Well, today on KHCBA, we pause for just a few moments to bring an update on a ministry that is, well, I think dear to all of us because they minister to the nation and to the people of Israel. Friends of Israel is who Paul Scharf is with. He is a church ministries representative. You've been here before, Paul, so it's a great chance to catch up and see what the Lord has been doing in your life. Welcome to Texas once again. I think you're based in Wisconsin, is that correct? That's right, Bruce. This is my sixth trip to Texas, my sixth trip to KHCB. Thank you for allowing me back. It's always great to talk with you. Well, we appreciate you, and you don't need a passport to get into Texas. That's right. We're thankful for that. But the Ministry of Friends of Israel, and by the way, that's an acronym, F-O-I, F-O-I dot O-R-G, so Friends of Israel, just the first initials, is their website, F-O-I dot O-R-G. But you're based, I believe, in New York, right? Well, New Jersey. New Jersey. The greater Philadelphia area, where we began in Philadelphia in December of 1938, and I was privileged to... And you were there? I was privileged to, well I wasn't there at that time, but I was privileged to stand there at the building, the Witherspoon building, where we had our first office and see a little bit of the history when I was on our Encounter tour last August. What an amazing thing, Bruce, to to think about the men and women who came together back in the time of the Holocaust to literally rescue people out of Germany and out of Europe and pull them out and save Jewish lives and also share the gospel of their Messiah. And that's something I've been hearing about and thinking about on this trip to Texas that we can talk more about. All right. Paul is with the ministry as a church ministries rep. What are your roles? Well, Bruce, I'm teaching and preaching and speaking, writing all the time about Israel and the fact that God still has a future for Israel. that as he has been with his chosen nation in her biblical past, so he is with them in the strategic present, and will be with them in the prophetic future. He will fulfill every promise he has ever given them. Every prophecy ever made will come to pass, just as written in the Word of God. God still has a plan for the people of Israel, and he's going to save the people of Israel. And I go around and have the privilege of going and telling people in churches and conferences and sometimes even radio stations how that is the case. It's a wonderful opportunity and it's a tremendous blessing to represent this historic ministry, the Friends of Israel, be part of this long chain of people who have been faithful to these core doctrines for which we are known. and which we still proclaim. And so I travel mostly in the Midwest, but sometimes even down here to Texas, as we've mentioned, and a few other places. And I'm available if churches desire a message or a presentation or a conference. I'd love to hear from them and extend my ministry to places I have yet to go. And is the contact still through the website, foi.org? Absolutely. And they can also visit my own page for my ministry within the Friends of Israel, and that's on sermonaudio.com slash P-S-C-H-A-R-F, P. Scharf, for Paul Scharf, my last name. And I'd love to hear from them. They can always connect with me and find all my resources there as well. All right, sermonaudio.com backslash p-s-c-h-a-r-f dot com. You just need Paul Scharf, right? P Scharf? Slash p Scharf, that's right. All right, so sermonaudio.com slash p Scharf. All right, let's talk about Israel. You mentioned earlier the terrible situation back in the Holocaust where people were being rescued through Friends of Israel. We've seen terrible devastation taking place since October the 7th in Israel and the neighboring territory called the Gaza Strip. What's the latest? What has Friends of Israel been doing there? Well, Bruce, we have people in Israel. We have workers there. We work with churches in Israel. It's the only place in the world we have a direct tie with any local churches, where we're actually involved with the churches as an organization. And the amazing thing that we're hearing about, and people can find these details at foi.org slash news and through other materials we offer in our ministry, we're hearing about an opportunity, an open door to talk to the Jewish people. Bruce, the first thing all that we have to do to begin is encourage them to read their own scriptures. That's the wonderful thing. Just read your own Bible, your Hebrew Bible, your Tanakh, your Torah. Start there. Read Isaiah. And we can just simply begin with that, can't we? And we're hearing that there is an opportunity for people in Israel right now that they're willing to read, they're willing to listen. As you know, Bruce, people are still under tremendous duress. They're forced from the north and the south. They're threatened. Hezbollah is threatening Israel, certainly in the north. People have been pushed toward the middle, toward Jerusalem. There's been tremendous outpouring from American evangelicals, not only through the Friends of Israel, but, praise God, through our ministry. to offer humanitarian aid to these people. They're not necessarily poor. They don't necessarily need, wouldn't normally need food or clothing or anything like that, but imagine if you or I were pushed, you know, dozens or hundreds of miles from our home and couldn't go back and we're stuck there and what would... might we need immediately. They need help. And there's other types of humanitarian aid, obviously, going into Israel for other reasons and ways, and all that's being noticed. And it's contributing to this moment when people are already, obviously, shaken and seeking answers. That's right. And that's I guess if you can use the word advantage, it's the advantage of a terrible situation is that some people are more open to understanding that this life is not all there is. Yeah, we need to pray that the Lord will use that in the hearts of many Jewish people and that we can show the love of Christ and again, just point them to their very own scriptures that they've given the world. Paul Scharf of Church Ministries, a rep of the ministry called Friends of Israel, again, foi.org. And if you do a backslash news, you can be up to date on some of the efforts that FOI or Friends of Israel are doing there in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. I think people forget that Israel is not a huge country, and almost everyone there is being affected by the situation. And it is ongoing, so hostages are being held. It's just a terrible situation. So we appreciate Paul taking a moment out to give us a little bit more information. You also offer a