Service on The Mount

Meir said that in the forty some years he has been leading tours, this was only the third time that his group was first on the Mount of Beatitudes. I love this place. Especially when it is empty. There is a peace that is thick in the air. Meir shared with us that the gentleman who built this church had built several all over the country. I almost imagine him as setting up watchtowers over or near places of significance that we read about daily in our Bibles.

We went into the church where each one took some time to pray. We asked the sweet nun if it would be ok to sing. I sang, “Ave Maria”. She came in smiling… and with cellphone in hand to video. Nuns are quite technologically advanced than one would suppose. When I walked out she was watching the video in her little gift shop, she looked up at me, smile and nodded. I returned her thank you.

We stepped out on to porch that has an unmatched view. I know I say this every time, but no wonder God chose this place to raise His Son. Simply exquisite!

We retreated to a small outside “chapel” area. We normally walk past this part of the garden. In fact, I had always ignored the building that stands at the top of the hill facing the church. Meir informed us that this was an Israeli Hospice. When people are sick and close to death, they come here for their last few days on earth. We couldn’t think of a better place to sit on the porch or look out the window at. That peace was for them too… to rest in.

It was on Pastor’s heart that we get before Him on this mountain and the service was on… We stayed in this place for an hour and a half. This, on most trips, is unheard of. We do our best to simply slow down when we hear him. We began:

“Lord, quench our thirst. Cleanse our hearts, we resist the enemy in Your name. Illuminate our hearts through just as these sunbeams rain down. Heaven come close.

I led in “Dwelling Places”:

Lovely are Your dwelling places

Thirsty, I come after You

Jesus, my joy, my reward, Your love's restoring my soul

Now I'm Yours and You are mine

and from my heart a song will rise

I love You, I love You, I love You

and my heart will follow wholly after You

Jesus there's none beside you

Righteous, ruler of the earth

Nations will come and bow down

Name after all names I sing You praises

and all I can say to you is...

I love You, I love You, I love You

and my heart will follow wholly after You

Then…

I sing praises to Your name oh Lord,

praises to Your name oh Lord


For Your name is great and greatly to be praised

As we began singing, “I Exalt Thee”, a very large green parrot, flew into the tree above us and joined us in praises to God. He sand along for only the one song.

Your Great Name:

Lost are saved; find their way; at the sound of your great name

All condemned; feel no shame, at the sound of your great name

Every fear; has no place; at the sound of your great name

The enemy; he has to leave; at the sound of your great name

Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man

You are high and lifted up; and all the world will praise your great name

(I turned to sing to the hospice building towering over us.)

All the weak; find their strength; at the sound of your great name

Hungry souls; receive grace; at the sound of your great name (Pastor said, “this touches me.”

The fatherless; they find their rest; at the sound of your great name

Sick are healed; and the dead are raised; at the sound of your great name

Redeemer, My Healer, Lord Almighty

My savior, Defender, You are My King

Mrs. Barbara stood up to share with us:

She said, “Singing these songs… Elizabeth didn’t know what was on my heart this morning?

The Beatitude that stood out to me this morning: ‘Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.’ I wondered why He said both hunger and thirst… is not one the same as the other? Well, a person can live without food, but you cannot last very long without water. So I wanted to look at those words more closely.

 To hunger: ‘is to crave ardently and seek with eager desire.’ I think of our various hungers. Power, fame, etc. We seek after it. So many times, what we seek does not quench that hunger.

To thirst: ‘it is painfully to feel their want. You eagerly long for those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported and strengthened.’ Wow! Does that not describe it? It refreshes you. It supports you! The thirsty man receives his strength from one drink. How much more is this true for our souls?

 To be filled and satisfied. It is not a temporary “filling”. When it comes to hungering and thirsting for righteousness: You shall be filled. We are not left with only being filled halfway. We are not left weakened, nor spiritually dehydrated. It fills is all the way up.

Shall be filled. It is to be filled to the brim.

Of course, we always say, blessed does mean happy, but when Jesus uses it here He is saying, “to be supremely blessed”. So many of the songs said hunger and thirst. ”

Mari spoke up, crying… “I, literally, just prayed those words in the church.”

