In this presentation, Dan Sered speaks about his own conversion to Jesus and what the organization Jews for Jesus does in Israel. Dan Sered also answers questions about what the situation is like for Jews today in Israel.
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are good you for okay so it’s uh 9:30 we’re going to get started this morning so this morning we have a special treat of course we’ve been um looking forward to this for months now um we have of course Dan serid and his family here uh Dena and his children um who I’ll let him introduce to you their names but uh Dan we’ve been supporting for more than a decade now as a church and so we’re very U thrilled and privileged to be able to support them in the ministry to Israel so Dan lives in Israel and um he actually did his undergrad here at Stony Brook University just a few miles up in the other state up there and um and uh he married Dina um there that’s where he met right uh his wife Dena was also here in the back and um now he’s the Israel director of Jews for Jesus which is uh sounds like a very important title but he directs the both the he Hebrew and the Russian M Ministries there so we’re excited to hear what he’s been doing over there and so let’s uh let give him a welcome from Calvary you well Shalom everybody oh man we’re going to have to do better than that okay let’s try it again Shalom everybody shom it is such a privilege and an honor for me to be here and you guys are Partners in Ministry and I we feel that we are your extension in Israel and um it’s really um privileged to be here pastor Joe has become a personal friend and a great encouragement um so it’s it’s always great to be back here and to share with you what um God is doing in Israel now am I doing anything wrong should I is it okay okay so um this is our plan for um this morning well first of all let me let me introduce and actually we don’t have all all of our kids with us and our our oldest yel she’s actually on a mission trip in New York City with Juds for Jesus so she’s engaged in Ministry today and um our middle son um Ethan or Aon he is in Camp so he’s in Upstate New York someplace having fun but we do have our youngest son with us yav who is there in the back right next to Dena yav can you wave here we go he even stood very good it it was an early morning for him so anyway um it’s great for us to be here with you So the plan for this morning is like this okay I’m going to since it’s Sunday school we are going to open the Bible okay so I want us to look at some scriptures and um kind of walk through some uh verses and talk about them a little bit and um that’s going to lead me to kind of to uh presentation of our work in Israel that you have been supporting supporting and partnering um us with and what I want you to do is I want you to take um a pen and um or on your iPhone whatever and uh write up some questions cuz at the end we’re going to do some Q&A okay I don’t know that I’ll have all the answers so I might say well you’re going to have to ask Pastor Joe about that or about this but um we’ll try to see if we can um if we can answer some some uh questions okay so that’s our plan so uh before we begin let’s just um open with the word of Prayer Lord God father thank you so much for this um this Sunday morning Lord we thank you that um your grace your love your mercy um are renewed every morning day by day Lord we thank you for this privilege that we have to gather as um as your church as your body as Calvary Community Church to gather together and to um to give you this day this morning and Lord we’re here to um draw near near to you so father as we look at scriptures as we pray as we worship as we Fellowship Lord we pray that um all we do that it will bring honor and glory to you and that you would help us to grow and develop and become um more efficient better disciples and of you and our King our Master our Lord we love you so much Lord we pray that you bless now the reading of your word and the study of your word in Jesus name we pray am amen so um you know the reality of ministry in Israel is um is such that we minister to an unreached people group Israel has 6.4 million Jewish people 6.4 million Jews but only about 6,000 Jewish people who believe in Jesus now if you got your Bibles would you open to the Book of Romans um we’re going to be in Romans chap 11 and um while you open let me just give you a little bit of a of a background here to our passage because the book of Romans is known as kind of Paul’s a Magnus Opus if you will that’s like and his theology his complete um message sermon that he would give to a church that he would go to if if he was going to go to a church and and do a month long of teaching he would teach him the The Book of Romans that was his main message and in Romans chap 10 before chap 11 he talks about um Israel and he talks about um the rejection that Israel um has for messiah for Jesus okay so um we see that same rejection today we see the fact that today in Israel like I mentioned and only 6,000 of 6. 4 million Jewish people believe in Messiah Jesus by the way that is less than um 0.1% of the Jewish population that is how unreached the Jewish people are with the gospel and Paul in in chapter 10 says yeah they rejected Messiah they said no to Jesus we understand that in verse 21 quoting in Isaiah this is what he says to Israel he says you know Israel has rejected and Jesus all the day long I God have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and abstinent people Paul here is saying listen these these Jewish people men they are disobedient they they’re not following God their hearts their hearts are hardened right so with that on a human level I mean I don’t know about you but when somebody rejects me I mean I I reject him so Paul continues look at verse 1 of 11 I say then God has not rejected his people has he has God rejected Israel has God rejected his people like they have rejected him he’s asking this question what a great question continue may it never be for I too Paul says for I too am an Israelite a dissented of Abraham of The Tribe of Benjamin God has not rejected his people whom he fornew or do you not know what the scriptures say in the passage about Elijah how he pleads with God against Israel Lord they have killed your prophets they have torn down your altars and I alone am left and they are seeking my life verse four but what