Well, hello everybody and welcome back. This is our Daily Devotional for Monday, November 17th, 2025. And very happily, I am back here in my office with you. Now look, tomorrow we're going to get back into the swing of things with Matthew, but Got one more day's worth of devotionals from the very, very end of my time in Israel. Spent most of the day in Jerusalem, Garden of Gethsemane, King David's tomb, the Upper Room, Church of All Nations, just a lot of different things, and it's a lot of different sound snippets, but I had to bring you the very last set of devotionals, or very last set of recordings from Israel. A lot of people have already asked me. I'm gonna go ahead and tell you right now. So this is coming out on Monday. Wednesday night, I'm gonna be giving a much more fuller presentation on my trip. I'll have pictures, talk about different things, some of the challenges that I've been presented with, some of the ways that my thinking has changed or has been modified, some of the deeper spiritual reflections that I had. All in all, just really a remarkable, remarkable journey. where I've been challenged on things. My theology has not dramatically shifted or anything like that, but it did cause me to think quite a bit. I'm really wrestling through some subjects right now. But again, the overall product of this is just, I feel so blessed to have had that opportunity to go to Israel, to have seen what I saw, to have that time with brothers in Christ who are not from the same theological background that I am, and even to have time with Jewish men who do not know Jesus Christ as their own personal Lord and Savior, and so please do pray for them. Nevertheless, y'all, such a challenging time, such a wonderful time, such a devotional time, and a time that I'm really grateful for, and I'm glad that I was able to have those times with you over there. So, without saying much more of anything, you're gonna see a whole series of videos that culminate at King David's tomb. But again, it's with such gratitude that I bring these to you now. Gratitude to Old Providence for allowing me that time to go, gratitude to Eagles Wings, Bishop Robert Stearns, y'all again, just an incredible, incredible opportunity. Let me pray, and then we'll dig in here. Let's go to the Lord. Our Father, we thank you so much for the time that you've given to us, and I praise you for the opportunity that you've given to me. I pray that you would work in my heart and my mind as I reflect on that journey Help me as I wrestle through some big questions, but also Father, I pray that you would use that time to be a blessing to your people. Give us wisdom, give us understanding as we now take this time and see some sights and hear some sounds and reflect on things like worshiping you, seeking you where you may be found, and let us rejoice in the fact that you are with us always. Now please be with us in this time, and we pray it in Jesus' name, amen. All right, y'all, I'm just gonna let the videos roll. I hope that you enjoy it, and again, tomorrow we'll be back with Matthew. Thanks very much. Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome back. If you thought that that was the last devotional, I'm sorry, I got one more. Back behind me, see where my finger's pointing? Looks like two sealed gates right back here. Now, that's fascinating. Keep those things in mind because when we read the prophecy about Jesus's return, it says that he's going to come, he'll descend, he'll return to the Mount of Olives, which is right behind me, which I'm about to go up with you to the Garden of Gethsemane. Sorry about that close up there. That's way too close. But nevertheless, the Mount of Olives, which is right behind me over here, it's going to split into and he's going to enter through the eastern gates. As you'll notice, those are sealed up. You might also see that there is a cemetery in front of those eastern gates. It's a Muslim cemetery. And right behind those gates is a Muslim school that they think will be effective in keeping the Messiah from returning. Of course, we know that The same Messiah who was raised from the dead on the third day could walk through walls. He certainly can go through gates. And a little bit of Muslim stone is not going to stop him at all. But again, this is the Temple Mound right behind me. On this side of me is the Garden of Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives, which is where I am headed next. Right behind me, spectacular looking building, is the Church of All Nations. really fascinating place. I don't know if they've saved the best for last on this trip. I don't know, but we're going to see together. So again, thank you for being here and we'll see where the day takes us. Well, as I said, I'm coming to you from the Mount of Olives. Maybe you can see behind me, this tree may be 2000 years old, original. olive trees is still producing olive oil from this place. To say that this is surreal to be here in this place where it said that the Messiah will return. It's really quite an amazing thing. I'm walking through this Grove together with you to say that it is lush, that it's beautiful, that the flowers are blooming. I mean, it's, it's just such a remarkable thing to go from the desert, from the wild. to such a beautiful