Bearing Fruit In The Midst of Conflict
Dear friend in the Messiah,
Shalom in His peace. I leave for Israel in a couple of weeks to encourage the staff, share the gospel with Israelis, and lead a tour culminating in the dedication of our new Tel Aviv Messianic Center.
This has been a long time coming, and, frankly, it has not been easy building out a new facility during a war! It has been a challenge to continue our regular ministries of evangelism and discipleship as well. War takes its toll on adults and children, and it is still difficult for Israelis to live in the shadow of October 7, 2023. The loss of lives, sense of security, and trust in the government, as well as the negative response of so many in the West to Israel’s defensive actions in Gaza and southern Lebanon, have caused a sense of hopelessness and fear to fall upon most Israelis.
I am personally thankful for the many Christians who have stood up and supported Israel and opposed growing global antisemitism. This causes me to be so grateful for my brothers and sisters in the Lord!
We are seeing the hearts of many in Israel more open to the Lord than before. When humanity disappoints, we tend to look to heaven for help and power to live a fruitful life, which is what is happening in Israel at this moment in history!
Jesus is the Prince of Peace, yet He was no stranger to conflict from the time of His birth onward, with a band of enemies committed to destroying Him. From the Sanhedrin to the Roman leaders of first-century Israel, Jesus faced controversy after controversy and conflict after conflict.
Yet, Jesus did not waver in His divine purpose. He said to His disciples that He was ready to face what He knew would be certain death as it was the will of His Father and predicted in Old Testament passages like Isaiah 53. Matthew described Jesus telling His disciples about that suffering, “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Matthew 16:21).
Jesus was more than willing to face danger and potential harm in order to fulfill the divine plan, which called upon Him to suffer for the sins of humanity.
He was born to die!
Isaiah predicted the Messiah’s humiliating death when he wrote,
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4–5)
Jesus did not deserve this predicted punishment but embraced His calling, bearing our shame and enduring the very judgment for sin that we deserved. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
The justice we deserved, He received, and all He earned through His perfect obedience, we received!
He did not flinch but faced His fate with a deep sense of purpose, knowing He was ordained before the creation of the earth to be our perfect sacrifice. He is our example of how to face the dark moments of life with grace, grit, and determination.
I see these Jesus-like traits evident in the lives of our Israel staff. For the last 600 days, they have continued in their ministries, raising their children, and bearing the loss of friends and family, and God has blessed their efforts with wonderful fruit.
Our Israel staff have flourished spiritually post-October 7, 2023, and throughout the ensuing defensive war. The Lord is moving powerfully through them, and there is a hunger for the gospel among Israelis that goes far beyond what we see in times of peace.
We are now finishing the construction of our new Tel Aviv Messianic Center, which is two-and-a-half times the size of our current rental space. We will now have room to grow our ministries to both adults and children, which previously had limitations because of a lack of space.
An Expanded Ministry in Israel
- Concerts
We will continue to have monthly concerts at our new center, but now we will be able to hold more than one hundred people and provide programs for the children while the adults are enjoying the worship. We regularly have Jewish seekers attend these concerts, which also support the growing Messianic music movement within Israel. - Sabbath Dinners
Our Sabbath dinners are evangelistic hubs where believers can bring their not-yet-believing friends and relatives to a warm, friendly, and delicious Sabbath meal. Many young people, including believers serving in the army, have been coming to these dinners. We usually have a speaker, testimonies, and music at these dinners as well. In the new center, we will be able to double the number of people at our Sabbath events. - Bible Studies
We have weekly Bible studies for a general group as well as studies for men and women separately. One of our past hardships was that we were not able to adequately provide a variety of levels of children’s programs, which we will now have the capacity to organize. We are so delighted about this as Israel has a young population—there are a lot of children to serve in the name of Jesus. - Public Lectures
We will now be able to offer gospel-centered topics for both believers and unbelievers in our new space. We now have room for well over one hundred individuals to come and learn about engaging topics from personal finance to child-rearing. We will also be able to provide tools to handle war-related post-traumatic stress.
We base our public lectures on Scripture, and the topics are so relevant that many people from the community want to attend. - Youth and Children’s Ministries
We are a family-oriented ministry, and parents enjoy bringing their children to our events. We will have room for graded children’s programs while the adults are involved in other activities at the new center. The Center enables us to expand our ministry among children and helps us better serve their parents. We have the teachers and materials, but we have not had the room—until now.
More and More Fruit!
I am reminded of the words of Jesus our Messiah, our master teacher, who often used everyday illustrations when talking to Jewish people in the first century. The Messiah spoke about vines, vineyards, and fruit, and He used these well-known images to explain what it means to walk with God and have an empowered, productive, and joyful relationship with the Lord in John 15.
He said to His disciples,
I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1–2)
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4–5)
He told His disciples to focus on what is inside. The circumstances of life, both on a national and international scale as well as in our home and family life, deeply impact us, but Jesus encourages the disciples to abide in Him to bear fruit.
Think with me for a moment about all that your Mission has endured in the past 131 years of service among the Jewish people. Yet today, we are more fruitful than ever! We battled through the Great Depression, two world wars, the Holocaust, the wars surrounding the establishment of the modern State of Israel, pandemics and plagues, October 7, and a myriad of terrorist attacks on Israel.
By the grace of God, we still stand. We are reaching more Israelis and Jewish people across the globe than ever before through our evangelistic efforts, hosting networks, digital media campaigns, and one-on-one, heart-to-heart Bible studies and evangelistic conversations.
God is good, and He will continue to bless as He promised, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:8).
Thank you for your prayers, love, and generous support as we bring the gospel to Jewish people in the United States, Israel, and in eighteen other countries around the world!
May your abiding in the Lord be joyful and sweet!
Your brother,
Mitch