Nov.22 What a Thanksgiving!

Sea of Galilee at sunrise
Mount of Beatitudes
Mount Carmel                                        I will include some of the scriptures used in messages &
Megiddo & the Jezreel Valley               let you look them up. I will share messages later.
View of Nazareth

We watched the sun come up over the Sea of Galilee this morning. The views from our room are extraordinarily beautiful to start with, but we were also able to exit onto the rooftop terrace to watch. Sunbeams actually radiated from a beautiful orb, emerging from the horizon through some clouds.

We had a delicious buffet breakfast. But, wow, it was crowded. There are 347 people on this tour in 8 buses. We met with Perry Stone in an outdoor amphitheater & had prayer & instructions. Then we left in tour buses, ours "green." Our guide, Tisha, has lived in Israel off & on since she was 9 months old and then moved here in 1993. She just spent the last 6 months with Glenn Beck, producing his latest project here in Israel. She knows Israel, its history, and the Bible well. She gives us LOTS of great info. Today, she explained kibbutzes at length and we visited one

At the Mount of Beatitudes, Perry filmed a teaching with us. Matt 4:12; Matt 5: 1-10; Matt 8:23
Mark 6:45, 52, etc.
We sat in an amphitheater near the Church of the Beatitudes and looked over the Sea of Galilee.  The church is octagonal in shape, symbolizing the 8 beatitudes (Matt 5). It was raining and they felt that our group had brought blessing to them with it. The people of Israel saw us as "pilgrims" because we came even though everyone had people telling us not to come. Many groups had cancelled and we were probably the largest group in Israel.

Perry mentioned that Jesus came from Bethlehem to Lower Galilee (which is to the north). In doing this, he fulfilled prophecy, came to the area of the Gentiles, and entered a crossroads area where many people passed through.
In reference to the scriptures above, I will mention just one of the points Perry made while we sat on this Mount overlooking the Sea of Galilee: when Jesus went from the mountains to the middle of the lake (3 - 4 am), he did so in an instant. After he calmed the storm, he got them to the other side of the lake instantly. Jesus can help us quickly and heal/help the problem quickly. The disciples had forgotten the miracles of the loaves/fishes and lost their faith. When we are in trouble, we forget his teachings. "Let us go to the other side."

Mt. Carmel--Here we overlooked the Jezreel Valley or Armageddon. Tisha mentioned that that is where the nations of the world will gather at the end, but the Bible does not say that a battle will necessarily take place there. Throughout history, many battles have taken place here. We had a view of many things in the land of Asher, Baal, and Elijah. We can see many mountains that were important in the Old Testament.

Megiddo--We got another great message here from Perry about the 7 feasts of the people.               Ex. 23:14-16 and much more. More on that later.

We had a buffet lunch at a Kibbutzim and a "Thanksgiving" dinner at the hotel. It is amazing how well they feed 350 people and how quickly. The food is always interesting & delicious & nutritious & presented well. The "Thanksgiving" part consisted of some red, white, and blue balloons and one entree that was turkey, not exactly the way we would have our Thanksgiving turkey. But, hey! We surely didn't care. We found out the next day that most people hadn't even realized it WAS Thanksgiving.