place. And yet, in the midst of the beauty, one cannot help but think of the agony. We're actually going to the Church of the Agony as we consider where our Savior would agonize over what He knew awaited Him as He fulfilled the prophecy, as He offered up His life willingly. As you can see again behind me, such a beautiful, beautiful spot. in the midst of a hustling and bustling city. You can see the road beside me. But to find this here in the midst of this place, again, olive trees, 2,000 years old, it's just spectacular. you Okay, everybody, the video that you just saw was shot from the inside of the Church of All Nations. If you noticed from that video, I zoomed in on a rock. There was pinning kind of around it. They say this is an A-plus site given the age of the olive trees, given the understanding that they had from St. Helena. Again, she came very, very early on to find all of these sites, and it was confirmed by local tradition. We're definitely on the Mount of Olives. We are in the Garden of Gethsemane. The olive groves match that. And the spot that I zoomed in on in the video, the rock right in the center of the front of the church, is the rock that Jesus was upon when he prayed, when he prayed that God's will would be done, but that the cup would pass. It's the place where he asked his disciples to keep the watch with them. Again, very surreal moment. It seems that history comes alive in these places, but such a devotional time. Thank you. So I'm here walking through the Garden of Gethsemane, and I'm trying to find a private spot. It's fascinating that when our Lord was here, you may hear horns blowing. Obviously, there wasn't that when our Lord was here. But it was the busiest time of the year. City of Jerusalem swelled and swelled and swelled. That's one of the reasons that they had to pay a temple tax was to organize who could come here and when. As you can see, thousands of tree, thousands of year old olive trees behind me. This is where Jesus would have come. And it's so fascinating where I'm at because the same road that I just walked in on, he would have walked right through here, right through here. This is a newer wall. It's only a few hundred years old, but he would have walked right through here. on Palm Sunday, right, the triumphal entry. And at the same time, y'all, it's just so fascinating, it's so wonderful, it's so horrible, it's so indicting that Jerusalem, maybe you can see it back behind me, yeah, it's hard to see, but Jerusalem, the center of the town is right there, Church of the Holy Sepulcher. is about a 20 minute walk that way, 25 if you're walking slow. Interestingly enough, the Judean Wilderness is about a 20-25 minute walk that way. So right here at the crossroads where Jesus was praying in agony over that which he would face, realized that just behind me is the wilderness. He could have gone there. He could have escaped. Not a problem in the world. But there's something even closer here. You know, Jewish law during the Passover forbade you and certainly on the Sabbath, forbade you from being in a cemetery, a place of burial. The oldest cemetery in Jerusalem is all around me right here, but not this spot. This spot is the Garden of Gethsemane. It was still within the boundaries of the city. During Passover, you weren't allowed to leave the city. But Jesus could have walked literally 100 yards behind me. And he could have been in the heart of the cemetery. That means that the temple guards couldn't have come and arrested him. He could have kept on going. could have escaped into the Judean wilderness that night, and nobody would have known. But instead of going 20, 25 minutes that way, instead of walking 50 yards that way, he would walk around 50 yards that way to the main road that would take him to the temple steps. He'd enter at the south. And y'all, I showed you the East Gate before. In just a little bit, I'm gonna be going up the southern steps of the temple, the actual route that Jesus would have walked. Earlier this week, perhaps you remember, I joined you from the Pool of Siloam on the road that Jesus would have taken going up to the temple where the money changers would have been. And y'all, it's just so striking that Jesus And there's a problem here. Part of the purpose of this trip is to stand in solidarity with Israel, to stand up to anti-Semitism, which we should because that's the right thing to do. Apart from theology, it's the right thing to do. But y'all, one of the accusations made against the Jews is that the Jews killed Jesus. The Jews killed Jesus. What do you want? Would you rather him not be the spotless lamb of God? Number one. And number two, the scripture never talks about Jesus being taken by surprise, you know, quite to the contrary. He offered himself up. He offered himself up as a ransom for many, but y'all, it was here. And there's some that say, well, this is where the battle was won as he rests. It's not, it's not, he didn't say it's finished here. He said, it's finished. up on the top of this hill in front of me. But because he said, it is finished up there, and because he said right here in this place, not my will be done, right where I showed you, right in the last video, that rock, it's because he said there, not my will be done, but thy will be