“To be hungry and thirsty?”

“No, that I was… and needed to be filled. Then, Elizabeth began to sing those songs and Mom shared…”

Pastor Thomas responded, “That’s the beautiful thing that your mom just said… if you are hungry for it, you will be filled.” She nodded her head.

We paused for a moment to take that in and listen to the birds sing.

Pastor shared:

There is so much that should be… that God is calling into existence. We are living a mile below where we should live or more.

Rev. Helm once said, “The church is seven times more asleep than the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane.”

I’m not pointing outward on this. We need to awaken and really hunger and thirst. It’s not a matter of learning something new, but grasping out of the sing-song and the fog what we already know. Out of what we think and what we know to the revelation of what He’s really done for us. I’m grateful for days like this because we get to see a little clearer.

Pastor Jerry stood to speak:

Reflecting on the Beatitudes this morning… Mari what you said helped me… a single response.

I am no expert, but it seems to me Jesus was attaching His blessing on certain things. He was speaking eternal blessings. When He spoke those words on this mountain, it was with having Mari in mind on this day, blessing her… It is still here. He had this day in mind. There is great power in that. Thank God, He blesses!

The powers of hell, curse. They attach their spirit to our experiences and our wounds. They are cruel like that. It’s not enough that Pastor Thomas would experience rejection at some point in his life, but they want to attach a spirit of a curse. It’s there until Jesus heals us. He knows the when and the how that he wants to heal every person. God can heal.

I experience a certain type of abandonment from my father growing up. He never left the home, but it just seemed he had better things to do most of the time. In the darkest moments of my life that abandonment has tried to reattach itself. It’s not that I was feeling sorry for myself (I thought about it), but I had wondered when it would end... God took me to a low place to begin to heal.

I want to get into the flow of the blessing. If we could have seen into the spiritual realm on the day just brought forth the Beatitudes, we could have seen a river of blessing flowing out of Him moving through the generations. These rivers are still flowing from Him. We’ve intersected one today. Mari has intersected one. It brings healing and happiness. Fulfillment and freedom. That’s what Jesus did and what He can do.

Pastor Thomas mentioned that sliver of common ground we have. Most people will say they believe God speaks. I just don’t know how to hear it. How is it heard?

I don’t know what that sounds like. He’s helping us here. Bless you.

Mari: May I bless you back? The other day when we were out to eat, you were in Israel and your father was a vision of heaven, and very near to death. She came out the vision and asked where Jerry was. You were the one he needed to talk to. After he had seen Jesus… you were the one he wanted to talk to. He was thirsty to talk to you.”

Pastor Jerry, “yes that was a significant part of my healing.”

James stood: We were reviewing Pastor Thomas’s message on thorns last night.  Pastor had shared from Genesis that the thorns for our sake. It’s prickly things in your life to drive you to Jesus. The things that scream over us that aren’t ours.”

He began to pray for Pastor Jerry. “Jesus you apply your salve over this wound, extract the poison. Give him the power to speak over others, their hurts and situations. Do this for all who are here this morning.

Pastor Jerry: “Mari, your words were prophetic. For when this was broken from me, It went back and healed my father… reconciliation and reunion.”

Heather: Pastor Jerry as you were sharing. It reminded of when God was working with my thorn. God showed me I had been walking for many years in rejection. It distorted how I related to people. I want be thankful God healed me of that, but I want also to be faithful to say it still tries to come back. I do not receive. I am thankful for his healing and help and deliverance. I am thankful I do not have to live in reference to that.”

