NARRATOR: Current headlines like the constant threat

of terrorism, an unstable economy,

and recent racial tensions can leave

us feeling like the world is out of control.

But even in the midst of this uncertainty,

Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Bernis says there is hope.

He's working all things together for good.

I want you to be filled with His hope, to fulfill His plans

and experience His peace, knowing that your future is

safe in His hands.

NARRATOR: In his latest book, "A Hope and a Future,"

Jonathan challenges you to see yourself and your future

through God's eyes.

Well, Jonathan is with us, and welcome to the show.

It's great to have you with us.

Great to be with you.

Thanks.

How do you find hope in today's world?

I think that's a question a lot of believers

even are struggling with, that there just

seems to be so much hopelessness, whether it's

about the economy, the future of America,

terrorism in the world today.

What would you tell people to look for to find hope?

I think we have a hope deficit in the world

today with everything that's going awry,

and hope is found in a relationship with God.

And I've been listening to you sharing, to Rich,

and all the testimonies that are on that website are fantastic.

And going through those Messianic prophecies,

He is the Messiah of Israel and Savior for the world,

and He is man's only hope.

And we have, I believe, Gordon, the only messages as Christians

that can transform lives.

We have the only hope, and I think we

need to take it more seriously.

I just, I think that we're in a lull

right now in American Christianity,

and I think we need to get back to our roots,

to prayer, to scriptures, to proclamation of the gospel.

This is the hope that God has given the world,

and now more than ever, people need Jesus.

People need Yeshua.

Amen.

When the enemy comes in like a thug,

we need to lift that standard up.

And it's so easy to say, well, there's no hope here

and to struggle to say, no, there is.

And Christ is the hope, and I'm going to live that standard.

Do you ever go through times where you say, well,

I've got to sort of go back into the past when things looked

bleak and things looked bad, and how did I get through those?

Do you ever relive those moments in order to find hope?

Absolutely.

Remember the story of Hagar being

so hopeless that she leaves.

Sarah doesn't want her around.

Ishmael's now replaced the child that she's supposed to have,

and Hagar's in despair.

Sarah kicks her out, and the Lord apprehends her

in the wilderness.

She's gone into the wilderness to die.

She's given up hope, and the Lord asks her this question.

Where have you come from, and where are you going?

And I think that's a question that the Lord asks all of us

from time to time.

Remember where you've come from.

Remember how I brought you through.

Because we don't know.

Sometimes we wonder, God, why are you allowing this?

One of the great questions of life,

why do bad things happen to good people?

Well, one reason is there's no good people,

according to Scripture.

But it's hindsight, which is 20/20, where

we see that God had a purpose.

God had a plan, and He did bring us through,

even if we didn't think He was doing the right thing

at the time that we needed.

So we have to go back.

We have to look how God has brought us

through the difficult times and really

trust Him to bring us through what we're going through now.

There's many people that may be in despair right now that are

watching, and God has a plan.

The scripture that is the basis for this book,

it's just one scripture, Jeremiah 29:11,

takes place at a time when Israel is in despair.

They're in captivity in Babylon.

And there may be people that feel

like they're in captivity today, but God says,

I'll see you through.

I have a plan for your life.

I love you, and I have a purpose.

And if you'll allow me, I'll fulfill

that purpose in your life.

Let's go back to Genesis and that whole episode

with Hagar where she has now a realization that God sees her.

In the midst of our despair right now--

Isn't that a great revelation, the revelation

that God sees me?

Right.

That's an important truth.

And how much does that then lead

to hope that because He sees you,

He has already prepared a place, He has already prepared a way.

He has that hope for you.

He has that future for you.

But where's the breakthrough here?

You actually go into the book into what's

the Hebrew meaning behind hope and a future.

Tell us about that.

Well, first of all, I just want to go back

and say that revelation of that God

sees me is part of the whole idea of I have a plan for you.

It's not for the pastor.

It's not for the church corporately.

It's for every single person, and that destiny

was prepared before we were ever born,

before God formed the world.

Coming into that, grabbing hold of that reality,

is an amazing thing.

God sees me.

So the whole context of this is a time of absolute despair,

and God says I have a hope for you.

The whole history of Israel is a message of hope.

God exiled us, but He'll bring us back.

The national anthem of Israel, Hatikvah, the Hebrew word

is tikvah, the hope.

The hope.

The hope.

So in times of great despairs of people,

imagine a people that wandered for almost 2000 years

without a homeland, without a national language.

How did they survive?

They survived because God said as long as the sun shines

by day and the moon and stars by night,

I will preserve you as a people.

Hope is confident expectation that God

is going to fulfill what He promised to us in the future.

It's a future sense.

Faith is in the now.

Very closely related is hope, which is future tense.

We're going to get through this.

I might be going through a tough time now,

but I have hope that God promised

that He would be the author and the finisher of my faith,

will get me through.

Gordon, it's not a promise that we won't go

through trial or tribulation.

