Once again, on KHCB, it's a real privilege to introduce to you a ministry that has been around for quite a while. Actually, I believe it was 1938 that the ministry Friends of Israel began. Our special guest has been with the ministry about three years, I believe, Paul Scharf. Paul is visiting in studio, and he is the church ministry's representative of Friends of Israel. And, Paul, if there is somebody listening right now who may not be aware of what the ministry is about, can you kind of fill the gap for us? What exactly does Friends of Israel do? Certainly, the Friends of Israel, as our president, Dr. Jim Showers, has said, the sun never sets on the ministry of the Friends of Israel. We have people all over the world, and they're teaching what the Bible says about Israel, and I like to say Israel in her biblical past, her strategic present, and her prophetic future. teaching what the Bible says about Israel and her Messiah, sharing the gospel with Jewish people, certainly, Gentiles all over the world, anyone who will listen. teaching the Bible, and also, though, with a focus on bringing physical help to the Jewish people, and ultimately, of course, spiritual help through the gospel of their own Messiah. But there are all kinds of, we might call them, humanitarian efforts all over the world, where Jewish people are found to bring help in very practical ways. whether that be in a place like a hospital in Buenos Aires, or whether it be what we might call the extended survivors of the Holocaust. You know, most of the Holocaust survivors that are left are very elderly now, but there are people who have lived their lives in the shadow of the Holocaust who, for all practical purposes, may as well be called Holocaust survivors. And we have people helping those types of Jewish people in Eastern Europe and all over the map in those areas of Russia and so forth. And it's just the ministry is vast, and people can read much more about it at foi.org. Yeah, and you have teaching aids, you have some suggestions on how to witness, you have all kinds of things on the website. Yes, many resources there that people can access, and again, much about our history, much about our ministry all over the world. All right. Paul Scharf, our guest today. Now, you have a particular role. You are a church ministries representative. So what does that mean? That means that I am one of many. Of course, I don't want anyone to get the impression that I'm the whole ministry by any means. I'm a small part and finishing my third year of service with the Friends of Israel. And my ministry is primarily in the Midwest here in the United States, reaching out to churches. And thus, I'm a church ministries representative, encouraging pastors, encouraging churches, teaching about Israel, helping to lead people to see the need to have a meaningful outreach to Jewish people all around us. Okay. And maybe walking alongside Friends of Israel? We love to have people that would like to get involved and to learn more about the Friends of Israel or about our own ministry, and their encouragement would be a tremendous help to us. So we would... Darrell Bock And it's both ways, because don't you come to the church to give me, if it was my church or someone listening right now, their church, to enlighten them about an aspect that maybe we're not emphasizing. We always love to have people who want to learn more, and there's virtually no limit to what they can do if they have interest in being involved with the Friends of Israel from a standpoint of learning more from us and through us, or even getting involved to help themselves as a volunteer. or perhaps someone listening that might ultimately look at all that we're doing and find that perhaps there's a place for them somehow in the Friends of Israel. You do a lot of preaching and teaching. You have much of that already at sermonaudio.com, and then backslash pscharf, P-S-C-H-A-R-F, Paul Scharf. And yet the ministry is based in New Jersey, but the Lord has you midway. serving in the Midwest, and with your permission, Bruce, making a special trip here to Texas right now. Not with my permission, but we're delighted that you also included a stop over here to the studios of KHCB. So we're in studio and getting a chance to meet Paul and learn a little bit about the ministry. In fact, you've been all over Houston, you're going eastward to Beaumont, Port Arthur, and so you have quite a travel itinerary. So we appreciate you adding one more stop. If someone were to want to get involved, what does Friends of Israel offer? If I want to do better in sharing the Gospel with people who do not know Christ, particularly who do not believe Christ is the Messiah, any helps? What do you suggest? There's lots of helps, beginning with the magazine Israel My Glory, our flagship resource that people can receive freely. at isramiglory.org slash subscribe, or if they come to any local church service where I'm present or anyone from our ministry, they'll always have an opportunity to sign up for a free subscription to the magazine. We have a weekly radio program that's available at foiradio.org, and I also load that on my sermon audio page. People can hear it there. I'm not part of that program. Chris Katulka, who is above me in the ministry as Assistant North American Ministries Director, but he's the radio teacher, you can find lots of helpful information on that and on other podcasts. all kinds of resources that are available, conferences that the ministry regularly holds. One thing, Bruce, that has come out of the last year with the whole COVID situation is much more emphasis, of course, on video meetings and conferences, and we have classes that have begun called FOI Equip and people can look at the website and find much more about that and there's a focus in those online meetings which are freely available to people if they want to access those resources. FOI Equip And what a way, being equipped to do. Being equipped to, it's a heavy focus on learning more about the Jewish people and just understanding much more about, for instance, things like what's coming up right now, Hanukkah, which is, of course, important to our Jewish friends. And other things that there's teaching on the history, the culture, the holidays, etc., of the Jewish people, with a view to learning much more about them, to be able to interact with them in a meaningful way. And somehow, eventually, if the Lord allows it, to share the gospel, right? Right. That's the goal of any ministry. And this ministry has been around since 1938, and I believe it started after a sad event that took place in world history. Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. 