How important is discernment? Is it worth studying the Bible so that we can detect what is false? I would argue yes. Whenever we read anything, or watch a video, we need to know what is wrong and why it is wrong! Abner Chou, my Life of Christ professor here in Israel, took the time today to teach a lesson that we need to be running to the scriptures all the time.
There is a movement in western churches, called the “seeker sensitive” movement. The church that is spear heading this is called Willow Creek, in Chicago. What is a “seeker sensitive” church? Well, by their own definition it is a church that has the goal of taking people that are far from God, bringing them into the church and getting them involved in services, small groups, Sunday school, etc., and soon enough they’ll be disciples of God.
Greg Hawkins, Executive Pastor at Willow Creek, has a video that we watched in class, and it was scary. He starts out the video explaining how he is so distracted in church. First off, he gets so distracted by the amount of people that are sitting next to him and behind him and in front of him. He’s watching how many people should be at the church. If there are a lot of people he starts to feel good, and if not, his mind starts racing in a hundred different directions on why people aren’t coming to his church. A church that is supposed to be bringing the people in, not keeping them away. By his own confession, he isn’t even engaged in the service once it’s started because he’s so preoccupied about the demographics of the people at church. So after he has “realigned” himself to the right mindset, it just gets pushed off kilter again, because of the offering. Now, his concern with the offering is probably a good one. He is wondering if the funds that are given (and at Willow Creek, it’s a multi-million dollar church) are being used correctly and the best way possible. This is a legitimate concern. Are they spending the money rightly?
He wasn’t so sure that they were. So, in 2004 Greg wanted to get to the bottom of it. He wanted to know what was working and what wasn’t working in the church. So, instead of running to the scriptures to find out what was going wrong in the church, and what the Bible says about people spiritual lives, he decided to poll the audience. Greg made a church wide survey. And evidently the results were astonishing. These questions were designed to communicate what was helping the congregation grow spiritually and what wasn’t. Basically how they “do” church.
In the video he goes on to explain what Willow Creek is trying to do, which is to bring people who are far from God to disciples of Christ. This is done through programs, services, classes, small groups, care, etc. and all of these give the opportunity for people (i.e. “seekers”) to serve. Now there should be about 37 red flags going up in your mind right now and you should have some questions about what is going on. For example, we need to know what the purpose of the Church is, we need to know what the Church is, what is a seeker? what does participation in activities have to do with what is produced? I will try to answer those and some more.
It is clear in the Word of God that there are two types of people in this world: alive and dead. One who is alive has been brought to life through salvation. The dead remain dead because they can not do anything. Something that is dead has no use. Something that is dead can not do anything. That is just the nature of death. Ephesians 2:1, “You were dead in the trespasses and sin,” and once you have been made alive there is no hope for the dead. There is no such thing as a “seeker”. Greg Hawkins describes the “seeker” as someone who believes that there is a God, but just hasn’t moved into the, and I quote, “Jesus thing.” It is clear in scripture that a person who does not have a relationship with Christ, and who has not repented from their sins, and is not living a holy life, that person is damned.
This is a scary thing if these are the kinds of people that Greg Hawkins wants to be involved in serving others on a weekly basis at his church. This leads to great problems. If we start blurring the line between Christians and non Christians it will be catastrophic. The Church will be infected. Sin affects other people. Brothers and sisters in Christ can confront and resolve sin. There are some church functions that will be tough to carry out because we can not tell who is saved and who is not. For instance, Church discipline (Matthew 18) and communion (I Corinthians 11). We can not discipline a non Christian for doing non Christian things. And it is not good to present and approve of non Christians taking part in the Lord’s supper, because they will be judged for it.
Greg goes on to explain the results of the surveys. He says that they learned that the level of participation in church activities does not enhance their spiritual growth. What he says they discovered was a spiritual continuum made up of 5 groups. 1-“Explorers” 2-“New Christians” 3-
Close to Christ” 4- “Centered on Christ” 5- “Stalled”. He says that each one had different needs, which is true! And his church was more geared for the first two groups, the “seekers” and the new Christians. But what about the more mature Christians? They are disappointed with the church, they are discouraged, and they are the ones who are thinking about leaving the church. Why is that?
