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Is Jesus the Jewish Messiah?
Episode 520th June 2021 • Our Hope Podcast • Chosen People Ministries
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Some Jewish people come to faith in Yeshua after a time of intense research, digging into both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament to find the truth for themselves. In this week’s episode of Our Hope Podcast 🎙, we are sharing three testimonies from Jewish intellectuals who discovered the Jewish Messiah!

Transcripts

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Welcome to Our Hope,

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a production of Chosen

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People Ministries.

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On this podcast you will hear

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inspiring testimonies,

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learn

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about Messianic apologetics

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and discover God's plan

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for Israel and you.

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Wherever you're listening,

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we hope you lean in,

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listen closely and be blessed.

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You may have heard this

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statement before, “I’m Jewish;

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I don’t believe in Jesus.”

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Throughout this season,

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we have learned why

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such resistance exists

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in the hearts and minds

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of our Jewish brethren.

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One of the reasons

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is that the Jewish people

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have experienced

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centuries of persecution

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from the Church

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and those who proclaimed to be

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followers of Jesus.

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Another reason is

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that the Church has

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gradually drifted away

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from the Jewish

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roots of our faith.

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The way Jesus, the disciples,

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and the New Testament

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are presented

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might not look familiar

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to the Jewish people.

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Sadly,

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this has made them see Yeshua

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as the “God of the Gentiles.”

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In this episode of Our Hope,

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you will hear three amazing

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testimonies of Jewish

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intellectuals who,

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despite their own cultural

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and personal resistance

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to Jesus, found the truth

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of Messiah in Scripture.

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The first is Dr.

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Michael Brown.

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Dr.

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Brown grew up believing that

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Jesus is the God

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of the Catholic Church.

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As a teenager, he lived a life

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steeped in drug addiction—but

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then a friend shared

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about his pastor’s

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teaching on the

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Book of Revelation.

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Dr.

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Brown’s curiosity was piqued,

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so he visited the church

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to hear what else

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the Scriptures had to say.

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Take a listen.

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Growing up Jewish,

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I thought that Jesus

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was the God of the

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Catholic Church.

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He was just some guy

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kind of foreign to us,

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God of this other religion,

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but nothing to do

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with us as Jews.

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When I was in high school, I

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earned the nickname Drug

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Bear and Iron Man.

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Yeah, I mean, I smoked pot,

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I smoked hash, I used ups,

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I used downs.

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I used LSD.

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I used mescaline.

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I used amphetamines.

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I used cocaine.

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I shot heroin.

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I would take massive quantities

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just to see how far I could go.

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I once did enough

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mescaline,

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hallucinogenic drugs,

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for 30 people,

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the equivalent of one ounce.

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I couldn't distinguish

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between reality

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and hallucination.

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I would walk with my hand

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in front of my face at night

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because I didn't

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know if the tree

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that was growing up in

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front of me was really there,

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or if the tree that grew

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up into fireworks

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that they were really taking

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place.

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I'd see a car coming at me

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and suddenly the car

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became a person.

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You know, the eyes,

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the lights became

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eyes and the mouths.

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I'd see someone walking the dog

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and then they morph

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until they each become

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a little bit of each other.

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And it was really

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going on a trip.

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I had a really wicked heart.

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I mean, I was proud,

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really proud,

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obnoxiously proud.

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And I was vicious

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with my tongue.

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I wasn't a fistfighter.

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I didn't get in fights, but

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I would cut people down.

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I would rip into them

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until they were in tears.

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I thought, well,

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if there really is a God,

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he knows I have a good heart.

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You know, if

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if I see an old woman

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and she's entering a store,

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I'll open the door for her.

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Or if I'm in New York City

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and I see some poor bum,

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some drunkard on the street,

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I'll give him a few cents,

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so in my heart, I'm

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actually a good person.

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I thought a church,

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I don't know, is

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kind of like a synagogue.

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You say these prayers

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out of a book

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and then maybe you have

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these other rituals

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that you go through

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or something like that.

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I don't know.

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And you got some guy

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hanging on a cross and,

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you know, and that's

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what it's like,

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not this church.

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This was very, very different.

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And then my friends

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would come back with stories

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they said

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the pastor was preaching

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from the Book of Revelation,

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the last book of the Bible

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that tells us about

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the end times.

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We're sitting around

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getting high, smoking pot

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and they're telling me

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these stories.

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They said

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there's going to be a beast.

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It comes out of

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a bottomless pit,

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seven heads and ten horns.

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It's going to rule the world.

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And I said,

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"That's in the Bible?"

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That's what they talk

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about in this church?

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That's a cool church!

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And at the end of the service,

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the pastor said,

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is there anyone here

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who wants to receive

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Jesus Christ, Jesus

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into their hearts?

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I guess he did that

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in all the services

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and my friend, sitting

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next to me nudges me.

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He said, "Mike,

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you should go out now."

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And see I knew after

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my first visit there,

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these people are praying for me

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because they think

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like I'm the worst sinner

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in the world.

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These old people

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will really get

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a kick out of it

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if I go up there

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and say this prayer.

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They'll be all like, "Oh,

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the big sinner, went up."

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So I,

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I went up to pray the prayer.

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I didn't mean anything by it.

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I just

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I was

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having a little fun with it.

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So the pastor said, "Say

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these words out loud with me,

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'I believe Jesus died for me.'"

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Okay, Jesus died for me.

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Jesus took my place.

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I sinned.

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I did all these bad things.

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He was perfect.

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He died for me.

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You know,

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I believe

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I believe that's true.

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I believe Jesus did die for me.

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"Say these words,

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'I believe He rose

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from the dead.'"

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And I thought, you know,

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somehow I know that's true.

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Also, the story didn't end

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just with Him dying,

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but it goes on that's

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why all these people

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believe in Him today.

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He rose from the dead.

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I believe it.

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And then he said, "And

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I promise to live for you

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all the days of my life."

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And I said the words.

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He said, "Did you mean that?" I

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said, "Yes." He said,

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"I believe you."

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God knew I didn't

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mean the last part

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and that's when the deep

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spiritual battle

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really began to take place.

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I loved heavy rock music,

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so Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix,

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and bands a little different,

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Jethro

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Tull, these different ones,

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because I was a drummer,

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bass set

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and pounding, everything!

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It was kind of a whole

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new world for me.

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And I thought,

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I want to play drums

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just like that.

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One of my favorite things

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to do in life was to get high

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and to go to a rock concert.

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You talk about an experience,

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you go to a concert,

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say, at the Fillmore East

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and they have what's called

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the Joshua Light show,

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this pounding, flashing light

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going on behind them,

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and here's Zeppelin,

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Dazed and Confused

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and Robert Plant

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kind of staggering

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over the stage as

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a singer and Jimmy

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Page ripping out

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guitars, and John Bonham,

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that drummer with

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a heavy drum beat and bass

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player,

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just driving this thing.

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And the music would be so loud,

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I would test it.

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I would scream at

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the top of my lungs

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and if I could hear myself,

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the music wasn't loud enough.

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I lived for it.

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And then my own band we'd play

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every day, we'd practice

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and play for hours

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and the loud music

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and getting high man.

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We loved it.

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Now I'm in this little church.

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There's maybe 40,

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50 people there,

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I'm 16 long-haired hippie,

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you got guys 50,

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60 years old and jackets

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and ties and ladies

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in their dresses.

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And there's the pastor's wife

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playing the piano.

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That's the instrument piano,

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no amps, no drums.

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She's playing piano

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and she's playing

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these little ditty hymns.

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"There's within my heart

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a melody,

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Jesus whisper sweet and low."

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I'm talking about these

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silly little ditties

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softly and tenderly.

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"Jesus is called

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sunshine, sunshine

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in my soul tonight."

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That's what we're singing.

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And as we're singing

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these songs,

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and we're just singing

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a couple of songs,

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you have 40, 50 people,

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you got no amplification,

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no drugs.

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Suddenly I experience

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this joy

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I've never experienced

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in my life.

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I mean, I can't even

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describe it with words

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as I talk about it now.

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And immediately,

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it's like my life

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passes before me.

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I thought

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getting high on drugs,

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no it's different.

