any of us even imagine that we will someday be able to say what Paul said? I don t know. But I believe that loving God s gospel must move us towards such a level of commitment. We need our brothers and sisters in Jesus who love God and love people to love the gospel going to Jewish people as well. What about you? Will you pray for us and cultivate this kind of commitment to loving God s gospel with us? I believe you will as you prayerfully join us in this gospel-loving endeavor. David Brickner is also an author, public speaker and avid hiker. Find out more about David, his writings, speaking schedule and possible availability to speak at your church at jewsforjesus.org/david-brickner. 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 ; phone: (415) ; jfj@jewsforjesus.org; web: jewsforjesus.org; also working in: Australia, 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 8:5776, April 2016; 2016

3 Please tell us what you think! It s an experiment! In May, June and July some of our readers will receive special four-page editions of our newsletter instead of the usual eight. If that s you, you ll find a quick survey inserted with the newsletter. Your opinion will be very important to us, so if you are part of the experiment group, please be sure to return the survey, either with the insert we ll provide or online. For your convenience: If you d like to help Jews for Jesus with a gift and prefer using the Internet, we have a link for you: j4j.co/nl1604 Please pray for: God s specific wisdom for how to continue to fulfill our calling in the midst of today s culture Go to RealTime for online weekly snapshots of Jews for Jesus around the world including time-sensitive prayer requests as well as monthly video updates from David. Check it out at: jewsforjesus.org/publications/realtime. Subscribe to RealTime for monthly s that deliver David s video update and a couple of top stories: j4j.co/sub . WISH YOUR JEWISH FRIENDS A HAPPY PASSOVER and send a nice card if you can! This year it s April Remembering how God set us free from bondage in Egypt is central to Jewish identity, so showing that you care about the holiday will mean a lot to your Jewish friends. It can mean a lot to you as well; when Jesus celebrated Passover He deepened its redemption theme to include the salvation made available through the sacrifice of His body and blood. PASSOVER PUNS Here s a little Passover humor (we d say fresh from the Internet, but these have been around longer than the worldwide web.) If you like puns, you ll enjoy these. If you don t, you can say dayenu and go right to the prayer prompters. radical dependence upon the Holy Spirit throughout our ministry and the entire body of Messiah that Jacob, Shmuel and many other chat room contacts will connect well with the missionaries who live close enough to see them in person salvation for Ed, Mike and Simon in Washington, DC; also salvation for Moti, Felix and Alex in Berlin, and Rachmiel in Florida details to come together as we plan to open a new branch in Berlin this year many churches and individual Christians to team up with us with the goal of seeing more Jewish people become Jesus disciples Q: Why do we have a Haggadah at Passover? A: So we can Seder right words. Q: What kind of cheese do I eat on Passover? A: Matzo-rella And finally, here s a knock-knock joke as the seder draws to an end: Knock, Knock Who's there? Eliya Eliya who? Eliyahu HaNavi new Jewish believer Barbara to grow in her faith the church to catch a vision for ministry to Jewish-Gentile couples, and for our workbook on that very topic to be used successfully for God s glory In case you need to brush up your Passover vocabulary: Dayenu (die yay new) is Hebrew for it would have been enough. It s the one word chorus we sing with lots of verses about the wonderful things God did for us at Passover. Each thing he did would have been enough but He does so much more than enough! This month s banner photo features Isaac Brickner (from our Los Angeles team) during a Rosh Hashanah outreach in New York City's Upper West Side. Photo by Rachel Friedlander. God s grace as we continue investing in the next generation of Jews for Jesus God s wisdom and strength for the next Behold Your God Israel campaign 3

4 From Cyberspace (connecting New York with London and South Africa) Susan Mendelson reports, I was in the chat room with a Jewish man named Jacob,* and found him remarkably open to the gospel. I could see that he was chatting from the London area so I asked if he would be open to someone reaching Susan Photo Jews for Jesus/Rachel Friedlander out to him there. He was! I m excited that Barry from our London branch has connected with him. Somewhere between my time with Jacob and his first contact with Barry, Jacob became a believer in Jesus as his Messiah and Lord. Please pray for Jacob to receive the discipleship lessons that Barry will offer him, that he will grow in the truth of Messiah Jesus and be a light to all around him! I was also in the chat room when Shmuel* came in. He said he d ended up in the chat room accidentally as he was trying to help his son with his homework. I could see that the chat was coming from Johannesburg, South Africa, and