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The Season of Passover Is Upon Us - Passover/Unleavened Bread - April 19-27

From our co-founder Dov Schwarz,

The first night of this very unique and special holiday is Passover, which then enters into the time of Unleavened Bread. In Exodus 14:1-28, while the wrath of God was sweeping over Egypt, the inhabitants of the house with the blood of the lamb on the doorpost would be spared and God's wrath would pass over them.

The Jewish people then, and many today, remove any food with leaven from their midst, and only eat food with no leaven for seven days. Of course leaven is an Old Testament type or shadow of sin. In this New Covenant with Messiah Jesus we see the fulfillment of these things.

Yeshua is the Passover Lamb and those who have believed in Him spiritually have applied the blood of the Lamb to the doorpost of their hearts. This facilitates His followers to be spared from God's wrath and on the day of judgment, His wrath will "passover" those who have the blood of the Lamb! Now we are to remember that the Passover Lamb is our sinless (unleavened) sacrifice, which should provoke us to live a holy life and maintain a holy faith community in Him.

Let's listen in as Paul the apostle is warning the Corinthian church about the seriousness of allowing sin (leaven) to spread in the church:

Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)

Please pray for our Israeli Believing communities here is Israel. Pray that we may be salt and light, and that we may continually be a faithful witness of the Passover Lamb Yeshua here in the Promised Land!

Update from Efraim & Jeannie in Northern Galilee

Dear Friends,
Shalom -
שלום Blessings and peace to you all.

The Spring season is just days from now and here in Israel we have experienced one of the coldest and wettest winters in many years. In fact, we have had 130% of our annual rainfall so far. This is God's special blessing upon the Land and people of Israel
(Deuteronomy 28:12).

The almond trees put forth their buds and flowers this season; a sign that winter's grip has passed and spring is coming. The almond groves around the Land glisten like an
ocean of white flowers. The fragrance of the almond buds is so soothing and refreshing.

The budding of the almond tree was a sign of change. In Jeremiah 1:11, the appearance of the almond branch was a symbol of the steadfastness of the Lord and His faithfulness to fulfill His word. The faithfulness of the Lord is a truth we live by and need to be deeply rooted in. The Lord is faithful and trustworthy and this is the basis for our enduring faith.

Here at our Light of Galilee Congregation, we are reminded of that faithfulness on a regular basis. We have a small fellowship of Jews and Gentiles. Most of the people are of limited means and have testimonies that speak of hard circumstances. What we do have is faith in the Lord to meet our needs and the testimony of changed lives in Yeshua.

Our Arabic speaking fellowship has been re-launched and we are hoping that this will be a source of encouragement
to the Lebanese brothers and sisters and the other Arabs in Western Galilee. Please pray for these dear people as they serve the Lord. Pray that together we can reach Jews and Arabs for Yeshua here in Galilee.

These are days of uncertainty in Israel. We are in the throes of a contentious election campaign for a new government in Israel. Politics aside, it is my hope that we in Israel do not become even more divided as a result of the campaign. I am comforted by the fact that the Lord, the most High, rules and reigns. He has raised up and brings down kings and dynasties.Pray that all people here might realize that the Lord God is the one who watches over Israel. (Psalm 121:4)

March 21st was the celebration of the festival of Purim and the story from the Book of Esther. It is a fun time for boys and girls in Israel to dress up in costumes according to tradition. On Purim Day, thousands of little girls throughout Israel are dressed up as beautiful Queen Esther; though today you also find as many little girls dressing up like Wonder Woman!

The story of the Book of Esther is how the hidden hand of God reached out to the Jewish people living in exile in the land of Persia and saved them from destruction. When the book was written sometime in the fourth century B.C.E., the ancient nation of Iran was a threat to the existence of Israel. It is almost ironic; Iran stands in the same role as a threat to the land of Israel today.

If the leaders of Iran would read the Book of Esther, perhaps they would stop threatening Israel and be more concerned about their own survival. The warning and words of comfort are given in Psalm 121 that the one who protects Israel is always present. "He that watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps." The Lord has spoken and His word stands true and everlasting.

Yours in Yeshua, Efraim & Jeannie

Introducing Janet S. ~ A New BIB Partner!
Hello to all of you at Blessing Israeli Believers!

I thought it only right that you should know who you are investing your help in, so this is an abridged version of what I have been doing for the last 30 years in Israel.

