A brief note from our friend and partner Todd Morehead
Covenant and Controversy is a must see film for every believer. Regardless if you know a great deal about the history of anti-Semitism or very little, this movie will shake you to your core. I believe God will use this movie to impact an entire generation of believers. It is masterfully put together and entirely entertaining to the point that you will hardly realize you are receiving an education of a lifetime. Covenant and Controversy is available on YouTube.
Todd Morehead—Director/Producer of Promised Land- Israel Through the Eyes of Surfers
Former HaDavar teacher has a new exciting book
HaDavar’s former Hebrew teacher, Racheli Morris, has published a book, Celebrate the Jewish Holidays with Racheli Morris. This book will make a special gift for any Jewish relatives, friends, neighbors or co-workers, or anyone else who might be interested in learning Old Testament history and traditions for ten of the major holidays celebrated in Jewish homes today. Chanukah (“Dedication” or Feast of Lights) occurs December 7-14 this year. Be prepared this year to open conversations about the holiday by reading the chapter on Chanukah. You can show off your culinary skills by preparing the recipe for Traditional Sufganyiot (jelly donuts) to share during the holiday. You can involve your children by playing dreidel, and teaching them how children used this game to hide the fact that they were actually studying in secret. And God might even provide the opportunity for you to share about the Light of the World, Yeshua Jesus, who traveled to Jerusalem to observe this holiday (John 10:22). You may purchase this unique book at www.rachelimorris.com or at Amazon.com.
Jeff Carter
We wanted to bring to your attention a request for you to pray about. We are at a crossroads in our ministry. The amount we are bringing in through monthly contributions and partnerships is not covering our monthly expenses.
If we don’t start to see a significant increase in our monthly partnerships, we are not going to be able to continue doing much of what we do at HaDavar. What precisely that looks like is not clear, but I do know that if we don’t tell you about the need, then you can’t respond.
We have so many faithful ministry partners who sacrificially invest the resources God has entrusted to them in this important work at HaDavar. And we are so grateful.
We also know that when we make our needs known, you are so faithful to step up and support the work of this ministry. And you would not know the need unless we told you. So we are humbly spreading the word that we would covet your prayers at this time. Please pray that God would bring along the resources we need to continue His work. And also pray whether God might lead you to participate in a special way right now. Again, thank you so much for your sacrificial giving and for your heart for ministry. Your partnership with us is what enables this ministry to exist.
One of the bedrocks of my theology is a very strong sense of the sovereignty of God. So when we are prayerfully seeking His guidance, whatever happens will be His will. So please pray with me that His will would be done.
Gleanings from our Daniel study (for those who aren’t able to join us)
This is considered by many to be the most incredible book in the Bible. It contains mystery, intrigue, adventure, puzzles that need to be solved, and the revelation of intricately detailed history written in advance. It is the story of redemption, of faith tested, of faith confirmed, of power encounters. It is the only book in the history of the world to lay out a scope, in fact, not just a scope, but a detailed accounting of how the world will unfold politically from the time of its writing, all the way until the end of time. It is a powerful demonstration of how God is sovereign in the affairs of man. It truly is an absolutely unique, one of a kind book.
This moment in time in which Daniel finds himself is a pivotal moment in redemptive history. There is a seismic shift beginning here that we need to recognize.
In the grand redemptive narrative of the Old Testament the focus has been on the story of God putting into motion the plan to redeem the world back to Himself—but specifically family and then nation that God set apart to be His hands and feet in the world. This is the lens through which the majority of the Old Testament views the world—and then presents the world to us, its readers.
But as things went from bad to worse in the history of this nation; as generation after generation proved unfaithful; it came time for the narrative to change. God is patient and longsuffering but the time for judgment will eventually come. And for Israel it came in the Babylonian captivity. This marked a significant turning point in the storyline. Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed. The people of Israel are taken captive to a foreign land. The nation, for all intents and purposes, has ceased to exist. We now enter into a time that Jesus calls the “times of the Gentiles.”
Now this is what is so pivotal. Israel has been a sovereign nation up to this point. But from here on out that is no longer the case. They forfeited that right. They had the opportunity to be faithful stewards of what God had entrusted to them. And a few kings and a few generations were. But overall, Israel was the unfaithful bride of Jehovah. So this sovereignty was taken away.
So the times of Gentiles is a new era in the outworking of the plan of God. This is why the book of Daniel is so critical. It is the segue into the next phase of God’s redemptive narrative. This is not just a book that contains some fun little children’s stories about a lion’s den and a fiery furnace. It’s not just a collection of strange visions and dreams that are all but impossible to figure out. No, it is a doorway. It is the passageway through which Israel is forcibly taken to the next phase of their existence. From here on out everything will be different. And our gracious God does not turn this significant corner in history without providing some road signs. He lays out for Israel in the book of Daniel what this new phase will look like—both in terms of Gentile world ruler ship and the upcoming history that their nation will encounter.
The times of the Gentiles is a new lens through which the Bible will present information to us. The lens used to be Israel. But now the scope of what is in view is broadened. There is a clear move as we transition to the New Testament from particular to general, from local to global.
The lens through which we learned about the narrative of God’s redemption is now no longer just the lens of the nation of Israel. It’s like the camera is being pulled back to view things from a broader perspective. It is in the book of Daniel that the camera starts to pull back.
-Jeff
Reminder: All gifts to HaDavar must be postmarked by December 31, 2015 to be included on your 2015 receipt.