Affirming Our Purpose
By Albert Runge, CJF MinistriesOur motivation to evangelize Jewish people should come from obedience to the Word of God. The Jewish prophet Isaiah wrote, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" (52:7, KJV).
Evangelization simply means telling the good news of salvation. The good news is that God has provided an eternal atonement for sinners. God calls us to be His witnesses. When I entered the ministry as a young man fifty years ago, I tried to argue people into the Kingdom of God. Sometimes I won an argument and lost the person; and sometimes I lost an argument, but not my faith. It takes much more than human intellectual ability to turn people to God or away from God. It took me a few years to understand that all God wants me to do is to tell people the Good News of Yeshua and trust the Spirit of God to win a person over.
The Apostle Paul wrote, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel [good news] of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek" (Rom. 1:16, NKJV).
Jewish evangelism is the top priority with God, and that is why He wants His people to make it their priority. The telling of the Gospel of Yeshua releases the power of persuasion through the work of the Spirit of truth.
Once I began depending on proclaiming the truth of Yeshua through the Scriptures and the convicting power of the Spirit, I saw many come to faith in Yeshua.
(The text above is an excerpt from Albert Runge's paper My Perspective on Jewish Evangelism, LCJE North America, Toronto, April 2004.