I grew up Jewish and found Jesus — what you need to know about Shalom and Shiloh

Shalom, Shalom.

Well, y' all didn't sound much.

There I was preaching a conference at a church, been a few

years now.

And each night of the conference I always said, shalom,

shalom.

And they did like you, they just sat there and stared.

Finally, one gentleman about three quarters of the way back looked

at me and said, when I said, shalom, shalom, he looked at me and

said, what does shalom mean?

He shouted out and I said, shalom means I looked him straight

in the eye that you owe me a thousand dollars.

Yeah, that's all I got was laughter.

Of course, you know, I noticed I said it twice, didn't you?

So if I can't get one, I tried for two, but neither one worked.

But hey, you know, it means peace.

It means.

It also has the connotation of hello, goodbye, but it literally

means peace.

And of course, as a believer, we have the peace that passes all

understanding, do we not?

So it's a greeting that of course in Hebrew that's typically

done.

My name is Phil Savoloski.

I'm the founder and director of the Olive Tree Ministry International.

We are a church based independent Baptist Jewish Outreach

ministry out of the Victory Baptist Church in Weatherford, Texas.

I think you're familiar with that church.

My wife Deborah, if you'll stand.

My wife Deborah, I do ask for prayer.

She's leaving tomorrow to Ohio.

Her dad is a longtime pastor, over 51 years the same church.

And he's having a little bit of.

He has Alzheimer's and having struggles and she's going up to help.

So I would ask for your prayer.

I always ask for prayer.

We just celebrated our 50th anniversary.

We're almost at our 51st anniversary and you have to know

the background.

See, when I married her, she had two strikes against her.

She's a gentile now, if you didn't know it, I'm a Jew, but gasp.

Her second strike was that she's a Yankee from Ohio.

Of course, I'm a Southern Jew, so you can see what's going on here.

But the good news is she has never got the third strike.

I probably have gotten it many times, but she has never gotten the

third strike.

So the Lord's been so good, you might go ahead and turn your

Bibles to Matthew chapter 19 as I get prepared here a little bit.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

But as you're turning to that, I want to talk a little bit about

our ministry.

You all have supported our ministry for a number of years now,

and we appreciate your prayers and appreciate your support and I'M

honored to be able to opportunity to just tell you a little

bit what Olive Tree is doing.

Y' all took the clock out, so I will do this.

I thought I saw a clock somewhere.

But anyway, we'll just do it this way.

But anyway, Olive Tree ministry is 33 years going there

it is.

And trying to let me know what time it is.

So not that it means anything, but at least I know I'm going late.

I'm a good Baptist preacher.

But anyway.

But olive tree ministry, 33 years.

And in the that we've been doing this ministry, we believe it's

the local church that's been commissioned to reach the lost.

And we work through other independent Baptist sister churches,

encourage them to reach their Jewish friends.

How many have a Jewish friend that know of a Jewish friend?

Would you raise your hand?

Oh, see a lot of hands.

Would you do me a favor?

Would you do me a favor?

Would you write down on the back of something, a piece of paper

if you have a Jewish friend, I would like to have their name and

then put JF and then put your name and that would be CM Church

member.

So there was a guy that did this and we prayed for almost a year

and a half till I found out we were praying for the person who was

the church member, thinking that that was the Jewish person.

But anyhow, would you do that?

I would appreciate that.

We have a prayer list that we give out to many churches as well.

And if you send in an extra hundred dollars, we'll lay hands

on it.

Oh, I'm sorry, that's my TV ministry.

I'm teasing if you didn't know it, but I like to have a little fun

in doing what we do.

But those guys on the tv, they just crazy and all.

But anyway, we pray for it.

Olive Tree ministry.

We have a once a month virtual tour of Israel.

I've led 15 trips to Israel and so once a month I teach through

Zoom.

And the good news, it's free and been doing now for four years,

ever since COVID hit back in 2022, I think it is.

