"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
Isaiah 40:3
May 2017 Ministry Update
Shalom Alecheim,

We recently had the opportunity to see the nation of Israel prepare for a king.  Unfortunately, it was not for the King of Kings but rather for the less than worthy “king” – President Trump.
Trump’s helicopters landed a five-minute walk from our home here in Jerusalem.  His motorcade made its way through the streets to the King David hotel by which we walk every day to Ulpan.  The city was a buzz with excitement (and annoyance) as it prepared for this historic visit.  It was full of many traffic delays making for a lot of grumpy commuters. Millions of dollars were spent and over 10,000 security officers were deployed all for one man’s visit.  Fortunately for us Israelis, Trump’s visit came and went without any major uprising or attack from Israel’s and America’s enemies.

President Trump’s visit reminded us of Isaiah chapter 40:1-11.  It is a great chapter on the coming of the Messiah – the King of Kings.  It gave the nation of Israel hope that one day the great King would come and right all the wrongs and establish Jerusalem as the capital of the world with the long awaited for Messiah ruling and reigning from within its gates. Isa. 40:2-3 tell us of the preparation that would go into the triumphal entry of any king much less the King of Kings.  The citizens of the kingdom would know it was their job to prepare or clear the way for the King by clearing away any obstacle that would be in the king’s way for a smooth entry. The hills would literally be made low and the crooked road would be made straight and smooth so that the king would have a smooth, safe entry into the city with all the pomp and circumstance expected for the king. 

We who are believers in the King of Kings – Yeshua Ha Mashiach (Jesus the Christ) know that these verses have a double meaning.  The first meaning is the literal where we know the Lord Himself in the future will enter the city with great glory where the hills will be laid low and split in two and the whole world will know the King of Kings has arrived.  The other application is spiritual of the need to prepare our hearts and allow the Lord to transform our lives through the revelation of our need of this Savior Jesus Christ to save us from our sins.

Our Lord’s first visit came and went without much pop or circumstance.  He entered the city on a donkey where He was rejected and ultimately crucified.  Whereas an immoral president was given the red-carpet treatment in the hope he would solve the nation’s problems with its enemies.  Praise the Lord we can preach this glorious gospel to the people here in Jerusalem to warn them of our King’s second coming and to prepare their hearts to meet this King.  For we are reminded our lives are like grass -- here today and gone tomorrow.  We all need to be ready to meet the King of Kings whether by death or at His coming.

We chose to speak about Isaiah 40:3 because it was one of the verses that encouraged our good friend and fellow worker in the Lord to give his life to the giving of the gospel here in Jerusalem and the world.  Antony Simon was accidentally hit by a car and killed this week in Iraq where he was giving the gospel and helping refugees. Tony loved to bring the gospel to his brethren the Jewish people and anyone else who needed to hear this message of hope.  He lived his life with no regrets as he understood the importance of our mission and urgency of our message on this earth.  Tony was very encouraging to me as we looked for a place to land here in Israel.  We worshiped together and worked alongside Tony at his congregation he founded here in Jerusalem.  My family and I are so glad we got to know and work alongside Tony.  My son Thomas even got to accompany him to Athens, Greece where they tirelessly gave out the gospel.  Even though I have only known him a couple of years I will forever be indebted to his great example of living a life with a sole purpose of pleasing his Savior. Tony fought the good fight and left all of us a great example to follow.  2 Timothy 4:5-8

Prayer meeting with our congregation 
Our precious granddaughter Juliet. Growing so much. We can't wait to see her in June.
Got to visit Allison Parker here in Israel from our church in Maui
Scott with fellow IBJM worker and an Arab man we were speaking with. 
O pportunities to share the gospel...
The reason we are here...  