was so pleased, since we have a branch there that could follow up if Shmuel was open to it. We had a great chat. Shmuel mentioned that he spends time with Chabad (an extremely Orthodox sect of Judaism) and that he s seen some of our people in Jews for Jesus T-shirts from time to time but up till now has ignored us. I mentioned that Aden Friedman, one of our staff in Johannesburg, grew up in Chabad. While Shmuel didn t want to get into a spiritual conversation with me, he did express interest in Aden s story of faith and gave me an to pass along to him. Please pray for a great connection between Aden and Shmuel and that Shmuel ultimately will come to know Messiah Jesus. From Washington, DC, Lynn McCoy reports, When I was growing up, my mom lit the candles every Shabbat and made sure we always had a traditional, home cooked meal. Then we rushed through our family meal so we could attend our synagogue service. I wouldn t really appreciate that Mom taught me how to cook Jewish until years later. I related these details to Ed* as he sat on our sofa on a recent Shabbat, a glass of sparkling water in hand. Many details of our Jewish upbringing were similar, so it was fun to reminisce with him as we waited for the other guests to arrive. Unlike me though, Ed has not yet come to embrace Yeshua (Jesus) as his Messiah and Lord. Neither has Mike* who soon arrived with his Christian girlfriend. Soon nine of us were gathered around the table in our tiny home. bits from the BRANCHES After I lit the candles, Ed, a trained cantor, led us in the traditional prayers over the freshly baked bread and the wine. Mike, while also Jewish, had never experienced a Shabbat dinner and was loving every moment! After enjoying my homemade beef soup, cabbage rolls and potato kugel, we moved on to dessert and coffee. David Liebman, one of our branch missionaries, led us in a devotion based on the Parsha (the Torah portion read throughout the week in synagogues all over the world). Simon,* a Jewish man who grew up as an atheist in Russia, asked many good questions. Since living here, he has embraced traditional Judaism and has difficulty seeing that faith in Jesus does not mean giving up who he is as a Jew. Lynn Photo by Wayman McCoy The evening drew to an end with my husband Wayman and Simon playing duets on their violins. This was especially a blessing to the classically trained Ed, who loved the musical selections. At the conclusion Mike gave me a big hug, Simon, by way of a compliment, said he d eaten too much, and Ed was so comfy he nodded off. What a sweet time this was! I m so blessed that God uses our little home and the gifts He has given us to enjoy the Sabbath together, and to share our faith with three guests who are all in the process of exploring whether our Jesus is truly the Messiah. May each one find Him in His appointed time! From Germany, Igor Shelest reports, Every two or three months our Essen branch sends a missionary to Berlin to visit people who gave us their contact information mostly people we ve met during our witnessing campaigns. Please pray for some of the people I ve visited. One man, Moti, was originally from Texas, but spent a lot of time living in France and Israel. During our visit, I read Jeremiah 17:9 to help him understand the problem of sin: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? Moti was astonished. He now wants to read the Bible. At the end of the visit we prayed and he agreed to meet again the next time I m in Berlin. Felix has a degree in physics, so whatever we talk about, he always brings it down to physics. He calls himself a believing atheist, that is, he doesn t reject the existence of God, but sees Him as everything that surrounds us and in us as well. Despite all that, Felix is very open to discussing spiritual things. Alex* is an acquaintance of mine, a musician. This time he asked questions about the virgin birth, which he was sure was impossible. We talked about the miracles that God performs, and that, by definition, they are impossible apart from God s intervention. Alex agreed to meet me again in three months, when I will be in Berlin. I am excited that we will be opening a branch in Berlin this year so that we will have many more opportunities to bring the gospel to these people. Please pray for their salvation and for all the details of opening the branch to come together. From Florida, our Co- Laborer Ron Neumann Mcdevitt reports, A local Conservative synagogue was hosting a countywide event to honor and raise support for the IDF (Israel Defense Force). I attended the event wearing my shirt, Child of a Holocaust Survivor. Igor Ron Photo Jews for Jesus/Nagy Laszlo Many people wanted to talk to me when they saw my shirt. One of them, Rachmiel,* turned out to be part of the evening program as he had fought with the IDF during the War of Independence in Israel. At the end of the ceremony a plaque was presented to him as we all stood and clapped. After the ceremony he asked me for my address so we could stay in touch. The following day I received the promised from Rachmiel. As we exchanged a few s I told him I am a Messianic Jew. He said he knew what that meant and went on to ask why I always include the verse Jeremiah 33:3 below my signature. I told him I believe God answers my prayers and I want to share that with everyone. Photo by Mike Mcdevitt Please pray that God will swing all the doors wide open for me to present the gospel in a clear and interesting way and for Rachmiel to receive God s gift of salvation. *not their real names 4 5