So we have a the class once a month and that we try to pray when

we can for the people that we add to the list as well as we teach

on different things as if we were going to Israel as a virtual

tour.

And we've been.

We have.

We have a flash drive in the back that you can purchase that is

video because we video the class and it's available for the

offering there.

Olive Tree Ministry sees our ministry is basically two parts Real

simple Jewish evangelism.

We believe that the local church has been commissioned to reach

the Jewish people with the gospel.

And so we go to churches and help.

Last church I was at, they had a Jewish man, a man that was witnessing

to a Jewish man.

And we were able to give them material and help understand and

explain things.

And we'll be helping him in the future as well with the material

as well.

So we work with churches, helping, encouraging, seeing Jewish

people with the gospel.

We've seen a number of Jewish people get saved through Jewish people

who were friends and members of a church.

We have the second part, besides evangelism and our virtual

tour as well, is seeing the Bible through Jewish eyes.

I have the privilege to teach at Norris Bible Baptist Seminary,

teach just a couple days a week, and I get the easy classes.

I teach the book of Revelation and eschatology and prophetical books

and general epistles.

And so when the semester comes, it changes as we go.

The Lord is so blessed.

And so it's a joy to be there and to teach that.

We also travel and speak.

I do a lot of prophecy conferences.

I do a lot of feast conferences.

We have the Passover that we do demonstration on, and we do with

the other feasts as well.

The greatest prophetical book is a book rarely read.

It's Leviticus, the Book of Leviticus.

And so we enjoy doing that as we travel and speak all over the

United States as well as outside.

We also have the privilege to lead trips to Israel.

We've led 15 trips since 2001, and we did.

Did one this June.

Unfortunately, we could only go to Greece because we could not

go to Israel because of the battle.

But so anyhow, we do trips.

If you've never gone, you ought to want to go.

And so Olive Tree Ministry, it's a ministry that we're working

with churches to reach their Jewish friends.

We believe that's the best way.

That's the way God's commissioned to do it.

And so that's how we do it with Olive Tree Ministry.

This morning I'll be speaking just a second.

This evening I'll be speaking as well.

And we'll have the message.

This evening is probably one of those messages that is so impactful

that will help you understand what we're doing, what we're to be

doing today, and why I don't want to give the title out, because

if I do, you'll go, oh, I know that, but do you?

And so we'll hopefully come back tonight and we'll be talking

a very, very Important topic dealing with why we do what we do.

So we're in Matthew, chapter 19.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

This is my life's testimony.

The title of the message of this morning that I can give you

that now is from the Shema and Shadows to Shiloh and Shalom.

Now, most people, when they hear the title, they always go, I

wish this Jew would speak English.

Well, we will.

Now, would you do me a favor?

Would you stand one last time as we read the word of God in the

book of Nehemiah, chapter 8?

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

Ezra was on the platform.

Of course, I'm no Ezra, but I am on a platform.

He was in front of a pulpit of wood, and I am in front of a pulpit

of wood.

And he had six guys on his right, and he had seven guys on his

left.

And he was going to be speaking Hebrew.

And of course they had pretty well lost the language.

And so they would go out to translate what Ezra was saying.

Now, hopefully we don't need translators.

My English will hopefully be good enough.

But the Bible says when it was opened, the people stood.

And I've always liked that.

So we're in Matthew, chapter 19.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

We're in verse 27.

The Bible says, then answered Peter and said unto him, behold,

we have forsaken all and follow thee.

What shall we have?

Therefore jump to verse 29.

This is my life's verse.

Everybody ought to have a life's verse.

This is mine.

And everyone that had forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or

father or mother or wife or children or.

Or lands.

And here's the key.

For my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit

everlasting life.

Let's pray.

Our gracious Heavenly Father, thank you again for this opportunity

privilege to be in this great church.

Lord, I ask that you hide me behind the cross.

Let them not see me, but see Christ in me.

May they see the power of the Gospel has the power to change lives,

impact us.

This morning, in Jesus name I pray and with thanksgiving.

Amen.

