God promised that “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26), yet after 2,000 years of intense opposition to the Gospel, it was difficult to see how this would really happen.
There are moments in life where a great promise of God that we’ve been praying and working towards suddenly starts to come to pass.
God promised that “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26), yet after 2,000 years of intense opposition to the Gospel, it was difficult to see how this would really happen.
But what we saw at our most recent outreach here in Israel left us once again standing in awe of our faithful God!
Great Opportunity to Powerful Testimony
Once a year in the city of Haifa, there’s an event called “Holiday of Holidays” that combines Hanukkah, Christmas, and an Islamic holiday – and it attracts hundreds of thousands of Israelis. What an opportunity to bring the light of the Messiah to many who are walking in darkness.
We went out as Jews and Arabs from different congregations across the country – as one new man in Messiah – we passed out hot apple cider for free, showed God’s love in different ways, and declared the Good News to many!
And you know what? People were thirsty – not just for apple cider, but also for living water: We reached thousands with the Gospel, several hundred took the New Testament or evangelistic materials, and 15 people understood their need to repent, and prayed to receive Yeshua, Jesus, as their Savior and Lord! To God be all the glory!
The Irresistible Gospel
One woman we talked with acted as if she already knew everything and didn’t want to hear any more. At a certain point she started to walk away, but the believer who was speaking with her felt a deep pain in her heart and called out to her, “Do you think that your life will continue forever?”
But the woman kept walking. Fifteen minutes passed, and suddenly she came back. She walked toward the believer, looked her in the eyes and said, “I don’t remember everything you said to me, but I do remember the last sentence.”
The believer was totally surprised and told her excitedly, “You didn’t return on your own – God brought you back!
And this time, she was much more open, listened to the Gospel from the beginning to the end, and wanted to repent and receive Jesus into her life! Hallelujah!
The Veil to the Gospel is Being Removed
Overall, what we sensed on the streets was that people here are much more open than before. In the past, when we would just mention the name of Yeshua, many people would end the conversation or say, “Ah, this is not for us as Jewish people!” But this time – and this surprised us as well – quite a few of the people said positive things about Yeshua: that He’s a great Teacher, One who healed others and did good deeds, that He’s one of us.
And many people wanted to read the prophecies about the Messiah with us and to understand who Yeshua really is.
For example, one couple said, “Wow, based on these prophecies, it looks like Yeshua is the Messiah – who else could this be about?” They took evangelistic materials, and promised to read them and give their lives to Yeshua if they see that this is the truth.
Another man asked us if we could offer him a job, but we offered him something much better – and by the end of the conversation, he found salvation and a new life!
We also prayed for healing for several people, and Yeshua healed them – there on the spot! They were so surprised and touched that some of them were in tears and began to consider the claims of the Gospel more seriously.
Another thing that surprised us was that many times when we started to share the Gospel with Israelis, it turned out that they were already believers in Yeshua – just not yet connected to other believers. And some of them sensed that our meeting with them was a sign from God and they wanted to join a congregation, so we connected them.
Please pray that God would help all these new believers, especially those who just came to faith on the street, to truly become a part of a local congregation and grow as disciples, and that He would open the hearts of all those who heard the Good News.
Your Prayers are Bearing Fruit
Now, you all have played an important role in all these amazing breakthroughs. God has heard your prayers and ours, and He’s answering!
The Lord is also using the millions of views of evangelistic videos here in Israel to remove the veil from their eyes and to soften their hearts to the Gospel.
And God’s using all of it together – prayer, street evangelism, online evangelism, follow-up with seekers – to fulfill His glorious promise that “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26), which will bring “life from the dead” to the ends of the earth (Romans 11:11-15). What a privilege to work together with God!
Please keep interceding for Israel’s salvation, and get as many others involved as possible! Share this video with others, and please pray as we work on launching new Pro-Life and Gospel videos and our new evangelistic video series where we show who Yeshua really is and why we all need Him.
One Last Thing
This time we didn’t get to share some of the powerful stories of what God’s doing through our online evangelism and Pro-Life and Gospel Campaign, but you can get all the updates by following us on social media and listening to our podcast.
