Showing posts with label Gentiles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gentiles. Show all posts

Monday, May 6, 2024

We Bless by Steve Martin

 

                                                    Arriving off the train at the Jerusalem depot. Steve Martin

"Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.” Romans 15:27, NASU

 Every time the Lord gives me the opportunity to go to Israel as part of our Love For His People Ministry, I greatly enjoy spending time with our good friends among the Jewish people. Some we have known for 17 years now. Blessing them, as the good Lord has instructed us as Christians, has been on my heart now for over 48 years, beginning when I was first given the understanding of our debt to Israel and the Jewish people. Because of their faithfulness to the living God of Israel in spiritual things, we now have an indebtedness to them in material things.

Because of His faithfulness to them above all, the Jews, we Gentiles, now believers, have been grafted into the olive tree as well.

“And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.” Romans 11:17-18, NKJV

Standing with the Messianic Jewish believers in the Land and befriending the “pre-believers” has enriched my spiritual life for many years. These connections the Lord has made continue to grow, as we see the days becoming darker and His light shining even more.

Being friends with Nissim and Hadassah, Nouri, Avraham, Uri, Danny Boy, Chaim and Deanna, Richard and Carolyn, Kokeb and Menalu, and the several ministries we have stood with and supported over the years allows the Holy Spirit to do what He has given us to do as our part in the restoration and salvation of Israel and His people re-gathered there once again, as He prophesied centuries ago.

I have written previous messages of the debt Christians owe the Jews, as I first heard and learned from the great Bible teacher Derek Prince. Because of the Lord’s granting them as a people the knowledge of Him and His Word, the Torah, through whom our Messiah Jesus has come, Yeshua HaMashiach, we are now too grafted into the olive tree, and can partake of their salvation and inheritance, among all Who call upon the Name of the Lord.

Understanding this basic, vital foundation in the life of believers is necessary for further unity in His Body, as He joins Jew and Gentile into the One New Man, the Bride that is being prepared for the return of the Son of God, Yeshua (Jesus).

Thank You, Father, for Your great plan of salvation, which has been laid out in completion through the Word of God, from Genesis through Revelation. Seeing Your fulfillment of prophecies and plans from Your heart encourages us to press on as we now do our part through faith and obedience.

Bless the people of Israel, Lord, and may those be blessed who realize the debt we owe them and seek to bless them also.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

Founder, Love For His People

"Walk With Me' in the City of David on the street up to the Old City from the Pool of Siloam.

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Unique Treasure - Now Think On This by Steve Martin


Unique Treasure

“For you are a people set apart as holy for Adonai your God. Adonai your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure. Adonai didn’t set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people — on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. Rather, it was because Adonai loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that Adonai brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8, Complete Jewish Bible)

Some understand and get it when I explain to them why we, Love For His People ministry, support Israel and the Jewish people. They know that the Word of the Lord, complete from Genesis through Revelation, explains the redemption process the Almighty God Himself gave to us, from eternity.

And others? Well, not so much.

My good wife Laurie and I depart today for this journey across the Big Pond (May 1, 2019 - my 20th trip to Israel, which being an accountant I keep track of), to the land, which is now flowing with milk and honey, literally, as promised. I want to again write of that which the Lord Himself called the Promised Land, for the Jews, and why it is such a huge “because”.

Simply put, God created Adam and Eve, the first man and woman (yes, true stories that really happened as written in all the Bible) and gave them life from which they later turned against due to the commitment of sin. This separated them from having fellowship with God. Then this very same God proceeded to bring forth His plans and purposes: send a Redeemer, through a chosen people, to once again have a family who would love Him, His only Begotten Son Yeshua, outworked through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

This God-head, Three-in-One, wanted to share His eternal love with an eternal people, for all eternity. Because a path was needed to come back into His fellowship, and a blood sacrifice was required to redeem mankind from sin, He would send His Son, His only Begotten One, through the people called the Jews, for all the nations to receive His mercy and love.

The people could, if they would, receive Him, the Redeemer. If they received His free offer, fellowship would be restored.

And that is as simple as you can state it.

So how more completely was He going to do it? How would He reveal Himself, His love and mercy, His abundant grace reaching out to any and all who would seek, find, and accept His free offer of forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption?

He chose the Jews, since the very beginning, to bring forth His plan, to themselves and all the nations. He sent His Son, Yeshua, to become a man, a Jew, and suffer, die, be crucified, and rise from the dead, as the Blood Sacrifice that God required, to cleanse mankind from sin.

