We often hear the expression that it’s not religion but a relationship with God that is most important.  From the start, God emphasized relationship over religion, but man turned things around. Because of the righteousness of God in us we are deemed righteous, not by works or zeal. We can never work for, or pay for this kind of gift.

One woman we met said she wasn’t religious, was opened to hear us, but had to hide the bible set from her husband. May the words of peace and joy, God’s words find their true hiding place in her heart.

 

June 19, 2017 Montreal outreach team

Last night, five Bible sets were given out to three men and two women. We are grateful that some of these young couples were so willing, even joyful, to receive the sets. There were no particular discussions at the doors except for the last one. There, the team met a man and spent over 35 minutes in conversation. We are not sure that the word conversation adequately describes this meeting since the man spent most of the time talking. He went on and on, sharing many warped philosophical views of God, but was quick to confirm his Jewish family name gave him special status and responsibility. Unfortunately, his doctrine did not meet the biblical standard that is attached to that status The team did speak the truth into his ears, but will those words descend into his heart? We can only pray. They spoke about the Temple and the blood, the purity and perfection of God. They spoke about Isaiah 53; 7:14, and many other passages which validate Messiah’s identity and purpose. The one thing they did notice about him was that he never got angry, and was even quite satisfied at the end of their conversation, thanking them for having come. He never ending up taking the set.  May the passages echo in his mind at some later time as we pray the Spirit remind him of what he heard.
 
The evening brought another opportunity for the third team member who waited in the car and prayed. She watched a gentleman pick up after his dog on two different front lawns and noticed how he watched the team selecting which homes to go to. Then he approached the car. “Do you know what a mezuzah is?” he asked. “Yes, of course I do” she replied. “Then why do you people and Jehovah Witnesses go to these homes with mezuzahs?” He was obviously on the offense. “Don’t you know what that mezuzah means?” “Well, she replied, we would like Jewish people to have the opportunity to see the New Testament from a Jewish context. Look, I’m Jewish and I know how you see it, but you would be surprised at what kind of conversations take place at the doors… without any force.” Yet without any thought to what was said, he went on, “And what comeback do you get from this?  Once you give those Bibles out, you expect people to call you the following day, right? What are you expecting from them (ie. money)? “Nothing, we expect no comeback as you presume,” she answered, “There aren’t even any stickers or labels on the Bibles”. The muzzle (not

Mazal=Hebrew for good fortune J) had been put on… he quieted down and walked away.

 

Here is a report from the previous week, June 12th, 2017

 

That evening’s outreach saw a total of seven full sets with one Tanach given out. There were several men who answered the door and received the Bibles with joy. And though three of the women and one man receiving the other sets were occupied with babies, they nevertheless they took the set and were grateful for it. May they get nurtured on the milk of the Word as newborns who need to feed on it. At the last home of the evening there was a great conversation that took place with a woman who had just returned from Israel. She obviously had an open heart and was questioning even the teaching that she has been receiving from the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) and other rabbinic writings. She insisted that she wasn’t religious which allowed for even more of an opening because we know it’s not religion that God is looking for but relationship. The team stayed at least 10 minutes with her at the door. She seemed to have to hidden the books from her husband when he came to the door to see what all the talking was about. She took the set nonetheless so we know God will honor that. We clearly explained that the Word was the truth and that there was freedom in knowing this Word. We explained Isaiah 53 so she might know who the Messiah is and then we explained the messianic prophecy that the Messiah would come through the woman’s seed. Hallelujah! We are grateful. Thank you for praying.

 

Reports from Calgary, Alberta

 

June 12th

We got to only four doors yesterday. We left pamphlets at three Jewish households who were absent. As we left one of these homes, we encountered a Chinese family to whom we offered an English Bible. They mentioned that they were Christians, and the older man introduced himself as a retired Baptist Pastor. He was enthused to see that we were reaching out to his Jewish neighbors and accepted to personally offer the Bible set to his absent Jewish neighbors. Perhaps he might one day make a good outreach candidate with us!

The only door with a mezuzah where we got a response from was a 65-year-old Jewish man, fluent in four languages plus Hebrew. At first he refused our offer of the Hebrew Scriptures, saying he had many copies of various Jewish writings and adding that he had a profound disdain for religious organizations who knocked on doors. He pointed to his JW neighbor and insisted that we visit him instead. He then mentioned that his Chinese Christian girlfriend witnesses to him constantly, but he bravely resists her. He invited us into his living room to show us his Mishna set (Jewish writings).At one point in the conversation, he turned back to our Bible set and starting reading the Brit Chadasha in Hebrew. Once he found out it was not written by a “religious organization” he readily accepted the set and the accompanying bookmark. We are thankful how we left on a much better note than when we first arrived.

 

June 4

We labeled this week the atheistic outreach. We only got to five doors; one turned out not having a mezuzah and two occupants were absent where we left a pamphlet. We also offered two English Bibles on two separate occasions; both claimed an atheistic stance and refused them.

 

The Jewish man who did answer his door at first showed interest but when his wife came to the door, he stepped back and declined our offer saying that they had all the religious literature they needed. The other Jewish household was very open in sharing with us. We ended up having one of our best exchanges since we began in Calgary. The gentleman claimed an atheistic scientific mindset, saying that science disproves God. We got on the subject of evil and I admitted to him my inability in understanding why evil exists, being only a finite person, and that there were things invisible to us. Since the fall of mankind we cannot see or understand many things. At that, he expressed interest. I then affirmed that the Almighty Adonai or “Ha Shem”, the God of Abraham, had a record of turning evil or bad situations into good.

I was then able to open the Brit Chadasha and read to them from James 2:15-17 …

17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead…”. They were touched and invited us to a Jewish concert given at their daughter’s synagogue for the benefit of Israeli Defense Force injured soldiers. We accepted to attend. In all, we spoke with this nice couple for at least 20 to 30 minutes. They both expressed thankfulness for this visit and accepted the bookmark and a pamphlet. We are looking forward to attending this event at the synagogue and see what inroads we can make there.

 

May 28th

We visited 10 homes, 2 homes turned out not to be Jewish. There was no response at 4 homes and one home had a minor answer the door.

The very first respondent was a Jewish lady who listened to our message that Yeshua was the Jewish Messiah. We spoke about the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 and introduced the NT with Jeremiah 31:31, the promised New Covenant. The lady accepted the Brit Chadasha, the prophesies bookmark and the pamphlet with an inquisitive look on her face!

At the next household, a lady listened with her whole family, claiming to be aware of the Yeshua as Messiah arguments since she was training to be a Hebrew teacher. She accepted the prophecy bookmark and our pamphlet with interest, suggesting we keep the Scriptures for those who didn’t have a copy! At the last home, the person accepted the full set of Scriptures and a pamphlet. They showed interest in Isaiah 53! So out of the four Jewish respondents, we got a whopping 75% favorable response which is by far the best ever we have had.

We encountered a JW (Jehovah’s Witness) and exposed his need to recognize Jesus not only as the Messiah but as YHWH, the God of Israel, as revealed to Moses in Exodus 3: the “I AM”.  We quoted John 8:24, “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

 

Thank you all for praying.