Mission Report | International Mission to Jewish People

It's a privilege to be here and thank you for welcoming.

It's so good to see your smiles.

This is my first time in Ireland and I only know about the

country where Bogi.

My wife told me that it's a wonderful green country with nice,

welcoming people.

So, yeah, that's true.

And let's turn to God's word.

From what we have already heard from Acts, chapter four.

I need some help and I would like to read from my Bible.

But how can we put.

Oh, they see it and I see myself.

Yeah, perfect.

So I would like to read from my bible.

It's chapter four.

And I will just highlight verses 11 and 12.

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders,

which has become the cornerstone.

And there is salvation in no one else.

For there is no other name under heaven given among men, by

which we must be saved.

So what you can see on these pictures is the cornerstone.

And as the apostles are standing before the great Sanhedrin,

the great Council of Jerusalem, investigated, they hear

that what you are doing is really nice.

Oh, that's what I hear regularly.

What you are doing is nice.

You are a good person.

But why do you bother this Jesus thing?

Why don't you just stop that one?

That's nice, what you do for Jewish people, that you are a friend

of many Jewish people and you help many of them.

Your wife sings wonderful Hebrew songs.

But why do you bother this Jesus thing?

Why don't you just stop?

Because it's not polite for them.

So that's what the Son had drink toward to the apostles as well.

You hear this man, and he is healed.

And that's nice.

We like that.

But why do you bother this Jesus thing?

If you just skip this one, this is a minor one.

Then you can do whatever you like.

And we like it.

And what the apostles say that, oh, this is the point.

Jesus is the key.

Jesus is the cornerstone.

And the building will not stand if there is no cornerstone.

So this cornerstone, what the apostle mentions is in the Psalms.

And we Reformed people are familiar with the psalms.

It's Psalm 118.

And this is a festival song, especially for Sukkot, the festival

of the tabernacles.

And Jewish people just finished this autumn festival.

Recently we visited that in the synagogue and we saw so many

lovely kids.

The synagogue was full.

Synagogues are not full.

Usually they need at least 10 people together to do their prayer

ceremonies.

But at that time it was full of children.

And they were going around the synagogue with the Torah scrolls,

with the scripture, with the Word of God.

And they were singing and they were rejoicing, and they even received

some candies from the adults they were throwing for them.

And this was a joyful festival.

But this is nothing comparing to the festival that was in Jerusalem

when all the pilgrims from all over the world arrived in those days

when the temple was still there and everything was in wonderful

lights that people couldn't imagine at that time.

They didn't have lights on the street usually, but then Jerusalem

was just like daytime because of all the, the lights in the city.

And the arriving pilgrims were singing this psalm.

And in this psalm they were celebrating the kingdom of God, God

as their king.

And there's a strange just one sentence in it, that the cornerstone

that was rejected by the builder, though the stone that was

rejected by the builders became the cornerstone.

And this is marvelous in our eyes.

So that's what the apostle quotes for them.

And you might ask, okay, but what did the author of the sun think

about when he spoke suddenly in the middle of the festival, in

the middle of the rejoicing and celebrating God's kingdom, why

did they speak about the cornerstone?

Nobody knows that.

We can just guess.

But we can guess that this is about something much greater than

just the cornerstone, than just building of the temple.

Actually, there's a legend, and it might be a legend and not

true, but rabbis told it to their people that when the Temple

of Solomon was built, there was a stone.

And the builders just couldn't fit in this stone anywhere because

it was so different than any other stones that were prepared for

them.

And you know, the stones were prepared far from Jerusalem.

There were no knocking of hammers on the stones.

They were prepared and brought to Jerusalem.

And they had to find out where to put this.

And they just put it aside, as you see on this picture.

And then finally they realized that this is the key for the whole

building.

This is the stone that gives the directions for the wall, that

holds the weight of the wall.

That's the key for the building to stand.

So that's what the apostle refers to.

Because probably, whether it's a legend or it's true story, the

great Sanhedrin knew about that.

And the apostles said Jesus is the cornerstone.

And probably the psalmist spoke about something greater than

this legend of the cornerstone.

He spoke about the story of Israel, the history of God's people,

because that's how things go usually in the Jewish people, that

something wonderful is prepared for them, they reject.

And later they see that this was the key for that.

So just think about Joseph, The favorite Child of Israel, hated

by the brothers and rejected and almost killed and sold to Egypt.

And they didn't even recognize and thought that, oh, that's an Egyptian,

that's a Gentile.

Then they realized, oh no, he is our brother and he saved us.

That's how it works in Israel.

Just think about Moses.

Moses was raised in the Pharaoh's family.

And the Israelites said, who made you a judge among us?

And rejected him.

And he had to flee away from Egypt.

But there was no other who could deliver Israel.

God called him to guide Israel to the Holy Land.

