Dream Trip to Israel Part 5

My efforts to absorb all that I’ve seen in the last few days have been futile. There is simply too much information and too many sites, all of which are astoundingly significant from a biblical perspective. I feel as if I have been studying the Bible for the past twelve years in brail until the past few days. Like Paul, the scales have fallen from my eyes and now I have SEEN what I have only read about in the Scriptures. My hands have touched what Jesus himself spoke about during His ministry.

For example, Lon (our senior pastor) preached at or very close to the site that Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount which is found in Matthew 5-7. Just before he preaches the Book of Matthew records that “Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.” (Matthew 4:25) As we are sitting there overlooking the Sea of Galilee, Lon points out over the waters and explains that most of the disciples lived around this northern section of the Sea of Galilee. The towns around the area were called the Decapolis because there were ten towns (“Deca” means “ten” and “polis” means city). These ten towns, the Decapolis, are mentioned right in the Scriptures and several of the towns were just across the less than eight mile expanse of the Sea of Galilee (this body of water is only thirty miles long and eight miles wide)! I began to imagine thousands of people walking around the northern bend of the sea from around this body of water and also coming up the ancient roads from Jerusalem in the south to hear Jesus preach. I imagined them sitting down all over the hillside around Jesus as He spoke Truth to them. Everything was so different than I imagined. The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12), powerful if only read from the pages of the Bible, will now never be the same for me. For the rest of my life I will have with me the memory of the smell of the air, the calmness of the waters, and the skyline behind Jesus as He spoke His words right there at the shores of Galilee.

We also visited Capernaum, which Jesus made His headquarters during His three year ministry. The most impressive story in the Scriptures with Capernaum as its backdrop is found in Luke 7: 1-10. I will share the first few verses with you:
1 When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”
As utterly unbelievable as it was, we listened to Lon read form Luke 7 while we stood inside the very synagogue that this passage says the Centurion built! This man must have been a much admired man - a Roman soldier who helped build a synagogue? A Roman, who had Jewish leaders intercede on his behalf? A Gentile soldier whose faith was so strong as to believe that whatever Jesus commanded would be done. He trusted Jesus implicitly. He knew that Jesus spoke with authority. He didn’t question. Jesus, himself was amazed at this man’s faith. Jesus continues to look for faith-filled people. If only we all had the faith of the Centurion. The wonderful truth is that we can! We simply need to allow God to…be GOD. There was a plaque at the first church we went to that sums up my point:
“The deeds and miracles of Jesus are not actions of the past. Jesus is waiting for those still prepared to take risks at his word because they trust his power utterly.”
What risks is God asking you to take based on the truth laid out in His word? If you want to grow your faith- then grow your understanding and knowledge of God through Scripture. I urge you to read and reflect upon the story of this faithful Centurion from Luke 7 and I close this post with a quote from Lon, “It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers His Helper is omnipotent.”

Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.toddphillips.net