It is because the seeker friendly movement is too focused on how the Bible can be used for them. They are focused on what they can get out of the Christian life. They want the Bible to conform to them and their lifestyle. That is bogus. We need to be asking not how can the Bible apply to me, as if the Bible can change to fit our lives, but we need to ask what we need to do that our lives fit what the Bible says.
Why isn’t the current strategies working to make better disciples of God in the “seeker sensitive” movement? It is because of the lack of focus on the scriptures. This is where it needs to be. There is nothing better than the Word of God. II Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” The Word of God is enough for any situation. This is what is going to help a church grow. This is what is going to make disciples of God. Teach the scriptures, nothing more, nothing less. Teach it with passion and conviction. This is what will convict people. This is what will pierce the heart: the Word of God.
The Senior Pastor, Bill Hybels, gave a talk at a leadership summit in October reviewing the same things that Greg, his executive pastor, went over. This video was even more disturbing and frustrating. Basically all of the statistics that came in was evidence that all of Bill’s work over the past years have been detrimental to peoples spiritual lives. He goes over the statistics and results of how people from those first four people groups in the church. The first group, the “seekers”, out of 10, he says, put them at a 9. And he said that, that was good news! That is not good news. He is saying that at church, the non believers needs are being met! How is this possible, if the message of the Cross is foolishness to men (I Corinthians 2). How is it that Jesus says that people will hate Christians (Matthew 10)? Why are non believers in the church any way? The Church is rightly named the body of CHRIST. Each member identifies with Christ. The Church is here to encourage and edify believers. That is not to say that when non believers come to church you kick them out by any means. But the church is for believers, and our evangelism should not be asking people to come to church. On the contrary, we need to be going out and sharing the good news with non believers.
The next group, the new Christians, rated the church a little lower, but still pretty high in the area of meeting their needs. And as the stats came in the group most disappointed with the way the church was helping them… or the lack of help they were giving, was the “Mature” Christians. Bill says that it was disappointing for him because he couldn’t understand what more they wanted. And this is what he said they said, “We’re not being fed.” “That they want more meat of the word of God.” “They want more serious minded scripture being taught to them.” “They wanted to be challenged more.” Bill had a surprising response. It was one that was more of a lashing out to the people who wanted to be fed. He says with an attitude, “I’ll feed those people, I’ll get some seminary prof. who’ll feed them till they barf.” What is so wrong with that? If people want to grow, why are we stopping it? I do not understand why that is such a bad thing to Bill.
Instead of Bill changing what is taught to what is scriptural, and repenting from his ways of not caring for the flock of Christ, he shifts all of the blame onto the ones who want to grow. He says that if they wanted to grow they should have learned how to do that and then do it on their own. There is some truth to that… a Christian should know how to study the bible. But with Bill’s thinking there is not a reason for them to still be in the church. And I think that there in lies the truth of the whole “seeker sensitive” movement: it is just a ploy to get people in the church and then out of the church. Because it is all of the mature Christians who want to learn, or even because they have been teaching themselves, they understand that they are not getting fed so they have to leave in order to find that shepherding.
There is a lot of danger in asking what they people think. As humans we are deceitfully wicked, and there are even sins that we have no clue that we struggle with. How do we even know what would be better for our spiritual walk. The way that we know is by careful evaluation and study of the Scriptures. What we need is for faithful men to rise up and study faithfully, preach faithfully, and train faithfully. We do not need surveys and questionnaires.
I hope that this is encouraging to you to study the Word.
These are the links to the two videos:
Greg Hawkins : http://revealnow.com/story.asp?storyid=48
Bill Hybels: http://revealnow.com/story.asp?storyid=49
Monday, October 22, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
SEA OF G
After the awe of the initial view of the Sea of Galilee, we had the chance to explore the cities around it. It is amazing to actually see what we have been learning about. The whole day was saturated with and events from the life of our Messiah. We went from Capernaum, Hepta Pagon, Tiberius, Ginnosar, Tell Bethsaida, and the Upper Jordan River.
