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85. Israel Recap with James · 4-Freedom Podcast

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Welcome back to the for Freedom podcast.
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This is your host James safer today and I'm bringing you a
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special episode today of the for Freedom podcast, that episode is
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going to be a recap of Israel. I had the opportunity to go to
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Israel. John's not able to be here with
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me today. He had some other things going
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on and so we are doing a solo episode was one of my only ones
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that I've done. I think to my knowledge of just
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me on here talking with the microphone and so I'm just going
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to share with you a little bit of Our experience what we did
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while we were there and some highlights, some things that
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stood out to me, some places that were emotional for me and
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just sort of share my heart with you today and so buckle in get,
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ready? And here we go.
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Welcome to the for Freedom podcast, I found my friend.
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This Exists to bring the freedom of the gospel for every day
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Christians with everyday issue. Now, here are your hosts John
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hollifield and Jade sacred Welcome.
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And so, I'm so glad to be able to come to you today to talk
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about this amazing experience myself, and I'm only 36 other
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people. Went to Israel on the RFP,
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Israel trip. And when I say it was
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life-changing, when I say that, it was emotional, when I say
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that it changed every aspect of the way, I read my Bible, the
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way I interact with Jesus on a daily basis, did all of those
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things. And so I highly recommend you.
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You going, we're actually planning a trip me and a good
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friend of mine. Brett Martin, who went with us,
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is planning a trip for the first week of March of 20 24.
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March first to ninth, when we have an information that will
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put out on our Facebook page about that.
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And so, if you're looking to go on a trip, we would love for you
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to join us. We'll have all the details and
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financial stuff out on our website.
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Here soon for you to enjoy that time with us, I'm talking John
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trying to talk John into going with us.
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Sort of having a little for Freedom trip to go but you know,
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he's a busy guy and I don't know if he'll be able to do that but
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I want to share some of the highlights with you today.
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I want to share some of the things that impacted me.
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So I'm just going to walk through each of our days and
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talk about each of the events. We went to, we flew into turkey
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and then Tel Aviv. And then we got on a bus late
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that night and drove to the Sea of Galilee stayed in Galilee
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Hotel there. And then the next day we woke up
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and and our first day was probably one of our busiest most
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impactful days. As far as the amount of sites.
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We went to see, we crammed a lot in that day and of course,
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they've crammed a lot in for this trip because it was just
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pastors and so they wanted us to get as much as we possibly could
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in the time that we were there. And so when we begin that first
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day, we drove to caesarea Philippi this is where Jesus
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gave his one of his famous sermons of how the gates of
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hell. Would not Prevail against him as
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The Rock and when Peter answered you are the Christ, the son of
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the Living. God, he said this is the
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statement that is going to with defeat Hell and Hell cannot come
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against it. And so, when we begin to sit
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there and we saw this, this, this massive place, this rock
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mounted area, had a temple, that was built there for the Temple
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of pan, just where you could see in the mountains, where they
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would have places where they would put their Idols where they
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would come and they would worship there.
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And Jesus is basically, when he's there, he's given this
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great phenomenal point where he's saying these Idols are not
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the god that you should be trusting, you should be trusting
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in me the son of the Living. God who's going to come to take
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away the sins of the world? And so what a powerful time when
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we had there from there, we drove to the Mount of
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Beatitudes. Some of the sites we went to
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were archaeological sites such as the caesarea Philippi.
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We knew that's where it's always been at.
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It was After Philip one of herod's sons, I believe is what
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it was. And so those archaeological
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site, some are traditional sites where people have said this is
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where it is, and then some are just speculative, we're just
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going to put a place there and so will try to tell you that as
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we go. But we were able to go to the
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next place which is the Mount of Beatitudes.
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This is where Jesus gave his one of his famous sermons on the
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attitudes that we should have blessed are those who hunger and
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thirst, after righteousness, for their name shall be.
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Their namesake. And so he went through this and
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it was on this theoretical mountain and where they believe
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this would have been at. And so, what have one of the
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things that about this mountains particular, for me, was to
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notice the amount of the streets in the roads that were so near
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by it and how people could have come there.
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And people could have, would have seen this crowd Gathering
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and would have naturally gravitated toward their.
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So Jesus pick places that were people would have seen Borat,
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normally he began teaching in these places and so the next
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place we went to his place called Capernaum.