is the Divine response to this I have kept for myself 7,000 men whom have not bowed the knee to Baal so what is Paul doing in these verses right he’s asking this Grand question hey great we get it right Israel has rejected God but has God rejected his people no he hasn’t and to give an example Paul gives us which story in the Bible excuse me elah Elijah right right I was testing making sure you pay attention he gives us this this story of Elijah and you remember the story of Elijah of course right his battle with the prophets of Bal and right there on Mount Carmel right and and and and and you remember what happens you remember the story you remember how God um delivered and magnified himself right but Elijah is discouraged because Elijah is saying man am I the only one I mean wow look at all of Israel they’re all following they’re all pagans they’re all going after for foreign gods and what is God’s response to it I’ve kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal God’s response is not everyone not everyone we continue verse 5 to 28 in the same way then there also come to be at the present time a Remnant according to God’s gracious choice but if it is by Grace it is no longer on the basis of Works otherwise Grace is no longer Grace what then what Israel is seeking it is not obtained but those who were chosen obtained it and the rest were hardened just as it is written God gave them a spirit of stuper eyes to see not and ears to hear not down to this very day so let’s stop right here for a second so here Paul is is continuing right he gives the Elijah example and then he says listen in the same way today just like in the Days of Elijah today there is still a Remnant there are still those who have not bowed their knees to Bal and I stand here before you as a an example of that Remnant you know even today in Israel there are the 6,000 we do have Jewish people today who believe in Jesus I was raised in a typical Israeli home secular home both my parents are atheists and but even though they and taught my brother and I that men created God and not vice versa of course I never really bought into my parents atheism I always believe that God was real so as a small child as we would celebrate the Jewish holidays and you know like Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles and so on I always believed that God was real so when we would for example and read the hag read the story of Passover and during Passover around the table I believe that God really delivered us out of Israel that he really performed the 10 um the 10 plagues and that he really parted the Red Sea for us so I never really bought into my parents atheism but as a secular Jew leing in Israel I didn’t really know also what to do with my with my faith and so I grew up and from first grade by the way in the Israeli school system we studied the Old Testament and as I studied the scripture there my my faith in God increased and then when I was 13 it was time for me to get bar mitad you guys know what Bar Mitzvah is right for those of you who don’t know that’s the that’s the ceremony that moves um a young Jewish boy into adulthood and you study with an orthodox Rabbi in the synagogue and and you chant a portion of scripture and I of course went through that ceremony and then when I was 14 and a half my dad’s job moved us from Israel to New York so my mom and I moved with my dad so I graduated from sasad high school in asau county in the other State and uh then started attending Stony Book University and um I have a Bachelor of Science in math so I was studying math in University and while going to school I got a job who tutoring students who needed extra help in math and um one day in the math learning center where I was working um a girl walked in and she had some math questions so I helped her with their math homework and then and at some point um after I helped her she uh recognized my accent in English and she asked me if I was Russian and I said to her no I’m not Russian and I’m Israeli and she said wow that’s wonderful I’m also Jewish so we had something in common so we continued in the conversation and um as we continued at some point she told me that she believes in Yeshua now being fluent in Hebrew I know what the word Yeshua means the word Yeshua is the Hebrew word for salvation but I’ve never met anybody who is called Yeshua today in Israel no one is called Yeshua okay so I asked so I asked this girl I say to her hey who is this Yeshua that you believe in and she tells me that it’s Jesus and I was surprised I I was shocked for two reasons number one and I was surprised because I never knew that Jesus’s real Hebrew name was Yeshua was salvation second of all I never knew that there were Jewish people who believed in Jesus I’ve never met such a person before so I wanted to know more and but we both had to go on that day so we set up an appointment for a few days later later to meet for lunch and it was during this lunch that this girl opened the Old Testament scriptures to me and she shared with me prophecies about the Messiah and then she showed me in the New Testament how Jesus how Yeshua fulfilled each and every one of those prophecies and a few days later I pray to receive the Lord praise God for that and two years later that girl and I got married and it’s Dena so I praise God for that as well so there is a Remnant there is still a Remnant today you just heard my story but there are so many more and other um Jewish people um both in Israel and outside of Israel who um believe in Jesus God gave them a spirit of stuper eyes to see not and ears to hear not down to this very day let’s continue with verse 9 to2 and David says let their table become a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a retribution to them let their eyes be darkened to sin not and bend their backs forever I say then they didn’t didn’t stumble so as to fall that they may never be but by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failures his riches for the Gentiles how much more will their fulfillment be let’s stop right here maybe you’re wondering man what is Paul saying what all of this means well Paul is Right giving some verses to show how Israel’s rejection and Israel’s um blindness in many ways is is something that God is in control of right they have eyes not to see now of course God wants them to come to Faith but it seems that there is that there has