Welcome to Journey from Jacob. From our first
breath to our last heartbeat, we are all on a
journey. Jacob was a biblical character whose
journey is documented for our benefit. Like all
of us, there were unforgettable moments along
the way which required decisiveness. One of those
decisions determined his destination. We will
not only discuss Jacob's journey, but Israel's
as well, right up to date. May this podcast inspire
you to make choices along your way that will
benefit others and guide you to the destination
we all long for. name of the podcast, Journey
from Jacob. This time I'm going to elaborate
on what we spoke on the first week, actually,
that the podcast is sponsored by, and it's a
wing of, it's representative of the Ministry
of Comfort My People, which is a ministry to
the Jews in Israel and beyond. I mentioned that
we sponsor, we support the work of messianic
community in Israel, which are Indigenous, they're
from, they live in Israel, they're citizens of
Israel, but they're not necessarily all Jewish
because in Israel you have about 80 % Jewish
and approximately 20 % which includes Arabs,
Jews, some Bedouins as well, and some other mixed
people groups in there. There's many of them.
Israel's made up, I said this before, of about
a hundred plus nations from around the world.
It's a miracle land. And that many people represented
in such a tiny space is like nowhere else. So
we're going to speak about why Comfort My People
exists, where it came from, and how does this
tie in with Journey from Jacob. So Comfort My
People is something that I did not invent. I
did not dream about starting. It was in a plan
that initiated in my own mind. I was actually
asked to start it. And it was from a large global
missions organization where I was asked to become
on staff. So, there's a few steps in going backwards
to the history. But what happened is a kind of
a unique and unusual, certainly for me, experience
was that I had in my heart, so I gotta even go
a little further with background, is that I'm
a carpenter by trade. Carpenter, cabinet maker,
and remodeler, renovator, builder. And that's
been my life for since 1979. My own business
I started in 79. But of course I had experience
just from working with carpenters, cabinet makers,
furniture makers, and renovators. So when it
came time I started my own business. Short story
of a long story is that I gave my life to Yeshua
in 1980. So the first year I was without him,
went bankrupt, looked... Hopeless. But when I
gave my life to Yeshua, I said, I'm working for
you and another. So that began my journey as
a tradesman, craftsman. And that was about 19,
that started around 1980. But in 2010, so we're
going up 30 years, I was working. I had my own
business, a cabin making shop and renovations
and things were going really well. But I had
this strange feeling, maybe you've had this before,
that I had to call somebody. And it was somebody
that I only knew from meeting him a few times,
but I respected him highly. And he was the president
and co -founder of this large ministry. And so
I failed to call him. It was unusual. I'd never
done that before. So I was in my shop. I went
outside and I got on my phone and I called up
the organization and they put me on hold. And
he came along, said hello. And he said, Paul,
you've been my friend for so long and you've
never called me before. And I felt that was a
little strange because I didn't know we were
really friends. I knew him. I respected him.
I'd heard him present the gospel and speak about
his ministry, but that was about it. So I was
wondering why he said that and I felt a little
bit, oh my gosh, I should have been calling him
along. I don't know what's going on. Why did
I call him now? So he says, I need to call you
back. He calls me back. And this time I'm sitting
down outside, a little bit curious about why
I'm even calling. And he said to me, before we
go any further we need to pray because this is
a holy moment. So he did, he prayed. And we spoke
a little bit and he wanted to know why I was
calling. I said, be honest, I don't really know.
And he said, well, I'd like you to come into
the office tomorrow and we'll talk. So... I'm
like, okay, I wasn't planning on that. I was
working for a living and all this, but because
I was self -employed and I was on a project that,
you know, it was... No one else was paying for
it. It wasn't a time thing. It was just a project
that needed to be finished, but it was no rush.
So I went to the office the next day expecting
to meet with him and a receptionist called his
office and he said to have me come in. So I went
to the door. The door was not open, so I kind
of knocked. cautiously opened the door and I
realized there was a meeting going on, which
was kind of strange. I thought it was just him
and me. He said, no, come in. And then he wanted
me to say a little bit about my testimony and
why I was there and what was on my mind. I'm
like, I didn't bargain for this, but here I am
and I just shared a little bit of my testimony
and said I really don't know why I'm here. And
then he got up and said, well, we're going to
pray for you. And if anyone wants to come up
and pray for him, just do that. And so here I
am now. People are surrounding me praying for
me and he prays as well towards the end of a
few others and says, God, you've brought me a
Jewish carpenter and I don't know what to do
with him and I'm afraid. And he repeated that
two more times and each time his voice boomed
louder and I'm feeling like this is getting stranger
by the minute, but I knew it was not strange.
