A Middle East on Edge

Transcript

So welcome, everyone. It's great to see everyone. And as you may have heard, I was planning to go to Israel back in May. And after there were some rocket attacks from

Iran, Butch canceled my trip. I woke up to an email and Butch said, no, I've canceled your trip, Jason, you can't go. And I had a lot of concern from people about that trip, understandably. And after thinking about it and praying about it, I did postpone the trip, but was fortunate and blessed enough to go in early September. And by God's grace, I had an uneventful trip. It was very impactful. But it was safe and I did not have any issues, thankfully. And I appreciate all the prayers from all of you while I was there. We have gotten used to seeing headlines like this out of the Middle East since October 7th, when there was a terrorist attack on Israel. And we are familiar with the scripture that tells us, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you were not alarmed. And I really like Brother Steve's opening prayer, because there is a lot of anxiety and people on edge in the world, whether it be from the Middle East, from Ukraine and Russia, from economic issues, from natural disasters. There is a heightened sense of anxiety in this country and around the globe. But we're told that such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pain. What I'd like to do tonight is review my trip, but also focus on some spiritual points to build us up while we watch these events take place and to help us to be ready for the return of Christ. And it seems that each day we hear of a new hotspot. Currently Israel has had a ground invasion into Lebanon, which we expect this confrontation to continue. There's also looming that Israel is going to do a counterstrike on Iran, which is only going to inflame the situation. And if you're like me, for many years, there's been flare ups around the world. And they're usually resolved through diplomatic channels and things settle down and everything kind of goes back to normal and life continues on. But this time seems different. And diplomacy has not taken hold. And it seems that we're in a new era where military conflict results. And that's what we seem to be seeing around the world with the invasion of Russia into Ukraine. And now we have Israel invading Lebanon. We have direct attacks by Iran. And things around the globe are heading to more escalation rather than a time of peace. So with this in mind, I wanted to kind of use that as the umbrella to get into my trip, talk about some of the experiences that I've had in Israel, and then to think about what does the scripture tell us we should expect from here as we wait for the return of the Messiah. So when I arrived at the airport on Thursday morning, on September 5th, it was a little bit of a dull day at home because when Jen and I got up, I said good morning and she said, you're leaving today. And she was pretty upset about it. But she dropped me off at the airport and security was incredibly tight at the LL Air counter. And there were two very serious female security personnel that worked for LL. And they were wondering why I was probably the only non-Jewish person on the flight going to Israel during a time of war. So we had those discussions. And there was some confusion, which I learned a little bit of something. There was confusion about where I was staying in the Galilee. And there is a place called Ramat Naftali, which is where that red dot is, which is right on the Lebanese border, in Tiberias, which you see that body of water at the Sea of Galilee. And I was staying in Tiberias, which was called Ramat.

And they thought I was staying up on the Lebanon border. So things got a little bit tense. But having three daughters, I was well equipped to handle the security inquiries. And once we sorted that out, the security guys were like, you're fine where you're staying. But Ramat means heights or elevations in Hebrew. And what I learned was there's lots of places in Israel called

Ramat and then the name of a town. So I won't make that mistake again. But it did give me pause because they started telling me, where you're going is not safe. And I had that kind of moment of panic. But I got on the plane anyways. I had a window seat, which is always beautiful coming into Israel. You can see the Mediterranean there and the coast of Israel flying into Tel Aviv. And it's really quite picturesque. It's a red-eye flight, about 11 hours. And I usually sleep pretty well. I slept about six hours on the flight. When you arrive at Tel Aviv airport, I knew this trip would be different because you're greeted with plaques of hostages that are still in captivity in tunnels in Gaza. And when a hostage is either killed or freed through diplomacy, these plaques are removed. And I believe there are around 100 hostages still held. And so this is the… I didn't feel right taking photos of it when I got off the plane. So I did pull this picture off of

the internet. But it's very sobering. It is a time of war. And there is a very uneasy calm in the country as Israel is surrounded by

