Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / March 31, 2019 | Special Guest Avi Snyder - Still Not Ashamed

Transcript

March 31, 2019 | Special Guest Avi Snyder - Still Not Ashamed · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:11
SPEAKER_04: When we think of Israel and realizing that less than 1% of Israelis believe in Jesus, and certainly that's true here in the United States as well.
0:24
SPEAKER_05: A lot of uh Jewish people are confused about Jesus.
0:28
SPEAKER_05: They're under the impression that it's not anything for Jewish people.
0:33
SPEAKER_01: We're accustomed to and conditioned to just dismissing the whole issue of Jesus as irrelevant.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: But Jews for Jesus makes a statement: wait a minute, no, he is relevant to us.
0:47
SPEAKER_03: We want these people to hear about Jesus and we want them to experience hope, the love, the transformation that the gospel can bring.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: Israel as a people received only one call to be an evangelistic light to the nations, so the Jewish people will hear the gospel as the Jewish missionaries can cover the earth with the good news that the world so desperately needs to hear.
1:16
SPEAKER_04: It's urgent.
1:18
SPEAKER_04: What we do, we need to do now.
1:48
SPEAKER_04: Go and tell is a mystery of proclamation.
1:51
SPEAKER_04: It's what we've been doing since Jews for Jesus began as we share the gospel with non-believing Jewish people.
2:07
SPEAKER_05: With Jews for Jesus.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: I live for the day when there will be waves of Jewish believers in Jesus flooding the world with the gospel out in the forefront, fulfilling the call.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: Because the call has not been provoked.
2:31
SPEAKER_03: Common sea is our ministry philosophy around inviting people in to belong to a community where they can experience what it means to be Jewish and believe in Jesus.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: We want to create space for Jewish seekers and in the process tell them how Jesus taught us to live and work through these issues for ourselves.
3:26
SPEAKER_04: Love and serve is the newest way we're reaching out to our Jewish people and doing so as believers in Yeshua.
3:35
SPEAKER_03: Israel is a place with a lot of social ills.
3:40
SPEAKER_03: It's a really, really hard place to live.
3:46
SPEAKER_05: One of the areas that we we really wanted to reach in Jerusalem was the drugs, the alcohol, the prostitution, the homeless.
3:53
SPEAKER_05: And we were able to really find amazing breakthroughs there.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: Loving and serving others is a natural way of living out the gospel.
4:04
SPEAKER_03: Jewish people hear the gospel, then those people.
4:07
SPEAKER_03: They're in South Africa, they're in Australia, they're in the United States, they're in they're bringing the gospel wherever they are.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: We're relentlessly pursuing God's heart.
4:19
SPEAKER_02: We're relentlessly pursuing God's plan for the salvation of the Jewish people.
4:24
SPEAKER_02: So what a privilege it is to take what the Bible teaches about life, about problems, about this broken world and say God has something to say here.
4:44
SPEAKER_02: People open up their hearts to the Lord.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: College Avenue Building, good morning to you, Mulvaine Building.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: That's a terrific video introduction to Jews for Jesus.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: For those of you that are unfamiliar, or even for those of you that are, you may not have known that Jews for Jesus is not just about going and telling, it's also about more and more today, coming and seeing and loving and serving.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: And those three aspects were all put in place last summer at our climactic, our Jews for Jesus climactic evangelistic event uh called Behold Your God Jerusalem.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: And a number of the pictures you saw there were people who had come to Christ in Jerusalem last summer.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: So it's really cool.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: By the way, let me just say this.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: I didn't say this in the other services.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: If you're part of the Isaiah Challenge, and I hope you are, you don't get a week off.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: You need to read chapters 58 through 61 this week.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: All right, you got four chapters.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: So I've been looking forward, hoping for wow, over 10 years have been thinking about getting Avi Schneider here.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: Avi, however, you know, after he did, you know, worked in Chicago, LA, and other stuff in the States, several decades ago went overseas and has headed up the European ministry opening up the former Soviet Union, then opening up Germany, and more recently, he and Ruth, his wife's here, went down to Budapest and opened up Hungary, where of course we have connections because our Avi, come on up here.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: So, because we have a young adults group that went over to Budapest last year, they're going over this summer, and and Avi, you actually helped train them a little bit, I think.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: I did.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: It was fun to get together with them.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: Don't lie.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: No.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: Um so and also I have a niece over there, Leah Maynor, uh teaches over in Hungary right now, and Christy Chance was just telling me Dalton's gonna go over as a missionary, I think, this fall.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, that's really cool.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: The reason I wanted Avi to come, though, is as the front of the bulletin says, you know, uh I've admired him for a long time for a number of reasons.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh because uh, like my wife's always telling me, big things come in small packages.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: He's he's a dynamo, he's bold, he's creative, he's a leader, he's a thinker.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: And uh and I thought if I could get him here, maybe he'd become a friend.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: So uh he's gonna talk to you today.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: By the way, uh so you you grew up in a uh in a Jewish home.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: That's correct.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: And and you and uh Ruth just came from Tennessee visiting your first grandchild?
7:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we have uh our youngest daughter and her husband uh live in uh Cleveland, Tennessee, and they have a 21-month-old child, so we have a grandson, and we have another one on the way who's due in May.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: Oh, praise the Lord.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: And today uh I'm gonna drop you at the airport.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna fly to New Jersey to visit to spend tomorrow with my father, who is turning 100 years old tomorrow.
8:03
SPEAKER_01: Just like the rest of us will be one day.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: So his name is David.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: He still has a clear mind and he still has an unrepentant heart.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: So if you remember to pray for him, I won't object.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: So you grew up in that home.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh how old were you when you came to Christ?
8:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh one week away from my 26th birthday.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: And what brought you to Christ?
8:24
SPEAKER_01: I just wanted to be rich and popular.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: That's a joke.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: The Jewish community, that's all it takes.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: Don't become a doctor, a liar.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: Trust Jesus.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: So but uh part of it had to do, I think, Jews for Jesus.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: I received a uh a Jews for Jesus broadside tract in the summer of 1975 in New York.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, one of those they hand out on the streets?
8:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and uh I was livid when I saw this Jews for Jesus on the street.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, I was so angry I took his literature.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: You got him back.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: You got him.
8:57
SPEAKER_01: I kept the literature.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, and um God brought uh Christians into my life who uh who loved me and had the courage uh not just to love me and to pray for me, but to tell me what I needed to hear.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: And little by little uh the message got through, and uh finally in March of 77, I gave my heart to the Lord.
9:16
unknown: Wow.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: Looking forward to hearing you, ladies and gentlemen, Avi Snyder.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: Don't applaud.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: I might be a terrible person.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: I want to thank Pastor Jim uh and all of you for uh letting me come and visit your TBC.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: It's a privilege to be here today.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: Um just so I'll know, how many of you are already familiar with Jews for Jesus?
9:43
SPEAKER_01: Most of you.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll go home.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: No, not yet.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: It's a joy, it's a privilege to be with you uh this morning.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm grateful, I'm especially grateful that my wife Ruth can be traveling with me.
9:57
SPEAKER_01: We uh we don't often get to travel together.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh we live in Budapest, Hungary now, and Ruth uh teaches at a Christian school there, so it's nice when uh when Ruth can accompany me.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: Um my name is Avi Snyder, I'm with Jews for Jesus.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's so much going on in the ministry, and I'm eager to give you a quick update.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm eager to uh to urge you uh to keep us in prayer.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: Um every once in a while I'll I'll encounter somebody, especially in Europe.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: They'll say something like uh Jews for Jesus, how long has that been going on?
10:32
SPEAKER_01: And I usually say about 2,000 years.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: People forget that all the first Christians were us Jews.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: People forget that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: People forget that all of the first missionaries were us Jews, and that's who and what we Jews for Jesus are.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: We are missionaries.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: Um I've been involved with the ministry now for over 40 years.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: It's it's my life.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: Um before I give you an update, I want to take you through an ancient, ancient Jews for Jesus tradition.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: It's called the tradition of the tearing of the card.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: Um you should have found inside the bulletin that you received as you came in one of these white cards.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: Would you take it out at this time?
11:18
SPEAKER_01: Anybody need one?
11:19
SPEAKER_01: I've got some extras up here in case you didn't get one.
11:22
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's a perforated line.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: Bend the card on the perforated line.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: That's the easy part.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: And then on the count of three, we're going to try to tear this card together in unison.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: So, you ready?
