a number of  friends and family both Jewish and Gentile heard the message of God’s faithfulness to keep the Jewish people as a people. Wonderfully, our plans to minister in the Bay area dovetailed with the invitation for Sam to speak at this bris for their second son. As expected little Yoav was born a few weeks early, and the actual circumcision was performed in the hospital eight days after his birth. However the bris celebration was planned for the weekend of our visit. 

A diverse crowd of believers and non-believers, Jews and Gentiles, filled the home in which the ceremony was held. Sam explained that the circumcision of this baby boy foreshadowed the need for all of us to have our hearts circumcised, as Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 30:6

“The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendents, so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.”

God’s faithfulness would be seen as Yoav would grow to identify with the Jewish people and with the Messiah of Israel. Sam went on to encourage all of us to realize that we need new hearts through Messiah Yeshua.

The father dedicated his son’s bris to a close friend and Holocaust survivor in attendance, explaining how God is tying the threads of His people together from generation to generation. As we mingled after the service, Sam had a lively discussion with this woman about faith in Messiah, even sharing how the Holocaust shows the reality of spiritual warfare in light of God’s plan. 

Meanwhile, I was surprised to be introduced to a familiar looking person. Rob, a young Jewish man, was led to the Lord by Sam at age 17, when we all lived in New York. We reminisced about the weekly Bible studies we shared in the city. Now over three decades later, Rob introduced me to his wife and 16 year-old son. Rob is involved in Jewish ministry and living faithfully in Yeshua.

When I consider all that came together at this ceremony - the testimony of God’s faithfulness to a continuing Jewish people in Messiah, a reunion with “spiritual children” in the faith, and the opportunities to share the Good News - the meaningfulness of such appointed customs was ever more apparent.

“...I thought they had their chance.”
We do appreciate when churches open their doors and hearts to have Sam come to speak. That weekend Sam spoke at a church just outside of San Francisco in Marin County.

Many hearts were touched by the word of God as Sam preached a message from Jeremiah 31:1-3:

A number of hands went up at Sam’s invitation to trust in Yeshua and to rededicate lives to the Lord. The senior pastor stood up and confessed how the message had moved and convicted him. “In fact,” he said, “I have not given any time to the Jewish people because I always thought that they had their chance.” He went on to explain that Sam’s message pierced his heart about the need to keep praying for and reaching out to the Jewish people. What a victory as God brings together Jew and Gentile in love with the Messiah of the world!

Please pray that through continued follow-up in San Francisco that those who heard the truth would respond to the Lord.Y