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This is the town where Jesus spent a lot of his time is
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called the city of Jesus. And so in Capernaum, we see tons
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of archaeological evidence. There's a Temple there from the
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4th Century Byzantine error which would have been placed on
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top and there's archaeological evidence that was placed on top
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of the synagogue was built. On top of it that would have
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dated back to the first century synagogue.
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Where Jesus would have I've taught when it said they're
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Jesus left. The synagogue and went across
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the street to Peter's house and healed Peters mother-in-law.
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So, we were in the place where Peter was at.
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Lots of his disciples, many disciples came from the city of
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Capernaum, which was just a stone's, throw away from
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Galilee. Just a stone's, throw away from
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tiberias just a half a day, walk around the Sea of Galilee and so
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very close very close to each other in the sense of where it
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was It. And this was where tons of tons
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of things happened in Capernaum. And it was great to be able to
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see that and stand on a place where Jesus was that we went to
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the feeding at where the, I believe the feeding of the five
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thousand happened where they had Peters recall to Ministry where
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they believe that Jesus would have broke bread that morning
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and he called Peter and said or you will, you do love me feed my
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sheep that that famous intercourse there between those
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two and that this is the belief site.
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It's there. We went to and then the last two
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things we did that day was we went to the city of magdala,
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this is where Mary Magdalene was from.
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This was one of the sites on this day, particularly that
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impacted me very, very much. It was a site that when it was
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uncovered back in the 70s, I believe it was a site that had
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not really been touched since the first century and there was
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a synagogue that was there. One of the scroll Stones where
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they would have laid, the Scrolls that was discovered
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things. One of only three that have ever
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been discovered, and this, this was a place of synagogue, where
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it says in the Bible, where Jesus taught in all the
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synagogue's surrounding the Sea of Galilee.
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This would have been a synagogue that Jesus taught in.
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And they begin to see the, the well, that was their magdala.
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Where Mary Magdalene was from began to see, just how people
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lived the architectural the, the Tones.
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The type, the titles, that, I mean, just the amazing amount of
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intricacy that was done in this time was so incredible to see.
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But it was humbling to know that Jesus stood in that synagogue,
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he taught in the synagogue that was there that has recently been
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uncovered. And then the city there were
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Jesus would have walked through those streets would have talked
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to people through those streets would have been incredible and
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it was incredible for us to be able to walk On those same
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places. The last thing we were able to
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do that day. We wrapped up that whole day we
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went and got on a boat, we sell it out into the middle of the
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Sea of Galilee. And the Sea of Galilee is not as
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big as what we would imagine. You know, around here I've got
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lakes that are two, three, four times.
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The size of the Sea of Galilee, you can pretty much see any
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point of the Sea of Galilee from another point on the Sea of
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Galilee. And so we're out there and
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Couple things that stood out to me, one, the city of Tiberius
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was over to our left. We got a picture of it on
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Facebook and this sea of tiberias are up.
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Sorry Tiberius was lit up. And my first thought was, that
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would have been the site where Jesus said a city on a hill
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cannot be hid Jesus. Give a practical illustration
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there of this city that couldn't be hit and then being out there
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seeing all the other places that were around the Sea of Galilee.
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Again, you can see the size of How these places were so close
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to each other, were the fame of Jesus, the word of Jesus would
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have spread so quickly during trade and commerce.
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When people were interacting with each other in the last
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thing as we were there on the Sea of Galilee, Nathan cravat,
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got up, and was able to give a sermon on fear and not being
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fearful in our walk with Christ and just an amazing powerful way
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to end the day, they're on the Sea of Galilee and so I just
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great time there. The second day we got, We went
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to the first stop, which would have been the Galilean boat.
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This was a boat, that was discovered, just a couple of
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years ago. 20, 30 years ago, I think, or maybe 40 years ago,
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I'm not sure exactly, sure on the date and it took 14 years to
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excavate it, but it was discovered during a drought
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season in the Sea of Galilee. And these two brothers have
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discovered this boat that dated back to the first century, which
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gave us a huge picture of what the Boating architecture would
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have looked like, when Jesus would have been there when it
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said Jesus pushed out a little further from the, from the See
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from the bank, to be able to get away from the crowds to teach
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the crowds. This would've been one of those
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boats. And so we got to see that we
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went to the Mount of precipice. This is the Mount which is in
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Nazareth, right side of Nazareth, where Jesus taught in
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the synagogue and the people rejected him for teaching that
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he was the son of God. His own town rejected him and
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they took him up to the Mount of precipice, in order to throw him
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off in order to kill him. And it said Jesus, miraculously
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passed through them. And while we were up there now,
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JC gave a sermon where it said or he made this statement and it
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stuck with me ever since I've shared with other people.