You may be seated.

Before I begin, I mentioned in my prayer, one of the biggest things

I think we forget in our going to church and reading the Bible is

how the Bible, the scriptures, impacts our life.

Please see in my testimony, not me, but how in Christ we can

truly do all things.

The truth of the matter is most of us think, well, you know

God, he just does the big things.

I'm way down here, just a little person on earth.

What's God want from me?

And so we think of too little of what God can do.

See, I believe Your testimony.

I believe my testimony.

You know, a deep subject.

Your pastor is always talking about theology.

I think your test.

I believe your testimony.

My testimony is theology in action.

It's where the rubber meets the road.

If you know Spanish, that doesn't work.

I spoke in Honduras one time and I said those words.

And the translator, Leslie, probably looked at me and said, brother

Savloski, I'm sorry, that doesn't work in Spanish.

Rubber meets the roads is a.

Anyway, I go on.

So it's why we do what we do.

We look at the world today not from what the newspaper says, not

what the TV say, not what the President of the United States says.

We look today in the world through biblical eyes.

The Bible is our guide.

And the Bible tells us how we're to do, what we're to do, when

we're to do it.

And that's how our theology is in action now, years ago, many, many

years ago, as we've been doing 33 years of ministry, but we had

just started Olive Tree Ministry.

God taught me a lesson.

We had just bought a car.

We bought a car, basically, we were going to be using for deputation

to preach and teach and start Olive Tree ministry.

Believe God had called us to do that.

And that morning, my wife had left with the car, and I was typically

what I do in the morning, I'm on the computer studying, working,

things like that, when the phone rang.

I picked up the phone, and my wife of then 15 years.

First words I heard when I picked up the phone was, honey, I'm

all right.

I don't know how you would react if that's the first thing you

heard your spouse say.

But my reaction was, how all right?

Are you all right?

And she said, well, a man ran a red light and smacked into the

car, but I'm okay, but could you come down and help?

And so I immediately ran down and got in the other car and I drove

where she was at, looked her up and down, she was fine, the guy

was okay.

And then I began and looked over at that car, that car we had

prayed over, that car that we were going to use for Lord, I began

to have a party.

You ever been to one of those parties?

It's always a party of one.

It's called a pity party.

Oh, you've been there.

And so I began going, why begin, you know, lord, we did this

for you.

We bought this for you.

Why?

And some Bible verses began to jump into my mind.

Galatians 6.

For the Bible says, for I bear in my body the marks the impact of

the Lord Jesus.

Paul had stated earlier, I am crucified.

I am impacted with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live.

Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of

the Son, of a God who loved me.

I like that part and gave himself for me from the Shema and

shadows.

Well, let's learn like this.

I like a testimony that teaches and preaches as well as testimony.

Turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy and we're going to begin

chapter six real quickly.

And I want you to see this in Deuteronomy, because this is the

foundation of the Jewish faith and it's what will help us to understand

how Jewish people see and think things.

So we're in Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

It's a verse of Scripture that you're well known.

It's in verse four.

Deuteronomy, chapter six.

Now stay with me.

Now look at the verse.

Follow along with me.

Let me quote it for you.

Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 4.

Deuteronomy 6:4

The Bible says Shema yisroel adonoheinu ad.

Why are y' all looking at me so funny?

Doesn't your Bible say that?

Well, sure it does.

I just quoted in Hebrew and you're looking at the English.

Okay, I'll say it in English so you can follow along.

The first word is Shema.

Here it's command.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love

the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with

all thy might.

From the Shema and the shadows, Jesus dealt with this verse

of Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

So turn with me to Matthew 22.

I want you to see how Jesus dealt with this verse.

Because it's the foundation of monotheism.

It's the teaching of understanding that there is one Lord.

And that's the key doctrine, that the triunity of the Godhead

is the most important doctrine of all doctrines.

You lose the Trinity, you lose everything.

And so During Matthew chapter 22, Jesus speaks to the certain groups

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

and I have to do something to teach on this Matthew 22.