I continue to have a fruitful time of prayer and interaction with religious Jewish people at the Western wall.  I have been praying through passages like Deut. 4 – showing us our need to worship from the heart not just tradition. Unfortunately, I see men teaching their sons to kiss the wall and write prayers to Ha Shem (the Name) as if God doesn’t have a name and can’t be known personally. They have come to worship the wall like an idol as Deut. 4:23-24 forbids. People are looking for something authentic they can see and touch yet without faith.  Deut. 6 tells us to teach our children about God and to worship Him - the unseen God - not idols like a wall.

Our task, as ambassadors of our Lord and Savior, is to lovingly show the world an authentic, life changing faith in the unseen God.  The Lord reminds us in John 20:29 “blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.” Let’s be faithful to tell the world about the one whose name we know; His name is Jesus Christ and we can know Him as our personal Lord and Savior. To God be the glory! 

One day this month we had a different kind of witness at a local park.  We met an Orthodox woman who was from South Africa and grew up in a Rabbi’s family.  She had a large family of young children.  She asked Beth if she would hold her infant while she cared for her other children.  We got to talking and she asked about our children and why we home school. I told her I was Jewish who believed in the Jewish Messiah and we felt it was important teach our children the Bible.  We asked if she know about Yeshua and she gave a blank stare but said she had heard about Him.  It was an awkward moment when we mentioned Jesus but at the end of our conversation she said she was impressed with our children, homeschooling and the fact that we moved here from America. She was most touched by our kindness and willingness to help and engage in a conversation.  Before we said goodbye, she said she was "for sure going to tell her Rabbi husband" about our family and why we home-school.  This may be a way for them to see Christians in a different light and consider our great Rabbi Jesus who is the only hope of the world! Please pray for Keila and her husband David that this encounter would encourage them to search the scriptures to find Jesus.

I also have the privilege of working with a fellow believer named Jon who has an amazing testimony of being saved out of life of addition.  He asked me to help him as he works with an ultra-orthodox young man in an addiction recovery center.  This is another way the Lord has being able to use us by helping train others in bringing the gospel, especially to the orthodox Jewish people.  Jon has been faithful to share the gospel in a place he may pay a heavy price by speaking the name of Jesus.  Please pray for Jon as he shares the gospel with Aaron and that Aaron will come to know the Lord.
Life in the Land...
Lag B' Omer

Israel recently celebrated a strange holiday named Lag B’ Omer. It is the only national holiday outside of Holocaust Memorial Day and Independence Day that doesn’t have a Biblical origin.  It is of mystical origin from Kabbalah which is the ancient Jewish tradition of mystical interpretation of the Bible.  It falls between Passover and Shavuot or Pentecost which is celebrated 50 days after Passover.  Lag B’ Omer is a holiday which is in remembrance of a famous Rabbi's life and death (over 200,000 people make the pilgrimage to visit his grave).  It is also considered the time to remember when Manna came down from Heaven.  In reality, the “holiday” is just a time of bon fires and revelry. I’m so glad we worship the one true Rabbi who is the lasting Bread of life from heaven.   John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world .

Jerusalem Day

This month marked the 50th anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem under Israeli rule.  We got to see President Trump visit along with many other festivities commemorating this amazing event.  The fact that God has put Jerusalem back under Jewish rule shows he is not done with this nation.  We know the city is still “trodden down of the Gentiles” with the Dome of the Rock boldly sitting in the center of the city upon the temple mount; but the fact that it is under Israeli rule is a living miracle.  We know this will continue until the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled as Luke 21:24 reminds.  We know the age of grace is coming to end once the fullness of the Gentiles is complete. Romans 11:25 The signs of the times agree with our great hope of the Lord’s imminent return.  Maranatha!

Abigail – IDF update

Abby continues to progress through her initial training and Hebrew studies.  She completed her basic training and was sworn in this month.  They allowed her to swear in by using the whole Bible with the Old and New Testaments which is miracle.  In days past you would never had been allowed to show your allegiance to Jesus Christ.  She also received the best soldier award which continues to give a great testimony of the power of God in her life.  She has had many more opportunities for the gospel as the Lord continues to bring young ladies who are interested to ask her about the hope that is within her.