very hostile enemies. This woman here just stuck out. There's been a lot of publicity about her story, Judy Weinstein, and a lot of further information about each hostage is available online. But there is a lot of publicity about bringing them home. And in particular, one hostage, his wife was interviewed on the news last night. She's beyond being consoled. And it says, Keith Siegel, originally from North Carolina, moved to Israel 40 years ago. And he works as an occupational therapist. His mother lives in North Carolina. He has four children, five grandchildren. It says he is a calm person and an optimist and loves the outdoors. And on October 7th, he and his wife were taken hostage and driven to Gaza in their car with a neighbor and her two children. His wife was released as part of a hostage deal, but he remains in captivity. And one of their daughters spoke and said, my parents have an innate faith in the goodness of humankind. She wrote, that is why even after living through decades of conflict, they believe that peace can be reality. Their worldview can be summed up in the conviction that love of humanity will always defeat hatred. And I think this is a good springboard, not only for my first stop, this love of humanity, which Jesus will bring when he comes back, but we can familiarize with the land of Israel. The light pink is Israel proper and the red is the contested land. Currently, the Gaza Strip, where the war in Gaza is taking place, where the hostages are being held. This is where the terrorist attack was launched from. It was the worst single day of loss of Jews since the Nazi Holocaust. 1200 Israelis were killed and 250 were taken hostage. And this has resulted in a brutal war against Hamas, but also affecting millions of Palestinians and their families and has caused tremendous suffering all throughout both pink and red parts of Israel. And as a result of this, Israel is now under attack by several groups backed by Iran, the self-styled Axis of Resistance or Ring of Fire, which is determined to erase the Jewish state from the map. Israel is fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Iran backed militias in Iraq and Syria, and increasingly heavily armed groups in the West Bank, and Hamas and Iran backing them all. They received funding from a complex network of cryptocurrency charities, cash, and millions of dollars last year, $500 million of from companies in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran provided funding for weapons and other military opportunities for these terrorist groups. And this is why we hear the cry of never again. And we'll talk about that a little bit more. But after this terrorist attack, it was very alarming to the Jewish state, particularly as we saw anti-Semitism rise around the globe at universities in the United States, and even having the presidents of universities testify in front of Congress, and a few of them being released from their position as presidents because their answers were not satisfactory and were more prone to anti-Semitism than supporting being complementary to equality for the Jewish people. But this is a picture I took at the end the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. And most of the people living in Israel have a family member that was killed in the Holocaust. Their families were dramatically affected by this. And so when they look at these photos, they see family members, they see great aunts, uncles, people that were lost, children whose lives were snuffed out through Adolf Hitler and a mindset that was anti-Semitic and that was set out to kill the Jewish people. And that's why never again in the response has been so fierce from Israel to eliminate these terrorist groups. This is a story and just an accounting by, as it says, now 72 years old, the Holocaust was before my time, but not so much that it was not present in my life. People talked about it. Photos were widely available. German cars were boycotted. And I vividly remember seeing the numerical tattoos on the arms of concentration camp survivors at a reformed Jewish camp. And I found this astounding. The counselors once rounded us up in the middle of the night and herded us into a collective space while terrorizing us, just role-playing what it was like to be under Nazi control. Yet the Shoah was far from the suburban upbringing I had in post-war America. And it goes on to say, along with the rebirth after World War II, the Jewish state was founded in 1948 because of the Holocaust. The phrase never again, evidently from a 1927 poem about the slaughter of Jews by the Romans in AD 70, the meaning could not be clearer. Israel was a safe place that the world's Jews could escape to from history's endless attempts to exterminate them. In October 7th, 2023, put fear in the minds of Jews again. And so this idea of never again, the Jewish cry of never again, they say, will prove stronger than the hate. Just wait and see, says Jonathan Russo. And this is why never again has become a cry that we are hearing again. What is the biblical significance of all this? We read in Isaiah 2 that the Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted. They will be humbled. For all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Batian, which is northern Israel, or Lebanon. It says, the arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day and the idols will totally disappear. And we're given a prophecy of hope in Isaiah as well. We're told this is what Isaiah, son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains. It will be exalted above the hills and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nation and will settle disputes for many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord. And so with this backdrop, and with our understanding that the gospel message is for all mankind and it's going to emanate from Jerusalem, this was the approach that I took while in Jerusalem, whether it be talking with Arabs, Palestinians, or Jewish individuals, was the gospel message is the hope for the world, that there will no longer be war, there will no longer be suffering, but that the Messiah will come to solve all these problems and to bring bring peace to a troubled and anxious planet. And so it's fitting to begin in Jaffa. And if you look to the left of the slide, you can see Tel Aviv proper, and Jaffa is considered a suburb of Tel Aviv. We know this is where Jonah came when he fled from the face of God when he was told to preach to the Ninevite, because it was a great city and its wickedness had come up before him. But Jonah ran away from the Lord. He went down to Joppa where he found a ship and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. And so I'm reminded of our responsibilities and the wonderful hope that we share in the comfort that we can offer our neighbors, our co-workers, our schoolmates, our young people, that we have a message of hope in all the chaos to offer to the world around us. But I think a good place to go in Jaffa is the house of Simon the Tanner, where in Acts 10 we are told that a centurion named Cornelius, he and his family were devout in God-fearing. He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. And those qualities are so important in our own lives. Prayer, giving, whether it be in service, financially, giving of our time, giving of our advice, our comfort and care, as was mentioned in the prayer, those that are most likely going to be in need in the areas of Florida because of a natural disaster. We can offer

