Why God Chose Israel

Pictured Above: Allan, Sue, Isabella, John, Zosha, and Valdi. This is the wonderful, gracious, and loving family who hosted us as guests in their home in Poznan, during our time there for the Conference.

God chose Israel to be a ‘Nation of Royal Priests’ to be a witness and light to guide all the nations to God. When Israel failed, and broke the covenant with God, He took them into captivity. In their captivity, and in their redemption, His heart and His plan was always to show Himself as a God of great love for all His children, to lead them all to Himself and to salvation.

When God told Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him, he became a world -wide missionary, to carry out God’s plan for Israel and the nations of the world. The blessing God would give to the nations, including Israel, and through Israel, would be the written Word, and THE LIVING WORD! (The WORD became flesh and dwelt among us! John 1:14)

The law was given to the Jewish people to convict of sin, to show God’s character, as a testimony and a witness to the world.

When the Jewish nation broke God’s covenant, they broke HIS heart! The ones chosen to be a witness and light to the nations became idol worshippers, and like the pagans, the people did not want their God! They cursed God rather than desired to know Him. God sent His prophets again and again, to warn the Jewish people of their great sin and abominations toward God. He continually forgave them each time they repented. His love is boundless and His forgiveness is endless.

When Israel continued to disobey God, He told them, you will live in darkness and in exile! The consequences of their disobedience, was to be a lesson to the nations and to the Jewish nation, as well.

God keeps His promises to us, even when we fail to keep ours. When Jesus was crucified, the Jewish people thought it was all over. No! It was just beginning!! God’s plan to redeem the nations and the Jews was just beginning to teach salvation and eternal life to all who will believe and repent! Jesus told the Jews that they would be His witnesses through out Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world!

We must preach salvation to the Jews and the Gentiles! We must pray for the peace of Jerusalem, not the peace of the world, which is a good thing to pray for. Not for military peace, not through a peace treaty, nor peace policy, but the peace that ONLY comes through the Jewish nation knowing WHO JESUS really is. Jesus said, ‘you will not see Me, until you say, ‘blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the LORD!’”

The Jews MUST know Who Jesus is! Israel still needs to fulfill God’s call to them!

Pray for: Peace of Jerusalem, the peace only found IN the Prince of Peace!
Pray for: Behold Your God! Campaign in May being held in six cities in Israel.
Pray for Jews for Jesus in this campaign, for their protection and for the Jewish people to hear their words and believe the WORD of God, Jesus, the Messiah!
Pray for: Teams for this historic event!
Pray for: teams for Krakow Jewish festival this summer.
Pray for: The Christians to be in constant prayer for the Jews to come to know their God and His HOLY ONE, JESHUA!!!
Pray for: ‘Life from the Dead’ a group in Europe, involved in missions.
Pray for: the Catholic church here in Krakow and Poland.
Pray for the Poles to love their Jewish brothers and for renewal of relationships! Pray for the Jews to love the Poles, also!
Pray for: The Poles of Poland to have a personal relationship with Jesus.
Pray for: the Jewish festival in Krakow this summer, for open eyes, ears, and heart of understanding.
Pray for: team Roma and for team Krakow.
Pray for: all the missionaries of Europe.
Pray for: support from home, both prayer and financial.
Pray for: the Olive Tree Organization, here in Poland, a group of believers who have a ministry to the Jewish people.
Pray for: Sue, and desire to serve God in a new Jewish ministry here in Krakow, or wherever he may lead.
Pray for: Allan and Jerry and their work with the Roma.
Pray for: the families of the missionaries, both here and those back in the states.
Pray for: Michael in East Asia, that God will bless his work there, for his traveling, health, and a trusted worker to come along side him to help with the work there.
Pray for: America, that our country will never forsake Israel!
Pray for: The president, both current and future, for God’s will in their life, to seek Him for His leadership and direction.
Pray for: Godly leaders in our government!
Pray for: God to prepare the soil of people’s hearts and minds.
Pray for: Mark and his leadership role and for his family.
Pray for: The Baptist Union, here in Poland.
Pray for: God’s perfect will in our life and ministry.
Thank Him for: Blessings, salvation, family, finances, prayer supporters, His WORD, for the missionaries, for the Jewish nation, from whom the Messiah came, for Lottie Moon, for so many wonderful and awesome blessings!
Thank Him for the young people who came here to join us here in our work!