magazine, which has been around for a long time. I don't know the whole history of the ministry, but it's called Israel My Glory. That's right. It's been around more than 80 years, since the fall of 1942. And it goes all over the world. We want everyone in the world to read it, Bruce. So they can go to our website, and they can find it and sign up for a free one-year subscription, either print or digital. And there's just a tremendous amount of digital resources that are being unleashed as back issues are being added online. And people can go and begin to take advantage of all of that. I was going to say, what is in the magazine? What do you have that would be of interest to me? The magazine has not only Bible teaching, each issue has a specific direction that it goes on a biblical theme, or sometimes a particular topic of current interest, but there's always a theme with biblical articles. but also news and great editorial content. And the magazine always ends with the life of Zvi, Z-V-I, Zvi Kalischer, who was a Holocaust survivor and Israeli war veteran and served the Lord through the Friends of Israel for more than 50 years before going home to be with the Lord. And his life is just so incredible, and it's told in increments at the end of every magazine. All right, Israel, My Glory, available through foi.org, foi.org. Paul Scharf joining me in studio, and we're glad that you came to Texas once again. When you're in the state, what do you do? Well, Bruce, this trip to Texas, it's my longest trip that I've ever taken, and it has truly been amazing. It just started out running. Since I've gotten here, I've been busy every day. We were part of the Chafer Seminary Pastors Conference at Pastor Robert Dean's Church, West Houston Bible Church. for three days as I came here. That was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, March 4, 5, and 6. And just very full days of hearing great messages, tremendous content. I had the privilege of giving just a short presentation on the Friends of Israel, a little update on our ministry. But Friends of Israel was also represented there by Dr. Randall Price, he was one of our board members, and he is, I would say, I'll go ahead and say the leading expert, at least that I know of, in the world on Israel, all things Israel. Dr. Mike Stollard, our Vice President of International Ministries, who's also a tremendous expert and oversees all of our international efforts. in the Ukraine. The last two years we've been talking about that, Bruce, and in Israel. But he's also a distinguished scholar himself and gave some presentations at the conference. And then it was a unique conference. It was all about Israel because of, obviously, the events that we're talking about that are on everyone's hearts and minds. And so, the conference, very incredible opportunity to hear not only from the Friends of Israel, but also from REL Ministries, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, and also Chosen People Ministries, and Dr. Mitch Glazer, and others as well that represent various other outreaches to the Jewish people. It was a packed house, just an incredible time to get together with God's people and join together. Of course, that's only one leg of this journey. I have several church-speaking events that I'm involved in and then incredible opportunities like this to visit with you again here at the radio station and some personal meetings along the way. So it makes for a very full trip. And if somebody were to ask you to come to their church? I would love to hear from them. Yes, as you know, Bruce, you've been an instrumental part of these trips to Texas. And I might say, actually, this is unusual, but this is my second trip to Texas in a month. I was here for some training that I was involved in outside of any speaking events. or my normal trips, that was in February, so I had to turn around and come right back to Texas again, but I love it, and I would love to hear from people of ways that we could extend our ministry into new churches. We're not certainly bound to just staying on the same circuit, and there's always future opportunities. I'd love to come back, especially if someone desired a conference in, for instance, in their local church, I'd love to hear from them. All right, church ministries rep or representative, and that's what Paul does with the Friends of Israel ministry. Contact him through foi.org. Or you could even go to his own personal webpage at sermonaudio.com backslash psharf, S-C-H-A-R-F. And he has details and information there as well at sermonaudio.com psharf backslash psharf. He has messages there. He has all kinds of information. And I guess we should conclude as time runs out. Is there a special verse, whether it's your life verse or maybe something that's been on your heart just in these recent days and through the recent conference that you could leave with us as we wrap up our time together? Well, Bruce, there are so many I could point to in answer to that. Well, we only have 10 seconds, 15 maybe. Let me point you to a verse that comes from the training I was talking about. It's a little bit outside of what I've been doing the last few days, but it was a support raising training that I was at. This verse has been in my mind ever since, Philippians 4.17. Paul told the beloved, generous church at Philippi, not that I seek the gift, they had sent him a financial gift, we infer from the book, but he says, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. we are all whatever part we have in the ministry. Some people are listening. They can't do what you're doing, Bruce. They can't necessarily go where I go, but they have a part in the ministry by praying, for instance. Some give financially. Some are volunteers. We're all working together And God can take all those efforts, blend them together, and it's not just you or I that can earn eternal reward from our service, but it's anyone who's listening who would be willing to have a part and just begin now, begin however they can. Maybe they just need to begin by learning and investigating and praying and having a part in the ministry. It's not that we seek anything for them, but that eternal fruit may abound to their account. That's my hope and my prayer for someone listening, maybe for the first time today, that would go to our webpage, go to your station webpage, and just begin to learn more and perhaps begin a journey that will go to an amazing place they could never have envisioned. Amen. All right, Paul Scharf, our guest today, foi.org, it was Philippians 4, verse 17, or sermonaudio.com backslash pscharf. Always good to catch up with you. Godspeed as you serve. Thank you, Bruce. It's been wonderful. You turn to Christian Radio, keeping him close by.