Lessons from Israel, Part 3, Christ words to me

I’m alive and well,

Your Spirit is within me

Because You died and rose again

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” 1 Corinthians 6:19

The song Amazing love says “your Spirit is within me” and Scripture proves that is true in 1 Corinthians 6. I’d known that Scripture, in fact, it was one of the key verses I used in Swaziland when teaching the girls about sexual purity. I knew it meant our bodies were of value to God and holy. THEN I went to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and the understanding that “my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” took on new meaning. Jewish tradition teaches that the Wailing Wall is the only place where the presence of God is. After a Jew would pray at the wall they would then walk backwards so their backs wouldn’t face the wall out of reverence. Now of course, I don’t expect people to come pray to me or never turn their back to me but how blasphemous it would be to a Jewish person to say “I’m a temple of the Spirit of God”. I had known this truth but the weight of it now is substantial.

Lessons from Israel, Part 2. My words to Christ

You are my King.

You are my King.

Jesus, You are my King.

Jesus, You are my King.

One memory I will never forget is singing "Amazing Love" with 50 other saints in the Garden next to the tomb where Jesus was buried and rose from. I remember thinking "I’m sitting in Jerusalem, God’s chosen city where His chosen people live proclaiming to Jesus 'You are MY King' and they don’t get it". It was like I was saying, "Jesus the Jews may not know that you are their King but I know you are MINE!" The people who He came for, the people that He brought the Kingdom of God to earth for, the ones who looked for a king for generations – they missed the King. As I was sitting in the place where Christ's body was after He had just taken on the sin of the world and I was proclaiming “you are my King”. That’s huge! And of course, Jesus is King whether I say He is or not but I understand what a meaningful statement that is to Him. I had no idea.

Israel video

I just got back from Israel a little over a week ago. Here's a 10 minute video of highlights from the trip. Be sure and turn your volume up. I accidentally stayed up all night finishing it. I was about to go to bed last night and then i wanted to do one thing on it and the next thing i knew the sun was coming up. It was a project the Lord and I worked on together, a labor of love. For His glory! I apologize to my sweet friends in Africa, you probably won't be able to see it, you just need to come visit me and i'll show it to you here.

I want to live like grass on purpose

1 Peter 1:23-25 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.”

I’m sitting in my back yard in the middle of November reading “men are like grass”. I’m overlooking all the grass that is quickly fading from green to yellow and thinking ‘that’s me? I’m grass’. We are heading towards winter and in one of my favorite Bible classes at BIOLA, I learned that when the Bible says “winter” it may very well mean a season but it is also symbolic of death. If the Word is true, then death is coming soon for all of us and the only thing that is going to last is the Word of God. All of my jokes, that my older sister claims are “the funniest things she’s ever heard” will pass away. Even "nice" things I may say, no one will remember them. They have no lasting value. All that will have eternal value is the Word of God which means to me, I better speak it and live it before my grassy days are over.

The futility of life was never so clear to me as when I was standing overlooking Bet She’an in Israel last week. Never heard of it? I hadn't either until i visited it last week. It was a prominent Roman city and no doubt tons of money was put into its building and upkeep. There was evidence of beautiful streets paved in marble and lavish king’s quarters that were overlooking the city. It had a raging social life and I’m sure they thought well of themselves. Several thousand years later, I’m standing in this city and to me it looks like a pile of rubble. No offense to the archeologists that spent oodles of time uncovering this ancient city. What was once the center of these people’s lives now lie in ruins. In 2000 years from now, if things are still plugging along, the earthly things that consume my mind now will be of no significance. Bakersfield might be just a pile of rubble for all I know.

At the end of a teaching from Beth Moore on the book of Daniel today she concluded her lesson concerning Alexander the Great who conquered most of the known world but died at 32 by praying “May we live on purpose”. Lord, I want to live on purpose. I want my actions and words to have eternal value so may I live and speak the Word of God.

