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  If you want to know a little more about the leader of Beit Anya Messianic Congregation, here's your chance...
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Well, this is how one particular Jewish lad became Bar Mitzvah - Son of the Covenant Blessing
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While studying for my Bar-mitzvah ceremony,
I was learning to translate Genesis chapter 22,, in which Abraham
is told by G-d to take his dearly loved son, Isaac, to a Mountain
in order to sacrifice him there. Well you can imagine I wasn't
too impressed by G-d on this one.. I mean - I bet He wouldn't do
it, I thought to myself.. I really thought I knew what G-d was
all about.. until..
.. one July day after my 12th birthday
The
"Finchley Carnival" is a fun-fair - held annually a
couple of miles from my home. As I walked through the turnstile I
was handed a small piece of paper. It was an invitation to
"Come to the Jesus Tent"
Ha! I'll show them a thing or two, I thought to myself!!
I walked along and the first marquee was the "Baby
Show" tent. Strangely enough I wasn't that interested.. but
outside the next tent was a multi-lingual placard with words like
"Bienvenu", "Buenos Dias",
"Welcome", and mOl& "Shalom"..
Talk about red rag to a bull, or bacon butty
to a rabbi... "Jesus Tent", eh? "What right do
these Christians have to use my Jewish language? Since when do
Christians use the Jewish word, "Shalom"??
Oh boy am I gonna tell them a thing or two??!
So in I went like a little 5 foot zealot - like Paul on the road
to the Damascan Church, "breathing threats and murder
against the church" as it says in Acts chapter 9 verse 1..
When I went in
I was met, very pleasantly by a guy named Paul ... the name of
one of my brothers. I told him that I was concerned about the
Christians using "my language".. We talked for a long
time, and he seemed genuinely interested in the fact that I was
Jewish. We spoke about forgiveness, sin and all kinds of
"religious" words like that. Paul showed me many of the
promises that God made about sending His Servant, the Messiah,
which were written in the Hebrew Bible - what people usually call
the "Old Testament."
I was absolutely amazed at this, but didn't know what to do
next.. it was getting late and I had to cycle home.. I took a
number of leaflets with me and thanked Paul for his time.
That
night I remembered what was written on someone's t-shirt in the
Tent.. words spoken by a young Rabbi two millennia ago, in a room
upstairs in a small building in Jerusalem, as he took part in the
Passover meal
:
(John's gospel chapter 14 verse 6)
Well, that was a really serious claim.. if it was true. I read more, about the way Jesus was put on trial, prophecied over 700 years previous in Isaiah chapter 53, condemned to death.. how He suffered the terrible agony of crucifixion.. prophecied centuries before in Psalm 22
and
finally how after dying, having a spear thrust into His side, He
was buried.
Or perhaps finally after all..
I
read on.. about His resurrection from the dead, prophecied also
in Isaiah 53.. I came back to one other verse in
John's gospel. chapter 3, verse 16:
G-d loved the world so much
that He gave His one and only Son
so
that anyone who believes in Him will not die
but
will live for ever"
Now, what was it I had thought about Abraham?? - how unfair it was of G-d to tell Abraham to put the wood on his son's back, to take him up the hill, to offer him as a sacrifice.. and yet here was Y'shua, G-d's beloved Son, with the wood of the cross-beam on His back, going up the hill to the place of crucifixion, to be offered as a sacrifice, once for all time..
I went back to the Carnival the following night.
As I approached the Tent I started to cry. I found myself weeping because in a small way I'd begun to see what a life I'd lived. I used to steal, to lie, to cheat.. I used to be so deceitful.. I would argue.. I was so selfish. I wasn't worthy to stand before G-d.
I went into the Tent and sat down at a table. Someone was singing an old song "Put your hand in the hand of the Man Who stilled the waters". I really wanted peace -I wanted "Shalom" mOl& in the middle of the storms of life, I wanted peace.
Someone came up to me, sat down and put their arm round my shoulder. "Is there anything we can do?" he asked. I just blurted out how I felt - that in the words of the Bible I was a sinner.. I was no good in G-d's sight. The young man simply said that he knew G-d loved me so very much.. that Jesus really did die to take away my guilt.. everything that stood in the way of having a real relationship with G-d, my Father. By this time a few others had gathered round as we talked. Finally the young man asked me.. "Do you want to know Jesus?". My response was immediate: "Yes, I do", I said. So he prayed a simple prayer, talking naturally to G-d, His heavenly Father, amazingly, he started by thanking G-d for creating me, thanking Him for loving me, for bringing me to the Tent, and thanking Jesus for dying, and rising for me.
