"There is no better time to plant and water a seed than now, utilizing Jewish Feasts, and see friends come to salvation in Yeshua!"

During the Festivals and Feasts that the Lord has given us in the Scriptures, we have special windows of opportunity to reach out with the Good News of Messiah. To this, Hanukkah is no exception. It is an occasion to reach out to your Jewish friends and neighbors as you interact during this coming holiday season. Please consider the following suggestions as a way to reach out:

1. Pray! First and foremost pray for an opportunity!

2. Send a Hanukkah card to your Jewish friends. This year Hanukkah begins at sundown on Saturday, December 8th and continues for eight nights.

3. Engage your neighbors in conversation, asking them how they celebrate it. You could ask them to tell you the story of Hanukkah as they learned it from their upbringing. Then share with them that the Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah is mentioned in the New Testament part of the Bible. They might be quite surprised to learn that Messiah Jesus celebrated this important part of Jewish history.

4. Share a tract. We have created a tract entitled "Messiah’s Hanukkah Message" that will be helpful to share with others or just to learn more about Hanukkah.

5. Explain how Hanukkah holds spiritual relevance even today. For example, if king Antiochus would have had his way, all of Israel would have become assimilated into Greek worship and culture, and the Jewish nation would have for all intents and purposes ceased to exist. But if Antiochus would have succeeded in destroying the Jewish people, how could Messiah be born? How could God be seen as faithful to His people?

6. Invite your Jewish friends and neighbors to your home. Traditionally, fried foods are eaten, like potato pancakes (latkes) and jelly donuts, as part of the celebration.

7. Invite your friends and neighbors to a Hanukkah Celebration. If you are in the Charlotte area during one of our Hanukkah outreaches invite a friend to come hear Good News in the context of Hanukkah.

There is no better time to plant and water a seed than now, utilizing Jewish Feasts, and see friends come to salvation in Yeshua! Thank you for being Messiah's hands this season!

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Sam Nadler is director of Word of Messiah Ministries in Charlotte, N.C. This article is reprinted with permission from Word of Messiah's Shmooze Letter of November 20, 2012. Many other fine articles and other features may be found at Word of Messiah's website, http://www.wordofmessiah.org.