Are Messianic Jews different to Christians? - ONE FOR ISRAEL

SHALOM! Perhaps you've wondered why Messianic Jews don't call themselves Christians, and reasonably so. After all, don't we believe the same thing, and aren't we are part of the same family? Why the distinction? If you find yourself puzzled, just imagine how confusing it is for Jewish people who come to realize that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah all along! What does that make them? Are they no longer Jewish? Or are Christians the new Israel in some meaning of the word? The way we understand our identity as believers is crucial to the way we live out our lives, and liberates us to become united as One New Man in Messiah. Dr. Erez Soref, President of ONE FOR ISRAEL  Messianic Jewish Identity It's not always easy explaining to those that do not understand or perhaps do not want to that there is nothing more Jewish than believing in Jesus the Jewish Messiah.  For 2000 years we've been a bit of an oddity. On the one hand, Jewish tradition has rejected and excluded Jews who believe in Jesus. On the other hand, Christians also misunderstand us and our struggle with our Jewish identity.  Before we deal with what it means to be a believer and in particular a Jewish believer we must first answer the question: What does it mean to be Jewish? Continue reading... Why Don't Many Jewish People Accept Jesus as Messiah? It can be bewildering considering that Yeshua the Messiah was an Israeli-born Jew, grew up in a Jewish community, practiced Jewish laws and customs, worshiped God at the Jewish Temple, his original followers were Jewish, and that all of his teaching was based upon and rooted in the Jewish Scripture that so many Jewish people find him incompatible with Judaism… So why do we often hear today that “Jews don’t believe in Jesus”? Continue reading... "The spiral of devastation got the best of me. Losing my identity in worldly treasures is ultimately what helped me find my identity in God!" Watch Israeli testimonies FOLLOW US  ‌  ‌  ‌

ONE FOR ISRAEL | Headquarters in Israel, North American Office: 1300 Glade Rd, Colleyville, TX 76034

"If I Be Lifted Up" - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

“If I Be Lifted Up”

“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." John 12:32, NASU

Speaking of His soon approaching death on the wooden cross, Jesus (Yeshua) told His disciples that when He was lifted up, this would be the main catalyst that would then draw all men to Himself.

When Jesus was lifted up, He drew all people to Himself.

In a recent Sunday worship time, before the speaker came to the podium, the beautiful song being sung wonderfully proclaimed Jesus. As the congregation focused in on praising His Name, I could really sense the move of the Holy Spirit drawing those focused on Jesus, and bringing them into a greater realm of the spirit. Jesus was being lifted up in our midst. He was drawing the people even closer to Him.

We weren’t focused on our needs. We weren’t singing, “Bless me. Bless mine.” Or, “Woe is me. Help me. Take care of me.”

We were singing Jesus.

Over 7 years ago now I led a worship team at a local Highway to Zion assembly here in Charlotte, North Carolina, headed by founder Cathy Hargett. We sang several Messianic songs, written by Messianic Jews, and a few written by popular Christian worship leaders. Present in the meeting was a Messianic Jewish leader from Israel, one very prominent in the movement taking place among believers in the Land of His people.

After the time set for all on the schedule had been concluded, he came up to me afterward and said, “I never heard the name of Yeshua in all of the songs sung during the singing and worship time.”

I was startled and immediately said, “We sang all songs written by a Messianic Jew!”

His reply was, “You never mentioned the Name, Yeshua.”

A bit offended, for days, I dismissed it as, “Who is he to come here to America and tell us what we should sing, when we are singing Messianic songs, written by Messianic believers.” Others who had been there agreed, and yet the Lord wouldn’t let it go in my thoughts and spirit.

Again, during this recent time of Christian worship in the Sunday gathering, when Jesus’ Name was lifted up, the Holy Spirit began moving among the people. Hearts and souls were being centered on Jesus, not on themselves.

In many Christian circles these days, with a lot of the songs played on the radio, sung in our churches, or used among small and large gatherings, a self-centered theme is very prominent.

Even in the sermons and messages being delivered from the pulpit, it is a lot of the “me” stuff.

What can Jesus do for me today? What needs will be met if I seek Him to have them fulfilled? When will my hurt and pain and suffering endured daily as I drink my Starbucks and drive my new car to the high-paying job be over with?

I write this in a somewhat demeaning way, but isn’t it often how we think? It is “Me, me, me. It is all about me.”

When Yeshua (Jesus) is lifted up in our lives, when it is Him Whom we are focused on, for Who He is, high and lifted up in the heavens, and not on ourselves, things will change. When He is praised, when He is worshiped, when we vocally and prominently declare His supernatural actions and reflect on the results of overflowing His love and grace for the nations, then we will be amazed at how He will move among us.

“If I be lifted up” Jesus said, He promised to draw all men and women unto Him. Not only did He then on the cross, but He will now among us this day.

That will be amazing when we finally do.

Lift up Jesus. Glorify His Name. Forget about yourself for a moment and think, thank Him.

