שלום חברים
Shalom Dear Friends,
Two New Books
I have two new books that I would like to recommend to you this month. One is published by HaDavar and we assisted in the creation of the second.
HaDavar’s latest discipleship offering consists of crucial discipleship material that every Christian should master. Sadly, most churches never touch on this material. The Biblical material that I am referring to centers on the covenants God has made with the Jewish people. Four of those covenants are unconditional and eternal and one is conditional and temporary.
The conditional and temporary covenant is the Mosaic Covenant. In contrast, the foundational, unconditional and eternal covenant is the Abrahamic Covenant. The Abrahamic Covenant is the focus of our new book entitled “And I Will Bless You; Studies in the Abrahamic Covenant.” If you understand the Abrahamic Covenant, then you will understand the Bible.
The book explores the institution of the covenant, the promise of the covenant, the testing of the covenant, the confirmation of the covenant, and the Messiah of the covenant. You can purchase this 103 page paperback book from HaDavar or from Amazon.com for $9.95. We trust that you will be blessed and informed by it.
The second book we would like to recommend is by our occasional guest writer, Adrian Torres. Adrian contributed the main article in the August 2013 issue of our newsletter. His book is entitled “The Walls Talk: Stories of Faith in Prison.” Adrian is serving a 25 year to life sentence in the California Correctional system. In spite of the very difficult prison conditions, he has chosen to “bloom where he has been planted” and live for the Lord. From the explanation on the back cover:
THE WALLS TALK is a compilation of true stories written from inside a California state prison, over more than a decade of incarceration. It chronicles the ups and downs of living a Spirit-led Christian life within a prison culture, and should be of interest to anyone seeking insight into the culture. It will also be encouraging to those seeking to live that Christ-centered life while imprisoned. It is honest, sometimes gritty, yet tempered with gentle humor. The underlying themes of the book are hope, redemption, faith and perseverance. Adrian continues to write regular updates, which are available online at http://friendsofadrian.com.
I have been blessed and challenged by the biblical and practical insights Adrian sees all around him on a regular basis. You can purchase this 170 page paperback book from Amazon.com for $10.99.
Assistant Director
Jeff continues his transition program as my Assistant Director. This brings me to a couple of prayer requests: 1) please continue to pray for Jeff’s support to come in. He is on part-time status right now, learning all the ins and outs of HaDavar. However, his primary responsibility is to raise missionary support so he can move to full-time status. 2) One of Jeff’s deep desires has been to go to Israel. He has not made that life-changing journey yet. We have become aware of a Pastor’s tour that is scheduled for January 2015. It is designed for those like Jeff who have never been and would most likely continue going and leading tours in the future. That fits our needs exactly. The price is very reasonable. Because the sponsoring organization heavily subsidizes the trip, only $3,000 is needed. Would you be praying that we can slip Jeff on that airplane in January 2015 so he can visit Israel for the first of, I hope, many trips?
If you would like to help out financially regarding either one of these needs, his support and his trip, we would welcome your participation. Thanks for praying and considering the need as HaDavar moves forward into the 21st century.
A recent poll by the Pew Research Center’s Religion and Public Life Project was very encouraging for those of us involved in Jewish outreach. According to a NY Times article on October 1, 2013, the surprising find was that 34 percent of the Jewish population in America felt that you could still be Jewish if you believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Wow, that is good news! Why? Because 40 years ago you were ostracized and condemned for that position. I knew a fellow who was kidnapped by Jewish de-programmers for believing in Jesus. He eventually escaped their clutches and did not lose his faith in Jesus. Then, 99 percent of the Jewish community accused you of being mentally unstable if you believed in Jesus. On the bright side, this means that we are making significant inroads into the Jewish community in America.
However, on the dark side, the poll revealed that the Jewish community in America is becoming more and more secular. 25 percent are atheists and 32 percent say they have no religion. There is still much work to be done. Pray for us as we continue to present the Messiahship of Jesus to the Jewish community in Southern California. In spite of indifference to the Bible, the doors have swung open wide for outreach.
Along those same lines, a study commissioned by the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem discovered that most Israelis own Bibles. The Bible is studied in schools, the Israeli army gives every soldier a Bible. However, less than one-third continue to read or study the Bible after their schooling or army service.
This is why HaDavar exists. This is why HaDavar distributes dual language Bibles on the UCI campus. The worldwide Jewish community drifts away from the Word of God into ignorance and indifference. The message of the Bible is the source of eternal life and God’s people are missing it. Pray for us as we reach out with the Word of Life to Jew and Gentile alike.
HaDavarniks, thank you for being part of our ministry team.
– Bob