For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Shalom and welcome to the Everlasting Nation broadcast, a radio ministry of International Board of Jewish Missions in Hickson, Tennessee. Now here's your host, IBJM Ministries Director, John Lawrence. Greetings, dear friends, and thank you for joining us today for our program. My name is John Lawrence. I am the Director of Ministries here at IBJM. We are talking from time to time about the Jewish mission fields of the world, and there are many Jewish mission fields right here in the United States in our very large cities, but also many in foreign countries. and particularly in major cities of those countries. One of those places is Canada, and the country of Canada is a vast country physically with a number of cities where there are sizable Jewish populations. Canada actually boasts the fifth largest Jewish community in the world, and they are primarily concentrated in five cities, four of which are English-speaking and one is French-speaking. Toronto has 200,000 Jewish people. The city of Vancouver, way out in the west of Canada, has about 30,000 Jewish people. And Winnipeg in Manitoba, I believe, has 15,000 people. And the city of Ottawa has 12,000 Jewish people. The Canadian Jewish Congress conducted an energetic campaign after World War II to admit Holocaust survivors. and other Jewish refugees from North Africa where there was persecution under the growing Muslim influence. And that, of course, greatly expanded the Jewish population in Canada since 1946. The Jewish community in Toronto is by far the largest and the fastest growing in Canada with a 70% increase in the Jewish population just over the past 20 years. Jewish communities in Canada tend to be more traditional than their American counterparts, with over 40% of the people being Orthodox in their beliefs. There's also not as much intermarriage with non-Jews. While Montreal was the original and most expansive Jewish settlement for a long time, The Jewish community there has existed since 1768. In recent years, many Jewish people have actually relocated to the English-speaking parts of Canada because of the fears related to the secessionist struggle in Quebec, where they have wanted independence. There are many Jewish schools, many Jewish newspapers. The Beth Sedeq Synagogue in Toronto boasts a Canadian branch of the New York Jewish Museum. During the early part of the 20th century, there was a very large influx of Jews from Russia, and in the latter part of that century, from the states of the former Soviet Union. Then we turn to Quebec, where we have the city of Montreal in the French-speaking province there, and that is home to 100,000 Jewish people. Under French colonial rule, the Jews were excluded from Canada, but they began to arrive with the British soldiers late in the 18th century. Montreal's old historic Jewish neighborhood known as the Main has a special place in the hearts of Canadian Jews and attracts many tourists. Many of the Jewish people living in Montreal actually are English speakers. McGill University in Montreal offers a program in Jewish studies and also offers courses in Yiddish. The Montreal Jewish Public Library is actually the only institution of its kind in North America. French Jewish newspapers are also available. For a missionary going to Montreal, it would be essential to learn French, of course. The Montreal community is about 20% Sephardic, that is the Sephardic Jews coming from North Africa who are native French speakers, many of them from the country of Morocco. IBJM currently has no workers in Canada. Really, as you can see here, it's an exceptional Jewish mission field with a lot of opportunities. Perhaps the Lord will put it on your heart to pioneer an evangelistic outreach in one of these Canadian cities. Or maybe you know someone who's looking, who's searching, who's feeling a call to Jewish missions. You're a pastor and you have someone in your church like that. Pray for workers to go to the Jewish people of our great northern neighbor, the country of Canada. An interesting note, the late Mrs. Lillian Gartenhouse, the wife of our founder, was from Toronto, Canada. She would be delighted to know that someone was called to take the gospel to the Jews of her homeland. Maybe it would be you. Now let's listen in to Jewish believer, Brother Mark Oshman, as he brings today's Bible message. Thank you for joining us for this radio broadcast. In this session, we will look at Jesus Christ's Great Commission, which can be found in the 28th chapter of Matthew's Gospel. The purpose of the study will entail showing how Christians can evangelize Jewish people, using the words contained in those final three verses of Matthew. In the first chapter of Acts, the Savior gave his final instructions to his followers. He was about to ascend into heaven. However, they would continue on earth. Jesus Christ told his disciples what he wanted them to do. Quote, you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the innermost part of the earth." Note that the evangelistic ministry of these disciples would start in Jerusalem and Judea, Jewish territories. Indeed, the first Gentile converts to Christianity did not show up until the 10th chapter of Acts with Cornelius and his household. For the first few years of the early church's existence, its membership consisted primarily of saved Jews. Jesus Christ spent the largest part of his ministry among the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Christians who desire to obey him can apply his words in the Great Commission and use them to reach Jewish people. First, the Lord commanded his disciples, quote, go ye therefore and teach all nations." A believer who wants to induce the Christ will find out where Jewish people congregate and go to mingle among them. One way to accomplish this objective involves visiting Jewish people in their homes. Jesus Christ himself did this in the seventh chapter of Luke's gospel. when he attended a dinner hosted by a Pharisee named Simon. After he sent forth his disciples to evangelize in Mark chapter six, he commanded them, quote, in what place so ever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place, unquote. A Christian can encounter Jewish people by attending the synagogues where they worship. According to the ninth chapter of Matthew, Jesus Christ did this when he taught in Jewish synagogues. Paul likewise did this when he spent three months teaching in the synagogue of Ephesus, as recorded in the 19th chapter of Acts. How