Yesterday was my first day of the study tour with Pastor Drew, Pastor John Bonner, Tyler Campbell, Sosimo Avila, Pastor Steve Flores and his lovely wife and son. We traveled to Mount Carmel first. There we read out of 1 Kings 18, where Elijah told the people in verse 21 “...if the LORD be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” This really spoke to me in several ways yesterday. First I enjoyed the fact that we were created to make choices, and in this life, we have a choice to either accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior or not. Or make the the choice of not choosing, as we see the followers and worshippers of Baal chose.
Being on top of Mt. Carmel yesterday, and reading the story of when Elijah brought the false prophets of Baal and Ahab to the mountain, and there Elijah gave them the plan. If your God is true, then call to him and he will pour down fire on the offering. Of course as they danced around screaming and shouting, nothing happened. They even began to cut themselves, practicing such pagan worship to Baal. Finally, after some observance and mocking from Elijah’s part, he told them basically to step aside and watch. He rebuilt the altar, poured much water on the offering, and prayed to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to pour down fire, here his voice, so they people will return to God. Sure enough, fire poured down from the sky, consuming the offering. After, Elijah took the followers of Baal to the Kishon Valley, and killed them. And I love at the end, that God gave Eli power and strength to run even in front of Ahab’s chariot all the way to the entrance of Jezreel.
This was by far my favorite place to stop at yesterday, listening to the teachings of Drew, and Worship was great too. I love the simplicity that if God is God, then we must leave all behind, not looking back, and follow God! So simple, but yet so hard. It’s a strange Dichotomy that ought to be a no brainer of what to do. After this, we traveled to Nazareth Village, where Jesus grew up. I found this place exciting as well, because we got to get a better understanding of the common lifestyle of the people there. We learned much and ate even more, and after headed over to the 3 cities that Jesus cursed. First stop, Capernaum, then Bethsaida (which was closed) and finally we got to walk through the ruins of Korazin. Capernaum was great to see the old synagogue and also I loved to see the house of Peter. Other than the huge Catholic church standing above it, it was a great site to see. Korazin was lots of fun to walk through, and I found it interesting to see the Pagan God’s even carved inside. Also is was interesting to see that the whole city had been carved from Volcanic rock.
Well yesterday was a long and fun day. Lot’s of biblical sites to see, and I’m so thankful that God has allowed me to join this tour. I keep the verse from 1 Kings in mind throughout the day, that If God is God, then follow him. It should be easy, but I know there are things hindering my walk. I will pray that the Lord will remove everything in the way, which is really just myself, because I must die to self to follow Christ, and death to self is the only way God can receive all the Glory. Amen.
Pictures (top to bottom):
Love you all,
May The Yeshua's Name Be Magnified,
Nick
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