So we come to a session in our conference today where we're going to consider how we can proclaim Christ to people of other religions. That is a very important thing for us to consider, because we meet people on the street, they may not have the Christian background that we have. And I've asked this morning Brother Mark Robinson to bring a message that focuses our attention on that, because he's in a ministry that is focused on reaching the Jewish people with the gospel. So he brings a lot of experience with him. Mark and Cheryl Robinson are with Jewish Awareness Ministries. We're privileged to be able to support them in their ministry. And so, Brother Mark, you come and share what the Lord has laid on your heart. Good morning. It's a joy to be here and to be with you and to share our ministry and the Word of God shortly. Generally when guest speakers come, perhaps you've seen this often times, they come into the pulpit and they'll go through an elaborate thing of taking their watch off and placing it down. I think perhaps saying we will be through at least close to the ending time. I brought a calendar. And this is a 16-month calendar, by the way. So buckle your seatbelt. Anyway, this is part of what's downstairs, and this is produced in Israel. We make it available through our ministry. It is a 16-month calendar. Part of this has, there are, in the Jewish worship world, at the synagogues, there are prescribed readings. And I hope I will have time to get into a little bit about this in the message this morning. Torah, Haftorah readings. They've also put in this gospel readings. So in a yearly cycle, you will read through the entire five books of Moses, selected portions from the prophets and the writings, and I'll give more information, Lord willing, shortly on this. But all of that's in there. Lord's appointed times on the feasts, different things. If you're interested, there is a small cost on this. They're downstairs, but up here, There are free things in the back. There are tracks. There are booklets back there. Those back there are geared towards Jewish people. One of them is titled Shalom. One of the outreaches that we have been doing in the ministry is called the Elijah Project. In Tampa, Florida earlier this year, February, around the Tampa, Florida State Fair, we had a booth. We mailed postcards into about 23,000 Jewish homes. We had one-minute radio advertisements on a number of different stations in the Tampa St. Pete area. We had a third of a page ad and I think about nine different newspapers in that area, all geared to the Jewish people, offering this booklet. And over 2,000 of these were given out, much of them in conversations or after conversations. So this is good for Jew or Gentile, although it is geared for Jewish people. Tuesday night, last Tuesday night, Cheryl and I refinanced our home, and the woman who came, a lot of paperwork. It took a couple of hours. We knew we wouldn't have a lot of time because she wanted to get all the paperwork to the FedEx Dropbox by 730. Then she had another appointment after that. But we did talk to her a little bit about the gospel and I gave her this track. And on the outside it says, Shalom, Peace, Is It Possible? And then in white, it has death, anti-Semitism, financial collapse, Islamic jihadists, divorce, racism. Well, she looked at that. She's late 20s, perhaps, maybe early 30s. She has a nine-year-old son, seems like a single mom. But anyway, she looked at this and she said, death, that bothers me. I'm very scared of dying. And so she took this with her. We didn't have time to go into detail because of the time constraints. But I said, please contact me. I teach a Sunday school class at the church we go to. When I'm back in town, not today, next week I'll be teaching at Lord Willing. It's a big church, about 3,500 people. So I thought it'd be better if she was there when I was there, because there's a contact. Please email me. I gave her my card. I'd love to talk to you further. about this and you do not have to fear death. Take that. That's back there. A couple of our last issues of our magazine. This is the latest one on the names of God. It's going in the mail. It either went in the mail on Friday or will go in the mail on Monday. I'm not sure. But you can pick this up. We offer a free one-year subscription to this. This issue is around Adonai, Emmanuel, Elohim, Jehovah, Hakodesh, the Holy One, and Yeshua, Jesus, names of God. The other one is an overview of three books of the Old Testament. I don't like that term. We'll get into that also shortly, Lord willing. Zechariah, Daniel, and Isaiah, an overview of those three books, plus some other columns. So that's back on the table back here. It's free. Take what you can use to the glory of God. Thank you for your support of the ministry, and I'd love to be able to take 30, 40 minutes to share, but I'm interested in sharing the Word of God with you. Open with me, if you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Proclaiming Christ to people of other religions. The Apostle Paul saw We know as Paul. By the way, his name was not changed to Paul. That's an erroneous understanding. He was called Saul. He was called Paul. Read it in Acts. He wasn't changed to Paul. Saul, who was also called Paul, it says. Saul was his Hebrew name. Paul was the name he was