11:36
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: One, two, three.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: It's four, five, six.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, take a look at the larger part.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: I want to ask you, I want to urge you to fill this card out now while I'm speaking.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: At the end of the service, when the offering is taken for the work of Juice for Jesus, whether you give a gift or not, would you put this card into the offering?
12:03
SPEAKER_01: I want to make sure that you're receiving our free monthly prayer letter or Juice for Jesus newsletter.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: We can't do what we do unless people like you are praying for us.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: It's as simple as that.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: If you're already getting the newsletter, I'd like to ask you to fill it out anyway.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: I won't send you two newsletters, but this way we we can double check the database and make sure that we have all the correct details on you.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: There's so much going on that we need your prayer for.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: The the video that highlighted uh the follow-up work from the Jerusalem campaign last year, it's just going off the charts.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: Um in the States, there's so much transition, so much new work going on.
12:43
SPEAKER_01: Um in Europe, where I spend most of my time.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, this summer we're going to have three very, very key outreaches on the streets.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: One in Berlin, one in Moscow, one in Budapest.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Take a look at the smaller card, would you?
13:01
SPEAKER_01: And on the smaller card, this is a prayer reminder for you to keep.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: I'd like to ask you to write down the name Budapest, B-U-D-A-P-E-S-T, pronounced Budapest.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: That's the capital of Hungary.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: This summer, uh in August, we'll have an outreach there.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: Um we've had many, but this one's special because this year in Budapest, Israel will be holding what's called the Maccabe Games.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: These are the Israeli Olympics, but they changed the venue.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: This year it's going to be in Budapest.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: That means that 3,000 Jewish athletes from all over the world will converge on Budapest for those games in August.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: And as far as my colleagues and I are concerned, they're really coming to Budapest for only one reason to hear the gospel from us.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: Pray.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: Pray that God will give us many opportunities and uh bring us across many open hearts so that Israelis in Hungary can hear the good news and bring it back with them to Israel.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know, I want you to know what drives us.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: I want you to understand our heart.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: And the best way that I can I can show you the heart of my heart and the heart of my colleagues is by sharing a few words with you from a passage of scripture I deeply love.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: It's found in the book of Romans, chapter 1, just a couple of verses.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 1, verses 15 and 16, if you want to open your Bibles there.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: Romans chapter 1, verses 15 and 16, where Paul says these words, beginning in verse 15.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: He says, So for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: For I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: In those two brief verses, the Apostle Paul tells all of us at least five crucial truths, strategic points.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: If you understand these five points, you will understand what drives my colleagues and me forward.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: What does Paul tell us?
15:18
SPEAKER_01: He tells us what we must proclaim.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: He tells us how we must proclaim.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: He tells us why we must proclaim.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: He tells us to whom we must proclaim, and he tells us when we must proclaim.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: Let me unpack this a little bit.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: What must we proclaim if we're serious believers in the Messiah Yeshua?
15:41
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15, Paul says, I'm eager to preach the gospel.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16, he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: What did Paul preach?
15:51
SPEAKER_01: The gospel.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: What are you and I commanded to preach?
15:56
SPEAKER_01: The gospel.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: Now, you might be sitting there thinking, well, yeah, that's obvious.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: Right.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: We proclaim the gospel.
16:03
SPEAKER_01: It's obvious.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: But you know, it's very easy to proclaim everything except the gospel.
16:11
SPEAKER_01: In fact, if you're already a believer in Jesus, then in addition to the gospel, there are good, solid biblical messages that you need to hear that are not the gospel.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: But that are messages designed to provoke you to love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: Messages to provoke us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: Good, solid biblical messages.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: But these are not the gospel.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: What's the gospel?
16:54
SPEAKER_01: What's the gospel message that my father, who's almost 100 years old, still needs to embrace?
17:01
SPEAKER_01: What's the gospel?
17:06
SPEAKER_01: The gospel's called good news.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: And it is good news.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: It's also bad news.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: What do you want to hear first?
17:18
SPEAKER_01: The good news or the bad news?
17:22
SPEAKER_01: Good news?
17:23
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: The good news is God loves each one of us so passionately.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: That He provided a way for us to be forgiven of our sins and brought into an intimate, personal, eternal relationship with Him.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: The bad news is we don't deserve this.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: The only thing that we deserve from God is His everlasting wrath, His judgment.
18:01
SPEAKER_01: Why?
