Britton Christian Church

Hi Everyone,

In Israel there are two main bodies of water. In the north of the country there is the Sea of Galilee and in the south there is the Dead Sea. God has given us one of His most powerful lessons without ever uttering a word…if we will only pay attention to these two bodies of water.

The Sea of Galilee is blessed with the waters that flow from Mount Hermon and the surrounding area. As a result, the Sea of Galilee is full of fish and surrounded by lush vegetation of every kind. All kinds of wildlife come down to the water to quench their thirst.

You have all heard of the Jordan River. Well, up until a few years ago, the Jordan River carried water from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea in the south. Because of the water needs of the nation a dam was built to stop the outflow of the water.

In the south there are wadis, low places between the hills, that carry rainwater into the Dead Sea, but the Dead Sea doesn’t “give” its water to any river or stream. All of the water that flows into the Dead Sea is “held” onto. As a result, the Sea is dead. There is no life that can live in its waters. The salt content is so high that you can’t sail a boat on its waters without the hull being eaten up by the minerals. Our guide told us that you can’t swim very long in the waters of the Dead Sea or it will eat your swimming suit right off of you. I don’t know if he was telling us the truth or not, but none of us tested his theory.

What a great lesson for us is found in these two bodies of water. When God chose Abram, He told him, 2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. (Genesis 12:2 NIV) Did you catch that? God was going to bless Abram so that he might be a blessing to others.

In the New Testament, Jesus said, 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38 NIV) Give, give freely, give laviously, and without thought of what you will miss, and God will give to you. When others disappoint you and fail you, give forgiveness with the same measure that you would like for God to forgive you. When others are in need come to their assistance without thinking about the time you will have to give up and then watch how God provides for you when your time of need comes around.

There are great lessons to be learned from God’s creation. We had the opportunity to swim in the waters of both bodies of water. I could stay in the Sea of Galilee all day long. It’s waters are refreshing and relaxing. I stayed in the Dead Sea for about 15 minutes before I had to get out. The waters of the Dead Sea are like the people I know who are selfish and self-serving…they are hard to be around.

Hi Everyone,

You cannot imagine the beauty of the Promised Land. I might need to qualify that statement. If you go south of Jerusalem you will run into a harsh desert. It is rocky, barren, and immense. Our guide told us that the whole land use to look like the region south of Jerusalem. The famous writer, Mark Twain, once visited Israel. In his book, Innocents Abroad, written in 1867, he wrote about the region around the Sea of Galilee with these words.

“… A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds… a silent mournful expanse…. a desolation…. we never saw a human being on the whole route…. hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”

If Mark Twain were to visit Israel today, 140 years later, he would be shocked. The land is blossoming at every turn. The Israelis have planted 300 million trees in the past 60 years. Water is at a premium in Israel because not much rain falls, but the Israelis have developed “drip irrigation” methods of watering their crops and vegetation. The farmers of Israel produce more than 3 million tons of fruit and vegetables each year.
God had told His people long ago not to cut down the trees of the land. Deuteronomy 20:19 says,

19 When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees of the field people, that you should besiege them? (Deuteronomy 20:19 NIV)

Through years of battles, being invaded by enemy armies, and neglect the “land flowing with milk and honey” was turned into a desert. God reminded His people in Isaiah 35 that it would not always be this way, God would restore what had been destroyed. Isaiah writes,

1The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. (Isaiah 35:1-2 NIV)

As we traveled throughout the Promised Land we were able to see evidence of God’s faithfulness right before our eyes. The beauty and splendor of the fields, the rich colors of the flowers, and the millions of trees speak to the faithfulness of our God!

In His Steps,
Mike

Hi Everyone,

I took this picture while I was at Petra. It was hot, sooo hot, and there were camels everywhere giving people rides out of the canyon. I was so thirsty that I bet I drank 5 galloons of water on the trip. I was watching some of our people get on board a camel when one of them pulled a water bottle out and proceeded to try and give one of the camels a drink. She didn’t need to try very hard. The camel snatched the water bottle from her hand and…well, you can see the results. The whole incident reminded me of a story.

I heard a story one time about a young guy who wanted to know Jesus in an intimate way. He had gone to church for years, but never really felt “close” to the Lord. He listened to others talk about the strength they gained from their “walk” with the Lord and he wondered why they seemed to be able to talk about Jesus like He was their best friend instead of a stained-glass saint? The young man heard about an old guy who lived down by the river who was a spiritual giant. Many people around the city had met with the old man and all had come away blown away by his insight from God’s Word. The young man decided that he would go and visit the man.