In 1988 at age 33, while in prayer in Kansas, the Lord asked me "Would you be willing to go to Israel and minister to My Jewish people? 'To minister to' means 'to take care of'. I was really excited about this. My husband David (a non believing Jew) had wanted to make Aliyah to immigrate to Israel and I had not. So when I told him what the Lord had told me he jumped to make arrangements and 7 months later, with 2 huge suitcases, a few boxes of things, $4000 dollars in our wallets, and one way tickets to Israel, we landed in Karmiel a fairly new northern Israel town.

By an absolute divine appointment I found out this town had a 3-month old new congregation, which I too began to attend. It was only 12 people; 8 new immigrant Jewish believers in Yeshua, myself and 3 native Israelis all born again. I became their worship leader for the next 12 years. That congregation 30 years old now is about 250 people, called Kehelat HaDerek, "The Church Of The Way" with the same Israeli Pastor Yossi Ovadia. That's how worship leading began for me in Israel.

All the while David and I have worked God NEVER left us without a way to supply our needs. I worked for Galtronics, an electronics company for Messianic Jews and believers in Yeshua in the land of Israel.
2 years later I was led to work for an Israeli at-home nursing care company that sent people into the homes of Israelis to take care of their elderly. One most wonderful lady was a 95-year old Thessalonian (Greek) Jewish woman who escaped the Nazi devastation of her community during WW2. I cared for her for 2 years till she passed. I had the privilege of working for others as well. Then through this same company, in 1998 I was asked to accompany an emotionally challenged 21-year old Israeli man to his daily program at a village for emotionally and physically handicapped adults. From this position, in 2000, I ended up becoming the manager of their new organic goat milk dairy at this village Kishorit, which they had as animal therapy. It started with 24 goats. Through breeding and purchasing I ended up with over 750 milker goats. (Today this dairy has over 2000 goats, which provides a great amount of organic goat milk for Harduf, the biggest organic foods company in Israel.)

After 3 years on this job, the Lord told me to prepare to leave and 'get to David Davis'. I sort of knew who this Pastor was, that guy on the top of Mt. Carmel. To make the story short, I ended up volunteering for Carmel Assembly and joining Karen Davis's worship team, and serving them in other capacities for several years from 2003 to 2009, all this driving to Haifa every day from Karmiel.

In 2010 we actually moved to Haifa. I felt led of the Lord to join Dani Sayag and his wife to start a new native Israeli congregation Kerem El, down in Haifa Center and play on the worship team, which I am doing to this day. I had been serving, leading worship for various meetings, while volunteering, and then working at Beit Yedidia, the guesthouse where this congregation meets. I stopped the Beit Yedidia work in 2014 to get involved full time with worship leading, intercession and being part of the Out Reach team to Tel Aviv for the drug rehab program of Beit Nitzachon, House of Victory.

Alas, by 2017, I found I needed to stop the Tel Aviv outreach and return to work as my pension does not provide enough for us to live on! My husband is not able to find work. He is diabetic and basically unemployable. So praise God!! He opened a door for me to work at Beit Evenezer, a Christian Nursing Home for elderly Jews and Arabs who spent their lives serving the Lord!! Some of these Jews being amongst the last living Holocaust survivors. So, I get to 'take care of' the Lord's servants!! Unfortunately, even with this job, and my pension, I have not been able to make enough to live on and we have been struggling. When Dov offered your help, I was exceedingly overwhelmed and grateful because I had been begging the Lord to help me some how. I can't work any more hours or I lose my pension.

You have no idea how much your help means to me, and to the Lord, that you are willing to lend us a hand here in the service of the Lord in Israel. The Lord sees you and He knows that you are giving to Him by helping us. I continue to sing on our worship team for congregation and occasional extra meetings. But working now at Beit Evenezer Home is a whole new ministry of loving on the old mover-shakers here in Israel!!
I cannot thank you enough for your extreme generosity!!!

In Yeshua our Messiah,
Janet S

Thank you from Ezra & Shulamite, Golan Heights
Through designated donations from Blessing Israeli Believers we were able to stand along side a believing couple who found themselves unable to pay their rent because of a series of events out of their control. They have asked us to thank you and your gift literally brought tears to their eyes as you touched them with His love.

"Comfort, yes, comfort My people!" Says your God. Isaiah 40:1

It is such a blessing to be a part of what God is doing in the midst of the Holocaust Survivors. A few more have joined our discussion group after attending a different meeting where we are making our way through the Gospel of Mark. The text was about how religion makes the word of God of no effect through the traditions which have been handed down to them. This brought about a great discussion about traditions, religion, and what God reveals to us in His Word.

