Walking with Jesus

Passover. I know a lot of Christians who are interested in Passover (the word actually means "to cover" in the same way we say we are "covered" by the blood of Christ.) These followers of Jesus want to know about the Old Testament roots of our faith. After all, Jesus, our Lord and Savior, was Jewish. The majority of our Scriptures are Jewish or written by Jews. In fact, when Paul says, "All scripture is God-breathed..." [ 2 Timothy 3:16 ] he is refering to the Old Testament. Additionally, God is doing a great work among the Jews and Israelis around the world in our day, bringing them to an understanding of Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah. I've been told there are more Jewish believers in Jesus today than in all the last 19 centuries combined. Combined with the emergence of Modern Israel and the relity that Jesus was Jewish, it only makes sense that so many followers of Jesus should be interested in Judaism and its relationship to Christianity. ...

I love Israel. I have for years... decades actually. I have friends who live and work there. I believe those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Issael will be cursed. I believe in their right to exist and that God still has a special place for them in His plan because of His faithfulness. In fact, His faithfulness to me as a Christian would be in doubt if He decided that Israel no longer mattered. Genesis 15 tells us clearly that the whole burden of God’s covenant lies upon God Himself. Moreover, the pledge that he makes there (that the failure of the Covenant calls for the death of God) is a picture of the Crucifixion of Jesus. That covenant does fail, multiple times, because God’s covenant people are a mess. In fact, they are still a mess. They provide free abortions for female soldiers, they empower idolatry in the practice of Hasidic Judaism, and they generally exclude non-Jews from membership in their community. Remember, I am saying all this as someone who l...

If you haven't been keeping up through our emails or through Olivia's blog , then I ought to tell you that Olivia and I are in Israel right now. We're been here since Wednesday and are having a lot of fun doing this trip together, and have met adventure after adventure with joy and lightheartedness. Seriously, how else could we survive? Olivia has some great shots and stories on her blog , but I have a thought I'd like to share here: One of the things I've observed about Olivia is how freely she engages the society and culture here. She has a natural exuberance that seems to cross the barriers others find so intimidating. She's so 'in-the-moment!' In fact, I've decided that I want to be more like her in this. So, please go check out her blog (because it's late, and I'm too tired and happy to sit here writing all night!) :-)

Israel’s story begins 367 years after the Flood of Noah. God promised a homeland to the descendants of Abram the Hebrew (Abraham) in Genesis 12:7. But, the Bible tells us that the Canaanites, descendants of Ham, had already begun to live in the land. They maintained control until the Israelites entered the land 685 years after the promise under Joshua. This followed 400 years in Egypt and 40 years of wandering in the Sinai Peninsula with Moses. The tribes of Israel lived with Philistines and Canaanites mixed among them in a confederate government until the establishment of Saul as the first King of Israel. His Kingdom then went to David; whose son Solomon completed the famed Temple of YHWH almost 450 years after Joshua conquered the Land. After Solomon died, the Kingdom was divided into two portions, which warred with neighbors and with each other for hundreds of years. The northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria in 721 B.C. The Southern Kingdom of Judah fell to Babylon 135...