been a higher purpose to um Israel’s rejection of Messiah Jesus I mean of course God knew it before the foundation of the world he knew that they would reject his um that they would reject his son that they would reject Messiah but look at how gracious God days because what did it mean that Israel rejected Messiah well it meant that salvation came to all of you amen aren’t you excited about that I mean that’s what that’s what Paul is saying Paul is saying hey Israel rejected Messiah why church at Rome what was the purpose of it well so that you would have salvation so that you would have Messiah mesiah Jesus and that is wonderful awesome news and we see the truth we we see this truth today in the world you know and we see this reality where today there are a lot more Gentiles for Jesus than there are Jews for Jesus right and that is great and that is wonderful now if their transgressions is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles how much more will their fulfillment be verses 13 to5 but I’m speaking to you who are Gentiles in as much then as I’m an apostle of Gentiles I magnify my Ministry if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them for if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world what will their acceptance be but life from the dead wow wow Paul here is saying to this Gentile Church in Rome he’s saying hey you have salvation you have Jesus because of Israel’s rejection but guess what now you have a task now you have a calling God didn’t reject his people God is not like us God is faithful God is faithful and now he wants to use you the church to reach Israel to move them to jealousy to reach them for Jesus and of course the church’s obligation is to reach everyone for Jesus to reach the whole world for Jesus and you know I am so honored to be here with you because and I know that as a church family you have taken these words of the Apostle Paul and you have said wow we do want to reach the world for Jesus and we do want to move um Israel to jealousy and that’s why we’re Partners in the gospel and it’s our privilege to be your extension in the land of Israel today a land um that Jesus walked not so long ago but a land that is in desperate need of Messiah Jesus Jews for Jesus we exist to relentlessly pursue God’s plan for the Salvation of Israel we read about that plan today and and and we recognize that God is the one who is um doing the work God is the one who is removing the blinds from um people’s eyes and we’re just um coming along for the ride right I mean it’s his work at the end you know jice for Jesus and our branch in Israel today is our largest Branch Jews for Jesus of course is an International Ministry so we have branches all over the world but our largest branch is our large is our branch in Israel where we actually have and 33 staff members we just added one and then you may wonder why why is your largest branch in um in Israel I mean why isn’t it in New York or in Los Angeles well that is because Israel is the most Jewish country in the world here in this country in the United States there are between 5.8 and 6 million Jews and that Jewish population is decreasing where the only Jewish population in the world today that is increasing is in Israel and it’s also the most unreached Jewish population in the world and and that’s why we’re there that’s why and Jews for Jesus were focusing more and more of our resources of our strategies to reach um our people in the land of Israel today and that’s why our largest branch is there and Dena and I have the greatest privilege really to um to lead this um wonderful Godly group of men and women as we bring the gospel to the people of Israel and our ministry is all about making disciples that’s what we’re all about and um that young lady right there in the picture is kolina but I’m not going to share with you her story of how she came to Faith cuz I’m going to do that in this sermon okay so you got to wait I know you’re excited I know you you you want to hear the story of kolina but you’re going to wait on that and our our our mission really at the end of it is to make disciples to make Jewish disciples for Jesus the Great Commission so um that’s really what we’re all about but and how do we practically and pragmatically do it I mean do we have a a methodology or or or one way that we do it well the answer is no not really we have many ways many different methodologies of communicating the gospel and and we see the same in um in Jesus’s ministry here on Earth think about it and when Jesus went around of course he was preaching the gospel he was calling people to to to come to believe in God and in him and and to repent but if you read the gospels carefully you would note that Jesus spoke differently to different people so in John chapter 3 he speaks very differently um with Nicodemus versus John chapter 4 with the Samaritan woman at the well right he uses different languages he speaks so differently and um today God is still speaking to people but he does it differently and we have different methodologies different ways of communicating the gospel but remember it’s still the same message right it’s still the gospel message okay so let me give you some examples of our methodologies of um what we do and how we do it so the first methodology and this is the one that Jews for Jesus is is well known for is what we call Proclamation evangelism Proclamation evangelism is really going fishing um going out there finding um those people who are open right so throwing a bait and um and looking for those men and women that want to know more and our objective here is is to proclaim the gospel to be as loud as we can for all to see and here and and those that want to know more who catch the bait and we take their their contact information and then we follow up on them and why do we follow up because we want to make disciples right we want to we want to reach them with the gospel so we would meet with them one-onone open the Bible hopefully build a relationship and and minister to that that individual so how do we proclaim the gospel what do we do well we go out on the streets and hand out gospel tracks H put up um Evangelistic media campaigns both online on the web but also on billboards and on buses and also standing in traffic um with with huge um gospel signs like you could see in the picture and anyway that we can to proclaim the gospel and