And the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him." Genesis 18:17-19

Blessing Israeli Believers would like to introduce a very special family living here in Israel. They are Gentile believers who have sowed their lives into Israel and are raising up a godly seed of Israeli Gentile believing children-many of them! Though not Jewish, they truly are a family of Israeli Believers with a very special and unique calling here in the Promised Land! Be blessed as you read Ryan's testimony.

I come from a large family, relatively speaking, so never imagined being used by the Lord in the way things ultimately turned out. Having a lot of siblings was nice, but I was also aware of the challenges it presented my parents. I was determined to never be so encumbered, especially after coming over to Israel in my early twenties and living so carefree, with the flexibility to study, volunteer and pretty much do just about whatever I felt was the Lord's calling at that given moment.

It was only after getting married and having our first child that I truly realized just how difficult day-to-day life can be in Israel compared to what I was used to from America. Fortunately, my wife, the daughter of Dutch Christians who had come to the land 30 years before me, had grown up Israeli, and was thus intimately familiar with, and largely unfazed by, the particular trials this country presents.

You'd think given the above perspective I'd have been more vigilant about limiting our number of children. But, next thing I knew, we had been married 15 years and were the parents of no fewer than 6 children, with a seventh on the way. And I can now honestly say that I'd have it no other way. My children are a blessing to me. It's their faces that I long to see at the end of a work day. But I now also realize that they are my ministry, God's calling on my life, or at least part of it.

The Lord has blessed both myself and my wife with careers that we love and that afford us ample opportunities to be witnesses to the nation of Israel. I am a writer and editor for the Messianic-run news agency Israel Today, and Naomi works as a midwife at Jerusalem's largest hospital, Hadassah Ein Kerem. But there needs to be a strong body of believers in this land to anchor it until such a time as God's salvation is fully realized. That's where not shying away from having a healthy number of children and raising them to be God-fearing and righteous members of Israeli society comes in.

But, again, this is easier said than done in a country where salaries almost never meet the cost of living, and both parents have no choice but to work full-time jobs, and then some. But the Lord is faithful. Time and again, we have experienced unexpected blessing at the hands of those obeying the Lord's call to support us and other believers like us in the land at the very moment we needed assistance. That's why ministries like Blessing Israeli Believers are so important. They facilitate the Lord's blessings so that those of us living here and bolstering the body of Messiah in Israel can focus on His callings, rather than on the day-to-day difficulties that the enemy tries to use to slow us down.

Thank you from Efraim & Jeannie, Western Galilee

Shalom in the name of our Messiah Jesus - the Prince of Peace!

We are grateful, thankful and so appreciative of your faithful support of our ministry work here in Israel. Your partnership means so much to us.

We are seeing the Lord use us to minister to the believers around us, and open doors to witness to those we encounter. Please pray that we can continue to be His source of encouragement, teaching and light to those around us who are living without the knowledge of Jesus our Messiah.

In His Name,
Efraim and Jeannie

Dear Blessing Israeli Believers Friends and Partners In The Nations,

Happy New Year and praise King Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) our great Savior and Lord!
We so look forward to His grace and mercy that will overflow from you to our Israeli Believing partners and then to the precious souls here in the Promised Land! Last year was blessed and fruitful and we expectantly look for even more blessings and fruitfulness in this New Year!
In this letter we have an exciting testimony of the love of the gospel going out here in Israel. What special opportunities for the Jewish people, and many others, to hear the love of Abba Father in the good news of Messiah Yeshua!
Also, there is a special thanks to you, our BIB partners, from our Israeli Believing partners in the Golan Heights! This is just the beginning of what we trust will be a powerful Messiah Yeshua honoring year in Israel.

Remember, one of the best ways to bless Israel is to Bless Israeli Believers in Messiah Yeshua!

Dov Schwarz
Co Founder, Blessing Israeli Believers

 

Update from Ariel & Shayla, Haifa
Sometimes, evangelism is an exciting adventure of working together with God to find the lost and help them know their Savior. At other times, evangelism is having your heart broken over and over as you reach out to those in darkness and utter despair. Sometimes, it's a roller coaster of both.

Our team member, Ari G., worked as a journalist for Israel's most prestigious newspaper and its most-watched news channel. When he was caught in the snare of drugs, he thought he had no way out. But he finally was set free and discovered true freedom and meaning in Yeshua - Jesus.