So there was no other who delivers, just Moses.

And think about David, who was rejected by Saul and was rejected

by his own people.

Betrayed by his own people.

He had to run away.

He had to run to the Philistines.

And everybody thought, oh, he is a Philistine now, not a Jew anymore.

But he was fighting for his people.

And then he became the king.

And then he became the forefather of the Messiah.

And from his family the salvation of the world came.

So that's how it works with Jewish people.

And that's what the apostles say.

No, you rejected, but he is the cornerstone.

Without him there is no healing.

Without him there is no comfort, no salvation.

You need Jesus, not just some miracles or some well organized fellowships.

You need Jesus.

So that's what we do.

International Mission to Jewish People.

If you're familiar with Christian Witness to Israel, but

you too, I don't know what it is.

It's Christian Witness to Israel with our new old name.

It used to be International Society for the Propagation of the

Gospel to Jewish People.

Later it amalgamated with another ministry and the two formed

Christian Witness to Israel.

And just recently we wanted to emphasize more that we tell the gospel

to Jewish people not only in Israel.

We have wonderful colleagues in Israel.

I really love them and love spending time with them.

But we also have 18 missionaries all over the world,

on four continents in nine countries.

We are a small mission society, but we are growing and we

would like to reach out to Jewish people all over the world

as far as possible.

So we have missionaries also in the UK, but in Australia, Rio

de Janeiro, in Europe, in Hungary as well.

It's boggy.

And me, and this is our family.

Just a few words about ourselves.

We were brought up in Debrecen and this is the great church behind

us.

Oh, this is the center of the Hungarian Reformed Church.

You know, if you travel in Hungary, especially the closer you

are to Austria, it's more likely that you meet people who have

already heard about so called Protestants, but maybe they haven't

seen any or they don't know about that now.

In debrecence, we were raised that we heard about the Catholics.

I was not sure if I saw any of them because of the tradition, because

of the national history.

This is traditionally a Reformed Presbyterian center in a

Catholic majority country.

And my family was a nominal Christian family, which means that

they were familiar with the church, but they didn't attend.

They didn't really understand the gospel.

And because of the communist regime, it was not really a good

idea to go to church and tell that they were married in a church

building or I was baptized.

Actually later I got to know that a wonderful evangelical, warm

hearted, great preacher was a friend of my grandfather's.

And he came and baptized me.

And later when I went to seminary, I started visiting him.

He was so old at that time, he didn't go anywhere.

But he was so happy that he could tell me about the revival in

Hungary, how it was going and what happened and what God taught

him.

So he became a kind of mentor for me.

But I was raised in a nominal Christian family and I lost my mother

when I was a small child.

But still I heard about God and started praying.

I even prayed for my mother and she was not healed.

And somehow I just was not offended.

I went on praying and I went on seeking God.

I don't know why, it's grace.

But later, when I was a teenager, my father became seriously

ill. And my stepmother was not a believer.

She knew nothing about the Bible.

But she said, son, if your father is better, we will take this

and this amount of money to the church.

Silly thing, is it?

Next day my father became better.

This was just God smiling on us.

And I was so grateful that we didn't dare not to.

So we went to the church.

The first time we met a minister, the first time we heard

about the gospel.

And then I joined a Christian school.

And there we met with Bogi.

And now we have three children, three adult children.

This is the wedding of my son, my oldest son.

He is in gray with his bride.

I have a younger son.

I'm holding his shoulder is Levi.

And Borci, my daughter, she's learning clay art quite far from

us.

They are all grown up now.

But in this school where we met with Boggy, this was the first

time I ever heard about the real gospel.

Even in the church I didn't understand everything.

It was somehow too complicated for me.

But there I had evangelical friends, real believers, who shared

their testimony, how they came to the Lord, how they Realized their

sins, how they realized God's grace and how they were transformed.

And that's how I realized that the Lord wants to forgive my sins

as well.

And he called me for the seminary when I was in secondary

school.

I just understood that I need to serve him somehow.

But later in the seminary, he put the Jewish people on my heart.

And there was a point when I started praying for them.

My first question was, do they need Jesus?

Now you have the answer that Jesus is the cornerstone.

So the Scriptures answered this to me.

My next question was, how can I share the Gospel at all?

How can I approach them?

How can I find them?

Jewish people are just like anyone else, but even more so.

So you can find Jewish people anywhere in Hungary.

There are about 100,000 Jewish people there.

But you cannot be sure who they are because it's not obvious.

They are not orthodox.

Traditionally, they don't wear those special garments.

So I started just praying about it, just thinking about it.

And then a professor of mine encouraged me to do some studies

about Jewish ministry.

And then I moved into the library.

I mean, I skipped all my lessons.

Don't tell it to anybody.

Oh, it streamed.

I was in the library.

I was searching the catalog.

This was Google at that time.

I opened it at Letter Jewish.

