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HaDavar Information Box

CURRENT NEWSLETTER

August 2008

  Shalom Dear Friends,

Outreach News

We have two wonderful bits of news for you this month. The first morsel concerns our outreach book table on the campus of the University of California Irvine. We were granted permission (after jumping through all the appropriate hoops) to host a book table on the campus for one month at a time. We have to renew our permission each month. Much to our joy, the Lord worked it out so that we were assigned a prime booth location. We are located right in front of Starbucks and the UCI bookstore. In addition, the Student Center Food Court is off to our right. In other words, we will see plenty of traffic go by our location. Here are some pictures of our first day on campus.

Part of our Book Table team in front of our booth during our first day of outreach. From L to R: Bob, Yurie, Kim, Chiara, Bob, Don, Larry and Lew (not pictured: Patricia, Bob, Lydia, Brian, Cheryl, and Martha). Please pray that we will be able to keep the booth operating through the 2008-2009 school year.

We are distributing a variety of literature. The large books are dual language Bibles for Jewish students. The smaller books are dual language New Testaments for Jewish students. We also give away New American Standard Bibles and New Believer's New Testaments. In addition, we offer three testimonies of Jewish Christians on DVDs, as well as Messianic Prophecy booklets and Gospel tracts.

This picture shows you the booth in operation as a curious student comes by. We are not allowed activity beyond the boundaries of our booth and can only interact with students that come to us, as this girl did.

Not only is it important to distribute the Bibles and biblical literature, but the conversations that develop are extremely important as well. Here Chiara is involved in a conversation with a student concerning a Hebrew English Old Testament.

Please pray for the effectiveness of this book table. Most of the students are biblically ignorant. UCI is also known as one of the most anti-Jewish and anti-Christian campuses in the coutnry. The Muslim Student Union is very active, aggressive, and anti-Israel. Pray that our presence and the Word of God will make a difference for the Lord at this secular campus.

Our second tidbit of outreach news concerns the birth of a new Jewish Christian. Here is the story. On July 4, 2008, a student in my Ezekiel class, Lynn, phoned me very excited. She was entertaining houseguests. One of them was a friend of her son, a young Jewish man, Z. B. The Lord provided a few minutes of quiet for them, and the conversation turned to spiritual matters. Lynn, pulled out our Eternity tract and asked him if they could read it together. After reading the Good News about the Messiah, she asked if there was any reason why he could not trust Jesus as His Savior from sin and as his Messiah. Z. said he would like to do that and prayed with Lynn to receive Jesus as his Savior. After that, the most amazing statement came out of his mouth. Later when telling Lynn's son about his decision, Z. said, "I am more Jewish now than ever before." That is a crucial understanding that many Jewish people do not comprehend. Jewish people do not cease to be Jewish when they trust in Jesus; rather, they become "fulfilled" or "completed." Please pray for Z's walk with the Lord, and that he would receive solid discipleship.

What happened in Lynn's life illustrated the very reason why HaDavar and our School of Biblical and Jewish Studies exists. We live among a dense Jewish population. All our students have Jewish friends. Eighty percent of the Jewish people who come to the Lord come just as Z. did, through a one-on-one conversation with a Christian friend. We exist to equip the average Christian to effectively reach their Jewish friends through example, education, and empowerment. Thank you, Lord, for using HaDavar in this process, and specifically in the course of bringing Z. to saving faith in his Messiah.

Something Has Been Forgotten: Sequel

I would like to add a short sequel to all the remarks I have made in the previous newsletters about the Middle East Conflict. Previously, I stated that we must not forget that: 1) God is in charge, 2) we are living during the Times of the Gentiles, 3) we are commissioned (Matt. 28:19-20), and 4) because of the curses of the Mosaic Covenant, Jewish occupation of the Promised Land will expand and contract contingent upon their obedience. Now I would like us to remember the conditions we should expect to witness as the Times of the Gentiles draws to a conclusion.

Jesus told us what to expect in Matthew 24:4-7.

And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

The general characteristics of the time in which we live are found in verses 4-6; deception, false messiahs, and local wars. Then, in verse 7, Yeshua gives us a glance at additional, special conditions we should expect to appear at the end of the age. They include: 1) world wars, 2) famines, and 3) earthquakes.

The idiom, "nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom," is very important to understand from a Jewish point of view. Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum concludes his detailed explanation of the expression in his work The Footsteps of the Messiah (page 94) with these words:

In Jesus' day, the expression of nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom was a Jewish idiom of a world war preceeding the coming of the Messiah.

Consequently, the outbreak of World War I signaled that the end of the age had begun. Therefore, we should not be surprised when we find ourselves in the middle of a world characterized by deception, false messiahs, local wars, world wars, famines, earthquakes, and natural catastrophes in general.

In practical terms, what should this mean for us today who are living at the end of the age? The first thing is that we should not fear all we experience and see on the daily news. We live in a dangerous and volatile time. We should expect perilous and unpredictable events to be commonplace. This knowledge should encourage us to praise God for the fact that we know what is going on, and to thank Him for telling us so very clearly. Many people have no idea what is happening and are terrified of the future. Yeshua very clearly exhorted us in Matthew 24:6, "See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place."

How should we then live? We should live with a relaxed grip on the things of this world. Floods can sweep away and drown our possessions like the Mississippi River Valley is experiencing as I write. Earthquakes can knock down all that for which we have sacrificed, as central China is experiencing at this moment. Fires like those here in California can burn up our possessions. Fraud, greed, embezzlement, and swindling can steal our money and possessions, as those caught in the sub-prime mortgage scandal are experiencing. Disease can destroy our lives and the lives of our loved ones, and immorality can pervert and pollute our lives. We must live with a relaxed grip on the things of this world.

We also need to be serving God as a holy people. Let me allow just one (of many) section of scripture to speak for itself.

Ephesians 4:22-24
... in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

New Class

As you can see in our itinerary we are offering a short class on Apologetics and World Views in July and August. This will be a valuable class because most Jewish people embrace the overabundance of non-biblical world views surrounding us.

Thanks for being part of our ministry team.