Chris Katulka: Thank you for joining us on The Friends of Israel Today. I'm your host and teacher, Chris Katulka. And before we get started, I want to encourage you to visit our website, foiradio.org, have you been there yet? At foiradio.org, you can listen to over nine years of biblical teaching from the Friends of Israel along with insightful interviews and a host of great guests that share about the events that are happening in the Middle East from a biblical worldview. Again, that's foiradio.org.

Now, today is our FOI, our Friends of Israel, in Action episode where we highlight one of the many ministries that are going on all around the world with the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. And today we're going to have Pastor Adi L. on who's going to be talking about his ministry in Israel as a pastor ministering to Israeli believers in Jesus. Not only is he going to share with us about what it means to be ministering to these Israelis today, but also what are the sentiments that Israelis have as Israel is under a constant attack from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran.

You're going to want to stick around to hear this interview with Pastor Adi. Before we get to that, let's see what's happening in the news. The Times of Israel reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a summit of Arab States where he called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and promised more humanitarian aid for the people in Gaza.

The summit, which included heads of state of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Tunisia, and others, was set to focus on China's growing trade relations in the Middle East and security issues related to the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. Well, here's my take. Xi Jinping sees an opening here with the Israel-Hamas War to insert his authority on the global stage.

The Chinese leader, who allies himself with Turkey, Iran, and Russia, wants to leave his mark by promising aid to rebuild war-torn Gaza and fund the UNRWA, UNRWA, which the United States has pooled funding since finding out that UNRWA workers participated in the October 7th attack. This is why the United States needs to be a leader in the Middle East with Israel as its number one ally or else China will take the reins. 

Chris Katulka: Well, I am excited to have Pastor A with us. Pastor A is tuning in from Israel, and he's going to share with us about the great ministry that he has in Israel. Now, I have to admit, I've known Pastor A for a very, very long time, since 2007. I have a picture of us when we first met each other when I traveled to Israel with our ORIGINS program and did volunteer work, and I had a chance to meet and engage with him and his family. So Pastor A, great to have you on the program.

Pastor A: Shalom, Chris. It's good to be here with you, and it's good to hear your voice.

Chris Katulka: 100%. It's great to hear your voice. We're longtime friends, brothers in the Lord, and that's why I'm very excited for our listeners to hear about your calling from the Lord. This would be a great opportunity for you to share your testimony, I believe. Could you connect people with how you as an Israeli came to know Jesus, the Jewish Messiah?

Pastor A: Well, in my previous life before I came to know Yeshua, I was looking for the dark side of the moon, let's say. I was not walking innocently in this world. I was looking for parties, drugs, for fun, and I thought fun would be found in these things that I mentioned. But nearly six months after I finished my military service, I served for three years in Israel, a guy knocked on my door in my room. He went in with the Bible, First Testament, New Testament, and start to share with me about a thousand years party that God is planning.

Chris Katulka: The thousand years party.

Pastor A: Exactly.

Chris Katulka: That's a great way to put it.

Pastor A: Yeah. So that caught my ear and I was willing to start to read the New Testament. He left me the book. I started to read the scriptures. And six months after I left Israel for nearly 14 months, I went traveling around the world and I took the Bible with me. I continued to read while traveling in the world. And I believe what happened to me was because I was solo, I was alone and I didn't know any churches, I didn't know any believers, except the one who gave me the Bible, so it's more or less was only God and me and the Bible.

During this time where I read the Bible, my heart started to convict me and showed me that I'm no good and I didn't understand why I'm no good because I tried to be good. I wanted good, but I couldn't find the perfect good that I'm looking for in me. So I thought in that time when I was reading the Bible that Yeshua is real. It's not an invention. It's not like an imaginary friend. I knew in my heart that he's real, but I did not know that he's God and I didn't know if he's the Messiah of Israel.

I just knew that he's a good person. And I liked his theory about things that he say, judge not others, judge yourself, agree on yourself. Basically I liked the idea that he said, look inside yourself and not others. So for me, he was a good man from that moment I read his verses in Matthew. Making a very long story short, we come to the end of my trip in India where I met my wife today. I realized that if I call him to my life, he might ask me to change. So I said to myself, "No, he's not for me."