One of the first stops that we made was in between Capernaum and Hepta Pagon. This was no official spot where Jesus ministered or anything, but we stopped there so that Bill could make a point. If we look at the gospel of Mark, in chapter four Jesus was teaching beside the Sea of Galilee, and a very large crowd gathered about Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea and the whole crowd was on the beach listening. With such a great number of people listening in on Jesus’ teaching, Christ must have had a strong voice. But what really helped was the natural theater type affect that the bank of the sea made. There is not a lot of effort needed to make yourself heard. So Bill had someone read Mark 4:1-9, the parable of the sower, and he was about 75 yards away, and with a quick synchronization with the passing traffic, we could all hear the parable clearly. When Jesus told the parable He didn’t have to contest with automobiles, airplanes, or motor boats, so there would be no problem with having a huge crowd on the beach listening to His teaching.
Next place we hit was up to Capernaum to the traditional site of Peter’s house. This has a octagonal shaped church built on top of it, with a synagogue right next to it. This synagogue can be dated to the Roman times. It was built with limestone, a distinctly white stone, on top of all of the basalt, which is a black rock. Capernaum was the site where the Centurion, who asked Jesus to heal his son, help fund the building of the synagogue. We know that the Centurion had great faith because he was at least a days walk from his son, and Jesus recognizes it, and He tells the people around that there is no greater faith in the land than this Centurion. This causes a rejection of Christ because they were Jews and they didn’t have more faith than a Gentile? Unbelievable!
In between Tavgha and Capernaum is the Catholic site for the Sermon on the Mount. This monastery was built by Mussolini in 1939 and is a late tradition, but the site was probably closer to Bethsaida. We learn again that the “disagreement” in the gospels between Matthew and Luke, concerning the place of the Sermon on the Mount can easily be solved. In Luke, he says that they were on a flat place, but in Matthew says that it is on a mount. This can be solved by saying that there was a flat place on the mountain. This works but there is another possibility: Jesus wanted some privacy with His disciples, so He talked to them first on the flat place, and then moved to the masses on the mountain. We know that the Bible is the word of God and that it can not lie, because His word is true, so there must be an explanation.
We then went to Ginnosar, the place where there is a boat from the days of Jesus. This was amazing to see for a couple of different reasons. First off was the amazing amount of work that went into preserving this. It took 14 years for it to be on display. It was discovered in the 80’s and in 2000 it was put on display. They are not sure if it was a fishing boat or a transport boat, but either way it was amazing to see. And not coincidently the capacity of the boat is 12-13 people, so it can be presumed that this was the type of boat that Jesus and His disciples traveled in when they were on the Sea of Galilee.
After a long day, we had a lot of fun floating in inner tubes down the Upper Jordan River. All of us floated down probably for 45 minutes down the river enjoying the cool water and it was refreshing. It was the perfect way to end a great day of reviewing the Life of Christ. To actually think about where these miracles actually took place still blows my mind every time I think about it.
One of the first stops that we made was in between Capernaum and Hepta Pagon. This was no official spot where Jesus ministered or anything, but we stopped there so that Bill could make a point. If we look at the gospel of Mark, in chapter four Jesus was teaching beside the Sea of Galilee, and a very large crowd gathered about Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea and the whole crowd was on the beach listening. With such a great number of people listening in on Jesus’ teaching, Christ must have had a strong voice. But what really helped was the natural theater type affect that the bank of the sea made. There is not a lot of effort needed to make yourself heard. So Bill had someone read Mark 4:1-9, the parable of the sower, and he was about 75 yards away, and with a quick synchronization with the passing traffic, we could all hear the parable clearly. When Jesus told the parable He didn’t have to contest with automobiles, airplanes, or motor boats, so there would be no problem with having a huge crowd on the beach listening to His teaching.
Next place we hit was up to Capernaum to the traditional site of Peter’s house. This has a octagonal shaped church built on top of it, with a synagogue right next to it. This synagogue can be dated to the Roman times. It was built with limestone, a distinctly white stone, on top of all of the basalt, which is a black rock. Capernaum was the site where the Centurion, who asked Jesus to heal his son, help fund the building of the synagogue. We know that the Centurion had great faith because he was at least a days walk from his son, and Jesus recognizes it, and He tells the people around that there is no greater faith in the land than this Centurion. This causes a rejection of Christ because they were Jews and they didn’t have more faith than a Gentile? Unbelievable!