The young man followed the directions to the man’s house down by the river. When he arrived he saw what looked more like an old shed instead of a house. He knocked on the door and the old man answered. He had long gray hair and a big smile. The young man introduced himself and asked if he could talk to him about Jesus. The man swung his arm wide and said, “Come on in.” They talked for a few minutes and then the young man said, “I want to know Jesus as my best friend, but I don’t know what to do?” The old man smiled and said, “Follow me.”

They walked out the front door of the man’s house and down to the river. The old man walked straight into the river…fully clothed. He turned around and the young man was still on the bank of the river. He said, “Come on in. Come on. Come on.” The young man, hesitatingly stepped into the river and approached the old man. He walked within an arms reach of the old man when the old man said, “Do you really want to know Jesus?” The kid said, “I do.” The old man grabbed him with both hands and plunged his head under water. He held him until the young man began to struggle to come up for air, but he couldn’t. Age is deceiving–the old man was Samson strong. Finally, while the kid was fighting like crazy to come up the old man released him. Gasping for air he yelled, “What are you doing?” The old man said, “You told me you wanted to know Jesus–to really know Jesus.” The kid yelled, gasping for air, “What does that have to do with you nearly drowning me?” The man said, “How bad did you want a breath of air while I was holding you under the water?” The kid said, “More than anything. I thought I was going to drown.” The old man said, “When you want to know Jesus like you wanted that breath of air, only then will you know Jesus as your best friend.” He turned around, walked out of the river, and went home, leaving the kid standing in the river.

How bad do you want to know Jesus? I’m not talking about a Sunday morning kind of faith. I’m talking about really knowing Jesus, walking with Him, consulting Him about everything, crying on His shoulder when life is tough, thanking Him for everything that comes your way. How thirsty are you for that kind of relationship with the Savior?

Hi Everyone,

It was so good to be back in church with you today. It was an amazing two weeks in Israel, but Dorothy is right, “There is no place like home.”

I had a tough time posting to the webpage the last few days that we were in Israel because they wanted an arm and a leg to buy internet time. I’m just too much of a tightwad I guess. The last few days in Israel were amazing as we visited Jericho, Masada, En Gedi, and our last stop of the trip was into Jordan to see Petra. Two of those places, Jericho and En Gedi, were spots that I didn’t get to visit two years ago when I was in Israel, but they were spots I had a great desire to visit.

Jericho is a Palestinian/Moslem city under the Palestinian Authority. There are no Jews or Christians living in the city and there is a fence surrounding the city with Israeli police guarding it. Jericho is located in the West Bank. I had a great desire to teach Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan there because of the current situation going on with the Israelis and Palestinians. There are deep feelings between those two groups, but no worse than the feelings that were present in Jesus’ day between the Samaritans and the Jews.

In Luke 10, an “expert in the Law” tried to trap Jesus by asking Him, “Who is my neighbor?” The Jewish teacher knew who his neighbor was from Leviticus 19, but he didn’t want to “love his neighbor as he loved himself.” When he asked Jesus the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told him a story about a man who was beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the road to Jericho. Two men, a priest and a Levite came by the man, but they passed him by. Then another man passed by on the road and saw the man who had been beaten and left for dead. This man was a Samaritan, a hated Samaritan. He stopped, bandaged up his wounds, and put him on his own donkey before he took him to an inn and paid for him to be cared for. Jesus asked, “Who was the neighbor?” The man said, “The one who showed mercy.” He couldn’t even say “Samaritan.”

It was a blessing for me to teach the parable and to address some of the problems that people have with other people. I told those present that some black folks are taught not to trust white folks, white folks are taught not to trust black folks, and the list goes on. The divisions that we face in our own society are not just racial, they are economic, educational, political, and religious as well. We convince ourselves that others are not “worthy” or our time. We convince ourselves that others are out of the reach of the gracious grasp of our King. We build fences like the one around Jericho to keep people at arms distance from us, but Jesus came to tear down walls and fences.

As we were leaving Jericho that day one of the young men with me said, “I don’t know about all of the politics of this place.” I said, “Jesus’ story isn’t about politics, it is about people.” We need to let the politicians deal with the politics so that we can focus our energy on loving people–all people.

In His Steps,
Mike

Hi Everyone,

Today was our last day in Jerusalem. I remember the day that we arrived, four days ago, when we were all so excited and full of great anticipation about what we would see and experience during our time here in the Holy City. I think I can say with no hesitation–none of us has been disappointed! From spending time praying in the Garden of Gethsemane to visiting the Garden Tomb, from walking through the City of David to driving through the Kidron Valley, from standing on the Temple Mount and thinking about the magnificent Temple Herod built to walking through Yad Vashem and thinking about the countless Jewish lives that were destroyed in the Holocaust–this has been such a moving journey. Oh, I almost forgot about seeing the Hebrew McDonald’s…go figure.