done, that he would willingly go up the hill to the city. And I heard a new perspective today. And it's actually from our Jewish tour guide. And I want you to pray for Doobie. Prayed that he would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We may even have the opportunity for him to come and meet us on a Wednesday night, because he's going to be in Stanton, believe it or not, before too long. But it was Dubie that said, and he believes in Jesus. He calls him Yeshua. He believes he was a prophet, though, and he doesn't believe that he is God. But he said that Jesus' concern there and the agony, and I've never considered this before, that the agony that Jesus faced was not the pain, not the horror of the cross, as much as it was his desire that everything was finished, that he kept on agonizing because he didn't know if it was time yet, time to return to the Father. And y'all, that turns my understanding of this place on its head, but it makes sense. Mark chapter eight at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus makes the turn and it says he set his face toward Jerusalem, toward the city right up here on the hill behind me. You can just barely make out the dome of the rock right there. The rock where Abraham, I'm not allowed to go in there because I'm not Muslim, but it's the rock where Abraham would offer up his own son. The son of God would go offer himself up on the top of this hill behind me. But his greatest desire was to do the will of God. So a devotional thought for this Monday, because that's when I think this is going to be posted, I should be home safe and sound. But a devotional thought is, is it your desire that God's will should be done? And what are you willing to endure to ensure it? Again, what a surreal thing to be in this place where our Lord was. Like I said, there's A, B, and C sites, right, where C means it happened, but I don't know that it happened here. B is they're kind of sort of certain, 90%. A is yes, this is the place. And y'all, this is the place. Right behind me is a cemetery. It's the oldest cemetery. Some of the graves are 2,700 years old. This is where our Lord was. This has always been known as the Garden of Gethsemane. And what a beautiful sacrifice our Savior has made. Thank you. Okay, everybody, I'm coming to you from the southern gate where the southern steps of the temple are. This is the area that Jesus would have entered through because we know that this was the common person's entrance. It's where everybody went through. But y'all, getting back to something I talked about before from the book of Luke, the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus weeps over the destruction of the temple. He promises he's gonna rebuild it in three days. Of course, we know from 1 Corinthians that if you're in Jesus Christ, then you are the temple. And Jesus made a promise about the destruction that was going to come of the temple less than 40 years later. And he said, no stone shall be left on top of another one. Realize, and I'm sorry about all the sound. I'm telling you, I hear on one hand, this is a sacred place. And then it sounds like they're building a chicken coop every place I go here. But nevertheless, and there's buses everywhere and beeping. Forgive that kind of sound, please. But the reason I'm saying this is because I'm here in front of one of the stones that would have been thrown from the temple. The Romans, when they destroyed the temple, realized all of this was underground until, I think, 1967. They started doing excavation. They found all of these things, and they've left the stones where they are, ironically enough. They're not trying to rebuild with them. And it fulfills that prophecy that Jesus made, that no stone will be left on another. Y'all, and again, Jesus wept over this because they rejected him. But at the same time, his prophecy became true. Hello again, everybody. I'm coming to you from the southern steps of the temple. And like I said before, these are the steps that our Lord would have ascended to go into the temple. And we know that for a lot of different reasons. First off, there's the oral tradition. You can see some of the people on this trip with me behind me. but also we know this because of what surrounds these steps and that is the ceremonial mikvahs. I'm walking down here with you and again you'll have to forgive all the noise but what's fascinating is all around me we find things like this right here. You know what that is? That's a ceremonial bathing spot where the people of God before going up the Southern Steps. And again, the Southern Steps are massive, right? They stretch all the way across. Temple was gigantic, especially Herod's Temple that he added upon. But what they would have done before going up the Temple Steps is they would have cleansed themselves in these baths. Why is that important? Well, it's important because it's part of Jewish ritual, but we also know something else about these steps. This is where Peter would have preached his great sermon at Pentecost, where 3,000 were added to their number that day, and they were baptized. And y'all, it would have been in these pools that held around 100 gallons of water, 120 gallons of water. It's fascinating for those that argue about baptism by immersion. It's