It was a very well respected ministry, very effective.
and reaching all these people that work in 79
nations at the time, but I said, you know, at
the end I just said, wow, okay, thanks for having
me, and I figured that was it. He said, no, let's
come sit in my office now, we're going to talk.
Go in his office, then in comes this man who
I knew, he was actually lived down the road from
me, and I had gone on a mission trip with him
in Croatia, and we went from Croatia to Bosnia,
Bosnia to Serbia, and different places in Croatia
because we were doing a construction project
and that's why I was on it to help him with some
of the work. He was actually not in construction
so it was good for him to have me and it was
great experience for me to be there and I was
just enjoying the opportunity to help this ministry
in Croatia that needed, you know, they needed
help. And so we did that. There was one other
fellow with us and, you know, things are going
well and every evening though the pastor who's
church we were working on, and he'd been working
on it for seven years and still was in need of
much more work. But each evening he wanted me
to either share the testimony in his church or
share my testimony and do a Bible study in different
places. So every night we went to different places,
not only in Croatia with amongst some very, very
poor people and people who were struggling in
so many ways. In their homes we went, no electricity,
no running water, no line yards, but they were
very warm and welcoming and wanted me to speak,
which I found strange. So, here I am in this
foreign country, and I'm speaking to people in
different locations, and then he took us to Serbia.
Serbia was the next place we went to. Same thing,
even poorer people, but the room was just...
So they knew ahead of time that we were coming.
People were standing outside and listening outside
from the window of this facility. And he asked
me to share. And so some things happened that
night that were really remarkable. Obviously,
God, I love to tell these stories, but there's
too many of them and too many details. And then
from there we went to Bosnia. And Bosnia is like
90 % Muslim. And so I'm speaking in two churches
there. We stayed in a Muslim's apartment. She
actually left so we could stay there. And she
took us around and wanted me to see the synagogue,
the largest synagogue that was in Europe up until
Hitler's time when he got rid of all the Jews.
And they were sent to concentration camps where
they were killed, massacred. And so I spoke in
these places. I spoke in two churches, plus in
this family's home, a smaller group. But the
weird thing is why did they want me to speak?
They didn't know me from a hole in the wall and
I just didn't get it. But they were fascinated
that I was Jewish and that I was a believer because
they read the Bible. Now this is repeated and
I'll tell you that this was my first experience.
So I don't want to go too far into the story
without going back to that day when I had made
that phone call and the next day when I was in
the office. But I will continue on. And as I
told you, I speak in circular... I think in circles.
That's similar to much of Hebrew thought. It's
circular rather than linear. But I don't want
to go too far, of course. So, I'm going to go
back to that day when I'm sitting in the office
and this man who I went to this mission trip
with in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia, he walks
in. Like, he wasn't invited in, he just walked
in to talk. with this man, who was the leader
of the ministry, and he looks at me and says,
what are you doing here? I said, I don't know,
I'm trying to figure that out. So the president
said, well, do you know this man? He says, yeah,
yeah, he came on a mission trip with me. He goes,
well, what are you thinking? He goes, well, I've
been praying he would become my assistant and
help me in these efforts of going to different
countries. So next thing I know, I'm asked to
join the staff. come back, you know, pray obviously
myself, pray with my wife, come back and make
a decision. So I went back home, like still not
sure what all happened, you know, but my world
was kind of rocked and I told my wife and she
says, you know, you've been asking the Lord for
direction, you know, ever since we got saved
and, you know, I've always said that you need
to be out there more, you need to speak more,
you need to share. what you've learned from the
scriptures and from relationship with God, etc.
And so this is God speaking, I believe, and I
agreed with her. As strange as it seemed. So,
the next day I go there, I start signing papers
and I'm on staff. There's no salary, I find out,
but it's all by faith. You're supposed to get
raised money. And I said, I don't know how to
raise money and I would never ask anyone to support
me for doing something that doesn't benefit them.
