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November 2016 Ministry Update
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Grace, Mercy & Shalom,
As hoped, God has allowed us to send this update from Israel!
Praise be to the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s for His provision in making a way for us to get back to Israel. This past month has been crazy in getting things wrapped up to move but God is good and brought us here safely.
One of the greatest challenges was getting our motor-home sold and getting to the airport a 10 hour drive away – God made a way for both. After a few weeks of advertising our RV and few responses we were concerned that we would have to leave the RV at a dealer under consignment but once again our great God was faithful despite our lack of faith. At just the right time God brought just the right person to buy the RV. We not only sold the RV but made a friend as well. The couple who bought it are believers who also have a real heart to see the gospel in Israel. God also provided a wonderful rental van to fit our family and far too many pieces of luggage. We were also blessed with a wonderful place for us to stay on the way down to the airport outside of Orlando. The brethren at Calvary Baptist were very kind and allowed us to use the church apartment. We were not only able to save resources but more importantly we made new friends and prayer partners. Before leaving the US, we saw yet another one of our prayer requests answered in that our good friends and brethren in Maui helped get our container loaded in Maui bound for Jerusalem. God is so faithful!
One of the many blessings we had this summer was spending time with our adult children. Saying goodbye was also one of the hardest things we had to do before coming to Israel. We are going to miss our grown children in Robert, his wife Ashley and there soon to be born child as well as Casey and his newly "official" fiancée’ Annie. It is only through our future hope and power of Christ that we are able to leave our loved ones behind; but we know that we will have a hundred-fold increase as well as many crowns to lay at the feet of our Messiah to encourage us in our ministry (Matt. 19:29; Phil 4:13; Rev 4:10).
After a long two days of flying via Stockholm and Istanbul our good friends graciously picked up our small army of people and luggage from Tel Aviv airport and housed us for a few days. With their help, we could go to IKEA and buy furniture for our barren apartment waiting for us in Jerusalem. We made it up to our new home in Abu Tur, a small neighborhood in Jerusalem overlooking the mount of Olives and the old city. Once again, God provided in ways beyond our faith. With the help of our good friends here in Jerusalem, we could work through many of the logistical aspects of moving, especially in a foreign country where we still don’t know the language it has been invaluable to have the help of the brethren.
The first couple of weeks here have been joyous and yet, with any major life change, have been a real challenge to our faith. Sometimes not knowing the language and the bureaucracy of being a new immigrant is overwhelming. One of the first words the Israelis have encouraged us to learn is סבלנות, transliterated as savlanut, which is the Hebrew word for patience. We sure have had to learn patience as we have already spent many an hour on the phone and in government offices to get travel documents, bank accounts, licenses and get signed up for other numerous programs created for new Olim (new immigrants). Please pray that we grow in grace and strength in this very important Christian virtue of patience, especially for us newly minted Israeli Olim.
Our purpose and mission
Luke 4:17-21 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
To preach the gospel was our Lord’s purpose and mission and we who are His disciples should be about the same mission. It didn’t take long to be reminded of why we are here which is to preach the good news of the Messiah! We will proclaim the gospel and hope and pray God will prepare hearts which are burdened over their sin and will come to repentance and faith in Israel’s only Redeemer through the hearing of this message. The bondage the Jewish and Arab people are under is tremendous and only through the preaching of Christ will they be freed from their burden. We long for many to truly see their hopeless situation and recognize the beauty of Yeshua (salvation now) Ha’Mashiach – Jesus the Christ. For Christ is the end, aim, and purpose of the law in that no man can ever justify himself; but only by grace, through faith alone in Christ will anyone be justified before a holy God (Rom 10:4; Eph. 2:8-9). We are looking forward to see the brokenhearted healed, deliverance brought to the captives, sight to the blind and liberty to those bruised by the heavy burden of sin. It is our great hope and burden to continue to grow in our knowledge and love of Jesus our Messiah and make Him known to the people of this land through the simplicity of the preached Word of God! It’s all about the Messiah and what He has and will do for those of us who believe. Please pray we never lose sight of the beauty of Christ and the simplicity of the gospel of salvation by grace alone.
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Enjoyed an early Thanksgiving dinner with our kids (Notice Casey & Annie via Skype).
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Said goodbye to our home these past six months and made new friends.
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Our son Casey and his new fiancee' Annie
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Mark and Levi overlooking the valley of Hinnom just below our home.
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O
pportunities to share the gospel...