broadcast the message out there so that those who are open would um would contact us and we can begin building a relationship and so that um we can make disciples second methodology that we have is that um we love to create special events for gospel engagement and here the objective is to um to to create a special event using something that people love a hobby and interest of theirs and and to invite people to come into an event and and and doing that event event whatever whatever it is um whatever subject it is that we’re covering or whatever whatever it is that they’re engaged in we want to bring it into um a gospel conversation and we really want to engage them with the gospel so you ask well what kind of events well art galleries um different um lectures um women’s tea and sporting events and Hebrew classes and you know there is uh the largest the most recent largest Jewish population to move to Israel is the Russian Ukrainian population in Israel today there’s 1.2 million Russians speaking so from Russia and Ukraine in the past 20 years 25 years we’ve had a major move of Jewish people and you know when when they come to Israel they have a lot of needs and we want to serve them and we want to help them and one of the the the ways that we have found to be very effective is to put up Hebrew classes for them and and as they as we teach as our staff comes in and teach them Hebrew we we teach them the gospel and we engage them in gospel conversation and we are finding this methodology to be especially fruitful so creating special events for gospel engagement also in Jews for Jesus Israel we recognize that the body of Christ in Israel is small and it has many needs so we are also committed to raising up the next generation of um of Israelis to be a light to the Jewish people of Israeli Believers so we have um children Camps summer camps that are actually going on right now that we lead in partnership with another congregation in the land we also have a youth group that we lead every every week out of our ministry Center in downtown Tel Aviv and we also have Bible clubs for kids and we really want to minister to kids of Believers and as you know many times those kids are not Believers so we want to minister to them and early on have them grow up in our youth group and then and as young adults we want to continue that Ministry while they go to the Israeli Defense Force military service is mandatory in Israel boys do three years girls do two years and then as those kids as they go to the army they have many struggles and and our ministry staff our young adult ministers in Israel have many opportunities to encourage them to minister to them so we also have a weekly Bible study for soldiers and as those young adults after the Army and we want them to come in and and maybe even stay at our ministry Center in Tel Aviv to do life together where they could get them and deeper stronger roots in the faith discipleship and through Bible study prayer fellowship and of course Outreach now I say all of this to say Hey you know um we need your prayers we need to continue to um to build the kingdom of God in Israel we need to continue to partner together to bring the gospel you know the bringing the gospel to an unreached people group and is not always the easiest thing especially in Israel where there are many um oppositions and um there is many Orthodox groups who who oppose the messianics and oppose our faith and oppose our efforts in Jews for Jesus so we need them God’s people to stand with us in prayer and I was going to I’m going to say it also in the sermon but um if you wouldd like to become a prayer partner and this card um that you should have received with uh with your bulletin um is a prayer card and you can remove this small piece right here and then fill out the large piece and then become a prayer partner of our ministry if you fill out your email address would’ love to um send you our monthly Israel prayer updates and um really continue in our partnership in bringing the gospel to the land of Israel so I’m going to be quiet now and I’m going to turn it over to you for some q&as am I know if we need the mic the handheld or if you could just speak loudly I think we’re okay yeah we’re okay good are there any questions yes sir in the back you expain for those don’t knows your ministry and yeah so the mo Rosen center that is our ministry Center in downtown Tel Aviv and that’s where we do a lot of those events that I was talking about the galleries the women tea parties and so on and that is that is our ministry Center out of the center that’s also where we have we host our the youth group and then really the events that we do for the most part are out of our ministry Center also in the ministry Center we have um Apartments there for some of our staff and also for for some of those young adults who um want to come and do life together like I was mentioning um who want to come in and and be engaged in a deeper discipleship and we have that opportunity um for those as well so um it’s really an amazing Center that’s um being used a lot to reach the neighborhood the community that it’s in and we wanted them to serve the people who are there and through those events we’ve really been successful to do that and most importantly to engage them with the gospel so yes you know before Christ comes is there supposed to be a mass conversion of national Israel do you think you you live to see that yeah so the question is is that before Christ comes there’s supposed to be a big conversion of Jewish people and will I be alive to see that is it possible possible is it possible for me to be alive to see that well um it really depends on I mean obviously at the end when we look at eschatology at the study of the end of age really depends on where you stand and different ones would have different stand and the the first answer that I would give to you is is that I think we are seeing a lot of Jewish people coming to Faith now and I would hope that we would continue to see that and that that number would increase exponentially so I think we’re going to see a lot more and then I really hope that we’ll see a lot lot more in Israel and and in the states and so on in terms of a massive Revival and I know that there would be a day where that massive Revival is going to happen but that’s going to happen I think after the Rapture so and and I think God is going to use the