One For Israel

CC Soref: Throughout the gospels, we find women who appear insignificant by the world's standards, easily dismissed. Yet, their unexpected encounters with Yeshua reveal the depth of God's love and its powerful work of redemption in their lives.

Sophia: From the age of 10 years old, I started wearing the black abaya. I was completely overcome with fear, fear of Allah, fear of my family, and fear of the reality of what I just saw.

Dr. Erez Soref: We are Israelis and followers of Yeshua the Messiah.

CC Soref: We have been serving the Lord together, dedicated to bringing the gospel back to our people, Israel.

Dr. Erez Soref: We are working with Jewish and Arab believers in this land, training, teaching, and equipping them to reach Israel and the world.

CC Soref: We are one for Israel. I'm standing in the remains of a first century synagogue in Magdala, located in northern Israel. During the time of Yeshua, Jewish people would travel to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. This was the one central place to sacrifice and worship. But they also established local synagogues like this one. These were places where you could gather weekly to hear the word of God read aloud and pray. Today, there is no temple, and the local synagogue is the main house of worship for Jewish people. If you visit a traditional synagogue today, you'll see a separation wall for the men and women.

The reasons for this likely developed from the temple period when women had a separate court from the men. But the separation between men and women went far beyond physical walls. It cut through deep mental and spiritual walls of unworthiness and shame, narrowing a woman's understanding of her spiritual purpose and calling that quietly told her she did not fully belong. This is the world into which Yeshua came. Through his words and actions, he gently and boldly challenged deeply rooted beliefs and false assumptions and revealed God's heart for women, affirming their identity, restoring their dignity, and reclaiming their purpose in his kingdom.

Where men were not supposed to talk to women, Yeshua addressed them directly. In fact, his longest conversation recorded in the gospels was with a Samaritan woman. Yeshua affirmed women as learners and disciples at a time when they were discouraged from studying Torah. He openly praised women for their faith in him. And in the most significant event in human history, his resurrection, he entrusted the proclamation of this life-changing truth to its first eyewitness, Mary Magdalene, declaring to the world that women's testimony is credible, honored, and essential in his kingdom. The message is clear. In the kingdom of God, women share equal worth, honor, and calling.

Through their lives and testimonies, God draws us into a richer understanding of his kingdom. And as we journey forward, one truth will become undeniable. When a woman encounters Yeshua, nothing is ever the same again. Their stories transcend time, and they're still speaking to us today. The Bible tells many stories of significant women used by God, Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Hannah, Abigail, Esther, and many more in the New Testament. But what about the women that are not necessarily the obvious heroes? Throughout the gospels, we find women who appear insignificant by the world's standards, unnamed, unnoticed, and easily dismissed.

Yet, their unexpected encounters with Yeshua reveal the depth of God love and its powerful work of redemption in their lives. The women in this series encountered Yeshua, and nothing was ever the same. Their lives transformed, and their stories still speak to us today, revealing Yeshua and showing what God thinks of the forgotten, the broken, and the overlooked. If you want to go deeper, we are offering our new book as a companion to this series.

Guest (Male): Get your copy of Sacred Encounters with a gift of $30 or more. Simply scan the QR code on your screen to receive this encouraging resource. Your gift will help us bring the gospel back to Israel and equip believers around the world. Visit oneforisrael.org/encounters to receive your copy of Sacred Encounters.

Guest (Female): Visit oneforisrael.org/encounters to receive your copy of Sacred Encounters.

CC Soref: I want to introduce you to these amazing women from different countries and cultures, each with a unique story of encountering the Jewish Messiah, each forever changed by him. From Israel, America, Egypt, Iran, and even Lebanon, different backgrounds, different journeys, one Messiah. Together, we are one for Israel. We'll have each of these ladies' testimony in full on oneforisrael.org. But I want our audience to hear briefly how each one of them encountered Yeshua. Alice, let's start with you.

Alice: Uh my name is Alice. I'm 33 years old. I have three kids, and I'm from Israel. Uh I was born and raised uh Messianic Jew. My parents immigrated from Ukraine. They encountered Christ over there in the big revival in the '90s. But at a certain point in my life, I started asking questions, and I decided to leave Christ. And after a long journey of his grace and his love and me understanding that he paid a price that I don't have to do anything more and to add anything to his perfect perfect sacrifice. Uh I received Yeshua as my Christ and Savior for myself.

