What is the Church’s role amidst times of evil and darkness? What are we as followers of Jesus Christ uniquely called to be and to do that no one else can?

(Jerusalem, Israel) — For the past ten days, several of my Joshua Fund colleagues have been in Israel to teach at two events. The first was a conference for about 200 Israeli pastors and their wives that was held in Netanya. The other was for about 50 Palestinian pastors and their wives on the West Bank. In both places, the pastors we brought from the U.S. and Europe and I taught through the book of Titus, verse by verse and chapter by chapter. It was a wonderful time to be together with both groups,  praying with them, learning from them about the challenges and stresses and joys they experience shepherding the congregations the Lord has given them responsibility for, and sharing with them lessons from the Scriptures about leadership lessons from the Apostle Paul, and the importance of establishing and maintaining sound doctrine and the careful preaching of God’s Word. On Sunday, one of those pastors who attended the Netanya conference — my friend Wayne Hilsden, pastor of King of Kings Community congregation in Jerusalem — invited me to preach at his evening service. It was a joy and an honor to do so. I will admit that I was torn on what to speak about, the crisis in Gaza and its prophetic implications, or insights from Paul’s letter to Titus. Both were very much on my heart. In the end I concluded that while the Lord wanted me to make a few comments and observations about Operation Pillar of Defense, the main message He had brought me to Israel to teach was from the epistle to Titus. Here is a link to the video of the entire worship service. The music was so wonderful, and I’d encourage you to enjoy all of it. Wayne’s introduction of me begins around 57:50 into the program, and I begin preaching shortly thereafter. I hope you find these words of encouragement — good news amidst so much bad news.