So this is the conclusion I got into the end of my trip that this Yeshua is not for me, and I bought a ticket back to Israel. It was around January 2001. And when I came to Israel, I found myself empty and desperate because I couldn't find any truth for my existence. I believe a month later after some experiences in Israel, I turned to the Lord. In my case, it was in the shower. Yeah, I know it's funny. I was baptized in the same time. I said to God, "I don't understand why you're bothering me with this Yeshua. I cannot take it out of my mind."

I said, "If Yeshua is you, God, and you are him, I can't understand it, but I accept." And I said, "Please show me that what I accept is real." And in that moment, I felt Spirit come in my heart and I just knew I believe in Yeshua in that moment.

Chris Katulka: And you were changed. That's the one thing that you stressed you were concerned about when you were in India that you knew at that moment, if I believe in Yeshua, in Jesus, if I believe in him, there's going to be a change that happens.

Pastor A: I believe the first grace God gave me is to clean me from drugs and alcohol. I didn't have any need to use them anymore. It was immediate, immediate change. Not my work, not my power. It was all the Spirit of God in my heart fulfilled what I was looking for at once. I won't like and say that I did not have temptations afterwards to use drugs again, but the Lord gave me the power and the fulfillment of what I looked for.

Chris Katulka: Yeah, 100%. But he changed you and he gave you a direction that would ultimately lead to a calling to become a shepherd of youth, especially in Israel, that he would lead you away not only from the kingdom of darkness, but into the kingdom of life. But then he gave you a calling to minister to those around you. Can you share about how that developed in you as you went from becoming a believer to feeling a tug, a pull from the Spirit to become a pastor, a shepherd?

Pastor A: I think I had no idea what is a call in the beginning. The only thing I knew in the beginning that my life belongs to Yeshua and I walk after him. Doesn't matter what happens. And it started that way and I hope it's the same today. But because I did not grow up in a church and my parents are not believers, so I had no idea about the structures of a Kehilla, what we say in Hebrew, a church. And for me, it was just live after Yeshua.

In the beginning I found the place that the same guy who brought me the Bible, so I met him often and he taught me the words. And as I grew up in God's Word, I understood more and more what I need to do. What is my life about? Later on, I met another person who started to disciple me. And as I grew up and matured in the Lord throughout the years, I understood that my passion is to work with believers, to work with people, but I didn't know how.

I had a job. I had a good job, good people. And years after into my faith, this person came to me and asked me what do I think about leaving my job and working with the Kehilla, working with the congregation. And that was the first time... I mean, I thought about it before, but it was the first time that actually God talked to me directly and said to me, "Leave your job, leave what you do, and come work for me."

Chris Katulka: You were like Abraham.

Pastor A: Maybe like Isaac.

Chris Katulka: Hey, Pastor A, you have a beautiful family. I know them very well, four beautiful children. What was it like raising children in the Kehilla, in the church in Israel, and especially in the culture that you live in? What was it like as a father to raise your kids in the fear and admonition of the Lord to direct them to scripture? Can you share about that?

I know that you are a pastor and you shepherd others, but it really starts right there in the home as you're shepherding your family. Can you share about that experience? Your kids are getting older now, so many of them are out of the home or moving out of the home, which I'm sure you're very sad about, but you lived through that in raising your children.

Pastor A: I must say it was not easy because in the time my wife and I raised our kids when they were small, like 17, 18, 19 years ago, there were not so many believers in our area. So it was a solo family raising their kids after Yeshua's Commandments, after Yeshua guides us, leads us through scriptures. And it was not popular at that time. We were maybe the only family in the congregation with little kids.

It was not easy, but we were just sure about our faith and we were sure that this is what God wants from us. I think our kids really shined out the light of Yeshua because the effort we put throughout the years. I mean, we're not perfect parents, but we tried our best.

Chris Katulka: Well, I've sat around the table at your house plenty of times. And I remember when the kids were growing up, we'd all read scripture as we went around. And I can remember your youngest couldn't even read yet, but he'd opened up the scriptures and just read whatever he thought was there.

Pastor A: Yes, yes, he did.

Chris Katulka: I love that. Well, listen, we are talking with Pastor A. He's in Israel right now. He's ministering to Israelis sharing the good news of Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus the Jewish Messiah, to the people around him as he's shepherding youth. Very important. So when we come back, we're going to hear about his heart to minister to the youth in Israel, where the status of the church is, and also what it means to be ministering during this time as Israel is under a constant attack from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. Stick around.

