From
New York City to Jerusalem
Shalom
from Jerusalem and warmest greetings to you in the Name of our
Lord Yeshua. This prayer/newsletter is "a personal testimony
of our gratefulness and thanksgiving to our Lord Yeshua the Messiah"
whom we have had the privilege of serving together during these
past 24 years of marriage as Messianic Jews in the Modern State
of Israel in His City of Jerusalem.
It
was in 1972 that I had a personal encounter with Yeshua the Messiah
that changed the future course of my whole life. The famous painting
of Leonardo DaVinci of The Last Supper fascinated me and I began
reading the New Testament for the first time in my entire life.
I read from the Gospel according to Matthew the text "The
record of the genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah, the Son of David,
the Son of Abraham"! The Son of David, the Son of Abraham?
I was stunned and astonished as I had grown up thinking and believing
that Jesus was a "Christian", the God of Christianity,
and that He had something to do with the Vatican, Roman Catholic
Church, the Pope and Mary but that he had nothing to do with the
Jewish people...the Son of David, the Son of Abraham...Oh my God,
Yeshua was a Jew!
As
I read the Gospel according to Matthew I began reading about Jesus
of Nazareth, a Jewish Rabbi, who was preaching in the synagogues,
villages, and cities in Galilee the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven
or "the good news" to His people. I read about His life
and ministry and how he healed the
sick, caused the lame to walk, opened the eyes of the blind to
see, demons...and even raised the dead! I was deeply moved by
His teachings and great compassion for the lost sheep of the house
of Israel, for lost, broken and needy people.
But
it was reading the account of the Crucifixion of Yeshua that God
sovereignly revealed to me who Yeshua was. I came to the place
where He was crucified and the accusation that was nailed to the
cross above His head said, "THIS IS YESHUA, THE KING OF THE
JEWS" (Matt. 27:37).
I struggled in my Jewish soul as I thought about the past 1900
years of Christianity and Judaism and in my Jewish mind I couldn't
understand the paradox of "how could the God of Christianity
be THE KING OF THE JEWS"?
As
I was struggling with this paradox, God was slowly lifting the
veil of spiritual blindness over my Jewish mind. While beholding
Him nailed to the cross, suffering, bleeding, and dying as "THE
KING OF THE JEWS" suddenly in a moment of time I recognized
Him (like Joseph when he revealed himself to his brothers)"YESHUA
THE KING OF THE JEWS"! I continued reading the next chapter
and read about the angel of the Lord who descended from heaven
and said to Mary Magdalene at the
tomb..."I know you are looking for Yeshua who was crucified.
He is not here; He is risen from the dead"! I was overjoyed!
I was crying for joy! He's alive! He is risen from the dead and
He is Lord! And so I was "born again" that day 30 years
ago. "With deep gratefulness to God" I wanted to thank
Him for His great mercy and grace upon my life and all the ways
He has led me these past 30 years. "Thank you Lord"!
As
I learned to be His disciple and follow Yeshua daily, I began
sharing my belief in Him with my family, friends, neighbors, and
many Jewish people. I had personally found the promised Jewish
Messiah and I wanted others to hear the good news about Yeshua!
In January 1974 I made aliyah from New York City to Jerusalem,
based on a personal call from God in Ezekiel 36:16-38 that I had
read in the Synagogue on my Bar Mitzvah day. I lived in Jerusalem
one and a half years and I spent most of my time sharing the gospel
with Israelis and Arabs, religious and secular, who had never
met a Messianic Jew before and never heard the gospel. As Messianic
Jews we have our biblical roots in Jerusalem as we trace our lineage
back to the origins of the early Church in Acts 2. My calling
was to bear witness to our Lord in the City of the Great King.
It has been a great priveledge to serve ourLord and King here
in the City that He so loved and prayed for during His life.
