Grafted In

Pastor Thomas shared at the Pilgrim Steps:

He explained about where we were. The importance of the pilgrims coming this way. Explaining that Pentecost could have happened here. Imagine the followers of Jesus choosing their own spot along these stairs preaching the gospel in a language they had never uttered before that moment. All proclaiming the good news at same moment so that men and women from every nation could understand.

He pointed out that the stairs we were sitting on are different lengths on the tops so that people don’t get in autopilot ascending the stairs. It must be done thoughtfully. You must pay attention. The pilgrims were taught to pray the Songs of Ascent as they climbed these stairs. It is a section of the Psalms. 

It was in this area rabbis would teach, people would gather to listen in little groups. Jesus and the disciples did it. Imagine 3,000 being here.

I don’t know about you but pushing through crowds can be difficult, but this is how Jerusalem has always been. If you aren’t jostled by a crowd then you haven’t had a true Jerusalem experience.

The pilgrims of all nations ascened these stairs praying a word like this one:

Psalm 124:

“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;

² If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us:

³ Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:

⁴ Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:

⁵ Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

⁶ Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

⁷ Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

If it weren’t for the Lord. Many of you here wouldn’t be here. Some of you may have gotten in “trouble” for coming. There are bondages in your life. Join with all of the pilgrims who have uttered these words: If it had not been for the Lord who was on our side… Life would have been so different. Im thankful for Lynn and Lori with us, but as I review their lives, I can say with a smile. Cause God did amazing miracles to do amazing miracles. If it hadn’t been for the Lord on their side! Sheba… if it hadn’t been for the Lord on your side. Remember this… make it personal. We are on an ascent. I would prefer coasting down hill. Ascending is difficult. This group has had their share of mountains. But the Lord has helped over and over.

This week you are going to be too hot… too cold… just keep whispering in your heart: “If it had not been for the Lord who is on our side…” The enemy would have taken me down if it hadn’t been for the Lord on my side

When James and I came by ourselves last summer, we were able to explore places that we don’t normally get to go. While Meir, Pastor, and the others found a shady spot, we led the group down into the newly excavated lower ruins below the Pilgrim Steps. This area like all has many layers of uses. Most of it in the time of Jesus was converted to mikvahs or ritual baths. But it was originally built as Solomon’s extension of King David’s Palace. King Hezekiah added even more to what Solomon built. We had fun playing tour guide down and through the ruins. But you do get the idea in your head, “who may ascend the hill of the Lord, he who has clean hands and a pure heart.” We got the clean hands part from all the mikvahs… And we definitely got the ascending of the hill.. “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands, a pure heart and a good cardio workout plan!

We parked in a side garden close to the Western Wall where we would not be disturbed by groups. It was on Daddy’s heart that we have a special time of prayer for some serious needs. Jennifer Barton prayed beautifully for Glen Johnson, our 31 year old friend in Connecticut who is facing open heart surgery. She prayed for his healing and for his young wife and baby daughter as well. James Doss prayed for Lucas Smith, another young man who is in the hospital having had a brush with death because of blood clots in his legs. Then Bishop Josephine prayed for Ms. Betty Case who is in her last days on earth. (Aren’t we all) I finished by praying for sweet Jadalyn Childress, she has spent most of her young life in and out of the hospital. We long for Jesus to touch them all and all of the other needs brought before us. 

I always look forward to our time with Rabbi Moshe Kempinski with great anticipation. I always receive something fresh. Something inspiring. Something life changing. Today was no exception. What was new… the tears that I couldn’t stop from just flowing down my face. I don’t even have a particular reason why, but I was overcome by the beauty of how God led him into being able to stand before us and have this conversation with us without compromising a bit of who he is or who we are. 

****Rabbi Moshe***** I have so much more to share but no time now… I’ll fill it in later! Love yall!

Rabbi Moshe shared about prophecy in action. He quoted scripture after scripture about the building of the city… that requires cranes. So all construction in the city is prophecy being fulfilled. The fruit on the tables, is prophecy being fulfilled. And us being here… traveling from afar is prophecy being fulfilled. 

One moment I loved with Rabbi. I know Lynn, our resident farmer from Nebraska… who plants 1500 acres loved it too. Moshe shared that a farmer from South Africa came to him and said that he farms his huge farm by using computers and drones. He got them from Israel. He got them from the Israeli military’s technology. He then quoted:

Isaiah 2:4 

⁴ And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

We arrived at the side Garden of Gethsemane. James Flora and the Texas group were finishing up. It was perfect because there was only enough shade for one group. Their group got up and dispersed for private devotion time. Our group filled into the shady spot. Meir introduced the place to us. It had been on my heart to see if Barry Doss (my father-in-law) and I could sing together there. If we had been with the whole group, I don’t know that I would have felt as free to ask, but our group is used to me. He and I sang, “In the Garden.” 