Now think on this and see what good things the Lord has in store for you and those around you.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

Please sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter: Now Think On This

This Friday night, Aug. 2, 2019, at 7 pm, Strength For Israel will be having our monthly meeting, the 2^nd one to be held in the main auditorium of The Barn, at Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, SC. Come and celebrate the goodness of our God! Look here: Strength For Israel

Love For His People ministry

P.O. Box 414

Pineville, NC 28134

loveforhispeople@gmail.com

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

Now Think On This #443 - in the year of our Lord 07.30.19 – “If I Be Lifted Up” – Tuesday, 5:30 am

Joshua Aaron - new CD - "Live at the Tower of David" May 2019

Joshua Aaron - new CD 

- "Live at the Tower of David" 

May 2019

May 10, 2019

This was in the mail when I got home from Israel. Thanks, Joshua Aaron for your gift and sharing your music of Yeshua HaMashiach with us!

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

Love For His People ministry

Charlotte, NC USA

Order here: Joshua Aaron - Live at the TOWER OF DAVID 

Paul Wilbur - "Song of Ezekiel" (dry bones live!) - Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, SC

Paul Wilbur - "Song of Ezekiel" (dry bones live!)

- Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, SC

Steve Martin

Published on Feb 24, 2019

Paul Wilbur - "Song of Ezekiel" (dry bones live!) - Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, SC Feb. 24, 2019 Sunday, 10 am meeting Videos filmed and shared by Steve Martin - to give appreciation to and love for those we support, through Love For His People, Inc.

Category

Travel & Events

Israel! - Here we come again! More Ahava Adventures!

Israel! - Here we come again! More Ahava Adventures!

May & October 2019

We like Israeli camels! - Steve & Laurie Martin

Feb. 16, 2019

Love For His People's Ahava Adventures!, our bi-annual ministry trips to Israel, will again be happening this May and October 2019.

Those joining Laurie and I will be visiting the Aliyah Return Center in Tiberias in the Galilee, the new location where Yeshua (Jesus) was baptized near Jericho, Masada, the Dead Sea, and of course the Israeli capital city of Jerusalem.

The baptismal site near Jericho, where Yeshua was most likely immersed. (Photo by Steve Martin, 2013)

Our main purpose in travel is to always encourage and spend time with friends, families, and ministries that Love For His People supports monthly with financial and spiritual support.

Up front, you need to know that we don't do the "typical" 30-40 people bus tour, though I have recommendations if you ever want to. Our friends here in Charlotte, NC, and the Fort Mill, SC area do annual tourist bus tours, which I highly recommended for the 1st time tourist.

Our Ahava Adventures (ahava is love in Hebrew) take you for 8-9 days on the very same ground that Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and above all, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, walked. We will get you connected to His Land, but even more importantly with His people. Each and every believer needs to have, at least once in their lifetime, a connection to the People of Israel, personally.

The Lord is bringing back (making aliyah) the Jews of the nations to their Promised Land. Come spend time with the ones who have already done so.

If ever you want to join us, let us know!

For further information:

Ahava Adventures
Love For His People ministry
P.O. Box 414
Pineville, NC 28134

loveforhispeople@gmail.com

Come along!

Steve & Laurie Martin
Founders

P.S. These two this year will be Steve's 20th and 21st times of travel to Israel. I know some places you have never gone before. Or might not ever will, unless...

(Below photos by Steve Martin - October 2018)

Hostel staff on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem

The Golden Gate (Eastern Gate)

.

Gathering together in Jerusalem

Ben Yehuda Street entertainer

Jerusalem

ISSUES online! Spiritual but not Religious - Matt Sieger A Messianic Jewish Perspective

Many people today say they are spiritual but not religious. But what does that mean? According to the Hebrew Scriptures, the source of true spirituality is the divine breath of God. Have you connected with Him?

Is it either/or? Spiritual but not Religious? by Ruth Rosen Issues relevant to the “spiritual but not religious” movement are so ancient that the Jewish Bible addresses many of them—and so does Jesus in the “Newer” Testament. Read more! God was a child? Messianic Prophecies (Fulfilled) by Rich Robinson The New Testament throughout shows that Jesus is indeed the “Mighty God” who has come among us as a human being. Jesus does things only God can do, such as forgive sins and command nature to obey him. Read more! I knew in an instant! Jewish Father. Catholic Mother. Protestant Wife. My Cure for Spiritual Confusion by Philippe Lewkowicz I had a semblance of Jewish education and a strong sense of Jewish identity. But since my home was a home without God – and since the Christians and the Jews I knew did not seem to truly believe – I assumed that God must be present elsewhere. Read more! The first Reform Jew? Q&A: What Kind of Jew was Jesus? by Jews for Jesus The kind of Judaism Jesus represented is debated, but Judaism it was. For there was as yet nothing called “Christianity.” Read more!

ONLINE EXTRAS! IssuesMag Publication Site or view the entire edition as a PDF here: © 2018 Jews for Jesus | All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy Jews for Jesus 60 Haight St San Francisco, CA 94102 USA | Phone: 415-864-2600