18:01
SPEAKER_01: Because we're sinful.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: We're separated from Him because of our sins.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: We're born with rebellious hearts, and we practice that rebellion all of our lives.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: It's because of our rebellion, our sin, that our lives never satisfy us.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: Do you notice that?
18:21
SPEAKER_01: Why?
18:21
SPEAKER_01: Because we're cut off from the only one who has a genuine agenda.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: We're cut off from the only one who can honestly say to us, well done.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: So everything we do leaves us empty and unfulfilled.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: It's because of our sins that our relationships never work, even the best of them, they never really work.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: We're cut off from Him, and so every other relationship we have is corrupted by our sin.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: We will never be the spouses that we want to be, we'll never be the sons and daughters we want to be.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: We'll never be the children that we want to be, we'll never be the siblings that we want to be, we'll never be the parents we want to be, we'll never be the friends that we want to be.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: We lie, we betray, we envy.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: Even as believers, it's all because of sin.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: And you know, even if we want to change, we can't.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: We don't have the power to change our nature.
19:27
SPEAKER_01: We're trapped, we're enslaved to the power that sin exercises of our daily lives.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: And so we stumble through life unfulfilled with broken relationships, and then we die.
19:41
SPEAKER_01: And we enter an eternity separated from God that is so horrific that human language really doesn't have adequate words to describe it.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: It's all because of our sin.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: We need to be rescued.
20:03
SPEAKER_01: We need to be rescued from the judgment of God that we deserve because of our sin.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: We need to be rescued from the power that sin exercises of our daily lives.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: And that's why Jesus came.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: He came to rescue us.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus died on the cross, he took upon himself the wrath, the judgment of God that I deserve.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: He took upon himself the wrath of God that you deserve.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: You know, he screamed from the cross.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: Are you aware of that?
20:38
SPEAKER_01: He screamed, he cried out.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
20:45
SPEAKER_01: You ever wonder why those words?
20:49
SPEAKER_01: I think for at least two reasons.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: On the one hand, it was a little bit like shorthand, he was telling us that everything was happening just the way it was supposed to happen, because he was quoting the beginning of Psalm 22.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: And if you continue to read Psalm 22, it's a prophetic description of his execution by crucifixion, written a thousand years before the event ever took place.
21:15
SPEAKER_01: So on one hand, he was saying, it's happening just the way it's supposed to happen.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: But I think there was at least one other reason why he uttered those words.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: In that moment, Jesus, the perfect man in his full humanity, was experiencing the horror, the absolute agony of being completely cut off, completely forsaken by the Father.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: And he screamed.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: That was supposed to be my screen.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: That was supposed to be your screen.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: But he loves us so much that he willingly endured that horror and that agony.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: So that we will never have to utter that scream.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: And then he rose from the dead.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Why?
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Many reasons.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you my favorite reason.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: So that we can be forgiven.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: Let me explain.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: If I've committed crimes that have caused you to suffer and to die, I can never go to you and ask you to forgive me.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: Even if I regret what I have done with every fiber of my being, I can never go to you and say, please forgive me.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: Why not?
22:57
SPEAKER_01: Because you're dead.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: Corpses can't forgive.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus isn't dead, he's alive.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: And when we come to him with repentant hearts and ask him to forgive us for what we caused him to endure, then our hearts hear the most wonderful words they'll ever hear.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: He says, My son, my daughter, your sins are forgiven.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: Now go and sin no more and follow me.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: He rescues us.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: He rescues us from the judgment that we deserve.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: He rescues us from the power that sin exercises over our daily lives by giving us his spirit.
24:01
SPEAKER_01: And he gives us a whole new relationship with the Father.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: An everlasting relationship.
24:06
SPEAKER_01: The Bible calls it the gift of everlasting life.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: King David understood this relationship.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: He wrote in the Psalms, goodness and mercy will follow me every day of my life.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: That speaks of his relationship with God in the present.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: Then he goes on to say, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
24:25
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of his relationship with God into eternity, the gift of eternal life.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: And it's ours.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: The moment we repent.
24:38
SPEAKER_01: But there's a problem.
24:41
SPEAKER_01: See, when you proclaim a message that calls people to repent, people don't like you very much.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever noticed that?