Rapture to really bring a lot of people to himself including Jewish people and including some 144,000 where there’re going to be an Evangelistic force in this world but then I’m going to be raptured out so um I won’t be here for that and that’s kind of my eschatology yes over there and then so in what ways but like how did the Jews get jealous when the Gentiles are converted like what’s what’s the mindset of that yeah how did the Jews get jealous that is a great question and I think first of and we we always tend to kind of generalize and we have to remember that Jewish people are different I can talk to you about myself what was what really struck me about Dina when she when she shared the gospel with me was the fact that she had um in many ways it made sense to her she figured it out her jewishness wasn’t just oh yeah I’m Jewish and it doesn’t really matter but but it kind of came together you know and and I think in many ways and that’s something that that as Gentiles we could really do and say I’ve heard it said and I think it’s a great line to say if you have a Jewish person that you’re trying to provoke to jealousy to say something like hey why is your Messiah living in my heart how is it that I’m following the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the Jewish god and you’re you’re rejecting him and you’re not how how is it you know stuff like that I think is very helpful to recognize that um that what we believe in and as the church is really natural for Jewish people to believe in it’s not a foreign man-made you know this foreign religion no it’s it’s it’s the Jewish it’s the Jewish faith you know it’s the faith of Abraham Isaac and Jacob now it looks so different than Judaism today you know and I understand that and I I don’t believe in Judaism today Judaism today is manmade post Jesus our faith is their original our Faith predates Judaism today you know our faith is we believe in sacrifices we believe in in the Fulfillment of the Old Testament in Messiah you know Judaism today rejects all of that so in many ways Judaism of today is man-made Pagan foreign religion you know where we have the true faith of Abraham Isaac and Jacob does that answer your question yeah good yes um my question was more regarding where do you see more of a response among the younger generation or the older generation yeah so in Israel today we’re seeing the most frood and the most um the most people who come to Faith In Jesus among the Russians speaking and they tend to be older um so that’s what we’re seeing but in terms of openness and curiosity and interest and I would I would say among the secular um University students secular young adults yes any question I did and actually you answered it I was going to ask you what the response was from the Russians right right they’re the most open among um among our people so like for example if you take in 2016 we saw about 53 Jewish people um come to Faith In Jesus through a Ministry in Israel and out of those 53 um close to 40 were Russian speakers yeah back what what forms are you seeing opposition and how significant is it among among the Jewish population as a whole and the leadership yeah so um first of all the opposition doesn’t come and for the most part from the leadership the laws in Israel really protect um all of our freedoms so if you just look at the law the dry law um you know allows for freedom of religion and um assembly and freedom of speech and so on so um theoretically the opposition shouldn’t come from the government and really for the most part it doesn’t it comes from individuals and for the most part 99% from the Orthodox Jews now the Orthodox Jewish population in Israel is a minority only about 20% of the population are Orthodox Jews in Israel but they are very loud very vocal and they are in the government as well so that that has some challenges practically speaking our opposition would come when we when we proclaim the gospel you know so if we’re out on the streets we might get um an orthodox guy come in and become very physical with us um you know both physically and also verbally and um you know and we can we can we’ve had incidents in the past where we you know our staff was P shoved hit smacked so on um and then there is an organized um anti-missionary group in Israel and they’re the ones who kind of and on a regular basis try to do um try to oppose the gospel more um both the congregations in the different par Church Ministries like Jews for Jesus in the land and you know they they publish articles and they could also come to your neighborhood and kind of distribute Flyers warning everybody in the neighborhood Beware of the evil missionary who lives in this and that place and you know stuff like that so um so they try to have some organized opposition yes in the back so what would you say um would be like aspects of the Gospel that people of Israeli or Jewish background seem to appreciate more um that’s May different from like the things that Americans apprciate about the gospel wow that is a very good question excellent question I don’t know if it’s different from what what Americans here because I don’t I mean I know some of the context here in America and but one of the things of course um America is different you know and Texas is completely different than New Jersey you know so I’m not sure if it’s different than your own context here in in this part of of New Jersey but um I think in Israel what um what what really what what people really once they understand and of course we can never fully understand but once they once they get a glimpse of the grace of God understanding that wow in spite of myself and you know and and and even though God knows all my flaws you know and and and all the chunk that’s in here wow he still loves me and and came and he died died for me that while I was yet a sinner and and yet an enemy of God he came and and he gave his life and he died for me and I think I think the grace of God is something that’s very and capturing to those when they finally understand it that that that they could never and it doesn’t matter what they do and God doesn’t love them on that basis God loves them because of who he is because of his own faithfulness because of his own um you know long suffering because of his own love and and Grace and because of of who he is you know so I think that’s um that’s something yeah yes right yeah what scriptures