Lessons from Israel
Ryan reports that his mission trip to Israel was a blessing for all Involved.. Even though they did not preach at a large event as planned, God worked behind the scenes to bless Israeli citizens and soldiers. Ryan’s group Ambassadors and Embassies, teamed up with students from Calvary Bible College of Jerusalem to hand out gifts and to speak one on one with the soldiers and citizens in several communities. God worked miraculously to save and baptize new believers in water and in the Holy Spirit. This is the same way that the Word of God moved after the day of Pentecost: from person to person and from house to house.
To spread the gospel in Israel, God calls believers to minister on both sides of the “wall” on the Israeli side and on the Palestinian side. Jesus Christ is the one who reconciles both sides of the divide. Born-again Arab Christians in the West Bank are persecuted and outcast from mainline Arab culture. However, Israeli and Arab Christians find a common bond in the gospel of Christ and in the love of God. “Honor killings” are common in the West Bank. Believers know by experience Jesus’ message, “blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you for my sake, for great is your reward in heaven.” True believers of the true gospel bring the message of the love of God: “Love your enemies, bless them that persecute you.” In Israel, believers live in the midst of the physical as well as the spiritual battle. Following Christ and having freedom in Christ in Israel is a matter of life and death.
The message of the gospel is unknown by so many people. The gospel message of deliverance will be received when those who hear it are broken and overwhelmed by the pain and tribulation of this world. To understand salvation, they understand that from which they need to be saved. In Israel, they are acutely aware of tribulation and persecution. As Christians, when we come to the Lord, we give up the freedom of our own will. To become a Christian means that my will is subject to the Lord’s Sovreign will. Jesus quoted the purpose of the Messiah’s coming is in Isaiah 61. “THE Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD…”
Jesus quoted this passage from Isaiah in Matthew 4:17. “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The gospel of repentance is the good news of salvation. Jesus came to set the prisoners free…to deliver them from the bondage of the kingdom of darkness into the glorious light of the gospel of peace. The church is not defined by the culture. Kingdoms move when the king moves. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. The question is, Who is your king? Are you bound to the kingdom of this world or are you bound to the king of heaven?
The kingdom of darkness uses four areas of bondage to bind its subjects: fear, pride, guilt and shame. We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness from on high. As Martin Luther wrote, in the great hymn, “A Might Fortress is Our God:”
For still our Ancient Foe,
Doth seek to work us woe.
His craft and power are great,
And armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide,
our battle would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side,
The man of God’s own choosing.
Doth ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus it is he….And he must win the battle.
Only the Lord can overcome the enemy. In the power of Christ, no weapon formed against us shall prevail. These are lessons learned in Israel and unto the “uttermost parts of the earth” as we minister to those of us who are grafted into the the olive tree of Israel.
May God richly bless you!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael