Spring Update 2021
In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thess. 5:18
PURIM CELEBRATION:
Praise God! After weeks of snow and ice storms we were able to celebrate Purim with our Jewish friends on Friday, February 26th.
We were delighted to see our guests participate in the program. We sang, we laughed as we used noisemakers called groggers as we booed Haman, and cheered for Mordecai from the book of Esther. I was able to share a message called: “The story of 2 Queens and 2 Kings.” The queens were Vashti and Esther, and the Kings were Ahasuerus and the other of course was God himself, the King of all creation. I was able to share how God’s deliverance of the Jewish people from Haman was nothing compared to His present ability to deliver everyone from sin. This sparked some interesting questions afterwards. Please pray that our unsaved guests keep asking us questions at our meetings, and that they also keep searching for the truth in Jesus.
PASSOVER
Now that Passover is upon us once again we are faced with the challenge of sharing another message of God’s deliverance. Back in Egypt God delivered the Jewish people from the physical death of their firstborn by faith in the blood of a lamb. However, God has since delivered everyone from spiritual death, who have by faith believed in the blood of Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
PASSOVER VIDEO MESSAGE
Our challenge this year was how to present that message without having a Passover banquet due to COVID-19. We decided to record a video (view below) of a Passover message designed for our Russian speaking Jewish friends.
Many of those contacts are still unsaved and have not been able to attend our weekly outreach meetings since last March. My daughter-in-law Anna translated our Passover demonstration in Russian as we went through and made the connections between the Passover and the work of the Messiah. Anna also gave her own testimony of what Passover has meant to her since she came to believe in Messiah.
Please pray that the eyes of those who watch the Passover video will recognize their need to believe in Jesus.
PASSOVER MEALS TO BE DELIVERED
We also will be delivering Passover dinners again this year on March 27th to the homes of those contacts who want them. Please pray that this gesture will also have an impact on softening hearts to believe in Messiah. We order these meals from a local Jewish diner. Please pray for an opportunity to share Messiah with the owner, who is aware of our work.
PERSONAL NOTE:
My opening verse of 1 Thess. 5:18 was a source of comfort to me recently. I had a right knee replacement surgery scheduled on Feb 4th that had to be postponed indefinitely. During pre-admission testing they discovered my heart has recently gone into A-fib on a regular basis. So my heart regularly beats irregularly right now. I didn’t notice anything different, and I still have no symptoms. The cardiologist has me on a blood thinner. An echocardiogram shows that I have an area of the heart area that thickens. He believes I have had that condition all my life and that it’s genetic. A heart monitor I wore for a week also showed that during the night my heart stops beating for about 3 seconds at a time occasionally (not overly concerned). The cardiologist believes that I have sleep apnea and that is the cause of the A-fib. As of this writing, I am still awaiting the results of my sleep test. Those results will determine the best course for future treatment of my A-fib.
While it was disappointing at first to put off my knee replacement surgery – I now realize it was really a blessing in disguise. As per 1 Thess. 5:18: I’m giving thanks for the knee replacement postponement. Without having any symptoms the cardiologist said I was fortunate to find about A-fib this way. Many times my type of A-fib results in the person having a stroke to discover that they were in A-fib. I thank the Lord for His watch care over me. I also thank you for your prayers and support of our ministry.
Yours for the message of Israel's Messiah,
Tom Huckel, Mission Director