In between Tavgha and Capernaum is the Catholic site for the Sermon on the Mount. This monastery was built by Mussolini in 1939 and is a late tradition, but the site was probably closer to Bethsaida. We learn again that the “disagreement” in the gospels between Matthew and Luke, concerning the place of the Sermon on the Mount can easily be solved. In Luke, he says that they were on a flat place, but in Matthew says that it is on a mount. This can be solved by saying that there was a flat place on the mountain. This works but there is another possibility: Jesus wanted some privacy with His disciples, so He talked to them first on the flat place, and then moved to the masses on the mountain. We know that the Bible is the word of God and that it can not lie, because His word is true, so there must be an explanation.
We then went to Ginnosar, the place where there is a boat from the days of Jesus. This was amazing to see for a couple of different reasons. First off was the amazing amount of work that went into preserving this. It took 14 years for it to be on display. It was discovered in the 80’s and in 2000 it was put on display. They are not sure if it was a fishing boat or a transport boat, but either way it was amazing to see. And not coincidently the capacity of the boat is 12-13 people, so it can be presumed that this was the type of boat that Jesus and His disciples traveled in when they were on the Sea of Galilee.
After a long day, we had a lot of fun floating in inner tubes down the Upper Jordan River. All of us floated down probably for 45 minutes down the river enjoying the cool water and it was refreshing. It was the perfect way to end a great day of reviewing the Life of Christ. To actually think about where these miracles actually took place still blows my mind every time I think about it.
Service
As you know we visited the Jezreel Valley today, but there is so many things that happen that I cannot communicate everything. So I thought maybe today in addition to the field report I’d fill you in with a little bit of the more personal side of things.
Every week we go on a field trip. We sit in class on Friday and take a quiz over Wednesday’s field trip for the first half of class. Then we get a preview of the next weeks field trip. Monday comes around and we learn more about the theoretical side of the places that we are going to see on Wednesday. Then the real fun comes on Wednesday.
On any given Wednesday, Becky (one of the IBEX workers who is awesome), has made us all sack lunches, filled with the bountiful booty of the land. Such as pretzels, home made cookies/desserts, apple sauce, PB&J’s, turkey sandwiches, etc. We all have to have our lunch by 7:59 am in order to leave the Moshav by 8:00.
Today was no different. We left and spent the day just as I described it in the previous blog. But since this is the first night of the Galilee field trip, we spent the night in Nazareth at a Catholic convent. This convent has an amazing chapel and after dinner we all gathered into the chapel to sing. We have had awesome times singing in chapels in the past and why should this time be any different? Well let me tell you that it wasn’t different at all and it was an amazing time praising our Messiah, with my brothers and sisters.
When I say brothers and sisters I really mean it. Of course I can not know every person in the group with the depth that would like, but the people I do know and from what I’ve learned of every person, it is a privilege to worship with them. Every note that is sung by all the other 39 IBEX-ers is a blessing to my own soul. In Ephesians 1:4-6 it says, “In love He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.” And in verse 11 it says, “In Him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” Notice the US and the WE of these verses. This Christian life is not a solo thing. This Christian life is a “team effort” so to say. There is to be some sort of Christian community. We are all here for each other. And in being here for each other that means that we serve one another. Whatever the task is that falls under the umbrella of serving, that is what we need to do for one another. Not because we get something out of it, but because God calls us to do it.
A lot of the time I think that others should be serving me because I deserve it. What a load! I deserve nothing, which should make me want to serve even more. And the only reason that I was saved in the first place was to be given to Christ as a perfect bride, but not just me, the whole church. That is my brothers and sisters. That is my pastor and the children in Sunday school. Every person who has been saved, has been saved for one purpose only. And that is to glorify God, nothing else. Glorify God. And how do we do that? Colossians 3:17 “Whatever you do whether in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”
So I just wanted to thank all of my brothers and sisters for serving me tonight in a way that Colossians tells us to: sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, admonishing one another in wisdom. This is what Christian community should be doing. And I am thankful to be in a place that serves God by serving others.
Every week we go on a field trip. We sit in class on Friday and take a quiz over Wednesday’s field trip for the first half of class. Then we get a preview of the next weeks field trip. Monday comes around and we learn more about the theoretical side of the places that we are going to see on Wednesday. Then the real fun comes on Wednesday.
On any given Wednesday, Becky (one of the IBEX workers who is awesome), has made us all sack lunches, filled with the bountiful booty of the land. Such as pretzels, home made cookies/desserts, apple sauce, PB&J’s, turkey sandwiches, etc. We all have to have our lunch by 7:59 am in order to leave the Moshav by 8:00.