ability to call our brothers and sisters to help them see what their needs are and to help in any way that we can. And so it's a good opportunity for us to assess our lives and to look for opportunities to present the hope of the gospel message to those around us. Now this centurion had a vision of an angel who told him to send men to Jaffa to bring back a man, Peter, who is with Simon the Tanner. This was an important man and

he sent three individuals to Peter. And I think it's that, keep in mind the number three, as we consider this parable, we're told that Peter was on a journey and this would have been probably the view that Peter would have had when he went up to the roof, as we're told. He became hungry and wanted something to eat. And while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, get up, Peter, kill and eat. Peter responded, surely not, Lord, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. And we know Peter had been tested before and he's looking at this as another test. No, I'm not going to eat that. We know Peter denied Christ three times and Jesus also asked Peter three times, lovest thou me? And when Peter comes before Canelius, Canelius says, three days ago I was in my house praying and at three in the afternoon I had this vision. But the end result with Peter, and I think he's being reminded of that denial three times in his love for Christ, the end result in Acts 10 is that Peter says, I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. And Peter is told, do not call anything impure that God has made clean. In Plymouth there was a Palestinian protest a

couple months ago and I went over and spoke with a few of the protesters just to have a dialogue about the current situation. And at the end of the conversation, even though there is such a divide between the feelings of Israelis for the most part and Palestinians for the most part, what we could agree on was that a messiah needs to come to solve this problem and peace for all people involved. And so that was a common common ground that we could have in the discussion to preach the gospel. So having that experience was helpful to utilize that, to recognize, as Peter did, that the gospel is for all people. And as Peter was faced with an unusual situation, something that he had not anticipated, we are sometimes faced with situations that we never anticipated, whether it be in our families, in our jobs, in any aspect of life. And that's why we're on tonight, sharing this experience, serving one another, praying together, fellowshipping, because in these times we all need each other. That's what makes us strong, is our support of one another during these times. Now you can see that minaret, that's about where we were, where Peter would, the house of Canelius was, and where Peter would have been on the roof. And so I just thought it would be helpful to kind of look back at Jaffa and the port that Jonah would have fled from, that the gospel message would have been preached from. And then from that same vantage point that we were just looking at, this is Tel Aviv proper. And you can see that it's a very modern city, much like, say, Miami or New York City. And I stayed in a town called Herzliya, which was just north of Tel Aviv. And I did not realize, figured, hey, I won't stay in Tel Aviv, but I'll walk to Tel Aviv. There's a walking bike path that connects the two towns. It was a little bit longer of a walk than I thought. Round trip, it was 23 miles. So I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day. But I found this unbelievable Greek restaurant just outside of Jaffa and refueled and just met some amazing people there. And as you can see, the view is wonderful. So it was a wonderful, this was my first full day in Israel. And it was a full day of contemplation, of visitation of biblical sites,