Ari had never thought of himself as an evangelist. When he first joined our team, he worked on creative ideas for videos, writing scripts, and producing videos. One day, as we saw how so many Israelis were contacting us with questions about Yeshua, we asked if he could make phone calls to interested Israelis who left their numbers. He replied that it wasn't for him.

But a few days later after thinking and praying about it, he decided to go for it. We soon heard him even from down the hallway passionately sharing the Gospel with Orthodox Jews!

A similar thing happened when we asked if he could share with Israelis on Facebook - again he wasn't excited about it, but ultimately decided to go for it and has done a great job.

Then we asked him to go out and share the Gospel on the streets with us. And guess what? He felt that he didn't have a gift for that and it seemed like a strange thing to do. But then something quite amazing happened.

We were invited to go pray for a believer who was in the hospital, so Ari, Ahuvyah, and I got in the car to go. Then we found out the man was sleeping so there wasn't a point in coming, but I felt the Lord put it strongly on my heart to go anyway. So we went and started sharing the Gospel with people in the hospital and offering prayer.

We got to share the Gospel with a Muslim family; with Kiril, a young male nurse working there; and with a female officer in the IDF, Nofar, who came to visit her father who had a heart attack.

Ari found himself talking with someone else about how important it is to go out and share the Gospel on the streets, "because when you go out, things happen around you, and things happen inside of you."

I found myself amazed to see Ari's talent at connecting with people, helping them feel at ease, and asking really good questions to get to know them and their worldview (the journalist coming out!), then naturally sharing about God and Yeshua. As he put it afterwards, "Evangelism is just talking with people about life, because Yeshua is true life."

Update from Ezra & Shulamite, Golan Heights

Thank you to Blessings Israeli Believers Through your designated donations we were able to stand in the gap financially to carry Slava through. Slava has not been able to work for the past 2 months due to medical reasons as he waited for surgery. He was told he needed to wait another month, but through everyone's prayers he received his surgery this past Thursday a whole month early!

Happy Hanukkah - The Feast of Lights and Dedication!

This very unique holiday reminds us of the never-ending watchful eye that is upon the Jewish people. Like the LORD kept them then He is keeping Israel today!

Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121:4

May the Temple of the LORD-our hearts, minds, and lives, be fully cleansed and dedicated to our Savior King Yeshua!

May the Light of our Savior burn brightly through our lives!

May the Oil of His Spirit fill us in this very special season!

A Thankful Look Back at 2018!

What a fruitful year has come and gone! The likes of which will only be measurable by eternity! Think of this: Jewish souls, and certainly others as well, are alive and will be in heaven-and you are a part of it! How, you may ask?

Our Abba Father in heaven, our Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), and the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) has called us into His family business-the Kingdom of God! We get to participate in one or any combination of these ways: praying, giving, going as it relates to blessing Israel. Through our Israeli believing partners many of you have been praying for and giving to these end times powerful witnesses. Some of you have even visited Israel.

"I will bless those who bless you..." Genesis 12:3a

Through the witness of these Israeli believers in 2018, Jews and precious others have heard the gospel and been saved! Some of these are Holocaust survivors who have suffered so much in this life yet look forward now to eternity with Elohim our LORD. Oh Hallelujah and thank you for your help and support!

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." Romans 1:16

Babies have been saved from abortion and mothers and their babies are receiving direct and ongoing ministry from born again Israeli believers. This ongoing work we are partnering in together saves and touches lives in Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv and many other Israeli cities and areas. Thank you for your help and support!

The cost of living in Israel is incredibly high. For example fuel prices in Israel are the third most expensive in the world! Yet, we have this amazing opportunity that many of you are taking, to participate in a ministry that Paul speaks of in the book of Romans. With your help we are helping some of the poor saints in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel! Thank you for your help and support!

For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things. Romans 15:26-27

As we begin a new year may our Father in heaven fill our baskets to continue to Bless Israeli Believers in Messiah Jesus! Remember our Mission Statement: Blessing Israeli Believers exists to uniquely bless and empower Israeli followers of Messiah Yeshua to be the shining light to Israel and the Nations of the world!
Dov Schwarz, Co-Founder - Blessing Israeli Believers

A word of thanks and prayer from two of our BIB Partners:

Ezra & Shulamite, Golan Heights
Praise & Prayer
"I came to Israel as an atheist, but now I have come to know that Jesus is God and the Messiah."