Pictures of Recent Months!

Prayer for Israel to Know Jeshua As the Messiah!

Greetings from Poland!

Allan and I just returned from the Jewish Conference in Poznan, Poland. God richly blessed us through the conference and through his many gracious children there!

If you are receiving this letter, it is because I consider that you are faithful in praying for the needs of the children of God!

I will post a bit of information on my blog: www.fishermensline.blogspot.com within the next couple of days. I wanted to write to you immediately, however, about an urgent prayer request that I encourage you to get everyone involved in that you possibly can!

In May of this year Jews for Jesus will hold a campaign in six cities in Israel. The campaigns have been held throughout many countries in the past, yet this is the very first time it is planned for Israel! The campaign is called "Behold Your God!" The teams will be in constant jeopardy during this time, Please pray for the safety of these Jewish Christians. Nothing like this has been done since Paul the Apostle, and we all know what Paul suffered for the sake of HIS name, Jeshua, the Messiah.
Please also pray for the Jewish people to know WHO the God of their Father's really is! Pray that they will come to know Peace through the Prince of Peace! There is no world peace and there will be no world peace, until the world knows The Prince of Peace!

Jesus told the Jewish people during His time here with us on earth, "you will NOT see Me again, until you say, 'blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" Pray that the world will cry out, "blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!!!"

The Jewish people still have a broken covenant,( broken by them, NOT by God, Who is faithful, even in our unfaithfulness) to honor and keep with God. Until we all pray for the Salvation of the Jews through their (and our) Messiah, the Prince of Peace, that covenant will remain broken. We MUST pray for the salvation of the Jews. They are NOT automatically saved, salvation is through CHRIST ALONE, and we can not allow our concentration on the world being evangelized, to the exclusion of the Jews! To exclude the Jews would be to permit Satan to deceive us once again through anti-Semitism!

We need to pray for this mission of Jews for Jesus! We need to support their desire and commitment to make the Messiah-ship of Jesus known to their people.

Their covenant with God was to be a witness to the nations through their obedience to His statutes and commands, when this was broken by His chosen people, they became not a light, but a 'by-word' and a nation living in darkness and exile and persecution, according to the warnings they had been given through the prophets found in God's written, inspired Word.

Avi, from Jews for Jesus (European Director), preached messages regarding this. We all were asked to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Praying for political peace, etc. is good, but they need the Prince of Peace before any true peace will ever be found.

Please join me, and please ask the congregations to join in fervent, continual, prayer for this campaign in May, 2008! God is working in so many hearts and lives. This is my desire, that we pray as Christ wants us to pray for our Jewish family who are not yet IN the family of God in the way of salvation through Jesus the Messiah.

They have suffered much persecution. It is because of God's love for us that the Jewish nation was chosen. Just think...it could have been any other nation who had undergone such persecution, such dislike and disrespect if they had been the chosen people! We should be forever THANKFUL to the Jewish nation that they went through this for us! They were God's instrument for the written word and the Living Word which we have today!

Thank you so much for your fervent prayers for this undertaking. The Jews for Jesus are willing and aware that they may be in such danger for their lives! Please Pray!

Also, I truly desire that any support we can give as believers in Jesus would be most appreciated. You know, I have not been asked to say this, and I doubt in this world of 'political correctness' that this is even appropriate, and I know we have so many times given above and beyond, financially, but I believe with all my heart, that this campaign is so important to the entire world, that I am stepping outside of the boundaries of political correctness, doctrines, etc. to say that if anyone wishes and feels led to support this endeavor, you can go to the Jews for Jesus website; www.jewsforjesus.org to give to their organization. I also for the sake of political correctness add that any giving to anyone must be above and beyond your tithes to your local church, Lottie moon, etc. I read their newsletter and the work they are doing is truly God inspired!(and risky). When we find people who risk their lives, friends, and families, we need to support in any way we can and feel led.