and just of feeling very blessed to be able to have this trip. This is Tel Aviv proper, right on the beach. As you can see, the architecture, very modern. And Tel Aviv is second largest city in Israel and is considered the center of economy, culture, and major business center with high tech companies. Considered second in importance only to Silicon Valley. It's known as the startup city. A lot of medical companies start up in this area. And four and a half million people live in Tel Aviv.

Jewish residents of Jaffa founded Tel Aviv in 1909. And the Jewish National Fund provided financial assistance to this group. They purchased about 12 acres of sand dunes. So it was virtually not much in this area. Important for us to keep in mind that there are 22 Arab countries in the world. And there's just one Jewish country, Israel. It's often recognized as the only functional democracy in Arabia and in the Middle East. And this is why having the Jewish state is important. There are many opportunities around the world in many Arab countries, but this is a very unique country. And we know through prophecy that the Jews were gathered out of the four corners of the earth and brought back into the land that has been promised to them. In, at the Tel Aviv Museum, they have a replica of the tunnels that the hostages are held in. And there are many protests that take place here. Not Israel is in many respects like the United States. There are a lot of people that are protesting against the war and that want a peace deal and the hostages to be brought home understandably. And some of these protests can be quite large taking place in Tel Aviv, stopping traffic and trying to affect the movements of the Israeli government. Just some examples of the modern buildings in

Tel Aviv. And I think Sister Jen was talking with Lisa, Sister Lisa, and her company has an office in Israel. And there was discussion about, you know, do we continue to go into the office during the war? There has been some terrorist attacks in Tel Aviv. And she was told that people for her company, yes, we still come into work. Life carries on as best as we can during this time. And so among the modern buildings, you also have a beach, surfing, and there's a common area in the center of Tel Aviv as well where families gather for

Shabbat or family events. There was a few birthday parties that were happening on this day for families to consider and to talk about the Torah, to talk about their hope, and to talk about the return of the Messiah. One of the most fascinating things to see in Israel is a sunset over the Mediterranean. And I think we've all had the experience of taking pictures, and it just doesn't do it justice. This was the best one that I had. This area is a big sailing area, fishing, surfing. And this was my last night in Herzliya. I stayed there two nights. And in the morning, I was heading off to the Sea of Galilee, which I was a little bit nervous about because it's getting closer to the Lebanon border, although I was not in any area where there had been missile strikes. I did take a road by way of Haifa. Haifa is one of the

biggest ports in Israel. It is very vulnerable to rocket fire. It's north of Tel Aviv. It's probably about, I don't know, I'm going to guess and say 50 miles south of the Lebanon border. It is currently under rocket attack. It overlooks Haifa Bay along the Mediterranean coast. The city spans over the entirety of Mount Carmel, giving the whole area a very unreal, almost fantasy-like appearance. It's mesmerizing to see it in person. You have the mountains meeting the beautiful coastline. The city plays host to a number of groups, including Jews, Christians, Arabs, Druze, and those of the Baha'i faith, which has created a diverse cultural scene in addition to a major center of faith for many religions. And there is concern in this area because of the goods that are brought into Israel for the electrical plants and for the natural gas that's brought in through this area for

the sustenance of the Jewish people. This looks like something out of a storybook, but it is the Baha'i Gardens. It's situated at the top of Mount Carmel, and you can travel up the entire face of