24:55
SPEAKER_01: I was six foot four before I became a missionary with Jews for Jesus.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: No, not really.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: So, Paul tells us how to proclaim the gospel.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: In other words, we must proclaim the gospel without fear and without shame.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: Lovingly, but without fear and without shame.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: But I'll tell you a secret.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: I am ashamed of the gospel.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: And so are you.
25:30
SPEAKER_01: We are ashamed of the gospel because by nature we fear the rejection of people more than we fear the displeasure of Almighty God.
25:40
SPEAKER_01: We're ashamed of the gospel, and so we choose silence, even though God has told us over and over and over and over and over again what he told Paul in Corinth.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: Do not be afraid, do not be silent, speak.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: And we don't do that.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: We say, well, we're not willing to admit that we're afraid or ashamed.
26:08
SPEAKER_01: We just say things like, um, I don't want to offend anybody.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: That's not really true.
26:14
SPEAKER_01: What we mean is, I don't want that person to get angry with me.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: I don't want that person to dislike me.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: I want everybody to like me.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: The most important thing in my life is that everybody likes me.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: In fact, the most important thing in the universe is that everybody likes me.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: In fact, that's why Jesus died and rose from the dead, right?
26:33
SPEAKER_01: So that everybody will like me.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: Right?
26:37
SPEAKER_01: No.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: Long ago I made a very important strategic discovery.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: What people think of us is not the issue.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: What people think of Jesus is the issue.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: Whether or not they've had the opportunity to hear and to understand the only message that can rescue them, that's the issue.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to make you a promise.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: This is dangerous, but I'm going to make you a promise.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: I promise you that if you immerse yourself in Scripture, and if you pray fervently, and if you share the gospel filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, I promise you people will still not like you.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: I promise you this.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is love incarnate.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: And so many of us did not like him.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: And so many people worldwide still do not like him.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah said he was despised, forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, one from whom we hide our faces.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: Are we better than Jesus?
28:06
SPEAKER_01: Should we expect better treatment?
28:12
SPEAKER_01: No.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: Because it also comes with a lot of people opening their hearts.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: We must not fear.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: We must proclaim the gospel without shame and without fear.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: Why?
28:37
SPEAKER_01: Paul tells us.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 16, it is the power of God unto salvation.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
28:44
SPEAKER_01: It means that only the message of the gospel saves.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: Nothing else.
28:49
SPEAKER_01: No other message.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: Nothing can rescue except the message of the gospel.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: Most of us are strangers.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: I know Pastor Jim, of course.
29:03
SPEAKER_01: I know Melody.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: I know some of you whom I've met this morning.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: But most of us are strangers, and yet we're brothers and sisters in Christ.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: So let me speak very candidly with you.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you something that really breaks my heart.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: I meet a lot of sincere Christians, sincere Christians, who say to me something very strange.
29:29
SPEAKER_01: Well, first they tell me how much they love my people, and that's always a blessing and an encouragement to hear.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: And then they go on to say, but you know, you shouldn't tell your people about Jesus.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: You should just be sorry, you should just love them.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: But they don't need to hear about Jesus.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: Because didn't you hear, you Jews, you're automatically saved.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: Really?
29:59
SPEAKER_01: This false teaching is of epidemic proportion.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: In the States, especially in Europe, it is so distressing.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: I was I felt compelled to write a book.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: Here's the book.
30:13
SPEAKER_01: It's called Jews Don't Need Jesus and Other Misconceptions.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: I have some copies on the literature table.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: If you want to buy one or two or a gazillion and give them to all of your friends, I won't be upset.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: Is it true?
30:30
SPEAKER_01: Is it true?
30:31
SPEAKER_01: We Jews don't need Jesus to be saved?
30:34
SPEAKER_01: Well, let's see.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: Um do you remember when Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, the life, no one comes to the Father but by me?
30:42
SPEAKER_01: John 14, verse 6.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: Anybody ever read that?
30:45
SPEAKER_01: I read it maybe once, twice.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: Anybody ever read it?
30:48
SPEAKER_01: No?
30:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah?
30:49
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: All right, what do you think?
30:52
SPEAKER_01: Are those words true and necessary for people in Topeka, Kansas?
30:57
SPEAKER_01: Yes or no?
30:58
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: Um are those words true and necessary for people in Berlin, Germany?
31:04
SPEAKER_01: Yes or no?
31:05
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Are those words true and necessary for people in Budapest, Hungary?
