Calvary Church goes to Israel!
We just landed after a 15 hour flight home. We are waiting for the church vans to come pick us up so we can get home. The trip was amazing and we all have lots to share, but I think for now we’re just aching to see family.
Maybe we’ll post some pics here later or check our facebook pages.
We have seen so much of Jerusalem these past few days. It is amazing to walk where Jesus walked and have some quiet moments in the Garden of Gethsemene or see the place Jesus was beaten and died for us. We finish our visit here at the Tomb (It’s Empty!).
Yesterday was the adventure day. We hiked to the top of Masada and then hiked to the falls of En Geidi where David cut a piece off of Saul’s robe while Saul was relieving himself. The oasis of En Geidi is so beautiful nestled in a canyon in the middle of the Judean Desert running into the Dead Sea. We jumped in one of the upper pools and swam in the fresh spring water where David could have swam. Then we saw Qumran and read a few Psalms as we ascended into Jerusalem.
Today I had two incredible moments as a pastor. I had the amazing privilege to preach God’s Word in two mind-blowing locations – one at the beginning of Jesus’ life and one near the end.
The first spot was near the end of Jesus’ life in the Garden of Gethsemane. Surrounded by Olive Trees in the space that the garden would have been I preached on Matthew 26:36-56 which is the story of Jesus praying three times with His disciples falling asleep and then the story of His arrest. I began to well up and cry as I talked about His great sorrow at knowing the face of the Father would be turned from Him when He bore the sin of the world. As we sang a few worship songs afterwards most of the group was in tears and we were all overwhelmed with the emotion of the location and the great love of our Savior.
The second spot was in the Shepherd’s Fields looking towards the city of Bethlehem. I was able to read Luke 2:1-20 and preach about the birth of the Messiah. I mentioned how at Calvary we try really hard to have great backdrops and set designs for our sermons, but this was the ultimate backdrop. Preaching the story of the angels, shepherds and baby Jesus with Bethlehem and the shepherd’s fields as the backdrop. SO AWESOME!!
We had great teachings from Matt at the top of the Mount of Olives and Brent at the Pool of Bethesda as well today. We also saw portions of the actual Dead Sea Scrolls today and the next oldest Bible in the world. Pretty amazing confirmation of the validity of God’s Word. A first century scroll and a 1,000 year old Bible that are almost exactly to the word the same. Very affirming.
Thanks for praying for us. See you all soon!
Eric Wakeling
So tonight is our last night in the north, in Golan Heights. Tomorrow we leave our kibbutz at Kefar Blum and head south for the Dead Sea. Our first stop is at Beit-She’an. This was one of the cities in the Decapolis and the place where King Saul’s body was placed after he took his life on Mount Gilboa. We’ll be going to float in the Dead Sea and seeing Masada, Ein Gedi and Qumran.
Looking back on our day today, we spent the morning at Caesarea Philippi where Brent shared an awesome message from Matthew 16. Then we hiked through the tel Dan nature reserve and learned about Jeroboam’s altar (1 Kings 12-13), saw a 4000 year old mud gate that Abraham most likely walked through on his way to liberate Lot (Genesis 14) and we saw an old Canaanite gate and read through Ruth 4 and 2 Kings 18-19.
It’s been such a great trip so far. We are having lots of fun and at the same time still learning a ton, which brings me to my next topic.
In preparation for our time to the Dead Sea, I thought it would be fun to watch the spectacular hit movie called, “Masada,” starring Peter O’Toole. I saw it a LONG time ago and remembered, well, honestly, not much. So, I found the movie in a little movie shop in a mall and it was in English with Hebrew subtitles. We got a larger sized room in the hotel and decided to show it at 8:30pm. It was HORRIBLE. People were asking me how long it was but everything was written in Hebrew so we didn’t know. We finally found out that it was an “epic series” that was roughly 6-7 hours. I decided to just show the last part of the movie giving everyone a “flavor” for the story and get them excited about our upcoming visit. The movie was SO out of date, SO corny and had lots of scenes that just were not appropriate. Everyone was making fun of it and me. Even our dear, quiet Rand lost it several times in outbursts of laugher. So, after about 30 minutes of trying to sit through it, trying to fast forward to the “better” parts, we gave up and are not attempting to go to bed.
I’m still learning. Maybe Hollywood will make a better version.
Pray for our safety tomorrow as we travel down and drive a good portion of the country in less than 3 hours. More from the Dead Sea!!!
Matt
We did some hiking today in the Dan area. Here’s a view of Banyas Falls near the beginning of the Jordan River.
Just worshipping the Lord for our Sunday morning service on the Sea of Galilee.
Megiddo is in the Armageddon Valley and we hiked down 183 stairs to the spring mentioned in Judges 5.
Standing at the place along the Sea of Galilee where Jesus asked Peter if he loved him three times and cooked him breakfast.
The group from atop Mt. Arbel looking over the Sea of Galilee. Most of us enjoyed the harrowing hike down the mountain. The group is having a great time together and enjoying seeing the Bible come alive.
Some of us had more fun than others heading down the hill. Guess who was terrified?
The iPhone is great. Yesterday I sent an update as we were driving through Nazareth. It was quick, but we found a wifi signal while sitting in an intersection in traffic in Nazareth, busted out the iPhone and let you all know where we were at. This morning I am writing from our hotel in Galilee, on the shores of Tiberius. We leave this place today and take with us memories of Jesus’ life and ministry and take in the beautiful surroundings.
We are headed to the north today toward the Golan Heights. We’ll be going to a place called Gamla, Kazrin and to Mount Bental, an abandoned Syrian bunker from the 1967 war, where we will overlook Syria and toward Damascus.
We gotta go, eat breakfast and load the bus. Tonight we’ll post pics from our adventures today!
Matt