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Rock music, playing,

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going to a concert,

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this is different.

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Winning in sports,

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playing sport.

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No, this is different.

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Having a great relationship

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with someone,

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doing good for someone.

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I thought, this is different.

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This is completely different.

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This must be what

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these people call

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the joy of the Lord.

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And I realized this

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is how much God loves me.

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This is what Jesus did

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for me, dying on the cross.

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This was the most

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pure, amazing joy

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a human being

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could ever experience

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when God made himself

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so real to me at that point,

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I didn't want to live the way

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I was living anymore.

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I said I'll never put a needle

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in my arm again,

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when I experienced

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that incredible

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joy and I realized

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how much God love me.

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When I stopped doing drugs

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and I said, "Dad, Dad,

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I got saved." I mean,

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who knew what the words meant?

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And he said, "Hallelujah!"

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He was just making fun of it.

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He didn't take it seriously.

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Now, hang on, we're Jews.

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We don't believe this.

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So he was Jewish

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enough to be concerned

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that his son is going

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to depart from the faith.

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"I'm thrilled you're off drugs,

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but now you need

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to come back to Judaism.

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You need to talk to

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the local rabbi."

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And for me,

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I was excited to do it

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because I wanted,

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I wanted my Jewish

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people to know about Jesus.

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I meet this rabbi and that

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one, ultra-Orthodox

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rabbis who've been studying

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these things for

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decades and centuries.

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And and I thought, you know,

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I need to learn more.

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My faith is secure in my heart,

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but I need to learn more.

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I need to learn Hebrew.

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I need to learn

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more about Judaism.

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And the more I study,

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the more clear it was.

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I was completely

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on the side of truth

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in following Jesus.

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We would keep having these

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discussions and debates

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and so very, very few rabbis,

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despite their sincerity

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and all their study,

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have even opened up

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an honest question before God

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as to who He is.

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In their mind it's blasphemous,

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it's sacrilegious

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to read the New Testament.

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It's sacrilegious.

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So they stay away from it

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entirely.

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They don't know who

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He really is.

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They know

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some of the bad stories

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we preserve

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in our own traditions.

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You know, hanging on a crucifix

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in a Catholic church,

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the horror stories

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of the Inquisition

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and the Crusades

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and the terrible things

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that so-called Christians

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did to Jewish people

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through the years.

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What really happened was

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He was laying down

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His life for us.

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He was taking the place

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of the animal sacrifices.

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In other words,

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He was doing this, as Yeshua

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the promised Messiah

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in keeping with scripture

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and our tradition.

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So He was not some Gentile God

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hanging on a cross

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from another religion.

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He was our Messiah, dying

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as the righteous one,

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taking our sins

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on His shoulders

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and then rising from the dead

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so that we could have a

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great relationship with God.

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My dad, he actually

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would come and hear me preach.

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You know, he wanted me

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to go back to Judaism,

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but then he saw how radically

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my life was changed

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and and began to consider,

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could it be

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that Jesus is the Messiah?

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I remember he was even

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reading the New Testament.

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So his heart was wide open

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because he saw how

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Jesus had changed my life

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and he knew that

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this was something

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only God could have done.

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Dr.

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Brown is now one of

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the leading voices

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in Messianic apologetics.

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He has written over 40

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books about the church,

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Yeshua, antisemitism

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and many other topics

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related to faith and culture.

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It is truly amazing

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to see the transformative power

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of Yeshua in a person’s life!

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Like Dr. Brown, Dr.

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Seth Postell

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grew up in a Jewish home

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and saw Jesus as a foreign God.

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But when his mother found

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the truth of Yeshua

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in her Tanakh,

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everything turned

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upside down—and you will not

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believe what happened next.

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You believe in Jesus

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and you're Jewish?

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If you knew Biblical Hebrew,

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if you only knew

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the Hebrew Bible,

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if you could read it

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in the original language,

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then you would know that

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Jesus can't be the Messiah.

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And that was something

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I took as a deep challenge.

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And then my investigation

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went from a bachelor's degree

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to a master's degree to a Ph.D.

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to the beginning

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of a second PhD.