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But he said this, he said Jesus was the Savior that they needed.
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He I'm sorry Jesus wasn't the savior, they wanted but he was
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the Savior that he knew they needed.
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And the so powerful to think about they they wanted someone
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to come and overthrow Rome, they wanted someone to come and be
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the military leader. That's what they were wanting
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and Jesus came. And he preached a message of
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Peace, a message of forgiveness. A message that said if a Roman
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soldier comes to you and he asked you to carry his bag, pick
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it up and take it another mile, taking another Mile and
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encourage them to serve the people that were around them.
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And this is the place where he was at the historical sites.
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At the top of this mountain. Our God said, this would have
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been Jesus background backyard, it's where he played at and to
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be able to see that in to experience, that was an amazing.
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Amazing sight. You can't read the gospels and
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them be The same after being there.
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Next, we went to Gideon spring, this is the supposed to Spring
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of where Gideon's Army came to narrow them down to 300 people
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before that awesome bottle there.
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And this, this is an actual natural spring that comes up
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from out in the underneath the wall underneath the the the rock
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there and just an amazing place to be able to experience that
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we're getting his army, would have been at that long ago.
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One thing I noticed I will sort of interject this one of the
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guys said, you know, America's only for 500 years that most of
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historical evidence here in America where we can go back.
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We were seeing places that were for 5,000 years old that were
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over in this location of Israel and the which leads us to the
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next one. Bet she hand we went to a place
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called Betsy hand. A village that dated back to
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7,000 years ago. Many, many years before the they
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said, this is one of the places where the first people would
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have lived at the last time that Lived here was in 790 a.d.
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After Christ, an earthquake had hit this town and they evacuated
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and no one ever return back to this town.
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So, when we begin to open this up, this this town and begin to
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see some first century Architects and to be able to see
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architecture, they'd even before that.
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And even the historical evidence of where Saul and his sons were
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hanging from the walls of this place.
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This is that town. And so we were able to see so
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much in there. So much that really blew our
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mind of Of the ability to see what people did during their
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time, and how they so cared about what things look like, in
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the safety of those things. Next, we went to the last place
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which was the Jordan River. This is the baptismal site that
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they allow people who baptized in the Jordan River and we've
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got to see several of our group. I think 19 people were, were
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baptized, they're a great rededication of their life and
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then one of the awesome parts we were there, three, Nigerian
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people. Showed up while we were
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baptizing and they were looking to be baptized.
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And so Brian or Nathan or someone, maybe it was Marcus.
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Begin to talk them about the gospel, make sure they
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understood the gospel and they said, yeah, we love Jesus.
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We understand Jesus. We just need want someone to
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baptize us. And so, we have the opportunity
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of being able to baptize right then and there in the Jordan
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River, these three brothers of in Christ.
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We actually ran into them later on.
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We've got had pictures taken with them just an amazing time
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to see, bro. Others from all across the
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country meeting together in one location for this awesome
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experience, mr. Craig Edwards.
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Shared an amazing word, their of the servanthood of Jesus there
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on the, in the, in the Jordan River and it blew my mind just
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to think of the analogy that he gave their and so hopefully,
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we'll be able to hear that on the RFP podcast here.
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Soon the next day that was only two days.
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All right, so I'm trying to talk fast.
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On a cram all this in for you today.
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So far, it feels like I've talked through almost so many
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different sites but day 3 of of touring, this journey was our
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last day in the Sea of Galilee in that area in The Galleon
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region, we start our day off. I go into the valley of megiddo.
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The Mount of mosquito, this was a very strategic Mountain that
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has been a strategic Mountain. All throughout the history of
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the Israelites. Many battles were won here.