So I didn't tell them that, but I said, this
is just not who I am. But I told God, I said,
so I'm trusting you. If this is you, then you
will take care of us. And so that's how we started.
Now, three years later, three and a half years
later, I'm in my office now. I've been going
on trips and I'll just run down some of them
because in every single country that I went to,
the leader of the ministries asked me to speak
or do a Bible study. and share my testimony,
who I am, why I'm here, how did I get saved,
things like that, and just let God speak for
me. I was like, why do they want me to speak?
They don't even know if I can string three sentences
together to make sense, let alone be responsible
for a message from the scriptures. But they did.
And so I put two and two together. Finally, it
took me some time. But I was asked to speak because
the same reason I said before, initially, was
that They knew I was a Jew, they heard I was
a Jew, or in my testimony, somehow. And they
just knew that Jews are supposed to be a part
of this biblical story, but they've been missing
for so long. Where are they? When are they returning?
And now here they are. So I'm in India a few
times, some of these nations a few times. I was
in England working at a ministry, an Iranian
ministry, that translates Bibles for the first
time in history into Farsi. And they're shocked.
I'm a Jew who believes in Yeshua and all this,
and they want me to speak, answer questions and
stuff, and it's really fascinating me. So, Mexico
and some really, really tough places repeatedly.
India, I don't know if I said that a few times.
Gosh, I can't remember them all. Ukraine. Kenya.
I can go on and on. So, but every single place,
they were fascinated that I was a Jew who believed
in... in Yeshua. Some made me just go over, before
I would leave the church, I had to go around
touching people and blessing them, because they
heard about the Abrahamic blessing. And I'm trying
to explain, look, this is not like that. It's
not what it means, you know, but I didn't want
to be rude or anything, so I was glad to pray
for them and all, but I didn't want to think
that this is a magic thing or rubbing a rabbit's
foot or something in that line. But what I'm
getting to is that we're going to go back now
to that day, the first day in the room with the
director. the leader of that ministry, found
it. And he said, God, I don't know what to do
with this man, he's a Jewish carpenter, and I
don't know what to do with him, and I'm afraid.
He repeated that three times. And I could never
understand why he said he was afraid. I mean,
I was nothing to be afraid of. I'm a Jewish guy.
Jews are not to be feared, really. We don't have
a history of fighting, except biblical history.
more modern history for sure, but we're not.
The Israel army is a defense force counter to
what people say. Israel is not a colonialist
empire. It doesn't go and steal territory like
other empires. They're not an empire, period.
They're a tiny country surrounded by humongous
Muslim nations and they all hate them to some
degree or another. So they don't go out conquering.
Had to get that out. So anyway, In 2013, after
about three and a half years or so going to different
nations, I was asked by the president if I would
be willing to start ministry in Israel. And I
was kind of curious about that, but, you know,
facetiously, and this is kind of my humor, I
said, well, give me 15 seconds and I'll pray
about it. And he didn't have the same sense of
humor I didn't know I was talking about, but
I said, no, I'd be glad to. I know this is...
I don't have to pray because I know that God's
been waiting for this to happen. And the reason
is because my people never had the gospel in
a language that they couldn't even understand,
let alone come to faith in Jesus whom they were
accused of killing for two thousand years. And
so they were void of the gospel. I could speak
a little bit about this, but the Jews are the
most unreached people group in the world for
the longest period of time in history. So they
need the gospel, they need to be told how beautiful
are the feet of those who bring good news, news
of salvation in Yeshua. So this opportunity wasn't
for me to go and do it, but to meet believers
in Israel who were doing that and come alongside
them with support. So, you know, the opportunity
was just phenomenal. And I said yes. But I had
no idea what to do about that. Well, then it
had to go through the ranks of the leadership
there to make sure everyone was in full agreement,
which took some time. I had three different interviews.
