Happy Lord’s Day!

Only a few days ago our tour group was soaking in all the Lord had to pour out as we walked the land of the Bible. As I focus on Him today with praise and thanksgiving, I am filled with immense joy that He hand-picked 24 beautiful souls, a wonderful tour guide and a gracious bus driver to form a tour family I was so incredibly blessed to lead. Our fellowship continues, but it is time to close out our tour rewind here.

To do so, I want to focus on two things. First, the faithfulness of God. During our orientation meeting, I promised the group we would experience clear evidence of God’s faithfulness, both to the land and people of Israel, and to us as followers of Yeshua. It is never difficult to make a promise based on God’s Word, so I was confident our Lord would “show up” in ways none of us ever imagined. And that, He did!

His faithfulness brought all our tour guests into Israel despite the US government shutdown that snarled air traffic and forced many delays and rerouted flights. All eventually arrived safely, and we did not miss a single event on our itinerary. That was only the beginning! Every site seemed to shout of God’s faithfulness, and it was clear that the nation of Israel would not exist without it. Nor would any of us walk in the peace and joy of Yeshua without His faithfulness to us.

Each person on our tour has a testimony of God’s faithfulness that came alive in Israel. I hope you will ask them to share with you.

The second focal point for today is this: Fully embracing a Biblical worldview is absolutely essential to survival in today’s world filled with lawlessness, deception and delusion. The Bible warns of it in passages such as 2 Thessalonians 2:5-12, 2 Peter 2, 1 John 2:18-29 and 2 Timothy 3:1-9. The world foments lies about Jesus, about His chosen land, and His chosen people. We were just there, staring truth in the face. That truth must be embraced.

God uniquely call a special people to be the vehicle of world redemption, and a special land to be the garage it parked in! Not because Israel or the Jewish people “deserve it” or have “earned it.” Not because they are perfect. But because God chose it! We all need redemption, and God knew just how to provide it. No Jews, no Jesus. No Jesus, no salvation.

No one who claims the name of Jesus can hate what God loves and love what God hates. We must love whom He loves. We must stand for the nation and the people He loves. We must not be caught up in the deception of the world regarding Israel. We may not agree with everything their government or their people do, but as Christians, we are commanded to bless Israel (Genesis 12:3), pray for Israel (Psalm 122:6-9, Isaiah 62), comfort Israel (Isaiah 40:1-2), and stand with Israel (Ezekiel 33).

Thank you so much for joining us on the journey. You, too, have become family in a different way, and you are welcome in our living room! My prayer is that you have been blessed in the journey with us.

You are invited to continue following this blog. Outside of tour updates, we focus on providing Biblical insight to world events, particularly as they relate to Israel and Bible prophecy.

Finally, if you have never been to Israel, go! Of course, we would love for you to join us on a One for Israel tour. You can find more information at One for Israel Study Tours. Hope to see you in Israel some day!