Carmel Mountain. It's steep. It has a

vegetation. And you'll never see, as they say, a wilting flower in these gardens, which are attended day and night. At the top is a golden dome and a shrine to

the Baha'i religion, which is a shrine to Bob. And they believe this is the final resting place of one of their prophets, and Bob is a central figure in their faith. When you reach the top, you can see the entire city. As you can see from this photo, it is an amazing view. I thought it was interesting. Mount Carmel we know being right here at Haifa, which has many faiths this is where the scene of Elijah's confrontation happened with the false prophets of Baal. And that account tells us at the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed, Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me so these people will know that you, Lord, are God and that you are turning the hearts back again. And this is what we wait for. We wait for the Messiah to come to turn back the hearts of all mankind to him, to the gospel message, to that good news that the Messiah will rule, that there will be righteous judgment in the earth again. And just as it was at this time on Mount Carmel, Mount Carmel will again have their hearts turned back to the God of Israel. Philippians tells us in chapter 2 verse 10, Therefore God exalted him to the highest place, speaking of Christ, and gave him a name that is above every name, and that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to

the glory of God the Father. There are also some interesting historical caves in this area, the cave where it's believed that Elijah hid and also rested during his time in the wilderness. And he's believed to have prayed in these caves before he had his challenge against the priests of Baal in Mount Carmel. It's interesting as well for our own faith, for our own upliftment in these times. We know that Elijah was down, his heart was down. He felt he was the only one left and that he was, were trying to kill him, and he felt that he was being very zealous for God. But it was that still small voice that said, Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him. And so I think there's a strong lesson there for us to always persist. We have each other. God will never leave us in despair. And more than ever, as we see these events happening on the earth, for us to draw closer together, for us to be more in touch with one another, to be reaching out, to be

thinking of ways that we can support each other. And I'm reminded of the wonderful birthday party that we had on Sunday. It was just wonderful to see everybody come together to remember our dear sister and to think about the wonderful example that we all can be and to fellowship and to be there for one another. And those are the sorts of things that we can do to always persist that our knees have not bowed to society, that we remain standing and we wait for that opportunity when Christ returns, when we will bow to the Savior. So I did arrive at the Sea of Galilee, which is another mesmerizing place in Israel. It's very tranquil. It's, as we know, where Christ had many miracles and did a lot of preaching and found his disciples that were fishermen. And so it's a wonderful place to visit and to contemplate and to read these passages and to think about the soon coming of Christ back to this area. This picture was taken from an area called Mount Arbel. This is down on the Galilee shores. And each day after I went on my hikes, I would go for a swim in the Galilee. It was refreshing and just wonderful. I wanted to focus on one spot where the Beatitudes were given. If we can imagine the large crowds here waiting for Jesus to speak and hearing of his miracles and hearing of this new hope in this person. And in Matthew 5, we read, Seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain and when he was set, his disciples came unto him and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. And isn't that what we're trying to do? We're trying to hunger and thirst after righteousness. We're trying to

follow our Savior, as we heard in our exaltation on Sunday, to be more like Jesus. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. That idea of the kindness that we can show one another, trying to understand what it's like to walk in their shoes. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. We brothers and sisters are the light of the world right now. We are a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. So as it says in verse 16, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. And we're doing, I think, a wonderful job at this. And we have such support to continue doing that, to be a support to our members, to our community, and to the other to support the community in whatever way we can. Christ mentions the city on a hill. And this is

commonly looked at as that city on a hill that Christ would have probably spent time on. It has one of the oldest synagogues in the Galilean area. And it

says, Ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. And Christ used this as a reference, because it had a vantage point to look down into the valleys, to look off into the horizon, to look for those areas where we can help, where we can preach, where we can sustain in these last days. It's hard to get a sunset better than one on the Mediterranean, but a sunset in Galilee is also incredibly beautiful. And I just was thinking while I was here that this is what Jesus would have been looking at. This is where he would have gone to a solitary place to consider, to look at the mission he had before him as he started his mission, in his ministry. And he had so much work to do on our behalf to, as we know, be the savior for the world. And he would have gained strength in this area. He would have fortified his ability and his face, as it was like Flint, to follow through on what his father had intended him to do, to be the sacrifice for the world. And we're reminded of a scripture which tells us, before the coming of Christ, the people sat in darkness but saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light sprung up. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea. And he said unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishes of men. And they straightway left the annets and followed him. And we have this same commission from Christ to leave those things of this world, to follow him, to be servants of him. And so whatever it is that might be inhibiting us from full service to Christ, what is it that we could cut out of our lives? What could we leave behind that maybe is inhibiting us, taking our life to that next step in service? Because we've all been blessed with such wonderful talents. Hebrews 12 tells us, wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. That same joy, brothers and sisters, is set before us and the whole world, that joy that we have to know Jesus, that joy that we have to know that better days are coming. When we see these headlines, we know that they're not forever, that there is a time coming when peace will be the call word of day, that peace among the nations, peace among the peoples will be