whether Old Testament or new testament have you and your teams found to be the most effective from from an Evangelistic standpoint on the UN jewi yeah thank you so I think that um it’s not like one scripture fits them all I think it also depends on the person you know um one time I asked the founder of Jews for Jesus Mo Rosen I said to him I said Mo you know what’s the I’m a I’m a starting up missionary what’s the one most important thing that I need to learn how to do as a missionary what’s the what’s the key to being a good missionary and he said to me he said Dan learn how to listen listen okay and what do you meant by that that is that you know anytime when we do ministry anytime when you do ministry right cuz you’re all ministers you all need to go out there and be the church be a light you know learn to listen to people you know and then based on their needs based on on what you hear them say you know and minister to them give them give him the scripture give them the Bible give them give him the answer you know and so so there isn’t like one it really depends on the individual and on the needs now having said that and I must say that you know walking people through the Old Testament prophecies like like was my story is always something that’s very helpful so Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 and then well you probably know all those Messianic prophecies by heart right if not look at the back of your Bible sometimes they have them or check online but them but I think the Messianic prophecies really speak volumes because they were written written so much before Messiah and and I mean they they they give the picture they give the picture of the Gospel I mean Isaiah 53 and crucifixion language and Psalm 22 crucifixion language of piercing and there were no crucifixions that were done during those days in in Israel you know so yeah you and then yeah among the different groups that you ministered to Jewish people what is Con understanding about Jesus is there a type of stereotype about Jesus yes there are many stereotypes in Israel about Jesus and that’s I think one of the one of the struggles and one of the things that we’re really trying to um to change because um the average Israeli thinks they know and everything there is to know about Israel about Jesus sorry the average Israeli thinks they know everything there is to know about Jesus because in their schools and they study about Jesus okay it’s not like Jesus is avoided in the school system they study about Jesus but what they study about Jesus is all in the context of anti-Semitism and they study um that the roots of anti-Semitism was the fact that um it came from um Christians who blame the Jews for murdering Jesus Christ so sure Jesus was a Jew whatever but look what everybody did in his name and as and as those Christians how did they get that the Jews murdered Jesus Christ well they read they read the New Testament and in the New Testament they told them that them they need to um they need to persecute Jews because Jews murdered Jesus you know and they repeat that and and that becomes the basis of your understanding and every time when you study history world history and you get to a point where Jews were persecuted well guess who persecuted the Jews it wasn’t the Muslims it was the Christians you know so when we studied the the Crusades it was the Christians when we studied the Spanish inquisitions the Christians the Holocaust the Christians you know so The Stereotype is hey you know New Testament is an anti-semitic book and Christians and for the most part are going to be anti-semites and they’re going to you know they’re going to blame us for killing um their god um and Jesus you know he was just um a Jewish man that lived during the time of the Romans and that’s it and he started a new religion he’s not Jewish anymore cuz he went and he started a new religion and then those Christians they believe in three Gods Not one God Like Us Jews and so there’s a stereotype that that Christianity is not a monotheistic religion and those are the big ones you know and of course we have a big job to communicate and to say wow no you really really you don’t know the truth you know sometimes I feel like standing in Isel and just yelling fake news fake news no no no just kidding but yeah that’s how the set up yes you a question um along the same lines like um what Jewish generally I guess what is their acceptance of the scriptures like for example Dina came up to you and then she showed you Isaiah Psalms but um my son mentioned to me he talked to one of his friends he’s Jewish and he’s like oh your Bible is different from my Bible your Old Testament so is there not an acceptance of the Old Testament as scripture or just like the Torah and the Psalms or yeah so um so you actually are asking here two questions so I’ll start start with the first one and the first one the first question as I understood it what do the most Jewish people think about the Bible now most Jewish people are seculars they’re either atheists or agnostics not just Jewish people in this country but also Jewish people in Israel Jewish people all over the world are mainly atheists or agnostics would an atheist believe in the Bible of course not that’s Jewish people for the most part you know my parents don’t believe that the the Old Testament is the word of God no and most Jewish people in this country you understand that right I mean Hollywood most of Hollywood is Jewish right they don’t believe in the Bible Bernie Sanders Jewish doesn’t believe in the Bible right and that’s Jewish people for the most part now and there are Jews who do believe in the Bible and those who believe in the Bible might say something to your son like his friend did oh your Bible is different and well and he might be meaning a lot of things he might mean first of all the fact that in our Bible in our book we have the New Testament where they would just have the Old Testament in their books in their Bible and he might mean that maybe the order of the books is different because if you take just an Old Testament from a Jewish synagogue you’ll note that the the order of the books are different but in terms of the translations and the words themselves they’re not that different at all you know like as you know we have different translation in English and there is there’s like a Jewish tra um translation and it’s very similar to