Jewish Mission.

Jewish ministry.

Oh, the Jewish Mission of Hungarian Reformed church.

Back in 1945, 46, 48, we had a magazine and I realized that.

And then I heard about the Scottish Mission.

Have you ever heard about the Scottish Mission in Budapest?

This was the first time Scottish people sent out missionaries

to reach out to Jewish people.

And there's a wonderful story how they got to Budapest and how

they found that in Budapest there is a large Jewish community

open for the gospel.

And in this story we have a miraculous healing.

We have a princess and we have a camel.

But I won't tell this story for you.

If you're interested, please approach me afterwards.

And I'm happy to tell, but I don't have time for that.

But I just heard about these stories that God was moving in mysterious

ways in our nation amongst our Jewish people.

And this work just somehow stopped.

And this was the time I realized that I have to start preparing

for this ministry.

And I found Christian witness to Israel.

I found John Ross, Reverend John Ross, if some of you familiar

with him, he was the general secretary at that time.

And we joined the mission.

And for the first time, I was the missionary.

Later, Bogie came the missionary and I went back to pastoral

ministry and supporting Bogi's mission as far as I could but now

we got the opportunity that both of us are.

Are missionaries, and we work side by side, and we reach out to

Jewish people one by one, instead of reaching out to masses.

A lot of people, we would like to meet each person, just one on

one.

So we make friends.

That's why we sometimes, but not regularly, visit synagogue.

We don't want to pretend being Jewish people.

And if they ask in Hungarian, in our culture, we can tell that

we are missionaries.

We help Jewish people, and we speak about Jesus if they are ready

to hear.

And they said, oh, good enough.

So.

So we can go and meet with Jewish people.

We can attend a choir.

We can meet them in synagogues, on cultural programs.

We can do things together.

We even sang together Jewish songs on Jewish festivals.

And people love that.

And just recently, we visited an Adelaide people's home.

And this is a wonderful new opportunity for us.

But what I would like to tell you a few stories about those people

I met.

One of them is Gabriel.

He is a learned Jewish man, a leader of the Jewish community in

Hungary.

And I knew him even before becoming religious.

And then I realized that he goes this time synagogue.

And we started talking.

And because he's really well educated, I have a lot to learn from

him.

So sometimes I learn about Jewish culture, about Jewish traditions,

about how Jewish people understand certain things.

And sometimes when I learn, I can even teach something.

Like when the weekly Torah reading in the synagogue, it was

about the red calf.

This is the best expression for that.

The calf that was slaughtered and burnt.

And the ashes were unclean.

Whoever touched the ashes, you can read it in your Bible.

Whoever touched the ashes or prepared these ashes, they became

unclean.

They had to clean themselves ritually to go back to the temple.

But these ashes cleansed those who are unclean.

So this is contradiction.

And Gabriel said, okay, this is contradiction.

We don't understand it, but we believe it.

And I said, I have an explanation for that.

Would you like to hear?

Think about Jesus.

He was the one who was casted out of Jerusalem, was crucified,

died on a cross under the curse of our sins.

That's what we Christians believe.

And that's how we see.

And though he is unclean, he became unclean.

He rose from the dead, and we can be cleansed by him.

And he said, oh, that's a wonderful explanation.

That's really beautiful.

It fits together.

Now, if he says this, that doesn't mean that.

No, he believes it means that he likes my explanation.

He understands my way of thinking.

But he says, I'm Jewish, you are not how to get closer to him.

Just recently we had a hike together.

I had an injury last year, and in my recovery, it was an important

milestone to climb a mountain that's a relatively high mountain

in Hungary.

It's 900 some meters.

And he offered me to escort me, to come with me.

And we were hiking together.

And coming down from the hill, I saw that he was nervous.

At one point I asked him if he needs to hurry somewhere.

And he said, no, no, no, my day is about this hike.

But he was nervous.

And then I heard that he is singing something.

And I asked, oh, is this the evening prayer?

Yeah, yeah, it is.

And then he asked me, if we get back to the car, can I just pray

my prayer?

And I said, yeah, sure.

It would be a privilege to hear.

So we got back to the car and he was praying and praying wonderful

prayers, psalms, scriptures.

And I just listened.

I couldn't understand everything.

I understood just a few, few words.

But afterwards he said that the last sentence was Zechariah,

that the Lord will be king all over the world.

Wow, that's something to talk about.

And then we went for a coffee and we talked and he opened up a

little bit for me.

So we are on our way.

And please pray for Gabriel.

And I will just quickly share with you some other names, like Abel,

who used to be from a Jewish background, from Jewish grandparents,

but he was raised Catholic.

But later he turned away from Jesus.

He couldn't find a personal relationship.

And he has got a lot of struggles he's going through.

And because of these struggles, he said he doesn't want

to have a personal relationship with God.