Misha started attending Bible Studies through the Blessing Israeli Believers Program to the Holocaust Survivors.

After receiving Jesus, he read the Bible 2 hours a day before falling into a comma and is presently clinging to life.
Please keep Misha and his wife Ella in your prayers.

Efraim & Jeannie, Western Galilee
Dear Friends,

Shalom - שלום Blessings to you all during this "Season of Lights."

We are so blessed to be in Western Galilee in Nahariyya serving the Lord at Kehila Or Hagalil (Light of Galilee Congregation). We are grateful to have friends like you standing with us in prayer and support. You are rays of the
light shining in this region; an area surrounded by so much
conflict and strife, an area where the Light and Love of
Yeshua is so necessary.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. (Isaiah 9:2)

A Note From Co-Founder Dov Schwarz
Israeli Believers and Their Miraculous End Of This Age Witness!

Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me!
We are for signs and wonders in Israel
From the Lord of hosts,
Who dwells in Mount Zion. Isaiah 8:18

The Lord of Hosts means that Messiah Yeshua is the Military Leader of the armies of heaven. One of His designated battle strategies is to raise up His followers at the end of this age who follow Him against all odds. They are walking, talking sign-posts and uniquely cause Israel to defy the laws of nature (wonders)!

You see, so many people acknowledge how Israel defies all the overwhelming military, numerical, political, and historical odds against them. That is why David Ben Gurion, who was not necessarily religious said "In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles." Also, at West Point Military Academy as they study and teach military doctrine, they study past wars to implement winning strategies. While they learn from great military strategists and battles, they refuse to consider the wars won by modern Israel.

Do you know why? It is because there is no practical or conventional military reason that Israel has not been wiped out by their enemies in these wars! Their victories are simply not replicable by human planning! Yet, the Bible tells us the conduit through which Messiah Yeshua provides these and other miracles in Israel:

And as Isaiah said before:
"Unless the Lord of Sabaoth (Hosts) had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah." Romans 9:29

The same Lord of Hosts Isaiah spoke of is the Lord Yeshua who has raised up a seed of righteousness-about 30,000 (thirty thousand) Israeli Believers out of about 6,000,000 (six million) unbelieving Israeli Jewish people. Through this seed of the righteousness of Messiah Yeshua signs and wonders are taking place in Israel today. They shout to the earth's inhabitants that judgment is coming as Israel's, and the Nation's, Judge and King is about to return. So remember, one of the best ways to bless Israel is to Bless Israeli Believers in Messiah Yeshua!

Update from Ariel & Shayla, Haifa Israel:
Our largest street outreach so far, and many breakthroughs!

After inviting pastors and evangelists from all across Haifa to a joint breakfast in order to encourage more unity in evangelism, we saw quite a few respond by coming and sending people to this outreach. During one of the three outreaches, we had over 60 believers come to share the Gospel and pray - far more than we've had for any street outreach event so far! There was beautiful unity between Jews, Arabs, and other believers from many backgrounds.

We passed out lemonade, coffee, and balloon animals, did face- painting and portraits, and had music playing, and explained, "It's all for free - just like God's love." We also had a "Wall of Gratitude" where we invited people to write down something they're grateful for. All this opened up hundreds of conversations where we got to share about Yeshua and the Gospel.

We saw Itzik, a man we'd shared the Gospel with about a year ago, but who was very hard-hearted and proud. But this time as he saw us showing God's love together, he was much more open.

He said that he puts on Tefillin (also called phylacteries; the black leather boxes with Scripture inside worn by Orthodox Jews during prayers). He claimed that it is like putting on part of God's clothing and said he feels a connection with God and feels good during those 15 minutes every day. Kamal and I were speaking with him, and Kamal said, "I feel that way every day, all day! And you know what? I used to be Muslim...." He then shared his testimony of going from emptiness and drugs to abundant life in Yeshua.

I then added, "You know what part of God's clothing you really need? It's called a 'robe of righteousness'" [see Isaiah 61:10]. I then explained in depth how we can obtain Yeshua's righteousness because He lived a perfect life and then took all our sins upon Him and offers us His righteousness if we will repent and believe in Him.

He was amazed by Kamal's testimony and deeply touched by the message of the Gospel, and was almost in tears as he said, "Wow, that's really beautiful...that's really beautiful."

With much appreciation and love in Yeshua, Ariel and Shayla and the Team