Lessons from Israel, Part 1

I've been back from Israel over 48 hours now. In the midst of recovering from jet lag I'm processing things I learned from being in the Holy Land.

"their rejection is the reconciliation of the world...Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." - Romans 11:15, 19

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29

We were driving next to the dead sea and our tour guide said "on the other side of those mountains is where the Israelites wandered for 40 years an where Moses died"

(above photo: Mountains in background behind the Dead Sea. In foreground are ruins from a stronghold built by King Uzziah).

Moses is one of my favorites and I've learned much from His relationship with God. So as I was looking out on the same place that Moses looked at thousands of years ago, the thought came to me "This has nothing to do with me". This is about God choosing His chosen people of Israel and His faithfulness that has endured for generations. And what doesn't make sense is the people who are biological descendants of Abraham have rejected the redemptive plan that God put in place for them. Their rejection has allowed me to be a part of this redemptive story. I feel so privileged to be a part of it. As strange as it sounds, i'm thankful for the Jews rejection because it made it possible for me to be grafted in.

(Above Photo: Looking from the top of Mt. Carmel where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal [1 Kings 18] onto the Jezreel valley where Joshua led the Israelites into many victories over their enemies.)

I got to stand at the place where God told Peter to present the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10). Before this time, the gospel was solely for the Jews. He was staying at Simon the tanners house when He told Peter not to call "unclean (Gentiles) what the Lord has called clean". Thank you, Lord.

the Garden

"At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid" - John 19:41

Perfect example of how the Bible came alive here in Israel. I never noticed "there was a garden" next to where Jesus was crucified and in the garden there was a tomb where he was buried. Today from this beautiful garden, we saw a rock that looked like a skull and right next to this skull was a garden and in this garden was a tomb. AND THE TOMB WAS EMPTY!! We sang and took communion as a group in this place where our Savior conquered this very grave. This place was different from many other places where we have been - i.e. the temple, the holy of holies, King David's tomb, where the orthodox believe Jesus was buried. In these places people so many religious people were kissing these places, burning candles, saying their prayers and it was so empty. But in the garden today, no one was doing this at the tomb in the garden - they didn't stop and worship the place, they worshiped the one who was risen.

Boarding the plane to L.A. in 7 hours. I'll never look at the Bible again and now I've seen...I'll never be the same.

Gospel Alive

Hello from Jerusalem. There are no words for this city, it is amazing. Today is Sunday and about 100,000 Sundays ago Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey on the same road I walked down today. I walked down in with my mouth open just in awe of this city - I've never experienced anything like it. We went to the garden of gethsemane and prayed where Jesus did the night he was betrayed and arrested. The garden looks right at the city of Jerusalem, i guess i always thought he was farther out of the city. One of the olive trees was huge meaning it was over 2000 years old so it was there when Jesus was here. We drove by the Dung gate which was awesome because I love the book of Nehemiah and it's referenced there. On the way into Jerusalem today we drove right along the path where the Good Samaritan helped the man who was robbed by thieves. The Bible has just come alive.

Yesterday we walked around the caves where David hid from Saul and wrote a few psalms including Psalm 57. There were somethings like conies (little rodent looking things) and deer looking things with huge horns and David describes some of these things in the Psalms and it just makes sense. We also floated in the Dead Sea last night and there is so much salt that you float. i tried to stand up and it would literally push you off your feet. if you were on your stomach it was so hard to get on your back. Behind the Dead Sea lay the mountains range on which the Israelites wandered on from Egypt and where Moses is buried. I can't explain it but the Bible literally has come alive as i'm seeing the things Jesus, Moses, David and so many more saw. It sheds light on all the analogies and parables.

One major thought I keep continually having is "This has nothing to do with me". It's like here is this huge story and these chosen people that God loves dearly for thousands of years and I just got grafted in. I get to be a part of this story and therefore all of this is my heritage. The next 3 days we will be spending in Jerusalem and there is so much to see, so much happened in Scripture right here. My hunger for God's Word is insatiable right now as many have said on the trip "it's like the pieces are coming together".