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Many battles were lost here, and this is The valley of
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Armageddon. This is where the final battle
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is going to take place. This this place was very
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emotional for me because as we stood there, as we were going to
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talk through some things, our guide Amir made the statement
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that the even the Jewish people believe that the final battle of
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the world is going to take place on this mountain and in this
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Valley. And as I stood over and as I
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began to look and see these people riding their cars around
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in this Valley, No care of what's going to happen, it broke
15:58
my heart because I know that the battle of Armageddon is going to
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happen. There, I know that God is going
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to come and he's going to speak a word and the battle is going
16:07
to be over. It's not even going to be a
16:09
battle. It's going to be a moment in
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time. And these people believe also
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this battle is going to happen yet.
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They don't have any care they drive by it.
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Like it's just another day, another site in their mind.
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And so it was very humbling for me to see that and just to be
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able to walk Around in this place that was used by so many
16:29
different people. Next, we went to the Mount
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Carmel, this is where Elijah called down fire from heaven.
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The supposed site, that is believed where this happened at.
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And then we went to a place called caesarea Maritime in the
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right. One, the Mediterranean Sea King
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Herod. Had built a strategic port on
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the Mediterranean Sea in between two towns.
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And so, these two towns were separated by Dubai by about a
16:53
two-day journey of sailing. And so he does.
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Put this port right in the middle of a one-day journey and
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so he was able to strategically place.
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This amazing Port City. That was all man-made, just the
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walls and the ability that he had to build these this docking
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system for these boats. And then the amount of
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entertainment, the stadium, the Hippodrome, the Amphitheatre.
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All the different places was there and some historic sites
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here. This is where Pontius Pilate
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would have had a play. This that he stayed at there was
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a stone that was engraved for his name.
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This is where Peter, I'm sorry. Paul a confronted Agrippa to his
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face and Proclaim Jesus to him. This would have been one of the
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sites where he went. This was the site where many
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Christians were martyred. Many Christians died for their
17:47
faith in this Hippodrome, many Christians contenders for their
17:51
faith. And Paul was imprisoned here at
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this place of the caesarea maritime.
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Just a very historical site and a site where many, many
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Believers risk their life for the gospel sake.
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And so just an amazing time to bring that in and then the last
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stop we did, there was the aquaducts.
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And these aquaducts though this was a twenty-something mile
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Aqueduct system that brought fresh water to the sensory
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Maritime that Herod had built. And while we were there, Brian
18:23
gave a powerful sermon on the Christians that have been
18:26
killed. There and the love that we need
18:30
to live the gospel out at all cost and just an amazing amazing
18:35
challenge for us that these Christians lived and died for
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the gospel and so often we take the gospel for granted, we don't
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talk to our friends and Neighbors about it were
18:47
embarrassed by what they say about it.
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And God said he's given us freedom, he's given us a life.
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So more abundant and yet we hold In.
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We hold in the greatest news that's ever been given.
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And so an amazing challenge sure that Brian gave us.
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And I challenge each of us each and every one of us to go and to
19:07
share the gospel, share it with our friends, share with our
19:10
neighbors, give them for the name of the podcast, the freedom
19:15
to live for Christ because they're dead in their sins and
19:19
they need Christ in their life. And how are they going to hear
19:21
without us telling them? And so, that's our challenge,
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therefore, that one next day day.
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For we left the Sea of Galilee. We did all of our Galilean stops
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and we begin to make our Trek, our journey to Jerusalem, we
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began this go and see these different sites here in our
19:36
first stop, we went to the top of the Mount of Olives and this
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is where Jesus in Isaiah is going to come back and split the
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Mount of Olives and split it in half where he touches down.
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And and this massive movement of the Earth is going to happen
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because of the glory and the sanctity of who Jesus is and and
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his pure Purity. We went from the Mount of
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Olives, where we were able to see the entire city, where Jesus
20:01
of his disciples. And we LED down to the Mount of
20:04
Agony Chapel of Agony where Jesus cried over the city
20:08
because they were rejecting him. And then we went to, in my mind,
20:12
the most impactful place of the entire Journey.
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The most impactful site was for me, The Garden of Gethsemane.
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As we made our way down this, this Trail where Jesus and his
20:25
disciples were I'd have went and then we went into this Garden
20:29
that dates back to the first century.