the new era to come in the kingdom of God. From Galilee, I made my way to Jerusalem and spent five nights there, and I was fortunate enough to rent a wonderful apartment in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem just has such a vibrant intensity in it, which just, it just brings alive so many things that we read every day, and so this is the view from my apartment. You can see the Mount of Olives behind the Golden Dome.

You can see the Temple Mount there, which the Golden Dome is over, the foundation stone. You can see the Judean Mountains there, off kind of to the middle of the screen with the sun getting ready to set, and behind that, very hazy, you can see even higher mountains, and those are the Jordanian Mountains. Between those two mountains is the Dead Sea, and you get a better feel for it here. The higher mountains there is Jordan, country of Jordan, and then you have the Dead Sea, and then you have the Judean Mountains, and you have the Temple Mount there, so it just was a wonderful view to wake up to this in the morning, to have breakfast looking at this, to the bedroom window also looked out at this, and it was just an experience of a lifetime to have, to be in this area at this time. This photo is taken from the Mount of Olives looking down at the Temple Mount, and we've discussed before that the Mount of Olives now is covered in tombs. These are Jewish tombs. As they wait for the Messiah, they believe that they will be resurrected first. There are also Muslim tombs closer to the Temple on the Mount, and many tombs in this area awaiting the return of Christ. As we look at the Temple Mount, Genesis 22 tells us where Abraham was to offer Isaac, Yahuwah will provide, and he has continued to provide from the time of Abraham until our time with blessings. He's provided us with a sure and solid hope that we can count on, and we see these things coming to pass as we follow global events. Just below the Mount of Olives is the Garden of Gethsemane, and we're reminded of Christ's time here, as we're told in Luke 22, and he came out and went as he want to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples also followed him, and when he was at the place, he said unto them, pray that ye enter not into temptation. I don't know about you, but I find myself having more and more, particularly if I am having a temptation. If I pray, it redirects my mind, and this is what Christ used to do. It says, and he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Christ was all about service. He was all about doing what was best for all of us, and ultimately providing salvation for himself and the world, and it says there appeared an angel unto him from heaven strengthening him, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood, falling to the ground. What an achievement the Messiah accomplished at this time. He was feeling those feelings of the weight of the world on his shoulders. An angel was sent to strengthen him. He was not going to do his own will, but the will of the Father. Such a strong example for us to strengthen one another. This is down at the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall. It's the closest that the Jews can get to the top of the Temple Mount, which is controlled by Jordan through a peace agreement. More and more Jews are being allowed up onto the top of the Temple Mount to pray, but it does have restrictions. The Jews also will gather at the Western Wall for holidays, and also to pray for forgiveness. They have large crowds to come to pray as they feel that they're back in the land for a reason, and that they are waiting for the Messiah, and they also believe in prophecy, and that that time is soon to come. I did put this picture in from my first trip because yesterday was my dad's birthday. He turned 74, and I just came across this picture putting this glass together, and it made me smile. We had a wonderful trip, and it's a close-up of the Western Wall. You see all of those little white spots. Those are pieces of paper that people put as prayers into the wall, and I have put prayers in there. I've said many prayers here for our Ecclesia, for members of our Ecclesia, for our families, for the return of Christ. The lower two stones, the size of those stones there, are from the time of Herod, when Herod

built the barrier wall around the second temple, and so Christ would have come across these stones at