known in the Gentile world. My name is Mark. My Hebrew name, I'm a Jewish believer, is Mikael Ha-Levi. Michael the Levite. So you can call me Mikael, I guess, if you want. That's fine, too. But Paul, or Saul, had a multifaceted ministry. We know him as that wonderful apostle. He was a church planner. He was a preacher. We heard that the other night from our brother. All of those words or phrases in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I believe, that he was a preacher. He was a writer. He was an author. Much of the New Testament was penned by the Apostle Paul. But we capture his real heart. I'm sure he loved to write. He did a lot of writing. He loved to preach. He did a lot of preaching. He planted churches. He loved to plant churches, no question about that. But I think we capture the heart of this man of God in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, in verses 16 through 24. And I just want to read a couple of the phrases before we break this down verse by verse, Lord willing. But in verse 16, woe is on to me if I preach not the gospel. Verse 18, what is my reward then? When I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge. Verse 19, that I might gain the more, speaking of people coming to the Lord. Verse 20, that I might gain the Jews, that I might gain them that are under the law. Verse 21, that I might gain them that are without law. Verse 22, that I might gain the week. The end of the verse, that I might by all means save some. Verse 23, and this I do for the gospel's sake. I would submit to you that the heart of the Apostle Paul was evangelism, was seeing people come to the Lord. We can see that in his later writing, the book of Romans in chapter 10 and verse 1 when he penned this. He said, brethren, my hearts and desire and prayer to God for Israel, for the Jewish people, is that they might be saved. And just earlier, a chapter earlier, the lament of this great missionary, this great apostle, he says this, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness, and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." This apostle to the Gentiles had a great burden still for his people according to the flesh. the Jewish people, so much so that he was willing to be a curse separated from God all eternity in hell if the Jewish people could come to the Lord. Now I wish I could stand up here and say the same thing. But I can't. Do I want to see Jewish people saved? Unquestionably. I've given my life to this ministry. It's been 40 some years now in ministering the gospel to the Jewish people. I want to see them come to the Lord. I want to see Gentiles saved. But could I say that I would be willing to go to hell that Jewish people might be saved? No. No, I know what hell is like. And this is not some hypothetical type of thing with Paul. I think it was his heart. It was his burden, his continual sorrow that he had that literally he would be separated from God if it would bring his brethren according to the flesh to the Lord. His heart was the gospel. And I don't expect any of us to have that kind of response like Paul did. I don't. I'll just be up front with you. I don't have that type of willingness, and I think if I would ask each of you individually, you would say the same thing. Hell's a long time. Separation from God. Eternal lake of fire. There's no hope. I think the worst thing about hell is no hope. If hell was a trillion years long, you could put that mark on the wall, as it were. One year, two year, a thousand years, a hundred thousand, a million, a billion, and ultimately in a trillion years, but there's no hope. It's forever. Well, Paul in 1 Corinthians 9, in verse 16 says this, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. It's not me, in other words. It's not my eloquence. It's not my writing ability. It's the gospel that's the focus point. I have nothing to glory of, but necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is me if I preach not the gospel. We'll never be an apostle Paul, but we can have the same type of burning desire in our heart. Not certainly I would submit to the extent that Paul did, that he was willing to be accursed from Christ, that his brethren might be saved. But we need to have a burning desire like Paul had, a necessity. The understanding that God chose not angels to share the gospel, but people like you and me. that God has chosen us to share the gospel with Jew and Gentile, old and young, men and women, and we have a necessity. Paul recognizes this, for necessity is laid upon me. And then he says, woe is me if I preach not the gospel. It's not a question of losing his salvation. He didn't believe that, that's not what he's saying. But he knows that he's an instrument in the hand of God, and that if people are going to be reached for Jesus that it has to come through men like Paul, men and women like us. Woe is me if I preach not the gospel. And then verse 17, for if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will a dispensation or stewardship of the gospel is committed unto me, if I do it willingly and go out looking to share the gospel with people, I have a reward. Now what is his reward, verse 18? What is my reward then, he asked in verse 18? Verily this, Verily that when I preach the gospel, may I make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. What's my reward that I can freely share the gospel? Jesus died for the world, and I can freely share that with you. Now there are rewards for serving the Lord. There are at least five crowns that the scriptures teach about. One of those crowns we often refer to as the soul-winning crown, I think is better labeled the crown of rejoicing because that's how it's labeled in Scripture. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 19 it says this, for what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? are not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming. See the crown of rejoicing is those who have come to the Lord that we've had a part in bringing to the Lord. Philippians 4.1, Therefore my brethren, dearly beloved, and long for my joy and crown, stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Daniel in chapter 12 verse 3 tells us, and they that be wise shall shine as the bright men of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. There's a reward for sharing the gospel. So often this conference we've heard from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and Paul plants and Apollo waters, but God gives the increase. And so that crown of rejoicing is ultimately God gives the increase, but you can be a planter of the seed of the gospel, or you can be a waterer But if you have a part in someone coming to the Lord, you may not even see that person come to the Lord. It may be down the road. I remember years ago, I was invited by someone who is now in Solid Rock, Rock of Ages prison ministry. And I had a part in not so much him coming to the Lord, but discipling him. He was an 18-year-old young man. He had a girlfriend in every town, literally. This was before he was saved. And he said, Mark, he says, you need to come with me. I got a witness to all my girlfriends. So I said, sure. So we visit all his girlfriends. One of them was a girl, was a young gal named Michelle, who was a JW, Jehovah Witness, and I don't have time to tell you the whole story. And she brought two of her elders. She was 18, so she needed somebody more seasoned in their faith with them. And we spent about two hours together. Well, about 10 years later, I got a, I think it was a letter or a phone call, I forget which, from Mike and he said, you wouldn't believe this. I was at a conference and Michelle comes running up to me and she says, I'm a believer now, I've left the JWs. And he said, and it all started with that visit that we had, that time that you came with me to witness to Michelle. And I said, wow, praise the Lord. And I thought, what was it that I said? that convinced her. Was it the triunity of God in the Old Testament? Was it the deity of Christ? What was that erudite preaching and teaching and verbiage that I shared with her that struck that chord? And he said, none of that. That bust my bubble real quick. What happened is the elders got very upset at me. And they started raising their voice, losing their cool, yelling at me. Now, if you know JWs, they're taught, you keep your cool. We have the truth. And if you lose your cool, that tells them that you don't have the truth. They will lose their cool because we have the truth. And that's a testimony that we're right and they're wrong. Well, when the elders left, lost their cool, she started thinking, wait a second. Mark didn't lose his cool. My elders did. Maybe he has the truth, and we don't. That's all. I just kept calm. It wasn't anything I said. Ten years later, she came to the Lord, or sometime in that period. Some plant, some water, God gives the increase. But the reward that Paul is talking, what then is his reward? Seeing here people come to the Lord. I can't, I've said many times in the past, I preached to 50 people, 100 people, 2,000 people, or more at different times. And I've always said, and I love preaching, I love preaching. I would rather lead someone to the Lord, especially a Jewish person to the Lord, than preach to 3,000 people. This is what, what is Paul's reward, is he saying? My reward, what is my reward then? You. When I have a part in sharing the gospel and seeing you come to the Lord. If you've never ever had a part in bringing someone to Jesus, you don't know what you're missing. To know that you brought someone or helped to bring someone from darkness to light, from death to life, that they become a new creation in Christ Jesus. And to know that they have eternal life, that they're gonna be in heaven with you. There's no greater reward this side of heaven. than that. That's what Paul is saying. You're my reward. I've had an opportunity. God gives the increase. But I was a waterer or I was a planter and you were my reward. And Paul looked at this as such a blessing. And if you've ever had that blessing to see somebody truly saved. And their life changed. What a joy. What a blessing. You are my reward. So then in verse 19, Paul says this. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more. I have freedom in Christ. I have liberty in Christ. And in Christ we have liberties. And Paul perhaps more than any of us would know that coming from that pharisaical background that he grew up in. I have liberty in Christ and we have liberty in Christ. And that gives us all kinds of freedom. But, he said, I have purposed to become a servant. I had become a slave and given up my freedom and given up my liberty, verse 19, that I may gain the more, that I might see more people come to the Lord. So I will purposely put aside my freedom and my liberty and the things that I could do that I might see others come to the Lord. And in that context, he says this in verse 20, and unto the Jews. I became as a Jew." Now this is a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Touching the law, Philippians 3 says, he was without fault, he followed the righteousness of the law. And yet, unto the Jews, he says, I became a Jew. that I might gain the Jews to them that are under the law, Jewish people, Orthodox Jews today, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. If they don't have the law, verse 20, to them that are without the law, as without law being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. I put aside my liberty and related to people in such a way that I would have an open door of sharing the gospel. See, when we proclaim Christ to people of other religions, we need to become to the Jews as a Jew. We need to become to Muslims as a Muslim. We need to understand them. We need to understand their culture. We need to understand their background. We need to understand their belief system. That is true whether it's Jews or Muslims or JWs or Mormons or Catholics or whatever group. We need to understand a little bit. You don't have to be expert. But we need to understand a little bit of their background and their belief systems and their culture to minister to them. Don't invite a Muslim over for dinner and serve pork. A number of years ago, we didn't serve pork. We invited, Cheryl at the time was working at Walmart and she had a Muslim coworker and we invited her over. We assured her that we were not serving pork. And she did come. She was from Palestine. I say that with, it's a whole, I don't want to go down that road. I don't have enough time in the road I'm on without going down that road. But she came, didn't stay long. I think she knew I was Jewish, and we would always joke when I saw her at the store. But she came and we briefly shared. She was on edge the whole time, it seemed, and didn't stay very long at all. But we didn't have pork. And when we told her, you know, we're not gonna serve pork. And she made some kind of joke that I'm Jewish and you don't eat pork anyway, and that's true, but that's another story. We need to relate to the people. Now, let me share some things, for example, about Jewish people to give you an idea. To the Jew, I became a Jew. We have to understand that the people group. For example, what we call the Old Testament, and the New Testament. It's not biblical terminology. We misuse it and when we call Genesis to Malachi the Old Testament What we're communicating to Jewish people is when you think of something old, you think of something ready to be thrown away in disrepair, not good. You don't want something old, do you? You want something new. You want the latest, except for the Samsung. You want the, you know, was the iPhone 7. You don't want the iPhone 2 or whatever. I don't have an iPhone. You want the newest thing out there. And when you sell the Jewish person, well, let's turn to the Old Testament. You're insinuating or inferring, that's old, that's no good. But that's what they recognize as the Bible. And it's not biblically correct. The Jewish people and Jesus, by the way, and the apostles in the first century used what is called today the Tanakh. T-N-K, or C-H, you put vowels in. And it comes from the three main sections of the Jewish Bible. There are only three sections of the Jewish Bible. It's broken down into the law and the prophets and the writings. the Torah, the law, the prophets, the Nevi'im, and the writings, which starts with Psalms, is Chesuvim. So you take the T and the N and the K, the Tanakh, or we could call it, the Jewish people would call it the Jewish Bible, which is really not 100% correct also. But turn with me to Luke chapter 24. The Christian world has changed the order of the Bible, the Old Testament. Now, this will never be changed in the Christian world. I understand that. And I'm trying it myself to refer more often to the Old Testament as the earlier scripture and the New Testament as the later scripture. See, we only have one Bible, not Old Testament, New Testament, one Bible, Genesis to Revelation. But at Jesus's time, the events of Matthew, certainly the Gospels were being lived out, and the rest of it would come later. But look at verse, in Luke chapter 24, 44. And he said unto them, these are the words, Jesus is speaking, these are the words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled. which were written in the Law of Moses, the Torah. and in the prophets, the Nevi'im, and in the Psalms, or the writings, the Psalms is the first book of the section called the writings, concerning me. That's the layout of the Jewish Bible. It starts with Genesis, it ends with 2 Chronicles, the last book of the writings. And what Jesus was saying, everything in the Tanakh, everything in the Jewish Bible, not the Old Testament, speaks of me. Now there's so much I could say on this. You'll find the same type of thing in Matthew 23, 35, where it talks about the blood of righteous Abel that will come upon the Jewish people who have rejected their Messiah. From the blood of righteous