Ephesians 2:19-22

This morning, we went to a church in Jerusalem rather than our normal church/assembly with others living at the Moshav. The makeup of the church was a bit strange; I had never heard of a Baptist/Pentecostal church before (they didn't seem too Pentecostal), but evidently they exist in Israel. Nonetheless, it was a great and interesting time. The people were very gracious to have us there, and it seems that they get quite a few visitors from other nations. That was what struck me as the neatest thing: their demographic was extremely diverse. Although they didn't really have a sermon today and they instead spent time reading Scripture and praying, they had people come forward to read and pray in a total of seven different languages. It was a great picture of all of God's redeemed from across the world joining together to sing praises to God for eternity. I think we in America forget that the Church is universal across the Earth and throughout time, and have the mindset that it is simply us at this present moment.

I think that they were very encouraged by us as well. I was asked to introduce who we were and then gave my testimony. We all then sang "It Is Well" for them all (no, we're not a traveling choir). Talking with the people afterwards was a fun time as well. I even met one of them later in the afternoon hanging out in the Old City and had a nice talk with him (he's the first real ship captain I've ever met!). Even though we might have some varying doctrinal differences, we can all stand together under the banner of the Gospel of Jesus Christ/Yeshua Ha'Mashiach to offer Him our praise for His work on the cross.