So let me do it this way.

I have to split the church for just for a second.

I'll bring you back together and I'll make this side be the Sadducees.

If you didn't know it, they were the liberal of that time period.

They were the liberals.

And I normally put someone with a beard.

Gentleman over there has got a beard.

I Pick someone with a beard over there.

You don't have to go up and do anything.

But.

But this is the Pharisees, and one's got to have a beard.

And we'll talk about that gentleman, just not him personally,

but the Bible gentleman.

But I got to point someone out.

But anyhow.

And Jesus is talking to the Sadducees in Matthew 22.

He is not physically but spiritually slapping them upside

the head.

I mean, look what it says in Matthew 22 when it says verse 28,

therefore in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the 7?

For they all had her.

And so they're asking about the resurrection, which.

The Sadducees didn't believe in a resurrection.

So they want to know who he is.

If he's with our group, are you with the other group?

And they thought they had him.

And in verse 29, Jesus answered and said to them, ye do

err not knowing the Scriptures.

And who likes to be told that you did something in error?

I mean, you, you.

Someone says, do you realize you did something wrong?

You said something wrong, you taught something wrong, you said

so.

No one likes that.

And that's bad.

What's worse?

Then he says, not only do you err knowing the Scriptures, nor the

power of God.

Wow.

In other words, you don't know the Bible and you don't know the

God of the Bible.

I mean, can you slap somebody harder?

I mean, that's about as bad as it gets.

And he explains what happens.

And we'll not go into that, for that's a different message.

But while Jesus is talking to the Sadducees like this, showing

them up, this group over here, they're looking at Jesus and they're

going, yeah, I don't like that group either.

Of course they don't like Jesus, but that's okay.

And as a matter of fact, they're glad Jesus is putting them

to shame.

And there's one over there, our dear friend with the beard there.

You didn't know about this guy.

This guy has his ba, his bs, his thm, thd, and all sorts of books.

He was a teacher of the teachers back then.

And this guy was brilliant.

He was one of those professors that just knew everything.

You ever had one like that in school?

And so he comes up to speak to Jesus.

I mean, he's gone.

He's going to put everything in proper perspective.

And he's done this before.

He's one of these type of teachers.

Maybe you had one like this before who loves to put people to

shame.

Ask A question that can't be answered.

You know, can.

Can God make a stone that's so heavy even he can't pick it up?

Something like that.

And so the Pharisees had heard that he put the Sadducees to silence.

They're gathered together, and then one of them, which was a lawyer,

and a lawyer means speaking.

Someone taught the law of Moses.

He would have a beard.

And he would be.

For good luck, he would be rubbing his beard like this.

And I can see him just look back to his group going, I got this.

And it says, Scriptures, then says, he says to Jesus.

And then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question,

tempted him and saying, master, which is the great commandment

in the law.

Now, how many laws were in the Bible?

Well, you know, the 10.

Anybody want to say more?

613, to be exact.

But you know, the 10 he's asking, which is the great commandment?

Which is the great commandment of law?

Typical rabbinical response would have been, well, honor thy

mother and father.

But that wasn't the proper one.

And Jesus, understanding what's going on here, pulls back

to Deuteronomy, chapter 6, where he says, thou shalt love the

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with

all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

Now, have you ever had someone ask you a question and they're really

not waiting for you to answer, they're just waiting for you to take

a breath?

And as soon as you take the breath, they go, let me tell you

what the real answer is.

You're not going to get it.

And that's what's going on here.

He's just waiting for Jesus to take the breath.

And I think it's fascinating.

And you guys English majors, never start a sentence with a conjunction

because verse 39 says, and.

And I can just picture in my mind, because Jesus knows what he's

wanting to say.

And he says, and the second is likened it, thou shall love thy neighbor

as thyself.

And then I can just see that lawyer, that scholar thinks he knows

everything.

All of a sudden, his mouth dropping open, going, I never heard

this before.

