This Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, God came and tabernacled among us in a miraculous way. But sometimes before the miracle, He allows a test of faith.
Like every year, we held a major outreach during the festival. But this time, we sensed that God wanted us to especially emphasize the importance of prayer and worship during the outreach.
On the invitation for the outreach, we said to other believers, “Imagine if 100 people from all the congregations in the area would come to pray that God will act powerfully and save - we believe He will indeed answer!”
But on the second day, things weren’t looking so good. There was lots of rain, and just an hour before the event, we thought, “Maybe we’ll have to cancel.” So we prayed, and sensed we were supposed to move ahead anyway.
To our surprise, 90 believers showed up - the most we’ve had for any outreach! On the last day, there were even 100! We came together, Jews and Arabs, one new man in Messiah, and while some of us went out to share the Gospel on the streets, others stayed and prayed.
And God did wonders: thousands of Israelis heard the Gospel and more were interested than we’ve ever seen, many took New Testaments and evangelistic materials, Jesus healed people on the streets, and 9 Israelis came to faith!
As we were showing God’s love practically, giving out lemonade, doing face painting, playing music - and all for free - many were touched, and a few even broke down in tears.
One of the most moving moments was when a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor who had witnessed the horrors of Auschwitz heard the Good News from an Arab pastor and Messianic Jewish young lady. When he experienced God’s love through them, he was open to their message, and amazingly, allowed us to pray for him in Jesus’ name.
Since the Day of Atonement had happened just a few days before that, we asked a religious Jewish man, “How do you know for sure if you were forgiven on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement?”
He answered, “I’m not sure! I’m hoping.”
So we had the opportunity to explain how you can be certain of forgiveness through faith in Jesus and His atoning sacrifice for us. How interested was he?
At the end, he said, “I want a book to read more about this...actually, give me lots of books!”
We’re so grateful for your prayers and support, that have been an integral part of making this happen! God is answering and moving in powerful ways. We’re getting closer to the day when “All Israel will be saved.”Please partner with us in this harvest here!