should Christians conduct themselves during their evangelistic encounters with Jews? Believers need to guard their tongues. As Paul put it in the fourth chapter of Colossians, quote, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, unquote. Christians need to follow Paul's admonition found in the sixth chapter of First Corinthians. Quote, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's, unquote. Believers should seek to make disciples of the Jewish people. The Greek word rendered teach, in Matthew's phrase, teach all nations. That Greek word derived from a verbal root that implied an individual's exercise of thought, accompanied by taking an appropriate action that was connected with that thought. The Savior's use of that expression, make disciples, teach, imply that the purpose of evangelism does not involve merely imparting knowledge to non-believers. Any Christian who resolves to teach all nations must recognize that Christianity calls upon its adherents to make a complete break from their past beliefs and past conduct. In other words, new Christians must learn to think and act differently from how they thought and acted before their salvation. Jewish people tend to identify with Judaism, at least with regard to providing them a common religious and cultural heritage. Therefore, Jews tend to resist change, especially in the spiritual realm. Paul addressed this inclination in Romans chapter 10, when he wrote that the Jews, quote, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, unquote. Discipling Jewish converts therefore involves teaching them that they have become new creations in Jesus Christ and that all things have passed away. Jesus Christ ordered his adherents to baptize new believers, quote, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, unquote. He did not indicate that the latter phrase constituted the ritual formula that should accompany baptism. Rather, Jesus Christ's use of those words denoted that the individual performing the ordinance of baptism ought to recognize that he did so under the authority bestowed by each member of the Trinity. In the early days of Christianity, everybody who believed on Jesus Christ received believer's baptism. In Acts chapter 2, Luke recorded that, quote, they that gladly received his word were baptized, unquote. Ananias and Damascus baptized Paul. an incident recorded in the ninth chapter of Acts, when Peter understood that the Holy Spirit had fallen upon the members of Cornelius' household, according to Acts chapter 10. He asked those who accompanied him, quote, can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we, unquote. Whenever a Jew receives Jesus Christ, the Savior, that person's Christian mentor should encourage him to receive believer's baptism as soon as possible. Though baptism does not confer salvation upon its recipient, baptism does constitute a vital ordinance of the local church. The act of baptism symbolizes a believer's identification with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ commanded his disciples to teach new believers, quote, to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, unquote. Sometimes converts to Christianity become surprised when they realize that Jesus Christ has issued certain commandments and that they need to follow those mandates. The Savior's requirements contain even higher criteria than those required by the Mosaic Law. Compare, for instance, the Old Testament commandment to love others with the commandment to love that the Lord gave his own disciples. According to Leviticus chapter 19, God commanded the Jewish people to, quote, love thy neighbor as thyself, unquote. A number of statutes in the law clarify the meaning that God intended to convey by that affirmation. A Jew could not bear false witness against his neighbor. A Jew could not defraud his neighbor. A Jew could not plunder his neighbor's produce. A Jew could not move his neighbor's boundary markers. This is what was involved in loving a neighbor. When a scribe asked Jesus Christ about the greatest commandment in the law, in Matthew chapter 22, The Savior cited the command to, quote, love thy neighbor as thyself, unquote, as one of the two great commandments. Some Jewish people seem to have had trouble applying that principle in their own lives. For instance, a lawyer who heard Jesus Christ cite that quotation proceeded to ask him in Luke chapter 10, quote, who is my neighbor, unquote. The ensuing account of the Good Samaritan indicated that a good neighbor was an individual who showed mercy. to those who had need of mercy. Nonetheless, Jesus Christ held his own followers to a loftier standard when it came to love. In John chapter 13 he told them, quote, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Under the Old Testament law, a Jew needed to love his neighbors to the same degree that he loved himself. By contrast, Jesus Christ required his followers to love one another in the same way that he loved them. A saved Jew might find meeting such a criterion an unattainable task. Christians, though, have a duty to remind such Jews that living a Christian life will, in fact, be impossible, humanly speaking. That is to say, when a Jew tries to live a Christian life in his or her own strength, they will fall short and fail. Consider Paul's example. In the third chapter of Philippians, he described himself as blameless. in connection with his status as pertaining to the requirements of the Mosaic law. When Paul tried to live the Christian life, he encountered a problem, though. In Romans chapter 7, he wrote, quote, I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members, unquote. Paul came to realize that he could not faithfully follow God's dictates in his own power. Thus in Romans chapter 8 he wrote, quote, what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God, sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." Therefore, saved Jews need to learn that God sees them clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and accepts that imputed righteousness. Thus, we have Jesus Christ's great commission as applied to the Jewish people. We hope that this broadcast has proved profitable to you. Please return for future radio programs. you've been listening to the Everlasting Nation broadcast, a radio ministry of International Board of Jewish Missions. For more information, you can write us at P.O. Box 1386, Hickson, Tennessee 37343, or call us at 423-876-8150, or you may also go online at ibjm.org. Until next time, may God bless and Shalom.