The Jerusalem Prayer List  -  August 11, 2011

by Joseph Shulam

Last week I did not write the prayer list.  I was in Brazil teaching and actually did not have the opportunity to write anything.  I am back home now in Israel and full of joy to be at home after a two week very intense trip to Brazil.  It was intense, but it also was exciting and very wonderful and rewarding.  The Brazilian brothers and sisters went out of their way with their hospitality and in fact I have hung at least five pounds of Brazilian Beef right on my belly.  The first place that I went in Brazil was in Curitiba, a beautiful city.  I joined Matheus and his family to do a two day seminar on the topic of Restoration of the First Century Faith and lifestyle.  We had opportunity to worship with the Sar-El congregation and meet many brothers and sisters that are not normally members of the Sar-El congregation.  People are very excited about the Restoration Concept and their desire for authentic New Testament faith.  This is especially true because they desire to restore the Jewish Roots of faith in Yeshua and get away from the Roman traditions that have driven Christians far away from the World of Yeshua and from Biblical holidays and practices.

From Curitiba I went to Vitoria of Espirito Santo to be with the Rehovot Congregation.  The Rehovot congregation was called Netivyah Congregation before but for legal reasons they had to change their name.  Rehovot means Streets, or Roads, and it is reminiscent of Netivyah that means "The Way of the Lord."  The Rehovot congregation has purchased a building downtown Vitoria and they have and continue to remodel it and make it suitable for their needs.  I went there for the dedication of their new building and to hang the Mezuzah on their door post.  The Mezuzah is the little scroll that hangs on the door of every Jewish home.  It includes the text from Deuteronomy 4:6-9 and 11: 13-21.  In these texts there is the command to write the Word of God on the doorposts.  It was such a joy to be with the Rehovot congregation and participate in this great event and see young people that I baptized fifteen years ago now married and having children of their own and walking in faith with such a zeal.  It was also a great joy to eat the food of Ritona, a very dear sister that cooks twice a week to feed people in the local hospitals.  She cooked for me especially the national food of Brazil that is called "Fijuada Brazileira" and it is normally composed of beans and the internal parts of the pork.  However, sister Ritona has adapted the "Fijuada" and made it Kosher with chicken and beef parts.  It is eaten with rice and not so easy to cook.  Ritona also fixed the local fish specialty named "Moqueca Capishaba" and more than twenty people enjoyed the very special dinner that she fixed.  The fellowship was wonderful and besides teaching in the congregation there I had the opportunity to speak all morning long to a group of "Pastors" from various denominations and present them with the challenges of Restoring the First Century faith and life style.

You might ask, "Why does Joseph not use the normal terms like "Restoring the Church?""  The reason is that I think that what needs to be restored is the type of faith that the early disciples of Yeshua had, and the kind of faith they had, and the lifestyle that the early followers of Yeshua had as it is described in the Bible.  The word "church" today has become synonymous with "institution" and institution is something that Yeshua wanted to get away from and not create new ones.  The collective of followers of Yeshua is what makes the Ecclesia the church the community of faith.  Speaking to the collection of denominational Pastors was, as always, a very interesting experience.  Some got up and left early for some reason.  Others stayed and said that it was interesting and they have to think about it, and others yet, got very excited and full of interest and zeal for this vision that is supposed to bring unity and restore the oneness of God's children.

From Vitoria I went to Belo-Horizonte.  In Belo-Horizonte it was wonderful to have the opportunity to teach something new. I gave a six hours seminar on The Gospel of John and the Logos.  It was wonderful to have an audience of few hundred people in this seminar and it was wonderful to have people from all around Brazil, from Santa Katharina in the South to Arakaju and even farther North attend the seminar.  After the seminar on the Logos, we had a wonderful Shabbat service in the Har Zion congregation and in the afternoon started a conference on the topic of Anussim / Marranos and their faith.  I believe that this is the first conference in Brazil on this topic, at least from a Messianic point of view.  The attendance was very good, I believe that near 600 people from all of Brazil attended the conference.  One sister came all the way from Australia specially for this conference and she brought a picture of a couple of dozen ladies that are a part of a book club in Australia and they all read our book, "Planted in the House of the Lord: God, Israel, and the Church." She gave me a picture of this book club and on the picture some of the ladies wrote that this book has changed their perspective on life and it is one of the best books that they have read.  This week I also got an e-mail from a Jewish brother from the United States that says that my commentary on Romans brought him to faith in Yeshua.  So, my dear brothers and supporters - the written Word is still very powerful even in the age of IPad and IPhone and Notebook computers.

I thank the Lord for the goodness and generosity of the brothers in Brazil who have not only been very hospitable, but have contributed like the brothers in Macedonia; "that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints." (2Cor. 8:2-4)

The total contribution of the brethren in Brazil was more than twenty thousand dollars.  This is really something to praise the Lord about because as most of you already know I never ask for money beyond the covering of my travel expenses.

Please pray for the congregations associated with Netivyah in Brazil and ask God to bless them and multiply them both in numbers and in prosperity.  Please also pray for ABRAJIN which is the ministry that was started in Brazil to help the Anussim / Marranos restore their faith and they identity that was taken away from them by the Catholic Church by torture and the pain of death.  We need to restore these people back to Biblical faith and to their true and hidden identity.

Returning home after two weeks is wonderful but my desk is full of work and challenges.  Please pray for Netivyah and for Kol HaYeshua Radio broadcasts, and for the food distribution program that feeds hundreds every week, and for the books that are being written and made ready for publication.

We continue to pray for our sick brothers and sisters in Israel and in other parts of the world.  I had special request for prayer from Paulo in Brazil, and from Vera Dudik and her husband. They are both in need of healing from God.  We continue to pray for our elderly brothers and sisters in Jerusalem.  Especially we pray for Ahuva our dear sister who is getting up in the years and needs God's touch of grace daily.  We also pray for Ilana, Leah, Sara, Zvi, Miriam, Sarit, and Efim, who are all past 70 and more like near 90 years of age, and they all suffer from chronic illness.  Praying for these folk here in Israel is for us a privilege because all of them are really saints in God's Kingdom.  We also lift up our brothers and sisters in Japan who need prayer the Ishiida family, and the Abe family and their mother-in-law.  Of-course God knows all of His children and their needs but we need to lift our brothers and sisters and not stop, among the ones for whom we have been praying a long time is Marcia my wife, and Tim Tucker, and Ruby our dear sister from Oklahoma.  In a moment in a twinkling of an eye, God can change a person's life and either take it or restore it, when He wants to do it nothing is in His way.  We have to call upon Him who has all the power in heaven and on earth and intercede for our brothers and sisters who are suffering.

This letter is getting a bit long.  I will thank all of you for your prayers and support and thank God for the Body of the Messiah that is without blemish or wrinkle, pure and holy as it has always been and it is in fact ready to receive the Lord as soon as He comes.

God bless you all!

Joseph Shulam

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