Please write with any comments or questions!



In Christ Alone, Our Hope is Found!
Sue

Fishermensline December- Krakow!

Greetings from Krakow!

December has come and gone very quickly. The wonderful and festive days of anticipation filled with excitement, secrets, and wonder are already a memory. Moments of quiet recall make us smile and sigh, for yet another year has quietly slipped away.

In recalling December (here in Poland, called Grudzien), I have quite a few things to share with all of you back home.

Team Krakow made many plans for the month, one being a Christmas Party in which we would make flyers and invitations to announce our new Compass International Fellowship. In our new fellowship services we will have several worship songs, a testimony at each service, a brief message, scripture reading, a couple more songs, prayer time, and then a team meeting afterwards. The fellowship will have volunteer helpers for the very young children and infants during the meeting. We are welcoming all English-speaking people to attend (or multi-lingual, of course!). You may say to yourself, this sounds a lot like church! You would be correct. Since we can’t establish a church, we have a Christian Fellowship.

We are all looking forward to the fellowship times because it is such a blessing to worship God in our own language. We all love the Roma and Polish church, but of course, just as they need worship in their language, we do, as well.

This will make our already full Sundays, filled to running over with activity, but then we will appreciate Mondays more! You know very well, that no one has ever appreciated Mondays! Right?

We also planned a small Christmas party for the team so that everyone could get involved and enjoy time getting to know each other and having some fun time with games, good food, etc. We had a gift exchange and played the game where you may take another’s gift or choose from the tree. Having children’s gifts in the pot made it a lot of fun (hoping some one would take my gift of little toy cars!!). Thankfully, we have a five year old who eyed my little cars immediately. (wheeew) I chose someone else’s gift of Tabasco sauce for Allan and gee, I got to keep it!! He loves Tabasco on everything. You all probably remember that about him.

In the first Christmas Party for the CIF introduction, we had a lot of fun games, beautiful Christmas carols, and a little nativity play that even our team’s four month old played a part and was the ‘star’. Nathan Dowdy played baby Jesus, and he did a perfect job. The youth sang Silent Night as we recited Luke 2. The children did a fantastic job and I was very proud of them (especially since I was in charge of the play). I did a lot of praying you can be sure. During practice I had thought, “what have I gotten myself into?” God is so amazing!! He is forever glorified!

We did prayer walking around the city square and several blocks on the way there and back. We made a few trips to Zakopane and Tarno’v. These are cities where there are a few Roma villages. We had Bible study and prayer time with the Roma.

Ed and Ann Dayton, the couple I mentioned a few times before, graciously sent a check for the Roma for us to buy Christmas gifts for those under 15.
Allan and I shopped for the gifts and supplies, and the stores were so crowded that it was unbelievable. When it came time to check out, I kept letting people with only a few items in front of me, because we had so much in the carts.

It actually took three buying trips, but Jerry and Allan did the last one (PTL!). I never thought spending $500.00 could be so difficult! (hear that Lora??) It really CAN be difficult to spend money. We had to buy 53 toothbrushes and split them into age groups, etc. There were at least 53 children of varying ages to buy for. FUN, I say. Next year it will be more organized because this was an unexpected donation. Hopefully we can get any donations for Christmas in November or prior.

In addition to the above, Brenda and Jerry hosted their daughter’s wedding here in Krakow. It was quite an exciting time for the Goss family! Tara is getting married, Kristen coming also, from the states. Tara’s fiancée’s arrival, and all the activity going on for Christmas; well you can imagine the coordinating efforts involved.

Allan and I attended the wedding and had a wonderful time. It was in a beautiful hotel in the center of Old Krakow (well all of it is old!) The food was good (it seems all we had done in Dec was eat!!!), and everything was perfect for the bride and groom. They left the following morning for 10 days in Italy. (WOW)

The MK’s had a retreat just after barely recovering from Christmas and the wedding. I understand that it was not only fun for them but very busy as well. They had to get up at four or five a.m. to get in all the fun possible in their three days time.