Then Jesus nails it shut, so to speak, when he says in verse 40,

on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Your relationship with God, Verse four.

Relationship.

Your fellow man, by the way, I won't go.

Time to go first John 4.

But if you're not right with your fellow men, fellow believers,

I don't care how much you read your Bible, I Don't care how much

you pray, you're not right with God.

Go read First John 4.

It's you've got to be it.

Show what your relationship with God's got to be shown your relationship

with others.

And as everybody knows, there's always some in the church

that are hard to get along with and you have to learn to love

them.

So we see the Shema and the shadows.

Shadows Speaking of Hebrews, chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

For the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very

image of things.

The purpose of the Mosaic Law was to bring you to the Christ.

It's your schoolmaster.

Galatians says, I was raised in a concert Orthodox Jewish home.

My brother was a rabbi, Orthodox labavich Rabbi, you say?

Well, what does that mean?

Well, we would call that from the New Testament Pharisee.

Of course they don't use that word.

But he was an orthodox rabbi.

He died in and during COVID and my dad at one time had thoughts

about being a rabbi.

My mother was a secretary at a synagogue and my sister, and it's

only my sister who's living today, she's been a principal of

a Jewish day school for many years.

And so I was raised in a consular Orthodox Jewish home.

And at the age of 13.

You have any 13 year olds here?

Any 13 year olds?

Well, at the age of 13 you're probably in the children's thing,

but at the age of 13 you have what's called a bar mitzvah.

And so at the age of 13 you would actually come up in front of

the synagogue and you would read from the Torah and then you

would preach a message.

But the good news, just as my wife gave me a message, gives me

my messages.

No, not really, but they did give me my message when I was 13.

It was based on Psalms 119, 105.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

I was soon to find out who that lamp was that shineth the light.

See, despite all my religious upbringing as a Jew, despite all

that, I had the God, little God of America.

What is that?

Well, it happens every Sunday during NFL sports.

People love their sports.

It is a religion when someone hits a home run or wins a game on

last play, people actually in the stands doing like that, worshiping

those, they worship what they do and everything they say and they

go on commercials and things like that.

And I had that God as a kid.

When I was young, I didn't smoke, I didn't drink, I didn't do

drugs.

Not because I thought I was wrong, because I thought I couldn't

play sports.

See, I excelled in sports.

Now you might be looking at me going now, brother Sabuloski, Really?

You thought you were going to play football?

Well, when you're 13, 14, 15 years of age.

And back then I was tall, thin and handsome.

What are y' all laughing at?

Hurt my feelings.

Okay, when you get to be my age, you're short, fat and dumpy.

But you'll understand that when you get to be my age.

And so anyway, I was gonna play pro sports, get that million

dollar contract and see how long ago that was.

But it was everything to me.

Matter of fact, I got hurt one game, homecoming game.

And the.

My mom had come up at the hospital and there was a girl who

was a girl I was dating at the time, without my parents knowledge

and permission, asked me, who is that girl in the waiting room?

And I said, I don't know, mom, she must be a fan or something, come

up with a quick lie.

But it was sports was everything to me.

So from the shema here to listen to what God's word is, shadows

the coming of Christ to Shiloh.

Shiloh found in Genesis 49.

We've got to hurry.

Says who is that brings peace?

Ezekiel also says as well, Shiloh is the one that brings shalom,

which is, as I said earlier, peace.

And so everything in my life at one time was going great until

it wasn't.

I was hurt again.

And the doctor looked at me and said, phil, if you were 6 foot

1, 220, a first round draft choice, I'd strap you up and send

you back out.

But you're five foot five at that time, 150, it's time you get

another profession, another.

You should be doing something else.

And so everything I built my young life on was on sports now is

gone.

So I did what every good Jew does.

I began going back into the synagogue.

I began going through all the rituals that the synagogue requires.

And I come to find out that religion will make you look better.

It will make you look good on the outside.

You can have the short hair, carry the Bible, wear the proper

clothes and all say the right words and it will make you look good

on the outside, but it cannot change an inward heart.