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And the more that I studied

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the Hebrew Bible,

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the more I studied

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how the New Testament

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is reading the Old Testament,

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the more I realized that

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Jesus is the Messiah.

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I grew up in New Jersey,

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very well

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aware of our Jewish identity.

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I do remember that whenever

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my dad was really,

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really angry, the worst

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thing he could ever say

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was "Jesus Christ".

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My mom started to become more

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and more spiritual

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and she started to read

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the Bible.

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She started to read

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the Old Testament,

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what we called it, or the

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the Hebrew Bible.

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She became more

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and more curious

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intellectually with Jesus.

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She came home with

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the very good news

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to tell my father.

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"Murray, I've been

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searching the scriptures.

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I've been reading,

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I've been studying,

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and Jesus is the Messiah."

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My father started to cry.

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He said, "I thought

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I married a Jew.

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How could you

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betray our people?

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How could you do this?

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Please tell me,

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why do you believe in Jesus?

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But please don't show me

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the New Testament."

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Because, of course, we knew

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Christians hate Jews.

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Christians believe

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in the New Testament.

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The New Testament

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must be antisemitic.

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As she read to him, Isaiah 53,

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my father got very angry

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and he stopped her

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and he said, "I

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told you, Lorraine,

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I don't want to hear

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the New Testament."

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And she stopped and she said,

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"Well, Murray,

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this is our side of the book.

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This is this is not

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the New Testament.

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It was-

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this is a prophecy

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from seven hundred years

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before Jesus was born." Well,

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my father was in shock.

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Over the next several months,

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something very strange

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had happened in our family.

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So suddenly up until

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that point, my mom and dad

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felt very insistent upon

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sending me to Hebrew school.

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They were very clear

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about our Jewish identity

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and now suddenly they start

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to talk to me about

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about Jesus, and

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it was very confusing to me.

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I didn't understand.

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I thought that my mom and dad

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had an identity crisis,

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something definitely

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was wrong with them.

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And I remember them

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bringing me to a service.

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My mom and dad decided

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to go back to the house.

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I was with my mom's

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friend, Linda, in her car.

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It was a blue Mercedes

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and we're driving home

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and she says to me, "So, Seth,

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when are you going to accept

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Yeshua as your Messiah?"

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I didn't know

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quite what to say, but I said,

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"Linda," I said,

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"Give me a break.

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I'm young.

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I want to live a little.

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I want to experience life.

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I want to I want to enjoy."

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And she looked at me,

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she said, "Seth,

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did you know that

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Jesus could come back

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at any moment now?"

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I said, "Okay." Now

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we're on the highway.

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We're driving.

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She said he could come

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back at any moment.

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I said, "Okay, so what?"

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She said, "well,

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you know what would happen

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if He came back right

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now?" I said, "No." (She

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said) "I would be taken up

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and I'd be with Jesus forever

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and you would be

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in the passenger seat of my car

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going fifty-five

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miles per hour, all alone

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without a driver,

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and you would crash, die

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and go to hell."

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This is true.

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Jesus, don't come back.

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Jesus, don't come back.

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Jesus, don't come back.

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I was pleading.

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Don't come back.

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And so that was when

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my prayer life began.

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I had very, very serious

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childhood asthma.

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I was on heavy medications,

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one of the medications I was

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on was called prednisone,

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and prednisone was something

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that deeply affected my moods.

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It also affected my shape.

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I remember

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looking in the mirror

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and I was fat.

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My face was swollen up.

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It was red.

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I already believed

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in my heart of hearts

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that I was an ugly kid.

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I was the ugliest

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kid in my class.

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And so I grew up

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seeing myself as ugly.

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And then with the

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prednisone, I just remember

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detesting myself.

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There's nothing worse

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in the world than

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to look at the mirror

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and see yourself as ugly.

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And again,

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it wasn't just an ugliness

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of my physical appearance,

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it was

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it was the ugliness of

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my inability to overcome

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my own weaknesses.

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My inability

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to free myself from sin.

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I was convinced that

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God hated me, too.

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And I started to see that

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I was ugly in God's eyes.

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And so I went through this

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never ending cycle of praying.