Heidi: May heart is pounding… I have been so thankful for this message in my life. I feel like someone here needs to hear that you are not used up. That was my thorn, being used, and its not true. I don’t receive those lies either. They keep trying to come back, but the Lord has healed me. Glory! I remember the message on guilt and condemnation. I was in the car with Elizabeth and she said you don’t have to live under guilt and condemnation. I was like, ‘Aww, that’s sweet…” That’s where I was, I couldn’t believe it could possibly be true for me. I am thankful for that word. I was living in it and I didn’t even realize until the revelation of it. You don’t have to live under the guilt of what you did today, yesterday, or 20 years ago. God can lift it out in a moment. I remember Elizabeth’s saying, I can’t wait till the morning when you wake up you see the condemnation and guilt are gone. I thought, ‘Aww… okay that will probably be 25 years from now.’ That’s where I was because it was hard for me to hear that in that moment. I got up the next morning and those voices started in on me… they were screaming condemnation. Instead of hiding my head back under the covers, I got in the Scripture. I spoke the opposite of what I heard for six weeks. Remember that Saturday morning when I woke up, I wanted to shout and run to Elizabeth’s house… in my pajamas, I didn’t care! ‘Elizabeth, those voices are no longer there! They are no longer speaking over me!’ Every single one were gone in that moment. They still tried to come back. I want to encourage you you don’t have to listen to those voices. They are not true. They are not from God.

Our God is not a god of condemning and fault finding and judging and criticizing. Say, no I am not receiving those. That’s not how God treats me. He treats us with that hug, that love and that fatherly embrace. I always want to be thankful for these life changing moments. Like the time on the couch, when God delivered from heart things from my childhood, in a moment. I thought I was going to have to go through therapy. Some things happened as a child that I thought I would never get over and that it would always be that way. When I was at the end of all, I said, ‘God you have got to take this out or I can’t take another step. Take me home or take me out of this. He came in power. I invited Him into those moments… the darkest times, he came in power and healing…  I said, “take this out of me,” and He did in 30 seconds… It’s not been there. Its no longer that shadow that follows me. So my prayer today is that God will reveal and lift those thorns and those voices in His time. Its for all of us! Those things that control our mind and where we go and what we say.

Lord, lift it in Jesus name…

The service was drawing to a close and  Pastor Thomas asked if all hearts were clear. Mari said she had something on her heart. God told her something needed to happen when we sat down for service, but it was to be the very last thing. So she said, “Speak up…”

That’s when Michelle spoke up, crying… On my last trip, Pastor Wright asked me if I would be returning to Israel. I began to pray about it and the Lord revealed to me that my next trip would be with Pastor Thomas and I was to bring my daughter Hannah.

For the last year God has been dealing with me about walking through the dark parts of my heart. Generational things… God told me that, “If you don’t deal with it your children will have to deal with it.” I didn’t want Hannah and Ben to have to deal with things. For the last two years, I have dealt with a lot of issues. When I heard about the trip in November, I thought this was the trip… God said, “No.” I couldn’t get clear about it, but then when I heard the trip was to be moved to June because of your surgery, I knew it was the right time. Praise God and it has been wonderful.

So, Hannah… I don’t want to embarrass you… But you have a lot of wonderful things in you. Be open on this trip to receive the seed God wants to plant. You have to know from Him. I want you to seek. Both you and Ben are called of the Lord. He has plans for you both. God told me to bring you here. I’m thankful for this trip and to be apart of it. I don’t know all that is to unfold in the next few days, but I am open to it. God’s timing amazes me. Just like you said things don’t happen overnight. The healing, the promise don’t come overnight, sometimes they take time. Those seeds are planted and they have to grow. They have to bloom in the right time.

When Michelle had finished, Mari said, “She needed to speak that before I requested this.. in fact all of you needed to. When I sat down God, told me that Pastor Jerry’s son Taylor needed prayer… but not till the very end. Pastor Jerry needed to share about his thorn. Michelle needed to say that she did not want for her children to deal with what she did. I believe we need to pray that this voice of abandonment not affect Taylor. Taylor and I aren’t even that close, but I believe we are to pray for him and his children. I don’t know who is supposed to pray… I wasn’t even cry-ee yet… It was the very first thing He said, but it has to be the last thing. It’s crazy how it matches.”

Pastor Thomas asked for Michelle to pray for Taylor like she prays for her own children. Pray that he spared from any taste of this abandonment specifically his children to come.

Michelle: Thank you that this is orchestrated by you! Your timing is beautiful. Today, is Father’s day… and you are the perfect father… (even when sometimes earthly fathers aren’t.) You want us to show our children that, just as well.