That's what religion does.

It makes you look good just on the outside.

So I was empty in that respect, couldn't play sports.

And that girl that I was dating, she was the first person

to ever tell me about Jesus.

Can you imagine that?

This is in America, this is where the Gospels around every corner,

especially in the southern state.

We lived in Florida.

There were 25 churches within a 25 mile or 30 mile radius of our

house.

And you had never heard the gospel.

Typically, most Jews don't hear the gospel today unless you

bring it to them.

She was the first one to tell me about Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5, 2,

Isaiah 7:14

Isaiah 53.

I did what any typical Jew does when you talk about the Bible.

I went and said, rabbi, what do these verses mean?

He looked at me and said, chayim, my Hebrew name is Chayim

Dov I ben Alteram Yaakov, or just call me Brother Phil and I'll

still come to eat.

But he said, chaim, you must understand the Old Testament.

Jews don't like to call the Bible Old Testament.

Who likes to be called Old.

And so they'll call it the Hebrew Scriptures, they'll call it

the Tanakh.

And he said the Tanakh is for the Jew and the New Testament, that's

for the Gentiles.

And he turned around and walked away.

I began doing something that was so important, began reading the

Word of God.

The Word of God is what is more powerful than any two edged

sword.

It's the word of God that does more than our stories and our thought

processes and our philosophical viewpoints.

It's the word of God.

You want to get someone who's lost to hear what the Scriptures

were saying.

And so I began reading the Bible and I finally came at the end

of almost a year of reading the Bible, came to the conclusion

that Jesus was a promised Messiah.

Isn't that nice?

But what does that got to do with me?

I'm a Jew.

The Bible says the Jew is the apple of God's eye.

And you know what that is.

Talk about your grandkids, great grandkids, talk about your

wife.

They're the apple of your eye and that's why Israel.

And so I, I didn't see the connection.

And so I put the Bible down.

School started back up and there was a couple students that

were talking about, we were in at school there.

When I went there, the school started back up and I heard two guys

talking and I heard one of the guys talking to the other one who

I played sports with.

And they were going to go see a man by the name of Nicky Cruz.

And a cross and a switchblade.

How many have ever heard of Nikki Cruz?

Cross and switchblade.

See a hand or two for you that don't know it.

Back in the late 60s, a preacher went to the gangs of New

York and won after putting his life on the line.

He was witnessing to the gangs and he put his and he ended up leading

the worst of the worst named Nikki Cruz.

They made a movie out of his life story.

I said Nikki Cruz, the Cross and the Switchblade.

You mean it's true?

Now you might be saying, well how would I know who Nikki Cruz is?

Well, God always plants his seed.

A year earlier, before I got hurt, back when I was a captain of

the undefeated junior varsity football team, I had an English class

and the teacher, I need some help from you younger people here,

okay?

I was in class and the teacher asked how many you would like to

get out of school to go see a movie.

Raise your hand.

What self respecting kid would not say yes?

And of course did it matter what the movie was?

No.

And so we went to see the Cross and Switchblade.

Now it was public school, don't know how they allowed to do

that, but they did.

And so we went and I thought it was just a nice story, didn't

think anything of it, didn't even come to my mind until that very

moment where I had been hurt, could not play sports football any

longer.

And my whole life has been turned upside down and told about

the gospel.

Began reading the word of God and oh, just by happen chance I walk

in, I'm teasing there, they're talking about Nikki Cruz.

And I said it's real.

And they said yes.

I said you're going to hear him speak?

Yes.

And I guess I didn't know it.

The, the one guy who I played on sports team was a pk.

I didn't know that preacher's kid.

And he looked at me and said would you like to come?

And I said well where are you meeting?

He said well we're going to meet at the church.

I said no, not going to get in one of them places.

See I heard about churches, people rolling down the aisle, bats

flying around.

You may laugh, but I was at church.

My wife will verify we were at church in Oklahoma, had just preached,

went in the back room talking to some of the people with my books

and other things like that.