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And so it was as if

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I would be born again,

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and then born again, again,

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and then born again,

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again, again,

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and born again, again, again.

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And no matter what I did,

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no matter how I prayed,

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this dread sense of terror,

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that I was a dirty,

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rotten sinner, ugly

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in God's eyes,

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that God hated me,

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and that the first chance

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He was going to send me

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to hell.

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And it really scared me

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and I had no hope.

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Several years later,

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I found myself in this service

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and the speaker was a pastor

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and for whatever reason,

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he kept looking my way

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and it was odd because

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he didn't know me

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and there were a couple hundred

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people there

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and he kept looking at me

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and it felt

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like he was exposing

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all the things I hope

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nobody else would see around

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me, all the things

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I hated about myself,

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all the things I believed

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God hated about me.

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And so I'm sitting there

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and I'm very uncomfortable.

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And at the end of the service,

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I just remember him

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just inviting people

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to stand up.

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I stood up

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and I looked forward,

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and it's as if I

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saw Yeshua waiting for me

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and His arms are

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stretched out, and up

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until that moment, His arms

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were always stretched

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out in anger, He wanted

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to strike me down.

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But this time,

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for the first time,

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His arms are open

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and all He wanted

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to do is to hug me.

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All He wanted to

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do is embrace me

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and it was as if I heard,

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"I did this for you.

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The scars are for you,

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these wounds are for you.

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Of course I love you.

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Of course I accept you.

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I came for sinners."

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And I guess it

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was the first time

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that I recognized that

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Yeshua loves sinners.

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And I think

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for the first time in my life,

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I no longer saw myself as ugly.

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I no longer believe that lie,

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that I was ugly in God's eyes.

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And for the first time,

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I actually truly felt

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loved from the inside out

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and I knew that God loved me.

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The chains broke.

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I was new. I was free.

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Well, as I started

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to get more and more excited

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about the fact that

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I was a new creation,

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that it was something

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that God did supernaturally,

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I wanted to share.

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And one of the things

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that started happening is

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I shared with my family.

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"Wait a minute,

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you believe in Jesus

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and you're Jewish?

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This just can't be.

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And in fact, you're saying

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that Jesus is the Messiah

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based on the Old Testament?

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Who do you think you are?

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Do you know better

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than the rabbis?

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In fact,

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if you really could read

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Hebrew, you would know

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that you're misreading the text

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that Jesus couldn't be

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the Messiah.

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You're trusting on a

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Christian translation."

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I remember thinking to myself,

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you know what?

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I have to know Biblical Hebrew

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and I have to know it

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really, really well.

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After I finished my first

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Ph.D., I started another Ph.D.

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in Hebrew Bible here in Israel.

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I can put all of

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my intellectual weight

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on the text itself.

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And the more that I studied

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the Hebrew Bible,

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the more I studied

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how the New Testament

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is reading the Old Testament,

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the more I realized that

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Jesus is the Messiah.

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This is true

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not just on a heart level,

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not just because I know

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that God

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has redeemed me for my sin,

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not just because

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I know that He's

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given me a new life and hope

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and that I know that

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I'm beautiful in His eyes,

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not because of me,

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but because of Him.

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But there's the other

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side of it

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and it's the head side of it

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that that God calls us

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as a people to search,

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to search the scriptures,

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to study, to see if,

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in fact, Jesus is the Messiah.

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And I'm convinced

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with all my heart,

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to the extent that I've studied

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all these years, that

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to understand Moses,

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to understand the

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prophets, to understand

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the writings is in fact,

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to see Yeshua,

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the greatest Jew

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who ever lived.

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The Savior of our people

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and the savior of the world.

Speaker:

Dr.

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Seth Postell is now

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the academic dean

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of Israel College of the Bible

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in Netanya, Israel.

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His pursuit of truth

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is truly encouraging.

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Now fluent in Biblical Hebrew,

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Dr.

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Postell is able to

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share how the Tanakh,

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or the Old Testament,

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reveals the Jewish

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Messiah, Yeshua.

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Our next testimony is from Dr.

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Erez Soref.

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Like most Jewish people, Dr.

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Soref believed that

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because he is Jewish,

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he doesn’t need to believe

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in Jesus.

