If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.... 
February 2017 Ministry Update
Shalom,

This past month brought with it a lot of activity with many coming and going.  We will miss Thomas as we had to say goodbye but we are very excited as the Lord has already provided for him in that he found a job, an apartment, and a car.  We are praying for God’s leading on his life. Beth was so blessed to be able to fly back to meet our granddaughter Juliet. She also had a wonderful time with our sons Robert and Casey and daughter-in-law Ashley and future daughter-in-law Anne. 

Our friends from our congregation back in Hawaii, Jim and his daughter Heather, came to visit.  Jim came for a week but unfortunately it rained the whole time he was here.  We had a great visit despite the weather.  Heather stayed and is here to help us for a couple of months.  Besides helping with many administrative duties on the ministry side Heather will be assisting Beth with homeschooling, unpacking, and the many responsibilities associated with our hospitality ministry.  With Scott, David and Abby in full-time Hebrew class it’s a great blessing to have Heather here to be part of our ministry.

One day the weather was good enough for us to take Jim and Heather on a tour through the Old City.  We ended up spending a good deal of time at the Western Wall where we talked about the Rabbinic Jews and their devotion to their “religion”.  We saw their zeal yet without knowledge.  This made me realize my need to really understand the burden of this people.  I figured if we are going to be effective ministers of the gospel we would be well served to have a true empathy like our Lord and Paul who both longed to see his people saved.  I have decided to try and spend at least one afternoon each week at the Western Wall sitting with my Bible open and praying for their salvation. Through this I hope not only to have opportunity for the gospel, but also to learn a real heart burden to see this people come to a saving knowledge of their Messiah! After our time at the Western Wall I had an opportunity to teach at our congregation; the Lord laid Isaiah 58 on my heart. It speaks about a true fast / religion which leads to a release from the bondage of dead works.  We opened the study by reading Romans 9:1-3 and Romans 10:1 to see Paul’s heart for the Jewish people.  I would encourage everyone to read Isaiah 58.  Some key points we discussed:
  1. Verse 1: Like Isaiah, we need to be faithful to give the bad news of the gospel first by pointing out that all have fallen short of the glory of God and are bound in sin and need a Savior and all are condemned starting with the Jew first.  
  2. Verses 2-5: We need to point out the false religion of Rabbinic Judaism, and any other works based religion. It is self-righteousness and needs to be replaced with a truly changed heart and the imputed righteousness of Christ alone.
  3. Verse 6: Shows us what the true fast produces -- freedom from the bondage of self-righteous religion and our ability, as believer’s in the Messiah, to free those under this bondage.
  4. Verses 7-14: Shows us that both the regenerated Jew and Gentile alike need to have a life sold out for Christ, having a kingdom perspective, looking forward to the unseen kingdom of our Lord, and hastening the coming again of our blessed Messiah to set up His earthly kingdom.

Abby & David with our friends Jim & Heather at the mount of Olives
 B eth spending time with Juliet
Beth was blessed to spend time with our adult children back in the US
 Celebrating 26 years of marriage
O pportunities to share the gospel...
The reason we are here...  

Update on the minister of administration in the department of absorption: We continue to have many good discussions about the Scriptures and the Living Word – Yeshua, Who is Salvation Himself.  After our last discussion, I concluded it is not my responsibility to prove that Jesus is the long awaited for Jewish Messiah.  We just declare that Jesus is indeed the Christ and let the Spirit convict. I realized I am there as much to break up fallow ground and pose the question of what he believes.  My hope is to get him, and others like him, to question what they believe.  David thinks he believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and is righteous because he keeps the Torah.  I want to go through a book like Leviticus and show how far he is away from what he thinks is righteousness. I want him and others like him to question what his faith is in and how he is made right before God which will hopefully lead him to the Savior. Please continue to pray for David that God would cause him to question his lack of true saving faith. 