And he took me and changed my life and changed my identity and gave me a new name and a new purpose.

Guest (Female): I'm from Iran. I was born and raised there until I was 15. I came to America, converted from Shia to Sunni, and when I needed God so much in my life years down the road, I dared to ask God who he really is. And just a supernatural open in my life and through him blessing me and proving himself to me as a God and the God of the Bible, I was able to leave a very toxic relationship. I could not escape. I was able to have a God that walked with me through life in a new way, in a in a living way, truly, truly, really going from death to life, I would say.

And he changed my heart. He changed my mind. Places there was hate for Israel, for anything else that was part of my mentality as a Muslim, just wiped away into love and grace and conditional love and grace. So

Karin: I'm Karin and I'm from Lebanon. And I came from a Maronite Christian background and it's a very religious Christianity, you know. There's Christian I was a Christian by name, but never really knew the word. And you know, going through life, I encountered the Lord in 2008 when I found myself in the middle between when I got married with the between with my husband, he's Mormon, and between like following the Lord like what he's been really wanting me to be like to start a new fresh start with him. And I heard his audible voice to direct me to exactly where he wanted me to go to the time of when I used to go to the church when I was little with my uncle.

It is like a Christian evangelical church. And I I heard his voice and that was the changing point of my life to seek him from, you know, from religion to a relationship with him. And that was the beginning of my faith in him that really transformed my life and is still transforming until today.

Sophia: My name is Sophia and I was born and raised in Kuwait in a very devout Sunni Muslim background family. You know, I knew how to do all the works, praying five times a day, fasting in Ramadan, going to pilgrimage, doing all the works that every Muslim is supposed to do. But I still there was something missing in my heart. It was God. I did not know God. To me, God was so distant and far away. And there was times when I felt like God had rejected me and he didn't want me as his creation. I would pray and I would have no answer to prayers.

And I sensed that truly just forgotten by him. After some time, God brought me to America. And you will of course hear the story, but even if war happened in my country, I felt that was God's plan to save me. And so he revealed himself to me through the word of God by only reading the word of God. And the Holy Spirit just captured my heart and my eyes. And I saw that from the creation, God made this world through his word because he loves us. And this is a God of love. And I was looking for a God of love, a God that accepts me and receives me, forgives me.

And he sent someone to reveal himself to me. And that was Yeshua the Messiah, the God of Israel. That was the God of Israel because I was taught to hate the Jewish people and hate Israel. But it was God of Israel that saved me, revealed himself to me. I now have a relationship with the true living God. And he does miracles in my life every day to reveal himself to me that he is the truth and he has set me free. So I'm very grateful to be here.

Amani Mustafa: My name is Amani Mustafa. I'm a Muslim background believer from Egypt. When I was a young teenager, my mother accepted Christ and I saw a transformation in her life that was amazing to me. So I wanted to, you know, keep that version of my mother that I appreciate and like and get that Christ part out of her. So I started reading the Bible. And through the word of God that I opened from the first moment, God captured my heart. And I understood that there's so much to know about God that I was missing. And through reading the book of John, I had an encounter with Christ and I accepted him as my Lord and Savior.

Because of that, I was persecuted and my life completely changed. And God miraculously saved me from Egypt with my children. After years, he performed that miracle to bring me out of Egypt to serve him today in the way I am. I have I'm the host and producer of the Muslim woman program on Al Hayat TV. And I am privileged to preach the gospel for my people, the women or the Muslim women and men all through the Arab world. And God is doing amazing work among them.

Esther Allen: My name is Esther Fleece. I'm now Esther Allen, married to Joel, and I have three beautiful children. I grew up in the Detroit area of Michigan, had a mom and a dad. We would go to church. And I'm so grateful because the word of God, I heard it and it never returned void. But my parents did go through a really traumatic divorce. I lost my father at an early age to mental illness. He left our family. And then his entire family left as well. My mother got remarried and then that stepfather left our family and then my mother left me shortly after that.

So I was 13 years old and going to this wonderful church that met in a high school. And I was discipled by wonderful people in this church. And Psalm 68 says that God places the lonely in families. And he did that. He sent families to me through my local church, through the public school I was in. So I never had to go into the US foster care system. But I was also never legally adopted until I met Jesus. And I was I was adopted by him. And he did call me daughter. So he saved me at an early age.