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During his

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post-military travel,

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he met a group of Gentile

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believers and was drawn

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by their personal connection

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with God.

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This friendship led Dr.

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Soref to rediscover his Tanakh.

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Take a listen.

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I mean, my family,

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my neighbors, my friends,

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my people, nobody knows.

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Nobody tells us!

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It's the best kept secret

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among the Jewish people.

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I was born to a

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Sephardic Jewish family,

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my family are Babylonian

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Jews on my mom's side,

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and Sephardic Jews

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from Spain on my dad's side.

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My mom would try to drag

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my brothers

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and me to synagogue.

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Maybe it had something to do

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with our people

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thousands of years ago.

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But God was very,

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very far away in school.

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We would study

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the Old Testament

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from first grade

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to twelfth grade.

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We study it

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as History of our people,

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as wisdom literature,

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something that one

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just needs to know

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being Jewish, but

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not as the Word of God.

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After my military service,

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like a lot of Israelis,

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I decided to travel the world.

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Initially in Southeast Asia

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a lot of Israelis

Speaker:

are going there for

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the mysticism trail

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and the drug trail.

Speaker:

I wanted to understand

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what they believe.

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And so I was exposed

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to some Hindu and

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some Buddhist literature.

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I got to to realize that

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there is a spiritual reality.

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But that spiritual reality

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I saw was very, very scary.

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It was negative.

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It was dark, but

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it was very real.

Speaker:

I ended

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up in Amsterdam, Holland,

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and I came there

Speaker:

with merchandise to sell

Speaker:

because I ran out of money.

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It was there

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that I've met a group

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of very enthusiastic

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young believers in Jesus.

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And I said, "Well, I'm Jewish

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and we don't believe in Jesus."

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And they said, "Why?

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Jesus is Jewish?"

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And I said, "I'm not sure why,

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but I'm sure we don't

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believe in Jesus."

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As I got to know them,

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I noticed two things

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that really drew my attention

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and made me curious.

Speaker:

One was what they called

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"personal relationship

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with God".

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I couldn't understand it.

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I mean, I could see it.

Speaker:

I could see how it works

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out in their lives.

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They would pray

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for one another.

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They would talk to God

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like one talks to a friend.

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It is very foreign

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to a Jewish mindset.

Speaker:

So this friend said, "Well,

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would you like to pray?"

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I said, "I don't

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know how to pray,

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you know, in my bar mitzvah,

Speaker:

they gave me a page,

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I read it,

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give me a page, I'll read it."

Speaker:

And the second thing

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that was even more

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shocking than that

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was that some of them

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were familiar with passages

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in the Hebrew scriptures

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that I wasn't very well,

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familiar with.

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In school, we would

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study certain chapters

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and we would skip

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over

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a lot of the other passages.

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But they referred me

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to passages that they called

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prophetic or Messianic.

Speaker:

They talk about the Messiah

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and I was amazed.

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I said, "Well,

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how come you guys know

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the Hebrew scripture?

Speaker:

I mean, this is ours."

Speaker:

And they said, "No, it's it's-

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the whole Bible is one book."

Speaker:

And I said, "Well,

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I have a Bible at home

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and I've never seen

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the New Testament."

Speaker:

I decided to check it out.

Speaker:

So I read the Hebrew scriptures

Speaker:

and I saw

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there was the same one

Speaker:

as we had.

Speaker:

I had one in Hebrew

Speaker:

and those passages

Speaker:

were right in there

Speaker:

telling when the

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Messiah will be born,

Speaker:

what will He do?

Speaker:

How are we going

Speaker:

to recognize Him.

Speaker:

Reading this,

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I became very curious

Speaker:

and I said to myself,

Speaker:

I have to read

Speaker:

the New Testament.

Speaker:

So I actually

Speaker:

got one in Hebrew.

Speaker:

And every morning

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I would kind of look at it

Speaker:

and then look away,

Speaker:

go about doing my things.

Speaker:

Finally,

Speaker:

I said to myself, "Well,

Speaker:

Erez, you are a hypocrite

Speaker:

because you would

Speaker:

read Hindu writings

Speaker:

and Buddhist writings

Speaker:

and whatever.