Abel to Zechariah, the son of Barqiah, who was slain between the altars in the temple. Now we know where the martyrdom of Abel is found, book of Genesis. Where do we find the martyrdom of Zechariah, the son of Barqaius? Not Zechariah, 2 Chronicles. What Jesus was saying based on the order of the Bible that he and the apostles of the first church used, what we call the Old Testament, not the Old Testament correctly though, that from Genesis to 2 Chronicles, the entire word of God up to that point, you have rejected. And so the blood of all these righteous martyrs from the beginning to the end of the word of God, the Old Testament in our vernacular will come upon you. And by the way, this is an excellent argument against the Apocrypha because the law and the prophets and the writings in the Jewish Bible doesn't have the Apocrypha. Apocrypha is not the Word of God at all. I've been Started a book many years ago, actually. I just picked it up again. And I don't know when I'll finish this. Maybe when I'm no longer the director of Jewish Awareness Ministries. But anyway, part of this, I'm dealing with what I'm mentioning about the misuse of Old Testament and New Testament. And I did some research on the web. And I came up with this statement by, I couldn't find the guy's name. I think, as I remember, he claims to be a fundamental independent Baptist, and I have nothing against fundamental independent Baptists, except sometimes they're a lot of fun and not too mental. But anyway, he said this. Scholars often base their opinions on history to the exclusion of what is actually in the Bible. A perfect example of this is the whole discussion regarding when the 27 books were first called the New Testament slash covenant. Scholars will imply that the collection of New Testament books were first called the New Testament only after about 150 AD, which is true. Then he goes on, yet they fail to observe the obvious fact that in several books they're called just that. Luke 22, 20, 1 Corinthians 11, 25, 2 Corinthians 3, 6, Hebrews 8, 6 through 13, and so on. So instead of admitting that the earliest Christians must, he has in all caps, have referred to their collection of books as the New Testament, as the Bible itself documents, they ignore this and base their opinion strictly on extant historical information. Here is the earliest evidence of when Christians referred to their collection of books as the New Covenant Testament, and he gives a number of verses, Jeremiah 31, 31, Luke 22, 20, gives about nine different references. He is wrong. He should have read the verses he put down. Go back to Jeremiah 31, verse 31, where we have the mention, the first mention of the new covenant. Jeremiah chapter 31, 31. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel in the house of Judah. And so this man says, see, here's the New Covenant. That's the book. The 27 books of the New Testament, the New Covenant. That's his argument. Well, let's read on. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke. Otherwise the husband of them saith the Lord." Now wait a second. What is the covenant that God made with the Jewish people when he brought them out of the land of Egypt? The Mosaic Covenant. And the Mosaic Covenant was a set of rules and regulations for the Jewish people to govern their life. It was a national responsibility. It was how a nation was to live. And you could break down the Old Testament, the Mosaic Covenant, into civil, ceremonial, and moral distinctions. And it's often done. God never does it that way. We do it, but God never does it that way. God looks at the Old Testament, the Mosaic Law, as an entity, as a whole, and never, never divides them into those three sections. Although you'll find civil laws and ceremonial laws and moral laws within the Mosaic Covenant, but it's God's prescription for a nation and how they should live. So behold, the days come. I'm gonna make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with you, not according to the Mosaic covenant for the nation. There'll be a new covenant. And what will that new covenant be? In verse 33 and 34. But this shall be the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, write it in their hearts, will be their God. They shall be my people. They shall teach no more every man his neighbor, every man his brother, saying, know the Lord. For they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity. I will remember their sin no more. You know what the new covenant is? It's a relationship that God will have with individuals. where he'll change your heart, put his law in your heart, and you'll have forgiveness of sins. That's the new covenant. It's not 27 books. It's a relationship that God has with individuals in contrast with the old covenant where God had a relationship with the nation. It's nothing to do with books. And all of the verses that are passages that he references after that, Luke 22.20, 1 Corinthians 11.25, 2 Corinthians 3.6, Hebrews 8.8, Hebrews 8.13, Hebrews 9.15, Hebrews 12.24, all have to do with a relationship. Either that old covenant relationship with a nation or that new covenant or testament relationship God has with an individual. It has nothing to do with books. So we misuse it. And even one that he didn't use, turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, and perhaps should