31:10
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: Are those words true and necessary for people in Seoul Korea?
31:14
SPEAKER_01: Right, okay.
31:16
SPEAKER_01: But in historical context, when Jesus spoke those words, who was he talking to?
31:24
SPEAKER_01: Who were the only people in the room?
31:26
SPEAKER_01: Wait, wait, let me give you a clue.
31:35
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, said to an entirely Jewish audience at Passover, a Jewish holiday.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: I'm the way, the truth, the life.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: No one comes to the Father but by me.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: If those words are true and necessary for you, and they are, then they have to be true and necessary for the people to whom he spoke.
32:00
SPEAKER_01: Of course, we Jews need Jesus to be saved.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: Everyone needs Jesus to be saved because only the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: To whom?
32:13
SPEAKER_01: Well, Paul tells us to whom we should proclaim the gospel.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 16, to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's a problem.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: Man, why do you have to say that?
32:28
SPEAKER_01: Why couldn't he have just said to everybody?
32:32
SPEAKER_01: It's curious, you know, we know from scripture that uh Paul was a nice Jewish boy born in Tarsus, educated under Gameliel in Jerusalem.
32:42
SPEAKER_01: Then he became a believer on the road to Damascus.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: And God called him to be an apostle, but not to us, not to us Jews.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: God called him to be the apostle to the Gentiles.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: And yet we know from Scripture that he always began his ministry in every single city, beginning in Damascus, recorded in Acts 9, ending in Rome, recorded in Acts 28.
33:09
SPEAKER_01: He always began his ministry in every single city by first bringing the gospel to us, to his fellow Jews.
33:19
SPEAKER_01: And in here in Romans, he says, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: Why did he do that?
33:26
SPEAKER_01: Was he a Jewish nationalist?
33:29
SPEAKER_01: No, he was a Jewish missionary with the responsibility of bringing the gospel to the world.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: And Paul understood the key to global evangelization, which was his job.
33:45
SPEAKER_01: Paul understood why we Jews are chosen.
33:49
SPEAKER_01: Paul understood the call, the only call that we Jews have ever received, the call that Paul says in Romans 11 has not been revoked.
34:00
SPEAKER_01: We were called to be a gospel light to the nations, to be a community of messianic messengers to the rest of the world.
34:10
SPEAKER_01: So Paul always began by bringing the message first to the future messengers so we would join him in bringing the message to the world.
34:20
SPEAKER_01: You see, we can't proclaim the gospel until we believe the gospel.
34:25
SPEAKER_01: And we can't believe the gospel until we hear the gospel.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: And we can't hear the gospel unless someone brings it to us first.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you one of the best ways to interfere with the cause of world evangelism, to interfere with the cause of world evangelization.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: If you're an opponent of the gospel, take notes.
34:48
SPEAKER_01: This is important.
34:49
SPEAKER_01: Here's how you can interfere with the spread of the gospel.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: You ready?
34:57
SPEAKER_01: Keep the gospel away from us, Jews.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: Do not pray for the salvation of the Jewish people as Paul prayed for the salvation of the Jewish people.
35:09
SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
35:11
SPEAKER_01: Pray for everything else, but do not pray for our salvation.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: Do not pray for those of us who bring the gospel to our people.
35:20
SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
35:23
SPEAKER_01: Believe the lie that we Jews do not need Jesus to be saved.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: And maybe God will have to wait another 2,000 years before Jesus comes back.
35:39
SPEAKER_01: But give us the gospel.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: And we'll bring the gospel to everyone we meet.
35:45
SPEAKER_01: Because that's the call.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: That's where we were created.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: We were created to proclaim.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: I mentioned I've been a missionary for 40 years.
35:57
SPEAKER_01: So much of that time has been spent overseas.
36:01
SPEAKER_01: Why?
36:02
SPEAKER_01: At least two reasons.
36:03
SPEAKER_01: Number one, because I love my people and I want to see them saved.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: Number two, because I want to see my people do their job.
36:09
SPEAKER_01: I live for the day when there will be waves of Jews for Jesus preaching the gospel globally, especially in the countries where we've been persecuted and where we've died.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: We have a moral obligation.
36:25
SPEAKER_01: It's life from the dead.
