Update
©August 30, 2009 Asher Intrater

Iranian Hacker

Revive Israel's Web site was broken into this weekend by Iranian Muslim hackers. It is not clear whether the attack was because of our being Israelis and Jews, or because of our teaching of Yeshua and the gospel. It appears to be for both reasons. Pray for protection of our staff, our equipment and our teaching materials. Interestingly, three of our staff are Israelis whose families fled Iran and immigrated to Israel in the 1950's.

Madonna Concert

Madonna is giving a two night concert in a stadium in Tel Aviv. Madonna has claimed to have had a spiritual experience in "Kabalah", a combination of new age mysticism and Jewish tradition. She has taken on the name "Esther" and claims to keep Shabbat, etc. Some of our congregants plan to participate in an evangelistic outreach at the concert, led by JFJ. Pray for salvations.

Israel Youth Conference

Pray for fruit from the national Israeli Youth conference this weekend, "Elav," sponsored by Sukkat Hallel and Rick Ridings. Members of our congregation and staff were an integral part of planning the conference. The community of younger Messianic believers is growing stronger every year. Asher shared the closing message. Here are a few excerpts:

There is a progressive revelation of Yeshua throughout the New Covenant. In the gospels we find Him growing up in the Galilee, teaching and working miracles. The disciples grow in their understanding of His crucifixion and His divinity. Finally in the book of Revelation, Yeshua is revealed in all glory and authority.

"I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and He who sat on him.  In righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire.  The armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen followed Him on white horses. Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God" - Revelation 19:11-16.

This summer marks the 40^th anniversary of the "Woodstock" festival. Yeshua could be seen as the first "flower child." He spoke of turning the other cheek, loving your enemies, and giving away possessions. At a Charismatic youth conference, it is not difficult to relate to Yeshua in His "flower child" appearance (long hair, white robe, sandals, etc).

While those are aspects of Yeshua's personality are true, they are certainly not all. If we want to walk with Him in truth, we must see His awesome and fearful side as well. If you just want to "flow" with Him, you will have an "up" time at the conference, but be unstable in your daily walk.

Discipleship is to be conformed to the image of Yeshua. We are conformed to the Yeshua on the shores of the Galilee, but also to the image of His returning in fire. We ride with Him in humility on a donkey, and in conquest with Him on white horses.

We want to have the fire of Pentecost at our conferences. The fire that the disciples received in Acts 2 was the same fire found in the eyes of Yeshua in Revelation 19. We receive that kind of fire by receiving that kind of Yeshua.

We want to invite Yeshua to live in our hearts - all of Him, not just half. When the Yeshua of Galilee lives inside of us, we will have the ability to show patience, kindness and humility to those around us. When the Yeshua of Revelation lives inside of us, we will have victory over the world, the flesh and the devil.

There is a perfect balance in scriptures between the love of God and the fear of God. When we grasp both of these images of Yeshua, then both of those characteristics – the grace and the holiness – will abide in us as well.

The grace of God is revealed in Yeshua's willingness to sacrifice Himself for us. That grace is even more amazing when we realize that the One who died on the cross was the awesome and terrifying Commander-in-chief of the armies of heaven. He could have called on legions of angel armies to destroy us in a moment.

How much we want to see miracles in our midst! Signs and wonders were done when the fear of God was present among the believers (Acts 2:43; 5:11-12). By seeing the "other half" of Yeshua in the book of Revelation will we have the fullness of the fear of God in our midst, and the miracles as well.

Yeshua appears three times in the Law and the Prophets as the Angel of the Lord with His sword drawn: In Numbers 22 to Balaam, in Joshua 5 to Joshua, and in I Chronicles 21 to David. In all three occasions, the sword is in His hand. Yet in Revelation 19, the sword is coming out of His mouth. This indicates that the true sword of the spirit is the word of God.

God desires for His saints in the end times to speak the word of God with apostolic authority and prophetic anointing. The young generation of Israeli believers will rise up with this kind of word in their mouths. Authority and anointing comes from Yeshua living in us. As we receive Him as He is in the final revelation, we will have that kind of sword-like prophetic word.

Many people suffer from fearfulness and worry. Some have clung to the cowardly theology that we will not even be here during the tribulations of the end times. But God is calling us to be "more than conquerors". When the Yeshua of Revelation lives in us, we are transformed from double-minded, carnal and compromising believers into saints who overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.

He is the Commander-in-Chief of the armies of heaven, and we are called to be an army of saints, following Him in holiness and obedience.