our English translations as well so I would have your son challenge his friend and say hey let’s open it up I’ll show you that it’s not different sure I have the New Testament I understand that you don’t have it in your Bible because you don’t believe in it as being the word of God that’s fine but if we just look at the Old Testament you will see that it’s um it’s pretty much the same in the entire Old Testament right not just like the first books of Moses or no so okay so Orthodox Jews when it comes to the Bible they believe that the entire Old Testament is the Holy scripture is the word of God but it gets a little bit more complicated than that because Orthodox Jews don’t believe that the Old Testament was written for everyone nobody can understand the first five books of Moses nobody could understand the prophets the sages of old the rabbis of old I guess they can understand parts of the writings which are the book of Psalms and the wisdom literatures and so on and so and but that’s why we have the talmud which is rabbinical writing and that’s why we have that and that’s really what we need to understand and and so they have different levels of of Revelation from God and the Holy scriptures the Old Testament pretty Mar that’s something that you can’t really interpret for yourself it wasn’t written for everybody it was just written for the rabbis and but the tud which is also authoritative and also it’s not equal to the first five books of Moses but but it’s it’s right after the writing it definitely has some some Authority as well from God so that we can debate and talk about and so on so they have different levels of the word of God and they don’t believe that it’s all written to everyone like us you know we we believe right the Bible is for all yes I was wondering as long as you live live there how many other Traditions have you actually participated in and is there any tradition that they have that you don’t participate yeah so as long as I live there how many of the Traditions have I participated in well I guess throughout my life I’ve pretty much participated in most of them um you know just throughout my growing up there but today you on a regular basis really the the only Traditions that we participate in are the holidays and all those holidays um are found in the Bible and all of them Jesus celebrated the one that we celebrate and and when we celebrate them as a family we always make them um Gospel Center they’re always you know it’s always about Jesus and we don’t do all the rules and regulations that the rabbis do I don’t even think we can do it I mean they’ve got so many rules it’s crazy but um you know we do it we do it in our home so like for example during the Feast of Tabernacles every year even though I complain about it and I’m pretty lazy we do go and we build one of those booths and um no we don’t spend seven nights in them but the kids at least do one or two two nights in them you know but but as we sit and as we have meals there we we teach our children that hey you know Jesus said some pretty incredible stuff during that holiday and he and he pointed to him and that holiday has great significance to us you know and all the holidays do really CU Jesus made that connection for us so that’s what we do yes going to back to what Danny was asking about like the stereotypes of Christ they think that Christians are a lot of them are evil or something should you ask you what do you believe you shouldn’t you’re Christian you say like I’m a of Yeshua yeah yeah so and and we actually do that I wouldn’t say that they think that Christians are evil and because Israelis for the most part understand seculars so they would definitely understand that probably most people in the states are seculars they’re not all automatically Christians or whatever they would say more that Christianity and the religion um is evil you know but we say exactly like what you said like like in Israel I wouldn’t use the word if somebody says hey who are you what are you I wouldn’t use the word that is normally used for Christian because in Hebrew that word they associate with Catholics they associate with priests and so on I say hey you know I’m they ask who are you what are you how would you define yourself I would say I’m a Messianic Jew you know I’m a Jewish believer in the Messiah Jesus follower love it that’s great you know yeah is somebody did somebody have a question or go back yeah do is there a do you Noti a differ between relations between Palestinians and Jews versus Palestinians and those who believe in the Messiah relim yeah so um I don’t know how much you’ve heard the news but we have some problems right now happening in Israel again and um hopefully it won’t escalate because if it escalates then we may have War Dina we don’t like War right war is not fun for us in Israel so please pray that things don’t escalate um listen if there is war in Israel we might just have to stay here forever so we don’t know do you guys have room for us I’m just kidding we’ll have to go back anyway but um yeah so there’s definitely tension um among the Believers the Palestinian followers of Jesus and the Israeli follower of Jesus did you get the point that there aren’t too many of us well among the Palestinians there are more Evangelical Christians so they’re a little bit bigger group than us and and we definitely pray for one another and there are different Gatherings where leaders try to come together but the reality is is that the populations are very separated it’s very difficult to understand but there is actually a fence and a checkpoint in a in a wall you can’t just go here and there you know so it’s very difficult it’s a very difficult reality you know um so it’s hard to have a testimony because we can’t really get to one another and not to mention the fact that for the Palestinian Christians they don’t share the same freedoms that we do so they don’t have freedom of religion in the Palestinian Authority and under the Hamas regime and so on you know what I mean so sometimes they they can’t um be public about their faith they can never be public about their association with Israel IES because that’s going to bring a lot of um a lot of heat on them you know and I don’t and I don’t pretend to say that I know or understand exactly what they have to go to because I don’t you know so um there’s a lot of challenges and a lot of difficulties and my hope