his first advent. The Western Wall is divided into two sections for prayer. There is a section for men and a section for women, and I did notice that both sections are very busy and very well attended for prayers. The section for women was overflowing, and it was attributed to the fact that they have their sons and daughters fighting in an act of war and very concerned about their family members, so they come down here for solace, to fellowship with their fellow Jewish neighbors, to console one another, and to pray to the God of Israel. One of the days I was there, there was a swearing-in of the soldiers, and I happened to be standing there watching it, and one of the dads, Dad and Mom Kate, they came up next to me and started telling me how one of their daughters was getting sworn in in the ceremony, and she was quite close to where we were standing, and the other daughter came up and stood next to me. She is involved with operating the Iron Dome. She's already a soldier, and I tried to make way so the family could stand together, and the dad, he wouldn't allow it. He said, no, no, no, I want you to be with us. I want you to experience this with us, and I want to thank you for your support and for coming here to Israel during this time. We need all the support that we can get, and it was just a very moving time and also a very serious time because this

man has two of his daughters who he loves very much who are fighting in this war, and he's very concerned about that. As I left Jerusalem, I went down to the Dead Sea, and one thing that I haven't done in all of my trips was watch a sunrise over the Negev Desert, which is right near the Dead Sea, right near Masada, and the apartment that I rented allowed me to do that. It had a full view. These are the Jordanian Mountains, and this is the sun rising over those mountains, and it's just if a sunset on the Mediterranean or a sunset in Galilee wasn't enough, you can watch a sunrise over the Negev Desert, and just the colors are not even really shown to the best that you can see

in this photo, but my time in the Dead Sea was a few nights. It was to float in the Dead Sea, which is always fun, to put some mud on my face so I maintain my youthful look, and also to hike in Getai and to hike Masada. You get a sense for just how dry and arid it is in this land. There's few spots that we will see. You can see here the Dead Sea and the salt that runs around the rim there, which is close to the shore. This is in Getai, which in the midst of all that dryness, you have springs of water which come up with waterfalls, and this is where David would have hid from Saul. This is where he would have gone with his men, and this is where he cut off the Saul's robe, so there's a lot of history that took place in this area. One of the springs here, I'd never done this before as well, but I went swimming in the spring, which was very refreshing. It was 100 degrees out, so it was a wonderful morning, and a soldier just happened to come by while I was in the water, and I was on my way to get out, and he was like, no, no, you stay, relax. I want you to stay in the water longer, so I ended up staying in the water longer, which was just a really nice experience, a really nice way to end the trip. I always stop in Jerusalem on my way out, on my way to Ben-Gurion Airport, and this was the sunset in Jerusalem on my last night, and as we conclude our class tonight, I think there's a few things we should keep in mind as we watch global events. Ezekiel 38 is a chapter that we quote often, and the chapter says, after many days thou shalt be visited in the latter year, so in our time period, thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, the re -establishment of the nation of Israel, and is gathered out of many people, and thou shalt come up against my people of Israel as a cloud to cover the land. It shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee. And so we're at that time period, brothers and sisters and friends, where we see Israel at war. What most likely from the scripture tells us that this war in Israel will result in peace. There will be some sort of peace agreement. Israel will then dwell in safety, but Russia, the European nations, and Iran will not be satisfied with the arrangement, and this is when they will come down into the land to put together a different peace agreement that they see fit, and this is when Christ will reveal himself. This is the hope that we have, it's the sure hope, but while we wait for the appearing of our Savior, we have a wonderful opportunity to support one another. And if you're someone who logs into our class, or you go to the Boston Ecclesia, and you're suffering right now because of what's going on in the world, reach out to us, because we're here for you. We're here to support you, we're here to help you, we're here to walk with you while we wait for our Messiah. So if you need any help, please do reach out. So brothers and friends, let's stay strong during these times. Let's recognize that these events that are taking place herald the return of our Savior, and it gives us an opportunity to preach the gospel, to serve one another, and to show care and compassion and kindness to those around us. Thank you.