I thank you for Pastor Jerry and Mrs. Susan, their children and the generations to come. I pray you make their path straight and be their rear guard. That you will cover them with your armor. I pray against this spirit of abandonment be pulled up by the root and not find anywhere else to grow. That love peace comfort will surround them and flow to others. Lord, you know Taylor… every hair on his head. There are opportunities not known right now… reveal those and give him the strength to carry them out. I cover them in Jesus name amen.

I prayed for Molly. Lord, Jesus. Be her comforter. These places where she needs to shield herself from being hurt. Lord I ask in Your divine power in this river that we are talking about. That you would send a river to her today to her dear Jesus. To open up her heart to dare to trust. Lord, you have her best interest at heart. You guard her heart. Prepare her for these years ahead. Amen.

This ended our time on the Mountain… I’ll continue the day…. But now the bus awaits…

A half post from a tired blogger ;)

It is the morning of our third day. As things go I have not had time to share with you the beautiful day and service we had on the Mount of Beatitudes yesterday. We were in service for an hour and a half. Let's just say God was healing hearts in that place and sending out healing across the world.

I didn't want to leave you without anything for the whole day... So I hope this works. For those of you who do not have Facebook... I am going to try and provide a link to the photos there. My internet connection is pretty weak here so it was the only way to add photos (after many failed attempts at various websites." So if you will click here, you should be able to peruse our album.

 Israel 2013 Pictures: Nazareth & Beatitudes

Thanks!
Elizabeth

I'll get back to work soon!

Fed by Ravens

This morning we had a delicious breakfast with a view of the sunrise over the Mediterranean. Haifa did not disappoint. Several of the pilgrims found Wi-Fi in the lobby and were video conferencing with family and friends over FaceTime. Isn’t technology the best?

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog how the weather has just been wild! Over the last 50-60 years that people have been coming to Israel from our group, the Lord has testified over and over again of His presence through the weather. Many were here when it lightning and snowed at the same time in Jerusalem. In a couple of the trips in the past we were here in June and the air, typically, is stagnant and hot. But throughout our day today there was wonderful breeze.

As we drove up to Mount Carmel (where Elijah called fire down from heaven.), a fairly large raincloud hovered over. It then began raining. With this being my seventh trip, I have only seen rain a handful of times and never during the summer. It was amazing to see God’s hand in it all. Pastor Thomas commented that we were driving to the place where Elijah looked for a cloud. And one the size of a man’s hand was good enough for him. This is quite a bit more.

We stood atop the mountain on top of the monastery; we had a spectacular view and a wonderful breeze. Mom and dad said that they have been on top of that monastery in 104° temperatures. It was almost unbearable at that time to stand in the sun with no shade. But we had these huge white fluffy clouds that block the sun every once in which made it very nice and the breeze kept us cool.

We looked out over Megiddo, the Valley of Armageddon.

God was with us on the mountain and Pastor Jerry began to share with us. As he was getting ready this morning, the Lord had already begun to show him that he would be speaking about Elijah being fed by the ravens. He had taken a walk to look over the vista at the Mediterranean. He came around one corner and there were ravens. He took this as confirmation he was on the right subject. He went on to say that the ravens are not very pleasant birds. They are loud scavengers that fight one another for food. They leave behind not so nice things (Mrs. Susan made him clean that part up, he joked.)

He went on to share that Elijah was fed by ravens. Ravens were considered unclean because they would feast upon dead, rotting animals. Pastor Jerry said, “When you’re being fed by ravens, you can’t be picky.”

He shared with us that we are to be fed by the Holy Spirit. Even still, you can’t pick and choose what feeds you. Elijah probably would not have chosen to receive his meals from such an unclean, unpleasant animal, but that was how the Lord provided for him. When you are hungry,  you will not snub your nose at so obvious a miracle and provision.

Pastor Jerry and Mrs. Susan are on this trip because it was on, their son, Taylor’s heart that they be honored for their 30 years in the ministry. When Pastor Jerry had graduated from college, he began to look at different job offers and churches that wanted him to come. He added one to the very bottom of the list, even though he had not received an offer from them, nor did he really desire to go there. He prayed over that list quite a while. The last church on the list called him out of the blue and said we can’t offer you a salary but we would love for you to come. He knew this is where he was supposed to be.