Then
he asked me if I would pray a prayer with him. I repeated simple
phrases after him.. talking to G-d in a real way for the first
time in my life. I said how sorry I was for my past. I thanked
Jesus for giving me the chance of a brand new life. And then I
asked Y'shua to come and live within me by His power.
Suddenly
it was as if fireworks had gone off inside me!!
My whole body - inside and out - felt washed by a powerful burst
of energy - like a strong waterfall.. my eyesight became sharp,
my hearing became clear, everything became vibrant and real.. and
I knew.. I that I had been
forgiven. Now I was laughing and crying with tears of joy and
happiness! It was real - everything that had been written about
Jesus - I knew beyond doubt - it was real!
I knew from that moment on, even though I would fail Him, and I
would stumble my way into heaven, that Jesus was with me for all
time, and for eternity..Best Friend, Guide, Shepherd, G-d and
King!!
Within a short while, I was outside the tent telling people:
"I've met Jesus!! I've found my Messiah! I've been
forgiven!! He's real!!"
Over the weeks I began to go to church,read the Hebrew scriptures with a new intensity, pray and sing praises to Avinu Malchenu -
our Father, our King -
and although I often did let my Y'shua down, I knew then,
as I know know, that my life will never be the same.
Y'shua has made all the difference - Thank G-d!
A while ago I went up to London, and drove past the place where I first really heard that amazing news about Jesus - Y'shua - the Messiah,almost thirty years ago. Then I went a couple of miles down the road and stood outside the house our family used to live in for so long. It was raining.
The
conifer trees still smelled the way they used to the day my
father laid the tarmac in the drive. I remembered him building
the garage. I remembered cutting the hedge, washing the car,
cutting the grass. And now? Now other people live there. Other
people cut the grass.. other people drive their cars in and out,
use the front door, sit in the garden.
And what
has happened since the day I left that house?
So very
much. My life has changed and turned, the days and months, years
and seasons have turned around.
I have worked, married, had children, separated, divorced,
studied.. been well off, been poor.. learned to drive.. dated,
been single.. gained weight, slimmed down, grown a beard,
remarried, fathered a new little baby boy, and now work in a
Language School
But what has
remained? What has been constant in
all this?
Simply
this. that Y'shua, Jesus, my Messiah has
forgotten me, never forsaken me.
And He promises to all who come to Him that same eternal
promise.. "I will not leave you like orphans" as He
spoke nearly 2,ooo years ago in that upper room in Jerusalem.
I'm not perfect. But I know Someone Who is always there for me,
always picks me up.
He loves me... anoints my cuts and
bruises.. speaks tenderly to me.. and sharply at times, too.
"The L-rd is my Shepherd", said David, King of Israel.
"I have everything I
need"
Y'shua told His followers in John 10:10:
"I am the Good Shepherd.. My Sheep hear my voice."
Have
you heard the Voice of the Shepherd calling you? Come on home..
let Him bind up your wounds... let Him pour soothing oil on your
hurts, your scrapes, your wounds, and you will find rest for your
soul. I know.
I loved that house in Athenaeum Road, in North London. But I have
a better home to go to. Somewhere Jesus has prepared for me.. and
for all who follow Him. If it were not so, He would have said
so...
Come home. The Shepherd is calling. Because He loves you.
I'd
love to come and share some of these wonderful truths with you,
whether you're in a little room with a few friends or in a big
"Church" or college..
in fact
wherever you are, I'd be thrilled to spend time singing to G-d
with you, praying and asking G-d's blessings on you, talking with
you... and encouraging you to get to know Y'shua in a real and
special way
If
you want to talk with me, or invite me along then please e-mail
me at Or
why not come along to our Conference in October 2000 - visit the
next link for information...
What do the Scriptures say
about Messiah?
Find out where the Hebrew Scriptures foretell events relating to
Messiah; many have been
WWW Bible Gateway
Search for any verse in the Bible! Several translations
Moriel Ministries
Straight-talking Biblical teaching
Stan Telchin Ministries
A Jewish family's lives changed through reading the Messianic
prophecies!
Jerusalem Post Daily Internet
Daily version of the Jerusalem Post newspaper
70 Prophecies of Messiah's
first Coming
Details of seventy out of many fulfilled Messianic prophecies -
LINKS to much more
times. You've made
a difference!