And all of a sudden we heard a kapow pastor walked around with a

gun and he had a bat problem coming out of the baptistry.

And so I guess you can have bats come around.

But anyhow I said now you're not going to get me one of them places.

And they said well we're just going to meet at the church and we're

going to take a bus from St. Petersburg, Florida to Clearwater,

Florida.

There's a Coliseum, we can go there.

And I said, okay, I can do that.

And so I went that Friday night to the Coliseum, to the church.

And by the bus we went to see Coliseum.

They were good Baptists.

They got there late.

It was so packed out that you couldn't hear in the auditorium.

So they had a side room that had closed circuit TV.

This is 1972.

That's a long time ago.

And so Closed circuit was high tech.

And so he was already preaching.

And I listened him preach.

And Nicky Cruz talked about how that Paul had said in the Bible

that he was the chief of sinners.

Paul said that?

And Nikki Cruz said, well, if he is a chief of sinners, then he,

Nicky Cruz, was second in command.

And that's when I realized that though I was a Jew, the apple

of God's eye, that if Nicky was second, I must be third.

The death of my sin drove me to the front, went forward and realized

now I know why I need a savior, the Messiah, because of my

sin and accepted Christ as my savior.

That night.

Well, we went home and began wanting to come to church.

Why?

Why would I want to go to church?

Because that's where the word of God is taught.

That's where I meet God.

And when I'm studying the word and being guided to understand it.

That's why I wanted to go there.

But I knew I couldn't walk out in a suit, tie and that kind of stuff.

So I wore jeans and a T shirt, drove around the corner, then changed

clothes and then went to the church for the first time, scared

to death.

I'm 16 years old.

Any ushers here?

You don't know who's going to walk through those doors on any given

Sunday.

I got there and I was going to leave the car running because I thought

if they start chasing me, I could.

I'd run to the car and I can get away pretty quick.

I was in good condition back then.

But I thought, no, someone might steal if I leave the car on.

So it was dad's car.

And so I cut it off, locked it up, made my escape route.

If they touch my car, I'll have dad call the police.

And so I go walking in again.

I'm making a good Baptist because I'm coming late.

And I come into the auditorium and just as I open the door, scared

to death, I step in some over ancient usher comes running up going,

hello brother, it sure is good seeing you.

We are praying.

You will be this morning, man, if I had been a catch, I'd been on

the roof, scared me to death.

Ushers, don't be too anxious, just appreciate, say a nice voice.

16 year old kid doesn't know what's going on.

I came onto the church preacher, preached, he gave the invitation,

said if you accepted Christ as your savior, you need to make it

public.

I don't understand these people that want to argue with the

pastor.

So I came forward, making public what happened in my life,

began attending every time the door was open because I wanted to

hear the word of God taught.

Now, unbeknownst to me, my mom worked with a lady at that church.

I was a member of that church and here I'm going all the time.

Finally, after three months, the pastor came up, said, brother

Savloski, we think it's time you get baptized showing the death,

burial and resurrection of Christ.

I said, yes sir, be glad to.

And so that Sunday night I was gloriously baptized.

And then that Monday morning, that lady looked at my mom and said,

you know, we just enjoy your son coming to church every Sunday

for the last three months and to see him get baptized last night

was so great.

We just love brother Phil.

Don't get ahead of the story.

I know it better.

Now, you can read the book if you want, but I know the story better.

And so that Monday I come home from school, first thing I noticed

is my brother and sister weren't there.

Second thing I noticed was dad was home.

Dad never gets home at 3 o'.

Clock.

And so I opened the door, walk in and there was my mom and my dad.

And they had gone through my dresser drawers looking as you would

for drugs.

And I had found my Bible, complete Bible.

And they had on table.

We had a nice discussion, a nice little calm, calm discussion.

I'm being facetious here.

No, they were screaming and yelling and all that stuff.

And finally I was given the ultimatum.

Either I renounced what I had done or I had to leave home.

