We started out the evening with two teams: Danielle, Tina, Sarah, and me. We still had two more buildings to explore in this neighborhood through Knock and Talk. We decided to go with the smaller building first. Just as we were praying to the Lord to open the hearts as well as the doors that night, someone drove up to the front driveway to drop someone off. Tina then rushed out of our car, and got there just in time to get in through the front door. Great moment!
There were only six floors in the building and just a few mezuzot, but we gave out a total of three sets. We consider this great since we found so few Jewish apartments. Even with one acceptance of the Word of God, it makes our day. Throughout the years of evangelism work I would always remind myself how each soul is priceless to God. Its value is unmistaken! “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” Our soul is our most valued possession, greater than all the wealth and power we might gain in our lifetime. What makes the soul unique is the kind of control and influence we can have over it. Some of us have genetics we cannot control like height, body shape and mass. Well, we can change small parts of ourselves with diet and exercise, maybe even some surgery, but when we come alongside God, we can have an entire change of attitude, perspective, and disposition about life because souls can be remarkably transformed…all through our control! How costly is our soul? Invaluable because the image of God is stamped on each one.
As for our team, Sarah and I found only three apartments where people were home during our entire sortie. At the first apartment, an older woman was asking from behind a closed door what we wanted. Sarah told her that we wanted to offer her a copy of the Tanach but the lady heard “computer”. It was very funny and cute enough to make Sarah laugh out loud… so much so that the lady finally opened her door and was very happy to receive a set of Scriptures. That of course made our night!
After that, a young religious Jewish couple opened their door. The man wearing a kippah (when they wear this head covering in the privacy of their own home, it shows them to be quite religious) refused the set saying he can only accept an “authentic” or trusted version of the Scriptures. Just the same we wished him a Happy Passover and we left. As for the other apartments we visited, people were not home except for a man wearing large headphones who was more enamored with those audio waves than our visit and sadly passed up a great opportunity to receive this set of books. The undertow of the world is a lot stronger than we estimate and so we need to be flooded with streams of Living Water.
It was a blessed but quiet night for us. We had to wait for Danielle and Tina, and for good reason, because they were invited into a home to share the Gospel. Here is Tina’s account on that beautiful event:
There were only six floors and few mezuzot. Danielle and I went up to the top floor, and knocked on a door with a mezuzah. A gentleman in his fifties opened up. We told him that we had come to bless the Jewish people with a gift – the Tanach and the New Covenant. He looked at us for a moment and said, ” No, thank you.” We repeated that this was a gift. Then he said, “But I am Orthodox.” We then realized he was indeed Orthodox, but Greek Orthodox. No kippah on his head but a mezuzah on the doorframe. Much to his surprise he will probably receive, sometime soon, a free package of Matzah which the orthodox Jewish community delivers to each home or apartment bearing a mezuzah on their door. The greatest gift in life is free but not Matzah, so soon he may very well be receiving another knock at the door asking for a donation for his box of Matzah. Who will be more surprised when that happens, him or the Jewish person soliciting the donation?
On the subsequent floors there were very few doors with mezuzot, or people didn’t answer or weren’t home. Since the next building was more or less just a few steps away, we walked over there. As we approached the front entrance, it took only a few seconds and a man appeared from the hallway on his way out, which gave the four of us our ticket in! The building was very well maintained, and the hallways were well decorated.
Just before going to the next floor, Danielle said that it would be nice sometimes to have a longer conversation with people, to be able to explain more. Amazingly, this is exactly what happened a few minutes later.
On the second floor there was only one lady who answered the door. She was around forty years old. She was very surprised that we had come to bless the Jewish people with a gift such as the Tanach and New Covenant. She told us that she was from Uruguay, but had lived in Israel as well. She spoke English better than French and was happy to discover that these bible sets were in Hebrew as well. Then she asked us to come in, so we did. We had a long conversation in the kitchen. The Lord gave Danielle the desire of her heart!
She spoke to us about a friend from Guatemala who lived on the east side of Montreal. This friend had invited her into her home one day, and introduced her to the New Testament. She explained that at another time, she had seen a special book about Rosh Hashanah and had found the name “Yeshua” in that book. These two events had made her curious, so she wanted to ask her rabbi about it at the synagogue she attends. However, somehow she was always reluctant to do so.
Then she continued on with her story. One day, while taking a taxi with her 14 year-old daughter, the driver mentioned something remarkable. He said that whenever she was in trouble she should call upon the name of Yeshua. She found this very strange, but about two hours later on that same day she encountered a sudden unexpected problem. So, thinking back to what the taxi driver had told her, she did indeed ask “Yeshua” to help her, and she was amazed how fast the problem was resolved. Glory to Yeshua!
We talked about Passover, Rosh Hashanah, the virgin birth, and the prophecies regarding the Messiah which she could find on the bookmark we gave her. She also asked at one point if “maybe the Messiah had already come” ?….Well, amen to that!
Our conversation lasted at least 20 minutes, and we all felt so blessed for such a time as this.
We all praised the Lord for yet another opportunity to give the Word of God to anyone with an open heart and we know that His Word will not return void. Hallelujah to Yeshua! To God be all the glory!