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses
And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known

I don’t know if it helped anyone else, but I will forever cherish being able to sing in that place with this man who has loved and prayed for my husband all of his life and has blessed me every chance he gets. I am praying blessing back on he and Vicki. That God wring every drop of blessing and revelation out for him here. His joy at being back here in Israel is palpable. You just have to stand near him to have some of the joy of his heart to splash over on you.

James Flora masterfully spoke for only 5 minutes. But it was jam packed! Here is some of it transcribed: “All of our roots are Jewish. Jesus was a Jew. The disciples, the women that followed Jesus, the Seventy. All Jewish. Where do we fit in? We are the wild branch grafted in. Many people come to Israel thinking that if they could just pray with a Jewish person they could convert them, but we are the ones being grafted in to them in to the main olive tree, not the other way around. We are to become like them. We are not called to save people. We cannot save a single one, only Jesus can, but what we are called to do is be His disciples. The way to become a disciple is to forsake all. Leave everything behind and follow Him. You cannot be a 99% Christian and follow God that 1% will keep you from all that God has for you. That’s all it takes. 

You are grafted in by faith to this olive root that is Jewish. God loves you. He wants to make you like Himself. How is He going to do that. We are all called to wait upon God. To spend time a lone with God. Don’t get caught up in semantics, get in your prayer closet and just talk to Him. Spend time with Him consistently. Honestly, its more about you listening in those times. He’s going to tell you some things. He’s going to tell you about you. He’s going to tell you about Him. You have to keep going consistently so He can convince you to let go of everything and just follow Him. That is what you are going to do to be this branch that is grafted into this beautiful root that is God. So that you cannot tell one from the other. Paul said, we are equal in the kingdom. There is no Jew, or Gentile, or slave or free. We are all the same in Him. Amen!”

James Doss responded to James Flora by saying before the trip, he and JP Richardson, his cousin, were praying together and he. Saw a snapshot in his heart of James Flora sharing and he saw how the words God was pouring through him came from his mouth straight into someone’s ear. That someone needed to hear what he had to say. 

Bishop Josephine Flemings spoke up and asked to shake James Floras hand because her last message to her people was about waiting on God. “You just confirmed the word. Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses.”

We then released the group to have a time of private prayer and devotion. This was a deep time for me even though it was only moments. Between what Rabbi Moshe shared and what James Flora shared, I knew that Jesus was inviting me to lay down some things in the Garden. “Not my will, but Yours be done.”

We stepped into the Church of All Nations. It is one of the most beautiful churches that we come to. It is also one of the “youngest cathedrals” because it is only 200 years old. Every detail is strategically chosen to evoke the lighting of 2000 years ago when Jesus prayed in that very Garden. I was walking around looking at the gilded mosaic ceiling. I was reminded of a conversation with a friend who had been praying in this room years ago. She was praying, and thanking God for this gorgeous place that people could come to, to have prayer. Immediately, she heard in her heart, “Its not about the place, its all about the people.” I smiled and looked down from the ceiling and began watching the hungry hearts that had come to this place with a passion not unlike what I had seen in the eyes of people at the Western Wall. 

Side note: As we were walking out Jennifer, pointed out to me that some people had placed prayers in the knots and holes of the oldest olive tree close to the path. It’s probably 2000 years old. They placed their prayers there like people did in the wall. 

So back in the sanctuary, I walked further into the sanctuary than normal to get a better view of the people Jesus loves that had come to talk with Him. 

I glanced up at one of the three main mosaics in the front of the church. I was telling the group that the reason for the artwork in the church is because up until 1455, the only copies of the Bibles were housed in the church or very wealthy people’s homes. They all were in Latin. It wasn’t until, 1455, that Bibles began to be printed in other languages for people to own their own copy. Again, only the wealthy could afford them. Then lets add on top of that that most of the word was illiterate. So mosaics and stained glass, and fresco paintings were used to tell the stories of the Bible in pictures. Without Words. These cathedrals are the board books and beginning readers for those that could not read.

The mosaic that caught my attention depicted the moment in the Garden when the soldiers stepped up to take Jesus and He says, “I am He.” And the men fall down as dead men at the power in the words of this revelation. Immediately, I heard in my heart, “Look to the trees.” The olive trees in the mosaic were blown back just as the men were. The torch in the soldier’s hand was blown back as well. I glanced at the other trees in the other mosaics, they were standing straight up… not these.

What caught in me, was that all of creation responded to the power in the words: “I Am He”. Lord, help my heart respond! Jennifer walked up to me then to ask a question. I got to share with her and then with Karen Gaus who was snapping a picture of the same one. For all of us, we kept getting waves of cold chills as we considered what hearing those words on this ground on that night must have been like.

We exited past the trees in the Garden, I appreciated their willingness to be witnesses to that scene all the more.