and prayer is that we could have more opportunities to show um the truth of the gospel and how really the only way that Palestinian and Jews Israeli Jews can can be together is because of our faith in Jesus now that doesn’t mean that we don’t have relationship with with other um Arab Believers in Jesus because in Israel there’s plenty of Arab Christians there are those who are Israeli citizens who live in Israel who enjoy all the freedoms that all of us Israeli citizen have who are Arabs Arab Christians and with those they’re all a part of our churches some of them are pastors and they have Jews in their congregation and so on so um but it’s different than the Palestinian Christians because Palestinian Christians and some of them don’t have Israeli citizenship for whatever reason does that make sense good somebody else yeah right here and then to us the only ways of become disciple to the church I guess of Israel we can’t think of another way of becoming a Christian except through the local church when the 6,000 Jewish Believers come to Christ how do you work with a local church same thing we we we have local churches in Israel just like this church we have local churches everywhere D and I have the privilege of leading a local church in Israel you know and you’ll hear the story of kolina we met her cuz she came to our church and anybody who comes to Faith In Jesus to Jews for Jesus in Israel in the US in Russia wherever we always connect them with the local church they need to be in Fellowship they need to GR in their faith get discipled and so on the reality is is that sometimes Jewish people come to Faith they pray with you to receive the Lord and they’re not ready right away to go to church so we continue to discipleship and little by little we bring them in but our goal is is so that they’ll be grounded in a local congregation so they can grow in their faith and so our missionaries could now now you know release that person and have time for somebody new to disciple yep Ro you’re the last one theing you said that are not many messian Jews in Israel you already answered this what is the EXT of Messianic jewi congregations there in Israel are there some in city also and also theze of your own yeah so um wow thank you for that last question because that’s a exciting can’t wait to share that with you but um yeah every every every city in Israel pretty much has a congregation but the one thing congregations in Israel look different than congregations here or churches here because for the most part we don’t have our own beautiful buildings that by the way love the renovation I haven’t been here in 3 years so I don’t know how new it is but the last time I was here it didn’t look so beautiful like it is now we don’t have the means and so so congregation in Israel are very very small and pretty much in every city we would have one the average size is probably anywhere between 30 and 40 there about a hundred of those congregations all over the country big cities would have more congregations like in Jerusalem there many different churches and so does that make sense but but pretty much there are congregations everywhere a lot smaller now Dina and I we live in a suburb of Tel Aviv and um the name of the city is don’t worry I’m not going to expect you to remember it or to be able to spell it that’s fine but anyway um our congregation is a congregation that was established before Israel became a state and by the southern Baptists and before DIN and I moved the congregation kind of left the southern baptist for whatever reasons and but we still um we still rent our facilities from um from the Baptist Village from a property that’s owned by the international Mission board and um for many years it was just um kind of struggling International congregation but this past year we don’t know what happened we really haven’t done anything different but in this past year all of a sudden our congregation have really experienced an amazing growth and we got to a point where we decided because we were averaging about 100 people again it’s an English International congregation and we said wow you know what in our city which is a large city uh suburb of Tel Aviv there isn’t any congregations in Hebrew so we decided because our congregation was doing so well and we have a family who joined the church who they they are elders and they really um you know trained ministers so they have joined kind of our leadership team and um we said hey why don’t we start a Hebrew speaking service in our congregation and um on June 17th before I flew over here um I um I was I was speaking in our church so we have two Services one in English one in Hebrew they’re identical and I was I’m just so floored by what God is doing in the English service there were 120 people in the Hebrew service there were 40 people out of the 40 people there were 15 unsaved Israelis you know God is doing something amazing in our church God is doing something amazing in um the greater Tel Aviv region God is doing something amazing in Israel and um thank you so much for partnering with us and um thank you so much for this time we’s just uh close down in prayer and uh I want to thank you for coming all the way out here to our little congregation thank you and uh just stay up here pray for you and your family and uh we’re grateful that uh that we’re able to partner with Dan sered and his and his ministry for the gospel there um that we’re allowed to we’re able to have that sort of influence all the way across the world uh for people who God loves so let’s just pray uh father we thank you for Dan and the privilege of supporting him and his ministry for Jews for Jesus and and now even in this church um that he’s um that they that they’ve planted and they’re growing Lord we thank you um we thank you for his faithful Ministry through many years of hard hard service um in in hard soil and the faithfulness that he’s demonstrated um the uh the love for your people the the the willingness to undergo persecution and and difficult things so that uh those who have not heard can hear the gospel Lord we pray that you would bless him his ministry his family we pray Lord that you would help him um in this whole in the area of Israel Lord that the uh the viol would not come that war would not come um but that Lord you would keep them safe and that the gospel would be able to go forth we thank you in Christ’s name amen