Sometimes ravens, sometimes other sources, fed us, but we never went hungry following the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

You’re feeding will come as you stay where the Holy Spirit is leading you.”

Pastor Thomas went on to share that there seems to be a theme of passing through what you’re not expecting. From Peter, seeing the unclean things that God said not to call common. To baptizing the centurion and all. And here, Elijah being fed by ravens. All of these disciples had to walk past what they had always done and thought to be right, to walk in obedience to God.

“To get to the sweet release of His presence, you must walk where you weren’t planning on walking. You must pay in memorial to see God’s plan to come to sight just like Cornelius. What if Peter would’ve said, “ No, I will stay with what I’m comfortable with? With my natural inclination? With my trained inclinations? What if Elijah said, “No, thank you, Mr. Raven! I’m not eating anything unclean. I’ll fast instead.” We would have missed the whole branch that came through that. We would’ve missed the whole branch that came through Peter. A lot of times to get where you’re going you’ve got to pass through some ravens. How many times are we getting fed by that thing that seems opposite to what were familiar with? Yet here it is over and over again.”

Our journey continued to Zippori. Where? You may ask. This not a typical stop on our trips, but it was really on Pastor’s heart that we stop.

In the time of Jesus, this was a Greek village. We know this from the theater, as well as, other archaeological finds. This was a town of wealth and contemporary philosophy. Meir pointed out the fact that Nazareth was only about three miles away. What is the significance of that?  Jesus probably was an assistant to his earthly father, Joseph. Joseph & the Son Finish Carpentry. Daddy said they probably threw their tools in their pickup, aka. donkey, and headed to the big city to find well paying jobs. Israel in those days wasn’t building wooden structures. Their homes were mostly made of stone with thatch roofing. So Jesus, his dad and brothers were probably stonemasons. It is very possible that some of the structures we were looking at were carved by Jesus, Himself.

One clue that points to the idea that Jesus might have went there is that He used very Greek concepts and words to describe and teach with. For instance, the word “hypocrite” he uses over fifteen times in the New Testament is the Greek word for actor. It may be a little more than coincidence that three miles from his house was a theater with practiced hypocrites.

We walked further up the path and began to hear haunting music, all echoey. We turned to go into the room where the “Mona Lisa of Galilee” had been unearthed.  “Her gaze is riveting; in fact, it appears she looks directly at you from every corner of the room.” There was a group of ladies all finely dressed standing before the portrait singing a capella madrigals that bounced off of the walls and ceilings of the cave.

After this, we drove into Nazareth for shwarma and falafel. Ladies and gentlemen, it was delicious and super fast!

We arrived at Nazareth Village and took a lovely tour around this place where they reenact what it must have been like in the village that Jesus grew up in.

Our final stop for the day was at the 1st century synagogue located in the center of downtown Nazareth.

Before he shared, Pastor Thomas begged the woman worshipping in the chapel for forgiveness for this small interruption of her worship time. She nodded (whether or not she understood.) He shared on how we were standing in the room where Jesus began His ministry. Our guide at Nazareth village shared that there was a prescribed number of men that read from the Law and then the final man would be handed a scroll of the Prophets and be expected to deliver the sermon for the day.

Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah and he read,

““The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.”

 

His message got the crowd fired up at Him. It says in the Scripture, they were filled with wrath the drove Him from the synagogue, out of the city and brought Him to a hill that they may push Him over a cliff for His blasphemy of their precious Scripture.

Pastor shared that if you have been despised and rejected you are in good company. Shake the dust off your feet and walk right through it to get to what you are called to.

I (Elizabeth) stood and sang, “Still Believe” by Kim Walker-Smith and then “Pie Jesu” from Faure’s Requiem. An unusual combo to be sure, but the first declared in this place, I believe that He has come to fulfill the Prophet’s Words.

Your blood mends the broken hearts right now
Your blood propels me to forgive right now
Your blood transforms my mind right now
Your blood brings the dead to life right now
 And I still believe
You’re the same yesterday today, and forever
And I still believe
Your blood is sufficient for me.