have used above all the rest of these, in verses 12 through 15. In verse 12, in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, we're told, seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. Not as Moses. which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But their minds were blinded. So something's abolished, but wait a second. But their minds were blinded. For until this day remains the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament. Whoa, Brother Mark, you blew it. You said the Old Testament is the mosaic law, and here it's saying in the reading of the Old Testament there's blindness upon the Jews' eyes, and that blindness is removed when they come to the Lord. Well, the Old Testament here is not Genesis to Malachi or Genesis to 2 Chronicles if you use the layout of the Jewish Bible. Look at the next verse. Even on to this day, when Moses is read, that's the qualifier, that's the interpreter. That is the commentary on the Old Testament. Moses, the Mosaic Law. The Old Testament is the Mosaic Law. So when we say that Jewish people, tell them that, you know, your Old Testament, We don't mean to, I understand that. But we're denigrating the only book that they believe is from God of the Bible. They don't believe in the New Testament. I always slip back into, you know, I've been a Christian too long. It'll never change with me. It'll never change with the church. It'll never change with you. I understand that. We have called the Old Testament the Old Testament for way too long and the New Testament the New Testament for way too long. I mean, we heard, you know, the Bible translation, and what do they always interpret first? The New Testament. But it's not biblically correct terminology. So when you talk to a Jewish person, don't call it the Old Testament. Number one, you're being biblical in terminology, but you're also relating to them. Call it the Jewish Bible or the Hebrew Bible at least. Better yet, call it the Tanakh. But at least the Jewish Bible, although, by the way, this whole book is a Jewish book. Matthew to Revelation is also a Jewish book. Every author is Jewish, including Luke. That's a whole other discussion for another time. but the whole Bible is a Jewish book. So we've got to understand, we've got to relate to them. And I should mention really quick, when they go into the synagogue, for example, in Acts chapter 13, 15, and Paul goes into the synagogue, and he'd also go to preach, it said, and after the reading of the law and the prophets, men and brethren, if you have anything to say, preach. After the reading of the law, the Torah, and the prophets, the Haftorah. See that has been around for millennia. These prescribed readings, that's why it's mentioned in the calendar, that in every Sabbath they will have a prescribed reading in a yearly cycle. It starts after so-called tabernacles, so it just recently started. And with the law, they'll start in Genesis, and they'll go to the end of Deuteronomy in that year cycle. And they'll read selected portions from the rest of the Jewish Bible, from the prophets and from the writings, and they'll repeat that year after year after year as they read. There's so much that could be said, concerns of Jewish people. When Jewish people think of Christianity, they don't think of love, they think of hate. They have been persecuted in the name of Christ throughout history. The Nazis were Christians in their mind and their understanding. They had the iron cross. After they would take literally little babies and take them by their ankles and bash their heads on the sidewalk until their skulls split open, then they would go home during Christmas season or to their churches and sing Christmas carols. And the Jewish community who had just heard these or seen these same people bash their kids on the sidewalk until their skulls split open would hear them then in their churches and homes singing Christmas carols to Jesus. And so they don't think generally speaking of Christianity as love, they think of it as hate. And so you've got to understand that when you talk to Jewish people, don't call Jesus Christ. That's like the chalk on the chalkboard that gets that screeching sound and is irritating. You know how that is? That's how Jewish people hear when you say Christ. Use Messiah. Same word. It's like six and half a dozen. Communicating the same thing. Messiah goes down a lot easier. Christ equals Messiah. Same, it's just the English derivation comes from Mashiach, Messiah, Christ. Jesus the Messiah. And so when we reach people of other religions, we have to understand where they're coming from. And we have to relate to them, is what Paul is saying, and so much more could be said in this regard. One other thing before I close. Jews are Christ killers. I've known numbers of Jewish people, believers. who in their childhood were raised, and they'd walk home from synagogue, a shul it's called, and they would pass most often Catholic neighborhoods. And the Catholic, and especially the young kids, teenagers would come out, you're Christ killers. You killed our Jesus, Christ killers. And that's not just with young people. It's in the religious world, unfortunately. The Jews are not responsible for the death of Christ. Just a couple of verses. Yes, historically, they turned him over to Pilate, a small segment of