Speaker:

But when it comes to Jesus,

Speaker:

you know, you avoid."

Speaker:

And I started reading.

Speaker:

I was very surprised.

Speaker:

First of all, it took

Speaker:

place in Israel, in places

Speaker:

I've been to many, many times

Speaker:

growing up in Israel.

Speaker:

I've never, ever heard anything

Speaker:

about Jesus of Nazareth.

Speaker:

I've never met a

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Christian person.

Speaker:

I've never

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seen a New Testament.

Speaker:

I had absolutely no

Speaker:

idea what it meant.

Speaker:

It is particularly ridiculous

Speaker:

because I had first

Speaker:

degree family

Speaker:

living on the shores

Speaker:

of the Sea of Galilee

Speaker:

and throughout my childhood,

Speaker:

we would visit them

Speaker:

several times

Speaker:

a year, swim, fish, but

Speaker:

I had no idea that Jesus

Speaker:

or His disciples,

Speaker:

you know, ever existed.

Speaker:

We refer to this phenomenon

Speaker:

as Jesus being the

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best kept secret

Speaker:

among the Jewish people.

Speaker:

As I read about all

Speaker:

the religious institutions,

Speaker:

they're still very much with us

Speaker:

among the Jewish

Speaker:

people to this day.

Speaker:

But Yeshua was different.

Speaker:

I felt very drawn to Him.

Speaker:

He did not try to do

Speaker:

things to win men's favor.

Speaker:

And so I started the

Speaker:

process of comparing

Speaker:

the prophecies in

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the Hebrew scriptures

Speaker:

about the Messiah

Speaker:

and how are we going

Speaker:

to recognize them

Speaker:

in the fulfillment

Speaker:

in Yeshua in the New Testament.

Speaker:

And to my amazement,

Speaker:

it matched.

Speaker:

I became convinced

Speaker:

first in my head

Speaker:

then in my heart,

Speaker:

that Yeshua is indeed

Speaker:

the promised

Speaker:

Messiah for people.

Speaker:

Shortly after that,

Speaker:

I started noticing

Speaker:

changes in myself.

Speaker:

I had a great hunger

Speaker:

to read the word of God,

Speaker:

the Hebrew Scriptures

Speaker:

and the New Testament.

Speaker:

So thinking that I'm

Speaker:

the first Jewish person

Speaker:

since the time of

Speaker:

Paul the Apostle,

Speaker:

whom I read about in

Speaker:

the New Testament,

Speaker:

I felt that God is calling me

Speaker:

to go back to Israel

Speaker:

and tell my family,

Speaker:

to my friends, my neighbors,

Speaker:

my people and everybody else

Speaker:

that I meet about

Speaker:

this great discovery

Speaker:

that Yeshua is not

Speaker:

just the Messiah

Speaker:

of the Gentiles,

Speaker:

He's also our Messiah.

Speaker:

After becoming a

Speaker:

follower of Yeshua,

Speaker:

I became overwhelmed

Speaker:

with a sense of joy

Speaker:

on the one hand,

Speaker:

but also urgency

Speaker:

because I said, how come nobody

Speaker:

nobody told me before?

Speaker:

I mean, my family,

Speaker:

my neighbors, my friends,

Speaker:

my people, nobody knows.

Speaker:

Nobody tells us.

Speaker:

And I felt very strongly

Speaker:

that I need to go

Speaker:

and tell my people.

Speaker:

I decided to surprise

Speaker:

my family.

Speaker:

My dad was there

Speaker:

and I told them

Speaker:

that I believe in

Speaker:

Yeshua the Messiah.

Speaker:

The consensus was

Speaker:

that in some way or fashion,

Speaker:

I've lost my mind.

Speaker:

My dad's family,

Speaker:

they have arranged

Speaker:

for me a meeting with a chief

Speaker:

psychiatrist in our city,

Speaker:

and he actually formally

Speaker:

declared me to be sane.

Speaker:

I should have asked

Speaker:

for that in writing.

Speaker:

My mom's family arranged for me

Speaker:

a meeting with the rabbi,

Speaker:

and the rabbi promised my mom

Speaker:

that he would prove to me that

Speaker:

Yeshua is not the Messiah.