And now I am by his grace raising a family of my own when I didn't even think I was worth loving. I'm doing my best to love my three beautiful children and my wonderful husband and stopping the cycles of abandonment and and abuse. And it's all because of Jesus.

CC Soref: And now we can call you sister.

Esther Allen: Yes.

CC Soref: Yeah.

Esther Allen: I have a big family now.

CC Soref: The women in this series encountered Yeshua and nothing was ever the same. Their lives transformed and their stories still speak to us today, revealing Yeshua and showing what God thinks of the forgotten, the broken, and the overlooked. If you want to go deeper, we are offering our new book as a companion to this series.

Guest (Male): Get your copy of Sacred Encounters with a gift of $30 or more. Simply scan the QR code on your screen to receive this encouraging resource. Your gift will help us bring the gospel back to Israel and equip believers around the world. Visit oneforisrael.org/encounters to receive your copy of Sacred Encounters.

CC Soref: We're standing here in Magdala, the hometown of Mary Magdalene, one of the most well-known female followers of Yeshua. But this series isn't about the women whose names we know. It's about the ones we don't. Unnamed women who had unexpected encounters with Yeshua and were transformed.

Guest (Female): When we start looking at each encounter, we will hear the names or labels like sinner, Samaritan, bent over, bleeding, unclean, adulterous. What comes to mind when you hear those names?

Guest (Female): Redemption, restoration. It's like that's what he he did for us. And that's what he did for them. And it started with them.

Guest (Female): None of those labels limited Jesus's ability to meet a woman.

CC Soref: Yeah.

Guest (Female): Like none of those labels were too broken or too unattractive, too unapproachable. Jesus saw past those labels and it didn't limit his interaction with these women.

CC Soref: Mm.

Guest (Female): In that culture, those women were completely rejected. You know, even in the Middle East right now, women with for example a blood issue is not accepted. In my culture, a husband cannot even sleep on the same bed if a woman is, you know, having that. So yeah, it's completely rejected in those days. But like you're saying, the Lord is now receiving them and forgiving them and they're not rejected anymore.

Guest (Female): It makes me think of worldview versus God view in every aspect of our life. And even we look internally in in some way, we saw ourselves that one of those at some point. We were one of those at some point. But you know, you learn God's view and it changes your whole life on the inside. From the inside out, as much joy as we have in claiming all these amazing things that God gave us. It breaks my heart for our sisters that are still out there suffering in that way. And Christ is waiting for them.

He's standing there for them. So if that's one of you, he's right there.

Guest (Female): I can also see myself in those names and the things that I still struggle with, the labels that I still struggle with, you know, that sometimes the enemy is still reminding me of them. I am not a sinner anymore. I am a new creation in Christ. I am his beloved daughter. I am his child. I'm a princess. I'm so loved. And then still I sometimes remember, you know, the past may being unholy, you know, bent over and all those labels. And it's just again a reminder about God's grace to me, where I was and where I am right now.

And I just pray that any woman that watches us and sees those labels that she can be free of them. And this is not who she is anymore once she receives Christ and just chooses to follow him.

Sophia: You know, being from the Middle East, you know, we've seen like how how a woman is like never like, you know, like they think about her like lower than a man in the in the Islamic culture. Yeah, like the culture, you know, like and just when you look at the Lord did after, you know, after he touched them, after the encounter encounter him, what happened after? Like they were used in the minor of the Samaritan like the Samaritan. She was like the revival that took place using this woman and like to her villages and like how she was they were able to encounter and hear her testimonies, testimony of what happened to her and really what happened after she shared like all with her village who got saved.

And that's why we don't want to take lightly of the things that God did with us, you know, to be able to really spread it. And because you never know who's going to be able to be reached out through that testimony and what he've done in our life. And this is like I see it's beautiful but when we see that it's so encouraging to us.

CC Soref: I see brokenness turned to pure joy. I see law, performance, earning turned to relationship with a living God. And just a resurrected life. And it's all it's possible through him, Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. And I think we all can relate to encountering that freedom, that wholeness in knowing that he loves women and he gives such special attention to women, things that like are not even allowed to be talked about like, you know, the woman with the blood. Can't believe he even brought that in. It's just

Guest (Female): Yeah.