20:30
It's always been a garden they said and and they said it will
20:33
always be a garden. But there's there's cars going
20:36
around. There's people that are just
20:37
driving by honking horns and and and just experiencing life and
20:42
not really experiencing the the site where they're at and JC got
20:46
up. And then just shared a short
20:49
devotion on on where these where his disciples fell.
20:57
And one of those disciples betrayed him and he asked us, he
20:59
said, are we sleeping on Jesus? Are we not living our life for
21:05
Jesus and just such an amazing encouraging time there.
21:09
Other brothers began to share about the relationships and then
21:12
we had about 50 minutes just to walk and pray and get a hold of
21:16
God in this garden. And as I got over to one of the
21:19
trees and sat down and opened my Bible to Mark, I begin reading
21:24
this account where Jesus went to his disciples and began to pray
21:27
and begin to be in agony over what he was experiencing an
21:31
overwhelming. Ocean Came Upon me.
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I told my wife, I said it was no different than me going in my
21:37
backyard and praying, but it was just something about knowing
21:40
that I was in the same place where Jesus prayed, and I'm
21:44
praying his prayer and I'm praying that God's will would be
21:46
done in my life and and that I would follow him.
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And and then I got to the point where I read about Judas is
21:53
betraying him and how he came into the garden and I was just
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imagined in that moment where I met seeing these soldiers in
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this man that I love this. Man that I care about this man,
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that spent three years with me. Betray me, turn me over to the
22:12
enemy for the sake of my death, for just the wages of a common
22:19
slave. And as I began to experience
22:23
that and emotionally, I mean, I cried for, like, 30 minutes I
22:26
couldn't help but to have emotion over top of me.
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At one point, I began I actually went over with Jake Carlisle and
22:33
Josh. Josh, two of the guys that were
22:35
there with us on This trip and we prayed together and I prayed
22:39
for the sake of that, we're all fathers and that we would be the
22:42
examples to our kids and that moment.
22:45
And just one of the most powerful moments of the entire
22:48
trip, we left there, we made our way to the Lions Gate, the over
22:53
by the pool of Bethesda. We got to see where Jesus healed
22:58
the man that was lame from birth there at the pool of Bethesda.
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And we went to a chapel that is a chapel for worship.
23:04
That is designed for worship. We went in and there was A
23:08
couple their group, their from the church of England, the
23:11
Apostolic Church of England from Africa and they were worshiping
23:15
and singing. And oh, man, just an amazing
23:17
time that we got to worship with them.
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And that our group got up and we saying, we were nowhere near as
23:22
good as they were, they were awesome.
23:25
And then, the last of our first journey was where we went to the
23:29
trial. That Jesus happened, that Jesus
23:32
was that we went to the Via Dolorosa, where the Church of
23:35
the flagellation was that where The Via Dolorosa leads to the
23:39
Church of the Holy Sepulchre and then we walk that path and we
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walked to that supposed site there.
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And then the last site that we went to on this day was a ploy,
23:49
we're going to go to Bethlehem but instead we went to a town of
23:52
she low or Shiloh, and this was a surprising stop.
23:56
We weren't planning to go here on the original itinerary, but
23:59
we will hear because of some things that are going on in the
24:01
country and this was rediscovered in 1973 and the
24:07
Called biblical archaeological and cultural evidence was all
24:11
discovered here for big keys. That lead these people would
24:15
lead. The archaeologist of Lee.
24:16
This is the exact site where Sheila was at and they
24:20
discovered this because of the Bible and what the Bible says
24:23
and how they were able to use the scripture to uncover where
24:26
the Tabernacle would have been at.
24:27
Well, this was the first side of the permanent Tabernacle and how
24:30
it was placed there in a specific spot in a specific
24:34
place with the dimensions that we saw.
24:37
So often overlooked and over read.
24:39
But yet the Bible had it there for a reason for us to know
24:43
exactly where it was at and just to be able to see that, this was
24:48
an amazing place. And now The Vineyards are been
24:50
replanted and regrown and Shiloh.
24:53
And that's one of the things that I believe in Jeremiah where
24:55
it says The Vineyards will one day regrow in Shiloh, and they
24:59
just planted Vineyards again for the first time in Shiloh day.
25:04
The next day we went, we started at the The of David.