5 The team by Igor Spivak, Kharkov branch It is always interesting to watch football, basketball or volleyball. The professional players are training on a daily basis. They don t just learn how to play the game; they learn how to be a team player. To love the gospel and spread God s Word, we need a team as well. Brothers and sisters often ask me, How can I help you? I am not a missionary.... What do you mean, you are not a missionary? The Bible doesn t say: Therefore go and study hard and once you ve passed the test, you can tell people about Me. What it actually says is: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19 20). Yeshua gave us that commandment and He promised to never leave us! Of course I understand that not all people are called to be full-time missionaries, but in a team there are different roles and each player does his or her part. And he Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11). Dear friends, we are parts of one body Christ s body. And, as in any other body, every part matters, no matter how seemingly small. Maybe you cannot be a missionary, but you can be a prayer support. If you cannot go on the streets for the outreach, perhaps you can make phone calls. If you are really busy with work, maybe you can support the ministry financially. Don t let yourself believe you are not capable of doing something. The Apostle Paul says: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). Recently I was thinking how hard the ministry can get sometimes. That very day God showed me that it is only hard when I am by myself, and trying to do things in my own strength. When I am content to be a tool in God s hands, things get easier. Sometimes I need to pause for a minute to check who I am actually trying to bring people to: is it God or myself? If we are preaching the gospel for God s glory, He will help us! He will guide us and teach us and convict us when needed. It is important to remind ourselves that we are on the same team, and not just the Jews for Jesus team, but the whole Yeshua team. Some of us need to learn how to ask for and receive help and others need to learn how to look for an opportunity to help. I am so grateful to God for the volunteer team that He gave me and for their strong desire to minister to Jewish people. They all have jobs, some have difficulties some are even misunderstood by their families because of their desire to serve. But they continue to do the ministry, because their hearts burn for Yeshua! God put that fire in their hearts! They have the ball and they surely know what to do with it. If you are having difficulties playing your part to obey God s command to make disciples, please remind yourself who is your Lord and let Him help you. When you get the ball, will you know how to pass it? Ask yourself: on whose team am I playing? Who is our opponent? For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). Dear friends, none of us will ever accomplish our mission on our own, not as individuals or as a missionary organization or as a church. The only way to reach Jewish people, or any people the only way to reach the whole world is to play on Yeshua s team. Only together can we bring Yeshua to the brokenhearted. 6

6 God s timing, your partnership by Rob Wertheim, San Francisco Here s what every missionary loves: visiting people to share the gospel or to help them learn to follow Yeshua as new believers. Often these visits come because a Christian friend cared to suggest or even set up the meeting. Years ago, I met a Jewish man during a Christ in the Passover speaking tour in Texas. Gus* was 91 years old. Someone at a church where I was speaking told me that he was open to the gospel. They were right! At the end of our visit, Gus prayed to receive the Lord. When I shared what happened with Gus at other churches during my tour I could hardly believe how many people knew of Gus and had been praying for his salvation for years! Another time, the missions pastor of a church that supports us told me about a Jewish believer in Jesus who attends the church. While I was in the area, could I meet her mother to share a distinctively Jewish testimony with her? We set up an appointment and my wife, Sandy, Pastor Phil and I met with Barbara* in his office. After Sandy and I shared our testimonies, Barbara was willing to look at a few messianic prophecies. She seemed pretty amazed. Since we live some To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1 four hundred miles apart, I suggested that we could meet by telephone to continue the conversation. She said she was interested, but when I called her the following week, she explained that while she was thankful for our time, she would like to do further research on her own. I was a bit disappointed but I understood. Four years later, I returned to that same church. Barbara s daughter came up to me after to