Many of us are fascinated by high tides. We enjoy hearing the rushing sound of the waves hitting the shoreline, demonstrating a power, not unlike a marching army who comes battering the wall until there is a breakthrough. Our faithful God may limit how far up the shoreline the tide may travel, but He is there, over and over each day, reaching out to those waiting on the shore, ready to reveal His power and inviting us to ride the tide with Him. When the moon is full and the night sky is bright, the tide is at its highest. How much more evident is His call to us as nature itself attests to the grace and glory of God and His loving pursuit of mankind.
Knock and Talk Monday Sept 19
The weather was beautiful. It was a warm evening for this time of the year. We began with two teams at different locations who later joined up in the same building.
One team started out in a 4 storey building. Thank the Lord for providing two young ladies who let us in. We started on the top floor. The first door with a mezuzah was ajar, which was a bit odd. We knocked and were invited to come in. Well, there we met an old gentleman sitting at his table, full of papers. He told us that he was 102 years old! He told us that he was very religious, that he often went to synagogue, still did his own groceries, and has been a widower for many years. We told him that we had come to bless him with the Word of God. He seemed impressed. When he was asked about the Messiah, he pointed to a picture of a rabbi on his wall. He didn’t seem too interested in discussing much else about the Messiah. He was happier talking about his own war stories as a veteran in the last World War. While telling us these stories, we put notes, like small bookmarks, in the Tanak, pointing to verses such as Jer. 31:31, Isaiah 9:6, Zach. 12:10, and Isaiah 53. Upon his request, we left the set of Bibles in a special place. He said he would read it once his eyes were fixed up, as he was having eye surgery soon. We pray that this veteran will find Yeshua who won the most important battle for us by overcoming the adversary with Yeshua the Lamb’s atoning sacrifice. We pray he will come to faith by reading the Word.
At the next door, a gentleman accepted the gift. Then at the next door, a Chinese man opened up. We offered him an English only Bible which he accepted. On the other floors there were only a few mezuzahs. One man accepted the set when we explained that this was a gift to bless all Jewish homes. Another lady was surprised yet accepted this precious gift, and even said, “God bless you” when we left. In the second building there were many people who didn’t answer their door. One gentleman who initially did not answer, did come out of his apartment two minutes later. Surprised at the offer, he still accepted the gift.
So we were blessed to have our team give out 5 sets. Praise God for opportunities. To Him be the glory always.
The second team’s report:
The writer of this portion of the report was a first time goer. Our intent was to visit D., the man we spoke about last week who had invited the team back for this Monday, to further the discussions on spiritual matters. But after 3 times of ringing downstairs with no answer (and waiting 5-10 minutes between each attempt) we finally decided that we would move on to the apartment buildings where the other team had started out. Of the 14 doors we knocked on, some were not home and a couple of them refused through the closed door. We were happy to realize that even though that elderly gentleman did not answer his door on three attempts, we did give out three Bibles at three other doors this evening.
At one door, a woman answered, thought we were Jehovah Witnesses and although she looked interested, quickly called her husband to ask if taking this was ok. He looked very skeptical. ”Where is this book from?” We showed him which organization published the bibles. They took the set. At another door, a young man opened up. As we were offering him the set, his cat ran out from the apartment and into the hallway. The young man said, “She will often do that, but she never really makes it past this hallway.” He then went to retrieve her. I thought about how many will run so far but because of fear, tradition or pride will only make it out to some part of the hallway, and then, instead of going any further, will be carried back by a wave from a sea of doubt.
In all, eight sets were given out Monday night. God bless you all for praying with and for the team, and for those contacts who are met at the threshold of decision making.
Please be in prayer for a new Jewish outreach ministry which opened up in Buffalo, NY. They are headed up by a couple, N. and E., who are hoping to include more people on their team as the Spirit leads. This is their report for the last three sorties they did.
Greetings in Yeshua!!
We went out again on September 19th – Praise the Lord! We gave out 2 sets on our 2nd night out! The man at the first door appeared moved. At the second door, I prayed when it didn’t seem like anyone was coming. “Lord, please open the door that the KING of GLORY MAY COME IN.” With that, the door swung open and the woman appeared to be visibly touched as we told her that we were with the Society for the Distribution of the Hebrew Scriptures and wanted to bless her with a copy of each Testament. We had 2 homes which declined. The remainder of the homes turned out not to be Jewish.
We went out again the following night, September 20th. A young mother, with a young baby in her arms, opened the door. When we told her who we were and how much we appreciated all that the Jewish people had given us, she very happily said that it was very sweet of us to give them these copies of the Scriptures. She took a set and asked us if she should get her husband to come and give us a donation. We said, “No” and we blessed her as we left. A few minutes later we were coming back up on the other side of the street when a young man quickly walked up to us with a big smile. He explained that we’d just been at his house. He had a wad of bills in his hand, wanting to give us a donation. We graciously refused his offer. He too, was delighted and touched by our actions. May he and his wife join together and find their Yeshua as they search for Him with all their heart. So far, out of the 11 Jewish homes, 3 received the Scriptures. We have so much to be thankful for! Much more than we know! What a great privilege to be a part of this great work.