As I sang in Latin, and the acoustics took charge of the room our lady friend who had been sitting quietly in the front row. Lifted her hands to her head scarf and covered her head and bowed it as she understood those words…

“Pie Jesu” translates:
 Merciful Jesus, Lord,
Grant them rest.
Grant, grant them rest,
eternal rest.

During this whole time there was a man at the back who was very nicely dressed taking care of this small chapel and collecting offerings for the maintenance of the synagogue and as we found out, also, for help in running the church near by. He walked over to Dad and said he would like to invite us into the main church next door. Daddy thanked him and walked out of the room, but then he realized what was said and asked Meir to make sure and answer yes we would love to.

We have come to this ancient synagogue for at least the past four trips and we never knew that there was a church steps away, let alone one of such opulence and life. There is a group who gather in this room to worship weekly. There were gilded paintings on the wall that were vibrant and depicted the life of Christ. The ceiling had a domed portion. It was beautiful and luxurious complete with crystal chandeliers. To have such wealth right next to the humble rock upon rock built room was a stark comparison. Its almost like this is what Jesus was born into, but this is how he should be honored.

The gentleman allowed us a few moments in the space. Daddy whispered to the crowd, “This is not common. This man heard something in our time down in the chapel that caused him to trust us. I did not expect to be welcomed where Jesus had been rejected... Do you feel what is in this room? There is life here. In all the churches, in all my trips, I have never felt the power of a vibrant congregation alive in any of the cathedrals or churches like I feel in this room…

Jesus, bless our brothers in Nazareth. Speak to them in the way they can hear You. Encourage and move in Jesus name.”

Daddy asked me to sing “Ave Maria”. We had a little crowd gather at the door.

He asked if anyone had anything on his or her heart. Meg said that when Pastor read the Scripture in Luke of what Jesus read, it was on her heart that we pray for the blind.

We began to cry out for those we knew, believing that if Jesus healed then, he can heal now. Lord… touch, move, heal and open in Your precious name Jesus.

It was time to go… Daddy thanked the man for his generosity and expressed his recognition that the life of God was alive in the space.

 From there we took in a view from a mountaintop. Where we could see Mount Tabor aka. Mount of Transfiguration, and in the other direction the sky was so clear we could see Mount Carmel clearly even at that distance.

We journeyed on to Tiberius and got some swim time before dinner. Enjoyed each other’s company and the beautiful buffet. Then we all headed down to the street market beside the Sea of Galilee for the end of Shabbat when all the shops and restaurants reopen. We enjoyed our gelato, as well as our spectator sport of watching Mari bargain her way into a Buy One, Get One with a street vendor. ;)

Now to rest and look forward to the new day. (Finishing this… close to two am… I guess it is the next day!) Addendum: (Make that 3:30am... Thank you slow "internets"! Night!)

Pastor and Mrs. Barbara in Zippori

Receiving Shabbat

Returning to Israel is always a joyful occasion as we get to see our “extended” family. It was so wonderful to see Meir, Erez, Roby, his daughter, Sharon, her husband and that brand new baby! So many hugs and handshakes all around. We are so blessed to have them. I was telling one of our first-time travelers that unlike the airlines who order us around, we have an advocate for our comforts, and needs while we are in Israel.

We loaded on the bus and drove along the border between Israel and the West Bank. This is the only toll road in Israel. Many of you are thinking of the booths you stop at, like on the West Virginia Turnpike, but Israel loves to do it better any time they can. Apparently there are traffic cameras strategically placed along the route that take pictures of your license plate. Your distance is recorded by how many times your picture is taken and they send you the bill. You don’t have to stop and fiddle with exact shekels.

We stopped at Caesarea Maritime, aka Caesarea by the Sea just as Shabbat was being received. The sky was ablaze with a glorious sunset over the Mediterranean.  There was a cool steady breeze that was refreshing us with the salty sea air Meir explained to us that this was Israel’s largest port for many centuries. In fact, during the days of Rome, after they had destroyed Rome this became Israel’s capital. It was a city built over water. The ruins boast marble columns and luxurious streets. You who have been to Israel will remember the amphitheater that has a backdrop of the ocean. Sadly this coliseum hosted gladiatorial games where many perished before a cheering crowd.