We had a very quiet Christmas ourselves. Mark, the S.A. for the Baltic Region, had family from the states over to visit. The Goss family were blessed to be together again (except for Tara on her honeymoon!), others on the team either left on trips to visit family or friends.

We had a visitor in town; and not wanting her to be alone on Christmas we invited her here for a small Christmas dinner. She is a missionary from farther north in Poland. We had a good time talking about missions. She had been in Asia in the past, so we had a few things in common.

As for the office work in which I am involved; I’m still learning (trying that is). I will do my best, of course, but I am still not really ‘office material’.
I just want to honor and glorify God in what ever I do and in any way that I can. Please pray for me about this.

The conference in Poznan: I am so excited and looking forward to that! I have learned that Avi, from Jews for Jesus has been invited to speak on two different topics. He sent an e-mail saying that he will talk about how to best pray for his people and the call of the Jewish people. Doesn’t that sound exciting!!! We are truly looking forward to this conference. At the wedding we talked to a guy named Richard (Allan had met him before), and when we mentioned the conference, he wanted information about it, so I believe he plans to attend. For us, that would be yet another blessing. He speaks fluent English and could help us with translations.

Health: although this will bring us into January, we certainly want to tell you these bits of information. Allan is so happy about the shoe inserts he received! His feet are painful most of the time when he walks. He appreciates these gifts so much and so do I.

Since we are already into January; we received the three boxes from FBI Church in Indialantic. God Bless you all! Thank you from the bottom of our heart. I opened the huge box of Charmin and I just about died with excitement and from laughing. You are amazing!

For those who aren’t aware: we got gourmet coffee of every known flavor, Caribou Coffee bars, energy bars, CHARMIN, Peter Pan by the dozens of jars, books, DVD’s, sweet n’ low, long johns, spices, more than I can say. It was so wonderful opening the boxes with all the treats and oh, yes!!! I got Jergens lotion! We can’t thank you enough. We love you, and hopefully, you know that.

Lora sent movies, cards, and sweet n’ low!! We will have enough to last our three years and enough to share with those who love these things as much as we do!

I have just been getting over my third bout of laryngitis. I have been coughing a lot. I went to a Polish Dr., who speaks a little English. He gave me a prescription for an inhaler for use for three or four days to see if it helps. He also prescribed some cough medicine and lozenges. He said if I don’t improve on this, I’d begin antibiotics (they don’t use them here as much as in the states). I had a 102-103 temperature through the day and all night on Tuesday with aches, etc. but it seems to be on the mend. It’s just not a good way to start your year.




Praise Him for His Faithfulness!
Praise Him for His Love, Mercy, and Grace!
Praise Him for Our Family!
Praise Him for our Churches!
Praise Him for our Team here in Poland!
Praise Him for our Missionaries!
Praise Him for answered prayers!
Praise Him for the beauty of the Universe HE created for our pleasure!
Praise Him for His healing!
Praise Him for His Constant Presence!
Praise Him for His WORD!
Praise Him for the Lessons He teaches us!
Praise Him For He is Great and Greatly to be Praised!



Pray for Michael!
Pray for Lora and her family!
Pray for Health!
Pray for perseverance!
Pray for Poznan Conference!
Pray for the Roma!
Pray for this team in Krakow!
Pray for East Asia!
Pray for times of travel!
Pray for the New International Fellowship!
Pray for the Jewish Ministry!
Pray for our churches! Pray for each other!
Pray for our grandchildren!
Pray that we will see family soon!
Pray for Workers in the Harvest!
Pray that His WORD will be spread and the TRUTH be understood and Believed and accepted!
Please tell us HOW we can pray for you! You are so important to us, let us be part of sharing your burdens and taking them before the THRONE of GOD!

In Christ Alone My Hope is Found!






Sue and Allan
He said, “ Follow ME, and I will make you fishers of MEN.”