Speaker:

The day before our meeting,

Speaker:

the rabbi called my mom

Speaker:

and he canceled the meeting.

Speaker:

To my great joy,

Speaker:

I discovered

Speaker:

there were other believers.

Speaker:

I discovered

Speaker:

there was a congregation

Speaker:

of Jewish believers

Speaker:

and I started going there.

Speaker:

And so I told them,

Speaker:

"I want to study

Speaker:

the word of God.

Speaker:

Is there any Bible school

Speaker:

or Bible college

Speaker:

or something like that

Speaker:

I can go and invest some time

Speaker:

and just study the Bible?"

Speaker:

And they said, "Well,

Speaker:

no, there's nothing."

Speaker:

And I completed my

Speaker:

doctoral studies

Speaker:

in the United States after that

Speaker:

with my wife

Speaker:

and young children,

Speaker:

we came back to Israel.

Speaker:

I knew that God has

Speaker:

called me to serve Him, but

Speaker:

I didn't know exactly where.

Speaker:

I remember very vividly

Speaker:

how it felt

Speaker:

coming to know Yeshua

Speaker:

and having a deep desire

Speaker:

to study the scriptures

Speaker:

and not knowing how to do it.

Speaker:

And I felt very strongly

Speaker:

that I need to go

Speaker:

and provide this opportunity

Speaker:

for Israeli believers,

Speaker:

both Jewish and Arab, to study

Speaker:

the word of God in Hebrew right

Speaker:

where it happened.

Speaker:

And to that,

Speaker:

I dedicate my life.

Speaker:

As the president

Speaker:

of Israel College

Speaker:

of the Bible, Dr.

Speaker:

Erez Soref has devoted his life

Speaker:

to helping Israelis study

Speaker:

the Hebrew scriptures

Speaker:

and the New Testament

Speaker:

in their homeland – Israel.

Speaker:

As believers in Yeshua,

Speaker:

we play an important role

Speaker:

to invite Jewish seekers

Speaker:

to know the truth

Speaker:

of their Messiah.

Speaker:

As Paul says in Romans 1:16:

Speaker:

“For I am not ashamed

Speaker:

of the gospel, for

Speaker:

it is the power of God

Speaker:

for salvation to

Speaker:

everyone who believes,

Speaker:

to the Jew first

Speaker:

and also to the Greek.”

Speaker:

And we can share

Speaker:

this gospel message

Speaker:

with respect, kindness,

Speaker:

and sensitivity

Speaker:

to Jewish concerns

Speaker:

about the person of Jesus

Speaker:

and the New Testament.

Speaker:

Speaking of the New Testament,

Speaker:

we will answer a very

Speaker:

important question about it

Speaker:

in our next episode:

Speaker:

“Can

Speaker:

we trust the New Testament?”

Speaker:

Join us as we talk with Dr.

Speaker:

Darrell Bock about how the

Speaker:

B’rit Hadashah,

Speaker:

or New Testament,

Speaker:

is just as valid

Speaker:

and divinely inspired

Speaker:

as the Tanakh.

Speaker:

Thank you for listening

Speaker:

to this week’s episode

Speaker:

of Our Hope, featuring Dr.

Speaker:

Michael Brown, Dr.

Speaker:

Seth Postell and Dr.

Speaker:

Erez Soref.

Speaker:

This episode was produced,

Speaker:

written, and edited

Speaker:

by Grace Swee.

Speaker:

This episode was

also created thanks to:

Dr.

also created thanks to:

Mitch Glaser, Abe Vazquez,

also created thanks to:

Kieran Bautista,

also created thanks to:

and Ifoundshalom.com,

also created thanks to:

in partnership

also created thanks to:

with One for Israel.

also created thanks to:

I’m Nicole Vacca,

also created thanks to:

until next time.

also created thanks to:

Thanks for

also created thanks to:

listening to Our Hope.

also created thanks to:

If you like our show

also created thanks to:

and want to know more,

also created thanks to:

check out ourhopepodcast.com

also created thanks to:

or chosenpeople.com.

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