36:27
SPEAKER_01: We have a moral obligation to go back to the places where we died.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: And we have a strategic advantage because when we show up in cities like Berlin and Warsaw and Moscow and Paris and all kinds of places, no one can ignore us.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: No one turns a blind eye, no one turns a deaf ear, everyone engages with us.
36:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying they like us.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: Listen, we're Jews, we don't expect people to like us.
36:55
SPEAKER_01: But the point is, no one can ignore us.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: And everyone engages, even our enemies.
37:01
SPEAKER_01: And the last thing that they ever expect is to hear of God's message of love and rescue for them coming from the lips of us Jews.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: And they listen.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: What a privilege.
37:16
SPEAKER_01: Finally, Paul tells us when we must proclaim the gospel.
37:23
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 15, I'm eager to preach the gospel.
37:28
SPEAKER_01: There's an urgency in the words.
37:29
SPEAKER_01: It's as though he's saying, I'm ready right now.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: How old do you think I am?
37:37
SPEAKER_01: Anybody want to guess?
37:38
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
37:42
SPEAKER_01: Sixty-seven, pretty good.
37:44
SPEAKER_01: I've just turned sixty-eight.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: Been a missionary for 40 years, over 40 years.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: It's been a good 40 years.
38:08
SPEAKER_01: It's been a fast forty years.
38:14
SPEAKER_01: Do I have another 40 years left to preach the gospel?
38:19
SPEAKER_01: No.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: Do I have another 10 years left to preach the gospel?
38:24
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
38:27
SPEAKER_01: Do I have another month left to preach the gospel?
38:30
SPEAKER_01: Do I have another five minutes left to preach the gospel?
38:35
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are hoping I don't have another five minutes left to preach the gospel.
38:41
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember what Jesus said to the disciples in John chapter 9?
38:47
SPEAKER_01: He said, We must do the work of him who sent us while it is day.
38:53
SPEAKER_01: Soon it will be night when no one can work.
39:05
SPEAKER_01: That means at least that either he's coming back soon or I die and go to be with him.
39:11
SPEAKER_01: What a tragedy.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: Either way, when I'm with him, I will not be preaching the gospel.
39:24
SPEAKER_01: This is the only time that I have.
39:28
SPEAKER_01: This is the only time that we have.
39:34
SPEAKER_01: We must preach the gospel now.
39:39
SPEAKER_01: Because night is coming.
39:45
SPEAKER_01: So pray for us.
39:50
SPEAKER_01: Pray for all the follow-up work in Jerusalem and the ongoing work in Tel Aviv.
39:55
SPEAKER_01: Pray for the transition time and all the new plans being made here in the states and in so many countries.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: Pray for the work in Europe.
40:04
SPEAKER_01: Pray for these outreaches that I mentioned in the summer in Moscow and Berlin, especially in Budapest.
40:11
SPEAKER_01: You pray.
40:13
SPEAKER_01: We'll proclaim.
40:15
SPEAKER_01: The message will go out.
40:18
SPEAKER_01: Jewish people will hear and believe.
40:23
SPEAKER_01: And God's message of salvation will go out to the ends of the earth.
40:31
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray now.
40:34
SPEAKER_01: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, thank you so much for the gospel.
40:45
SPEAKER_01: Do me a favor, keep your eyes closed for a moment, would you please?
40:48
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me just a moment longer, but listen with your eyes closed.
40:55
SPEAKER_01: If you're here this morning and you really aren't sure about where you stand with the Lord.
41:03
SPEAKER_01: If you have questions, if you have doubts, if you're confused and you really don't know what all of this means, please don't leave here this morning without giving yourself the opportunity to find out what it all means and to have your questions hopefully answered.
41:23
SPEAKER_01: Talk with one of us.
41:24
SPEAKER_01: Talk with Pastor Jim.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: Talk with one of the elders.
41:26
SPEAKER_01: You can even talk with me.
41:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm safe.
41:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm leaving.
41:32
SPEAKER_01: Don't just run away.
41:33
SPEAKER_01: Please stay and talk with one of us.
41:36
SPEAKER_01: Can you do that?
41:40
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we thank you for your mercy.
41:42
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for your grace.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: We thank you.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: We thank you most of all for Jesus.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: In his name we pray.
41:52
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
41:53
SPEAKER_01: Well, thanks for letting me scream at you today.
41:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, don't forget to fill out the card, put the card into the offering.
41:59
SPEAKER_01: God bless you.