Monday, April 20, 2009
Session 86: Judaism
These studies have been really good for me. I have learned a whole lot by just reading over the material and reading your comments. To begin with, the Jews believe there is only one God. We all should be able to quote the Shema. We said it over and over again when we did the Jerusalem VBS. They also believe that scripture is inferior to tradition. Well...we may have some Jews in our church.!? Our method or reaching people may change, but God's word will never change. We hold to the scripture and are not willing to back down from what we believe. Have you defended your faith lately? Jews also believe that humanity is basically good. We hear constantly from the pulpit that we ARE NOT good. No, not a single one of us. We are all dirty rotten sinners, but thanks be to God we are saved by grace. They also believe in earning your salvation. We understand that salvation is free to anyone who calls on the name of the Lord. It is not earned by works so that none can boast. Oh yeah, I did more for God than you did today!!! Thankfully we don't have to compete with Bro. Buddy!! Jewish people observe the law, the Sabbath,festivals and feasts. What Jewish people do is more important than what they believe. We understand that the law was fulfilled in Jesus Christ(Matt 5:17).Jewish people are also looking for the messiah to come. We know that he has already came as a baby born of a virgin. As you can see, I basically covered the main topics in this week's lesson. Let's dig deeper and see what we can uncover about Judaism. Paul, could you please post the ways to witness to Jewish people as described in the book you have? I think this would be a big help for everyone. What about it guys? What have you discovered this week in studying?
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4 comments:
I had an unusual opportunity to get into a "political" discussion with one of our Jewish physicians yesterday. We were talking about socialized medicine and the other scary things that Obama seems to be doing. He made the comment that "the fundamentalists Christians have been saying this since Clinton" and my remark was, "and we were right!". He then asked if I was "one of those" and I proudly stated that I was. The discussion went on into world events (Paul, you would have loved this one) and what is happening in the middle east. I told him that it was all in the Bible. He asked where and I told him to read Daniel and correlate with Revelation. We were interrupted at that point, but it was a good discussion. Please keep this man in your prayers (his name is Bob). Maybe God will use these times to soften his heart to His word!
I haven't had a chance to start on the lesson this week, but Billy you and Debbie are on the mark. From experience with some folks who witness to Jews, they will tell you Jews think they are perfect. Just as Billy and the Bible says, you have to realize you are a sinner before you realize the need of a Savior. The way you do this is using the Law. James 1:25 says the law is like a mirror it shows who you truly are, a sinner. I can't tell you how many witness encounters with Jews, that I have heard, and they will tell you they have kept the 10 commandments (Law) perfectly.
Debbie, you were perfect in your encounter with the Jewish doctor. One of the things you want to do is take them to their Bible, the Old Testament. Then show them how it points to the NT. They obey the shadow of what has come, The Word! Without reading my book, I can tell you if you are witnessing to a Jewish friend, quote all the OT verses that speaks of the Messiah and how they are fulfilled in Christ. What you will find from Orthodox Jews especially, they will not utter the name Jesus Christ, they call Him JC or some other name. They, Orthodox Jews, hate Jesus Christ....Gee, seems I have heard before there is power in His name.
P.S.
Crystal and Debbie, I meant to tell you Sunday evening that you did a good job with the Islam study. Vickie (mainly) and I quiz our kids each night about what they learned in school that day. It is our habit at Sunday Dinner to talk about the lesson from Sunday School as well as sermon. The youth part is easy since we teach it and the children part is also since we recap it in Children Church. Leslie explained well why Islam is wrong and Christianity is true. Vickie and I have started giving a written test to our class at the end of sections. We gave one this past Sunday covering the end times section, to see if we have been faithful to the word. I want to find out now vs having Jesus tell me I did a lousy job.
Oddly enough, after the studying Judaism, I may have more respect for the Islamic faith. At least they know what they beleive. The Jews have no universal doctrinal requirements. The more liberal Jews may not believe in God at all, yet they're still accepted as Jews. The majority don't recognize Jesus Christ even as a prophet, much less the Messiah. They seem to be most accepting of all other religions. Personally, I think Christians are right. With that being said, the others must be wrong. How can a person be a devout Christian, Muslim, Jew or whatever and still accept other religious beliefs. Jesus said we should love others as ourselves. Loving others means telling them that without Jesus Christ they're doomed to spend eternity in Hell. Maybe I'm missing something here. Am I on target or not?
After reading all the materials this week, I could not believe how confused Jews are in their beliefs. I knew they had several traditions and many of them thought the Messiah was yet to come. What really surprised me that many of them don’t even recognize Jesus as a prophet –how can that be? He was one of their own. Did these people not learn anything by handing over Jesus to be crucified? I agree with John on this one. I think I have more respect for the Muslims now. This would be a hard group to witness to given they think they are perfect and everyone is basically good. They need to know that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God and they need a Savior.
"I am not ashamed of the gospel (of Jesus Christ), because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile" (Romans 1:16). How could they read that and not believe that Jesus as the Messiah?
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Hebrew prophecies of a coming Messiah. Psalms 22:14-18 describes an event undeniably similar to Jesus' crucifixion, "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." Clearly this messianic prophecy can be none other than Jesus Christ whose crucifixion fulfilled each of these details (Luke 23; John 19).
I guess after the first books on the Bible, the teachings do not hold up to their traditions so they decided to ignore the rest.
On a different note –God really does work in mysterious ways. Many of you know Xavier’s mom and stepdad were arrested a few weeks ago on drug charges (please don’t mention anything around him). We have an inmate at City Hall who does all our cleaning. Our last inmate left last week and our new inmate happens to be Sophie (Xavier’s mom). Please pray for her this may be the only chance I have to witness to her. I don’t know how long she will be in the county jail before she is sentenced.
Paul thanks for the compliment. I want all of you to know what a good job your doing. Our youth will be more knowledgeable and ready to witness after this Fuel.
Crystal
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