Later on, the Crusaders would use it as their port fortress as they were bombarding the Holy Land in their quest to reclaim the holy sites.

We walked up to the precipice and watched as the waves crashed over the ruins further out at sea. The area we were at had been renovated with a Boardwalk complete with cafés and coffee shops. Many families were enjoying the park and flying kites.

There are some famous figures associated with this city. That Old Meshuggener Herod came from this city. Pilate’s seat of governance was here at the port city. He only went to Jerusalem when he had to, like when there was a big stir over a man named Jesus. He had to subdue the crowds by doing as they wished and sentenced Him to death by crucifixion.

We stepped up to the grand view and Pastor began to share with us:

(Pastor Joe and Pastor Thomas both believe that God testified that we were in the right place at the right time because of the timing of the sunset and the coolness of the day.)

A pilgrimage is when you make a journey for spiritual significance. That is the purpose of the journey is that you are expecting to meet with God along the way. I am a little shocked how beautiful it is tonight because I felt the Holy Spirit led us here tonight so I could share something wonderful with you. We are going to peruse over Acts 10.

“There was a certain man of Caesarea” Right in this city. “named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment. Verse 2-4

Now, Rome did not have to be the enemies of Israel, but they were the conquerors of Israel. Unfortunately, with the difference in lifestyles of the Jewish people, life was just difficult between the two peoples.

Here is a man who came to this land and found God. We know he did because it loosened up his pocketbook. There is not one of you here today that didn’t sacrifice in some way to be here, specifically financially. I know we all have. I want you to know God is looking at our prayer and our gifts. These prayers and the alms that he was willing to give and invest for opened up a door for him and God that is almost unheard of.  Now, he had been an honoring person, but now he was about to move from the outside of the covenant to the new covenant on the inside.

:5-8

Cornelius received specific word and sent his servants to Joppa, which was a ways away to seek Simon the tanner. I’m sure they had to wonder around asking, “Do you know a Simon? He is a tanner.” I’m sure it was a very odd command for them to carry out.

:9-12

Peter may have been a rascal, but he was a good Jew. He ate what was he was supposed to eat, he followed the commandments and he was apart of his community. He was a small time boy and one of his values was adhering to the kosher diet. He did not eat unclean things. No bacon cheeseburgers, no shrimp salad. None of the things we casually eat that according to the Jewish dietary law are forbidden.

:13

He was shocked! I believe it was because he was trying to honor God and his law. He was shocked because God just led opposite of what he believed. He knew it was wrong to sit down with a Gentile to eat. In this vision, God said,

“What God has cleaned you must not call common.”

In a few days we will be at the place where I believe Pentecost happened, but we as Gentiles were not invited to that party. It was only Jewish people in the Upper Room.

:17-23

Last time, we talked about how the Tower of Babel confused the tongues of men, because they were going to do things united that were so ungodly. God created nations in chapter 11 in Genesis. He sent the solution in chapter 12 in the form of Abraham. He said I will make you a father of many nations and many nations will be blessed because of you. So here at the end of the story, we see the reuniting of the nations. Jesus had several Gentiles come to Him and declared that moment to be the completion of His ministry and it was now time for Him to die.

We were not invited to the party, yet at this station, this place of Caesarea, the centurion bowed down before him.

:24-35

Prejudice is one of the enemies of these last days. God is looking to bring nations together. He is bringing them together here at the mountain of the Lord. You can say, that can be anywhere God’s moving. I know where the mountain of the Lord is. I don’t need an interpretation.

:35

Then He preached the gospel to Him.

:44

I just think it is noteworthy that as we get started our pilgrimage, we are standing in the place where one man’s pilgrimage changed him and his whole household and opened a door for every nation to receive the gospel.

You can’t kick over a rock here without coming up with some Biblical perspectives. We’re going to have so many things going on in so many different ways. I just want you think that somewhere in these ruins, Gentiles received the Holy Spirit. I love seeing the seat of Pentecost at the Pilgrim Steps in Jerusalem, but here in this city Cornelius received his answer from God. Right here in this place. I don’t know that he had as pretty a sunset as we have.

Sabbath has begun…