Today, we began our day by going to the ancient City of David. More than 3,000 years ago David and his men conquered the Canaanite city of Jebus and made it the capital city of the united tribes of Israel. The excavations that are taking place in the City of David are so exciting. There are problems that the Israeli’s are having to deal with since they don’t own all of the land that they really need to continue to dig. They could buy the land but the owners will not sell.

After we went through the City of David we went through Hezekiah’s Tunnel. I think everyone who went through the ancient water channel used to bring water into the city walls was amazed and thrilled that they made the journey. It is truly remarkable to think that Hezekiah’s men tunneled through that rocky mountain so that they could bring water into the city–a brilliant move so that Israel’s enemies couldn’t cut off their water during times of war.

At the end of Hezekiah’s Tunnel is a pool, the Pool of Siloam. This was the location of the great story of Jesus’ healing of the man born blind. You can read about the story in John 9. The man, who was born blind, was the topic of discussion for Jesus’ disciples one day. They wanted to know who sinned to cause the man to be born blind–was his mom and dad or was it his sin that caused him to be blind? Jesus said, “Neither. This has happened so that the power of God might be displayed in his life.” Jesus went beyond talking about the man’s ailment, Jesus made a mixture of spit and dirt and put it on the man’s eyes. Then he told the man to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam, the very place where we were standing today. What a blessing!

After our visit to the Pool of Siloam we went to visit the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount is the place where both Solomon’s Temple and Herod’s Temple stood for many years, Herod’s Temple until it was destroyed in 70 A.D. There has been no Temple for the Jewish people since that time. The Moslems have control of the Temple Mount now and they have two mosques which set on top of the Temple Mount. I’m sure you have seen the golden dome mosque, the Dome of the Rock, on television before.

The Temple Mount is a strange place. Israeli police have authority and we were checked by Israeli security before we were ever given permission to enter the Temple Mount. Yet, the Moslems have the power over what can and cannot take place on the Temple Mount. We were told that we could not take our Bibles up on the Mount, nor could we pray. We did see some folks who were turned away from entering because they had a Hebrew Bible with them.

We have been so blessed to be in Jerusalem at this time. We’ve been able to see the original scroll of Isaiah in the Shrine of the Book. It has not been on display for the past forty years! We are here during the celebration of Israel’s 60th birthday and the time of their celebration for the 40th year since the reunification of Jerusalem, since the war of 1967. This is a historic time and we are here.

Hi Everyone,
I know you are probably thinking, “Mike says the same thing every day.” You are right! Each day is amazing! We are seeing sights and gaining understanding into God’s Word that is mind-boggling. Let me tell you what we’ve done today.

We began our day in the Old City. We had the great opportunity to take a tour under the Western Wall. When they show the Western Wall on television it is always a small place, about 30 yards long where you see the Jews praying. Originally, Herod’s wall was 180 feet tall and 1500 feet long on the western side. We were able to go on a special tour of the excavations taking place underground, under the Moslem Quarter in the Old City. This was such an amazing opportunity for us because the Israeli authorities are taking reservations three months in advance for these tours. When we got down underground we saw stones that were cut by King Herod the Great’s workers that were unbelievably big. There is only one crane in Israel today which can lift these huge stones. It was such a blessing for us to see what has been done and what is taking place even now as the excavations continue. I can tell you this–King Herod had some crazy building skills!

From the Western Wall we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum here in Jerusalem. I had been here two years ago, but I have to tell you that I was worn out by the time we finished our two hour tour. There are many video screens with survivors of the Holocaust telling their story. When you realize that they were little kids when they watched their mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, taken away from them–it is almost too much to drink in.

We left the Holocaust Museum and made our way to Bethlehem to see the Church of the Nativity, the oldest church in the world. For some time now not too many tourists venture into Bethlehem since it is in the West Bank. I had heard that most Christian tours of the Holy Land leave Bethlehem out of the program, but I wanted our people to see the area where Jesus was born. I also wanted our people to see the Church of the Nativity.

Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother, had the church built about 400 A.D. There is a large mosaic tile floor that is the original floor laid more than 1600 years ago. The Church is really interesting because today there are Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian monasteries that are housed right next to the church.

While we were in the Church of the Nativity we were given the opportunity to go down underneath the church and visit the cave where Jerome translated the Hebrew and Greek Bibles into Latin. Jerome also wrote many commentaries on the books of the Bible and was a powerful apologist for the faith. Needless to say, it was a huge day for the BCC crew!

Tomorrow is going to be so full we are going to have to begin our day early once again. We are scheduled to go to Caiaphas’ House, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the City of David, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, and even more. I had better get a good nights rest.

In His Steps,
Mike