Steve Conover: Hey, Chris, did you know that August is Make-A-Will month?

Chris Katulka: Believe it or not, Steve, I did. And that's why it's so important to make time to consider your future planning, especially since it's so easy to put off until another day.

Steve Conover: I agree, Chris, and it's why it excites me that The Friends of Israel has partnered with the online estate planning tool FreeWill to enable you to write your legal will for free. In as little as 20 minutes online, you can create an estate plan to protect your assets, support the people and organizations that you love, and have the opportunity to include a legacy gift in your plans.

Chris Katulka: When the Katulka family was planning our will, I wish I would've known about FreeWill, and so we hope that you'll join us on Make-A-Will month. To get started on writing your legal free will today, go to foi.org/yourfreewill. Again, that's foi.org/yourfreewill.

Chris Katulka: Welcome back, everybody. We are talking with Pastor A. He is in Israel, and we've been just talking about his testimony, how he came to faith in Yeshua. Maybe you've heard him use the word Yeshua during this interview, which is the real way, the Hebrew way of saying Jesus, Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, our Savior, hearing about his testimony and coming to faith, and then also how he became a pastor, that calling that he received to become a pastor as he's ministering to his family, but also as he's ministering to those around him.

Pastor A, you were talking about the fact that you minister, your heart is for the youth. How did that happen? You're not getting any younger, and I'm teasing you, of course, but your heart has always stayed the same as long as I've known you. You've had a real heart and passion for the youth in Israel. Can you share about that?

Pastor A: Well, I think one of my characteristics is to stay young. I'm young in mind, young in heart, but my body gets old. I know. Start to have white hair around. But really I always felt comfortable around kids and teenagers. And I know this is the most difficult time of life when you still did not choose who you are and all the impact of the world on teenagers, especially today with media, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and all the things that's going around. The world has become crazy.

And we, not only me, me and some many people you know from our congregation have their heart to present truth to these kids, to the teenagers, to present something stable, something with root, something that can help them navigate throughout this crazy life here, especially in Israel. And we found out that Yeshua is real, is not an imaginary friend, like people trying to bring up in the world. Yeshua is real. He dwells in our heart. He leads us through the scriptures.

He gives us stability. He gives us an anchor in this storm, and we have a purpose. We know where we came from. We know why we are here and where we're going. And this is the message we want to pass to the new generation through love, through teaching the words, through activities that we are doing, through support, and through other many things that's happening here in Israel.

Chris Katulka: How do they respond to your message? Israel, you're the minority. Here in America, of course, Christianity feels as though it's on the decline here in the United States, but still the vast majority of people would claim to be Christian in some form or fashion. When you're over in Israel, you are the minority. What is the response of most, especially young adults, to the message and the truth of Yeshua, of Jesus?

Pastor A: Well, Chris, where we live, you know the place. We live in a place, is like a village where people know each other. Everyone knows each other. And one of the things that I found out in my life, it's when we follow God's instructions, good things are about to happen. Even if it's not good situations, even if it's difficult times, good things are about to happen because we follow the Lord. And we decided as a congregation, as a family, as individuals, just to follow what Yeshua tells us.

Yeshua tells us to be a light wherever you go and shine out the light of the Father wherever you go. And in the place where we live, we took the ministry of the youth, the ministry of the kids, and we started to serve the local people, the unbelievers. We help people to move houses. We clean people's houses. We clean the main place where the people meet.

And people saw how positive we are. And God really made sure that we're going to have a good reputation at the place where we live because of things that we did with the teenagers. We're doing it for now nearly 21 years. I mean, it's not always been the same like today because part of that, that I could leave my job and work with the Kehilla, is the possibility to meet every week with the youth to do more activities to serve the people of the society.

And all these little things by the years had a big effect on the people who lives around us. And God really, by his grace, gave us good reputation. The Kehilla is a good reputation of where we live and what we do. They trust us, and we even do some cooperation with FOI contributed some things to the place where we live, and people see it.

Chris Katulka: Adi, what's the feeling among the youth right now when it comes to the constant threat that Israel is under when it comes to Hamas, when it comes to Hezbollah, when it comes to Iran? You all have been fighting a war now for almost coming up on a year in a few months. Your own son was defending Israel in the military.