Today was no different. We left and spent the day just as I described it in the previous blog. But since this is the first night of the Galilee field trip, we spent the night in Nazareth at a Catholic convent. This convent has an amazing chapel and after dinner we all gathered into the chapel to sing. We have had awesome times singing in chapels in the past and why should this time be any different? Well let me tell you that it wasn’t different at all and it was an amazing time praising our Messiah, with my brothers and sisters.
When I say brothers and sisters I really mean it. Of course I can not know every person in the group with the depth that would like, but the people I do know and from what I’ve learned of every person, it is a privilege to worship with them. Every note that is sung by all the other 39 IBEX-ers is a blessing to my own soul. In Ephesians 1:4-6 it says, “In love He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.” And in verse 11 it says, “In Him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” Notice the US and the WE of these verses. This Christian life is not a solo thing. This Christian life is a “team effort” so to say. There is to be some sort of Christian community. We are all here for each other. And in being here for each other that means that we serve one another. Whatever the task is that falls under the umbrella of serving, that is what we need to do for one another. Not because we get something out of it, but because God calls us to do it.
A lot of the time I think that others should be serving me because I deserve it. What a load! I deserve nothing, which should make me want to serve even more. And the only reason that I was saved in the first place was to be given to Christ as a perfect bride, but not just me, the whole church. That is my brothers and sisters. That is my pastor and the children in Sunday school. Every person who has been saved, has been saved for one purpose only. And that is to glorify God, nothing else. Glorify God. And how do we do that? Colossians 3:17 “Whatever you do whether in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”
So I just wanted to thank all of my brothers and sisters for serving me tonight in a way that Colossians tells us to: sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, admonishing one another in wisdom. This is what Christian community should be doing. And I am thankful to be in a place that serves God by serving others.
Are you for REEL?
The most lush and beautiful part of Israel so far has been the Jezreel Valley. This is in the northern part of Israel, and there are several routes that we reviewed both in class and on the field. One big obstacle in traveling north to south and vice versa is Mt. Carmel. There are three different routes that you can take. And each one played a significant role in the history of Israel. The three passes are Jokneam, Megiddo, and Dothan.
The first place that we stopped was at the Megiddo pass. There was a lot of conflict that happened here at the site. We know some of the times because of biblical records. For instance in the time of Deborah and Barak in 1230 B.C. We read in Judges 4:14 that Barak went down from Mt Tabor with 10,000 men and fought the Canaanites who came from the Megiddo pass.
One other significant Event that happened here was involving Thutmose III. In effort to conquer the land, Thutmose was working his way north from Egypt, and he stopped in Yaham to have a war council. The rational for the meeting was to decide which route the Egyptians should take, for they had three: Jokneam, Megiddo, and Dothan. Because of the narrow opening to the Megiddo Pass the counselors told Thutmose to go anywhere but the Megiddo Pass. So, Thutmose sent out two decoy battalions, one up the Dothan Pass, and the other up the Jokneam Pass, and at the same time the Egyptians went up the Megiddo Pass and conquered Megiddo. This is an important site for the city because like any important cities in Israel, it controls the traffic.
The importance of the city can be seen in the archeology. There has been more than twenty inhabited layers found in archeological excavations. Some dating back to the middle bronze age, Solomon built this city up with great gates and palaces, but the funny thing is, there is none of the glory that remains. It really makes me think about where my treasure is going now on this earth, and to really think about where is what I’m investing in on this earth going to be in 300 years. There will be no remnant of it!
We then saw a rolling stone tomb that dated to 135 A.D. but was probably the same model as the one Jesus was buried in. This was great because we harmonized the gospel accounts of the resurrection by acting out the whole ordeal. Some people find it very difficult to account for everything that happened in the Gospels, but we did because we were flexible and allowed for humanity to play a role. There were probably at least 5 people who visited Jesus’ tomb that morning, all from different social status’ and different backgrounds. And the ladies told different things because they all witnessed different things all at different times. We must not forget that even though things might not line up exactly as we would think, there is no contradiction or lie in the Bible.