25:08
This is the the sir this is David's house, David's place of
25:12
residence. They were able to discover this
25:14
because of the, the defining Parts where David said, he built
25:18
his house on Terraces and they found The Terraces and the so
25:23
they excavated down and found out the living quarters of where
25:26
David was at from here. We travel to underground into
25:30
Hezekiah tunnels to gihan, Spring, the pull of Shalom is
25:35
where we went to the next. And so the pool Shalom up until
25:39
about 10 years ago, had never been discovered have never been
25:41
found and they uncovered the steps and the half of the pool
25:47
of Shalom. And so when they uncovered this,
25:49
they begin the excavation of it and then they knew that there
25:52
was an Eastern walkway that led from Shalom up to the mountain.
25:56
So they had a grounding point to be able to begin excavate these
26:00
stairs to figure out where they were at and they've uncovered
26:03
80% of this path to lead from the pool of Shalom.
26:06
Where Jesus healed the On man to the Eastern steps for the
26:11
Eastern Gate, where Jesus would have went to.
26:13
And so we know this is exactly where it happened at and it was
26:17
awesome to stand there and to be able to have scripture read and
26:21
to be able to step on stairs that Jesus walked on what to be
26:25
able to be in the exact place where Jesus was at, then we went
26:29
to the Western Wall area. Got to see the history behind
26:33
it. We went up to the top of the
26:37
Temple Mount where we were able to go onto the top of the
26:40
Temple, Mount to see that what was up there and to be able to
26:44
get close to that Dome of the Rock that very very historical
26:49
site. Very iconic.
26:50
Site for Jerusalem. We were able to go to the hold
26:54
of gate steps. These are the steps that Jesus
26:57
taught on. After leaving the temple, where
26:59
crowds would have gathered and he began to teach the gospel to
27:02
them. And then the last place that we
27:04
went not last place, but Other places that we went, we went to
27:09
the Garden tomb. This was also where the site of
27:12
the gulf is that I never realized how close these two
27:15
were together. We got to see Calvary, we got to
27:18
see the place of the skull. And then we went and saw the
27:21
empty tomb where they believe that this tomb was at for Jesus
27:24
was buried at and was only there for just a couple of days in the
27:28
stone was rolled away and very historical site.
27:32
There, there's a garden there, there's a wine press, they're
27:35
just some sites that lead them to believe.
27:37
Believe this is where it's at. And those are Chapel there in
27:39
between the two and we got to worship, Bryan gave an amazing
27:43
talk on communion and then we took communion together there in
27:48
the garden. Just an awesome experience with
27:50
the brothers and the sister that was there with us.
27:53
During that time, the last stop, we did that day.
27:55
We went to the underground city streets, underneath the Muslim
28:00
District of the Western Wall and then we got to go to the Western
28:04
Well in wall as well. The last day and I'm wrapping
28:09
this up very quickly. Thank you for tuning in and
28:11
staying with me today as we go through these different things.
28:15
Like again, if I would love for you to join us as we go on this
28:18
but the last day was a day of just sort of there was not a lot
28:23
of wants a Biblical sites but sites that are in the Bible but
28:28
sites that were so powerful to see Christians, living out their
28:33
faith. Believers living out their faith
28:36
in These areas and so the first place was the place of Masada.
28:40
This was the story of the Jewish Nation, who about 1,000 of them
28:46
were seeking religious freedom from Nero and the Roman Empire.
28:51
They escaped to this place of herod's getaway home and they
28:55
committed murder suicide in the event of not been taken as
28:59
slaves under the attack of 12,000 different.
29:02
Men soldiers that were trying to kill them to women and And five
29:07
kids were left. They were able, they weren't
29:11
killed. They were, they were taken that
29:14
they had escaped from their, the slaughter of their
29:18
murder-suicides of their husbands in order, not to be
29:21
taken into captivity. We don't know why they were
29:23
spared but they went to a Joseph Josephus flavius and words to
29:26
tell their story about what had happened here and that's the
29:30
only way we have this account and so Rome did not succeed in
29:35
winning this war. This amazing powerful Victory,
29:39
they felt it. But yet we have an awesome
29:41
account of Believers that I believe Christians who escaped
29:46
from from the tyranny of Oppression in order to live out
29:51
their faith in this place. The next place we went to a
29:54
place called qumran and this was the site of the 11 case of the
29:58
Dead Sea Scrolls and to be able to see the historical evidence
30:02
of these men who devote their life to translating and writing
30:06
scripture and Giving commentaries and preserving
30:09
scripture that we have today was absolutely breathtaking to see
30:14
the, their place of living was humbling to see what they did
30:20
every day of their life in order to preserve scripture, right?