From Jerusalem to the Galilee
From
1975-1979 the Lord sent me to the Galilee where my humble beginnings
started as I lived together in community with two other Messianic
Jewish brothers in Rosh Pinna, an Israeli town named after Psalm
118. Yeshua began revealing Himself to Israelis through our sharing
the gospel "one on one" and bearing witness to Him as
the true Messiah of Israel. During those years an Acts 2 "house
to house" community was planted. As we continued sharing
our faith in Yeshua the response in Rosh Pinna became so enthusiastic
that the Chief Rabbi of a settlement town near Nazareth became
concerned and contacted some religious extremists to persecute
us. There were some demonstrations, death threats, and attacks
against our community. We were in all the Israeli newspapers,
magazines, and invited to speak on Israeli TV.
As
a result of the persecution the community became scattered and
we moved to Tiberias in 1979-1982 and there became the core of
a congregation which eventually grew to several hundred. During
this time I was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee and learned
many lessons about prayer, faith, humility, brokenness and the
mysteries of the Kingdom of God. It was also in the Galilee that
I met my wife Pamela.
From
the Galilee back to Jerusalem
Pamela
and I were married on Mt. Tabor in 1982 and lived in the upper
hills of the Galilee in a development town called Maalot. There
we spent a Biblical Year (our first year of marriage) adjusting
to married life. Pamela was an Artist for Yeshua and had painted
"The Twelve Minor Prophets" and "The Compassion
of Yeshua" which she exhibited in Dugit a Messianic gallery
in Tel-Aviv. She began painting her first series on the Land of
Israel called "Galilean Landscapes", a prophetic word
for the local Body in the Land "to stand fast and be encouraged".
We also began to lead praise and worship in the house congregation
in Nahariyah. In those years we formed lasting friendships with
people in the Galilee and also other parts of the Land.
In
1985 we were sovereignly called to Jerusalem. After a year and
a half in Jerusalem we began a home group/bible study in 1987
studying the Acts of the Apostles systematically verse by verse
and at the end of the year the group had outgrown the home group
. We moved to Bakka and it was there
that the Messianic Congregation "Kehilat Brit Yerushalayim"
was planted in 1988. We continued leading and leading this congregation
for 10 years until 1998 raising up and developing several other
ministries within the congregation. During these years we founded
an evangelistic coffee house outreach called "Derech Beit
Lechem" (on the way to Bethlehem) and many Russian Jews came
to a saving knowledge of Yeshua. Also during this time we raised
up many Israeli Sabras into the ministry in Jerusalem.
We
are presently the Directors Chazon Yerushalayim which in Hebrew
is (Jerusalem Vision). Chazon Yerushalayim began as a five-fold
ministry team with a heart for indigenous Isreali evangelism and
discipleship here in Jerusalem. The art work of Pamela developed
throughout the years of our congregational ministry. She painted
series after series all bearing themes of God's prophetic word;
"Gates of Jerusalem"an intercession for the Old City
of Jerusalem, "Impressions of Judea and Samaria" a series
concerning the restoration of Israel, "Jacob's Dream"
and "Jacob's Struggle" depicting a prophetic look at
Israel in the end times, "If I forget you,O Jerusalem",
another prophetic proclamation of God's end time purposes for
Jerusalem. "Golah u' Geulah", a series called "Exile
and Redemption" depicting Israel's journey through the Holocaust
and through the end of the age culminating with the Second Coming
of Yeshua. She recently painted a series called "The Twelve
Tribes of Israel" depicting Israel in the Millennium. Her
most recent series called The Feasts of the Lord depicts the Biblical
holidays celebrated in Israel today. Her ministry called "Contemporary
Prophetic Art from Jerusalem" was founded in 1986. She has
been a licensed Israeli Tour Guide during the past 10years leading
intercessory tour groups on a life changing journey through the
land of the Bible. We have traveled together to the Nations to
speak about Israel, the Church, God's purposes for Israel. We
have spoken in Churches, Conferences, Bible Schools, and Colleges
throughout the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain,
Finland, Indonesia, and Austria.
Our
love and affection to each of you in our Messiah Yeshua,
Shmuel
and Pamela
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