Ulpan…  

Ulpan continues to afford us many opportunities to witness for our blessed Savior.  One other fellow believer and I have been talking to a man about Christ and his need of a Savior.  He recently made a profession of faith in Christ alone. Ironically, it was on his 6-year anniversary of his conversion to Rabbinic Judaism. We spoke about what it means to be a Christian and he acknowledged he is one who “bounces” from one “religion” to the next looking for truth.  He asked that we pray for him that this would be a true conversion.  His name is Mark and from what we can see he seems to be very sincere.  He is currently on vacation and we hope to see a new creature in Christ when he returns. Please pray for Mark. We have also had many discussions with other Jewish men and women who are depending on the “religion” of Judaism to save them.  It’s amazing how many come up to us asking what makes us different.  The fact that we are there as a family who look and act different gives us such opportunities but it is also a great responsibility.  Please pray that we will be bold and represent our Lord well.    
Life in the Land...
Praising God for His protection and continual provisions as we look to be faithful in our ministry.
  • Beth was happy to see Juliet but was also glad to get home to the family. We certainly missed her.  She continues to home-school the kids and spends a great deal of time in the ministry of the gospel through hospitality.  We have the opportunity to entertain both believers and unbelievers alike and Beth has a great gift to show everyone kindness and grace through hospitality.
  • Abby, David and I have moved to the full time Hebrew class (5 hours a day / 5 days a week + homework).  We need to have an extra measure of grace as our workload is increasing by the day. 
  • Abigail is doing great in Ulpan which will give her a head start for when she is in the intensive Hebrew class in the IDF starting in April. 
  • David is also excelling in his Hebrew studies along with starting his new school year. He is very busy but doing great.  He is a bold witness wherever he goes. He had a skateboard accident requiring 5 stitches. He is all recovered.  The best part of the accident is we got to see how simple and efficient the emergency care is here in Israel.  We were expecting something far more complicated and expensive than what we saw.  The whole thing took less than 2 hours and cost us all of $15.  We are so thankful for this!
  • Mark and Levi continue to do well in school along with picking up a good deal of Hebrew from the neighborhood kids. They bring so much joy to our home with their excitement and enthusiasm over everything new!

      
Live field reports:

For individuals or churches who would like to set up a time to take advantage of our modern technology and setup a Skype, FaceTime or What's App video call we would enjoy the opportunity to give a report from the land.  Please let us know if you are interested and we can set up a day and time.   

"God's work is not man working for God; it is God's own work, though often wrought through man's hands." —  Hudson Taylor


Bl essings,

Scott, Beth, Thomas, Abigail, David, Mark, Levi
לוי   ,מארק    ,דוד    ,אביגיל    ,תומאס   ,ג'יין    ,סקוט  

Prayer Requests, Praises & Updates 

I am attempting to spend at least one afternoon per week at the Western wall praying specifically for the Salvation of Israel.  Oh how we all need to continue to learn to trust God through dependence on prayer! Thank you all for your much needed prayers.

  • Pray for our ministry that we would continue to understand the Lord's vision and be faithful to the mission, specifically where He will have us establish a future congregation.
  • Now with doing Ulpan full time we will really need God's grace to truly acquire the language.  Pray for us to have patience and humility as we learn the language and work with others in the church and the community. 
  • Continue to pray for Abby and David as they prepare to serve in the IDF for safety, boldness, and the opportunity for the gospel. We continue to meet Jewish believers in or going into the IDF and are hopeful there will be good relationships established that will help Abby and David as they look to be faithful in a lost world.
  • Continue to pray for our adult children in the US -- Robert and Ashley as the raise their new born baby girl Juliet and Casey and Annie's wedding preparations.
  • Pray for Thomas as he begins his new Job.  Especially pray that he will be bold and faithful with the gospel and continue to seek God's leading on his life.    
  • Pray for David, Mark and Levi that they will have the time and the concentration to catch up in school. Especially for David as he is doing full time language studies and full time school. 
  • Continue to pray for those we will and already have had the opportunity to minister the Word to, that they may have prepared hearts to receive the gospel.  
  • Continue to pray for me as I have opportunity to preach the gospel and teach the brethren; that I would accurately divide the Word of Truth and lean on the Spirit to deliver the message of God's wonderful Word.
  • Pray for the other believers in country that we would be unified in truth and not compromise no matter the cost.
  • As always, pray for the peace of Jerusalem -- Sha’alu Shalom Yerushaliim Psalm 122:6 but especially now with the prospect of a new ambassador moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.  I am in favor of the move but I know many of our uninformed neighbors may not think so which could cause a spike in violence.  

    Psalm 147:12-14
    Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee. He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.

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Copyright Scott Friedman | The Road to Emmaus | P | 808-280-1407 | Email | scott@rtemmaus.com