30,000 Jewish men taken off to Dachau and Buchenwald. The Holocaust began, but here in America, God had a plan for the Friends of Israel to begin at that very time. That was when? 1938, December is when the Friends of Israel began, three weeks after Kristallnacht. If a church wanted to have you or someone from, and I know you're not the only church representative. Yeah, they could access foi.org and even call the headquarters, and someone will respond, whether that would be channeled to me, depending on the area they're calling from. If they're calling here from your listening area, Bruce, one of the reasons I'm here right now, we don't have anyone working full-time in this area in church ministries. So I'm a little bit filling a void and coming down to try to make the beginnings of an impact here that I have some contacts here already I'm thankful for that I was able to draw on. You're including me here at KHCB is just an amazing providence. It's one of those things that the pilgrims who were thinking about this time of year at Thanksgiving time, they would call this an unusual providence of God. And I thank you for being part of providing this unusual providence. We're thankful that you were able to include us in the schedule, because Paul's very busy, and we've kind of snagged him between different events that he has to be at. But we certainly appreciate your helpfulness to let us know more about Friends of Israel. And probably the best way to learn more about the ministry is go to their website, foi.org, foi.org. We don't have much time, but real quickly, you mentioned Hanukkah coming up. How do I dovetail the conversation into the fact that I celebrate Christmas? Or is that not the conversation that I should have to my Jewish friends? Well, that would depend a lot on the depth of your relationship, I would think, with that particular person. Certainly, you could say, Happy Hanukkah, I think, in almost any case. And I think that we can say that, as believers in Christ, with a clear conscience, because Jesus himself celebrated Hanukkah. in John chapter 10, when he celebrated and he went to the Feast of Dedication in John 10, 22. This is something I'm delving into right now, Bruce. For the first time this year, I am giving Hanukkah-related educational presentations in churches this coming month of December, Lord willing, and actually starting at the end of November. This will be the first time because I'm only in my third year, as I mentioned, with the Friends of Israel. About half of that time has been covered by this thing called COVID. So last year was a little bit different, but this year I am putting together presentations on the meaning and significance of Hanukkah, the historical background, and Jesus' involvement, and in fact, Jesus' fulfillment of the whole message of Hanukkah, and Hanukkah bringing light in the darkness in the time before Christ's birth, but ultimately through the Messiah. And although our Jewish friends would not, of course, phrase it that way, but we have actually a little booklet available from the Friends of Israel people can access on Hanukkah. It tells all about the holiday and its meaning, and it could be shared with anyone who would be willing to receive it. F-O-I dot O-R-G. F-O-I, Friends of Israel dot O-R-G. John 8, 12, Jesus declared he was the And I'm thinking about, is it Isaiah 11, the people that walked about in darkness? Darrell Bock Isaiah 9, yes. Ramesh Richard 9, Isaiah 9. That's right. It was before he said that he would be the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father. Yeah, the people who walked in darkness now have seen a great light. We trust that you have seen that light and know Christ as your Savior, and have the desire to share the gospel with others. Well, one way to do that is through Friends of Israel ministry. Friends of Israel has a website, foi.org. Paul Scharf, our guest today. Just a 30-second quick, how did you come to know Christ as your Savior? Well, Bruce, I was raised in a Christian home. It was a confessional Lutheran background, and there's a whole long story there more than you have time for. But I was taught the Bible very diligently, very thoroughly in my Lutheran church, especially school, which was a part of the church, and my home. And I believe that I trusted Christ very early on in my life. specifically through the influence of my mother and trusting by faith in Christ alone. And then through a long series of events, you know, my life has taken some twists and turns since then. And I often say, only half-jokingly as I speak in churches, that my life song verse goes like this, through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come. But God has brought me faithfully and led me specifically as a teenager to come to understand the Bible more thoroughly, and that's when I started really looking at, frankly, the Friends of Israel, and Israel My Glory magazine, and then books from the Friends of Israel, and some that I had as textbooks in college, and then seminary. So Friends of Israel has been a part of my life, and it's a part of my heritage going back through my mother's father, my grandfather, He was a farmer. He only had an eighth-grade education, but he spent a few months at Moody Bible Institute, and he was an early reader. And I don't know this for sure, but I like to say he read from the first issue of Israel, my glory. Scott Horrell And the Lord has now had you part of the ministry and actually helping out friends of Israel and representing them and letting other churches know about this ministry. as you get the invitations. So Paul Scharf can be contacted. He's got a couple of ways, pscharf at foi.org is one email. He also can be heard, sermonaudio.com, backslash Paul Scharf or P Scharf for some of the messages that he has given. Well, Godspeed as you continue to serve him. A final verse before we go. Well, Bruce, I would point to what I call my life verses. I've given you my life hymn verse, but really my life Bible verse that I say, and I know not everyone claims to have a life verse, and it's not that this verse is, you know, any more authoritative than others, but it's certainly one that has characterized my experience. It's actually two verses in Psalm 37. verses 23 and 24, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I believe God has led us very directly, through circumstances we don't have time to go into today, to this ministry with the Friends of Israel. And I trust that all the experiences I've had up till now were preparatory and can be used in this ministry. This is our purpose, our focus, our passion, our direction we believe God has given us to serve with the friends of Israel. And I almost can't believe that I have the incredible opportunity and privilege to be with this great and historic ministry, Bruce, at such a time as this in which all the things that we see happening in the world today, most of which we could not have predicted a couple of years ago, and we have the great opportunity serve with the friends of Israel. But, Bruce, everyone listening has the opportunity to serve the Lord. F-O-I dot O-R-G for more information. Paul Scharf, our special guest today on KHCB. Godspeed as you serve. Thanks for taking time to be with KHCB. Thank you, Bruce. It's been wonderful. You're tuned to Christian Radio, keeping him close by.