30:23
Scripture and what they did in order to preserve the scriptures
30:27
that we have. And to be able to see this
30:30
scripture, given this great care and then also seeing that the
30:36
the That one scroll that was the most intact scroll.
30:39
They had the scroll of Isaiah that 95% of it matches.
30:43
Perfectly with this scroll with what the book of Isaiah that we
30:47
have today was a 24 foot long. Scroll, I believe and 85% of the
30:53
Dead Sea Scrolls match up perfectly with our Bible, that
30:56
we have today in the Old Testament and the other ones are
30:59
just, you know, Common punctuation errors and things
31:02
like that. But to see that nine hundred
31:06
books. Us were found 600 of them were
31:09
found in cave number 4, which is the first cave that was
31:12
discovered. I don't know why they number
31:15
them. 1 2 3 & 4 1, that was the first one discovered and they
31:17
named a number four. But we were able to see that and
31:20
they said that 600 of those books were found and discovered
31:23
there in that cave. And it was just an amazing, an
31:27
amazing discovery that was done just years ago.
31:30
Not long ago. The last place we got to go was
31:34
the Dead Sea and then we got to float in the Dead Sea.
31:36
We Got to experience the, the minerals of the Dead Sea, and I
31:41
am not one that can float, a naturally in water.
31:44
And so, it was an amazing experience for me to float and
31:47
just to be able to take that in on that last day there.
31:50
And then we traveled back to our hotel.
31:52
We left out the next morning to go home and some of my biggest
31:57
takeaways for me were just walking the same places that
32:01
Jesus walked. Experience the holy lands
32:05
experience in the whole dance with brothers and a sister that
32:08
was there with us. In Christ, the worship that we
32:12
had at these sites, the historical knowledge, that was
32:16
imparted to us from these sites and just understanding the
32:20
Bible, so much more now, than what I did, when I left to see
32:24
the proximity to see the locations to see these different
32:29
places were just so breathtaking to know that Jesus traveled on
32:33
foot. Foot to these places Maybe by
32:35
horseback in some places but to know that his disciples were in
32:40
dedication to go to these different locations to tell them
32:43
about Jesus in knowing that persecution was going to happen
32:46
in knowing that they would give up their life just as Jesus.
32:50
Did they still continue to go and share the gospel in a way
32:54
that we don't understand? Because we can get in our car
32:58
and be somewhere in just a couple of minutes.
32:59
They intentionally had to walk this Not knowing whether they
33:04
were going to survive from leaving that location and so we
33:08
were able to see just a powerful powerful working of the Holy
33:12
Spirit. In Our Lives is specifically my
33:14
life. I could speak for myself of
33:16
revealing truth to me that I never realized in the Bible and
33:20
so I guarantee you go to this trip, you go on this journey,
33:25
your life will not be the same. And I'm speaking for myself,
33:28
speaking for some of the men that went that I've talked to
33:31
the camaraderie of Brotherhood that we have.
33:33
Of now is a great great asset that I cherish in our group text
33:39
and other things and you will not be disappointed if you ever
33:42
get a chance to go. Well, there was with me or
33:44
someone else. I encourage you to go to Israel,
33:48
someday experience all the ends and if you don't research, John
33:54
says it all the time. I say it to context is King and
33:57
context is just more than understanding, what's around the
34:00
verses, but it's understanding the times that it was written in
34:03
such. Challenge.
34:03
If you read the Bible research, a little bit of understanding of
34:07
the context of the people that were around, who has written to
34:10
the location that it was written in.
34:12
Where is at from where Jesus had a walk from, or Peter had walked
34:16
from from Jerusalem research, some of those things and it will
34:20
uncover so much more truth. That is in our Bible than what
34:23
we know today. And so I think you for this
34:26
one-time little solo episode. I pray that God's blessing be
34:30
upon your life and it was an awesome.
34:33
Awesome Journey for me. And so until next time to God,
34:36
be the glory. Good grace, found that healing
34:44
and the tears fall down my face. When I find my beginning,
35:09
Thanks for listening to the for Freedom podcast.
35:11
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35:13
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