Because this is a ministry that was reaching
unreached people groups. So the question was,
well, why should Israel be one of our nations
we haven't supported in Israel previous? Why
now? They're not an unreached people group. They
broke the Bible and everything. Of course, they
are the Bible. That people go there. It's the
holy land. They're not an unreached group, so
I had to really find reasons to say, well, you
know, they are. I just knew they were unreached,
but I didn't know all the statistics about it
until I inquired from the Lord, how do I find
this out? Turns out there was a man that I had
met previously who was in charge of all the data
for this ministry, and he had done all the research.
And according to the research he had done that
was already reported from larger ministries,
that's all they do, look for unreached people
groups and different nations, that Israel was
literally the most unreached people group in
the world for the longest period of history.
And so I had to come up with those facts to present
to this leadership group so that they could see
just the authenticity of even having a ministry.
So it comes out true. So there's at the time,
2014, 13, 14 around that time. The statistics
were that in Israel there was approximately 12
,000 to 15 ,000 messianic believers. Now that
included Gentiles. So there was a mixture of
Jews and Gentiles who were considered and still
are the messianic community. These Gentiles come
there because God led them there. It's an incredible
phenomena. But they go there feeling God led
them there, and they click, and they meet Jewish
believers, and sometimes they lead Jews to faith
and join forces. It's be like the body of Christ
in America. There it's the body of Messiah. So
the percentage of these messianic believers was
approximately 0 .5 % of the population. So, but
if you extract the Jews from the messianic community,
that number becomes much less, and it was at
the time, 0 .025 % of the population. Tiny number,
fraction of a tiny country at the time especially.
So they certainly qualified to be an unreached
people group because in order to be factored
in as a unreached people group with the Joshua
Project, you had to be less than 2 % of the population.
That meant that you were somewhat like an evangelical
believer, the Bible was true, you believed it
was true, Jesus was God, and you know, you abided
by His Word and faith and practice. So Israel
qualified to be about 0 .025 % of the Jewish
population, which is remarkably low. So obviously
they qualified and then it became almost like
shocking. It was shocking to me. And so I said,
this is, you know, this is something that is
definitely a current need. Fortunately now, fast
forward 2025, and that number has, it's still
below the 2%, but it's gone up to, they're not
even sure, because it's hard to keep track, especially
with this war, but it went from 0 .025 to about
0 .2 or 3%, which seems like nothing, but it's
like five times of what it was. in 2013. I'm
not saying that, wow, we've got to sing and dance,
the story's over, they've been reached, people...
No, they're not. And they still don't have a
Bible in their own language, which is coming
close because of one of the ministries we support,
which I will speak about in another time. So
all this said that I saw the need to go. But
I didn't understand why, when I go back to the
day when this ministry leader said, to God, you
know. I have this Jewish carpenter, I don't know
what to do with him, and I'm afraid. What was
he afraid of? I never asked him, I didn't feel
it was really for me to ask, but I was still
curious until it dawned on me, because I was
starting to understand the opposition that was
out there, which I was previously somewhat ignorant
of, and I feel somewhat sorry about that, was
that even though I was born again, my wife and
I were part of it. a church from basically the
time we got saved. We started going to a church
and we were the only Jews there. But that didn't
matter to us because we were welcome. We were
loved and respected. And you know, we just felt
like we belonged. And that was for quite a while.
It was the only church we had ever gone to, other
than a visit here and there. But for the first
17 to 18 years of our faith, that was the only
church we knew of. And so we thought that all
believers loved the Jewish people. All who loved
Yeshua also loved the Jewish people and wanted
to see them saved. But that was not the case
with most of the world. We never realized how
rare it was in the church where we were going
to, that it was very rare. And in the Christian
faith, the denominational faith, most denominations
had one form or another of replacing theology.
Some very outright, and some somewhat hidden.