I'm 16 years old, just been saved three months.

And so I remember walking out, not sure what to do and began praying.

Someone asked me, well, what were you expecting?

I don't know, I haven't been saved that long, didn't know much

Bible.

Put a fleece out, Lord, you're going to have to show me.

And so I went to the youth center and sat down where I played

sports at.

Felt something on my leg and felt something on my leg.

I jumped up because it was getting dark now there was ants right

there.

And so I Go running away from them to the other side of the youth

center.

Sat there in another tree.

Felt something in my leg again.

I thought, man, I've got to get away from my antagonist and seek

higher ground.

And so there was a slide.

And so I got on the slide.

Now what it had done, it had taken me from one side of the youth

center all the way to the other side by the parking lot.

I hadn't been there very long when I heard somebody singing in

the parking lot.

I looked over, man, I saw this old man with a guitar singing.

This guy was old.

He had to be at least 40 years old.

Now, we know that's young now, but when you're 16, 40 looks old.

And so I walked up to him.

Never said a word, just saw the clock here.

I like this clock better, it's slower.

And so I walked up to him and he was singing gospel songs which

I'd never heard of.

And.

And finally he put the guitar down.

He began telling his testimony that a year earlier he had gotten

saved, accepted Christ as his savior.

But his wife wasn't saved.

And when things got difficult at home, he'd come to the youth center

every blue moon, so to speak, and worship and praise the Lord and

thank him for their salvation.

I didn't say a word to the man.

I just listened.

And then I turned away and left to go back to the house.

Because I knew that.

I knew that.

I knew that.

I knew that what happened in my life was real.

And he had saved my soul.

The impact of the Scriptures.

You got problems with your neighbors, you got problems with

your friends, you got problems with politicians.

If they get the gospel and get truly born again, you'll not have

those problems.

We have the answer to all that needs, from the shema and shadows

of Shiloh and Shalom to finally to the sharing of the shaft

of the olive tree with other grafted branches.

It was difficult.

I got saved.

I understood I need to leave home.

Borrowed the car and went on my own.

The age of 16, went on to Bible college, met my wife because

I got saved.

We had two kids.

They're both saved and serving God.

My son has a master in theology.

My daughter serves the Lord where she's at.

I have five grandchildren.

Let me tell you about that.

Not now.

Five grandchildren.

And they're all saved, born again.

Because as a 16 year old, someone presented the gospel to me

and it changed my life.

It impacted leaves.

Brother, sister, mother and father, for my name's sake shall

receive a hundredfold.

Now, if you go into the Greek, the word hundredfold means thousand.

No, it doesn't.

It means a hundred, just like the translator said.

But I believe I've been blessed.

You understand why I'm coming with this.

I've been blessed a thousand fold.

Ministry that's been going for 33 years.

A ministry of my children, grandchildren, all walking after

righteous walking after the Lord, serving God, seeing people

get saved, privileged to teach at Norris, seeing students get more

understanding, learning the Bible from God's word.

All because that's what the gospel does.

With your head bowed and your eyes closed.

As we go to invitation time, the musicians come to the front.

We are both partakers, both the Jew and the Gentile.

How does a Jew get saved?

The same as a Gentile.

Only through the death, burial and the resurrection of the shed

blood of Jesus, who was a messiah prophesied in the Old Testament.

Only through Christ can we get saved.

This is a salvation that changes us forever.

We're never the same.

We're never going to walk the same paths as we did before.

My family never got saved.

I did what I could, the best I could, and it saddens me.

We've got to do better.

This church has got to do better.

There are neighbors who live less than a half a mile away.

They've never heard the gospel.

They're busy living the life that the world says they need to

live.

We got family, we got relatives that are not saved.

Oh, we need to reach our Jerusalem.

We need supporting more missionaries so we can reach the

world.

The time is short.

If we're going to do something for the cause of Christ, we need

to do it now.

Lord, impact at the invitation.

In Jesus name I pray and with thanksgiving, Amen.