them. But Acts chapter 4, they turned him over to Pilate and said, crucify him, crucify him. But in Acts chapter 4 and verse 27, we are told this. For the truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou has anointed, he's the anointed one, the Messiah, the Mashiach, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, the people of Israel, Satan was responsible. You and I were responsible for Jesus dying. He went to the cross for you. What we are also told in John chapter 10 in 17 and 18, therefore does my Father love me, because I, Jesus is speaking, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father. Jesus willingly died for your sin, my sin, the sin of the world. The Jews didn't crucify him. The Gentiles didn't crucify him. Herod didn't crucify him. Pilate didn't crucify him. Satan didn't crucify him. You, in a sense, didn't crucify him. Although all those things are true and you were and they were part of the death of Jesus. Jesus willingly. laid down his life. And if he didn't want to die for the sins of the world, there's nothing in the universe that could have made that happen. So the Jews and the claim that they're Christ killers, it's an aberration of truth. Yes, they're responsible. I'm responsible. There's at least seven different, I think it is, entities. The Father was responsible. God the Father turned his back on his beloved son. There's at least seven or eight different entities responsible for the death of Jesus. The Jews aren't Christ killers, not in the way that it's been said through the years. We need to relate to the people we reach and communicate to them about the Jewish people, about the God of Israel and the Messiah of Israel. And you don't stop being Jewish when you believe in Jesus. You don't become a Gentile. That's what they think happens when you become a Christian. And so what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 9, unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I may gain the Jews. And unto the Muslims I became as a Muslim. that I might win Muslims to the Lord, or I became as a, you don't become a Muslim, you don't become a J.W., you don't become a Mormon, you don't become an Orthodox Jew, you relate to them and understand them and communicate to them and minister to them in a way that doesn't offend them and communicates to them the gospel. Verses 23 and 24. And this I do, Paul says, for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain. I've got a burden, Paul says, that drives me. woe is me if I don't preach the gospel. And to accomplish that, I have liberty in Christ. You know, if you want to go out and play golf on Sunday morning, you're not going to burn in hell. I'm not recommending you go out Sunday mornings and play golf because that's your day off. But you have the liberty to do that. Paul says, I have a burning desire to see people saved, and I am willing to set aside my liberty. and to become a slave for others, that they might come to the Lord, that I might gain some. And so to the Jew, I became a Jew, to the weak, I became weak, to the Mormon, I became a Mormon, to the Muslim, I became a Muslim, and so on. I'm running the race, and I do this, and I put aside my liberty for the gospel sake, that I might be partaker with you, that I'll get the joy of seeing you come to the Lord, and there's other rewards with it, the crown of rejoicing, so run. Get involved and put your liberty aside. Take the time. You don't have to become an expert, but get to know a little bit about the Jewish culture, the Jewish people, and the Muslim culture, and the Muslim people, and what they practice, and JWs, and Mormons. When I witnessed to Michelle years ago and those elders, I knew I couldn't lose my cool. Because if I lost my cool, that would just reinforce that what they had was true. So get to know a little bit about Catholics, and Mormons, and Muslims, and Jewish people, and atheists, which is a religion, by the way, without a God, but it's a religion. Run the race. And if you do, there's two rewards that await you. One is the joy of having a part in seeing someone come to the Lord. To me, there's nothing greater than that. But then you're going to get the crown of rejoicing, which you'll ultimately throw at the feet of Jesus anyway. But you'll have the crown of rejoicing that somebody has come to the Lord and you have had a part in their salvation. Let's run. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful and grateful for your goodness, your blessings, and your challenge. None of us are the Apostle Paul. We shouldn't even attempt to be. But Lord, what is true for him as a follower of Messiah, as a follower of Jesus, is true for us. We should have compassion, a burden on lost people. We should, as he did, see the necessity of preaching the gospel. Woe is me if I don't. Help us to set aside our liberty. Perhaps put aside that round of golf that we can spend those four hours learning about Islam and how to witness to Muslims. or perhaps it's something else that we need to put aside that we have every right to do and the liberty to enjoy, to invest our life in learning about another people group that we can effectively share Jesus with them. Help us to run, Father. Burden us, challenge us, encourage us, and may Jesus be glorified in our lives and in our witness. We pray in His name, amen.