Not hidden on purpose, but underlying. And this
is where it takes a little bit of an education,
and I'm going to pretty much bring this to a
close soon. But the Christian faith, which has
all the evangelical denominations lumped together,
so I can't say that one denomination is a blank
statement for all. churches, denominations, but
the fulfillment theology, it was the same thing
as replacement theology, says that the Jews had
their place in time, which is the time being
the Old Testament portion of the Bible, but from
the time of Matthew on the New Testament, the
Church is the leading figure, the chosen people,
and not only that, but all the promises that
were given to the Jews was negated because of
their disobedience and God abrogated those promises
and transferred all the promises from the Old
Testament to the Church in the New Testament
and leading up to current times. I couldn't understand
that when I first heard that. To me it's like,
how could you actually read the Bible and come
to that conclusion? But they did and it's been
done. We will talk a lot about this as time goes
on because it's too large of a subject, but the
fear, which I didn't understand then, was because
the support of the ministry, any global ministry,
any Christian denominational ministry, inter
-denominational ministry, non -denominational
ministry, was still supported by Christians who
were part of Christian denominations. And very
few of them didn't have some level of replacement
theology. Now, you're going to say, well, now
my church, our church is totally pro -Israel,
and I would have to really give you some more
information about what that means, which I will
do in very little right now, but it starts back
in the garden of Eden, and then it becomes an
issue with the calling of Abraham out of his
land to come to a nation which I will show you.
and you will be the father of a people who are
yet to be born. You will be the father of many
nations." So that was the promise. But in that
promise he said, you will be a blessing to all
the families of the earth, through the nations
of the world. And in you I will bless, and I
will bless those who bless you, and I will curse
those who curse you. And he repeated the same
promises to Isaac and to Jacob. and then to Jacob's
descendants, which make up 12 tribes of Israel,
which are the Jewish people from that time leading
up to today. We take that all the way into the
New Testament, where there's 12 tribes, 144 ,000
from each, 12 ,000 each from the 12 tribes of
Israel. So they go right to the very end of time,
at the end of the book of Revelation. So, the
bottom line is What do you do if you bring this
Jew here? Now, this is my extrapolation because
I didn't want to go in this conversation, but
I was wondering all the time what the fear was
from a man who was really not a fearful man.
I mean, he'd been to places that most people
would cringe because he was very courageous.
But the fear was what's going to happen when
there starts to be this theological confrontation
that now we're supporting ministry in Israel?
This is not the Israel of the Bible. This is
a different Israel. It's some made -up thing
that took place from, you know, these wealthy
entrepreneurs that created Israel and started
buying all this ammunition and warfare equipment.
And so that's one of the thoughts. But they don't
think that this is modern Israel. Some do, and
they support it. But if they support even that
way, it's got its limitations, which I will speak
about, because Those who bless Israel will be
blessed, but those who curse will be cursed.
Blessing and cursing have definitions in Hebrew,
using the Hebrew words, that are very specific,
which we won't talk about now. But the reason
we call ourselves come from my people is because
I had to give a name for this ministry, and I
didn't even know what to do about that. Well,
Israel ministry, something like that, very generic.
And I asked the Lord, what would you want us
to call this? And He said, comfort. my people.
And so I started really doing it. I knew where
it came from. I had read Isaiah many times and
I knew it was in chapter 40, verse 1 and 2, where
we're going to get this from. Actually one of
my favorites. I had memorized that some years
ago, the entire chapter, which it's hard for
me to do now. So I love that chapter. But the
beginning of it is one that I'd never heard taught
before, where it says, Comfort my people. Comfort
my people. It's a commandment. says it twice,
and it's an imperative in Hebrew. And so this
ministry had to have a attachment to this verse
and verse two, to be tenderly, speak to the heart
of Jerusalem, tell her that her warfare is over
for she has received double from the Lord's hand.
This needed an explanation because if it was
preached, taught, and maybe you've heard it,
I never heard it before taught or preached, but
I knew that I had to understand this way better
than I did because I'm going to start explaining
why we're calling this Come From My People. So
I'm going to have to go from there because our
time is up and I'll just bid you Shalom and hope
that you could continue to listen. I know that
I kind of jump around which might bother some
of you but I'm trying to get a point across that
is ancient in nature and it's hard to just do
it like ABCs or 123 break things down in outline
form. Some would have no problem with that but
for me I'm so personally engaged that it's hard
for me to drop the emotions while I'm trying
to teach something that is historical and biblical
and yet denied and avoided for 19 centuries plus.
Shalom. Shalom. Till next time. We bless you
for taking the time to consider this message.
May it cause you to be fruitful and effective
and lead others along the way with confidence
and determination. Check out our website at comfortmypeople
.com to become better informed and equipped to
restore righteousness to the people of Israel,
America and beyond. Please consider sharing this
and visit us on social media. Shalom and blessings.