When he came back out, he had tears in his eyes. We asked him to read all of Isaiah 53 and spoke about our loving and good God who hurts when we do.
Thursday October 28
A team of three went to a shopping area in a predominantly French Jewish neighborhood on this sunny day.
We gave about 45 pamphlets, plus two full sets of Scriptures, a Brit Chadashah, and two gospel tracts to Gentiles.
We met a man who initially displayed anger and some hurt about his family having gone through the Holocaust. His son had recently died as well, and now his wife was sick. We patiently listened with compassion. We said the Messiah suffered and so he accepted the Isaiah 53 leaflet before ducking into a store.
When he came back out, he had tears in his eyes. We asked him to read all of Isaiah 53 and spoke about our loving and good God who hurts when we do. We said we believed Yeshua was the Messiah of Israel who already came and is returning to reign from Jerusalem. One of the members shared about her own physical illnesses and how she was still able to praise God through it all. He ended up accepting a full set of Scriptures and said he trusted in the love of God, where he put his faith. It was all quite touching. Please pray for his wife’s healing and the salvation of them both.
Another man who did not have a Tanakh joyfully received a full set in French from us. We mentioned that our good works did not purchase forgiveness from our holy God and shared the history of redemption beginning in Genesis 3:15. He also took the Isaiah 53 leaflet. We spoke of the two eternal destinies as seen in Daniel 12:2, and that he could choose eternal life now.
As we were walking out of the parking area, we struck up a conversation with a man and his mother who were near their car. The man said he had already received our anti-Semitism pamphlet last year but hadn’t read it. He said he had a Tanakh, but not a Brit Chadashah. He looked surprised to see the cover which said, “New Testament”. We emphasized reading this Jewish book to see how prophecies regarding the first appearance of Messiah had already been fulfilled, especially in the book of Matthew. He smiled and put it in his car. He told us how a friend of his is a monk, who had always been nice to him.
The elderly mother was very kind and actually had a physical resemblance to the grandmother of one of our members. She was pleased to hear that! So, at the end the team member asked the son if she could hug his mother, which they gladly accepted and so the mother then ended up hugging all three of us. As she left, she blew us kisses through her mask, which we returned.
We are so grateful to the Lord for the privilege of sharing with all these people. May we ask that you pray for these individuals and also our upcoming outings, weather permitting, on Thursdays and Sundays? Thank you and shalom!