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Witnessing to the world through a caring spirit to a lost people
It’s amazing how God works to bring people in your path who desperately need the gospel. We were in the airport busy getting everybody checked in when we ran into a Jewish man named Kenny who asked us where we were going. When he found out I was Jewish and recently made Aliyah heading to Israel we had an instant connection. We talked and found out he was a nominal reformed Jew who had been through a lot including a divorce. He told us he recently went to Haiti to take relief supplies from his temple as he felt it was important to do good deeds. This opened many avenues of conversation. By showing forth true interest in his life it gave me the ability to explain that we were Christians and I was a completed Jew, meaning I was completed only in Christ who is my salvation. The conversation kind of got awkward and he seemed to be uncomfortable so we went on with our checking in. As we were walking to our gate Kenny stopped me and wanted to talk some more. He proceeded to tell me of the many hurts and problems he had been dealing with his whole life which gave me a wonderful opportunity to show real care and concern which opened the door for the gospel. We spoke about the recent feast of Yom Kippur which allowed me to expound on his need for an atonement which can only be found in the Jewish Messiah to the world – Jesus the Christ! I finished up by giving him a small brochure about the atonement. One verse that came to mind after the encounter is Matt 11:28 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I will remember to remind all those who labor to find rest in Jesus alone as His name, Yeshua, reminds us that He is our great salvation from all of our burdens.
We continue to realize every day that those we want to reach with the gospel may actually care about our message of hope if they realize we truly care for them and their problems. We need to remember, the world is looking at us to see if our faith is genuine and authentic; one way to show a hurting world the authenticity of our faith and message is to care for hurting people and to be a good neighbor and share the gospel. Please pray for Kenny that his heart would be opened to hear the gospel leading him to repentance and faith in Jesus as His personal Savior and Messiah!
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Our First Year Goals
As we embark on our first year here in Israel, we realize we need to set reasonable goals and not get too far ahead of ourselves. As we get established we will continue to refine our short and long-term goals and vision but for now we need to first be focused
on learning the language and the culture. As we learn the language we will continue to pursue the most important goal of sharing our Messiah.
We want to be Christ centric in everything we do especially in building relationships, and disciplining new believers. We will always have the long-term goal in mind of establishing congregations where there is no gospel witness.
Faith based….
So, this first year we want to focus on language studies, continuation of my ongoing Biblical studies via the Christian Workman School of Theology program, helping in the congregation, learning from others and establishing ourselves in the community.
“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply”.
Much to be thankful for!
The Lord has answered many prayer requests in getting us to this point. Beth and I were reviewing our to-do / prayer list that we put together many weeks ago. It was a daunting list but with God's help almost all of the many items on the list have been completed. We want to always give thanks to God and those He uses to help us. We continue to be blessed by so many individuals and churches and never want to forget those who pray and sacrifice through giving to our ministry. We are truly thankful, blessed and humbled by all that each of you do for the furtherance of the gospel here in Israel.
Bl
essings,
Scott, Beth, Thomas, Abigail, David, Mark, Levi
לוי ,מארק ,דוד ,אביגיל ,תומאס ,ג'יין ,סקוט
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- Continue to pray for Beth's Dad, Pastor Robert Gifford, as he recovers from his latest challenge with his heart. He is doing better but continues to need healing and strength.
- Pray for us as we work with believers who have been here and know the culture that we would be patient to learn from those who have gone before and gain the wisdom and experience necessary to be most effective for Christ!
- Pray we are able to get through all of the Israeli bureaucracy as we meet with many in the various government offices to comply with all of the requirements and benefits for Olim.
- Pray the Lord will provide for our needs especially for a car. This is proving to be a very expensive and difficult task especially since we need a vehicle to carry seven.
- Pray for our ability to learn Hebrew as we begin Ulpan.
- Pray for Abby and David as they prepare to serve in the IDF for safety, boldness and the opportunity for the gospel. (One of the benefits of being in Jerusalem is that Abby will be able to serve from home!).
- Pray for our adult children in the US -- Robert and Ashley's baby is due the end of November and Casey and Annie's wedding preparations.
- Pray for those we will have opportunity to minister the Word to, that they may have prepared hearts to receive the gospel.
- As always, pray for the peace of Jerusalem -- Sha’alu Shalom Yerushaliim Psalm 122:6
Ephesians 6:18-20 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
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To make a donation to our ministry please press here: IBJM On-Line Giving Link
or call IBJM at (423) 876-8150 or mail to IBJM PO Box 1386 Hixson,TN 37343 and mark support for Scott & Beth Friedman
***Please do not post any informa
tion on the internet***
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Copyright Scott Friedman | The Road to Emmaus | P | 808-280-1407 | Email | scott@rtemmaus.com
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