a ceremonial cleansing. It's a pouring out. Fascinatingly enough, one of the things that I've noticed is that all the sinks in Jerusalem, they have these pots, right? And that's to anoint, to pour out on your hands. It's the same thing that Jesus was confronted about by the Pharisees when he said his disciples weren't washing their hands after coming from the marketplace, just in case they touched a Gentile. But nevertheless, it's in this place that Peter would have preached the great sermon at Pentecost. It is in this place that Jesus would have come. to make his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. When you hear about him coming into Jerusalem and them laying out palm branches, it would have been on the road behind me that all of these things would have taken place. It would have been up these steps right behind me that the people would have been shouting Hosanna and welcoming him into the city. And again, like I talked about in the last video from Gethsemane, there are some brothers here who thought about how this is it. This is where the battle was won. That's not true. The battle was won on Calvary, which is right behind me. Interestingly enough, the place of the skull where Jesus said it's finished. It was finished when it was finished. But I think there's a much more significant spot. I alluded to it. It's not in Gethsemane. It's actually in Caesarea Philippi where Jesus makes the turn and it says he set his face toward Jerusalem. It was at that point he knew what he was coming to do. When he mounted these steps, he knew what he was going to do, to be the perfect spotless lamb of God, to lay down his life as a ransom, and he did so willingly. It's fascinating to be on these steps, and again, there is no doubt whatsoever. The gate has been unearthed back behind me, but these are the steps that our Lord would have ascended. This is the place that Peter would have preached at Pentecost. If you don't see it, you can go ahead and find your seats or chairs or anything and just sit there for a minute. Let me just see here. You don't want to see that. Greetings again, everybody. I am coming to you from what has been called the Church of the Denial or the Church of the Rooster's Crow. When I get back on Wednesday, I'm going to have lots of things to present about this, but it's important because right where I'm standing at is supposedly, I don't know about the truth of this, it's supposedly Caiaphas's home. And we know that Caiaphas's home is important because that is where Jesus of course, was brought after he was arrested. This is where the illegal trial took place. And it's also important because this would be the place that Peter would deny Jesus three times. And in fact, as I'm walking through, I'm coming up on the spot right here in the courtyard. This is a modern-day church. But as you can see, the rooster crowing. As you can see behind me, Peter saying, I do not know the man. non novi ilum right i do not know him um also what's fascinating about this is there is a pit a jail where jesus would have been held awaiting the trial um y'all it's really quite impressive what this church is because it's built into so much bedrock. They've exposed so many ruins around it. It is understood that this is where Caiaphas lived. Caiaphas, of course, being the one who conducted the illegal trial. Hopefully, in just a moment, I'll have some more video for you from the spot where Jesus was supposedly held. He would have had to have been held somewhere while he was awaiting trial. After he was arrested, most likely it's where we are. but the courtyard where Peter denied the Lord, really, really surreal, really impressive. So the video that you just saw was from the pit, from the dungeon adjacent to Caiaphas' home where Jesus would have been held. It would have been the hole, if you saw, I zoomed in on the hole, not only the hole, but on the Jerusalem cross that was carved during the Byzantine period. This is, I said supposedly earlier, this is an A plus site. I mean, they know that this was Caiaphas' home. Perhaps you can hear the Muslim call for prayer in the background, which is rather insulting. But, nevertheless, the hole that I zoomed in on, Mark 14 talks about Jesus, excuse me, in Mark, it talks about Jesus being lowered down through the hole. And y'all, there's so many beautiful parallels here, so many wonderful applications. The light of the world being lowered into a deep, dark hole. What a beautiful thing that is. And his light was not extinguished. Instead, he shone forth in all of his glory. But it would have been there that he was kept. And then he was brought up, Mark 14. He didn't open his mouth. He didn't say a word. Again, it's in this courthouse, excuse me, courtroom, that Peter would deny the Lord three times instead of going in and offering valid testimony in an invalid trial. Beautiful place of reflection, beautiful place of devotion. As I make my way out, I want to say one more thing. I mentioned before that Jesus did not speak. He was silent. He did say one thing. Mark chapter 14, I believe it is, Jesus, when he is brought and questioned, are you the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God? Jesus' response was, I am. There's a reason why they ripped out their beards and tore their