One of the great places that we stopped was Mt. Carmel. This was the mountain where Elijah, in I Kings 18, defeats the prophets of Baal. But more importantly Yahweh defeats Baal. This again brings to attention that it is not man who is fighting the battles, but God. Another great story about that exact thing is in Judges 7. This is where 32,000 men were gathered to fight the Midianites. But the Lord told Gideon that he had to many men for Him to deliver them into Gideon’s hand. So Gideon told the men that if they wanted to, they could go home, and 22,000 men left, leaving 10,000 men. But the Lord said that was too many. So at the Harod Spring, where we visited, Gideon had them drink and the Lord said to keep the men who lapped the water like a dog. And that was 300 men. This was exactly what the Lord wanted. Yahweh is fighting the battle. God did not want the Israelites to say that it was on account of their number and strength that the Midianites were defeated, the glory was to be to God.
There are many other stories and events that happened here in the Jezreel Valley, but these are the ones that stuck out to me today. All of these events clearly show the faithfulness of God. His mercies are new every morning and we can never end praising His name!
The first place that we stopped was at the Megiddo pass. There was a lot of conflict that happened here at the site. We know some of the times because of biblical records. For instance in the time of Deborah and Barak in 1230 B.C. We read in Judges 4:14 that Barak went down from Mt Tabor with 10,000 men and fought the Canaanites who came from the Megiddo pass.
One other significant Event that happened here was involving Thutmose III. In effort to conquer the land, Thutmose was working his way north from Egypt, and he stopped in Yaham to have a war council. The rational for the meeting was to decide which route the Egyptians should take, for they had three: Jokneam, Megiddo, and Dothan. Because of the narrow opening to the Megiddo Pass the counselors told Thutmose to go anywhere but the Megiddo Pass. So, Thutmose sent out two decoy battalions, one up the Dothan Pass, and the other up the Jokneam Pass, and at the same time the Egyptians went up the Megiddo Pass and conquered Megiddo. This is an important site for the city because like any important cities in Israel, it controls the traffic.
The importance of the city can be seen in the archeology. There has been more than twenty inhabited layers found in archeological excavations. Some dating back to the middle bronze age, Solomon built this city up with great gates and palaces, but the funny thing is, there is none of the glory that remains. It really makes me think about where my treasure is going now on this earth, and to really think about where is what I’m investing in on this earth going to be in 300 years. There will be no remnant of it!
We then saw a rolling stone tomb that dated to 135 A.D. but was probably the same model as the one Jesus was buried in. This was great because we harmonized the gospel accounts of the resurrection by acting out the whole ordeal. Some people find it very difficult to account for everything that happened in the Gospels, but we did because we were flexible and allowed for humanity to play a role. There were probably at least 5 people who visited Jesus’ tomb that morning, all from different social status’ and different backgrounds. And the ladies told different things because they all witnessed different things all at different times. We must not forget that even though things might not line up exactly as we would think, there is no contradiction or lie in the Bible.
One of the great places that we stopped was Mt. Carmel. This was the mountain where Elijah, in I Kings 18, defeats the prophets of Baal. But more importantly Yahweh defeats Baal. This again brings to attention that it is not man who is fighting the battles, but God. Another great story about that exact thing is in Judges 7. This is where 32,000 men were gathered to fight the Midianites. But the Lord told Gideon that he had to many men for Him to deliver them into Gideon’s hand. So Gideon told the men that if they wanted to, they could go home, and 22,000 men left, leaving 10,000 men. But the Lord said that was too many. So at the Harod Spring, where we visited, Gideon had them drink and the Lord said to keep the men who lapped the water like a dog. And that was 300 men. This was exactly what the Lord wanted. Yahweh is fighting the battle. God did not want the Israelites to say that it was on account of their number and strength that the Midianites were defeated, the glory was to be to God.
There are many other stories and events that happened here in the Jezreel Valley, but these are the ones that stuck out to me today. All of these events clearly show the faithfulness of God. His mercies are new every morning and we can never end praising His name!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
The Chronic-What?-cles of Samaria
Samaria
Our adventures today were mostly centered around Samaria and the Sharon Plain. This is north west of Jerusalem, but south of Mt Carmel. We saw many thought provoking, sites that made you dwell on the glory of God, and the plan that God had to save the world. To start the day we headed straight to Shiloh. Shiloh has two major biblical passages that we looked at so that we could understand the events. First, we need to look at Joshua 18:1-10, 19:51. This passage is where the Tabernacle of the Lord, where the Ark of the Covenant and the table with the showbread, and the altar of incense all stayed. The Tabernacle was set up at Shiloh and the Israelites came there for the apportioning of the territories. Shiloh also remained an important center from this time through the period of the judges.