As the above quoted, written Word clearly states, “Adonai (the Lord) your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure. Adonai didn’t set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people — on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. Rather, it was because Adonai loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors…”

God the Almighty, the Creator of the Universe, the One Who is above all and everything that has ever been created and exists. This very One chose the Jews. These exact ones who, through the many centuries since that choosing, have been miraculously brought through generations and generations of hardship, persecution, destruction many times over, and yet live on, in the Land of Israel and beyond, proving that God is God (Yahweh, Yeshua, Jesus, Lord of all, King of kings, Ancient of Days, Three in One, etc.) and that His Faithfulness and Truth, promised for all eternity, will not be stopped, with not be thwarted, and will never be beaten by Satan and his hordes of demons and principalities.
No nation, no dictator, no country filled with anti-Semitism, will keep the One and Only from completing His perfect plan and purpose, begun with man in the Garden, to the complete fulfillment of all prophetic words – spoken and written – up through the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. All these redeemed people, from all nations, will then be seated with Him and His Son Yeshua HaMashiach in His heavenly realm. 

This unique treasure, the Jews, those who through it all, despised and rejected, just like their Messiah Yeshua was, are the ones who have carried these promises of redemption and restoration for these thousands of generations. This people, whom the Lord describes as the olive tree, has been brought through the test of times, and now shine forth from their land of promise, Israel.

God the Father gave His promise to the Jews, and through this very tree, the olive tree as described throughout Scripture as a visual for all, has also extended His offered life to the Gentiles, described as the wild branches of the olive tree.

Some have falsely believed, to this very day, that the Jews gave up their inheritance when they failed to recognize Jesus’s first coming as the promised Messiah. But as the apostle Paul clearly states in Romans, it was only for a time, to allow the Gentiles, non-Jews, to also receive the promise of salvation.

As he so adequately wrote in Romans 11:11-16, “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 

And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. 

Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

"The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;” (NKJV)

Our commitment as believers, as Christians, in support of the Jews and their Land of Israel, Eretz Y’srael (Hebrew - Land of Israel) becomes stronger every day, as these end times further proves the existence and the outworking of God’s holy plan.

Those who chose to stand with His chosen people will reap the benefits of the same, this unique treasure to which the nations will either stumble over or acknowledge as the work of God.

We go today in support of our friends, believers in Yeshua, and rightful heirs of the Land He has brought them back to. May your heart and soul also be in support of these through whom the Savior of the world, Yeshua HaMashiach, has come, will come again, and justly rule from the very city He has placed His eternal Name on, Jerusalem, in Israel.

Now think of this,

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.





If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.
  
Please donate online safely through our website. Click here: DONATE  

(or use the DONATE  buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 
Love For His People, Inc. 
P.O. Box 414   
Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.  Others will be thankful you did.

Now Think On This #419 - in the year of our Lord 05.01.19 – “Unique Treasure” – Wednesday, 6:30 am



Monday, March 4, 2019

Digging Deeper - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Digging Deeper
Steve Martin



"Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God's way of salvation is made available through the Jews.” (John 4:21-22, THE MESSAGE)


Archeologists in Israel are continually digging. Digging deeper, looking for buried treasure, artifacts from centuries before, which are buried under layers of rubble, covered with rock, dirt, stone, and accumulated debris.

Why do they spend hours, days, even decades searching, looking, sweating away in the heat of the afternoon sun? Because people before them, who had been on the same search and find mission, have made great discoveries of those societies which had previously lived, and they are convinced that if they keep removing the tons of dirt, they will further uncover the wealth of knowledge and truth still awaiting their discovery.

As these ancient artifacts are being continually revealed, at the same time the Lord continues to unfold Himself, His plans and His mission in all the nations.

As His heart keeps pounding strong for the restoration of Israel in the natural, at the same time the parallel restoration of His Body of believers, the Church, is being pumped through with His saving blood. What He is doing in the natural, particularly regarding the return of the Jews to the land of Promise, Israel, to that very place of His promised prophetic placement, at the same time He is also bringing a powerful, spiritual, saving restoration among the Gentile nations.

At some point soon these two will together merge, fully emerging as the One New Man, both Jew and Gentile, becoming the complete Body of Christ, the fulfilled Bride of the Messiah Yeshua, HaMashiach.

When Yeshua (Jesus) came to earth the first time, having been born of Jewish lineage, he grew up living among those chosen by His Father God, to further advance the reality that salvation would come through the Jews. From the days of Patriarch Abraham, himself called by the same God to be His light among the nations, the eternal plan of the Almighty brought further fulfillment as Yeshua walked the same land of Israel, bringing to pass the centuries of prophetic, Messianic proclamations of that Who was to come.