clothes. He committed high blasphemy, unless he was and is the living Son of God, that is. Reminds me of the C.S. Lewis quote, where Lewis says that he would have to be a madman on the level of someone who claims to be a poached egg, a liar, a thief, a criminal, or he is exactly who he said he was. In this place, probably more than others, we see the poignancy of that idea. At Caiaphas' home, where Peter denied the Lord, and the pit where he was lowered. Thank you very much. Well, hey everybody. The room that I've just stepped out of is considered to be the upper room. Is it? I don't know. Sorry about that close-up. Is it? I'm standing over what we know is King David's tomb. It's tradition that this is the spot of the upper room. I don't know. I know this much. I know that this is as good a place as any. I'm kind of overloaded at this point. Y'all, realize, and I've talked about this before when I was at the Wailing Wall, the Western Wall, The rabbi that was with us said, seek God where he may be found. Is it through that door? Yeah. Is it up that staircase? Yeah. Is it over there where they shoot hoops? Is it where you can hear these bells? Yes. God is everywhere. He's infinite. He's eternal. You don't have to come to a place like this. In fact, there's a certain sadness to it as there are pieces of paper tucked all over the place where people have written their prayers. Maybe you can hear me over the bell, maybe not. If not, that's fine. But still, realize you don't have to look for God. He's with you. through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Okay, everybody, I've stepped out to have a little bit of peace and quiet, though there is very little. Part of our group is in there. I don't know who these people are behind me. Where I just left is supposed to be the upper room, that place where Jesus and his disciples had the Last Supper, that place where Jesus would reappear and walk through the wall. It's over the tomb of King David now. Is this the upper room? We don't know. We do know that this is the tomb of King David. But y'all, maybe you saw me point to something just a few seconds ago. This is as good a place as any to remind you of what we talked about a few days ago at the Wailing Wall, the Western Wall. The rabbi said, seek God where he may be found. Can he be found in this room? Yes. Can he be found behind me in this courtyard? Yes. Can he be found on that basketball court? Yes. You don't have to come to a place like this. Maybe you notice the pieces of paper I was pointing to. Those are prayers that people have brought here in order, and I think that they believe they'll be more powerful. When you walk around these places, like in the spot where Jesus supposedly walked through the wall, you see people bring souvenirs and lay them down and anoint them with oil. So there will be a piece of this place there with them. Y'all, This is wonderful, it's devotional, and I am so appreciative of this trip, but the cacophony of it, the heaviness of it, the boisterous nature of it, you may not even be able to hear me because of what's going on in there. And they call it worship, and I'm not gonna lie, I'm struggling a little bit with all of this. Because you don't have to go anywhere to find Jesus. People say, why don't you do altar calls? Because Jesus isn't... First off, we don't have an altar. There was only one altar and our Lord was crucified on it. We have the pulpit area. But you don't have to come to the pulpit area to respond to Jesus. You don't have to come here to Jerusalem. Is it wonderful? Yes. Am I grateful? Beyond what I can express. Is it necessary? When the verse says, seek God where he may be found, he can be found right there with you. Do you agree with me on that, Kyle? We're working with a bunch of Catholics. Sorry. That's OK. Yeah, I don't know if I would have gone that far. But nevertheless, it's fascinating. But the Catholic thing is sacred spaces, that you're more holy, you get less time in purgatory, et cetera. Remember what Jesus told the woman at the well. You won't worship on this hill. you'll worship in spirit and truth. That's right. And so can you do that here? Yeah, you can worship. Is it a good place to take a nap? There's a lot of cats in Jerusalem. I don't know how he's sleeping in there. And y'all, I'm not denigrating this place that this is not an A site. You know, was it here? Maybe, was it not? I don't know. The point is, is that you don't have to go anywhere to find Jesus. Pray, go to God where you are. He will hear you. He is seated at the right hand of God, interceding on your behalf right now. Keep those things in mind. th th Okay, everybody, in that previous video, I just came to you from King David's tomb, or at least, ooh, King David's tomb, what is believed to be King David's tomb. There's a lot of reasons to suspect that it's actually not, but nevertheless, fascinating place. As you saw from the video, it is a Jewish holy place. Many Jews come here to pray. It's divided between men and women. There's a partition between the two. There's a lot of archaeological evidence to point to this not being the actual place, but again, y'all, it's not about knocking time off purgatory. It's not about any of those things. It's just about experiencing the place. Thank you.