Becoming a Completed Jew with Ellis Goldstein - CMAW 020

Apr 9, 2018

What You'll Hear:

• Judaism is a religion and also an ethnicity.  Ellis' family was ethnically Jewish but not necessarily very religious
• Ellis grew up going to Hebrew school after public school.  No-one ever talked about the Messiah
• The focus was preparing for the bar mitzvah.  The boy has to chant a section of the Jewish scriptures
• Ellis grew up in the inner city of Philadelphia in a primarily Jewish neighborhood
• Ellis studied Architecture for 5 years at Penn State.  He settled into complacency with his faith and his interest in track and field
• Someone once said "church history has been written in blood and punctuated with violence" - Ellis grew up aware of the horrible things done to the Jewish people in history in the name of Jesus
• When people say "everyone can get to God in their own way" they don't necessarily believe that, but it's kind of push back.  That's how Ellis felt when he went to his first Christian meeting
• Ellis came to a head knowledge of Jesus, but then had an "Apostle Paul" experience at a meeting when all of a sudden he knew that Jesus was his Messiah.  That was in March, 1970
• Ellis immediately had a meaning and purpose for life for the first time.
• Ellis immediately lost his tendency to argue with his Dad
• The mandate for any Christian is, whatever you do in life, have a focus on fulfilling the Great Commission
• Ellis helped develop a strategy to reach everyone in his dorms with the Gospel
• "Every Christian student needs to think through, what is God calling them to?"
• "I considered myself a completed Jew..and told my parents..my mother went out of the room crying"
• "My father said 'I will never attend your wedding'"
• "I consider my wife a completed Gentile"
• Ellis' daughter Heather was killed in a car accident at the age of 17
• Ellis shared the Gospel with his Jewish family at his daughter’s memorial service  
• Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) was formed in 1951.  It was always meant to be a focus on worldwide missions
• Cru has over 15,000 staff members worldwide and in most countries.
• Cru created the Jesus film.  It's the most translated film and most viewed film in all of history, in 1500 languages.
• Men want to desire their meaning and purpose from what they do at work.  The mistake is when our self worth is solely tied to what we can accomplish in our job.
• Our satisfaction in life must come from our intimacy with Jesus.
• How sad that people would live their lives for 2 days a week.
• "If we view where we work just as a paycheck, we're going to miss the mark for what God has called us to"
• Most people don't know how to talk about Jesus and are afraid of rejection.  The easiest way to talk to people is to share your story.  Write down your elevator speech, no more than 3 minutes.
• Learn to ask good questions.  You can ask "My personal faith is something that's important to me, is that something that's important to you?"
• One verse that's very meaningful to Ellis is Philippians 4:19
• We have to be intentional about giving to the Lord.  He will meet our needs
• Men work off of the paradigm of performance.  What's important to God is us having an intimate relationship with Him.  Do everything you can to grow in your intimacy with the Lord.
• Contact Ellis at [e-mail]