He just want rituals.

And he started going to a synagogue because of his Jewish heritage.

And we started talking, and it was on Yom Kippur, the day of the

atonement, on this fall.

This is also important Fall festival.

We were talking on phone because he's not observing that much.

We could talk on phone.

And I said that, look, you have a lot of struggles in your life.

I know I also have mine, but yours, I know it's serious and you

can be depressed, but you can tell it to the Lord.

You can tell it every day.

You can have a personal relationship while being frustrated

and.

And maybe one day you will see that you can give thanks for that.

And later he typed me a message that he just met somebody

and he was able to help because of his struggles, because

of the trouble he is in, he could help.

And he said, oh, that's a wonderful Yom Kippur.

That's A wonderful day of atonement.

Thank you, Lord, for abba.

So please pray for him to find the real Jesus.

Leslie, who is atheist.

And he started typing comments for us on Facebook.

Whenever I post something, he is there to ruin it immediately.

And my first thought was, oh, I should ban this guy because he

ruins what I wanted to do on Facebook.

I mean, sharing the message, sharing just a picture with a Bible

verse.

He's always there.

But then I thought, I'm there because of him.

And so I started answering in comments, and he calmed down.

And then I said, okay, it would be easier to write privately.

Can I friend you on Facebook?

Yeah.

So we are friends on Facebook now.

And then we started typing, and I asked, can I call you?

And he said yes.

And he gave me his phone number.

So sometimes we talk, and sometimes we need to draw the line

that, okay, you can say this, but you cannot say that, especially

not for Bogie.

And just recently, we had a harsh conflict because of these things.

But then I was so nervous.

I'm losing him.

I'm losing him.

And then he apologized to Bogey, and then we set up some rules

how we can communicate.

And he wants the relationship, and we pray for him.

He's.

Leslie, he's a musician, and he really needs God.

I don't think he doesn't believe in God.

I think he's angry with God, and that's how he expresses.

So just a few names.

Gabriel, Abel, Leslie.

Please pray for them, because the prayer makes a difference.

So it happens sometimes that we are here in this country and we

tell something for churches, and the churches are praying, and

a few days later, something happens.

Yeah, that happens.

And your prayers make a real difference.

So I know you will remember these names.

Gabriel, Abel, Leslie, tonight, maybe tomorrow morning,

but not forever.

So that's why you have these cards.

Have you got these cards?

What you can do is you fold this perforated slice.

Have you ever had such a card before?

That's a tricky card.

Is it?

If you do this, and especially if you count to three in Hungarian,

then it works in Hungarian, it's E. Let me hear you.

E. Harum.

Perfect.

Now action.

So now you have a bookmark, and you have a little room here,

just a little white space here.

And you can write down these three names.

Gabriel, Abel, Leslie.

And you can put it in your Bible and.

And pray for me.

And if you would like to know some more, because these are just

three names, but I have more friends, like Benjamin.

You can have a story about Benjamin.

You can find these letters These newsletters in the entrance

hall on the tables, just pick up one and read it.

If you would like to receive it regularly, three times a year,

then you need to sign up.

Give us your name and your email address and then the office

will send you these newsletters.

If you are signed up for ASAF or other missionary colleagues, that's

wonderful.

If you sign up for mine, you won't get double CWI or I am JP Harold.

You will be just added to my mailing list as well and you will

be updated.

So no risk about this, but this is the only way we can send

out literature for you.

So please return these cards to me tonight.

I can arrange some pens if you need one.

And this way you can join us as a watchman for the people of Israel.

You know, this is what Ezekiel got from the Lord that you are watchmen

over the people of Israel to warn them, to tell them the message.

So this way you and me together can get the message.

The Jewish people, please help us.

That would be a privilege if you joined my prayer letters as well.

I just mentioned one more person.

He is called Daniel.

You can add as the fourth name.

He is on the right side.

He is from a Jewish family.

He is a grandson of Holocaust survivors.

But the Lord saved him from alcohol.

This was amazing to see.

There were the times when he called me regularly in a funny drunken

voice.

And he wanted Jesus.

But on the other hand, he wanted himself and his will.

And there was the point when he lost his opportunity to finish

his his college studies because of his addiction.

So this was the point when he went to the hospital and then called

me.

And when we started to talk, he asked me, how can I have Jesus?

How can I follow Jesus?

And from that point we talked about this.

We prayed together.

I encouraged him to follow Jesus and trust in him.

And from that point he stopped drinking.

Let's say in three years.

Now he is clear and he is following the Lord and his life is

ruined, of course, and he needs time and he needs some other

help to be recovered.

But that would be so great to see him share his testimony and serve

the Lord.

So please pray for Dania, for his growth.

Thank you for listening to me.

I was a bit longer than I promised.

I'm sorry.

But it was great to be here and thank you for following what

I said.

Sa.