Hebron - burial site of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of Israel

Digging deeper into the wells of history are these archeologists, daily uncovering the proven truths spoken by the Jewish prophets with the Word of God in the land of Israel. These very stones further revealed are crying out the glory of God.

While at this very same time as the uncovered findings continue in Israel, there is a miraculous, restorative, resurrection power of the Holy Spirit going on, moving among the Gentile groups, revealing the long-time buried treasure, ancient jewels of truth. He is uncovering our Jewish roots, having once been lost due to the replacement theology of so-called Christian men and women in the early centuries of the Church.

Our Lord is restoring both Jew and Gentile, digging deeper to release the wells that have been covered up. For the love of the world, He is preparing His army of believers from among these two groups, in order to complete His salvation of the people in these end of days.

Therefore, let us all be willing, watching, and working to be a part of this eternal restoration plan.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.





If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$120 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.
  
Please donate online safely through our website. Click here: DONATE  

(or use the DONATE  buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 
Love For His People, Inc. 
P.O. Box 414   
Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 


Also, my latest book (#20) was just released last week. You can get it on Amazon here, in paperback or Kindle version: All Together Now - For His Plans & Purposes 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.  Others will be thankful you did.



Now Think On This #394 - in the year of our Lord 03.04.19 – “Digging Deeper” – Monday 2:30 am

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Jerusalem & Friends - Derek Prince & Israel - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Jerusalem & Friends
-Derek Prince & Israel

Now Think On This
Steve Martin


“They were pleased to do it, but the fact is that they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared with the Jews in spiritual matters, then the Gentiles clearly have a duty to help the Jews in material matters.” (Romans 15:27-28, Complete Jewish Bible)


Derek Prince (1915-2003), one of my favorite all-time Bible teachers (born in India to British parents, educated at Eaton and King’s College in England, pastored in Canada, ministered from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Hawaii and Jerusalem, and buried in the German Colony of Jerusalem) spoke often of the Gentiles’ (goyim, non-Jews) debt to Israel and the Jews. In fact, his small booklet, Our Debt To Israel, had a profound impact on my life in 1985. Truth was discovered and believed.

Having studied God’s Word extensively, and thus becoming a strong supporter of the Jewish nation of Israel, while at the same time dismissing the errant teaching of Replacement Theology (the lie that the Church has replaced the promises given to the Jews, land and all), Derek preached and taught that those who have received so much from the Jews owe so much to the Jews.

Knowing that foundationally all that we have, as believers in Jesus (Hebrew/Jewish name Yeshua), has come through the Jews (God’s Chosen People), as Gentiles being grafted into the olive tree (Israel), we must be strong in our commitment and support of the Jews continually and unwavering, as Derek taught.

Beginning with the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), through the Prophets (Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Amos, and more), with the Kings (Saul, David, Solomon) and then ultimately with the lineage birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem (Bet Lehem, Israel), Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Christ) - all that we have, fully inscribed and written through the centuries in the Torah, Tanakh and complete Bible – proves historically and spiritually that salvation for the nations has come through the Jews. Even all but one of the apostles (Luke the Physician), those who received God's Word through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and wrote the complete New Testament, were Jews. 

“Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." (John 4:21-26, NKJV)

How can we not owe a huge debt to the Jews! Our very Savior, Jesus, Himself a Jew, chose to reveal Himself to the world, through God the Father, along with the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh), through the Jews. In Israel He was born, lived 33 years, taught the only way to the Father, was crucified on a tree, died, buried and was resurrected, preparing from His throne in heaven to come back a second time, soon.

“Yeshua said, “I AM the Way — and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, Complete Jewish Bible)

Derek and his wife Lydia, followed by his second wife Ruth, lived in the capital city of Israel, Jerusalem, for several decades, teaching the Church and the nations to believe the full Word of God. Because of his commitment to His Savior’s teaching, many now are numbered among those who stand strong for the people of Israel. Indeed, my family is counted with these.