Guest (Female): One particular thing that sticks out to me when I read the labels one beside each other is actually shame. There's a lot of shame attached to those labels. And one thing Yeshua does really is to cast it out. Shame is part of this exactly this things that you're talking. Even culturally, there is a lot of shame there. And and shame keeps a person hidden and away and outcast and on the sidelines. And yet, Yeshua wants to really restore us to not only to the heavenly Father and and and and a family and closeness and love without shame, without shame, but also community where we don't need to feel ashamed.

And yet, we often are.

Guest (Female): Yes.

Guest (Female): Right.

Sophia: A crowd started together. The men were chanting in Arabic. And my father and I, as I was holding his hand, were pushed to the front of this crowd. In the center of this crowd was the Arabic woman dressed just like this. And she was tied up and she was sitting on a box. Next to her was the Arabic man. And he did a traditional Islamic prayer on the floor. And he got up from the floor. And from his side, he pulled out this very long golden sword. And he beat the woman. My legs are shaking and my heart is going fast.

And my father said, if you don't listen to the teachings we're instilling in your life, this will happen to you one day.

CC Soref: Sophia, you've had such an incredible journey as a girl from Kuwait and then your journey there and then coming to America and finding the Lord Jesus in your life. Something that I would love all our viewers to hear from you personally. Would you share it with us?

Sophia: Yes, I would love to. Thank you, CC, for having me here. And it's really such a privilege from God to share with you a miracle that God has done in my life. So I was raised in a home where my parents were very conservative, strong Muslims. And so going to the Islamic school to learn the Quran and memorize Surahs was very important to my family. So one person that really was very close to me was my grandmother. Whenever I had questions about God, I would always ask her. But my family did tell me don't ask questions.

This is who you are. Islam is a religion. My family and I came for a visit to the United States. And when we were visiting is when Saddam Hussein came and invaded my country of Kuwait. Now we are here as a Muslim living in a foreign culture. I would drive by these big buildings called churches and I would see the symbol of the cross. But nobody shared with me their faith. And as a Muslim, I truly was looking for God. But that point in my life, I knew I knew I was not good enough. And I was looking for God with all my heart.

And my grandmother started getting very sick and she got a massive heart attack. And at that moment, she fell over. She could not breathe. And in two days, she passed away. And I want to tell you, CC, when my grandmother was dying, as she was taking her last breath, I was standing at her feet and I saw torment on her face. And I knew my grandmother was not going to make it to heaven. And when she died and took her last breath, even I knew she did not make it. And my heart was truly broken.

I was living without hope. My only support in my life was gone. And at that moment, a lady at my work saw me struggling and Paula put arms around me and she just hugged me. And you know what happened, CC? I got complete peace. And then for the first time, she invited me to her church. There was a different spirit about these people. And for the first time, I heard the message from the Bible. He came to heal the broken. And I was broken. He came to set the captive free and I was captive. With all my heart, I said, God, if you are the true God, you are what I needed all my life.

You are the one I've been searching for. I didn't know how to find you. But you came and found me. You revealed yourself to me. Thank you for doing this, God. I want to know you. Make me yours. Make me your daughter. Make me your everything. And he did. And I gave my life to follow Jesus. I got baptized that day. I rejected my faith that I was raised in to follow him. I knew the consequences what could happen to me if I did this, but it's worth it because without the true living God in our life, we have nothing, right?

I'm grateful to say the Lord received me with open arms. He forgave me. He gave me a new life, an everlasting life to live with him in eternity. And if all I can do is be at my knees and worship him, I just just want that with my creator, you know. So I'm grateful to say not only that the Lord has changed my heart for the Jewish people, oh my goodness, in the most powerful, miraculous way. This love that I have I'm never had before for the Jewish people. But I I look, I read the word of God and I see Israel through different eyes.

I see it through God's heart and God's love. And they're truly chosen by God and God's creation and he loves them.

CC Soref: That is such a strong message. And I'm always like how God does things, you know, that naturally we wouldn't have that love.

Sophia: I mean, praise the Lord.

CC Soref: For the next seven weeks, we will look at the stories of these women overlooked by men but precious to God. Yeshua met them, saw them, and changed their story forever. And he can do the same for you. Join us next time as we visit the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.