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Israel UBF
March 3, 2014

James 5:7 – “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.”

We started 2013 with the word from Acts 19:9, saying, “But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.”According to this word, we prayed to serve the discipleship ministry as in the Tyrannus lecture hall with the sheep among whom the Holy Spirit was at work. At the beginning of the year, the Holy Spirit helped br. Nikolai and br. Sagi to have one-to-one Bible study regularly, every week. After regular Bible studies, when they confessed Jesus as Christ, my heart was deeply moved, and I shed tears. It seemed that after 18 years of pioneering ministry in Israel, I could finally see some fruit. We were full of grace and thankfulness when we thought about the wonderful salvation work that is led by God himself.

But after several months, our sheep had Bible study only sporadically. Br. Sagi started his professional life at Intel and moved to Tel Aviv so that he could no longer come to Bible study. Br. Nikolai had no time for Bible study as he had to work two jobs in order to make ends meet for his family. Therefore, our sheep gradually neglected Bible study because of their personal affairs. I prayed to God, asking, “How shall I help them?” When I prayed to God and thought about God’s word, God gave me one word to deepen my understanding of the present situation. “So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears” (Acts 20:31). What Apostle Paul did in the Tyrannus lecture hall was to teach God’s word and pray for the sheep with tears. Through this word I realized that God was training me to pray for the sheep with tears. But it was not so easy to pray for sheep with tears every day. When I had no faith, I couldn’t pray. Although I prayed, tears wouldn’t flow when God’s word was not in my heart. Without a shepherd heart, I couldn’t shed any tears. God had me in his heart and trained me through our sheep. God wanted me to see the sheep with his eyes and heart and to love them. I considered myself a shepherd since my wife called me “Shepherd Joseph” every day. But in reality, I wasn’t a shepherd. I was a hired hand who could not pray for his sheep with tears for even one week. I repented and prayed that God would open my eyes and grant me the heart of Jesus. I tried to pray for our sheep without ceasing. In spite of my prayer, the sheep didn’t come to Bible study.

This challenge of faith was necessary. We prayed with all our hearts and received direction to have a Bible school once every month and invite sheep to it. Since June, we invited sheep every month and taught them the word of God. It wasn’t easy to have a Bible school each month. Satan attacked strongly. Satan constantly tried to attack me and my coworkers in our weakness and to discourage us. God helped us each week through his word from Psalms and strengthened our faith in him and our prayers to him. From David, we learned his deep faith and put our trust in God in all circumstances. Through God’s word, all our coworkers were full of joy and coworked for the Bible schools without getting tired. In this way, Nikolai, Sagi, Keren, and Amir were restored. The Holy Spirit worked especially in sr. Keren so that she accepted Jesus as her Savior. At first, I doubted whether she had confessed her faith truly by faith, since from Nikolai and Sagi’s experience I had learned that even when someone confesses Jesus as Christ, it does not mean to live as a disciple of Jesus. But I repented of my doubt and trusted in Jesus and simply believed. No matter whether she had truly confessed by faith or not, I thanked God. Presently, Keren has befriended my wife Maria and visits her and learns the Bible from her. Through this, she comes to know God step by step. She also attends the Bible school regularly and listens to God’s word.

In October, M. Samuel You who was our coworker, was commissioned to America. I thank God that we could have gracious times in God’s love with this family. After they left, we felt lonely. But we prayed that God would raise one of our sheep as a coworker in their place and we prepared the November Bible school; then God did a great work among us and sent four sheep to this Bible school.

In December, when I reviewed the past year again, there seemed to be no lasting fruit any more. Although the sheep came to Bible school, they had not made a decision for discipleship and remained unchanged. It seemed as if the Tyrannus disciple-making ministry for which we had prayed didn’t work. When I looked at the reality without eyes of faith, our labor in this year seemed to have been in vain. In prayer, I came to God, asking, “Lord, what’s going on? What happened? What is our problem?” Then God granted me his word from James 5:7 and gave me the direction to be patient and to wait for God’s time. I realized that we are gospel workers who sow the seed of God’s word and who patiently wait for the work of the Holy Spirit, like the farmer waits for the autumn and spring rains after sowing his seed. God let us have faith and wait patiently until the seed of God’s word that we have sown in the hearts of our sheep will bear fruit. We pray to learn patience and to wait for the work of the Holy Spirit in 2014. Therefore, we want to watch in God’s word and pray and live a life filled with the Holy Spirit.

For two years, we have been waiting for a final decision regarding our residence permit. I pray that God himself will move the officials in Israel to grant us a residence permit in 2014.
Our daughter Sarah will enter high school in 2014. May God help her to be filled with the Holy Spirit through Bible study and prayer and to master her school studies.
Presently, I work as a research assistant in an institute, after having finished my postdoc studies. I pray that God will give me clear future direction by solving our problem concerning residence permit.

One word: Be Patient!

Joseph Sohn