So you know what it's like to have family in the army. What are the youth feeling in Israel right now with this constant... It seems as though it's getting worse and worse as time goes on. The concerns get bigger. What's the sentiment among the youth in Israel?

Pastor A: Well, I want to start, Chris, with a phone call I had two days ago. Two days ago, I received a call from my son, who fights in Gaza, in Rafah, and asked him, "What's going on? Are you okay?" And he said, "Yeah, we're okay." I said, "Listen, I read in the news some of you got injured. Have you been there?" He said, "Yes, I've been there." I said, "What happened?"

He said, "The RPG was shot at us and hit the room just next to me. I had to leave everything to shoot my way out and to put bandages on my friends where one of them lost a leg, the other one had a lot of blood coming out of his arm." So when you get a call like that from your son and you know that he's there, the only thing you can do in that moment is to turn to God and say, "God, I know you're in control. I know you are everywhere." And we have to build our own trust in God.

And I think when we build our own trust in God, then we can minister to others. We cannot minister to others what we don't experience by ourselves. So I think the first thing, it has to be real, that we experience God's power and God's comfort and to put our trust in him daily, and then I can minister it to the teenagers, to the kids and help them with their problems because I experienced it by myself. So this is the first thing.

The second thing is I think as time passed since the 7th of October, even the kids, it's hard to say that they get used to the war, and the teenagers, they get used to the war and to the bombs, to the rockets. It becomes like a routine here in Israel. It's sad to say, but it becomes like your routine. I mean, your heart always starts to move around when you hear the siren go on, but you heard it so many times that you said, ""Okay, once more."

So I think that the most important thing is to communicate to the teenagers, to the kids, and ask them questions. We sit around with them. We teach them how God is in control. And I know that in the end they have to experience it by themselves. They cannot experience my own experience. They have to turn to the Lord by themselves. They have to call him to their heart and to have a relationship with him daily. And that's what we try to minister to them, to the kids.

Chris Katulka: Pastor A, we only have about 30 seconds left. What is a prayer request that you have that you'd like our listeners to be praying for when it comes to Israel, when it comes to the Jewish people, when it comes to the ministry that you have in Israel as well? Could you share a prayer request for our listeners?

Pastor A: My true prayer is that our nation will understand that the physical war that we experience is only a reflection of the spiritual war. And I know they cannot see it without the revelation of Yeshua in their life. This is my real prayer for my people that they will have the revelation of Yeshua the same way I had. I mean, it doesn't have to be specifically the same way in the shower, but wherever they are, God will meet them and they will have salvation. This is my prayer.

Chris Katulka: Well, we're going to be praying that. Hey, listen, we've been talking with Pastor A, who is ministering in Israel right now. Thank you so much for being with us. We're going to continue to pray that the eyes of Israelis will be open to the truth of Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus the Jewish Messiah. Thank you so much, Pastor A, for being with us, and I look forward to seeing you in person soon to get a big hug from you.

Pastor A: Hey, Chris, thank you for having me, and it's really good to see you again.

Chris Katulka: God bless. 

Thanks for joining us for today's episode of The Friends of Israel Today. I want to thank Pastor Adi for joining us, and please continue to pray for Adi and those believers in Israel during this very difficult time. In fact, during these challenging times in Israel, as you just heard from Pastor Adi, it's crucial to deepen our understanding of biblical teaching about Israel and the Jewish people.

I hope that you believe FOI Radio provides the essential teaching of timeless truths to support our Jewish friends. Would you please consider making a donation to help continue this vital work and to reach more lives with the biblical message of God's heart for Israel and the Jewish people? To give to The Friends of Israel Today, go to foiradio.org and click on the donate button.

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Our mailing address is FOI Radio, PO BOX 914, Bellmawr, New Jersey, 08099. Again, that's FOI Radio, PO BOX 914, Bellmawr, New Jersey, 08099. Our web address is foiradio.org. Again, that's foiradio.org. Or you can call our listener line 888-343-6940. That's 888-343-6940. Today's program was produced by Tom Gallione, engineered by Bob Beebe, edited by Jeremy Strong, who composed and performs our theme music. Steve Conover is our executive producer, and I am your host and teacher, Chris Katulka. The Friends of Israel Today is a production of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. Passion for God's Word, Compassion for God's Chosen People.