Jesus Is LORD!

Jesus is LORD! 

This is the central truth to the GOSPEL, He brings peace and calm and LIFE in the midst of sacrifice and suffering. 

He has provided a way from death to life. 

There are no shortcuts or easy routes. 

It'd be foolish to go the opposite way from Him. 

We experience this the most uniquely when in the assembled community of church and in that assembly we are filled and readied for the spread of the Gospel outside of it.

These are just a few of the fantastic and interconnected points about the Gospel that God has taught us today in our studies and in our communion with Him through Jim's teachings and the sites we've seen. What an incredible day (will we ever think it's not incredible? No)!! Teachings paired with the seeing of sites with our eyes have made Scripture come alive in a new and brilliant way. 

We started on the road to Caesarea Philippi where Christ asks us to hear the full story of the Gospel before we bring it to others which includes suffering and sacrifice, not just some miracles and a fantastic cosmic problem solver, and realizing that JESUS IS LORD - first and foremost. We arrived in Caesarea Philippi to see how Jesus establishes our relationship with Him, the power that He has over the gates of Hell, the importance of what this all means in assembly, and the way we take Him to the World!

After Caesarea Philippi we went to the Old Testament site of Dan. Dan was a reminder of how we must come face to face with allowing Jesus to BE Lord...NOT us. Satan calls us away from true gathering and realization that God is God by causing us to think of God as someone we can control or by causing us to choose comfort and convenience over God's true design. We must not let anything get in the way of God's absolute control.

Post-lunch we took a rocky, beautiful, and slightly tiring hike on the road to Damascus...yes, THE road that Paul walked when he came face to face with our risen SAVIOR. Through Paul's Gospel presentation in Galatians we see that we are united with Christ through His death and resurrection and He has gone before and conquered death to give us life! We finished in Gergesa/Kursi to hear of more examples where Jesus brings LIFE from death through sacrifice. The site where He exorcises Legion from a man and sends thousands of pigs rushing into the Sea of Galilee. Jesus' power is real and the extent of it, immeasurable! JESUS IS LORD. 

Thank you for following along today with us. You are all a great, great blessing to us. We will be moving hotels tomorrow and have a big day ahead, your continued prayers are appreciated!! 

Here are some more pictures from today: 

On the way to Caesarea Philippi

Listening to Pastor Jim at Caesarea Philippi 

The cave of the Temple of Pan in Caesarea Philippi. This is where Jesus brought His disciples and declared Peter as the rock and that He will prevail over the gates of Hell - it is believed that this temple is where, mythologically, one could access the River Styx - literally the gates of Hades. 

Our group on the steps of the high place at Dan

Pastor Jim consuming tuna pizza!! It's kosher!! 

On the road to Damascus

Shelly and Liz at Omrit (on the road to Damascus) a temple believed to be a tribute to Caesar Augustus 

Angela, Cindy, Katie, Carla, and Arika at Gergesa/Kursi - near the spot where Legion is driven from the man and put into swine 

Tonight is our last night to see the beautiful Sea of Galilee! What a blessing it has been!