let me know that her mother had recently come to faith, had been baptized and was attending the church regularly now. I was so encouraged by this and I called Barbara once I was back in San Francisco. Barbara was very glad to hear from me and I discovered that though she is attending church regularly, she has not been in any type of discipleship program and still has many questions. I asked if she would be open for us to meet on a regular basis to go through the Gospel of John in order for her to have a better understanding of who Jesus is and she said, Yes! So we are now meeting by telephone on a weekly basis. It has been so much fun seeing Barbara grow in her understanding of her new relationship with the Lord. I think King Solomon said it best in Ecclesiastes 3:1, when he wrote, To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. I know this was the case with Gus and Barbara. Would you pray for Barbara s growth in Yeshua? Thank you! Editor s note: Please also pray for many more churches to partner with us the way that these two did! It s wonderful to edify Christians when we speak at churches but when churches invite us to share the gospel with Jewish friends and relatives, we really get to work together as the body of Christ! *not their real names Often visits come because a Christian friend cared to suggest or even set up a meeting. 7

7 SNEAK PEEK of our soon-to-be-published workbook for ministry to Jewish-Gentile couples! authored by Tuvya Zaretsky Here s one of the stories Tuvya shares... Mark was dying of abdominal cancer. His girlfriend, Susan, was a Christian who d wandered from her relationship with the Lord. Now she wanted desperately to help her boyfriend find eternal life in Jesus. And Mark? He was the son of Holocaust survivors; he d been raised in the practices of Orthodox Judaism, but had discontinued them as an adult. He wasn t the least bit interested in Jesus. He just wanted to marry Susan before he died. Susan contacted me at the Jews for Jesus office. Could I come and help her tell Mark about the Savior? Of course I could! I asked Susan to let Mark know that I am a Jew who believes in Jesus. That was only fair to him. I ll never forget our first meeting. Mark stood with difficulty, his illness painfully obvious. Without any greeting, he lifted his finger to point at me as he announced, I will never believe like you! Susan was confused. Why is he so angry? What did I do? Mark was frustrated. Why does she put Jesus between us when I love her and all I want to do is marry her? Mark and Susan are one of the couples to whom I have dedicated this book. Their situation was complicated, yet they represent an ever-growing opportunity for ministry among a particular group of people: Jewish-Gentile couples. I ve learned a lot from people like Mark and Susan. And here s what I didn t tell you when I first mentioned their story. Though he insisted at the outset, I will never believe like you! as though determined not to hear anything about Jesus eventually he not only heard, he believed! The living Lord promises to reveal Himself to those who seek Him with all their heart (Jeremiah 29:13). That is a promise worth sharing. So welcome to the great adventure of ministry to Jewish-Gentile couples! Expect plenty of ups and downs, but remember the story of Mark and Susan and never doubt what God can do! And here s an example of the practical guidance Tuvya gives... I told one small group of Jewish- Gentile couples, We are in a safe environment, where we can ask questions without fear of being judged. If you hear someone in the group, including your spouse or me, use a term that you don t understand, just say so. We ll stop and find out what it means. I don t always wait for people to ask what a word means. For example, I ll ask, What do you understand the word Christ to mean? A Jewish partner often sheepishly responds, That s something I say when I m frustrated. I put the same question to the Gentile, sometimes Christian, partner, who often says something like, I m not sure, but I think Christ means Savior, doesn t it? By the way, the response of the Jewish partner above was very much my own experience for many years. And before I was old enough to think of His name as an expletive? Forgive me, but as a little kid, I thought Christ was Jesus last name. Anyway, after each couple responds to the question, I can explain that the word Christ is an English word with several dictionary meanings. It can refer to a painting of The Christ, or, as mentioned by the Jewish partner, it can refer to an expletive. But the original meaning the one that s relevant to our conversation comes from the Greek word Christos, which means, Anointed One. And in fact, that is exactly what Messiah means. In other words, Christos was the Greek term that Bible translators used for the Hebrew word, Mashiach. Bottom line, Christ was originally a Jewish concept. Something as simple as a mutual understanding of the word Christ can give a Jewish-Gentile couple confidence that together we can find meaningful and common terms with which to discuss spiritual truth. That opens up a door for hope. Stay tuned for the next sneak peek... and the chance to order your copy! 8