This is not a matter of subjective theory, but of plain, historical fact. If there had never been a nation of Israel, there would have been no patriarchs, no prophets, no apostles, no Bible and no Saviour. In John 4:22, Jesus Himself summed all this up in one simple statement: "Salvation is from the Jews." Christians from all other racial backgrounds owe to the Jewish people a spiritual debt which can never be calculated.Derek Prince

We owe a tremendous debt to the Jews. With faithful Biblical teachers like Derek Prince, we can know the truth and walk in it. Having received in the spiritual, we now must repay in the natural – with our finances, voice, actions and the written word – to the Jewish people.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

P.S. I had the honor and privilege of working with Derek Prince Ministries for eight years, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and again in Charlotte, North Carolina. His radio messages, books and recorded teaching continue to be distributed worldwide through more than a dozen international offices. You will do yourself a great service by connecting with one of them. Click here: Derek Prince Ministries

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$50 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 


Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 
Love For His People, Inc. 
P.O. Box 414   
Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This #332 - in the year of our Lord 11.19.17 – “Jerusalem & Friends – Derek Prince & Israel”, Sunday, 7:00 am  

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Multi-All! - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Multi-All!

Now Think On This
Steve Martin

  
“…and he made him a varicolored tunic.” (Genesis 37:3-4, NASU)


Talk about writing some good news! The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina) finally did it this morning on their Sunday, October 22, 2017 front page. I personally rarely read that newspaper by the way, with its anti-bent slant on most of the many things which I stand for in this life. But thanks Tim Funk. You did good.

What was the article about, filling almost a full page? How Elevation Church (Steven Furtick) is becoming more and more multi-racial, multi-cultural, and multi-generational. Multi-ALL!

Being a light to the nations has to begin with how we join with each other - to be that which we have been called to be. Joining together black, white, Jew and Gentile, to be the Body of Messiah. Why else did the Creator choose to create all kinds that He has? And no wonder there are so many Chinese! The Lord Jesus loves them so much!

When it comes to doing the right thing, the churches in our nations better be taking the lead. You want racism dealt with? Better have a multi-racial gathering Sunday mornings in your church.

Want the Millennials to gain some wisdom, especially from the Golden Oldies (like me!)? Join together in church and small group gatherings.

Looking for a place that, wow! Even Jews, Gentiles, and anyone in between (is there such a one?) celebrate life? Use our synagogues and churches as a place that all can worship the Living God of Israel together. (And no, there is no other god above Him.)

I grew up in Waterloo, Iowa. Went to a parochial Catholic high school (Columbus High). Of the 1100 students from 9th-12th grade, there were many 15 black kids. Racial tension was often present, with the “West Side” and the “East Side”. But I was friends with at least half of them whom I personally knew. They were good kids.


And then I married a German Lutheran 18-year old girl! (Her father's name was Otto Unzicker. Loved him and still do. See you in heaven Otto!)

(Photo: Otto with his Bethlehem Bell painting after his trip to Israel in the late 1980's.)

If we are going to be the answer to the racial tension in our cities, our schools, and even within many churches, believers have to take the lead and do what the Lord Jesus, Yeshua, commanded us to do. Love our neighbors as ourselves. And yes, my neighborhood neighbor next door is black. Single mother Tracey, her son Diesel and mom are originally from Atlanta. I have mowed their yard occasionally being she works two jobs.

Do we practice what we so often preach? Check out this photo of our band in 2001.

Steve Martin & The Raiders 2001 – white, black, Native American, male and female! 
Old and bearded too!


How about this photo above from 2013? The Ahava Love Band with Jew (Gid Anthony - guitar) black man (Ron Bowen - drums), the Islands! (Wane Daroux - bass guitar), keyboard and singers (Patty Paquette and Laurie Martin - white females) and then me. The old man!


Wane Daroux (bass guitar) - Love the smile as he looks at Ron Bowen on drums.

In order to fight the ungodly spirit of racism, the anti-Semitic overtures in many countries, and the young versus old culture that is blasted out from almost every front, believers need to be the ones to show it right, get it right, and do it right.

If you haven’t got a friend who doesn’t look like you, talk like you, eat like you, or speak like you, then maybe it is about time you get one. That is the Plan He has set forth. Hear and obey what He knows and has desired since the day His family revealed themselves to us, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Got it?

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.




Meet some of my other friends.


Steve, Jodie Goodman, Edgar & Indira Persad.

My boss: Greek lady Eleni Saunders, former co-worker Jovanna Mozeak and myself

My friend Louie from Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem Israel. - Gift shop owner (photo May 2017)

IDF soldiers at the Friends of Zion museum in Jerusalem, Israel May 2017

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "Sign Up" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE (or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to:

Love For His People, Inc.
P.O. Box 414
Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn. We appreciate your help.


Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 10.22.17 - #325 – “Multi-All”, Sunday, 8:30 am

Watch my video I recorded that in the day on this message.
Click here: Multi-ALL