The Tabernacle would logically be placed at the north end of the city because of the geography. There are valleys that run behind the city and on the side. But more importantly there is some biblical evidence for that. In I Samuel 1-4, when the news that the Ark had been captured, Eli the Priest heard all of the commotion down in the city. So we can assume from that, that the way into the city would have been from the south. And with the layout of the land, this is most probable. And as the story goes, Eli was extremely fat because he was taking the Lord’s fat portion, and when he heard the news, he fell backwards broke his neck and died.
Also in I Samuel we have the story of Hannah, a barren woman who prays to the Lord for a child. When she was praying close to the Tabernacle, Eli the Priest thought that she was drunk for she was praying while just moving her lips and not an audible prayer. Hannah prays for a son and says that she would dedicate him to the Lord. So when God answered her prayer, she gave birth to Samuel, and after he was weaned she dedicated him to the Lord and he grew up to be a judge.
After Shiloh, we made our way to Mt Gerezim with a view down to Shechem and across the valley Mt Ebal. This is the site that impacted me the most. In our Life of Christ class we had just covered the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and one of the first things He does on His whirlwind tour of Israel, He stops in Shechem. During this stop, Jesus talks to a Samaritan woman, and asks her for some water. He continues to tell her that He is the living water, and later in the conversation, claims to be the Messiah. To see the place where this exchange of words happened was unreal to me. I couldn’t stop thinking about how clear Jesus was when He said that He was the Messiah. Because He was so clear, the woman and many more came to be saved in that village. Sometimes I think about how many people would just believe because the message is so clear. I ask myself, “Why don’t they believe? It is so clear!!!” But then I have to remind myself that I did not believe, and the only reason I do believe now is because Christ opened my eyes to the truth.
Soon after that, we went to Caesarea, the port town that Herod the Great built up. This was a beautiful beach city. This is where Paul was brought and shipped out to Rome from. There is some argument that this is where Paul wrote the prison epistles. This is also the place where Herod Agrippa, in Acts 12, was persecuting Christians. James had already been killed at the time and Peter was in prison. And after he made a speech God allowed him to die… a harsh death.
Hospitality can be summed up in one word: Naiel. This is the name of our bus driver who is an Arab believer in Jesus the Messiah. After a long, long day, we are talking thirteen hours, he invited us over for dinner at his house. Feeding one family of eight is an undertaking, but feeding 50 people is something that people don’t just beg to do every day! But he was kind enough to bring us all to his house and make us all dinner. We had some Arab pizza, and fresh pita with chicken. It was very good. Naiel is the man, and we are all thankful for him and his hospitality to us by showing us God’s love in that way. So thank you.
And I'm sorry that there are not any pictures on here. I tried 3 times to put some up but there was some sort of error.
Our adventures today were mostly centered around Samaria and the Sharon Plain. This is north west of Jerusalem, but south of Mt Carmel. We saw many thought provoking, sites that made you dwell on the glory of God, and the plan that God had to save the world. To start the day we headed straight to Shiloh. Shiloh has two major biblical passages that we looked at so that we could understand the events. First, we need to look at Joshua 18:1-10, 19:51. This passage is where the Tabernacle of the Lord, where the Ark of the Covenant and the table with the showbread, and the altar of incense all stayed. The Tabernacle was set up at Shiloh and the Israelites came there for the apportioning of the territories. Shiloh also remained an important center from this time through the period of the judges.
The Tabernacle would logically be placed at the north end of the city because of the geography. There are valleys that run behind the city and on the side. But more importantly there is some biblical evidence for that. In I Samuel 1-4, when the news that the Ark had been captured, Eli the Priest heard all of the commotion down in the city. So we can assume from that, that the way into the city would have been from the south. And with the layout of the land, this is most probable. And as the story goes, Eli was extremely fat because he was taking the Lord’s fat portion, and when he heard the news, he fell backwards broke his neck and died.
Also in I Samuel we have the story of Hannah, a barren woman who prays to the Lord for a child. When she was praying close to the Tabernacle, Eli the Priest thought that she was drunk for she was praying while just moving her lips and not an audible prayer. Hannah prays for a son and says that she would dedicate him to the Lord. So when God answered her prayer, she gave birth to Samuel, and after he was weaned she dedicated him to the Lord and he grew up to be a judge.