That's just ridiculous.

It's unscriptural.

It's a lie.

We all go through tribulation, and Jesus

said, they persecuted Me.

They'll persecute you.

Right.

He promises we'll go through it.

But I give you a hope.

I give you hope.

I will get you through.

Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.

Tikvah, confident expectation based on God's word.

Well, I think a study of the Jewish people

is absolutely essential to really understanding

the hope that God brings us and just the claim

every Passover for thousands of years, next year in Jerusalem,

next year in Jerusalem, and just the reaffirmation

year after year after year, that's going to happen,

that there's going to be a restoration.

And we'll celebrate the Passover yet again in Jerusalem.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Next year in Jerusalem.

Do you see things shifting?

Because part of that promise of every Passover

is to have a place made for Elijah.

That's right.

Is that the next step?

I believe so.

So first of all, and we've talked about this together,

replacement theology is very dangerous

because if God finished with Israel

and said they're irrevocably cut off,

and I've chosen a new people, at what point has God said enough

with you, enough of the church?

So we see a faithful God who's kept Israel

and fulfilled His promises, brought us back to the land,

and we have confident expectation

that God will see us through.

But that expectation is both physical and spiritual,

that He'll bring us back to the land, but He also promises,

I'll give you a new covenant, Jeremiah 31,

in which I'll take away your sin and remember it no more.

They'll all know Me from the least to the greatest.

Elijah, the place for Elijah with an empty plate,

is the hope and expectation that Messiah will come, for us,

that Messiah will return.

And the promise of a spiritual restoration, He

will bring us back to Himself.

The Jewish community doesn't understand the depth of this,

but we as Messianic Jews understand

that this is eternal life, that this is a personal relationship

with God.

This is a different relationship than in the old covenant.

This is an adoptive relationship where we call Him Abba.

And that's a promise that Paul tells

us will be fulfilled for Israel nationally when

the blindness will come off of their eyes,

and they'll recognize the one that they have pierced.

Gordon, this is the single greatest event yet

to be fulfilled before Jesus can come back.

Is this something we pray for?

Is this something that we inquire of God

as to when will this be, or is this just something we

hide away in our hearts and just say it's coming

and look forward to it?

I think we should work to be active participants with God.

We live in a very unique time in history,

and just as Mordechai told Esther in the story of Purim

we just celebrated, you have been

called to the kingdom for such a time as this.

And I think the church is going through a restoration now,

and part of that restoration is an understanding

of God's faithfulness to Israel and the role

that Israel and the Jewish people

play in God's plan for the redemption of mankind.

So yes, yes, yes.

Pray for the piece of Jerusalem.

Pray for God to complete His plan

for the land and the people of Israel.

I think it's incumbent upon every Christian.

Are we seeing glimmerings of it now?

I just got back from Israel.

You've been there many times.

And I know on this trip, I actually

met a Russian Messianic Jewish congregation

where all the gifts were being manifested.

And they were having healing services

and saying, please bring us your hard cases.

Please bring us the lame, the ones

the doctors have given up all hope for,

and they were seeing miracles.

And they were just outside Mount Carmel.

So are you seeing the same thing?

Absolutely.

Our ministry is working in very unique places

like the bush of Zimbabwe where we're

seeing an ancient tribe called the Lemba

living in the bush of Zimbabwe for at least 800 years we

know of, with their own kosher butchers and circumcision.

And they're coming to faith.

We had 5,000 Lemba accept the Lord,

pray with us to receive the Lord in one of our medical clinics

there recently.

And now there's over 50 Messianic Jewish congregations

just in Zimbabwe, and of course, they

believe in the whole Gospel.

And then Ethiopia, yes, I'm seeing it everywhere.

And for people that may not know the significance of this.

They actually have the genetic marker

that says they're from Abraham.

Yeah, not only from Abraham, but from the tribe of Levi.

They're priests, and they've come with that.

They have that oral tradition that we are the priesthood.

We are the priests, and--

Now they're following the high priest.

Are they planning to go back to Israel?

I think eventually.

They're in a progression now, but

the orthodox Jewish community is now seeking them out.

And of course we've seen the great exodus

from Ethiopia, the great aliyah from Ethiopia.

Over 100,000 Ethiopians, Ethiopian

Jews, living in Israel now.

They're coming back from all parts of the world.

From the north, from the south.

BOTH: From the east, from the west.

From the remote bush of Africa.

And it's wonderful.

It's wonderful to see the dry bones come together

and live again.

It is indeed.

And for me, I think the next step

is for them to once again have a spiritual voice.

As a people, to once again inquire of the Lord for this.

It's happening.

And to have a prophetic voice.

The children of the prophets will be the prophets

once again, and that is something very exciting.

It began with the Jewish people.

I believe it will finish with the Jewish people.

The first will be last.

The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

If you're interested in more on "A Hope and a Future,"

it's Jonathan's latest book, and it's available

wherever books are sold.