Below is Abby’s update in her own words:

Shalom Everyone!

I want to start off by thanking everyone for their prayers, emails, texts, and so much encouragement these past couple months. I'm so sorry if I haven't replied to everyone. It's not that I don't receive your emails or texts, it's just very hard to find time to reply. But please know that I am so very thankful for everything you all have done for me. I couldn't of made it this far without all your words encouraging and prayers!

I am almost finished with my first part of my army service. The Lord gave and is continuing to give me so much strength to make it through each and every day. I know that without His strength I wouldn't have been able to make it this far. I'll try to give a little update on what my life has been like in the army so far. Since the beginning of my service I have finished boot camp and had my swear in ceremony. It has been very challenging and yet so amazing at the same time. The Lord has showed me what living on faith truly means. Being away from my family and being in such a place that needs the gospel has given me such a great opportunity to grow in a closer relationship with my Savior; if that's the only reason why the Lord brought through this, than I will forever be grateful for it.

I have also had the most amazing gospel opportunities. If you could please pray specifically for a girl names Rachel. She is 18 years old and has been asking so many questions about Jesus. Please pray that I would continue to be a good witness for Christ and that she would be led to the Lord. What a huge privilege that would be if I could be a part of that joyful time!

Since I finished boot camp I have been doing Hebrew classes for 9 hours a day. It has definitely kept my mind turning. It is hard because the whole class is taught only in Hebrew! In most of the classes I'm pretty lost, but by God's grace I will learn this language and be able to do even more for the cause of Christ!

These past weeks have also been challenging with the losses we have faced with my Aunt Vicki and friend and pastor Tony Simon, both were very shocking for all of us. Being at the base when hearing the news was twice as hard. But again, through everything, Christ has never left me! There are so many times that I have seen the Lord carrying me through the days. I know that without His strength, that He has given me, I would never have been able to make it through any of these days.

I want to end with saying thank you to my family, friends, and especially my amazing parents who have walked, cried, and prayed with me every step that I have taken. Please continue to keep me and my family in your prayers as we face these final weeks of my training, the recovery of the loss of our dear friends, and that the Lord would give strength to face each new day that comes our way. Blessings to you all!!

Shalom,

אביגיל
Abigail


"Fear God and work hard." David Livingston


Bl essings,

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

Prayer Requests, Praises & Updates 
  • Scott's family suffered the loss of his sister this month.  Her name was Vicki and she will be greatly missed.   Please pray for her husband Eric and Jack my brother.  They are broken-hearted and both need to come to know the Lord.
  • Pray for the Simon family as they recover from the loss of their father and husband. 
  • Pray for Abigail that God will give her grace and peace as she goes through training and intensive Ulpan.
  • Pray for Beth as she continues to teach the children in school and has a never-ending amount of people coming and going to entertain. 
  • Pray for our son Casey and his fiancée Anne as they prepare for their wedding in June.
  • Continue to pray for our sons Thomas and Robert, Ashley and Juliet who live and work in Pensacola, FL.   
  • Pray for those to come to Christ as our first-fruits for us here in Israel. Rom 16:5 “Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.…”
  • Pray for the time spent at the Western Wall reading the Scriptures and praying for more empathy and connection as we present the Messiah to our people.
  • Pray for our Friday Bible study that it will stand on the foundation of the proclaimed Word of God by the power of Christ and His Spirit alone.  Pray for it to grow and for those who come to learn and use it to bring others to Christ -- according to the Scriptures.
  • Pray for our trip back to America in June as we will be attending our son’s wedding and visiting many churches.  We need to be spending more time meeting with supporters but we will only have a month as we will need to get back to be with Abigail for her graduation and start our second semester of Ulpan.
  • As always, pray for the peace of Jerusalem -- Sha’alu Shalom Yerushalim Psalm 122:6 

    Deuteronomy 30:3
    That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee..

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