After Shiloh, we made our way to Mt Gerezim with a view down to Shechem and across the valley Mt Ebal. This is the site that impacted me the most. In our Life of Christ class we had just covered the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and one of the first things He does on His whirlwind tour of Israel, He stops in Shechem. During this stop, Jesus talks to a Samaritan woman, and asks her for some water. He continues to tell her that He is the living water, and later in the conversation, claims to be the Messiah. To see the place where this exchange of words happened was unreal to me. I couldn’t stop thinking about how clear Jesus was when He said that He was the Messiah. Because He was so clear, the woman and many more came to be saved in that village. Sometimes I think about how many people would just believe because the message is so clear. I ask myself, “Why don’t they believe? It is so clear!!!” But then I have to remind myself that I did not believe, and the only reason I do believe now is because Christ opened my eyes to the truth.
Soon after that, we went to Caesarea, the port town that Herod the Great built up. This was a beautiful beach city. This is where Paul was brought and shipped out to Rome from. There is some argument that this is where Paul wrote the prison epistles. This is also the place where Herod Agrippa, in Acts 12, was persecuting Christians. James had already been killed at the time and Peter was in prison. And after he made a speech God allowed him to die… a harsh death.
Hospitality can be summed up in one word: Naiel. This is the name of our bus driver who is an Arab believer in Jesus the Messiah. After a long, long day, we are talking thirteen hours, he invited us over for dinner at his house. Feeding one family of eight is an undertaking, but feeding 50 people is something that people don’t just beg to do every day! But he was kind enough to bring us all to his house and make us all dinner. We had some Arab pizza, and fresh pita with chicken. It was very good. Naiel is the man, and we are all thankful for him and his hospitality to us by showing us God’s love in that way. So thank you.
And I'm sorry that there are not any pictures on here. I tried 3 times to put some up but there was some sort of error.
En Gedi Trip...
I know I probably will never face such distress like David did when he was fleeing from Saul. I am sure that my enemies will not camp around me. But in my minuscule trials I will find my rest in God.
Sometimes, while reading the Psalms, I can not envision what the circumstances are like. This past Saturday and Sunday I got the opportunity to see firsthand what conditions David was probably in. On Shabbat we all piled in the bus and headed for En Gedi, the spring of the wild goat. It is a city on the banks of the dead sea on the west side of the lake about halfway down. The terrain that surrounds this place is extreme. The dead sea sits about 1300 feet below sea level. And on the east side there is the trans Jordanian plateau that is over 2000 foot climb, and on the west of En Gedi there are jagged peaks and the Ascent of Ziz which leads to Techoa (Close to the Herodian) And we had the chance to hike a little bit of the ascent. The whole area is harsh terrain. With the smell of sulfur in the air and the blazing sun beating down on you like an angry parent, there is little which one can find relief in. Except, in the spring of the wild goat. In David's time, when he was fleeing in the wilderness, there were no camel packs, no ice makers, no refrigerators, no sunblock... he was the real mountain man! So much more would this spring be refreshing to his soul. And we can understand when he talks about as the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after You God. This has become more real to me, because after walking up the mountain I was longing for water, but no matter how thirsty I am, that is nothing compared to how I need to be longing after God.
When David says that God is his refuge, and that He gives him shade, he is really tapping into some serious analogies. Being in the place where David was writing these things was amazing because there is little shade in the land, except in the ravines. We hiked down one, and the temperature must have dropped by at least 10 degrees. It was so nice to have some shade from the sun.
God is good, and in his wisdom let David recognize these simple illustrations of the glory of God, in the midst of seemingly dire circumstances. And God is good to let me see the circumstances that David was in when he wrote them. Psalm 18,56,57,63.
In addition to the hike, we all got to swim in the Dead Sea! It was amazing! You really can not sink. I felt like I needed to be putting forth a lot more effort than I was to be able to float the way I was. After swimming, we made a fire on the beach, and Abner gave a devotional on David and the Psalms, and when he was the moon was rising up over the Trans Jordanian Plateau. I took some pictures that I'll post, but it doesn't look like the moon, it looks like a sunrise. But if you look closely you'll be able to see the stars in addition to the moon that looks like the sun.
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