Participants of the At the Crossroads Conference hike down to the Sea of Galilee after visiting the Church of the Beatitudes.
“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” – Psalm 133:1 (NIV)
Two attendees to the At the Crossroads conference pose for a photo at the top of the southern Temple steps in the Jerusalem Archeological Park.
Too often, when many of us think of the Middle East, we think of conflict. We think of war and disagreement, land battles and dictators.Thankfully, God is above all that.
This week, Christ Church Jerusalem is hosting Christians from the Middle East — men and women who acknowledge their redemption by the blood of Yeshua the Messiah and who are determined to live together by the Holy Spirit. The people groups represented at this gathering include Egyptians, Jordanians, Israelis, Palestinians, Kurds, Lebanese, Iraqis, Turks, Armenians and Iranians. Yes, that’s right.
These are the nations of the Isaiah 19 Highway, the nations that God says will worship Him together and be a blessing on the earth.
These believers have come see the Land that Jesus walked, to see with their own eyes the places where the stories of the Bible happened. They have sailed the Sea of Galilee. They have seen the Jezreel Valley from Mount Carmel. They stood at Caesarea Maritima, where Paul was imprisoned for a time. They have stood on the southern steps that once lead to the Temple complex.
But they also came to meet and fellowship with fellow believers in Jesus, to connect and network. These are not men and women with their heads in the clouds. They are people of action who are the hands and feet of God. They are serving the Syrian refugees, the poor, the orphans, the underground churches through out the region.
We hope to share some of their stories in the coming week or two.